While gyms are traditionally known to celebrate slim figures and body-builder images, Rainier Health & Fitness has a different purpose: to encourage healthy lifestyles, strong bodies and authentic community. For Amal*, her husband and seven children, Rainier Health & Fitness has been a key part of developing healthy practices. Every family member exercises regularly and Amal herself walks to the gym from their Beacon Hill home to hit the treadmill or participate in a yoga class.
Amal’s friends ask her, “Why do you go to the gym? You’re already skinny?” Amal replies that exercising is about staying healthy and feeling well, not just being skinny. Her mom died in 2008 and had high blood pressure and high cholesterol, so she wants to prevent suffering from the same preventable conditions. Plus, if she doesn’t work out, her muscles get tight and she has migraines. The migraines are actually what drove her to join the gym in the first place in April 2010; Amal’s doctor said she should go to the gym, a stress-free environment, for her migraines. Now they only resume after not coming for a week or two. “Coming here is good for my heart and brain,” Amal says.
In addition to regular exercise, Amal’s family has also made healthy changes to their diet thanks to the influence of their vegetarian daughter. Amal used to drink lots of coffee, but now has reduced her consumption to one cup per day. Coming from Somalia where many dishes are prepared with oil, she has steered away from this ingredient and has quit frying food. Instead, she serves the family only brown rice, oatmeal and whole grain bread, spaghetti and cereal. She also checks the labels of food and looks at calories before purchasing. As a result, no one in her family is overweight.
“Health is number one.” Amal says, “It’s worth $30 per month.” She tells everybody to come here and has met lots of new friends while working out.
* pseudonym, name changed to protect privacy
About Rainier Health & Fitness
Rainier Health & Fitness first opened its doors in March of 2005 with the dream of using exercise to address health disparities in its neighborhood. Since then it has grown to over 1600 members. The volunteers and staff at Rainier Health & Fitness are dedicated to improving the health of their Rainier Valley community by encouraging healthy lifestyles and strong bodies. The fitness center makes exercise fun and accessible by offering affordable prices and creating a non-intimidating workout environment, especially for those who are new to exercise. A variety of group classes including yoga, ZUMBA fitness, Pilates, turbo kick and cycling are available to members at no additional cost while personal training, group training and CrossFit are offered through certified trainers for comparably low additional fees. Regular memberships are an affordable $30 a month with a one-time membership fee of $99.
Skyway Solutions is hosting an Elected Officials Panel tomorrow, May 22nd from 7:00 -8:30 pm at the Skyway Water and Sewer Building : 6723 S 124th Street, Seattle, WA 98178. The panel will feature King County Councilmember Larry Gossett and 37th District Representative Sharon Tomiko- Santos. All residents of the south Seattle area are encouraged to attend.
Western Conference Finals: San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
Down to the two best teams in the west. They happen to be the #1 and #2 seed. This is a matchup that lots of people expected this late into the playoffs. The Spurs are veteran ball club with a lot of bench production. The Thunder are led by MVP Kevin Durant as they try to reach the Finals again. Both teams are matched up evenly so the key factor is bench play. Whoever has more production out of their bench will advance to the NBA Finals.
Winner: Oklahoma City Thunder in 7 games
Eastern Conference Finals: Miami Heat vs. Indiana Pacers
The most anticipated match up of the playoffs by far. Since day one of the NBA season everyone has been saying the only team that can dethrone the back-to- back defending champions is the Indiana Pacers. The Heat are the best team in the playoffs sitting at 8-1 in the postseason. Lebron James and the rest of the team are firingon all cylinders. The Pacers on the other hand are struggling as of late. However the Pacers do happen to have home court advantage in this series, and if they can get things together they ill be the Heat’s toughest matchup. The key factor in this series is Roy Hibbert. The Pacers can’t win unless he has a monster series scoring on the low block and controlling the paint with rebounds and blocked shots.
For those of you whose dedication to wine and cocktails as their primary drinks of choice is akin to religious fixation, and consider beer only as the pariah of the adult beverage family, to be purchased reluctantly during cash strapped periods, a visit to Spinnaker Bay Brewing in Hillman City just might be enough to stimulate a conversion to beer as your preferred libation.
Founded, owned, and operated, as the realization of a lifelong dream, by Head Brewer Janet Spindler and her partner Elissa Pryor, with equal measures of love, passion and zeal, Spinnaker Bay Brewing, and its savory signature brews -with names like Little Dinghy Blonde™ and Fraid Not Pale Ale™ – has become synonymous with bringing Christmas Day to your taste buds, and developed into a magnet for attracting the residents of the broader Rainier Valley area.
