White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Village Green Perennial Nursery, sponsor of this year’s White Center Garden Tour, sends word that the map is available! The tour is part of White Center Jubilee Days; it’s free, self-guided, and coming up on July 15th – 10 am to 4 pm – just one week from this Sunday. The map includes locations in south West Seattle as well as White Center; download it here, and/or pick up a copy at locations including Village Green, Full Tilt Ice Cream, and Proletariat Pizza. P.S. The Garden Tour has a Facebook page; see it here.

Some of your downtown White Center favorites are taking a break this holiday – like Full Tilt Ice Cream and Proletariat Pizza – but Caffe Delia, which operates inside the Proletariat storefront in the pre-pizza hours, is open for coffee today: 9 am-1 pm.

A reminder from North Highline Unincorporated Area Council president Barbara Dobkin – NHUAC is *not* meeting this month, so if you show up at the fire station on Thursday night, you won’t find anybody but, well, the Fire Department crew. You will, however, find NHUAC at the Jubilee Days street fair!

If this turns out to be the last 4th of July for fireworks sales in White Center – since fireworks are banned in Burien – the local International Order of the Rainbow for Girls will have to find something to replace it; the fireworks stand is their biggest fundraiser of the year. Theirs is the stand at 16th and 100th, and they’ll be open till 9 pm on the 4th of July.

Thanks to the person who texted our 24-hour number (206-293-6302) to report this – a truck that went through a fence and partway down an embankment kitty-corner from the Shorewood Market at 26th and 106th. A King County Sheriff’s Deputy at the scene told us that nobody was hurt seriously enough to have to go to the hospital; they’re investigating it as a possible hit-and-run.

No major traffic trouble – the tow truck was already there when we arrived, ready to pull out the truck.

Local artist RobRoy Chalmers sent word he has just installed a new “Swarm” at Luso Food and Wine in White Center. He explains his work here. But as is the case with many artworks, the photos only hint at what it’s like – nothing compares to a firsthand viewing.

To see his work in person, stop by Luso at 9988 15th SW.

Just out of the inbox:

Please spread the word or join in on these fun opportunities to stay active and build community in White Center!

WHAT: FREE! White Center Summer Field Days [summer sack lunch, games, activities, sports]

WHEN: Thursdays July 12-August 16th

Thursdays July 12: World Dance & Motion & July 19: Water Olympics both @ Greenbridge.

July 26: Sports Classics & August 2 Karate Day both @ Steve Cox Mem. Park.

August 9: Eat Right, Move More & August 16: Best of the Best Sports Matchup & Summer Potluck both @ Greenbridge.

WHERE: First two Thursdays @ Greenbridge, second two @ Steve Cox Mem. Park, last two @ Greenbridge

WHY: Stay Active, Stay Connected, Stay Nourished

WHO: Sponsored by White Center Youth & Family Service Providers…and you?

INFO: To donate a prize, host a game, volunteer, or to learn more, contact Amal huseiamal@gmail.com or call 206.859.0165

Still a story in progress, but within the past hour, a TV helicopter was over White Center/Highland Park, and answered a question via Twitter that it was checking out an “unconfirmed marijuana bust.” King County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Cindi West confirms that a search-warrant operation is in progress but was still gathering information, so we hope to have details a bit later.

ADDED WEDNESDAY: Sgt. West says a search warrant was served in the 9600 block of 16 SW: “Once we got into the place, we found that it was a Medical Marijuana grow. Deputies said that the place was ‘semi-compliant.’ The issue was they had more plants than permissible. Deputies said they are working with the owner to bring them up to compliance. No arrests were made.”

Though the date hasn’t been widely publicized yet, we’ve confirmed that a fireworks show will again be part of Jubilee Days this year – we were wondering, while writing our previous report about personal-fireworks laws, and Justin from Full Tilt Ice Cream confirms the show will be at dusk July 18th, opening night of the carnival. (Here’s our coverage from last year.)

Whether you love them, hate them, or don’t care about them, it’s notable that this might be the last 4th of July with legal personal fireworks in White Center and the rest of unincorporated North Highline, since they are illegal in Burien (as they are in Seattle), and if annexation is approved in November, it may be in effect by this time next year. We are reminded of this because the annual week of pre-4th sales is days away; by county law (as outlined here), stands can open at noon June 28th – this coming Thursday – and can be open 9 am-11 pm daily thereafter, through July 4th. However, fireworks can only be used on the 4th itself.

