Planners behind the neighborhood’s annual UmojaFest parade and festival are already hard at work for 2012. They recently released this promo video and would like to remind you that’s its never too early to sign up as a volunteer.
UmojaFest is a three-day festival running from August 3-5 in Judkins Park. The centerpiece event is an August 4 parade from 23rd and Union to Judkins Park. See photos from last year.
When Dixie Mitchell faced foreclosure on her 21st Ave home of 45 years, she fought back. She wasn’t looking to get out of her loan, she just wanted the chance to pay it back after the banks bundled and resold the loan several times, sending her interest rate through the roof. In the meantime, her husband had a stroke and was unable to work, and Dixie, a cancer survivor herself, was trying to get the loan owners to sit down with her for a state-mandated foreclosure mediation session.
After thousands of people signed a petition in support of the Mitchells and lots of media coverage, the lenders finally agreed to restructure her payments.
Her story will be featured today in the Culture Project’s “Blueprint for Accountability: The Wall St-Washington Connection.” the theatrical reenactment and panel discussion out of Washington D.C. features some big names, including Van Jones, Ron Suskind and Eliot Spitzer. It will happen live in D.C., but you can watch online (see video player below). Broadcast is 4 p.m. today (March 27).
From Washington CAN:
Her story highlighted the bad practices of the big banks and epitomized the struggle that millions of homeowners were facing. Dixie launched a national petition and quickly received 7,385 signatures of support from across the country. We worked with Dixie to get the petition signatures delivered to her mortgage company in Florida while we held a press conference at her home in Seattle. Due to the volume of petition signatures and the expansive media coverage of Dixie’s plight, her mortgage company finally agreed to modify her loan.
And now Dixie’s story is going national. The Culture Project in New York heard about Dixie and is featuring her story in their event next week: “Blueprint for Accountability: The Wall Street-Washington Connection.” Through theatrical representations of personal stories and a panel discussion, the program will confront the economic crisis and the role the big banks played in crashing our economy.
Panelists include:
Eliot Spitzer, Former New York Governor
Matt Taibbi, Author and Contributing Editor at Rolling Stone
Ron Suskind, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author and Journalist
Van Jones, Author and President, Rebuild the Dream
Heather McGhee, Demos, Washington Director
Jesse LaGreca, Occupy Wall Street Activist
Although the event is taking place in Washington DC, they will be live-streaming, which will allow folks to watch and support Dixie from the west coast.
When: Tuesday March 27th at 7:00 pm EST/4:00pm PST
LIVE STREAM LINK: http://blueprint.fora.tv
You can join in on the conversation through social media as well:
Facebook: Facebook.com/Blueprint4Acct
Twitter: @Blueprint4Acct #WallStWashington
UPDATE: You can watch the program in its entirety at the FORA.tv website (Dixie’s story starts around the 23:00 mark):
Culture Project: Blueprint for Accountability from Culture Project on FORA.tv
Found a black baseball mitt in Powell Barnett Park. Turned it in to the Garfield Community Center.
I
Chanting “I Am Trayvon Martin,” an estimated 2,000 people marched from the Greater Mount Baker Baptist Church at 25th and Jackson to Martin Luther King Memorial Park Monday in protest of the Florida teen’s killing (see our previous post). Protester’s demanded justice for Martin’s family and the arrest of George Zimmerman, the block watch captain who pursued Martin and shot him.
Martin was unarmed, carrying only a can of iced tea, a bag of Skittles and a cell phone at the time of the shooting. Police did not arrest Zimmerman or test him for drugs and alcohol, prompting outrage from the family when they learned the details of the case several days later.
That outrage spread across the country.
UStream user scyon posted video of the Seattle march. Speeches at the rally start around the 23:00 mark:
UPDATE: CD photographer Truman Buffett was at the protest. Below are some of his photos. You can see more on Buffett’s website.
Grab a hoodie and a bag of Skittles. People are gathering at the Greater Mt. Baker Baptist Church Sunday afternoon to protest the shooting of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin and the reluctance or inability for prosecutors there to pursue charges against the shooter.
Martin was unarmed when a neighborhood watch leader, George Zimmerman, shot him to death. Martin, who was black, was drinking an iced tea and had a bag of Skittles on him at the time, but Zimmerman told police Martin looked “suspicious.” His death has sparked national outrage. The local Police Chief stepped down amid intense protests there, but that has done little to ease the anger as protests spread to cities all over the country.
The Seattle rally starts at 4 p.m., and participants will march to MLK Memorial Park.
Rally at 4pm
Greater Mt.Baker Baptist Church,
2425 South Jackson StreetMarch at 4:30pm to
MLK Memorial Park,
2200 Martin Luther King Jr WayTrayvon Martin, a 17 year old black male from Florida, was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch officer named George Zimmerman. Zimmerman followed Martin on the grounds that his behavior was “suspicious” despite having been told not to do so while on the phone with 911.
Investigation shows misconduct on the part of the police officials on scene, ultimately leading to Zimmerman’s walking free. While the evidence continues to pile up showing that Zimmerman’s assertion that he shot Martin in self defense is a fabrication it makes sense that we should stand in solidarity with Martin and make sure that justice is accounted for. Trayvon Martin was wearing a hoodie that night–clearly the reason for his suspiciousness.
Here’s how YOU can help:
1) Sign the petition here (and don’t forget to share it on your facebook wall):
http://www.change.org/ petitions/ prosecute-the-killer-of-our -son-17-year-old-trayvon-martin2) Wear a hoodie, bring a bag of skittles, a can of iced tea, and/or a sign demonstrating your support for the prosecution of George Zimmerman.
