It's not my ad, but I'm thinking of swinging by to see what it's about. What I like about the poster is its overtly inclusive message in Vietnamese, Spanish, Chinese, Somali, and Amharic/Oromiffa. I don't even recognize the third script on the right bar. Hopefully they'll succeed in attracting a broad interest.

More information is here.

http://www.bodiesinbalanceseattle.com/50_hour_fitness_challenge

Spring Session runs from April 11-June 12th!

Time: 6:00 p.m. (refreshments will be served)

Location: Southside Commons, 3518 South Edmunds Street

Admission: $2 suggested donation

Sponsors: NWFCO, Social Justice Fund NW, and Washington CAN

Film summary:

With both humor and outrage, Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story explores a taboo question: What is the price that America pays for its love of capitalism? Years ago, that love seemed so innocent. Today, however, the American dream is looking more like a nightmare as families pay the price with their jobs, their homes and their savings. Moore takes us into the homes of ordinary people whose lives have been turned upside down; and he goes looking for explanations in Washington, DC and elsewhere. What he finds are the all-too-familiar symptoms of a love affair gone astray: lies, abuse, betrayal…and 14,000 jobs being lost every day. Capitalism: A Love Story is both a culmination of Moore's previous works and a look into what a more hopeful future could look like. Written by Overture Films

Visit www.southsidecommons.org for more information.

Does a knitting group exist in the neighborhood?

Arts In Motion students who have experienced the thrill of accomplishment are now giving back, helping other kids feel that same sense of accomplishment. All AIM students are actively involved in raising funds for our "Support A Student" scholarship drive. "Support A Student" will provide many eager students in the Rainier Valley the chance to study music and the arts, a precious gift!

AIM's goal is to raise $10,000 for the scholarship fund. March 20 is the "Support A Student" deadline. Participants collecting donations will also enjoy the spirit of fun and community associated with this scholarhip fund drive. Participants may win valubale prizes befitting art students. Plus, each participant will have a chance to perform on camera for an AIM promotional video on Sunday, March 21, 2010.

AIM is making great things happen right now. Make your kind donations to Arts In Motion by March 20 and "Support A Student"!

Free Classes Offered-Week of March 8

DON'T MISS OUT - Call AIM today to reserve your spot for a free trial class.

Regular classes will start the following week (March 15) with sufficient enrollment. Invite a friend, tell your neighbors, call your cousins, we would love to accommodate everyone interested in these great classes.

We will be offering free classes in the disciplines of Filmmaking, Musikgarten, Cartooning, Painting, and Chamber Ensemble.

Call 723-3131 or email us at gro.loohcsmia|ofni#gro.loohcsmia|ofni

Spring Break Camp-Now Enrolling

This camp's theme is: Spring Fever! Celebrate the arrival of spring through poetry, song and art. Create a spring haiku and paint flowers as you are inspired by the music of Vivaldi's Spring. Garden art projects will provide opportuni­ties for urban dwellers to bring gardening indoors.

AIM Arts Adventure Camps are where creativity and fun unite! Music, art, drama and movement become the elements that make our camp weeks come to life with new adventures led by highly qualified and specially trained teachers. There will also be plenty of time for outdoor play. All supplies and snack included; students bring their own lunch. Before and after care available from 8:00am-5:00pm for an additional fee.

Spring Break Camp Grades K-4

March 29 - April 2, 2010
Monday-Friday, 9am-3pm

$135.00 per full week
$10/day before and after care

And of course a decent live music venue with family friendly hours.

That would be really useful indeed.

More nightlife options wouldn't hurt: seems to be the demand…

A credit union actually IN the neighborhood would be great. Unless you're driving (and we have a high concentration of car-free households), something north of Safeway doesn't do any good.

