A third candidate has now entered the race for the District 1 (West Seattle/South Park) City Council seat. After Brendan Kolding‘s name appeared Wednesday on the list of those who have registered campaigns, we contacted him to find out more, and he responded with this announcement:

Seattle Police Lieutenant Brendan Kolding has announced his plans to challenge City Councilmember Lisa Herbold for the Council District 1 seat in 2019. “City Council is very much in need of an experienced law enforcement professional,” stated Kolding. “Seattle is in a public safety crisis, and the fine men and women of the SPD do not feel supported by City government. Officers are leaving the Department faster than their replacements can be hired, and the City Council was reluctant to approve the collective bargaining agreement that has been worked out between the Seattle Police Officer’s Guild and the City’s labor relations team. SPD is grossly short-staffed, and this problem will only be exacerbated by the passage of I-940. I am running so that our police officers can have someone on City Council who supports them and will fight for their ability to serve the people of Seattle.

“I am also running because City Council has failed to adequately address the homelessness crisis. I support the creation of FEMA-style shelters. These would be warm, dry places with healthy meals, laundry facilities, ample security, and access to critical services such as mental health care, substance abuse treatment, and job placement. The goal would be to find permanent housing for people within a regional network. It is undignified, unsanitary and unsafe for people to reside in the tents, vehicles, and other makeshift shelters that are currently scattered across Seattle. Many of these living situations are illegal, and for good reason. The solution is not RV lots, tent cities, or tiny villages. Instead, we need to provide basic emergency shelter with concentrated services aimed at elevating people into a more stable lifestyle. Once that is in place, we need to direct people who do not have homes to that option and not allow our sidewalks and parks to be used as campgrounds.”

Kolding, 36, has served on the SPD since 2008. He joined the Policy Unit in 2012, where he was actively involved in the development of key policies related to the federal consent decree. When the City was found to be in initial compliance with the consent decree in January, Kolding returned to Patrol and served as a sergeant at the West Precinct. Promoted to lieutenant in July, he currently serves at the North Precinct. He has been a voting member of the Force Review Board since 2014.

The Kolding campaign will be launching a website in the near future.

In 2017, Kolding applied for the opening on City Council that resulted when former Councilmember Tim Burgess, himself a retired SPD officer, became interim mayor.

Kolding holds a BA from Gonzaga University and an MA from Marquette University, both in political science.

He and his wife have lived in West Seattle for nine years. They have three young children. Kolding is actively involved in the community, coaching basketball at the YMCA and serving as president of the Holy Rosary School Commission.

Kolding has sought elected office before – running for State House in 2014 and 2016.

The first to register a campaign for the District 1 position was Phillip Tavel (here’s our October report), a West Seattle lawyer who ran in 2015; second, Isaiah T. Willoughby (here’s our December report). Incumbent Herbold has yet to announce whether she plans to run for re-election.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

“Incredible!”

That’s how Joe Nguyen reacted on Election Night to news the first vote count had him way ahead in the race for 34th District State Senator.

“Insane!”

That’s how things have been since then, he told us during a recent conversation … and he’s not even officially in office yet.

We requested an interview to check in once the vote was certified, and sat down to chat on a recent Saturday morning at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor) – where, one month earlier, we photographed him rallying supporters – including U.S. Rep Pramila Jayapal – for one last campaign push.

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We’ve continued watching the city’s list of candidates who register City Council campaigns for next year. A second candidate has registered to campaign for the District 1 (West Seattle/South Park) City Council seat – Isaiah T. Willoughby. He doesn’t have a website but the information on file with the city does include an e-mail address, as well as the organizational title “Promoting Healthy Minds and Spirits,” so we sent a note requesting more information. He sent this reply: “Read this article; everything you need to know about me.” It accompanied this link to a 1997 Seattle Times report about him and his siblings being raised by adoptive parents in a family helped by the Times’ Fund for the Needy. Willoughby’s filing comes almost two months after Phillip Tavel became the first candidate to register a campaign for the seat currently held by Lisa Herbold, who has not yet announced whether she will run for re-election.

