This year’s Gathering of Neighbors is an indoor-and-outdoor event – right outside the Chief Sealth International High School Galleria, on the walkway/plaza leading from the school parking lot to its south-side doors, you can find out all about RainWise.

It’s a program to get more homes off the rainwater/runoff grid, and more areas of West Seattle are eligible for rebates to cover at least part of the cost of installing “green stormwater infrastructure” such as cisterns. Inside the Galleria, get “wise” in another way – meet local volunteers such as Eldon Olson from the Morgan Community Association and Cindi Barker from West Seattle Be Prepared/Emergency Communication Hubs

There’s a preparedness drill next Saturday, in fact, and they’re still signing up prospective “actors.” Others you might meet at the Gathering of Neighbors include Yun Pitre and Ed Pottharst:

They’re neighborhood coordinators for the city’s Department of Neighborhoods, and work with many of the groups that keep things clicking around here. Plus – how often do you get to have a say in the future of a major local arterial? You can share your vision for the north half of Delridge Way – look for the map spanning a table, with neighborhood advocate Pete Spalding (below right) behind it:

There’s also entertainment and refreshments; as first published here last night, here’s the official program listing more of whom you might meet and see if you get on over to Sealth by 3.

34th District Democrats
Alki Art Fair
Amerigroup
Delridge Grocery/Delridge Produce Cooperative
Delridge Neighborhood Development Association
King County Community & Technical Colleges
Morgan Community Association
North Delridge Neighborhood Council
Seattle Department of Neighborhoods/PACE LEadership
Seattle Foundation Neighbor to Neighbor Fund
Seattle Neighborhood Matching Fund Program
Seattle Public Library
South Seattle Community College
Southwest Seattle Historical Society / Log House Museum
Southwest Youth & Family Services
West Seattle Be Prepared! – Emergency Communication Hub
West Seattle Democratic Women
White Center Chamber of Commerce
White Center Development Association

The morning starts at 9 am with refreshments, 9:30 am with welcoming ceremonies, and then a slate of workshops that will be held simultaneously at 10:20 am and again at 11:05 am – all detailed in the program. It’s all free; just head into the Galleria at Sealth, between the gym and the main school building, north of the parking lot at 2600 SW Thistle.

East to west, north to south, people from all over West Seattle are at the Gathering of Neighbors right now, till 3, in the Chief Sealth International High School Galleria, and the place is abuzz with conversation. Above, that’s Ariana Rose Taylor-Stanley and Galena White from Delridge Produce Cooperative. On the north side of the Galleria, till 1, special presentations on preparedness:

That’s Debbie Goetz from the city’s Office of Emergency Management. Every speaker’s been announced by West Seattle Be Prepared‘s Cindi Barker, hollering from the staircase over the Galleria:

No, no one called 911, but police have stopped by too – chatting here with award-winning Pete Spalding, who’s on the Southwest Precinct Advisory Council:

(added) Admiral Neighborhood Association president Katy Walum came to answer questions about some of the group’s high-profile projects, such as Summer Concerts at Hiawatha (this year’s performers to be announced soon!)

West Seattle’s own South Seattle Community College, represented too:

Lots more to see and do. We’re by the door, so say hi (as many already have done) on your way out! Entertainment starts at 1 pm, and the day began with a special leadership summit, including an hour we have on video that we’ll add – along with more photos! – later. Admission’s free; parking’s right out front off SW Thistle, and once you’ve parked, look for the path to the Galleria, to the left (west) of the gym.

1:24 PM UPDATE: The tables are breaking up – and the event’s moving on to food (pizza and bake sale) and entertainment – look for all that toward the north side of the Galleria!

ADDED SATURDAY NIGHT: Video from one of the performances – members of Twelfth Night Productions sang several songs, in this clip, a comic Monty Python song from “Spam-A-Lot”:

One other performance clip – student marching-band musicians – is at the end of this story. We also recorded two events earlier in the day, during the invitation-only leadership summit – here’s “Neighbor Power” guru Jim Diers:

Second, the Leadership Panel moderated by Ron Angeles, featuring Sili Savusa of the White Center Community Development Association, Aileen Sison of White Center B.O.S.S., Tony Fragada of the Alki Community Council, and Kirk Mead of the Admiral District Business Association and West Seattle Chamber of Commerce:

Gathering of Neighbors was organized and coordinated by a volunteer group this year – VIEWS.