Older ideas:
"More outdoor dining…. An art supply store would be good. An Apple store would be better. …A comic book store? I don't think there is one in the South End… A hospital or at least neighborhood clinic?"
"would love to see more coworking spaces in the city - especially ones that managed to pair up daycare with coworking."
"Columbia City could really use a little bodega that's a step above Shola or the busy bee."
"Another live music venue. Perhaps even a musical instrument store, with practice rooms and lessons? A tool library. More Flex Car stands. A Korean BBQ place, with good Bi Bim Bap. (Mmmm…) A better Pho place"
Also still good ideas.

My two cents:

• Cobbler
• A small but well curated International/Cultural Magazine Shop (could partner with Empire Espresso perhaps? a la Cafe Presse)
• Vintage/Consignment Furniture Shop - with the discernment of the good folk running GATHER. Something similar to The House in Interbay or Space Oddity in Ballard.
• Men's clothing
• A simple but overachieving Sandwich & Soup shop. Fresh. Seasonal. With Columbia City Bakery's delicious breads.
• Garden Shop / Nursery … a Swansons / City Peoples for the southside.
• Small Indoor/Outdoor Swimming Pool where all the school portables are.
• I would have said a cheaper pizza by the slice shop, but Tutta Bella's happy hour $6 margarita pizza is working just fine now (and my wife has mastered pizza dough).
• Cheese shop
• Northern European food importer (preferably with some Dutch treats). I had to go to Poulsbo last December to get proper Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) chocolates and cookies.
• Straight Vegetarian Restaurant.
• And I do like the idea of a kid-friendly cafe. Little Nest in Vancouver BC was great with ample space for kids to play (can't find photos that do it justice - these will have to do: one, two).

Brendan Kiley at the Stranger reports the Columbia City Theater closed suddenly, after its latest owners finalized a sale last weekend.

The sale happened on Saturday, after a few months of negotiations.

The new owners, Robert Hillman and C.B. Shamah, are shutting down the venue for at least three months for renovations and many of the acts scheduled to play there—including the popular monthly cabaret by Tamara the Trapeze Lady—are scrambling to find new homes.

"We're trying to help them out," said Shamah. He indicated that the theater was having major financial trouble: "Let's just say this," he said. "The gas to the theater got turned off. The water got turned off today. They didn't have a dumpster—apparently the garbage just disappeared to some garbage heaven. I wish I knew where that was."

Shamah said he and Sur just want to "bring some good music and good vibes to South Seattle." Some regular acts, like Tamara's, will return after the renovation.

There are more details in the comments under Brendan's post.

Having thought a bit more about the subject, I do believe Angie's serves a very real and underserved element of the Rainier Valley. Businesses should never be discriminated against due to their clientele, and I don't think they are in C City. I do believe the outrage against Angie's is not because of the ethnicity or socio-economic status of its clients but is due to the outright dangerous and criminal element it often attracts. This element is unacceptable, and I do not believe it really makes up the core business of Angie's. If the criminal element was not allowed to operate freely in and around Angie's I don't believe they would lose business. In fact, they may gain additional customers.

It is an easy fix, the management of Angie's needs to hire (at least on the weekends) a qualified staff of bouncers who know how to manage elements that are found in all bars. Experienced bouncers exist and can go a long way in keeping an establishment safe for its patrons and the neighborhood around it. Initially Angie's will also have to hire an off-duty police officer who is in uniform. I am not an expert in the rules surrounding off-duty police officers, but I am 99.9% sure that it is an off-duty police officer in uniform that is paid to be at Safeway. A uniformed police presence will eventually drive the criminal element away.

All this is predicated on the ownership wanting to make a change. If they owner is a good business person then they will know that this change will be necessary to protect their business. This is also where folks active in the neighborhood business district can help. Instead of being confrontational (I'm not saying they necessarily are, I don't really know), they need to support and encourage all the business owners in C City. Helping Angie's thrive as a business helps all members of our community.

Keep up the engaging discussion.