On any given night its warm and welcoming atmosphere, complemented by carefully curated vintage decor, houses collars both white and blue – hipsters from Columbia City, hyperlocals from Hillman, and the beer curious from Mt.Baker, Seward Park, and Rainier Beach. All are often immersed in good-humored conversations, while sharing home made pastries or delicious eats provided by the local food vendors just outside the brewery. While serving as an incubator for community, its main allure remains its herculean tasting beer, which many have christened as the best brewed in all of Seattle, north or south.
A testimony to this fact, is that most of its servers – who it should be noted in an era where customer service has become as archaic as silent movies, and chivalry, appear to have graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Nordstrom School of Client Relations – labor there for incentives that trump the financial, as in response to why she loved working at the brewery, one of the staff replied: “To be honest, before here, I never knew Beer could taste this good!” So speaks another convert.
If you are a Seahawks die hard like me you probably spent the weeks leading up to the draft looking at Mocks, reading insights about the prospects likely to be there around the end of the first round and hoping it all fell into place so that the Seahawks got a top 10 talent that somehow fell into their lap. Instead the Seahawks did what they have done for the last three years and picked individuals rated by “experts” far lower than the spots the Seahawks took them in, leaving us all running to our computers to learn about who these mysterious players are.
Full disclosure, I am no scout, and I cannot break down tape and tell you why the Seahawks took the players they did when they did. Based on their track record, I do have confidence in their ability to find underrated prospects and develop them better than any other team in the NFL. I will attempt to breakdown the draft to focus on the positions taken, how prospects in the past have fared under this coaching staff, and the likely contribution of this draft class for this season.
Wide Receiver – Seahawks took Paul Richardson in the 2nd round out of Colorado, and Kevin Norwood in the 4th round out of Alabama. They are different players with Richardson offering pure speed and over the top ability versus Norwood closely resembling Jermaine Kearse and boasting strong hands and the ability to catch the ball in traffic. The only major contributor to the receiver position via the draft under John and Pete was Golden Tate, and he did not contribute much his rookie or second years in the league. With Harvin, Baldwin & Kearse locked into the top three spots both rookies won’t be relied upon for high snap counts this year. I believe Richardson will have big play opportunities, and might score 3-4 touchdowns this year in his limited opportunities, but the receiver position is generally very difficult to find immediate contributors as rookies. Expect both players to make the roster and contribute as supporting cast member this year.
Offensive Tackle – Seahawks selected Justin Britt in the 2nd round out of Missouri, and Gerrit Scott out of Marshall in the 6th round to add to the right tackle competition with 2nd year player Michael Bowie. The both possesses all the prototypical size and speed tools, and offers toughness and depth to a position in need of it. In the past the Seahawks have drafted former first round pick James Carpenter to play RT opposite Okung, but he struggled with speed on the outside and was moved inside to guard where he has struggled with injuries and been moderately successful when healthy. The Seahawks also drafted Russell Okung in 2010 as a top 10 pick, and when healthy he has played at a pro bowl level. The Seahawks have been as effective developing undrafted players, late picks, and practice squad players like Bailey, Bowie, & Giacomini at OT as they have in drafting players in the first round like Okung and Carpenter. Expect a healthy competition to exist between Britt and Bowie throughout camp, but Bowie to have the 2nd year advantage and to play significantly better in his second season winning the starting job, Scott is more a developmental prospect not likely to play this year.
Defensive Line – Seahawks selected Cassius Marsh in the 4th round out of UCLA, and Jimmy Staten out of Middle Tennessee State in the 5th round to help offset the defensive line losses of Red Bryant and Chris Clemens. Defensive line is an area the Seahawks have targeted the two prior years in 2012 draft and 2013 draft but saw little time on the field last year due to injury. I expect 2012 late round pick Greg Scruggs returning from knee surgery as well as 2013 draftees Jesse Williams and Jordan Hill will play much larger roles this year, but these two rookies have a chance to contribute this year. Rotational snaps are up for grabs due to free agency departures, but I see it more likely that the second and third year players fill these gaps and barring injury these two rookies again have minor roles to play for the 2014 season. If I have a dark horse for 2014 it would be Staten because he is such an unknown. The Seahawks have an outstanding track record of taking players late completely off the experts radar and developing them quickly in Sweezy for 2012, and TE Willson in 2013. Staten was the most off the radar pick the Seahawks made this year making him possibly the most likely to contribute early.
