Wallyreader Jeff told us this morning that there was some police activity at the Wallingford Playfield, around 7:10 a.m. A man with a sleeping bag was in cuffs and there were two police cars and some sort of police van.
At this point, we’re speculating it may have something to do with a bank robbery in the U District yesterday. According to the the Wallingford Neighborhood Office’s e-news, a bank robbery had taken place at Key Bank on 45th in the U District. Police officers told Neighborhood Office Director Janet Stillman “they were looking for two guys living in cars in Wallingford. One is a very tall pale white guy and the other is a short guy with reddish brown hair in a ponytail.”
Officer Andrews of the North Precinct just confirmed for us by phone that the suspect who was arrested was taken to the robbery division. While he was unable to provide more info, he said, “You can draw your own conclusions from that.”
Anyone hear the ruckus this morning? Tell us what you saw or heard, and we’ll also update this post when we hear more.
I also saw some cops arresting a guy at the bus stop outside the 7-11 on Stone Way at around 6:30 pm on Thursday.
Anybody else getting a little tired of the homeless in Wallingford? Malt liquor cans in the yard….packages disappearing from your doorstep and loud drunk people roaming the neighborhood at night?
I’ve lived here for 18 years. It seems to be getting worse. I wish the Shell station, 7-11 on 50th and the store across the street from there would stop selling high alc content beer. Seems the problem would go away.
I know, right. I hate it when the “unsavory elements” of society come into the affluent areas of the city and wander around littering. I wish they would just stay on Aurora or in the poorer communities where they belong. BTW, I really think we should petition the Wallingford Chamber of Commerce to get Solid Ground out of our neighborhood because having a food bank in our community brings in a lot of poor people… geesh.
Dave, I think the homeless are more tired of being homeless than you are of them being homeless. I gotta tell ya, I don’t think that eliminating malt liquor sales is going to make them suddenly un-homeless.
The loud drunk people are usually young adults patronizing the bars on 45th. Trust me, I’m out on the street at 3am regularly yelling at them to shut the hell up. And in sympathy, it always feels like it’s getting worse when the cans end up in your yard. I feel like it’s getting better because I haven’t found needles on my back steps in several years.
Oh wow, I missed all the hubbub this morning and slept right through it. Though I did hear my neighbor’s dog getting all riled up.
I don’t so much mind the people living in vans, but it is a bit unnerving when they are always around when I’m coming and going.
I bet the people in the vans don’t want trouble any more than you do, you might want to learn their names so they feel slightly less anonymous. I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt (and my extra food). The trick is learning how to do that without putting your safety at risk. Anyone can get a glass of water, an apple or a cookie or, hell, a coat on my porch if I have an extra one. But if I feel weird, if they use foul language or ask for cash, bye bye.
I think “j” has a point. These homeless people are our neighbors too – other people who are much less fortunate than we are and instead of bad-talking them on blogs, perhaps we should try to do little things each day that help make their lives better.
Of course, I can see one of my homeless neighbors behind a hedge right now, but I can’t see what he’s doing with his hands…oh GOD MY EYES!!!!!
haha…rachel and j FTW!
and um…wow. we really do live in the ‘burbs.
He took off his sunglasses, so at least he’s not totally hands-free.
Dave, I don’t mean to minimize your sense of frustration. You should have SEEN me with the needles. It pisses me off no end when other people use my yard/garbage cans/etc without permission or with ill intent, which, because of the corner I live on, happens all the time. But I have long experience with both suburbs and city and in my opinion we get the best of both here in Wallingford. It might open your eyes a bit to realize just how large the problem is if you do something like the One Night Count of the Homeless in January, where you wander around and count from 2am to 5am. An incredible experience.
My dude is gone, leaving a hole in my day. Adieu, sweet homeless hat-wearing dude who’s probably been staring back at me this entire time…adieu…
Rachel: So if the story is true, two guys living in cars in Wallingford just committed a felony bank robbery in the U District. And your response is to suggest that anyone who complains about homeless criminals in the neighborhood is a snob who hates all poor people, and wants to shut down the food bank? How ridiculous.
J, I compliment your efforts to try to help people “without putting your safety at risk,” but I’m going to keep watching out for methy-looking people in vans, and keep trying to get them out of here.
To Seattle Police: nice work, and thank you.
This discussion exemplifies the need to make the distinction between three kinds of street inhabitants: 1) the temporarily homeless who almost never cause trouble and are eager to get back on their feet with a little help, 2) the homeless mentally ill who shouldn’t be out there in the first place and need help all the time, and 3) the substance abusers who cause lots of trouble and lessen the chance anybody else out there is going to get the help they need by creating resentment toward our ‘homeless’ population.
Bums, substance abusers and criminals are NOT the same as homeless families and mentally ill persons, they’re just bums, substance abusers and criminals. Seattleites need to look at them differently because help for the others will languish until we learn to do that.
Oh sweet S, I appreciate the compliment. And I stand behind your efforts to get the methy looking people in vans off your block, but only if they’re methy smelling too. A few years ago I got my first whiff of what a meth trailer smells like and I just about died from the grossness. I prefer my meth cooking on AMC, thank you very much. I just think that we – as people who have access to work, housing, supportive friends and family and a GREAT neighborhood and who can walk down the street without being yelled at for the way we look or smell – have a commensurate obligation to make sure that there’s drug treatment available for people who want help and housing available for people who need it and hopefully to suspend judgment whenever possible. none of us know the backstory of any person walking down the street.
iyqtoo – the distinction I make is between humans who might hurt me or my child and humans who likely won’t. beyond that, they’re all humans, even the rich coke-sniffers and drunk neighbor frat boys 😉
J: I wholeheartedly support drug treatment programs, and I believe funding for them should be substantially increased. I donate personally to such programs and support social-services levies whenever they come up.
