White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Four weeks till Election Day, but voting starts a lot sooner, and if you want to be part of this election but aren’t registered yet, Monday is the deadline to do it by mail — this King County page has all the info you need on getting registered.

That’s a photo from “Psycho Beach Party,” in its first weekend at Burien Little Theatre. The folks at BLT e-mailed WCN to say that since part of North Highline is becoming part of Burien, they thought it a good idea to start expanding their horizons. So here’s their invitation to you to come see what their website calls “‘Gidget’ meets ‘The Three Faces of Eve’ …” Find out more here; there are shows tonight and tomorrow afternoon ($7 matinee!), and the run continues weekends through November 1st.

Thanks to Evergreen’s Alfred Johnson for the update:

It’s Homecoming Time!

This Saturday, 1:30pm @ Highline Stadium, Evergreen High School celebrates Homecoming 2009 with the Homecoming Football game against the Mt. Si Wildcats.

All Alumni and friends of Evergreen High School are encouraged to come on out to support the team and meet up with old friends and make new ones.

EHS Booster club members will be around to serve Hot Chocolate and man the Alumni Registry; there will be EHS paraphernalia available for sale also.

The team’s coming off a win over Tyee last week. Good luck, EHS!

From Sgt. John Urquhart at King County Sheriff’s Office:

A 41 year-old woman shot her 55 year-old boyfriend at least twice with a handgun last night (October 1st). He was taken to Harborview Hospital with non life- threatening injuries.

The incident occurred about 10:30 PM in the 800 block of SW 117th in unincorporated King County, just to the north of Burien.

The pair live with the man’s brother and the woman’s 15 year-old son, both of whom were home at the time of the shooting.

The son called 9-1-1 and everyone except the suspect made their way out of the house as deputies arrived.

The woman refused to come out of the house or communicate with deputies. Eventually the Sheriff’s Office SWAT Team entered the residence and took the woman into custody just before 2:00 AM. No one was injured.

The suspect was booked into the King County Jail for Investigation of Assault 1st Degree. A small caliber handgun was recovered inside the house.

Seattle Magazine just published a little article about neighborhood-news websites. While we are always honored to see our bigger site West Seattle Blog mentioned, we were pleasantly surprised to see White Center Now included! There were no interviews conducted for this story, totally the writer’s observations, so we didn’t know this was coming till we saw a link go by a few minutes ago via Twitter. Here’s the page mentioning WCN. (Our “best of” list would include a few more, but we’re also glad to see the magazine mention quirky Blogging Georgetown and longtime Tacoma staple Exit 133.) Thanks to the growing number of people who are reading this site and even more importantly, sending us information to share.

Just in:

PRUDENTIAL GLOBAL VOLUNTEER DAY! FOOD DRIVE

Prudential West Seattle is conducting a food drive for the West Seattle and White Center Food Banks. Food and Cash contributions may be made at the West Seattle office at 4700 42nd Avenue, Suite 600, or through your Prudential Agent. Look for our collection teams on October 3rd from 10am to 2pm at all three of the local Safeway Stores [Roxbury, Jefferson Square, Admiral], the Morgan Street Thriftway and Albertsons in White Center! Please call us at 206-932-4500 if you have questions or would like a donation pick-up! YOUR DONATIONS WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!

The King County Council‘s budget committee has just begun its first public meeting specifically to talk about next year’s budget, and one of those who will testify is Sheriff Sue Rahr. According to her spokesperson Sgt. John Urquhart, her talking points will include a contention that County Executive Kurt Triplett‘s budget proposal is not as rosy for her department as it sounds – she says it will cut patrol power in areas like White Center and Boulevard Park by as much as 75 percent. You can watch the testimony live right now through the Council’s online player. (Along with Rahr, King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg and other criminal-justice leaders are presenting.) UPDATE: “The budget, as presented, is not what it seems. It does not shield public safety,” Sheriff Rahr has told the council in opening remarks that she described as “short and sweet.” She says the budget, for example, overcompensates for the Burien annexation of south North Highline and would leave her with one deputy per shift in White Center. ADDED 1:12 PM: Sgt. Urquhart has provided the full text of Sheriff Rahr’s remarks to the committee:

The budget, as presented, isn’t what it seems.