Linebacker – Seahawks selected Kevin Pierre-Louise in the 4th round out of Boston College to add to the outside linebacker depth. Pierre-Louise is a slightly undersized linebacker that timed the fastest 40 at the combine, and provides even more athleticism to a group that has it in spades. The Seahawks have been incredibly good at drafting linebackers to play right away in KJ Wright & Bobby Wagner, and well as developing talent over time in Superbowl MVP Malcolm Smith. The position and physical attributes match up well with Smith, and with both he and Wright approaching free agency next year Pierre-Louise is a good developmental prospect who could grow into a starter next year when budgetary decisions might have to be made. Expect Pierre-Louise to play special teams this year and limited snaps on defense as Seattle currently has 3 starting caliber outside linebackers in Smith, Wright & Irvin for only two starting jobs.
Secondary – Seahawks Selected Eric Pinkins in the 6th round out of San Diego State. He played a hybrid safety/linebacker position in college at 6’3” and 220 pounds, but due to his size and speed the Seahawks plan to convert him to CB over time. The Seahawks’ secondary is the envy of the league boasting late round developed players in Sherman, Chanceller, & Maxwell. None of these players started immediately with Sherman playing halfway into his rookie year only because of two injuries at the position in front of him. Maxwell also became a starter due to suspension and injury after two and a half years of development, but when given the chance played exceptionally well last year. Pinkins sets up to be a practice squad player based on the position switch and the depth in front of him, but could be a key player for this secondary down the road learning from the best and competing every day during practice. I don’t anticipate any contribution this year other than potentially special teams.
Fullback – Seahawks selected Kiero Small out of Arkansas in the 7th round to compete with existing fullback conversions Kevin Ware and Derrick Coleman. The past two years have seen the Seahawks take bigger running backs in Ware and Coleman and convert them to fullbacks to compete or replace Michael Robinson. Ware was hurt in the preseason last year and placed on IR, and Coleman also had a significant injury forcing management to bring Robinson back midyear. Both existing players are hybrid fullbacks with a running back history, and significant room for improvement in their fullback duties. Small in short in stature, but heavier than both Coleman and Ware, and seems to bring a natural aggression to the position. Coleman was a major contributor on special teams last year possibly making it hard to move on from him, but Small brings a skillset on offense the Seahawks don’t currently have. Expect him to make the team and possibly play a larger role than most of this draft class this year, as we attempt to re-establish our ability to consistently run between the tackles on any defense again this year.
Early 2013 draft picks barely saw the field last year due to health at their positions holding up, and a sharp learning curve for any rookie new to the NFL. The players that saw the most time were Bowie (7th round), Bailey (undrafted), and Willson (5th round), and in each case there were significant injuries to the OL and TE positions last year forcing them into action. The 2014 draft class’s contributions this season are likely to again hinge on the health of starters already on the roster, with limited apparent holes that need to be filled. The Seahawks have built one of the deeper rosters in the NFL by thinking long term in their draft approach, developing talent through excellent coaching, and embracing competition at every level of the organization. I expect we don’t hear much from this rookie class this year, but in 2015, 2016 and beyond we very well could be looking back at this draft providing multiple starters and hopefully a pro bowler or two that once again the “experts” never saw coming.
Clint Elsemore has been a fanatic Seattle sports fan for his entire life, and possibly several past lifetimes should reincarnation be proven to be a fact.
At the beginning of this month, I attended a meeting of the Seattle City Council’s PLUS (Planning, Land Use, and Sustainability) Committee. The Committee hosted this meeting to hear public comments on the proposed rezone of the area around the Mount Baker Link Light Rail station. This is the area that has been identified for the location of the North Rainier Urban Village (http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/cityplanning/completeprojectslist/northrainier/whatwhy/). The rezone would change the existing zoning to a designation called Seattle Mixed-use and raise height limits to 65, 85, and 125 feet, depending on the parcel of land in question. I attended to testify strongly in favor of this proposal, as it represents the best way to develop Rainier Valley in a way that is inclusive, attractive, and future-focused.
The reason for the proposed rezone has its roots back almost 15 years. Back in the late 1990s, the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, in tandem with neighborhood residents and other stakeholders, developed a vision for the northern corridor surrounding Rainier Avenue South. Through this plan, they envisioned development that was transit-oriented, mixed-income, and walkable. While the rest of Seattle has continued to change at a rapid pace and Link Light Rail brought much needed connectivity to the neighborhood, the status quo, with respect to zoning, has not led to the kind of development desired there. Much of the area remains low-density strip malls or underutilized buildings that fail to engage pedestrians or integrate well into their surroundings. The rezone would create additional incentives and a framework to make this happen, in a way that is consistent with the original vision.
