Plea in Noll shooting case expected Monday morning (PHOTOS, LIVE COVERAGE)

October 7, 2012 by 3 Comments

On the morning of Monday, October 8, I’ll be traveling from Ravenna to the King County Courthouse for Dihn Bowman’s arraignment hearing, when his defense team will enter a plea. In the space below, I’ll be live blogging my journey downtown and the events at the courthouse as they happen.

An appeal for a strong showing of Yancy’s friends and supporters at the arraignment was made on the Yancy Noll Memorial Facebook page. It reads, in part:

Prosecuting attorney Scott O’Toole wants a full courtroom on October 8th, for the arraignment of Yancy Noll’s accused killer. He wants to show the judge how wide a circle Yancy touched. How big a hole this criminal left in our community. If you knew Yancy, or knew someone who knew him, or even if you just generally have a good opinion of wine stewards, hell, wine even! There! If you like wine and are upset at the absence of a good answer man about vino, come to the King County Superior Court in Seattle at 8:30am on Monday October 8th. Follow the crowd to the courtroom. This man’s loving reach into our community was longer and wider than any one of us knows.

Dihn Bowman is being charged with first degree murder in the shooting death of Yancy Noll on August 31. Bowman was arrested at his home in Ravenna on September 12 21 (tip leading to his arrest was called in to on September 12), and is being held without bail in the King County Jail.

UPDATE (1:42 PM): KOMO News has their report up here (video will auto-play).

UPDATE (11:27 AM): Bowman and his defense team have entered a plea of NOT GUILTY. Photos from this morning follow, as goes the morning’s live coverage.

View from 4th Avenue looking up at the King County Courthouse, the sky bridge from King County Jail, and a waning moon.

 

4th Avenue entrance to the King County Courthouse.

 

Close-up of 4th Avenue doors.

 

View from Courtroom 1201, where the arraignment took place.

 

Left side of the gallery in courtroom 1201.

 

Right side of courtroom 1201. Picture taken before spectators started to overflow into the hallway.

 

Suspect Dihn Bowman entering the courtroom.

 

From left to right: Bowman, defense attorney John Henry Browne, and prosecuting attorney Scott O’Toole, all before Judge Kessler (not pictured).

 

Spokesman for Yancy Noll’s supporters, Brad Kenny, reading a statement to media gathered in the 12th floor elevator lobby.

 

Television cameras on Kenny while Prosecutor O’Toole (on right with folders) looks on.

 

Another shot of Kenny, surrounded by Yancy Noll supporters.

 

Seattle Times photojournalist John Lok taking a close-up picture of the button that was handed out to Noll supporters in the courtroom this morning.

Filed Under: Crime, Live Coverage, Photos, Ravenna, Roosevelt, Seattle Police Department

Roosevelt Moves: Sound Transit townhouse relocation (PHOTOS)

August 3, 2012 by 6 Comments

Sound Transit’s Andrew Schmid takes a picture of Nickels Bros. and other workers in front of the first townhouse, before it gets underway.

Schmid again, taking a picture of Sound Transit Project Manager Kristin Hoffman while she is interviewed on camera.

Another shot of the first townhouse prior to moving.

Hoffman again, mid-interview. Schmid said that she has worked on the townhouse portion of the Roosevelt Station project for a year and a half, culminating in the moves.

Peaks Custard supplied coffee and assorted accoutrements at the site.

A marked “oversize load” truck waits to lead the convoy to 15th Ave NE.

A scrum of utility workers, Sound Transit staff, and Nickels Bros. movers huddles around a woman leading the pre-move safety meeting.

A Seattle City Light worker adjusts an overhead line adjacent to the moving site.

Part of the crowd gathered across the street from the townhouses on 12th Ave NE, waiting for the move to begin.

A shot of the full scene along 12th Ave NE taken from up by the Roosevelt High School track.

The first townhouse now partially IN 12th Ave NE.

A Nickels Bros. worker attending the “rear” of the first townhouse as it slowly makes its way down 12th Ave NE.

