Update Feb. 9: Maura emails to say her car was stolen overnight.
We live on Fifth Avenue Northeast, very close to 80th as the cross street. They had to jimmy the lock, dismantle the alarm and hotwire the car to drive off, Silver Chrysler Sebring- nothing special about the car… All while we were sleeping in the house, nearby. My husband heard a dog barking loudly at about 3a.m….but who knows when it happened. They not only took our car, but car seat &~ golf clubs were hidden in the trunk. So bummed about this.
How can we become more involved with helping stop the crime in Maple Leaf? This is definitely going to hit the pocket book.
See her comment below – Maple Leaf Life
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Jim emailed this morning to say: “Our car prowled on 8th Avenue Northeast at Northeast 91st Street.
“Busted a window and took $5-$10 in coin, broke the coin tray.”
Like many neighbors, Jim experienced the most common crime in Seattle – a car prowl. “Most car prowls themselves take less than two minutes. The damage done to locks and windows can be very expensive to repair and cause great inconvenience,” according to Seattle police.
We last wrote specifically about car crimes in October. Then, 23 cars here were reported broken into or stolen over 28 days.
There are places where the risk is greater. One of them is Northeast Northgate Way, among the parking lots adjacent to the mall and across the street, and in the block immediately east of the mall. (See example above.)
Terrie Johnston, Seattle Police crime prevention coordinator, ran car prowl numbers this afternoon for December, January and February to date for police patrol district Nora 3. (See map.)
Of 43 total car prowls during that time, a third of them occurred along that stretch of Northgate Way, she said.
Why? Well, “it’s a target-rich environment,” Johnston said.
Reading down the list of reports, she came up with thousands of dollars in merchandise stolen from shoppers’ cars in minutes.
It’s where last week’s cherry picker was stolen, too.
The police advice sheet on keeping cars safe starts with: “Take all valuables with you when you park, and make sure all items, regardless of value, are not visible.”
Speaking of troubles involving autos, a neighbor in Maple Leaf’s south-west corner emailed over the weekend that he’s having problems with an early morning delivery car “that has a muffler modified to sound like a race car, and it is very noisy at the 4:30 a.m. hour that he comes through.
“It is very loud and can be heard over a 1-2 block radius as he winds through the area.”
The delivery car’s dispatcher says additional complaints would be needed before taking action, according to the neighbor, who is hoping to round some up.
Anybody else being bothered in the wee hours by loud cars? Let us know.
Haven’t the Seattle Times been delivering papers in our neighborhood at that time and noise level for 50+ years? It seems like these are normal sounds living in an urban city environment that have always been here. I’m just kind of thankful people still read the paper in print and it’s still getting delivered, you know that’s something whose days are numbered.
The best thing to do is to go around to your neighbors and exchange email addresses. Set up a block watch. If you need help, we can connect you to the SPD’s community policing team.
Our public safety contact is Howard.Handewith@MapleLeafCommunity.org
David Miller
Maple Leaf Community Council
OMG! Our car was stolen last night, parked right in front of our house. Corner Of 80th and 5th AVE NE. Busy road-doesn’t stop them…they took our CAR SEAT along with it! I use to think Maple Leaf blogged too often about these prowels but here we are on the other side of it- bought and moved here in September & 6 months later they took our car!
What can we do to get more involved with helping stop the crime in Maple Leaf? Any Suggestions? I am furious!
To Get Real and Stop Whining – it isn’t just an old muffler, it is a muffler that is intentionally designed to be noisy — like a glass-pack muffler, popular with some young people today to make their small cars sound powerful.
And isn’t just the muffler, it is how he delivery guy chooses to drive… accelerating… stopping… accelerating… stopping… this continues for nearly an hour in our section of the hood between 4:30am and 5:30am and each acceleration sounds like a LOUD motorcycle racing by. It is completely obnoxious.
The guy doesn’t have to lose his job, he just needs to get a regular muffler instead of a race car muffler, and change his driving patterns.
