White Center Now: The blog about White Center

During his State of the County speech last week, County Executive Dow Constantine announced plans for “groundbreaking” in White Center this week as the RapidRide H Line gets closer to launching. Work to prepare for the Route 120 conversion has already been under way on much of the West Seattle section of the route for almost a year – repaving and utilities. Today, details of this week’s event have been announced – 9:30 am Tuesday at Steve Cox Memorial Park. We’ll of course be there to cover it. P.S. Launch date for the new RapidRide has been pushed back three times but is currently set for next year.

From the King County Assessor’s Office:

The King County Assessor’s office has begun the annual process of mailing property valuation notices to taxpayers. Notices will be arriving in King County neighborhoods on a rolling basis for the next several months. As many property owners are aware, King County residential property values have risen sharply, and commercial values have remained steady, despite the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The annual process of property valuation will continue through the summer, but it is clear based on the areas of the county that have been completed thus far that most commercial property values have remained strong, and residential values have risen dramatically in many areas.

Median residential values have risen by double digits in every area where valuations have been completed so far. Values have risen the most in fast growing suburban and eastern areas of the county. Here are some examples:

Skyway, up 13%
East Auburn, up 15.5%
Woodinville and Duvall, up just over 18%
Enumclaw plateau and Black Diamond, up 21% and 22%

Each year as required by law, County Assessors appraise every commercial and residential parcel in the state. These values – set effective as of January 1 of the assessment year – are then applied to the next year’s tax bill. Property values are now being set as of January 1, 2021, for taxes due in 2022.

“No one knew what to expect a little over a year ago when this public health emergency began,” said Assessor John Wilson. “Now it is clear that a primary impact on property values has been caused by homeowners not wanting to sell at this time, leading to reduced supply and big price and value increases.”

We’ll be checking on the expected timing for North Highline notices.

Almost 13 years after we first reported on a potential fireworks ban for unincorporated King County, it’s on its way to becoming law. Here’s the announcement from the County Council:

Fireworks will be illegal in unincorporated King County starting in 2022, thanks to legislation approved Tuesday by the King County Council.

Sponsored by King County Councilmembers Joe McDermott and Claudia Balducci, the legislation will prohibit all types of fireworks including sparklers and smoke bombs.

“While there are plenty of good reasons to support a full ban on consumer fireworks, I am driven by the tragic loss of life and property in White Center in 2019,” McDermott said. “It is past time for King County to do what most cities and parks have already done. People in unincorporated King County deserve the same protections as those living in cities.”

McDermott was referring to the 2019 house fire in North Highline resulting in the death of a 70-year-old man, his two dogs and displacement of 12 residents in the neighboring home. All of this was caused by fireworks. Elsewhere around the state and across the West, numerous wildfires have been triggered by fireworks, including some that left people dead or injured and caused millions of dollars in damage and costs to contain them. The calls of community members, individuals dealing with PTSD, and first responders like fire commissioners and marshals have made clear that fireworks present a clear public risk and public health hazard for our entire region.

“Personal safety, fire safety, and distress to people and pets are some of the good reasons many King County cities have adopted firework regulations,” Balducci said. “It just makes sense to expand these protections to our King County residents.”

This new ban brings unincorporated King County communities in line with most other jurisdictions in King County so there can be no more confusion: if it’s a firework, it is not legal in unincorporated King County.

Families in King County can still take the opportunity to enjoy fireworks displays safely by attending properly permitted, professional displays throughout the county.

State law requires a one-year waiting period before the ban can take effect, so it will be effective before July 4, 2022. In the meantime, county departments will plan for enforcement strategies that involve immediate, unarmed, non-police responses for potential violations and undertake an educational campaign about the new law.

The long-in-the-works fireworks ban proposed for unincorporated King County finally goes to the County Council on Tuesday. If it passes, it would take effect next year; you can read all the documents here. Our area’s Councilmember Joe McDermott is the sponsor; the proposal passed the Committee of the Whole last month. A public hearing is required as part of tomorrow’s 1 pm online meeting, and the agenda has information on how to participate.

(King County Executive’s Office photos)

Nine months after touring North Highline’s future county park, King County Executive Dow Constantine returned there for Earth Day to launch the “3 Million Trees” initiative. From the announcement:

King County Executive Dow Constantine on Earth Day joined community partners to kick off 3 Million Trees, an initiative that will plant, protect, and prepare a combined three million trees throughout the region by the end of 2025.

