White Center Now: The blog about White Center

3:30 PM: We’ve been covering this on partner site West Seattle Blog but it affects White Center drivers too – by Greenbridge, 8th/Roxbury is mostly blocked by a two-car crash. People have had to be extricated from the wreckage of one vehicle. At least three people are hurt. We’re at the scene and gathering more information now. 3:55 PM UPDATE: One lane is open each way at the intersection but you’ll still want to avoid it if you can, for a while – the Seattle Police investigation team has just arrived, and their work at scenes of major crashes usually takes a while. Here’s the scene once they put up the tape:

We now know that four people went to the hospital (at least one of them, a child, according to the scanner) – two by medic unit, two by private ambulance.

Just a quick reminder: Though fireworks have been for sale in the unincorporated area since Monday, using them is ONLY legal 9 am-midnight on Sunday. And if you are within the Seattle or Burien city limits, they are NOT legal at all.

Last night at the 34th District Democrats‘ meeting in West Seattle, White Center Food Bank executive director Rick Jump was one of the community leaders who posed questions to Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, City Council President Richard Conlin, and Councilmember Bruce Harrell. It was a question that he and others have asked for a long time: Since a third of the White Center Food Bank’s service area is within the Seattle city limits, shouldn’t the organization get some funding from the city? Bottom line – none of the three disagreed; they promised to see what they could do. This won thunderous applause from the 100-plus in attendance, since the WC Food Bank is a major beneficiary of volunteer time/donations from the 34th DDs. More from the meeting coming up later today.

Evergreen Community Aquatic Center is among the organizations/businesses/entities tabling at today’s Westwood Village Street Fair, close to the White Center/West Seattle line, so if you go to the street fair, drop by and say hi! The events are all happening in the Bed Bath Beyond/Pier 1 Imports parking lot, till 7 tonight. We’ve got a schedule of events and other highlights in our coverage on partner site West Seattle Blog.

Earlier this week, we mentioned that White Center Arts Alliance is participating in tomorrow’s West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day, presented by our partner site West Seattle Blog – and we wanted to make sure you also knew that Village Green Perennial Nursery is on the map too. Speaking of maps, you can get yours by going to the official WSCGSD website at westseattlegaragesale.com – there’s a clickable Google Map which has been updated with last-minute cancellations plus an addition, and there’s a printable PDF version of the map (it doesn’t reflect those changes, so be sure to make note of them; they’re listed on that site too). If you don’t have a printer, closest place to get a pre-printed sale map is Bird on a Wire Espresso in the south West Seattle neighborhood of Westwood.

Just four days till the 6th annual – and biggest ever – West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day – and White Center Alliance is part of it – look for sale #193, at 18th SW and SW Cambridge. If you’re interested in wandering even further north to shop, here’s the direct Google Map link). We also have a more packet-like printable map. It’s a 12-page Word doc (6 pages if you print both sides). If you’d rather print from a PDF, use this link. The sales are all open for business 9 am-3 pm this Saturday ONLY.

On the West Seattle/White Center border, the Seattle Fire Department‘s Joint Training Facility will host the “Fire Muster” for cadets and explorers this Saturday, 9 am-4 pm. According to this post on the city’s Fire Lines site, you’re invited to watch.

They’re small, but these might be enhancements to our increasing number of White Center Now visitors (thank you!) – the right sidebar now features the latest headlines from the White Center Community Development Association site, which gets newsier all the time, and from our partner site West Seattle Blog, since we hear so often from folks suggesting that certain WSB stories should be featured here too. We’ve noticed there’s a bit of a lag in the digest, so what you see in the WSB box may not necessarily be the very newest stories (we update news there VERY frequently most days), but it’ll give you an idea of what’s going on, and of course any breaking news of value to White Center/vicinity will be here in the main section too.

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).

(Crossposted from partner site West Seattle Blog)

WestSide Baby executive director Nancy Woodland had reason to smile. WestSide Baby’s 9th annual Benefit Tea in Brockey Center at South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor) on Puget Ridge was sold out long before the doors opened – check out the crowd:

Volunteers young and old made it a success – including ambassadors Sonja and Kelsey (wearing, and handing out, tiaras):

Nancy Woodland says the final guest count was 470 – and they raised more than $100,000. “Unbelievable and amazing and we are so very thankful!” she adds. ADDED: Courtesy of Donna Ryan Photography, Rinku Wheaton speaking at the event, including her thoughts on being part of WestSide Baby’s “Giving Circle” (read more about it here):

A free workshop’s coming up in West Seattle, presented by a longtime sponsor of our partner site West Seattle Blog, and we’re sharing the info here: 6 pm December 3rd, you’re invited to “Building a Better Home: Remodeling and Custom Home Workshop” at the offices of Ventana Construction, 5458 California SW (map). The workshop’s purpose:

If you are a homeowner considering remodeling your home or building a new custom home, this workshop is an invaluable first step in the process. Learn from experienced professionals about how to get started, what to expect, and the steps you can take to make your project successful.

