White Center Now: The blog about White Center

That’s our video of last night’s North Highline Unincorporated Area Council public-safety forum, featuring King County Sheriff John Urquhart and North Highline’s Fire Chief Mike Marrs. One of the hottest topics: Whether the KCSO White Center Storefront Deputy position will continue to be funded. Sheriff Urquhart said he was committed to keeping it – but budget pressure could trump his intentions, so everyone who wants it to be kept should contact their representatives, particularly King County Executive Dow Constantine and County Councilmember Joe McDermott. (Their e-mail addresses: dow.constantine@kingcounty.gov and joe.mcdermott@kingcounty.gov … we’ll keep you updated on the county-budget process and potential touchstones along the way for this issue.)

The storefront deputy himself, Deputy BJ Myers, briefed attendees on current area crime trends – biggest news was an arrest of three alleged serial burglars.

White Center’s continuing-to-grow marijuana industry also was brought up, particularly the reported plan for the former Club Evo site to go into that line of business. It was noted that the injunction covering the site remains in force, so no one can open any kind of nightlife business there.

Live music and live art made this a live-ly night in White Center, for the August edition of the WC Art Walk. WCN contributor Deanie Schwarz got five of the art-being-made-live scenes on video for this report. Above, Rats in the Grass played bluegrass at Full Tilt Ice Cream. Over at Big Al Brewing, Erik Edwards created collage while All Mixed Up provided the soundtrack:

Art and music also mingled at 3.14 Bakery, with artist, illustrator and author Amara Kopakova and the music of The Kevin Helmick Experience (3.14, Deanie points out, is just celebrating their hugely successful first year in White Center! Have you tried the cakeballs?)

Art Walk co-curator Amanda Helmick‘s (Kevin’s wife) collages are on the walls behind Amara and will be viewable through the month. On to the south Delridge Triangle and “Remember the Diamonds”:

And the Daipan Butoh Collective was out and about:

Find out more about these and other artists who were part of tonight’s extravaganza by going to the official WC Art Walk website.

Great show over Steve Cox Memorial Park tonight – the White Center Jubilee Days fireworks, bursting in air over Mel Olson Stadium. We watched from north of the fieldhouse, which provided a unique view – the almost-full moon hanging in the sky right behind the fireworks. Our clip features three minutes from the second half of the show. Much more Jubilee Days excitement to come, including the street fair and parade this weekend, plus the annual pancake breakfast – we received this announcement:

The Jubilee Days Kiwanis Pancake breakfast is being held again this year on Saturday, July 16th, from 8 am to noon.

The cost is $5 for adults and free for kids under 5 years old. There will be pancakes, sausage, and Juice. Raffle tickets are available. All proceeded got to the Kiwanis Club of White Center (Helping Children of the World)

The Pancake breakfast will be at:
Holy Family School:
9615 20th SW

A fun clip shared on Facebook by Full Tilt Ice Cream – they say their friend Chris Looney “made it as part of a school project. He is the front man for the amazing band Ape City R and B.” (Music credit is on the YouTube clip page, if you click through the YT logo toward the lower right of the video window.)

It happened within the past hour at Alki Beach in West Seattle, but it’s the White Center Polar Bear Swim too; the invitation was issued by WC Chamber of Commerce president Mark Ufkes, who’s long been inviting anyone and everyone to start the New Year with a splash. The sunny weather brought out more than 100 “swimmers” – even The King:

We wish you and all of White Center (and beyond) the happiest of New Years!

That’s video from the King County Courthouse this afternoon, as two 34th District state legislators were sworn in by King County Superior Court Judge Mary Yu — State Sen. Sharon Nelson and State Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, who was elected to the position left vacant by Nelson when she ran (unopposed) for the Senate. They will join longtime State Representative Eileen Cody in Olympia, representing the area that includes White Center as well as West Seattle, Vashon and Maury Islands, and part of Burien (among a few other areas). Here’s what they had to say after the ceremony:

The ceremony drew dozens in the County Council chambers – among them, newly elected County Councilmember Joe McDermott (whose departure from the State Senate cleared the way for Sen. Nelson to move up) and County Executive Dow Constantine.

Before the holiday gets too far in the rear-view mirror – that video is courtesy of IAM 751, whose members donated a half-ton candy that was delivered last Friday to the Salvation Army center for White Center/eastern West Seattle fun.

With not just the snip of ceremonial scissors but also shouts of THANK YOU! – the former Evergreen Pool, closed 7 months ago, formally reopened at midday today as Evergreen Community Aquatic Center. King County Executive Dow Constantine was there to help, and he called the public/private endeavor to get it reopened “a shining example … of new partnerships” – here’s his speech:

Also speaking, with proud words at the end of a long, determined effort to make this happen, were WhiteWater Aquatics vice president Bryan Hastings and ECAC general manager “Coach” Joel Schweiger:

A free public swim followed the dedication. The pool’s schedule, as linked here a few weeks ago, can be found here.

UPDATED SUNDAY: Our video is from just after protesters stretched into a “human chain” all the way across the South Park Bridge. But thanks to Dale Rowe for sending the photo we added Sunday:

Meantime, the people opposed to the bridge’s closure did get hoped-for media attention during their demonstration today – we saw a couple TV crews. And awareness is what it was all about, according to Bill Pease:

The county’s plan for closing the bridge remains 7 pm June 30th, and there’s no hard-and-fast plan for a replacement yet, though the money search continues. County Councilmember Jan Drago talked about it while speaking before participating in the waterborne work party that was part of the Duwamish Alive! Earth Day effort this morning – this next clip is by visual journalist Cliff DesPeaux, who covered Duwamish Alive! for our partner site West Seattle Blog:

As reported here earlier this week, the first meeting to review the county’s draft closure plan – addressing everything from traffic to business impacts – is set for 6 pm April 27 at the IAM Hall in South Park.