Performances between 1 and 3 pm are scheduled to include Aikido of West Seattle, an ensemble from Twelfth Night Productions, Wise Orchid Martial Arts, and Denny/Sealth music students. But first, an area with a special focus on preparedness, 11 am-1 pm, featuring:

WEST SEATTLE BE PREPARED! HUB DEMO
plus Preparedness speaker sessions every 15 mins.
City of Seattle Office of Emergency Management
King County Public Health Reserve Corps
West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network
West Seattle Amateur Radio Club
Seattle Auxiliary Communication Service
Washington State Animal Response Team
City of Seattle Home Retrofit Program
Red Cross

Other organizations who’ll be represented at tables/booths during the overall resource fair 11 am-3 pm, with lots of info and people happy to chat with you, include:

34th District Democrats
Admiral Neighborhood Association
Artisan Electric
Cascadia Solar Project
City of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods
Delridge Produce Cooperative
Highland Park Action Committee/Highland Park Improvement Club
North Delridge Neighborhood Council
Roxbury Spine and Wellness Center
Seattle Neighborhood Group
Seattle Fire Department
Seattle Police Department
Seattle Public Library
South Seattle Community College
Southwest Seattle Historical Society / Log House Museum
Sustainable West Seattle
West Seattle Blog (hey! that’s us!)
West Seattle Community Orchestras
West Seattle Democratic Women
White Center Chamber of Commerce

If you’ve never been to Sealth, the parking-lot entrance is off SW Thistle, and the Galleria entrance is the central building with the angled roof, set back and to the north of the lot. No admission charge, but there will be food for sale, scheduled to include Giannoni’s Pizza and a dessert fundraiser put on by Sealth students. See you there!

Make connections with dozens of local businesses, community groups, non-profits, and social service providers from across the West Seattle Peninsula, discover hidden resources right in your own neighborhoods, and learn more about how you can get involved in making our community an even better place to live!

The public event kicks off at 11:00 am with our Neighborhood Resource Fair, featuring a special themed area this year on “Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Recovery.” One section of the information tables and vendors will feature children’s activities and prizes, a demonstration hub, and preparedness speakers on how your family and your home can Be Prepared for when disaster strikes.

Hear from the Neighborhood Emergency Communication Hubs, City of Seattle Office of Emergency Management, King County Public Health Reserve Corps, West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network, West Seattle Amateur Radio Club, Seattle Auxiliary Communication Service, Washington State Animal Response Team, and City of Seattle Home Retrofit Program! PLUS, other community groups, government agencies, and local businesses…

The fair continues while we feature local food and entertainment from 1:00-3:00 pm. Come gather with your neighbors and share in food trucks, dessert fundraiser tables, and fine performances you won’t want to miss! Local performers will include a world percussion group, martial-arts demonstration, and students from the Denny/Sealth Music department.

Come be a part of the Gathering of Neighbors: Businesses and Community organizations from across the West Seattle Peninsula, all together, one day, one place, as “one community”.

April 21st, 2012 marks the return of the Gathering of Neighbors, this year sponsored by Visualizing Increased Engagement West Seattle(VIEWS) and SW Youth and Family Services. The combination of both community and businesses participants promises to have Chief Sealth High School bursting at the seams with booths full of information.

Attendees will experience, in one place and time, the tremendous wealth of services and goods available to them in their own neighborhoods right here in West Seattle. Entertainment and refreshments will be part of the celebration.

Part of our celebration will be appreciation for the artistic side of West Seattle, and we will be featuring a photo, logo, and essay contest. There were will be suggested topics and submission categories on the website, with prizes presented to the top selections the day of the event.

Are you part of a group or business who would want to participate? Download applications and more info at viewswestseattle.org or contact Rafael Garcia, rafa.les.gar@gmail.com , (206) 380-2066

Gathering Of Neighbors:
Date: Saturday, April 21st, 2012
Time: 11:00 am – 3:00 pm
Location: Chief Sealth International High School,
2600 SW Thistle St

The banner’s been hung by the Chief Sealth International High School Galleria front doors with care – in hopes that you and many other West Seattleites soon will be there! (Apologies to the original author!) The 2010 Gathering of Neighbors is under way, till 4 pm today. Workshops and even a keynote speaker for the first time – plus a food truck available at lunchtime – just c’mon over and wander through. (Workshops, including our social-media primer, are in the classrooms on the west side of the Galleria, at 11:30 and again at 1:30.) More soon!

