White Center Now: The blog about White Center

A shooting at 15th and Roxbury sent a male victim to the hospital with a hand injury, and deputies have been searching for suspect(s) north of the city/county line, with K9 on the ground and Guardian One in the air.

We’re updating on partner site West Seattle Blog.

On Sunday, 34th District State Senator-elect Joe Nguyen was at White Center’s Diamond Hall for a post-election (full story here). Thursday night, he’ll be back in WC as one of four local elected officials invited to the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council’s December meeting. Here’s the announcement:

North Highline Unincorporated Area Council Meeting

When: Thursday, December 6, 2018 at 7 pm
Where: North Highline Fire Station at 1243 SW 112th Street in White Center
(Parking and entrance are in the back of the station)

The Opportunity to Be Informed, Be Involved and Be Heard!

Please join NHUAC at our last meeting of 2018. We’ll be welcoming State Representatives Eileen Cody and Joe Fitzgibbon, King County Councilmember Joe McDermott and State Senator-elect Joe Nguyen. This is a rare opportunity to engage with those who make many of our laws and regulations. What is going on in our county and state governments? What is going right? What needs to change? What do our elected representatives plan to work on in 2019 and why? What do they need to know about us?

Another elected official, member of the White Center community, and a regular at NHUAC meetings, Commissioner Loretta Brittingham, will educate us about an upcoming February vote on the future of Water District #45.

Scott Davis, another NHUAC regular and strong community supporter, will share information about the White Center Kiwanis, its upcoming Baked Potato Dinner, and give us the opportunity to purchase their eagerly anticipated holiday nuts for $20 a tin.

Deputy Bill Kennamer will be on vacation, but KCSO hasn’t forgotten us! Major Bryan Howard will be there to answer our questions.

Do you have something on your mind? Join us and share at NHUAC’s last meeting until February 2019!

See you Thursday, December 6, 2018 at 7 pm

Because Knowledge and Community Are Power!

A weekend of tree lightings wrapped up with the White Center Christmas Tree Lighting tonight:

This was more than a tree lighting – it was also a tribute to the memory of King County Sheriff’s Deputy Steve Cox, a White Center community leader killed in the line of duty exactly 12 years ago.

Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht was there to join in the tribute.

She spoke briefly:

The tree itself honors law enforcers with its blue lights and firefighters with its red lights:

Members of both groups were among those in attendance:

Among the tree sponsors, neighboring Mac’s Triangle Pub, whose namesake was of course there:

Dancers Nina and Sureya from Miss Sheryl’s Ballet – whose proprietor Sheryl Clinton leads the WC Chamber of Commerce – performed:

You can see the tree throughout the season on the north side of the Delridge/Roxbury/16th intersection.

Happening today (Sunday) in White Center:

Friends of Joe Nguyễn and Mỹ Linh Thái would like to invite our fellow community members to join us in celebrating the historic wins of Mỹ Linh Thái, 41st LD State Representative and Joe Nguyễn, 34th LD State Senator, as the first Vietnamese-American Legislators elected in Washington State history!

Please join us for live entertainment, complimentary hors d’oeuvres, and a no-host cash bar.

Sunday, 12/2/2018
2:30 pm – 6:30 pm

Diamond Hall & Events
9835 16th Avenue SW

RSVP via Eventbrite

Program:
•Vietnamese Cultural Dance
•Guest speakers on issues impacting Vietnamese-Americans in Washington State
•Guests of Honors: Joe Nguyễn and Mỹ Linh Thái
•Live Band Entertainment

From the White Center Community Development Association:

The White Center CDA Invites You!
White Center Community HUB
Community Design Workshop

Saturday December 8, 2018, 9 am-12 pm
Evergreen High School Cafeteria

The Public is Invited!
Food and interpretation services will be provided

White Center Community Development Association, Southwest Youth & Family Services, Capitol Hill Housing, and King County are coming together to build a community-driven and designed campus with community services and affordable housing at the former Public Health Center at 8th Avenue SW & SW 108th Street. The HUB will provide welcoming and much-needed spaces for community to connect, celebrating the value of White Center’s diversity through cultural art, music, traditions, ceremonies, events, and community-wide activities.

family resource center
alternative education classrooms
workforce training
small business incubation
youth development
early learning opportunities
integrated behavioral and physical health services
community garden
affordable housing

Come learn about this project and share your ideas to ensure the HUB reflects the diverse community in White Center!

