White Center Now: The blog about White Center

We want to share this letter, sent to us as a followup to yesterday’s report (and our previous coverage, archived here). We appreciate WCN being included in the kind words – we were somewhat latecomers to the issue, but will continue working to do a better job, day by day, covering the news that matters to White Center. From Greg Duff:

When Ron Sims sent Rod Brandon and Nori Catabay to the NHUAC meeting to inform us about the possible sale of Puget Sound Park to build affordable housing, I think maybe they thought they were going to get a free ride. I think they were trying to slip one past us by letting us know that this could not possibly happen before the annexation vote.

Imagine our surprise when just a short time later King County put out a Request for Qualifications to buyers for the Park. Ron Sims underestimated the power of an irate citizen. I think Ron Sims is shocked at how smart North Highline people are.

The NHUAC mounted a campaign to inform the King County Councilmen of what was happening. Mike Martin, City Manager of Burien, went to bat for his town. The White Center Now blog did what a good free press should do and informed the public exactly what was happening.

Because of these efforts, the park was pulled off the list of potential sale sites. This is a great day for the little guy.

I would like to personally thank the citizens of North Highline and Burien who got involved and fought against this injustice. I would like to thank Mike Martin. Mike is truly a good man with a heart for his city. No society can truly be free without a voice from the people and the White Center Now blog is that voice. I would truly like to thank the members of the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council. These volunteer citizens are out there fighting for you. I am proud to be able to serve on the council with these fine people.

Thank You
Greg Duff
NHUAC Member

We have lots more to write about regarding the people of White Center continuing to work hard for their community, and are always honored when you choose to share information with us at White Center Now: whitecenternow@gmail.com.

Puget Sound Park wasn’t the only park discussed at last Thursday night’s North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting: Steve Cox Memorial Park updates were discussed, too. Artist Jay Haavik presented his concept – the large, leaning piece is meant to represent White Center, and the short one to represent Deputy Cox, with the community leaning on him. The larger, leaning piece will be an 8-foot basalt column; the smaller piece will be 5 feet tall, with a replica of his badge sandblasted into the side. The next step isn’t quite settled, though; the memorial is to be in a 20 x 37 section of the stadium, but there’s a City Light vault in the area, and if that turns out to be in active use, then the memorial’s area may have to be condensed. Councilmembers approved the design in principle but are waiting for formal word on the vault before a formal decision. There’s also concern about the picnic shelter at the park; county parks rep Sam Whitman says a neighborhood petition would be needed to start the process of possibly removing the shelter, which has drawn complaints about transients and late-night partying. Suggestions were made about better lighting or moving the picnic shelter, but Whitman says all that would cost money, which is in short supply right now.

First of two reports from tonight’s North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting — this one, focusing on the intensifying controversy over the county proposal to sell Puget Sound Park (as reported here yesterday, it’s already accepted “submittals” from firms interested in buying up to five county park sites to build “affordable housing”).

Toward the start of tonight’s meeting, council member Barb Peters read a letter the NHUAC sent to outgoing County Executive Ron Sims expressing opposition to any sale of Puget Sound Park.

James Bush, from the office of County Council Chair Dow Constantine, stood up and said the sale proposal’s not going anywhere. Constantine himself reiterated that in an e-mail to us after the meeting, saying in part:

… as far as I am concerned, we’re not selling Puget Sound Park. The Council would have to approve such an action, and my position has been clear:

1) Park land is precious and is not to be parted with except under extraordinary circumstances; and

2) Puget Sound Park is within Burien’s intended annexation area and any decision about changing the park can and should wait until after that annexation happens.

Burien city manager Mike Martin was at tonight’s meeting too and warned NHUAC members not to leave anything to chance, saying they have to get the county executive to remove the park from the list. From what he’s seen, he says he’s clear that “the project is alive.”

Each council member agreed to contact a King County Councilmember tomorrow to get the message out; Constantine also tells us that we should know within a few days whether he has a majority of councilmembers on the no-sale side.

