White Center Now: The blog about White Center

As noted here earlier today, questions have been going around regarding the new King County Budget and its effect on Unincorporated Area Councils, including the North Highline UAC, which represents White Center and other surrounding communities. Since KC Executive Dow Constantine never did get to the full answer during his KUOW appearance this morning, we pursued it this afternoon. Here’s what actually happened: A budget amendment proposed by and approved by the County Council – not initiated by the KCE – cuts funding for two county positions that supported the six Unincorporated Area Councils. So now, the county has to figure out what to do next.

County Council spokesperson Al Sanders reiterates, “The budget DID NOT disband the UACs. It did call for a study to investigate the possibility of combining the 6 UACs into one committee and to present those findings to the Council.” (Page 16 of the full budget document appears a little more vehement in this directive.)

KCE spokesperson Frank Abe tells WCN, “We will be working with the UAC’s on a new strategy for urban and rural unincorporated areas to make sure that residents continue to have access to county government and customer service that meets their needs. Those are primary goals of our countywide strategic plan, and for this administration. We will keep you posted as that work develops.”

The next NHUAC meeting would be Thursday, December 2nd; we’ll see if this turns up on the agenda then.

(WCN/WSB photo by Patrick Sand)
First, he got the hoodie – then, it was time to walk:

(WCN/WSB photo by Ellen Cedergreen)
This morning at White Center Heights Elementary in Greenbridge, King County Executive Dow Constantine joined in a Walk to School Month event:

He wasn’t the only celebrity on hand, though:

(WCN/WSB photo by Ellen Cedergreen)
Walk to School Month events are in conjunction with Feet First.

We heard this from Feet First and have just confirmed with the King County Executive’s office: KCE Dow Constantine will celebrate Walk to School Month by walking from Greenbridge Plaza to White Center Heights Elementary on Friday morning – they’re planning to leave Greenbridge about 8:20, if you’d like to join in.

Still making up your mind about King County Proposition 1? The Seattle Times (WCN partner) takes a look tonight.

A reminder, in this county news release:

Council Committee to host final evening public hearing on 2011 County Budget in Kent
More than 300 people attend meetings in Seattle, Bellevue, Snohomish

The Metropolitan King County Council’s Budget and Fiscal Management Committee will go to Kent to hear from the public on the 2011 Executive Proposed Budget:

Tuesday, October 19
6:30 p.m.
Maleng Regional Justice Center,
Jury Assembly Room 2E – 401 4th Avenue North, Kent

This is the last of four special evening public hearings hosted by Councilmember Julia Patterson, Chair of the Council’s Budget Committee, on the Executive Proposed 2011 King County Budget. The special evening hearings are an opportunity for the public to discuss their budget priorities. More than 300 people have attended the meetings held at the County Courthouse, Bellevue and Snoqualmie.

County Executive Dow Constantine presented his proposed $5 billion County Budget to the County Council on September 27. Over the last three weeks, the Budget Committee has reviewed the proposal, which includes $60 million in cuts to the $612 million General Fund budget. More than three-quarters of the General Fund is directed toward law, justice and public safety services, and those agencies are facing significant cuts.

Day-after coverage of the hearing will be available both online and on King County TV, seen on Comcast and Broadstripe Cable Channel 22. You can also sign up to follow the deliberations through the Council’s 2011 Budget Blog, Facebook and Twitter.

Countywide Community Forums are coming to the area – not White Center, but close. Here’s the invite, with an offer of free food, and a request for your RSVP:

OCTOBER 14: Countywide Community Forums event, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Freedom Church of West Seattle
9601 35th Avenue SW
Tel:206-937-1417
Community-wide forum and dinner hosted by the Freedom Church in West Seattle. Join us for dinner with Dick’s Drive-In burgers and shakes and for a stimulating discussion about the county’s $63 million shortfall and how it impacts you and your community. Please RSVP through the website or by calling (206) 937-1417, so we know how much food to provide.

You can find out more about the CCF organization by going here.

