MONDAY NIGHT UPDATE: The City Council finalized its changes to the mayor’s budget in two sessions this morning and afternoon. Above are the Seattle Channel video clips. Below, our notes on West Seattle-specific items we’ve been tracking during the process.

EARLIER COVERAGE

11:17 AM: Just in case you want to follow along, click the “play” button in the video window above: The City Council is making its “Round 2” budget decisions today – whether to change the mayor’s original city budget proposal by adding or subtracting items. We previewed some West Seattle-specific ones here when they introduced – including rezoning part of Highland Park, around 16th/Holden, and adding money for West Seattle Bridge Corridor improvements – and those are on the long list of items they’ll be making decisions on; see that list here. We’re monitoring the meeting too and will be adding notes as it goes, even as we continue covering other news.

11:46 AM: The council hasn’t started voting on the list yet but has instead been embroiled in some contentious amendments including adding money to help with the homelessness emergency.

NOON: They’re now starting the list.

12:13 PM: They’ve just voted to include a package of “statements of legislative intent” that include two of the aforementioned West Seattle-related items – proposed Highland Park 16th/Holden (including the ex-substation) rezoning and a “progress report” on West Seattle Bridge Corridor improvements. Coming up later, two more items – #28 is the authorization of selling local ex-substations, #104 authorizes spending $600,000 for some of the proposed WS Bridge Corridor improvements.

12:39 PM: They’ve just approved another group of items that includes authorization for the sale of ex-substations in West Seattle and vicinity, and now they’re in recess until approximately 2:45 pm, when they’ll pick up the list at #41, with the second West Seattle Bridge Corridor item in that group.

3:17 PM: The council is back at it, and the $600,000 West Seattle Bridge Corridor item has just gone by without challenge – and will be part of a package vote to come. This describes what it’s for:

The proposed budget action would allocate $100,000 for further analysis of physical and operational improvements in the Corridor with the expectation that the Executive will provide any additional resources necessary to complete the work activities described below.

1. Evaluate the feasibility and benefit of installing center barrier sections so response vehicles can make U-turns to speed up response time.

2. Evaluate the feasibility and benefit of installing markings and signs to provide on designated emergency lane in each direction to West Seattle Bridge upper roadways for use during emergencies.

3. Coordinate with WSDOT to determine the feasibility of traffic management modifications to improve eastbound Spokane Street Viaduct connections to south and northbound I-5.

4. Evaluate Lower Spokane Street chokepoint relationships to determine if rail, truck and bridge opening blockages can be better coordinated to avoid cumulative impacts.

5. Evaluate better communications protocols for Port of Seattle cooperation with truck queue management and dispersal.

6. Initiate and SDOT/WSDOT Peer Review Team to review traffic operational and safety improvement opportunities on West Seattle Bridge upper and lower roadways and make recommendations.

In addition to the feasibility studies, this green sheet adds $500,000 to install ITS equipment including Bluetooth readers and dynamic message signs along the Corridor between Airport Way South and Port of Seattle Terminals 5 and 18 in order to collect and display real-time travel time information to trucks drivers and other motorists. Traffic signal system improvements at the intersection of Chelan Avenue Southwest and West Marginal Way Southwest could also be included in the project scope.

The council’s final budget vote is scheduled for next Monday, November 23rd.

(WSB photo from Election Night, Lisa Herbold & supporters viewing results. Little did they know they’d still be doing it 10 days later.)

Just in, this week’s last set of election results – and for the first time in the not-yet-settled City Council District 1 race (West Seattle/South Park), Lisa Herbold has taken the lead over Shannon Braddock, by 27 votes.

Lisa Herbold – 12,371 – 49.73%
Shannon Braddock – 12,344 – 49.62%

That’s a turnabout from the 18-vote lead Braddock held after the Thursday count. Today’s full results list shows 27,567 votes have been counted – that’s almost the entire number of “ready to count” votes listed by the county as of last night. At this point, a manual recount seems likely – here are the county’s rules and policies regarding recounts.

