By MARK HIGGINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Looking for a few good community leaders

If White Center is to be successful, more residents will need to step up andbecome community leaders, Davis says. "This area needs a good civicmovement. It has been carried by too few people for too long."

But getting some business owners involved, particularly White Center's newimmigrants, is a challenge, says Vanesa Van der Heyden, manager of WhiteCenter's Chamber of Commerce.

Many businesses are small and owners are consumed with keeping theirbusiness afloat while caring for their families, says Karen Ko, a countycommunity service representative who works in White Center.

Many new business owners also don't yet understand that they can be moresuccessful if the surrounding community is also thriving and attractive toshoppers, Ko says.

White Center may be on the upswing but not too many years ago someresidents felt the need to fib about where they lived.

Peggy Weiss says she used to tell friends that she had bought a house in WestSeattle, not White Center. "I don't do that anymore," she says.

Several years ago she and her husband, Glenn, decided it was time to dosomething positive about White Center's image. They started a free homegarden tour "to spread some good news about White Center." This summer'stour on July 26 will be the fourth annual.

"We're not a 1940s strip anymore, where military guys come down and getdrunk and get into fights," says Peggy Weiss.

While it it is true the community doesn't have a lot of white-collar jobs, thatdoesn't diminish its value or importance, says Glenn Weiss, a member of thenew North Highline Unincorporated Area Council.

Continued:

• A community outgrows its wilder days
• White Center is undergoing a cultural revolution of its own
• Many came here looking for a second chance
• Reputation of wild and woolly past still lingers
• Low home prices make area a good place to start out