• On September 1, an Aston Martin DB7 with a retail value of $140,000, registered to none other than Dale Chihuly, was pulled over by Seattle police officers in the University District, reportedly for reckless driving. Once stopped, the driver “mouthed off to police” and was promptly arrested, according to a source. Lincoln Towing confirmed it had the vehicle, but spokespeople for Chihuly say the driver was neither Dale nor his wife, Leslie, just a joyriding friend.
• That same evening, several pit-bull owners gathered in Westlake Park “to show their love and support for the breed and their dogs” by posing photos of their pit bulls with babies, says photographer and pit-bull lover Michel Vis.
• The Seattle Police Department announced that it was clamping down on violence in Cal Anderson Park over the weekend by adding seven patrol officers and arresting a 17-year-old girl for allegedly selling marijuana.
• The Economist condemned Seattle this week for failing to wage a war on cars, noting that in Seattle alone “three cyclists have been killed in the past few weeks.” They recommend European standards in which cars near cyclists “must slow down to about 19 mph.”
• Eleven cyclists have been killed by vehicle collisions in King County between 2004 and 2009, a public health official said on September 6.
• Two campaigns are gearing up to defeat a fall ballot measure that would require $60 car tabs for all vehicles registered in the city. Maple Leaf activist David Miller says the measure is oversold to trick voters into believing it buys more transit service and sidewalks, when it funds no additional bus service and only nine blocks of sidewalks a year. It’s a “joke,” says Miller.
• Controversial former Seattle Municipal Court judge Edsonya Charles is back on the bench as a judge pro tem less than one year after losing reelection. Which just goes to show, it ain’t easy kicking a sitting judge—even one rated the worst in Seattle by the King County Bar Association—off the bench.
I was skateboarding in North Spokane down a very large hill around 11 PM over the summer. I ended up in a neighborhood that happened to house one of Spokane’s finest sheriffs. As I’m making my way back towards the hill, a goldish buick starts to drive very slowly by me. I head towards a soccer field because I can pretty much predict a sheriff would be there within 5 minutes. Because, what right does a dark-skinned man have walking around their neighborhood with a skateboard in the middle of the night? No shit, within 5 minutes of leaving that neighborhood, a police helicopter shows up shining its spotlight all around the street I was on and eventually towards the soccer field where I was making my escape. The light made its way about 15 feet behind where I was standing. I slowed down to a walk because I felt the impending doom of their power and resources compared to my mere Associate Arts degree and skateboarding skills. The helicopter turned itself away from the field and headed South towards the highway. I breathed a sigh of relief while my stomach turned in knots. I couldn’t believe that my physical appearance and presence was enough to warrant helicopter intervention. I still have panic attacks whenever I see a police officer.