White Center Now: The blog about White Center

The Lakewood officers’ memorial is happening this afternoon – live on just about every local TV channel and website.

ORIGINAL 12:53 AM REPORT: Seattle City Light confirms 1,900 “customers” (homes and businesses) are without power in parts of Highland Park and White Center, as of about half an hour ago. (Lights flickered in parts of West Seattle around the same time the power went out to the south.) No word yet on the cause or how soon it’ll be restored. 4:27 AM UPDATE: City Light says everyone’s back on, and says a “cable failure” was to blame.

Shelli Park sends word that the White Center for the Arts meeting’s been changed to December 16, still at 7 pm at Dubsea Coffee, and invites those with interests in culture and history to join, as well as those with interest in art.

White Center Community Development Association is promising to send updates via Twitter – you can see them by going here. It’s under way till 4 pm at Mount View Elementary.

We caught up with Rat City Rags during the West Seattle Art Walk in September, when their work was featured at Ventana Construction. Tonight, you can see, buy, mingle and drink during RCR’s first holiday party, happening 5-10 pm at Big Al Brewing!

A crash at Roxbury/Olson, right before the hill down to the freeway, has Roxbury blocked at 8th SW. Avoid the area TFN.

Big project announced by WSDOT – and if you’re heading back from points south, this might affect you tomorrow night (and in another round of work a week later) – here’s the state’s announcement:

Don’t let the cold weather and holiday lights fool you, WSDOT crews are still hard at work in December. For the next two Saturday nights crews will close six miles of northbound Interstate 5 through south Seattle to install 15 overhead sign bridges.

The new sign bridges will hold overhead electronic signs alerting drivers to reduce their speed or change lanes when there are collisions or backups on the road. The new signs are the latest smarter highway technology aimed at increasing safety and reducing collisions. The $23.8 million project is funded by the Alaskan Way Viaduct program to help keep traffic moving during viaduct demolition and construction.

“Getting these sign bridges up is the first major milestone in making northbound I-5 a safer and smarter highway,” said Craig Stone, WSDOT Toll Division Director. “We’ll spend the rest of the winter and spring installing the high-tech signs before activating them next summer.”

Crews will close all lanes of northbound I-5 from 11:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5, to 8 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 6, between Boeing Access Road and Spokane Street. I-5 on-ramps in the area will start closing as early as 9 p.m. Crews will again close all lanes of northbound I-5 from 11:30 p.m. Dec. 12 to 8 a.m. Dec. 13 between Boeing Access Road and I-90.

The following ramps will be closed from 9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5, to 8 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 6:

o Boeing Access Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Way S. to northbound I-5
o Swift Avenue S./S. Graham Street to northbound I-5
o Corson Avenue/S. Michigan Street to northbound I-5

A signed detour will direct drivers to exit at Martin Luther King Way (exit 157) to Airport Way and back onto I-5 via Edgar Martinez Way/SR 519. Drivers should consider taking alternate routes like I-405 or SR 99 to avoid long delays and backups.

From Shelli Park at White Center for the Arts:

White Center for the Arts is looking for artists of all media for the White Center Art Walk. We are scheduling for the next year, and would like to get as many White Center artists involved, and exhibiting/performing, as possible. Also, in the more fine weather, outdoor performances will be an option. Please contact me with your interest and pass this along to other artists.

We still need artists for the December Art Walk!!!!! Any takers?

Also, Dubsea Coffee will be the site of our next Community Artist meeting, which is open to artists of all medium, experience and age in the Greater White Center area, and to anyone interested in cultivating the arts here in White Center.

The last meeting was enlightening and productive. There is a great community of arts supporters here. When we come together, we support the work that is vital to a healthy community.

The goal is to break down the barriers that create a feeling of isolation within the community.

What, as an artist, do you need from the community in order to further your creative goals?

What, as a member of the community, can you give, no matter how small?

What would you like to see in White Center that would help you feel validated as an artist, or part of a healthy, diverse community?

Too much to think about? We also just want to have a good time talking and laughing! Come see what’s up in White Center…

Thursday, December 10th, 7:00 PM
Dubsea Coffee
9910 8th Ave SW

According to King County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. John Urquhart, the search around 16th/102nd is for a man who ran when a bail bondsman tried to arrest him – as they are legally allowed to do, he adds. The first call was about a “man with a gun” – but that, Sgt. Urquhart says, turned out to be the bail bondsman. More as we get it.

The group that’s been active in investigating noise concerns related to Sea-Tac Airport, particularly its newest runway, is getting the word out a bit further north than usual, and invites you to its meeting tonight in Burien – here’s the notice published on our partner site West Seattle Blog.

