As an outsider — I live just down the street in Capitol Hill — a community discussion on race in the Central District is best left to the community. I’m here to moderate. Please take a look at the discussion going on around a note posted by a CD neighbor named Gordon to one of our recent posts. It sounds like Gordon isn’t familiar with CDNews and found the site through a link to one of our stories on the Seattle Times site. It also sounds like Gordon has seen a lot of change:

My name is Gordon Curvey and I was born and I was brought up in the Central Area. My mom still lives in the house I grew up on (30th and Spring) since 1958.

I am bothered by this section in the Seattle Times because most likely (not for sure) it is written by someone who is white. I am a African American by the way.

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I am sorry to say that white folks have taken over the CD. Walking there dogs all over the CD. The culture of the CD is GONE. My black community I grew up in is GONE.

I used to go in Grocery Outlet of walk town Jackson St or Yesler St or Union St in the CD and would not see a white face. Now it is almost like walking in Ballard.

I am not a black racist folks. I am just bothered that my black community in the Central Area is GONE. I drive down 23rd and pass by Powell Barnett Park and see a sea of white families and there kids in the play area.

Again I would used to see ZERO white faces at Powell Barnett. Most whites in the CD hang to themselves with ZERO black friends. Again, whites have taken over the Central Area. I am tired of seeing white folks walking there dogs all over the CD.

It bothers THE HELL OUT OF ME. I wish the Central Area would come back to the black community and our culture I used to know.

It’s a tough comment to read and will probably be frustrating to many. I hope you can take it as others in the thread have — as an opportunity to talk about the history of the neighborhood in a constructive, realistic way. We’ve turned comments off on this post — but you’re welcome to add your voice on the thread where Gordon’s initial post was made. As we head into the New Year, finding ways to talk — and do something about — change seems like a healthy resolution.

Leave it to us to go looking in the shadows of the holidays but, admit it — when you go away for a holiday, somewhere in the back of your city-dwelling mind is the worry that your home or car is going to get broken into when you are away. Here’s a look at where the reported break-ins occurred this week. If anything, you can see the property crimes weren’t very widespread. Seems like thieves take holidays, too. Happy New Year!

Here’s a look at the CD burglaries reported in the past seven days. You can view incident details in the live map at SeattleCrime. One caveat: Not all break-ins are reported and it’s possible more haven’t been reported yet as people might still be out of town.

Meanwhile, here are the car prowls. A few people down around Swedish would like their old CDs, their registrations and their spare change back, please.

What was Seattle’s mayor doing at Washington Hall Tuesday night? Mike McGinn rolled out his office’s newly released Seattle Nightlife Initiative Community Report including strong support for later bar closing times and better late night transportation. We’ve pulled out some highlights and our takeaways from the report. Full report including survey results and feedback collected from various community meetings is embedded below.

• Interesting to note that the “Central Area/Squire Park” didn’t crack the top nightlife destinations for survey respondents even with the options in the area of 12th Ave and the in the Cap Hill convergence zone along Madison. When people think about nightclubs, they think “Capitol Hill.”
• “…more than 80 percent of online respondents agreed or strongly agreed that, ‘Extending service hours will make our streets safer.'”
• “Support for late-night transportation options other than driving was widespread. Nearly 90 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, ‘People would be less likely to drive under the influence if there were late-night forms of transportation like taxi stands and public transit available after bars close.'”
• One option visualized for the report is the friendly Night Owl Bus Service that would pick up drunk people up and down Pioneer Square, Belltown, Downtown and Pike/Pine and deposit them to far lung points like Ballard and West Seattle.
• Maybe the most straightforward, practical transportation solution in the report: Starting in April, pay parking stations will begin operating at 10 PM to allow drivers to pre-pay for up to two hours of morning parking time. The current meters don’t turn on until 4 AM to accept pre-pay.
• This 2,200+ pool of Seattleites is a confident bunch. Less than 15% said theyfelt unsafe on the streets at night.
• The survey respondents were also not highly concerned about noise as “only 6 percent of respondents reported having a significant problem with nightlife-related noise at least once per month. And 65.8 percent reported that they had never experienced this problem.” The report notes more concern about noise was voiced by attendees at the community meetings.
• Concerns about unfair enforcement at venues featuring live hip-hop acts and at gay and lesbian establishments were also documented in the report:

