White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Just announced by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission:

Green Canopy Homes, a Seattle company, purchased three existing homes today to be rebuilt with quality, energy efficiency, and today’s lifestyles in mind. The company has the tradition of naming their homes upon purchase. Clara, Zelda, and Louise are neighboring homes which were up for sale at the same time in White Center.

“This was a great opportunity for us,” says Aaron Fairchild, CEO of Green Canopy, “and our first opportunity to save the character of a neighborhood by purchasing three homes side by side. We will make these homes more efficient, more livable and comfortable as well as lower the carbon footprint.” Green Canopy re-uses and remodels homes in local neighborhoods using leading efficiency methods and materials, while keeping the original charm and character intact. Even though these homes will use 50% less energy, the prices will be at market with no “premium in price” for the energy costs savings.

Green Canopy Homes was able to borrow funds from the Sustainable Energy Trust (“SET”) at an interest rate well below market. “We are glad that Green Canopy Homes was able to borrow from this fund,” explains Karen Miller, Chair of the Washington State Housing Finance Commission. “The legislature created the authority for the Commission to create and administer the SET; however, we received no state or tax-payer money. The Commission was able to raise dollars for the fund to meet the legislative directive ‘to provide financing for qualified improvement projects.’ This is the first of hopefully many projects that will demonstrate the economic benefits of energy efficiencies and renewables.”

The homes to be retrofitted currently average 850 sq. ft. In addition to the improvements of ductless heat pumps, water efficiencies, new windows, and upgraded insulation, all three homes will have “great” rooms added bringing them in line with life-style expectations. Mr. Fairchild adds, “We think long-term about our work’s impact on the environment, and seek to create a community of urban dwellers who care about their neighborhood and their footprint within it. We are happy to partner with the Commission and SET to bring better and more efficient homes to Seattle.”

The Washington State Housing Finance Commission is a publicly accountable, self-supporting team, dedicated to increasing housing access and affordability, and to expanding the availability of quality community services for the people of Washington. The Commission accomplishes this by working with the investment community, nonprofit organizations, developers, first-time homebuyers, and beginning farmers and ranchers to bring private investment dollars to benefit families and achieve public goals in Washington, including energy efficient development and renewable energy resources.

We’re checking to see if we can find out more about where these homes are located.

(Recent aerial view of bridge construction, by Long Bach Nguyen)
If you are among those waiting eagerly for the new South Park Bridge to reopen, you have probably heard that it’s months behind the original schedule, and now not expected to open before early 2014. (The news first came to light during this month’s meeting of the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council, when president Barbara Dobkin asked a county roads rep about the bridge timeline during a briefing on other topics; we subsequently highlighted it on partner site The South Park News, and the county made a formal announcement the next day.) Tonight, you can find out more directly from King County reps during a community meeting at the South Park Neighborhood Center, 8201 10th Avenue South, 7 pm.

3:23 PM: The 42-year-old suspect in last night’s White Center stabbing death did not appear in court for his bail hearing this afternoon – he waived the right to be present. King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office spokesperson Dan Donohoe says the judge found probable cause to hold him for investigation of second-degree murder; the victim was the suspect’s 69-year-old mother. His bail is set at $1 million, and KCPAO will have to decide by Friday whether to charge him. As we reported here earlier today, the suspect – who we will not identify until and unless he is charged – has a criminal record including assaults on a jail guard and on a 75-year-old then-landlord.

Last night, it was reported the suspect was visiting his mother when this happened, but documents from the investigation say they actually live together. For reasons not listed, police say, she would not let him into the apartment; he kicked open the door, got a “large knife” from the kitchen, and stabbed her multiple times in the neck.

6:11 PM UPDATE: The victim was identified online earlier today in a story published by a website identifying itself as her employer; that story has since been taken down, and there is no independent corroboration from authorities, so we are removing the reference here, until and unless it reappears.

THURSDAY, 7:42 AM: The report identifying the victim as Margaret Ryan has been republished.

