White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Got time to spare Thursday night? Just in from Nancy Woodland of WestSide Baby, which helps families in the greater White Center/West Seattle area – they’re looking for “after-hours” help 7-9 pm tomorrow (Thursday 1/15):

WestSide Baby is inviting volunteers to join us to help sort through the many wonderful donations received during the snowy weeks in December. We have mounds of items to sort through so that we can get them distributed out into the community. Our last event like this in December was extremely successful with almost 20 volunteers appearing to help us wade through the donations. It is very helpful for us to know if you are coming though so we can prepare with staff and projects. Please RSVP to Sarah@westsidebaby.org. Children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult and it is especially important for us to know if minors are coming so we can prepare appropriate jobs for them. We also have an ongoing need for batteries (size C&D) and larger size diapers (Sizes 4-6) and Pull-ups (Sizes 3t and 4t). We have many diapers in smaller sizes though. The batteries are most often used for swings so we can get them back out into the community rather than waiting in our facility.

The county has just announced a VERY long list of programs and agencies getting $36 million dollars in all. Among them, the Homestead Community Land Trust, which will be working with eight first-time home buyers in White Center. Read the full list and details here.

Though White Center and greater North Highline may not be “unincorporated” that much longer, the county’s just taken a new communication step, by launching a monthly newsletter, with the unromantic name Unincorporated Area Community News. You can read the first edition here.

That’s a WSDOT graphic of a cross-section from the proposed tunnel; here’s the official news release from the governor’s office:

Gov. Chris Gregoire, King County Executive Ron Sims, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, and Port of Seattle Chief Executive Officer Tay Yoshitani today announced their agreement to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a deep bored tunnel under downtown Seattle. The plan also includes investment in improved bus service, east-west city streets, a new seawall, relocated utilities, and an upgraded waterfront.

The agreement is the result of a year-long study of solutions for replacing the central section of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Thousands of hours of technical analysis, public meetings, and letters and emails from the public, interest groups, and local jurisdictions were considered.

“Building a deep bored tunnel will support a strong economy today and in the future,” Gregoire said. “This decision will improve public safety, help ensure Seattle is a 21st Century international city, and generate thousands of new family-wage jobs in the Puget Sound region.”

The bored tunnel will be approximately two miles long and carry four lanes of traffic. Drivers will bypass downtown by entering the tunnel near the sports stadiums in the south and connect to SR 99 north of the existing Battery Street Tunnel.

The total cost of the investments is $4.24 billion. The state’s commitment of $2.81 billion will be used for a new state route 99 corridor from the sports stadiums to South Lake Union in a bored tunnel, and restoring land under the existing viaduct to a four-lane surface street.

“There are pivotal moments when great cities make history,” said Nickels. “Today, we come together with a plan that creates more transit. We ensure that our city remains economically competitive. And we reclaim our destiny as a true waterfront city—tearing down an elevated highway and re-connecting Seattle to Elliott Bay.”

The project costs for the city are $930 million to replace the central seawall and construct a waterfront promenade, relocate utilities, build a streetcar on First Avenue, and improve east-west streets. The county will seek new motor vehicle excise tax authorization from the legislature to fund over $190 million in transit capital and $15 million annually in operating expenses. Port CEO Tay Yoshitani will ask the Port Commission to consider a $300 million investment in the replacement of the south mile of the viaduct and a new east-west connection to the container terminals.

The agreement also includes federal funds toward the Spokane Street Viaduct and Mercer Street projects. These projects provide critical east-west connections for west side neighborhoods. Seattle’s waterfront will become a world-class destination when the viaduct is taken down and replaced with a four-lane surface street and open space. The central seawall will also be replaced.

Investments in transit will add 17,000 new riders to King County METRO buses. New service will be provided for west side neighborhoods that use the viaduct to go to downtown Seattle. A new streetcar will be built on First Avenue from Pioneer Square to Seattle Center.

“This agreement will improve our transportation system, improve our quality of life and make an historic shift in the way we view mobility in an age of global warming,” said Sims. “There are only four lanes in the bored tunnel and the plan includes a new stable source of transit funding that will help Metro make a vast increase in service, which will mean fewer cars on streets, less pollution and better traffic reliability for business and industry.”

The Port of Seattle serves as an international gateway for the region – bringing cargo in and sending Washington goods to the world,” said Yoshitani. “Our cargo, cruise, fishing and industrial facilities – and the thousands of jobs they support – need a transportation network that keeps people and goods moving.”

Construction of a bored tunnel will begin in 2011 and be open to drivers in 2015. Added transit service will begin next year, and the Spokane St. and Mercer St. projects will be completed by 2012. It is expected this proposal will establish 10,000 jobs in a ten year span.

