The recent “One Night Count” showed 2,800 people sleeping on the streets of Seattle. City leaders agree there has to be someplace for them to go, and Mayor Murray is pursuing a proposal to allow more encampments. Under the zoning-related rules in his proposed ordinance, they could be allowed in The Junction, at Westwood Village, even, ironically, on the site long home to the encampment calling itself “Nickelsville” until the city evicted its residents more than a year ago. The agenda made public today for a City Council committee meeting next week includes the map you see above, showing the areas of the city where Mayor Murray’s new proposed policy would allow up to 3 “transitional encampments” at any one time. Click the image to see the full PDF version, which you can use to zoom all the way in to specific streets and blocks. It’s in essence a zoning map, as the gist of his proposal is to allow them in “Industrial, NC2, NC3, Commercial (C),Downtown (except DMR, PSM and IDR), and Seattle Mixed Zones.” But this wouldn’t just mean someone can show up, set up a tent and start an encampment – there are a variety of other rules in the proposal, about how they would be managed, how close encampments could be to each other, and more – see documents here and here. While those documents are for a briefing at 2 pm next Tuesday during a meeting of the Planning, Land Use, and Sustainability Committee, the committee’s public hearing isn’t scheduled until 5:30 pm February 26th – here’s the official notice. P.S. Here’s the list of currently authorized encampments in Seattle.

We’ll forgive you for having trouble concentrating on anything but The Big Game.

We’re looking ahead a few days past it – to the District 1: First Look city council candidates’ forum that we at WSB are presenting eight nights from now, February 5th, 7 pm (doors and mingling at 6:30) at Highland Park Improvement Club.

Five days after Councilmember Tom Rasmussen surprised politics-watchers by deciding not to run after all, the race remains with a field of three, listed here in order of their announcements:

*Chas Redmond, who was first to announce, in December of 2013
*Amanda Kay Helmick, who announced her candidacy last October
*George Capestany, who announced his run in November

They’re confirmed, and we’re looking forward to it. Yes, the field may well change between now and the filing deadline on May 15th. Doesn’t matter – it’s well past time NOW to find out what those who are running have to say in response to your questions and ours. This is the first time West Seattle and South Park get to elect a councilmember by district and you might as well make the most of it. You’ll have time to ask questions during the forum and you are also welcome to get suggestions in now (editor@westseattleblog.com). Meantime, there’s lots of room at HPIC (12th/Holden) – full transportation info to come. We’ll have beverages and treats. See you there on February 5th.

10:18 AM: West Seattle-residing City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen has just announced he’s changed his mind about running to stay on the council. Here’s his statement. The field of candidates for West Seattle’s City Council District 1 seat is now down to three, with the first forum less than 2 weeks away. More to come.

10:29 AM: Rasmussen has been on the council since 2004 (here’s his bio), and currently chairs the Transportation Committee. His statement (linked above) says in part, “This wasn’t an easy decision but, it is the right one. It is now time to direct my efforts toward the same causes I have always been most passionate about — in exciting new ways.” He is the second councilmember to announce this week that he’s not running to stay on the council, which has all nine seats going to voters this fall, seven for the new districts, two at large. Nick Licata made his not-running announcement on Wednesday.

11:04 AM: Mayor Murray‘s statement:

Councilmember Rasmussen has been deeply engaged in public life as long as I can remember. As an advocate for seniors, human services, parks and innovative transportation solutions, Tom demonstrates active and effective leadership for our City. He was instrumental in our successful campaign last year to expand bus transit – for which I’m very grateful. I am especially thankful for his partnership in our effort to secure civil rights and marriage equality for the LGBT community. Seattle is losing a major champion on the council, but we know his community activism will find new outlets as he writes his next chapter.

