Editor’s note: This story by Bernard Choi was originally published on our sister site Capitol Hill Seattle. Kay Smith-Blum, who represents the Central District on the School Board, is holding a community meeting Saturday at the Capitol Hill Library.

The kids at Stevens are in Smith-Blum’s hands (Image: CHS)

If you’re going to talk to Kay Smith-Blum, the Seattle School Board member who represents much of Central Seattle and whose term ends this year, be prepared for an adventure. One minute she can delve into downtown demography trends. Ten minutes later, she’s focused on funding from Olympia. Then, she widens out to national testing standards, makes several pit stops, such as discussing Finland’s educational system, before circling back to Seattle.

Though Smith-Blum is serving her first term as an elected school board member, her breath of knowledge and enthusiasm for education belie two decades of advocating for local schools.

Smith-Blum

CHS sat down with Smith-Blum, a former retail executive who also runs the Butch Blum designer clothing store, to get her take on achievements during her first term and her priorities for the next four years.

“I haven’t quite made the decision to run again,” Smith-Blum pointed out at the start of our conversation. “I’m 61 and I’m the CEO of our company. The school board is another 20 to 30 hours every week on top of that. It’s an extraordinary commitment.”

The commitment grew in December when she was voted by fellow board members to serve as the board president for one year.

“It’s so very different from when I arrived. There truly is a collaborative process with the superintendent and senior staff,” she said. “That wasn’t necessarily in place with the late Dr. Goodloe-Johnson. She was a very strong leader but I would say Superintendent Banda’s approach is what we need in Seattle, which is a collaborative, thoughtful and methodical approach to the board.” Continue reading →

CDNews will have live coverage of the 2013 May Day March for Workers and Immigrant Rights, which is scheduled to leave Judkins Park at 3 p.m. destined for the Federal Building downtown.

If you can’t make it out for a sunny march for social justice, stay tuned here and follow @CDNews on Twitter for updates. Post your updates in the comments below.

Here’s a map of the route, from SPD:

Updates: The march is just about ready to get started.

Turning down Jackson from 20th:

Continue reading →

In a sort of spring training for the 2013 election run to become — or stay — Seattle’s mayor, eight candidates took the stage inside Garfield High Tuesday night for a forum on education. It seemed like mostly a warm-up.

“We need to catch these kids younger doing things right,” Council member and Garfield graduate Bruce Harrell said. With his campaign headquarters just down the street at 23rd and Union, Harrell was the most active candidate on the night and found plenty of opportunities to drop his “One Seattle” theme as he discussed worries about possible renewed threat of segregation with the shift to neighborhood schools and his hopes of bringing more private business involvement into the Seattle Public School system.

“We have to tap into the business corporate community,” Harrell said.

Harrell also found an opportunity to throw the only jab of the night, criticizing incumbent Mike McGinn for his excitement about a “green” program at Rainier Beach High when “our African American students are 8% proficient in math.”

In his defense, McGinn said he attended the Rainier Beach event at the behest of the community.

In addition to inspiring some of the few smatterings of applause from the audience and organizers from Community and Parents for Public Schools, Harrell’s effort also caught the attention of his fellow candidates.

“Let go, Bruce,” fellow Council member Tim Burgess quipped at one point when the stage mic became hopelessly tangled as he tried to lean to speak into it.

Longtime Central District activist and mayoral candidate Omari Tahir-Garrett also kept things interesting with attacks on the “apartheid” history of the United States mixed with street wisdom: “You learn according to how you pay attention” and “youth don’t drone people.”

Through it all, the eight had to chuckle as they attempted to answer questions about solving public education in 45 seconds or less. Others spent some of their time explaining that a Seattle mayor doesn’t really run the schools here.

Despite Garfield’s place at forefront of Seattle pushback on the MAP standardized testing program, none of the candidates made the issue a major talking point on the night.

Next up for the candidates is another forum with connections to Capitol Hill and the Central District as the politicians head to the North and Central Seattle Mayoral Candidates Forum in Wallingford Thursday night.

The 13th Annual May Day March for Workers and Immigrant Rights will again start at St. Mary’s Church at 20th and Lane near Judkins Park. The large march will end with a rally at the Federal Building downtown. Marchers will meet at 1 p.m. to get ready for a 2:30 3 p.m. start.

The family-friendly march brings together people from all walks of life who support social justice. See our coverage from last year’s march.

