White Center Now: The blog about White Center

By Tracy Record
White Center Now editor

Three King County guests with very different focuses were in the spotlight at this month’s North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting, held online Thursday night.

PANDEMIC: Becky Reitzes from Seattle-King County Public Health was the first guest of the night. She began by mentioning the “concerning” recent rise in cases. It could be the start of a fourth wave, county health officer Dr. Jeff Duchin has warned.

18-24 is the group with the highest increase in cases. They can pass it on – like to the 40-to-69 group that represents the biggest increase in hospitalizations. But the good news is that the vaccines are all working very well. Whichever shot is accessible to you is the one to get (unless for example getting two shots is going to be really difficult – say, someone experiencing housing instability – in which case the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine might be preferable).

Is there talk of rolling back reopening, to hold off that fourth wave? Reitzes said she’s sure there’s talk about it but nothing’s planned. “I’m hopeful people are going to get it together” and keep up precautions, she said.

She showed vaccination percentages from around the county and noted some stats showed above 100 percent because the baseline is old census data.

She also talked about the increase in eligibility, warning that availability still hasn’t caught up. “We do not anticipate an increase in dose in the next couple weeks, but after that,” things are likely to get better.

If you need telephone help with scheduling an appointment, there’s a hotline for that:

The county has lots of online help too:

Reitzes fielded a variety of questions, such as, if you have had COVID, can – and when should – you get vaccinated. One person said a relative had been told, wait three months. Reitzes said that is not necessarily good advice because they just do not know how long natural immunity lasts. How long will the vaccine-conferred immunity last? No one knows yet. How do you get an appointment? She advises trying your search early in the morning. Is the county hearing much about vaccine hesitancy? Not a lot, but, they do hear about misinformation being spread, which can contribute to that. They’re hearing much more about demand than hesitancy, she said. And even for those who are doubtful or skeptical, they see friends/family who got vaccinated, and that increases their comfort level.

KING COUNTY LOCAL SERVICES: Director John Taylor was back again this month. Main topic: Participatory budgeting. As reported here last week, the county is now recruiting for a Community Investment Committee to figure out how to spend the money set aside for this – $10 million. (Committee members will get some compensation, too.)

Gloria Briggs is a new coordinator hired for the effort, and she introduced herself. (She recently came to King County from Seattle City Light and said she has a long history of community advocacy.) Taylor continued, saying they’re in the midst of a push to get information out and already have received some applications but they want a really “robust” group. Once the committee is formed, here’s what happens:

He also mentioned the first-ever Community Needs List, which will be incorporated into the next two-year budget cycle. The $10 million will be a “down payment” on that, “a pilot for how we approach these Community Needs Lists.”

Q&A included – $10 million, five urban unincorporated areas, does that mean $2 million per area? No, said Taylor; most of the money will go to the biggest, most diverse areas – North Highline and Skyway. (There’s also an additional million-plus from marijuana taxes going entirely to those areas.) How many members on the committee? Probably 21.

As an aside to a question about roads funding, Taylor said the county is still in desperate need for more money on that: “There are very few things that keep me up at night, roads funding keeps me up at night.” So that is being brainstormed on a separate level.

KING COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE: Storefront deputy Bill Kennamer said a shooting outside a hookah lounge in Top Hat had two victims and is still under active investigation. He plans to contact the building owner to try to deal with recurring problems at that business. Crime stats are “still consistently down from last year.” He mentioned a robbery at a gas station on Roxbury in which the victim was uncooperative. He noted the Southgate Roller Rink takeover of the old Bank of America building on 17th SW is good news – one less vacant building. NHUAC board member Barbara Dobkin asked about recent drag racing, Kennamer said it’s a regional problem, with a group that keeps moving around “to where the police don’t expect them to be … They’re very difficult to track.” Could there be a regular KCSO presence on Roxbury to deter it? Kennamer noted that the racing happened around 1 am, and that’s when there are two deputies for all of unincorporated North Highline. But, he said, he can suggest an emphasis patrol. What about the nuisance house near 18th/100th? Right now it’s a code-enforcement issue, not a criminal issue. There’s apparently an open case; Local Services director Taylor promised to check on its status. Kennamer also said LEAD is finally on its way to White Center “and that hopefully will get some of our locals off the street.” He said he’s been talking to some vehicle dwellers near 15th and 104th and “they’re ready” to accept help.