11:22 AM UPDATE: There’s a Galleria overview from about 10 minutes ago. Among the organizations in our line of sight – West Seattle Chamber of Commerce (here’s Patti Mullen):

Also, Ventana Construction (WSB sponsor), Kiwanis Club of West Seattle, Sustainable West Seattle, West Seattle Blockwatch Captains Network (here’s Karen Berge):

Plus: West Seattle Be Prepared, 34th District Democrats, Morgan Community Association, WestSide Baby, Highland Park Action Committee, Lafayette Elementary Play It Forward Project – to name just a few. Also the West Seattle Community Orchestras, West Seattle Food Bank, Alaska USA, Chief Sealth PTSA … and the Nature Consortium and DNDA (whose executive director Derek Birnie is on the right in this next photo):

We’re told the Pai’s Thai/Hawaiian food truck is already set up here, too.

12:58 PM UPDATE: We’re done with our first social-media-primer workshop (and the three workshops including food-growing, solar energy, and “kid zone”) – another round of all four is coming up in half an hour – we’re in the classroom at the far southwestern corner of the Sealth Galleria (through the front door, extreme left turn. Principal John Boyd is now speaking – talking about what it really means to be an international school, teaching “global perspectives” and world languages, among many other things – and will be introducing former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice shortly.

1:04 PM UPDATE: Former Mayor Rice is talking about the community-building work he now does with the Seattle Foundation, after remarking on the strength of the West Seattle community, and the aspects of a strong community that he’s seen around the Galleria here at the Gathering of Neighbors.

He urges everyone to stay focused on “what’s good for the community” – the same way that in our families we focus on “what’s good for the family.” He concludes – “Keep on doing the work that you’re doing … everyone has a role to play and a place to stand” to strengthening a community. “We’ll say at the end, ‘all is well, all is well’.”

3:06 PM UPDATE: Update – the event’s ending now – rather than going till 4. So if you haven’t been here yet, we’ll see you next year! Thanks to everybody who joined us for the social-media discussion/workshops – they were a blast.

4 hour-long workshops happening simultaneously, presented twice, once at 11:30 am and once at 1:30 pm (these will be in TBA classrooms):

WORKSHOP #1: Social Media/Citizen Journalism – presentation & Q/A with WSB!
WORKSHOP #2: “Fresh” movie screening and DNDA Family Gardening coordinator discussion
WORKSHOP #3: Solar Energy education/employment opportunities, presented by Solar Epiphany
WORKSHOP #4: Family/Kid Zone with DNDA’s Resident Engagement Coordinator

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: At 1 pm, CSIHS principal John Boyd and former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice

FOOD: Pai’s Thai/Hawaiian truck will be parked at Sealth if you’d like to buy lunch. And DNDA’s Phillippia Goldsmith adds that, “Our very own Delridge Fresh Food Spot project will be facilitating a Multi-cultural Food Pyramid game complete with yummy snacks!”

Hope to see you there. P.S. This may sound kind of goofy but since the Online Journalism Award for “community collaboration” that we accepted last weekend is yours too – we’re bringing it to display at the WSB table in the Sealth Galleria. Again, 11 am-4 pm tomorrow, come meet West Seattle neighbors and new friends.

That’s just one of the young performers from Youngstown Arts Center who drew a cheering crowd in the Chief Sealth/Boren cafeteria during today’s Gathering of Neighbors; just feet away, we had a ringside seat for the dancers, rappers, poets, and other performers, including the Inner City Ensemble:

What today’s event was truly about was the people. The people who came to find out more about West Seattle organizations and businesses – and the people who are busy making this an incredible community to call home – people like Chief Sealth students Sara Schendel and Sam Westler:

They are two of the students who’ve been working for months with Cooper Elementary students on a project in the adjoining greenbelt; they’re now working outdoors just about every weekend and are inviting you to join their next work party – 10 am-2 pm next Saturday (4/11) on the south side of Cooper. See our previous Gathering of Neighbors coverage here; we have yet more to tell you about — more great community events and news picked up during conversations today (thanks again to everyone who took the time to chat with us!) — coming up later.

