Tag Archives: Rainier Beach

Arts & Culture

Rising Star Estrella Gonzales-Sanders Featured in New Debbie Allen Netflix Documentary

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by Jasmine M. Pulido

Estrella Gonzales-Sanders’ parents may have been prophetic when they named her Estrella, the Spanish word for “star.” The young Renton resident has already danced in front of notable stars like Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Barry Gordy, and Stevie Wonder, to name a few. Now, she has landed a small feature in Debbie Allen’s newly released Netflix documentary, Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker. And at age 12, Estrella’s own rise to stardom has only just begun.

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Community

Intentionalist: Mele Kalikimaka From South Seattle

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by Laura Clise

Intentionalist is built on one simple idea: where we spend our money matters. We make it easy to find, learn about, and support small businesses and the diverse people behind them through everyday decisions about where we eat, drink, and shop. #SpendLikeItMatters

In my family, the holidays have always been about spending time together. My mom is from the town of Waimea on the island of Kaua‘i where I have fond memories of family visits and, fortunately, video footage of my late grandma dancing Christmas hula. I was raised in Seattle, but when my parents retired, they decided to spend more time with my mom’s side of the family on Kaua‘i — which is admittedly not a terrible place to be as the weather gets chillier here in the Pacific Northwest.

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Community

The City of Seattle Has Zoned Rainier Beach Playfield for a Skatepark — Organizers Seeking Community’s Help to Make it Happen

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by M. Anthony Davis

Danielle Jackson, president and founder of Changing Habits and Motivating Personal Self-Esteem (CHAMPS), has been serving South Seattle youth and families through her resource and service center since 1999. The main focus areas of CHAMPS are housing and financial stability, health and safety, and community participation.

One of Jackson’s current projects, which she has been working on for the past few years, is bringing a skatepark to Rainier Beach. The proposed skatepark would be in the field next to Rainier Beach Community Center (RBCC) and would coexist with a baseball field, a play structure, and an open grass field.

Continue reading The City of Seattle Has Zoned Rainier Beach Playfield for a Skatepark — Organizers Seeking Community’s Help to Make it Happen →
Community

Rainier Beach Action Coalition Virtual Town Hall to Share Plans for Neighborhood’s Food Innovation District

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by Jack Russillo

It’s taken years of work, but the Rainier Beach Food Innovation District is finally on the horizon.

After the Rainier Beach Action Coalition (RBAC) received funding over the summer from the City of Seattle’s Equitable Development Initiative (EDI), RBAC has ramped up work on its planned Food Innovation District, a network of food-related businesses and activities aimed at creating living-wage jobs and preventing displacement. Once complete, the food-centric district could be a natural hub for retail and restaurant development; farmers markets, festivals and other attractions; and public health outreach and services, such as cooking and nutrition classes or harvest gleaning programs that move farm surpluses to families in need. With assistance from Forterra, RBAC acquired ownership of a property at the end of October with a central location in the Rainier Beach neighborhood. The $3 million purchase is the result of a decade-long effort and will help RBAC implement a primary aspect of their neighborhood plan.

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Arts & Culture

Book Review: Spirited Stone, Lessons from Kubota’s Garden

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by Anne Liu Kellor

Who cares about gardens and landscape design right now, in a time of widespread grief and despair?

Let me reframe that question.

Who cares about a story of resilience, racism, community, cross-cultural connection, place, and poetry?

We do.

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Community

Farm Stand in Rainier Beach Provides Free and Low-Cost Produce for the Community

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by Carolyn Bick

The farm stand hadn’t even opened for business yet, but the socially distant line for Tilth Alliance’s new farm stand was already starting to stretch down the organization’s driveway on the sunny afternoon of June 25.

The nonprofit organic gardening and urban ecology organization is located at the Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands in partnership with Friends of Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands. Tucked away in a leafy residential area on South Cloverdale Street, this is the city’s largest urban farm. Tilth Alliance officially launched the new farm stand in this outdoor space on June 18. The farm stand is open every Thursday from 2–7 p.m. and is yet another one of Tilth Alliance’s efforts to support South King County residents.

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News

In Press Conference, Durkan, Best Focus on Just Two of Three Shootings That Happened Over the Weekend

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by Carolyn Bick

Joined by several community leaders, Mayor Jenny Durkan and Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best addressed two weekend shootings that claimed the life of a 19-year-old Black teen and wounded two others in the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP).

In the June 22 press conference, Durkan and Best committed to working with different Black-led community organizations, including Community Passageways and Not This Time. Durkan said that she will be introducing a 2020 budget rebalancing plan that will make a point to invest in the Black community, in order to enhance public safety. In the name of both equity and public safety, Durkan also committed $5 million for mentoring and summer learning for Black youth.

She also said that police officers responded to almost 17,000 emergency calls within the last nine months, and that her budget process will examine the police budget. She said that police only respond “because the other systems in society have failed,” and that what the city needs is for certain services, like mental health workers or community-based workers, to be available to respond to some emergency calls.

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Community

“We Want to Live” Rally Draws Thousands in Support of Black Youth in South Seattle

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by Ronnie Estoque

No one within a mile of Othello Park Sunday afternoon could avoid the message. The crowd was too massive, the signs too numerous and the uniform chant, Black Lives Matter, was too loud. Continue reading “We Want to Live” Rally Draws Thousands in Support of Black Youth in South Seattle →

Community

Rainier Beach Community Pays Tribute to Conner Dassa-Holland

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by Ari Robin McKenna and Makayla Miles

When Conner Dassa-Holland was in middle school at Orca K–8, his English teacher there, Donte Felder, would often present students with two questions:

“What is your story? What is your future?”

Years later, Donte would run into Conner from time to time in South Seattle, where they both lived. Usually, after getting an earful of Conner’s recent achievements, he would ask Conner what had become a predictable question:

“What is your story? What is your future?”

Responses varied over the years. Having spent both 7th and 8th grade in Donte’s English classrooms, Conner was ready with a variety of off-the-cuff answers over the years.

Donte remembers their final exchange:

“What is your story? What is your future?”

“Change the world. Our systems are wrong.”

“How?”

“I’ll figure that out later, but one step at a time.”

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