White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Got your tickets yet? The White Center Jubilee Days Spring Gala/Auction is just days away. Here’s the Facebook invite; you can buy tickets online here. It’s this Saturday night, 6:30 pm at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center (4408 Delridge Way SW in West Seattle).

ADDED TUESDAY: More info – in an official media-release announcement:

Jubilee Days! White Center’s annual summer festival, which has been running for more than 80 years, is a celebration of our great neighborhood and is the result of true community effort. The production of Jubilee Days is ongoing. It takes about a year to organize, raise the funds, book the bands and vendors, and to manage all the behind-the-scenes business to get the festival off the ground, just in time to do it all again.

We are currently in the throes of raising crucial dollars for what we believe will be the best White Center Jubilee Days ever. We have approached this year’s event with great ambition to reflect our feelings for the neighborhood and its amazing potential. Which brings us to JUBILEE DAYS SILENT AUCTION AND SPRING GALA, THIS SATURDAY! This fundraising extravaganza will feature fabulous entertainment, food from White Center businesses, a cash bar, a raffle, and wonderful items for your bidding pleasure. Here are a few details:

Our MC, Sarah Rudinoff, Stranger Genius Award recipient, is an all-around superstar, always entertaining and will certainly put the F U N in fundraiser!

Entertainment will include a performance by aerialist Jenna Lutton, a Capoeira exhibition from Capoeira Malês, crowd mover DJ Dr. Lehl, and we may have a surprise or two up our sleeve.

Big-ticket auction items include a pontoon boat for the avid fly fisherman and a ride-along with White Center’s own Deputy BJ Myers!

House-made hors d’oeuvres and small plates from Uncle Mike’s Barbeque, the Salvadorean Bakery, and El Paisano will be provided.

50/50 raffle with cash prize!

And did we mention cash bar with expert bartenders? Full Bar available.

Fundraiser within a fundraiser! What? That’s right. We will have Big Al’s Hi-Yu Bru Pale Ale available for purchase, proceeds of which will be donated to a local charity.

Raising money for a good cause has never been so easy.

Tickets are $35 and can be purchased in the heart of White Center at Company Bar, Full Tilt Ice Cream and Proletariat Pizza, or online at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/230535

All day long, performers have been taking the stage on SW 98th between 15th and 16th SW to entertain festivalgoers celebrating Cambodian New Year, and even outside the festival setup, you can see performers in and out of traditional costume:

If you haven’t been yet, you have a few more hours! Community organizations and businesses are tabling too, and there’s food as well as entertainment.

The Cambodian Cultural Alliance of Washington is the sponsor for today’s 10th annual festival, which continues till 5 pm.

(Photos by WCN’s Patrick Sand)
Notice people in bright-green shirts around White Center at midday today? Those were the Starbucks workers whose second annual Month of Service volunteerism brought them today to Mount View Elementary, Lakewood Park, and White Center Heights Park (the latter is where we caught up with them).

The White Center work was in conjunction with SeattleWorks.

According to the announcement we received in advance, on behalf of Starbucks, the company has a lofty April volunteerism goal: “This year we’re aiming to beat 200,000 community-service hours – that’s the equivalent of nearly 100 people working 9-5 for a year!”

From North Highline Unincorporated Area Council president Barbara Dobkin:

Please join us for the May 3rd meeting, when our King County Council Representative, Joe McDermott, will be on hand to provide updates regarding county issues, and take questions from the community. We are also pleased that Officer Tim Anderson of King County Animal Control, will be in attendance to answer any questions regarding King County Animal Control Services. As always, all are welcome.