From our partner site White Center Now, video of Thursday night’s North Highline Unincorporated Area Council Q&A/briefing with three local elected officials, all West Seattleites who represent this area as well as White Center/North Highline: 34th District State Reps. Eileen Cody and Joe Fitzgibbon and County Council Chair Joe McDermott. (34th District State Senator-elect Joe Nguyen was also expected but unable to attend due to multiple conflicts; we interviewed him today for a post-election, pre-Legislature followup that you’ll see here within the next few days.)

One year ago today, Mayor Jenny Durkan took the oath of office at a series of ceremonies around the city, including one in West Seattle. This week, she’s on another citywide tour, which included a brief lunchtime stop at the Senior Center of West Seattle. No speech or open-microphone Q&A this time – she did that at Cupcake Royale down the block just two weeks ago.

Senior Center executive director Lyle Evans (with the mayor in the photo above) tells us, by the way, the center’s upstairs café remodeling should be complete next week.

The City Council passed next year’s budget today, finalizing its changes to the plan Mayor Jenny Durkan proposed in September, and including some changes championed by West Seattle/South Park (District 1) Councilmember Lisa Herbold. We’ve reported on most of them previously in the process. They include, as listed in her budget-wrapup announcement:

DISTRICT 1 CAPITAL PROJECTS:

*Adding the Highland Park Way SW/SW Holden Street Roundabout project to the SDOT Capital Improvement Program

*Adding 35th Avenue SW road paving to the SDOT Capital Improvement Program (CIP)

*Seattle Parks Department planning to enhance Trail Access on SW Brandon Street

*Adding the South Park Playfield to the CIP, noting $1.8 million in funding

The roundabout and 35th SW items don’t guarantee funding for those projects, but they’re a key step toward moving them toward the SDOT front burner. Meantime, Herbold also notes in her announcement:

… “funding to maintain a public safety coordinator for South Park, funding for RV Remediation, and enhancing and adding three inspectors to the Vacant Building Monitoring Program, so more vacant properties are monitored and don’t become public safety nuisances for the neighborhood. … $60,000 in funding for Concord Elementary’s Community Learning Center, Citizenship Program funding for Neighborhood House at High Point, funding to allow Colman Pool stay open for an additional 4 weekends a year.”

Herbold’s announcement also mentions nine other “citywide wins” among her proposals that made it into the final budget.

Eight days after the election, the monthly meeting of our area’s largest political organization, the 34th District Democrats, included looks ahead to other elections – including one of their own.

SEATTLE SCHOOL LEVIES: Two Seattle Public Schools levies – capital (BEX) and operations – are expiring, so in three months, Seattle voters will be asked to approve their replacements. The group endorsed “yes” votes after hearing from Leslie Harris, who said she was speaking as an individual and longtime 34th DDs member rather than as our area’s elected rep on the School Board and its president:

The School Board finalized the levy plans two weeks ago; here’s the info sheet, including what property owners will pay. The biggest projects the BEX levy would fund in our area are a rebuild for Alki Elementary and an addition for West Seattle Elementary; go here to see other projects listed school-by-school.

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(Mayor Durkan, Councilmember González, Junction Association executive director Lora Radford)

Story and photos by Tracy Record and Patrick Sand
West Seattle Blog co-publishers

Mayor Jenny Durkan‘s second West Seattle Junction walking tour/community Q&A of the year was very different from the first one.

For one, she shared the spotlight this time, with Police Chief Carmen Best and City Councilmember Lorena González (a Junction resident). For two, this one – unlike the one back in February – had a theme: Public safety, with the Seattle Police union contract agreement up for a council vote tomorrow afternoon.

However, the community questions and concerns that were voiced – both at walking-tour business stops and during the general-public “coffee chat” that followed – ranged beyond that topic.

With citywide media also in attendance, the tour started off with the mayor taking reporters’ questions, about the contract vote and other matters (one reporter asked about the NHL arena). Durkan said she’s “optimistic” about tomorrow’s vote – seven councilmembers must approve the contract for it to be ratified, all or nothing, no changes – and that she “respects” those asking questions/voicing concerns about it. Here’s what she said in that Q&A with media:

A major concern voiced by the contract’s supporters is that more officers will leave if it’s rejected; they haven’t had a raise since 2014. Some have suggested coming up with a way to pay the raise (which is retroactive) while taking the controversial accountability issues back to the table; the mayor dismissed that idea in her visit-opening Q&A.

