West Seattle, Washington
25 Wednesday
(November 2022 photo via Twitter, by @i8ipod)
Two bills to keep boats further away from endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales are making their way through the State Legislature, with West Seattle legislators among the co-sponsors. The bills both seek to keep boats further away from the endangered orcas, as recommended by a state report noted here last month. The State Senate version, SB 5371 – with co-sponsors including 34th District Sen. Joe Nguyen of West Seattle – got a hearing today in Olympia, before the Senate Water, Natural Resources, and Parks Committee. Here’s video via TVW (when you click “play” it’ll start with the orca bill, an hour in):
Among those testifying was West Seattleite Donna Sandstrom, executive director of The Whale Trail and member of Governor Inslee’s task force on orcas. Here’s part of what she told the senators:
We fully support this bill, which builds on the progress the State has made, and extends it based on the science we now know. A 1,000 yard setback will make it easier for orcas, especially females, to find and catch their prey. This matters not just for individual health, but because when orcas catch a salmon they share it. Mothers share food with their offspring. Older males share food with their mothers. Vessel noise and disturbance makes all of that harder.
There are seven calves under five years old in the population, and five of those are female, including Tahlequah’s newest calf. The future of the population is already here. Their ability to survive and thrive into adulthood depends on the actions that we take today. One perimeter for all boaters will be easier to communicate, comply with and enforce. Apps like Whale Alert can help boaters know when southern residents are near, and how far away is 1,000 yards.
Please advance this bill and give J, K and L pods the space they need to eat, so they have a chance to go on. It’s as simple, and as necessary, as that. Future generations may not know our names, but if we get this right there there will still be southern residents to watch, and be awed by. On the long road to recover the whales, this is the next step, and Washington State is leading the way.
The House version of the bill, HB 1145 – with co-sponsors including 34th District State Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon of West Seattle – is in the House Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources, and Parks Committee, with no hearing scheduled yet. “This is the first step on the journey from bill to law,” Sandstrom tells WSB. “We will need everyone’s help to ensure it passes this session. Here’s how people can support: Contact your legislators and let them know you support these bills. Contact by phone, email, or comment directly on the bill.” West Seattle legislators are Sen. Nguyen, Rep. Fitzgibbon, and newly elected Rep. Emily Alvarado.
ORIGINAL MONDAY REPORT: Another special election will be ahead in April if the King County Council votes Tuesday – or shortly thereafter – to send a $1.25 billion behavioral-health levy to voters. The meeting preview says the measure would create a nine-year property tax levy to fund “four key goals,” listed as follows:
*Create five new regional crisis care centers: Distributed geographically across the county, the centers would provide walk-in access and the potential for short-term stays to help people stabilize, depending on needs, with one center specifically serving youth.
*Preserve and restore the dramatic loss of residential treatment beds: In 2018, 355 beds providing community-based residential care for people with mental health residential needs existed in King County. Today, only 244 of these beds are available.
*Grow the behavioral health workforce pipeline: The proposal would create career pathways through apprenticeship programming and access to higher education, credentialing, training, and wrap-around supports. It would also invest in equitable wages for the workforce at crisis care centers.
*Provide immediate services while centers are being constructed: The proposal would also use initial proceeds to quickly create mobile or site-based crisis behavioral health services that can operate until the first crisis care centers open. This bridge strategy would complement recent state and federally-funded-mobile crisis teams.
The need for these services has expanded greatly in recent years, according to sponsors. They elaborate in the full text of the proposal going before county councilmembers at 1 pm Tuesday, which you can read here (page 50). If passed as written, the levy would cost the owner of a median-priced King County home – $694,000 in 2021 valuations – $10 a month in 2024. You can comment to the council before or during the hybrid (online and in-person downtown) meeting; the agenda explains how.
TUESDAY AFTERNOON: Per a statement from the County Executive’s Office, the county council did indeed approve sending the levy to voters in April.
By now, you’ve likely received your ballot for the February 14th special election deciding the fate of Seattle Initiative 135. It’s also time to vote on something that’s NOT on that ballot: A position on the King Conservation District Board of Supervisors. This is a countywide (except for five small cities) position, but two of the three candidates are from West Seattle. This voting is happening online for the fourth year, so the only reminder you’ve received is a postcard that probably arrived last week. Here’s what it’s all about:
The KCD Board of Supervisors oversees a roughly $8 million dollar budget paid by residents of King County through rates and charges.
KCD is a special purpose district committed to helping people engage in stewardship and conservation of natural resources, serving over two million people in 34 cities and unincorporated King County (excluding the cities of Enumclaw, Federal Way, Milton, Pacific, and Skykomish that are not member jurisdictions). KCD assists private residents with forestry management, streamside and shoreline enhancement, farm conservation planning, and other environmental efforts. It works with cities and community organizations to support community gardens, urban forest canopy, and local food systems. KCD is funded primarily by a per-parcel rates and charges fee paid by residents of the district.
