City crews showed up at North 97th Street and Dayton Avenue North this morning to start cleaning up the overgrown sidewalk where two women were attacked last week, with one of them being abducted and raped. One suspect was arrested at a Ballard bar two nights ago.
Photos by J. Elizabeth Sheriden.
Neighbor Julia contacted the city right after the attack to ask the city to clean up the dangerously overgrown area. She said another neighbor also contacted the city, and others were about to, when the city workers showed up.
In this instance, the city normally would have had the area on its maintenance schedule but the residents at 97th and Dayton Ave N. said they would maintain the strip. However, health or time or whatever prevented that and the area overgrew deeply with thickets of roses, ferns, scratchy brush and ivy…One passer by said, “We want the women to know they can be safe here.”
When the city was notified, everything just happened to fall into place and the City was able to respond quickly…It is important that the criminals know our police will catch them, our city will prosecute them, our jury will render a verdict, and these women will hopefully receive justice and peace of mind knowing that their neighbors care deeply about the safety of the neighborhood. In large part, things fell into place well.
The four-person city crew cleaning up the overgrown area around North 97th Street and Dayton Avenue North.
Thank you to Julia for the tip and photos!