January 2017

Update: Sunday Jan. 29
According to both the ACLU and the office of Rep. Pramila Jayapal Two clients represented by Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, the ACLU of Washington and collaborating attorneys have been released from the custody of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at SeaTac airport. The ACLU noted in a post on their site that "One of the clients is an engineer originally from Sudan but now residing in the United Arab Emirates and was attending an engineering conference in the U.S. The other individual who was detained by CBP is a Yemeni citizen who was born in Saudi Arabia and was coming to visit family here in the U.S. Both clients expressed their gratitude for the support of so many Americans. While in the custody of CBP, they were able to watch coverage of the protests at the airport and they both expressed gratitude for those expressions of solidarity. "

Original Post Saturday Jan. 28
information from office of Rep. Jamila Prayapal

Each year the White Center CDA hosts a community summit to bring neighbors together to talk about the state of their community and plan for White Center’s future – on Jan 28, the CDA hosted the annual summit at Evergreen High School 830 SW 116th.

This year’s summit theme was “Call to Action”. What current initiatives are being undertaken and how can we, as community members, come up with our own solutions to growing our community strengths or addressing community issues? The Summit was also a time to celebrate ourselves as a neighborhood.

The summit is always free and was open to every resident of White Center, including youth. Free childcare, interpretation services, and breakfast and lunch were provided.

Information from King County Sheriff

King County Sheriff’s detectives received information that a man believed to be connected to the Beaver Lake Park homicide in Sammamish early this week was in an apartment in the 21600 block of 29 Ave S in the City of Des Moines.

Sheriff’s deputies and detectives were outside of the apartment when the suspect and another man exited. When the men saw the deputies they both pulled handguns. Three deputies fired striking one of the men. The other man fled the area on foot and discarded his gun as he ran. It is unclear at this time if either of the men fired their weapon. The injured man was taken to Harborview and died on Saturday afternoon.

K-9 attempted a track for the outstanding suspect but he was not initially located. While the investigation at the scene was ongoing police learned the outstanding suspect was hiding in a nearby apartment. TAC 30# (SWAT) responded to the scene and repeatedly ordered the man out of the apartment.

Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) is in the process of updating its Strategic Business Plan (SBP), the roadmap that guides their investments and service levels. Additionally, this document, which is updated every three years, is the guide for the utility’s rate path. The first SBP, passed in 2014 and linked here, outlined a 4.6% average annual increase which is reflected in the core services provided by SPU: drinking water, drainage, sewer, and garbage and recycling.

During the development of the original SBP, customers had an opportunity to provide feedback at focus groups, public meetings, and via online surveys. They are now asking for your help to update the existing plan, which will affect your rates and your SPU bill. Please consider attending a community meeting and sharing your thoughts and experiences with SPU.

information courtesy of Distrct 1 Councilmember Lisa Herbold

By Marjorie Young

I have reflected more than once on the topic of crossing paths with the ‘right person at the right time’ and the intricate ramifications that may then result. As I write this on New Year’s morning, I’ll be exploring another such event…something featured on today’s holiday newscast. Coincidentally, I’d been pondering the subject of my column, but this story removed all doubt from the equation.

By Gwen Davis

Worried about the future of nearly 3,000 trees in SeaTac and surrounding areas? On Feb. 1, the Port of Seattle will hold another open house to discuss their tree-cutting plans, known as the “Airport Flight Corridor Safety Program”.

The community has anxiously been hearing about the Port’s tree-cutting project over the past several months. In late 2016, the Port Commission voted to modify the first phase of the project after listening to concerns from the public. This open house will provide another opportunity for the community to be updated on the current work being done.

Already, the Port has started removing trees on Port property on the airfield’s west-side, with promises to plant low-growing trees and shrubs in the coming months.

The open house will take place:
Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017, 6 to 8 p.m.
Location: SeaTac Community Center, 13735 24th Ave. S., SeaTac, WA.

By Clay Eals

The father of the famed Murals of West Seattle has died.

Earl Cruzen, a lifelong resident and longtime business leader in West Seattle, died Jan. 23, 2017, at his Duwamish Head condominium overlooking Elliott Bay and Puget Sound. He was 96.

Earl was perhaps best known for conceiving and executing the art/history project called the Murals of West Seattle, centered in the West Seattle Junction.

On vacation trips with his wife, Virginia, and friends Moe and Bonnie Beerman, Earl encountered historical murals in Long Beach and Ilwaco, Washington, and Chemainus, B.C., and saw their potential for drawing tourists and bolstering local business.

Earl launched the Murals of West Seattle project in 1988, and over the next five summers 11 murals by world-renowned artists sprouted on the walls of business buildings in and around the Junction. The murals, depicting scenes from West Seattle history, were funded by local building owners and matching city and county grants. Nine of the murals remain to this day, with a 10th repainted in a new location.

South Seattle College graduate Marady Duong was awarded the Washington State Association of College Trustees (ACT) Transforming Lives Award in Olympia on Jan. 23, 2017. Duong received a $500 cash prize along with four other students selected from community and technical colleges across the state.

The winners shared their stories with college trustees, presidents and Washington state legislators at the Jan. 23 award ceremony to rousing applause for their journeys, which exemplify how lives can be transformed by pursing higher education at a community or technical college.

Duong immigrated to Washington state from Cambodia in 2011. She started taking English as a Second Language classes at South Seattle College, and through her own drive, encouragement from instructors and scholarship support, graduated from South in 2016 with associate degrees in both Business and Business Information Technology. She became a campus leader during her time at the college, participating in student government and starting the Southeast Asian Association student club. Today, Duong attends the University Of Washington Foster School Of Business.

The Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board hearing and vote on the Southwest Seattle Historical Society nomination of the Campbell Building (1918) in the West Seattle Junction for landmark status has been scheduled for the board's meeting at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017, at Seattle City Hall.

This is the same meeting that the board has scheduled its hearing and vote on designation of the Hamm Building for landmark status. (The board voted unanimously in favor of the SWSHS landmark nomination for Hamm at its meeting Jan. 4, 2017.)

At the Feb. 15 meeting, the Hamm designation hearing and vote likely will take place prior to the Campbell nomination hearing and vote.

In anticipation of the Feb. 15 meeting, SWSHS encourages supporters of landmarking the Hamm and Campbell buildings to take one or both of the following steps:

By Steve Shelton

There was no disputing the buzz in the air last Saturday as I stepped onto the escalator to join the masses disappearing deep into the Dupont Circle station. Below grade the buzz amplified as thousands of marchers—men and women from across the country--found their way into trains like bees into hives. I emerged at the L’Enfant Plaza station and began migrating toward a queen bee in her own right speaking to thousands of her worker bees from a main stage: Gloria Steinem.

But I didn’t make the stage. At once I was swallowed up in the swarms of marchers who had also flown in from corners of the United States to unite, in solidarity, for a protest unlike any protest in any time. The Women’s March on January 21, 2017, was unprecedented. It was global. It was peaceful. It was mindful. It was for women--and men. And it was directed at a man who, just a day before, was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States; A place where an individual’s civil rights for safety, respect, and honor are championed around the world. A place viewed as “safe” by families fleeing bad things and bad people in other parts of the world.