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11:45 PM – Seattle City Light here now, working on the overhead wires. The truck supporting the first townhouse to be moved has crept forward a bit, testing the load.

11:04 PM – The action really starts happening at 12:01, in case you at home would like to come down.

10:50 PMstrong> – On site now. Lots of folks on hand, neighbors and Sound Transit.

8:52 PM – Setting up the live coverage post here, and adding the street closures due to the relocating townhouses (per Sound Transit):

Streets will be closed as the convoy moves through the area and reopened after the convoy has passed. Street closures include:

  • 12th Avenue Northeast—closed at the intersection of Northeast 65th Street and 12th Avenue Northeast
  • Northeast 66th Street—closed from Roosevelt Way Northeast to 15th Avenue Northeast
  • 15th Avenue Northeast—closed from Cowen Bridge to Northeast 68th Street

The route will be “east down Northeast 66th Street to final destinations on 15th Avenue Northeast just south of Northeast 65th Street.”

Our next update will be around 10:45 PM, when Sound Transit will be available to the media at the current townhouse site (NE 66th St and 12th Ave NE).

Filed Under: Events, Light Rail, Live Coverage, Photos, Roosevelt, Sound Transit, Updates

Roosevelt Station 60% Design Open House (LIVE COVERAGE)

April 10, 2012 by 2 Comments

This Wednesday, April 11 finds Sound Transit staff back in the Roosevelt High School Commons (1410 NE 66th St) for the Roosevelt Station 60% Design Open House. The open house runs from 6-8:30 PM, with the presentation portion starting at 6:30 PM.

A fun bonus to this particular Sound Transit open house is that the initial concepts for station art will also be revealed. (You may recall that the Meet the Artists event schedule for January 20 was postponed due to snow.)

The Roosevelt Neighborhood Blog has a good overview of the artists selected for the Roosevelt Station.

For those of you who can’t make the event (and/or want to read about it later), we will once again be providing LIVE COVERAGE: Just head on back to this very post to follow along live (and/or read about it later).

Filed Under: Light Rail, Live Coverage, Meeting, Roosevelt, Roosevelt High School

Ravenna-Bryant Community Association Spring Community Meeting tonight (LIVE COVERAGE)

April 3, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Packed house for last year's RBCA Spring Community Meeting

This evening at 7 PM, the Ravenna-Bryant Community Association holds its Spring Community Meeting at the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center (6535 Ravenna Ave NE), and it’s looking to be a good ‘un.

Speakers include:

Jim Diers: The original Director of the Department of Neighborhoods, and author of Neighbor Power: Building Community the Seattle Way. You can read Jim’s full bio on his website.

Seattle City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw: CM Bagshaw is currently the Chair of the Parks and Neighborhoods Committee, and will be speaking about Greenways. Read her bio on her Seattle City Council website.

Ravenna Blog will be there! If you cannot attend, follow our live coverage below, or come back and read our notes at your leisure.

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Full disclosure: Ravenna Blog is on the RBCA’s Communications and Community Safety Committee. Our next meeting is Wednesday, April 18 at the Pied Piper Ale House (2404 NE 65th St), start time of 7 PM. You should join us.

Filed Under: City Council, Civic Envolvement, Live Coverage, Meeting, Ravenna, Ravenna-Bryant Community Association, Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center

Roosevelt Station project updates and meetings (Monday LIVE COVERAGE)

March 21, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Lots of nearby North Link Light Rail news to report, including two open houses, building salvage, and fate of “overbuilding” at the Roosevelt Station.

Roosevelt Station Construction Open House

On Monday, March 26, Sound Transit staff will be hosting the Roosevelt Station Construction Open House at the Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center (6535 Ravenna Ave NE). The event goes from 6-8:30 PM, with the presentation portion starting at 6:30 PM.

Topics for the meeting include (via Sound Transit email):

Revised construction schedule
Construction noise and the night-time noise variance process
Updated street, sidewalk and parking restrictions
Potential construction mitigation measures

Ravenna Blog will be there covering the event. You can follow along at home on this page for live coverage, or come back later to read our notes at your leisure.