The initiative is part of Executive Constantine’s proposal for the 2020 Strategic Climate Action Plan, which includes strategies to cut greenhouse gas emissions countywide in half by the end of this decade. Under 3 Million Trees, King County will plant 500,000 trees, accelerate land conservation to protect intact forestland this is absorbing carbon today, and prepare forests for warmer, drier summers that are occurring as the result of climate change.

“Earth Day is a moment for reflection, for inspiration and, most importantly, for action, which is why we are kicking off 3 Million Trees today,” said Executive Constantine. “We will build on the momentum of our successful 1 Million Trees initiative to achieve even more ambitious goals: increase urban tree canopy, protect forestland that this absorbing carbon now, and prepare forests for climate impacts.”

King County Parks’ Volunteer Program staff can assist residents and organizations that want to participate in the initiative. In addition to tree planting, volunteer coordinators organize events to remove noxious weeds and provide educational opportunities.

Executive Constantine kicked off the initiative with partners at a new urban park in unincorporated North Highline that King County acquired in 2020. King County crews, along with Friends of the Trail and Dirt Corps, have removed more than 7 tons of debris and truckloads of invasive species from the once-neglected greenspace. Native spring vegetation – including Pacific waterleaf and trillium – once covered by invasive Himalayan blackberry and ivy are coming back to life now that they have room to grow. The protected greenspace is beginning to offer better habitat for birds, pollinators, and wildlife in addition to offering public health benefits in a neighborhood that previously lacked access to open space.

See the rest of the announcement here.

The pandemic-update presentation from a King County rep at last week’s North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting included news of a regular “community partners” call, open to all. NHUAC president Liz Giba has sent info abut the call, which is happening at 4 pm today:

We have created a new link for our bi-weekly COVID-19 Community Partners’ Call and have extended the meeting by 15 minutes. Starting April 12th, the meeting will run from 4 pm-5 pm. The Community Partners’ call will now be Live Interpreted in Spanish and Somali. The Zoom link is below.

Join Public Health – Seattle & King County for local updates on the COVID-19 pandemic, recommendations for risk reduction, and information on COVID-19 vaccines. The webinar takes place every other Monday from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM on Zoom (schedule and link below). The next webinar is Monday, April 12th.

All are welcome, and the information is most helpful for staff and volunteers at nonprofits, businesses, and community-based organizations looking for resources and information on slowing the spread of COVID-19 in King County.

Live interpretation is provided in Spanish and Somali. Additional languages are available upon request.

One tap mobile:
US: +16699006833,,97016766517# or +13462487799,,97016766517#
Meeting URL:
https://kingcounty.zoom.us/j/97016766517
Meeting ID:
970 1676 6517
Join by Telephone 253-215-8782

Announced today by King County:

Skyway-West Hill & North Highline Anti-Displacement Draft Recommendations Report-Back

Please join the Department of Community and Human Services and the Department of Local Services for an interactive community meeting on Saturday, April 10th from 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM to review and discuss the draft anti-displacement recommendations that will be presented to the King County Council later this year.

Registration is required and is now open at: eventbrite.com/e/anti-displacement-draft-recommendations-report-back-registration-145351188317. This meeting will help shape the county’s policy direction and investments in affordable housing in Skyway-West Hill. To learn more, check out: publicinput.com/anti-displacement You can find further information on the project at this website.

Back in fall 2019, King County Executive Dow Constantine visited White Center (WCN coverage here) to talk about the newly launched King County Conservation Corps. Today, he returned to join them on patrol, and to talk about a broader job-creation program that’s part of his $600 million pandemic-relief budget addition.

The new proposal would create hundreds of jobs, expanding the KCCC and involving other county departments and divisions such as Roads and Parks; county Local Services director John Taylor joined him at this morning’s event. The KCCC, by the way, is a partnership with Uplift Northwest, previously known as the Millionair Club, and started as a six-month pilot project but is still going strong. The jobs program would cost an estimated $40 million of the $600 million pandemic-relief proposal, which is now in the hands of the County Council.

Other parts of the budget proposal:
*Continued Public Health Response/Vaccinations & COVID operations: $253 million

*Community Supports-rental assistance, childcare, behavioral health: $199 million

*Economic Recovery: $92 million

The full document is linked at the end of last week’s announcement.

The month begins with North Highline Unincorporated Area Council’s always-informative April meeting. Here’s the announcement:

The Opportunity to Be Informed, Be Involved and Be Heard!

