With four weeks left until the general election – the night the voting ends and the vote-counting begins – a forum in Fauntleroy last night featured the six candidates for the three City Council seats that will be on your ballot.
The sharpest differences were evident between each of the two sets of citywide candidates; in the local race, it was more subtle, with little all-out disagreement. And District 1 is where the forum Q/A began.
At one point in the introductory speeches, it sounded as if Mayor Murray was inviting both to come up to the podium – but they stayed in the crowd. Saturday night, both were due to participate in the Inspire Seattle candidates’ forum at a private residence in West Seattle. If you weren’t there, don’t fret – at least four more chances to see them side by side:
Story, photos, video by Tracy Record and Patrick Sand
West Seattle Blog co-publishers
Successes, challenges, even tragedy took turns in the spotlight as Mayor Ed Murray and a strike force of city staffers descended on North Delridge today for their 12th Find It, Fix It Community Walk, first one in West Seattle.
This was no “drop in and we’ll wander around” event. It was meticulously planned for months, with a community committee involved in planning the route and who would speak where and when. An audio system was carted from stop to stop, and speeches – by community members as well as the mayor and staffers – took up about a third of the hour and a half it actually lasted. With so much planned, it was far more thorough than the last mayoral walking tour we recall in the area, by Murray’s predecessor Mike McGinn five years ago, though part of the route was the same.
We’ll begin at the beginning:
At the starting point, the Louisa Boren STEM K-8 school at 5950 Delridge Way SW, the mayor was introduced by Neighborhood District Coordinator Kerry Wade, who spent months working with community volunteers to ensure this happened without a hitch. With a podium, PA system, and the full crowd, speeches ensued, starting with the mayor explaining what the walks are about:
He introduced the many department heads who were along for the walk:
From left, Seattle Public Utilities’ Ray Hoffman, Seattle City Light’s acting GM Jim Baggs, SPD Deputy Chief Carmen Best, Department of Neighborhoods’ Kathy Nyland, SDOT’s Scott Kubly, Parks Superintendent Jesús Aguirre, budget director Ben Noble, Department of Finance and Administrative Services’ Fred Podesta. Also taking a turn at the podium, City Councilmembers Tim Burgess and Tom Rasmussen:
The school was also the official first stop on the walk, highlighting the success story of its new crosswalk, installed just before this school year began:
Ironically, as community member Craig Rankin pointed out – having been deeply involved in making it happen (as reported here in March 2014) – it wouldn’t be where it is if the city had had its way:
After he spoke, it was off to the next stop, with residents Michelle Whelan and Maketa Wilborn pointing out one of the many places where the Delridge area – mostly a narrow valley, the “dell” between the “ridges” – has drainage challenges:
Using a tablet, they showed the mayor and SPU director Hoffman some images of problems in the past, and pointed out that nearby slopes are slated for development, wondering just how much worse things will get because of that, if something’s not done.
Stop number 3, as the group headed north, was a piece of city-owned property that will remain greenspace thanks to a community organization’s efforts to keep it from being sold off.
During the Find It, Fix It walk, Brown spoke about how preserving the greenspace will benefit students from the nearby school:
But some “fixing” is still needed here, he noted, adding his voice to those clamoring for drainage and water-routing improvements in the area. Turning west, the group crossed Delridge Way, and stopped by the planting strip on the south side of the Super 24 store, where, as previewed here last week, the Nature Consortium had a cleanup project under way:
She told the mayor and participants about her organization’s work with the community and with the West Duwamish Greenbelt, in tandem with thousands of volunteers every year:
The alley leading toward Delridge Library was the next segment of the route:
While walking northbound in the alley, community advocate Pete Spalding(above right) talked about neighbors’ watchfulness and the principle “if you see something, say something.” The mayor also heard from library manager Jane Appling, whose staffers and clients have to deal with what happens in the alley, too, and with North Delridge Neighborhood Council‘s Michael Taylor-Judd(below left):
(At right in the photo above is city traffic engineer Dongho Chang, seen at many a local project meeting.) Concerns related to the alley, besides its overall condition, continue to range from vandalism to drug use; the mayor mentioned the ongoing work to hire more officers for SPD, as well as rampant problems attributed to the nation’s “drug epidemic.” Finding needles and syringes was a problem also mentioned by Delridge P-Patch volunteers, who spoke at the next stop:
They also spoke of successes including their Giving Garden – growing food-bank donations – and how they were able to convert some young area troublemakers into garden volunteers. Some of the walkers moved on through the garden, still beautifully in bloom for fall …
… while some stopped for treats, including the mayor:
DGC volunteers met the visitors and talked about their years of work to get a store open to help make Delridge less of a “food desert.” This week, they announced to their 400+ members that they had been told “informally” that DGC would be declined for a loan it had hoped would bring a big boost toward opening – but they vow to push on and find financing some other way. This stop was a rare chance, by the way, to look inside their future space at 5444 Delridge Way SW – mouse over our Instagram clip to play a :15 clip panning around inside:
In the courtyard of Cottage Grove Commons, those who hadn’t straggled off along the way heard about the building – open now for almost two years as housing for people who were previously homeless – and that one of residents and managers’ biggest concerns is nearby traffic and safely crossing the street. This is where tragedy was mentioned – the death of a CGC resident hit by a car in November of last year. This next clip also includes the mayor’s closing remarks:
With his promise to return, the first West Seattle “Find It, Fix It” walk wrapped up after about an hour and 20 minutes – a visit that had been months in the making.