It does not “prioritize” public safety.

It does not “shield criminal justice”.

It does not only cut “criminal justice by 1%”.

The Sheriff’s Office unincorporated budget alone will be cut by almost 6%.

A $3.5 million dollar cut is attributed to the Burien annexation. The appropriate reduction due to workload for the annexed area is only seven deputies. However this budget proposes cutting an additional 27 deputies due to the annexation.

From which unincorporated neighborhoods should those additional 27 deputies be cut?

After the seven deputies are cut from the new annexation area, there will only be 38 left to serve all of White Center, Skyway, South Park, Boulevard Park, and Vashon Island. From that small pool I should cut 27 deputies, a 75% cut in police protection to the highest crime neighborhoods in King County? That’s would leave enough to maintain one deputy per shift to cover all of White Center and Boulevard Park, one deputy in Skyway, no deputies on Vashon island, and no storefront deputies.

If that’s not acceptable, which neighborhood in north and east King County should pay for this annexation with a reduction in their police service?

For the record, we were already forced to cut 86 positions in the last year and half, most of those deputy positions. This will put us up to 113 cuts in less than two years.

Enough about the cuts…let’s talk about what appear to be adds to my budget.

The budget proposal transfers 34 civilian security screeners from the Facilities Management Division to the Sheriff’s Office, along with $2.1 million to pay for them.

This transfer includes no money for supervision of these 34 screeners. They will be supervised by the two court security sergeants who already supervise 30 marshals and court deputies. This proposed budget would have the same two sergeants supervising 64 people in thirteen different locations. These are employees who provide a critical service for the safety of everyone entering a courthouse in King County.

In addition, this budget provides no monies to train the screeners, insufficient overtime funds, and over $100,000 in negative contras.

This $2.1 million “increase” to our budget masks the real cuts to public safety and makes it appear that the Sheriff’s Office isn’t being cut as much as it really is.

Bottom line, I will not take the screeners into the Sheriff’s Office and accept responsibility for a service that cannot be operated safely.

In summary, this budget cuts the Sheriff’s Office for unincorporated King County by $4.1 million, or nearly 6%. This is unsafe and it’s unacceptable, especially in light of several recent surveys that show overwhelmingly that public safety is the number one priority for the citizens of King County.”

A news release we received from the county this morning – important information regarding keeping construction sites from becoming a problem during the rainy season – if you’re involved with construction, read on: Read the rest of this entry »

King County Executive Kurt Triplett – who will be succeeded immediately after the November election results are certified, by the winner of the Dow Constantine-Susan Hutchison race – has released his proposed budget. It still calls for mothballing county parks in unincorporated urban areas, which means the section of White Center not affected by the annexation vote, since Burien has said it will keep the annexation-area parks open. Here’s the full announcement from Triplett’s office; here’s the county council’s hearing plan:

Council to host four public hearings on 2010 King County Budget
in Bellevue, Kent, Renton and Seattle

Public input vital to budget process

The Metropolitan King County Council will host four public hearings to take comment on the 2010 Executive Proposed Budget.

Led by Councilmember Larry Gossett, chair of the 2010 Budget and Fiscal Management Committee, the four public hearings will be held:

· Wednesday, October 7 – Bellevue City Council Chambers, 450 110th Ave. NE, Bellevue

· Tuesday, October 13 – Maleng Regional Justice Center, Courtroom 3F, 401 4th Avenue North, Kent

· Thursday, October 22 – Redmond City Council Chambers, 15670 NE 85th Street, Redmond

· Thursday, October 29 – King County Council Chambers, 516 Third Avenue, Room 1200, Seattle

All meetings begin at 7:00 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 2010 Budget Blog and Twitter.

