I'm all for healing dialog or just plain munificent karma between Seattle-ites of different races, sexual orientations and political parties, especially around the enveloping warm glow of a LEGAL beach fire at Alki in West Seattle, or Golden Gardens in Ballard. Some bulgogi, carne asada and roti make things even smoother. But today - a month and a few days after I pointed out here that city staff paid to enforce rules were ignoring a clearly-visible illegal Alki beach fire outside the designated fire rings, and after I observed that many said illegal burnfests were trashing the beach with spiky charcoal shards - I saw once again how serious the problem remains.
Only this time I took digicam pictures.
Read on. (Apple Safari users must click on time stamp to continue).
These pix are hosted off-site (at the great free service Photobucket) so we're not gobbling up valuable Sound Politics bandwidth by posting the honking big shots you're about to see.
At 55th Avenue S.W. and Beach Drive S.W. today I saw the remains of three illegal Alki beach fires that left loads of charcoal shards all over the sand. The 2.5 mile-long Alki Beach is, or maybe that should be was, the crown jewel of the city's park system - more here on Alki's considerable splendors from Parks and Rec. But for all the beach fire "public forum" fol-de-rol about meeting everyone's needs, Alki's prime spaces are increasingly full of sharp, burnt wood shards that make walking barefoot all but impossible, and render the sand ugly and uninviting.
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and the City Council have utterly failed to solve the problem, and I can't help suspecting that if we had council members elected by district, instead of at-large, this problem would already have been addressed through horse-trading to ensure appropriation of necessary funds for more extensive beach patrol and clean-up manpower.
Here's one of illegal fire debris piles I saw today near 55th Ave. S.W. and Beach Dr. S.W. That's hilly Magnolia in the background, across the water.
Now, a good indication here of what's left in the sand for visitors, even after the large charred logs are removed.
Finally, the, ah, good news. Kids build neat forts, partly from the charred logs (see the center column).
Yes, thousands are dead in New Orleans, Iraq is struggling toward liberty, and U.S.-based Islamicist terror cells are refining plans to kill more of us on our own soil. And yet I'm kvetching about shards of spiky black wood on a city beach in Seattle? That's right, I am. I'm a taxpaying property owner. And properly-maintained, amenable city parks, where city ordinances are upheld and enforced, are part of what I expect in return for the thousands per year our household pays in property taxes. Seattle's schools have just about gone right down the tubes as it is. We could at least hold the line on city parks.
As it stands now, I'm really getting gyped.
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at September 08, 2005 07:17 PM | Email ThisIt's becoming increasingly evident your blog is dying. You reeeallly need to branch out and touch the significant issues of our time.
Your endless, pointless, tiresome rants about King County politics and how much you hate Ron Sims and Dean Logan were wonderful back in January and during the "Rossi really won the election trial".
But it looks like folks are tired of all that and have moved on to a confront a pointless and extremely expensive war in Iraq, and a Republican Administration that can't shoot straight, or take care of domestic tragedies, much less international tragedies of their own making.
What do ya' say? How about focusing that steel trap mind of yours on something worthwhile; like our national debate on what flavor of Supreme Court we want.
With all my respect and admiration....
Posted by: Unkl Witz on September 8, 2005 08:51 PMThis IS about local politics. All meaningful politics begin locally! You want to live in a ghetto? Go ahead. I saw this slow deterioration in my old city back east. I don't need to repeat an experiment to understand its effects.
First, it's the diapers in the park and the overloaded garbage cans. Next, it's the shopping cart in the duck pond, followed by some tires and other shyt and grafitti. Soon, you have what was once pleasant local beauty for 30-40 years turned into a crap hole in just a few years.
Race and ethnicity aside, a slob is a slob. A bum is a bum. A vandal is a vandal--they come in all colors. Some in the NW have not seen this lesson firsthand, so they dismiss it as local trivial whining. Other city folk like me have watched neighborhoods go to hell quickly after being tidy for 30-40 years.
When the illegal "fly dumpers" drop loads of junk on YOUR property some night, call me and let me know how YOU feel. It's all about respecting private and public property as your own--no excuses.
Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on September 8, 2005 09:07 PMA quick way to solve the illegal beach fire problem: call out the fire boats!
Seriously though, I wonder what the biologists would say about effects this type of activity has on the tidal zone. Seattle USED TO BE rich with starfish, crab, anenome and all manner of diversity. But for twenty years or more it has gone STERILE at our major beach parks. So if the enviro-troopers can't or won't take on the MACHINE in this town about this, who will? Aren't there heron-worshippers or some such around Seattle to take up this challenge?
Yes -- clean it all up -- cleanliness uber alles -- BAN ALL fires at Alki beach -- you can have your sterile picturesque postcard white sand beach -- it will fit in with the tenement condos and help keep your property values pumped up -- don't forget to check your yearly update property (TAX) assessment -- LOL
Posted by: Bill on September 8, 2005 10:05 PMToo funny.
Posted by: Dave M on September 8, 2005 10:24 PMmaybe you make some points--like missing the rich variety of seafood; however, you ignore the point that--given a choice--some people will ALWAYS crap up the game for all--be it beach crowds here or poachers in the American wilderness; things have to be monitored or chaos will prevail; however, I'm not fond of e.coli (or whatever) from raw sewage in my snout; medeival European disease lessons should have taught you that one;
as for the pig boats and other mechanized chewers of kelp beds, maybe so; i've seen a lot of stupid navigators and i don't even have a boat; our modern fishing efficiencies have caused great stress on all marine life; guess we need to regulate our super-efficient hunts just like on land with deer or other game;
maybe the blame is not properly on the "regulators" or "keepers," but justly on the super-efficient "consumers" of the resources like you & me--i'll gladly take a ration if it preserves the whole hunt;
Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on September 8, 2005 10:25 PMThe answer? More cops. That's why we're here to vote for republicans.
