Cuba Johnson stands proudly on her porch with Rebuilding Together volunteers. (photo courtesy of Rebuilding Together)

Some six million low-income families nationwide live in substandard housing, with broken heating and plumbing, holes in walls and windows, roach and rodent infestation, falling plaster, crumbling foundations, insufficient fire prevention, and leaking roofs.

Today, thanks to the nonprofit Rebuilding Together Seattle, that statistic has one fewer person.

Rebuilding Together Seattle volunteers at Cuba Johnson’s home (photo courtesy of Rebuilding Together Seattle).

Rebuilding Together recently worked on the home of Cuba Johnson, a Central District resident and 74-year-old widow of a veteran living alone. Her home is frequented by her children and grandchildren.

But Johnson has trouble moving around because of an arthritic knee, and her home was in need of several repairs. Last Saturday, November 23, volunteers from Madrona Ridge Residential and Security Properties spent a day at her home and rebuilt her back steps, removed clutter and broken appliances, replaced roofing and siding, and repaired gutters.

The project was part of Rebuilding Together’s inaugural Safe at Home Impact Day, which included 10 projects around Seattle with 100 volunteers from 65 local businesses providing free home restoration to low-income families. Johnson’s home was also the 1,000th house restoration project since Rebuilding Together Seattle’s founding in 1989.

Rebuilding Together is a national nonprofit that performs home rehabilitations for low-income residents at no cost to the homeowners.

A resident checks out the Jackson site (Image: Nickelsville Works)

Central District residents around 22nd and Cherry will get some new neighbors today as a third Nickelsville encampment moves to the Central District. Neighbors in the area received notices at their doors this weekend informing them of the relocation of the Skyway Nickelsville Neighborhood Encampment to 612 22nd Avenue.

In August we reported that the West Marginal Way Nickelsville encampment was moving after five years at that location. The group split into three, with two encampments settling in the CD. A third moved to Skyway.

The Skyway encampment will be hosted by the Cherry Hill Baptist Church, located across East Cherry Street from the lot where the group will now camp. The notice says that the encampment will have about 35 residents, with the potential for up to 70 people to stay on site. The notice also says that the residents “will be moving to other property within three months.”

Nickelsville residents must obey strict rules to live at one of the encampments. Residents agree to nonviolence, treating property respectfully, foregoing the use of alcohol, and generally acting as good neighbors. The notice encourages neighbors to stop by for a visit and take a tour with a Security Worker.

Seattle Police responding to reports of an armed man in an apartment window near 23rd and John early Friday morning shot and killed the suspect as he opened fire on officers with a rifle, SPD says.

The area around 23rd an John remained blocked as the investigation of the incident that began unfolding around 4 AM continued.

The incident began around 4:10 AM when 911 callers said there was “a male up in the window” hanging out the 22nd Ave side of the building with a gun in his hand “looking for somebody.” Police arrived moments later and set up outside the building. A “shots fired” report was broadcast by SPD radio around 4:20 AM. The suspect was reported down by police seconds later.

The initial response was reported at 109 23rd Ave E in the Elizabeth James House, a Capitol Hill Housing building. Continue reading →

See full size map below

The Liquor Control Board has released a roster of the first wave of applicants in a 30-day window for entrepreneurs to sign up for the privilege of producing, processing or retailing legal marijuana in the liberty-blessed State of Washington.

In all, CDN counts 88 line items in the database for applicants within Seattle’s city limits — though there are a few players dealing in with multiple hands. A map of the initial Seattle applicants is below.

We predicted a possible “Little Amsterdam” to emerge at 23rd and Union; the first applicants fulfilled the prediction with two entities filling the area with a handful of applications. One of those entities — Uncle Ike’s — is backed by 23rd/Union landowner and business owner Ian Eisenberg. How the board’s lottery for areas with multiple applicants will work isn’t entirely clear nor is how the board will vet the applications for elements like leases and rental agreements. A “letter of intent” requirement was relaxed during the process, one applicant told CDN.

Applications will be accepted through mid-December with the first licenses scheduled to be issued in February. The first stores are expected to be open by the start of summer.

The full map of the initial Seattle applicants is below.

The beleaguered Med Mix restaurant at 23rd and Union was the victim of a third round of graffiti over the weekend. Late Saturday night or early Sunday morning, two people tagged the plywood wall separating the restaurant and the sidewalk.

And once again, the taggers were captured on film. (Click on the photos to open a larger version.) If you have information relating to this incident, please call Seattle Police Department’s non-emergency line at (206) 625-5011.

At an epic seven-hour meeting Wednesday night, the Seattle School Board voted on several amendments and school boundary changes that will have deep impacts on families with children living in the Central District.

The new boundaries for Stevens, courtesy of the district.

Among the most significant changes is the board’s approval to open The World School, for immigrant children, in the T.T. Minor building. This change comes despite a vocal outcry from Central District families who wanted T.T. Minor to be used as a traditional elementary school. The group cited data that shows almost 500 children living within T.T. Minor’s walk zone and a projected growth to 600 by 2017.

The new boundaries for Madrona K-8, courtesy of the district.

The World School is currently housed in Meany Middle School, which will reopen as a traditional middle school in 2017. Students from Stevens and Lowell would join those from Madrona (K-8), McGilvra, and Montlake in Capitol Hill’s Meany campus when its $14.2 million overhaul is complete in 2017. Currently, students from those schools all feed into Washington Middle School in the Central District.

Several school boundaries also changed, with Stevens Elementary losing its Central District students. Madrona K-8’s boundaries have also shifted.

Seattle Public Schools has a grandfathering policy for elementary school students, who are allowed to stay in their current schools despite the boundaries shift. But students in 5th, 6th, and 7th grade will be forced to attend the middle school dictated by the new boundaries starting next year.

The board also decided Wednesday night to institute an annual process of boundary adjustments. So in theory we could see changes like this every year.

The district has posted a full list of boundary changes for elementary schools with maps to its site. Middle school maps are still pending as of this writing.