White Center Now: The blog about White Center

King County has a new sheriff – Steve Strachan – appointed today to fill the job until the November election, in the wake of Sheriff Sue Rahr‘s departure. Here’s the official news release:

The Metropolitan King County Council today adopted a motion appointing Steve Strachan to succeed Sue Rahr as King County Sheriff.

Strachan, who was Rahr’s Chief Deputy, became interim Sheriff when Rahr left the Sheriff’s office on March 31 to become director of the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission. Under the King County Charter, the Council is responsible for appointing a new Sheriff until the vacancy has been filled at the next general election in November. The Council fulfilled that responsibility today by appointing Strachan.

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They can vote tonight … they can vote in two weeks … they can decide to not vote at all … they can decide to vote lots later and try for the November election instead … the possibilities are many; the agenda is here, for tonight’s Burien City Council meeting, 7 pm at council chambers (400 SW 152nd), which COULD result in a decision to put remainder-of-North-Highline annexation on the August 7th ballot. If you can’t be there, the live video feed will be on burienmedia.org.

From North Highline Unincorporated Area Council president Barbara Dobkin, looking ahead to NHUAC’s Thursday night meeting (7 pm, North Highline Fire District HQ, 1243 112th SW):

NHUAC is pleased to have Sherry Williams, Deputy Director of TAF (Technology Access Foundation), provide updates on the soon to be operational Community Learning Center at Lakewood Park. Please join us to hear the exciting news and updates of this new addition to White Center.

Here’s the 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
7:20 pm Deputy BJ Myers

7:30 pm Sherry Williams, Deputy Director
Technology Access Foundation

7:50 pm Treasurer’s Report
8:00 pm Committee Reports
1. Governance
2. Arts and Parks
3. Public Safety
4. Housing and Human Services
5. Public Outreach
6. Transportation

8:05 pm Unfinished Business/Old Business
• Flower Bed Planting (100 ST & 16th Ave, SW)
• Flag Pole and Flag at SCMP
• Bylaws
• Jubilee Days

8:10 pm New Business
• May Agenda
• May 10 Public Safety Forum

Nothing says “summer” and “ice cream” like three people in jackets standing on a sidewalk in the chilly rain. Wait! Turn your attention to what’s in the photo with Full Tilt Ice Cream proprietor Justin Cline and the folks from Portland’s Icicle Tricycles … a brand-new ice-cream bike!

The tricycle that arrived on Saturday (we know, not the same kind you remember from preschool days) joins the one Full Tilt has had running for a few summers now.

You know them for bike repair … now join them for a ride! Today’s ride starts at 3 pm from Caffé Delia in downtown White Center. Check out the WCN White Center Events Calendar listing for more details.

(July 2011 photo courtesy Gill)
From our partners at the Seattle Times: Two people have been sentenced in connection with the case that sparked a raid reported here last July. Times reporter Mike Lindblom writes, in part:

… Magnolia Gin, 52, of Seattle, was sentenced to 18 months and Son Hoang Le, 35, of Bellevue, was sentenced to 24 months. They were arrested in July 2011.

Holders of food-aid cards entered Gin’s business at Asian Bubble Tea and would leave with cash. The card would be swiped at Le’s business, D.P. Northwest Halal & Asian Food. …

Café Rozella proprietor Leticia Martinez is certainly proud of her coffee shop’s new look. But when we stopped in during the “reopening” celebration tonight, we found out she is even prouder of an achievement by her son Patrick – who just got an honor-roll certificate commemorating his 4.0 GPA at Madison Middle School. (Congratulations, Patrick!) He is a fixture at the shop, which has always been a home to art and a celebration of creativity, but is now artistically decorated in its own right:

Tonight’s event included live music – playing a handmade instrument from Germany, we found Craig Cinderich:

There’s also a new menu at Rozella, with added savory/hearty options as well as the to-be-expected sweets (often including Leticia’s home-baked breads). Tonight’s ringleader, White Center business-community cheerleader Aileen Sison, says there’s a celebration ahead on April 20th, too, so if you couldn’t make it to the café tonight, mark your calendar.

