White Center Now: The blog about White Center

The West Seattle neighborhood closest to White Center, Highland Park, has its community association meeting tomorrow night – Highland Park Action Committee, 7 pm at HP Improvement Club HQ. HPAC chair Dan Mullins sent around an agenda update and we noticed the annexation proposal is among the discussion items. Mullins says the scheduled guest is Mark Ufkes of the White Center Homeowners Association. On other topics, Seattle Parks and police reps are expected too.

A reminder – the White Center/South Delridge Community Safety Coalition meets in two nights, since it’s the fourth Thursday! 6-8 pm, DSHS building at 9650 15th SW (map). You can expect to hear from King County Sheriff’s Office and Seattle Police reps as well as the group’s volunteer leadership – be ready to hear about and talk about what’s up in your neighborhood.

From Audrey at the White Center Food Bank – an announcement!

Now through March 13, 2010, the White Center Kiwanis will be collecting dog and cat food for the White Center Food Bank.

Pet food can be dropped off at A Place for Pets (431 SW 152nd, Burien), Hotwire Online Coffeehouse in West Seattle (4410 California Ave SW), or the Law Offices of Gerald Robison (648 S. 152nd, Suite 7, Burien) by March 13. On March 13, 2010, pet food can be dropped off at the White Center Food Bank (10829 8th Ave SW, White Center) from 10 am to 4 pm. Volunteers from local Key Clubs and Kiwanis Clubs in the region will be volunteering at the White Center Food Bank to receive donations. On-line donations can also be made online at www.whitecenterfoodbank.org.

The pet food collected during the drive will help low income families to feed their pets. Providing pet food to the food bank allows community member not to have to choose between feeding their pets and paying other bills. The White Center Food Bank feeds 1,700 families each month. During these times of high unemployment, people are coming to the food bank that never needed to come before.

The Kiwanis Pet Food Drive is part of the Governors Project K-9. The project challenges Kiwanis members/clubs or districts to complete a Service Project to volunteer with, learn about or donate to an organization that helps dogs or uses dogs to help people.

For more information about the Kiwanis Pet Food Drive, contact the White Center Food Bank’s Food Drive Coordinator Audrey Zemke at (206) 762-2848 or audrey@whitecenterfoodbank.org

The best “art walks” are full of performance art as well as displayed, completed visual art, and last night, that was the case in White Center. A clear night, not too cold, so the White Center Art Walk excitement spilled onto the sidewalk – Dina Johnson shared her photos, including the Fusion Dance Crew outside the new Dream Community Gallery at 9640 16th SW. On the other side of 16th, Full Tilt Ice Cream filled with music fans:

Art Walk-ers also were serenaded inside Cafe Rozella – that’s proprietor Leticia, applauded by Blair Johnson:

You can see Dina’s full WC Art Walk photo set on Flickr by going here. Watch whitecenterforthearts.org for details on the next Third Saturday Art Walk as soon as they’re available; this edition of the WC Art Walk marks WCFTA’s first “birthday.”

Chances are that you’re in the 34th Legislative District. Your legislators, State Sen. Joe McDermott, Reps. Eileen Cody and Sharon Nelson, are having a town hall meeting in nearby West Seattle this morning – 11 am at High Point Community Center (here’s a map).

Just a quick reminder; lots of info at the White Center for the Arts website.

(SATURDAY MORNING NOTE: The full video of this meeting is now online at Seattle Channel – annexation was the last item.)

Two updates on what City of Seattle leaders are saying today regarding potential annexation of the north section of North Highline:

MAYOR MIKE McGINN: I was invited to one of his periodic group “media brown-bag” question/answer sessions. One of the questions I asked was, after he had laid out various priorities for the city, where did annexation fit in? He gave several reasons for why he was proceeding with the process of seeking a vote – including wanting to help the county, which needs to stop serving unincorporated urban areas. He did say, though, that the city needed to study whether it really makes sense, including finance-wise, and might have to slow down the process at some point.

