White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Just in from King County Council:

Proposed annexation by Burien of southern portion of
North Highline placed on August ballot

Residents of unincorporated urban community to decide if they want to join city

Residents of unincorporated King County who live in the southern portion of the North Highline community will have a chance to decide if they want to join the city of Burien, after the King County Council today placed an annexation proposal on the August 18 primary ballot.

“This is a historic day for North Highline. We have discussed and debated governance issues for this area since I joined this Council in 2002 and we will finally have the opportunity for the voters to weigh in,” said Council Chair Dow Constantine, sponsor of the legislation and representative of Council District Eight, which includes all of North Highline. “This proposal is the product of a lot of hard work by the city of Burien, the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council, King County, and many citizens in the annexation area.”

The Burien annexation proposal has been approved by the Washington State Boundary Review Board of King County, and negotiations have been completed regarding the continued provision of fire protection services in the area.

The proposed annexation area is bordered by the city of Seattle on the west, South and Southwest 128th streets on the south, the city of Tukwila on the east, and on the north by a boundary variously formed by South and Southwest 107th to 116th streets. It contains 1,679 acres of land with an assessed valuation of $1.16 billion and an estimated population of 14,100.

This ordinance instructs the King County Director of Elections to prepare and distribute a local voters’ pamphlet with information about the annexation proposal to registered voters in the affected portion of North Highline.

There’s the big cleanup next Saturday – the legislative town hall – and this too:

Join us for a walking audit of White Center!

As a part of the White Center Spring Clean, Feet First will take a walk with members of the community to explore the neighborhood and look at it through different eyes.

The Walking Audit will help residents identify:

* What do you like about your neighborhood.
* What are some areas of concern.
* Ideas and recommendations for changes.

When: Saturday, May 16th, 10am-12pm

Where: 1615 SW Cambridge Street [map]

For more information or to register to take part in the walk, contact Feet First by e-mailing: info@feetfirst.info or calling 652-2310.

This walking audit has been coordinated by the White Center and will be led by Feet First. Feet First is a non-profit organization promoting walkable communities.

The information from the White Center Walking Audit will be compiled and presented by Feet First in a formal report to the King County Food & Fitness Initiative as a part of the plan being developed for a Kellogg Foundation grant.

Just noticed the date on the recently revamped North Highline Unincorporated Area Council website – see for yourself here.

It’s just a few miles north of White Center but you might be interested: All are invited to an event today at the Vietnamese Cultural Center on SW Orchard just north of Home Depot (west of Delridge) – home to the sculpture shown above (as featured in this West Seattle Blog story last year):

We are observing Memorial Day on May 9th to honor the 50,000 American soldiers who died fighting for freedom in Vietnam. Annually, the Vietnamese American Community gather around April 30th to remember the fallen soldiers of the Vietnam War. We invite you to join us in our traditional memorial ceremony this year.

If you haven’t already heard, we wanted to put in one more plug – partner site West Seattle Blog sponsors West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day the second Saturday of May, and TOMORROW is the big day, 9 am-3 pm, 180+ sales registered from all over West Seattle, including some close to White Center. You can download the map from this page, where you can also follow the link to a clickable online version.

Tomorrow (Saturday 5/9) is the day – get a bag of nonperishable food items together and put it by your mailbox, your door, wherever your letter carrier delivers your mail, for the annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. Local food banks including the White Center Food Bank benefit – and ultimately, it’s for your neighbors in need. What other donation drive comes RIGHT TO YOUR DOOR?

1. All three White Center (and beyond) state legislators will be there to update the results of the legislative session — a few days BEFORE their town hall in White Center.

2. The group will consider a resolution opposing the potential closure of White Center’s Evergreen Pool.

The 34th District Democrats meet at 7 pm Wednesday, The Hall at Fauntleroy in West Seattle.

Heard from Debra with the White Center Heights Elementary PTO, who wanted to share this information:

We are having family night spaghetti dinner and dessert auction fundraiser on May 15th. The cost is $3 for adults and $2 for children, we will have the dessert auction going on during the dinner, also there will be some entertainment from one of our students.

We have White Center Heights’ annual carnival on June 13th from 11:30 til 4 pm. Bring your family and friends, there will be lots of games, prizes, food, our famous cake walk, and raffle. So come and have fun.

So says King County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson John Urquhart, who also said the woman who was brought, dead, to Roxbury Safeway yesterday was 46 years old. Here’s the update posted on our partner site West Seattle Blog.

As previewed by Ricardo earlier this week, that’s Trio Lucero del Norte playing Cafe Rozella tonight to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

Too early to disclose but we have it on good authority that something really great is happening with the former skating rink in White Center.  Details to follow, but it is great news for White Center and for the building.

King County Sheriff’s Deputies are investigating right now; KCSO tells us the body was brought to the store by two men – no evidence so far of whether a crime was or wasn’t involved. Here’s what we have written about it on partner site West Seattle Blog.

