White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Each of three “small schools” from the Evergreen High School campus has its own separate graduation ceremony tomorrow – all listed here, all at the Highline Performing Arts Center.

Noticed this in the blog-format section of the White Center Community Development Association website – a restaurant review about one of WC’s newest eating/drinking places. Photos too. See it here.

On behalf of partner site West Seattle Blog, we are tabling today at the Morgan Junction Community Festival (continuing at Fauntleroy /California till 6 pm) – and we just got a flyer from Ron Richardson of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society regarding the big History Tour of White Center coming up July 25. Meet at 17th/Roxbury, in the parking lot, at 10:30 am that day (it’s a Saturday), and the tour will last about an hour and a half. $5 SWHS members, $7 nonmembers (“or make a donation,” says the flyer). Ron promises some amazing sights to be seen – mark your calendar.

The grocery-delivery service has now added zip code 98146, a year and a half after it moved westward. A few more details at WSB.

10 am tomorrow in Burien, the King County Police Chiefs’ Association is sponsoring a King County Executive candidates’ forum focused on public safety issues. The 5 top KCE candidates have confirmed, according to organizers; here’s the latest. (P.S. If you are on the Seattle side of White Center, you may be interested in tonight’s 34th District Democrats candidates forum – KC Exec is *not* included, though, because of the forum a week ago in Fauntleroy.)

Just a little more than two months now till the annexation vote in southern North Highline – and another open house is set for next Tuesday, this time at 6 pm, Southern Heights Elementary School, 11249 14th Avenue South (shown above in Google Street View).

Highline Public Schools leadership has gone public with recommendations for how to balance the budget (see them here). Now, they want to hear from you, and will be accepting comment at this week’s School Board meeting. It’s at 6 pm Wednesday, 15675 Ambaum in Burien (map); see the agenda here.

Stephen Lamphear wanted to share this information:

f you are a customer of Seattle City Light — you do not have to be senior or disabled to get reduced rates.

Low income customers can get a 50% rate reduction. That means what it says — LOW INCOME. Stop struggling to pay utility bills — get help. This is not temporary or one-time help to pay the bill. This is long term rate reduction. Eat better, pay less for electricity.

Discounted Rates for Seniors, Disabled and Low-Income Customers
Qualifying customers can save 50% on electric, water, sewer and garbage bills. Customers living in federally-funded public housing and Section 8 housing are not eligible.

* Seniors and persons with disabilities – If you are a senior citizen or a person with disabilities and your income is at or below 70% of the state median level, call the Mayor’s Office for Senior Citizens at (206) 684-0268.

Income Guidelines.

* Low-Income – Customers with household income at or below 70% of state’s median income may call the Seattle Human Services Department at (206) 684-0268 to qualify and enroll.

This message brought to you by Stephen Lamphear, former Burien City Councilmember!

Click pic to play video

That’s some of our video from last October, as U.S. Sen. Patty Murray helped break ground for the new Educare Learning Center at Greenbridge. Construction’s going well, according to Linda Carr at Educare/Highline Head Start, who asked if we would share this with you:

The construction of our new Educare Learning Center at Greenbridge is on schedule – we hope to move in the last week of December and welcome Head Start students on January 4, 2010!

We are recruiting children to fill our 9 part day classes, our 1 extended day class and our full day child care classroom. We encourage every low-income family with a 3 or 4 year olds to apply. We give priority to homeless children, children with a disability and 4 year olds. If we are not full by late August, we will invite some eligible 3 year olds to join us. We have great bi-lingual staff and a large pool of interpreters to help parents who ELL to apply and enroll.

Families can call us at 206/762-6070 to get an application in a variety of languages. Alternately, they can stop by our current locations: 501 SW 110th Place in Park Lake II Homes or 10014 Sixth Ave SW to pick up an application.

Our staff are busy getting training and finishing degrees as we become an Educare Center.

Our Park Lake II center will close for 2 years starting this August. We will have classrooms temporarily at Burien Community Center and at Coronado Springs Apartments until our new building opens.

(North Highline Unincorporated Area Council officers from left, Vice President Christine Waldman, Treasurer Ron Johnson, Secretary Jessica Stoneback, and President Greg Duff)

By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for White Center Now

The art installation at Steve Cox Memorial Park has hit another snag – dirty dirt.

Contaminated soil near the entrance of the ball field could be stirred up by digging needed to install the artwork and may have to be removed before the project can continue, the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council learned Thursday night.

More than $18,000 has been raised for the art that is the last piece needed to finish the tribute to the fallen King County Sheriff’s deputy.

Meantime, the new slate of councilmembers looked a lot like the old group. In the recent election, none of the council incumbents had a challenger, and all were easily re-elected by the 25 voters who participated — compared to 900 people who voted in the council’s first election.

Re-elected were Ray Helms, Heidi Johnson, Ron Johnson, Doug Harrell and Greg Duff.

Outgoing President Russ Pritchard complimented the council on its work ethic. “This is the most workaholic council I have ever been president of. You have accomplished more than any other council I have seen.”

Duff was elected council president, and Christine Waldman was elected vice president. Jessica Stoneback was re-elected secretary and Ron Johnson was re-elected treasurer.

Duff said he is excited to serve as president “in a year when we hope part of our area will go to Burien. It is very significant.” The annexation vote is set for August 18.

Burien City Manager Mike Martin told the council that they are meeting with various community groups to “make our intentions clear” and push forward with the annexation. Martin said they have been meeting with various community groups, which each have unique questions about what the annexation will mean.

