White Center Now: The blog about White Center

By Deanie Schwarz
Reporting for White Center Now

The North Highline Fire District Board met Friday morning.

Board members and the new Chief, Steve Marstrom, who one board member commented was “here to drain a swamp,” largely discussed how to steer their ship in those swampy waters while holding course toward an uncertain harbor.

A major task for Chief Marstrom, as suggested in previous meetings where job scope was defined, will be to negotiate the transfer of assets and consolidation of services with as-yet-to-be-determined or confirmed entities. But details of day-to-day operations and priorities established by the Chief and his Battalion Chiefs (the most senior one now acts in lieu of a budget-deleted assistant chief) are still inquired about by the Board and are expected, so the new chief will continue providing answers.

Board member Wayne Alishokis noted that he and Chief Marstrom had attended the most recent White Center Chamber meeting to introduce the Chief to the North Highline community. Their introduction meetings also extended across the city-county line to a preliminary meeting with Seattle Fire Department’s (SFD) Chief Hepburn and Mayor’s Office representative Kenny Pittman. The Chief has scheduled a second meeting with SFD to specifically discuss the financial parameters of any potential future contractual consolidation with the city and the Seattle Fire Department. It was Chief Marstrom’s impression that the city of Seattle would not be interested in any agreement where it would need to supplement funds for NHFD #11. Their next meeting with Seattle is set for September 27th; there’s still no final decision on whether an annexation vote will be held in November 2011, but that’s the goal Seattle had been working toward.

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If you can make it over to Avalon Glassworks in West Seattle’s Luna Park business district tomorrow afternoon – here’s an unusual fundraiser: Suggested donation $40 for a professionally photographed head shot, and the money goes to the White Center Food Bank. More details here.

Big turnout in White Center this morning for the groundbreaking celebration kicking off the construction of Strength of Place Village – that’s Duwamish Tribe chair Cecile Hansen offering a blessing, in our top photo, which State Sen. Joe McDermott described as,
“I think it is terribly fitting that we started today with greetings from the Chairwoman of the Duwamish Tribe. Native Americans have been in this area for at least 10,000 years. And on November 13, 1851 the Denny party arrived in West Seattle, not far from here. Back on the 4th of July a bunch of people gathered near there, in front of an institution that is now closed, and talked about how much “this place” matters. And I think that lesson is exceptionally important to remember today. This place does indeed matter. The partnership that we’re celebrating today talks about the strength that can be harvested in this community at coming together to make this place as valuable as it can be to further enrich the value that is already here. I’m pleased the State had been able to play a role in housing this project. And I’m look forward to not only coming back to cut the ribbon, but to move boxes into the new homes next summer.”

It’s a 30-unit housing complex at 13th SW and SW 100th for low-income families (income no more than $55,000/year). It’s also a collaboration between agencies including the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association, the White Center Community Development Association, and Capitol Hill Housing. From those three agencies, with County Executive Dow Constantine, in the next photo, are WCCDA’s Aileen Balahadia, DNDA’s Derek Birnie, and CHH’s Chris Persons:

Balahadia said at the ceremony, ““As you can see, the strength of place here really isn’t about place at all…of the bricks and mortar of a building…or the dirt and soil that we’re going to be breaking ground on today. White Center is truly special because our people make it so. And we choose to work the White Center way where community works side by side with partners, policymakers, institutions, to lead the kind of change residents want to see in their community. SOPI is part of a greater White Center neighborhood action plan designed by residents. This property was initially identified and brought to our attention by the King County Sheriff’s office due to some public safety concerns on the site. They asked if we could do something together on this? The CDA and DNDA worked closely with the original owners of the property on those safety issues. And the neighbors and local residents were all informed and were part of co-designing this project. So it has been a tremendous accomplishment.” Of course, there was the ceremonial shovel-turning – can’t have a groundbreaking without that:

(With the shovels, from left, were White Center resident Laushonda Barquet, Impact Capital director Heyward Watson, Dow Constantine, Aileen Balahadia, Derek Birnie, Seattle City Councilmember Mike O’Brien, Chris Persons, King County Councilmember Jan Drago, State Sen. Joe McDermott.) Barquet, a 25-year White Center resident, said, “When I think about a neighborhood where I would want to raise my son I think of a place like this. Where my son and I have a place to grow and accel safely. Also have stable housing. I can catch the bus or even walk to work. You can walk to school. White Center is a place where you can get fresh produce and all different types of ethnic food. This is also a neighborhood that is a safe place for my child to play and a safe place to leave my doors open when I’m cooking or cleaning. That’s why I participated as a resident in the design of SOPI Village and in raising awareness for the project. It is important that my voice and our voices provide the heart and soul in the leadership of a place like this, in White Center.” Here’s a closer look at the “I (Heart) White Center” hardhats:

This is one of the renderings showing what Strength of Place will look like:

Demolition work continues at the site now.

Announced today by the King County Sheriff’s Office:

Sheriff Sue Rahr will join other law enforcement leaders on Wednesday, September 15th as a report is released showing that investing in early learning programs reduces crime in the long run and saves dollars on the state’s education budget as well.

The report shows investments in high quality, voluntary early learning programs reduce the need for special education placements and other Kindergarten through Grade 12 education expenses.

“I am in favor of anything that helps kids succeed, and keeps them away from a life of crime. Early learning centers have a positive impact, I’m all for those programs”, says Rahr.

Sheriff Rahr will be joined by Normandy Park Police Chief Rick Kieffer and Burien Police Chief Scott Kimerer at the event.

It’s been almost six months since the Educare center was dedicated – here’s our coverage from that sunny day in March.

The King County Council has four public hearings coming up about the county budget, and the closest one is in Seattle. Here’s the official announcement:

In preparation for a 2011 King County Budget that will include $60 million in cuts, the chair of the Metropolitan King County Council’s Budget Leadership team is encouraging the public to get involved by going to the Budget Committee’s four public hearings.

“During this difficult budget process, programs and services that our residents depend on are going to be cut or eliminated,” said Councilmember Julia Patterson. “We need to hear from the public about the services they value, their ideas for saving money, and how we can do more with less.”

Hosted by Councilmember Patterson, the four public hearings will be held:

· Wednesday, September 29 – King County Courthouse, County Council Chambers, 10th Flr, 516 Third Avenue, Room 1200, Seattle
· Tuesday, October 5 – Bellevue City Council Chambers, 450 110th Ave. NE, Bellevue
· Tuesday, October 12 – Mt. Si High School, Wildcat Court, 8651 Meadowbrook Way SE, Snoqualmie
· Tuesday, October 19 – Maleng Regional Justice Center, Jury Assembly Room 2E, 401 4th Avenue North, Kent

All meetings begin at 6:30 p.m. Day-after coverage of the public hearings will be available both online and on King County TV, seen on Comcast and Broadstripe Cable Channel 22. You can also sign up to follow the deliberations through the Council’s 2011 Budget Blog, Facebook and Twitter.

Follow the Council’s deliberations through Twitter, Facebook and our 2011 Budget Blog by visiting the King County Council Budget Web site at:
www.kingcounty.gov/council/budget.aspx

As Shana from WestSide Baby explained, while sharing that photo, it’s a problem they’re very grateful to have – overloaded with clothing donations, so they’re having a “Sorting Frenzy” 7-9 pm Thursday night, and need volunteers at their White Center HQ. If you can help, RSVP to Sarah Grubbs at sarah@westsidebaby.org.

2 notes discovered while wandering online tonight: First, Dubsea Coffee is inviting babies – and parents – to a baby meetup tomorrow (Sunday) morning, 10 am, hoping it’ll be a regular feature on the 2nd Sunday of each month. Details on Facebook. Second, 3.14 Bakery is seeking artists and musicians to show/perform their work at the new bakery/coffeehouse. More here.

Food, entertainment — live bands and dance performances! — and shopping are under way outside Holy Family Church and School at Roxbury/20th, for the annual Community Street Fair.

It began officially at 9 am but really got rolling with a blessing around 10:30 am, with Holy Family’s Father Horacio Yanez:

Then, Rudy Alvarado – who was on a first-response team that rushed to New York nine years ago – led a moment of silence in memory of 9/11 victims. You can drop by till 6 tonight, again 9-4 tomorrow.

