Standing Up For Kids – And Taking Back Our Neighborhood

Standing Up For Kids – And Taking Back Our Neighborhood
P. Scott Cummins © 2005 The Urbane R

In the early morning hours last Friday June 3, five people were arrested for criminal trespass inside Magnolia Elementary on 28th Avenue West. All of it was captured live by KIRO 7 News. Because one male suspect obstructed officers and attempted to flee, a canine unit responding located him in nearby bushes. Two females, both 22, were among the suspects. The other two males were ages 26 and 29. It all involved a lot of shouting, sirens, flashing lights, and drawn handguns.

Meanwhile, two males, both well into their twenties – and residents of Magnolia – make use of the 38th Avenue West water tower site to smoke marijuana and drink malt liquor. As a neighbor who regularly picks up the detritus left behind at the scene, I have firsthand knowledge of what they do there. Neighbors regularly report that they come and go on by foot on Dravus - toward Viewmont Way. Over the last five years they have caused thousands of dollars damage at the water tower site, destroying over a dozen trees planted there.

Notice something here? These are not “kids” doing pranks. The people doing damage to the peace and wellbeing of our community are well past eighteen, and that is precisely the point.

Last week on KUOW-FM, afternoon host Dave Beck invited callers to share their secret “Deep Throat” efforts to “fight the power.” One caller opined that in order to make the future better for his TEN YEAR OLD SON and to save us from global warming, he will regularly put sugar cubes in gas tanks of sports utility vehicles. Someone with a ten year old child is not them self a pranking youngster.

Meanwhile, this kind of activity is celebrated in a certain website called “Rotten Eggs” devoted to anti-social political action. For many people into that scene, the “Anarchist Cookbook” – published when I was in third grade – is the great legitimizer of their efforts.

William Powell, the book’s author, makes my point through his own regret: “During the years that followed its publication, I went to university, married, became a father and a teacher of adolescents. These developments had a profound moral and spiritual effect on me. I found that I no longer agreed with what I had written earlier and I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the ideas that I had put my name to.”

That has to be one of the least-reported changes of heart since Norma McCorvey became a pro-life activist.

So to follow up the perspective of Magnolia Community Club president Vic Barry from last week, let’s clarify the situation.

Our Magnolia teenagers should not be singled out as miscreants regarding this outbreak of vandalism, and here’s why: This is a continual problem. After only the most recent attack, when I recently counted OVER SIXTY eggs tossed at cars and houses in just a three block area, it was clear to me, this was an organized effort. Anti-social teenagers don’t get geared up with eggs by the pallet load for that kind of attack. This is anarchist “action” against the perceived “power structure.” In other words, that’s you and me. Magnolia is well known as the home of many noteworthy media and legal professionals. The anarchist effort is to take the “Starbucking” of downtown Seattle, inspired by the WTO riots of 1999, right to our doorsteps.

So what can we do about it? The first thing you can do is join the Magnolia Community Club - the clearing house for coordinated community effort. We are lucky to have committed community club leaders like Dr. Barry. And our chamber of commerce as well, who last year told Mayor Greg Nickels that his support and leadership for reform in public education in this city is the number one thing he can do to benefit the overall business climate. Our community leaders get the connection between the social fabric and the bottom line. If you join them, and get involved, we can address this issue.

A quick note to the Seattle Police: If our community policing efforts were truly proactive, we would get busy now doing outreach (and giving extra help) to the neighbors of large public sites and parking lots – the places that attract a lion’s share of trouble. Among these would be the abandoned school sites, the water tower, Bayview Playground, Lawton, Commodore and Magnolia Parks, and the Community Center.

The next meeting of the Magnolia Community will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, September 8, at Catharine Blaine School. The topic will be public safety in Magnolia. Until then, let’s get block watch efforts going, keep our porch lights on, and get to know our neighbors.