White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Hungry for some real burgers and fries?  Zippy’s is open and will stay open till about 7:30.  Fear not foodies.

Just started falling. Info updates re: roads etc. as we get them, as it intensifies. Got pix/info? Leave comments and/or send to the White Center Now team at whitecenternow@gmail.com – thanks!

Lines stretching all the way through the store reported by sister site, West Seattle Blog.  Probably a combination of Christmas shopping (before storm) and storm preparations – bet they are sold out of flashlight, batteries and candles.  Alternatives in White Center:  Walgreens, Bartells and McLendon’s.

As promised, we are open today (Saturday) so if you are suffering cabin fever come on down for a bagel and coffee.

Snow, wind, then eventually rain, the forecasters say it’s all on the way. But first: Thanks to Alison for sharing some photos from earlier in the week – first, sledders at Lakewood Park:

And from her neighborhood, where 12th and 114th SW became “packed snow over ice” before long:

Stay safe – we’ll bring you information as we get it!

From Nancy Woodland at WestSide Baby:

The weather has impacted our operations this week to a near standstill.
This is especially concerning timing with orders waiting for children
expecting warm clothes and toys for Christmas. We need extra hands to help
us sort the many donations we’ve received (yeah!) and to fill orders for
pick up by our agency partners on Monday. We’ve been closed for most of
this week but will be open on Saturday from 10am to 3pm for volunteers,
donations and pick-ups. Although our parking lot can be treacherous we’re
inviting people to make their way to White Center to help out if they are
comfortable driving. Because of the volume, we’d love to have adult or
experienced volunteers only so that we can make the most of the time we’ll
have tomorrow before the snow hits again. Even an hour or two makes a huge
difference.

Because of this week’s unpredictability, please call our phone in the
morning or check our website if there is concerning weather between this
afternoon and tomorrow. Of course, today our voicemail outgoing message
isn’t working properly so we hope that will be a good tool for communication
tomorrow.

We also plan to be open Monday 9-3 (weather permitting) and possibly on
Tuesday too. Thanks so much to everyone who supports WestSide Baby!

P.S. Not related to WestSide Baby but this photo is just in, 16th SW looking south from SW Henderson:

This pic is from the other side of White Center at 16th and 118th. AT the Laundry Mat by Berries BBQ.

Cliff Mass, UW meteorologist, just did his weekend forecast on KUOW.  I consider him much more reliable than other services, he knows the area and what counts.  He states that Sunday’s storm will be the worst of the season, heavy snow (4 to 5 inches), hard winds (up to 50 MPH in the foothills), and continued cold weather.  Says yesterday’s storm was but a prelude.  So stock up on foodstuffs, rum, flashlights and candles.  And don’t plan on travelling anywhere this weekend.  (We will continue to try and keep Cafe Rozella open — so if you get cabin fever, come by.)  You can also read Cliff Mass’ blog here.

Fear not Rozellians, we are open and brewing hot coffee, cool music and scintillating conversation.  Come on in!

Note the “live” (refresh for the latest image) camera in the right sidebar – it’s the only one the county has in White Center; click it for a larger image. Metro has a long list of canceled/changed routes again today; find it here. Winter break has started for every school we know of.

8:46 AM UPDATE: Photo of Roxbury at 5th from Jon, who says: “Looking easy towards Myers Way. Plenty of cars going down the hill.”

Thanks – keep the arterial reports/photos coming at editor@westseattleblog.com Another report: “My hubby made it down the big hill from Roxbury to 509 this morning about 7:30. He said it was sanded like crazy and was passable.”

10:25 AM UPDATE: Lots of King County facility closures – here’s the full list.

Metro has now posted a list of which routes it’s canceled. See it here.

Also, Seattle Public Schools are CLOSED for Friday. Highline Public Schools ALSO closed for Friday. Holy Family School is closed too. Winter break has begun.

Worst cold spell since December of 1990, so we are told.     Well, I remember the snow storm of 1990 quite well:  my daughter was born on the night December 18, 1990.  On the morning of December 17^th , we grabbed the hospital bag and headed  to Virginia Mason across the West Seattle bridge after a sleepless night of painful contractions.   We had no idea as we drove west that we would be one of the last cars allowed on the bridge before it was closed due to ice, effectively sealing off West Seattle.

We arrived at Virginia Mason and went up to the delivery wing.  The attending nurse was skeptical that it was time for the baby to arrive, I guess D wasn’t moaning loud enough.  The nurse put a sheet over the bed, no doubt anticipating that it would be a false alarm and that we would shortly be sent home, as we had two previous times.  When the doctor arrived, she said, “no she’s dilated, this one’s coming out today.”  The midwife was called and the delivery nurses went through the routine to start the watch.  First time deliveries always last forever, even when they don’t.

After hours and hours and hours of hot baths, walking and pushing, they decided to call the guy who delivers the spinal epidural.  The horrible drug, pitocin, was applied making the contractions more intense and painful.  I remember a friend saying that watching delivery is like witnessing your wife being skinned alive.  It was.

By then we had been in Virginia Mason over twelve hours.  We could look out west as the City was blanketed with layer after layer of snow.  Freeways become parking lots as commuters frustrated by hours on the road decided to hoof it in the snow, rather than sleep in their car on the freeway.  And still the snow kept coming.  Nothing was moving.  The VM Chief came to the delivery area and lent a hand to the overworked and understaffed nurses, doctors and midwifes who made it in before the storm hit.  One positive effect of being stranded by a blizzard:  continuity of care, we still had the nurses that we started with.

