King County’s Department of Natural Resources and Parks announced Friday (Aug. 13th) that, due to serious vandalism that caused unsafe conditions, they’ve closed the recently-opened SW 98th Street corridor, which runs between the Greenbridge community and the Central Business District.

The county says that vandals have ripped out the stainless steel railing and knocked out lights along the corridor, which was just opened in mid-July. The corridor’s steep stairway is unsafe for use at night without the lights and handrails, however the ADA-accessible ramp that runs through the corridor remains open. The area was also vandalized with graffiti.

Here’s the county’s full announcement:

A recently completed pedestrian corridor connecting new homes and a growing commercial area in the White Center neighborhood has been so badly vandalized that King County must close it for safety reasons.

Vandals ripped out the stainless steel railing and knocked out lights along the 98th Street Corridor, which was just opened in mid July. The corridor’s steep stairway is unsafe for use at night without the lights and handrails, however the ADA-accessible ramp that runs through the corridor remains open. The area was also vandalized with graffiti.

The 98th Street Corridor sits between the new Greenbridge community and the Central Business District along Southwest 98th Street. The corridor was developed as a result of the Land Use, Transportation, Air Quality and Health Study, which found that people who live in walkable communities are healthier.

King County collaborated with the White Center Community Development Association on the project. More information is available at http://www.kingcounty.gov/exec/whitecenter.aspx.

This coming Wednesday, White Center residents can join their Greenbridge neighbors for a sampling of Somali and Vietnamese music, art, and food in the Greenbridge Plaza, from 4 to 6 pm.

“Music in the Plaza” will be a monthly event in Greenbridge this coming summer.  The Somali and Vietnamese communities in the Greenbridge neighborhood will host the inaugural Music on the Plaza night, followed by the Cambodian and English communities in July and the Russian and Hispanic communities in August.  These events promise to be a wonderful opportunity for White Center residents to meet their neighbors and learn a little bit about the rich diversity of cultural traditions rooted right here in our neighborhood.  What better way to spend a few hours on a warm summer northwest evening?

WHAT: “Music in the Plaza” shared by the Somali and Vietnamese communities of Greenbridge.

WHEN: Wednesday, June 16, from 4 to 6 pm.

WHERE: The Greenbridge plaza, located in between the Jim Wiley Community Center and Dub Sea Coffee, around 9800 8th Ave SW, Seattle, 98106.

INFO: This is a free community event.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story marks the premiere writing/editing post of Sarah Alisabeth Fox, our latest Writer/Editor for The White Center Blog. Not only is Sarah a talented writer and editor, she’s also a new resident of the area, so please give her a nice welcome!

It’s a mild and sunlit Sunday evening in White Center, and I’m boiling tomatillos and roasting jalapenos for a batch of fresh salsa.  My husband is out in the front yard, staking down black mesh for the base of the four vegetable garden beds we plan to build.  We are listening to the blues on the stereo, and our dog, inexplicably, is napping away the last hours of sunlight in the back of the station wagon.

We’re new in the neighborhood.  We lived in West Seattle for three years, and we savored the close-knit community we discovered there. We lived within easy walking distance of the beach at Lincoln Park, and a host of locally owned bakeries, petstores, coffeehouses and taphouses, not to mention a grand Sunday farmer’s market.  We might have rented there indefinitely had a good friend in White Center not called us up one day to tell us about a house for sale in her neighborhood she thought we ought to see.

Three months later, here I am in my White Center kitchen, peeling the papery skins off steaming tomatillos, dancing around to Blind Lemon Jefferson.  It took a few weeks of unpacking and settling and exploring for this place to begin to feel like home.  I missed the sidewalks of West Seattle as I walked the dog, and as I made my way into my seventh month of pregnancy, I missed my easy access to organic goodies at the PCC market.   But my fondness for this house and my pride in being a resident of White Center grows every day.

Having discovered I’d forgotten to buy cilantro for my salsa, I set out just now to pick some up.  Piles of pink blossoms are drifted along the streets, and lilacs are in bloom in every yard, it seems.  

