The students of Thurgood Marshall Elementary were rewarded for their exceptional attendance record with a February 16 visit from Blenda Rodriguez of the Harlem Globetrotters. The visit was part of the Be Here Get There program as reward for the school’s January attendance rates.

From the Mayor’s office:

Harlem Globetrotter Blenda Rodriguez performed at Thurgood Marshall Elementary on February 16 in partnership with the city of Seattle and Seattle Public Schools’ citywide attendance campaign, Be Here Get There, to congratulate Thurgood Marshall Elementary for having the best elementary school attendance in Seattle for the month of January.

“We are very excited to be able to welcome the Harlem Globetrotters to our school,” said Thurgood Marshall Elementary Principal Julie Breindenbach. “We’re extremely proud of our faculty, students and parents for making attendance a priority.”

“Improving attendance rates must be addressed in ways that engage students,” said Mayor Mike McGinn. “We’re very pleased to have the opportunity to partner with the Harlem Globetrotters and congratulate Thurgood Marshall Elementary on their successful attendance.”

Mayor McGinn was also at the school for the visit, and he mentioned the program in Tuesday’s State of the City speech:

Seattle is a town that cares whether or not our kids succeed. How do we do that? Make sure every one is in school.

Our citywide Be Here Get There attendance campaign has been delivering results. Preliminary data shows that the rate of students attending school is at its highest level in five years. I want to thank all of our community partners, especially the students, parents, teachers and administrators who are making this effort possible.

Video of the mayor’s speech:

Police responded in force after reports of a man firing a gun at 12th and Dearborn around 11:15 a.m. Tuesday. The suspect was arrested near 13th and Dearborn after KIRO TV choppers spotted him fleeing on video.

No victims have been located yet, and it’s unknown if anyone was struck in the shooting.

From SPD:

Seattle Police officers, including SWAT and K-9, and Washington State Patrol troopers conducted a search for a man who discharged a firearm near 12th Avenue South and South Dearborn Street at around 11:15 a.m.  It is not known at this time if anyone was injured in the shooting.  The suspect fled on foot crossing I-5.  He was last seen headed in a southwesterly direction underneath I-5 at approximately South Massachusetts Street. 

The suspect was described as an Asian male in his 30′s, about 5’6″ tall, wearing a dark blue baseball hat and a grey and white hooded sweatshirt, possibly in a plaid, camouflage or leopard print. 

At approximately 12:40 p.m. SWAT officers stopped a male suspect matching the description in the greenbelt area near 13th Avenue South and South Dearborn Street.  That man was placed under arrest and transported to the East Precinct for processing.   

The search resulted in area road and freeway closures.  The Seattle Police Department and the Washington State Patrol appreciate the public’s patience with associated traffic delays as they searched for the suspect. 

KIRO 7′s Chopper 7 took video and the below still image of a person fleeing the area officers were searching.

After squeaking out a 25-24 win Thursday, Garfield alumna Queen Underwood took apart her opponent in Saturday’s final to win the US women’s boxing trials in Spokane. This brings the Queen one step closer to competing in the 2012 Olympics in London.

She must now place in the top eight for weight class at a May Olympic qualifier in China before taking the ring in London to battle for the crown… er… gold medal.

Underwood had her home-state crowd going crazy, the AP reports. Her story of perseverance and strength in the face of childhood abuse has resonated nationwide. You can help the Queen by supporting her Living Out the Dream Foundation.

From the AP (via Seattle Times):

The sellout crowd was behind the Seattle native, stomping on the floor and chanting “Queen! Queen! Queen!” while Underwood took apart Mayer with brutally effective shots from all angles. The final margin was smaller than expected, but Underwood had little doubt, raising one finger in anticipation of the verdict.

“It hurts. I’m happy. All in one,” she said. “I’ve been national champion since 2007 and waiting for this opportunity, and it’s finally here, and it’s over at once, but it feels great.”

Even with extensive international experience, Underwood acknowledged a huge case of jitters when she entered the ring for her first fight at the trials Monday night. She was stunned by the exuberant reception from her home-state crowd, including dozens of family and friends who traveled from Seattle.

Underwood barely escaped with a 25-24 win over 19-year-old N’yteeyah Sherman in Thursday’s fight, but the final was smoother.

