By Tracy Record
White Center Now editor
Though neither was an official agenda item, two longtime issues were addressed during Thursday night’s North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting, held online and facilitated by NHUAC’s Liz Giba – an encampment in the “White Center Bog” area, and noise concerns from outdoor music at Tim’s Tavern.
Here’s how the meeting unfolded:
HIGHLINE FOREST: Sandy Hunt and Andrea O’Ferrall from Defenders of Highline Forest spoke to NHUAC first. “Mature trees are really important to us,” Hunt began, explaining the group’s purpose – explained on their website kctreeequity.org. It began in defense of North Sea-Tac Park, facing the port’s development plans for it and trees that would be removed as a result. “With Highline as the geographical effort, we’ve worked on expanding our efforts … and what we want to do,” in areas including Des Moines, SeaTac, Tukwila, north Boulevard Park, Normandy Park, and Burien. “We are a small but mighty crew,” able to accept donations, talking to neighbors about potential tree loss. The port’s new land-stewardship plan doesn’t “eliminate the destruction of trees that’s in the works,” Hunt warned, so they are keeping up the pressure and encouraging people “to fight for the trees in their neighborhood.” O’Ferrall says that as they canvass neighborhoods, “people are shocked because they don’t know what’s going on.” Life expectancy is lower in the airport-adjacent communities, and removing trees isn’t going to help that. In Q&A, one person said they’d talked to a county official who said that tree maintenance is costly. Giba observed that the county Housing Authority seems to have “taken out a lot of trees.” NHUAC’s Barbara Dobkin noted that aircraft noise has increased in White Center, and that’s one way the port affects residents this far north. She also pointed out that developers have “clear-cut” various properties in recent years.
JOHN TAYLOR: This King County official, a frequent NHUAC guest, came to this meeting wearing a different hat. Until a month ago, he led the Department of Local Services – and now he’s in charge of the much-larger Department of Natural Resources and Parks, pending County Council confirmation. He didn’t have “major updates” but noted that Local Services has again launched the participatory-budgeting process. The “community needs list”-related engagement is on hold because this is the “short” budget year – one year – rather than a biennial budget. For DNRP, after a few weeks on the job, he said, he’s still learning the basics – otherwise: He noted a “problematic” encampment in the White Center Bog that was being removed. “That’s a stormwater facility … the biggest reason (not to allow an encampment) is water-quality issues.” (Later in the meeting, the topic came up again, with more details.)
On the topic of trees, he said the funding crisis limiting street trees is a real thing – they need to be watered until they’re well-established, for example. He also addressed the “clear-cutting” to which Dobkin had referred – it’s not a violation of code, he explained, because the county code wasn’t written to differentiate between rural and urban sensibilities. But a study is in the works, to be delivered later this year “that will hopefully have some code changes recommended to deal with trees … in the rural context and the urban context.” The county has a goal of planting 3 million trees and already has planted 1 million, he added. “It’s very much on our minds at King County.”
In Q&A, Giba asked if Taylor was “surprised” by the new job. “I wasn’t surprised, because I applied for it … when (predecessor) Christie True stepped down,” he replied. Dealing with the balance of natural and built environments is a passion of his, he added. The department includes wastewater, trash, parks – “some of the parks I’m proudest of are in White Center” – and much more. “It’s about 2,000 people, $3.5 billion budget – quite a bit bigger than the Department of Local Services.” And, he said, it’s well-resourced because much of its funding comes from sources other than property taxes. Hunt asked about the ivy choking trees all over the county and wondered if there’s been a study. “I’m not an arborist,” said Taylor, but: “I’m aware … that it’s not good for our forests, that it’s invasive, but it’s not classified as a noxious weed.” But there’s no plan to deal with it? Hunt asked. Bottom line – no. Later, someone else brought up having heard previously of a volunteer group taking action against ivy.
Another attendee asked whether the county had a way of tracking “informal stormwater management” like roadside ditches. Taylor said that sort of thing is probably in the county’s inventory, provided it’s not on private property. The attendee said he was indeed wondering about something on his own property; Taylor speculated that would have been built at the same time as his house, and he could consider himself lucky to have that in place to deal with the runoff. Other questions had more to do with Taylor’s past job than current one; Giba wondered if a section of 102nd would ever get a sidewalk. Taylor was noncommittal but did say that the county had devoted more to pedestrian needs recently than before, particularly in White Center and Skyway. (The new director of King County Roads is Tricia Davis; Taylor suggested inviting her to a future NHUAC meeting.)