I don’t believe, however, that I have any individual responsibility to try to locate appropriate drug treatment for an addict who happens to camp out near where I live. I have no expertise in that subject, and it could be personally dangerous to me, my family, or my neighbors. Addicts, obviously, often don’t behave rationally.
I assume your comment about “methy smelling” is meant in jest. I’m talking about users, not people cooking. I sure hope anybody who noticed meth being cooked on the street would call the police immediately.
S, I apologize for the confusion, I was responding to Dave’s comments, in which he cites “homeless” and beer cans on his lawn, not the article written above. I live and play in Wallingford daily with my small children and do not take issue with arresting suspects in a robbery investigation, homeless or not.
J, you are hilarious.
Rachel: fair enough, sorry for the confusion. I doubt even Dave is opposed to the food bank, though.
Pro food bank here. I was not talking about the homeless by choice. I was talking about the younger substance abusers.
Now that I think about it the few meth heads I see in the neighborhood I could do without as well.
I also did not appreciate the 30 something guy sleeping on my sidewalk last month (at noon). I mean I felt bad knowing he was just passed out but come on.
I grew up in the burbs. I prefer the city but we have to work on it.
even dave
I’ve worked in Seattle with homeless & mentally I’ll adults for 11 years. 90+ % of them do not want to be homeless. Become part of the solution, otherwise you have no business what so ever of complaining- even if you have to clean up after them. I clean needles and feces up on a regular basis from my alley and out front- EVERY TIME I am reminded that there is more I can be doing to help them. We must care for our sick and needy. I couldn’t put my head down at night knowing I wasn’t giving all that I could. Do you think people WANT to defacate outside with no sink or tissue? Or shoot up and wander around sick while scaring people? Of course not! Have a heart! If you want to volunteer or work with the homeless get my info from the site.
I’m too dorky and sheltered to know what a meth user looks like, though I’ve heard that bad teeth and bad skin fit the bill. Then again, that could be anyone from .
And yes, I wish the police had more resources at their disposal. As it is, they’re stretched too thin.
I wonder what happened to my friend. I hope no one ate him.
Give me a break. I’m sick and tired of hearing bums referred to as “homeless.” If you have the money to shoot up or drink yourself into oblivion every day, you don’t have the right to be called “homeless.” You are a BUM. The word “homeless,” and the compassion that comes with it, should be reserved only for families and people who’ve been laid off, not for people out to live a lifestyle with no responsibilities .
And Taxidermist, when someone leaves dirty needles or a dump in your yard or alley, that is what they think of you. They think that you, you property, and society at large is a piece of crap, and they show you no respect. What those scumbags deserve is to be doused with a garden hose, and then locked up. I don’t give a rat’s ass about their BS sob story: Just because you’re “down on your luck,” another idiotic, worn out phrase, doesn’t give you the right to break the law and make our neighborhoods and playgrounds unpleasant. These bums are mostly adults for Christ sake. You want to be treated with respect? It’s a two way street.
BTW, comment #20 was by me, Hayduke.
Fire away.
I think, as members an inclusive and openminded community, we should be VERY CLEAR about whom to include. Standards will have to be developed, of hygiene, minimum income, personal habits, and of course, ideology. I mean, Wallingford somehow allowed us to live here, so clearly it can’t be for just anyone. Undesirables shall be shipped to Tukwila.
J-You really yell at drunks in the street at 0300? Please stop, that makes you part of the noise problem and a target. Arguing with drunk people is a lost cause.
Alcohol impact zones (restriction of fortified alcohol sales) are effective at moving the problems associated with chronic public inebriates to areas that are less organized and or politically important.
Having lived here since the 70’s, my personal observation is that it is about as safe as always. Occasional home break ins, a few sketchy types in the park, car prowls, basic city stuff.
Please dont give money to the drunks.
Don’t give money to the drunks? Who’s gonna mow my lawn for two sixpacks of PBR now??
I used to use the laundrymat on 50th (right by the 7-11/Shell station & across the street from the store that sells booze). Before I moved, it had been taken over by homeless folks, to the point where men (not homeless) would offer to stay with me until I carried my clothes to the car, due to the danger level). I am talking 10 – 15 exceedingly drunk men, hanging out in there. Long ago the restroom was locked permanently, with a sign posted on it that said; “No Restroom.” We (kind man and I) saw a homeless man produce a key from his pocket and open the door! So, they had called a locksmith and obtained their own key! We called the handyman # listed on a sign on the wall, and the last time I used the laundrymat, the handyman had replaced the knob with a knobless app so no key can be inserted. That helped a bit. Still, the police and 911 are at the corner of 50th and 1st (store) constantly, arresting men so drunk they can’t walk.
Meridian Ave N by the Good Shepard Center is another homeless focal, because there are bathrooms & running water in the park. No one walks down Meridian late at night anymore due to the drug running on the Good Shepard Center grounds after hours.