<p>I read about the Lake Sammamish incident last year. We used to often head there for weekend picnics with other families in the 1970s. Again, much has changed…for the worse.</p>
<p>Of course that’s when my mom used to warn us not to go with a man named Ted who drives a tan VW before dropping us off at the beach . . .</p>
<p>We used to go to Marymoor, much more often. Or Juanita Beach. Or just down to the dock when i lived on Cottage Lake. ( this was when Woodinville had one blinking red light)
I think i preferred it back then.</p>
<p>Gee, do I remember that summer at Lake Sammamish when there were posters everywhere with photos of the missing young woman (Janet Naslund, I think) and a description of the man who we later learned was Ted Bundy.</p>
<p>Seems that since I’ve been away Lake Sammamish has followed the unfortnate path of Lake Washington/Seward Park in the late 1970s, when hotheads showed up at picnics with a grudge. It got so bad at one point that the SPD would park a cruizer in the middle of the intersection at the entrance to Seward Park for a few hours to prevent automobile access, since the troublemakers never arrived on foot.</p>
<p>“Much of the city has become affluent enclaves while working class neighborhoods have demographically lost ground to absentee landlords and folks who don’t have as many housing options”</p>
<p>Yes, and the affluent folks in their neighborhoods are just about as safe from gunfire as they would be in a far-out suburb. This is true in Seattle, Chicago, and almost every other US city. For good and for ill, the segregation is almost total. Yuppies and their kids are not in the crossfire. If they were, the police would make it stop.</p>
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<p>That’s the impression that I get in Boston - there are many very safe areas to live in but they are not cheap. If there weren’t, then Boston would lose businesses or parts of business to other places. Those businesses provide a lot of tax revenue to the city and state and there’s an incentive to keep them there.</p>
<p>But I see the overall level of violent crime in Boston to be far better than they were back in the 1980s. Back then I used to visit the bad areas regularly and at some point I stopped because the violence was got too bad.</p>
<p>BCEagle, years ago I read that one of the biggest complaints about Mayor Kevin White was that he favored downtown development/business over the outlying neighborhoods. Then again, what mayor doesn’t try to cater to the segment of their cities where substantial tax revenues comes from?</p>
<p>If you don’t provide business with a good environment, then your tax revenues decline and you have to raise taxes for everyone else. At the moment, the downtown shopping area isn’t in great shape. There is that massive hole in the ground that was supposed to be developed but hasn’t been due to the recession. Businesses do have Cambridge, Somerville, and nearby cities to the north as an option.</p>
<p>You have a lot of wealthy people that live in Boston or at least have residences there. These people patronize the theaters, restaurants, and other businesses which provide jobs and tax revenue. You don’t want to scare them away. You also don’t want to give any impression that students aren’t safe in the city.</p>
<p>My general impression of Kevin White is favorable. I didn’t live in Boston during his tenure but lived in suburbs or cities near Boston. Menino seems to be doing a reasonable job right now.</p>
<p>[2</a> killed, 3 injured in shooting at U-District cafe | Local & Regional | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News](<a href=“http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Several-injured-in-shooting-at-North-Seattle-cafe-Racer-155760105.html]2”>http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Several-injured-in-shooting-at-North-Seattle-cafe-Racer-155760105.html)</p>
<p>OMG!! 2 more dead in a shooting in the last hour!! This is another of those out in a public place in the middle of the day things that it seems like didn’t happen before. Belltown or Pioneer square when the bars let out maybe but not the middle of the day in a regular populated area.</p>
<p>A man who gave his name as Justin said he used to work at Cafe Racer. He said a friend was wounded in the shooting.</p>
<hr>
<p>Quote from Seattle Times article:
“It’s one of the few places I thought things like this couldn’t happen,” he said. “They play folk music. Everybody ‘s nice.”</p>
<p>How bizarre. They’ve locked down Roosevelt high school.
According to the 911 map there is also a weapons incident at town hall.</p>
<p>Yes they play folk music, but wasn’t someone shot at Folklife this weekend?</p>
<p>The Ave can be a magnet for thugs from out of town but Roosevelt usually seems quieter than that.</p>
<p>I mean our schools don’t even have metal detectors except hand held ones they use at dances.</p>
<p>Yes, there was a daytime shooting at folklife. This was on Roosavelt and a bit north - around 56th it said - not normal Ave. riffraff homeless, drug, kid stuff.</p>
<p>p.s. I think the point about the folk music was that the cafe is not some SODO hip hop or metal club that one might think would attract a certain element. It wasn’t overtly “lifestyle” related.</p>
<p>Here’s a link to the Folklife shooting
<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018312372_folklifeshooting30m.html[/url]”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018312372_folklifeshooting30m.html</a></p>
<p>[Woman</a> shot in SUV at Town Hall downtown | Seattle Times Newspaper](<a href=“http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2012/05/shooting-in-downtown-seattle/]Woman”>http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2012/05/shooting-in-downtown-seattle/)</p>
<p>Woman shot in the head about 11:30 today at Town Hall in suspected carjacking attempt - 8th and Seneca by the freeway entrances</p>
<p>Someone on another blog said the shooter was mentally ill, the shooter on Roosevelt not the car jacker.</p>
<p>Man, what is going on lately? This is just weird. Have the creeps started relocating here from elsewhere? Seems they mostly know exactly whom they are shooting at, but they seem to be crappy shots and get random people in the crossfire. Should we start wearing flak jackets to go shopping?</p>
<p>“Yuppies and their kids are not in the crossfire. If they were, the police would make it stop.”</p>
<p>Yuppies and their kids are generally not the ones shooting at each other, which is why they are rarely the victims. But anyone can be caught in the crossfire in public places, in the middle of the day.</p>
<p>2 shootings today–3 dead total. WOW–1 just a couple blocks from my office.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.king5.com/[/url]”>http://www.king5.com/</a></p>
<p>A dear friend has two kids at Roosevelt High School. She must be frantic. Years ago her kids’ elementary school in the area was also shut down because of a shooter.</p>
<p>Well, what can we expect to hear from the city fathers and our female leaders tonight?</p>
<p>“Someone on another blog said the shooter was mentally ill, the shooter on Roosevelt not the car jacker.”</p>
<p>DSHS will be to blame sooner or later.</p>
<p>I just saw a report that four were killed in the cafe shooting and that it was apparently domestic violence related. I don’t know if the woman whose Mercedes SUV was carjacked was a “yuppie” but she was shot several time in the back, so I’m doubting that the yuppies are feeling very safe today.</p>
<p>The thing in this area is crime related to prescription drug addiction. No area is immune.</p>