By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The face-to-face politeness in the Seattle City Council District 1 race ended last night at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center.

During the hourlong debate presented by Seattle CityClub, when the candidates were given the chance to ask each other a question, incumbent Lisa Herbold accused challenger Phil Tavel of mismanagement in his business dealings, and followed that up with an email sent to her campaign mailing list.

We’ve subsequently spent hours searching public records for corroboration of her allegations. So before we get to the rest of the debate, here’s what we found:

She listed 12 businesses with which Tavel was involved dating back to 2001, all LLCs or PLLCs “administratively dissolved” by the state for failure to file required reports and/or non-renewal. Secretary of State records confirm the administrative dissolutions. We also searched the state system for Herbold’s name and found one LLC formed in 2013 and administratively dissolved by the state in 2014 for the same reason..

Herbold’s allegations also included warrants for unpaid state taxes by one of Tavel’s companies and court action taken over a bounced $3,100 check. Records verify both cases, since closed.

When Herbold brought this up during the debate, Tavel was flustered, at first denying involvement, then when shown the list, acknowledging it and mentioning former business partners; records show others involved in most of the entities. After the debate, we emailed Tavel to request comment. A campaign representative sent this reply: “This is a desperate attack. I look forward to providing more information and am disappointed that this is the tone that Councilmember Herbold set after calling for civility and a clean campaign.” (Herbold had decried “divisive attack mailers” sent by third-party organizations opposing her and supporting Tavel before the August primary.) We also asked Herbold about her state-dissolved LLC; she replied by email, “Bob [her husband] and I were looking into doing a hobby distillery. We didn’t pursue it.”

The rest of the debate, moderated by Seattle Times reporter Heidi Groover and KUOW’s Ross Reynolds, was a lot like previous debates/forums. CityClub recorded it and will link the video here when ready (added 6:28 pm, here’s the video):

We took notes and our summaries (exact quotes only when denoted by quotation marks) are below:

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By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Two statewide ballot measures on which you’re about to vote were considered Wednesday night by our area’s biggest political organization, the 34th District Democrats.

And they got suggestions on how to take action on the climate crisis.

First, the ballot measures. In Seattle, they’ve been overshadowed by the City Council races, so you might not have heard much about them.

Referendum 88 will ask you whether to approve or reject a measure that passed the state Legislature, Initiative 1000, which would restore affirmative action, 21 years after a ballot measure outlawed it. The 34th DDs voted to endorse approval of R-88.

Initiative 976 is the latest car-tab-limiting proposal from Tim Eyman. Two high-level 976 opponents spoke: State Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon said it would lead to – in this area – ferry cuts, bus-service “impairment,” and transportation infrastructure maintenance challenges. He acknowledged it was likely to be popular outside Seattle, so, “Every vote we turn out in this community (matters extra) … the way we defeat a Tim Eyman initiative is to run up the score in districts like the 34th.”

Also speaking against 976, King County Executive Dow Constantine, who added that 976 could be a threat to West Seattle light-rail funding. The 34th DDs agreed with the electeds and voted to oppose 976. Voting starts late next week, once your ballot arrives; the deadline is Election Night, Tuesday, November 5th.

Before the endorsement votes, the 34th DDs heard from a climate activist: Read More

The latest faceoff between the two candidates for Seattle City Council District 1, like the previous one, didn’t yield any major points of disagreement. Both incumbent Lisa Herbold and challenger Phil Tavel said multiple times that they agreed with wht their opponent had just said. The two answered questions for more than an hour Saturday afternoon at Neighborhood House High Point, with an audience of ~20. We have it all on video you can watch above.

District 1 Community Network presented this event, as well as the one two weeks earlier (WSB coverage here); Aley Thompson of the South Park Neighborhood Association welcomed attendees. The questions asked by moderator Greg Kusumi dealt with, in order, transportation, homelessness, the mayor’s report on city-owned golf courses, keeping campaign promises, supporting small businesses, affordable housing, illegal dumping, neighborhood safety, school funding, adult education.