At Castillo’s Supermarket, I find a giant bundle of fresh cilantro for forty-nine cents, and pick up a few tomatoes, some fresh ginger, and a ripe mango for good measure.  Practice my barely-passable Spanish when I check out, and stand in the parking lot outside for a moment watching the sunset beginning to glow over the rooftops.  Decide to take the long way home, and loop through the downtown White Center business district.

On my loop, I pass the Khmer Community center, the locally owned hardware store, McClendon’s, and Heng Heng, the Asian grocery store where we stock up on curries and coconut milk and rice noodles.  I make a mental note to visit the New Angkor Market, and though I’ve never had a professional tarot card reading, I am curious about what they may tell me at Portal Nueva.  I pass by Full Tilt Ice Cream, where my husband and I recently picked up mango sherbet and free posters from the CrimethInc collective, which is “dedicated to a freer and more joyous world.”   Waiting for the traffic light at 16^th and Roxbury, I peer through the windows of the White Center International Market, and add it to my list of stops to make in the coming weeks, along with the Salvadorean Bakery and Restaurant, which I know lies a block west on Roxbury.  I cross Roxbury onto Delridge, and resist the urge to stop for takeout at Banh 88, the family-run Vietnamese restaurant we love.   After all, I have dinner in the works at home.  I loop back to the south, passing Naseem Mini Market and Spices, and a Bartell drugs with a banner reminding potential customers “We speak Vietnamese.”  I add Samway Oriental Foods to my list of groceries to explore, and am reminded that we have Big Al’s Brewery right down the street, in case we need fresh local beer for picnics in the coming summer.  There’s the White Center Eagles, where my husband and our friends sometimes meet for a drink after work, and our very own neighborhood bowling alley, Magic Lanes, where the aforementioned husband and friends celebrated his bachelor party before our wedding last summer.  A few blocks to the east, there’s a great new coffeehouse, Dub Sea, nestled in the new Greenbridge development, home also to a beautiful new community center, library, and Boys and Girls Club.

something for everyone in the White Center business district:

Home again, I gather my cilantro and assorted produce and head inside to finish the salsa, thinking about the neighborhood, and our place in it.  All too often, the arrival of people like my husband and I sets off warning bells in diverse, low-income communities.  Young, well-educated white folks who sing the praises of diversity are usually the beginning of a wave of gentrification that drives up real estate prices and gradually edges out the people and businesses who’ve called a place home for years.

It is true that communities are always changing.  One-hundred and fifty years ago, this area was home to Salish Indian families.  One-hundred years ago, immigrant families from all over Europe made their homes here, and as recently as the 1930s, the families on our street were still pasturing cows and chickens and pigs in their yards.  To each of these previous White Center populations, the White Center of 2010 would look very different indeed.  But the White Center of 2010 is the one in which we all live now, and it is the one my husband and I want to become a part of.

It is a paradox, to realize that we may be a part of the gentrification of White Center, and being aware of it only strengthens our resolve to celebrate and learn about and stand up for the White Center we have found.  We are expecting our first child this summer, and we want him to grow up in a truly American neighborhood, one that embraces all its members regardless of ethnic background or economic bracket, one where neighborhood playmates know different languages, and white collar and blue collar folks live side by side, swapping food traditions at backyard barbeques.  We want our son to come back here in twenty years and recognize this place, instead of finding another upscale Seattle neighborhood where a cup of coffee costs more than a bag of groceries.

It goes without saying that its easy to join in a community where everyone looks like you, talks like you, eats like you, and plays like you.  To be an active member of a truly diverse community, one must step outside of their comfort zone.  It is imperative that all members of a community learn about the others who call it home, and the issues that confront them.  If one group in a community is affected by immigration laws, school board decisions, park closures, or police policies, the entire community is affected.  We must all learn to think this way.

White Center is our new neighborhood, and we are proud to call it home.

Coming up May 14, Greenbridge Community Center will host Neighborhood Night in the Joe Thomas Room, offering free refreshments, games, and activities for all ages.

