Missed the 34th District State Senate candidates at last night’s North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting? We’ll have video up this weekend – and also, we’ve just received word that candidates Shannon Braddock and Joe Nguyen are both expected at next Tuesday’s Admiral Neighborhood Association meeting, 6:30 pm at The Sanctuary at Admiral (42nd/Lander); details to come, says ANA president Larry Wymer. Voting starts when your ballot arrives in the mail in about two weeks.

The November election is just a month away, and voting starts in about two weeks. If you’re not registered yet, Monday is the deadline for registering online or by mail. You can do the former by going here; to print a form for mailing, go here – it’s available in 21 languages!

P.S. Here’s an incentive – the coffee shop Bird on a Wire (3509 SW Henderson) has voter-registration events both days this weekend, with forms printed and available: “Enjoy a free ‘bird drop’ cookie or small cup of joe with every filled-out application!” during these times – 9-11 am Saturday, 10 am-2 pm Sunday.

P.P.S. We are reminded that this is an important time to check to be sure your registration status is still active – that could have changed if, for example, you moved and ballots sent to your old address were returned as undeliverable. Go here to check your status.

(Seattle Channel video of mayor’s budget speech)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Mayor Jenny Durkan is announcing her budget proposal for the next two years. (Click the “play” button above for the live stream from Seattle Channel at Fire Station 10 downtown.) It’s almost $6 billion a year. Just before leaving City Hall to present the speech, she hosted reporters in the mayor’s office conference room to provide background on toplines. We were among those invited – so here are some notes of interest.

She was joined by the city’s budget director Ben Noble, who acknowledged that the budget includes a “significant increase,” but he and Durkan stressed that it is balanced and includes “sustainable” sources of funding for a variety of city programs as well as recognizing that revenue growth is slowing, while inflation is on the rise.

A few big-picture notes – close to half the budget, $2.6 billion, goes to utilities: Seattle City Light and Seattle Public Utilities. That’s separate from the city’s General Fund spending, which Noble said is proposed to go up six percent next year. The budget has a “focus on basic city services … that our taxpayers expect,” promised the mayor.

Some specific areas:

PUBLIC SAFETY: 40 new police officers – above attrition – are proposed, 10 next year and 30 in 2020. In the Fire Department, the mayor wants to add 120 new fire recruits. Noble said the added personnel are needed because maintaining required staffing levels is currently leading to lots of overtime. Durkan said that Chief Harold Scoggins found savings in other areas to cover the cost of adding personnel. We asked for specifics; fuel savings was mentioned, and they promised to provide details of others.

Back to police, the mayor does include money for 12 Community Service Officers – as originally called for by the City Council – and says they will be part of a new Collaborative Policing Bureau.

UTILITIES: 24 people will be added in the Customer Call Centers to reduce wait times. The mayor said City Light in particular needs a lot of “re-tuning” and she expects to spend a lot of time with new GM Debra Smith – assuming the council confirms her – doing that.

TRANSPORTATION: The city wants to pay the county to add yet more bus service – 100,000 more hours. In all, more than $600 million is budgeted for transit/transportation, including $101 million for “maintenance and replacement of key roads, trails, bike paths, bridges.” No specific projects mentioned for our area, but there was talk about dealing with the upcoming Period of Maximum Constraint downtown, including signal adjustments to keep transit and other traffic flowing. The mayor also mentioned going to Olympia to try to get approval for transit-lane-blocking enforcement cameras. (This would be a repeat try.) She promised they’ll be working “block by block” to figure out how to keep people moving.

HOMELESSNESS: Next year’s budget includes $89 million total in all areas in which the city deals with this, up a bit from this year’s $86 million. The spending includes “increased case management” for tiny-house villages (sanctioned encampments); we asked what that might mean for a specific encampment such as Camp Second Chance in West Seattle, and were promised details on that too. (Currently the city’s contracted camp operator. LIHI, provides a case manager, paid from what it gets annually to run the camp.)