Until then - how about lets set up an SP BBQ @ golden gardens - anyone?
bv
Posted by: bmvaughn on September 9, 2005 12:25 AMWe have thrashed this point over and over again.
This local.
You "complaints" about national issues have been decisively proven wrong by myself and many other posters.
Until you get a clue, and are cured from your cranial rectal inversion--
Foxtrot Oscar.
Posted by: JCM on September 9, 2005 07:57 AMThe dedicated public servants hire to do this task are very active in beach volley ball player inspections, but do little to enforce their reason for being on the beach.
It exemplifies the entire mindset of Seattle Politics. It is how we get WTO, Mardi Gras, acity council more concerned with national nuclear policy than city policy, encouraging drunken behavior, homelessness and vagrancy.
In and of it self and in isolation the fires on Aliki are a very little thing. But taken in context it is another "broken window" in Seattle demonstrating the complete breakdown of leadership in the city.
Posted by: JCM on September 9, 2005 08:35 AMYou people are clearly angry just to be angry. You must all live hate-filled lives.
"OOhhh! I'm angry at the beach fires at Alki! Argghhhh! Angry! F&8k Ron Sims... it's his fault."
This blog has clearly jumped the shark.
Pun intended.
Posted by: grznt on September 9, 2005 10:39 AMwrong-o; you miss the point; this is about the graffitti on YOUR garage; the fast food refuse tossed 5 feet away from a garbage can in a parking lot;
it's about deadbeats ruining your stuff; simple; perhaps you don't mind the repeat graffitti on the I-5 highway signs, too? they are repainted now about 2-3 times a week--that's obscene--the perps need their little pinkies put in a vice and SQUEEEZED!
you like the "ghetto look?" not me; not most taxpayers who work & pay for things; "Tent City Mentality"--well--that's another matter; your friends--not mine;
Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on September 9, 2005 11:21 AMYour point is well taken. Creeping deterioration is a problem. First you have an incursion into Afganistan, then a senseless war in Iraq, then we relax national environmental standards and neglect emergency management by appointing patricians to high government office, and before ya know it, half the planet looks like a shyt hole.
It kinda makes a few bonfires on Alki beach look like small potatoes.
But the main issue and whole point of this blog is that the politicians we love to hate are local. And that's who we weep and wail and gnash our teeth and rend our clothing about. We hates them, We HATES them, WE HATES THEM!
Posted by: Unkl Witz on September 9, 2005 12:02 PMAgain you show your self to be reading impared.
What part of LOCAL do you not understand.
Posted by: JCM on September 9, 2005 12:34 PM(Yes, I recognize that the "you moron" part was gratuitous, but it made me feeeeeel better. Isn't that what it's all about? ;'}
Posted by: alphabet soup on September 9, 2005 01:12 PMyou can weave your multinational points into any topic; so....? it is irrelevant to THIS thread;
your point to me is like comparing France's union workweek hours to the price of bread in Norman, OK; apples and oranges; my retort---how does an idiot on the SEA Council affect a guy in Afganistan?
example: Little Witz stands up in geography class and exclaims: "Two plus two is FOUR!" The teacher politely admonishes Little Witz's outburst saying: "Very good--an intelligent point--BUT----not germaine to MY class..." Little Witz proceeds to enroll in college and is the guy who used to burn Little Jimmie's nerves by asking, "...do we HAAAAVE to read EEEE-VRYTHING on the syllabus?!!..." (Jimmie's answer--no--just go ahead and frekin' fail the course, you whiner.)
let's keep this thread to its title--PUGET SOUND commentary; your other opinions, pehaps thoughtful and intelligent, deflect from the LOCAL issues at hand that people come here to hash-out; and hey--always good to hear from you--seriously--one jouster to another;
Posted by: Jimmie-howya-doin on September 9, 2005 02:29 PMReally though. It is just assholes more than anything else. Back when "schools were good" the folks I hang around with, and that helped clean up that very beach I spoke of, admit to being some of the ones who screwed it up years earlier. They just didn't know any better at the time.
Posted by: jimmy on September 9, 2005 03:45 PMAnd Ron G., don't you like a little variation in your local blog coverage? You may be solely concerned with ballot procedure and city tax projects, but normal people (and yes, I saying you're not) also want to see a walkable beach that won't give their little ones splinters or worse. I loved Alki when I lived in Seattle, but it had defintely deteriorated in desirability. The broken windows theory of crime would predict that leaving the charred and scattered logs on the beach would eventually attract worse lawlessness.
Kudos to you, Matt, for broaching this subject in full knowledge that hardcore political types would bitch about it. You've shown that conservatives can care about their environment too.
Posted by: Greg on September 9, 2005 11:42 PMLive to the liberal to broach the race issue. Once again proving it is the moonbats who class people by skin color and not content of character.
God you are pathetic.
Posted by: JCM on September 10, 2005 07:42 AMgo back to your fellow KosKiddies and don't bother the adults.
Posted by: doug on September 11, 2005 01:09 AM