What could have been a frightening morning at Holy Family School turned into a story about smart second-graders who knew just what to do when they saw something dangerous-looking. Here’s the tale.

Also note – tomorrow and Sunday are the days for the big Community Street Fair at Holy Family, with new features this year including salsa and chili contests!

Just reported on partner site West Seattle Blog: The Hooters that opened almost exactly a year ago, claiming to be in South Park but really more in Boulevard Park, has closed – blaming the South Park Bridge closure. Full story here.

… which is actually in West Seattle, as you likely know. 6 pm, it’s a gala fundraising dinner and live auction, at Brockey Center on the SSCC campus (6000 16th SW). The theme: “Celebrating Our Global Village.” Online registration is closed, but the WCCDA website has full details on who to call to see if there are still tickets available!

Their original endorsee Marcee Stone -a former White Center resident – didn’t make it to the general election, so tonight in West Seattle, the 34th District Democrats had a decision to make: Endorse Burien’s Joe Fitzgibbon, or West Seattle’s Mike Heavey, for the State House Position 2 seat? The result was Fitzgibbon – 96 votes to 31 votes. That was the biggest of many endorsement votes during tonight’s meeting, which we chronicled as-it-happened on partner site West Seattle Blog – above, our brief interviews with both candidates afterward.

Good luck to students and staff – be sure to check out the Highline district website for the newest information! You can also find the district now on Facebook and Twitter.

Came across the announcement for this while doublechecking on Labor Day schedules: 9 am-3 pm next Saturday (September 11th) at Evergreen High School, there’s a special recycling event – with some changes from ones in the past. The full list and other details can be seen here.

TRANSIT: Metro is on a Sunday schedule. Sound Transit – per its Facebook page – will run its express buses on a Sunday schedule, but no Sounder train service. Washington State Ferries‘ Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth run is on a weekend schedule.

TRASH/RECYCLING: Normal schedule if you have pickup through Seattle Public Utilities

KING COUNTY LIBRARIES: Closed today

LIQUOR STORES: Open

MAIL DELIVERY: No

PARKING: If you visit an area of Seattle with parking meters/pay stations, note there’s no charge today, since Labor Day is a “parking holiday”

FOR A REGIONAL OVERVIEW: Here’s the “what’s open/closed” roundup from the Seattle Times (WSB partner).

After a couple reports today about a large King County Sheriff’s Office presence in downtown White Center last night, possibly related to a shooting at or near Club Evo, we contacted KCSO’s media liaison Sgt. John Urquhart – and here’s what he tells us: Just before midnight last night, “a very large group of people (was) in the street (100+) and many of them (were) fighting. A gun came out and several shots (were) fired. One of our deputies on the scene saw the man firing and ran him down. (The suspect was) arrested and booked. One handgun was recovered. Much of this was gang related.” Sgt. Urquhart says an 18-year-old was reportedly shot but not seriously hurt, “since he refused treatment and was not transported. ” The suspect, he says, is also 18.

Thanks to Alice and Helen, readers of partner site West Seattle Blog, for the tips that led us to this information: The government of El Salvador has set up a “mobile consulate” at Denny International Middle School in West Seattle this weekend, till 4 pm today, and again 8 am-4 pm tomorrow. This is particularly important to Salvadorean citizens who need to re-register for Temporary Protected Status, with a deadline coming up next week.

Thanks to Michelle for the tip on this – we’d heard there was a serious crash on 16th SW in White Center; she reports:

Just north of the intersection of 112th and 16th, there was a sign up and many, many police cars. The sign said “Road Closed due to Accident Investigation.” This was approximately 40 minutes ago. We had to take a detour to get back to (West Seattle).

Those are all the details we have so far. 2 AM NOTE: Drove past the scene and tow trucks were taking away at least one damaged vehicle – it appeared 16th SW was about to reopen, after being shut down from just south of 107th to just north of 112th.

Story and photos by Deanie Schwarz
Reporting for White Center Now

Thursday night’s North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting highlighted three relatively new public-safety-agency representatives reporting on their respective departments and appointments serving the North Highline community.