The newest vote count is just in from King County Elections, nine days after the election, and the City Council District 1 (West Seattle/South Park) race now has Shannon Braddock, who’s led since Election Night, 18 votes ahead of Lisa Herbold:

Shannon Braddock – 12,025 – 49.72%
Lisa Herbold – 12,007 – 49.64%

Braddock’s lead was six votes as of the previous count on Tuesday. Our math shows 1,078 more District 1 ballots were in today’s count, with fewer than 1,000 countable ballots remaining – the full-results list says 26,819 ballots have been counted, out of approximately 27,600 countable ballots received from District 1 voters (with about 400 more deemed not ready to count). Next results by 4:30 pm tomorrow.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Voting past, present, and future was what last night’s 34th District Democrats meeting at the The Hall at Fauntleroy was all about.

The present? Some actual voting happened – a presidential straw poll (Democratic, obviously). The results showed a majority of those still in attendance by this stage of the meeting were “Feeling the Bern”:

Bernie Sanders, 39 votes
Hillary Clinton, 26 votes
Undecided, 4 votes
Martin O’Malley, 2 votes

And this segued into future voting, as the organization is already starting work on getting ready for next year’s caucuses. Ted Barker, first vice chair (in photo above with chair Marcee Stone-Vekich), is heading the committee that will choose locations, and said they’re hoping to finalize those by next month.

Now, to the past voting – election recaps, and victory speeches. Here’s our video, starting with King County Executive Dow Constantine:

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3:58 PM: Today’s ballot count is just out, and Shannon Braddock is now 6 votes ahead of Lisa Herbold in the City Council District 1 race.

Shannon Braddock – 11,528 – 49.73%
Lisa Herbold – 11,522 – 49.70%

Up to 2,000 or so ballots remain to be counted in District 1. On page 45 of today’s printable results list, you’ll see that 25,741 ballots have been tallied in this race, while 27,568 ballots were ready for counting (of 27,979 received) in D-1 as of last night’s ballot-return stats (which will be updated at 8 tonight).

We won’t get the next results until Thursday, since tomorrow is the Veterans Day holiday. If you voted, now is the time to check whether your ballot was received for counting and declared valid – here’s how to do that. (Note that “your ballot will be counted” is the last message you’ll get – there is not a “has been counted” status.)

6:24 PM: One thing that *will* happen on the Veterans Day holiday – the 34th District Democrats‘ regular monthly meeting, 7 pm Wednesday at The Hall at Fauntleroy. It was long scheduled to include the organization’s “election recap,” and the online agenda says the group expects to hear from the winners in various races. We asked chair Marcee Stone-Vekich how they plan to handle this one; she says neither Braddock nor Herbold has confirmed with her so far. The 34th DDs made a dual endorsement of both candidates, dating back to the primary.

The newest round of election results is out – and Shannon Braddock is still ahead of Lisa Herbold in the City Council District 1 race, though now by fewer than 100 votes:

Braddock – 49.99% – 11125 votes
Herbold – 49.57% – 11030 votes

(For comparison, here’s the final count from last week.) Next count, 4:30 pm tomorrow. The county’s full results list says 24,699 ballots have been counted in the District 1 race, and its most recent ballot-return statistics say 27,512 ballots were ready to count from this district, which suggests more than 2,800 ballots are yet to be counted.

(UPDATED 7:03 PM with day’s second results release)

4:12 PM: The first of two expected vote-count updates for today is out and in the Seattle City Council District 1 race, Shannon Braddock‘s lead over Lisa Herbold has shrunk again –

Braddock – 10,078 – 50.74%
Herbold – 9,691 – 48.79%

That’s a 387-vote gap, with thousands more ballots remaining to be counted. Last night, Braddock’s lead was 638 votes.

4:41 PM: To be more specific about ballots remaining, the county releases a nightly count (8 pm) of how many ballots have been returned. As of last night’s count, 27,298 ballots were in and “ready to count” in District 1. Just under 20,000 have been counted (in addition to the Herbold and Braddock numbers above, 94 ballots were tallied as “write-ins”).

