The April meeting of the White Center Chamber of Commerce could have been tense. It was held in the heart of the community at the Taradise Cafe which had been linked in media reports to a series of violent crimes in the last year. That portrayal was unfair said both owner Tara Scott and White Center Storefront Deputy William Kennamer. 

Scott said, "It's extremely frustrating because I'm taking a bad rap for everything that's going on. It happened in my parking lot and you can ask any of the detectives who came to the incidents. We're doing everything we possibly can. It's not a club, it's a restaurant, it's a lounge, it's a bar ...I have security four nights a week. My employees are on top of it trying to clear out the parking lot on a regular basis. But the things that happened, there was nothing we could have done to prevent them. The thing that happened across the street (editor's note: She is referring to the shooting that took place in White Center Jan. 6)...the media is putting everything on me and there was nothing we could do, it was across the street. It didn't happen at Taradise. Like there's shootings actually happening at my restaurant.

There was a drug deal in the parking lot, I mean, I can't prevent every drug deal that happens in White Center. All I can do is do the best i can to keep our parking lot clear and keep people who are doing suspicious activity out of my restaurant and out of our parking lot or out of our area. Really I'm not here to fight crime but I'm doing the best I can. I can't get out there and stop a drug deal. They walked in for one second. They'd never been here. They're not my customers. They walked in to meet somebody and did a drug deal in my parking lot because i have one of the only parking lots here. So it's easy access... I can't afford somebody to monitor my parking lot...I have cameras but there have been so many instances that have had nothing to do with Taradise.

I was thinking the community could come together and get an off duty police officer to walk up and down the street on a regular basis. There's activity all the time. Yesterday morning I pulled up and there's two carloads, and they were obviously drug addicts and here I am by myself with two carloads of guys. I'm not scared, for whatever reason. I was raised in White Center. But I'm like, "Get out of my parking lot. This isn't a place for you to come and you're a scary man and scare off my customers. I feel like as a community we can work together and i shouldn't be pinpointed for the place just because it happened in my parking lot. It could have happened in front of the bike shop but it doesn't make them personally responsible. People talk about anything but the only thing I can come up with is that I'm the only minority bar and other people are pointing at me and that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard because I've been raised here and I love having a beautifully mixed crowd. I love my clientel. They are here every single day. It's like a family in here."

Scott said that media reports connecting her bar with the crimes "Almost ruined me. I was down $35 thousand my first month after the shooting and there was nothing I could have done better because of the media making it look like 'don't go there it's scary.' It's not scary. I let my kids in the cafe and my Mom's here."

Scott's employees also spoke up in her defense noting that she feeds the homeless during the holidays, raised money for car accident victim in Rainier Valley, and "I even raised money for the family of the man who got shot across the street. I gave them $700. I feel like I'm doing all I can."

Deputy Kennamer also offered an update on a recent bust at the Smoke Shop on 16th SW. "We served a search warrant last week on the Smoke Shop. It was selling marijuana illegally, no license and it was affecting the other marijuana shops I guess. We recovered 13 and 1/2 pounds of marijuana and marijuana residue and a shotgun. An undercover detective walked in there and bought 9 grams for $50 and he was out of there in less than a minute.

Absolutely it was illegal. Gotta get a license to sell it and White Center is full of licenses that are allowed to sell it legally. So the Liquor and Cannabis Board served a warrant and they were shut down. They got a sign on their door saying they moved two doors down wihch concerns me and is a new problem for us, which we will start working on right away. I know there's been a lot of talk about the homicides that occurred out here. There were two incidents with three people who were killed and I know that our detectives have identified who had done it. We just haven't got them yet because they are hiding from us.Probably out of state. I don't know because we don't know where they're at. But we do know who we're looking for." 

Kennamer said that Scott has been "instrumental in helping with both homicide cases."

Shifting gears Deputy Kennamer continued, "As anybody who's had a busted window knows, we've had an uptick in burglaries. Most of these are smash and grabs, and there's a couple (a guy and a girl) whom we believe are responsible. And through our detective's investigation we're finding stuff in stolen cars that is linked to them. All we gotta do is find them... I can understand the frustration with all the busted windows." The deputy also acknowledged another source of window loss saying, "We have another dude who likes breaking windows and he is mentally ill. He was the guy who did ten thousand bucks worth of damage at the library... But I haven't seen him in a while."

Ryan Abbott the new Public Information Officer for the King County Sheriff was at the meeting and noted the speed at which news from his office can spread. "If I tweet something within a couple of minutes i'm getting calls from L.A. and like CNN called within five minutes of putting something out. Obviously not everything blows up that big but what I'm saying is we have these great social networks and I'm more than happy to get the positive word out on the positive things are going on in the area. Whatever I can do to help, you guys can call me anytime."

Chamber President Sheryl Clinton urged members to "Go to the source, talk to Tara," instead of spreading rumors if and when incidents occur.

Deputy Kennamer brought up the idea of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design and noted that simply by playing classical music in the parking area, most of the criminal element would disperse. "It's like kryptonite," he said."I have had a lot of success with it. For some reason classical music drives people bananas. Meat the Live Butcher did it and it works. Most people coming and going it's like elevator music. But for some reason it doesn't work with country, or rap or rock n roll but if you play classical music in your parking lot I'm telling you, people won't hang out." He urged people to "call the cops" even if you feel like hesitating."We won't come gangbusters every time, but if you don't call we'll never come. Call the cops." 

The rest of the meeting dealt with the continuing efforts to resolve the Chamber's previous defunct bank accounts, soon to be fixed, get the garbage picked up, King County has been asked to help more frequently. Clinton shared that White Center will hold its own garage, flea market/ street sale the same day as the West Seattle Garage Sale, on May 12 likely in the parking lot of the building between 98th and 100th SW on 17th SW recently purchased by the owner of the Unicorn Bar on Capitol Hill. 

Clinton closed the meeting reminding members that King County Sheriff Mitzi Johanknecht will tour the community on April 6.