Brian

To add one more voice to the chorus: My wife and I just moved into a house on S. Edmunds Street that we've been renovating for months and months. Things were getting down to the wire—inspectors, appraisers, and in-laws were all about to show up—so I called Keith for help with hauling. Then for help with the deck. Then for help with a new fence. On all the jobs, he was fast, focused, on time, efficient, and wonderful to deal with. His prices are fair and transparent, his skills wide-ranging, and he apparently owns every powertool in the universe. But what matters most is this: The guy's a crazy perfectionist. He wants to do the job right because he wants to. Especially after the construction crew we'd been dealing with, it was a pleasure to watch him at work. Our deck and fence look great. We can recommend him in full.

Mac and Jenny

I'm a dive bar fan. I've hung out in Angie's a couple times mid-week and watched the game. Many of its customers are classic dive-bar drunks and fine people. They're not the problem. I'm not even particularly concerned with civility laws (a little public disorder we can deal with from time to time).

But let's face it, Angie's — whatever its old-school dive bar charms — is (especially on the weekends) not so much a low-income institution as a magnet for crime. There's blatant drug-dealing; prostitution in the alleys; fights (which I've seen) and muggings (from what I hear) and drunk and aggressive behavior. That's not character, that's crime.

Angie's also has much more than its share of nuisance behavior (from broken bottles to people yelling down the street at 2:00 in the morning), but that probably wouldn't be a big deal at all, if the place wasn't an epicenter of crime in our neighborhood.

The cops will not fix this problem by patrolling more often; they don't have the resources.

So, if we want to save a neighborhood institution, fine; but let's be real about what's going on there and what it'll take to make it okay, and that won't happen through a little community love. Something real is going to have to change to fix that place… and it should get fixed.

Just my two cents. Thanks.

BeatWalk is looking for a new coordinator for Columbia City’s monthly, summertime music festival. The coordinator’s main duties include: booking and coordinating venues; booking and overseeing/managing musicians; and event outreach and promotion. The ideal candidate is passionate and knowledgeable about the local music scene; is eager to work in the Columbia City neighborhood; and is organized, outgoing and professional.

Duties

• Book and coordinate local venues (training will be provided)
• Identify potential local musicians and review music submissions
• Communicate with musicians and neighborhood restaurants and businesses
• Oversee promotional and outreach activities including: poster placement, email distributions, social marketing and networking sites.
• Manage assistant coordinator
• Work with web master to maintain relevant web content
• Research funding opportunities and apply for grants as needed
• Develop and manage an annual budget

Requirements

• 1-2 years experience with community or event organization
• Proven responsibility handling cash and making monthly deposits
• Proficient with email, excel and social networking sites including Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and DIGG
• Excellent customer service and communication skills
• Able to multitask and keep calm under pressure
• Familiarity with design programs for promotional material development is a plus

Details

• Part-time (approx. 10-15 hours/month), seasonal position (early spring through mid-fall)
• Monthly stipend plus with bonus potential dependent on end of season net revenue
• Monthly meetings with the CCBA Marketing Committee on last Tuesday of the month from 9 a.m.- 10 a.m. required during the BeatWalk season
• Mandatory background and credit check for all applicants.

Interested applicants need to submit a cover letter, resume, and 4 professional references by March 4, 2010 to moc.ogidni-esum|klawtaeb#moc.ogidni-esum|klawtaeb, or mail it to:

Columbia City BeatWalk
c/o Bookworm Exchange
4860 Rainier Ave. S
Seattle, WA 98118
(**Please, no phone inquiries.)

Hip-Hop and Jazz dance styles…come ready to sweat, groove and shake it ALL!
Columbia City's only dance studio

email: dancegrooveswithjeffielou @gmail.com
Registration online @ dancegrooveswithjeffielou.com

http://www.publicola.net/2010/02/13/where-did-this-nice-little-urban-pocket-come-from/#more-26701

I love that block. Compared to most multi-family buildings, these make a street that feels like a nice place to be, and a safe place to walk and bike. This sort of pocket of compact development would improve the neighborhood, in my opinion.