Councilmember González, who heads the council committee that oversees public safety, said she’s spent a lot of time answering her colleagues’ questions and concerns.

Then the tour began, stopping first at A La Mode Pies, hit by burglars a few weeks ago.

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Today’s King County Elections count is the last one due out until Monday. So with most – not all – ballots counted, here’s how some key stats have turned out so far:

34th Legislative District – 77,700 ballots returned so far, out of 100,380 “active registered voters”
City of Seattle – 363,532 ballots returned so far, of 463,432 “active registered voters”
Entire county – 963,699 of 1,294,184
(Past elections’ countywide turnout #’s going back to the turn of the millennium are here.)

Here are the numbers from nearby dropboxes (which closed at 8 pm Election Night, so these numbers would seem to be final or close to it):

West Seattle Junction – 4,775
High Point – 8,699
White Center – 5,503
South Park – 1,472

The county says 381,746 ballots came in via dropboxes. Final election certification is set for November 27th – here’s the calendar.

King County has published its second round of general-election results. See them all here. Among them:

34TH DISTRICT STATE SENATOR: Joe Nguyen maintained about the same lead over Shannon Braddock as election night, 30,199 votes and 57.4 percent, to 22,398 votes and 42.6 percent.

FAMILIES, EDUCATION, PRESCHOOL, PROMISE LEVY: This didn’t change much either, passing with 68.6 percent “yes” vote.

TURNOUT: So far the count is at 56.45 percent.

NEXT COUNT: By 4 pm tomorrow.

P.S. If you’re wondering about the 7th District Congressional race – U.S. House Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D) vs. Craig Keller (R), both West Seattleites – those results are on the state site. Rep. Jayapal has won re-election with 83.5 percent of the vote.

As noted here Monday, today at 9:30 am, the City Council meets for the next step in getting to a budget for next year: Budget chair Councilmember Sally Bagshaw presents the “balancing package” of changes that are now formally proposed to the mayor’s proposal. The specifics have just been made public, with less than an hour to go until the meeting; you can see them here in the meeting agenda (each item in it is linked to a specific document). We note that some of Councilmember Lisa Herbold‘s previously noted proposals such as a 35th SW repaving project, the Highland Park roundabout, and more days for Colman Pool. You can see today’s meeting live via Seattle Channel.

8:10 PM: In the race to see who will take the State Senate seat from which 34th District Sen. Sharon Nelson (D-Maury Island) is retiring, the first results are in:

Joe Nguyen – 27,440 – 57.4%
Shannon Braddock – 20,373 – 42.6%

8:17 PM: Nguyen has already spoken to his jubilant supporters at Drunky’s Two Shoes in White Center; we’ll add the video when we return to HQ. (ADDED– Here’s his reaction right after the results went public:)

9:24 PM: Braddock’s campaign tells us she will have a statement later.

Nguyen’s presumed victory makes history – he will be the state’s first Vietnamese-American legislator and the 34th District’s first legislator of color. He is the son of refugees, born in White Center, raised in Burien, now living in West Seattle, a manager at Microsoft, father of two, husband of a Highline Public Schools teacher. Personal backgrounds were the main differentiating factors between Nguyen and Braddock in the campaign; on the issues, they were nearly identical, both self-described progressive Democrats.

ADDED WEDNESDAY MIDDAY: This statement from Braddock was sent to an e-mail list of supporters and media:

There’s a common saying that you have to ask a woman seven times before she’ll seriously consider running for office. In my experience, it couldn’t be truer. Growing up I was keenly aware that most elected officials were men, and their support staff were women.

When I was asked to run for the State Senate I knew the sacrifices it would mean for me and my family as a single working mom. It had to be a family discussion. When I asked my two sons what they thought they said “sure.” But when I asked my eleven-year old daughter Kate if I should run she became giddy — jumping up and down clapping her hands. Ever since I announced she’s been talking about how she would like to run for office someday too. These are the types of examples we can set for our young girls when we run.

So thank you.