Highlights came in the audience-asked questions that comprised the final third or so of the event. The first one: With 40,000 district voters not casting ballots in the primary, what would the candidates do to change that, “besides doorknocking,” for the general election? Answering first, Herbold noted that primary turnout was better than four years ago, but said going door-to-door is effective. Tavel said he was particularly concerned about young voters’ extremely low turnout and said he was planning an “event” with spoken word, art, and music to encourage them. He also said he was working to meet voters in places such as bars and restaurants.

Other community-asked questions included one about this week’s big transportation controversy, the bus lane returned to NB 99. Herbold said she’d heard from dozens of constituents and is asking SDOT to review the situation, which she said also came up when SDOT presented its budget at a council meeting Friday; Tavel said he would like to see the data that preceded the bus lane’s return.

While the candidates are also appearing in multi-race forums outside D-1, four more are scheduled in West Seattle: October 10, October 14, October 17, and October 19.

West Seattle’s C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor) has been the setting for countless conversations. This one had an audience, as 34th District State Sen. Joe Nguyen hosted State Attorney General Bob Ferguson on Saturday afternoon. Their half-hour chat was a fundraiser for the senator but it wasn’t a rally or pep talk – instead, he interviewed Ferguson, with many questions centered on the attorney general’s dozens of lawsuits against the Trump Administration, including what it was like to file the first one:

Taking on the White House landed Ferguson on TIME‘s 2017 most-influential list. He talked about that too.

They also discussed how the AG’s office interacts from the Legislature, and how there’s more bipartisan work in Olympia than you might think. (Both are Democrats.) We counted about 30 people in attendance:

Among those on hand: Sen. Nguyen’s mom, who prepared food for the occasion:

The senator joked that his mom’s cooking was probably a bigger draw than the chance to watch two elected officials chat.

A relatively quiet weekend ahead on the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar, with a few exceptions, including tomorrow’s City Council District 1 candidates’ debate. This one, like the one two weeks ago, is presented by the D-1 Community Network. This time, Phil Tavel and Lisa Herbold will be at Neighborhood House High Point (6400 Sylvan Way SW), starting at 4:30 pm Saturday. Here’s our coverage of their D1CN-presented debate two weeks ago; after this, at least four more in-district forums are ahead – October 10, October 14, October 17, and October 19.

Three days after Mayor Jenny Durkan presented her 2020 budget proposal, the City Council’s review and revisions start today. How can you be part of the process? The District 1 Community Network got a briefing from the city budget boss last night. Here’s what you need to know:

CITY COUNCIL REVIEW: The council’s first meeting as the Select Budget Committee starts at 2 pm today; here’s the agenda. They’ll start with an overview – here’s the slide deck for that:

Then they will launch into initial overview presentations, department by department. First up is Seattle Public Utilities (see its budget here), with this slide deck:

Then Seattle City Light (see its budget here), with this slide deck:

All this is just the first round. You can watch live via the Seattle Channel; see future agendas here. (SDOT and SPD, among others, present on Friday.)

DISTRICT 1 COMMUNITY NETWORK: The city budget director, Ben Noble, who will brief councilmembers this afternoon, gave a “Budget 101” to D1CN at its meeting last night. We recorded it on video:

City Councilmember Lisa Herbold was there too, as you’ll see in the video, commenting from the gallery (she was not a presenter). The council’s budget review and revision timeline (see it here) stretches over the next two months. If there is something you feel passionately about, speaking at the first major public hearing is an option – it’s on Thursday, October 3rd, 5:30 pm at City Hall downtown. In the meantime, you can email council@seattle.gov, and/or individual councilmembers – as was noted at the D1CN meeting, the more they hear about something in particular, the more it breaks through the noise. And sooner is better than later – while changes will be made throughout the two-month review, there are deadlines and cutoffs (as the timeline shows), especially for additions whose impact/funding has to be studied.

“Cities are becoming the safety net for America.”

That was part of the reason Mayor Jenny Durkan cited for a sweeping new proposal to change compensation for Uber and Lyft drivers and raise per-ride taxes.

Durkan and Deputy Mayor Shefali Ranganathan discussed it with reporters in a briefing at midday today, embargoed until tonight, to be further discussed at an event tomorrow. We were among the roomful of journalists invited to City Hall for today’s briefing, told in advance only that it would be about a proposal involving “a new proposal for workers, housing, and transit,” so we went downtown to find out more.

