Unable to join via Zoom? Please call: 253-215-8782
Meeting ID: 897 2226 6403
Passcode: 008064836
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NHUAC’s June 2nd meeting will be the last before the summer break and it will be an important one. You will have the opportunity to hear from and talk to the leaders of our local first responders, the North Highline Fire District (NHFD) and the King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO).
Chief Mike Marrs of NHFD has been participating in NHUAC’s meetings on King County’s proposed Subarea Plan for North Highline. Chief Marrs will join us to discuss the fire district’s perspective on the proposed plan, the upcoming 4th of Julyholiday and the new fireworks ban.
There’s a new sheriff in town! On May 24th. the King County Council unanimously confirmed Patti Cole-Tindall as King County’s Sheriff. Sheriff Cole-Tindall will make her first visit to NHUAC at the June 2nd meeting. She will be joined by Undersheriff Jesse Anderson, who you may remember as Major from his time as Commander of the Southwest Precinct in Burien and his visits to NHUAC. We welcome them both and, of course, Deputy Bill Kennamer!
Before NHUAC meets again, you can enjoy a tasty breakfast while helping the White Center Kiwanis support our young people! The White Center Kiwanis’ 12th Annual Pancake Breakfast will be held on July 16thfrom 8 am to 12 noon at the White Center Eagles. Tickets can be purchased from any White Center Kiwanis member, Bill Tracy (206-248-2441), or at the door.
You are invited to join the conversation because knowledge is power.
Learn, share, and help make North Highline a healthier community.
Unable to join via Zoom? Please call: 253-215-8782
Meeting ID: 861 8430 3928 Passcode: 538997120
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White Center has a colorful history. “During the Prohibition years (1916-1933), the trade was bootleg liquor. Some members of local law enforcement were in on the smuggling.’ After Prohibition ended in 1933, bars and restaurants that serve alcohol became a significant part of White Center’s legal business community. White Center — Thumbnail History – HistoryLink.org
The legalization of alcohol put the newly formed Federal Bureau of Narcotics at risk. It needed something to prohibit. Cannabis was chosen for a number of reasons, including money. Companies such as DuPont and Ford feared competition from products that might be produced from hemp. Racism was another motivator. The ”name…’marihuana” painted cannabis as foreign and dangerously exotic, making it seem as though the criminalization of marijuana was necessary to keep the country safe.” The History of U.S. Marijuana Prohibition – CNBS
In 2012, Washington voters legalized the recreational use and sale of marijuana. Since legalization, cannabis shops have become a substantial part of the community. With them came tax dollars and concerns ranging from the effect of such an abundance of these businesses on our young people to the recent rise in robberies of cannabis shops.
In 2015, the Liquor Control Board became the Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB). So, what is the state of the liquor and cannabis businesses in our community and state? NHUAC will be joined LCB’s Lieutenant E.P. Hackenberg and Officer Erick Thomas at our May 5th meeting. You may know Officer Thomas. His territory includes North Highline, and he participates in NHUAC and Coalition for Drug Free Youth meetings. We’ve asked Lieutenant Hackenberg to talk about maintaining safety in cannabis stores and other industry wide issues. We welcome them both and, of course, Deputy Bill Kennamer!
Knowledge is power.
Learn, share, and help make North Highline a healthier community.
Unable to join via Zoom? Please call: 253-215-8782
Meeting ID: 858 9846 6765
Passcode: 887033793
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“Neighbor is not a geographic term. It is a moral concept.” – Rabbi Joachim Prinz
“Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be removed by the actions of human-beings.” -Nelson Mandela
Have you any idea how many kids it takes to turn off one light in the kitchen? Three. It takes one to say, “What light?” and two more to say, “I didn’t turn it on.” – Erma Bombeck
Some thoughts to ponder before NHUAC’s April 7th meeting where we’ll learn more about the county’s vision for our community, a/ka the North Highline Subarea Plan. We’ll be joined once again by Jacqueline Reid, of King County’s Department of Local Services (DLS). She will share the recommendationsof Executive Dow Constantine. His proposal went to the King County Council last week for discussion. deliberation, finalization, and ultimately a vote. Councilman Joe McDermott, Fire Chief Mike Marrs and Deputy Bill Kennamer will also join the discussion.
According to a 2011 Opportunity Mapping Analysis, White Center is a “low opportunity neighborhood” with “some of the worst health outcomes in King County… ranking number one for diabetes-related deaths, infant mortality, and heart disease….” The report also cites “academic achievement and poverty challenges.” “School poverty has serious implications not just for students, but for districts, communities and the region.”
