West Seattle, Washington
21 Wednesday
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.
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:
Mon, Sep 21, 7:00 p.m.
Tue, Sep 22, 5:00 p.m.
Wed, Sep 23, 4:00 a.m.
Thu, Sep 24, 12:00 a.m.
Thu, Sep 24, 11:00 a.m.
Thu, Sep 24, 4:00 p.m.
Fri, Sep 25, 1:00 a.m.
Fri, Sep 25, 7:00 a.m.
Fri, Sep 25, 8:00 a.m.
Sat, Sep 26, 4:00 a.m.
Sun, Sep 27, 8:00 a.m.
Mon, Sep 28, 8:00 a.m.
Tue, Sep 29, 4:00 p.m.
Wed, Sep 30, 4:00 a.m.
Wed, Sep 30, 2:00 p.m.
Thu, Oct 01, 6:00 p.m.
And if you’d like to see and hear the candidates in person, you have at least four more chances:
The next local, open-to-the-public forum on the schedule is 6:30 pm Tuesday, October 6th, at Fauntleroy UCC Church (presented by the League of Women Voters and Westside Interfaith Network). That’ll be followed by 6:15 pm October 13th at Neighborhood House’s High Point Center (presented by the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce and West Seattle Transportation Coalition), along with 7 pm October 14th at The Hall at Fauntleroy, presented by the 34th District Democrats‘ regular meeting; and one set for October 15th at the High Point Library (not on the calendar yet so stay tuned for the time).
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:
(Other meeting documents are here.)
This all goes back more than two years; in summer of 2013, Seattle City Light announced it was “studying” what to do with the surplus substations. A formal public hearing was held in fall 2013. Individual community groups took a look at the sites in their respective areas, such as the Highland Park Action Committee‘s discussion of the Dumar site in September 2013; the Genesee-Schmitz Neighborhood Council has been focused on the Dakota site’s fate. The two nonprofits hoping to purchase sites are the Fauntleroy Community Association, looking at raising money to buy the Fauntleroy site, and Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association, hoping to get the Delridge site.
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.
We published the final election results after certification this past Tuesday.
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 Braddock has widened to more than 300 votes. Phillip Tavel is a relatively distant third:
Herbold – 30.07% – 4870 votes
Braddock – 27.97% – 4530 votes
Tavel – 18.07% – 2926 votes
Top two go to the November general-election ballot. We’ll be adding more results-update notes shortly.
King County Elections has gone public with its second round of primary-election results. While the top two in Seattle City Council District 1 remain the same, the order has changed – Lisa Herbold is now slightly ahead of Shannon Braddock:
Herbold – 28.56% – 3551 votes
Braddock – 28.23% – 3510 votes
Tavel – 18.51% – 2301 votes
Thomas – 10.87% – 1351 votes
Redmond – 7.20% – 895 votes
Rushmer – 2.20% – 274 votes
Robles – 1.56% – 194 votes
Wirsing – 1.41% – 175 votes
Goberman – 1.16% – 144 votes
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:
Leslie Harris – 46.74% – 5240 votes
Marty McLaren – 38.69% – 4338 votes
Nick Esparza – 14.09% – 1580 votes
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)
Braddock – 28.59% – 3096 votes
Herbold – 27.44% – 2972 votes
Tavel – 19.03% – 2061 votes
Thomas – 10.74% – 1163 votes
Redmond – 7.32% – 793 votes
Rushmer – 2.30% – 249 votes
Robles – 1.65% – 179 votes
Wirsing – 1.42% – 154 votes
Goberman – 1.17% – 127 votes
8:38 PM: Just talked to Braddock at her election-night party at Mission in 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:
City Council Position 8 (at large) – results here
City Council Position 9 (at large) – results here
School Board Position 6 – results here
Port Commission Position 2 – results here
Port Commission Position 5 – results here
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:)
Burgess: 48.34% – 37300 votes
Grant: 28.36% – 21883 votes
Roderick: 15.66% – 12082 votes
Persak: 7.07% – 5459 votes
For Position 9, it’s Lorena Gonzalez (a West Seattle resident) with 64 percent, followed by Bill Bradburd with 15 percent. (Added – full results:)
Gonzalez: 63.72% – 49191 votes
Bradburd: 15.21% – 11742 votes
Bassok: 9.22% – 7121 votes
Tobin: 8.58% – 6627 votes
Tahir-Garrett: 1.57% – 1209 votes
Tsimerman: 1.39% – 1076 votes
P.S. See all nine City Council districts/positions’ results here.