The city’s going to try a “safe parking” program again for people who live in vehicles, with $250,000 allotted for that. No specifics of where/when, yet. And the Navigation Team will be increased.

NEIGHBORHOODS: $4 million is included to continue the Matching Fund program that funds many programs and projects around the city.

IF YOU REALLY LIKE NUMBERS: Noble explained that city revenues are “highly dependent on the local economy.” Sales, business/occupation, and utility taxes comprise more than 56 percent of what goes into the city’s General Fund. They’re continuing to grow but more slowly – this year sales tax was expected to go up 8.7%, but next year 3.5% and 2% in 2020; B&O is expected to grow 7.4% this year, 5.1% next year, 3.3% in 2020. The city expects construction activity to drop more than 10 percent over the next two years, while inflation is “creeping up,” in the three percent vicinity. But Noble stressed, “this is not a recession forecast – it’s a slowing of growth.” And new revenue streams are helping – $22 million a year from the “soda tax,” which at one point was expected to drop dramatically as the years went on, but, Noble said, other cities that have it are NOT seeing those drops so it “provides an opportunity to use these monies to fund more sustainable activities.”

THERE’S MORE: What’s above is just part of what was discussed at the briefing and a small part of what’s in the budget. The full document is due out now (update: find it here) and we’ll be reviewing it for other notes of interest that we’ll add to this report later.

WHAT HAPPENS FROM HERE: The City Council spends the next ~2 months reviewing the budget. District 1 Councilmember Lisa Herbold outlined the process – and how you can get involved – in her newest online update.

Five weeks from tonight, you’ll likely have your ballot for the November election. The marquee local race is for State Senate in the 34th District, which includes West Seattle, White Center, Vashon and Maury Islands, and part of Burien. The two West Seattleites who finished the primary atop a field of 11 – Joe Nguyen and Shannon Braddock – went head to head last night at the monthly meeting of the 34th District Democrats, who endorsed both before the primary.

The format, billed as Lincoln-Douglas-style debating, meandered a bit, so you’re just going to have to watch. It started with a topic both tackled in the WSB interviews we published earlier this week (Braddock here, Nguyen here), taxes. Moderator Chris Porter also asked about gun laws and about the candidates’ respective 34th Districts-specific priorities, should they get sent to Olympia.

The debate had its moments. Before it was all over, each candidate had used the f-word once (no, it’s not bleeped out, we run event video unedited); and each had gotten in at least one direct dig at their opponent. Nguyen also complimented Braddock at one point for a “fantastic” answer to a particular question. If you missed this, there’ll be other opportunities to see the two side by side, including the October North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting and a date-TBA West Seattle Chamber of Commerce forum.

ALSO AT THE MEETING: A standing-room-only turnout had gathered by debate time. The 34th DDs voted to endorse three state initiatives – 940, 1631, and 1639 – plus the city Families, Education, Preschool and Promise Levy, though the latter was not without some pre-vote controversy, as Leslie Harris, the longtime local activist who currently leads the Seattle Public Schools Board, said Mayor Jenny Durkan had yet to respond to requests for information on whether any of that levy’s money would go to charter schools. … The 34th DDs also heard pitches for help with the November vote in swing areas outside the 34th.

EDITOR’S NOTE: A month has passed since the August primary, and general-election voting is a little more than a month away. Our election coverage continues with a closeup look at both candidates running for the open 34th District State Senate seat. We interviewed Shannon Braddock and Joe Nguyen separately before Labor Day; after featuring our conversation with her last night, tonight we’re reporting on our conversation with him.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Joe Nguyen‘s 34th District State Senate campaign is his first try for public office – and while he says that “I knew we worked harder than anyone else” in the primary field of 11 contenders, he was still “shocked” to have ended up with the most votes.

Though he hasn’t run for office before, Nguyen says he has “been involved with politics for a long time … I actually paged for (now County Executive) Dow Constantine when he was in the Legislature.”

