White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Three events you won’t want to miss on Saturday:

MCLENDON HARDWARE PANCAKE BREAKFAST: The tasty tradition arrives at the store again on Saturday morning. 7:30-10 am, free.

WEST SEATTLE MONTESSORI PLANT SALE: 9 am-3 pm, at the campus (11215 15th SW) – with a bake sale, organic soil, student vegetable starts, plants from Village Green Perennial Nursery, and more – read about it on the school’s website.

WHITE CENTER JUBILEE DAYS GALA: Saturday’s the night, Youngstown Cultural Arts Center (4408 Delridge Way SW in West Seattle) is the place, 6:30 pm – the ticket link and more details are on the Jubilee Days website.

Highline Public Schools sends the news that former Evergreen football star Senio Kelemete has been drafted by the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals:

Former Evergreen High School football standout Senio Kelemete was selected in the fifth round of the 2012 NFL draft this week, going to the Arizona Cardinals as the 151st pick overall.

Kelemete led Evergreen to a 9-2 record during his senior season in 2007, helping the Wolverines make the state playoffs for the first time since 2001. He was also honored as the Seamount League’s Lineman of the Year on both offense and defense.

As a University of Washington Husky, Kelemete started all 13 games at left tackle this past season and was named a team captain for the second straight year. He earned All-Pac-12 honors for the second time in his career and was awarded the Fred Jacoby Sportsmanship Award at the Valero Alamo Bowl in December.

Here’s his page on the Huskies’ website; his UW career concluded in the 2011-2012 season (here’s a December 2011 profile from our partners at the Seattle Times).

Looks like lots of participation for yesterday’s GiveBIG – White Center Food Bank posted this via Facebook:

Grand Total: $2943! In 2011, our total was $940. Thank you everyone for helping to triple our amount this year. Thanks to Caffe Delia, Dubsea, Cafe Rozella, Proletariat and Zippy’s along with all of yesterday’s individual donors. You are all great!

If we find/receive other reports, we’ll share those too. And please support local nonprofits YEAR-ROUND … there are many ways to do it, and they don’t all cost money – volunteer help and materials donations are appreciated too, depending on the nonprofit.

White Center Eagles event chair Dean Post shares the photo and this invitation:

Local Pool Players!

Please join us this Friday evening, May 4th, as the always entertaining and the stylish Rich Geiler, aka “Olympia Rich”, performs his trick shot repertoire at the White Center Eagles at 7:30 PM. 10452 15th Ave SW, 206-248-1400.

Eagle members and their signed in guests are welcome to compete in the ongoing eight ball, nine ball, and three ball tournaments throughout the evening. Five pool tables just covered with 860 Simonis. We’re also serving New York or Rib eye steak dinner for $10.00 from 5 to 7 PM.

Saturday and Sunday, May 5th and 6th, Eagle pool players will compete in the 2011-2012 Washington State Eagles’ Men’s Pool Championship. Ball in hand rules. Doubles.

The first one was a hit – dozens of attendees – and the second edition is days away. From the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council, here’s the agenda for the May 10th Public Safety Forum:

Thursday – MAY 10, 2012 – 7pm
North Highline Fire Station
1243 112th Street, SW
White Center

Police Reports/Neighborhood Concerns:
BJ Myers, King County Sheriff Deputy, White Center Storefront, will give an update on crime trends in the North Highline area. Deputy Myers will also take questions regarding neighborhood concerns.

Guest Speakers:
Major Lisa Mulligan, Metro Transit Police Chief, will discuss safety aboard Metro Transit and at North Highline area bus stops.

Doug Reynold, King County Sheriff Deputy, Community Crime Prevention Officer for the City of Seatac. Deputy Reynolds will discuss crime prevention techniques to reduce the opportunity for crime in your neighborhood. Deputy Reynolds is the past president of the Washington Crime Prevention Association and is recognized as an International Crime Prevention Specialist(ICPS) by the International Society of Crime Prevention Practitioners.

Block Watch Program: Join or renew the program in your neighborhood.
Discussion of the National Night Out Against Crime-August 7, 2012.

ALL ARE WELCOME!