Perhaps one of the most important exchanges was back at the P-Patch, where the garden volunteers said they didn’t know how to ask for help with some of their problems – where to go in city government. The mayor said for one, speaking up at the event was the same as asking for help. For two, he said, his staff is working on ways for people to navigate the tangle of city departments and services more easily. Sometimes it might seem like departments are in silos – but a sighting along the way was a reminder that it doesn’t have to be that way:
Staffers from multiple departments – including the firefighter in our photo – carried grabbers and bright yellow bags, picking up trash and debris as they walked in the Saturday sunshine.
P.S. Both candidates for West Seattle’s new District 1 City Council seat were there too; photos to come, in a separate report looking ahead to Election Day, now exactly one month away.
P.P.S. Lots of side conversations – we’ll be adding notes about the ones we hear of, like this mention from Sanislo Elementary, whose reps brought up the illegal dumping that’s a chronic problem nearby.
From 11 am to 1 pm tomorrow, many eyes will be on Delridge Way SW as the first Find It, Fix It Community Walk in West Seattle travels along about a mile of the busy arterial. It’s happening one year into the mayor’s program, which describes each walk as “a gathering of community members, City officials, and the Mayor to help identify issues that affect the safety and aesthetics of a neighborhood.” In addition to the mayor and community advocates, Councilmembers Tom Rasmussen and Tim Burgess are also expected, according to a council tweet. A group of residents has spent many weeks planning for this, and some events are already scheduled – we mentioned the Nature Consortium-led beautification project (volunteers appreciated!) – and the Delridge P-Patch has announced that it will host a Cider Social 1-4 pm, starting right after the walk, which ends at the garden. You don’t have to register to be part of any or all of this – either be part of it from the start (11 am, Louisa Boren STEM K-8, 5950 Delridge Way SW) or join along the way (should be hard to miss). See you there!
West Seattleites who don’t want former substation sites sold to the highest bidder made their case to the City Council Energy Committee this morning, as previewed here on Monday. (Above, you can watch the full Seattle Channel video of this morning’s meeting.) In addition to the two sites – Delridge and Fauntleroy – for which community groups might get an extra year to raise purchase money, the Dakota site on Genesee Hill might also get a partial reprieve:
Councilmember Tom Rasmussen said this morning that he’s introducing an amendment to give that community, where the save-the-sites-as-open-space movement began, up to three years to raise money to buy it. Katie Stemp of Seattle Farm School told the committee about her new idea for the site, and members of the Genesee-Schmitz Neighborhood Council spoke of their longtime advocacy for keeping it as community-owned space – particularly considering it’s across the street from the under-construction Schmitz Park at Genesee Hill, which will be home to West Seattle’s most populous elementary school when it opens next school year. The two West Seattle substations that do not appear to have community purchase efforts under way right now are Dumar (in north Highland Park) and Andover (on Pigeon Point); Seattle City Light has said other city departments are not interested in the West Seattle sites. In addition to testimony about specific purchase efforts, some West Seattleites argued that open space is priceless -citing a big backlog of demand for community features such as P-Patches, for example. As committee chair Councilmember Kshama Sawant pointed out, this was the committee’s first look at the substations’ fate, so no vote today on the proposed ordinance that would authorize their sale – that’ll be at a future meeting; we’ll continue to follow up as the process proceeds.