Naturally, any plan that intends to bring large-scale change will lead to some degree of contention. Residents from all over Southeast Seattle packed the Committee hearing on a day where the temperature rose to an unseasonable 80 degrees. Many of the opponents to the planned rezone showed up early and made their concerns known loud and clear. The kinds of structures that would be built would be out of character. The new development would lead to traffic and congestion. If current levels of retail occupancy in mixed-use developments continued, new buildings would fail and too many workforce housing units would lead to unintended consequences. Many opponents also expressed concerns about the process that produced the proposed rezone. They had not been adequately informed or consulted, they said.
As someone who has been engaged with the North Rainier planning process since 2011, I was concerned by what appeared, at least very initially, to be overwhelming opposition. Thankfully as the comment period continued, a greater number of proponents began to lay out their arguments and restore balance. Ultimately, after two hours of testimony and public comments, it seemed reasonable to say that while the concerns were not entirely unreasonable, that they misguidedly defended a suboptimal status quo for fear of unknown (as opposed to likely) outcomes. At the PLUS Committee, I expressed an abbreviated version of the following opinion:
I’ve lived in both Columbia City and, before that, Mount Baker, for the past three years. In Mount Baker, I lived on Walden Street, one block from the area to be rezoned, in a mixed-use building. Currently I live in Columbia City less seven-tenths of a mile from the proposed rezone. I support this proposal because it will add a critical mass of infrastructure, people, and amenities. Currently much of this area is underutilized urban space. For many, it can feel unsafe and it is unquestionably unpleasant to navigate on foot. Anyone who has lived in the area knows, for instance, about the activity around the National Pride Car Wash. Right there, on the street, is what appears to be an open-air drug market. A year and a half ago, two people were shot at this location (http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Teens-wounded-in-South-Seattle-175528391.html). There aren’t enough eyes on the street and this kind of development does not benefit anyone.
As City of Seattle’s Planning Department notes, Seattle will add 70,000 households in the next two decades—that’s significant. If Seattle cannot build the density to accommodate these future residents, we will end up with a housing and affordability crisis much like San Francisco’s. There, the crisis has created an immense amount of discord and class conflict as rising housing costs have displaced long-time residents.
For one, they got the zoning wrong (http://www.theatlanticcities.com/housing/2013/10/san-francisco-exodus/7205/). Speaking to NPR, Former Mayor Art Agnos noted that in San Francisco the discussion is no longer about whether San Francisco can be a city for all people, but whether it can be affordable for those earning between $60,000 and $150,000 a year (http://www.npr.org/2013/12/03/247531636/as-rent-soars-longtime-san-francisco-tenants-fight-to-stay)! The median income for a worker in Seattle is currently under $60,000 and there are many similarities between our two cities. In a city growing as rapidly as Seattle, there will be trade-offs. In North Rainier, as it will be citywide over the coming decades, the trade-off will be managed density for sustained blight in some places and escalating housing prices in others.
Lastly, on the issue of workforce housing, there are many assumptions being made about people who will live in income-targeted housing, as well the number of units under consideration. The current zoning proposal will require developers to include a limited number of affordable units for each of their projects, if they want to build to the maximum heights allowable under Seattle Mixed. This is known as incentive zoning, and in a city where rents have soared over the past two years (http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2021673014_rentincreasesxml.html), an essential tool in keeping Seattle income-inclusive. This will not entail the construction, as some seem wont to believe, entire parcels of housing for the indigent. Indeed, for the purpose of the North Rainier rezone the units in question will be targeted those individuals earning 60-80% of area median income. For a single-person household, this is an income in the mid-$30 to mid-$40,000 a year. Large numbers of white-collar workers, particularly those starting out in careers, fall into this category and I, too, qualified for and lived in workforce housing while working at what was an e-commerce start-up.
The proposed rezone of the area around the Mount Baker Link Light Rail station represents both the continuation of a neighborhood visioning process begun in 1999 and an opportunity to bring quality development to Rainier Valley. For too long, the area has suffered from underinvestment, crime, and blight. Smarter levels of density, in conjunction with the transit links already established by Sound Transit, will lead to development that is engaging at street level, unnecessary to traverse using motorized vehicles, and safe for people of all ages. Different neighborhoods (pick your favorite example) around Seattle have used rezones to create beautiful urban spaces worthy of the name. Rainier Valley, too, can rise.
