Hang In There White Center: We’re Totally Committed to Continuing To Consider
In celebration of the Seattle City Council’s historically decisive vote to “continue considering” the annexation of the North Highline area, two images from White Center. Now don’t get me wrong — I’m not meaning to get all urban-elite-snob on White Center. Pics like these could easily have been taken in Seattle (my next door neighbor’s back yard, for instance). But here’s what: the two pics represent two vastly different cultures that exist side-by-side in White Center. Diversity is in the burbs.
And why should Seattle annex this area? It’s almost all residential, will bring in little in the way of tax revenue, has major infrastructure needs (note: still don’t have sidewalks in north Seattle), and as of yet, Seattle doesn’t get any break from the State that would ease the cost of annexation. I must be missing something…I don’t understand why Nickels is so set on annexing this area. On the other hand, maybe Seattle could give this area the cash infusion it really needs, clean it up a bit, improve the quality of life for people living there, yada, yada. Of course South Park and Georgetown residents are still waiting for that to happen in their hoods….
I think it’s in the best interest of White Center and Seattle. There are some very nice neighborhoods that border White Center, that are vulnerable to the consequences of the state White Center is kept in. It’s an area that with just a little help could easily take off into something nice. Someone has to annex it, and it will be better if it is Seattle rather than Burien. I think it will fall into further decay in Burien’s hands, and Seattle will not escape the impact.
I don’t understand why “someone” has to annex WC. Why? So all the Seattle taxpayers can “help” pay for infra upgrades? Where is this “help” going to come from when there are multitudinous other problems across KingCo (as opposed to a small area) to solve?
Burien should take it. Seattle already has enough land area to deal with, and it would probably lead to a more balanced region if cities other than Seattle got bigger.
Seattle covers 88.5 square miles with 574,000 people (2005), which is a population density of 6485 people/sq mi. For comparison, Boston is 48.4 square miles and 559,000 people, or 11,550 people/sq mi. So Boston is about 1.8 times more dense than Seattle.
I love White Center, good and cheap food, diversity of people and no large-scale gentrification as of yet.
I say leave it alone or better yet let the people of White Center decide.