King County Executive Dow Constantine is presenting his budget proposal right now – and @kcnews has been providing key points via Twitter. They include 462 proposed job cuts. The full budget documents are linked here. The first public hearing is in the King County Council Chambers at the downtown courthouse, this Wednesday night at 6:30 pm. Meantime, here’s a county-budget overview from our partners at the Seattle Times.

The King County Council has four public hearings coming up about the county budget, and the closest one is in Seattle. Here’s the official announcement:

In preparation for a 2011 King County Budget that will include $60 million in cuts, the chair of the Metropolitan King County Council’s Budget Leadership team is encouraging the public to get involved by going to the Budget Committee’s four public hearings.

“During this difficult budget process, programs and services that our residents depend on are going to be cut or eliminated,” said Councilmember Julia Patterson. “We need to hear from the public about the services they value, their ideas for saving money, and how we can do more with less.”

Hosted by Councilmember Patterson, the four public hearings will be held:

· Wednesday, September 29 – King County Courthouse, County Council Chambers, 10th Flr, 516 Third Avenue, Room 1200, Seattle
· Tuesday, October 5 – Bellevue City Council Chambers, 450 110th Ave. NE, Bellevue
· Tuesday, October 12 – Mt. Si High School, Wildcat Court, 8651 Meadowbrook Way SE, Snoqualmie
· Tuesday, October 19 – Maleng Regional Justice Center, Jury Assembly Room 2E, 401 4th Avenue North, Kent

All meetings begin at 6:30 p.m. Day-after coverage of the public hearings will be available both online and on King County TV, seen on Comcast and Broadstripe Cable Channel 22. You can also sign up to follow the deliberations through the Council’s 2011 Budget Blog, Facebook and Twitter.

Follow the Council’s deliberations through Twitter, Facebook and our 2011 Budget Blog by visiting the King County Council Budget Web site at:
www.kingcounty.gov/council/budget.aspx

(Photos courtesy Gill, added Saturday night)
News release received this afternoon from King County:

Vandals cause unsafe conditions, force White Center SW 98th Street Corridor closure
 
A recently completed pedestrian corridor connecting new homes and a growing commercial area in the White Center neighborhood has been so badly vandalized that King County must close it for safety reasons.
 

Vandals ripped out the stainless steel railing and knocked out lights along the 98th Street Corridor, which was just opened in mid July. The corridor’s steep stairway is unsafe for use at night without the lights and handrails, however the ADA-accessible ramp that runs through the corridor remains open. The area was also vandalized with graffiti.
 
The 98th Street Corridor sits between the new Greenbridge community and the Central Business District along Southwest 98th Street. The corridor was developed as a result of the Land Use, Transportation, Air Quality and Health Study, which found that people who live in walkable communities are healthier.
 
King County collaborated with the White Center Community Development Association on the project. More information is available at http://www.kingcounty.gov/exec/whitecenter.aspx

King County Councilmembers say it’s in the hands of voters now – approve a two-tenths of one percent sales-tax increase in November (that’s two cents for every $10 spent) or face big budget cuts, particularly in criminal-justice services. We’ve got details on the announcement, and reaction, on partner site West Seattle Blog.

So says King County – they’ve got some work to do. Here are the details.

No forest/yard burning as of tomorrow morning, per this notice just in from King County:

In concert with the Washington State Department of Natural Resources and Pierce, Mason and Snohomish Counties, King County has called a Phase 1 burn ban to take effect at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 15, 2010 and will run through September 30, 2010. This burn ban applies throughout King County in both the incorporated and unincorporated areas.

Forest and yard debris burning is not allowed under a Phase 1 ban. This burn ban does not apply to federal forests or national parks, although these jurisdictions may have similar restrictions in effect.

This Phase 1 burn ban still allows recreational campfires in approved fire pits. However, campfires and fire pits are allowed only if they are located on private land with the landowner’s permission and if built according to the specifications below. These fires must:

• Be built in a metal or concrete fire pit, such as those typically found in designated campgrounds;
• Grow no larger than three feet across;
• Be located in a clear spot free from any vegetation for at least 10 feet in a horizontal direction, including a 20-foot vertical clearance from overhanging branches; and
• Be attended at all times by an alert individual with immediate access to a shovel and either five gallons of water or a connected and charged water hose.