Lots of delivery people are able to deliver the morning paper without waking up the neighborhood, but this guy isn’t.
BTW, I had a Seattle Times paper route as a kid… I did it on foot and by bike. Delivering by car was for the rich folks.
To Sleepy, if you are on Facebook, join in the conversation there at Maple Leaf Life and we can make a united complaint to get this obnoxious behavior corrected.
I too saw the “black male selling children literature” on 80th/13th NE yesterday. He approached someone in his driveway as I drove by. The reason I know this is the same guy is b/c he has been to my house before. He has been reported on-and-off in Maple Leaf, Wedgewood, Ravenna (blogs) area for the last few years, and he reportedly transports around via bike. He knocked on my door at about 8 PM (in the dark) about 2 months ago. He completely disregarded the large “no soliciting” sign on my front door that would be impossible to miss. I refused to answer the door, yelling for him to leave. He did so, scrambling onto his bike and peddling off. Very suspicious. As I recall reading about him on other community blogs, he is reportedly a bit “off” or weird, but can be very assertive and try to talk himself into your home. I’ve read multiple reports where this guy has had the police called on him. I also read another report where he was asking various homeowners where the children lived on their block.
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Here’s a link to earlier coverage – Mike
Northgate Community Centers van had a window smashed last Sunday Morning. Nothing was taken but the van is in the shop for repair.
Also not as big a deal as a car break in, but my son’s razor scooter and children’s bike were swiped from behind our house (alley access). I’m pretty sure it was just some kids, because they left a higher value stroller behind. I figure there is a chance someone might find them abandoned in a ditch or something in the next few days.
As I was getting out of my car this afternoon I was approached by a Black male saying he was selling “children’s literature”. He approached me in front of my house while smoking a cigarette and appeared to have no literature on him supporting his cause. Very suspicious. He then went on to a number of other houses.
Thank you for some perspective Get Real. I’m glad the whiny people who comment on this blog aren’t representative of the neighborhood as a whole!
All you’re going to do by complaining about this is lose someone their job. You don’t “earn a living” delivering newspapers, you barely squeak by and hope your car keeps running. Coughing up the dough for a new muffler probably isn’t a realistic option for the delivery person.
I have complained three times to the “area’s largest newspaper”. Usually is better for one, maybe two days, then back to normal. Wakes us up at least three times a week – would love it if the noise stopped.
To followup the person asking “what company” in reference to the loud delivery car… I think the editors at Mapleleaflife wanted to not post that for legal reasons. I’ll just say its the area’s largest newspaper. I spoke to the delivery person one morning, he didn’t seem that interested in fixing the issue, and didn’t seem to be aware of how loud it was. I was hoping to find out if others are bothered by it. I understand everybody needs to earn a living, and the paper needs to get delivered, I just think it can be done in quieter manner.
I saw broken auto glass today at NE 88th ST just off Roosevelt Way near the coffee shop, at 8th and 91st as mentioned above, and one more on 8th AVE NE toward Olympic View Elementary. I hope everyone who has this happen to them reports it to the police. Maybe we can get more patrols.
Speaking of crime…
None of this warranted a 911 call but it’s something to note in regards to the burglaries. Around 1pm I was outside and encountered a man I’ve never seen before making a beeline across our rental property around the corner into a small alley. He got into his car which was parked directly on the other side. What’s odd about that?
There was plenty of parking available in the neighborhood for residences and businesses. He was walking a long way in proportion to his car. Cutting through our property and around and through an alley tells me he really knows the area but again, I’ve never him before. He may have been casing the area. Our neighbor had packages dropped at their front door less than an hour before and those were right out in the open.
The man got into an older silver Honda sedan. License plate began with 3. He was about 5’10”, African American, some facial hair, wearing jeans, a green camouflage jacket, and boots. Maybe I’m being overly suspicious, but it looked suspicious.
“The delivery car’s dispatcher says additional complaints would be needed before taking action,..”
what company?