Seattle School Board member Kay Smith-Blum dropped a bombshell at the Squire Park Community Council meeting this weekend, saying that the private Hamlin Robinson school was about to enter a contract to lease the school from the district.

Located at the top of the hill at 18th & Union, TT Minor was closed after the 2008/2009 school year after an emotional battle between parents and the district, and now sits empty with its windows boarded up. The stated reason for the closure was low enrollment and expense of operating the old building.

Hamlin Robinson focuses on students with language problems such as dyslexia, and has outgrown their existing facility in South Seattle. They were one of four organizations who placed a bid to take over the old MLK school in Madison Valley, but have notified the district that they’re withdrawing from that in favor of a deal on TT Minor.

Smith-Blum stressed that the TT Minor property was going to be leased, not sold, and that this was the only option for the district to avoid the property reverting to city control after a 2-year vacancy. Hamlin Robinson was the only organization that made a lease proposal for the TT Minor building. The term of the lease will be for 3-5 years.

The long-term question is whether population growth in the Central District will support reopening TT Minor as a public school at a future date. Supporters of the school have always argued that the district was ignoring the number of new families in the area around the school and would be forced to reopen it as other neighborhood schools became overcrowded.

Smith-Blum said that was a definite possibility as the district has been relying on data from the 2000 census to drive their growth predictions. She said that the 2010 census will give them much more accuracy, and she’s also pushing to specifically count the young siblings of existing students and include those in the district’s projections.

If the local population does ever warrant re-opening TT Minor, Smith-Blum said that the district will retain the right to take the school back within 18 months of providing notice to the lessee.

Last month we posted a photo comparison that showed spring was about 3 weeks early compared to 2009. A commenter asked to redo the comparison on April 9th, when the original photo was taken. We couldn’t make it on the 9th, but here’s the comparison from today, April 11th.

Vs one year ago:

Interested in growing food and helping kids understand where their food comes from?  Come share your ideas for our new community learning garden in Rainier Beach!

The Rainier Beach Learning Garden Steering Committee will host the second of 3 meetings to design the expanded garden.   We will compare several designs and share ideas for making the garden an inviting and educational space for friends and neighbors of all ages.  

When:   Tuesday, April 20, 6:00 – 8:00 PM

Where:  South Lake High School

Dinner and childcare will be provided.  Translation services available upon request.   

The Rainier Beach Learning Garden is a partnership between Seattle Tilth, Seattle Parks, South Shore PTSA, South Shore PreK-8, Rainier Beach Community Center, New School Foundation and Kids Co.   It is located behind South Shore School next to the tennis courts and gives kids and adults a place to grow food while learning about healthy eating and environmental stewardship.   

Last August, a local landscape firm, In Harmony Sustainable Landscapes, helped 50 volunteers build 6 raised beds to start the garden.  Since then, Seattle Tilth has been teaching kids and adults to love bugs, grow food and explore the natural world through hands-on science.   We recently received a matching grant from Department of Neighborhoods to expand the garden, teach the latest techniques in urban gardening and help more people grow their own food.   

For more information, contact Sharon Lerman at [email protected].    Join our Facebook page!

Favorite cooking show: Top Chef. “It’s one of the only cooking shows that respects what a chef does on a daily basis. Every Wednesday night, my chef buddies and I watch it at a bar—The Bottleneck Lounge. We yell at Padma [Lakshmi, Top Chef host/judge] for her bad outfits. (Just kidding Padma! Much love Padma!) It’s like we’re at a sporting event. Someone will say, ‘I can’t believe he gave that sauce to Tom Colicchio!'”

The new season of Top Chef is currently filming in Washington D.C. and will begin airing in September. Though Stratton does not mention it, you may catch him watching Top Chef’s spin off Top Chef Masters at Bottleneck, on Wednesday nights at 10 pm.

Just heard 4 gunshots at about 10:00 pm near Cherry and 21st Avenue.

Full Honk! coverage on CDNews!

The afternoon set of acts are kicking off at several locations within a block of 14th & Yesler. Come on out and enjoy the tunes.

Here’s the Yellow Hat Band:

Brilliant location here. The Sounders Sound Wave band is playing way up on the roof of the new Pratt Park apartment building:

The next set of bands start at 1pm at several locations around 14th & Yesler:
http://www.centraldistrictnews.com/2010/04/07/honk-fest-west

Here’s Yesterday’s Chonies playing in front of St. Mary’s Church. They’ll be on the Fir Street stage at 14th & Fir at 3pm

Here’s Brass Messengers in front of the CAMP firehouse. They next play at 1:30 at 14th and Fir

It’s a brisk morning, but the sun is out and it looks like it will be a perfect day for all the bands here for HONK! Fest.

Here’s Bakra Bata, residents of Leschi, kicking, kicking things off at CAMP at 718 18th Ave. They’ll be playing here for another 20 minutes or so, then again at 2pm at 14th & Yesler.

HONK continues through the afternoon at spots all over the neighborhood. See the full list of performances at http://www.centraldistrictnews.com/2010/04/07/honk-fest-west