Thank you for knocking on doors, donating, and calling voters in support of our vision of a better Washington. And lastly, thank you for believing in me. We left it all on the field and, in spite of the outcome, I believe we ran an amazing campaign.

While we may have lost this race, last night was still a decisive win for women’s representation across our country.

We saw a record number of women run for office and get elected this year — including 256 women running for Congress in the General Election and countless more in local elections like ours. While I may not have had many women role models in elected leadership when I was growing up, I’m beyond thankful my daughter will. I wish Joe Nguyen the best as he steps into service for the 34th District as our State Senator.

8:09 PM: Here are first results for the big city levy on tonight’s ballot – the Families, Education, Preschool, Promise levy, a combination and expansion of two expiring levies:

Yes – 164,083 – 68.5%
No – 75,299 – 31.5%

10:26 PM: Mayor Jenny Durkan has thanked voters for supporting the plan; here’s her statement. In part, the levy passage fulfills a commitment she made in West Seattle on her second day in office (WSB coverage here) – promising to expand what has been the 13th Year Promise program, one year of “free” tuition at South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) for graduates from some Seattle public high schools.

(WSB photo, November 2017 at South Seattle College)

And as we wrote this, we learned the mayor will be back at SSC tomorrow morning – with Seattle Colleges Chancellor Shouan Pan and Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Denise Juneau – to celebrate the levy’s passage. We’ll be there.

Four statewide initiatives on tonight’s ballot – each is linked to its results page on the Secretary of State website, and the results are coming in:

INITIATIVE 1631 (pollution)

INITIATIVE 1634 (prohibiting some beverage/food taxation)

INITIATIVE 1639 (guns)

INITIATIVE 940 (policing)

5:21 PM: That’s the view from West Seattle as Election Day gives way to Election Night. Before the first local/state returns come in after 8 pm, we’ll have some running coverage of the final hours of voting … and campaigning.

We start with the lone local open seat on the ballot. Above, supporters of 34th District State Senate candidate Joe Nguyen were sign-waving on the Andover overpass before sunset; this morning, candidate Shannon Braddock‘s supporters, including (below left) Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon and County Executive Dow Constantine, were sign-waving a bit further west, at 35th/Fauntleroy:

As noted in our morning highlight list, the candidates are due at Election Night parties in a few hours. Meantime, you have a bit over two and a half hours to vote – here’s the info you need if you haven’t done that yet; we’ll be off to check the scene at the ballot dropboxes in a bit.

6:29 PM: First, a stop at Sound & Fog, which has long been planning an election-night watching event:

Proprietor Justin is projecting election coverage onto one of his shop’s walls, and as our photo shows, more than a few patrons have their own screens. You can stop in any time before 9 pm. Next, we hopped over to the new King County Elections ballot dropbox in The Junction:

An elections staffer who’s here to help said they’ve been getting a steady stream in the past hour or so. There are two special 5-minute parking spots in the lot (behind KeyBank on the south side of SW Alaska west of California) for voters, though some are hopping out of their cars on SW Alaska instead. You can drop your ballot in a county box until 8 pm (here’s the full countywide list – we’re headed next to West Seattle’s other dropbox, in High Point).

6:54 PM: At High Point with a little over an hour to go:

Here, a sheriff’s deputy as well as KC Elections workers. And portable lighting, which we noticed during an afternoon stop:

This box is next to the library (3411 SW Raymond) parking lot but you can also pull up curbside on eastbound Raymond. The full list of dropboxes countywide is here. After the voting ends at 8 pm, the county is expected to release its first and only round of election-night results around 8:15 pm, and we will have separate stories on those.

7:55 PM: Just awaiting the returns. One more ballot-box photo from about an hour ago:

The crew at High Point really wanted to be sure everyone was aware of the time!

Haven’t voted yet? You’re far from alone. Here are three things you might find helpful to know about last-minute … last-day! .. voting:

BY U.S. POSTAL SERVICE MAIL: We asked USPS regional spokesperson Ernie Swanson what voters need to know about :

If ballots are put into the mail early Tuesday (preferably by noon) they should get that day’s postmark. (Also), voters need to pay attention to the times on collection boxes for pick-ups. Ballots can be handed across the counter at postal retail units.