Roosevelt Station 60% Design Open House

On Wednesday, April 11, Sound Transit will be holding the Roosevelt Station 60% Design Open House in the Roosevelt High School Commons (1410 NE 66th St). Initial art concepts will also be presented (you may remember that the Meet the Artist event in January was canceled due to snow). This open house also runs from 6-8:30 PM, with the presentation starting at 6:30 PM.

One part of that 60% design that we will not be seeing is any “overbuilding” of the station itself.

Sound Transit Decision on Roosevelt Station “Overbuilding”

At their February 23 meeting, Sound Transit board members were “presented recent analysis of the technical, financial and housing capacity implications of accommodating residential structures directly above the future underground Roosevelt Station.” Benefits and costs to “overbuilding” were discussed, but the board ultimately confirmed that the design of Roosevelt Station should proceed without providing accommodations for overbuilding the station entrance.

Sound Transit Board meetings are archived here, should you want to watch the “overbuild” discussion (though the player may not work on your mobile device).

Station Site Salvaging Begins

In other North Link news, Sound Transit says that building salvaging is underway at both the Roosevelt and Brooklyn* Station sites (though a drive-by of the Roosevelt Station sign on Sunday showed that the neon Standard Radio sign was still in place).

Visit Sound Transit’s Flickr photostream to see pictures of current salvaging at the Brooklyn Station site, as well as happenings all along the Light Rail route.

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*We’ll be calling the University District station “Brooklyn Station” as long as Sound Transit does.

Filed Under: Construction, Light Rail, Live Coverage, Meeting, Ravenna, Ravenna-Eckstein Community Center, Roosevelt

Full Council vote on the Roosevelt Rezone (LIVE COVERAGE)

January 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment

On Monday, January 30, at 2 PM, the Seattle City Council will vote on Council Bill 117379, better known as the Roosevelt Residential Urban Village rezone.

We will be watching the live stream (via the Seattle Channel) from Ravenna Blog HQ and covering the action in the space below. Readers may follow along (and make comments) during the live event, or come back later to read our notes. We will also embed the video of the meeting here once it is available.

SPOILER ALERT: The Full Council meeting agenda already includes eight of the nine Councilmembers’ votes (then Council President Conlin was absent from the December 14, 2011 Committee on the Built Environment meeting due to illness).

Filed Under: City Council, Live Coverage, Roosevelt, Roosevelt Rezone Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Committee vote on the Roosevelt Rezone likely this Wednesday (LIVE COVERAGE)

December 13, 2011 by 1 Comment

UPDATE (1:57 PM): Today’s Committee on the Built Environment meeting footage has now been archived by the Seattle Channel, and we include it here.

UPDATE (12:18 PM): The Councilmembers present at today’s meeting of the Committee on the Built Environment have voted to move the Roosevelt Rezone (with the 65-foot-heights on the blocks just south of Roosevelt High School) forward to a full council vote. Full council vote likely to take place on January 17, 2012.

For more details about the vote and today’s COBE meeting in general, read our archived coverage of the meeting below.

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Tomorrow, Wednesday, December 14, the Seattle City Council’s Committee on the Built Environment meets to discuss and possibly vote on the Roosevelt Neighborhood Rezone (Council Bill 117379).

The meeting starts at 10:30 AM in the Council Chambers of City Hall (600 Fourth Avenue) with the Chair’s Report, then moves into 10 minutes* of public comment before the briefing on the bill begins.

We will be covering the event LIVE, right here, starting around 10:30 AM. Our notes will be archived here after the meeting, as well.

Recent Background Information

Just last week at another COBE meeting, the Committee discussed four different rough design options for the three blocks south of Roosevelt High School, before showing a preference (five of the eight councilmembers in attendance) for Option 2: A zoning designation of NC2-65 with over 25,000-square-feet of open space at street level.

You can download the entire design presentation by GGLO, “Development Standards for the High School Blocks,” in PDF format (5.03 MB) here.

An image of Option 2 from the GGLO design presentation. The view is from NE 65th Street, facing north toward the high school.