An all-volunteer, five-member Board of Supervisors is responsible for overseeing KCD operations, budget, and setting policy. Voters elect three supervisors and the Washington State Conservation Commission appoints two supervisors. Supervisors serve three-year terms.
The candidates are April Brown, Csenka Favorini-Csorba, and incumbent Chris L. Porter. Favorini-Csorba and Porter both live in West Seattle. Go here to find information about the candidates (including the video recording of a forum. held last week) plus a link for voting, as well as how to contact King CD if you need a paper ballot instead. Deadline to vote is 8 pm February 14th,
A second candidate has officially announced a campaign for the Seattle City Council District 1 seat that Lisa Herbold is leaving after two terms. Maren Costa is a West Seattle resident whose announcement describes her as having been “illegally fired in 2020 for organizing Amazon workers” after organizing Amazon Employees for Climate Justice in 2019 and expanding its mission in 2020 “to include better working conditions for warehouse workers during the pandemic.” As reported nationally, a National Labor Relations Board lawsuit was filed against Amazon; it was settled out of court. As for why she’s running for City Council, Costa’s announcement quotes her as saying, “Everyone in our community deserves a livable wage, safe working conditions, and affordable housing. And we need Council members who understand that ‘feeling safe’ means different things to seniors, or to families, or to those of us who are LGBTQ+, or to the unhoused, or to people of color. And it is critical that at this moment, we look for solutions that also help us respond to the climate crisis.” Costa also says she recently “worked at Microsoft as a principal user experience designer leading the shopping team” and is an adviser “for three climate startups: Power Bloom Solar, Carbon Zero, and Impact Karma.” You can read Costa’s full announcement here. Her announcement comes six days after the first one in the race; Preston Anderson announced his campaign last week. Formal filing week is May 15-19, so the field of candidates won’t be finalized until then; the primary election is August 1st.
Wednesday’s the day that King County Elections plans to mail ballots for the February 14th special election. You’ll get a ballot with one measure – Seattle Initiative 135, which we wrote about earlier this month. If passed, this “would create a public development authority to develop, own, and maintain publicly financed mixed-income social housing developments.” The initiative does not specify how that housing will be funded, but supporters explains in their FAQ, “Once the public developer is established, they can receive and request funds from city, state, federal governments, as well as private donations if those donors feel so inclined.” Read I-135’s full text here. Ballot dropboxes open Thursday – West Seattle has three – one day after ballots are sent; you’ll have until 8 pm February 14th to get your ballot into one, or you can send it via USPS mail as long as it’s postmarked by that day.
P.S. If you want to find out more about I-135 before voting, it’ll be a major topic at the West Seattle Democratic Women‘s meeting Thursday night online – our calendar listing has info on how to RSVP.
Just yesterday, we noted that two people have filed Seattle City Council District 1 campaign intentions but neither had made a formal announcement yet. 
Today, that changed – one of those two people, Preston Anderson, became the first to announce a campaign. In the announcement, Anderson is described as a West Seattle resident who is “a career social worker and former Army Medic who served two combat tours during active duty with over 5 years of service.” His announcement also says, “If elected, he would be the only homeless and behavioral health service provider elected to Council, and the first person of color elected to District 1, a diverse district that includes the neighborhoods of West Seattle, South Park, Georgetown, Sodo, and Pioneer Square. (Councilmember Lisa Herbold, who announced last month that she won’t run for a third term, is the first person ever elected to the seat; the council changed to 7 district-elected members and 2 citywide members starting with the 2015 elections.) The announcement says Anderson “presently works at the Veterans Administration Puget Sound Health Care System administering funds for clinically focused transitional housing in collaboration with community based providers (and) continues his direct practice supporting Veterans with acute behavioral health needs.” He says his background would provide “expertise the current council simply doesn’t have” and that his signature issues would be “affordable housing and access to education (and) access to living-wage jobs” as well as “reducing gun violence in Seattle.” You can read his full announcement on his website. Formal filing week is May 15-19, so the field of candidates won’t be finalized until then; the primary election is August 1st.
(WSB photo, Councilmember McDermott at White Center event in October)
Another elected official representing West Seattle and vicinity has decided not to run for reelection. This time it’s King County Council District 8 Councilmember Joe McDermott, who lives in West Seattle but represents a district that also includes White Center, Vashon and Maury Islands, and part of Seattle on the east side of the Duwamish River (as with the City Council, the County Council also has recently remapped districts). McDermott served in the State Senate and State House before moving to the County Council 12 years ago, shortly after fellow West Seattleite Dow Constantine became County Executive. He was the first openly gay person to serve on the County Council. He is also a current member of the Sound Transit Board. Councilmember McDermott’s announcement does not specify what he plans to do next:
I look forward to pursuing other professional opportunities yet to be identified once I leave office while always remaining involved in the issues I am passionate about. … I am grateful for the opportunity to work for our communities. I look forward to continuing doing so as a private citizen.