As most readers are aware, the Hearst Corporation, which owns the Seattle Post-Intelligencer announced on Friday that they are putting the PI up for sale.  If the newspaper does not sell within 60 days, the PI will be shut down.  This is a tragedy on many levels.  For some time now, the PI has been improving dramatically both in form and in content.  Unlike the Seattle Tmes, the PI does not seem to have a schizophrenic editorial board that makes its decisions over shots of Tequila.  And the PI has shown a real movement towards embracing the brave new world of Information Technology.  Finally, a one newspaper town will make us a much poorer place culturally.

There is a fair hubbub in the blogosphere, especially amongst the journalistic digerati, regarding the post-mortems and the way forward.   One thing is fairly certain, the so-called “dead-tree” or “pulp” edition will most certainly disappear.  As hard as it may be for readers to believe, there are still many who like the feel and look of the paper edition.  I run into such copies in waiting rooms and I can’t help but think, “how quaint.”

So, will the PI be reborn as the brave new warrior on the electronic fronteir?  One can only hope.  But even a slimmed down, electronic version will require massive amounts of capital.  Hearst has made clear that they are not going to be around to provide this support.  Perhaps a group of Seattle investors, keen on saving an institution and funding an experiment in communications technology will appear.  Seattle has pulled many such miracles in the past – the Sonics notwithstanding (Howard Schultz are you listening?).  Community leaders such as James Ellis have pushed the envelope and made miracles happen.  Seattle would not be the City that it is without such people.

If you want to check out a variant of a plan in the making check out the plan set forth by the folks at TechFlash.  Already, some prominent commentators have pronounced that plan DOA.  Not sure such pessimism is warranted but hey, we have to start somewhere.  So, what say ye, citizens of this great metropolis, can we pull together enough brains and money to save the PI?  The challenge is in our hands.

UPDATE:  One journalist believes that Hearst may be remaking the PI.  Link here.

Forum members at our partner site West Seattle Blog have organized a shoe drive in honor of Inauguration Day, and White Center’s own Full Tilt Ice Cream is one of the dropoff sites. New/lightly used shoes dropped off between now and Inauguration Day will be donated to Soles4Souls. Join the shoe-drive conversation here! And here’s the official flyer.

We’ve had this fundraiser for White Center’s New Start High School, coming up 1/29, on the White Center Now Events Calendar for a few days. Now, a letter from Paul Fischburg:

Hey friends,

As many of you know, I’ve been volunteering to help New Start High School in White Center create a school library. New Start started as a King County funded after-school program for kids who were skipping school and hanging out in downtown White Center. After a few years of great success, King County funding ran out and with tremendous commitment, the Highline School District took New Start from a small storefront helping a few kids, to a growing alternative high school for about 120 kids who haven’t succeeded in traditional schools. Last year, New Start graduated its first class of seniors!

Working with teachers, students, and Michael Sita, the school principal and head of alternative programs in the Highline District, I designed the library and raised $15,000 in addition to donated computers to get the library started. Andrea Love, a new para-educator at New Start, scavenged district furniture got the library set up and running, ordered and catalogued books, and uses the library as her office to work with students individually and in groups.

We don’t want to stop there and you can help.

On Thursday 1/29, all day, when you buy anything at the Barnes and Noble at Westwood Village shopping center and show them the attached flyer, a portion of the sales will be donated to New Start for the library. Better yet, books on New Start’s wishlist will be on display and you can buy one directly for the library. Even better still, come on down between 6:30 and 8:00 pm, and view student art work, hear readings of student writings and enter a drawing to win an ice cream party at White Center’s own Full Tilt Ice Cream!

You can download and print the flyer, which has the voucher number, here.

That’s White Center Now/West Seattle Blog video of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels joining in the Clean and Green cleanup this morning, helping give a kiosk a new coat of paint. More than two dozen people joined in the cleanup that launched from just outside the White Center Community Development Association, including WCCDA reps and volunteers from the Boys and Girls Clubs, and volunteers were treated to fresh coffee from nearby Cafe Rozella.

We first told you about this a month ago, and now the big day is here: Be at the White Center Community Development Association HQ at 9 to join the White Center/South Delridge business district cleanup, till noon!

Sparks flew at Thursday night’s North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting, with hot topics on the agenda from annexation to housing to … stray shopping carts. White Center Now was there; read on for our report: Read the rest of this entry »

The new year brings new website features from the White Center Community Development Association — most notably, online classified ads for the community. You can check ’em out – and post one if you want — by going here.

The recently announced agreement (read it here) between Burien, Seattle, and other jurisdictions regarding the annexation process is one of the items on the agenda for tonight’s monthly meeting of the community group that represents you — the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council. 7 pm, North Highline Fire District HQ.

An announcement to share:

SWING AND WALTZ CLASSES

You’re invited to beginning classes in swing and/or waltz, at the Highland Park Improvement Club, 1116 SW Holden [map]. Each class goes for six Sundays, starting January 18th (three classes, no class on February 8th, then another three classes), and will be taught by Lilli Ann Carey, of Dance for Joy. Both singles and couples are welcome.