That’s the Seattle Channel video from this morning’s City Council Transportation Committee meeting, where the big “action report” for the West Seattle Bridge-Duwamish Waterway Corridor received relatively little examination, since everything else ahead of it on the agenda had taken so much time. (Advance the video to 2:17:34 to get right to it; it’s the final 15 minutes of the meeting.)
We brought you the first look at the report, with its 27-item project list and an even weightier “white paper,” on Sunday night – if you haven’t seen it already, take a look here for direct links as well as embedded versions of the three project documents.
West Seattle-residing, and soon-departing, City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen – the committee’s chair – reminded those on hand this morning that ours is “the busiest traffic corridor in Seattle.” As the report notes, the number of “incidents” (crashes, stalls) in the corridor isn’t high – but any incident’s impact IS, affecting traffic for an estimated 47 to 55 minutes on average.
A few “highlights” mentioned by SDOT staffers from the project list, in the brief briefing:
*Red bus-lane markings (happening now) – “we’ve seen some promising results” from elsewhere in the city, SDOT says. Rasmussen reinforced that more enforcement will be sought.
*ITS improvements (messaging-board signage, signal adjustments, etc.)
*Incident-management protocols
*Enhanced crossing improvements at the notorious 5-way intersection
*4th Avenue improvements, especially to make it more viable for transit, particularly looking ahead to the post-Viaduct Highway 99 future
Some of the changes won’t require more money – just more training, for incident-management protocol changes, for example. Some ITS changes will require more money, though, and that’s part of November’s Move Seattle levy, the committee was reminded.
Rasmussen asked about a long-sore subject – working with the U.S. Coast Guard on reducing low-bridge openings during peak times, or at least during incidents – SDOT’s Bill LaBorde did not sound terribly optimistic. It’s still “voluntary compliance” with the request to reduce some of those openings. (Rasmussen led multiple attempts to change this in recent years, and the feds said no each time – saying maritime takes precedence.)
So what happens to all these ideas now? We asked Councilmember Rasmussen that last night, during a short interview in the bus-lane-marking zone. He said he’s glad to get all this out there – but others will need to step forward to hold the city accountable. (He didn’t say it, but whomever’s elected to the District 1 City Council seat – which he decided not to seek – is a prime candidate, obviously.)
(For starters, the West Seattle Transportation Coalition, which pushed for much of this even before its first year was out, will be talking about it at its meeting this Thursday, September 24th, 6:30 pm at Neighborhood House’s High Point Center, 6400 Sylvan Way SW.)
RELATED NOTE – TRAFFIC INCIDENT MANAGEMENT: Preceding the bridge-report presentation, Heather Marx from SDOT said 17 of the recommendations have now been acted on. She handed the baton to Mark Bandy, an urban-traffic-corridors specialist hired by SDOT from WSDOT, as mentioned in our followup a month ago on the incident-management recommendations.
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Comments Off on VIDEO: Missed it ‘live’? See the first local post-primary faceoff between City Council District 1 hopefuls Shannon Braddock & Lisa Herbold
That’s the video just published by the Seattle Channel from last Thursday’s first local post-primary forum (dubbed a debate, but not really in that format) featuring the finalists for Seattle City Council District 1 (West Seattle and South Park), Lisa Herbold and Shannon Braddock. It’ll be shown on SC’s cable channel (21) sixteen times between now and October 1st, so if you want to watch that way, here’s the schedule:
ORIGINAL REPORT, 10:29 AM: The community coalition that’s been trying to convince the city not to sell off a group of ex-substation sites, mostly in West Seattle – saying we’ll regret the lost open space – has just discovered that a decision is near.
At Wednesday morning’s meeting of the City Council Energy Committee, City Light will ask official permission to sell eight sites (there originally were nine, but one in the Rainier Valley has been transferred to Seattle Public Utilities). Aerial views and addresses of the sites are here. Two (in south Highland Park, below, and Burien) are planned for sales to other public agencies:
Two (in Fauntleroy and Delridge, below) might go to community non-profits:
The other four (three in West Seattle, below – in Genesee Hill, Pigeon Point, and north Highland Park – one in SeaTac) will, at this point, just plain go up for sale:
Here’s the slide deck the council committee will be shown:
Sale of the remaining four would bring $1.2 million into the city treasury, SCL estimates, adding that – as noted in the slide deck – they’ve already asked other city departments, including Parks, about their interest, and found no takers, aside from the aforementioned SPU transfer.