Questions? Aaron@wccda.org or 206-694-1028

(WCN file photo)

You’re invited to the White Center Christmas Tree Lighting this Sunday (December 2nd), as announced by the White Center Chamber of Commerce:

Please join us as we celebrate the holiday season and pay our respects to Deputy Steve Cox on the anniversary of his passing. Chili, Donuts, Apple Cider & Cocoa will be on sale to benefit the White Center Food Bank. Food donations greatly appreciated.

This community event is sponsored by Meat the Live Butcher, Center Tool Rental, Mac’s Triangle Pub, Miss Sheryl’s Ballet, Tommy Sound Studios, Good Day Donuts, and the White Center Chamber of Commerce.

The event is set for 5 pm in the mini-park by Mac’s (Delridge/Roxbury). And if you’d like to help hang lights on the tree, they’re welcoming volunteers at 11:30 am Saturday.

8:40 PM: Avoid downtown White Center for a while – a six-car crash is reported at 16th/98th and KCSO is blocking traffic at 16th/Roxbury, 16th/100th, and 15th/98th per scanner. No info yet on injuries; we’re off to find out more.

8:59 PM: First photo added. At least two people will be taken to the hospital.

9:09 PM: May be “only” 4 cars. One driver is being investigated for possible DUI.

9:26 PM: Another photo added. Roads might be closed for a while – we’ve left the scene but via scanner are hearing deputies being advised to “bring road closure signs.” Fixing the light pole will take some time too.

Thanks to the reader who sent that photo and tipped us to the fire at 13th/100th. We went over to check it out and found this:

An investigator is on scene trying to find out why the vehicle caught fire. We are told it was unoccupied at the time; no one was hurt.

(Added: WCN photo)

10:16 PM: King County Sheriff’s Deputies are investigating a shooting in the 10000 block of 1st SW (map), and they say it’s turned deadly – the 26-year-old man who was shot has died. KCSO says via Twitter that they don’t know yet what led up to the shooting; their detectives are on scene.

1:30 AM: KCSO spokesperson Sgt. Ryan Abbott told us detectives would likely be there for hours, so we stopped while out on something else. Photo added above. The street is blocked off in a residential neighborhood we’d describe as east White Center.

We’ve received a couple questions about an incident tonight right on the White Center/Burien line, at Ambaum/116th (map). King County Sheriff’s Office detectives have the area closed off for an investigation. According to KCSO via Twitter, a 38-year-old man is in critical condition at Harborview – he was on foot when a driver hit him.

1:37 PM: Out and about on this sunny pre-Thanksgiving Saturday? Stop by the White Center Library before 3 pm for the Library Guild’s annual bazaar and bake sale. Some handcrafted items, and some rummage sale-y items too:

Proceeds benefit library programs. Haven’t been to the library? It’s at 1409 SW 107th.

ADDED 9:40 PM: Thanks to Gill Loring for sharing these photos:

This bazaar had raffles – above, the afghan winner; below, the Mariners Gift Pack winner:

And … it’s not a bazaar without warm fuzzies:

By the way … the library will be closed on Thanksgiving Day.

The new county budget has been approved. Our area’s County Councilmember Joe McDermott sent this announcement about its highlights from his priorities for the region and his district:

Working to ensure a safe, welcoming and equitable county was a top priority for Metropolitan King County Council Chair Joe McDermott, which included investing to further the King County Gun Safety Action Plan, supporting and protecting our Immigrant and Refugee neighbors and friends, and promoting affordable housing in the County’s work to tackle the region’s homelessness crisis.

Gun Safety Action Plan

As a Council, we’ve taken steps to ensure we’re doing our part to protect residents from gun violence within the confines of the state’s preemption law. This work must approach the epidemic of gun violence as a public health crisis, and this budget does just that.

– King County Public Health will receive $180,000 to engage youth and young people affected by gun violence to learn from them how we might help make their lives, communities and schools safer from violence. This money funds the project authorized by the Gun Safety Action Plan in September.