11:14 AM: We contacted Councilmember Rasmussen to ask about his decision. In a phone interview a short time ago, he told us it was “very difficult – I love my job, I love working with the community and in the community, but I was torn” between spending the next year doing that job AND campaigning, or focusing on the work. He points out he still has almost a full year left in office, and he vows that he won’t be “slacking off” – most days, he says, he’s “out of the house by 5, back after 6” (back on Wednesday night, he was at the Delridge District Council meeting, which ran until 9) and after his final year, he looks forward to a “more balanced” life.

He says he felt the need to announce this early because he was receiving donations and offers of volunteering, endorsements, and other campaign help already, and because “other folks who might be interested can step up.” No, he’s not endorsing a candidate yet, but says he’ll be looking for one who also will be out in the community – “you can’t just sit in your office, you have to be a problem-solver.” As quoted above, he said he hopes to focus more on the causes for which he has long worked; we asked which might be his major focus in post-council life, and he said that “working on issues relating to seniors and people with disabilities is really fundamental.”

Four people want your vote in their quest to become the first City Councilmember for District 1, representing West Seattle and South Park (listed this time in first-name reverse-alphabetical order):

*Tom Rasmussen
*George Capestany
*Chas Redmond
*Amanda Kay Helmick

Though voting in the first-ever district elections (explained here) is six months away (August 4th primary), now’s the time to start finding out what the contenders are all about. And so, two weeks from tonight, WSB invites you to get your first look at them side by side as we present “District 1: First Look,” the first candidates’ forum in the race. Hope to see you at Highland Park Improvement Club on Thursday night, February 5th – doors open 6:30, forum at 7, admission and refreshments free, bring the question(s) you want to be sure get answered!

ADDED 10:35 AM FRIDAY: As noted in comments, Rasmussen has just left the race, leaving Redmond, Helmick, and Capestany. If anyone else files before the forum, they’ll be invited to participate.

Last year, the city’s draft proposal for Pedestrian Zones was circulated to neighborhood and district councils around West Seattle and the rest of the city via a series of briefings, several of which were covered here, starting with one almost a full year ago in Morgan Junction.

It’s meant to tweak zoning in some business districts to ensure that future development is more pedestrian-friendly. And tonight, the mayor’s office has announced the final proposal is ready for review. The announcement came via a news release you can read here, and a sheaf of documents linked here. Maps show the 11 sections of West Seattle where changes are proposed; you can see the maps here. There are five maps – scroll through the first 25 until you get to:

*Exhibit Z, showing a stretch of Delridge Way from north of Juneau to just north of Brandon
*Exhibit AA, showing stretches of 35th SW in Morgan, Gatewood, Westwood
*Exhibit BB, showing a section of South Delridge
*Exhibit FF, showing a section of Admiral
*Exhibit GG, showing part of The Junction

(Specific information about each area proposed for tweaks can be found in this report.) None of the proposed rezoning shown would change maximum allowable height for development in the affected areas. This all goes now to the City Council, which will set dates for hearings and votes.

2015 is here, and its elections (August 4th primary/November 3rd general) will bring Seattle voters’ first chance to choose 7 of 9 City Councilmembers by district. The field of candidates for District 1 (West Seattle/South Park) has remained at four for some weeks now – in reverse-alphabetical order this time, they are:

*Chas Redmond
*Tom Rasmussen
*Amanda Kay Helmick
*George Capestany

Today, we’re exactly one month away from what will likely be your first chance to see and hear from all four in one place. As announced last month, WSB is presenting the campaign season’s first announced District 1 Candidates Forum, on Thursday, February 5th (6:30 pm mingle/7 pm forum), at Highland Park Improvement Club. We hope you’ll be there, and we’re hoping you’ll participate in the preparation too. For starters: Which issue(s) do you think matter most in this race? Comment here when you have a moment, or e-mail editor@westseattleblog.com – thanks!