Neighborhood Night is a great opportunity for Greenbridge residents to meet their neighbors and get acquainted with the services offered in their community.  In addition to board games and other activities, attendees can enjoy free refreshments and try for a raffle prize. The event promises to be a fun Friday night for the whole family.   Hosted by Neighborhood House, the King County Housing Authority, the White Center CDA and the White Center Early Learning Center, Neighborhood Night will be a recurring event in the coming months.

WHAT: Neighborhood Night at the Greenbridge Community Center

WHEN: Friday, May 14, from 6:30 to 8:00 pm.

WHERE: the Joe Thomas Room at the Greenbridge Community Center, 9800 8th Ave SW, Seattle, 98106.

INFO: from the Neighborhood Night flier:

Greenbridge Neighborhood Night at the Joe Thomas Room in Greeenbridge

9800 8th Ave SW, Seattle WA 98106

May 14th, Friday, 6:30-8 pm

Free Fun Activities For All Ages

Meet new neighbors

Be active and play board games

Learn about services in the neighborhood

Refreshments and Raffle Prizes

Children must be accompanied by an adult

For more information call (206) 461-4554 ext. 24

White Center’s new Dubsea Coffee is hosting a FREE, live music show this Saturday night, featuring Brandon Decker & Lets Get Lost.

Brandon Decker is a musician/singer from Arizona with a degree in Philosophy who sings about “romance, personal relationships and coming to terms with his sometimes checkered past.” His influences include Tom Waits, Portishead, Neil Young and PJ Harvey and his music has been called “gritty, soulful, acoustic rock,” and has also been dubbed “grunge folk.”

“My songs are my catharsis of everything I’ve been through, coupled with my empathy experienced from the different profound relationships I’ve had.” Decker said on his website. “In every song, I’m taking a moment and trying to work through it honestly.”

The show starts at 7pm and goes until 10pm.

Here are the details:

WHAT: Live, FREE music at Dubsea Coffee, featuring Brandon Decker and Let’s Get Lost

WHEN: Saturday, Jan. 30th from 7pm-10pm

WHERE: Dubsea Coffee, located at 9910 8th Avenue SW in the Greenbridge ‘hood.

INFO: From Dubsea’s website:

This is going to be a great music show to come and check out at Dubsea Coffee, Free !!  Live music by Brandon Decker & Lets Get Lost .
Brandon Decker “vocals, guitar,and producer ” is on his Long Days tour from Sedona, AZ. accompanied by Nanci Mcdonald ” Cello Vocals “.  The duo will be playing his narrative work on redemption with poignant lyrics and resonating vocals.  This folk rock duo is something to witness, supremely you will not be disappointed.

Lets Get Lost is a local Seattle treat, Nick Shadel & Peter Kowalczyk frequent the cafe as they are White Center boys.  If you come to the show you’ll get to experience a flood of the groups indie-pop-rock-carnival aesthetic.  Their music is cotton candy for the ears, sweeter and bolder to the core the longer it resonates in your audible system.

Come to Dubsea Coffee and listen, witness this delectable feast for your temporal lobe.  Let your internal audiometer get the
frequencies and vibrations it deserves.

VIDEO: Here are two videos we found of Brandon Decker:

More info available at the bands’ websites:

• http://www.myspace.com/brandondecker
• http://www.myspace.com/letsgetlosttogether

Dubsea Coffee, White Center’s hip, new and artsy coffeeshop (located at 9910 8th Ave SW in Greenbridge), has put out the following “call for artists”:

Call to ArtistsDubsea Coffee Art Submissions

Guidelines for All Artists

Dubsea Coffee is a new café and public art space located in White Center, nestled in the heart of the Greenbridge community. We are dedicated to bringing quality art and progressive content to the public. Our intent is to work with artists (of a variety of mediums), willing to share their work in a café/community setting. Our supreme hope is to share art that provokes positive energy and pride in the neighborhood. With this intent and these hopes it is possible for us to work with artists and be a catalyst for thought and positive creativity within our community.