You can read the full announcement, including his list of accomplishments, here. State files show that no far no one else has registered a campaign for District 8, but the official filing week is still four months away.
With four Seattle City Councilmembers not planning to run for reelection so far, this year’s primary campaigning is likely to be lively.
That could mean long lists of candidates from which to choose – in 2015, for example, the first time district councilmembers were elected, nine people were on the ballot here in District 1. In 2021, 15 people ran for mayor.
Last November, Seattle voters approved a ballot measure to implement “ranked-choice voting” in city elections, in which you would rank the candidates in your order of preference, not just choose and vote for one. Advocates say it “improves fairness in elections … and supports more representative outcomes.”
But you won’t get the chance to try it out this year. We asked King County Elections recently about how it’s being implemented, and spokesperson Halei Watkins replied, “Ranked choice voting will not be implemented ahead of this year’s City Council elections. The measure requires implementation by 2027 and there is a long list of factors and decisions to be made about what exactly RCV will look like for Seattle voters. King County Elections will also need to coordinate with both the City of Seattle and the Secretary of State’s Office throughout the planning process. Key factors include ballot design, how many candidates voters will be able to rank, upgrades to our tabulation system to be able to count RCV ballots, how questions of voter intent will be handled, how results will be reported and on what schedule, and more. And then, of course, we’ll also need to do robust voter education on how it all works.”
There’s a chance it might be ready sooner, Watkins added: “It is possible that we could implement before 2027 and we’ll be looking to implement as quickly as we can while ensuring the same high standard of accuracy, transparency, and accessibility that we pride ourselves on, but this year is not likely.” For starters, they have to settle on a ballot design before they can start working on tabulation upgrades. But work has begun, Watkins says – “we’re very much in early planning stages and we’re connecting with the City and (state) on next steps.”
If you’re curious, places in the U.S. where some form of ranked-choice voting is being used are listed here.
West Seattle/South Park Councilmember Lisa Herbold started a trend with her announcement last month that she’s not running for a third term. Since then, three more of the council’s seven district-elected members have announced they’re not running for reelection either: Debora Juarez (the council’s current president), Alex Pedersen, and today, Kshama Sawant (the council’s longest-serving member). In our district (1), so far two people have registered campaign intentions with the city and state, Preston Anderson and AnnaLisa LaFayette; neither has listed a website nor made an official announcement so far. Formal filing week with King County Elections is still four months away – May 15-19. The primary is on August 1.
Congratulations to Chief Sealth International High School junior Joy Ohta, among the first to serve in the State Senate‘s Page Program as it relaunches with stage legislators’ return to in-person sessions. Here’s the announcement we received:
Joy Ohta, 16, spent the week of January 9-13 serving as a page for the Washington State Senate. Sen. Joe Nguyen (D-West Seattle) sponsored her week in the Legislature.
The page program offers students a hands-on opportunity to learn about state government through classes, guest speakers, and direct contact with legislators. Ohta was motivated to serve as a page in order to learn more about state government and explore her options for college.
“I thought the page program would be a good opportunity to kind of find out how the government works,” said Ohta. “I don’t know a lot about the government, and I am looking for careers and what kind of career I’m going to be interested in.”
Ohta learned a lot from the program, through both page school and experience talking with legislators. However, her favorite part of the program was the relationships she built with her fellow pages.
“My favorite part has been meeting the other pages, because we all come from such different cities or towns,” Ohta said. “I think that interaction between all of us has been really nice and aiding how I feel comfortable here at the Capitol.”
Sen. Nguyen said that Ohta was “a pleasure to be around” and is glad that the page program has returned.
Ohta is a junior at Chief Sealth International High School, where she plays an active role in her school’s community. She plays for the volleyball and tennis teams, plays piano for jazz band, and serves as an ASB representative.
Interested students can apply to the Senate Page Program; eligibility was previously limited to ages 14 through 16 but with the program ramping back up from pandemic hiatus, it’s expanded to 17- and 18-year-olds this year too. Find out more here; you can also email questions to SenatePageProgram@leg.wa.gov.
After two years as chair of our area’s biggest political organization, the 34th District Democrats, Carla Rogers 
watched tonight as her successor was elected.
Graham Murphy (right) is now the 34th DDs’ chair, winning the only contested seat of the night; David Toledo also ran for the spot. Murphy promised to lead the group forward as it prepares for two key election years – with an open City Council seat this year, and a presidential race next year.