Probably a good time for you to check the status of your ballot – invariably there are some whose signatures weren’t validated or which haven’t (yet) been counted for one reason or another, and you may still be able to fix that – go here to check. (And note that the final stage is “your ballot will be counted” – that does NOT mean it hasn’t been counted yet, it’s just the final status they give.)

7:03 PM: Second run of the day is in – Herbold is now 104 votes behind Braddock.

Braddock – 10,905 – 50.02%
Herbold – 10,801 – 49.54%

9:37 PM: As pointed out in comments, the total number of votes in the race does not equal the number of ballots counted – this version of the results (unlike the plain-text version) shows the number counted per race, and it says 24,000+ have been counted, leaving 3,000+ as of this evening’s returns.

7:11 PM: King County Elections has just published the only set of results it plans to release today/tonight. See the full list here; if you’re watching the District 1 City Council race, Shannon Braddock was ahead of Lisa Herbold by 729 votes as of last night, and tonight, her lead is 638:

Shannon Braddock – 8491 – 51.69%
Lisa Herbold – 7853 – 47.81%

Next update is scheduled for 4:30 pm Friday. Today’s 4:30 pm release was canceled because of technical trouble that the county explains here.

11:11 PM: According to King County’s ballot-return stats, updated nightly at 8 pm separate from the results, more than 10,000 ballots are waiting to be counted in this race.

ORIGINAL REPORT, 4:43 PM: King County Elections‘ second vote count is out, and it’s not the last one of the day – the KCE website says they’re also planning an update at 7 pm. The City Council District 1 race has tightened a bit since last night, with Shannon Braddock still ahead of Lisa Herbold:

Braddock – 7,416 – 52.43%
Herbold – 6,656 – 47.06%

The full list of results is here.

7 PM UPDATE: Tonight’s second and final update is in. The percentage gap has tightened yet again:

Braddock – 7581 – 52.25%
Herbold – 6,852 – 47.23%

Next vote count will be out Thursday afternoon.

THURSDAY 4:53 PM NOTE: KC Elections just announced it’s NOT going to have an afternoon update today – just 7 pm. (ish)

(WSB photo: Braddock supporters, including County Councilmember Joe McDermott at right, awaiting results)
It’s the marquee race of the night in West Seattle and South Park: Results for the first-ever City Council District 1 seat after the first count (the second one is Wednesday afternoon):

Shannon Braddock 53%
Lisa Herbold 46%

8:33 PM: Herbold has spoken to supporters and told them it’s not over yet, with many votes left to be counted, pointing out that she came from behind to be the primary-vote leader. She also reiterated the issues behind her run:

Her party was at the Highland Park Improvement Club.

9:04 PM: Braddock said it’s too soon to take anything for granted but it’s been a great campaign:

Video from our crew at her party at Talarico’s Pizza is coming up now added.

BACKSTORY: Braddock is an Admiral resident and chief of staff for County Councilmember Joe McDermott. Herbold is a Highland Park resident and legislative assistant to City Councilmember Nick Licata. They were two of three candidates who entered the race on February 11th; when all the votes were counted in August’s primary, Herbold led Braddock by 2.4 percentage points, with 42 percent of the primary votes split between the seven candidates who didn’t make the cut.

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For the full list of results around Seattle and the rest of King County, go here; for the full list of state-measure results, go here.

Tonight’s most-watched ballot measure is Seattle Proposition 1, the $930 million transportation levy known as “Move Seattle.” Find results here – it’s passing (corrected) 57 percent to 43 percent after the first count.

