White Center Now: The blog about White Center

On behalf of West Seattle Blog and White Center Now, we interviewed King County Council Chair Dow Constantine the day he declared he was running for County Executive. One of his council colleagues, Larry Phillips, was already in the race – and we have just published our interview with Phillips on WSB – topics include annexation and a possible area jail — see the story here.

UPDATE FROM ORIGINAL POST: The King County Council is on “furlough” this Friday, but the rest of county operations will be running as usual.

Just heard from from Dan Donohoe at the office of King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg: He says Satterberg has a family emergency and has to cancel his planned appearance at tonight’s White Center/South Delridge Community Safety Coalition meeting, but will reschedule. (However, the law/justice reps who are usually on hand at the meeting do include a prosecutor’s-office rep.) Everything else planned for the meeting, including updates on local crime trends and nuisance spots, is on as usual, 6 pm, St. James Place, 9421 18th SW.

Just posted at partner site West Seattle Blog: Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg — who has longtime White Center ties and lives in nearby Normandy Park — is the guest at this Thursday night’s White Center/South Delridge Community Safety Coalition meeting; read about it here.

From Dick Thurnau from Friends of Hicks Lake — a followup to the call for ideas that we published 3 weeks ago:

Friends of Hicks Lake did a lot of research to reach what we feel are the best and wisest decisions for improvements to utilize the $25,000 allotted in King County’s budget for Lakewood Park / Hicks Lake to make it a most enjoyable place for all.

We enlisted the aid of whitecenternow.com and White Center Community Development Association asking for the community suggestions.

The responses were limited but the # 1 was a water feature in the lake. #2 was a walking path around Hicks Lake, as a large share of the present pathways are on a hillside, making it difficult for older people and the disabled to use. A Boy Scout troop volunteered to do the labor portion of the pathway. #3 was to have a fulltime caretaker in the park to oversee and control the concerning, costly problems occurring in the park — graffiti, vandalism and illegal alcohol usage on these premises.

Our recommendation is a water feature consisting of an attractive floating fountain and underwater air diffusers (bubblers) which will provide aeration to help cleanse this unhealthy water in Hicks Lake. Pricing for this equipment from Absolute Aquatics would be under $10,000, including freight with a 3 year warranty. Other services required: $7,000 for an electrical Contractor, $2,000 for miscellaneous material, $1,000 for electrical power for one year, $2,000 for unforeseen developments. Total, $20,000, using volunteer labor to construct concrete anchors (2 required) and dig a trench from power source to the Lake and place equipment leaving a surplus for other projects. Another supplier gave a quote which was much higher in pricing but did give us a listing of many users of aeration features.

Sent an information brochure pertaining to this equipment described above to King County’s Surface Water Engineering for their evaluation — the question of a possibility of electrical shock, being the sealed motor is submerged in the water. Yes, that is a concern; however, manufacturers could or would not be able to sell these units for all these years if that were the case.

The above-suggested project of aeration is an interim objective until the White Center Regional Storm Water Improvement project, which is planned for 5 years down the road, is constructed.

Friends of Hicks Lake’s purpose and goal is to have clean, healthy lake water in Hicks Lake once again for the community to utilize this facility.

We’ll keep you posted on what happens next.

I interviewed Dow Constantine this afternoon in West Seattle for a West Seattle Blog follow-up to the announcement last night that he’s running for County Executive. One of the questions I asked was about annexation, and what happens now that a Seattle City Council vote has thwarted the Memorandum of Understanding between Burien, Seattle, and two fire districts. While we try not to repurpose material too much between the two sites, it’s been suggested we repost the entire story here, so here goes:

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor/White Center Now news editor

Instead of a once-planned family vacation on a sunny beach, King County Council Chair Dow Constantine is spending this partly sunny Seattle day — the first official day of his campaign for King County Executive — doing interviews, answering phone calls, e-mails, and text messages. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“This is fun,” he insists, as we part ways after a conversation at West 5 (WSB iPhone photo at left), in a space the native West Seattleite also remembers from spending many a day there in boyhood, when it was West Seattle Speedway, slot cars and all.

Read the rest of this entry »

That’s King County Council Chair Dow Constantine, who represents White Center and West Seattle (among other areas), announcing he’s running for County Executive. More details at our partner site West Seattle Blog.

Just a reminder, most county facilities will close this Friday (February 13) because it’s the next “furlough” day as part of the King County budget money-saving process. Here’s the list of the few places that will be open.

Just announced this morning, King County Executive Ron Sims has been nominated to become a deputy secretary for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Detailed coverage, including comments from White Center’s King County Councilmember (and council chair) Dow Constantine and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, on our partner site West Seattle Blog.