Just got word from Holy Family Parish School that they’re also selling trees and wreaths – you’ll find them at the church parking lot. Proceeds go to the school. Trees run from $20 to $69.

NHUAC meets this Thursday (December 3rd), 7 pm, North Highline Fire District HQ as always. The agenda’s not online yet but you’ll find it here when it is.

We’ll be scoping out the Christmas tree scene this weekend in White Center and West Seattle, but for starters, we have word that Croft Rentals (11229 16th Ave SW; map) is selling trees, swags and wreathes. And we’re told you’ll get $5 off your purchase if you bring in a new, unwrapped, unopened toy to donate. They’re also offering free delivery “within about five miles of (their) location.”

A free workshop’s coming up in West Seattle, presented by a longtime sponsor of our partner site West Seattle Blog, and we’re sharing the info here: 6 pm December 3rd, you’re invited to “Building a Better Home: Remodeling and Custom Home Workshop” at the offices of Ventana Construction, 5458 California SW (map). The workshop’s purpose:

If you are a homeowner considering remodeling your home or building a new custom home, this workshop is an invaluable first step in the process. Learn from experienced professionals about how to get started, what to expect, and the steps you can take to make your project successful.

Ventana requests reservations for the free event – call 206-932-3009.

That video clip includes tonight’s KING5 update on the search for the hit-run driver who crashed into Jeff Kearney near the 16th SW Albertson’s store, and just took off, leaving him lying in the street. We first covered the crash that night; this followup story has all the info on how to share information with authorities.

Thanksgiving produces mixed emotions for me.  Having grown up Chicano, in El Paso, Texas, the holiday carried considerable cultural baggage for me: the rampant celebration of gluttony, the Dallas Cowboys, America’s corporate franchise, always playing on the tube, the constant consumerism and, of course, the slaughter of Native Americans.  And then there was my mother.  When we lived in Mexico, we obviously did not celebrate Thanksgiving, so I have no early childhood memories of this particular holiday.  When we moved to the states, my mom had a lady who made the best tamales and mole, I have ever eaten.  So initially, we celebrated Thanksgiving in our way — the way I’d always known.

Sometime in my adolescence my mom became a fundamentalist Christian.  I abhorred this sect from the very outset.  I found their rituals, primitive:  speaking in tongues, meeting in store-fronts, fire & brimstone, the rapture – coming very, very soon.  And when I went away to college and matured into my progressive political views, I despised their unabashed right-wing politics.  Needless to say, none of this played well with my mom.

In high school, I would always goad my mother about politics, religion, culture; pretty much anything incendiary that would ignite a fire-storm between us.  These dramas took on heightened intensity on holidays like Thanksgiving, when my mother wanted everthing to proceed just so.  So, many of my memories of Thanksgiving revolve around the interactions with my mom.

My mom adopted, not only the rituals of Christian fundamentalism, but the cultural affects as well.  Instead, of mole and tamales, we got mashed potatoes and gelatin.  When I visited from college and the “gringo food” was served I would storm into the kitchen, fry up some beans, warm up rice and dig out the salsa.  I would set them down and exclaim, this is our food and we should celebrate the holiday with our food, (the turkey is ironically – our food – a New World bird).  I did not goad my mother, but I did ask her why we had to eat mashed potatoes when beans and rice were so much healthier.  And besides, “it is our food.”

I’ve mellowed considerably as I have become a parent.  The curse, “may you have kids like yourself” has come to bite me in a big way.  If I were celebrating Thanksgiving with my folks in El Paso, I would still pull out the home-made salsa, the tortillas, beans and rice, but instead of berating my mother, I would give her (and my dad) a big hug and a kiss and say, “I”m so very happy to be here.  I love you.”  And then we would retire after the meals and root for who-ever was playing the Cowboys.

White Center Food Bank is open for one more stretch today – 5 to 7 pm (we just called to check as we had conflicting info, but we’re also going over to make double-sure in person) – and they still need large turkeys, cranberry sauce and dinner rolls. 10829 8th SW; here’s a map.

That’s an official King County photo from this afternoon’s swearing-in ceremony in downtown Seattle, as Dow Constantine – who until this afternoon represented White Center (and the rest of District 8) on the King County Council — became King County Executive. We have two reports on partner site West Seattle Blog with lots of photos and video, since we were there to cover the event – see the as-it-happened report (including video of the first five minutes of his speech) here, and a late-night followup — including the list of applicants who want his former place on the council – here.

Two places we know for sure you’ll be able to get your latte on, this Thanksgiving morning — Cafe Rozella plans to be open 8 am-2:30 pm on Thursday (and they’ve got free live music the day after Thanksgiving – details on the CR site); brand-new Dubsea Coffee plans to be open 6 am-2 pm for the holiday.