We got a few calls/notes about a SWAT standoff near the Evergreen campus late Wednesday night/early Thursday. Sorry that it’s taken a while to get the details, but we now have them, thanks to King County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. Cindi West: She says a 47-year-old woman was held up while walking in the 11600 block of 8th SW, headed for a bus stop after leaving a friend’s house. The victim told police a man “pointed a gun at her and told her to give him everything she had,” according to Sgt. West. After she did that, the robber ran off. She walked in the same direction in which he had fled – southbound – and saw him go down SW 117th and up the steps to a house. She still had her cell phone and used it to call 911, which brought deputies, including a K-9 team that tracked the suspect to the house the victim had seen him enter. The suspect didn’t come out voluntarily, but a search warrant was finally obtained, at which time SWAT officers went in and found and arrested him. Sgt. West says he was jailed for investigation of robbery, and it’ll be up to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to decide on charges.

If you couldn’t make it to tonight’s first White Center informational session about November’s North Highline vote on Burien annexation – you can watch our video of the entire hour-long meeting, starting with the introduction by Burien city staffer Nhan Nguyen, describing it as a homecoming of sorts, since he worked previously for the WC Community Development Association.

Some toplines:

Most of the basic information was presented by Burien’s city manager Mike Martin, who said that if annexation is approved by a majority of North Highline voters in November, the area could be part of his city by this time next year. What would that mean? He addressed a variety of points – as well as what it would NOT mean. Referring to the sudden appearance of a raised divider down 16th SW in the heart of downtown WC, and a short-lived county proposal to sell Puget Sound Park, he declared, “We don’t do things that way.” He also touted Burien’s permit process as much better than what unincorporated-area residents and businesses have had to deal with through King County.

The first audience question answered by Martin was a pointed one: What would happen to the marijuana dispensaries in the North Highline area if it’s annexed? Burien doesn’t allow them, replied Martin (as he has said at previous community meetings); joining the meeting later, Police Chief Scott Kimerer addressed the topic again, saying that state and federal laws would be enforced – and acknowledging they may change. He also said that White Center would retain its law-enforcement storefront.

Martin sought to reassure White Center/North Highline residents and businesspeople on hand that they respect and appreciate WC’s unique character and don’t want to change it, but instead, just to support it. He also had harsh words for Burien residents who oppose annexing White Center and vicinity, calling them “small-minded and mean-spirited.” One concern that was raised about the annexation plan: Burien resident Chestine Edgar sought to challenge the issue of how much money Burien would get from the state sales-tax credit made available for annexation situations like this.

As first reported here earlier this week, the second informational meeting in White Center is scheduled for July 12th at Dubsea Coffee in Greenbridge … and Nguyen told tonight’s audience that Burien will have a presence at Jubilee Days (July 21-22) to answer questions and provide information.

Meantime, Burien’s info page – including the official FAQ in five languages, among other resources – can be found here. Our archive of WCN annexation coverage, newest to oldest, is here.

On partner site West Seattle Blog, we just published a story that includes information of interest for the Delridge Triangle just across the line from White Center: The Seattle Department of Transportation is planning to “rechannelize” Delridge from SW Orchard southward, when it’s repaved/resurfaced next year. That would include a parking change in the last block – SDOT proposes changing the head-in angle parking to back-in angle parking. (Asked if that would include a road divider like the controversial one a block south in WC, SDOT reps only said they didn’t have anything like that anywhere in the city right now.) You can read the full story here.

Burien leaders are promising informational forums at least once a month between now and the November North Highline annexation vote, and tonight is the first official public event – 6 pm at 3.14 Bakery in downtown White Center. (For a sneak peek at what it might be like, here’s our coverage of their presentation last month at Glen Acres.)

This afternoon, we found Mike on duty behind the counter at Full Tilt Ice Cream in White Center – on the fourth anniversary of the shop’s grand opening. And once again on this birthday, Full Tilt is giving the gifts rather than receiving – making donations to White Center Food Bank based on your purchase/s. (For a trip into the past, here’s our June 2008 story from grand-opening day – White Center Now was launched shortly afterward, but wasn’t even in soft-launch yet, so the story was on our partner site West Seattle Blog.)