COUNCIL COMMITTEE: That dovetails with the conclusion of the Seattle City Council Regional Development and Sustainability briefing on the annexation proposal. The committee’s chair, Council President Richard Conlin, said they need to find out before proceeding further whether “this is something that is good for the people of Seattle and good for the people who live in that area.” Councilmember TIm Burgess said what he hadn’t seen yet was a plan regarding why annexation should be considered and how it would work. Bottom line, councilmembers say they’ve got questions and they have asked city staff for answers. One staffer also said that the timeline to proceed with a vote this year might be a little tighter than she’d said previously – she said the council might actually need to vote by mid-July on whether to seek a North Highline vote this November. Side note – during the committee meeting, Conlin said that now-County Councilmember Jan Drago had told him she supports proceeding with Seattle annexation. According to Full Tilt Ice Cream via Twitter, Drago was touring White Center today.

Reminder since Friday is only two days away – Friday is the next public discussion in Seattle city government of the proposal to annex the north section of North Highline. It’s a briefing before the Seattle City Council‘s Regional Development and Sustainability Committee, 2 pm at Seattle City Hall. Here’s the official agenda.

A recent note from Margie at Rebuilding Together Seattle: “Recently, we were approached by a sponsor group to do a special rebuilding day with volunteers. White Center is on our list of geographic areas that we’d like to consider. (Are there) any community centers, schools, facilities, etc. that are in need of our help? Interested individuals can contact our office at 206.682.1231.”

(photo courtesy D. Groves)
Over at West Seattle Blog, we reported for much of the night on a hit-run crash that damaged (and in at least one case totaled) several cars along 35th SW. The truck bore the logo of White Center’s Croft Rentals, and this morning Q13 FOX confirmed that the truck was stolen from Croft. The driver got out of the truck and ran after the West Seattle crash. Our full WSB report is here.

White Center for the Arts celebrates its 1st anniversary/birthday next Saturday, with the Third Saturday Art Walk, including the debut of Dream Community Gallery (9640 16th SW). Here are the highlights, as forwarded by WCFTA:

WHITE CENTER ART WALK
February 20th, 2010 6 PM until 9 PM
Featuring:

Salvadorean Bakery:: Chuck Northcutt – photography on canvas

Café Rozella: Carole Ellis – photography

Triangle Tavern: Chase Evans – Spoken Word @ 6:15
DJ sets @ 7:00

Full Tilt Ice Cream: Julie Luke – Acrylic on Canvas

Proletariat Pizza: Baso – photography

Dzul Tattoo: Urban and Tattoo Art

Dream Community Gallery: Fusion Dance Crew @ 6:30
Brian Barr – Portraits of White Center, Amanda Helmick – Mixed Media,
Amanda Pickerel-Winer – paintings

Big Al Brewing: Raina Anderson – photography

DubSea Café: Hye Young Kim – dyed yarn and acrylic,
Micheal Olson – DJ –reggae/dub plus more!

The flash of fire, the sound of drums, all outside Pho My Loi just about an hour ago.

Tomorrow is the start of the Lunar New Year – this is the Year of the Tiger.

To celebrate New Year, the Lieu Quan Lion Dance Team (as announced by the White Center Community Development Association website) – came out to dance.

There’s a big Lunar New Year celebration under way in the International District today too – here’s coverage in the Seattle Times (WCN citywide-news partner).

You can see all 40 of our photos in this Flickr slideshow:

A week ago, the new Hang Around Bar and Grill (at the site that used to be The Wall) had a “recovery party” after word of a break-in. Owners Joe and Glennis have since sent this. (Highland Park resident Dina Johnson was among those at the party and shared the photo above, with Hang Around visitors enjoying darts.)

Thank you for all of the community Support on our recovery party last Friday.

Since then, we made some changes. We added a new wooden Dance Floor, Took out one pool table for room for
tables and chairs. The Stage (was expected to be) complete this week.

Dart Leagues Started…and we’re winning….YAY!

We are auditioning Bands, (smooth Jazz and Blues) to play at our location two days a week.

Two other days we plan on having Comedy Night(s) with live comedians and music.