– An innovative partnership between the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, King County Public Health and local law enforcement agencies around the County to track and prevent gun violence using a public health approach will receive $500,000 to continue its work for the next two years.

Immigrants and Refugees

This budget builds upon the work we started in 2017 that ensures Martin Luther King Jr. County remains dedicated to being a safe, welcoming community for all who live, work and visit here:

– $500,000 will be invested in outreach around the 2020 Census to ensure our immigrant and refugee friends, family and neighbors are appropriately counted without being intimidated by the Trump Administration’s discriminatory immigration questions designed to suppress responses. This work will be incredibly important so that all residents are counted. An accurate census count affects everything from Congressional representation to federal funding for housing, transportation and human services.

– The Immigrant and Refugee Fund investment for legal defense and community organizations, first passed by Chair McDermott and developed in partnership with the City of Seattle last year, will continue and grow for the next 6 years, through the Veterans, Seniors and Human Services Levy funds passed by King County voters.

Housing and Homelessness

Thanks to legislation and policy Chair McDermott sponsored earlier this year, the Council was able to distribute an additional $100 million in bonded money to invest in affordable housing throughout the County in the coming months. This includes over $70 million in affordable housing investments, as well as over $15 million for shelters for people experiencing homelessness in five different locations around the County.

District 8 Investments

In addition to Chair McDermott’s regional priorities, this budget supports programs and services throughout Council District 8.

– The King County Water Taxi will continue its high level of service, including over $3.5 million in investments for studying updates to the West Seattle Terminal, developing a Transit Hub and preserving Seacrest Dock.

o All of this while not raising fares that were previously planned to go increase in 2020 – the first biennium no fare increase has occurred since King County took over operations in 2012.

– The Creekside Village Apartments, a new project on Vashon Island integrating affordable rental housing, wetland preservation, and open space, will receive $4 million to work towards filling an incredibly important need for islanders.

– The Broadway Youth Opportunity Center, through Youth Care and Capitol Hill Housing, will receive $6.5 million to deliver housing and services for homeless youth.

– The Seattle Chinatown-International District PDA will receive $2.5 million to work on redeveloping the Pacific Tower North Lot for affordable housing.

– The Evergreen Pool in White Center will receive $106,000 to upgrade and maintain the vital service it provides families throughout the North Highline area.

– The Hope Academy in southern West Seattle, serving Somali students from around the region, will be upgrading their facilities with an investment of $25,000.

– The South Park Information and Resource Center will receive $36,000 to support their community sports program in the coming two years.

– The West Seattle Veterans Service Center will receive $5,000 to support their work supporting Veterans throughout the region.

(WCN photo from 2017 bazaar)

Saturday’s the day you can do holiday shopping at the library! It’s the Holiday Bazaar and Book Sale put on by the White Center Library Guild:

Books, white elephant, holiday, and gently used household treasures galore. All proceeds benefit the programs for the White Center Library.

Saturday, November 17th 10 am to 3 pm, WC Library, 1409 SW 107th

11:28 PM: Big power outage – stretching from east White Center and Top Hat into Burien; about 5,800 homes/businesses, according to Seattle City Light, which says it started around 10:20 pm. No word yet what caused it. Thanks to Alisha, Barb, and others for the tips!

11:54 PM: According to the SCL map, affected areas north of Burien are back on – power has been restored to more than 1,800 affected customers.

Another Lunch and Learn event in White Center this week. Here’s the announcement:

On Wednesday, November 14th at 12 PM at the Bethaday Community Learning Space, the Equity in Education Coalition, CIRCC, and the Racial Equity Team will be hosting a Lunch and Learn event: The Intersection of Mental Health and Racism.

We think it’s time to discuss the intersection of mental health and racism – about stigma in our communities, about how racism influences our mental health. Join us in a conversation with Katie Mahoney, with the National Alliance on Mental Illness; Cherryl Jackson Williams, Mental Health Professional at Renton Schools; and Tracy Stewart, clinical psychologist.

You can RSVP here. Bethaday Community Learning Space is at 605 SW 108th.

Toplines from November’s North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting:

LAND CONSERVATION INITIATIVE: Darren Greve and Dave Kimmett brought an update on King County’s Land Conservation Initiative.