THURSDAY 11:27 AM: Jasmine Brown, Unity Village’s site manager, has posted a clarification in comments:

Margaret Ryan lived alone. Brodie Lamb was NOT a resident at this building. He was trespassed off the property by KC sheriff deputy Duran on 8/29 for public intoxication and unruly conduct. That case number is 12-203108. Lamb was not legally allowed back on the property to visit his mother for a year. All the residents at Unity Village have passed a complete background check. Given Lamb’s criminal history, he would not have met our screening criteria. Now that Ryan’s family has been notified, if you have any more questions, please feel free to contact me at: unityvillage@live.com

The King County Public Health clinic that has been next door to the White Center Food Bank has moved to Greenbridge and will open tomorrow. Here’s the formal announcement:

Seattle & King County’s White Center Public Health Center will move to a new location in the nearby Greenbridge housing community on Thursday, Nov. 15. The cost-effective move is expected to save $250,000 a year, while providing better service to patients.

“By moving the clinic less than one mile, we are bringing essential health services in a more comfortable setting closer to the people who need them, on a bus line for more convenient access, while also helping to create more of a business district for the Greenbridge community,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine.

“We’re excited to have Public Health – Seattle & King County as a partner in the Greenbridge community. They’re a great addition to the services available for both our residents and families living throughout White Center,” said Stephen Norman, Executive Director of the King County Housing Authority.

The new center is located at 9934 8th Avenue SW in Seattle, and will continue to offer the same services for low-income and uninsured clients — WIC nutrition services, maternity support for new and expectant mothers, and family planning.

Improvements at the new center include:

Patient rooms specially designed for client care,
Waiting areas with computers with self-care and health information for clients and their families, and

Behind-the-scenes changes to improve workflow to increase efficiency and make better use of space.

“We built this new center from the floor up with a focus on serving clients and improving the community’s health,” said Dr. David Fleming, Director and Health Officer for Public Health – Seattle & King County.

Public Health will host an open house with tours of the new facility on Tuesday, Dec. 4 from 4:30-5:30 p.m.

Remember the furor over the White Center and Boulevard Park libraries, and whether they would be closed, merged, or … The King County Library System Board put a decision on hold, to see how annexation turned out. Now, annexation has gone down to defeat, and this item is back on the front burner. Tomorrow (Thursday) at noon, the KCLS Planning Committee meets at the Burien Library (4th/156th), and the North Highline libraries are at the top of the agenda. Public welcome.

(STORY UPDATED WEDNESDAY with information on suspect’s record)

ORIGINAL REPORT, 5:58 PM: A helicopter’s been seen over the area, and we believe it’s linked to a stabbing reported at 13th/100th in White Center. According to King County Sheriff’s Office via Twitter, the suspect is the victim’s son.

6:14 PM: Lots of officers – and media – there, our crew reports, including KCSO media liaison Sgt. Cindi West, so we will have updates from her shortly. She had reported originally that the victim was undergoing CPR. This is at the Unity Village complex that opened a year ago.

6:18 PM: Sgt. West (above) says the victim is dead. She is 69 years old and lived at the complex. Her 42-year-old son is the suspect; he reportedly was visiting, and Sgt. West says he is the one who called 911 to report he had stabbed his mother.

11:59 PM: The suspect has been booked into the King County Jail. A quick check of court records shows that his background includes assault and domestic-violence cases. Court paperwork is not available at this hour, though, so we don’t know if any prior cases involved his mother.

ADDED WEDNESDAY MORNING: So far, the cases we have reviewed included guilty pleas to assaults on a jail guard and a 75-year-old landlady – these in the past few years. In the court documents for the latter case, a girlfriend was quoted as describing the suspect as “paranoid schizophrenic,” and there are other documents mentioning mental-health commitment situations.

Just received from King County Sheriff’s Office media liaison Sgt. Cindi West, an update on last night’s attack in Top Hat, including descriptions of the men deputies are looking for:

A man was pistol whipped and his girlfriend sexually assaulted during a home invasion robbery that occurred overnight in the Top Hat area of King County.

