thanks mindy! it is just a fence but it still has a bigger, much bigger, issue surrounding it. i will see you at the meeting. i will find you and intro myself! thanks again for your help with this mess and not just being all talk and no follow through! i feel like that should be the police motto painted on the patrol cars here in seattle.

Looking forward to meeting you jules! Sorry to hear about your fence. Our garage was burglarized last month. Three bikes were taken. We are so peeved!

A 2 1/2 minute video showing the guys trying to break into Picolinos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UygMbIiVMvo

A 2 1.2 minute video showing the guys trying to break into Picolinos.

The D&D players are all at Ravenna Park...

jules - I highly suspect they are kids that probably live in quite a nice house. They just don't appreciate it and they have nothing to do.

Why can't kids just play D&D anymore?

mindy:
how cool. i will be there for sure as the community center is right around the corner from my house. i am more than ready to be on any call list or list to be a neighborhood helper with this crime BS as of late.

i look forward to maybe meeting some of you blog peeps at the meeting.

btw, my privacy fence got "tagged" last night with the word "LURK". what the hell is lurk? and thanks btw for spraypainting in RED on my fence dorks.

maybe if they had a house, or a fence, they would respect others?....

I agree Mindy. By bitch session, I simply meant alot of greviences aired w/ no solutions offered.

There's no doubt we need to clean up the mess with or without police help.

Mindy, I live several blocks south west of you guys, but I just wanted to say I really appreciate people stepping up like this. People underestimate the effect that things like this have not just on the criminals but the on potential criminals.

As an aside, I was at the Safeway on Market the other night and I saw a drug deal go down: Man pulls up in truck, woman pulls up, woman gets out and buys some drugs, woman drives away, man drives away. I was sitting in my car after buying some groceries watching it all happen (it was obviously a "phone order") and the whole thing was done in less then three minutes. And I thought, "What in the world can I do about this?" In hind-sight maybe I should have taken down the license plates and called the police, but would they have done anything? It was kind of distressing to see such an obvious breaking of the law and not be able to do much about it. I'd love to know that what to do if I see that again.

boardbrown -- I wouldn't characterize the first watch meeting as a "bitch session." Residents are extremely upset with the scarce attention SPD allocates to their calls and concerns. It's depressing to call 911 because you may be witnessing a drug transaction and you hear that it's not a "high priority." Granted, it's not the same as a burglary in process but still, to witness that kind of transaction and not have any kind of police acknowledgment---it doesn't give you too much confident in the future of our neighborhood.

I think the first meeting had to happen the way it did---kind of an unstructured airing out of frustrations. I was listening in the back and I got a better idea of what people want to see changed. Though I recognize it wasn't productive the way people were thinking and hoping it was going to be.

I promise the second meeting will be different, with everyone being able to voice their concerns but with the discussion being steered towards a tangible plan of action.

The way to keep crime out of the neighborhood is to actively participate in these kind of organized neighborhood efforts. If the police aren't going to do it, then we're all going to have to step up ourselves.

I moved into Loyal Heights about two years ago. I've got two young kids and my place of business is right near Larsen's Bakery. I've got a lot riding on the security of Loyal Heights and that is why I'm doing this.

I hope you come to the meeting with an open (and patient) mind, so that we can really nail down a plan to preserve Loyal Heights.

I sure hope this second meeting is more productive than the first. The first one was just a bitch session.

I want to find out how to help keep serious crime out of my neighborhood. I already know how to dial 911.

Yes, more money for cops and the bums move to another sucker city.

Is that a fact or wishful thinking? Can you cite any examples?

"does anyone know how blackshhep is doing unemployed? i hope well:)"

Thanks, Jules. I am still in the not-quite-gone stage - training people that make a lot more money than I do how to do the stuff I either invented or figured out for myself, and listening to them tell me how hard this is going to be for them. Good times, I tell you.

This is really stressful...I'm just looking forward to putting it all behind me! Thanks so much for asking. : )

Mindy - "you've got mail"...

Mickey: hope to see you there!

kim: so far the topics that will be discussed are setting up a neighborhood patrol group and schedule as well as what to do with nighttime problem areas (LHCC and other parks/playgrounds).

Let me know if y'all think of another topic. But I do want to leave the meeting with a firm action plan in place.

mindy--

do they have an agenda? the last time didn't seem like it fit the bill.

fauveress - LHCC was vandalized again?? Jeez. I can't believe this. And I was just remarking to a neighbor how quiet it has been at night near the community center grounds over the past two weeks...

I will try to make it to the March 12 meeting. Thanks for putting it together.

Loyal Heights Community Center was vandalized last night. Four or five windows around the center were broken.

There's going to be another Loyal Heights Neighborhood Watch meeting on Thurday, March 12 at 7:00 p.m. at LHCC. My name is Mindy and I am spearheading it.

"the results speak for themselves."

Yes, more money for cops and the bums move to another sucker city.

Yeah, you could cut "$40 mil for bums" out of the budget, but helping the homeless is one of the necessities of having a functioning civilization. If you're too cheap to pay for these basic necessities, well, look... There are places where they cut social programs down to nothing, and the results speak for themselves.

They were caught because my neighbor saw them, called it in, and identified the culprits AND their alarm went off.

