Logo

By Patrick Robinson, Ty Swenson, and Steve Shay
West Seattle Herald 

From 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. on May 19 throngs of White Center citizens joined with politicians, law enforcement and the who’s who of community involvement to revitalize the neighborhoods of North Highline as part of the 9th Annual White Center Spring Clean, put on by the White Center CDA (and several partners).

Red shirts proudly proclaiming “I love White Center” could be seen throughout North Highline, and the day culminated with good music, great dancing, food courtesy of Chemo’s Mexican Restaurant, martial arts exhibitions and a visit from King County Sheriff Steve Strachan.

Volunteer Matthew Krull was typical of many volunteers. Age 13, he is on his way to his Eagle Scout badge with Troop 375 in Burien and was there to repaint many of the aging garbage can lids in White Center. “They are 600 pound concrete garbage cans that have been grafittied or broken and we are repainting them to match the White Center colors of blue, orange and gold.”

 Darlene Sellers a recreation coordinator with King County Parks was working at Steve Cox Memorial Park with the Evergreen Maintenance team on three projects raking the track with the White Center P.A.L. Boxing team working on that, and planting flowers at the two entrance signs and picking up litter.

Congressman Jim McDermott stopped by and told the crowd, “those of you who live in White Center live in one of the most amazing places in the State of Washington.” The Congressman later went to a coffee meeting at Dubsea Coffee at Greenbridge

King County Councilmember Joe McDermott was there and in his T-Shirt ready to work. He praised the organizers and thanked the crowd. Alan Painter, representing Dow Constantine’s King County Executive office also spoke briefly.

Xavier Lopez, a mural artist, was working a mural on 107th sw. on the south wall and has completed a design for a White Center Lions Club to be added soon to the wall next to Walt’s Mufflers on 17th s.w. He and his father will work on that project.

King County Sheriff Steve Strachan spoke about the initial effectiveness of creating an alcohol impact area in White Center (several stores have volunteered to not sell malt liquor or fortified wine for off-premise use from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m.). He said the goal is to improve the business community by lowering public drunkenness.

“This is one of CDA’s signature events and we couldn’t do it without all our partners,” White Center CDA director Sili Savusa said. “It’s something the kids can really get into with their parents to not only support and clean White Center, but for people to meet each other and for real bonding to happen between families.”

The White Center Community Development Association extends its thanks to sponsors: 
King County Housing Authority, Boeing Employers Credit Union, McLendon’s Hardware, White Center Chamber of Commerce, Impact Capital, City of Seattle Office of Economic Development, Habitat for Humanity Seattle/South King County, Reed Paint, Sherwin-Williams, Samway Market, Lee’s Produce, Safeway, QFC, Saars Super Saver Foods, West Seattle Tool Library, El Dorado West, King County Parks and Recreation, Norwest Graphics, Chemo’s Mexican Restaurant and Seattle Public Utilities.

Photo by Patrick Robinson: Spring Clean in White Center was a massive effort by hundreds of volunteers to clean up and revitalize the community on Saturday May 19. Every one of the volunteers got a I love White Center T-Shirt and a free lunch served at the Greenbridge community