Crews from the Seattle Department of Transportation will close the Magnolia Bridge from 8 p.m. Friday (Jan. 29) until 8 a.m. Saturday morning (Jan. 30th) to perform maintenance work. If crews are unable to complete the work Friday night, they will again close the bridge from 9 p.m. on Saturday (Jan. 30) to 8 a.m. Sunday, (Jan 31). The Magnolia Bridge connects the Magnolia Boulevard West to 15^th Avenue West, and connects the Magnolia neighborhood to the rest of Seattle.

During this time drivers will still be able to access the Galer Street Flyover to Piers 86 thru 91. Access to the Marina and the Palisades Restaurant will be available via one of the ramps for two way traffic with flaggers. The west bound ramp will be closed first, and crews will continue our work across the width of the bridge to the south side. Then they will then close the east bound ramp and open the west bound ramp to two-way traffic with flaggers.? Other drivers may use the West Dravus Street or the West Emerson Street bridges.

Metro buses will be rerouted. For information about bus service, look for Rider Alert notices at bus stops, see Metro Online,? or call (206) 553-3000.

Crews will replace worn grout pads between the bridge deck and the steel beams. This and other periodic maintenance helps to prolong the useful life of the bridge.

Magnolia Little League offers T-Ball, Girls Softball and Baseball programs to the youth of Seattle?s Magnolia neighborhood. Established in 1954 and a member of Washington District 8, Magnolia Little League fields approximately 500 players on 45 teams.

The T-Ball program is co-ed for players aged 5-6 years old. Players aged 9 years and older are eligible to be selected to play competitive inter-league baseball and girls softball. Players with physical and mental challenges, ages 4-18, or up to age 22 if still enrolled in high school, can enroll in the Challenger Division to enjoy the game of baseball.

Preseason Clinics (will not interfere with?this week’s Seahawks game)
MLL has partnered with Mark Linden at Baseball Positive to hold preseason batting and pitching clinics in Magnolia on Sunday evenings (Jan 17, 24, 31, Feb 21, 28) at Magnolia Community Center. Mark and his staff have worked with training coaches for MLL and nearly every little league in the Seattle area for several years. These great high-energy skill development clinics will be right in our backyard. Space is limited to 12 per session. Baseball and softball are welcome. Register here.

By reporter Steven Smalley

The unexpected passing of a family member has the proprietors of Josefina?s Mexican Grill in mourning. Pedro Vasquez (32), the son of Josefina and Carlos Vasquez, owners of the restaurant on Thondyke Avenue, died of a heart attack recently which left his two small children without the support of their father.
The mother of the toddlers, Alexandra Hrycenko, works at a Starbucks downtown. Her shifts begin so early that she cannot take the bus.
?I?m trying to transfer to Everett,? she says. ?Right now I pay $400 per month for parking.?
Her two boys, Julian and Gabriel, are three and four years old.
?The oldest one has the most trouble…it?s the hardest thing to explain in an age-appropriate way,? she says. ?It?s difficult to do things all by myself. It feels like I lost everything. It?s just me and my kids and I?m trying to do the best I can for them.?
Magnolia Voice was alerted to the plight of the family by a customer of the restaurant where the late Pedro Vasquez worked as a cook for his mother and father.
?The mother is devastated,? the customer said. ?I think they are hoping to set up some kind of fund to help the young family with costs and expenses to tide them over ’til they can figure out what to do.?
A fund has been established at the Wells Fargo Bank on 15th (across from Whole Foods). Those who wish to donate can ask to have funds placed in the Vasquez Family Fund, or ask to speak with Joel, the branch manager.

Stop by for a meal, if you can, and help the family.

From MV reader Ali

I had just parked on the side road along the east side of QFC (16th West) noonish today and was about to get out when I suddenly saw a guy running…from over near the Q Caf? & the area with the little church that faces 15th. He crossed in front of my car, keep looking behind him to see if he was being chased, ran north down the sidewalk, then turned west into the first parking lot, towards the industrial area. I’ve never seen anyone run so fast in my entire life so I took a good mental description of him. I talked to some city workers who had also seen him and I was figuring out what to do–call 911, etc., when I heard sirens. I eventually saw a police car go down the same road, so I jumped back in my car and went that way, intending to tell them the general direction the guy had gone.

By the time I got over there, there was already a blockade of a few cop cars in an intersection (17th and Thorndyke), all pointing inward like they had simultaneously converged on the guy, and he was handcuffed up against the car, resisting, and yelling…for them to get their hands off him. I told the police what I had seen so that they could corroborate that was indeed the guy who had been running. It wasn?t hard?he was dumb enough to be wearing a very distinctive-looking jacket.

