Stories

I've called Broadstripe twice about how our already bad service has gotten worse as of late.  The first person said they are doing "upgrades for our area" and the service will be like this for 4 to 6 weeks.  The next person I called said nothing about upgrades, just that they know about the problem and gave the estimate 8 to 10 weeks to fix it. I know it's hard to imagine Broadstripe setting the bar any lower for internet service but is anyone else experiencing any (worse than normal) problems with their internet? 

My husband was across the street at Papa Murphy's when he heard the shooting and saw the police arrive and tape up the crime scene. Does anyone know what happened?

Is anyone else having trouble with Qwest DSL? Ours has been down all day.  I am at a coffee shop.  I live near 21st and East Union and it is still down.

A friend riding his bike into work this morning had a collision with a green minivan at the intersection of East Alder Street and 22nd Avenue (a block west of Garfield High School).  Unfortunately, he got pretty scraped up and has sustained a shoulder injury.

The woman driving the van stopped after the collision but, when he asked her to give him a ride to the hospital, she refused and drove away.  My friend was shaken up enough that he was unable to catch the license plate number of the van.  Did anyone else see this happen?

There is a lady who makes dolls and sells them at the Madrona Farmers Market.  I think her name is Desiree and I am just looking to contact her to get a doll.  We missed the last market today.

So we recently looked behind our townhome complex on 22nd Ave S btwn E Yesler Way & Main St and noticed some jerks dumped a few items on the sidewalk like a set of truck tires and an ugly orange couch (who does that?!).  Both items are very unsightly and not quite sure how to go about removing them.  It's not directly in front of or on anyone's property so I'm concerned it'll just stay there unless someone speaks up, or possibly get even worse by attracting more illegal dumping.  Anyone have any tips how to address this type of thing?  Would the city be inclined to take care of it since it's blocking public walking space?

Side note - I suspect those idiots dumped their crap there because that little corner on 22nd right before Yesler is just overrun w/ some crazy looking weeds and bushes, so perhaps they thought no one would care?  However, we've been meaning to call the city and ask who should take care of that area because I checked w/ our neighbors and that is section... (more)

I noticed that there was a "sold" sign on the vacant commercial space at 23rd and Cherry today.  Anybody know any details about the buyer?  Or, what the plans are for the property?  Thanks in advance.

I'm wondering if anyone is getting decent download speed from Qwest in the CD.  I am paying for 7.0 MB down / 1.5 MB up.  I'm actually getting about 1.6 down and 0.39 up. Shocker.

After some frustrating calls to Qwest, they now say I'll have to pay for someone to come out and run a new line from the telephone pole to my house, install a new jack and start over.  I'm ok with that if it will solve my problem, but I'm skeptical.  I asked them if anyone else in my neighborhood is actually getting 7.0 down, and they told me that they can't tell, because the mechanism they use to test that is broken (!) and they don't know when it will be working again(!!).  Is anyone getting what they are paying for from Qwest?  Specifically, is anyone in the hood getting anywhere close to 7.0MB download speed?

If you want to test your speed, you can do it on Speakeasy's site here:   http://speakeasy.net/speedtest/

Thanks, I'd appreciate hearing from you.

Does anyone know why the heavy police presence on 25th across from Garfield Playfield 1230 -am?

One week ago, I noticed that the tip had been knocked off the concrete rocket tail on on a 19th Ave retaining wall. It's been one of my favorite neighborhood landmarks since I moved to the CD, and felt like I should snap some photos.

I'm glad I did, as when I went by today, it had been completely removed. While it isn't news, I always liked seeing that funny tail, and so I thought I'd share the pic.

If anyone knows the history of this lost bit of yard art, I'd love to know more...

The last week has seen two separate comment threads that have included lengthy discussions about when we do and don't publish photos, so it seems like a good time to clarify the exact thinking behind those decisions.

Generally, our policy on photos follows a general philosophy: we want to give our neighbors all relevant information that will help them be safe, make informed decisions, and understand what's happening around them in the most objective, non-sensational way possible. For people involved in violent crimes and other persistent criminal activity, we think it's important that people be able to recognize the players on sight. That's especially true as we talk about things like the new drug enforcement strategy that relies on an engaged and informed community to help steer drug dealers in a more positive direction, and report them if they break their end of the deal.

We will publish a photo for a suspect in a crime only in the following situations:

• When a suspect has been officially charged with...