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:)
Harris: 46.00% – 4493 votes
McLaren: 38.93% – 3803 votes
Esparza: 14.56% – 1422 votes
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:
*King County Elections Director (3 candidates)
*Seattle Port Commission Position 2 (3 candidates)
*Seattle Port Commission Position 5 (9 candidates)
*Seattle City Council District 1 (West Seattle/South Park; 9 candidates)
*Seattle City Council Position 8 (citywide; 4 candidates)
*Seattle City Council Position 9 (citywide; 6 candidates)
*Seattle School Board Position 6 (West Seattle/South Park; 3 candidates)
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).
STILL MULLING YOUR COUNCIL DISTRICT 1 CHOICE? See our nine “Last Look” interviews/stories (first published last Friday), one per candidate.
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:
*King County Administration building downtown, 500 4th Avenue (note they close for 1-2 pm break)
*King County Elections HQ, 919 Grady Way, Renton
Whether you’re a new voter or not, if you’re in West Seattle, your ballot features seven decisions to make, including Council District 1. They are:
*King County Elections Director (3 candidates)
*Seattle Port Commission Position 2 (3 candidates)
*Seattle Port Commission Position 5 (9 candidates)
*Seattle City Council District 1 (West Seattle/South Park; 9 candidates)
*Seattle City Council Position 8 (citywide; 4 candidates)
*Seattle City Council Position 9 (citywide; 6 candidates)
*Seattle School Board Position 6 (West Seattle/South Park; 3 candidates)
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!
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
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.
The interviews were all done in West Seattle in the past two weeks; thanks to West Seattle Office Junction and Swift Media Solutions for providing quiet conversation spaces.
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.
P.S. There’s been one forum in South Park – we have it on video via our partner site The South Park News.
P.P.S. Remember you’ll also be voting for at-large Positions 8 and 9. Wish we had had time to check in with all of those candidates too. Here’s our coverage of the at-large-candidates forum in nearby Georgetown back in May (with video), which also featured two local School Board candidates.
P.P.P.S. Not registered yet? Hurry! You can still register but you have to do it in person, today OR by 4:30 pm Monday – info on the King County Elections website.
Voting deadline is the evening of August 4th – get your ballots in the mail ASAP or to a van/dropbox by 8 pm that night.
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:
The Seattle Channel published video today of Monday’s first meeting of the council’s Select Committee on Housing Affordability – the creation of which was announced last week, at the same time as the mayor’s proposals and the Housing Affordability and Livability Advisory committee (HALA) report.
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.
Did you get your ballot today too?
Voting has begun for the August 4th primary. If you’re like many people and planning to leave your ballot unopened for a while as you decide what to do, here’s what you need to know:
SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL
You have three positions to vote on – technically, no incumbents, because these are all-new seats, seven districts and two at-large:
—District 1 (this is the one we’ve been talking about the most, the first-ever West Seattle/South Park seat), with nine candidates)
—Position 8 (this is one of the two at-large City Council seats, with four candidates)
—Position 9 (the other at-large City Council seat with six candidates)
SEATTLE PORT COMMISSION
You’ll be voting on two spots
—Position 2 (three candidates, including the incumbent)
—Position 5 (nine candidates, no incumbent)
SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
You’ll be voting on one board position
–District 6 (three candidates, including the incumbent)
KING COUNTY ELECTIONS DIRECTOR
–Three candidates, no incumbent
It’s been a busy primary season, with the first City Council District 1 candidates’ forum in February, the “First Look” forum we presented at Highland Park Improvement Club on February 5th. Four candidates were in the race; two of them are among the nine on your ballot now. Others jumped in (and in some cases jumped out) after that. The final forum was this past Wednesday night at South Seattle College (WSB sponsor), presented by SSC and the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce. While it was in the “candi-dating” format, which means no way to record it in its entirety without a small army of videographers, we did get the opening statement by all participants:
(Those statements start at 5 minutes into the video; 8 of the candidates were there.) In the past week, we also have recorded interviews with each of the nine D-1 candidates, one at a time, in case you’re interested in a “Last Look” before you cast your vote. We will publish them simultaneously at some point in the next few days, as soon as the stories to accompany them are all ready. You can also review our coverage by scrolling through our West Seattle Politics archive, here. All this assumes you didn’t cast your vote the second the ballot showed up; if not, you have 2 1/2 weeks, so no rush. But do vote – this election is historic, with the council change to 7 district reps plus 2 at-large.