Note* The Seattle City Council Land Use And Sustainability Committee will be meeting this Tuesday, May 20th to discuss the Mt. Baker Rezone: http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/aboutus/news/events/default.htm?trumbaEmbed=eventid%3D110117410%26view%3Devent%26-childview%3
Young Han is a Columbia City resident interested in economic history and the economics of technological change as well as an advocate for cooperative development, and expanding economic democracy
Most kids today grow up with their mom in the workforce. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, two-thirds of new mothers now return to paid work within a year after giving birth, usually in the first few months.
Back in the 1960s, fewer than one in five new mothers held a paying job. In those days, while the middle class was expanding rapidly, the majority of families had one breadwinner and one fulltime homemaker.
Unfortunately, we still organize our economy as if “women’s work” had little economic value and every family had a fulltime caregiver.
Women have gained tremendous new opportunities in the 50 years since Congress banned employment discrimination on the basis of race and sex. Jobs and activities once reserved exclusively for men are open. So are educational pathways. Women now make up a majority of college graduates and roughly half the workforce. Instead of earning only 60 cents to a man’s dollar, women working fulltime now earn 77 cents.
But most of that progress was made last century. Since 2000, women’s career and earnings gains have largely stalled.
Men and women still tend to pursue different careers. Here in King County, men hold eight in ten computer and math-related jobs and three-fourths of police and fire department jobs. Women make up two-thirds of health technicians and office administrators and 90% of childcare workers. The typical woman in King County makes $15,000 less each year than the typical man.
Still, up to 40% of the wage gap cannot be explained by differences in jobs, hours worked, education or experience. Too often women get paid less than men in the same job simply because employers can get away with it.
On top of that, the United States, unlike every other advanced economy, leaves working families on their own to cope with care giving. Without uniform standards in place, four in ten workers get no paid sick leave and only half of working women get paid maternity leave – usually cobbled together from saved up sick leave and vacation.
Those with the highest pay are most likely to get paid leave benefits. They are also best able to afford the high cost of quality childcare, which can exceed college tuition – even though childcare teachers earn near-poverty wages.
Because women get paid less and have limited access to paid leave, families suffer bouts of economic insecurity. Staying home with the flu, or caring for a sick child or ailing parent too often means loss of needed income. Women go back to work before they’ve fully recovered from childbirth or established breastfeeding. They accumulate less for retirement and can’t save for their children’s education.
If women received fair pay and had access to paid sick days and to paid family and medical leave, kids would be healthier and better prepared for success in school and life. Fewer seniors would live in poverty. Local businesses would have more customers. Our communities and our democracy would be stronger.
Here’s my Mothers’ Day wish list for Washington’s women:
Fair pay. Discussing compensation with coworkers should not be a fire-able offense. Employers should have to justify pay differences on some basis other than sex or race.
Paid Sick Days. We know that Seattle’s sick leave law has extended paid leave to tens of thousands, while the city’s economy has grown faster than the rest of the state. According to the latest UW study, 70% of Seattle business owners support the law. It’s time to take it statewide.
Family and Medical Leave Insurance. Five states already have programs. Women in these states take longer maternity leaves, suffer fewer health complications, are more likely to breastfeed and take their babies to medical checkups. They are less likely to go on public assistance and more likely to be working and earning higher wages a year after giving birth. Let’s pass Washington’s FAMLI Act in 2015.
We won’t get these done by Mother’s Day – but if everyone passes this list on to their state legislators and candidates, we can give them to our moms and ourselves for next Valentine’s Day.
Marilyn Watkins is policy director of the Economic Opportunity Institute, a nonpartisan policy center focused on building and economy that works for everyone.
What a series the Trailblazers are coming off of beating the Houston Rockets. The Trailblazers went from being a young underdog to merging as a potential Western Conference Finals team. However, next up they go against last year’s NBA Finals runner up, the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs have a lot of veterans that they expect to lead them to the promise land for another shot at the title. Vets Parker and Duncan’s experience will show against Aldridge and Lillard.
Winner: San Antonio Spurs in 6 games.
Miami Heat vs. Brooklyn Nets
The defending champs are still looking like the favorite coming off 4-0 sweep of the Charlotte Bobcats. While the elderly Brooklyn Nets went to a grueling game 7, beating the young athletic Raptors, the Nets beat the Heat four times during the season and is the only team to do so. However, with the Heat coming off a week of rest, Lebron James will be too much for the Nets
Winner: Miami Heat in 7 games
Washington Wizards vs. Indiana Pacers
The Wizards are the second hottest team in the NBA Playoffs besides the defending champs. Now they are up against the struggling #1 seed Indiana Pacers. This is going to be another tight series, but Roy Hibbert is the key. If he can get his confidence back then the Pacers can win, but it will be tough going up against Washington’s strong post players like Nene and Gortat.
