Burien Community Advisory Committee
The Burien Community Advisory Committee began meeting on April 19, 2023. The committee plans to meet for 90 minutes every month until the building opens.
Burien community members are Nancy Kick, Carrie Ly, Project Manager of Sea Mar Burien/White Center, Aaron Burkhalter with LEAD, NAVOS Chief Operating Officer Sarah Coleman, Director of Discover Burien Debra George, Latino Civic Alliance Board Chair Nina Martinez and Project Manager of Kent Sea Mar Ricardo del Fierro.
DESC staff members include Executive Director Daniel Malone, Director of Housing Noah Fay, Executive Coordinator Maria Jacinto, Director of Property Development Sondra Nielsen, Housing Developer Julie Nordgren, Housing Development Coordinator Akhil Arun, Construction Coordinator Christopher Ledestich and the DESC Community Engagement Coordinator (to be filled).
Committee norms and agreements:
This is about the work going forward; members commit to respecting the scope of the meeting; members will communicate in a professional and respectful manner; assume good faith and intent; those attending who are not on the committee are observers.
Next meeting: Sept. 12, 5-6:30 p.m., Revelle Hall at Navos-MultiCare Burien headquarters, 1210 SW 136th Street.
Read the Sept. 12 agenda here.
Read the Sept. 8, 2023 agenda here.
Meeting note summaries
April 2023
Attendance: Daniel Malone, Noah Fay, Maria Jacinto, Anne Williamson, Nancy Kick, Carrie Ly, Aaron Burkhalter, Sarah Coleman and Debra George.
Meeting started at 6:45 p.m., and included an overview of the agenda, quick introductions and an overview of the Burien project.
Q: Curious a little bit about how we will ensure people from Burien will be entered into the the program? A: We (DESC) want that to be a topic of discussion to ensure a robust effort to involve Burien unsheltered people in the project
Structure of Committee:
The group is doing its work but the public will be able to comment, not necessarily fully open to public involvement, that’s to be determined (set time for that).
Q: Expected open date? A: A year from now, might change.
Q: Timing of meetings? A: Quarterly or every other month, not all needing to be meetings in a room, could be a site tour or whatever we think could be helpful for generating topics of conversation.
Interest in a tour (3)
Q: Longevity of committee? A: That’s up to the committee, can be as long as or as short as the committee deems.
May 2023
This meeting was a tour of Rainier House.
June 2023
Attendance: Daniel Malone, Noah Fay, Maria Jacinto, Anne Williamson, Nancy Kick, Carrie Ly, Aaron Burkhalter, Sarah Coleman and Debra George.
The meeting started at 5:45 p.m., and included a debrief on Rainier House. Questions raised:
Q: Are all housing programs run the same way? A. Yes, mostly.
Q: Is the kitchen not being utilized as much as it should be? A. That was a covid change, it’s something we are working to get back to. Can we apply that to this project and make the use of the kitchen more prevalent?
Q: Have we ever partnered with nutrition schools? A. We work with FareStart, but are open to expanding. Focusing on the community aspect of the meals is what the CAC is looking for.
Julie Nordgren and Chris Ledestich presented the mural project, the budget and the need for an RFP, and there was a substantial discussion about the kind of art, the message, the budget and theme.
Next meeting topic: Coordinated Entry and tenant selection, as well as local tenant selection.
July 2023
This meeting was canceled due to expected low attendance (people on vacation). The agenda was held for the August meeting.