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.

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.

The annual Holiday Arts Sale hosted by the Pratt Fine Arts Center starts Saturday, with an Opening Night First Dibs Party taking place tonight. Tickets are on sale for the opening party via Brown Paper Tickets.

The sale runs every day except Thanksgiving, until November 30, from 11am to 7pm. Other than the opening night, the sale is free to attend.

The sale includes a range of items. According to the Pratt website:

Enjoy an exceptional selection of art and unique gifts including handmade glass, sculpture, jewelry, paintings, prints, ornaments and other functional objects — all made by local artists. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Pratt Fine Arts Center, the most dynamic year-round, multidisciplinary arts center in the Pacific Northwest!

For more info, visit the event website.

Long-time Central District resident Samarya Center looks to raise $50,000 to build a new facility for its yoga classes. The center has been located at 18th and Yesler since 2001, but its building was recently sold. Samarya Center will need to relocate at the end of this year in order to continue providing community yoga classes, including the popular Yoga in the Park summer series.

Wanting to stay in the Central District, Samarya has found a new space for its yoga classes at 17th and Jackson, above Cheeky Cafe. But in order to build out the space, they’ll need to raise $50,000. The nonprofit is using the fundraising platform Indiegogo to raise funds, and as of this writing they’ve nearly cleared $18,000.

According to the Indiegogo site, Samarya will use the money to “support our move, construction/build-out of our new school, and to provide a solid financial foundation from which to grow and have the capacity to serve even more people both in our direct service or community gathering, yoga classes and therapy, as well as to train dedicated students to carry out these teachings within the greater world communities.”

More details on the fundraiser:

If we are able to raise over $50,000, we will also be able to build up our reserves to allow even more flexibility for scholarship and no cost classes and trainings. We will be able to offer Integrated Movement Therapy to even more people in need who may not be able to afford it. We will be able to bring even more people with diverse life experiences on to our Samarya Yoga Teacher Training. And we will be able to invite more members of our local community to participate in our classes at reduced rates.

We will also be able to uplift and support our dedicated volunteers who offer their love and support to folks in our end of life care programs, our programs for homeless youth, and our programs for veterans, among others.

Since the Samarya Center is a 501c3 nonprofit, all contributions to their campaign are tax deductible. To donate, click here.

This post is part of a series of profiles of Central District residents, part of the “People of the Central Area” project developed and written by Madeline Crowley.

Photo by Madeline Crowley

About Michelle:
Michelle Purnell-Hepburn has spent her life in financial institutions, literally learning at her father’s knee, then working at the Liberty Bank when young. The Liberty Bank was the first African-American owned bank at that time west of the Mississippi. It is an important part of Central Area history.

Your parents contributed to an important part of Central Area history, they were part of the Liberty Bank.

Well, the Liberty Bank of Seattle was a dream of my father. He wanted African-Americans to have the ability to create their own destiny.Liberty Bank, though, was really an off-shoot of an existing financial institution already in the Central Area called Sentinel Credit Union. This was much like Salal Credit Union but much smaller. That had began I believe in late 1940s, maybe the 50s, and the original membership were the Masons.

These were the Prince Hall Masons who met in the Central Area just off of Cherry Street. So on the corner was the “Facts Newspaper,” Fitzgerald Beaver was the proprietor there. One block east was the Masonic Hall, which I believe is condos now, across the street was the (then PhyllisWheatley) YWCA.

That corner of the Central District was where the Sentinel Credit Credit Union started. I started working there when I was very small, embossing and stamping pamphlets. There was a stamp and you had to be very precise with it. I got my start there. I have to admit that my father and his Masonic brothers, their dreams were bigger than a Credit Union. They wanted a financial institution. A bank.

My father, my mother and seven to eight other community leaders founded the Liberty Bank. The initial meetings, the gathering of signatures and the issuing of and the tracking of stock, that was all done in our basement.

The Charter was applied for more than once and was denied. Eventually, the Charter it was approved and the Bank opened in late May 1960.

Can you explain what the situation was for the African-American community without having their own bank? What did that mean for the average person?  