KING COUNTY CONSERVATION CORPS: As reported here Tuesday, Taylor and King County Executive Dow Constantine joined them in cleanup work in White Center to showcase a proposal to expand the KCCC as part of pandemic–relief spending. Kennamer offered praise for the group, saying they’r doing great work.

KING COUNTY FRIDAY MEETINGS: NHUAC president Liz Giba recommended getting involved with these, noon every Friday. Info for participating/watching is on the Local Services home page.

NEXT MEETING: NHUAC meets first Thursdays, 7 pm, most months, so watch for info on the May 6th meeting when it gets closer.

Announced today by King County:

Skyway-West Hill & North Highline Anti-Displacement Draft Recommendations Report-Back

Please join the Department of Community and Human Services and the Department of Local Services for an interactive community meeting on Saturday, April 10th from 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM to review and discuss the draft anti-displacement recommendations that will be presented to the King County Council later this year.

Registration is required and is now open at: eventbrite.com/e/anti-displacement-draft-recommendations-report-back-registration-145351188317. This meeting will help shape the county’s policy direction and investments in affordable housing in Skyway-West Hill. To learn more, check out: publicinput.com/anti-displacement You can find further information on the project at this website.

Back in fall 2019, King County Executive Dow Constantine visited White Center (WCN coverage here) to talk about the newly launched King County Conservation Corps. Today, he returned to join them on patrol, and to talk about a broader job-creation program that’s part of his $600 million pandemic-relief budget addition.

The new proposal would create hundreds of jobs, expanding the KCCC and involving other county departments and divisions such as Roads and Parks; county Local Services director John Taylor joined him at this morning’s event. The KCCC, by the way, is a partnership with Uplift Northwest, previously known as the Millionair Club, and started as a six-month pilot project but is still going strong. The jobs program would cost an estimated $40 million of the $600 million pandemic-relief proposal, which is now in the hands of the County Council.

Other parts of the budget proposal:
*Continued Public Health Response/Vaccinations & COVID operations: $253 million

*Community Supports-rental assistance, childcare, behavioral health: $199 million

*Economic Recovery: $92 million

The full document is linked at the end of last week’s announcement.

The month begins with North Highline Unincorporated Area Council’s always-informative April meeting. Here’s the announcement:

The Opportunity to Be Informed, Be Involved and Be Heard!

Where? North Highline Unincorporated Area Council Meeting

When? Thursday, April 1, 2021 at 7 pm

How? Join Zoom Meeting: kingcounty.zoom.us/j/98750682577

Meeting ID: 987 5068 2577
Passcode (case sensitive): NHUAC2021
Unable to join via Zoom? Please Call 253 215 8782
Meeting ID: 987 5068 2577 Passcode: 956569157

As North Highline continues to have one of the highest COVID-19 positivity rates in the county, the virus continues to evolve. Last month’s NHUAC meeting was packed with information, but it was a month ago. What has changed? What should we know about the “Three V’s” – virus, variants, and vaccines? To answer these questions and more, we will be joined by Becky Reitzes, Educator Consultant with Public Health of Seattle & King County. Becky has been working on the COVID Community Mitigation Response since the beginning of the pandemic. Please bring your questions and join the discussion!

The shortage of adequate funding for capital projects, services and programs is an ongoing challenge in North Highline. As our local government, one of King County’s primary responsibilities is budgeting – deciding where and how our tax dollars are spent.

King County is taking a different approach to budgeting than it has used in the past. It is called Participatory Budgeting (PB). PB was first used in 1989 as an anti-poverty measure in Brazil where it successfully helped reduce child mortality by almost 30%. According to Participatory Budgeting Project’s website, “Participatory budgeting (PB) is a democratic process in which community members decide how to spend part of a public budget. It gives people real power over real money.” Imagine what North Highline can be if people with personal knowledge of our community make decisions about how tax dollars are spent in our community. Sounds like a perfect fit for a NHUAC meeting, doesn’t it? Now imagine that you or a neighbor was one of those decision-makers. Join us as John Taylor, Director of the Department of Local Services, explains how King County will approach this chance to expand democracy and opportunity in North Highline and how you could become part of the Community Investment Committee.