Unable to join via Zoom? Please Call: 1-253-215-8782
Meeting ID: 455 440 2206 Passcode: 590112761
Thanks to all who participated in NHUAC’s February meeting! The discussion about the Subarea Plan for North Highline was an intense and important one and it is not over. Jacqueline Reid, of King County’s Department of Local Services (DLS), will join us again in April to discuss the recommendations Executive Dow Constantine makes to the Subarea Plan. His proposal is expected to go to the King County Council by March 31st for deliberation. We are hoping Councilman Joe McDermott will also be able to join us. Mark your calendar for April 7th!
The Subarea Plan is not the only tool DLS is working on to enable increased density in North Highline/White Center. Jesse Reynolds will be joining NHUAC this coming Thursday (March 3rd) to discuss the North Highline Urban Design Standards project. Jesse is manager of the project, which is charged with creating an urban design framework for new commercial, multi-family, and mixed-use developments. The proposed standards include formalized public input in the development review process. Thursday’s meeting will give you an opportunity to weigh in on what is being proposed for that process as well as the county’s ideas for designing a safe and welcoming neighborhood with a distinctive identity. Please join us to learn about the proposed design standards, share your opinions, and welcome Jesse who recently moved to Arbor Heights.
Another big change we heard just a little about at the February meeting was King County’s 16th Ave SW Pedestrian Safety and Traffic Calming Project in White Center, which aims to add safer street crossings at all intersections, streamline travel lanes, increase on-street parking, and possibly add bike lanes. Broch Bender, Road Services’ communications manager, will join us for a more in-depth presentation and to listen to ideas and comments from community members.
You are invited to NHUAC’s first meeting of 2022 on Thursday, January 3rd at 7 pm. The new year offers new opportunities to establish an equitable, healthy North Highline. King County has been busy. What we do today will determine North Highline’s health far into the future.
For instance, we impact our physical environment in many ways such as pollution, burning fossil fuels, and deforestation. Changes like these have triggered climate change, soil erosion, and poor air quality. As a planner with King County’s Green Building Department, Nicole Sanders has worked on the county’s energy codes and has news to share about electric vehicle parking and research on greenhouse gases and fossil fuel facilities.
Unfortunately, the maps of zoning amendments in the county’s proposed Subarea Plan did not identify most streets. Jacqueline Reid of King County Permitting will be back to help us understand what the plan means. Understanding what the county is planning for us is essential. King County’s Subarea Plan will be a road map to life in North Highline from public health to economic and ethnic justice to segregation and discrimination to displacement, fair housing and opportunity to schools, parks and open spaces to density and permitting to roads and infrastructure, police, and public safety to fireworks and cannabis shops.
Speaking of fireworks, it’s been a long time coming but fireworks are now illegal in North Highline and the rest of unincorporated King County. We will be updated on that and other issues by John Taylor, Director of the Department of Local Services, Fire Chief Mike Marrs, and, of course, our Community Deputy Bill Kennamer.
Knowledge is power.
Learn, share, and help make North Highline a healthier community.February 3, 2022at 7 pm – Invite a Neighbor!—
Please join NHUAC’s last meeting of 2021 on Thursday, December 2nd at 7 pm. 2020 has been a tough year for the North Highline / White Center community. As painful as it has been, trauma is not new to our community. This meeting marks 15 years since Deputy Steve Cox was killed in the line of duty. The next day, the Seattle Times headline read: Slain deputy had become White Center’s “Superman”
It was not an exaggeration. Deputy Cox grew up playing ball in the park which now bears his name and a memorial in his honor. He learned that knowledge and education are power, so he got a good education, became an attorney, and worked as a prosecutor in Eastern Washington. That didn’t last too long.
Deputy Cox came back to White Center because he wanted to make it a better place for everyone. He joined the Sheriff’s Office and became White Center’s Store Front Deputy. Steve cared about our White Center community and believed in all of us. “Don’t Quit” was his favorite poem. It sums up the way Deputy Cox lived his life and is his lasting message to all of us. Although Steve was a family man with a new baby, he volunteered to help whenever he could. Steve was NHUAC’s president when he died. Those of us who knew him could not help but learn from him. He still leads the way in NHUAC’s efforts to support a heathy community of opportunity that does not back away from its struggles.
With that goal in mind, the focus of this meeting will be: Our Community: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Please join the conversations with State Reps. Eileen Cody and Joe Fitzgibbon, King County Councilmember Joe McDermott, Marta Olson of King County’s Department of Natural Resources & Parks, and, of course, our Community Deputy Bill Kennamer. Knowledge is power. Learn, share, and help make North Highline a better place.