They couldn’t say anything about what he had done but by the way everything appeared, it must have been pretty serious. I?ll be curious to hear what it was about?like everyone else in Magnolia, I am just so tired of the dirtbags and criminals who have ruined this neighborhood. Just within the last 3 weeks, I and three other neighbors have all had our cars prowled and windows broken?and this is only within a ONE-block area!)

This photo was sent in from another reader.? Thanks, Jerry!

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By reporter Steven Smalley

They?ve had enough.
About 350 residents of Queen Anne, Ballard, North Seattle and Magnolia neighborhoods gathered at the Magnolia United Church of Christ last night for a standing-room only meeting to address criminal activities surrounding illegal RVs parked on streets around town. Surveys and raised hands indicated most attendees were victims of one crime or several attributed to the inhabitants of the vehicles. This was not a happy crowd.

The Neighborhood Safety Alliance, a nascent community organization headed by Magnolia resident Cindy Pierce, set the agenda and led the meeting with others in her group. It took a concerted effort to keep a lid on the crowd that was told at the outset it was not allowed to participate. The order to remain silent didn?t sit well with many in the audience, as indicated by the occasional shouted outburst.
Police, city officials, politicians, and one spokesperson from each neighborhood were the only ones who spoke at the podium.

?Using drugs, manufacturing drugs, causing property crime, auto theft, car prowls, burglaries, packages stolen off of porches, stolen bicycles …,? Cindy Pierce enumerated a long list of alleged crimes by inhabitants of illegal RVs. ?I think most of the people in the RVs are criminals. I don?t know who [the criminals] are, and I don?t know where they came from, but they?re here. We?ve got to get rid of them.?
A few homeless advocates in attendance likened the vitriol assigned to illegal RVs to an attack on the homeless.
?We are absolutely not against the homeless at all. We are a compassionate group of individuals who believe they are people who need our help,? said Pierce. ?Believe me, we?ll be the first ones who will be at their side. We are just not going to deal with illegal RV parking, drugs, garbage, needles, and meth labs.?
Assistant Chief of Police Steve Wilske spoke on behalf of the department. He said Seattle officers have their hands tied in regard to the RV problem because police need to operate within the bounds of the constitution and probable cause. He emphatically stated there were no orders to maintain a ?hands-off? approach to the RVs. Wilske said all instructions to officers go through him, and no one was ever given to stay clear of RVs.
Police have a difficult time witnessing crime committed by inhabitants of illegal RVs. Even parking laws are easy to circumvent if the vehicle is moved every 72 hours, according to Pierce.
?I say we change the law. We simply not allow RVs on our city streets, just like Shoreline did,? she says. ?We?ll compromise for those truly down and out. There should be a place for them to go. We?re for that. The Safety Alliance is no longer going to put up with a city that just does what it wants. People are tired of it. We can?t afford to bring people in from all over the country to ?Free-attle.?
As the meeting continued, some in the audience indicated vocal disapproval in the absence of the mayor. Scott Lindsay, Special Assistant on Police Reform and Public Safety, and others from the administration, did their part to assure attendees all was being done to address the RV dilemma.
Seattle City Council member Mike O?Brien faced a hostile crowd and spoke numerous times. He indicated ? to much disapproval from the audience ? his want for the city to provide housing, toilets, and other facilities to assist the homeless.
?Homelessness is not a crime,? he said.
Shouts from the audience demanding he address crime and not homelessness, met with more conversation about the need to give the homeless more infrastructure, which in turn resulted in more derision from attendees. At times it nearly turned ugly.
One politician who spoke and received a warmer reaction was Seattle City Council member, Sally Bagshaw. Her remarks more equally mirrored the feelings of the crowd. Her support for ridding the community of criminal elements present in RVs was met with genuine support.
?I?m pleased to hear from Sally Bagshaw,? Pierce said. ?She gets it. She understands we need to take the RVs off the street, separating the truly homeless from the criminals.?

In closing, a spokesperson for The Neighborhood Safety Alliance summed it up.
?Public safety demands that our elected officials take immediate action,? she said. ?It has been declared a crisis. We demand emergency action to make us all feel safe again. We want the mayor to stop this epic and flagrant disregard of the law.?
The crowd erupted in cheers.
Pierce says the next meeting, soon to be announced, will allow the community at-large to have its say. The venue, as yet to be chosen, will have a larger capacity.