The Seattle Green Spaces Coalition – founded as the West Seattle GSC, focusing on the substation sites but expanding citywide to advocate for open-space preservation – says it didn’t even get notification this was coming up for council consideration this week, but rather found out by reading the committee agenda sent out at the end of last week. It’s asking supporters to contact the mayor and the council, which certainly can be done with any opinion on the proposed sale, pro or con. As with most council committee meetings, there’ll be a public-comment period on Wednesday as the 9:30 am meeting gets under way; it’ll be shown live via Seattle Channel, cable channel 21 and online at seattlechannel.org. Once the committee has considered the City Light recommendation, it’ll move on to the full council for a final vote.
ADDED 12:10 PM: City Light spokesperson Scott Thomsen clarifies the process: This Wednesday’s Energy Committee meeting is when the bill to “dispose” of the surplus ex-substations will be introduced; a briefing is planned but not a vote – that would come at a subsequent meeting. Also, reviewing the full agenda, this item IS listed as an official “public hearing.”
One year after voters approved creating the Seattle Park District to provide more money for the city’s park system, Mayor Murray has gone public with his first full-year budget proposal for the district. He was in South Park this morning for the announcement; above, you can watch Seattle Channel‘s archived video of the event. The news release is here – and probably of most interest locally is the list of what will be funded if his proposal goes through. See it here; we’ve excerpted specific West Seattle mentions below (but note that some items on the list are very general, so these are not necessarily ALL the ways in which WS facilities/locations would get funding):
PLAY AREAS
Renovate play areas with new play equipment and make any necessary safety and ADA improvements. Complete Lincoln Park (North), Webster Park and Gilman Park play areas in 2016. Begin the following 7 renovations: Prentis Frazier, Georgetown, High Point, Dearborn, Discovery, Hiawatha and South Park play areas.
COMMUNITY CENTER REHABILITATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Condition assessments under way for the following community centers: Green Lake, Hiawatha, Jefferson, Loyal Heights, Magnolia, Queen Anne, South Park, Lake City. This information and the Community Center Strategic Plan will inform priority projects
INCREASE PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE
New Third Shift Crew of journey-level trade positions (electricians, painters, carpenters and plumbers) maintains recreation facilities at night to avoid disruption to the public during operating hours and to work more efficiently. In 2016, the Third Shift Crew will work at 14 sites Camp Long, Rainier Beach CC, Van Asselt CC, International District/Chinatown CC, Alki CC, Miller CC, Yesler CC, Montlake CC, Laurelhurst CC, Ravenna-Eckstein CC, Magnolia CC, Green Lake CC, Loyal Heights CC, South Park CC. These are in addition to 10 sites already funded for preventive maintenance in the department’s base budget: Colman Pool, Mounger Pool, Mount Baker Bathhouse, SW Crew Quarters and the following facilities which will require closures: Evans Pool, Southwest Pool, Amy Yee Tennis Center, Madison Pool, Queen Anne Pool. This means improved maintenance at 24 facilities in 2016, and moving from a 5-7 year cycle of visits to a 2-year cycle. Because much of the work is done at night, there will be fewer 2-3 week closures and fewer interruptions of child care programs, before- and after-school care, sports and many other activities.
PROVIDE CLEAN, SAFE, WELCOMING PARKS
Improve parks grounds maintenance, landscaping, and tree work by adding a third tree crew to protect the long-term health of park trees (decreasing tree maintenance cycle from once every 50 years to once every 14 years); increasing support for the Seattle Conservation Corps; and increasing park maintenance including doubling weekly cleanings of comfort stations during peak season at 41 locations: Cal Anderson, Powell Barnett, Volunteer, Madison Beach, Madrona Beach, Washington, Pratt, Garfield, Seward, Atlantic City, Genesee, Othello, Jefferson, Judkins, Alki, Rainier, Van Asselt, EC Hughes, Seacrest, Highland Park, Lincoln Beach, Riverview, Roxhill, Lincoln Wading Pool, John C. Little, Gas Works, Upper Woodland, Lower Woodland, Central Woodland, Green Lake, North Acres Spray Park, Carkeek, Golden Gardens Upper, Golden Gardens Beach, Soundview, Maple Leaf, Matthews Beach, Magnuson, Viewridge, Dahl, Meadowbrook.