NHUAC is also considering further public outreach about the controversy, possibly leafletting neighborhoods, even organizing a picnic. We’ll follow up with Constantine and his staff to keep you up to date on what happens next.

As noted in our as-it-happened coverage, members of the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council were on hand last night as the Boundary Review Board considered the proposed partial North Highline Annexation – and you can see them all in action this Thursday night, 7 pm, North Highline Fire District HQ, during their regular monthly meeting. The agenda’s now available online; one of the “old business” items is the controversial proposal to sell King County parkland in North Highline.

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.

Are you ready to serve? The search is on and maybe you can answer the call:

The North Highline Unincorporated Area Council is seeking applicants for council positions. Candidates must be 18 years and older, a resident of the area, and/or a business/property owner in the area or an official representative of a non-profit in the area. The council represents residents and business/property owners of the North Highline Unincorporated Area in their dealings with King County and surrounding cities. The council is comprised of 13 members representing the communities of Beverly Park, Boulevard Park, Glendale, Riverton Heights, Salmon Creek, Shorewood, South Park, Top Hat and White Center. To obtain a Candidate Filing Statement or to learn more about the open position’s contact Christine Waldman, cwaldman@northhighlineuac.org

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!

Just received the new North Highline Unincorporated Area Council newsletter from Heidi Johnson. It’s not on the NHUAC website yet but we’ve uploaded it here so you can read it if you’re not on the mailing list. Among its articles: Alerts about the future of Evergreen Pool and some of the King County parkland that’s been under discussion lately (we have a followup on that in the works). Read the newsletter here. (The council’s next meeting – everybody welcome – is March 5, 7 pm, North Highline Fire District HQ.)

By David Whelan
Reporting for White Center Now

For last night’s meeting of the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council, the main event was clearly the prospect of annexation.

Read the rest of this entry »

7 pm at the North Highline Fire District HQ (map) as usual, the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meets, and you’re invited. Items on the agenda (see it here) include elections and annexation.

Annexation’s likely to be a hot topic at both of these meetings: It’s definitely on the agenda (which you can see online) for the Burien City Council, 7 pm tomorrow; North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meets this week too (7 pm Thursday, North Highline Fire District HQ but the agenda’s not online yet as of this writing Sunday night).

Sparks flew at Thursday night’s North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting, with hot topics on the agenda from annexation to housing to … stray shopping carts. White Center Now was there; read on for our report: Read the rest of this entry »

The recently announced agreement (read it here) between Burien, Seattle, and other jurisdictions regarding the annexation process is one of the items on the agenda for tonight’s monthly meeting of the community group that represents you — the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council. 7 pm, North Highline Fire District HQ.

Although most of the details of the proposed agreement between Seattle and Burien for the proposed annexation have been covered in this blog as well as our partner, West Seattle Blog, the Seattle Times has a good article in today’s edition.  Per the article:

North Highline, one of the largest urban parts of King County that isn’t in a city, could be split between Seattle and Burien if the two city councils and voters decide that’s a good idea.

Seattle would become the local government for White Center and neighboring communities in the northern portion of North Highline, and Burien would absorb Boulevard Park and other neighborhoods in the southern part. An estimated 33,400 residents would be affected.

The proposed boundary, tentatively agreed to this month by Seattle and Burien, would run mostly along South and Southwest 112th and 116th streets. The agreement defines how much territory each of the cities could annex through the end of 2011. After that, all bets are off.

Feel free to leave your thoughts, but as always, be civil (and rational).  Thanks.

They’ve been planning it for months, and tonight’s the big night: The North Highline Unincorporated Area Council‘s fundraising dinner for the art project at Steve Cox Memorial Park. When we last checked in with NHUAC’s Heidi Johnson, just a few tickets are left, so we are hopeful the dinner will be a smash hit, and the project will be on its way to completion.

The monthly meeting of the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council — the community council that represents White Center (and vicinity) — is coming up this Thursday, 7 pm, North Highline Fire District HQ (map). The agenda’ s online now, too (see it here); it promises more information on a potential parking change mentioned at last month’s meeting (White Center Now coverage here) — spaces to be removed along the south side of Roxbury. Also to be discussed, the upcoming fundraiser for art at Steve Cox Memorial Park.