Here’s the full agenda:

7:00 pm Call to Order – Flag Salute – Roll Call –
Approval of Agenda – Approval of Minutes
7:05 pm Public Announcements
7:10 pm Public Comment
3minutes for Individuals
5 minutes for Groups

7:15 pm Mike Martin, Burien City Manager

7:20pm Joe McDermott, King County Council

7:30 pm Ellie Weiss – DubSea Bikes

7:40 pm Aaron Garcia, Student Services Specialist
South Seattle Community College

7:50 pm Tim Anderson, King County Animal Control Officer

8:10 pm Treasurer’s Report

8:15 pm Committee Reports
1. Governance
2. Arts and Parks
3. Public Safety
4. Housing and Human Services
5. Public Outreach
6. Transportation

8:20 pm Unfinished Business/Old Business
• Flower Bed Planting (100 ST & 16th Ave, SW)
• Bylaws
• Jubilee Days

8:30 pm New Business
• June Agenda

The May 3rd meeting is at 7 pm at North Highline Fire District HQ, 1243 112th SW.

Since we had mentioned it here on the home page when Dubsea Coffee first announced it, just wanted to make sure you knew that U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott’s appearance for “Coffee with Your Congressman” has been rescheduled – 10 am May 19th, instead of tomorrow. He IS scheduled to be in White Center tomorrow – speaking at the 34th Legislative District Caucus at the Evergreen Campus around noon.

One year, plus a couple weeks, after its grand reopening, the skating rink that for a while was NOT a skating rink celebrated its first birthday/anniversary tonight. Southgate Roller Rink was renovated, and is owned by, the Rhoads family – we photographed Josh and Clayton tonight.

Hey, look who DJ’d tonight! Christopher Mychael:

Some of the rink’s art is nostalgia-evoking too:

An afterparty was planned tonight at Company.

Here’s their announcement about what they’re doing in connection with the Seattle Foundation‘s “Give BIG“ multi-organization donation drive on May 2nd:

May 2 is Give Big with the Seattle Foundation, and White Center Food Bank has set up several ways to make giving easier – and tastier. Give Big is a one day, online charitable giving event when your donation will be stretched by the Seattle Foundation. This year we will have board members and volunteers at several sites in the morning with laptops to make donating easier if you’re stopping for coffee on the way to work, and in the evening Proletariat Pizza will help you “dine out for hunger” by donating a portion of sales for the evening.

Here is how Give Big works:

All donations must be made on May 2 between 12:01 am and midnight via the Seattle Foundation’s website – this can be done from your home, one of our laptop stations or via mobile. Bookmark the site now: http://www.seattlefoundation.org/npos/Pages/WhiteCenterEmergencyFoodAssociation.aspx?bv=nposearch

WCFB Board members will be at Dubsea Coffee (9910 – 8th Ave SW), Caffe Delia (9622 – 16th Ave SW) and Cafe Rozella (9434 Delridge) in the morning between 7 and 10 am with laptops to make donating easier.

Proletariat Pizza (9622 – 16th Ave SW) will be donating 5% of sales to White Center Food Bank during the evening business hours. We will also have board members and a laptop on hand there if you’d like to make an extra donation in addition to your pizza purchase.

Note: we are listed as the White Center Emergency Food Association on the Seattle Foundation’s website. Only donations on May 2 count for the “stretch” dollars.

If any other restaurants would like to join in Dine Out for Hunger, please contact Ann Kendall at email:ann@whitecenterfoodbank.org or call 206-713-0031.

ADDED FRIDAY MORNING: WC Food Bank says Zippy’s Giant Burgers has joined “Dine Out for Hunger” too and will also donate 5 percent during dinnertime on May 2nd.

Though this project is in the Seattle city limits, there’s an explicit invitation for White Center-area gardeners to join in, so we are crossposting this from partner site West Seattle Blog:

Ready to garden? The Westcrest P-Patch is about to be built, and ready to build its gardener/volunteer team, too! Here’s the official announcement (along with the finalized design, shown above):

After two community garden design meetings, the Westcrest P-Patch community garden project is planning to start construction next month in Seattle’s Westcrest Park! (Located at 9000 8th Ave. SW) The plan is to create over 200 10′ x 10′ garden plots following the final design which will feature crushed rock and wood chip pathways that interact with existing park features, gathering and storage structures, an out-door “kitchen”, and lots of room for artistic elements and common spaces.

The plots will be open to both Seattle residents as well as residents living in nearby unincorporated King County such as White Center which is two blocks from the south border of the park.