The program has been in the works for about 2.5 years and this coming year their department will be working to define which areas can be considered for the longterm plan to find and acquire more land to use as parks, green spaces, and trails in King County. Priority will be given to low-income areas. Part of that plan will be to waive matching funds so that open spaces can be created in the lowest-income areas without having to clear a financial hurdle.

Part of what they’re trying to do will be included in extending the County parks levy. In the 2020s there might be an additional ballot measure strictly for acquiring property. Greve pointed out that the existing levy funding can only be used for upkeep and operation. An added ballot measure could be used to acquire land.

Q&A for them started with concerns about adequate community-wide input. Kimmett said he’s the boots-on-the-ground person and is willing to come back and talk to NHUAC about their immediate area. In the exchange, NHUAC president Liz Giba mentioned that she had suggested some land for such purposes and no one got back to her. The county reps apologized for that and Kimmett promised to return in February with a more detailed map and extended conversation about potential WC areas that could be considered.

HIGHWAY 99 TRANSITION: The Alaskan Way Viaduct‘s permanent closure is now just two months away – January 11th. WSDOT’s Laura Newborn gave a general presentation on the plan (see West Seattle Blog coverage of the original announcement, plus the recent update with details for a goodbye/hello celebration weekend February 2-3). If you want to join in the bike ride, fun run, and/or walk on The Viaduct, be sure to sign up for your choice(s) ASAP!

STORMWATER MANAGEMENT: The County Council’s still considering where this fee goes in the budget plan; Josh Baldi of the Water and Land Resources Division told NHUAC that the overall budget includes money to do visioning for the White Center area, which would mean identifying areas with runoff problems. Baldi said the money would go to unincorporated areas since the improvements that might have been needed earlier were put off until the various areas voted on annexation; the county realizes some investment is needed and will be back next year to identify areas.

CRIME: Storefront Deputy Bill Kennamer said crimes overall are static or down. Car thefts made a huge drop in the past month. He speculated that a key arrest or two might account for that.

The North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meets first Thursdays, 7 pm, at North Highline Fire District HQ, 1243 SW 112th.

Thanks to Aaron Garcia from the White Center Community Development Association for the heads-up. If you’re not already planning on going to Saturday’s annual White Center Summit – you’re invited!

White Center Summit is happening this Saturday, November 10th:

9 am – Check-in/Breakfast
10 am – start time

Evergreen High School
830 SW 116th

Come learn about issues affecting White Center – like housing, health, economic development – and learn about community building and how our communities of opportunity partners are coming together to support White Center families- and discuss your priorities with local officials and neighbors. What do you love about White Center? What would you like to see improve? This event is FREE, and interpretation, child care, and breakfast & lunch is provided.

Due to the generosity of a private donor, two participants will be randomly selected to receive $100.

Here’s where to go to RSVP.

When tonight’s vote count was announced, Joe Nguyen was far in front for 34th District State Senator, and he almost couldn’t believe it:

Here’s the first round of results in the race:

Joe Nguyen – 27,440 – 57.4%
Shannon Braddock – 20,373 – 42.6%

Nguyen was in White Center tonight with his supporters, at Drunky’s Two Shoes BBQ, when the results went public.

He is the son of Vietnamese refugees, born in White Center, raised in Burien, now living in West Seattle. Assuming his lead holds as the remaining votes are counted in the weeks ahead, he will become the first person of color to represent the 34th District in Olympia, and the state’s first Vietnamese-American legislator. He also is a manager at Microsoft, father of two, and husband of a Highline Public Schools teacher.

Next vote count is expected Wednesday afternoon.

Just a reminder that Sunday brings the monthly meeting of the Community Advisory Committee for city-sanctioned Camp Second Chance, a place of interest to both sides of the county/city line. If you have a question/concern, this is the place to bring it. The committee meeting is open to all, 2 pm in the community room at Arrowhead Gardens (9200 2nd SW), a few blocks north of the encampment.

Thanks to Matt Weiner for letting us know that the coffee shop which followed his in downtown White Center is celebrating its SECOND ANNIVERSARY already! Moonshot Coffee opened in 2016 after taking over the former Caffe Delia at 9622 16th SW. And it’s now open 7 am to 6 pm.