President’s message

It only takes a quick glance around our Central Area to see how rapidly it is changing to accommodate the population growth in our city. As we watch our surroundings evolve, I hope you consider joining us this February 1 at 7pm at the Central Area Senior Center, as we have the pleasure of learning more about the Central Area’s history from K. Wyking Garrett and Jill Freidberg. I look forward to not only learning more about our past, but also learning about some of the ways we’ll see our past incorporated and honored into our future through art and design. Check out the “Neighborhood Change” article for more details about February’s Community Council programming.

February also will bring about the launch of our new website. We appreciate your patience as the team has worked diligently on the new platform, and we look forward to hearing what you think!

Homelessness, particularly amongst children, continues to be a concern of the Council. We have been brainstorming ways to help these children and their families, particularly during this cold winter. Following a conversation expressing our concerns and ideas to Council Member Sawant late last year, we are putting forward a letter with our recommendation to the Central Area Neighborhood District Council (CANDC), and we aim to garner additional support from the CANDC to then publish an open letter to Mayor Murray. Although we recognize that utilizing an emergency plan at Garfield Community Center is more of a stopgap than a long-term solution, we hope to initiate a conversation about alternatives that, to our knowledge, have not been considered yet. In the meantime, I encourage you to check out the information in this newsletter about the Food Drive at Leschi Elementary School and how you can help. Food donations may be dropped off at the school before Feb. 6.

~Yuki