Our Storefront Deputy, Bill Kennamer, will join us once again to share what he and his fellow deputies have been working on in North Highline.

Knowledge is power.
Learn, share, and help make North Highline a better and healthier place.
April 1, 2021 at 7 pm – Tell a Neighbor!

If you’re in the vicinity of 15th and 100th tomorrow at midmorning, you might see a county delegation headed by County Executive Dow Constantine, talking with media before meeting up with the King County Conservation Corps. As the advance notice points out, the Corps “offers dignified employment opportunities to people experiencing homelessness and poverty while cleaning and removing graffiti from urban unincorporated areas.” While visiting, Constantine is expected to talk about hoping to expand the Corps as part of a job-creation program in his $600 million proposed emergency budget.

Just in from King County Local Services:

King County is recruiting community members to serve on a new Community Investment Committee.

This committee will help King County spend…

-$10 million on capital projects in Skyway-West Hill, North Highline, East Renton, Fairwood, and East Federal Way. These capital funds can be used for anything that needs to be built or replaced, such as buildings, sidewalks, bike lanes, landscaping, signs, and play structures.

-$1.3 million for services or programs in Skyway-West Hill and North Highline. This funding can be used for almost anything, such as after-school programs, job training, building maintenance, food, art supplies, and investments in play structures and sidewalks.

\The Community Investment Committee will design and carry out a budgeting process. The process will be centered on racial equity, will build on community strengths, and will address priorities that the community has identified. The committee will make sure that communities have control over what the money is spent on, so the projects that are funded will address real community challenges and have the most benefit.

King County approved funding for this project in its current two-year (2021-2022) budget, and will spend the funds as directed by the communities.

For more information and to apply: kingcounty.gov/depts/local-services/programs/urban-choices.aspx

Thanks for the tip! Big callout this morning for a residential fire near 22nd SW and SW 104th. However, firefighters told us at the scene that it turned out to be a small fire, no injuries.

As planned, the King County Council‘s Committee of the Whole took up the proposed unincorporated-area fireworks ban on Wednesday. With an amendment, it passed 5-4. The amendment by Councilmember Girmay Zahilay (read it here) has three key points:

-The first year this is in effect (2022), violators would be warned rather than fined

-Once fines do take effect, they would be $250, not $1,000

-A study would be required to see what it would take to get immediate, unarmed, non-police response to reports of violations

The fireworks ban, sponsored by our area’s Councilmember Joe McDermott, now goes to the full council for a final vote.

Announced today:

A transformative tenant protections package has been officially introduced by two King County Councilmembers. The measure, headlined by capped move-in fees and new ‘just cause’ eviction criteria, was officially put forward today by Councilmembers Jeanne Kohl-Welles and Girmay Zahilay.

While King County residents look ahead to a brighter, post-pandemic future, many will continue to live in fear of losing their housing – or struggling to get housing at all.

The proposal, referred to the Community, Health and Housing Services Committee on Tuesday, aims to add a series of protections for both month-to-month and longer-term lease tenants.

“The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic fallout have exacerbated our already difficult housing crisis — putting large numbers of renters on the brink of eviction,” Kohl-Welles said. “For many of our neighbors, it’s a thin line between having a roof overhead and spending the night in a shelter or in a tent on one of our sidewalks. And for many, it’s having to decide to pay for rent or pay for needed medical care. We know that housing is essential to stability for King County residents. By enhancing protections for renters, we can work on the front end to prevent even more people from entering homelessness.”

Key among the protections included is the establishment of “just causes” that must be satisfied before a landlord can terminate a month-to-month tenancy, begin eviction proceedings, or fail to renew a fixed-term tenancy. State law doesn’t currently include just cause provisions for most tenancies, and while a bill is moving through the state legislature to add requirements to the books, that proposal falls well short of the King County proposal.

“After decades of gentrification and a full year of COVID-19 hyper-charging regional housing instability, people are struggling to stay housed. We have to come together and give tenants the housing security needed to survive this crisis,” Zahilay said. “Evictions, especially those inflicted without specific cause or reasonable notice, will exacerbate our homelessness crisis, crime, and public health issues. The legislation introduced today by Councilmember Kohl-Welles and I will be a difference maker for those already struggling.”