"And by “pay” I mean pay taxes. Out of your pocket? With money? See? It’s like *the opposite* of being a cheap skate who won’t pony up and lets everything go to pot? "

Or move money from other programs ($40 mill for bums?). See? It's like being the opposite of being a fiscally irresponsible fool.

If it's so easy for them to get out of jail, we'd just like to know who they are and where they are. Convicted sex offenders' names and approximate location are posted so the public can be watchful. Seems like these petty thieves are a bigger problem.

The reason they were caught is because the police were right there in the vicinity when the alarm went off, right? Which kind of shows what happens when there's a cop around when you need one. Which kind of shows what it could be like all the time if we hired enough police to always have them around when we need them.

Of course you have to be willing to pay the police you need to hire to stop having the smallest police force (per capita) in the nation. And by "pay" I mean pay taxes. Out of your pocket? With money? See? It's like *the opposite* of being a cheap skate who won't pony up and lets everything go to pot? Am I making sense here?

Seattle jails are empty?

are you kidding, in seattle?...they won't go to jail. they will get their hand slapped and be back out trying to do it again next week.

funny comment, though:)

One hopes that they are currently residing in the Seattle lockup getting acquainted with a big fella anxious for a new wife.

long live rotten tomatoes....great great idea guys!

boardbrown:
i hear ya. i was sneaker outer kid too, well once. Then my raised in Kansas parents made me do hard labor and i learned my lesson real quick! i am far from an alarmist, i just see a weird trend and am trying to pinpoint it for my own sanity i suppose.

maybe we'll see each other around about once the spring weather kicks in! you can usually see me walking 2 BIG dogs on most evenings. ...or are they walking me?....

have a good afternoon. does anyone know how blackshhep is doing unemployed? i hope well:)

jm, that was my exact first thought. We should see their names and faces on this blog and others. Public shame is a great deterrent.

Personally, I'd like to see these two in stocks so we can all gather 'round and throw rotten tomatoes. :)

Jules, sounds like you live really close to me.

As for the kids, I notice them wandering around too...but hell, it's no different than when I was their age. I used to sneak out w/ my buddies and drink cheap beer in the middle of the night for no particular reason other than enjoying the rush I'd get by simply getting out of the house and away from what I believed to be overbearing parents. But we sure as hell didn't commit any crimes ('cept for under age drinking I suppose).

Now that I'm pushing 40, I'm more afraid of becoming one of those overbearing parents than I am of some teens wandering around the 'hood. Well, as long as they don't wake me up, that is.

thanks guys, jut pondering it all myself. i have really seen alot more kids late at night in hooded sweatshirts walking around my neck of the woods. i am right on 80th street not far from the fresh fish market, Salehs deli, robertino's, etc..

unfortunatley, i had some crazy flu hit me like a bus tuesday night and was home where sick people BELONG until sunday and in those few days at home all day i definatley observed some odd folks walking our hood that i have never seen before.

i am not at all saying kids in hoods are to blame whatsoever, just an observation. i guess, as we have always said on the blog, keep our eyes open for ourselves and our neighbors!

The cops were here until about 3:00 AM or so. (I live right around the corner.)
I sincerely doubt that school kids did this, or were responsible for the spate of car thefts/breakins in Ballard. Career felons, no doubt.

Jules, it's hard to know if school being out for this week has anything to do with the robberies. As we know from posts over the last few weeks, robberies and break-ins are increasing in the SPD north precinct areas. The people caught for the Picolino's break-in were (apparently) about 20 years old, so they may not be in school at all.

But I do agree that, in some cases, neighborhood crimes are committed by bored young people. (Although I also think their upbringing -- or lack of one -- has even more to do with their cavalier attitudes about vandalism and theft!)

do you think there is any correlation with these robberies and the kids being out of school and bored possibly? either way, i am happy they were caught too! there is so much of this occuring around here. geez, these folks need to get a life!

blueben-

robberies occur to PEOPLE not things. so a burglary is considered non-violent.

Pattys eggnest was hit in greenwood this week too.

This is a fine example of why these blogs are putting the daily newspapers out of business.

a fine example of why it would be good to have more police patroling the neighborhood.

Even the "non violent" crimes have lasting impacts. If you've ever had your house burglarized you know what I mean. The paranoia can last for years.
These two clowns were just lucky that they didn't run into one of the NRA4Life types who are just looking for an excuse to shoot someone.

LOSERS. I am pleased they were caught. I saw the broken glass this morning and was so angry at whoever is doing this.

Go easy on Ballard guy. Despite his sarcasm towards Carlyle , his definition of a non-violent crime is correct.

It's nice to hear that the Bad Guys get caught once in a while...

Was that last quote a pun?

Great news! Alarms do work.

How is it that folks who commit these crimes never seem to realize that the longer their spree goes on, the more likely they are to get caught? They don't even bother to change neighborhoods. I suppose they're not the brightest bulbs in the box.

Good job SPD.

Since when is a spree of destructive robberies considered a non-violent crime? Ballard Guy, please leave the inane theatrics to... well, kindergarten I suppose. Though it really isn't appropriate there either.

This break in shows that the local small businesses need those alarm systems. The Greenwood Senior Center on 85th didn't have an alarm and lost thousands of dollars recently.

Will they be released early under Reuven Carlyle's plan to release non violent criminals?

Great News!!

When these two are charged, shouldn't their names and addresses be published?