Stories

The Sept. 4th Seattle Times has a very informative obituary about Al Smith Sr., who photographed the Central District: he "single-handedly documented African-American community life here for a half-century".

His work is  at MOHAI, the African-American Museum and the 23rd & Jackson Starbucks, and in the book "Jackson Street After Hours"

Perhaps we can collectively carry on his work.

Yes, the weather's still lovely, and we should be out enjoying it. Nonetheless, it's important for Sally Clark's Planning, Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee to hear from us.

The 1996-1998 Neighborhood Planning process resulted in many good ideas, but also helped form lots of lasting relationships between people and organizations who might not otherwise have got together. I felt that it helped us all understand each other a bit better. We (especially the City) were all kind of making it up as we went along. But by the end, we all seemed to be pretty happy with the process and the result.

A decade's gone by, and it's time to re-evaluate where we are (and where we'd like to be). Surely we can benefit from all our experience last time? For the rest see:

http://millerparkseattle.blogspot.com/2008/09/monday-council

Quincy Jones, possibly the most famous son of the CD, is the subject of a big feature in today's Pacific Northwest Magazine.   He grew up in a small house on 22nd Ave, just a couple of blocks away from Garfield High School where he graduated in 1950.

Here his brother describes looking out the window of the top-floor room that was shared by seven siblings:

"We would look out there," recalls Jones' youngest brother, Richard, now a federal judge in Seattle, "and think, 'What is it I can possibly do? Where is life going to take me?' We weren't looking at a spectacular lake. We grew up looking at the blackberry bushes and garbage in the lot across the street. You had to have a big imagination."

Mr. Jones will be in Seattle on September 26th to dedicate the new Quincy Jones Performing Arts Center at Garfield.

Yesterday the folks who live on 20th between Marion & Union gave us all an example of how to build a strong community in the neighborhood. For the last four years, Chef Brenda Lee has worked with her neighbors to host a big block party with amazing food, cold drinks, and a lot of fun.   About 50 people took over the street in the middle of the block and spent the chilly evening getting to know each other a little better.

Here's a sample:

Wouldn't it be great to have about a dozen of these spread across the neighborhood over the course of next summer?

Anybody understand why Richlin's has by far the MOST EXPENSIVE gas in the Seattle area (Regular is $4.09)? It's not as though we're all rolling in money and won't notice the extra! BTW, given that gas is $3.85 at 23rd/Cherry, why does anybody stop at Richin's?

(yes, yes, I know there's a 45 cent debit card charge at 23/Cherry)

http://www.seattlegasprices.com/

I just found out about a very cool farming project that is being hatched by a group of community leaders here in the CD. It's called the Clean Greens Farm & Market Project, and it aims to get members of the African American community involved in organic farming and then bring the produce grown back to a new farmers market in the neighborhood to give people access to fresh, healthy produce all year round.

The main organizers are the Rev. Robert Jeffrey from New Hope Baptist Church and the indefatigable Lottie Cross from the Black Dollar Task Force. They've raised a first round of money to lease a 22 acre farm over near Duvall and are hard at work to get the project off the ground.

I took a trip out to the farm earlier today before the rain hit, where I was greeted by Taalib Sankofa and Brian Liggins. They're the first two farm apprentices in the project, and they've been working like crazy to get the first crop planted and growing for a harvest later in the fall.

It seems like a big change for them. They're...

Just saw a sign posted in the neighborhood on 29th and Alder about the death of a neighbor's beloved pet cat. The cat's vet said that a coyote killed it. So, keep your pets inside at night...

Although we're typically not ones to toot our own horns, we thought we'd mention this before you hear it second hand.  Earlier this evening, cdguy and I were honored to receive the Seattle Police Department's Citizen Appreciation Award for our reporting on crime issues in the neighborhood.   We'd like to thank the department and Officer Mark Jamieson from the media office who nominated us.  You probably recognize his name from many of our stories, as he has been super helpful in giving us timely and detailed information on the big events that happen around here.   He's put up with a lot of stupid questions from two non-journalist software engineers, and has been a big part of getting good, accurate stories out to all of our readers.

And I think a lot of the credit goes to our other contributors and commenters.  The introduction to the award specifically mentioned the way you have pulled together and organized yourselves here on the site in the wake of the violence we've seen in recent months.  So please keep it...

It's mid-August, and the end of a pretty fantastic summer is getting closer and closer.  Here's what you can do this weekend to get out and enjoy it:

My friend Richard down in Judkins Park has a summer tradition where he invites a bunch of neighbors and other arts-loving friends to his backyard for intimate jazz concerts.  This year he's mixing things up a bit.   On Friday evening at 7pm he's hosting "Mixed Voices: Words & Music", an evening of music and spoken word performances.   It should be a gorgeous night to sit outside and listen, so check it out.

Anyone who was planning to attend our 3rd and final parade of the season (yes, the one we talked about last month), it's been cancelled due to "unforeseen scheduling conflicts".  :(   At least we had one good parade this summer...

But even though the parade is history, the Central Area Festival is still on at the Garfield Community Center Saturday through Sunday.  They've got a line-up of music, vendors, kid events, and food.

And the weather is going to be hot this...