Details on the march, from El Comité Pro Reforma Migratoria Y Justicia Social:

The theme of the 2013 march will center on justice for all workers and a community-based framework for dialogue on Immigration Reform. The action on May 1st is calling for an immediate end to the E-verify and S-Comm programs, as well as a moratorium on all deportations. Nationally, immigration has returned to the fore as politicians debate several proposals for addressing a matter that has been neglected since 2009.  Congress, through inaction, has been complicit in the use of enforcement-heavy tactics such as dragnet raids, racial profiling of immigrants, and the use of discriminatory employee verification programs.Under the current administration, up to 390,000 undocumented immigrants are deported each year, with 2011 bringing the most deportations to date, according to recent statistics.  This is not the progress we envisioned when we sought to defeat xenophobic congressional legislation seven years ago.  As such, we continue to organize at the grassroots level to ensure that families are not forcibly separated and to ensure that our communities are able to live, work, and are granted the opportunity to normalize their documented status, without fear and deprivation of basic human rights.

EDUCATE, ORGANIZE, MOBILIZE.

In recent years, May Day has received more coverage in Seattle for radical actions, including some high profile acts of vandalism downtown last year that law enforcement spent much of the past year investigating. Police action in response to the protest involved at least one raid at a Central District residence. Continue reading →

Police and medics responded to a report of a shooting involving two vehicles that resulted in at least two injured victims Monday night just before 6:45 near MLK Jr. Way and Jackson.

UPDATE 4/30: The victims tell police that they were in their vehicle when two other vehicles pulled into the parking lot and boxed them in. One suspect then approached the victims’ vehicle, opened the rear door and started yelling at them. He then pulled a gun and fired multiple shots. See below for updated details from SPD.

Original story:

Police say the suspect in the double shooting is at large and the gang unit is on scene. Police say one victim suffered a gunshot to the stomach scapula while the other was shot in the buttocks.

Traffic was diverted in the area as police began their investigation and searched for the suspect vehicle believed to have been involved in the shooting. The shooting happened directly across from Fire Station 6.

One witness told police a possible suspect may have left the scene on foot.

Police were collecting shell casings near the scene at a nearby store as the victims were transported to Harborview.

Seattle Fire says it was transporting two gunshot victims from  the 400 block of MLK JR Way S to Harvborview. A male in his 20s suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was in serious condition, according to SFD. Fire says the second victim is in his 30s and is also in serious condition.

UPDATE 4/30: Details from SPD:

Gunfire erupted this evening in Seattle’s Central District, leaving two men with serious injuries. Just shortly before 7:00 p.m. multiple calls came into 9-1-1 reporting shots fired in the area of 400 MLK Jr. Wy.

The two victims were located in the parking lot of the Quick Pack Food Mart, 2616 S. Jackson.  One victim, a 20-year old man was shot in the back and the second victim, a 26-year-old man was shot in the buttocks area.  Witnesses gave a description of a black male, 20’s, hair in a ponytail running from the scene.

According to both victims, they were sitting in their vehicle when a dark colored SUV drove and parked in front of their vehicle, blocking them in.  Four black males exited the SUV and started talking to each other; one of them went into the food mart.  Then suddenly, another dark colored SUV (possible Ford Flex) parked in back of them blocking their vehicle from the rear.  Moments later, an unknown male entered the victim’s rear driver’s side door and began to yell at them.  The 26-year-old victim then saw the unknown male pull out a gun and start shooting at them.  The suspect fled on foot and both victims called 911 for assistance.  Both victims were taken to Harborview Medical Center for treatment.

The Gang Unit responded and processed the scene.

Anyone with information about this incident and or suspect(s) is asked to call 9-1-1. Anonymous tips are welcome.

Because I might pull a muscle trying to out-pun Jonah at SPD, I’ll let him take it away:

Vandal (or Rogue Chicken) Wanted for Egging Car, Attempted Hot Tub Poaching

Seattle police are working to crack a tough case after some fowl fiend threw an egg into a Madrona man’s car and then cracked a dozen more into his backyard hot tub over the weekend.

Appropriately, Officer Samuel Byrd (no yolk) was called to a home near 36th Ave and East Pike Street Saturday afternoon to take the man’s report.

The man wasn’t able to provide police with any leads about suspects in the case—and no one came forward at the scene to admit “I am the egg man”—but SPD’s hard-boiled sleuths will keep working to make sure the suspect doesn’t fly the coop.