Where? North Highline Unincorporated Area Council Meeting

When? Thursday, April 1, 2021 at 7 pm

How? Join Zoom Meeting: kingcounty.zoom.us/j/98750682577

Meeting ID: 987 5068 2577
Passcode (case sensitive): NHUAC2021
Unable to join via Zoom? Please Call 253 215 8782
Meeting ID: 987 5068 2577 Passcode: 956569157

As North Highline continues to have one of the highest COVID-19 positivity rates in the county, the virus continues to evolve. Last month’s NHUAC meeting was packed with information, but it was a month ago. What has changed? What should we know about the “Three V’s” – virus, variants, and vaccines? To answer these questions and more, we will be joined by Becky Reitzes, Educator Consultant with Public Health of Seattle & King County. Becky has been working on the COVID Community Mitigation Response since the beginning of the pandemic. Please bring your questions and join the discussion!

The shortage of adequate funding for capital projects, services and programs is an ongoing challenge in North Highline. As our local government, one of King County’s primary responsibilities is budgeting – deciding where and how our tax dollars are spent.

King County is taking a different approach to budgeting than it has used in the past. It is called Participatory Budgeting (PB). PB was first used in 1989 as an anti-poverty measure in Brazil where it successfully helped reduce child mortality by almost 30%. According to Participatory Budgeting Project’s website, “Participatory budgeting (PB) is a democratic process in which community members decide how to spend part of a public budget. It gives people real power over real money.” Imagine what North Highline can be if people with personal knowledge of our community make decisions about how tax dollars are spent in our community. Sounds like a perfect fit for a NHUAC meeting, doesn’t it? Now imagine that you or a neighbor was one of those decision-makers. Join us as John Taylor, Director of the Department of Local Services, explains how King County will approach this chance to expand democracy and opportunity in North Highline and how you could become part of the Community Investment Committee.

Our Storefront Deputy, Bill Kennamer, will join us once again to share what he and his fellow deputies have been working on in North Highline.

Knowledge is power.
Learn, share, and help make North Highline a better and healthier place.
April 1, 2021 at 7 pm – Tell a Neighbor!

If you’re in the vicinity of 15th and 100th tomorrow at midmorning, you might see a county delegation headed by County Executive Dow Constantine, talking with media before meeting up with the King County Conservation Corps. As the advance notice points out, the Corps “offers dignified employment opportunities to people experiencing homelessness and poverty while cleaning and removing graffiti from urban unincorporated areas.” While visiting, Constantine is expected to talk about hoping to expand the Corps as part of a job-creation program in his $600 million proposed emergency budget.

Just in from King County Local Services:

King County is recruiting community members to serve on a new Community Investment Committee.

This committee will help King County spend…

-$10 million on capital projects in Skyway-West Hill, North Highline, East Renton, Fairwood, and East Federal Way. These capital funds can be used for anything that needs to be built or replaced, such as buildings, sidewalks, bike lanes, landscaping, signs, and play structures.

-$1.3 million for services or programs in Skyway-West Hill and North Highline. This funding can be used for almost anything, such as after-school programs, job training, building maintenance, food, art supplies, and investments in play structures and sidewalks.

\The Community Investment Committee will design and carry out a budgeting process. The process will be centered on racial equity, will build on community strengths, and will address priorities that the community has identified. The committee will make sure that communities have control over what the money is spent on, so the projects that are funded will address real community challenges and have the most benefit.

King County approved funding for this project in its current two-year (2021-2022) budget, and will spend the funds as directed by the communities.

For more information and to apply: kingcounty.gov/depts/local-services/programs/urban-choices.aspx

As planned, the King County Council‘s Committee of the Whole took up the proposed unincorporated-area fireworks ban on Wednesday. With an amendment, it passed 5-4. The amendment by Councilmember Girmay Zahilay (read it here) has three key points:

-The first year this is in effect (2022), violators would be warned rather than fined

-Once fines do take effect, they would be $250, not $1,000

-A study would be required to see what it would take to get immediate, unarmed, non-police response to reports of violations

The fireworks ban, sponsored by our area’s Councilmember Joe McDermott, now goes to the full council for a final vote.

Announced today:

A transformative tenant protections package has been officially introduced by two King County Councilmembers. The measure, headlined by capped move-in fees and new ‘just cause’ eviction criteria, was officially put forward today by Councilmembers Jeanne Kohl-Welles and Girmay Zahilay.

While King County residents look ahead to a brighter, post-pandemic future, many will continue to live in fear of losing their housing – or struggling to get housing at all.

The proposal, referred to the Community, Health and Housing Services Committee on Tuesday, aims to add a series of protections for both month-to-month and longer-term lease tenants.