Next week, King County Elections mails the ballots for the August 4th primary, and yours will include the nine candidates in the historic first-ever District 1 (West Seattle/South Park) City Council race. One forum remains before the voting begins – next Wednesday night (July 15th) at South Seattle College (WSB sponsor), which is partnering with the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce to present this forum, focused on business, jobs, and education issues. It’s set for the Brockey Center at SSC (6000 16th SW), and the Chamber describes it as follows:
The event will begin at 5:30 pm with a meet and greet between the candidates and the attendees of the forum. At 6 pm all candidates will have an opportunity for an opening statement, and then we will begin the next phase of the forum. This will consist of “candidating” with the attendees. After the opening statements, all candidates will be sent to a table of attendees for 8 minutes. At the end of 8 minutes, the candidates will move on to the next table of attendees. We will continue this process as time allows. There will be time allowed at the end of the “candidating” portion for all candidates to give a 30-second closing statement. We plan to conclude the event by 8 pm.
The candidates in the at-large Positions 8 and 9 races have a concurrent forum outside West Seattle but if it finishes sooner, some might drop by toward this one’s end. While there is no admission charge for the forum, the Chamber is hoping you will pre-register so it knows how many people to expect – you can do that from this page.
Two proposals today from City Councilmember Tim Burgess are described in his announcement as “part of the City’s latest effort to improve gun safety in Seattle.” One would be a tax to be charged to gun and ammunition sellers, with its proceeds “dedicated to prevention programs and research intended to reduce the burden of gun violence on Seattle residents and neighborhoods.” The other would require filing a report with SPD if a gun is lost or stolen. Read on for more:
2:40 AM: As previewed here Monday, this week’s Wednesday night trivia at Talarico’s in The Junction featured a special guest team – some of the present-and-past City Council District 1 candidates. Trivia host Phillip Tavel – in the race himself – came up with the idea. (L-R above, that’s Tavel with Brianna Thomas, Karl Wirsing, Shannon Braddock, Tom Koch, and Chas Redmond.) Another team of community leaders jumped into the fray:
They had just walked over from the monthly Southwest District Council meeting up the street at the Senior Center (we know because we covered it – report to come later today) – from left, SWDC co-president David Whiting of the Admiral Neighborhood Association, district coordinator Kerry Wade from the Department of Neighborhoods, Cindi Barker from the Morgan Community Association, SWDC co-president Eric Iwamoto of the Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council, and Susan Melrose of the West Seattle Junction Association.
But no, it wasn’t WS community trivia, at least not in the early going when we stopped by for photos. And we don’t yet have the results (checking; will add when we get them!).
Speaking of results – just two weeks until you’ll get to make your choice from among the full field of nine D-1 hopefuls … the top two advance to the November election. At least two more forums are set before then – 2 pm Saturday, July 11th, on the GreenLife Stage at West Seattle Summer Fest, and 5:30 pm Wednesday, July 15th, at South Seattle College (WSB sponsor)’s Brockey Center.
ADDED THURSDAY MORNING, 10:15 AM: The trivia results, courtesy of host Tavel:
*The candidates’ team, “The Primary Is August 4th,” placed 6th with 33 points
*The SW District Council team, “The Dark Horses,” placed 2nd with 36 1/2 points
*The night’s winners were “Jane Austen’s Super-Excellent Butt-Kicking Trivia Masters,” with 38
Will West Seattle get light rail if Sound Transit‘s next ballot measure passes? That’s not certain yet but the ballot measure itself is closer to reality because of the transportation package that finally made its way through the Legislature. In an announcement today, ST leaders including board chair King County Executive Dow Constantine said they’re proceeding with the measure known as ST3 for short, because legislators gave them the full potential funding authority they were seeking. That’s described in the announcement as:
*Property tax of up to 25 cents for each $1,000 of assessed valuation ($75 annually for a $300,000 house). …
*Sales tax of up to an additional 0.5 percent ($.50 on a $100 purchase).
*Motor vehicle excise tax (MVET) of up to 0.8 percent of vehicle value ($80 annually on a $10,000 vehicle).
Again, that’s just the taxing authority that Sound Transit will be given. The Legislature’s decision itself does not guarantee you’ll be taxed that way – it’s up to ST to ask voters and get their approval. The ST announcement says “ST3” will take shape over the next year. If you want to speak up for West Seattle light rail or anything else in particular and have not yet taken the ST survey – go here to do it now – it’s only live for another week. Same survey we mentioned a month ago, so if you took it then, you’re covered.
(Back in Olympia, the transportation package itself still has a few more hurdles to clear, according to the Associated Press’s report from Olympia, and its own inherent costs – unrelated to the Sound Transit component – are calling for a gas-tax increase.)
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