North Highline Fire District Chief Marstrom comes to North Highline from a former Fire Chief position in the Pierce County city of Lakewood. His initial assessment of the budgeting decisions to be made in the next quarter was that the “status quo will no longer apply.”

Chief Marstrom will be reporting at the next North Highline Fire District Board meeting, rescheduled for Friday, September 17 at 10 AM in the Training Room of the Fire Station. (The regular meeting time is the second to last Tuesday of the month.) NHUAC councilmember Pat Price encouraged attendees to write directly to the Board to request that board meetings, currently held in the daytime, be rescheduled to evening hours to improve public access to “open” meetings. * Such requests can also be made by asking that the change be put on the Board’s agenda via the board’s secretary, or suggested during an open public-comment period at meetings; you can reach the secretary by phone at 243-0330 or e-mail at office@northhighlinefd.org.) “Evening meetings are easier for most people to get to,” Price said.

The council also heard from King County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. JJ Hodgson, who has recently taken Sgt. Buschley’s place at the West Precinct, so recently that he had not yet had business cards printed, but his e-mail contact is joseph.hodgson@kingcounty.gov. He also had not yet received an analysis of the Crime Stats to identify any trends, but he did mention a few of the more basic numbers available to him on such short notice. In brief, incidents for July and August, respectively: Auto Theft – 17, 15; Commercial Burglary – 2, 7; and, Residential Burglary – 14, 13.

There are currently two deputies assigned for coverage between Seattle and North Burien. Unless there is a special issue, Burien cars do not work in unincorporated areas. Concerns were voiced about ongoing traffic enforcement in the area around the school at 112th Ave SW and 10th Ave SW; Sgt. Hodgson didn’t have any easy answers.

Another KCSO position change noted was Sgt. Mattson is now the contact at the Precinct for drug houses and other drug-related matters, through the Special Emphasis Unit, replacing Sgt. Hancock, according to Hodgson.

Sgt. Chinnick, working the Gang Unit for the area since May, agreed with Councilmember Barbara Dobkin’s comment that “…with all the resources going to Club Evo … the community is being held hostage.” Club Evo was recently shut down by the Department of Revenue for unpaid taxes, but reopened last Friday, reportedly after the out-of-town owner leased the property to an employee who legally reopened the facility for the weekend. Club Evo still does not have a business or dance hall license as required by King County and Chinnick said he was told by the Department Director of DDS that they will put the matter on the front burner as they continue to investigate. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is working on the case too.

While the investigation continues, KCSO Emphasis Patrols are being deployed consistently against the ongoing “attractive nuisance” at the club. Funded by grants, the unit is limited yet resourceful in extracting KCSO personnel to apply to Club Evo on Friday and or Saturday nights. The owners and manager will either come into compliance, or they will close, according to Chinnick. KCSO’s purview is to systematically address the criminal problems associated with the facility. Deputies have recently used pepper spray and sirens to irritate and flat-out annoy the criminals to deter them from crime, as well as preventing people from getting hurt, he said, adding that the club manager was observed using pepper spray on his own clientele last weekend to control the crowd.

Also at the meeting: Burien City Manager Mike Martin announced that a “visioning” project for Burien will begin in earnest in January, to define its future community character and to determine the comprehensive plan for parks, streets and overall land use schemes. Budgeting for the process has been allocated for the master development plans for the next five to 15 years. Citing a recent survey conducted by the city of Burien for the North and older Burien areas, Martin said he was “trying to build a government based on the values of the people who live here.”

Dick Thurnau, Friends of Hicks Lake, was recognized by King County Councilmember Jan Drago‘s representative Linda Robson for countless volunteer hours given in service of his community, and was given a certificate of acknowledgment for his service.

Before closing, the Council voted to organize a Candidates’ Forum for sometime in the fall and will immediately begin contacting venues and coordinating candidates.

It was also noted that the Elections Committee will be convening to address how and whether to advertise for the open positions on the Council for District 3 and District 1. District 3 is the area between 4th Ave. SW and 16th Ave. SW and District 1 covers all of the area east of Highway #509.

Reminder that the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meets tonight – 7 pm at the North Highline Fire District headquarters as always. You can see the agenda here.