King County Fire Marshal Jim Chan, in announcing the burn ban stated, “With local temperatures rising, we have called this burn ban to protect public health and safety during the summer months. This ban will be in effect throughout the summer and will be lifted on September 30, 2010.”

As reported here Thursday and Friday, White Center’s popular storefront-based King County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeff Hancock is leaving WC. We’ve since received from a source an e-mail circulating in the community, from KCSO Major Jim Graddon, originally addressed to a North Highline Unincorporated Area Council member, also confirming the move, with some elaboration:

… Dep. Hancock presented me with his formal request to step away from the White Center storefront position. He has personal reasons why this is a positive move for him at this time. He has shared some of those reasons with me and I support his decision. It is his choice how he shares those reasons with others. I am asking my command staff to work with him regarding his next assignment within the precinct. He is not being terminated from the Sheriff’s Office, nor is there any such consideration.

In talking with Jeff it had been our plan to accompany him to the UAC meeting on July 1st for him to present news of this change but it is clear there is some information of this already within the community, so I wanted to at least share this much.

Jeff has served in a very stressful and challenging environment for 3 years. I have seen the good work he has done and the relationships he has built, and he is to be commended for all of his efforts. I know that makes his decision all the harder for him and the community. But allowing him to move away from this assignment is the right thing to do.

We are in perhaps the most difficult times I have experienced in over 3 decades of serving our communities. We have had staff reductions across our agency in the unincorporated areas and are facing more. As you know this necessitated putting all of our storefront deputies back in regular patrol functions, at least temporarily. We face critical budget decisions as an agency and are unsure of the future of the storefront positions. This is simply the reality of our present circumstance .

We have always felt strong support from our North Highline community and it is my hope that will not change. Very good, dedicated deputies continue to serve the community. You shared your concerns about a noticeable growth in criminal behavior in the area. We will continue to do what we can to address those concerns as best we can.

Major Graddon

James G. Graddon
Chief of Police – City of SeaTac
Precinct Commander – King County Sheriff’s Office
Southwest Precinct

As noted in Major Graddon’s e-mail, this is expected to be part of the agenda for Thursday night’s NHUAC meeting (7 pm at North Highline Fire District HQ) – the new agenda’s not online yet but you can watch the NHUAC site.

From the weekly preview sent around by the King County Council – see what’s in the works for next week, after the jump: Read the rest of this entry »

Announced late today by the King County Council:

With King County’s general fund facing a $140 million deficit over the next two years and public safety services in jeopardy, the Metropolitan King County Council today unanimously approved a financial and performance audit of the Sheriff’s Office called for by Councilmember Larry Phillips. The audit will be conducted by the King County Auditor’s Office with scoping and preliminary work to be completed in 2010, and the full audit due in 2011.

“The Great Recession has reduced funding for criminal justice programs at a time when families can least afford to pay more taxes to make up the difference, so we must seek every efficiency possible in the Sheriff’s Office to reduce costs and maintain vital public safety services,” said Councilmember Larry Phillips. “Through an audit of Metro, we were able to find enough savings to offset transit cuts for two years. We don’t anticipate similar monetary results through this audit, but every efficiency counts.”

The audit will review regional and local law enforcement services in comparison to the state mandated levels of regional and local law enforcement services and any applicable benchmarks.

“Auditing the Sheriff’s Office is a proactive step towards creating a more efficient King County government,” said Council Vice Chair Jane Hague. “A similar performance audit of Metro last year allowed us to prevent cuts in service. Hopefully we can do the same thing here, so we can maximize the amount of service for each taxpayer dollar. In this economic climate our constituents expect us to keep all options on the table when it comes to saving money.”

“Our top funding priority has been to preserve our public safety system, but we need to make sure we are doing it in the most efficient way possible,” said Councilmember Kathy Lambert, chair of the Government Accountability and Oversight Committee, which directs the work of the Auditor’s Office. “Sheriff Rahr has done an admirable job of keeping our citizens safe, but now with declining resources, that task becomes even more challenging. Our criminal justice system – including the sheriff, courts and jails – now is 76 percent of the general fund. Our Auditor has the expertise to advise us about how to stretch every dollar to its capacity, so this is a good time to apply that capability to the Sheriff’s Office.”