In addition to adding the just cause requirement – a significant factor in avoiding a wave of individuals and families losing their housing once temporary protections triggered by the COVID -19 pandemic end – the proposal would add a series of protections for tenants in unincorporated King County, including:

Cap move-in, security and other fees and deposits and allow incremental payment
Require landlords to give up to 4 months’ notice for significant rent increases
Prohibit rent hikes in unsafe or unlivable housing
Allow tenants to adjust rent due date if they live on fixed income
Add protections against eviction over late rent
Prohibit landlords from requesting Social Security number for pre-rental screening
Landlords who violate any of the new protections would be liable for damages in court.

“King County’s homelessness crisis is already one of the worst in the nation. We know that most people who are evicted end up homeless, many of them sleeping unsheltered,” said Katie Wilson, general secretary of the Transit Riders Union. “This ordinance is a common-sense measure that will help to protect tenants from arbitrary evictions when the moratoriums are lifted, so that many more people don’t fall into homelessness.”

In 2019, while unincorporated King County saw more no-cause evictions than any other jurisdiction in King County, according to data shared by Edmund Witter, senior managing attorney with the King County Bar Association. While only 6.8% of all evictions were filed in unincorporated King County, that part of the county made up 20% of all no-cause evictions countywide.

An estimated 22% of households in unincorporated King County are renters, which means about 25,000 households would be impacted by the proposal.

As part of the new legislation, the Executive would set up a central phone number for tenants to report suspected violations and would have to create an outreach plan to educate residents about the new protections. A one-pager with more details is attached.

The legislation would take effect 90 days after full council approval.

As we reported last week, the County Council’s Committee of the Whole delayed its consideration of the bill to ban fireworks in unincorporated areas. Next Wednesday, it’s on the agenda, 9:30 am. As the preview from council staff notes: “If approved, it would still have to go before full council and then would have a one-year waiting period before it could take effect. It would not ban properly permitted fireworks displays or impact fireworks on tribal trust lands.” Read the bill here. If you want to comment, before or during the meeting, the agenda explains how.

Thursday is a big day for public-school students in our area. Here’s the announcement from Highline Public Schools:

This Thursday, March 11 will be the first day in a school building ever for some of Highline Public Schools’ PreK and kindergarten students!

The next phase of hybrid instruction was assured last evening with teachers voting to ratify an agreement between Highline Education Association (HEA) and Highline Public Schools.

The start dates for the next phase of in-person instruction are:
March 11: PreK, kindergarten, grade 1, and K-12 Intensive Academic Center (IAC).
March 22: Grades 2 and 3
April 1: Grades 4 and 5

The transition back to school buildings began in November 2020 when students served in Integrated Learning Center (ILC) and Community Based Services (CBS) programs had the option to return in the hybrid model. In hybrid, morning and afternoon groups attend on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Elementary students will be on a similar half-day, four-day-per-week schedule. Students served by the K-12 Intensive Academic Center (IAC) program will be in school buildings longer days due to the structure of the program, which is integrated with general education Zoom classes.

“I am grateful to the district and HEA bargaining committees who worked tirelessly to arrive at a plan that prioritizes the safety of our students and staff and provides our students with the in-person learning that they need and deserve,” said Superintendent Susan Enfield.

“I value our students and staff, and I take very seriously my responsibility for their health and safety,” she said. “We can all be confident in the safety plans and protocols developed in collaboration with our labor partners and approved by our teachers.”
Now that education employees are eligible to be vaccinated, Highline staff have an added layer of protection. On Sunday, all Highline staff who are working or scheduled to work with students in person had the opportunity to be vaccinated. Thanks to a partnership with St. Anne Hospital, almost 1,000 people received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Nearly every Highline employee on the list to get a vaccination was able to get one. Staff are working with anyone who was missed to make sure they are vaccinated. There were enough doses on Sunday to vaccinate many other staff members, as well.
For more information about hybrid learning, please visit our website at: highlineschools.org/return-to-learn/hybrid-learning.