Our opening question in our conversation (which you can see above, in its entirety, in unedited video): Why do you want this job?

Read More

EDITOR’S NOTE: A month has passed since the August primary, and general-election voting is a little more than a month away. Our election coverage continues with a closeup look at both candidates running for the open 34th District State Senate seat. We interviewed Shannon Braddock and Joe Nguyen separately before Labor Day, and are presenting the stories tonight and tomorrow.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Of the 11 candidates who were on the primary-election ballot for the 34th District State Senate seat, Shannon Braddock was the only one who had run for office before.

Three years ago, she finished a very close second in the first-ever District 1 City Council election, losing to Lisa Herbold by just 39 votes.

Now, Braddock is campaigning again, this time to represent a larger area – the 34th Legislative District, which includes West Seattle (where she lives), Vashon and Maury Islands, White Center and part of the rest of North Highline, and part of Burien. Its senator is one of three legislators for the district; the two State House Reps., Eileen Cody and Joe Fitzgibbon, both ran for re-election this year, both unopposed. Sen. Sharon Nelson, the outgoing Senate Majority Leader, chose to retire.

Why does Braddock want the job? was our opening question when we sat down to talk at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse. (You can see and hear our entire conversation, unedited, in the video above.)

Read More

The hottest local race on the November ballot, 34th District State Senator, is revving up. Tomorrow night (Wednesday, September 12th), candidates Joe Nguyen and Shannon Braddock will debate at the monthly meeting of the 34th District Democrats, who endorsed both before the 11-candidate August primary. According to an advisory from the Nguyen campaign, it will be a “Lincoln-Douglas style debate,” not the standard Q&A forum; the advisory explains, “Lincoln Douglas style debates are similar to the format used in high school debate competitions. Candidates will have the opportunity to cross examine one another and respond to claims made during the debate.” The 34th DDs’ meeting starts at 7 pm Wednesday at The Hall at Fauntleroy (9131 California SW).

P.S. We recently interviewed both candidates, recording a half-hour conversation with each one, and will be publishing those stories – text with video – here on WSB tonight and tomorrow.

A problem that’s been before the City Council off and on for more than 10 years is back in the spotlight at a council-committee discussion tomorrow (Wednesday).

The problem: Vacant buildings. It’s been 9 1/2 years since the issue gained some attention when a Delridge community advocate invited councilmembers, department heads, and others on a tour of problem properties in eastern West Seattle.

The vacant-building problem has been addressed with incremental legislation over the years. But it’s still a problem. Stats prepared by Councilmember Lisa Herbold‘s staff for tomorrow’s meeting of the Planning, Land Use, and Zoning Committee show that West Seattle/South Park District 1 had the most vacant-building-related complaints last year of any of the city’s seven council districts – 95.

95 complaints – but only 2 properties in D-1 were enrolled in the city’s vacant-building-monitoring program. Beyond that, Herbold’s staff found that 44 District 1 addresses accounted for 284 Seattle Police responses last year alone, while 66 houses in West Seattle are signed up for SPD’s criminal trespass program. The slide deck (48 MB PDF) to be presented by Herbold assistant Alex Clardy also shows multiple examples of vacant, deteriorating properties in West Seattle and South Park.

The point of tomorrow’s briefing is to look at what might make the vacant-building-monitoring program more effective; this report from the Department of Construction and Inspections looks at a variety of possibilities, including changing the standards for enrolling properties in the program. For example, the report notes that properties slated for redevelopment usually aren’t enrolled because they’ll be demolished before long. (The report does not address the length of time that can elapse between the initiation of a redevelopment plan and demolition – sometimes years.) Another possibility addressed by the report is a “temporary caretaker” program in which good-quality vacant properties could be made available through nonprofits/social-service agencies identifying people who could live there until demolition is imminent.

You can see how the discussion goes by going to City Hall, or watching Seattle Channel, for tomorrow’s 9:30 am PLUZ committee meeting.