Additional information is available on the NHUAC website: www.northhighlineuac.org

Today’s the day for the Seattle Foundation‘s one-day-only GiveBIG donate-a-thon. The foundation is offering a “stretch pool” of partial matching funds, to be distributed proportionately depending on how much each participating nonprofit raises on this single day, by 11:59 pm tonight. One BIG catch: You **must** donate through the nonprofit’s special page on the foundation’s website, NOT via the nonprofit’s own website. So we have gone through the foundation’s directory to find all those special pages for participating locally based or founded nonprofits (and a couple parent organizations). You can also use the special “go here” links below to find out more about any of these organizations – the links take you to pages on the Seattle Foundation website with background information and links to the organizations’ own sites, as well as the donation links to use for this one-day event. (P.S. Please let us know if we missed a WC-based organization – post a comment!)

NEW FUTURES – go here

SAFEFUTURES YOUTH CENTER – go here

SOUTHWEST YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVICES – go here

TECHNOLOGY ACCESS FOUNDATION – go here

THE VILLAGE OF HOPE – go here

WESTSIDE BABY – go here

WHITE CENTER COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION – go here

(Added 9 am – WCFB executive director Rick Jump at Dubsea)
WHITE CENTER FOOD BANK – go here – and note, WCFB has added events today, as previously reported here, including a portion of proceeds donated tonight if you dine at Proletariat Pizza or Zippy’s Giant Burgers in WC.

YES FOUNDATION OF WHITE CENTER – go here

YMCA OF GREATER SEATTLE – go here

YWCA OF SEATTLE – go here

Got your tickets yet? The White Center Jubilee Days Spring Gala/Auction is just days away. Here’s the Facebook invite; you can buy tickets online here. It’s this Saturday night, 6:30 pm at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center (4408 Delridge Way SW in West Seattle).

ADDED TUESDAY: More info – in an official media-release announcement:

Jubilee Days! White Center’s annual summer festival, which has been running for more than 80 years, is a celebration of our great neighborhood and is the result of true community effort. The production of Jubilee Days is ongoing. It takes about a year to organize, raise the funds, book the bands and vendors, and to manage all the behind-the-scenes business to get the festival off the ground, just in time to do it all again.

We are currently in the throes of raising crucial dollars for what we believe will be the best White Center Jubilee Days ever. We have approached this year’s event with great ambition to reflect our feelings for the neighborhood and its amazing potential. Which brings us to JUBILEE DAYS SILENT AUCTION AND SPRING GALA, THIS SATURDAY! This fundraising extravaganza will feature fabulous entertainment, food from White Center businesses, a cash bar, a raffle, and wonderful items for your bidding pleasure. Here are a few details:

Our MC, Sarah Rudinoff, Stranger Genius Award recipient, is an all-around superstar, always entertaining and will certainly put the F U N in fundraiser!

Entertainment will include a performance by aerialist Jenna Lutton, a Capoeira exhibition from Capoeira Malês, crowd mover DJ Dr. Lehl, and we may have a surprise or two up our sleeve.

Big-ticket auction items include a pontoon boat for the avid fly fisherman and a ride-along with White Center’s own Deputy BJ Myers!

House-made hors d’oeuvres and small plates from Uncle Mike’s Barbeque, the Salvadorean Bakery, and El Paisano will be provided.

50/50 raffle with cash prize!

And did we mention cash bar with expert bartenders? Full Bar available.

Fundraiser within a fundraiser! What? That’s right. We will have Big Al’s Hi-Yu Bru Pale Ale available for purchase, proceeds of which will be donated to a local charity.

Raising money for a good cause has never been so easy.

Tickets are $35 and can be purchased in the heart of White Center at Company Bar, Full Tilt Ice Cream and Proletariat Pizza, or online at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/230535

All day long, performers have been taking the stage on SW 98th between 15th and 16th SW to entertain festivalgoers celebrating Cambodian New Year, and even outside the festival setup, you can see performers in and out of traditional costume:

If you haven’t been yet, you have a few more hours! Community organizations and businesses are tabling too, and there’s food as well as entertainment.

The Cambodian Cultural Alliance of Washington is the sponsor for today’s 10th annual festival, which continues till 5 pm.

(Photos by WCN’s Patrick Sand)
Notice people in bright-green shirts around White Center at midday today? Those were the Starbucks workers whose second annual Month of Service volunteerism brought them today to Mount View Elementary, Lakewood Park, and White Center Heights Park (the latter is where we caught up with them).

The White Center work was in conjunction with SeattleWorks.