Additional back-to-school resources about transportation, safety expectations, school safety plan, health screening form, masks and more can be found at highlineschools.org/backtoschool.

By Tracy Record
White Center Now editor

Health and safety were at the heart of presentations during this month’s North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting, held online last Thursday night.

PANDEMIC UPDATE: Matias Valenzuela from King County started the update, showing the chart with the ups and downs of case counts, and now a plateau:

That’s a concern, as are the new variants, he said. Meantime, he recapped that the region remains in Phase 2 of reopening – limited-capacity indoor dining and shopping, for example. And he went through the eligibility phases for vaccination, so far, including the governor’s recent announcement of eligibility for educators and child-care workers. As the governor announced today, high-risk workers and others are coming up. So the approval of a third vaccine – the one-dose Johnson & Johnson shot – is important. Valenzuela sought to quash any concerns it’s less effective, noting that no one who got it in the trials died or even had to be hospitalized. “We have three very good approved vaccines, very good news for what we have to do right now.” The newest eligibility categories mean 52,000 more people eligible in King County, added to 117,000 already-eligible older adults who have yet to get their first shot. They have many more vaccinators ready to go – they are just waiting for vaccine.

If you’re interested in more data, you can check out the county’s many data dashboards (start here). Valenzuela showed an example – 56 percent of white people in King County have been vaccinated, but only 37 percent of Black people.

69 percent of people 75 and older have gotten their vaccinations. Valenzuela showed the geographic percentages too:

They are working on various outreach strategies to get the word out, and to get people to vaccination sites.

Mentioned at that point: The VA medical system says its vaccine process is open to all veterans now, to whom it provides care. Here’s the message shared onscreen at the meeting:

How are efforts to make more shots available to, for example, BIPOC communities managed to ensure that’s what’s happening? Valenzuela said they’re using a variety of screening and outreach tools to do their best. He also said they are working to decentralize the administration of vaccinations, so there are more community health clinics, pharmacies, etc., offering it.

Next, Fire Chief Mike Marrs talked about the risks they run of dealing with possibly COVID-positive people on emergency calls. If exposed, they have to go into quarantine, and that hurts staffing. “It’s been a challenging year in that regard.” But he said they’ve been successful at both keeping firefighters safe and keeping them from “bringing it into your homes.” He also talked about North Highline launching a mobile vaccination team three weeks ago. They “don’t have a mass vaccination capacity” but “we still make house calls,” so they’ve gone to adult family homes and King County Housing Authority sites, and are about to move on to senior facilities. At their peak, they can give about 120 shots a day. Eventually they expect to transition their mobile vaccination personnel to helping at mass-vaccination sites (he expects the closest one to be in Tukwila). The fire department also has handled two mask/sanitizer giveaways and is expecting to present at least one more event – those items are still key to stopping the spread.

OFFICE OF EQUITY & SOCIAL JUSTICE: Director Arthur Hendricks spoke to NHUAC about the office‘s mission. Six goals cover how the office supports county departments. They both provide support in access to resources and support for equitable decision-making. Community engagement is a specialty; regarding equity, they look at distributional equity, process equity, and cross-generational equity – “the decisions we’re making today …how are they going to impact folks into the future?” They use tools such as an “equity impact review,” helping managers think about the impact of the decisions they make. The pandemic led to a lot of “hand-wringing” and disruption a year ago, putting everyone into “emergency-management mode” with action needing to be taken quickly, such as providing shelter for houseless people. He also talked about the “equity impact awareness tool,” which is centered on race because of how heavily that factors into the distribution of resources. Also examined – economic status and factors such as homeownership, food insecurity, and age. Geography, too:

Valenzuela rejoined the discussion and talked about addressing disability in equity discussions, too.

KING COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE: Major Jeff Flohr started by talking about the Grocery Plus drive-in burglary. They have identified the suspect as Tylor Saeteurn. The grocery store suffered about $30,000 in damage. He also mentioned the recent shootings. He said they don’t appear to be linked, but drugs seem to be a common theme, among other points.

