Among its educational and employment programs, 17th and Jackson’s Casa Latina helps immigrants find day labor employment that pays and treats workers fairly.

People who need to hire someone to lend them a hand can go through Casa Latina to find dependable workers. Workers can find jobs and utilize the organization’s programs and (new and improved) facilities to look for work and education opportunities.

Now, the day labor hiring process is even easier with Casa Latina’s new online form. Details:

Casa Latina is proud to announce that you can now hire a worker anytime of day with just a few clicks. Now planning that next project is quick and painless! Simply decide the day and time you will need a worker and let Casa Latina know without ever leaving your computer. Scheduling is easy and instant as well as reliable.  You’ll receive a confirmation call from Casa Latina the next business day. We hope you will give Online Scheduling a try and see how easy taking on your spring projects can be! Casa Latina asks that you hire a worker online at least 48 hours prior and that you provide a description of every category of labor requested.

(Image: Seattle Academy)

There’s another academic institution making plans for expansion just off 12th and Madison. But unlike Seattle University’s planned 2 acre and change expansion by 2028, private school Seattle Academy plans only a 28,000 square-foot facility housing math, science, arts and technology classrooms.

The Daily Journal of Commerce reported (subscription) on the solidification of the school’s plans and the necessary launch of a capital campaign to pay for the $15 million building before its targeted spring 2014 start of construction.

The building is planned for space already owned by the middle school on the southeast edge of its campus.

More on recent private school changes at our sister site CHS.

Where bike commuters live, according to BikeScore

As you sit at Cal Anderson Park watching people on bikes stream down E Pine Street while two teams of bike polo players do battle in the former tennis court, you might think Capitol Hill is something of a hub for bicycling in the city.

But as a percentage of the population, residents in the Central District are more likely to commute to work by bike than on Capitol Hill, and the CD has one of the highest rates of bike commuting south of the Ship Canal.

The Seattle Times published an interactive map recently displaying bike-to-work rates according to neighborhood. The Central District comes in at 4.37 percent*, barely higher than North Beacon Hill, but far lower than the 9.46 percent in the North University District area (the highest in the city). Only South Lake Union and Eastlake had higher bike commute rates among neighborhoods south of the Ship Canal.

For more detail, I posted a map last spring on Seattle Bike Blog showing BikeScore’s bike commuter map (see attached). While the Times map attempts to organize the data by neighborhood segment, the BikeScore map hows more of a block-by-block heat map of cycling popularity. And the CD is covered in green. Continue reading →

The intertwined worlds of design, architecture and sustainability are ready to welcome to the Bullitt Center to the planet. You can be part of the Earth Day party to celebrate its arrival.

As anybody who has walked down E Madison over the past 18 months has noted, the super-green Bullitt didn’t drop from the sky like an alien ship. Construction is still wrapping up on the solar panel-crowned project — even as it hosted its first major event Friday night with architecture and design periodical ARCADE filling the building’s second floor with a party marking the release of its spring edition.

The just-released details of the Bullitt’s big party in April are below. Expect dignitaries galore to be on hand in a Seattle mayoral election year and with the project’s planetary-wide profile. Continue reading →

King County has launched an inquest into the fatal shooting of James Anderson by police officers inside the Twilight Exit in January.

Anderson, who was armed and had already shot two people, was fatally wounded by an officer responding to emergency calls. Police said Anderson fired at officers before he was shot. No witnesses have publicly disputed this version of events to date.

Anderson’s victims, an ex and the bar’s bouncer, are recovering from their wounds.

Inquests are standard after officer-involved shootings to determine if criminal charges should be pursued. King County said in a release that the filing of this inquest is for fact-finding and “should carry no other implication.”

Here’s the full press release:

King County Executive Dow Constantine today ordered an inquest into the fatal police shooting of James Anderson at a Central Area nightclub on January 27, 2013.

Police say the 32-year old man shot and wounded two people at the Twilight Exit at 2514 East Cherry St. When officers arrived and identified themselves, police say Anderson fired at them and one officer returned fire, killing Anderson. Continue reading →

This week on CDNews is brought to you by the word “Beer.”

Earlier, we told you about Chuck’s Hop Shop planning a location at 20th and Union. But south CD folks shouldn’t feel left out because you’re getting a new small-scale brewery at 25th and Jackson.

Standard Brewing has brewed three different takes on an IPA, and is preparing to open its doors to pour you a pint (or growler). They are currently aiming to open March 20.

I say “they,” but Standard Brewing is largely a one-person show at the moment. CD resident Justin Gerardy (who lives near Garfield High School) started Standard Brewing as a way to expand on his experience as a homebrewer and get his brews into the neighborhood.

Gerardy has done a lot of the work fixing up the space and turning it into a small-scale brewery—so small that batches only produce 31 gallons at a time (to put that in perspective, typical brew-at-home kits create five gallons). But the size of the batches also allows him to be more creative, Gerardy said.

“The limitations of being small also opens a few doors,” he said, standing next to his new brew equipment and hand-made walk-in refrigerator. “I enjoy experimenting.” Continue reading →

Formerly full of mail delivery trucks, the parking lot at 24th and Union is now empty

The US Post Office has already moved their distribution center at 23rd and Union to 4th and Lander. While the distribution arm of the location was the bulk of the employment at the location, the retail front has remained open.

Now the Post Office has announced that they plan to move the retail location to “a smaller, more cost-effective location,” Russ Rainey with USPS told the City Council’s Economic Resiliency and Regional Relations Committee Wednesday (see video below).

They are in the first steps of the search for a new location, so it is still “several months down the road,” said Rainey.

However, PO Boxes at 23rd and Union will be moved to Broadway and Denny. Our sister site Capitol Hill Seattle reported last year on the sale of that property, though there are not yet plans for change there.

Here’s the video of the meeting (starts around the 7:00 mark): Continue reading →