Winner: Indiana Pacers in 7 games
LA Clippers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
Both teams are battle tested from tight first round series that went all seven games. This is another heavyweight matchup between two favorites. This series X-factor is Russell Westbrook. If he can keep his turnovers down and disrupt Chris Paul’s offensive flow the Clippers are in trouble.
Police are looking for a gunman in the Skyway area after someone fired shots at a car during a traffic stop yesterday evening, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office.
Someone shot at a car that was pulled over by a King County sheriff’s deputy at South 116th Place and 72nd Avenue South, as stated by the sheriff’s office. No one was injured, but several bullets hit the vehicle while the deputy was standing at the window talking to the driver.
The male then jumped into a car and drove away, officers said. Officers and a K-9 searched the area last night but as of today were not able to locate the suspect.
Officers believe the man was shooting at the vehicle, not at the deputy, the sheriff’s department said.
“Coffee that will change the world!” This audacious response to the question of, “What do you hope to accomplish with your business?”, drips smoothly from the mouth of Tin Umbrella owner Joya Iverson, as if she were channeling the taste of the curated java she serves daily to her faithful patrons.
While it’s overly tempting to dismiss this pronouncement as hyperbole that derives from the chutzpah inherent in the archetype of an intrepid entrepreneur, that becomes almost impossible to do once the backstory of the coffee shop that could is recounted. By all accords the nearly year old coffee roastery, located in one of the more obscure areas of South Seattle, should currently be occupying a place in the rubbish heap of forgotten local businesses, whose grand opening ran neck and neck with their unceremonious closing.
Its very existence defies all of the ironclad laws of business etched in the proverbial stone of entrepreneurship. Not only does it reside in one of the most glossed over, and ethnically disparate locations that can possibly be found in South Seattle, but its founder’s prior experience in the coffee business consisted of consuming five cups a day to slog through her previous life as a virtual marketing consultant. As if that weren’t enough, the coffee shop had no product of its own to sell during the first five months of operation, and when it did, it quickly ran out of it at the most inopportune of times, as national coffee day came and went without Tin Umbrella serving a single cup. Add in malfunctioning utilities, a business partner who decided to abruptly quit, and an owner who had exhausted all of her life savings into what seemed like a sinking enterprise, while she recovered from serious traumatic brain damage, and you seemed to have a deluge of calamity on par with various biblical plagues.
Yet despite this torrent of adversity, or perhaps because of it as its founder will tell you, Tin Umbrella Coffee has not only persevered, but flourished ,while galvanizing an area that is often referred to as the forgotten stretch between Columbia City and Rainier Beach. It effectively serves as the central hub for a community that was once the epitome of urban decay, and an enticing target for the gentrification wave that has swept through much of southern Seattle.
It’s this coffee shop that has helped to transform the community of Hillman City into a place where once jaded neighbors now discover each other as friends over a cup of joe, and its diverse residents, with origins from around the globe, no longer feel worlds apart from each other. Change the world? It already has, at least a small portion of it anyway. With all it and its founder has survived, who can doubt that it might just be able to transform the rest of it?
Emerald: What stoked the belief that a coffee shop would be able to thrive in Hillman City? It wouldn’t be the first place in Seattle that most people would choose to establish a business.
Joya: Our dream was to build a coffee shop where there was none. I’ve lived in Hillman City for over 10 years and I love it here! In fact I live just two blocks away from the coffeeshop. I was tired of this area being overlooked, and seeing nothing but abandoned buildings, and bars on windows when I would go outside. I wanted to see if I could do my part in altering our surroundings.
I wanted to see this building (that houses the coffee shop) revitalized. I thought it would be so great to bring it back to something people could use. In my time in Hillman, it had been a troubled dumping spot where garbage cans, mattresses, and tires ended up. Just nothing good had happened here, but the building had this beautiful history and structure, and in my heart I wanted to believe that a little coffee could make a big difference. And there wasn’t a coffee shop here, something that most neighborhoods take for granted. We just assume that there’s good coffee in Seattle and here we are without coffee in walking distance of Hillman. It seemed like, well everyone else has it, except Hillman City. It’s a huge opportunity!
Emerald: What makes Tin Umbrella different from more “generic” coffee shops? Why shouldn’t someone in Hillman or South Seattle just take the “ritual” visit to one of Howard Schultz scads of caffeine hubs (Starbucks)?