<> We request that you send color copies, transparencies, digital files, or links to your website. Please do not send original work.
<> To make the nicest impression, you may want to send a cover letter and/or biographical content when submitting your art work. (OPTIONAL)
<> If you are mailing your submission please send an enclosed self addressed stamped envelope in a suitable size for the safe return of your art submission.
<> Send your submission to:

Dubsea Coffee

c/o Joerael Elliott

9910 8th Ave SW

Seattle WA 98106

* if you are emailing your submission please send to [ joerael@dubseacoffee.com ]

Dubsea Coffee (get it – “Dub C,” as in W.C.?), an independent coffeehouse serving organic and direct trade coffees and teas, will open its doors at its location (9910 8th Ave SW) at Greenbridge at 7am on Saturday, Nov. 14th.

The café will be the first retail business to open at Greenbridge, the 96-acre master-planned community being developed by the King County Housing Authority.

“What better way to build on the vision of Greenbridge than to offer a warm, comfortable destination where people from all walks of life can share great coffee and conversation,” said Stephen Norman, executive director of the King County Housing Authority. “Dubsea Coffee will also provide much-needed jobs in this community.”

Dubsea Coffee is located on south side of the Greenbridge plaza in the newly constructed Salmon Creek apartment building and across the street from Nia Apartments, an 82-unit complex that houses seniors and people with disabilities. To celebrate, the first 250 customers will receive a free 12-ounce drink, courtesy of Synergy Construction, Inc., the company that built the Salmon Creek building.

The café is the brainchild of Sibelle Nguyen, who sees her shop as a place where civic interaction can take place. She hopes Dubsea Coffee will be a hub for coffee, art and inspiration at Greenbridge and in the White Center community.

“Being open and loving — and inspiring each other to be that way — is what I hope this space will achieve,” Nguyen said. “There’s so much going on in this community that I want Dubsea to be a catalyst for fostering connections and friendships. I want to offer a place that fills residents with a sense of pride.”

The space is a reflection of this sentiment. With its simple, clean lines, cerulean blue ceiling, celadon green concrete floor, scored oak bar, and tall window banks defining its perimeter, the interior of the coffee shop evokes an airy, natural vibe. It’s also consistent with the attributes of the award-winning Greenbridge community, which has been certified as Three-Star Built Green™ by the Master Builders of King and Snohomish Counties and features a number of creative approaches to environmental sustainability.

Dubsea Coffee will serve organic and direct trade (even more socially responsible than fair trade) Stumptown coffee, organic Rishi teas, hot chocolate and chai. A variety of baked goods from Little Rae’s Bakery, Macrina Bakery & Café, and High Five Pies will be featured as well as breakfast items including bagels, granola, and yogurt. Sandwiches and Boylan sodas will also be offered.

“Stumptown looks to source and roast the best quality coffee in a socially and environmentally responsible way,” said Luke Dirks, sales and wholesale account manager at Stumptown Coffee. “We’re delighted to provide our products to Dubsea Coffee, which embodies an enviable business model: It’s an approachable café where fabulous, high quality drinks will be served, and it’s a place that will create a lasting, uplifting impact in its local community.”

Beyond coffee and comestibles, the coffeehouse features gallery space for local artists. Dubsea Coffee will debut with “Fractured Parables” by Joerael Elliott, Dubsea’s art director, and plans to feature the work of about a dozen artists per year. Free wireless Internet will also be available.

Though she grew up in Edmonds, Wash., Nguyen has strong ties to the neighborhood. As a toddler, she lived for a brief time at Park Lake Homes, the now demolished former public housing community that Greenbridge has since replaced. As a young woman, Nguyen returned to work as an AmeriCorps volunteer at Neighborhood House at Park Lake Homes. Now a resident of White Center once again, she is eager to fulfill her dream of owning a coffee shop here.

Even the name Dubsea Coffee is a kind of homage to the neighborhood residents. At one time, White Center was considered by many outside the area to be an undesirable place to live. Those living in White Center often felt otherwise. To overcome its (unfair) negative reputation yet still identify with their neighborhood, residents took to calling their community “W” (Dub) “C” (Sea) – an affectionate nickname for White Center.