While Mayor Durkan looks for a permanent SDOT director – 8+ months after Scott Kubly‘s departure – she’s announced a new interim director to succeed Goran Sparrman. That new interim SDOT director is a former head of the state’s Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Program, Linea Laird. The mayor’s announcement says that Laird’s appointment takes effect Saturday (September 1st) and that she will “focus on upcoming permanent closure of the Alaska Way Viaduct and realignment of SR 99.” The same announcement also mentions that the mayor is seeking City Council approval for making three interim department directors permanent:

Calvin Goings, Interim Director of Department of Finance and Administrative Services; Sue McNab, Interim Director of the Seattle Department of Human Resources; and Andrés Mantilla, Interim Director of the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.

Mantilla is a West Seattle resident who became interim Neighborhoods director 3+ months ago.

Two weeks after the August primary election, final results were certified today. So it’s official – Joe Nguyen and Shannon Braddock will face off for the 34th District State Senate seat from which Sharon Nelson is retiring. They finished atop the 11-candidate field, with 14,019 votes for Nguyen, 11,114 votes for Braddock. Neither has held elected office before; he hasn’t run for office before, while Braddock finished 39 votes behind Lisa Herbold in the 2015 City Council District 1 race. Both are West Seattleites. You can see the full August election results in King County by going here.

The city’s HALA Mandatory Housing Affordability upzoning plan has yet to go before the City Council for a final vote because the neighborhood coalition appeal of its Environmental Impact Statement remains unresolved. Testimony was scheduled to resume this morning before city Hearing Examiner Ryan Vancil. This is the 11th day of testimony, but the 10 days so far have not been consecutive; it began with one week in late June (June 25-29) and continued with one week in late July (July 23-27). This entire week is also blocked for testimony, Monday-Friday, and four more days are on the HE calendar too – August 30th and 31st and September 4th and 7th. This week, the neighborhood coalition is scheduled to wrap up its case with witnesses today and Tuesday and in the first hour of Wednesday, before the city calls more of its witnesses. Those testifying this week, according to a document provided to the HE, will include West Seattleites Christy Tobin-Presser and Cindi Barker as part of the appeal case; city witnesses will include city employees and consultants including Geoff Wentlandt, the city Office of Planning and Community Development lead in preparing the EIS. The proceedings are in the Hearing Examiner’s chambers on the 40th floor of the city Municipal Tower downtown (700 5th Ave.), open to the public; audio of each day’s proceedings is posted in the online case file.

BACKSTORY: The proposal would upzone property in urban villages, as well as commercial/multifamily property everywhere in the city, while requiring developers to either build affordable housing in their projects or pay fees to fund it elsewhere. The appeal was announced in November, two weeks after the city released the EIS. Five West Seattle neighborhood groups are among the 31 organizations from around the city in the coalition – Alki Community Council, Fauntleroy Neighborhood Association, Morgan Community Association, West Seattle Junction Neighborhood Organization, and the Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Coalition. An appeal is not a lawsuit, though it could be a precursor to one; once the HE rules – usually within a few weeks of the end of testimony – that will be the city’s final decision in the matter, but the decision could be challenged in court. In city appeals, the burden is on the appellants to prove that a city decision should be overturned or amended. The City Council has continued to review the legislation that would implement HALA MHA, though its Select Committee on MHA has yet to schedule its next meeting.

The third vote count of the primary election is out, and in the 34th District State Senate race, Joe Nguyen‘s lead over Shannon Braddock has widened in a big way – now more than 1,400 votes. The vote counts won’t be final until August 21st; here’s how the full 11-candidate field stands:

Joe Nguyen 10,505 29.82%
Shannon Braddock 9,014 25.59%
Lois Schipper 3,408 9.68%
Sofia Aragon 3,109 8.83%
Darla Green 2,866 8.14%
Courtney Lyle 2,184 6.2%
Lisa Ryan Devereau 1,152 3.27%
Debi Wagner 1,128 3.2%
Annabel Quintero 911 2.59%
Hillary Shaw 585 1.66%
Lemuel W. Charleston 361 1.02%

Full updated results from King County are here; turnout (counted ballots) is now up to 34.6 percent. If you want to check the Congressional races, here’s the state website.