Just received from Evergreen Aquatic Center:
Everybody Swims! And Pay Only What You Can.

Kids can plunge into spring this year with quality swim instruction and water safety lessons at the Evergreen Community Aquatic Center in White Center.

Whitewater Aquatics Management will teach any child who wants to learn to swim and have fun safely in the water – regardless of their ability to pay – from April 17 through May 23.

A non-profit pool, ECAC and Whitewater Aquatics Management asks only that parents pay what they can afford, even if it’s nothing, for their kids to participate in this special community session.

And if you can pay and can also help other families who can’t, we thank you for your donation and the much needed assistance in giving more kids this springtime swimming opportunity.

Not only will the lessons help children enjoy swimming but will also aid in the prevention of drowning, the second leading cause of death in children.

While an eight-session lesson block usually costs $72, no one will be turned away because of cost.

But space is limited. To take advantage of the reduced rate, please sign up in person at Evergreen Community Aquatic Center on a weekday between 4:00 and 8 p.m. – as soon as you can to ensure your child’s space.

Lessons will take place twice a week, Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday, between 4 and 6 p.m for 30 minutes per class.

Just announced by the Southwest Boys and Girls Club in Greenbridge – a breakfast event providing a chance to come show your support:

Join us for our Celebration “Coming Home” which will honor our students, alumni and lifelong supporters of the Southwest Boys & Girls Club

Our Mission: Opening doors to GREAT futures

Why we need your support: It is so important to continue to provide experiences and investment in the future of the kids who rely on the Boys & Girls Club

Our challenge: With reduced state funding, tighter corporate budgets and now so many more families in need, we must rely on the support of people like you who can make a difference.

Thursday, May 10, 2012
7:00 – 8:30 AM
Program promptly begins at 7:30AM

Guest Speakers

Jack Thompson, former NFL quarterback
Evergreen High School Grad, WSU Grad, current banking consultant with Sterling Bank

Gene Woodard
Director of Facilities Services at UW, Club Kid from Portola Boys Club in San Francisco, Southwest Youth Hoops Coach 1998

Justin Cox
2007 Southwest Youth of the Year & King County Youth of the Year & 2011 WSU Grad

Southwest Boys & Girls Club Gymnasium
9800 8th Ave SW, Suite 105 – Seattle, WA

To reserve your seat call 206-436-1911 or email eslagle@positiveplace.org

(2011 White Center Spring Clean photo by Deanie Schwarz for WCN)
May 19th may sound like it’s a long ways off, but it’s time now to sign up to be part of this year’s White Center Spring Clean – the neighborhood’s signature annual cleanup-and-brighten-up event. The official website now has a registration form – find it here and get your name on the list to be one of hundreds of volunteers pitching in on May 19th!.

From North Highline Unincorporated Area Council president Barbara Dobkin:

The North Highline Unincorporated Area Council will hold a special meeting on Thursday, March 29, at 7 pm at the North Highline Fire Station, 1243 112th Street SW, to discuss how the changes to the King County Citizen Participation Initiative and the new framework for public engagement will affect the council and community. As always, we welcome community participation.

(Have a meeting or event announcement? E-mail whitecenternow@gmail.com any time!)

If you don’t know them already, that’s outgoing White Center Community Development Association executive director Aileen Balahadia at left, with her successor Sili Savusa at right, photographed during the Friday reception/celebration at Greenbridge. Savusa started work at WCCDA a few days after her new role was announced March 15th; she had previously worked at West Seattle-based Southwest Youth and Family Services, whose executive director Steve Daschle was among the reception’s attendees (at right in the next photo with White Center Storefront Deputy BJ Myers):

Balahadia announced her departure back in December, and leaves after eight years of WCCDA growth described in the announcement we published then.

The sign is up at the former White Center Albertsons, with more signage in the works right now.

As the new owners had told us last month, it is open during remodeling and is now Super Saver Foods. Here’s our original report from February; the takeover happened this week as planned.

While we were there, warehouse workers from Supervalu were on hand stocking the store (and so proud about it, they posed for a big group photo out front!). The store does not have a pharmacy – Albertsons transferred its customers to its 1st Avenue South store in Burien last month. Burien is also where the new Super Saver Foods’ parent company has its nearest store.