“I don’t believe in losing,” Underwood said. “I don’t want to lose, ever. I knew I had the opportunity to come back tomorrow if things didn’t go right, but that wasn’t in my rule book. My rule book is coming out with a win all days. I came here planning to have four fights, and I fought exactly the way I thought.”

Demonstrators are planing a noisy protest outside the King County Youth Services Center at 12th and Alder Wednesday at 8 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to bring “anything to make noise” to the demonstration as part of a national day of prison protests.

More details and reasons for the protest from the Occupy Seattle Calendar:

There will be a noise demonstration held at the King County Juvenile Detention Center in the Central District (Seattle) at 8PM.

This is organized to respond to the California prisoners call for solidarity with prisoners which was endorsed by Occupy Oakland. Occupy Oakland will be going out to the San Quentin Prison. Other cities including LA, Baltimore, Chicago and others will be joining in on the call as well.

Things to bring:

anything to make noise! (so the youth can hear us)

banners, flags, signs, fliers, etc.

This noise demonstration will be to express solidarity with all political and social prisoners as well as the youth imprisoned at King County Juvi to break the isolation that is both a requirement and a function of prisons.

We want the youth to know that they are not alone that there are those of us in the outer walls who are saying fuck prisons, down with every prison wall.

This prison society we live in, with every one of its laws, courts, cops, prisons and networks of surveillance, has made it very clear that the ‘life’ we’re supposed to accept is nothing more than a life sentence in an open air prison and upon violation a ‘life’ of extreme alienation, isolation, and degradation. Those prisoners who resist inside recognize this as they continue to refuse the meek existence that the state and capital tries to impose on them.

Prison has a long history within capitalism and governments, as being one of the most archaic forms of prolonged torture and punishment. It has been used to kill some slowly and torture those “undesirables” to the reigning social order – who have do not fit within the predetermined mold of civil society.

More information: occupy4prisoners.org

Alleycat Acres will break ground on its new farm March 10 at noon. The groundbreaking will come a week after fundraising bicyclists storm the streets of the CD as part of the urban farming collective’s annual fundraiser.

There is still room in the organization’s March 3 fundraiser bike ride dubbed Streets and Beets (full disclosure: I am a supporting partner of the ride through Seattle Bike Blog). The 70-mile ride will begin and end at the MLK FAME Community Center in Madison Valley with a halfway lunch stop at Seattle Tilth Farm Works in Auburn.

The group hopes to raise thousands of dollars from the ride in order to support the year’s operations and the expansion to their new MLK space between Cherry and Columbia Streets (see our previous story). The new farm will be created in a long-vacant lot, and the group has been gathering a community to work the land.

If you are interested in the fundraiser bike ride, you need to register by March 1. You then need to raise money to benefit Alleycat. More ride details:

RIDE DETAILS:

• Date:
  March 3rd, 2012.
• Time:
  – Meet at 8:30 AM;
  – Depart at 9 AM;
  – End by 6 PM.
• Location: MLK FAME Center, 3201 E. Republican St., Seattle, WA.
• Registration: $25. Closes at 125 cyclists or March 1st, whatever comes first.
• Fundraising:
  – All riders agree to raise $100 in sponsorships/donations to participate;
  – Fundraising handled through Crowdrise.
• The Route:
  – 70 miles;
  – Begins in Seattle;
  – Lunch + Halfway point at: Seattle Tilth Farm Works, 17601 Southeast Lake Moneysmith Road, Auburn, WA.
  – Riders will ride a slightly different route back to Seattle after lunch.
• During The Ride:
  – Food: Breakfast, lunch + dinner provided, along with snacks along the route;
  – The entire route will be marked using the Dan Henry Marking System and cyclists will receive a printed copy of cue sheets (or download for use on a smart phone);
  – Rest stops: Every 10-15 miles; packed with water + nibbles to keep you energized.
  – Support: 2 sweet vehicles in case you get tired (or cold) + bike mechanics en route + tire pumps at each rest stop.

Here’s a short roundup of what’s going on around the neighborhood this weekend. Got anything to add? Let us know in the comments. And if you want your event listed, be sure to post details to the CDNews events calendar.