After the epidural hit, the delivery began in earnest.  It was now way past 15 hours, and we were still struggling.  At 1 a.m. on December 18, 1990, Gabrielle shot out.  The night was bitterly cold and neither D nor I, had eaten anything all day long.  After cutting the umbilical chord and while the nurses were cleaning her up, I ran down and got a bagel with cream cheese for D.  She was ravenous, that stale bagel was the best she had ever tasted.  We were high from watching our daughter arrive and, of course, kept admiring the little bug.  The City outside was shut down, bitterly cold, covered with snow and utterly still, nothing was moving outside.   It was 2 a.m., the head nurse approached me and said, with full gravity, “ok, you can go home now.”

I looked at her as if she just asked me to jump out of the 9^th story window.  “What?”

“You can go home now,” she repeated.

The hell I am, I just spent the last 24 hours delivering my daughter and I’ll be damned if I’m leaving.  Get me cot.

D, Gabrielle and I spent the next two days at VM.  Two days later, a friend in a big car drove us to our West Seattle apartment.  The temperature did not rise above freezing for the next 10 days.  We were stuck in a small apartment with a newborn.  No sleep and shifts walking Gabrielle to sleep made us completely batty.  Cabin fever does not begin to describe our delirium.  We would break out crying over the dumbest thing.  But we were delighted with our angel.  And we were not going to forget the blizzard of 1990.   Happy birthday sweetheart.

Ron Sims was on KUOW this morning.  The issue of the jail’s location was raised by one caller and Sims was unequivocal in saying that, as far as the County goes, the only viable site is downtown, next to the present jail.  This has been my position all along, for reasons which I will be glad to elaborate.  But, the placement is not in the County’s hand, given that this is a regional jail for misdeamenants.  The City of Seattle is the gorilla in the room on this one.  I for one, do not comprehend why they would imbroil the city in litigation (and delay the construction) over the placement of a jail by inserting it into a neighborhood.   Nobody would bat an eye, and everyone would be happier, if the jail was located downtown.  I am not a big Sims fan, but he actually had a number of good ideas today.  More importantly, he didn’t seem burned out, as he has in prior interviews.

PS:  You can twitter Sims and he will add you to his twitter list, giving you direct access.  Do you suppose we could convince Mayor Nickels to put us on his twitter list?

Here are some pics from the White Center area.  Will post some more as soon as I finish my coffee.  Feel free to share your own.

looking out the back deck

16th Ave. SW looking north

16th Ave. SW looking south towards Roxbury

16th Ave. SW looking towards Delridge - notice bus stalled in intersection

Cafe Rozella in December snowstorm

If you want to get out and can walk or ride your trail bike, we’re here brewing up coffee.  Cheers!

The forecasters were finally right. No word of school changes yet, though (as of 5:25 am).

5:29 AM UPDATE: Seattle Public Schools are CLOSED for today.

5:40 AM UPDATE: Highline Public Schools are 1 hour late, “limited buses.” South Seattle Community College is starting at 10 am. We’ll keep checking for changes, which tend to happen if/as weather worsens.

5:57 AM UPDATE: Metro has updated its list of bus routes on “adverse weather” reroute. See it here.

6:16 AM UPDATE: Holy Family in White Center is closed today.

7:20 AM UPDATE: Shorewood Christian School will be open at 10:30 am.

7:42 AM UPDATE: Per scanner, SW 100th in 4th SW area “impassable.”

7:59 AM UPDATE: Shorewood Christian School changed status to CLOSED.

8:25 AM UPDATE: Myers Way is closed.

8:45 AM UPDATE: Highline Public Schools has changed its plan:

All elementary schools will be closed today due to snow. Because of developing weather conditions and late notice, middle schools and high schools will remain open.

10:55 AM UPDATE: Olson closed too.

11:56 AM UPDATE: Highline Public Schools changed its status again:

Due to worsening weather conditions, we will dismiss secondary students early today.

* Buses will pick up students at Puget Sound Skills Center at 11:45 a.m. and return them to their high schools.
* High schools will be dismissed at noon.
* Middle schools will be dismissed at 12:30.
* Emergency bus stops will be used on all bus routes.
* All after-school and evening activities, sports, and events and evening building use have been canceled.
* Also, we hope to make decisions about tomorrow this evening.

Also, Metro is warning its afternoon service will be limited; read more here.

Who knows what we’ll wake up to … the forecast’s truly all over the map. To check the status of Highline Public Schools (and others): schoolreport.org.

That’s what the metro area’s being called since it’s snowing almost everywhere else. The major school districts (Highline and Seattle) closed anyway, just in case. If you’re looking for salt/deicer, we just checked with McLendon‘s – they got that shipment in but (as of our phone call at 9:40 am) it’s going fast. 12:07 PM UPDATE: Now it’s raining, which is taking care of the remaining icy streets — at least in the short run.

Although the Rat City Rollergirls connection to White Center is somewhat attenuated these days, they still sport the unfortunate moniker of this community.  So we can be a bit proprietary about them and herein announce that they are holding tryouts for the team.  Where?   Why Bellevue, dahling.

The Rat City Rollergirls, the Northwest’s oldest and fiercest roller derby league, are having tryouts on Tuesday, Dec. 16 at 8:30 p.m. at Bellevue Skate King, Bellevue Skate King, 2301 140th Ave NE, Bellevue. All who tryout must have primary insurance, a signed waiver, and bring a $5 tryout fee. Call backs are the next night, Wednesday, Dec. 17, at the same time and place.

For those ladies (21 and older) interested in trying out, there will be an informational open house at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 10. You’ll get to watch a practice and ask questions about tryouts, the league, life as a rollergirl, and roller derby.

For tryout requirements or more information, e-mail freshmeat@ratcityrollergirls.com.

Highline Public Schools already will be 2 hours late tomorrow – and they’re asking families to check in the am for possible closure (since it may be snowing by 4 am or so). Here’s the message at SchoolReport.org.