Story and photo by Tracy Record
White Center Now editor

Lea Kuchan and her 9-year-old daughter have been picking up litter and cleaning away graffiti as a labor of love – both in small day-to-day efforts and as part of big events like White Center Spring Clean.

“It’s an instant-gratification thing,” she smiles – the results are visible immediately.

That was especially true during this year’s Spring Clean, Lea says, when she was on a team “in charge of washing windows,” and someone came by to suggest it would be great if that happened on a regular basis. “At that point, I decided to get some business cards and a business license so I could hand them out to say, ‘I’m available’.”

And so, Lea is on the road to turning her passion into a business – Neat Street. “It came from seeing a need in the community and seeing that there might be an idea for a business at the same time.”

After finding out about it via Facebook, we asked Lea if she could spare some time to sit down and chat about her new business. We chatted one recent night at Company in downtown WC.

She will offer local business and property owners the opportunity to contract for a regular service package “where I would come around once or twice a week and keep an eye on the property – eliminate graffiti, pick up litter, scoop up cigarette butts, (deal with) illegally dumped items like shopping carts …”

Lea has a vested interest in this: Two years ago, she became a White Center homeowner, moving from the West Seattle neighborhood of North Delridge after seven years there, and noticing that her new neighborhood seemed to have a problem with litter and tagging. “I don’t think I would have paid as much attention before becoming a homeowner.”

She’s steadily amassed the tools of the trade – litter grabbers, graffiti remover; she is also passionate about making sure that the remover is earth-friendly, so that there’s no ground/water pollution even as visual pollution is being removed. It requires a fair amount of research, though: “Some graffiti is more stubborn – spray paint on metal, for example, is harder to get off.” Cleaning fluids aren’t the only way to handle it, Lea notes – pressure-washing and even methods involving dry ice and nutshells are all on her list for investigation. “I don’t like the idea of using chemicals.”

Neat Street also will handle litter in an environmentally friendly way, she promises – whatever is picked up that can be recycled, will be recycled.

And she expects to patrol the gutters on the street in front of clients’ businesses/properties, too. “A lot of people throw litter in the gutters.”

Whatever she does, Lea vows there will be “a significant difference from the time I get there to the time I leave.”

She doesn’t plan to abandon her volunteerism; “a lot of (this), I’ll probably honestly do as community service,” she acknowledges, especially as a “neighborly” favor for new businesses as they start up.

Hers, in turn, is ready to get going once she starts finding clients, and she thinks value will be found in it, even beyond the clients themselves: “Litter affects property values, the reputation of a neighborhood. Businesses are affected. We’re hoping to benefit the community.”

And as things get going, Lea’s open to working outside White Center, too.

In addition to community benefit, she’s setting an example for her daughter, though sometimes, she says, it works the other way around – “She’s much more thorough than I am. She’ll see a little tiny rollup of tinfoil, gum wrapper, or something, and she gets very meticulous about it. She insists ALL the litter must be picked up.”

Maybe because she’s seen positive feedback, even from strangers – “My daughter and I were out with our pickup sticks and somebody went by and honked,” Lea explains, “and gave us a thumbs-up. Somebody (else) told my daughter, ‘good job,’ and she said, ‘I feel really good about this’.”

Like many small-business owners, Lea expects this to start as a sideline. She works in the accounting department of a law firm and says she enjoys that work too. But – “I’m an energetic person, and the idea of being outside doing something physical” is attractive too.

You can reach her through her website, NeatStreetSeattle.com.

As previously reported, the next annexation-information session presented by the City of Burien is at 6 pm this Thursday (June 21st) at 3.14 Bakery, 9602 16th Ave SW. And now we have a date for the one that will follow it – 6 pm July 12th (also a Thursday) at Dubsea Coffee, 9910 8th Ave SW. This is from the info packet for tonight’s Burien City Council meeting, which also notes:

Informational brochures are being printed and will be available for the June session. All North Highline residents and businesses will receive the June edition of Burien City News, which includes details on the informational sessions. Information about the proposed annexation is available at: www.burienwa.gov/annexation or send an email to annexation@burienwa.gov.

Pending final ballot approval by the county, the annexation measure is scheduled to go before voters in November.