What other examples do folks like?

Joanne
(206) 721-7227
ten.tsacmoc|10ttamoj#ten.tsacmoc|10ttamoj

http://www.libertyrestorationproject.org/2010/02/06/nationwide-red-light-camera-protest-to-be-held-on-valentines-day/

Show your enthusiasm for the red light camera located at Orcas and Rainier Ave. S.

In celebration of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and Black History Month, Southside Commons will be hosting a viewing of Salute, an award-winning documentary about the iconic moment of political solidarity displayed by three Olympic athletes in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Salute explores the events surrounding these historic Olympic Games and describes how Australian sprinter Peter Norman and his fellow medal-winners, John Carlos and Tommie Smith, took a daring stand against oppression. We hope you will join us to learn the story behind one of the most significant and touching images of the 20th century.

This month’s film is brought to you by the Northwest Federation of Community Organizations and the Social Justice Fund Northwest.

Please join us Thursday, February 18th at 6:00pm. This is a free community event! Donations will be accepted at the door and refreshments will be served.

The Southside Commons will be hosting a community watch party on the third Thursday of every month.

Please contact Meredith at gro.ocfwn|htiderem#gro.ocfwn|htiderem with any questions. We hope to see you there!

from the Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs eNewsletter

"The Office, in partnership with the Seattle Department of Transportation, seeks an artist to create an artwork for the second phase of the Chief Sealth Trail, which connects the city's Beacon Hill neighborhood with the Rainier Valley in Southeast Seattle. Work to extend the multipurpose trail west of Beacon Avenue South will begin this summer, with completion expected by the end of the year. The artwork—intended to mark the trail extension and enliven the streetscape—will be located where the trail will cross Beacon Avenue South at South Dawson Street.

The call is open to professional artists residing in Washington, Oregon, California, Montana or Idaho. The project budget is $50,000. Application deadline is 11 p.m., Tuesday, March 16. To preview the call and a link to the online application. "

We had a wonderful time laughing, talking, hanging out and getting closer with the people we love.

For those of you that you were here … THANKS! We loved having you join us. Come back next month and bring some friends.

We will be hosting a number of brunches throughout this year.

do you do any tile removal, pull out carpet, or baseboard replacement?

Tom

But Keith told us about his background in metal work and suggested he could rebuild the fence using the original sections. In just two days, he was able to remove the fence in front, and bend and weld the backyard fence back into shape. The gate even closes and latches smoothly in place as if it was all installed at the same time.

Keith is friendly, prompt, very reasonably priced and takes great care with the work area. We wish all repairs were this easy.

Bob and Lynn
Columbia City

This would be an addition, tucked into the space between the Shirley Marvin apartments (two stories on the right) and the gray house to the east, on S Edmunds St. The apartments would also be converted to hotel units.

Rob's had a lot of demand for his "Last Loft", and I imagine he's thinking of neighbors' visiting relatives, and out-of-towners looking for a real place within easy reach of SeaTac.

The DJC article is for subscribers only — I'd be interested to read the rest.

amelia and steve

If you cannot pick a time, please remember to drop by.

SEED/Homesight are hosting our first Blood Drive with Puget Sound Blood Drive next Friday, February 5th! Since every blood donation can go to three separate patients, ONE DONATION CAN SAVE THREE LIVES! Help us reach our goal of registering 25-30 donors and help save up to 75 lives!

Please forward this message to your friends, family members, coworkers and neighbors and sign up today!

Friday, February 5th

Mobile unit in SEED/Homesight Parking Lot (5117 Rainier Ave S, Seattle 98118)

10:00AM to 3:00 PM (closed 12:00-1:00pm)

Walk-in or make an appointment online

If you donated on or before December 11th you are eligible to donate at this drive.