“The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic fallout have exacerbated our already difficult housing crisis — putting large numbers of renters on the brink of eviction,” Kohl-Welles said. “For many of our neighbors, it’s a thin line between having a roof overhead and spending the night in a shelter or in a tent on one of our sidewalks. And for many, it’s having to decide to pay for rent or pay for needed medical care. We know that housing is essential to stability for King County residents. By enhancing protections for renters, we can work on the front end to prevent even more people from entering homelessness.”

Key among the protections included is the establishment of “just causes” that must be satisfied before a landlord can terminate a month-to-month tenancy, begin eviction proceedings, or fail to renew a fixed-term tenancy. State law doesn’t currently include just cause provisions for most tenancies, and while a bill is moving through the state legislature to add requirements to the books, that proposal falls well short of the King County proposal.

“After decades of gentrification and a full year of COVID-19 hyper-charging regional housing instability, people are struggling to stay housed. We have to come together and give tenants the housing security needed to survive this crisis,” Zahilay said. “Evictions, especially those inflicted without specific cause or reasonable notice, will exacerbate our homelessness crisis, crime, and public health issues. The legislation introduced today by Councilmember Kohl-Welles and I will be a difference maker for those already struggling.”

In addition to adding the just cause requirement – a significant factor in avoiding a wave of individuals and families losing their housing once temporary protections triggered by the COVID -19 pandemic end – the proposal would add a series of protections for tenants in unincorporated King County, including:

Cap move-in, security and other fees and deposits and allow incremental payment
Require landlords to give up to 4 months’ notice for significant rent increases
Prohibit rent hikes in unsafe or unlivable housing
Allow tenants to adjust rent due date if they live on fixed income
Add protections against eviction over late rent
Prohibit landlords from requesting Social Security number for pre-rental screening
Landlords who violate any of the new protections would be liable for damages in court.

“King County’s homelessness crisis is already one of the worst in the nation. We know that most people who are evicted end up homeless, many of them sleeping unsheltered,” said Katie Wilson, general secretary of the Transit Riders Union. “This ordinance is a common-sense measure that will help to protect tenants from arbitrary evictions when the moratoriums are lifted, so that many more people don’t fall into homelessness.”

In 2019, while unincorporated King County saw more no-cause evictions than any other jurisdiction in King County, according to data shared by Edmund Witter, senior managing attorney with the King County Bar Association. While only 6.8% of all evictions were filed in unincorporated King County, that part of the county made up 20% of all no-cause evictions countywide.

An estimated 22% of households in unincorporated King County are renters, which means about 25,000 households would be impacted by the proposal.

As part of the new legislation, the Executive would set up a central phone number for tenants to report suspected violations and would have to create an outreach plan to educate residents about the new protections. A one-pager with more details is attached.

The legislation would take effect 90 days after full council approval.

As we reported last week, the County Council’s Committee of the Whole delayed its consideration of the bill to ban fireworks in unincorporated areas. Next Wednesday, it’s on the agenda, 9:30 am. As the preview from council staff notes: “If approved, it would still have to go before full council and then would have a one-year waiting period before it could take effect. It would not ban properly permitted fireworks displays or impact fireworks on tribal trust lands.” Read the bill here. If you want to comment, before or during the meeting, the agenda explains how.

From King County:

From our conversations to-date, we understand that stopping flooding and pollution, and increasing food security and access to parks and green space, are priorities in the White Center / North Highline area.

We want community members to drive what projects should look like, where they should be located, and the needs they see in their neighborhoods.

As a next step, we’re hoping to get additional feedback from the White Center / North Highline community via a quick 10-15 minute survey. Everybody who completes the survey will receive a $15 flat rate visa gift card as a thank you for their participation.

We’d love to get your help in two ways:

Take the survey! The survey is translated in the following languages:
English: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/H7CSQL7
Somali: Sahanka Deegaanka – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JSY3YWQ
Vietnamese: Bản Khảo Sát Cộng Đồng – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/B2RMZPN
Khmer: ការស្ទង់មតិសហគមន៍ – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/B2T3YSQ
Spanish: Encuesta de la comunidad – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BWLG9K5

Share this survey with your friends, contacts, and neighbors in White Center.

The proposal to ban fireworks in unincorporated King County hasn’t made it out of a King County Council committee yet. The council’s Committee of the Whole was supposed to hear it yesterday, but ran out of time because of other long-running items and a need for members to move on to another meeting. This area’s Councilmember Joe McDermott promised it will be on the agenda for the committee’s next meeting (March 17th). He said the delay wasn’t significant since even if it was passed soon, its timetable means it couldn’t take effect before next year. The ban was originally up for consideration early last year – but then the pandemic hit, and it was shelved for months.

