A man having a meal with friends (or perhaps former friends) was attacked after the group got into an argument at Dur Dur Cafe at 23rd and Cherry. The attack happened around 1:50 a.m. December 10, when a verbal argument got violent, according to the police report.

Punches were thrown, though it was unclear whether the victim threw the first punch or not. One of the suspects then struck the victim in the side of the head with a water glass, breaking the glass and cutting the victim.

The suspects not only left the victim with injuries, but they also left him with the bill. He did not have enough to pay on the spot, but promised to return within three days to settle up.

From the report (the victim spoke to police through an interpreter):

High school students all around Seattle are planning a walkout Wednesday with several schools (including Garfield) destined for a rally at the University of Washington. Garfield students will leave class at 12:30 and walk down 23rd Ave to the UW via that Montlake Bridge. There, they will join with students from the UW and other high schools (see the Facebook event).

On the heels of a successful and popular walk-out November 30 (judging by the overwhelmingly supportive comments on CDN and national press), students from Garfield High School and some other area high schools formed Students of Washington for Change. The group has encouraged students from all over the state to get involved in issues facing them, with state education funding at the forefront.

Students have been marching with the message “Fund the Future” front and center. According to the SWaC website, the group’s hope is that student protests against education cuts will become a statewide cause:

For the present, we will continue our focus on preventing cuts to educational programs across the state. We will ensure that a quality education is guaranteed to every student in Washington State. We also hope that this organization will expand beyond Garfield and the Seattle Public Schools. We want this to be a state wide student movement.

The group held a “teach-in” at Garfield on Monday and has upcoming legislator letter-writing sessions at Nathan Hale and Ballard High Schools.

You can follow SWaC on Facebook and Twitter.

Vehicle license fee? Booze? Eyman? Here’s how the CD ended up voting on Seattle TBD Proposition 1 and state initiatives I-1183 and I-1123.

First, Seattle Transit Blog posted an image by Flickr user Andrewjn_minn with a block-by-block map of voting on Seattle Transportation Benefits District Proposition 1, which would have instated a $60 vehicle license fee to pay for transit improvements, road repairs and investments in walking and biking projects. Prop 1 failed 56-44 citywide, but most of the CD voted strongly in support of the measure.

Here are the results zoomed in on the CD:

How about the Cosco liquor initiative (I-1183), which passed 59-41 statewide? Well, according to these maps by The Seattle Times, the CD voted heavily against the initiative. The measure calls for privatizing liquor sales throughout the state.

Image from The Seattle Times. Used with permission.

If you zoom in, you see that only Madrona, Leschi and Madison Park voted in favor of the initiative.

Finally, here’s a look at how the neighborhood voted on Tim Eyman’s failed toll-blocking bill, I-1125. The state voted 53-47 against the initiative, and the CD (and just about all of Seattle) voted heavily against it.

If you are one of the many CD urban farmers, finding worms and wholesale feed just got a little closer. Seattle Farm Co-op — a member-owned urban farm co-op — has moved-in at 18th and Jackson.

The co-op moved from SODO, where game day crowds made it difficult to operate many days. Now the volunteer-run co-op shares a space with Cascadian Edible Landscapes, Amaranth Urban Farms and a bio fuels co-op. They plan to be open 3-4 days each week, depending on volunteer schedules. A calendar of open hours is posted on the SFC website.

Aside from selling all local and organic feed and supplies for raising chickens, goats and rabbits, the co-op hosts skill sharing classes and a big spring plant start exchange. Past classes have included topics like chicken slaughtering, canning, cheese making and raising goats. The co-op also hopes to develop a tool library for gardening items.

You do not need to be a co-op member in order to buy from SFC, but members get discounts and other deals. It costs $50 to join, and you can also volunteer to offset some of the cost. And they could use all kinds of help, from accounting to website design to people who want to teach skill share classes or help with promotion events. And, of course, they need help staffing the co-op to keep the doors open.

The co-op started in February 2009 in co-founder and board member Amy Stevenson’s back yard in Fremont. But Stevenson does not like to take credit for starting it.

“I just had the idea and sent out an email,” she said. A group got together and determined they needed to pool their resources in order to buy a ton of grain (literally) to get it wholesale. So they did just that and had it delivered to Stevenson’s back yard. They later moved to Georgetown, then to SODO. They arrived in the Central District December 3.

“The co-op supplies the whole city, so we want to stay central,” said Stevenson. When they first started, the majority of members were based north of the ship canal, she said. But now that they have been in south and central Seattle for a while, the geographic disbursement of members has evened out.

The co-op plans to have a grand opening soon, as well as getting a bigger sign. But even with just a tiny sign in the window, they have had many people stop by to support them, said Stevenson.

“It’s been very warming. It feels good,” she said.

Has anyone seen my white cat?  Her name is Sarah and she loves reading and taking baths.  Anyone who has seen her please let me know right away.

June at 34th and Pike in Madrona has closed, but a new restaurant is set to take its place.