Others elected at tonight’s online meeting:
1st Vice Chair – Rachel Glass
2nd Vice Chair – Jordan Crawley
State Party Representative – Chris Porter
State Party Representative – Roxanne Thayer
King County Central Committee Representative Bunny Hatcher, Leah Griffin (alternate)
King County Central Committee Representative – Ted Barker, Preston Anderson (alternate)
Treasurer – Julie Whitaker
Secretary – Steve Butts
ENDORSEMENTS: The 34th DDs voted to support passage of Seattle Initiative 135, the “social housing” measure that is the only thing on your ballot for the February 14th special election. A rep from House Our Neighbors, the Real Change political committee that gathered signatures to get it on the ballot, acknowledged questions about how the housing would be funded; they’d go to various government agencies, she said, but if need be, they might even have to put forth another ballot measure for a funding mechanism. She was also asked why I-135 hadn’t been on the November ballot; she said they weren’t able to gather enough signatures until three weeks after the deadline.
Also endorsed: Longtime 34th DDs member Chris Porter, in his bid for re-election as a King Conservation District supervisor. This is an entirely different election that’ll be held online, with three weeks of voting starting January 24th.
APRIL ELECTION? While votes were counted in the chair contest, the group heard from two elected officials – King County Executive Dow Constantine and County Councilmember Joe McDermott – who both mentioned the behavioral-health levy that’s expected to go to King County voters in April.
The 34th District Democrats meet second Wednesdays of most months – watch for updates at 34dems.org.
(WSB photos/video)
After 22 years at the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, West Seattle resident Leesa Manion is its leader. She took the oath of office in a courthouse ceremony this afternoon, two months after she was elected with 58 percent of the vote. Manion makes triple history in ascending to the role – as the first woman and first person of color to serve as King County Prosecuting Attorney, and as the first Korean American elected to this type of job anywhere in the U.S. She was introduced by Ann Davison, who made history last year by becoming Seattle’s first female City Attorney:
Davison said their offices would work closely together and that both needed to address the root causes of crime as well as accountability for those who commit it. Manion then spoke before her oath was administered by King County Superior Court Judge Sandra Widlan (the oath is 24:15 into the video):
Manion, who previously served as the office’s Chief of Staff, received two standing ovations during her speech. She warned those expecting major announcements that this was an occasion for celebration – her policy announcements would come later, before the end of this month. Today, she offered words of gratitude and pride, for people from the other women of KCPAO, to her family, including her two children. And in calling for partnership with law enforcement, she gave a shoutout to her partner Perry Tarrant, a former Seattle Police assistant chief, who came forward with a surprise bouquet:
Manion also spoke vehemently about the importance of representation, and about the support and encouragement she has received from the Asian American and Korean American communities. The latter included an out-of-town visitor who spoke last at the ceremony, Jerry Baik, an assistant city attorney in Los Angeles who is also executive director of the international Korean Prosecutors Association:
Baik, whose organization has members in nine nations, hailed Manion as a role model and presented her with a plaque honoring her historic election. “I would not miss this moment for anything,” he told Manion.
Though, as noted, she said policy announcements will come later, she mentioned one gargantuan task she must address, saying the KCPAO has a “backlog of 4,000 charged cases” and saying it would take innovation to deal with that.
She invited those listening – including a crowd that included another West Seattle-residing elected official, County Executive Dow Constantine – to “join me on this journey … (to) build a modern, thoughtful, effective legal system.” Manion succeeds Dan Satterberg, who served as King County Prosecuting Attorney for almost 16 years.
4:12 PM: In her weekly newsletter/blog post, West Seattle/South Park City Councilmember Lisa Herbold just announced, “I will not be running for re-election in 2023.” She is completing her second term as the first-ever District 1 council representative, elected in 2015 and then re-elected in 2019. Herbold explains her decision in part as follows: “The 2022 elections last month were good for progressives. I feel like it’s time to do my part to create an open seat election in District 1. I believe that an open seat can better drive turnout and deliver District 1 to another progressive. … I love and honor the work the progressive left has done in Seattle and I don’t want to do anything that makes it less likely for a non-progressive to be elected to represent the great District 1. I will continue to represent and advocate for District 1 over the next year. We’ve still got a lot of work to do!” Starting with next year’s election, D-1 covers more ground, such as Georgetown and SODO, because of the recent redistricting. (WSB photo from pre-bridge-reopening event, September)
8:02 PM: We should note that – even before this – we’d been watching the state Public Disclosure Commission website, where campaigns are registered in the early stages, and to date no one has registered a D-1 campaign. As for whether anyone is inspired to jump in based on Herbold’s early announcement, we’ll see next week. We’ve sent inquiries to the two men who challenged Herbold in the 2019 primaries, Brendan Kolding and Phil Tavel, to see if either is considering running again.