Other ballot measures of note:

Seattle Initiative 122, “Honest Elections,” regarding campaign funding – results here – passing with 60 percent approval

ADDED 10:17 PM: In a statement sent to media, Honest Elections backers say, “”Seattle voters won big tonight. Seattle leads the nation, first on $15/hour and now on campaign finance reform. We look forward to seeing more cities and states implementing their own local solutions to the problem of big money in politics. … This is what democracy looks like, and we expect to see more grassroots campaigns like this one in Seattle. More than 32,000 voters put Honest Elections on the ballot, and hundreds of people who’d never helped with a political campaign before made small dollar contributions, knocked on thousands of doors and made thousands of phone calls to pass Honest Elections. People around the country are tired of waiting for Congress to get big money out of politics. We may not be able to change Citizens United, but we’re doing everything we can by passing our own citizen initiatives to limit big money and give ordinary voters a stronger voice in government.”

Back to results:

King County Proposition 1, “Best Starts for Kids” – results here – passing with 53 percent approval

ADDED 10:17 PM: We talked with King County Executive Dow Constantine, who pushed to get “Best Starts” onto the ballot:

While our camera continued rolling, we asked what else he thought was noteworthy this Election Night. See his full response here; in short – passage of “Move Seattle” (he had been at its victory party earlier); the prevalence of what he described as “level-headed” candidates in the City Council race; and the results in an Eastside County Council race, Bellevue Mayor Claudia Balducci defeating longtime incumbent Councilmember Jane Hague – Constantine observed that the Eastside is increasingly Democratic.

Back to results:

State Initiative 1366, state taxes/fees – results here – passing with 54 percent approval

State Initiative 1401, animal trafficking – results here – passing with 71 percent approval

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For the full list of results around Seattle and the rest of King County, go here; for the full list of state-issue results, go here.

West Seattle and South Park residents also voted, as did the rest of the city, for two at-large positions – Positions 8 and 9 – in the new composition of the City Council. The results:

District 8 – Tim Burgess* vs. Jon Grant
Results here – Burgess 59%, Grant 42%

District 9 – Bill Bradburd vs. Lorena González
Results here – González (a West Seattleite) 76%, Bradburd 24%

For the results in Districts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, go here – leaders in those districts, respectively, are Harrell, Sawant, Johnson, Juarez, O’Brien, Bagshaw

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For the full list of results around Seattle and the rest of King County, go here; for the full list of state-measure results, go here.

Four Seattle School Board seats are on the ballot, only one with an incumbent – District 6, which includes West Seattle and South Park. While only the residents of a board district vote in the primary, school board seats are citywide votes in the general election.

District 6 (West Seattle/South Park) Leslie Harris vs. Marty McLaren*
Results here – Harris 75%, McLaren (the only incumbent on the ballot tonight) 25%

9:17 PM NOTE: Harris was at Herbold’s party (see photo above – she was cheering for Herbold, more demure about her victory, noting it’s not over until it’s over).

District 1 – Michael Christophersen vs. Scott Pinkham
Results here – Pinkham leading with 66%

District 2 – Rick Burke vs. Laura Obara Gramer
Results here – Burke leading with 79%

District 3 – Jill Geary vs. Lauren McGuire
Results here – Geary leading with 59%

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For the full list of results around Seattle and the rest of King County, go here; for the full list of state-measure results, go here.

For the first time since word of E. coli illnesses led to the voluntary closure of Chipotle restaurants in Washington and Oregon, the state has identified which locations are linked to confirmed cases.

The list just made public does NOT include the West Seattle location (which opened at 4730 California SW in The Junction less than two months ago). The 25 patients confirmed so far in this state reported eating at five Chipotle restaurants identified by the state as:

Hazel Dell, 7715 NE 5th Avenue, Suite 109, in Vancouver
1404 Broadway Avenue and 4229 University Way NE in Seattle
512 Ramsey Way 101 in Kent
1753 S. Burlington Blvd. in Burlington

Earlier this afternoon, the state hosted a media briefing from its laboratory facility in Shoreline; a little far for us to go today, so we were among several organizations who participated via a phone/Web hookup.

They confirmed it’s Shige toxin E. coli, which can “cause kidney damage among other serious problems.”

Our state has 25 patients “associated with this outbreak” – nine of whom have been hospitalized, though none with the illness that can lead to kidney damage – and Oregon has 12.