Last night around 8:40 deputies responded to a report of a home invasion robbery in the 10800 block of 6 Ave S. When deputies arrived they contacted a 23 year old man who said when he got home he saw two men near his apartment. He said the men pulled handguns and forced him into his apartment.

Once inside the apartment the suspects ordered the victim and his 23 year old girlfriend, who was home with her young son, to get on the ground. One of the suspects pistol whipped the male on the back of the head. One of the suspects sexually assaulted the female at gunpoint while the other suspect ransacked the house.

The victim’s 18 month old son was asleep on the couch and did not wake up during the incident.

The suspects are described as;

#1. Black male, approximately 5’9, 195 lbs with a “buzz” haircut. He was last seen wearing a mask over the bottom half of his face and gray shoes. (no age yet)

#2. Black male, approximately 5’5”, 180, last seen wearing a gray zip up shirt, with a black shirt underneath, blue jeans, and a black belt. (no age yet)

Detectives said there appears to be no relationship between the victims and suspects. Investigators are trying to determine why this house was targeted and what items were taken from the residence.

Just in from the White Center Food Bank:

Do you have time next week to pass out food to clients at the White Center Food Bank at 10829 8th Ave SW? We need volunteers on the following shifts:

Monday, November 19 (9:30 to 12:30)
Tuesday, November 20 (9:30-12:30, 12:30-3:30 & 3:30-6:30)
Wednesday, November 21 (12:30-3:30 & 4:00 to 8:00)
If you can help, contact Audrey Zemke at audrey@whitecenterfoodbank.org or 762-2848. Families and kids welcome.

The Food Bank also needs donations of the following foods or money to buy them:

Turkeys
Canned Pumpkin
Canned Sweet Potatoes or Yams
Pickles
Cake Mixes
Crackers

Donations are accepted Mondays through Fridays from 8:30 to 5:00 at 10829 8th Ave SW.

If you are in West Seattle: Turkeys can be dropped off on Sunday, November 18 at Fauntleroy UCC [9140 California SW] starting at 11 am. We will be onsite with our refrigerated van to accept donations.

Two men are being sought for a robbery, rape, and assault reported at a home in Top Hat, according to our partners at The Seattle Times. The two are reported to have attacked a man outside the home, then forced their way in, raped a woman, and ransacked the house before getting away. No word on the victims’ conditions; we’ll be following up with the King County Sheriff’s Office, which is investigating. This is reported to have happened in the 10800 block of 6th S., which is part of unincorporated North Highline (though it was widely and erroneously reported by regional media last night as being in Burien).

Have some music with your mocha! The Tallboys are playing at Caffé Delia in downtown White Center right now (with the coffee shop’s co-owner Matt on bass) till 2 pm, as CD celebrates its first birthday. Here’s our preview story from Friday. Caffé Delia is co-housed with Proletariat Pizza – 9622 16th SW.

Just in from the King County Sheriff’s Office:

Following a change in filing by the King County prosecutor’s office, King County Sheriff’s Office deputies will not be directed to arrest or charge individuals caught with one ounce or less of marijuana following of the passage of I-502.

Earlier today the King County Prosecutor’s Office made a prosecutorial decision to dismiss several cases of marijuana possess. “Now that the initiative has passed, and now that the Prosecutor’s Office won’t be charging the individuals, we will also not focus on behavior that will be legal under Washington State law after Dec. 6th” said King County Sheriff Steve Strachan.

There are 12 municipalities that contract with the Sheriff’s Office for police services. It remains the policy decision of the municipal attorneys and policy makers of those cities to determine how they will proceed between now and Dec. 6th. This decision only affects the deputies working in unincorporated King County.

(This story also appears on our partner site West Seattle Blog)

(Matt, Delia, and Eric – photo by WCN co-publisher Patrick Sand)
By Tracy Record
White Center Now editor

You could call Caffé Delia “White Center’s first co-housed coffee shop.”