Online, many were concerned about the relationships the Seattle Police Department and Washington State Liquor Control Board have with gay and lesbian nightlife venues. Respondents asked that officers with pro-gay values be assigned to enforcement at gay clubs and bars, and that more effort be made to crack down on anti-gay harassment and street violence, particularly in Capitol Hill. In response to these concerns, the Mayor requested an audit of the Code Compliance team’s enforcements to be completed by the city’s nightlife coordinator.

• Finally, the report reminds that the city’s douchebag laws go into effect starting this weekend:

The Nighttime Disturbance Ordinance was passed by the City Council on August 2, 2010. It creates a new civil infraction for loud noise, threats or fighting that occur in a public place in a commercial or industrial zone between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m. The noise provisions of the ordinance were approved by the Department of Ecology in November and SPD is currently conducting officer training on the ordinance. Enforcement will begin in January 2011.

Here’s the Seattle Times take on the update. Full report from the mayor’s office is below. You can view the complete survey results here.

Nightlife Report Final

We didn’t wake up to snow here in Seattle like those to the north and to the south but there’s still a chance we might see some flakes before Wednesday is done.

Cliff Mass says probably just cold today:

So today will be a difficult challenge. Our temperatures are marginal for snow at sea level. On the higher hills (above 300 ft) the chances of snow are increased and where precipitation is heavy the snow level could descend to sea level.

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So watch the radar. If the convergence zone revs up perhaps we might see a few inches near sea level in the central Sound. If not, this could be a big bust for snow lovers in Seattle. Again, this is NOT November 22! The ground temps are above freezing and air temps are above freezing. The road surfaces are not going to freeze, although slushy snow can be a bit slippery. And daytime and warmer temps are coming.

National Weather Service concurs:

Today: Rain showers likely before 4pm, then rain likely, possibly mixed with snow showers. Snow level 400 feet. Cloudy, with a high near 43. Light wind becoming northwest between 13 and 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Tonight: A 30 percent chance of snow showers before 10pm. Mostly cloudy, with a steady temperature around 33. West northwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 39. Light and variable wind.

We’ve focused a lot of attention this month on the effort of local landowners and business people to reinvigorate the intersection of 23rd and Union. The Seattle Times checked in this week with an elder statesmanwoman of the corner:

Gail Thompson knew she needed to make a decision. But which one could she live with?

Her choices were to keep running Thompson’s Point of View, the Central District restaurant her husband, Carl, opened in 1986. Or close it.

No one would have blamed Thompson for leaving. She’d just taken over the business in June after Carl died. Profits had run dry. Then there was the matter of location.

To Thompson’s right at 23rd Avenue and East Union Street sat an empty sandwich shop. Across from her: a liquor store. Kitty corner: a vacant lot.

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Kids often hung out by her restaurant, dealing drugs, causing trouble and scaring customers away.

There was little reason to think things would improve. But quietly, new life has been pumping into this decaying corner. more…

We wrote about Gail’s decision back in May, here. The Times takes a tour of 23rd and Union starting with Thompson’s and also talks to many of the people we’ve been covering in recent weeks. It’s a good snapshot of the situation and the opportunities. Give it a read to see what the rest of the city is hearing about the intersection.

Our recent coverage is here:

• Thompson’s Point of View suffers a loss, stays within family
• Coming soon to 23rd and Union: ‘more bakery than coffee shop’
• Union Street Business Group: Meet the people working to change 23rd and Union

kai in snow, originally uploaded by tomathonhenry.

Things will be quiet on the site for a few days but we’re still around so definitely holler if you see something everybody needs to know about, have a question or just want to say, “Merry Christmas and happy New Year.”