Nguyen is already making a difference in the community; she has hired a Greenbridge resident and a White Center resident as baristas-in-training.

Bryant Sim, the Greenbridge resident, is a 16-year-old Evergreen High School student who will work part-time at the café.

“Coffee is really interesting to me – and this job is really close to home, so I can walk to work,” Sim said. “This is also my first paid work experience. It’s a great opportunity because it will help prep me financially for college.”

Greenbridge residents are excited by the prospect of a coffee shop in their neighborhood, said Tim Locke, president of the Greenbridge Association.

“Dubsea Coffee is an ideal business for Greenbridge,” said Locke. “It will offer a fantastic product, local jobs, and a lively environment with art and music. It’s a perfect fit.”

Calendar of Events for Grand Opening Celebration on Saturday, Nov. 14th:

• 7am: Doors open. Any 12-ounce drink will be free to the first 250 customers, courtesy of Synergy Construction, Inc. The bottom of each cup will be numbered. Numbers will be drawn in a random raffle; winners receive a 1-pound bag of Stumptown coffee.
• Noon: Program begins with Laudan Espinoza and Sean Larson on Spanish guitar.
• 1:30pm: Program concludes. Music by DJ Jon Lemmon and DJ Murdoc commences.

Dubsea Coffee will be open from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and from 6 a.m. – 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.

We like the joint already, just ‘cuz of the name “Dub-C“, which we’ve used for a long time.

Shaun Donovan, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) completed a walking tour of White Center’s Greenbridge residential development Monday afternoon (Aug. 10th).

Joined by King County Council Chair Dow Constantine, the two toured the former public housing complex-turned mixed income community.

“I am pleased that Secretary Donovan got a first-hand opportunity to see the community redevelopment work that HUD funding has helped accomplish in White Center,” said Constantine. “We hope this can become a model for similar Hope VI projects. Former King County Executive Ron Sims, who is now deputy secretary of HUD, was a key leader in this effort to create a sustainable community at Greenbridge with strong connections to the broader White Center neighborhood.”

Secretary Donovan joined Constantine and County Executive Kurt Triplett for a tour of the residential portion of Greenbridge. He also visited the Jim Wiley Center (which houses the Boys and Girls Club and other community organizations), the Greenbridge Public Library/YMCA Adult Learning Center facility, and the White Center Heights Elementary School and Educare Center.

Greenbridge is a White Center mixed-income community built on the site of the former Park Lake Homes public housing complex and funded in part through a federal Hope VI redevelopment grant.

Originally built during World War II to house the families of civilian defense workers, the 569-unit Park Lake Homes was the King County Housing Authority’s oldest and largest public housing development. The new Greenbridge complex—partially funded through a $35 million federal HOPE VI grant—was constructed on the Park Lake site. It has 300 new public housing units and a mix of approximately 700 moderate-income rental and for-sale housing units.

In 2005, King County provided a $6.85 million HUD-guaranteed loan to KCHA that funded required utility infrastructure improvements at Greenbridge. Various county departments are repaying the loan over the next two decades as part of King County’s $10 million contribution to the $233 million redevelopment project. The King County Housing Authority is an independent municipal corporation, which receives no operating funds from Washington State, King County or the region’s suburban jurisdictions.

King County’s website reports on how White Center community members and project partners worked together to kick off construction of a new pedestrian pathway recently that will link the new Greenbridge neighborhood to the Dub-C’s business district.

This is King County’s first capital project funded by federal economic stimulus money.

The King County Road Services Division project is a small piece of the larger White Center neighborhood plan and supports the vision identified and promoted by the White Center Community Development Association and dozens of community groups and participants. It estimated that 20-30 jobs will be directly created from this construction project.

When it is completed, residents from the 1,000-plus units at Greenbridge will be able to walk, or ride to more than 130 businesses and the transit hub in the White Center business district.