From Mikel Davila at the White Center Community Development Association, word of a 4:30 pm reception at the Greenbridge community’s Educare Building (625 SW 100th) to bid farewell to departing executive director Aileen Balahadia and say hello to her successor, Sili Savusa (previous WCN coverage here). The reception is scheduled to last till 7 pm.

Five weeks after we broke the news that Anthony Haroldlee Smith had pleaded guilty to murdering Sweetheart Failautusi in White Center last year, his sentencing’s been delayed three weeks. According to King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office spokesperson Dan Donohoe, Smith is now due in court at 2 pm Friday, April 13th, to be sentenced by King County Superior Court Judge Mary Yu. As part of the plea agreement we reported last month, the state is recommending a sentence of 184 months – that’s 15 years, 4 months in prison.

Big Al Brewing makes it, and starting April 6th you can drink it – the winner of the “name the charity beer” contest has just been announced, and it’s Hi-Yu Brü. Read all about it, including where in WC to get it, on partner site West Seattle Blog.

The aerial view of Greenbridge is courtesy of West Seattle pilot/photographer Long B. Nguyen, who often shares spectacular views with our partner site West Seattle Blog. In this case, his image of Greenbridge landed in our inbox about the same time we received a note from King County Housing Authority project manager James Rooney, announcing a milestone – the first homes sold at Greenbridge.

The development’s status had been a source of some controversy with local community activists, since it was intended to be more a mix of owned and rented homes, like West Seattle’s High Point. Last fall, construction of the first seven homes intended for sale began at 8th and 100th. And now, Rooney tells WCN, they’re done, and sales have closed on four of them, with one more under contract, leaving two up for sale. He adds, “Although these homes are available for all buyers, HomeSight is offering up to $45,000 in down-payment assistance to buyers earning up to 80% of area median income.” (In case you’re househunting – here’s the official flyer.)

Just in from Stefanie of Proletariat Pizza, word that “Oxbow Farm‘s CSA will now be delivering to our area, and Proletariat will be the pick up spot this June. Oxbow is a fantastic organic farm in Carnation- their quality of produce is well known and respected- and it’s only available in limited areas, during a limited time (our shorter growing season), and I am so excited that such a fantastic CSA is now available here! It’s a perfect supplement to growing one’s own veggies and occasional trips to the Farmers’ Market.”

Starting next month, Highline Community College will offer a class, Introduction to Communications, in Greenbridge. Here’s the official announcement.

Just in from tonight’s Burien City Council meeting: They’ve set April 2nd, their next meeting, as the date to “consider” whether to proceed with an annexation election. Under a timeline set out by city administration, they would have to decide either then, or April 16th, that they wanted an August 7th election, in order for that to proceed through the system in enough time for that to happen.

Addressing one ongoing concern, City Manager Mike Martin told the council he has sought repeated assurances that the sales-tax credit will remain in the state budget – and so far, it’s still there. Burien says that money is vital to being able to afford the annexation. (At one point, Governor Gregoire had proposed cutting it, but that proposal stalled.) Councilmember Jack Block Jr. wondered what the latest date for a decision would be if they were seeking to put annexation on the November ballot instead of the August ballot.

During the public-comment section at the start of the meeting, 12 of the 15 speakers talked about annexation – seven against, five for. Among the pro-annexation speakers was Vera Johnson, proprietor of Village Green Perennial Nursery:

She said she decided at the last minute to show up and speak; she believes it would be overwhelmingly positive for Burien to annex White Center. We have the entire public-comment period on video, along with the discussion on the annexation item, and will add those clips as soon as they are uploaded following our crew’s return to HQ.

ADDED 11:12 PM: Here’s the video from the public-comment period. It is unedited, starting with the second speaker during that part of the meeting, the first one to address the annexation issue, and continuing through the last speaker, who also talked about annexation:

At about 34 minutes into the video, Barbara Dobkin speaks to the council for, she said, the first time as North Highline Unincorporated Area Council president, recounting the council’s support for annexation, and its accomplishments in recent years, including advocacy on behalf of concerned residents dealing with difficult issues.