The next day, COBE Chair, Councilmember Sally Clark, summed up the rezone process so far and clarified her position on it on her blog.

Councilmember Bruce Harrell weighed in as well, on his personal blog. While he states his prefererence for design Option 2 at 65-feet, it was his “understanding that throughout the long process of neighborhood planning, the surrounding communities consistently made it clear that these three blocks should be protected from 65 foot heights.” Councilmember Harrell did not state specifically how he would vote, he did say that “[W]hat matters most to me…is that communities are ensured that their local government is truly listening to them when deciding how this city should look in the future.”

Then, today, a curve ball

Only yesterday, Publicola teased that Councilmember Nick Licata would be adding an amendment to the Roosevelt Neighborhood Rezone bill which would leave the three most contested blocks out of the rezone altogether. Today, Licata shared his position on the rezone on his Urban Politics blog.

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*Ha!

Filed Under: City Council, Live Coverage, Meeting, Roosevelt, Roosevelt Rezone, Video Tagged With: , , , ,

Rally and march near Montlake, University Bridges this afternoon (updates)

November 17, 2011 by 1 Comment

This afternoon, the 99% are coming north of the cut.

A rally and march are planned for the University of Washington area, starting at 3:30 this afternoon.

From Working Washington’s facebook page for the event:

On November 17, people from across the area will converge at the functionally obsolete Montlake Bridge to demand our political leaders build bridges to good jobs, not make more cuts. This is part of a national day of action for jobs that’s happening in dozens of cities across the country.

The schedule of events today appears to be:

3:30 PM – Gathering at the grassy area just west of the intersection of Montlake & Pacific

4:00 PM – Rally

4:30 PM – March

One possible route the march could take we’ve gleaned from the website The Stand, a project of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO (WSLC) and its affiliated unions. The Stand describes the march route as starting near the Montlake Bridge, but ending at the University Bridge to the west, due to “safety concerns cited by the Seattle Police Dept.”

A call to the front desk at the North Precinct reveals no final march route plans in place at the time of this writing; however, the officer on the phone said “they’re having a big summit on it right now.”

Capitol Hill Seattle echoes the march route move to the University Bridge, citing a Thursday Day of Action itinerary (at the bottom of the post).

UPDATE (12:14 PM): The Seattle Times’ Today File confirms the move to march to the University Bridge instead of to Montlake, citing the information on The Stand’s website that we mentioned earlier.


View November 17th rally and march in a larger map

UPDATE (12:21 PM): The Seattle Department of Transportation has sent out the following traffic advisory (via email):

SEATTLE  An Occupy Seattle rally and march today has the potential for creating major delays on all arterials leading to and from Ship Canal bridges during the afternoon commute.

The rally is scheduled to take place between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m. on the University of Washington campus and then is expected to march west on NE Pacific Street to the University Bridge at roughly 4:30 p.m. The demonstrators plan to block the bridge during the afternoon rush hour so their presence will likely cause traffic delays throughout the afternoon commute until after 6:30 or 7 p.m. Demonstrators may also block the Montlake Bridge during that timeframe.

Seattle Police Officers will be on hand to minimize traffic congestion but the blockage of any one bridge could impact other nearby Ship Canal bridges. Commuters should allow additional time for detouring to another route. Motorists who must get to the University or Children’s hospitals should plan for extra time to reach their destination.

The protests could be very disruptive to transit service this afternoon. For information or questions about transit service, please call Metro Transit customer service at 206-553-3000, and sign up to receive Transit Alerts at www.kingcounty.gov/metro/alerts.

UPDATE (2:44 PM): The Seattle Department of Transportation has a network of traffic webcams across the city, and there just happens to be one at Montlake Blvd NE @ NE Pacific St (first picture revealed after you click the camera indicated by the picture below).

This rally and march is part of a larger “Mass Day of Action” planned for today, with events happening all around the country.

Filed Under: Events, Live Coverage, Northeast Seattle, Photos, Seattle Department of Transportation, Traffic, Updates Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,
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