Ventana requests reservations for the free event – call 206-932-3009.

Café Rozella

“Alma Villegas”

“We always enjoy playing at

this lovely cozy Café Rozella

in the heart of White Center. “

August 28th

7pm-10pm

Cafe Rozella
9434 Delridge Way SW
Seattle, WA  98106
(206) 763-5805

Regardless of whether or not your part of White Center will remain unincorporated, you have a stake in King County’s future – and you’re invited to come discuss it tonight in West Seattle. It’s the last in a series of meetings around the county, and the closest one to White Center – 6:30 pm tonight, The Hall at Fauntleroy; read more about it here.

Correo Aereo, (Air Mail), are Austin Music Award winners now based in the NW. The Latin American/World music trio performs traditional and original music from Venezuela, Argentina, Mexico and beyond, combining a stunning array of string and percussive instruments with silken vocal harmonies described as “…locked in carnal embrace.” by the Austin Chronicle. Hailed for exciting musical virtuosity and profoundly moving performances through unknown landscapes of Latin America, their music is both viscerally ancient and vibrantly contemporary. Abel Rocha plays Venezuelan and Mexican harp, guitar, cuatro, quinta huapanguera and vocals. Madeleine Sosin offers violins, maracas, bombo, jarana, quijada and vocals. They are joined by ‘young lion’ Evan Flory Barnes, on hot stand-up bass.

Their music is richly polyrhythmic and soulfully melodic – soaring, fiery, haunting and joyful…this is the universal language; world music at it’s finest. Perfect for all audiences and ages!

———–

At Cafe Rozella we have the opportunity to book some great acts.  Correo Aereo is, without hesitation, one of our favorite musical groups.  They will be peforming at Cafe Rozella this Friday, July 24th at 7 p.m. Admission is always free but we encourage you to bring a donation for the White Center Food Bank.

Correo Aereo Peforming

Correo Aereo, (Air Mail), are Austin Music Award winners now based in the NW. The Latin American/World music trio performs traditional and original music from Venezuela, Argentina, Mexico and beyond, combining a stunning array of string and percussive instruments with silken vocal harmonies described as “…locked in carnal embrace.” by the Austin Chronicle. Hailed for exciting musical virtuosity and profoundly moving performances through unknown landscapes of Latin America, their music is both viscerally ancient and vibrantly contemporary. Abel Rocha plays Venezuelan and Mexican harp, guitar, cuatro, quinta huapanguera and vocals. Madeleine Sosin offers violins, maracas, bombo, jarana, quijada and vocals. They are joined by ‘young lion’ Evan Flory Barnes, on hot stand-up bass.

Their music is richly polyrhythmic and soulfully melodic – soaring, fiery, haunting and joyful…this is the universal language; world music at it’s finest. Perfect for all audiences and ages!

For those who want to learn more about the band: http://www.correoaereo.com/lofi/reviews.html

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.

In case you saw the huge column of smoke to the west right around noontime – it was a fire that destroyed a home and two cars and badly burned a 34-year-old man in the Arbor Heights area of West Seattle (around 35th/108th). Here’s detailed coverage with photos at partner site West Seattle Blog.

If you haven’t already heard, we wanted to put in one more plug – partner site West Seattle Blog sponsors West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day the second Saturday of May, and TOMORROW is the big day, 9 am-3 pm, 180+ sales registered from all over West Seattle, including some close to White Center. You can download the map from this page, where you can also follow the link to a clickable online version.

Though the event is in West Seattle, White Center’s part of it too. DNDA is presenting the Gathering of Neighbors/Biz Expo tomorrow (Saturday 4/4) with the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce, and tonight we have the full participant list: To see who’ll be there, click here – on behalf of White Center Now and partner site West Seattle Blog, we’ll be there along with more than 70 other local businesses and organizations, including, from White Center, WestSide Baby and the White Center Community Development Association, as well as the White Center-based YWCA Employment and Training Program. Come by and say hi, 11 am-3 pm tomorrow, Chief Sealth HS at Boren (5950 Delridge; here’s a map); one other note — if you’re in West Seattle and you’re thinking about joining in this year’s West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day (May 9), sign up at our table tomorrow — the first day of registration — and get a one-day-only discount on the signup fees (which pay for mapmaking, posters, other fun stuff that gets WSCGSD on the regional radar). See you tomorrow!