10:02 PM: We’ve heard back from Tavel, who says:
I have never lost my desire to serve this city, and even before Lisa’s announcement, this was a topic of conversation at our family dinner table. I truly wish the best for Lisa Herbold and I thank her for her service. I will say that I have been humbled by the number of people who have reached out to me today to ask if I intend to run, or to encourage me to run. At this point, I have not made any official decisions. Stay tuned. I do hope for a warm, safe and joyous holiday season for everyone.
In 2015, Tavel finished third in a nine-candidate primary, behind Herbold and Shannon Braddock; in 2019, he made it to the general against Herbold, with 44% to her 56%.
ADDED 11:56 PM: We’ve also now heard back from Kolding, who says:
I ran for City Council in 2019 because I felt called to lead. Seattle was experiencing crises in the areas of homelessness and public safety and I sought to introduce a new approach to these issues. During the campaign, I was inspired by the support I received. Although I did not make it out of the primary, I established myself as a viable candidate. There are people in this community who look to me for leadership, and that is something I take very seriously.
The issues that inspired me to run four years ago remain. I am frustrated by the glacial pace at which our region is responding to the homelessness crisis. I am saddened by the SPD staffing crisis and have taken great offense to the manner in which some members of the Council have treated police officers over these last few years. I am also sensitive to the struggles our small business community has faced. I am committed to doing what I can to solve these issues. Whether that be by running for office in 2023 or by supporting another reasonable candidate remains to be seen. Either way, I will be actively involved with the next election and vocal in local media.
I wish Councilmember Herbold all the best in her future endeavors. She and I do not see eye-to-eye on much, but we hold and defend our values with equal fervor. The solution to the problems our city is facing is for people of differing ideologies to seek to understand each other and to collaborate for the common good.
(WSB photo: Ladder 13 at a West Seattle fire response in July)
The City Council took its final budget vote today, and money for added Seattle Fire resources in our area made the final cut. Shortly after the West Seattle Bridge closure in 2020, SFD took Ladder 13 and Medic 26 out of its reserves and stationed them – along with the personnel to staff them – in West Seattle and South Park, respectively. That doubled our area’s allocation of each of those types of units; previously, if a big call, or pverlapping calls, required more than 1 ladder truck or medic unit to respond to this area, the second one had to come from another part of the city. The council news release about today’s budget vote says the two units responded to more than 2,000 calls last year alone, The argument for keeping them beyond the reopening of the bridge was improving response times for the southernmost areas of the city – without the added medic unit based at Station 26 in South Park, medic response times could triple, and without the added ladder truck based at Station 37 in Sunrise Heights, response times to southernmost West Seattle could double.
Mayor Bruce Harrell‘s budget proposal did not include money for keeping the units here; West Seattle/South Park Councilmember Lisa Herbold pushed to add it, and got her amendment all the way through the budget review process. It allots $4.7 million in 2023 and $5.6 million in 2024 for the personnel and equipment costs. The documents say extra spending would be needed after that because Ladder 13 and Medic 26 were summoned into service “beyond their replacement age” – the medic unit will be replaced in late 2024, the truck a year later. The budget has one more step for final approval – the mayor can sign it, veto it, or let it become law without his signature. His post-vote statement suggests he’s OK with it.
The City Council is now just a week away from finalizing the budget for the next two years. Tomorrow (Monday, November 21) morning at 9:30 am, their next meeting as the Budget Committee starts with one last chance for you to speak out. Then they embark on one more round of voting on proposed changes to the amended budget plan introduced last week by the budget chair, West Seattle-residing citywide Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda. Almost 200 amendments are on the list to be considered – you can see them all on the agenda, including the one (agenda item #128) that would add money to keep expanded Seattle Fire Department resources in West Seattle and South Park. If you’re interested in commenting tomorrow morning, you can do it remotely or in person at City Hall; the agenda explains how. You can also comment via email at council@seattle.gov.
For the first few vote counts post-Election Day, Seattle Question 1A/1B results had voters narrowly rejecting a change in city-election voting. Then in the past few days, that flipped, and as of tonight, “yes” to change is a full point ahead, 50.53% yes, 49.47% no, with the second part of the measure showing support for ranked-choice voting outstripping “approval” voting with 75% support. As for how many votes remain to be counted, the newest count represents 60.5% of all Seattle voters, while King County Elections says it’s received ballots from 69.6% of all Seattle voters. If ranked-choice voting goes on to win, here’s the explanation of how it would work:
… the Seattle City Council and Mayor have proposed Proposition 1B (Ordinance 126625), which would allow primary election voters for Mayor, City Attorney, and City Council to rank candidates by preference. In the first round of processing, each voter’s top preference would be counted. The candidate receiving the fewest would be eliminated. Successive rounds of counting would eliminate one candidate each round, counting each voter’s top preference among remaining candidates, until two candidates remain to proceed to the general election.