PUT THE ARTS IN PARKS
Working with the Office of Arts and Culture, recruit and select artists to “activate” parks through approximately 40 performances and temporary installations. While not limited to these sites, the following parks have high priority for activation: Cal Anderson, Dr. Blanche Lavizzo, First Hill, Judkins, Flo Ware, Powell Barnett, Denny, Ballard Commons, Lake City Mini Park, Mineral Springs, Salmon Bay, University Playfield, Hutchinson, John C. Little, Othello, Pritchard Beach, Delridge, Duwamish Waterway, Roxhill.
DEVELOP 14 NEW PARKS AND LAND-BANKED SITES
Start planning and design from 2016 to 2018 for 14 new parks all over the city on land acquired with 2008 Parks and Greenspaces Levy including: Lake City Hub Urban Village, Baker Park Addition, Greenwood Park Addition, Greenwood/ Phinney Residential Urban Village, Wedgwood, U District UCV, Fremont HUV, Denny Triangle, International District UCV, 48th and Charlestown, North Rainier HUV, West Seattle Junction, Morgan Junction RUV, South Park Plaza (bold indicates the sites planned to start in 2016).
The local “land-banked sites” mentioned for West Seattle are, in the Junction, the one on 40th SW south of SW Alaska, current interim home to Fire Station 32, and in Morgan Junction, just north of MJ Park, the site currently housing a commercial building. Those two and 48th/Charlestown are all now city-owned but there’s no money to develop them as parks, pending this proposal (or something else in the future). Again, LOTS more in the full list linked above, but these are the items that include specific, called-out-by-name West Seattle locations. Next year is the first year that property taxes will be collected to fund the Park District and its projects.
(Photo substituted for video window post-event, until archived video is available; thanks to County Councilmember Joe McDermott for permission to republish)
7:35 PM:Click the play button and you should get the live feed of tonight’s Youngstown Cultural Arts Center faceoff between the City Council District 1 candidates who made it to the general election, Shannon Braddock and Lisa Herbold. This is one of a citywide series of forums/debates presented by Town Hall and the Seattle Channel; lead moderator tonight is your editor here, with community moderators Cecile Hansen, chair of the Duwamish Tribe, and Fernando Mejia-Ledesma of OneAmerica, and Q&A moderator Edward Wolcher from Town Hall. You can e-mail a question to debates@townhallseattle.org or ask one via Twitter with the hashtag #seacouncil.
7:40 PM NOTE: This program is intended to run an hour, by the way, so it will go until about 8:35 pm. After that – we’ll be watching for the archived video.
8:38 PM UPDATE: The forum’s over, so the live feed is too; Edward from Town Hall says it will be on Seattle Channel (cable) Monday night. Archived video will also be available via the SC website, and we’ll add it here when it is. Thanks to everyone who came to Youngstown to be in the “live” audience – the lights were bright and we didn’t get a count, but in a quick early glance, seemed like most of the seats are filled. Town Hall is doing these in all the districts – this was the first one. Also, if you missed it but want to be sure to see the candidates in person before you vote, you’ll have at least four more chances – we know of four forums in West Seattle next month – stand by for those dates.
Though other matters are holding the spotlight, the November election is just seven weeks away, and you’ll have a lot to decide. The coverage ramp-up has begun.
CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 1 CANDIDATES DEBATE THURSDAY: The finalists for the City Council’s new West Seattle/South Park seat will debate in the district on Thursday (September 17th) for the first time since last month’s primary.
Shannon Braddock and Lisa Herbold will face off at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center (4408 Delridge Way SW), 7:30 pm Thursday. Your editor here is lead moderator, with community moderators including Duwamish Tribe chair Cecile Hansen. The debate is presented by Town Hall Seattle, whose website has full details – they’re also requesting you RSVP via that page (though admission is free).
34TH DISTRICT DEMOCRATS’ ENDORSEMENTS: We’ve already reported on some of what happened at last Wednesday’s meeting of our area’s largest political organization, the 34th District Democrats – a resolution supporting the striking Seattle Education Association‘s contract proposals, and a speech plus Q/A with SEA’s lead bargainer. Also at the meeting Wednesday night, in addition to endorsements they made before the primary, a block of general-election endorsements was approved, including Courtney Gregoire for re-election to Port Commission Position 2, approval of Seattle I-122 “Honest Elections,” approval of King County Proposition 1 “Best Starts for Kids,” and rejection of State Initiative 1366. In separate votes, Fred Felleman was endorsed for Port Commission Position 5 and the Move Seattle transportation levy was endorsed. The full list of new 34th endorsements is here.