If you are interested in a plot, your probability of getting a spot will correlate to the number of hours you donate to the project. The more you volunteer the higher your chances of getting a plot. The Steering Committee is currently trying to determine what portions of the construction will be performed by contractors and what we, as a community, are willing to take on. If we can keep costs below the $90,000 budget, we can use the surplus funds to enhance the project. There are innumerable ways that you can volunteer in both outreach and construction.

Please contact Phi Huynh if you would like to explore volunteer opportunities.

E-mail: phi.huynh@seattle.gov
Phone: 206-684-4531

They’re celebrating tonight during Adult Skate Night, starting at 8:30 pm, with “original 1970’s Southgate Roller Rink DJ Christopher Mychael … playing the tunes!” More details on the Facebook event page.

White Center’s Mount View Elementary invites families of incoming kindergarteners to Information Night this Thursday, 6-7:30 pm:

The school’s at 10811 12th SW. Here’s a full-size version of the flyer.

He was a familiar face on TV for years as spokesperson for the King County Sheriff’s Office, till he retired a few months back after 23 years with the department. Today, John Urquhart announced he wants to get back into KCSO – at the top. Here’s the announcement and photo he provided:

Today I am announcing I will run for the office of King County Sheriff. It was not a decision made lightly, but made after careful consideration, and with input from of a variety of individuals both inside and outside the Sheriff’s Office, as well as my family.

I have two messages today. The first is for the citizens of King County. The second will be for the nearly 700 deputies in the Sheriff’s Office.

To the citizens:

My campaign for King County Sheriff will be based on leadership and accountability. The Sheriff’s Office is at a crossroads. I don’t want us to go down the road where we run the risk of losing the support of the citizens we serve. If we go down that wrong road, it will not be because our deputies don’t care. It will be because of a lack of leadership within the agency.

The citizens of King County want many things from their Sheriff’s Office. They want a police agency that is tough on crime, but understands you can’t arrest your way out of every problem in society.

They want a Sheriff’s Office that listens to the citizens it serves. Listens to what the citizens are saying about what is important to them, and THEN takes action. They do not want a police agency that has the attitude of “we’re the cops and you’re not!”

Read the rest of this entry »

As previewed here last week, Sili Savusa of the White Center Community Development Association and Aileen Sison of White Center B.O.S.S. were among the panelists during a special Leadership Seminar at the start of last Saturday’s Gathering of Neighbors in West Seattle. Leadership and community organizing were among the topics, and we have the whole thing on video if you’d like to hear what they had to say.

P.S. Aileen’s “White Center B.O.S.S.” has its next Happy Hour tonight, 4-7 pm at Company in downtown White Center.

The auction for rights to liquor licenses at existing store sites is over, and the state has announced the high bids. Keep in mind the “winning bidders” – to be finalized by the state next week, and then given a five-day period to pay up – are not guaranteed licenses, nor the right to take over the stores; all they’re getting is the exclusive rights to apply for liquor licenses at these locations, but it’s up to them to negotiate a lease with the store owner(s). Kulwinder Pabla is listed as the high bidder for the White Center store, $130,100. The state has till June 1st to get out of the liquor business, when privatization, as approved by voters last year, takes full effect. The total amount bid on the license-application rights statewide was almost $31 million, according to the state’s news release.

On our way to check out a report that the King County Sheriff’s Office is investigating an armed robbery at the Subway shop in the 10400 block of 16th SW. The description, per the scanner: “black male, around 19, bald, black sweater/red stripes, carrying a backpack” in which both a gun and knife were seen.

ADDED MONDAY: Our apologies for not adding this additional information when we got it last night – deputies were gone by the time we got to the store, and workers there told us the robbery had happened about an hour earlier; they said nobody had been hurt.

Sunday night – why wind down from the weekend when you can keep it going? Southgate Roller Rink is the site for a White Center Jubilee Days fundraiser tonight. From the Facebook event page:

Ok, folks! It is go time to raise some funds for White Center Jubilee Days, our annual getting-awesomer-every-year-street-festival! The money we raise at this event will go toward our entertainment budget. We want to get killer bands this year and your contribution (and willingness to party with a purpose) will truly help with our efforts.

