White Center Now: The blog about White Center

ORIGINAL WEDNESDAY REPORT: In the latest bulletin from the King County Public Health Department:

*Taqueria EL Rincon #1 located at 11066 16th Ave SW, Seattle* was closed by a Public Health food inspector on March 3, 2009 at 12:40 pm due to wastewater draining to the ground. The establishment will be reopened when all issues have been resolved

THURSDAY UPDATE: It’s open again, according to the KCPH website.

From Sgt. John Urquhart at King County Sheriff’s Office:

On March 3, 2009 at about 8.30 PM a home located in the 11000 block of 8th Ave S was invaded and robbed by three armed suspects. The suspects ransacked the house while holding the occupants at gunpoint. The preliminary investigation indicates the suspects were after money and drugs. They left in what was described as a tan newer Cadillac taking with them an undetermined amount of cash, 2 shotguns and other property. The suspects are described as a white male and 2 Hispanic males all in their mid to late twenties. They were wearing black stocking hats, black sweatshirts and dark jeans. The suspects were all armed with handguns.
Detectives are seeking the public’s assistance with any information that might assist them with their investigation.

The agenda for this Thursday night’s meeting of the North Highline UAC is available online, and includes:

7:30 p.m. Burien Deputy Mayor – Rose Clark – July 4, Parade

7:45 p.m. Code Enforcement – DenoBi Olegba & Randy Sandin

8:05 p.m. Old Business –
Meeting with Ron Sims – Heidi Johnson
Puget Sound Park – Heidi Johnson
Annexation Update
Abandoned Shopping Carts – Heidi Johnson
AIA – Heidi Johnson

The AIA is the alcohol-impact area proposal, which was discussed again at last Thursday’s White Center/South Delridge Community Safety Coalition meeting, though nothing major was resolved there – it continues to be a situation where each side of the city/county border has to develop a proposal and take it to their respective governing body for approval, for starters. From what was said at the CSC meeting, the county side seems to be further ahead at this point. Meantime, the Thursday night meeting is at 7 pm at North Highline Fire District HQ, and everyone’s welcome.

We told you a few days ago that the time, date, and location are all now set for the upcoming Youth Summit – and now, here’s the flyer for the event described as “An opportunity for young people to help create the future of the White Center/Boulevard Park Community.”

Seattle Fire Department spokesperson Dana Vander Houwen has just told White Center Now that “improperly discarded smoking materials” were the cause of last night’s fire — ruled an accident — that damaged what Ricardo reports is a Muslim prayer hall (or “masjid” – see photo at bottom of this post) in the building on the alley immediately north of his building (home to Cafe Rozella and the Platinum salon). The fire started on/in a “vinyl couch,” she says – you’ll note the photos we took outside the building this morning include a badly burned couch.

Damage from the fire is estimated by SFD at $25,000.

(added 7:14 pm, photo by Tony Bradley, replacing our original iPhone photo)
We’ve been covering this on partner site West Seattle Blog. Nobody inside, nobody hurt, no major damage from the outside, but flames were briefly visible from inside. As of 7 pm, that block of Delridge was still blocked off, as was 17th SW between Delridge and Roxbury, so avoid the Triangle area for a while, though fire crews should clear before TOO long. MONDAY MORNING UPDATE: Our fellow White Center Now contributor Ricardo Guarnero at neighboring Cafe Rozella says the fire actually was in a Muslim prayer hall in this building. We are still awaiting word from Seattle Fire investigators regarding cause/damage. Ricardo adds that there’s a note on the door saying “MASJID is closed indefinitely,” and adds, “The sign is on the door where Muslims gathered to pray five times a day. Next door is the ‘Hope Academic Enrichment Center.’ Both were there for the Muslim community in White Center – mostly African immigrants from the horn of Africa.”

Come down and try Laughing Buddha’s newest creations paired with some Asian-influenced ice cream. Today at 3 pm, Full Tilt Ice Cream.