The group also heard from numerous candidates and candidate reps. One memorable point was made by County Elections Director candidate Zack Hudgins, who spoke disapprovingly of the 25 percent turnout for the primary and said action was needed because “to get better government we need better participation.” One of his ideas: More ballot boxes in the county. West Seattle, you might recall, doesn’t have a fixed dropoff box – the last one was removed five years ago.
(West Seattle’s last fixed-location ballot-dropoff box – WSB photo, 2009)
A ballot-dropoff van visits for three of the four days before the voting deadline. Otherwise, you have to pay postage and get your ballot into the mail, an idea that once was suggested as a turnout-booster, not reducer.
Next month’s 34th Dems meeting (7 pm October 14th, Hall at Fauntleroy) is scheduled to include a City Council candidates’ forum.
Just in from the City Attorney’s Office, this announcement of how it’s defending against the lawsuit filed challenging the recently approved gun and ammunition tax:
The $25 per firearm tax on retailers enacted to mitigate the costs of gun violence in Seattle is “a proper and lawful exercise” of the City’s authority as granted by the Washington Constitution and Legislature, the City declared in rebutting a lawsuit filed by the NRA, among other gun-rights groups, and several individuals. “The Ordinance does not limit any person’s right to purchase, sell, acquire, transfer, discharge, or transport firearms or ammunition,” the City said in its answer to Watson v. City of Seattle.
“This is where Seattle draws the line,” City Attorney Pete Holmes said as assistant City attorneys, aided by national and local counsel working pro bono, entered their appearances in the case Wednesday in King County Superior Court.
(Photos provided by Chas Redmond: Above, at WS Food Bank today with Judi Yazzolino, Lester Yuhand, and Christopher Dickie)
With two of nine candidates in the primary for Seattle City Council District 1 advancing to the general election, what’s next for the other seven? We heard today from one of them – Chas Redmond, who was first to start campaigning for the seat, and finished fifth. As far as we can recall, he’s the first ex-candidate who’s ever sent word of what he’s doing with the leftover campaign cash:
Now that I’m out of the race, I have to close out my campaign finances. I ran a very tight campaign and underspent my fundraising, meaning I had surplus funds at the conclusion of my run for office. I raised $12,467 and spent $9,967, making my cost-per-voter among the lowest, if not the lowest, of all 47 campaigns for City Council – my cost-per-voter was $7.86.
According to the Public Disclosure Commission, I can do several things with surplus campaign funds including donating them to non-profits and charities. Thanks again to all who donated. I had $2500 in surplus funds and have donated $1250 of those funds to Sustainable West Seattle and another $1250 of those funds to the West Seattle Food Bank.
(Above, at Sustainable WS picnic last night, presenting check to president Bryan Fiedorczyk)
As I kept saying throughout the campaign, there are no losers in this race, all of West Seattle and South Park are winners.
After receiving that announcement from Redmond, we asked him about future plans:
I’m working on a few ideas that still involve being an activist in local politics and I think it’s going to be really hard to take me out of the music scene, so music will remain part of my life. And I’m an active member of VIEWS, and we’re looking to do all sorts of cool things to increase engagement here in West Seattle in South Park. The campaign was amazing and getting to know everyone was even more amazing. West Seattle and South Park are very fortunate to have the quality of people running for public office and engaged in civic activities that we do. And finally, hats off to Lisa Herbold and Shannon Braddock, you were great competitors; I thoroughly enjoyed running with the pack.
Our area’s biggest political organization is returning to the lakeside TAF Bethaday Community Space for its biggest fundraiser. The 34th District Democrats are advertising their annual Garden Party dinner/auction on WSB to help get the word out – it’s set for 6 pm Friday, August 21st, and since it’s the 20th annual Garden Party, the theme is “Roaring Twenties,” complete with costume contest. The latest list of items donated for the silent and live auctions includes a football bearing Seahawks star Russell Wilson‘s autograph, a wine-country retreat in Napa, a train trip to Portland with weekend lodging, and one year of having West 5‘s legendary mac and cheese once a month. Garden Party’ers will be entertained by the Casey MacGill Duo. If you haven’t been to the Bethaday Community Learning Space, it’s in White Center’s wooded Lakewood Park, which is home to Hicklin Lake. Garden Party tickets are on sale now online – find the link here.