This Sunday we are going to start the skate session early and go late with a cash bar set up at the rink. That’s right. Drinking on wheels never made so much sense. Come on down and have some fun with us.

Sunday, April 22
Southgate Roller Rink
9646 17th Ave. SW
Seattle, WA 98106
7:00 pm-11:00 pm
$12

There’s also a big fundraising gala coming up May 5th – details on the revamped Jubilee Days website.

We’ve been watching the WCAW website for the list of venues/artists – and it finally appeared tonight, in the nick of time. So, if you can get out and about in the next two hours, here’s who’s participating this time around.

This Saturday, West Seattle community advocates, volunteers, students, and more are coming together for the Gathering of Neighbors, but it’s not just about WS – White Center leaders are participating in a special pre-event. Before the GoN officially opens to the public at 11 am Saturday in the Galleria at Chief Sealth International High School (2600 SW Thistle, not far from White Center at all!), a 10 am leadership panel will include four speakers – two from White Center. They are Sili Savusa, new executive director of the White Center Community Development Association, and Aileen Sison, who has brought business owners together with White Center B.O.S.S. (business owners of sustainable support). During the open Community Resource Fair 11 am-3 pm, participants will include the White Center Chamber of Commerce, and we’ll be there on behalf of WCN and partner site West Seattle Blog. See you there!

Found this one via Facebook: In addition to Cinco de Mayo parties on May 5th, White Center also will be the site of “Cinco de Medico” at Northwest Cannabis Market, with live music and medical-marijuana-strain “judging.” The event poster, which you can see online here, says nearby Herban Legends is a sponsor, with other participating medical-marijuana establishments including Northwest Patient Resource Center in south West Seattle.

As noted here and on partner site West Seattle Blog, this past Sunday was the latest edition of free minor bike repairs via DubSea Bikes at the White Center Food Bank – and tonight, Helen Weiss shared an update that it was the “biggest yet.” From that update:

… Seven kids got their bikes worked on. At least one had *major* issues, and we failed on parts ($3 brake pad, anyone?), but the bikes were all running when our mechanics were done. When clients could pump tires themselves, it expedited the work mechanics could do. Paul, a regular food bank volunteer, worked steadily on many bikes that day, even sustaining an injury in the line of duty. One of the DubSea clients, an acupuncturist, quickly stepped in to provide healing. Brian, aka DJ GoBriGo, brought smooth tunes and a can-do attitude. Aaron, a late arrival, was not fazed by the fact that we had 3 mechanics and only 2 stands – he produced a device designed to suspend a bike from a door frame and quickly got up to speed. Sixteen people total signed up but two got turned away due to time. One guy, a former auto mechanic, raided the West Seattle Tool Library’s Bike Tool Kit for allen wrenches and did the work himself.

Thanks to our awesome mechanics who worked wonders and to all who just came by to give moral support. And thanks to the White Center Food Bank for supporting our mission to promote safe cycling in White Center! We collected 6 cans for the food bank. One client brought a case of water bottles and offered them to all. That parking lot takes up half of a dead-end street and backs up against the trails of Lakewood Park. When the weather is good, it is a lot of space to spread out in. Executive Director Rick Jump confided that it would be a great location for a Food Truck Roundup, with proceeds going to the Food Bank, of course. It made us wonder what else could happen in that open White Center space while bikes are getting some love?

Look for DubSea Bikes at Cambodian New Year, Saturday, April 28th, 10:30 am – 5pm, on SW 98th Street at a table sponsored by Noise w/o Sound. In 1 month we’ll be greeting AM cycle commuters at Dubsea Coffee *and * Caffè Delia on Bike To Work Day, Friday, May 18th and celebrating their return to the neighborhood with a massive Afterparty at Proletariat Pizza.

This Sunday, you’re invited to Holy Family Parish School (20th/Roxbury) for an open house featuring its new Spanish-language program. 9:30 am to 2 pm, everybody welcome, according to principal Frank Cantwell.