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White Center: Poor relation is shunned by county cousins
Wednesday, November 15, 2000
By MIKE LEWIS
WHITE CENTER -- A more accurate name might be white elephant.
Burdened by low property values and minimal sales tax revenues but with an urban appetite for public services, White Center and North Highline have become the communities no government wants.
Burien won't even return the county's calls. And Tukwila does the municipal equivalent of saying it's . . . uh . . . busy this weekend.
Places like White Center and North Highline are a challenge to King County. Other unincorporated areas that have a good tax base have been absorbed by an adjacent city or have incorporated on their own, which has left the county with demands for expensive urban services but less tax money to deliver them.
The reason is in the numbers -- or lack of them. A recent financial analysis of the area bracketed by Seattle, SeaTac, state Route 99 and Southwest 128th Street shows $9.7 million in projected property and sales tax revenues for 2000.
Expenses for everything from sewers to police patrols, however, amount to $13.47 million.
"Obviously, it's an issue that other cities don't find us appealing," said Judy Duff, president of the county's advisory board for North Highline and White Center. "The county wants us to incorporate into someone else, and other cities don't want us."
That report doesn't paint a flattering picture: Assessed property value per resident ranked 36th among 38 King County communities.
And sales tax revenue for each resident ranked 30th out of 36, at $65. Compare that with Issaquah, which ranked second in the county at $600 per person.
"We don't have a lot of employers," Duff said.
La Mexicana, with nearly 100 workers, is one of the few large companies in the area. General Manager William Fry said he's surprised the region isn't doing better.
The tortilla maker and Mexican food distribution company has been in White Center since 1955. Fry called the area "perfect" because it is 10 miles from the airport and 10 miles from downtown Seattle.
Because it is so close to Seattle, some county financial analysts say it's simply a matter of time before the area booms along with the rest of the Puget Sound region. Susan Thomas, a county senior policy analyst, called it "betting on the come," a craps term for gambling on a future number.
Among those willing to roll the dice are unions representing painters and electricians, which are working with King County Executive Ron Sims to open a training center here for 175 to 200 apprentices annually.
"The people who use the center won't just be building houses, they'll be building lives," Duff said.
Will such investments be enough? Duff and county officials don't know. But if no city wants to adopt North Highline and White Center, the locals don't seem to mind.
According to the county-commissioned study, 66 percent of residents said they don't want to be a part of any city, preferring instead to stay under county control.
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
King County offered to allow Seattle to absorb the 31,000-resident unincorporated area at its southwest flank. Seattle said no.
Roberto Acosta shares a heaping plate of food with his stepdaughter, Aleida Rosario, at Taqueria Guaymas in White Center, a community short of tax revenue.
Renee C. Byer/P-I
And even though the state's growth management act encourages incorporation of urban areas, when it comes to White Center/North Highline, the county can't afford to "bribe someone into taking it," said one county official involved in trying to find someone to take it.
Janice Thorne waits for a bus outside the Chubby & Tubby store in White Center. "I love it here because it has everything," Thorne says. "It is a perfect small city and is so convenient."
Renee C. Byer/P-I
Not that King County hasn't tried. In 1999, it commissioned a report designed to help the community plan its future and to generate annexation interest from nearby towns.
Ngoc Nguyen of Renton travels to the White Center Hair Studio when he needs a trim. Diane Hoang has worked at her family's shop for six years.
Renee C. Byer/P-I
"Our business has done very well here," he said. "We've made it our home and plan to in the future."
Victor Tuli carries his daughter, Victoria, and some shirts he bought at Screen Printing in White Center. "We do all our shopping here," he says.
Renee C. Byer/P-I
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