Beginning East Coast Swing is from 5:00 to 6:15 PM, and Beginning Waltz is from 6:15 to 7:30 PM.

The cost is $65 per class. If you join the Highland Park Improvement Club ($10 per year), you save $10 on each of these classes and all future Dance for Joy classes at the club. If this is your first Dance for Joy class, you save an additional $10.

To sign up, or if you have questions, go to the Dance for Joy web site www.danceforjoy.biz, or call 206-264-5646. If you want to join the Highland Park Improvement Club, you can do it on the first night of the class. For more information about the club, go to www.hpic1919.org.

At White Center’s Lakewood Park, we checked out Hicks Lake at midday today. We’ve heard Dick Thurnau from Friends of Hicks Lake explain how it’s flooded in the past, so we know it’s got lots of room to rise. Great day to be a duck, though:

By the way, update on Ricardo’s post from earlier: The county now lists more than 60 roads as closed because of floodwaters. But King County has nothing on some areas further north and south, where entire towns (such as Orting) are reportedly being evacuated — follow the latest via tagged Twitter bulletins by watching this real-time search.

King County just posted the closure of 21 roads due to flooding.  Most of the roads are in rural King County.  You can find the complete list here. Will update if any roads in this community are affected.

Time to get out there and help spiffy up the White Center area.  Come and help with clean up and green up sponsored by the City of Seattle.  Mayor will be in attendance so if you want to chat with Mayor Nickels, here’s your chance.

Field Interviewer Positions Available

Flexible Schedule – From 20 to 35 hours/per week

March 15, 2009 – June 06, 2009

White Center Neighborhoods

The National Organization for Research at the University of Chicago (NORC) seeks reliable, outgoing, persuasive people to conduct phone, and in-person interviews within the homes of residents of selected White Center neighborhoods, March 15th – June 06th 2009.  30-35 interviewers will be staffed.  This research survey will focus on community issues in these neighborhoods.  Interviewers must gain the cooperation of the residents of sampled households and maintain strict confidentiality standards.

Interviewers must be self-motivated, have a valid driver’s license, an insured working car, and a land telephone.  Interviewers will report weekly to Field Managers.   No selling.   Background check and driving history conducted.

Hourly rate $14.37 plus mileage

SPECIFIC TASKS:

Interviewers administer a structured questionnaire by phone or in/person in scientifically sampled households.  Only one household member is selected for the interview.  The interview itself takes about an hour to administer. The survey collects data about the respondents’ neighborhood and community.

This information is gathered carefully and systematically.  A lot of reporting and record keeping is required. Interviewers will be well trained and supported by Field Managers.  All of the interviews must be completed within a 12‑week field period but the work must progress very quickly, leaving the last weeks of the field period just for clean‑up tasks.

TRAINING:

Successful applicants will attend 4 days of paid training in Seattle March 11th through March 15th. Attendance at all assigned training sessions is mandatory.

AVAILABILITY:

Successful applicants must be available to work from 20 – 35 hours/week on a flexible schedule including most week nights and week-ends (Sat and Sunday).  Work hours will vary with the progress of the data collection effort throughout the field period.  This is an interesting position for individuals with flexible availability when residents are expected to be home most frequently–evenings and weekends and (less frequently) weekday hours.

Spanish and Vietnamese Bilingual speakers are strongly encouraged to apply

NORC is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

TO APPLY: Visit website: http://www.norc.org/Careers/

As we reported late last fall, some of the most dramatic cuts proposed for King County public-safety services were avoided (the “storefronts” will all stay open, including the ones in White Center and Boulevard Park, for example) – but the budget ax hasn’t quite finished making its cuts yet – so this e-mail message from County Sheriff Sue Rahr may be of interest: Read the rest of this entry »

That’s White Center Now/West Seattle Blog video of the Seattle Fire Department Pipes and Drums Band and the Walter Kilgore Memorial Honor Guard tonight at Holy Family School (20th and Roxbury; map). They helped pay tribute to the four firefighters who lost their lives 14 years ago tonight in Seattle’s notorious Pang warehouse arson; the memorial was part of a benefit dinner will be held to raise money for scholarships to be awarded at HF by the Randy Terlicker Endowment Fund, named after a Holy Family alumnus who was one of those four lost heroes (the others: the Honor Guard’s namesake Lt. Kilgore, Lt. Greg Shoemaker, and firefighter James Brown).

SCHOOLS: No changes listed so far for Highline Public Schools. For Seattle Public Schools, they’ve announced all schools will start on time and all buses will run regular routes.

BUSES: Metro is continuing to update its “adverse weather” page with changes for specific routes. Among them, the 54, which is listed right now (6:41 am) as “does not serve White Center.”