Mondays will be Karaoke night and Thursdays will always be Ladies night. We recovered….Thank You!!!!

Oh yeah! ….Thanks for the Pizza Too..it was GREAT!

We want this place to be for the 30 and over crowd. That is our goal. The Hip Hop music is Dead in our place and the Old School music is demanded. So Thank you everyone, The King County Sheriffs office, The Community, The West Seattle Blog [White Center Now publishers] and all of our friends….Thank You!

~Joe & Glennis
(Owners of the Hang Around Bar & Grill)

Jordan Royer – former Seattle City Council candidate and son of former Seattle mayor Charlie Royer — has an opinion essay at Crosscut today, titled “Why White Center and Seattle need each other.” See it here. Meantime, the next scheduled event in the process to determine whether there will be an annexation vote for White Center, Top Hat, Boulevard Park, etc., this year, is a week from tomorrow – the Seattle council’s Regional Development and Sustainability Committee meeting, 2 pm Friday, Feb. 19.

The White Center Community Development Association website has updated its listing for Vietnamese New Year celebrations this weekend. Now WCCDA says a lion dance is scheduled to be performed at Pho My Loi at 10 am Saturday morning – no firecrackers, though. Read more here.

Just a bit over 50 percent yes in the early going for the King County Library System ballot measure – this is the one and only count that will be out tonight – see it here.

The White Center Library drop box is gone – they’re all gone, except downtown and Tukwila. So unless you can make it to one of those boxes, you need to get your ballot in the mail – with a stamp – by tonight. The King County Library System levy is the big deal today – read about it here.

Saw the 911 mention of a 4th SW/SW Roxbury car crash before 8 pm tonight. Did not hint at the mayhem described in this Q13 story, which says the van that allegedly hit multiple cars turned up abandoned in Burien.

A news release this afternoon from the King County Council:

Metropolitan King County Councilmember Jan Drago today introduced the staff that will assist her in meeting constituent needs in Council District 8. The five-member staff brings a wealth of experience and knowledge from both public and private sector positions throughout the region.

“With such depth and diversity in their backgrounds and experience with big issues like transportation, budgeting, and the environment, I am confident that the team will serve the citizens of District 8 and the entire county very well,” said Drago. “I consider myself quite lucky to have found an amazing team ready to take on this one-year tour of duty with me on the Council.”

· Marsha Holbrook will serve as Drago’s Chief of Staff. Holbrook brings 30 years of experience in the government sector to Drago’s team, with expertise in local government relations, marketing and logistics. Holbrook is responsible for overall office operations and coordination, as well as focusing on disaster preparedness, public health, youth violence prevention, and regional policy issues.

· Jodie Vice is Drago’s Policy Director. Vice was a member of Drago’s Seattle City Council staff, serving as her lead staffer on regional and local transportation policy. Vice will direct analysis of issues related to transportation, including the Ferry District, the budget and fiscal management, and environmental issues.

· Linda Robson is Drago’s Communications Director. Robson has over a decade of experience in public sector communications work in the region, including positions with Sound Transit, the Regional Transportation Commission, and as an aide to former Seattle City Councilmember Jim Compton. Robson will be responsible for media relations, writing and event planning, and concentrate on regional water and utilities issues.

· Mike Heavey will be Drago’s Community Relations Director. Heavey’s interest in government and politics began at the age of 13 while serving as a page for the Washington State Legislature. His most recent position was as the Eastside field organizer for Dow Constantine’s King County Executive campaign. Heavey will assist Drago with planning and coordinating community events and citizen relations, as well as analysis of law, criminal justice and public safety issues.

· Holly Krejci is Drago’s Executive Assistant and will be responsible for the daily operation of the office and constituent service . Krejci has over a decade of customer service, event planning, and administrative support experience, and is an active member of the Georgetown community in District 8.

Drago was unanimously appointed by the Council last month to fill the vacancy created in District 8 when Dow Constantine was sworn in as County Executive. She is Chair of the Regional Water Quality Committee and the King County Ferry District.