We drove up to the outdoor boxes at both West Seattle post offices to check the last pickup times. Junction (4410 California SW): 5 pm. Westwood Village (2721 SW Trenton): 6 pm.

BY KING COUNTY ELECTIONS DROPBOX: Remember, West Seattle has two now, and they’re ready for your ballot until 8 pm Tuesday. Sharp! They’re in The Junction (south side of SW Alaska between California and 44th) and in High Point (south side of SW Raymond, east of 35th, next to the library). Both have specially designated very-short-term parking for ballot dropoff. If you’re in south West Seattle, the dropbox on the east side of the White Center Library (1409 SW 107th) might be closer. If you are taking your ballot to work off-peninsula and want to know where to drop it off at lunchtime or at some other point before 8 pm, here’s the full countywide list.

CAN’T FIND YOUR BALLOT OR DIDN’T GET ONE? Here’s how to fix that!

P.S. Election Night parties will be part of our daily highlight list Tuesday morning – if your establishment or organization is having something public, please let us know ASAP!

While the City Council has been reviewing, and proposing changes to, the mayor’s budget plan, we’ve noted some West Seattle possibilities. Wednesday, we’ll know which if any of them made it into the council’s “balancing package” to be presented by Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, who’s leading the budget process this year. West Seattle/South Park Councilmember Lisa Herbold provided progress reports in her newest weekly update.

(Colman Pool, photographed last year by Long Bach Nguyen)

Among them are 10 she labels as District 1 priorities that were introduced last week, including a few we’ve mentioned here – such as 35th SW paving, the Highland Park Way/Holden roundabout, and extra operating days for Colman Pool (now proposed as 4 extra weekends). If you feel strongly about any of these proposals – or anything else that’s under consideration in the budget (or that you feel should be) – now’s a good time to send feedback via council@seattle.gov. The budget changes in the next week-plus will be fast and furious, with a final vote the Monday before Thanksgiving.

After six months of campaigning, our area’s hottest race has less than two days to go. We caught up today with both candidates for the open 34th District State Senate seat.

Shannon Braddock and supporters gathered at Grand Central Bakery in Burien at midday before setting out for more door-to-door campaigning. Among her volunteers – her dad Dennis Braddock:

We asked Braddock for her final pitch, in a minute or less, on why an undecided voter should choose her for the job:

A few hours later, Joe Nguyen and supporters gathered at C & P Coffee Company (WSB sponsor) in West Seattle:

Joining him in campaign canvassing today, 7th Congressional District U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal:

(She too is on Tuesday’s ballot, running for re-election vs. Republican Craig Keller.) And we also asked Nguyen for his final pitch:

You can browse our West Seattle Politics archive for past coverage, dating back to April, when both announced their candidacy for the 34th Legislative District State Senate seat from which Sen. Sharon Nelson is retiring. Nguyen and Braddock, both West Seattle residents, were the top two finishers in the August primary field of 11. The district includes White Center and other parts of unincorporated North Highline as well as Vashon and Maury Islands and part of Burien. 8 pm Tuesday (November 6th) is when the voting ends and the counting begins; here’s how to get your ballot in.

Two West Seattle Junction notes with just days to go until Tuesday’s voting deadline:

NEW BALLOT BOX REMINDER: We first told you two weeks ago about the new King County Elections dropbox on the south side of Alaska west of California. It’s open around the clock until 8 pm (sharp!) on Tuesday, and two parking spaces by the box are reserved for dropoff, as shown in our photo. West Seattle’s other KCE dropbox is on the south side of SW Raymond east of 35th SW, by High Point Library. And of course you no longer need a stamp to send your ballot in the USPS mail (but however/wherever you send it, you’ll want to verify that it’s going to get postmarked by Tuesday).

‘ELECTION DAY CAKE’: West Seattle-residing chef and cookbook author Kim O’Donnel tells WSB she will be at the West Seattle Farmers’ Market for about an hour Sunday morning (November 4, 10:30-11:30 am-ish) with samples of “Election Day Cake” as part of this fun and flavorful election-related project for which she runs an Instagram account:

The backstory is in our calendar listing, along with the recipe.