With that ribbon-cutting ceremony a little more than an hour ago – check out the little boy jumping for joy! – the Educare Early Learning Center at Greenbridge is now open, a year and a half after the ceremonial groundbreaking. (Lots of background here on the facility designed to serve at least 134 children, birth-5.) Big crowd on hand:

Among the crowd of hundreds, all three 34th District state legislators – from left, Rep. Eileen Cody, Sen. Joe McDermott, Rep. Sharon Nelson:

Those attending also included Bill Gates Sr. and Mimi Gates. The event started with about 45 minutes of speeches – we’ll add video of highlights – and then, the gala ribboncutting, followed by tours.

ADDED: Two speech excerpts from the pre-ribboncutting event in adjacent White Center Heights Elementary School. The most memorable speaker was Beatrice Harper, a White Center mom whose son Angelo has attended precursor programs for the past two years:

And on behalf of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which made a major contribution to get the center built, Greg Shaw said he had a request for everyone present:

Through White Center Early Learning Initiative, WC is one of two “demonstration areas” in the state for early-learning initiatives; the other is East Yakima. Also, our regional-news partners at the Seattle Times take a closer look in this article that’s just gone online.

(all photos by Dina Johnson – thank you, Dina!)

Participants at Sunday’s Democratic caucus for the 34th Legislative District had so many decisions to make, some got extra-comfortable to make them. The gathering was in the cafeteria at White Center’s Mount View Elementary School – part of the unincorporated area that might be in Seattle’s sights:

Liz Giba brought her sign to the event, and spoke with inquiring parties about her belief that Burien would be a better match for all of North Highline. Meantime, the caucus’s 70 or so participants heard from all three of their state legislators:

That’s Rep. Sharon Nelson, who intends to run for the State Senate job that Sen. Joe McDermott wants to leave to run for County Council – he was there too:

The only 34th District legislator not currently planning to run for something else is Rep. Eileen Cody:

Others who addressed the caucus participants included a 34th District-residing Democrat who currently has a mega-high-profile job, King County Executive Dow Constantine – we got his entire three-and-a-half-minute speech on video for earlier coverage on partner site West Seattle Blog:

In addition to choosing delegates to the state convention, caucus participants heard from candidates in upcoming elections. Among them, Kirk Prindle – a West Seattleite who is one of five people running for one seat in the King Conservation District board election this Tuesday:

The KCD election isn’t conducted like other countywide votes. No voting by mail; no close-to-everyone polling places. You have to go vote in person at one of several polling places; the nearest are Des Moines and Downtown Seattle – they’re all listed here. Back to the caucus: The 34th District Democrats’ website should have the final results of voting up soon.

A local student from Evergreen College just finished a short film about White Center. Some cool stuff about the history of White Center and its landmarks are included:

Young swimmers like those two were among the Evergreen Pool supporters who spoke eloquently and energetically Monday night at the rally on the eve of the pool’s closure, aimed at gaining attention and momentum to make sure the closure — which starts today — is not permanent. (Here’s our first report on the rally.) Young swimmers also were on the mind of Ed Marrs, a North Highline Fire District firefighter and board president for WhiteWater Aquatics, which hopes to take over pool operation if it can strike a deal with King County Parks and Highline Public Schools, who own the site and building respectively:

The pool is lifesaving in another way, declared one of its dedicated senior swimmers, Lucy:

But passion must be translated into action, reminded Greg Duff, president of the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council:

As noted in our earlier report, NHUAC has its regular monthly meeting this Thursday night, 7 pm at North Highline FD HQ (1243 SW 112th), and you can bet the pool’s future will be a hot topic.

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.

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

As previewed by Ricardo earlier this week, that’s Trio Lucero del Norte playing Cafe Rozella tonight to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

That’s surveillance camera video showing some of the people involved in a multiple shooting Tuesday in SeaTac;

The Sheriff’s Office is looking for any witnesses to yesterday’s shooting in SeaTac. Two men were wounded one critically. In addition, a possible suspect was shot in the groin, and the circumstances surrounding that injury remain unclear.

A video is attached that shows the immediate aftermath of the shooting. The video starts just after about 20 rounds were fired from an AK-47 or similar rifle into a stopped car occupied by four people, include a 2 year-old boy.

(Detectives now believe there were at least two shooters and at least two guns.)

About 8 seconds into the video the victim’s Cadillac can be seen trying to force its way through congested traffic after the shots were fired. Then the suspect’s Ford Taurus comes into clear view as three suspects clamber back into the car and it flees northbound on International Blvd.

➢ Detectives would like to speak with anyone who was stuck in traffic and may be able to identify the suspects. (The Taurus used by the shooters has been located.)

Witnesses are asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at (206) 296-3311 (24 hrs).

That’s Husbands Love Your Wives, playing live for a capacity crowd at Full Tilt Ice Cream last night.

We stopped by last night just in time to catch Tyson Ballew‘s last two songs. Lots going on along 16th the next few days/nights too: 8 pm tonight, Triumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death plays Full Tilt; tomorrow, the first Rat City Rummage, 10 am-6 pm in the old skating rink; Sunday, Full Tilt Ice Cream hosts its beer/ice-cream tasting event, 3 pm.