June opened in May 2010 in the space formerly occupied by Cremant. June was a French-inspired restaurant headed by chef Vuong Loc, who also owns the Queen Anne French bistro Portage.

Restaurant Bea will take it’s place, and plans to open by February.

From Hanna Raskin at the Weekly:

The restaurant venue vacated by June won’t sit empty for long: Tom Black and Kate Perry are aiming to open Restaurant Bea in the space by February.

Perry describes the forthcoming restaurant as “laid-back but polished.”

“We’re pairing Tom’s amazing food with impeccable service and a spirited ambiance for our community in Madrona and food lovers around the city,” Perry e-mails.

RIP pickled beef tongue sandwich.

The new Seattle School Board has drafted a new ethics policy to prevent that should, among other things, prevent conflicts of interest in school decisions.

Earlier this year, state auditors investigated whether former Seattle School District Director of Facilities Fred Stevens had used his influence to help his church, First AME, win the bid for the MLK Elementary building (now the MLK FAME Community Center). The audit determined he was not involved in the decision, but it also recommended that the district “establish a process by which its employees can document an official recusal for themselves whenever the possibility of a conflict of interest arises, whether that conflict is in-fact or appearance.”

From the Times:

The proposed policy, drafted by new district ethics officer Wayne Barnett, would replace a decade-old policy that officials classified as vague and noncomprehensive. In particular, the new policy would strongly enhance provisions barring conflicts of interest and retaliation for making ethics complaints.

And, for the first time, the policy would apply to School Board members and all district employees.

The policy would be modeled on the city of Seattle’s ethics policy.

Barnett, executive director of the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, pointed to the conflict-of-interest provision as the most important change in the proposed policy.

“(The old policy) did bar you from misusing your position, but it didn’t bar you from participating in a matter in which you had a conflict of interest,” he said. “This does.”

The MLK FAME Community Center gym and auditorium are available to rent for free for youth activities. For more information, see the online list of tenants and space rental options.

When two juvenile burglars broke into a Madison Valley resident’s home at 11:30 a.m. December 7, the resident locked herself and her baby in a bathroom and called 911, according to SPD. Police were able to arrive in time to catch the suspects, ages 14 and 15. They were booked into the Youth Services Center.

From SPD:

On December 7th, at approximately 11:30 am, East Precinct officers responded to a 911 call from a resident in the 200 Block of 29th Avenue East stating that someone had broken a window and was inside her home.  The victim locked herself and her baby in a bathroom while remaining on the line with 911 operators.  Officers arrived within minutes and located two juvenile males on the property.  They were quickly taken into custody.  The victim was able to positively identify one of the suspects as the one she saw crouched next to a broken basement window.

East Precinct Burglary detectives interviewed the two suspects, ages, 14 and 15, before they were booked into the Youth Services Center for Investigation of Residential Burglary.

CD Forum is accepting applications for next year’s CREATION Project, a program that aims to help black Seattle area artists “in the formative stages of their careers.” The works will debut May 4-5 at Erickson Theater. The deadline to apply for the program is December 22.

Participants will receive $1,000 to use toward creating a new work and will be given mentorship both in professional and artistic development.

From CD Forum:

The CREATION Project is a new works and professional development program created by the Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas for Black performing artists based in King and Pierce County. The purpose of the CREATION Project is to support the creation of new work for Seattle’s Black performing artists in the formative stages of their careers; to use the artistic process as the platform for learning critical professional development skills; and to support distinctive Black artistic voices.

The CREATION Project is an artistic and professional development program for local and emerging Black performing artists working in the field of dance, music, theater, or spoken word. Through a competitive process CD Forum will be selecting two participants to work one-on-one with master artist Valerie Curtis-Newton as well as receive hands on training in the field of marketing, grant writing, and other forms of professional development.

CREATION Project Showcase:

Participants will present their work in the CREATION Project Showcase at Erickson Theatre, May 4-5, 2012. Each participant will present a 20 minute excerpt of their new work. The showcase will also feature work by Valerie Curtis-Newton.

To apply, please download the application and submit by December 22, 2011: CREATION Project 2012 Guidelines and Application

For more information, please contact Randi Courtmanch, Program Coordinator: [email protected] or call 206-323-4032.

Reader Ian A. sent us a photo of some new graffiti in the neighborhood. Someone painted “Gentrification Kills” scrawled on the fence of a recently sold modern house at 19th and Jefferson.

It’s not clear who is responsible for the message, but it comes on the heels of much neighborhood debate over some Occupy Seattle graffiti near Judkins Park. Several members of Occupy Seattle helped to clean up that graffiti, saying they do not support such actions.

Gentrification has also been a topic of much discussion in the neighborhood, reignited when Turritopsis Nutricula (moment to brag: I can now spell that without looking it up) established their collective in an unfinished duplex at 23rd and Alder and when people from Umojafest PEACE Center and Occupy Seattle attempted to occupy the Horace Mann building.

County records show that the home at 19th and Jefferson was sold in late October for $649,000.