All are welcome to this free event! Click the link below this flyer to view the flyer in SIX different languages!

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The CDA received this from an email over the weekend - check it out! It’s definitely soup weather (the event is in White Center, even though it says “West Seattle”).

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The Great Soup Off of West Seattle
Saturday, November 6th at 5p
At Big Al Brewing
9832 14th Ave SW

Dearest friends and neighbors,

As the Pacific Northwest winter snuggles in for another season, what better way to celebrate than a Great Soup? Few things could accentuate the community-building powers of soup like some healthy competition between the neighborhoods of our favorite corner of Seattle.

The Greatest Soup Of West Seattle will not be awarded with cash, prizes, fame or hot chicks. The Greatest Soup of West Seattle will be awarded that distinction alone.

Please RSVP to Mikhaila.gonzales@gmail.com or 917-519-1442 by Monday, Nov 1st to contend and/or eat.

Friendly, but a competition nonetheless, some rules are in order:
1. Great Soups will be judged solely by flavor (5 of 10 points) and texture (5 of 10 points)
2. Celebrity Judges of West Seattle account for 50% of total scoring.
3. Guests account for 50% of the Final Soup Score, so make sure your guests like both you AND your soup.
4. Contenders may NOT judge the Great Soups.
5. Like any Great Soup, it may be delicious paired with all sorts of fixins, but your Great Soup must stand on its own.
6. Must be 16 and over to submit a score card. Sorry young foodies. You can still have some soup.
7. If you do not live in West Seattle, you may submit a Great Soup for the less distinguished title of Greatest Soup Outside of West Seattle.
8. Great Soups must be submitted with a comprehensive list of ingredients on one side of an index card, for the safety of our guests and judges.

Please bring your own serving stuff.

Our staff visited the scene on Sept. 23 and stood on the corner of 14th and Cambridge, after hearing interpreters were needed at the scene. Police were able to find interpreters by the time CDA staff arrived with two staffers who speak Cambodian. Photo by Ian Dapiaoen.

Our deepest thoughts and wishes go out to the Phan/Harm family and all victims of violence in our White Center community. If you wish to contribute to costs of funeral and medical expenses, a benevolent account has been set up at BECU (via Harm family):

If you wish to contribute monetarily to costs of funeral & medical expenses, a benevolent account has been set up at BECU. Deposits can be made at any BECU accepting deposits, by mail or electronically (for BECU Members only).

Phan/Harm Memorial Fund
Acct # 3586082948
BECU
PO BOX 34044
SEATTLE, WA 98124-1044
BECU Members can call: (800) 233-2328

Read the Seattle Times article here.

Mark Neuman from the B-Town Blog sent this in to us. Thanks Mark!

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The B-Town (Burien) Blog ( www.b-townblog.com ) is hosting a Candidates
Debate this Tuesday, September 28, in Burien, 7pm to 8:15pm, featuring the
two candidates vying for Dow Constantine’s former seat on the King County
Council.

The two candidates are:

Joe McDermott, current 34th district State Senator from West Seattle.

Diana Toledo, also from West Seattle. She is a former King County employee
(15 years) and self-described whistle blower on “gross mismanagement and
waste of taxpayer dollars” in King County government.

The event will be moderated by Dr. T.M. Sell, who teaches Political
Science and Journalism at nearby Highline Community College.

The debate will be held at the ERAC, 15675 Ambaum Blvd SW, just north of
Hi-Line Lanes, across from the Azteca Restaurant.

The debate format will consist of two or three journalists asking
questions for the first half or so with questions then coming from the
public. There is no cover charge and anyone and everyone is welcome to
attend.

For more information, please contact Mark Neuman at: mark@b-townblog.com

Here’s a great photo from last week’s SOPI Village Groundbreaking ceremony. Thank you to the 100+ White Center residents, community leaders, elected officials, community partners and SOPI Village supporters who attended. Click here for coverage from White Center Now. Photo by Patrick Robinson - West Seattle Herald/Robinson Newspapers.

The newest earthwork in the King County Public Art collection, Pillow Field by Andy Cao and Xavier Perrot, provides pedestrian connection along SW 98th Street between White Center’s Greenbridge housing development and the central business district and transit center. It also connects the residents surrounding the CBD and transit center to the library and youth center at Greenbridge.