A recent meeting with the Latino Leadership Community raised questions about business licensing and police presence, for example, he said.

Martin also gave an update on the King County Sheriff’s deputy assigned to Burien who was seriously injured in an accident while responding to a burglary call. He will be home soon, but will still need a great deal of recovery time.

The council also considered several new proposals, activities and invitations.

Ray Prentice asked for support in his effort to apply for funds to update the cinder running track at Evergreen High School to an all-weather rubberized surface. The Evergreen track is used by students, but also by members of the community to socialize, walk, jog and play.

Prentice also led the earlier effort that modernized the track at Mt. Rainier High School. The council voted to support the effort at Evergreen, but were also cautious that no funding that could possibly be used to keep the community swimming pool open would be jeopardized by the track request.

Council members also took a tough vote, following some discussion, deciding not to participate in the Burien Fourth of July parade. Some first considered the possibility if a convertible car was available.

“I have a pickup; you can ride in the back,” said Councilmember Doug Harrell.

Ultimately, because several council members are going to be out of town, that the group would be unable to participate. Brochures providing information about the council will be set out at the Emerald City Smoothie booth.

North Highline Unincorporated Area Council members will turn out for White Center Jubilee Days and the Burien Strawberry Festival on June 20 and 21.

The NHUAC usually meets the first Thursday of each month, 7 pm, North Highline Fire District HQ.

6 pm, Steve Cox Park, help shape the new playground that’s in the works. 7 pm, North Highline Fire District HQ, attend the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council’s meeting to find out about the latest work on hot community issues (including Evergreen Pool, as reported here earlier).

Just received from King County Council Chair Dow Constantine‘s office:

Today, I co-sponsored legislation for a supplemental appropriation ordinance that includes two additional months of funding for pool operations. This money will keep the pool open through the warm summer months—the facility was originally slated to be closed at the end of June; this funding extends operations through the end of August.

I am currently working with Councilmember Larry Gossett, the chair of the Council’s Budget and Fiscal Management Committee, on finding funds to keep the pool in operation for the remainder of the year.

Obviously, these are just temporary solutions, but they give more time to community members who are working on a proposal to keep the pool open permanently by transferring it to private or non-profit operation.

I am also coordinating with the 34th District state legislators (Rep. Sharon Nelson, Rep. Eileen Cody, Sen. Joe McDermott) to set up a strategy meeting in the near future to continue this community discussion.

MargL noticed signs for a major closure coming up on Ambaum – so we checked with King County DOT for the details, and here’s what Linda Thielke sent:

* Ambaum Boulevard Southwest at Southwest 120th Street
* Scheduled closure is from 7 a.m. Monday, June 15 through 5 p.m. Friday, June 26
* During the closure, crews will be replacing a drainage pipe underneath Ambaum
* Motorists can detour via 12th Avenue SW to SW 116th Street and back to Ambaum
* This is a joint project between the City of Burien and King County

The info available on the White Center Jubilee Days website continues to grow – and now there’s more info about this year’s parade, Saturday afternoon, July 18th. The theme: “Living the Dream.” Hard to believe the heart of summer festival season is just a little more than six weeks away!

They represent you – until and unless you are annexed by someone – so you don’t want to miss this week’s monthly meeting of the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council. It’s at 7 pm at the North Highline Fire District’s HQ, and the agenda is now available online, by going here.

Context: As Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels prepares to officially file his re-election campaign documents on Monday, we were granted an interview with him Saturday morning, for partner site West Seattle Blog. We asked one question on behalf of White Center Now: With the Seattle City Council having turned thumbs down on the Memorandum of Understanding his office worked out with Burien (and others) regarding annexation (February WCN coverage here), what happens now? This video includes the entirety of his answer – mostly prefaced with background on the sales-tax incentive vote, which he thinks was the council’s only real sticking point:

If you’re interested in the rest of our interview, we’re parceling it out in multiple reports on WSB; watch the West Seattle Politics archive, where two stories are already posted as of this writing early Sunday.

Teresa posted some on her site – and in a comment here on WCN, Mike shared a few dozen more.

We caught up with the parade at 15th SW and SW 98th — our main camera choked and we had to pull out the trusty backup, but if you didn’t get to see it in person, this video (and music!!!) still suggests the flavor of the fun. If you see this before mid-evening, there’s still time to get over to Cafe Rozella for the concert that followed the parade. Scroll down the WCN home page to read Ricardo‘s earlier reports to find out more about the history of this tradition. ADDED LATER: We did manage to get a short clip of the end of the parade at Cafe Rozella, with a clearer view of the dancers in the shade:

Here are some more pictures from last night’s performance of Afro-Peruvian music and dance at Cafe Rozella.

Poetry and music at Cafe Rozella

Devil

Preparing for the Performance

Choreographer instructs troupe before performance

Last night at the White Center-South Delridge Community Safety Coalition meeting, an attendee mentioned getting a letter from Metro regarding the potential end of a program in which trash cans are provided for bus stops if someone promises to keep them empty and maintained. We checked today with Metro’s Linda Thielke to see what’s going on, and she explains:

If you’ve ever been to a White Center/South Delridge Community Safety Coalition meeting, you know that’s Kathy Kaminski, one of the WCSDCSC’s energetic co-facilitators (along with Karen Greene). At the end of Thursday night’s meeting, Kathy had a personal announcement: Next meeting will be her last, as she is leaving Seattle Neighborhood Group in July to return to school, seeking a Master’s Degree in Public Administration. She says she hopes to return after her two years of studies; she’s been with SNG for five years (per its staff page).