1:52 AM: First, Seattle Police and King County Sheriff’s Deputies have been looking for a driver who fled the scene of a crash on Roxbury near the Safeway store. Now there’s word of a shooting in the 9700 block of 12th SW – this is according to Seattle 911 traffic, so we don’t know much yet, but there is a search reported under way for a suspect. More as we get it.

1:57 AM UPDATE: Seattle Police now report, over the radio, that there is “no shooting.” … but a few minutes later, an officer reported finding an “assault victim” in the 9600 block of 15th SW.

Just out of the WCN inbox:

Members are being sought for Pro and Con Committees to prepare statements on the proposed
annexation of North Highline that will be included in the King County Local Voters’ Pamphlet.

At its April 2 meeting, the Burien City Council adopted Resolution No. 330, placing Proposition
1 on the November 6, 2012, General Election ballot. Proposition 1 is the North Highline Area “Y”
Annexation Area proposed annexation to the City of Burien.

This proposition seeks voter approval of the annexation into the City of Burien of an
area commonly known as the North Highline Area “Y” Annexation Area. The area consists of
approximately 2,045 acres and 17,392 residents. The area is generally described as lying north of
the corporate boundaries of the City of Burien, south and east of the corporate boundaries of the
City of Seattle, and west of SR-99 adjacent to the City of Tukwila and the City of Tukwila corporate
boundaries. The area is legally described in Resolution No. 330.

Each committee’s statement must be no more than 200 words in length and must be submitted to
King County Elections no later than 4:30 pm on August 15, 2012. Any rebuttal statements are due by
August 17, 2012. There is a limit of three members per committee, but committees may seek advice
of any person or persons.

Committee member appointments will be made during the open public meeting of the Burien City
Council on July 16, 2012, sometime after 7:00 pm. Candidates need not be present to be appointed.
Persons interested in applying for one of the committee positions should submit their name,
contact information, and a brief statement as to why they would like to serve on one of the
committees. Submittals are due no later than Friday, July 6, 2012, at 4 pm to Monica Lusk, City
Clerk, Burien City Hall, 400 SW 152nd Street, Ste. 300, Burien, 98166, call (206) 248-5517, or email
monical@burienwa.gov.

Just might be the most interesting thing you do all weekend – check it out:

You are invited to the monthly TRUSTED ADVOCATES Storytelling Program

OUR STORIES, OUR VOICES

Date:
Friday, June 15th

AT:
The White Center Community Cultural Center
9421 – 18th Ave SW
(& SW Cambridge) – Hillborn Room

Time:
5:30 Light meal from presenters culture/heritage
6:00 Storytelling Program
– followed by Q/A segment

Our Special Guest this month:
ABUZAR KACHIYEV (an Ahiska or Meshketian Turk)
and translated by YASEMIN SAN

Abuzar Kachiyev arrived in the city of Kent as a refugee from Russia seven years ago.

He and other Ahiska (or Meskhetian) Turks living in the Krasnodar region of Russia suffered significant human rights violations until the US government reached out to this community. A limited number of Ahiska Turks, like Abuzar’s, were granted the right to resettle in the US. Abuzar, has worked as a civil engineer and has a large family that is very attached to their cultural norms.

Abuzar will talk about the unheard story of a community, the Ahiska Turks of Russia; people without a land, people with no documents, families hiding from ruthless authority … AND their journey to an unknown land, the USA.

Yasemin San moved to Seattle from Turkey in 1979. Upon her arrival, she was immersed in the Turkish community and created a folk dance group, which still performs in festivals and other special events. She was also one of the pioneers of the Ethnic Heritage Council, an umbrella organization for ethnic communities and arts organizations. Yasemin works as a legal interpreter and is an active volunteer in the Turkish immigrant and Turkic refugee communities. She has organized cultural events for the last 32 years.

Yasemin will briefly talk about the Turkish and Turkic peoples (who they are; where they live) and their immigration stories going back to the very early times. She will refer to the cultural aspects of Turks, including some folk customs and rituals.

LEARN SOMETHING NEW!

EAT SOMETHING NEW!

Get out of your house and venture into the neighborhood and meet new people.

They really are quite interesting.

WE’LL SEE YOU ON JUNE 15TH!!!

Any questions call: Nancy Calos-Nakano 206.795.0833 or trustedadvocates@gmail.com

Stay tuned, next Month: Sam Mitsui on Japanese Internment – Friday, July 20th