Happening this week: Non-holiday highlights

TONIGHT: Highland Park Action Committee meets for the first time since the new list of potential misdemeanor-jail sites was announced last Thursday (WSB coverage here), with the Highland Park Way/West Marginal Way site still on the list (though now it’s one of six possible locations). But that’s far from all that HPAC is up to; read this WSB Forums post for reasons why you should join in. 7 pm, Highland Park Improvement Club building (11th/Holden; here’s a map).

TOMORROW: Seattle Public Schools‘ preliminary list of proposed school closures will go public. We know for sure that they will be presented and discussed in detail at a School Board workshop tomorrow night (6 pm, district HQ: here’s a map) – but we’re still awaiting final word on whether any sort of media briefing will be held to make the list public earlier in the day. The chances at least one West Seattle school will be on the list are considered to be fairly high for a variety of reasons including “excess capacity” and building age/condition (here’s our most recent coverage, including dates for “workshops” to talk about the closures). The last round of building closures less than 2 years ago led to the shutdown of Fairmount Park Elementary.

WEDNESDAY: The closures – whichever schools are on the list – are likely to be a major topic as West Seattle’s school-board rep Steve Sundquist has his monthly “coffee hour,” open for anyone to drop in and discuss district/education issues, 9 am at Coffee to a Tea with Sugar in The Junction. (Added later Monday: We have word he also plans an extra community availability at the Delridge Library from 3-5 pm Saturday 12/6.)

As for the holiday – you’ll find lots of new information and events added to our Holiday Happenings page — including info we’ve compiled so far about what happens on Thanksgiving, from free morning workouts to grocery store/coffee shop hours – that info will be complete by tomorrow but we’re adding it to the list as we get it.

3 Replies to "Happening this week: Non-holiday highlights"

  • J November 25, 2008 (12:36 pm)

    Don’t forget Buy Nothing Day on Friday!
    http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd

  • WSB November 25, 2008 (12:41 pm)

    I think many people will be buying less and re-evaluating anyway. But when people DO make their decisions – we are in the chorus saying this over and over and over again this year, BUY LOCAL. West Seattle is laden with small, one-of-a-kind merchants – and it’s not just to keep them afloat – it’s also in West Seattleites’ enlightened self-interest, because when ALL the road work projects kick in a few years down the line, we will all want to have vibrant business districts here so we don’t have to leave West Seattle for ANYTHING that’s not absolutely necessary. Getting from here to there, through a gauntlet of challenges from the current economic woes to development issues, is going to be tough … but not impossible – TR

  • J November 25, 2008 (3:20 pm)

    Absolutely we want to keep our local business districts vibrant!

    The point of Buy Nothing Day isn’t to put people out of business; it’s to encourage consumers to opt out of the excessive consumption that is making our species unsustainable.

    So–I totally agree–buy local; but bear in mind that to the extent our consumption causes the use of resources beyond the ecosystem’s capacity to replace them, we are contribute to the destruction of the biosphere.

    I don’t wish our local merchants ill; on the other hand, I don’t want to sustain our local economy at the expense of the planet. “Buy Nothing Day” can be interpreted as each of us sees fit.

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