According to Perry Cooper of the Port of Seattle, Saturday morning (April 10) around 2:55am, a car apparently lost control, hit a ditch and then crashed into the southern perimeter fence of the Sea-Tac Airport runway on South 188th Street.
The Port posted security at the site until fence repairs were completed about 2pm Saturday.
No word yet on whether there were any injuries, but the gate was totally wiped out.
Publisher/Editor Scott Schaefer was driving past the scene Saturday morning when he stopped to take these photos:
When Jacob Ambaum Park (located on Ambaum near SW 128th) opened up last May, we received numerous emails and comments from concerned parents about the lack of a gate or fence to protect little ones from running out into the busy street.
Well, just this last week, a brand new fence and gate was installed by the City of Burien, possibly due to Reader comments like:
Not my personal ideal children’s playground location, nestled in between gas stations there, and right along the busy road, but I hope it can stay kind of nice for a while. – Seashell
Well, it looks like a really fun park for my boys of 4 and 9 months. Unfortunately I won’t be going there until it’s completely fenced in. Ambaum is too busy for an ornamental fence with two exits facing the busy street. Turn your back for a 1/2 second and the kids are in the street. I’m not the only one who feels this way. The Moms group I belong to has also boycotted this park until it’s safer. - burienmom
…we also will not be visiting this park until it is completely fenced in. No gates + small children + busy street = really bad! Too bad, we live so close. – jenamarie
Attempting to play a role as neighborhood watchblog, we forwarded all emails and comments onto Michael LaFraniere, Director of Burien Parks, who promised us action.
It took a little while, but at least something happened!
For you local history buffs out there, here some background on Jacon Ambaum Park:
The history of Jacob Ambaum Park includes not only details of Jacob Ambaum’s life and times, but also the story of the roads and streetcar line he helped build – both of which played a vital role in opening up Burien to settlement and development.
In 1870, the Soloman family purchased 319 acres in North Burien from the U.S. Government. The Solomans settled near SW 128th and Ambaum Blvd, an area known as Mayfair and Hermes Depression. Soloman hoped that draining this swamp would yield rich bottomland for farming. After failing to do so, however, he sold off the land. Some of the early buyers included the Jacob Ambaum family.
A skilled jack-of-all-trades, Jacob Ambaum, a German immigrant via Ohio, was a road-builder, realtor, investor, and chicken rancher. In 1902, he brought his wife, Mary, to homestead in Hazel Valley. Ambaum’s thickly timbered property extended from 126th to 128th SW, and from Ambaum Blvd. to 8th Ave. SW, including the present site of St. Bernadette’s School. An existing house, dating to the 1880s, sat on the property. A new house was built in 1916. The Ambaums’ homestead was bordered in the front by a large gate flanked by imported Norway spruce.
According to a story on KOMO News, a Burien woman got so frustrated with Comcast’s lack of response to their graffiti-covered fence that they called the TV station’s “problem solver” hotline.
Marilyn Grinols tried to get a nearby graffiti-covered fence repainted by Comcast, which owns it.
Grinols tried calling the cable giant, only to get the brush-off, telling her they’d “get in touch with a supervisor” which of course they never did, leaving the tagged eyesore untouched.
So she did what every good American would do – she called the “problem solver” at a local TV station, and guess what?
The graffiti was removed within one hour!
And, despite having employees like Ken Schram and John Carlson (a former high school buddy), we tip our hat to KOMO for scaring the bejesus outta Comcast.
Read the full story here.
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