Follow the Council’s deliberations through Twitter and our 2010 Budget Blog by visiting the King County Council Budget Web site at:
www.kingcounty.gov/council/budget.aspx

For those who missed it, KUOW today broadcast an interview with, King County Executive, Susan Hutchison.  You can find the interview at KUOW Weekday.  In a prior post I had made the following observation which sparked a fair amount of discussion:

Ms. Hutchison has never held public office.  She has never had to struggle with the political realities of governing a complex political entity whose ambits include not only roads and sewers but social services, neighborhoods and law enforcement.  It is difficult to see how her experience on the board of the Seattle Symphony prepared her, in the slightest way, for such a weighty role.

If anyone had any doubt about Ms. Hutchison’s lack of specificity on issues, policies or even advisors, it is worth a listen (available on podcast).  Pressed by the moderator to name a single advisor who she consults, or who she would bring to her administration, she flatly resisted naming anyone, except to say bus drivers.  Her conclusion was “trust me” they will be great people.  I have nothing against bus drivers, but maybe she could have named a couple of the guys that she intends to bring to the Hutchison administration that will “bring people together.”  I’m sorry but calling Hutchison a “lightweight” does not begin to describe the chasm that is her lack of qualification to hold such an important post.  Listen for yourself.

Betsy wanted to get the word out about this item she found: A Girl Scout-type brown ribbon with 2 pins (awards?) attached, in the parking lot at the Westwood Village QFC. Sound like something you’re looking for? E-mail her at bjkbjh@yahoo.com.

If you don’t check out the White Center Community Development Association‘s website routinely – you should! We just checked in and discovered a couple of new items, including awards won by two WCCDA staffers – executive director Aileen Balahadia and community-building director Virgil Domaoan were honored this past week as Emerging Filipino Leaders. Read all about it (and see photos!) here.

What a beautiful afternoon it was at Lakewood Park when we stopped by Hicks Lake to check on the final hour of the annual volunteer cleanup and get some photos. Note the placid scene above – then the volunteers gathered for a group shot:

Just minutes earlier, they’d wrapped up their work clearing invasives and trash, among other jobs:

Dick Thurnau from Friends of Hicks Lake summed it up this way:

Twenty-five hard-working student volunteers from Seattle Pacific University came this Saturday to Hicks Lake located in King County’s Lakewood Park to remove invasive weeds. Two dumptruck loads of weeds, tree parts and litter were removed. We wish to thank the following: Disc Golf Club, Friends of Hicks Lake, a member of the NHUAC, managing engineer of King County’s surface water, providing their help to make this park and lake a better place.

Also the King County Maintenance crew cleaning up and filling the dump trucks with this trash all deserve a large THANK YOU. These students’ performance is a perfect example of what can be accomplished with proper guidance.

Knights of Columbus Council 8437 is sponsoring a spaghetti dinner at Holy Family School (9615 20th Ave SW) on Saturday night. Seating for dinner will start at 4:30 pm and continue until 7:00 pm. In addition to dinner, there will be a raffle for prizes. The cost for dinner is $10.00 for adults, $5.00 for children under 12. Tickets can be purchased by calling Ross Youngs (206) 932-8771; they can also be purchased at the door.

From Audrey at White Center Food Bank:

Evergreen High School Key Club is doing a food drive benefitting the White Center Food Bank as part of the Mayors’ Day of Concern for the Hungry on Saturday, September 26 from 10 am to 3 p.m. at Roxbury Safeway and Burien Safeway.

Also, Prudential West Seattle is conducting a food drive benefiting the White Center Food Bank and the West Seattle Food Bank on Saturday, October 3, at local Safeway Stores, Albertsons in White Center and Morgan Street Thriftway. Donations can also be made at the Prudential office on 4700 42nd Avenue, Suite 600 or through a local Prudential agent.