In the meantime, we’ve run a special human-powered algorithm to determine some of the best little, happy stories of the Central District in 2010. We’ll get back to all the news and information next week (unless something big happens in the meantime, of course)

Top “Happy” Stories of 2010:

• Big pre-spring cleaning in Jackson Place
• Saturday: Squire Park Community BBQ
• Feet First comes to the ‘hood; a Q&A with Executive Director Lisa Quinn
• Umojafest Parade Photos
• The Pollinator Pathway project-getting ready for next phase
• Neighborhood Character: Bust on 22nd
• Your streets are cleaner thanks to a Bellingham woman
• New El Mestizo restaurant is a hit
• Molly Moon’s truck outside Buggy Wednesday, plus wine tasting
• Weekly Wide World of Wildlife in the Central District
• Pratt mural featured in Seattle Times

East Madison Street, 1959, originally uploaded by Seattle Municipal Archives.

This photo from the Seattle Municipal Archives shows that Central District News isn’t the first advertising supported business to operate in the area. The picture was recently added to the Central District Flickr pool. Thanks for sharing! Note that one of the billboards in this 1959 view down East Madison is for cigarettes — a level we have not fallen to. Yet. A current-day view, below. We get the approximate location right?

View Larger Map

Seattle Times reports that City Light has finalized its picks for contractors to test thousands of streetlight poles and vault covers in Seattle after electricity leaks were found across the city:

Seattle City Light has hired two companies to help it test all 20,000 metal streetlight poles to see if they have faulty wiring that could cause dangerous voltage problems.

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City Light hired Davey Resources Group from Ohio and Power Resources Corp. from New Jersey. It was Power Resources that discovered three power poles on Capitol Hill, First Hill and the Central District that were emitting contact voltage, which could pose a safety hazard.

We reported last week that three electrified streetlight poles were found on corners in central Seattle including right here at 23rd and Union:

• 13th Ave E at East Aloha — 60 to 80 volts — Cause: Deteriorated wires
• Boren at Marion — 90 to 105 volts — Cause: Unknown
• 23rd and East Union— 60 to 80 volts — Cause: Unknown

Each of the lights was shut down until repairs could be made, according to City Light. We were not able to confirm from City Light exactly which pole was identified at 23rd and Union.

While the exact cause of the escaped voltage is not known for two of the three locations, age appears to be a factor in each as old wiring was to blame on Aloha and the two metal poles involved in the First Hill and Central District locations were both 30 to 40 years old. City Light told us that the contractors would likely target neighborhoods like Capitol Hill and the Central District for inspections first given the age of the infrastructure in the area. Times reports that the contractors are continuing to work with City Light’s original springtime target to complete inspections across the city.

The voltage in each of the three nearby locations was potentially dangerous. The Queen Anne dog death on Thanksgiving that first brought attention to the problem poles involved about 90 volts but even 30 or 40 volts can be lethal to small creatures — including humans.

It’s not the greenest of holiday experiences so you’ll want to offset some carbon credits before you head out, but here’s a map of some of the Seattle area’s more extravagantly lit neighborhoods. Not sure we’d recommend trying to bike through any of the spots marked unless we are bringing *lots* of friends. For biking — and the definitely green walking alternative — stick to the local joys of your neighbor’s light strings.

View Christmas Light Displays in a larger map

Back in October, the Seattle City Council scrambled to approve a rezone for land at Broadway and Jefferson so that the developer could meet a 2010 financing deadline. While we haven’t confirmed anything about the project, the appearance of “FOR SALE” signs at the lot might be an indication that, despite the council’s efforts, time has run out on the mixed-use development.

The council approved the project’s request for a rezone that gave them up to 70 feet in height, allowing them to build retail spaces on the ground floor compatible with the steep slope of the property.

The developer had previously stated that the project had a commitment for full funding that ran out in the fall of this year.

We’re checking in and will follow up when we learn more.