Idriss Mosque Battles Religious Extremist

At last night’s meeting of the Victory Heights Community Council (read the complete minutes here), we heard from Hisham Farajallah about an unfortunately problem they’ve been having at the local Idriss Mosque on Northgate Way. A religious extremist has taken it upon himself to show up outside during Friday afternoon prayers with very offensive signs, a video camera, and the hopes of sparking a confrontation that he can “document” and go viral with. The feeling at the mosque is the best way to deal with this protester is to ignore him, apparently he hates that. They are hoping volunteers can show up on Fridays to help attendees avoid interactions. They don’t want a counter-protest. They don’t want to engage him. Just have everyone ignore him.
On the plus side, the mosque will be hosting an open house pre-Ramadan event on Saturday, May 5th starting at 5:30 PM that will include tours and a potluck. It’s worth checking out.
In other news, our emergency communications HUB in the park has been installed (or at least the storage box we got from the city using the grant we won). And we’ll be testing it at our “NO POWER, NO BARS” drill on Saturday, April 28th between 9 AM and noon. This is a city-wide event to simulate what would happen if the electricity failed for a long period of time. We need HUB volunteers (no experience necessary, and you get to wear a neat hat), as well as actors who will be given scripted scenarios to help the volunteers practice (again, no experience necessary). You might end up doing both. Bring the kids, last year’s drill included a very helpful Scout troupe. Our GoFundMe campaign is still going on, we hope to raise some funds to buy walkie-talkies, tables, and other things that the HUB didn’t come with.
The Victory Heights Neighborhood Yard Sale will be Saturday, June 16th from 9 AM – 2 PM. We have received permission to close NE 106th Street along the west side of the park, if people want to bring their stuff to be sold in one central location. Or let us know where your yard sale will be and we’ll have maps.
The next meeting is Tuesday, May 15th when Officer Kennedy from SPD will be speaking about dealing with homelessness, particularly the person who is camped out on 19th Avenue NE and Northgate Way.

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