Does anyone know what the status of Med Mix is? The arson was on 12th August, so it has been over two months now and aside from putting up the particle board where the fire was started, I have not seen nor heard of any activity whatsoever. I believe that the owner originally said that he hoped to reopen in about a month.
I hope that they still plan to reopen. Med Mix was a great addition to the neighborhood and this was an absolute tragedy.
The Northwest African American Museum has a new Executive Director. Rosanna Sharpe, who started in the position October 1, is a Tacoma native and experienced museum professional. Sharpe has served in curatorial departments at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma and The Experience Music Project Museum in Seattle.
According to a letter from Norman B. Rice, NAAM’s board president,
We are fortunate to have found a candidate who brings such a wealth of museum knowledge to this position. We selected Rosanna based on her experience, dedication and enthusiasm for NAAM’s mission and vision, along with her strong work ethic and connection to the Northwest. Rosanna has served as our Interim Executive Director for the past eight months, during which time she has shown leadership and skill in guiding the Museum through a major transition.
Rosanna replaces artist and writer Barbara Earl Thomas who has led the Museum since 2008. We thank Barbara for her time and tremendous contributions. Under Barbara’s leadership the Museum has been firmly established as a vital institution in our cultural landscape. Her vision and tenacity have had a lasting impact not only for the Museum but Seattle’s entire community. We are pleased that Barbara’s tenure will continue at the Museum as she assumes the position of Major Gifts Officer and provides continuity during the leadership transition.
Rosanna is working closely with the Board and the entire NAAM team as we all make a smooth transition and continue to provide the essential African American history, arts and cultural programming NAAM is now known for. With five great years behind us, we are excited for NAAM’s future. We look forward to working with our entire community to continue to provide excellent exhibitions and educational programs.
The Community Police Commission (CPC) was created to provide a vehicle for community input into the police reform process now underway as part of the settlement agreement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ). The CPC has been working over the last few months to develop policy recommendations in a number of areas, specifically bias-free policing, stops and detentions, in-car video recordings and use of force.
The CPC plays a key role in the reform efforts. The CPC’s charge is to seek community input and represent a broad range of community perspectives in their recommendations to the DOJ.
We will have the opportunity to voice our opinions, experiences and perceptions about the Police Department’s procedures relating to racial profiling, use of force and other key issues.
Our upcoming October 24th East Precinct Advisory Council (EastPAC) meeting will feature the CPC’s Acting Director, Betsy Graef, who will be looking for key community input on these issues.
Here is our chance to be heard, for your voice to become a policy recommendation! Please attend and talk about your experiences, perceptions and opinions.
East Precinct Advisory Council
Thursday, October 24th, 6:30 to 8:00 PM
Seattle University, Chardin Hall, room 142
1020 East Jefferson (enter at 11th and Jefferson, park free in front of building)
Let’s show the CPC, as well as the US Department of Justice, that we have a powerful voice!
The area around Jefferson Street at 14th Avenue will soon look very different, thanks to two new residential developments.
14th and Jefferson townhomes
We previously reported that Ethiopian restaurant Mesob, at 14th and Jefferson, is on the move. The parcel was purchased by Right Foot Development, LLC, in late 2012 for $630,000. The firm is working with Playhouse Design Group to build three-unit townhomes on the corner.
We now have more information on the site plan for the lot, which involves building three four-story townhomes. They’ll each be 1,593 square feet with garages on the lower level.
Next door, at 1315 E. Jefferson, Revolve Development is building a four-story building with 32 residential units. The ground floor will include 3,590 square feet of retail, and there will be 19 parking spots included. The project involves demolishing an existing, one-story, 1937 commercial building that’s long been vacant, and taking over the pay parking lot operated by Diamond Parking. The architect for the project is Schack A+ D.
1315 E. Jefferson
CENTERSTONE FINANCIAL COACHING PROGRAM
Interested in learning how to reduce your stress and anxiety about money?
