Burien, WA

Well, I should say the police helicopters flying over my neighborhood kept me up all night. I needed 3 cups of strong coffee just to get up and out of the house to go to my class today. I sat next to my office mate, Tom, who also lives about two blocks away.

I asked him if he heard the helicopters all night and he said, "Yeah, there was a shooting on Ambaum last night right by SW 124th St." This is the second shooting within 8 blocks of my house to take place in the past year, and this is not counting the rapid succession of gun shots that woke me up in the middle of the night earlier this year that was not reported anywhere.

What is happening in Burien? I live in a nice neighborhood on a cul-de-sac, around the corner from a brand-new school. It seems to me that the violent crime is escalating, though I don't know for sure. I'm starting to get a bit concerned, and my next post will illustrate another alarming aspect of Burien crime.

Below is an excerpt from the Seattle 911 blog regarding the shooting last night. Hector Castro is the blogger:

"Two men are in serious condition after they were shot while standing outside in a Burien apartment complex parking lot Thursday night.

The shooting happened at around 8:40 p.m. at an apartment complex in the 12200 block of Ambaum Boulevard Southwest, King County sheriff's Sgt. John Urquhart said.

There were three men in the parking lot when a vehicle sped in, Urquhart said. The man behind the wheel had some sort of verbal exchange with the three men, then pulled a gun and opened fire, he said.

The gunman shot two of the men before speeding off. Both wounded men were taken to Harborview Medical Center in serious condition, Urquhart said. One victim was described as a man in his 20s, the other was a man in his 40s.

Urquhart said detectives were still working to obtain a description of the gunman and the vehicle."

Here's a link to the West Seattle Blog, which has been providing updates on this situation, as well as commentary/information in the comments from concerned residents in the area that the police are searching for the suspect. An excellent example, by the way, of the how far a blog can go to serve the community and disperse accurate, timely, important information. If there's ever a disaster in W. Seattle I'm going straight to the blog first! (My opinion only, of course...) Let's hope the shooter gets caught right away.

My husband and I took our son swimming at my mom's condo. We started noticing a bunch of commotion.

I went out of the swimming area to find out what was going on.

Some of the neighbors were standing around one of the many shrubs on the property, expressing shock and disgust at the way in which they were "trimmed"(and I'm using the word "trimmed" loosely).

I can totally understand their anger and frustration. I'm fairly certain that these shrubs looked fine before they were attacked. I can't imagine that this would be an improvement over what they looked like the day before.

It looks like some Sedro-Woolley chainsaw artists took a break from creating salmon-eating bears out of giant tree trunks to come down here and moonlight as landscapers. Hey, if it's that easy, maybe I'll start a landscaping business.

Shinnyo-en Buddhist Temple in Burien is holding its annual Summer Festival on August 10th, from 11:00 to 4:00 p.m. It is an environment where everyone is welcome; even though I'm not Buddhist, some of my friends are, and I enjoy going there to learn about Buddhism and enjoy the fun activities with my family. The grounds are beautiful and impressive, the people are friendly, and the food is always delicious!

Four years ago the Critical Areas Ordinance was passed here in King County. The ordinance required property owners of acreage in rural King County to leave 35% of their property untouched as a buffer, for purposes of preserving and protecting wetlands, stormwater and the environment in general. The effect of this ordinance has been that in some cases owners have seen their property values plummet, or have been unable to utilize their property in the manner that they had originally intended.

It was just announced today that the State Court of Appeals has overturned this ordinance. Apparently, it turns out that government taking of land is unconstitutional...though you would think that county officials would know that small detail. If King County wanted to preserve rural land and protect it from development, then perhaps it should have offered to purchase protected portions of land from the property owners.

It'll be interesting to see if there will be lawsuits against the property for lost property values, permit fees, etc. Rural property owners have won this 4-year battle at last.

The other day my family and I went for an evening stroll at Seahurst Beach. My son had just been on a nature walk there with his school, so he was educating us on all of the different types of marine life that can be found there. I was really hoping to spot a sea otter; I did see one out there once about 2 years ago. But the only animal life I saw were wet dogs fetching sticks in the water.