When we published news yesterday of White Center’s state legislators holding a town hall meeting here Saturday morning, May 16, commenters asked why they had scheduled it concurrent with the big cleanup. They’ve now added participation to their plan, according to this revised news release we just received:

May 5, 2009

34th District lawmakers invite citizens to town hall meeting and White Center Clean up

McDermott, Cody and Nelson will take questions and talk about issues of the day before going to the White Center Spring Clean up

SEATTLE — All three lawmakers from the 34th Legislative District will host a
town hall meeting to talk about the 2009 session and what future steps our state should
take.

“It certainly has been a difficult session where we were forced to make some
very tough decisions. I think people have questions that they want answered, and this
will be a great opportunity for that to happen,” Sen. Joe McDermott, D-West Seattle,
said. “Knowing how our district feels will help us as we plan the future.”

The meeting is set for 10 a.m. May 16 at the Jim Wiley Community Center, 9800
Eighth Avenue SW in White Center.

“After 105 days away, it’s always good to come home and hear what our
neighbors are thinking,” Rep. Eileen Cody, D-West Seattle, said. “We know our district
well, but it’s always a good thing to learn more.”

The legislators plan to volunteer at the White Center Spring Clean Up following
the town hall. The Clean Up is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 16. More
information can be found by calling (206) 694-1082 or emailing info@wccda.org.

“We hope that people come to the event after they spend some time volunteering
at the Spring Clean Up, or come with us after we’ve completed the town hall,” Rep.
Sharon Nelson, D-Vashon Island, said. “This is combination of events of a terrific
example of an engaged citizenry.”

White Center’s neighboring neighborhood to the north, Highland Park, is offering more chances to dance – here’s the scoop:

Come join our fun-loving, warm-hearted social dance community in Highland Park, West Seattle. We offer swing and waltz classes and will be starting a new 6-week class session on Tuesdays. This time we offer the following:

6 Tuesdays: May 12th – June 16th

6:30 – 7:30 — Beginning East Coast Swing: A great place to begin. Fun and easy, and no experience or partner required! As with all our beginning classes, when you finish you will have moves and confidence to go out dancing!

7:30 – 8:30 — Waltz 2 (Romantic Waltz): Taking beginning slow waltz and turning waltz and adding moves and confidence. Prerequisite: Waltz 1 or instructor permission.

8:30 – 9:30 — East Coast Swing 2 (Footwork, Styling & Charleston): More cool moves and fancy footwork (don’t worry, we’ll take it one step at a time!) and even some Charleston. A rollicking good time! Prerequisite: Swing 1 or instructor permission.

For all the information–including information on class discounts for new students–go to http://www.danceforjoy.biz/classes.html
or call 206-264-5646 or e-mail lilli@att.net to contact the instructor, Lilli Ann.

Sen. Joe McDermott and Reps. Eileen Cody and Sharon Nelson have just announced a Town Hall meeting at Wiley Center in White Center – we’ve got details at partner site West Seattle Blog.

Trio Lucero Del Norte

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo at Cafe Rozella

Cafe Rozella will host a very special Cinco de Mayo celebration with the music of Trio Lucero del Norte, specializing in Son Huasteca.  The celebration begins at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 5th.  Come listen to some authentic Mexican music tinged with an indigenous feel.

Huasteca Region

The region is composed of six Mexican states: Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Querétaro, Hidalgo, Puebla, and Veracruz.

The land known as la Huasteca derives its name from the people that inhabited the area at the time of the conquest, the Huaxtecos. La Huasteca is a multi state region focused at the mouth of the Pánuco River. The region is bounded to the north by the river Soto la Marina in Tamaulipas, to the south by the Cazones River in Veracruz, to the east by the Gulf of Mexico and to the west by the Sierra Madre Oriental crossing through the states of Hidalgo, Puebla and Querétaro in the west.

The distinctive feature of the huasteca region is the music, a style known as huapango or son Huasteco. The terms son huasteco and huapango can be used interchangeably to denote the music of the region, though huapango is the term most popularly used in Mexico.

The huapango is a style of music that is distinguished by the presence of the Trío Huasteco, and the use of the falsetto voice in singing. The Trío Huasteco is made up of three instruments (thus the term trio) – the European derived violin and two guitar variants of local origin – the large guitarra quinta or huapanguera and smaller jarana huasteca.

This update just in from Pasado’s Safe Haven regarding Scatt, the Cross Church cat that survived a vicious attack:

Scatt reunited with Jennifer the Pastor’s wife

We are so happy to announce that Scatt was released from vet care Thursday, April 28th and is now living with The Cross Church Pastor and his Wife at their home.

“Scatt is home and doing well… He is “perched” near a window, where he can see out and have the sunshine on his stitches. He has had antibiotics, pain meds and warm packs -doing great- he also is eating and drinking a lot… AMEN!”

Meantime, Scatt’s accused attacker is due in court this Wednesday. Full details, and a new photo, on the Pasado’s Safe Haven website.

Supreme Court Justice David Souter, who has generally been on the “left side” of the bench has stated that he will retire at the end of this term.  Among the names kicked around, as a possible replacement, is Seattle’s own Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Margaret McKeown.  As a lapsed lawyer with some insight into the process, and strong opinions on the matter, I will venture my thoughts on the possible nominees.  Feel free to contribute.