We just stopped by. Lots of vendors and shoppers. Amazing quirky stuff like an item we picked up – Hunter S. Thompson, stenciled onto an old vinyl disc (we looked at the back – Saturday Night Fever, the album – fitting in an odd way).

Adding a video interview with stencil artist Dave Ryan shortly. Rat City Rummage continues till 6 tonight in the old roller rink – you can enter from 16th SW. 11:35 AM UPDATE: Here’s that clip:

ADDED 9:53 PM: Thanks to Highland Park’s Dina Johnson for sharing this page full of photos of other artists and craftspeople who were on hand at Rat City Rummage.

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.

First – Metro says everything’s back to normal, after the morning show and associated troubles. The news release is posted on our partner site West Seattle Blog. Second — reminder that tonight’s the night County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg guests at the White Center/South Delridge Community Safety Coalition meeting, 6 pm, St. James Place (original White Center Now report here).

This is going to be an amazing lo-fi show. The stranger even agrees, and they don’t like much of anything.

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/underage/Content?oid=1133544&ms

(Photo by Dina Johnson)
White Center Food Bank executive director Rick Jump made a guest appearance Monday night at the monthly meeting of the Highland Park Action Committee, whose turf stretches all the way to the WC line, and he shared numbers that won’t surprise you, but are startling nonetheless: Last month alone, WCFB served almost 1800 families – 6,000 people. That’s up to 80 percent more than this time last year, Jump said, describing it as “a bit of a crisis” while also noting that in addition to serving White Center, WCFB also serves Highland Park (and other areas of West Seattle’s south half). He elaborated: “We’re seeing a lot of people who have never visited a food bank before in their life, and they’re really embarrassed to be there … it really is a new face we’re seeing in food bank lines.” He says the Feinstein Challenge starts next month, with a private organization rewarding WCFB (and other organizations nationwide) depending on how much food and money is donated to the organization in March and April, so if you make a donation during the next two months, be sure to earmark it to qualify for the Feinstein Challenge. What they need most right now, he says, is “dry variety” food – macaroni and cheese, Hamburger Helper type of stuff. What they don’t need … tuna … they get that as a government commodity and, Jump smiled, “we’re swimming in tuna.” They have a “baby pantry” service as well, and while they don’t need formula – a private donor gives them all they could possibly need, according to Jump – they do need “larger size” diapers. You can find out more about WCFB, and donate money online, by going to its website, www.whitecenterfoodbank.org. (We’ll report more on the Highland Park meeting later today on our partner site West Seattle Blog.)

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.

A new “edible garden” has sprouted at the White Center Food Bank; volunteers from Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle and SeattleWorks spent several hours Saturday clearing ornamental plantings from the plots where vegetables will now grow. Read more about it on partner site West Seattle Blog – including the need for one more volunteer – somebody to set up and tend a new worm-compost bin! Meantime, hours after we stopped at WCFB, it was off to the first open house at the artists’ studios on the east side of the old skating rink:

The party inside and upstairs was a little too crowded and dark for good pix but we had a great time wandering from room to room, viewing some of the artists’ creations, including paintings, sculpture, even a striking bench with an inset eagle-head carving. Next weekend, the artists will be involved in the first Rat City Rummage event – remember, you can look for the entryway from 16th:

Rat City Rummage is set for next Saturday, 10 am-6 pm at the old skate rink.