The new pathway will be constructed at the intersection of SW 98th Street and 12th Avenue SW. Currently, a steep wooden stairway connects the Greenbridge development with SW 98th Street. The stairway will be replaced, and the county will build an accessible paved ramp that gradually slopes down the hillside. Both feature safety lighting, landscaping, and artistic elements composed by local artist Andy Cao.

The walkway builds upon county efforts to spur private investment and foster a vibrant, healthy, mixed-income community at Greenbridge. It also supports King County’s Healthscape objectives by reducing automobile dependency with more opportunities to be physically active and improve air quality.

The walkway will connect the Greenbridge neighborhood (#7) to the White Center business district via a stairway (#8) and an accessible ramp (#9).

Total construction cost for the project is $1.4 million, with $1.27 million coming from federal stimulus dollars. Construction should begin this week, and take approximately four months to complete.

The project plan was initiated and overseen by a community steering committee. Design and preliminary engineering for the project was made possible by contributions from King County Road Services, King County Parks and King County Water and Land Resources Division, King County Housing Development Authority, 4 Culture, and Feet First.

by Marilee A. Cogswell
Community Liaison, White Center Library

Happy belated New Year as well as a premature Valentine’s Day to all!

Please Note:

All King County Libraries will be Closed Monday February 16th for Presidents Day.

DID YOU KNOW?
That the King County Library System offers many programs and program series throughout the county that are FREE and open to all:

• See details of our “Many Voices, One Land” series here: http://www.kcls.org/manyvoicesoneland/
• See details of our “Fiscal Fitne$$” series here: http://www.kcls.org/events/fiscalfitness.cfm
• For a complete list of all programs here: http://www.kcls.org/programs/index.cfm
• To see a complete list of all KCLS Libraries OPEN HOURS and LOCATIONS: http://www.kcls.org/locations/index.cfm

BOOK REVIEW:
“Puss ‘n Cahoots” (Mrs. Murphy) by author Rita Mae Brown

If you like mysteries, small towns, and animals as detectives, then the “Mrs. Murphy” mysteries are for you.

“Puss ‘n Cahoots” is the 14th in the series where all the animals belonging to Mary Minor ‘Harry’ Haristeen, post mistress of a small Virginia town, get in on the action.

In this series the critters serve not only as friendly human companions but are central characters in the story. They find clues, solve mysteries, and most importantly, protect ‘Harry’.

Mrs. Murphy (tabby) is the brains of the operation, lazy Pewter (a slightly overweight cat) and Tee Tucker (corgi) exuberant and fearless, team up with a wide range of farm and wild animals to uncover who done it every time. A fun twist on the relationship between animals and their humans, discussed from the animal’s point of view.

Many of the books in the ‘Mrs. Murphy’ series are available in audio format and in Large Print. Check the KCLS catalog here: http://catalog.kcls.org/

Highly recommended!

PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN AT THE BOULEVARD PARK LIBRARY:

Preschool Story Time:

• Tuesdays at 10:30am
• Ages 3-5 with an adult
• 30 minutes of stories, songs and Fun!

Family Story Time:

• Wednesdays at 6:30pm
• 30 minutes of fun for the whole family

PROGRAMS AT THE GREENBRIDGE LIBRARY:

Family Story Time:

• Wednesdays at 2pm
• 30 minutes of fun for the whole family

PROGRAMS AT THE WHITE CENTER LIBRARY:

Mealworm Mania!

• Saturday, February 21st
• Starts at 2pm
• ‘Debbie the Science Lady’ will share fun experiments to discover mealworms’ favorite foods and colors – lots of hands on FUN!

Sponsored by the White Center Library Guild.

Vietnamese Story Times Chương Trình Đọc Truyện Cho Thiếu Nhi!:

• 2nd & 4th Tuesday of the month through March 24th
• From 6pm-7pm
• Everyone is welcome!

Sponsored by the White Center Library Guild.

Happy Valentines Day!!

Marilee A. Cogswell is the Community Liaison of the White Center Library.

by Marilee A. Cogswell
Manager, 
White Center Library

Holiday Greetings to all my new Readers from your White Center Library Empress of Information™!