Somebody making a mess, someplace they shouldn’t? Action taken by King County Councilmembers today might help. Read on for the full details: Read the rest of this entry »

One more story to come after this, from Thursday night’s meeting (an update on the Steve Cox Memorial fundraiser), but first, two quick notes: The vacancy on the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council is now filled; Rebecca Lopez got the job. She was the only qualified applicant; council leaders said a second person who applied turned out to neither live nor work in the area. Note #2 – parking changes on the way to Roxbury between 15th and 17th: King County has a plan to remove 10 parking spaces on the south side of the street, it was mentioned on the meeting (we’ll be checking with the roads department to find out more).

Several stories to report from tonight’s meeting of the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council at NH Fire District HQ: We’ll start with a summary of the Alcohol Impact Area discussion (previewed here); council member Heidi Johnson has been researching this for about a year, it was noted tonight. The heart of the presentation/discussion was an informational briefing, with Karen McCall from the state Liquor Control Board explaining what an AIA is, how it works, and how to request one. Bottom line: If an area has problems caused by public drinking/drunkenness – from litter to people passed out in doorways and on bus benches – this is one way to go after the problem. It restricts businesspeople in the area from selling certain types of alcoholic beverages, sometimes specifying certain times of day for the restrictions. “There has to be a link from the products to the problem,” McCall stressed. And it requires a lot of documentation — once you’ve proposed an AIA, six months of work to see if you can get local businesses to comply voluntarily with whatever you want them to do (restrict certain products, certain hours, or both) — and you have to document the problem, with photos, notes, etc. After six months, if you “don’t get compliance” as McCall put it, you take it to your local jursidiction – a city council or county council, for example, and say you want to take it to the Liquor Control Board. That process may take another three to six months, but, she said, “The board hasn’t turned one down yet.” Make sure you really want it, though, because “once it’s in, it’s in” for at least two years. McCall also noted one more tool that communities have – when businesses’ liquor licenses come up for renewal, they can request restrictions on sale of certain products (fortified wine, for example) – though again, documentation of neighborhood problems is required. (Note: Liquor-license applications can be tracked online here.) One person who could certainly play a role in that was at tonight’s meeting: White Center-based King County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeff Hancock. In his year and a half in the area, he said, while he’s seen “a lot of violent crime,” he emphatically declared: “The behavior that stands out, and makes a negative impression, is public drunkenness — from Roxbury to 107th, between 14th and 18th, four or five businesses have single-sale alcohol to individuals, and there are 20 to 30 regulars, any day of the week, you can drive down 15th and 16th, see the cans everywhere, people passed out at bus stops … I personally responded to robberies, assaults between people who are intoxicated. It’s very bad for the image of White Center. What people say – they don’t really see the narcotics deals, or the violent crime you hear about on the news, but they see every day the people stumbling down the street, aggressive panhandlers … Alcohol is not the most serious crime in the area, but the most detrimental to the growth of the area.” He added that he feels if Seattle chooses the nearby Myers Way jail site, and releases people there, they would immediately head toward White Center to “get a beer,” if nothing is changed. McCall said some business owners traditionally protest the potential designation, but revenue reports show they usually increase their business in the year after restrictions are put into place. What’s next? More research, and a decision whether this is to be formally pursued; as mentioned in our preview coverage, area activists also would like to look at whether the Seattle side of the White Center area could be included – apparently that would involve separate requests from the separate jurisdictions. James Bush from the office of County Councilmember Dow Constantine also promised they would stay involved.

Reminder – the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meets tonight at 7 pm at North Highline Fire District headquarters, and the idea of a possible Alcohol Impact Area in White Center is on the agenda. (We wrote about this last month.) Read the full agenda for tonight’s meeting here; other topics include graffiti, King County Sheriff’s Office storefronts, and the upcoming Steve Cox Memorial fundraiser (here’s our most recent update).