3) Invite your friends, coworkers, neighbors, anyone and everyone you know to this protest
Sponsors of the rally include:
Seattle King County NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)
Mothers for Police Accountability
American Friends Service Committee
Martin Luther King Celebration Committee
Greater Mt. Baker Baptist Church
Seattle Branch – International Socialist Organization
Social Equality Educators
I know some of you have been counting down the days until Madrona Neighborhood Appreciation Day since Christmas, and it’s almost here. The 2012 Madrona Neighborhood Appreciation Day celebration starts at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Madrona K-8 Library.
The celebration is a chance to honor some of the people in the community and the school who have had an impact in the past year.
From the Madrona Community Council:
This event is a joint effort between school and community, and celebrates Neighborhood Appreciation Day by bestowing four neighborhood awards and multiple school awards for staff, teachers and students. Visit the Madrona Neighborhood page or click here download a PDF list of past winners in all neighborhood and MK8 school categories. All awards will be presented at Neighborhood and School appreciation day on Saturday March 24, 2012.
Help make Neighborhood Appreciation Day Sweeter!
Attendees are requested to contribute 1-2 dozen of your family-favorite baked goods, to help celebrate our appreciation for our neighbors and our school. Goodies can be brought with you to the event at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 24
th, or dropped off on Friday, March 23rd at the Volunteer Office at Madrona School.
Afterwards, you can wander over to Madrona Wine Merchants for an “Intriguing Italian Wine” tasting, which starts at 2. More info from the CDNews event post.
An 85-year-old woman was struck by a vehicle shortly after 8 a.m. this morning at 23rd and Jackson. Police say she is alert and conscious, and she has been transported to Harborview as a precaution.
Police are investigating the driver for signs of impairment, and traffic collision investigators are working at the scene. If you are driving, avoid the area this morning as there will likely be backups.
Buses 4 and 48 are rerouted off 23rd. From King County Metro:
Rt 4 – Use will use a ‘shuttle bus’
– To downtown Seattle use stops at the terminal 25th Av S & S Walker St, stops along S Dearborn St just west of Martin Luther King Way S or northbound on 23rd Av S just north of S Jackson St.
Rt 4 to Judkins Park – Use the Rt 4 ‘shuttle’ use the stops at the terminal 21st Av at Jefferson St, southbound on 23rd Av S until Yesler Way, stops along Martin Luther King Way just north of Dearborn and all regular posted stops to the terminal.
Rt 48 – Use the regular stops on 23rd Av S at Yesler Way or on 23rd Av S south of S Dearborn St.
Madrona’s newest restaurant is almost ready to serve up a “hyperseasonal” menu on 34th Ave. Restaurant Bea will officially open March 30, though there will likely be a few soft openings before then.
Bea (pronounced “bee”) is looking to be “first and foremost, a neighborhood restaurant,” said Kate Perry, who owns Bea along with chef Tom Black. We talked in the under-construction restaurant. The floral wallpaper gives a cozy, home cooking feeling, which is what Pery and Black want.
“We want to be a fixture in the neighborhood,” said Perry.
Bea will serve dinner-only to start, but hope to add brunch a little down the road. Their menu will change often depending on what is in season.
“We’ll try to use what’s available, trying to utilize as much local food as possible,” said Black. That means using whatever fish the fishermen have that day and produce that’s ready for harvesting. Therefore, some menu items might stick around for a while, but others may be gone as quickly as they were added.
The restaurant takes over the space formerly occupied by June. But the inside is getting an extensive makeover, and the bar area will be significantly larger than it was previously. Happy Hour will go from 4-6, but they do not have plans to stay open late.
They are also renovating a private seating area in the back of the restaurant (see photo) that can fit parties of around 20, and they hope to open a patio space in the summer.
Both Perry and Black live within a few blocks of Bea, and they have been kicking around the idea of opening a spot in Madrona for a while.
“I’ve enjoyed a long career of opening up places for other people,” said Black. “We found a way to open a restaurant the way we want it to be and where we want it to be.”
They plan to open at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for happy hour. Dinner service starts at 5 p.m. Tuesday – Saturday.
The Washington Liquor Control Board visited Central Cinema earlier this week amid protest from citizens and Seattle city leadership over rules that could jeopardize the family-friendly business model at the neighborhood cinema (a CDNews sponsor). The problem is not gone completely yet, but the visit revealed that the cinema has been following rules that are no longer in place, prompting a few immediate changes:
More on the visit and the new rules changes, from Central Cinema:
We just had a positive meeting with the Brass of the Liquor Board. The directors of the various departments at the Liquor Board were in Seattle for meetings and they wanted a tour of the Cinema so they could see first hand how we operate. Generally they liked what they saw and it was a good thing to show them that are not a bad influence on children. It was interesting to find out that we have been following some rules that are no longer in effect. I had the Director of Enforcement tell me that the type of chairs and tables for dining areas was no longer and issue for them and that our folding arm/tables in the back are fine. The main issue for them is that people are actually eating in a dining area. This is a positive development as we will be able to open the upper level to all ages. It is a bit of a moot point as the upper level is being converted into booth seating over the next two weeks. We talked about what the next steps in the rule changing process are and we should be getting an official response to our petition soon. There is still a few months of governmental process to go until things are smoothed out but the prospects are looking better with each step.
Here’s a couple recent videos from the neighborhood to get your through hump day.
Forget OkCupid, City People’s Garden in Madison Valley wants to set you up with the perfect longtime partner: A houseplant:
And, of course, Reel Grrls has a new video out promoting a new program: Dis This! A disability justice and media camp that runs April 16-20 (Spring Break).