The Washington patients all live in the western part of the state – 11 in Clark County, 2 in Cowlitz, 2 in Island, 6 in King County, and 4 in Skagit County.

“The exact source of illness is still unknown,” but 23 of the 25 WA patients reported eating at a Chipotle. They are still trying to identify “a common food item” – more likely, they say, to be produce than meat. They’re testing samples from multiple restaurants and hope to have results later in the week. They also are awaiting tests on 20 people who reported getting sick after eating at a Chipotle but have not been confirmed as E. coli patients.

Health authorities still don’t know when the Chipotle stores, closed voluntarily, will reopen, but they are working with the chain to “identify criteria” for reopening. They still want people who became ill after eating at a Chipotle recently to consult their health-care provider.

Haven’t voted yet? Don’t miss the chance to choose the first-ever District 1 City Councilmember, to settle the fate of the $930 million Seattle Proposition 1 transportation levy, and to make more than a dozen other decisions. Lots of last-minute voters again this election, judging by how few ballots have been returned so far – in D-1 (West Seattle/South Park), 9,141 out of 60,177. You have until tomorrow evening to vote, and you can do it for free by dropping your ballot off at a King County Elections ballot van or box – the full list is here, and it includes the drop vans at West Seattle Stadium (4432 35th SW, until 5 pm today and 10 am-8 pm tomorrow) and at Greenbridge (8th SW south of SW Roxbury, same hours). If you’ve been to the one in WS before, you’ll notice a new location – we just stopped by for a photo and discovered they’re by the stadium’s west entrance instead of along the driveway (200 ballots today, as of 1 pm). You also can mail your ballot, as long as it’s postmarked by tomorrow, but that’ll cost you 49 cents worth of postage.

Have you voted yet? If not – please don’t let it slide. You have more than a billion dollars in levies to decide, as well as three City Council positions, four School Board seats and Port Commission spots, and more.

*If you’re not registered – you can still do it by end of day tomorrow, but you have to do it in person, in Seattle or Renton – location details here.

*If you are registered and you have your ballot – you have to get it dropped off or in the mail by Tuesday night, November 3rd. Once again, King County Elections will have ballot-dropoff vans at West Seattle Stadium and outside Greenbridge Library in the final days – Saturday, Oct. 31, and Monday, Nov. 2, 10 am-5 pm, and Election Day – Tuesday, Nov. 3 – 10 am-8 pm.

Three forums in three nights in West Seattle for City Council District 1 (WS/South Park) candidates Lisa Herbold and Shannon Braddock – and our hour-long video above is from the finale, last night at High Point Library, one of six district forums presented by the Friends of the Seattle Public Library and SPL around the city last night. Your editor here was honored to have been invited to moderate; our questions and those contributed by attendees spanned topics including transportation, education, taxation, campaign funding, and zoning, featuring some followups on questions that came up the previous two nights. If you haven’t received your ballot yet, you should soon – you have until November 3rd to vote, and unless you are absolutely certain who you’re supporting in this race, you might consider at least listening to one of the recent forums. We’ve recorded each one – in addition to the video above, the others:

*Tuesday’s forum (presented by West Seattle Chamber of Commerce and West Seattle Transportation Coalition), which also included citywide Positions 8 and 9 candidates

*Wednesday’s forum (presented by the 34th District Democrats)

Our coverage from Tuesday includes text highlights as well as full video, but we haven’t yet had time to put together text notes from Wednesday or Thursday (note-taking is close to impossible while participating) – might get the time to do it this weekend, which, barring unforeseen breaking news, doesn’t look too busy so far, so check back if you are interested in that.

Big week of forums for the candidates hoping to represent West Seattle/South Park on behalf of its new City Council District 1 – including three in West Seattle on three consecutive nights. Last night, the second one drew a crowd to The Hall at Fauntleroy as the area’s largest political organization, the 34th District Democrats, devoted most of its regular meeting night to hearing D-1 hopefuls Shannon Braddock and Lisa Herbold answer questions. Above is our video of the event in its entirety; 34th Dems chair Marcee Stone-Vekich moderated, and read audience questions after three guest questioners quizzed the candidates on four topics: former State Rep. Velma Veloria on social justice/racial equity issues, Sustainable West Seattle‘s Stu Hennessey on sustainability issues, and your editor here on transportation and development issues. The forum was preceded by the 34 Dems’ Chris Porter presenting local nonprofits who each got to make a pitch (we live-tweeted that section).