In the just-released second count of primary-election results, Joe Nguyen has widened his lead in the no-incumbent 34th District State Senate race. On election night, he led Shannon Braddock by 199 votes; after today’s count, he is 461 votes ahead. As the top two by far in the 11-candidate field, the two West Seattle Democrats will advance to the November general election. (See the full updated results slate here.) The winner will succeed Sharon Nelson as state senator for the 34th Legislative District, which includes West Seattle, White Center and vicinity, Vashon and Maury Islands, and part of Burien.

8:10 PM: The first vote count is in. Here’s how the no-incumbent 34th District State Senate race stands (updated with all 11 candidates, then updated again with vote counts – percentages are rounded to the nearest tenth):

Joe Nguyen 6,769 27.7%
Shannon Braddock 6,570 26.9%
Lois Schipper 2,324 9.5%
Darla Green 2,158 8.8%
Sofia Aragon 2,025 8.3%
Courtney Lyle 1,669 6.8%
Lisa Ryan Devereau 850 3.5%
Debi Wagner 796 3.3%
Annabel Quintero 609 2.5%
Hillary Shaw 416 1.7%
Lem Charleston 264 1.1%

And this election’s one ballot measure, the King County Prop 1 replacement levy for automated fingerprint ID: 56% yes, 44% no.

More to come; see the full King County results list here, and the statewide results list (for a full look at U.S. Senate, Congress, etc.) here.

ADDED 9:31 PM: Once the results were in (next count isn’t until Wednesday), we stopped by the top two candidates’ parties for photos and a quick comment on video. Joe Nguyen was at Ounces in North Delridge:

Shannon Braddock was at Pizzeria 22 in Admiral:

We asked them both the same question: How will you appeal to the people who didn’t vote for you on this ballot?

Both are West Seattle residents. The 34th District also includes White Center and vicinity, Vashon and Maury Islands, and part of Burien. Next results update is expected Wednesday afternoon.

If you haven’t already voted, dig up your ballot to get it done and send it out! Tuesday is your last chance to get it in either a dropbox or a mailbox. It’s not a long ballot (here’s what it looks like) but you have three major decisions:

–34th District State Senate: 11 people are running for this open seat. Which two will advance to November? Here’s the order in which they’re listed on the ballot, with party preference – the names link to their infopages on the state website (with everything from resumé toplines to links showing you who donated to their campaigns):

Joe Nguyen (Prefers Democratic Party)
Lois Schipper (Prefers Democratic Party)
Sofia Aragon (Prefers Democratic Party)
Courtney Lyle (Prefers Republican Party)
Hillary Shaw (States No Party Preference)
Annabel Quintero (Prefers Democratic Party)
Lemuel W. Charleston (Prefers Democrat Party)
Shannon Braddock (Prefers Democratic Party)
Darla Green (Prefers Republican Party)
Debi Wagner (Prefers Independent Party)
Lisa Ryan Devereau (Prefers Democratic Party)

We’ve covered four forums in this race, all with video: White Center Chamber of Commerce‘s forum, West Seattle Chamber of Commerce‘s forum, West Seattle Democratic Women‘s forum, 34th District Democrats‘ forum.

–U.S. Senate: Incumbent Maria Cantwell has 28 challengers. Which two of the 29 candidates (all listed here) will make it to the general election?

–King County Prop 1: Replacement levy for Automated Fingerprint Identification System Services

TO VOTE: This is the first election with prepaid postage, so if you send your ballot via US Postal Service mail, you do NOT need a stamp. You can also use a county dropbox – there’s one in West Seattle, alongside the High Point Library at 3411 SW Raymond, and you have until 8 pm Tuesday to drop off your ballot there. (The full countywide list is here.)