2008

April-May 2008: Eight neighborhoods held “open house” tables at their West Seattle locations to acquaint local neighbors with the purpose and location of the Emergency Communication Hubs.

June 2008: Did joint outreach with the Office of Emergency Management, resulting in the integration of 13 former West Seattle SDART (Seattle Disaster Aid and Response Team) groups into the SNAP (Seattle Neighborhoods Actively Prepare) program; also added 3 new SNAP groups. As well, held an informational session for seniors at the West Seattle Senior Center.

August 2008: We conducted a West Seattle neighborhood-to-neighborhood communications test using Family Service Radios. It showed dismal results, but was successful in that we confirmed the need to acquire more powerful GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) radios, or move up to HAM radios.

Ongoing: We have been asked to provide a formal delegates report each month to the SW District Council on our status. We have done outreach about this network at several West Seattle community association meetings, and had a display table at the SW Precinct Picnic in August 2008.

November 2008: We met with some of the ACS HAMs who live in West Seattle, and they are working to help build a HAM network that can work with us at our Emergency Communication Hub locations. You’ll find links to the ACS groups on our Other Communication Sources page.

December 2008: We conducted a follow-up neighborhood-to-neighborhood communications test West Seattle using more powerful radios. Results were more promising.