Vote-counting is scheduled to continue with daily updates until the results are certified November 29th.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
What you might call the second-to-last version of the next city-budget plan is out this morning – the “balancing package” presented by the City Council’s budget chair, West Seattle-residing citywide Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda (video above). This incorporates both the recent projection of reduced city revenues and her decisions on amendments proposed by her colleagues; here’s her overview.
Last week we spotlighted two West Seattle-specific amendments sponsored by West Seattle/South Park Councilmember Lisa Herbold. Reviewing the newly released “balancing package,” we note that one made it through, one did not. The one that didn’t was the re-allocation of money for the Fauntleroy Boulevard project. The one that did is funding for keeping expanded Seattle Fire Department resources in the area beyond the end of the year; after the bridge closed in 2020, Ladder 13 was added at Station 37 in Sunrise Heights and Medic 26 was added at Station 26 in South Park, both doubling the number of those specific types of SFD resources available in this area. (A recent Herbold post/newsletter explained how that affects emergency-response times.) Searching the “balancing package” by keyword, we noted a few other West Seattle-specific items:
-The Seattle Public Utilities budget proposal includes $1+ million needed as part of the Fauntleroy Creek Culvert Replacement funding.
-SDOT is asked to “work in coordination with the City Archivist to identify the historic street names for those Seattle neighborhoods that were once separately incorporated municipalities, which were subsequently annexed to the City of Seattle. Those former municipalities include old Ballard, Georgetown, Leschi, West Seattle, and Bryant. The report should include a cost estimate, by formerly incorporated municipality, for replacing current street signs with street signs that include historic street names using the green and brown street sign design.” The proposal does not mandate that, but requests only that the council get a report by 2023.
There’s of course much of non-neighborhood-specific interest in the budget proposal too – while grazing it, for example, we notice that proposed cuts to the mayor’s proposals include reducing his requested funding to clean up more graffiti vandalism and a reduction in the amount of money proposed for play-area renovations (specific projects are not listed, so we don’t know whether this would affect the ones awaiting renovation in West Seattle).
WHAT’S NEXT/HOW TO COMMENT: This proposal is still subject to change, and the council is asking for feedback. You can see the full “balancing package” here. The council starts reviewing it at 1 pm today; you can watch via Seattle Channel. Tomorrow (Tuesday, November 15th) at 5 pm, you can comment online or in person at the council’s final public hearing on the budget – the agenda explains how. Before/after that, you can comment via email at council@seattle.gov. The final vote on this two-year plan is planned the week after Thanksgiving.
The second post-election vote count from King County Elections is in. Last night, 31.8% of ballots had been counted; for tonight’s update, the total counted is up to 35.8%. But many more ballots remain to be counted – so far KCE has received 51.3% of all ballots, and while drop boxes have been emptied, ballots mailed via USPS will keep coming in. Now, the latest results on the 10 races/measures we’re watching:
KING COUNTY PROSECUTING ATTORNEY
Jim Ferrell 44%
Leesa Manion 55%
U.S. SENATE (statewide count)
Patty Murray* (D) 57%
Tiffany Smiley (R) 43%
U.S. HOUSE DISTRICT 7
Pramila Jayapal* (D) 85%
Cliff Moon (R) 15%
34TH DISTRICT STATE HOUSE POSITION 1
Emily Alvarado (D) 69%
Leah Griffin (D) 29%
34TH DISTRICT STATE HOUSE POSITION 2
Joe Fitzgibbon* (D) 83%
Andrew Pilloud (R) 17%
34TH DISTRICT STATE SENATE
Joe Nguyen* (D) 85%
John Potter (R) 15%
SEATTLE PROPOSITIONS 1A/1B (city voting-method change)
Yes 49.2%
No 50.8%
Prefer 1A 26%
Prefer 1B 74%
KING COUNTY CHARTER AMENDMENT 1 (county election-date change)
Yes 69%
No 31%
KING COUNTY PROPOSITION 1 (Conservation Futures levy)
Approve 68%
Reject 32%
WASHINGTON SECRETARY OF STATE (statewide count)
Steve Hobbs* (D) 50%
Julie Anderson (NP) 47%
All percentages above are rounded – .5 and up rounds up, .4 and down rounds down – except for the only close contest, the Seattle ranked-choice/approval voting measure.
-Full list of state and federal results here
-Full list of King County/Seattle results here
Next King County results will be out around 4 pm Thursday.
