White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Notes from last night’s North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting:

At left, that’s North Highline Fire Chief Scott LaVielle, who briefed the group on his impending retirement in late February. He talked about the several steps taken to close the budget gaps that the fire district was faced with. He introduced North Highline Fire Commissioner Rob Spreier (with him in the photo), saying he will take over most of the high-level management work after he leaves. Other items:

CRIME: King County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeff Hancock told the NHUAC it’s been a rougher month than the area’s seen in a while: 1 rape; 1 aggravated assault on a 19 month old girl; 2 stabbings; 6 robberies, all mini-marts or gas stations in the area, and one person robbed at gunpoint after being pulled into a car outside a grocery store;13 vehicle thefts, 14 drug arrests, 29 warrant arrests.

CODE ENFORCEMENT: A complicated discussion that took a lot of time without many conclusions – commercial activities on an industrial-zoned property along Myers Way that has nearby residents wondering if King County codes were being followed; the agency represented at the meeting said that it didn’t have jurisdiction and offered the residents some suggestions on where else they might take their concerns.

NORTH HIGHLINE ANNEXATION DELAY: Burien City Manager Mike Martin and two Burien City Council members attended the meeting; Martin said the official annexation date has been delayed until April 1st because of the Puget Sound Park wrangling (see our report from earlier this week); he says several other things still need to happen for the annexation to be finalized. Regarding the park’s future, Martin told NHUAC, whatever happens to the park has to happen because the people of the city of Burien want it. If they want a library there, then that could happen, but he said a decision would not be forced on them. He also said he wanted to dispel the notion that Burien just wants the park in order to sell it.

REMEMBERING CHERISSE LUXA: In the public-comment period Liz Giba mentioned the community activist who lost her cancer fight last month would be remembered during a memorial gathering at Mick Kelly’s Irish Pub on January 27th, 7 pm, with a “semi-formal presentation” around 7:45.

The North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meets the first Thursday of each month, 7 pm, North Highline Fire District HQ.

Thanks to Liz for calling our attention to the sad news: Barb Peters of the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council and North Highline Fire District board lost her battle with cancer this week. There’s a tribute to her on the NHFD site; see it here. From the published obituary that Liz forwarded:

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent in Barbara’s name to: North Highline Fire District Aid Car Fund, 1243 Southwest 112th Street, Seattle, WA 98146. In her memory, Barbara asked to please spend time with a child that is close to you. That time spent and your love for that child will be with Barbara forever. A graveside service will be held at 1:30 PM on Monday, November 2nd at Riverton Crest Cemetery, 3400 S.140th, Tukwila 98168 with a reception following at Rainier Golf and Country Club, 11133 Des Moines Memorial Dr. S.

You can read Ms. Peters’ full obituary here. She was 72 years old.

Just noticed it while adding links to our previous story about the Evergreen Pool rally; see the North Highline Fire District’s updated website here.

Interesting data on the North Highline Fire District website – a running total of how many calls NHFD has handled so far this year (updated less than two weeks ago): 828 fire calls, 3,716 aid calls, through 11/17/08. (That compares to 1,051 and 4,021 for all of 2007, so fire calls are running at a slower pace, aid calls at a faster pace.) Those numbers and a few more are on this webpage.

At the old Southgate Skate Center, now rebranded Southgate Event Center: Doors open to buyers at 1 pm. Also today, the North Highline Fire Department has a pancake breakfast this morning at Boulevard Park Place as part of the regional “Give Burns the Boot” fundraiser.

This morning’s annexation-issues meeting with Seattle reps visiting North Highline Fire District headquarters lasted only half an hour. Kenny Pittman from the City of Seattle said he’d come looking for “continuing discussion,” hoping it would help lead to a “direction.” A document presented at the meeting recapped the concern that had arisen prior to Burien temporarily withdrawing its annexation request, and laid out three potential annexation-related scenarios, one of which would call for a new fire station in White Center – read on: Read the rest of this entry »

Lots of news at today’s North Highline Fire District commissioners’ meeting – including the fact there will soon be fewer meetings. With everything new that’s on the home page, we’ll jump this one ahead – click for the full scoop: Read the rest of this entry »

Lots going on this week and three to remind you about for starters: The North Highline Fire District commissioners’ regular bimonthly meeting is 8 am tomorrow at district HQ; then at 8 Wednesday morning, it’s the special meeting with Seattle reps re: annexation issues, as announced at the last NHFD commissioners’ meeting. Thursday night, the White Center/South Delridge Community Safety Coalition meeting starts at 6 at St. James Place - tons of important info at these meetings every month, and free dinner too. See you there!

As we reported here earlier, the prospect of a potential community fireworks ban came up at this morning’s meeting of the North Highline Fire District‘s commissioners. Now, as the legendary Paul Harvey says, “the rest of the story” — at least, the rest of what was discussed before commissioners went into executive session. First: Annexation, since the district is one of the agencies whose future depends on whether the area is annexed and if so, by whom. It was announced that the commissioners plan a special meeting with City of Seattle reps at NHFD HQ, 8 am Sept. 24, the day after their next regular meeting at the same time/place on Sept. 23. (This is now added to the White Center Now Events Calendar page, along with other dates announced at today’s meeting.) Read the rest of this entry »

White Center Now covered this morning’s North Highline Fire District commissioners’ meeting at NHFD HQ, and several news items emerged. Perhaps the biggest one: Commissioners are looking into sending a letter backing a new county proposal to allow communities (such as White Center and the rest of the unincorporated area) implement fireworks bans. One meeting attendee expressed concern that this might hurt fundraising efforts by local groups that make money from fireworks sales each year. No formal action has been taken so far. The commissioners also discussed a variety of items from annexation to training; more on that in the next post.