When: Saturday, February 18, 2012 11:00 AM – 05:00 PM
Where: 1634 19th Ave. Seattle, WA
What: Women’s Day Marketplace and Arts Fair

On Your Mark, Get Set, Shop! …The Women’s Day Marketplace and Arts Fair! Unique gifts, Entertainment, Food, Fun for Everyone…you will find it all at the Mount Zion Women’s Day Marketplace and Arts Fair! Mark your calendars for Saturday, February 18th from 11AM to 5PM in the Jessie L. Shields Fellowship Hall. Vendors, the Marketplace and Arts fair is the perfect place to sell, sell, sell! Applications are available in the church lobby and at www.mountzionseattle.net. We are also still in need of volunteers to help with set up, break down, assistance with vendors throughout the day, etc. For additional information please contact Dr. Georgia McDade at [email protected] or call 206.322.6500. See you there!

When: Saturday, February 18, 2012 02:00 PM – 05:00 PM
Where: Garfield Community Center
What: Black History Month Youth Talent Showcase

Seattle Parks and Recreation invites the community to celebrate Black History Month at a Youth Talent Showcase. The Showcase event is Saturday, February 18, 2012 from 2 – 5 p.m. at Garfield Community Center located at 2323 E. Cherry St. The entertaining afternoon will feature performances highlighting community youth singing, dancing, hip-hop, and poetry talents.

Garfield Teen Life Center, Yesler Community Center and Garfield Community Center collaborated on this 2nd annual Black History Month event.

For more information contact please contact Nikitta Vinson at [email protected] or 206-684-4788.

And, though it’s not a weekend event, a reminder about Wednesday’s CD Soup Swap at Judkins Street Cafe:

It is a great opportunity to meet neighbors here in the CD. To attend, we’re going to ask only this: you have to live in the Central District. We’re going to broadly define the CD so that if you live north of Atlantic, south of Madison, east of 14th and west of 30th, you are invited!

Soup Swaps are a very easy way to add some variety to your meals. You bring six one-quart containers of frozen soup, and you leave with six-one quart containers of frozen soup, but now they’ll be in a wonderful mix instead of just eating from that same big pot of soup for days and days.

We won’t be specifying it vegan, vegetarian or meat qualities: just bring what you like to cook. It’s only important to make sure that you’ve got quart size containers and that you have six. You can read about Soup Swap (it’s a craze that started right here in Seattle) at www.soupswap.com. 

We’ll start gathering around 6:00 pm for mingling, with the Soup Swap to being promptly at 7:00. If you’re in a hurry, there shouldn’t be a reason you can’t be out the door by 8:00 pm or even 7:30, but of course, we’re looking forward to having a chance to meet folks from other sections of the CD.

When the Beehive Bakery went belly-up in November, there were fears the former Philly’s Cheese Steak building would go back to being endlessly vacant. But that’s not the case this time, as Pioneer Square’s Mediterranean Mix takes over the space to open their second location (as noted in this community post by MarkJ).

“I’ve got a lot of plans for that place,” said owner Otmane Bezzaz, who also runs Pioneer Square’s historic J&M Cafe. The new Mediterranean Mix will have a similar menu to the Pioneer Square location, but the increased kitchen space will let them add a few extra items. In all, there will be about two dozen Greek and Mediterranean dishes to choose from, including their signature chicken and rice.

“We don’t buy frozen stuff,” Bezzaz said. “We make everything from scratch.”

With the opening of the Neighbor Lady next door planned in the next month, Bezzaz said he hopes the restaurant can help make the intersection more vibrant. The restaurant will close around 10 or 11 when it first opens, but the hours may extend as they get settled. They also plan to deliver.

Ever since the 2008 murder of Philly’s owner Dejene Berecha inside the restaurant, the space has found a hard time attracting tenants. Several people have warned him about the space being dangerous or even “cursed,” said Bezzaz. One person walking by on the sidewalk even warned him about the space while he was working on the roof recently. But he doesn’t believe it.

“I said, ‘Aw man, get out of here,'” said Bezzaz. “The area has changed a lot.”

This spring, the corner of MLK and Cherry will be the home of a new daytime doggie daycare center. The vacant and slowly decaying former headquarters of The Facts newspaper is getting cleaned up and renovated to become Play Doggie Daycare, which is planning on an April opening.

“Somebody had to buy it,” said Play owner Sarah Slater of the vacant property. “I’m quite excited to put something into the neighborhood and clean up part of it.” Slater lives near the corner and has operated a dog walking business called Sniff and Scamper since 2004 (“People have probably seen my truck going around,” she said).