The Executive previously proposed sending to voters the option to offset criminal justice cuts by raising $47 million in 2011 through a two-tenths of one percent local option sales tax. This proposal did not garner the six Council votes needed to make the August ballot, but Councilmembers have not ruled out sending a criminal justice revenue proposal to voters in November after more work has been done to lower county costs.

Criminal justice officials have warned that the roughly 10- to 15-percent reductions that will be needed to close the $60 million general fund gap for 2011 could lead to the elimination of about 80 Sheriff’s Office positions—in addition to the 96 positions cut in the last three years—and would reduce basic law enforcement services.

We get this in e-mail every week – but it’s not worth anything unless we share. So from hereon out – at least for as long as White Center remains an unincorporated area! (though county legislation also tends to affect those in cities, too) – we’ll bring you “This Week at the County Council,” as e-mailed on Fridays, for the week starting the following Monday. Click ahead to read the latest edition – take note of the parks item on Tuesday: Read the rest of this entry »

Just sent by the county via Twitter – a link to the new edition of Unincorporated Area News. Not much about North Highline but some general notes of interest from around the county.

Not only is it Disaster Preparedness Month, we’ve also just been reminded – by news of the Northern Mexico earthquake – that we’re in quake country and need to do everything we can to be prepared to get through something big. There’s news from the King County DDES today about one way the county’s trying to help – here’s the announcement:

King County’s Department of Development and Environmental Services (DDES) is helping citizens in unincorporated King County to prepare for an earthquake emergency with free home earthquake retrofit permits on homes that meet specific criteria.

DDES Customer information Bulletin #50, Obtaining A Voluntary Home Earthquake Retrofit Permit, is available online here and outlines criteria for securing a free retrofit permit from DDES. In general, the homes must:

o be of wood-frame construction;
o have a light-weight roof;
o not be irregularly shaped;
o have a reinforced concrete foundation;
o not exceed two stories in height; and
o be on a relatively level lot.

Free earthquake retrofit permits at DDES can usually be issued over the counter if a complete application has been submitted. (Homes that do not meet these criteria can still secure an earthquake retrofit permit, however the process involves more review time and permit review fees are charged.)

“I hope more people will take advantage of this important program,” said DDES Director John Starbard. “Our region dealt with the impacts of the Nisqually earthquake in 2001 and, although that event was not of the same magnitude as more recent international earthquake disasters, modern building codes minimized the physical and economic damage of the 2001 quake for the benefit of the entire region.”

Still a few notes to take care of from last Thursday night’s North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting. First – King County Sheriff’s Captain Carl Cole’s briefing on area crime, including a recap of the busted-up burglary that drew regional media to the area (including helicopters) last Tuesday.

The biggest point from Captain Cole: “The crime rate in White Center the last few years has gone down dramatically.” This point has been made before, but hearing it again had new meaning for some of the people most closely involved in the issue of potential northern North Highline annexation, as claims of WC crime woes have come up at recent public hearings. One success cited by the captain – “The gang unit has saturated the area on Friday and Saturday nights.” For March overall, he said, most of the crime in the unincorporated area was gang-related, but it was an “excellent month” overall.

Also, he noted that White Center storefront Deputy Jeff Hancock is back on patrol for a few months because of some staffing challenges – including the annexation that took effect the day of the NHUAC meeting: “As of today, seven deputies are now Burien police officers,” he noted. He says KCSO is reorganizing its precincts this summer to deal with challenges; when that takes effect July 1st, he says, Deputy Hancock (and the two other KCSO storefront officers who also have been moved temporarily to patrol) will be back to his regular role.

Now, on to the recap of the Tuesday burglary arrests – we’ll do our best to transcribe the story as the captain told it, quite energetically at that: Read the rest of this entry »

Just announced by King County DOT, it’s time for weed work in areas including the unincorporated county areas. If you do NOT want them spraying herbicide near your property, read on to see what to do: Read the rest of this entry »