According to the announcement we received in advance, on behalf of Starbucks, the company has a lofty April volunteerism goal: “This year we’re aiming to beat 200,000 community-service hours – that’s the equivalent of nearly 100 people working 9-5 for a year!”

From North Highline Unincorporated Area Council president Barbara Dobkin:

Please join us for the May 3rd meeting, when our King County Council Representative, Joe McDermott, will be on hand to provide updates regarding county issues, and take questions from the community. We are also pleased that Officer Tim Anderson of King County Animal Control, will be in attendance to answer any questions regarding King County Animal Control Services. As always, all are welcome.

Here’s the full agenda:

7:00 pm Call to Order – Flag Salute – Roll Call –
Approval of Agenda – Approval of Minutes
7:05 pm Public Announcements
7:10 pm Public Comment
3minutes for Individuals
5 minutes for Groups

7:15 pm Mike Martin, Burien City Manager

7:20pm Joe McDermott, King County Council

7:30 pm Ellie Weiss – DubSea Bikes

7:40 pm Aaron Garcia, Student Services Specialist
South Seattle Community College

7:50 pm Tim Anderson, King County Animal Control Officer

8:10 pm Treasurer’s Report

8:15 pm Committee Reports
1. Governance
2. Arts and Parks
3. Public Safety
4. Housing and Human Services
5. Public Outreach
6. Transportation

8:20 pm Unfinished Business/Old Business
• Flower Bed Planting (100 ST & 16th Ave, SW)
• Bylaws
• Jubilee Days

8:30 pm New Business
• June Agenda

The May 3rd meeting is at 7 pm at North Highline Fire District HQ, 1243 112th SW.

Since we had mentioned it here on the home page when Dubsea Coffee first announced it, just wanted to make sure you knew that U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott’s appearance for “Coffee with Your Congressman” has been rescheduled – 10 am May 19th, instead of tomorrow. He IS scheduled to be in White Center tomorrow – speaking at the 34th Legislative District Caucus at the Evergreen Campus around noon.

One year, plus a couple weeks, after its grand reopening, the skating rink that for a while was NOT a skating rink celebrated its first birthday/anniversary tonight. Southgate Roller Rink was renovated, and is owned by, the Rhoads family – we photographed Josh and Clayton tonight.

Hey, look who DJ’d tonight! Christopher Mychael:

Some of the rink’s art is nostalgia-evoking too:

An afterparty was planned tonight at Company.

Here’s their announcement about what they’re doing in connection with the Seattle Foundation‘s “Give BIG“ multi-organization donation drive on May 2nd:

May 2 is Give Big with the Seattle Foundation, and White Center Food Bank has set up several ways to make giving easier – and tastier. Give Big is a one day, online charitable giving event when your donation will be stretched by the Seattle Foundation. This year we will have board members and volunteers at several sites in the morning with laptops to make donating easier if you’re stopping for coffee on the way to work, and in the evening Proletariat Pizza will help you “dine out for hunger” by donating a portion of sales for the evening.

Here is how Give Big works:

All donations must be made on May 2 between 12:01 am and midnight via the Seattle Foundation’s website – this can be done from your home, one of our laptop stations or via mobile. Bookmark the site now: http://www.seattlefoundation.org/npos/Pages/WhiteCenterEmergencyFoodAssociation.aspx?bv=nposearch

WCFB Board members will be at Dubsea Coffee (9910 – 8th Ave SW), Caffe Delia (9622 – 16th Ave SW) and Cafe Rozella (9434 Delridge) in the morning between 7 and 10 am with laptops to make donating easier.

Proletariat Pizza (9622 – 16th Ave SW) will be donating 5% of sales to White Center Food Bank during the evening business hours. We will also have board members and a laptop on hand there if you’d like to make an extra donation in addition to your pizza purchase.

Note: we are listed as the White Center Emergency Food Association on the Seattle Foundation’s website. Only donations on May 2 count for the “stretch” dollars.

If any other restaurants would like to join in Dine Out for Hunger, please contact Ann Kendall at email:ann@whitecenterfoodbank.org or call 206-713-0031.

ADDED FRIDAY MORNING: WC Food Bank says Zippy’s Giant Burgers has joined “Dine Out for Hunger” too and will also donate 5 percent during dinnertime on May 2nd.