The remarkable project, completed in July, is an illustration of what can be achieved when contemporary artists’ perspectives are brought into the design of our public spaces. The 227 earthen mounds, representing the cultural diversity of White Center, are covered by creeping thyme which will blanket the 16,000 square foot site with pink blossoms from late spring to late summer. A generous, central staircase and ADA-accessible ramp frame the sculpted quadrants of the earthwork and replace the former tough terrain and steep slope. This public artwork is the first permanent piece by Cao and Perrot in the United States.

The SW 98th Street pedestrian corridor has been finished for a month but it already supports a high level of positive community uses, from high school athletic training to elders enjoying their daily stroll. Pillow Field is part of King County’s successful community initiative, begun in 2005, which is intended to spur private investment and foster a vibrant, healthy, mixed-income community in White Center. The corridor was developed as a result of the Land Use, Transportation, Air Quality and Health Study, which found that people who live in walk-able communities are healthier.

Although many residents are enjoying the benefits of the new pedestrian corridor, sadly, vandalism has caused King County to close portions of the site for safety reasons. Vandals stole the stainless steel hand-railing and cut the electrical service to the pathway lights. The corridor’s central stairway is unsafe for use at night without the lights and handrails; however, the ADA-accessible ramp remains open. The area was also repeatedly vandalized with graffiti. The 98th Street Corridor is a collaboration between King County’s divisions of Roads Services and Parks, 4Culture, and the White Center Community Development Association. Pillow Fields was partially funded through the King County 1% for Art fund. The project also received $1.5 million through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

About the artists:
Andy Cao’s work melds landscape and art. In 2006, he teamed up with landscape designer Xavier Perrot and formed the award-winning cao | perrot studio. Drawing on their diverse cultural backgrounds, Cao and Perrot, respectively born in Vietnam and France, create environments that they describe as “places for dreaming.” Their projects cross commercial, artistic and residential boundaries, and vary in size from intimate courtyards to a 600-acre public park. The artists often employ humble, everyday or recycled materials. The result is work with an organic, handmade feel-spontaneous and low tech-that defies specific meaning, but invites visitors into a contemplative world of color and sensuality.

To find out more about the artists: http://www.4culture.org/publicart/registry/sites/sites_artist.aspx?ArtistID=8

To find out more about the 98th Street Corridor: http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/dnrp/newsroom/newsreleases/2010/August/0813VandalsCauseClosure.aspx

Check out this follow up article regarding our recent CDA Membership Mixer:

West Seattle Herald: White Center CDA Mixer touches on important issues

Due to the request of our CDA Members, we will hold a follow up mixer to talk more about the issues discussed last weekend. Stay tuned for more information!

CHECK OUT THESE TRANSLATED VERSIONS!

VIETNAMESE - SPANISH - KHMER

Mmm…BBQ chicken. Yesterday, 1,000 youth, seniors, community members and organizations from White Center converged on Greenbridge’s plaza to participate in a “Feeding Washington” event for the White Center Food Bank. Besides the abundance of food (the aforementioned chicken, bread, corn, and potato salad), there was also entertainment and speeches from elected officials. Photo: Ian Dapiaoen.

Calling all local historians, both amateur and professional! Preservation 4Culture is embarking on a new project in partnership with the White Center Community Development Association to document the history of the Southgate Roller Rink and we are asking YOU to share your memories…

The Southgate Roller Rink served as a community gathering place - weekend hangout, family activity center, and sports arena - for over 70 years. It is a neighborhood fixture that helped put White Center on the map. Popular sports figures like boxers Al Hostak and Harry “The Kid” Matthews, wrestler Robin Reed, and most recently, the Rat City Roller Girls drew large crowds to White Center. The rink is probably best remembered by locals, however, for the hours they spent showing off their skating skills circling around the hardwood floor with their family members and/or sweethearts. We want to hear about those experiences!

Contact Flo Lentz at flo.lentz@4Culture.org or (206) 296-8682.

Image: © 1948, Courtesy of Washington State Archives, Puget Sound Regional Branch.

Source: 4Culture