While I truly enjoyed the recent snowfall, and the subsequent studying to determine if indeed any two snowflakes are exactly alike (alas, they are not…but I vow to keep looking!), it’s nice to be able to see the gray cement again.

And welcome to my first column for the White Center Blog, the first local blog for this community, which first burst onto the scene Aug. 11, 2008!

Onward…

SCHEDULE UPDATE:

• On New Year’s Eve, all Libraries will close early at 5pm (Wednesday, December 31st).
• All Libraries will be CLOSED on New Year’s Day (Thursday, January 1st).

DID YOU KNOW?
You can access lots of business and investing information including the ‘Valueline’ & ‘Morningstar’ databases through the KCLS databases page, which is located here – all you need is a current KCLS library card and a current pin number (usually the last four digits of your phone number).

UPCOMING PROGRAMS:

WHITE CENTER LIBRARY:

• Game ON! Teen Program: Wednesdays beginning at 2:30pm, January 7th; also Jan. 14th, 21st, & 28th – Play your favorite multi-player video game on GameCube, Xbox 360, and the Wii! We’re turning the meeting room into an arcade so don’t miss the fun! Check out our webpage for more program details!
• Family Story Time: Stories, songs and finger play fun, Thursdays beginning at 11:30am, January 8th, 15th, 22nd, & 29th.
• Study Zone (K-12): Tuesdays in January beginning at 5pm, AND Wednesdays beginning at 6pm in January-Drop in and Get Help with your Home Work from our volunteer tutors! More information here.

GREENBRIDGE LIBRARY:

• Family Story Time: Thursdays January 15, 22, & 29th beginning at 7pm.

BOULEVARD PARK LIBRARY:

• Preschool Story Time: Tuesdays at 10:30am beginning January 13th.
• Family Story Time: Wednesdays at 6:30pm beginning January 14th.
• Spanish Story Time: Cuentos en Espanol para Ninos – Thursdays at 4pm, Los Jueves a las 4pm.
• Study Zone (K-12): Mondays & Wednesdays in January 6-8pm. Drop in and Get Help with your Home Work from our volunteer tutors! More information here.

BULLET POINT BOOK REVIEW:
‘Touchstone’ by Laurie R. King

• A suspenseful tale set in the English countryside circa 1926.
• Politics, old families, class struggle, and love set the stage for this compelling drama.
• The story opens as FBI agent Harris Stuyvesant arrives in England to ‘informally’ follow the trail of a possible bomb-making union organizer, whose latest work in America has rendered Stuyvesant’s younger brother incompetent.
• Stuyvesant gets no help from the British government and is about to give up when he is inadvertently put in touch with Aldous Carstairs, a very shadowy British operative whose motives for helping Stuyvesant are at the very least questionable.
• The touchstone in ‘Touchstone’ is a British veteran of WWI by the name of Bennett Grey.
• Carstairs has worked with (and exploited) Grey in the past and knows of his uncanny abilities- now Carstairs is looking for ways to control and use him again.
• To Carstairs, Stuyvesant looks like the perfect patsy to help him reclaim his leverage over Grey.
• The story is further complicated by Grey’s sister Sarah, who Stuyvesant seems to be falling for.
• This is a page turner with a surprise ending that will leave you wanting more.
• Highly recommended!
• Also available in large print and on CD.
• For a list of the Best Books of 2008, visit this website.

Marilee A. Cogswell is the Manager of the White Center Library.

The brand spankin’ new 2,500 square foot Greenbridge Library and 10,000 square foot YWCA Learning Center will be having their grand opening on Wed., Nov. 5th, starting at 11am.

Everyone’s invited to help celebrate this new community building:

WHAT: Greenbridge Library and YWCA Learning Center building grand opening

WHEN: Wednesday, November 5, 11am

WHERE: 9720 Eighth Avenue SW in White Center

INFO: Call 425.369.3275 with any questions, or visit the Greenbridge Library website.

View Larger Map

King County Library’s brand spankin’ new Greenbridge Branch Library will be opening soon, and here’s a sneak peak photo slideshow of the progress being made:

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.