You can look forward to:
Centerstone’s Financial Coach Program provides free and confidential coaching to help you manage your money and improve your financial future. A financial coach is a mentor and a guide. Unlike a financial counselor, the coach program is driven by you with the focus on long term progress, not emergency relief. This is a 5 month program that requires a commitment to meet with an assigned volunteer coach 1-2 times a month. A trained volunteer coach will work with you, one-on-one, to help you:
For more information please contact Amy at [email protected] or by phone (206) 812-4950
Program Schedule
|
Activity
|
Date
|
| Application Due | December 1st, 2013 |
| Group Meeting
Orientation and Budgeting |
Wed, January 22nd, 2014
6:30-8:30 pm Location: Centerstone; 722 18th Ave |
| Group Meeting
Savings |
Wed, February 12th, 2014
6:30pm-8:30pm Location: Centerstone; 722 18th Ave |
| Group Meeting
All About Credit |
Wed, March 12th, 2014
6:30-8:30 pm Location: Centerstone; 722 18th Ave |
| Group Meeting
Dealing with Debt |
Wed, April 16th, 2014
6:30pm-8:30pm Location: Centerstone; 722 18th Ave |
| Graduation
|
Wed, May 14th, 2014
6:30pm-8:30pm Location: Centerstone; 722 18th Ave |
| Individual One-on-One Sessions
Participants will meet individually with their coach once a month. |
Held once a month. Time and date arranged between coach and participant. |
Note:
Stevens parents are afraid proposed growth boundaries would mean a significant loss of diversity for the school.
The nature of Seattle’s new system of “neighborhood schools” has guaranteed one thing — nearly perpetual change in the “growth boundaries” that define where students must live to attend the city’s public schools. But the latest revisions to Seattle Public Schools’ new set of border proposals has a group of neighborhood parents who have been working on the updates for months rankled at what they see as a potential loss of diversity from closing off the Stevens Elementary attendance area to families living south of Madison.
In a letter sent to school families, members of the Stevens attendance committee say they “strongly oppose the proposed expansion of our boundaries to the north and east.” “These expansions would displace the south-of-Madison group of families and siblings that are already integral to our community and who bring Stevens much of its diversity, only to replace them with other families,” the message reads. “Our community does not welcome this solution, which does not appear to solve our capacity issue while negatively affecting diversity at Stevens.”
The latest process to adjust Seattle Public Schools’ borders kicked into high gear over summer and continues this with meetings and a formal SPS survey to finalize feedback on the next adjustments — CHS documented the preliminary boundary proposals here: Proposed Capitol Hill elementary school ‘border’ shifts address more kids, new middle school in 2017.
On Friday, SPS released a series of revisions including pulling back the southern Stevens boundary from Cherry to Madison while expanding north to Boyer and east to Lake Washington Blvd and Madison. The Stevens parents also object to the potential move of the English Language Learners program from the school and a plan that could have Stevens kids ready for middle school busing to South Seattle while the district prepares to rebuild the Meany campus.
SPS is collecting feedback to hear what parents have to say:
Seattle Public Schools seeks feedback on newest growth boundary recommendations
Seattle Public Schools is updating attendance area boundaries to accommodate enrollment growth and new construction. An initial draft of boundary changes was provided in September, offering families, staff and the community time to weigh in and give feedback.
After hosting five community meetings and receiving thousands of emails and suggestions, new recommended boundary changes are being proposed. These can be found at: http://bit.ly/GrowthBoundaries
. For more information, including supporting documents, see the following:
- October 16 Board Action Report
- Attachment B: Reference Materials
- Attachment C: Summary Information on Public Input
We are asking for new feedback on the recommendations via a survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/
s/7BKFRS3. Please take this survey by Oct. 21. Input through the survey will be included in the review. Next steps:
- District seeks public input via a survey from Oct. 14-21.
- School Board Work Session on the boundary proposal from 4:30-6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 17 at the John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence. (The public is invited to attend, but public testimony will not be taken.)
- Revised recommendations will be sent to the Board for the Nov. 6 meeting
- A School Board vote is scheduled for Nov. 20.
- If approved by the School Board, implementation of some of the new elementary and middle school boundaries will begin for the 2014-15 school year, although many boundary changes cannot go into effect until Building Excellence IV (BEX IV) capital levy construction projects are completed.
For more information on the growth boundary project, please visit http://bit.ly/GrowthBoundaries
.
Meanwhile, parents in the north of the Central District are pushing Schools to reconsider the future for the TT Minor campus at 18th and Union.
371 students attended Stevens in the 2011-2012 school year. Of those, 46% were identified as white in the district’s demographics survey — right at the district average, according to Seattle Public Schools.
Below is a sample letter the Stevens group is asking parents to send the school board. The board next meets this Wednesday. Parent representatives from around the city are expected to attend to also push for better boundaries for their neighborhood schools.
Sample Letter (to edit as you wish)—please send as soon as possible to the following email addresses:
cc: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],[email protected], [email protected],[email protected], [email protected], [email protected],[email protected]
Dear Ms. Smith-Blum and Seattle School Board,
I am the parent of a Stevens Elementary School student. I am writing to express my concern about the proposed Stevens boundary and program changes and the Meany middle school transition plan.