One big component: The city currently taxes the companies 24 cents a ride. That would be tripled to 75 cents, with the revenues mostly going to three things:

-Cover the $56 million funding gap for the Center City Connector streetcar (which District 1 Councilmember Lisa Herbold refers to as the “shopping shuttle”)

-Raise $52 million to help build 500 units of affordable-to-workers (defined as people making $15-$25/hour) housing “near transit” (within a 10-minute walk of what the city defines as “frequent”) in the next five years

-Raise $17 million to open and run a “resolution center” for Uber/Lyft drivers, who the city says are often “deactivated” without explanation

The mayor also contended it’s fair to get more out of ride-share companies because they’re using the city’s public right-of-way and curbspace to run their businesses.

It should be noted, while Uber and Lyft are the only ride-share companies affected by the proposal, others could be affected too if they crossed the baseline of one million rides per quarter that start and/or end in Seattle.

Might the increased tax be passed on to ride-share users? Maybe, allowed the mayor, but in other places (such as New York) where costs went up, ridership didn’t go down, she said.

What will be the minimum wage for drivers, who are currently treated as independent contractors? A study, to launch shortly, will sort that out, in time to launch it in July 2020. Currently, Ranganathan said, drivers’ pay averages out to less than $11/hour, while the city’s current minimum wage is $16/hour. Drivers are only compensated for the time passengers are in their vehicles, but studies show, she said, that they spend more than a third of each hour waiting for their next assignment. The mayor declared, “No business should benefit by not treating its workers fairly.”

This will all be part of the mayor’s budget proposal, which goes public in its entirety next Monday. That means it’ll have to go through council hearings and votes before becoming official. First public hearing on the budget is set for 5:30 pm October 3 at City Hall.

–Tracy Record, WSB editor

(WSB photos/video)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The general-election campaign for Seattle City Council District 1 officially kicked into higher gear tonight, with the first of at least five post-primary forums/debates.

The District 1 Community Network organized this one, attended by more than 25 people at the Duwamish Tribe Longhouse. Phil Tavel and Lisa Herbold spent an hour and a half answering questions posed by Chris Porter, drawn up in advance by organizers.

It was a polite event, no major disagreements, no attacks. We didn’t transcribe the full responses – you can watch our video (update: added below):

If something is in quote marks, it’s a quote; otherwise it’s a summary/paraphrase and the words are those of your reporter. After 1-minute introductions that each candidate gave. here’s how it went:

1ST Q: South Delridge has become overwhelmed with nuisance houses. Councilmember Herbold has worked with the community but it’s still a problem. What more will you do?

LH: A new monitoring law has been passed but community help is needed to identify these buildings and report them to SDCI. (On followup, what more will she do?) Property owners can get monitoring fee waived if they allow the vacant building to be used as housing for a caretaker – work toward that being utilized.

PT: The city is moving in the right direction. (On followup, what more will he do?) Empowering community groups, having police talk with community members about reporting problems when they see them.

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This month’s meeting of our area’s largest political organization, the 34th District Democrats. That’s where our report on Wednesday night’s meeting begins:

LOW-INCOME HOUSING: Introducing the presenters, second vice chair Sofia Aragon said the inspiration for the presentation was that, to say the least, it’s a “hot topic.” State/local government is deeply involved – one example she cited, the Legislature has $175 million in the Housing Trust Fund – something many states don’t have – and local jurisdictions are allowed to “carve out” part of the already-charged sales tax to use for housing. (The city announced a plan in July.) Another key part of addressing the problem, she said, was expanding the amount of time renters are given to find somewhere new if they’re evicted – they used to have as little as three days; now they have 14. Aragon talked about her mom’s career as a nurse and said there’s almost nowhere her mom could live in King County on a nurse’s pay.