City Council President Richard Conlin has just spoken to the crowd that’s here in the cafeteria with us and some of the other participants at the Gathering of Neighbors (music and treats are back here too, all free) — the photo above is from a few minutes earlier, when he stopped to talk with Highland Park Action Committee leaders including chair Dan Mullins (left) – all the fun here is continuing till 3 pm at Chief Sealth @ Boren. Also from the HPAC booth – a collage display that Dina Johnson put together:

Lots of other neighborhood groups here too – we spoke with Andrew Mead of the High Point Neighborhood Association, Cindi Barker and Chas Redmond from the Morgan Community Association, we’ve also seen Matthew Slye with the Admiral Neighborhood Association, and Junction Plaza Park (where we chatted with Junction Neighborhood Organization president Erica Karlovits – they’ll be at the Farmers’ Market again tomorrow too – pledges of volunteer help are going well, now it’s time to chip in a few dollars to make the park happen):

We have talked to so many other cool people who are here – Larry Carpenter of the Alki Community Council just stopped by, the city’s Neighborhood Service Center reps Stan Lock (based in The Junction) and Ron Angeles (based in Delridge) are here, as are the Southwest Precinct’s Community Police Team officers – we’ve seen Officers Adonis Topacio and Ralph Wilson so far. Music is big here too – we’re next to the Glee Club, and Toni Reineke with Westside Symphonette has a table in the hallway:

The West Seattle Chamber of Commerce organized this along with Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association (DNDA) so they’re here in force too – stop by the Chamber’s table and get one of their West Seattle Community Resource Guides:

Be sure to fill out the survey too; there’s a dropbox on our table. Also just dropping by: County Council Chair (and Executive candidate) Dow Constantine, who you will see emcee’ing the King County Water Taxi kickoff tomorrow at Seacrest, noon-2 pm (don’t forget the fireboat Leschi will be there at 12:45 – weather’s looking good so far).

1:32 PM UPDATE: Still an hour and a half to get down here to the Gathering of Neighbors. Music and food here in the cafeteria – lots of giveaways along the way – at the Stor-More (WSB sponsor), among other places:

Other WSB sponsors here include Ventana Construction (which is having another one of its free workshops next week):

Eagle Electric, too:

And Fitness Together:

We’ve picked up a few more stories along the way and will publish them in a bit – it’s 3 pm now, time to fold up and head back to HQ.

FAUNTLEROY PAVING UPDATE: Jessica Murphy from SDOT just stopped by our table. We asked if there’s word yet on whether the Fauntleroy Way paving project will stretch past California (see our previous report) – she says the bid was awarded a week ago and it WILL cover the full stretch, all the way to SW Holly. She’s here with updated flyers.

PARKS LEVY COMMITTEE UPDATE: Pigeon Point’s Pete Spalding (above with wife Kerry Hughes) is here too, on behalf of the PP Neighborhood Council; he is one of three West Seattleites on the new committee overseeing how the money from last fall’s Parks Levy will be spent, and he tells us there will be a series of four public meetings citywide next month to get your thoughts on how to use the levy’s “Opportunity Fund” — dates aren’t set yet but will be soon, and he says one WILL be in West Seattle. So if there’s a park project you’d like to see happen (the Delridge Skatepark would be one proposal, since money to build it got cut out of this year’s budget)

More to come – including photos from the event!

Once you come in the doors of Chief Sealth @ Boren, be sure to follow the signs to the cafeteria. Lots of great people to see and meet along the way – we’re in the cafeteria (where some special events will be happening too) – once you enter the cafeteria, we’re on the left side, red-covered table, two laptops, right next to the Seattle Glee Club. (Free food, music, and other special events will be happening in here too – it’s a little crowded in the hallway but make your way back here and find the fun.) Already had our first today-only-discount West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day signup and the event hasn’t even officially started yet! See you here. (We’ll post some in-progress reports as the event unfolds, too.) 11:25 AM UPDATE: Not even half an hour in, and we’ve already had four signups, including two groups!