Or, pop-up coffee shop, as its proprietors dubbed it.

It opened one year ago in the downtown White Center space that, by night, is Proletariat Pizza.

As with Proletariat, Caffé Delia’s proprietors are a married couple – Delia and Matt. And they say Proletariat’s Stefanie and Mike had the coffee-cohousing idea in the first place – stemming from a mutual-admiration society when Delia worked at Bird on a Wire Espresso and referred people to “the fun pizza place in White Center.”

We sat down with Delia and Matt to talk about their shop and its milestone anniversary, which will be marked with a party during Caffé Delia’s regular hours tomorrow (8 am-2 pm Saturday).

Read the rest of this entry »

(Photos courtesy Vera Johnson)
No injuries are reported in a house fire tonight at 26th SW and SW 102nd. We got a tip and got there only in time to see a fire crew wrapping up, but Vera Johnson from nearby Village Green Perennial Nursery – near the fire scene – says the house where it happened is vacant, but has been used by squatters. She says, “A couple kids saw flames, told a neighbor, and then the Fire Department was called.”

We’ll check tomorrow to see if we can find out anything from the North Highline Fire District.

We asked the King County Executive’s Office for comment yesterday regarding the vote rejecting Burien annexation of most of the rest of North Highline. The response came just now in a news release, also incorporating comment on the West Hill rejection of Renton annexation. Executive Dow Constantine is quoted as saying:

“We acknowledge the decision of the residents of the North Highline and West Hill communities to remain in unincorporated King County for the immediate future.

“King County will continue to do its best to provide services to these areas within the resources available. The mandate of the state Growth Management Act remains unchanged– that urban areas should be in cities, which are in a better position to provide urban-level services.

“It’s going to be up to the residents of these urban unincorporated areas and their adjacent cities to decide if and when an annexation vote will come up again. It is certainly in the interest of the cities to act before the sales tax relief provided by the state expires in 2015.

“I want to thank the Mayor, the City Council, and the staff of the cities of Renton and Burien for their work and cooperation throughout this lengthy process.

“In the meantime, King County’s Community Service Area staff will continue to provide support and access to unincorporated area residents and organizations.”

It appears that about 300 more votes were counted for the Burien-annexation proposal today – King County Elections has just released its updated county vote totals, a few hours later than expected because of some equipment proposal. The margin remains the same:

For annexation 1278 35.74%
Against annexation 2298 64.26%

Here’s a text list with all county results, if you’re interested. Renton’s West Hill Annexation proposal is also still on the road to defeat – 45 percent for, 55 percent against.

(Annexation supporter Gill Loring, left, with Burien City Manager Mike Martin at pro-annexation party, pre-results)

8:23 PM: King County has just released its first round of results – the only round it will release tonight, with the next update due late tomorrow afternoon. For the annexation measure – should most of what’s left of unincorporated North Highline annex to Burien or not – the early results are 63 percent against annexation, 36 percent for. See them on the county site here.

Other notes of interest – Renton has an annexation measure which also is behind; the King County Sheriff’s Race has John Urquhart ahead of appointed incumbent Steve Strachan.

WCN was at the pro-annexation gathering when the first results came in; supporter Barbara Dobkin, and Christine Waldman (also on NHUAC), will say only so far that it’s a “tough election.”

9:25 PM: Here are the exact numbers, which stand till tomorrow’s count:
Against annexation: 2,085
For annexation: 1,195

In the sheriff’s race: Urquhart 254,600 (57 percent), Strachan 187,491 (42 percent).

As expected, King County Elections is projecting its first and only count for the evening will be made public around 8:15. Here are a couple other notes just shared in a news release from election HQ:

The first set of general election results are scheduled to be posted to the King County Elections website at about 8:15 p.m. Results will include tabulation of at least 520,000 ballots.

“This is a record-setting election for King County,” said Sherril Huff, Director of Elections. “Not only have we set a new record for number of voters registered this year, we will also have more ballots counted for tonight’s results report than in any previous election, including the 2008 presidential election when we still had polling places.”