Reminder – the Community Needs List for North Highline is still a work in progress, and you still have the chance to help shape it, King County reminds you:

Last year, King County Executive Dow Constantine and the King County Council told the Department of Local Services to collaborate with those who live and work in unincorporated areas to create community needs lists. These are lists of projects for King County to complete in support of each community’s vision.

The first step in creating a community needs list is to gather requests from people who live and work in that community via an online survey at publicinput.com/UKCcommunityneedslist.

King County Local Services — the local government in unincorporated areas — aims to get as many people as possible in those areas to share their ideas by completing the survey for the community where they live or work:

These surveys will guide what will eventually become community needs lists, which will help the county prioritize projects and will inform the development of the county’s budget. Local Services will coordinate with other King County and partner agencies to develop actionable programs, services, or improvements that the county can deliver.

Next week, you can join four County Councilmembers, including our area’s rep Joe McDermott, for a Virtual Town Hall. From his announcement:

To say that this has been a busy start to the year is an understatement, so to keep you up to speed on important work we’re doing at the County Council this year I’m teaming up with a few of my colleagues for a virtual town hall on Wednesday, March 3rd – and I hope you’ll join us! … While we’ll be laying out our 2021 work at the beginning, the majority of the town hall will be dedicated to making sure we also understand your priorities for the County and region – this is an exciting chance for your voice to be heard by several members of the council at one (hopefully convenient) time.

That time is 6 pm March 3rd. For viewing/call-in info, go here.

(File photo, fireworks stand in White Center)
The long-in-the-works fireworks ban for unincorporated King County is back before the County Council. It was on its way to consideration one year ago – and then the pandemic hit, and shelved it. Now our area’s County Councilmember Joe McDermott has introduced a ban proposal, and it was discussed in the council’s Committee of the Whole last Wednesday. You can read the proposal here; you can watch the discussion in the meeting video here. McDermott said the July 2019 fire that killed a 70-year-old man in North Highline is a major motivation for him to get the ban passed; he noted at Wednesday’s meeting that 25 jurisdictions around unincorporated King County already ban fireworks. (That includes all the cities touching on unincorporated North Highline.) The bill would still allow permits to be granted for public fireworks displays. No action was taken at the meeting; the proposal will be up for action at the next committee meeting, and then a month’s notice is required before it can be brought up for a vote of the full County Council. You can email council@kingcounty.gov if you want to comment on the proposal.

Seattle’s done it. Burien’s done it. Now King County might require hazard pay for grocery workers too. Here’s the announcement:

More than a year after the first death in the U.S. was reported in King County, grocery workers continue to risk their lives to serve people who need their groceries, often at wages near or just above minimum wage while grocery store operators have reaped windfall profits.

Members of the King County Council are now working to address that risk with legislation introduced Thursday that would require a $4 per hour hazard pay for employees at large grocery stores in unincorporated King County.

“For the last year I have visited with, and thanked the checkers, stockers, butchers and deli workers at the grocery stores I shop. I have seen and heard their fatigue, and also their courage and dedication to their customers,” said Councilmember Rod Dembowski, who drafted the legislation. “These extraordinary times call for governments like King County to respond with extraordinary help. I am proud to stand with these frontline workers and ensure that the risks they and their families are taking, and the dedication they are showing, is reflected in our laws, and in their paychecks. Four dollars an hour is a small price to pay to ensure the continued service they are providing to our communities.”

The legislation, co-sponsored by Councilmembers Girmay Zahilay and Dave Upthegrove, would require the pay until the COVID-19 emergency declared by Executive Dow Constantine ends.

“At a time when local governments are struggling to fund basic services, large grocery sites are making record profits while their low-wage employees face the hazards of working during a pandemic,” Upthegrove said. “This temporary bump in pay can alleviate the financial injustice experienced by frontline essential workers who risk their lives—and their families’ lives—without the dignity of a fair wage to support them.”

The cities of Seattle and Burien have recently approved and implemented similar measures, and other local governments have taken similar steps to ensure frontline grocery workers are paid for the risk they undertake in their daily work.

“The pandemic economy has worsened inequities for workers and communities,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine. “While small businesses and governments are stretched thin providing basic and essential services, many large grocery chains are seeing record profits. And while that’s good for them, it’s fair that they share with the frontline workers who show up every day to help keep our communities fed and our economy moving.”