Given that White Center, Boulevard Park and surrounding areas are governed directly by King County, the choice of King County Executive should be taken very seriously.  The two candidates are Susan Hutchison and Dow Constantine.  Constantine is a fixture of West Seattle and White Center politics, so he is a known commodity.  Not so, Susan Hutchison, who hails from the East Side of the County.  Candidate Hutchison has run a “feel good” campaign, emphasizing her position to “bring people together.”  Her website’s issues page contains four short paragraphs, with the following priorities:

Jobs & the Economy:

Susan will help give small businesses the tools they need to create jobs…

Improve Transportation:

Susan will quickly implement simple changes to encourage transit ridership…

Budget Reform:

Susan will identify waste and restructure the budget to ensure our tax dollars are being spent effectively.

Protect Our Environment.

Susan will forge partnerships between environmental, labor and business groups as we work toward our common goal…

That’s it folks, Susan Hutchison’s platform for managing one of the biggest governmental entities in the country. In her defense, it might be said that she is offering as much detail as the two lightweights who are currently vying to be Seattle’s next mayor.  But then, that’s not much of a complement.

I will forthrightly state that I do not like Ms. Hutchison’s right-wing politics and that on that basis alone, she should be disqualified for the position.  Seattle and King County residents are a tolerant, liberal community.  To have a George Bush conservative speaking for us, just does not sit well.  But what about her competence?

Ms. Hutchison has never held public office.  She has never had to struggle with the political realities of governing a complex political entity whose ambits include not only roads and sewers but social services, neighborhoods and law enforcement.  It is difficult to see how her experience on the board of the Seattle Symphony prepared her, in the slightest way, for such a weighty role.

I often disagreed with former King County Executive, Ron Sims, but I found him thoughtful, intelligent and most importantly, quite knowledgeable on any issue relating to his role as Executive of the very large and expansive King County.  On the issue of affordable housing, we know nothing as to where Hutchison stands?  Does she support the Greenbridge and High Point housing/community developments?  If so, on what basis?  If not, why not?  Where does she stand on the issue of incorporation which raises the hackles of so many of White Center’s residents?

And what of her experience dealing with communities of color or economically distressed areas?  How does her “bringing people together” chirp really address the many challenges that White Center faces?  The fact is, nothing in her background begins to give her a serious understanding of White Center or similar communities.  There is no on-the-job training for such issues.  And Ms. Hutchison has given no indication that she even remotely cares about such issues.  In the end, Hutchison is what she was in her prior role as newscaster, a pretty face with a vacuous resume.

The big cleanup is this Saturday:

Please come join Friends of Hicks Lake and first-year students from Seattle Pacific University next Saturday (9/26/2009) from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM for cleanup day at and for your Lakewood Park and Hicks Lake. Location 10 Ave SW next to Cascade Middle School.

Gloves and tools will be furnished; we need volunteers plus willing hands to remove weeds, broken tree limbs you get the picture. Your help will make this park and lake a better place for our community. We appreciate your help and thank you in advance.

Bret the Brat, star of that quick clip, is the mascot for the Burien Brat Trot, coming up October 4th and benefiting White Center-based WestSide Baby. No, no, no, not THAT kind of brat – think “rhymes with trot.” Goes with beer. Oom-pah music. Etc. (But not till AFTER you run.) Register online, for solo or relay, by going here.

Here’s your chance to do a good deed at the shopping center closest to White Center:

Sleep Country USA is holding its annual Coat Drive for Foster Kids, beginning Monday, September 21st.

WHAT: Sleep Country USA¹s Winter Coat Drive for Foster Kids
WHEN: September 21, 2009 through November 1, 2009
WHY: Because many foster kids arrive with only the clothes on their backs, Sleep Country USA is collecting winter coats to help keep the more than 26,000 foster kids in Oregon and Washington warm this winter. Our drive helps give foster children a leg up and keep them warm during the blustery winter months.

New coats in every shape and size can be donated to any Sleep Country USA store and will be distributed among 20 Pacific Northwest foster care organizations. For more information, please use the Sleep Country store locator at www.sleepcountry.com or call 1-888-88-SLEEP.

Head on over to Cafe Rozella for some beautiful music.  Correo Aereo rarely plays and this is an opportunity to hear some excellent Latin American music.