Forum #3 is just a few hours away – presented by the Friends of the Seattle Public Library at the High Point Branch (35th & Raymond), moderated by us, 6:30 pm, all welcome, bring your questions!

By Tracy Record and Patrick Sand
West Seattle Blog co-publishers

The first of this week’s three City Council candidate forums in West Seattle – the only one with all six of the council candidates who will be on your ballot – included one moment of drama: When one candidate asked her opponent a money question.

We’ll get to that shortly. First things first. More than 50 people were at Neighborhood House’s High Point Center to watch the forum, presented by the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce and WS Transportation Coalition, moderated by Pete Spalding on behalf of the former and Michael Taylor-Judd for the latter. Each pair of candidates got their own section of the program, citywide Positions 8 and 9 followed by the longest section, for West Seattle/South Park District 1, which is where we begin. We recorded it all on video and are including each section below, just before our notes on the questions and answers. Please note that we’re paraphrasing/summarizing unless you see quotation marks. Also note that because of the sponsoring organizations, the questions were intended to focus on business and transportation issues. After each was given the chance to answer a question, there was also “rebuttal” time, which is why you see each question below followed by multiple responses.

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DISTRICT 1
Candidates Shannon Braddock, Lisa Herbold

OPENING STATEMENTS

Braddock: Stressed her experience volunteering with local organizations including the Lafayette Elementary PTA, West Seattle Food Bank, WestSide Baby, as well as her work as chief of staff for County Councilmember Joe McDermott. “I feel I have a very good overview of the issues affecting (this area).”

Herbold: Echoed moderator Spalding’s declaration that this is a historic election, with West Seattle/South Park electing their first District 1 councilmember. She stressed her experience working for City Councilmember Nick Licata and her career as a community organizer before that, a role in which she said you teach people how to be their own best advocates. She sees a parallel to that work and to what by-district elections are supposed to be about: “We will have more responsive government.”

First question – Do you support an employee head tax?

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Big week as the November 3rd election approaches.

BALLOTS MAILED THIS WEEK: By week’s end, you should have your ballot – since King County says they’re going out Wednesday. (The sample ballot on the county website is what yours is going to look like, if you’re in West Seattle.)

THREE CHANCES TO SEE, HEAR, QUESTION COUNCIL CANDIDATES: Unless you are absolutely certain without a hint of a doubt who you are voting for in the City Council races – West Seattle/South Park District 1, plus citywide (at-large) Positions 8 and 9, you might consider going to at least one of this week’s three local forums/debates:

–First and biggest, tomorrow night (Tuesday) brings all six of those candidates (who last shared a table in West Seattle at the Fauntleroy forum five nights ago) to Neighborhood House’s High Point Center (6400 Sylvan Way) for the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce and WS Transportation Coalition co-presented event, focusing on business and transportation related questions. The at-large candidates are up first – Jon Grant and Tim Burgess for Position 8, Bill Bradburd and Lorena González for Position 9 – with District 1’s Lisa Herbold and Shannon Braddock for the finale. Mingling at 6:15 pm; debating starts at 6:45 pm.

–Wednesday night, Braddock and Herbold will be at centerstage in a forum/debate during the 34th District Democrats‘ monthly meeting, 7 pm at The Hall at Fauntleroy (9131 California SW), with guest moderators (your editor here is among them) asking questions on a variety of topics.

-Thursday night, Herbold and Braddock meet again, as we emcee the Friends of the Seattle Public Library-presented District 1 debate/forum at 6:30 pm at High Point Library, part of a simultaneous series of forums in the council districts citywide. Audience questions too – see you there!