For the average person that meant you had to go to the big banks, the SeaFirst Bank or the People’s Bank or Seattle Trust. Then, you basically had to prove your worth, to prove that you had collateral. To prove that you maintained your home, and show that you had a business plan. I’m using terms that are used now that weren’t used then.

What happened to those who were not able to access banking services?

Without access to banking services you are forced to operate by the cash on hand in order to run your entire business. Or you’re finding credit through loan sharking which is charging you a ridiculous rate.

To read the rest of the story, click here.

After far surpassing their Kickstarter fundraising goal and bringing in a whopping $69,084,

Central Cinema’s new bling (photo from Kevin Spitzer)

Central Cinema has been busy making upgrades to its projector system.

The theater’s goal was to pull in $60,000 to upgrade to a Digital Cinema Package (DCP) projection system. By 2014, all major movies will be made for DCP projectors, so theaters around the country are being forced to upgrade. As a result of the successful drive, Central Cinema has installed the projector and the related infrastructure like cables, sound baffling, and electronics.

Co-owner Kevin Spitzer spent time at the Pratt Fine Arts Center’s metal shop creating projector’s housing, now suspended at the back of the theater.

Though Spitzer says they hit a few snags trying to get the picture and sound to run smoothly, Central Cinema is now showing movies in the new digital format, including the currently-running Die Hard flick.

Phoenix Rising Motion Pictures recently released a trailer for its film One Square Mile, which was filmed throughout Seattle — including at Garfield High School. We haven’t been able to find a date for the movie’s release, but the film’s IMDB page says 2013.

You’ll recognize several locations throughout Seattle, including the Fishermen’s Terminal and the Ballard Locks  Here’s the trailer:

A blog entry from the Washington Filmworks Blog last September has more info:

Washington Filmworks’ production incentive project One Square Mile, starring Kelly Blatz (Prom Night), Academy-Award^® nominee Richard Jenkins (The Visitor, Burn After Reading) and Academy-Award^® winner Kim Basinger (L.A. Confidential, 8 Mile) just wrapped principal photography in Seattle this past week.  The feature film was written by Josh Campbell and Jeff Van Wie and directed by award-winner Charles-Olivier Michaud (Snow and Ashes, 2010 Slamdance Film Festival Grand Prize).  The film shot for 25 days at locations throughout Seattle such as Fishermen’s Terminal, the Ballard Locks, Rainier Beach and Garfield High School.

 

Synopsis – On the threshold of young adulthood, Drew (Kelly Blatz) is torn between the dreams of his youth and the all-too-real existence of his marginalized family life.  Across the street, his older neighbor, Coleman (Richard Jenkins), is a broken man haunted by the past and struggling to finish his life with any kind of meaning he can muster.  The promise of Drew’s athletic abilities captivate Coleman, reigniting a drive for excellence long lost to the old man.

 

Read more about the film here.

The full story from the Seattle Police Department blotter:

A violent rapist—who was being sought by the King County Sheriff’s Office after failing to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison—is in custody after attacking a 60-year-old woman in a hospital bathroom over the weekend. Seattle Police Department detectives are investigating the case.

Around 5 pm on November 9th, the victim was inside a women’s restroom at Harborview Medical Center when she noticed the 38-year-old suspect standing in front of the bathroom door. Without saying a word, the suspect charged the victim, grabbed her by the neck, and slammed her through a door into a bathroom stall, striking her head against a wall. The suspect slammed the woman’s head into a wall and began strangling her before the woman began screaming for help.

As the woman began to lose consciousness, the woman’s male friend, who was using a men’s restroom next door, heard her screams and ran into the women’s bathroom to help the victim.

As the victim’s friend began striking the suspect in attempt to free the victim, the suspect kept one hand wrapped around the woman’s neck as he attempted to fend off her friend.

Eventually, the suspect released the woman and tried to leave the bathroom.

The commotion drew the attention of hospital staff and King County Jail officer, who took the suspect into custody with the help of a Washington State Trooper, who was working off-duty at the hospital. The officers then contacted Seattle police.

SPD officers arrived and arrested the suspect, who appeared intoxicated. The suspect is a transient. It is unclear why he was at Harborview.

The victim was treated for her injuries at Harborview, and the suspect was booked into the King County Jail for investigation of assault.

SPD detectives have referred the case to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for charges.