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FEBRUARY 09, 2022
VOL. 103, NO. 6
Finishing a delayed project
SDOT resumes plans to improve 6th Avenue West street end
FEATURED STORIES
DR. UNIVERSE
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By Jessica Keller
QA&Mag News editor
A project to improve a street end in north Queen Anne that leads to the Ship Canal is back on track after it was added again to the Seattle Department of Transportation Shoreline Street Ends budget this year. Omar Akkari, Seattle Department of Transportation Shoreline Street Ends project manager, first reported to the Friends of Street Ends in their January meeting that the capital budget for 2022 is bigger than anticipated and Seattle Department of Transportation will be able to complete projects that had been delayed, including one at the shoreline street end on Sixth Avenue West. Ethan Bergerson, SDOT media and public affairs lead, said in an email that SDOT plans to construct shoreline habitat and access improvements at the intersection of Sixth Avenue West and West Ewing Street, near the Ship Canal Trail. Bergerson said SDOT has a 10 percent project design completed. “We envision the site will have more native landscaping, an enlarged gravel beach, pavement work and pedestrian connections,”
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Photo by Jessica Keller Planned improvements to the shoreline street end at Sixth Avenue West and West Emerson Street near the Ship Canal Trail in north Queen Anne are scheduled to begin next year. he said in his email. “We are also considering installing one parking stall.” While Bergerson stated the project design currently has the parking stall designated for ADA use, Akkari said in January that it could possibly be used for shortterm parking, primarily for people using the site to load and unload water recreation vehicles.
Bergerson said SDOT will contact adjacent property owners and interested residents for feedback at the 30, 60 and 90 percent design phases. At that time, SDOT will invite people to share their concerns and suggested improvements. Bergerson said residents are also typically asked what they use the space for and what new uses they
would like to see. Lastly, people may be asked to share stories or history about the place. According to the project timeline, SDOT will begin public outreach this summer and begin construction in fall/winter of 2023. Construction is expected to take five weeks.
SEE PROJECT, PAGE 2
Two police reform bills pass out of House committee By Brett Davis
The Center Square It was a two-out-of-three kind of day for the House Public Safety Committee at a Thursday morning virtual executive session that saw the committee pass a pair of bills meant to clear up confusion around police accountability laws passed in Washington state last year. A third bill changing the definition of “theft” did not pass out of committee. The two bills that passed — Substitute House Bill 2037, modifying the standard for use of force by police officers, and Substitute House Bill 1788, concerning vehicular pursuits — come in response to laws passed by the legislature last year and signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee that law enforcement leaders say make it difficult for police to do
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their jobs. “This is a very, very important bill,” said Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland, committee chair, in reference to SHB 2037. “This is really about the balance that we need to strike between preventing excessive force and, you know, police using force against others unnecessarily, and giving police a tool to prevent people who are engaged in criminal activity from escaping detention. So, we’re going to try to find that balance in this bill.” Two amendments to the bill were passed, one that allows use of force not just to prevent flight from detention but also allows use of force in stopping someone from actively fleeing detention by police, and another clarifying that the definition of “physical force” does not include pat downs, incidental touching and compliant
handcuffing. The bill passed 11-2. SHB 1788 was amended to allow police to engage in vehicular pursuits when there is reasonable suspicion that a person in the vehicle is committing a violent offense, an escape offense, or a DUI offense, as opposed to the reasonable suspicion criteria being applied to all crimes. “I’m trying to build in a lot of protective measures and supervisory oversight, along with narrowing the circumstances when a pursuit can begin when there’s reasonable suspicion only that a violent offense or an escape or a DUI has taken place, not all offenses,” Goodman explained to the committee. The vote was 9-4. The legislation comes at a time when last year’s law restricting vehicle pursuits without probable cause, except in cases of impaired driving, is in the news
A post from the Sedro-Woolley Police Department on its Facebook page details an “incident where a suspect backed into one of our Officer’s Patrol cars then rammed into two parked cars and a building before fleeing. The vehicle was described as a maroon and silver Ford F250 or F350 and was last seen in Burlington with extensive front end damage. Fortunately, no one was hurt…and we are prohibited from pursuing.” It follows a Jan. 27 incident in Port Orchard where a driver in a stolen car rammed into a patrol vehicle in a Goodwill parking lot to make his getaway. Port Orchard Police Chief Matt Brown said the crimes for which the driver is suspected — third-degree assault, hit and run, and possession of a stolen vehicle — don’t qualify as offenses for which officers can pursue.
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