For questions about eligibility, please contact 800-DONATE-1 x2543
How is my blood used? Blood volunteered by PSBC donors is distributed to over 70 hospitals and clinics in the Puget Sound area. Did you know that while only 5% of the population donates, 90% of us will need a blood transfusion at some point in our lives. Will you donate?

The Puget Sound Blood Center is a non-profit, community and volunteer based organization. For more than 60 years, the PSBC has been improving the quality of life for sick patients in the Puget Sound area. This is all thanks to the generous donors who are saving lives in Western Washington every day. Your volunteered blood is distributed to 70 local hospitals and clinics in the Puget Sound area.
Thank you for your commitment to the health of our community!

Sunday January 31 from 12-5

The discussion starts at 7:30pm at New Freeway Hall, 5018 Rainier Ave. S., Seattle. Door donation $3.00.

Come early for a Louisiana Cajun-Creole Feast served at 6:00pm for a $9.00 donation.

Sponsored by the Freedom Socialist Party. For more information or childcare, contact us at 206-722-2453. Wheelchair accessible.

The home is conveniently located in Columbia City within an easy walk to the light rail, Lake Washington, the PCC grocery store, and all the wonderful restaurants in Columbia City. There are several bus lines close by and getting to downtown or I-90 is a snap. My home has warm oak wood floors, large windows, a full laundry room, a spacious garage, and a wonderful garden. There is a full kitchen and a fenced yard and is comfortably furnished.

I would like to find responsible, non-smoking renters (i.e., pay bills on time, keep the property clean, etc.) who will enjoy and respect the home. It would be wonderful if you liked to garden too! I will consider pets on a case-by-case basis as well as partial work-rent trade. Rent would be $1500/month.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Please contact me at 360.927.0482 or moc.liamg|yelruhneelhtakm#moc.liamg|yelruhneelhtakm for more information.

What: NWFCO's State of the Union watch party

When: Wednesday, January 27, 2010 from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00(?) p.m.

Where: NWFCO's new building, the Southside Commons, located at 3518 S. Edmunds St.

Fun for all ages and singing ability(lyrics provided)!

Beer and Wine Bar
Silent Auction
Light snacks provided

Suggested donation $10-$15
Kids under 12 $5

If you're looking for a place to connect with your neighbors, have fun, and make a joyful noise, come sing with us! The Columbia City Community Chorus, directed by Kathleen Tracy, rehearses Tuesdays 7:30-9p at Bethlehem Lutheran Church 3818 S Angeline. The Chorus welcomes people of all ages and cultures to come together in a fun, inclusive and spirited singing community. We would especially love a few more men to come join our mighty bass section! There is no audition, and no singing experience is required, just a desire to sing in harmony with others.

If you have always been a singer you’ll love this choir. If you are new to singing or have been told you can’t sing … this is the place for you.

Kathleen Tracy is a singer/songwriter, composer, teacher, workshop presenter, choir director and musical instigator who has lived in Southeast Seattle for the past 20 years. For registration information she can be contacted at (206) 725-0341 ten.ysaekaeps|ycartneelhtak#ten.ysaekaeps|ycartneelhtak

You can check out the Chorus performing at this year's Columbia City Solstice Celebration:
Green Grow'th the Holly http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFc1wbclh_8
Joy is Calling http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBxmyX4JFZ8

Using video clips, Iranian social justice activist Kamran Sharifi and feminist journalist Monica Hill will discuss the recent uprising against the fundamentalist regime. Speakers will examine who the new generation of rebels are and also critique the U.S. role in Iran from the time of the Shah’s rule to current Obama administration policies.

Doors open at 6:30pm. Door donation is $3.00. Snack plates served for a $6.00 donation (sliding scale and work exchanges available for low income and unemployed). Sponsored by Freedom Socialist Party. Wheelchair accessible. For information or to reserve childcare call 206-722-2453 or moc.gnirpsdnim|elttaesPSF#moc.gnirpsdnim|elttaesPSF.