Though this project is in the Seattle city limits, there’s an explicit invitation for White Center-area gardeners to join in, so we are crossposting this from partner site West Seattle Blog:

Ready to garden? The Westcrest P-Patch is about to be built, and ready to build its gardener/volunteer team, too! Here’s the official announcement (along with the finalized design, shown above):

After two community garden design meetings, the Westcrest P-Patch community garden project is planning to start construction next month in Seattle’s Westcrest Park! (Located at 9000 8th Ave. SW) The plan is to create over 200 10′ x 10′ garden plots following the final design which will feature crushed rock and wood chip pathways that interact with existing park features, gathering and storage structures, an out-door “kitchen”, and lots of room for artistic elements and common spaces.

The plots will be open to both Seattle residents as well as residents living in nearby unincorporated King County such as White Center which is two blocks from the south border of the park.

If you are interested in a plot, your probability of getting a spot will correlate to the number of hours you donate to the project. The more you volunteer the higher your chances of getting a plot. The Steering Committee is currently trying to determine what portions of the construction will be performed by contractors and what we, as a community, are willing to take on. If we can keep costs below the $90,000 budget, we can use the surplus funds to enhance the project. There are innumerable ways that you can volunteer in both outreach and construction.

Please contact Phi Huynh if you would like to explore volunteer opportunities.

E-mail: phi.huynh@seattle.gov
Phone: 206-684-4531

They’re celebrating tonight during Adult Skate Night, starting at 8:30 pm, with “original 1970’s Southgate Roller Rink DJ Christopher Mychael … playing the tunes!” More details on the Facebook event page.

White Center’s Mount View Elementary invites families of incoming kindergarteners to Information Night this Thursday, 6-7:30 pm:

The school’s at 10811 12th SW. Here’s a full-size version of the flyer.

He was a familiar face on TV for years as spokesperson for the King County Sheriff’s Office, till he retired a few months back after 23 years with the department. Today, John Urquhart announced he wants to get back into KCSO – at the top. Here’s the announcement and photo he provided:

Today I am announcing I will run for the office of King County Sheriff. It was not a decision made lightly, but made after careful consideration, and with input from of a variety of individuals both inside and outside the Sheriff’s Office, as well as my family.

I have two messages today. The first is for the citizens of King County. The second will be for the nearly 700 deputies in the Sheriff’s Office.

To the citizens:

My campaign for King County Sheriff will be based on leadership and accountability. The Sheriff’s Office is at a crossroads. I don’t want us to go down the road where we run the risk of losing the support of the citizens we serve. If we go down that wrong road, it will not be because our deputies don’t care. It will be because of a lack of leadership within the agency.

The citizens of King County want many things from their Sheriff’s Office. They want a police agency that is tough on crime, but understands you can’t arrest your way out of every problem in society.

They want a Sheriff’s Office that listens to the citizens it serves. Listens to what the citizens are saying about what is important to them, and THEN takes action. They do not want a police agency that has the attitude of “we’re the cops and you’re not!”

Read the rest of this entry »

As previewed here last week, Sili Savusa of the White Center Community Development Association and Aileen Sison of White Center B.O.S.S. were among the panelists during a special Leadership Seminar at the start of last Saturday’s Gathering of Neighbors in West Seattle. Leadership and community organizing were among the topics, and we have the whole thing on video if you’d like to hear what they had to say.

P.S. Aileen’s “White Center B.O.S.S.” has its next Happy Hour tonight, 4-7 pm at Company in downtown White Center.

The auction for rights to liquor licenses at existing store sites is over, and the state has announced the high bids. Keep in mind the “winning bidders” – to be finalized by the state next week, and then given a five-day period to pay up – are not guaranteed licenses, nor the right to take over the stores; all they’re getting is the exclusive rights to apply for liquor licenses at these locations, but it’s up to them to negotiate a lease with the store owner(s). Kulwinder Pabla is listed as the high bidder for the White Center store, $130,100. The state has till June 1st to get out of the liquor business, when privatization, as approved by voters last year, takes full effect. The total amount bid on the license-application rights statewide was almost $31 million, according to the state’s news release.

On our way to check out a report that the King County Sheriff’s Office is investigating an armed robbery at the Subway shop in the 10400 block of 16th SW. The description, per the scanner: “black male, around 19, bald, black sweater/red stripes, carrying a backpack” in which both a gun and knife were seen.

ADDED MONDAY: Our apologies for not adding this additional information when we got it last night – deputies were gone by the time we got to the store, and workers there told us the robbery had happened about an hour earlier; they said nobody had been hurt.