The county has just announced a VERY long list of programs and agencies getting $36 million dollars in all. Among them, the Homestead Community Land Trust, which will be working with eight first-time home buyers in White Center. Read the full list and details here.

As we reported late last fall, some of the most dramatic cuts proposed for King County public-safety services were avoided (the “storefronts” will all stay open, including the ones in White Center and Boulevard Park, for example) – but the budget ax hasn’t quite finished making its cuts yet – so this e-mail message from County Sheriff Sue Rahr may be of interest: Read the rest of this entry »

Today’s the last weekday before things start revving back up to normal on Monday – and there are two things to keep in mind today: Metro is on the “partial holiday” schedule one last day (changes listed here) and most county offices/facilities are closed because of the “furlough” day (changes listed here).

Most King County offices and facilities will be closed Friday (Jan. 2), the first of 10 “furlough days” that the county is implementing because of its budget troubles. Here are full details on what’s open and what’s not.

An alert from King County late today: Report storm damage ASAP. Here’s how.

From King County, more important words of warning – about your roof. And be sure any storm drains around your house are cleared, too – until this all melts away and we are back to “normal,” there’s still a chance of trouble.

(Photo courtesy Jerry, taken at 14th SW and SW 116th)

KING COUNTY: Closures and changes updated here

METRO BUSES: Here’s today’s outlook

A controversial case that started with a White Center-area chase/arrest has ended in federal court, with a deputy being found not guilty, and the Sheriff’s Office saying the case shouldn’t have come to trial at all. Here’s coverage in the Times.

(photo courtesy Alison – tend to your downspouts and storm drains when you can; eventually this will all melt)
Road/bus stories to share? Please add them in comments. Meantime, as of 4 am, Metro resumed updating its list of routes that are “suspended” and/or rerouted; see that (long) list here. Also, here’s the list of county road closures. Also note, Sound Transit has suspended 560 service between Burien and West Seattle; service alerts here.

9:41 AM UPDATE: If you have business to do in Burien, city hall is open limited hours today (more at rpin.org)

Known closures for Monday are now listed here – including Steve Cox Park and Evergreen Pool. More as we get it.

Just in from King County:

Fewer King County residents than expected are struggling with
weather-related impacts today as the overnight storm packed less of a
punch than forecast. The weather along with staffing and preparations by
King County departments and regional partners combined to help keep
people moving and safe overnight.

King County’s Department of Transportation sanding crews are working
around the clock to keep county roads clear in unincorporated areas.
They’ve deployed 27 trucks with a plow in front and sander on the back,
two plows, nine graders for pushing snow off roadways, and nine
anti-icer trucks.

Metro Transit is operating approximately half of its normal bus service
today. Riders should check the Metro Online website at
www.kingcounty.gov/metro to see if their bus route is operating and if
it is on snow routing; and note that travel conditions can change
quickly so the list of disrupted service may be revised at any time due
to weather and road conditions.

Metro is running Access vans on life-sustaining routes for established
riders.

Metro also helped keep thousands of cars off the roads today by running
its Seahawks shuttle service today to Qwest Field from Eastgate
Park-and-Ride in Bellevue, Northgate Park-and-Ride in North Seattle, and
the South Kirkland Park-and-Ride. Fans should expect crowded conditions
on the shuttles, and should give themselves plenty of time to get to the
game because the buses may be delayed by road and traffic conditions.

Public Health – Seattle & King County has conducted extensive outreach
on the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning, including contacts with
over 200 retail locations including pharmacies, grocery stores, gas
stations, hardware stores, with many agreeing to post warning pictograms
in multiple languages in their facilities. In addition, over 200 health
care and community-based organizations received carbon monoxide
information for dissemination with their clients. The posters and other
information about carbon monoxide poisoning, including symptoms and
prevention tips, are available online (
www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/preparedness/disaster/ca
rbon-monoxide-english.aspx).
King County has closed its Factoria Transfer Station in Bellevue and its
Cedar Falls Drop Box in North Bend indefinitely today. The county’s
Houghton Transfer Station in Kirkland was already closed.

All other solid waste transfer facilities are operating normally for
now, but could be closed early due to continuing severe winter weather
conditions. Customers should visit the King County Solid Waste Division
Web site for updates before getting on the road (
your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/facilities/transfer.asp).

Considering the widespread snow and wind that pushed through the region,
relatively few residents are facing power outages and Puget Sound Energy
has been able to quickly restore most customers who lost power over the
last 24 hours. Roughly 50 PSE customers scattered throughout King County
are without power.

Although the winter storm warning for the Tacoma/Seattle/Everett Metro
Area has been cancelled, another weather system is expected to bring a
trace to two inches of snow around 2 pm today.