First presenter: Robin Koskey of the city Office of Housing:

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Tomorrow night, you can see the two finalists for City Council District 1, incumbent Lisa Herbold and challenger Phil Tavel, in their first side-by-side local appearance since the August primary. The District 1 Community Network is presenting the forum starting at 6:30 pm Saturday at the Duwamish Tribe Longhouse (4705 W. Marginal Way SW) in West Seattle. If you need to bring your kid(s), an activity will be provided – but please RSVP ASAP to tamsenspengler@gmail.com. Also, if you’re driving, organizers have arranged for overflow parking, so you’ll be directed there. (This is the first of at least five local forums/debates in this race this month and next; D1CN is also presenting the next [announced] one, 4:30 pm September 28th at Neighborhood House High Point.)

During presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren‘s Seattle visit on Sunday, Leah Griffin had a request for the candidate:

As Griffin explained in a subsequent tweet, the “Survivors’ Access to Supportive Care Act will increase access to Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners so that fewer rape victims will be turned away from hospitals because they do not administer rape kits.”

Griffin has been fighting for this, and more, since becoming a rape survivor. She talked about her advocacy work earlier ths month at the August meeting of the 34th District Democrats.

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By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The organization that operates the Senior Center of West Seattle is protesting being passed over for major ongoing funding from the King County Veterans, Seniors and Human Services Levy.

County Executive Dow Constantine‘s office announced the funding earlier this week. The list is highlighted by ongoing funding for 14 proposals, from $885,000 for a senior center in Enumclaw to $1.9 million for four agencies in Seattle to serve Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. (The application guidelines, the announcement explains, “encouraged regional senior centers and other community groups to form collaborations or ‘hubs’ to better reach specific demographics, or serve a defined geographic area or cultural group.”)

While that major funding will be over the course of the six-year levy, at the bottom of the announced list are 13 agencies/facilities getting one-time-only grants of $90,000 each. That’s where you’ll find the Senior Center of West Seattle – which describes itself as the largest senior center in the city, serving more than 4,500 people a year.

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Two weeks after voting ended in the 2019 primary, the final results have been certified. In the three races that were local to our area:

Seattle City Council District 1 – 40.42% turnout – 27,528 voters out of 68,102 registered
Lisa Herbold – 13,405 – 50.62%
Phil Tavel – 8,558 – 32.32%
Brendan Kolding – 4,435 – 16.75%

King County Council District 8 – 35.86% turnout – 53,813 voters out of 150,071 registered
Joe McDermott – 41,743 – 83.89%
Michael Robert Neher – 5,487 – 11.03%
Goodspaceguy – 2,250 – 4.52%

Seattle School Board District 6 – 40.59% turnout – 27,228 voters of 67,088 registered
Leslie S. Harris – 12,580 – 54.56%
Molly E. Mitchell – 7,872 – 34.14%
Crystal S. Liston – 2,390 – 10.36%

The top two in each race advance to the general election, with voting ending on November 5th. The first candidate forum in West Seattle that we’ve heard of so far is for City Council District 1, Saturday, September 14th, 6:30 pm at the Duwamish Longhouse (4705 W. Marginal Way SW), presented by the D-1 Community Network. (Planning a forum or debate, or non-fundraiser candidate meet-and-greet? Please let us know ASAP – westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!)

The last ballot count of the week is out, and it includes a milestone for Seattle City Council District 1 incumbent Lisa Herbold: She now has passed 50 percent of the vote, gaining almost three full points from the Tuesday night count:

Lisa Herbold – 13,243 – 50.61%
Phil Tavel – 8,439 – 32.25%
Brendan Kolding – 4,379 – 16.73%

Turnout in District 1 is now up to 39.94% (10 percent higher than the 2015 primary), with 27,199 ballots counted (out of 68,101 registered voters). With 27,893 ballots received, fewer than 700 remain to be counted (plus whatever trickles in via postal mail).

Herbold is the only one of the three City Council incumbents running for re-election who has hit that milestone; District 3’s Kshama Sawant now has 36.65% of the vote in a 6-candidate race; District 5’s Debora Juarez, who also has 5 challengers, leads that race with 44.98%.