Whole lot of last-minute voters in our area – while the last pre-election count of returned ballots showed only about 9,000 out of 60,000 had been received, that number has almost doubled to just under 18,000, for a turnout of about 30 percent. Meantime, the fourth round of King County election results is out; here’s the latest in four of the races that were on your ballot (the full list of all results around the county is here):
CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 1 (West Seattle/South Park)
Lisa Herbold – 5072 – 30.10%
Shannon Braddock – 4703 – 27.91%
Phillip Tavel – 3053 – 18.12%
Brianna Thomas – 1720 – 10.21%
Chas Redmond – 1235 – 7.33%
Jody Rushmer – 355 – 2.11%
Karl Wirsing – 239 – 1.42%
Arturo Robles – 231 – 1.37%
Pavel Goberman – 191 – 1.13%
SCHOOL BOARD POSITION 6 (West Seattle/South Park, district vote in the primary, citywide in the general)
Leslie Harris – 7287 – 48.11%
Marty McLaren* – 5727 – 37.81%
Nick Esparza – 2054 – 13.56%
PORT COMMISSION POSITION 2 (at large)
Courtney Gregoire* – 220612 – 82.91%
Goodspaceguy – 23985 – 9.01%
John Naubert – 19963 – 7.50%
PORT COMMISSION POSITION 5 (at large)
Fred Felleman – 64709 – 24.71%
Marion Yoshino – 47202 – 18.02%
Richard Pope – 41054 – 15.67%
Ken Rogers – 29459 – 11.25%
Darrell Bryan – 27186 – 10.38%
Herb Krohn – 20762 – 7.93%
Norman Z. Sigler – 18542 – 7.08%
Mark Hennon – 6961 – 2.66%
Daniel E. Reandeau – 5173 – 1.98%
King County will announce daily vote counts until certification a week from Tuesday. The general election is on Tuesday, November 3rd, which includes not only more races, but also ballot measures including the “Move Seattle” transportation levy
If you were waiting for the third round of primary-election results – it’s in. For Seattle City Council District 1 (Seattle/South Park), Lisa Herbold‘s lead over Shannon Braddockhas widened to more than 300 votes. Phillip Tavel is a relatively distant third:
Otherwise, the top two remain the same, in the same order as last night, in all the other races that West Seattleites voted on – at-large Council Positions 8 and 9, Port Commission Positions 2 and 5, and School Board Position 6, the only other district-specific (West Seattle/South Park) race on this ballot, which is now:
Next results will be out around the same time tomorrow, with daily counts until final certification in two weeks. The general election is Tuesday, November 3rd.
ORIGINAL REPORT, 8:06 PM: The big race of the night for our area is the first-ever primary for Seattle City Council District 1, West Seattle/South Park, with nine candidates in the running. As soon as tonight’s vote count is in (any minute now), you’ll see the results here (and other races here).
FIRST RESULTS, 8:15 PM: The first and only election-night vote count is in: Shannon Braddock is the top vote-getter with 29 percent, Lisa Herbold next with 27 percent, Phillip Tavel third with 19 percent, Brianna Thomas with 11 percent, Chas Redmond with 7 percent. (added – full first-round results for all 9 District 1 candidates)
8:38 PM: Just talked to Braddock at her election-night party at Missionin The Admiral District. Asked “what did you do when you saw the vote count?” she replied, “Started breathing again!” We’ll add a short video interview later. (10 pm: Now added:)
Headed south in hopes of catching Lisa Herbold next.
8:51 PM: Just talked with Herbold outside her party location, Feedback Lounge in Morgan Junction (she was on the back patio, talking to her brother via phone, when we arrived). She said she was surprised by tonight’s results, not expecting a clear top two. We’ll add our quick video interview once we’re back at HQ. (10 pm: Now added:)
Again, this is just the first round of ballot-counting; next round is around 4:30 pm tomorrow. When the vote-counting is done and results are certified in two weeks, the top two advance to the November general election.
P.S. The county says 12,000 ballots from District 1 had been returned by Election Night – 20 percent of the “active voters” in West Seattle/South Park.
ORIGINAL REPORT, 8:04 PM: Voting’s over and vote-counting is under way – this is our placeholder for everything BUT West Seattle/South Park’s first-ever primary in City Council District 1 – we’re covering that race here. Once the vote count is released, the links below will go directly to results in that race:
FIRST RESULTS, 8:21 PM: The one and only election-night count is in. For Position 8, it’s Tim Burgess with 48 percent and Jon Grant with 28 percent. (Added – full results:)
8:40 PM: For Port Commission Position 2, it’s Courtney Gregoire with 82 percent, Goodspaceguy with 9 percent. For Position 5: Fred Felleman 22 percent, Marion Yoshino 19 percent, Richard Pope 16 percent.