Joya: Because, and I truly believe this as I see it running the shop everyday, it’s more than just coffee. Yes this is a coffee shop but it’s also a community space, and a place where neighbors can meet neighbors. I’ve seen some of my neighbors here, who I had never spoken to before, and we’ve figured out, “Oh wow we’ve lived a few blocks from each other for all these years and didn’t know it. I know this person who you also know.” And all that happens here! We of course, strive to have great coffee, you have to in Seattle, but we also think our place should be fun, amazing and enjoyable!
I’ll make coffee, and listen to other people have conversations while they’re in line, or at the table. Strangers engaging in conversation doesn’t always happen in Seattle, especially in coffeeshops, due to the Seattle Freeze. Since I had been here for so long with an established friend circle, I guess I never really knew what that meant until I’d hear it enough, from other people who would talk to each other about how no one actually talks to each other in coffee shops. Here they’re talking which leads them to becoming friends. They exchange information and make a playdate, to weed a garden, or get together. It’s just that cool things happen when a community connects, and Hillman City prior to this we were going to other places and now we have our own little nook.
Emerald: Tin Umbrella actually now roast its own brand of coffee which is named after the Hillman area, a complete turnaround from when you first opened and were serving coffee from other roasters. Can you share a little more about that?
Joya: The most amazing thing about this coffee shop was when we first opened, the goal was to just get the doors open, then to eventually roast our own coffee because roasting our own beans meant that by not paying that a mark up we would actually be able to sustain a coffee shop where there was none.
There’s plenty of traffic along Rainier (Avenue), but we needed to get people to stop and take notice of us, to make coming here part of their daily ritual. We knew that would be something the coffee shop would thrive on, and having a roastery would help do that. When I first looked at things I thought, oh this will be easy enough, “We’ll just build a coffee shop and a coffee roastery”, and of course it was anything but easy. There were a lot of unexpected hurdles and challenges, from outdated electrical and plumbing, getting the right people and team in place who was just as excited as the community as the community was to be here, and all the things that happen when you’re first starting out, like running out of supplies. Getting the shop up and running was more than I could imagine.
That was just the shop, the roastery was a whole other beast (laughter). Its construction kept getting pushed back, so what we did for our first 6 months here was use Olympia Coffee, who was so kind to support us while we got off the ground, which also showed me just how excited people in the community where for our shop. They didn’t care what kind of coffee we served as long as our doors were open! In the meantime we kept plugging away at our roaster and had to keep working through everything from faulty gas outlets, to rewiring the electoral system, to venting and… I’m not even capturing everything we had to go through; I’ve blocked it all out. It’s too painful (laughter). When we finally got the roaster up and running though you could smell the coffee along Rainier Avenue and within five minutes of me posting that it was up on Facebook, a local realtor, and his young son, saw the post did a U-turn from walking in the complete opposite direction and made a beeline for the shop so they could see Hillman City’s first coffee roastery for themselves. The entire community was excited!
Emerald: Can you tell us a bit about your amazing personal story, in the context of founding Tim Umbrella Coffee?
Joya: I think the funniest thing is that people always ask me what my background is in coffee. To which I reply, “nothing!” I was a five cup a day coffee drinker because I was a virtual consultant for various companies and lived on coffee and in coffee shops. One of the perks of the job was that I could work from anywhere in the world, so I ended up living for months at a time in New Orleans, then Mexico, surfing between work breaks. Then I went off to Indonesia, learned Indonesian, and would just followed my heart to wherever. It was great! I found a real passion to travel. I could actually live in a place working Monday thru Friday on my laptop, and on the weekend I could just connect with everyday people from these different places, blogging about my day to day experience off the beaten tourist path. I visited Ethiopia and Istanbul, not realizing at the time that I was picking out the best coffee producing regions in the world to visit. Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee after all
I had came back to Hillman for a bit and had decided to rent out my house for a year and head back to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, then onto Kenya. I was learning Swahili and sponsoring a girl at the Daaja Academy in Kenya. I had written to her that I would be there soon. But before I left I had decided to head up to Mt. Baker as I’m an avid skier. So as I headed up on a two lane mountain highway another car lost control and I had a head on collision at 60 mph. The other car flipped completely over and I was doing 360s down the highway. My life was flashing before my eyes, and I was saying goodbye (in my mind) to all my friends and family. I kept saying that I wanted to live but if this was it, I lived a beautiful life. Then the airbag slapped me in my face.
