So saith a jury of her peers.

Did you know that Rainier Avenue South is 30 times as dangerous for cyclists as the Burke-Gilman trail—site of the city-identified "most dangerous" spot for cyclists in Seattle, the intersection of Northeast Blakely Street and 25th Avenue NE? That intersection has seen seven serious bike-car collisions in the last four years. Adding in the rest of the Burke-Gilman trail gets you to 35 major collisions a year. That sounds like a lot, until you consider that the Burke-Gilman sees between 2,000 and 2,500 cyclists a day. Rainier, in contrast, has about 140 cyclists a day—and 25 major crashes a year, according to the Cascade Bicycle Club, which did the analysis. That's an "exposure rate"—bike-nerdspeak for crashes per rider—nearly 30 times as high as the Burke-Gilman, a corridor of roughly equal length. The fact that Rainier is so dangerous is one obvious reason you don't see more cyclists on it—but it also makes the city's apparent decision to shelve a proposal to shrink a long stretch of Rainier from four lanes to three, adding bike lanes and calming traffic, all the more indefensible.

Seattle Police have raided a Madison Park nail salon and a South Seattle home after receiving complaints about a possible prostitution operation.

According to search warrants, detectives began surveillance on the Lavender Beauty Salon and Spa on 29th and Madison in mid-October after they were contacted about “the number of males frequenting the business.”

The warrant says one male detective "has been inside of a nail salon before and knows the smell of nail salons and nail polish. The Lavender Beauty Salon and Spa did not have the smell of any kind of nail treatments." Police also searched online escort review sites for information on the spa. Here's one:

Your budget will not get you the best looking girls in town but Lavender which was just talked about is worth a try. $50/hr. Cheapest I am aware of.

Detectives and an informant made several trips to the business for massages while undercover and were offered $10 hand jobs and oral sex (price unspecified) by the staff, who documents identified as "Asian." According to documents, one spa employee told an undercover officers "no full service, hand job only" while another asked "me do?” while making a wang-stroking gesture.

Although the warrant indicates detectives received 30-minute massages, they "came up with a ruse" to avoid a happy ending.

The warrant does not specify what ruses the officers used, but feel free to let your imagination run wild.

Recently, several members of an alleged Seattle-area prostitution ring were indicted on federal charges, and Seattle police raided another salon on Aurora last August.

Prosecutors say the salon's owner, Kristine Nguyen, was arrested on November 14th, but charges have not yet been filed. Nguyen could not be reached for comment.

In this week's news section, I tear into some West Seattle residents (and drivers) who oppose a proposal to reduce Fauntleroy from four lanes to three (two traffic lanes and a turning lane). In my story, I quote four residents who turned up at an open house at High Point this Monday to protest the change:

"When I try to get on the West Seattle Freeway [sic], if I don't get out in front of ferry traffic, it can add another seven minutes to my commute!"

"I drive every day, and I don't think I've seen a dozen bikes on Fauntleroy. Why the hell are we spending all this money for them?"

"They should ban bikes on Fauntleroy until bikers get licenses just like drivers."

"Do you really think you can still go through with this now that the people have spoken?"

The selfishness of the first two comments is obvious, as is the idiocy of the third (as soon as my mode of travel is as heavily subsidized as yours, I'll happily pay a few bucks for a cycling license, guy). But it's the fourth comment that really stunned me. It was directed at a city traffic manager, whose calm response—"We're not taking a vote here"—infuriated the man who made it. He and a woman next to him immediately began sputtering about how if they weren't given a vote, then what was the point of even holding a public hearing?

I've got news for that guy and anyone who thinks that a few dozen zealots ought to be able to overturn city policy: Your public comment is not a vote. Just because you and your friends organized and showed up and all railed and screamed against making Fauntleroy safer for cyclists, that doesn't mean you get your way. Want to put a measure on the ballot? There's a process for that, and it doesn't involve showing up at one public meeting. If city planning was based on who showed up and screamed the loudest, we'd have no light rail, no Burke-Gilman Trail extension, and a massive new freeway on our waterfront.

A local architect is applying to change the former Capitol Hill Arts Center building's official use from “automotive sales and service to restaurant and performance arts assembly.” Although the building has contained a diner, bar, and theater for years, the "change of use" is now subject to public comment and review.

It turns out that—despite CHAC using the building since 2002—the owners, including the current owner Elizabeth Linke, never completed the application process to register the building for assembly.

"We had a series of permits over the past 10 years ... but [the owner and tenants] never actually completed the work or received their final inspection," says Bryan Stevens, a spokesman for the city’s Department of Planning and Development. "The permits they received had expired." The last completed inspection occurred in 1917, he says, when the building was an auto-repair shop.

Eric Koch, a principal at Partners Architectural Design Group who is working on the owner's behalf, says, “When the owner went in for a permit for seismic upgrade, [the city] didn’t find the use on file for restaurant or performance space.” He adds, “She definitely had no idea this was coming at her.”

But the review wasn’t triggered by a seismic upgrade, the city says.

“We don’t typically know that these illegal uses are out there unless someone complains,” says Stevens. “And that is what happened last year—someone complained.” That neighbor, no doubt, will be commenting to the city about those invasive restaurants and performance spaces, and you can too: over here.

Photo via Creative Traffic on Flickr.