The 10/11 recommendations would eliminate our ELL link program and remove from our boundary the families between Madison and Cherry who are integral to our community. We understand that there may be a need to reduce enrollment at Stevens, but we cannot support a plan that removes these families while replacing them with other families by expanding our boundaries to the north and east. These changes would largely eliminate the rich diversity that makes Stevens a unique school in the district. Changing three of the four boundaries also unnecessarily disrupts many families without accomplishing the goal of addressing the current capacity issues facing Stevens.
The Stevens community has worked in the past six months to identify our top three goals for capacity management: (1) preserve our existing programs; (2) preserve the diversity of our student body, and (3) manage capacity so as to preserve outdoor play space and avoid the installation of portable classrooms. We hope that you will take these priorities into account in your decision-making process.
With regard to the Meany middle school transition, I strongly oppose bussing students to Van Asselt. This decision would have negative outcomes in the short term for students spending two hours a day on the bus, and in the long term for the Meany community after many families move their kids to option or private schools to avoid three years of such bussing. I hope the district will choose a solution that places our middle school students at Washington or Meany until the Meany refurbishment is complete.
Sincerely,
Don’t forget the Sincerely part!
In the meantime, Lowell, Capitol Hill’s other public elementary school continues its amazing mission to educate children from the western side of the Hill all the way to downtown…. and beyond.
The original Lowell boundary proposal is below — unlike the Stevens set, the October revisions for Lowell don’t appear to be significant. If you’re a Lowell parent and beg to differ, let us know in comments.
Full disclosure: Jseattle jr. attends Stevens Elementary.
Detectives are asking for your help in identifying the suspected gunman in last week’s shooting at a First Hill apartment building.
The shooting occurred last Tuesday. The suspect entered the victim’s apartment in the 800 block of Jefferson St. and tried to grab a wad of cash off a table. When the suspect pointed a gun at the victim, the victim shoved the gun aside. The suspect then allegedly shot the victim in the shoulder and fled the building.
The victim’s injuries were non-life threatening. The suspect is still at large and police are asking for your help identifying him based on security footage.
If you have any information related to the case, contact SPD’s Robbery Unit at (206) 684-5535.
On Monday, October 14, state legislators will be coming to the First Presbyterian Church on First Hill (1013 8th Avenue) for the Seattle stop of a statewide transportation “listening tour”.
The Senate failed to pass a transportation package this spring, despite an unprecedented two special sessions. The “Majority Coalition Caucus” (MCC), composed of Senate Republicans and two Democrats – Sen. Tim Sheldon (35th) and Sen. Rodney Tom (48th) – refused to let a package even come to the floor for a vote. The transportation package passed by the House included a Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (MVET) local option, which would have authorized a public vote on whether to raise new revenue for King County Metro. As a result of the Senate’s inaction, Metro is planning 17% cuts in service to take effect next year.
Now the MCC is leading a “listening tour” around the state, ostensibly to hear what the people want the legislature to do about transportation. Not everyone takes their word at face value. The Transit Riders Union, a democratic all-volunteer group of transit riders fighting for better public transit, asserts that the real reason for the listening tour is to sell the MCC’s right-wing agenda to the public. The MCC ‘s proposals include such “reforms” as gutting environmental regulations, exempting construction companies from paying sales tax, reducing construction workers’ wages and moving toward the privatization of public projects and services.
If the legislature can come to an agreement, Gov. Jay Inslee has signaled willingness to call a special session in November specifically for a vote on a transportation package. Monday’s hearing, which will take place from 6:00 to 9:00 pm, is an opportunity for Central District residents to testify to the need for public transit funding to prevent bus cuts and expand service. The Transit Riders Union and transit supporters will be rallying outside the First Presbyterian Church before the hearing, from 5:00 to 6:00 pm.
Andrew Patterson leaving the court room today (via Kiro 7’s Deborah Horne).
Andrew Patterson, convicted of fatally shooting Justin Ferrari in May 2012, was sentenced today to 23 years in prison.
Patterson’s errant gunshot killed Ferrari as he drove through the intersection of East Cherry Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way.
Patterson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in July. At his sentencing this morning, he apologized to Ferrari’s family, but later said “I get out when I’m 41. That’s f—-d up.”
Prosecutors asked for a 19 year sentence, while Patterson’s defense argued for 13 years. In the end, Patterson received a 280-month sentence.