There will be only one results report tonight. The Elections Department will update results again tomorrow by 4:30 p.m. and most subsequent weekdays until election certification on Nov. 27. Note that results may not be updated every day if there are not enough ballots to maintain voter privacy.

Voters have up until Nov. 26 to resolve any signature issues before the election is certified.

We’ll post the annexation-measure results from tonight as soon as we get them, in a separate story.

King County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. Cindi West says two people were reported to have suffered critical injuries in a North Burien crash early Sunday. At 9 am at SW 120th and Ambaum, she says, a green Ford Ranger failed to make the curve on northbound Ambaum near 12th SW and hit the curb, a street light pole, and tree. The victims are a 62-year-old Burien man and a 45-year-old Federal Way woman.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Whether you are against or for Burien annexation, you have a few more hours to submit your view – without attacks on the other side. This short note is the sixth we have received since extending that invitation here on Sunday, four from supporters, two from opponents. whitecenternow@gmail.com

By Kathi “George” Wheeler
Special to White Center Now

I guess for anyone who has not sent in their ballot yet and has not decided what to do in this race for to be Burien or not to be Burien…

Please vote against it. I don’t have a lot of time or even energy to go into all the reasons why annexing into Burien scares me so bad or has my stomach in such knots, but it does.

I just told a friend the other day that I think I could stomach Romney for President far better than I could stomach Burien being my city. Enough said. It’s not a good thing for our neighborhood.

Kathi Wheeler
aka. george
Proud and involved community member/resident of Rat City

EDITOR’S NOTE: On Sunday, we extended an invitation for anyone – organization, business, private citizen, etc. – to submit for publication their pitch for why voters should go their way in the vote on whether Burien should annex most of the rest of North Highline. No negativity about the opposition or why the other view is wrong – just, why you believe your view is right. We have received six essays so far, the first four from Burien-annexation supporters, and the following is the first from someone who opposes it. We’re still accepting essays (that follow the rules) through Tuesday afternoon. Please send to whitecenternow@gmail.com – thank you!

By Eduardo Brambila
Special to White Center Now

Dear undecided voters,

This annexation process has been very difficult to understand at times. As a small business owner here in White Center, I was extremely anxious to find out what all this meant. I have spent MONTHS researching, reading up on what annexation in the area means, asking folks from BOTH sides to describe to me how this WOULD AFFECT ME.

From the anti side, I heard a lot about taxes going up. Now, as a just-starting-out business.. of course extra taxes will make it tighter on my budget. I’m working on improving my shop’s appearance and upgrading equipment to provide better and more efficient services. The pro side mentions better representation at City Hall; that very much interests me.

But after some more thinking, I wanted to see how this would affect our community as a whole. And I must say, our community is filled with diversity, cultures, and very large economic gaps. My background is only part in the graphics business, I’ve actually dedicated quite a few years in public health and community organizing. From working with homeless folks to folks in recovery. Aside from me considering the factors in how it would affect my business, I really care about how it would affect those folks we provided services to.

With all (the) research I’ve done, I cannot see how Burien has the capacity to provide the much needed services White Center needs. It’s just not adding up. Many folks want to “kick out the drunks on the street,” which quite frankly doesn’t just happen overnight. PLUS, you have to consider where some of these folks would be going. If that means jail… you’re GOING to pay for that.

I’m for a stronger, more supportive community, and I just don’t believe being incorporated into Burien will provide that. I am NOT advocating for Seattle, let’s be clear. I’m for us staying as we are on the map, and work together as a community to revitalize this area. If Burien down the line can give us a better plan and MORE services, then hey.. maybe then. But right now it just doesn’t seem plausible. And from what I understand, they cannot force us into annexation (nor Burien – nor Seattle).

I love this area, with its quirks and faults… all in all. I’ve been in the area 10+ years and I want to see it improved, and that’s why I am voting AGAINST ANNEXATION and I urge you to do the same. Together we can we do better.

-Eduardo Brambila
Mago Designs