To respond, Maj. Flohr found money for an extra car to do “targeted patrol” starting Friday, through April. That means a third car to float between White Center and Skyway, for higher visibility as well as quicker response. The Special Emphasis Team will work on drug/gun cases, targeting “folks who might live in the area who have outstanding gun warrants.’ The Major Crimes Unit is working on shooting cases.

He addressed the state Supreme Court ruling about drug possession. It means deputies cannot arrest a person for ‘simple drug possession’ nor confiscate the drugs. “There is nothing we can do about it.” They can still go after dealers and traffickers, but until and unless it’s “fixed by the Legislature,” there’s not much deputies can do. This also means programs like LEAD are de-toothed because there’s nothing to say ‘work with us or else…”

Stats: 911 calls were down last year, and response times to critical incidents were “in the top 25 percent of the country”:

What about criminal-justice reform and its effects? Maj. Flohr said he personally is concerned that there are no systems in place to replace law enforcement.

Deputy Bill Kennamer presented his regular update. The Myers Way shooting was a homicide, and “it was not a random act of violence.” A suspect was arrested in the recent Bartell Drugs robbery. Two local spa/massage locations were raided for human trafficking. Evidence has been sent to the prosecuting attorney’s office.

Asked about RV camping by the bog, Kennamer said the sheriff ordered deputies not to enforce parking rules if a vehicle appears to be a residence. What about tents? County Parks is not kicking people out, either. If you have feedback on those policies, Flohr and Kennamer stressed, contact the sheriff and County Councilmember Joe McDermott.

KING COUNTY PARKS: Darlene Sellers was there to talk about the many programs they’re doing virtually – including taking submissions now for an online edition of the Log Cabin Talent Show. They’ll have a distribution of free art supplies – plus masks – grab ‘n’ go style coming up. Here’s all the info she presented:

Everyone’s welcome to watch the show on March 26th.

OTHER NOTES: Chief Marrs thanked the community for re-authorizing the Benefit Charge to fund the fire department, which has bought two new fire engines and is buying a new aid car. Six future staffers are in the Fire Academy and they’ll need a few more to get 24-hour staffing and have it in service by year’s end.

NEXT MEETING: NHUAC meets first Thursdays at 7 pm online; watch here for connection/participation information.

From King County:

From our conversations to-date, we understand that stopping flooding and pollution, and increasing food security and access to parks and green space, are priorities in the White Center / North Highline area.

We want community members to drive what projects should look like, where they should be located, and the needs they see in their neighborhoods.

As a next step, we’re hoping to get additional feedback from the White Center / North Highline community via a quick 10-15 minute survey. Everybody who completes the survey will receive a $15 flat rate visa gift card as a thank you for their participation.

We’d love to get your help in two ways:

Take the survey! The survey is translated in the following languages:
English: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/H7CSQL7
Somali: Sahanka Deegaanka – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JSY3YWQ
Vietnamese: Bản Khảo Sát Cộng Đồng – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/B2RMZPN
Khmer: ការស្ទង់មតិសហគមន៍ – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/B2T3YSQ
Spanish: Encuesta de la comunidad – https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BWLG9K5

Share this survey with your friends, contacts, and neighbors in White Center.

The State Patrol says a motorcycle rider was killed after he crashed into the guardrail on southbound Highway 509 south of White Center around 7:20 this morning. WSP identifies the rider as 26-year-old Allen S. Sutton of Bellingham and says he was the only one involved in the crash, which troopers blame on going “too fast for conditions.” Roads were slick and temperatures still around freezing at the time.

All are welcome to the monthly meeting at 2 pm online – get updates, and ask questions, about the Seattle city-sanctioned tiny-house encampment that’s on the edge of North Highline, as the Camp Second Chance Community Advisory Committee meets. The videoconferencing link is here, or you can call in at 253-215-8782, meeting ID 858 5523 4269, password 9701.

In case you happened onto the closure at 26th SW/SW 106th tonight – this is why. The two-car collision did not result in nny serious injuries, deputies told us. When we were there, they were still trying to sort out what happened, but tow trucks were already arriving to clear the scene and reopen the intersection.

From the 34th District Democrats:

March 27 (Saturday, 10:30-noon) we are presenting a special program called The Elephant in the Democratic Party – Racism in Political Institutions.