Even though I had made it, it didn’t feel like it, because I had hit my head during the accident, and on top of the concussion I suffered from a traumatic brain injury, amongst a long list of other health issues, as my brain struggled to get along. I went from traveling the world to being unable to leave my house in Hillman City. I could hardly open the door, or go to the grocery store. When I got there I would have panic attacks, break downs and all kinds of other problems. I couldn’t listen to the radio it was too scary. I couldn’t listen to music, I couldn’t read, all those things were too intense.
The worst part about the whole injury was that it was all in my head, literally, so it was something no one could see. And because I couldn’t see it, I just kept thinking this was silly. I was in denial. And then within the next couple months, still concussed, I was involved in 2 more wrecks (that were thankfully less serious). The police officer at the last one said, “I think you should just go home and hide.”
That’s pretty much what I did. I just sat on my couch playing the ukulele wearing an eye mask because the light hurt my eyes, trying to make the best out of what I still had. Moment to moment was hard, but with a lot of help and time, finally my mind got calm and I was able to do more, and I asked how can you make meaning of this?How can you take something good from this? I want to choose to do something, because while I was alive I was no longer able to do my chosen profession. So I thought, “Well I like coffee, I love Ethiopia,” I love my time there and I still want to get back there,I loved my neighborhood, and I also had a background in online data analysis and marketing, and so I created these business models of what it would take to open a coffee shop, and then I texted a friend, who was coffee person, and I said, what do you think about, “Coffee to change the world?” Starting with Hillman City, and just do something big?
The world had just done something Big to me. This was my one chance, my life had flashed before my eyes and all I saw was the beauty of trying things. Things I didn’t know would work. I had already done hard things like traveling, often alone, to places that I didn’t know and learning new languages. I thought about how every step I took connected me to a person, a place or thing or a memory, and how beautiful that was, never in that slideshow (of my life flashing before my eyes) was there any regret for anything I had tried and so I was like, “You can die at any second so what are you going to do with your life?” So to me it was like, you get one big flying leap! You can do anything right now, anything! Because the only thing I’m really scared of is death. So I’m like, even if I fail, at least I would have tried and you can walk away knowing that you tried something that you didn’t think you could do. So why not open a coffee shop that was going to be only two blocks away from my house, which was about as far as I could walk at the time! My life has become about a routine of trying and trying and trying again.
Emerald: Have you applied that ceaseless trying to the operation of Tin Umbrella Coffee?
Joya: Hopefully with all my heart, yes! I have to keep reminding myself that we’re here to try, and not everything is going to work, but we’re going to try and we’re going to do what feels good and fun, and just encourage the people around us. It’s neat how many people have shared in my dream of having a coffee shop here. I live in the most amazing neighborhood! I can use anyone of the 5 or 6 languages I speak. Just the other day I ordered chai in Somali. Opening this shop has been kind of like finding my own community.
Emerald: Speaking of community, how have they supported you?
Hillman City’s own global blend, made of beans from around the world, inspired by Hillman City’s global Community.
Joya: The support we’ve received has been wonderful! When you take a step in the direction of your dreams it’s scary and hazy, but everyone around me has been so supportive, and it’s neat to see how many others are doing something cool. There’s this positive energy, even when I don’t know if I have what it takes.
One example is that I had been working for months straight without a day off, and as a girl with a brain injury I have to sleep ten hours a day. so there’s a windstorm, and our newly installed sign blows down and it’s the only day I’ve had to truly sleep in months, and the girls at the shop text me and say : “We don’t want to bug you but this sign has blown down, it’s hanging by a thread” and it’s a metal pointy sign so I tell them, “I’ll be there in a second”, my ladder was already at the shop since I live two blocks away, and so I hop in the car thinking that if that sign hits someone that could hurt a customer and we need every customer we can get! (laughter)
So in the time it takes for me to get here, which isn’t too long, I see two regulars, a husband and wife, who ran home to get their own ladder, and she’s holding it as he is fixing the sign. They’ve taken it upon themselves to do all of this! I’m like “Wow!” That probably never would have happened at another coffee shop. People just jump in and contribute, I can’t explain it!
I tell everyone about International Coffee Day, when our coffee grinder broke, so we didn’t even have coffee for International Coffee Day, because by the time we got our grinder working we had ground through all the coffee that we had, so everyone was like: “You know I’ll have hot chocolate, or tea.” One woman said, “You’re more upset about this than I am,” and I was like, “Yeah, because you’re coming to a coffee shop and I’m telling you that we don’t have coffee on International Coffee Day!” but everyone of our customers was fine! People want us to succeed!
Featured Image Courtesy Tin Umbrella
Amplifying the Authentic Narratives of South Seattle
