Neighbors all over gather for National Night Out events

At a public housing complex in Kent, uniformed cops played soccer and snapped pictures of neighborhood kids, many of them immigrants, letting them know that this is not "Bad Boys," it's not their old country, and the police are there to help.

In Bellevue, several hundred Eastside residents mingled with officers at the police station at Crossroads Bellevue mall, where cops served up hot dogs and ice cream — and let anyone interested climb inside their new armored SWAT team vehicle.

And in Seattle's Chinatown International District, it was all about pingpong games and a pet parade as the increasingly residential neighborhood marked its first foray ever into the event known as National Night Out Against Crime.

Across the Puget Sound-area Tuesday night, neighbors met in groups large and small to mark the 25th annual National Night Out in ways as varied as the people and neighborhoods in which the gatherings occurred.

The idea for the Night Out event has morphed over the years from a low-key and largely symbolic affair — neighbors simultaneously turning on their porch lights in a show of solidarity against crime — to a nationwide block party that closes down streets.

In the Seattle area, the traditional outdoor potluck has grown in some places to feature everything from live bands to gift-giving, clothing drives, soccer games, watermelon-seed spitting contests — even yodeling.

For the first time this year, there also were Night Out events in downtown Seattle, reflecting the increasing number of people living there.

"Every year I've seen the number of blocks and number of participants increasing," said Mark Solomon, crime prevention coordinator for the Seattle Police Department's Southeast precinct. "It's about connecting with neighbors and sharing information, sending a message we are united."

When the National Association of Town Watch launched the first National Night Out in 1984, the thinking then — as now — was that residents might not be able to stop violent crimes, but they can discourage far more prevalent property crimes like burglaries and car thefts through vigilant watchfulness.

The event is also a way for people and police to get to know one another.

Among the Seattle police officers who patrol Beacon Hill, Judith Edwards has a reputation for offering the best party food year after year. Once again she hosted the potluck, at which neighbors chowed down on spring rolls, shrimp fried rice, lasagna and blackberry cobbler.

Elsewhere in Seattle, residents in Mount Baker, Greenwood and Georgetown have begun using the Internet to quickly alert their neighbors to graffiti, car break-ins and burglaries — which can help spot patterns or a common perpetrator.

"E-mailing and texting each other, that's all well and good," said Yalonda Gill-Masundiré, who is building a listserv for Rainier Beach block-watch groups. "But we need to get outside and meet."

And get out and meet they did last night:

West Hill neighborhood of Kent

Michael Hunter, 48, knows the value of good neighbors. They saved his tools.

At Tuesday's gathering, he recalled how he'd gone to bed one night having left his garage door open. A neighbor heard clanging noises and saw two people she didn't recognize handling Hunter's tools.

She called the cops, who arrived in time to book the pair, a wanted husband and wife burglary team.

"When you know someone, you're more apt to look out for them," Hunter said.

In the past three weeks alone in West Hill, more than 400 homes have signed up for a new neighborhood association and block watch. Since then, police said, crime has dropped by half to its lowest level in over a year.

Dawn Banfield, 61, a realtor who helped launch the neighborhood association, hosted the gathering, which featured entertainment by renowned yodeler Kerry Christensen. Banfield said the event celebrated that early success and also helped rekindle friendships among neighbors that have faded since their children grew up and moved away.

Shoreline

In the Echo Lake area of Shoreline, the focus is simple:

"Basically, it's a time to get together and talk to people you haven't talked to in a year," said organizer Linda Cranfill.

Tuesday night's potluck drew 30 to 40 people. Cranfill addressed the crowd and distributed maps with crime areas indicated. Their street, Wallingford Avenue North, did not have a lot of crime, she said. "The only thing we show on our street is ... nothing."

Kent

At the Springwood Apartments, a potluck can resemble the food court at the United Nations.

The feast Tuesday night was as diverse as the residents, who hail from such countries as Somalia, Ethiopia, Mexico, Afghanistan and Vietnam.

For some residents, the idea of trusting neighbors and cops is an unfamiliar one.

"You can't do this at all over there because there are wars and stuff," said Maka Ege, 18, of Somalia. "So it's a big positive change to this environment, especially for the African cultures."

After working up their appetites on the soccer field and basketball court, the youths and their families gathered in the community center's gym, decorated with world flags the children had drawn, for the multicultural meal.

"If the whole neighborhood gets together, then if somebody gets kidnapped or has a struggle, another person can call for help, but if they don't know that person than they're not going to do anything," said Ibrahim Abdirizak, 15, who moved to the U.S. from Kenya when he was 3 months old.

Chinatown International District

Neighbors played pingpong at Hing Hay Park and paraded their dogs on Main Street.

Hotel chef Mario Hernandez, 42, escorted his toy poodle, Lucky. Hernandez said drug users have threatened his wife and dog in nearby Kobe Park.

"I came out to show we aren't afraid, we live here." Hernandez said.

Daniel Cai, 79, who has lived in the neighborhood for 14 years and is retired from the International District Housing Alliance, said he, too, is worried about drug activity in Kobe Park.

"It's not safe in that park now," Cai said, "but it's safer than it was."

Belltown

About 50 residents gathered for a block party on Vine Street, and debated just how safe they felt in the neighborhood.

Peter Huenink recently retired from teaching at Vassar College in New York and moved into a Belltown condominium. He and his wife, Barbara, lamented that at 2 a.m. they can see the drug deals going on from their living-room window. "If we can see them, it's surprising police can't."

Bellevue

Bellevue police started staging the large Crossroads mall event in 1997.

Officer Tory Mangione, organizer of the event, thinks it's been effective. "Now people have no problem walking around at night and have no problem coming up to us."

Among the attractions Tuesday night: a bomb-defusing robot and booths where children could have their DNA taken.

Mangione tells a story about a Russian immigrant who would always walk by his police station, never looking into the window. Eventually, he started to look inside, then he would smile, then he would wave to Mangione.

"Then one day, he walked in, and said hello, then walked out," Mangione recalls. "Then one day he comes in and asks me if I would help him fill out a free T-shirt form for all the cigarettes cartons he'd been saving."

Mangione obliged, the two became friends, and now he serves as a tipster for police.