8:44 PM: For School Board Position 6, which represents West Seattle/South Park, Leslie Harris is top votegetter with 46 percent, incumbent Marty McLaren next with 39 percent. (Added – full results:)
Again, the next round of results will be out around 4:30 pm tomorrow; final vote counts will be certified in two weeks, and the top two will be on the November ballot.
Two weeks after ballots arrived in most local mailboxes, more than 80 percent of them are still waiting to be turned in, according to the newest King County Elections numbers:
That’s the screen grab from the KCE webpage with tonight’s count of ballots received so far (at right, compared to how many were sent out, at left) – we are in City Council District 1, as we hope you know by now, in this history-making year, with the seven newly created districts each electing its first councilmember. That’s not the only contest on your ballot, but it’s the highest-profile one. The decisions you’ll make:
Whomever you support, vote for them and get your ballot in the mail or into a dropbox by Tuesday night – here’s the list of dropboxes (open now) and ballot vans (open Sat. and Mon. 10 am-5 pm, Tues. 10 am-8 pm).
One week from tomorrow, it’s the last day to vote in the first-ever primary for the newly reconfigured Seattle City Council – seven people elected by district, two at-large (right now all nine are elected at-large). If you’re not registered to vote in this state, TODAY is your last chance to sign up in time to be part of it – and you have to do it in person, by 4:30 pm. Two options:
Voting deadline is next Tuesday night – get your ballot in the mail (you pay the postage) so that it’s postmarked by August 4th, or get it to a dropbox (open now) or ballot van (next Sat., Mon., Tues.) by 8 pm that night (no postage needed).
STILL MAKING UP YOUR MIND ON COUNCIL DISTRICT 1?Check out our nine “Last Look” interviews/stories (first published last Friday), one for each candidate, even if just to verify you’re voting for the one you think is best!
Back in February, when campaigning for this year’s history-making City Council elections was just stirring to life, we presented a “First Look” forum featuring what were, at the time, four candidates in the race for the new District 1 (West Seattle and South Park).
Two of them are still in the running, with seven more who have since joined. Along the way, five others were in the race for a while. Now, phase one of the numbers game is almost over. Nine candidates are looking for your vote by August 4. When the votes are all counted, two will move on to the November 3rd general election.
Ballots were mailed last week. If you’re a typical voter, yours is still sitting on a table or shelf, unopened. You might be planning to sit down this weekend or next to take some time before voting.
That’s why we decided to bookend our coverage with a “Last Look.” Not another forum – you’ve had plenty of chances to go watch one of those, and if you couldn’t go in person, we’ve videotaped most of them (here’s the one that featured all 9).
Instead of a forum, we sat down with each of the nine candidates, with the goal being a conversation – not all “where do you stand on X?” nor “if you could be a tree, what kind of tree would you would be?”, but something inbetween. We recorded each candidate on video for the entirety of our conversation, and have written a story to go along with each video, including some other links that might help you, if not make up your mind, at least ratify – or re-evaluate – your choice.
One candidate told us they don’t get the chance to “be ourselves” enough during the campaign, to show a little personality. This has a little of that. Because they were more conversation than interview, we didn’t ask everyone the same questions – this is not meant as a comparison guide so much as a chance to gut-check your decision/leaning/etc.
Click any candidate’s name (they’re listed in first-name-alphabetical order) to read, watch, listen.
The week after Mayor Murray went public with his housing proposals – concurrent with release of a report by the advisory committee appointed to examine the issue – the City Council got its first official briefing:
For this update on the plan, we also sat down with a West Seattleite from the HALA committee, Cindi Barker, to talk through a few of its more-confusing points. (She was not on the committee as a West Seattle representative, but as a member of the City Neighborhood Council.)
First – some toplines from Monday’s council meeting. Early on, a city staffer offered an understatement, saying it will be a “long conversation” because “some of the suggestions do step outside of the comfort zone.”
Much of the briefing focused on the backstory of how this all happened.
One major issue of interest brought up by Councilmember Tom Rasmussen was the oft-quoted contention that the city has enough “capacity” for all the new housing it needs, without any upzoning.
From 11 am to 1 pm tomorrow, many eyes will be on Delridge Way SW as the first 
ORIGINAL REPORT, 8:06 PM: The big race of the night for our area is the first-ever primary for Seattle City Council District 1, West Seattle/South Park, with nine candidates in the running. As soon as tonight’s vote count is in (any minute now), you’ll 
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