Our webpage: 34dems.org/the-elephant-in-the-democratic-party-racism-in-political-institutions/

Racism is alive and well in the Pacific Northwest and in liberal spaces. Join us for a 90-minute presentation which will cover the history of systemic racism in political institutions and Progressive policies, and how it continues today. As members and leaders in the Democratic Party, we will gain new tools on how we can listen, reflect, and engage in important conversations that are necessary as we continue the fight against racism.

Presented by Olgy Diaz, who serves as a PCO in the 29th Legislative District as well as on the Boards of Casa Latina, Institute for a Democratic Future, and the National Women’s Political Caucus of WA.

This is a FREE presentation offered to the community by the 34th Democrats.

ZOOM: bit.ly/Anti-Racist-34th

The proposal to ban fireworks in unincorporated King County hasn’t made it out of a King County Council committee yet. The council’s Committee of the Whole was supposed to hear it yesterday, but ran out of time because of other long-running items and a need for members to move on to another meeting. This area’s Councilmember Joe McDermott promised it will be on the agenda for the committee’s next meeting (March 17th). He said the delay wasn’t significant since even if it was passed soon, its timetable means it couldn’t take effect before next year. The ban was originally up for consideration early last year – but then the pandemic hit, and it was shelved for months.

Deputies are launching a search right now for somebody who apparently drove into the Rainbow Mini-Mart at Ambaum/116th a short time ago. Radio communication indicates the car is still there but an “older white man wearing jeans and a tan shirt, carrying a box” was seen leaving on foot. A K-9 crew will be joining the search.

Last weekend marked exactly one year since the first King County cases of COVID-19 were reported. This Thursday, the pandemic is the focus of the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council‘s monthly meeting. Here’s the preview just in from NHUAC:

The Opportunity to Be Informed, Be Involved and Be Heard!

Where? North Highline Unincorporated Area Council Meeting
When? Thursday, March 4, 2021 at 7 pm
How? Join Zoom Meeting: kingcounty.zoom.us/j/98750682577

​​​​​​Meeting ID: 987 5068 2577
​​​​​​Passcode (case sensitive): NHUAC2021

Unable to join via Zoom?
Please Call 253.215.8782
​​​​​​Meeting ID: 987 5068 2577 ​
Passcod​e 956569157

“The COVID-19 pandemic has been an exhausting and ongoing, yearlong natural disaster unprecedented in its duration, damage and pervasive impact on our lives.” (Dr. Jeff Duchin, King County Public Health Officer, 2.26.21)

North Highline has certainly suffered. According to the county’s COVID-19 Data DashboardDaily Summary, North Highline continues to have one of the highest positivity rates in the county. In recognition of the reality that the battle is not yet won, much of NHUAC’s March 4th meeting will focus on COVID-19, what we can do, what lies ahead, and the role social equity might play in crafting a winning response.

We will be joined by Matias Valenzuela, currently a Director with Seattle-King County Public Health and formerly Director of King County’s Office of Equity and Social Justice; North Highline Fire District Chief Mike Marrs; and Art Hendricks, manager of King County’s Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice Group. The Sheriff’s Office was busy in North Highline in February. Major Jeff Flohr and Deputy Bill Kennamer will join us for what is sure to be an informative meeting.

Have you heard? COVID-19 Vaccine Clinics will be held at Evergreen High School (830 SW 116th) in White Center on Wednesday and Thursday, March 3rd and 4th, from 10 am to 4 pm. These Vaccine Clinics are for White Center residents (and nearby neighbors) who fall into Phases 1A and 1B1 of the state’s vaccine prioritization schedule because they are: 65 or older; 50 or older and living in multigenerational households; residents of long-term care facilities; high-risk first responders; healthcare workers; or high-risk workers in health care settings. If a neighbor fits these criteria, please share this link and information with them.

kroger.com/rx/guest/get-vaccinated?vaccineGroup=ehs

In Step 1 (the location field), type 98146 to get to QFC-FM-CHAMBER-EVERGREEN HS(Clinic Event at 830 SW 116th St.) and make an appointment. If there are appointments available, walk-up registration will be done on-site.

​ Learn, share, and help make North Highline a better and healthier place.

March 4, 2021 at 7 pm – Tell a Neighbor!