Those two photos represent the “chocolate” in the AmeriCorps-organized “Peace, Love, Chocolate” event at the Boys/Girls Club gym at Greenbridge today — top, Seattle’s own fair-trade, organic Theo Chocolate brought free candy; immediately above, volunteers made necklaces from Hershey chocolate kisses. And then, there were non-edible examples of peace and love, starting with kids creating art at this table – what you see hanging on the wall behind it is a “peace quilt” of paper:

Of course, you can’t have a “peace” event in this area without representation from West Seattle Neighbors for Peace and Justice:

AmeriCorps volunteers who work for Habitat for Humanity in East King County kept watch over a table where these young helpers were creating with clay:

And if you think 4H is just about farms, this table was there to remind you that’s not so:

The event was a service project organized by AmeriCorps members including Yichuan Zhao, who kindly showed us around to the various stations (he also works with the White Center Food Bank, site of another event today that we’ll be writing about later). He and his AmeriCorps colleagues also are very appreciative of the many White Center businesses and organizations that helped them out and promised to send a list that we can add to this report (among them, White Center Now‘s own Cafe Rozella, which donated coffee, and Full Tilt Ice Cream, which sent paletas). Yichuan was proud to say that, thanks to donations and volunteer help, the entire event cost only $200 to put on – and that was to procure a PA system for live music! ADDED TUESDAY: Here’s the list of sponsors they wished to thank:

Food:
Full Tilt
Salvadorean Bakery
Carniceria El Paisano
Castillos
Samway Market
Cafe Rozella
Theo Chocolate
PCC
Trader Joe’s Burien
Albertson’s
Little Caesar’s
International Market

Tables:
WSU 4-H
West Seattle Neighbors for Peace and Justice
Seattle Center for Peace
Powerful Voices
Solid Ground
Habitat for Humanity East King County (AmeriCorps Team)
ECOSS

And people who donated stuff:
Goodwill (mugs)
Seward Park Clay Studio (Clay)

Music:
Alex Kajumulo
Seattle Peace Choir

The King County Sheriff’s Office sent this news release today:

The help of the public is needed to catch a robber who hit the Lucky 7 store twice in less than a two week period, and may have robbed a store in Seattle as well.

The Lucky 7 incidents occurred on January 27th and February 7th, at 1:40 PM and 8:15 AM respectively. The store is in White Center at 9618 – 4th Ave SW.

In both robberies the suspect violently pushed the 71 year-old female clerk to the ground then went to the cash register and stole cash and lottery tickets. No gun or other weapon was seen.

The suspect is described as an Asian male, about 5’ 2” or 5’ 3” tall, around 135 lbs, clean cut and 18 to 19 years old. He wore a NY Yankees baseball hat, and in one of robberies a hoody as well.

In the first robbery the man was seen fleeing the scene in a silver, 2-door, Mercedes or BMW.

If anyone has information about these crimes or knows the suspect they are asked to call the King County Sheriff’s Office at (206) 296-3311, or 9-1-1.

Here’s one of several images shared by KCSO (more to come) – the robber hopping the counter in one of the heists (not a big or clear photo, but best they have):

As we have elaborated on partner site West Seattle Blog, this same robber may be linked to a heist at a West Seattle gas station weekend before last (read more here).

If you live on the Seattle side of White Center – you just might want to check this out – the invitation’s from Highland Park Action Committee chair Dan Mullins:

Hello Neighbors!,

This Monday will be our monthly Highland Park Action Committee meeting. At each meeting in 2009 we will hold a raffle to win a prize donated by a neighborhood business. This Month’s prize is a gift certificate from Highland Park Favorite Jojo’s Espresso! Everybody in attendance that signs in gets a free raffle ticket. We are in the middle of the environmental SEPA process, so not much “Jail Talk”, but we have tons of neighborhood announcements, events, crime watch, etc. So please come to the Pot-Luck dinner at 6:30, meet your neighbors and and stay for the meeting at 7:00.

Highland Park Action Committee Meeting
Monday, Feb 23, 7:00PM*
at the HP Improvement Club
1116 SW Holden

*Pot-Luck dinner starts at 6:30

We reported recently that the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council had plans to help with a roundup of abandoned shopping carts – and now, NHUAC’s Heidi Johnson has sent us the flyer that has information on who to contact at which stores, and what their policies are. Download it here – and help clear those carts out of YOUR neighborhood!

Come check them out.

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.