The night’s first (and only) round of King County election results is in – here are the 10 key local, state, and federal races/measures we’re following:
KING COUNTY PROSECUTING ATTORNEY
Jim Ferrell 44%
Leesa Manion 55%
U.S. SENATE (updated 8:47 pm)
Patty Murray* (D) 57%
Tiffany Smiley (R) 43%
U.S. HOUSE DISTRICT 7
Pramila Jayapal* (D) 84%
Cliff Moon (R) 15%
34TH DISTRICT STATE HOUSE POSITION 1
Emily Alvarado (D) 69%
Leah Griffin (D) 30%
34TH DISTRICT STATE HOUSE POSITION 2
Joe Fitzgibbon* (D) 82%
Andrew Pilloud (R) 18%
34TH DISTRICT STATE SENATE
Joe Nguyen* (D) 85%
John Potter (R) 15%
SEATTLE PROPOSITIONS 1A/1B (city voting-method change)
Yes 49%
No 51%
Prefer 1A 26%
Prefer 1B 74%
KING COUNTY CHARTER AMENDMENT 1 (county election-date change)
Yes 69%
No 31%
KING COUNTY PROPOSITION 1 (Conservation Futures levy)
Approve 68%
Reject 32%
WASHINGTON SECRETARY OF STATE (updated 8:47 pm)
Steve Hobbs* (D) 50%
Julie Anderson (NP) 47%
Full list of state and federal results here
Full list of King County/Seattle results here
The U.S. Senate and Secretary of State race results will change because of later counts from other counties, so we’ll update those throughout the night. Otherwise, next round of King County results is expected tomorrow afternoon,
Tomorrow morning is the last City Council public hearing on the city budget before councilmembers go into the final stretch of budget revisions for the next two years. As reported here last week, presentation of a “balancing plan” incorporating some of the council’s proposed changes was delayed a week after new revenue numbers came in lower than hoped. But tomorrow morning’s public hearing is still on, and now you can show support for, or opposition to, spending proposals before the “balancing plan” is finished. Here are West Seattle-specific amendments that have been proposed by City Councilmember Lisa Herbold:
FAUNTLEROY BOULEVARD: $15 million over the next two years to revive the Fauntleroy Way Boulevard Project (shelved until light rail’s likely route became clearer). Here’s how the amendment document describes it:
This Council Budget Action would add $7.5 million Transportation Fund in 2023 and $7.5 million Transportation Fund in 2024 (one-time) in the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) for the Fauntleroy Way SW Boulevard (MC-TR-C046) CIP project. This project was previously funded by the 2015 Move Seattle Levy. SDOT placed the project on hold in 2018 while the corridor was under consideration by Sound Transit for the West Seattle Link light rail extension. The Sound Transit Board has selected a tunnel to West Seattle [Junction] as the preferred alternative, which would no longer conflict with the Fauntleroy Way SW Boulevard project. The Fauntleroy Way SW Boulevard project completed final design in 2017 …
This project transforms Fauntleroy Way SW into a boulevard. The project elements include: a planted median, signature lighting fixtures, a protected bicycle facility, a pedestrian zone with sidewalks and planting areas including street trees, pedestrian lighting, potential stormwater infrastructure and art, as well as safety improvements for crossing movements for all modes. These safety improvements include bicycle and pedestrian crossings, signals, reconfigured intersections and bulbs, and pavement improvements
That’s part of a tall stack of transportation-related amendment proposals you can see here.
This one, we’ve mentioned before:
(WSB photo: Ladder 13 at a West Seattle fire response in July)
KEEPING LADDER 13 AND MEDIC 26: This would add about $6 million over the next two years to keep the Seattle Fire resources that were originally added to this area because of the bridge closure – Ladder 13 (now at Station 37 in Sunrise Heights) and Medic 26 (now at Station 26 in South Park). Previously our area had only one ladder truck and one medic unit, both based at Station 32 in The Junction. Here’s the explanation from the amendment document:
This Council Budget Action would add $439,000 GF in 2023 and $1.2 million GF in 2024 (one-time) to the Seattle Fire Department (SFD) to support the permanent operation of resources that were implemented temporarily during the closure of the West Seattle Bridge. These resources are a ladder truck at Fire Station 37 and a medic unit at Fire Station 26. To meet the temporary need, SFD kept in service vehicles that were past their replacement age, but the department would need to purchase new vehicles if the need for them were permanent. One-time funding would support (1) the maintenance\ costs of a ladder truck until its anticipated replacement in late 2025 and (2) the maintenance costs of a medic unit until its anticipated replacement in late 2024. One-time funding would also support the training of eight SFD firefighters as paramedics to staff the new medic unit.