Just in, the third King County Elections report on the August primary. For the first several days, each new count adds thousands of ballots, so we’re continuing to watch the City Council District 1 race. Here’s the new tally:

Lisa Herbold – 11,326 – 49.47%
Phil Tavel – 7,556 – 33.00%
Brendan Kolding – 3,915 – 17.10%

D-1 turnout – 35.03% so far (the district’s total turnout in August 2015 was 29.3%)

Herbold’s percentage is up from 47.95% on Election Night; Tavel’s is down from 33.83%. Today’s count added 4,317 more ballots. The county says it’s received 27,471 ballots from D-1 so far, so it has at least 3,617 (and more possibly still trickling in via postal mail) left to count. Next update: Friday afternoon.

After almost four years in citywide Seattle City Council Position 9, West Seattle-residing Lorena González is running for statewide office. She announced early this morning that she’s seeking the job of state Attorney General, with a campaign video that includes a few West Seattle waterfront backdrops.

González was a civil-rights lawyer before becoming the first Latinx member of the Seattle City Council, elected for a 2-year term in 2015 and then re-elected for a 4-year term in 2017. She is the first high-profile candidate to announce a run for that job regardless of whether a number of other dominoes fall – such as, it had been speculated that if Gov. Jay Inslee (currently running for president) decides next year not to seek re-election, current AG Bob Ferguson might go for the governorship.

The second-day election results are out. The end results haven’t changed for anything in our area, but if you’re watching for percentages, here’s how the Seattle City Council District 1 race changed: Lisa Herbold now has 48.55 percent of the vote, up from 47.95% in the first round; Phil Tavel now has 33.62%, down from 33.83%; Brendan Kolding, 17.38%, down from 17.76%. The total number of votes counted so far is 19.537, which is 28.69% of the district’s 68,101 registered voters (today’s count added 4,218 ballots). Next count, tomorrow afternoon.

P.S. A little more history beyond what we noted last night: The August 2015 primary had 29.3% turnout from among the then-registered 60,474 voters; the November 2015 general election had 45.5% turnout.

8:06 PM: Three candidates running for the West Seattle/South Park seat on the Seattle City Council – District 1 – and two will advance to the general election in November. The first ballot count has just gone public, and incumbent Lisa Herbold leads with 48 percent, Phil Tavel next with 34 percent, Brendan Kolding with 18 percent.

8:24 PM: Here’s the results table:

Herbold – 7,048 – 47.95%
Tavel – 4,972 – 33.83%
Kolding – 2,610 – 17.76%

We just talked with Herbold at her party (Zeeks Pizza) and are headed for the Tavel party (Talarico’s). Photos and video later.

9:40 PM: We asked each candidate for their reaction to tonight’s vote. Both said they are “excited” about the campaign ahead:

Here’s a little historical context we noted earlier via Twitter:

Next round of results will be out tomorrow afternoon.

Along with the Seattle City Council District 1 results, we’re also tracking the six other decisions West Seattle voters were asked to make – toplines from the results just released:

SEATTLE LIBRARY LEVY: 73% approval

Yes – 79,722 – 73.0%
No – 29,479 – 27.0%

KING COUNTY PARKS LEVY: 67% approval

Approved – 174,400 – 67.25%
Rejected – 84,944 – 32.75%

SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT 6: Harris and Mitchell lead

Leslie Harris – 6,898 – 53.41%
Molly Mitchell – 4,365 – 33.80%
Crystal Liston – 1,482 – 11.47%

KING COUNTY COUNCIL DISTRICT 8: McDermott and Neher lead

Joe McDermott – 23,826 – 82.48%
Michael Robert Neher – 3,424 – 11.85%
Goodspaceguy – 1,445 – 5.00 %

SEATTLE PORT COMMISSION POSITION 2: Cho and Degginger lead

Sam Cho – 69,673 – 28.27%
Grant Degginger – 64,017 – 25.97%
Preeti Shridhar – 42,377 – 17.19%
Kelly Charlton – 28,813 – 11.69%
Dominic Barrera – 17,021 – 6.91%
Nina Martinez – 14,807 – 6.01%
Ali Scego – 7,842 – 3.18%

SEATTLE PORT COMMISSION POSITION 5: Felleman and Jacobson lead

Fred Felleman – 169,350 – 69.85%
Garth Jacobson – 52,508 – 21.66%
Jordan Lemmon – 18,649 – 7.69%

Next round of results, tomorrow afternoon.