Many residents, who say everyone seems to get along, consider the ethnic melange one of the neighborhood's finest attributes. Jennifer Healey Thornton and her husband moved from Fremont to Columbia City about a year ago. Mitchell teaches English as a second language at Columbia City's branch library. Her students come from Asia, North Africa, Mexico, Central and South America and eastern Europe. The Born to Read class, sponsored by the Seattle Public Library, is intended for immigrant mothers who may not have other opportunities to attend English classes.
Day care is provided at the library.
Luong was a midwife in Vietnam and must pass exams in English to continue her career here, making learning English crucial. Columbia City's diversity includes biracial couples, such as Darryl Smith, who is black, and his wife, Andrea John, who is white. That they are black and white is incidental to their lives and doesn't bother anyone, the couple say. He thinks the neighborhood also offers some of the best real estate deals in town. Columbia City and Rainier Valley has been a perfect fit for them, Smith says.