In a post oddly titled “Shots fired, property damage in University District“, the SPD Blotter reports gunfire near 40th NE and Latona last night:
On February 17th, at approximately 1:30 AM, North Precinct officers responded to a call of numerous gunshots in the 200 Block of NE 40th Street. Officers arrived and located six shell casings in the street. During an area check, it appears that a car parked in a driveway of a house in that block had minor damage from what appeared to be a ricochet. No suspects were located.
Apparently, the bullet blew the block between 2nd Ave NE and Latona on at 40th clear out of Wallingford and into the U District. That’s all we know.
Ha ha!
Perhaps the U-District is invading Wallingford by firing the first shot? I say “bring it on, we’ll fight ’em in the trenches.” 🙂
ok, os go back and read several wallyhood blogs..
major graffitti upswing.. still happening
shots fired in lower Wallingford
cars broken into by 43rd and Woodlawn – 3 2 nights ago
Peoplein a black esplanade asking for gas and valentines money
at least 3 sometimes 4 give me a handout people at QFC steps
WHO LIVES in this neighborhood?
me? Who works and is sick of this or them? You? Or those Who shoot,. sell drugs, paint our walls and burgle our cars?
sometimes my neighbors of wallingford are silly. we live in a city with crime and ppl are surprised when it ever happens. just be safe, live yr life, and carry yr air horn
btw Domenic, you made me smirk something fierce.
This is NOT the city in which I grew up. My little friends and I were totally safe in Wallyhood when we were young. Of course we were taught about strangers, but I don’t think that any of us ever had to worry. PLEASE – everyone – take action and save our city from these people. If you cannot be safe within your own neighborhood it is time to rebel!!! Be aware of what goes on around you. Call 911 at the very first inclination that something is not right. Use your head about walking around at night. It obviously isn’t safe any more. If you are out at night carry a cell phone programmed to call 911. If necessary, carry pepper spray and an air horn, but do NOT let these young thugs take over OUR city.
When I heard this disturbance from 4200 and Latona, I was pretty sure but not positive that what I heard were gunshots…I wrongly guessed the sound came from Northwest of me. Since I was half asleep, I couldn’t be sure it wasn’t a car backfiring and I didn’t call 911. Glad to hear no one was hurt.
Yes, I too grew up here (37th and Meridian). I agree with “Native”. This is not the neighborhood I grew up in.
We all walked to school in the morning and back even at 5 years old (then called Latona Elementary).
The 70’s were different but that’s no excuse for thugs to take over and property owners to ‘take it’.
We’ve got to do something about this…but what?
i also grew up in wallingford/greenlake in the early 80s and it was *never* as nice of a neighborhood AS IT IS NOW. there was a lot of crime when i was younger and houses were more run-down (plenty of graffiti) – i think people just romanticize the past 🙂
Yep, I remember riding on Eastlake and crossing University Bridge before I-5 when Gasworks was still a gasworks and the homes behind it were SO BARE of trees and seemed so crammed together and even as a kid I felt sorry for all the people who had to live there (here!). Now it seems lush, inventive, family friendly and maybe just a bit too posh for ordinary folks sometimes.
Sorry chy – the 80’s were not the years of beautiful, safe neighborhoods here. Talk to me again in 2020. You will be appalled at the changes.
One of the nice things about Seattle is it’s easy to compare stats, as our population stays pretty steady. In 1985, the population was 495,190, and in 2009 it was 602,531. It fluctuates often, going up and down depending on layoffs at Boeing or other large businesses. You can go back to 1950 with about the same population.
From: http://www.ucrdatatool.gov
In 1985, there were 61 murders, 441 rapes, and 2,843 robberies.
In 2009, there were 22 murders, 102 rapes, and 1,792 robberies.
Which year was safer? Safety has a lot to do with perception. Your memory of how safe the neighborhood was as a child isn’t accurate. You simply weren’t in tune with what was going on. You were busy playing with the new Sony Walkman and Pac-Man.
Media, not reality, has played a large role in shaping our view of how safe our kids are out on the streets of Seattle.
Batman,
I appreciate you taking the time to research these statistics. It is pretty impressive that there was more crime in 1985 then in 2009. However, you need to be aware that Wallingford existed long before 1985. Believe it or not, there are actually some people still alive who were born long before then, too. My children had Sony Walkmen and yearned for PacMan, which they never did get.
Trust me, my memory is quite accurate. As a little girl my friends and I had freedom that kids now can’t even imagine having. I feel very sorry for young children who live in the City now. All of their activities seem to be programmed rather than being creative and spontaneous.
“As a little girl my friends and I had freedom that kids now can’t even imagine having. I feel very sorry for young children who live in the City now. All of their activities seem to be programmed rather than being creative and spontaneous.”
But this doesn’t change Batman’s point – this restriction is largely perception-driven, and not based in reality.
protected static,
How many children do you see in the nice weather playing kick-the-can in their street? How many children are free to go to the playground of their neighborhood school to play without parental supervision? How many parents today would let 3-4 little girls under the age of ten walk over a mile in the summer to spend the day without a parent at Greenlake with a sandwich and an orange in a brown paper sack for lunch? If kids today are still free to do this then I would really love to hear about it. Reality? Yes, this is what it WAS.
@Native – some is still true, some isn’t. The kids on our block have a fair degree of autonomy, albeit not as much as when I was growing up, either. That *still* doesn’t change the fact that this change has been driven by parental *perception* of risk, and not the *actual* risks involved. Your point (kids today don’t have the same freedom) is true at the same time that Batman’s point is true: Seattle is safer today.
@ protected static
I agree with your assessment. Before the message was that the media was to blame for parents feeling that their children weren’t safe. Now you say that it is parental perception of risk. I totally agree with this.
However, I truly don’t feel that the kids are as safe as we were many years ago. I realize that it is much safer than it was in the 1980’s. I do regret that kids are not as safe as my friends and I were. We were so free to invent our own fun OUTSIDE!! I think that’s the point today.
You only have to read across the nation about kids today not allowed to be playing outside. If it is not an organized activity, with parents totally (and inappropriately) involved, it is much less likely to happen. To me this is sad. Isn’t this one of the reasons that so many children are now classified as being obese?