KING COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE: Det. Glen Brannon elaborated on what Taylor had mentioned: “We no longer have a homeless encampment on 13th – took care of that today.” That operation was three months in the making, he added. For a long time the camp had been somewhat “under control,” until he went on vacation for a while, and then it got “out of control,” with a realization that it was a threat to water quality, so that’s why the decision was made to remove it. About 10 campers were left; none have yet accepted shelter, he said, so they might be moving to other parts of the area. “My goal is to get these people off the streets,” he insisted. Meantime, he had stats that Giba had previously suggested. In a three-year analysis, he said, major crimes are down from 2020-2021, while less serious crimes are “holding steady.” “On average, we’re doing better on the violent crimes” – down about 30 percent – and not so bad on the less-violent crimes. Giba wondered why; Brannon didn’t have a clear explanation. “What else is new?” Giba asked. Brannon said that besides the encampment clearance, the alleyway off 16th/17th is a focus, and they need property owners’ help.”Little Caesar’s has been an epicenter of stuff going on,” he said, adding that he intends to talk to the business’s ownership/management.
The recurring topic of noise concerns from live music at Tim’s Tavern then was brought up. Basically, nothing new, said Brannon, but he intended to work nights and check out the situation. Was code enforcement involved? Maybe, Brannon speculated. It was subsequently noted that Tim’s had been served with a code-enforcement letter more than a month ago; Brannon explained that usually that starts a process in which the recipient has time to come into compliance. Then a surprise: Co-proprietor Matt from Tim’s Tavern turned up online, offering to answer questions. “We’re just doing what we’ve always done,” he said. “The shows vary in volume because the bands vary in style.” Regarding the early-February code enforcement letter, he said the county sent it to their property management company, and it wasn’t routed to them until February 6th, close to the response deadline, and they’ve been “playing phone tag with the county guy” ever since. “We’re willing to meet with him and see what compliance issues we have, if any.” Until they hear back, “we’re kind of in this limbo area.” Matt said they’ve been working on finding sound-muffling curtains, as discussed at a NHUAC meeting last year, and just got them but they need some alterations and hanging, which should take about two weeks. Then, he said, they’ll be hung on the west side and in front, in hopes that’ll control some of the sound from “bouncing off the buildings.” Brannon offered to stop by the venue Friday and talk with them in person. They also invited anyone from the community with concerns to come meet with them. Co-proprietor Mason said “it’s definitely not our intent to offput anyone with our audio.” Giba then said that county code does not allow outdoor music; the Tim’s duo said they weren’t aware of a rule like that.
Returning to other KCSO topics, one attendee wondered about the regional uptick in carjackings. Brannon said yes, it’s a thing, but he doesn’t have “scientific proof” of why – he speculates it might have to do with “incarceration rates.” He noted that there were two that day alone in Seattle (in the Skyway area). He also noted the State Legislature’s passage of a bill lifting some restrictions on police pursuits – right now they’re allowed in armed carjackings but now that will apply to auto thefts or other types of crime too. Another question was from someone who thought they heard gunshots the other night. Does it help to report them? Do they get followed up on? Brannon said yes, and in fact KCSO now has a Gun Violence Reduction Unit (as does Seattle PD, for that matter). He said that increased gang activity likely plays into it. Regarding reporting, “yes, please report it,” he stressed. He said they do analyze the casings they find – and can cross-reference them between incidents around the region. “It helps us solve these crimes, helps us find out who these people are … The vast amount of these shootings are being done by a very small number of people … maybe 20 in King County.”
Price said there are ongoing issues in the White Center Library parking lot. A Library Guild volunteer recently got fuel stolen from a vehicle while there. What could the library do? Cameras? Signs? Brannon said KCLS has not participated in some of the programs KCSO has suggested, such as trespassing people who cause trouble, and that’s been limiting what deputies can do.
FULL TILT LOSS: Before adjourning, Giba offered a tribute to the late Justin Cline of Full Tilt Ice Cream, remembering him as a “real community advocate (who) really cared about the White Center community” and a “great guy.”
NEXT MEETING: NHUAC meets first Thursday, 7 pm, online, most months, so the next meeting will be April 4.
The DubSea Fish Sticks summer collegiate baseball team launched its single-game ticket sales for the 2024 season today as part of National Fish Sticks Day.