In addition, this Council Budget Action would add $4.3 million GF in 2023 (ongoing) to support the staffing costs associated with both resources. The Council Budget Action would increase SFD’s minimum daily staffing level from 216 to 222, but no funding is added to train new SFD recruits because current SFD firefighters would staff the new ladder truck and medic shifts on an overtime basis. Ongoing funding is also added, beginning in late 2023, to support the pro-rated lease costs for the new medic unit. On an annual basis, these costs are $72,000 per year. There would be a 2025 one-time cost of $2 million, for a new ladder truck, associated with this Council Budget Action, and at the time of that vehicle’s delivery SFD would begin incurring a pro-rated annual lease cost of $164,000 per year. These costs would be included in the 2025 Proposed Budget.
The amendment document goes on to say that the two added units make a difference in response times:
SFD data suggest that removing the medic unit at Fire Station 26 would triple the department’s response time to Advanced Life Support calls in the area of the station, such that SFD response would be well outside the NFPA response standard. SFD data also suggest that removing the ladder truck at Fire Station 27 would double the department’s current response time to fire calls in the south part of West Seattle, although it would remain within the NFPA response standard.
You can read the full amendment in this document.
HOW TO SPEAK OUT AT TUESDAY HEARING, OR OTHERWISE: Since tomorrow’s hearing starts at 9:30 am, online registration begins at 7:30 am – it’s explained here. As the agenda explains, you can also speak in person at City Hall. The hearing will go until everyone signed up to speak has had their turn. Or if you’d rather just send email with your thoughts on these or other budget matters, council@seattle.gov is the address. There’ll be one more hearing just before the budget is finalized, but this one is at a pivotal moment.
We were in The Junction on Sunday morning when those election workers visited the King County Elections drop box to pick up ballots. As of this morning, KCE has only received 37 percent of the ballots sent out countywide; in West Seattle/South Park, the percentage is a bit higher, 38.6%. There are three drop boxes in West Seattle where you can take your ballot until 8 pm tomorrow (Tuesday, November 8):
–Junction (the one shown above – south side of SW Alaska just east of 44th SW)
–High Point Library (northeast side of the library, 3411 SW Raymond)
–South Seattle College (in front of the admin building, 6000 16th SW)
There are also official drop boxes in White Center and South Park; here’s the full countywide list. You can also send your ballot via USPS mail – no stamp required – but it must be postmarked by tomorrow, so if you’re going to do that, do it today. USPS mailboxes are scattered around the area, but there are drive-up/ride-up boxes at both local post offices (4426 California SW in The Junction and 2721 SW Trenton on the north side of Westwood Village). Here’s our overview of what’s on your ballot.
Tuesday (November 8) is the deadline for voting in the general election – 8 pm if you’re using a King County Elections drop box, sooner if you are using USPS mail and want to be certain your ballot is postmarked in time – but if you’re counting on some weekend downtime to vote, this is it. Through last night, county stats show, 31.1% of West Seattle/South Park voters’ ballots had been received. If you haven’t even opened yours yet, here’s a reprise (from a month ago) of our original reminder about what you’ll be deciding:
The most complicated issue is Seattle Proposition 1A-1B – alternatives for changing the way you vote in Seattle city primaries. Initiative-born 1A would enable voters to check off as many candidates “as they approve of” in races for Mayor, City Attorney, and City Council. The two top vote-getters for each office would advance to the general election. 1B is an elected-official-proposed alternative that would allow voters in those same city primary races to rank candidates by their preference, with a multi-round vote-counting process ensuing. You’ll have two votes on this two-part proposition – should either become law, and regardless of whether you said yes or no, which one would you rather see become law? The ballot also includes a King County charter amendment that would change elections, moving County Executive, County Councilmembers, County Assessor, and Elections Director to even-numbered years. Plus there’s a King County levy proposal, the Conservation Futures Levy.
Besides those issues, the ballot includes U.S. House, U.S. Senate, State Legislature (here are our interviews with the two candidates for our open State House seat), Secretary of State, King County Prosecutor, and 17 judicial positions, only two of which are contested. Two state advisory measures are on the ballot too. Not registered to vote but eligible? You can still do that in person Monday or Tuesday.
On Tuesday we published an update on the city budget-review process, as it’s in the heart of public-feedback time right now, if you want to let city leaders know where you think money should be spent over the next two years. This afternoon, the City Council‘s budget chair, West Seattle-residing citywide Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, announced a few schedule changes after a new revenue forecast showed the city will be taking in less money than expected. Instead of announcing her “balancing package” next Monday, it’ll be a week later. But the Tuesday morning (November 8th) public hearing is still on, and ongoing feedback can be sent any time to council@seattle.gov. Here’s more information on the new schedule and the revised income forecast.
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