Slater purchased the property three days after an October fire ravaged the space. The fire was started by “improperly discarded smoking materials,” likely from a person who was squatting in one of the rooms. The person squatting even furnished the room, though much of that was destroyed in the fire. However, the structure was not seriously damaged, and Slater plans to fix the roof and repaint.

She said plans include finishing demolition of the north end of the current structure, which began in September. They will then build a barn so the dogs have both an indoor and outdoor space to run around. The remaining two rooms and a bathroom currently on the site will serve as an office and, eventually, a dog grooming service, she said.

Play Doggie Daycare posted several historical photos of the lot on their Facebook page. Here’s a trip through history as the corner begins the next phase in it’s storied history:

1937 – Gas Station

1958 – Real estate office

1962 – Burgers, fried chicken and hot dogs (“The first dogs on the property,” joked Slater)

Until recently – The Facts

The building caught fire in October – Photo by Truman Buffett

More details on the daycare from Play:

The old Facts Building site on the corner of MLK and East Cherry is to be revitalized after years of lying dormant and falling into disrepair.

Once home to the iconic Facts Newspaper, the site has now been bought by a local Central District resident and small business owner and will see improvements to the existing building as well as some new construction to provide a new neighborhood hangout for local dogs.

PLAY Doggie Daycare will be a family-run daycare providing a service to dog owners who find the demands of life and work don’t always accommodate their desire to provide the exercise and attention that they would like to shower on their dog. PDD will provide a friendly, safe, and fun environment for local dogs to socialize, exercise and generally hangout with their neighborhood buds while owners can enjoy a guilt-free workday, run errands, head out of town or just take a break from their rambunctious four-legged friend.

Professional and experienced staff will monitor doggie playtime and provide additional services such as grooming, bathing, nail clipping, pick up/drop off service as well as maintain a clean and healthy facility.

PDD anticipates opening it’s 3000+sqft indoor/outdoor facility in the new year and will provide services Mon-Fri, 7am-6:30pm.

Those who wish to make PLAY Doggie Daycare part of their extended family can find more information at www.playdoggiedaycare.com. Comments and feedback are encouraged so that the service can provide what dogs and their owners need to make life more fun and relaxed for everyone.

The Wing Luke Museum and several partner organizations are hosting a series of community discussions about race as inspiration for a 2013 exhibit based on those discussions.

The first partner to host a discussion is the Northwest African American Museum, which is holding a potluck and community discussion Thursday at 5:30 p.m.

From the Facebook event:

In 2004, the Wing Luke Museum opened a powerful and innovative exhibit: “Beyond Talk: Redrawing Race.” The show included 20 works by a dozen artists exploring race and racism in the U.S., along with interactive installations designed to draw visitors into a deeper conversation, and to spur them to take action in their communities.

In 2013 a new art exhibit will open at The Wing. Like the 2004 show, this exhibit will grow out of community discussions about race and racism — this time with a focus on intergenerational conversations. Several Seattle organizations will help spark these discussions by hosting community Potlucks to stir conversations about similar topics of today. NAAM will kick off the Potluck series on Thursday, February 16, 2012 with dinner and activities led by Youth Undoing Institutionalized Racism. Dinner starts at 5:30 p.m., activities start at 6:00 p.m.

A coffee shop in the mornings and a sports bar at night, Wonder Coffee & Sports Bar will keep the lights on at 19th and Jackson when it opens in March.

Starting at 4 a.m., the shop will operate as a coffee shop with lunch food and wifi. At 4 p.m., it will close and switch over to dinner, which will go from 6 until 2 a.m., said owner Negsha Yassin. Yassin already owns several stores in the city including the Corner Store and Deli at 16th and Jackson.

Inside, the thing that might stand out the most is the body of a sports car sitting in the corner with a private seating area nearby. There will also be an outdoor patio space.

Yassin also said he hopes to have 50 beers on tap, in addition to the full bar.

“I want to compete with Seattle bars,” he said.

For dinner, the restaurant will serve “all different types of American food,” said Yassin. This includes everything from pizza to burgers and sandwiches. For lunch, it will be mostly cafe-style sandwiches and wifi (wifi is a food group, right?).

Yassin has been working on the restaurant for over a year, he said. Work will be wrapping up in the next couple weeks, and doors should open in March.