The banner at 7551 35th SW announces the new name of what had been Mars Hill Church-West Seattle since fall 2006 – Trinity West Seattle, officially launching with services tomorrow morning. It’s been just two months since Mars Hill announced it would disband, leaving its churches to close or go independent. It appears they’re making the transition with familiar faces/voices, including Pastors David Fairchild and Cliff Ellis, who are on the new website’s list of “elders and staff” (the former preached last Sunday, the church’s last as MH-WS). Pastor Ellis was among the signatories on this August letter calling for MH’s controversial founder Pastor Mark Driscoll to permanently step down, which he did in October, not long before the entire church announced it would disband. The new Trinity West Seattle website says the church will launch with a seven-week series of sermons under the title, “Long Story Short: Finding Ourselves in the Biblical Drama,” described in part as “a particularly good series for both seekers and skeptics while shaping and forming our church to embody the biblical story.”

2015 will make history in West Seattle for at least one reason: Our area’s first-ever District 1 City Councilmember will be elected. Today, there’s a change in the list of who’s in the running: According to the city’s election-information website, one of the five declared candidates, David Ishii, has moved his candidacy to one of the city’s two at-large seats, so that leaves four District 1 candidates so far (with other changes likely of course since the deadline for declaring is months away) – in alphabetical order:

*George Capestany
*Amanda Kay Helmick
*Tom Rasmussen
*Chas Redmond

And this gives us the chance to mention that all four candidates are confirmed for an early City Council District 1 Candidates’ Forum that we at WSB are presenting on February 5th – get it on your calendar now! It will start with mingling and refreshments at 6:30 pm, forum 7-8:30 pm, at Highland Park Improvement Club – we thank HPIC, one of West Seattle’s great historic community venues, for agreeing to provide the space for the forum!

Though West Seattleites will vote on three City Council seats in August and September 2015 – District 1 plus two at-large – we are focusing this forum ONLY on D-1, the one seat that will be accountable directly to this area. Stay tuned to WSB for more details as it gets closer. (P.S. If anyone else files to run in District 1 before then, s/he will of course be invited to participate too – contact us at editor@westseattleblog.com if we don’t contact you first!)

From tonight’s meeting of the 34th District Democrats, a look back at the November election, a look ahead to the Legislature in January, and more, ahead:

Read More

A fifth candidate just announced he’s in the running for West Seattle’s new City Council District 1 seat next year: George Capestany. He’s made news here as owner of the well-known Jacobsen Road goats, and now he’s jumping into politics. As described in his official announcement, Capestany is also “a longtime West Seattle resident, active community volunteer, and US Navy Veteran” and “professional artist, teacher, a small business owner, … coach for Pony & Little League Baseball, West Seattle Soccer, and West Seattle Football.” The announcement notes that Capestany would be the first councilmember of Hispanic descent, as the “son of Hispanic immigrants forced to leave (Cuba) due to communist rule.” He says, “For a long time, West Seattle residents have been left out of virtually everything that goes on at City Hall. … I will work to ensure the unique needs of West Seattle are heard and addressed.” (Photo courtesy Capestany campaign)

Also in the running so far for District 1, which includes South Park as well as West Seattle, in order of their announcements/filings: Chas Redmond, David Ishii, Tom Rasmussen, and Amanda Kay Helmick. The filing deadline is May 1st of next year.

Today (Sunday) will be the first day King County Elections has *not* released updated results since Tuesday night. That night’s ballot count was followed by two daily Wednesday-Friday and one more Saturday evening. Here are three notes following the latter:

TRANSIT FUNDING (Transportation Benefit District Prop 1):
Yes 61.14% – 109,139 votes
No 38.86% – 69,380 votes

What’s next? Since Wednesday’s media briefing (WSB coverage here) with the mayor and county executive, Metro general manager Kevin Desmond has sent an e-mail message to bus-alert subscriber lists, including this:

… We’re working with the city now to flesh out the agreement, including the exact route improvements. It will be submitted to the city and county councils in December for adoption early next year.

The need is clear. Seattle voters, like transit riders across the county, undoubtedly have experienced the packed buses that have come with growing ridership. Metro is on track to deliver 120 million rides countywide this year—a record high—and our financial situation has not allowed us to expand to meet the demand.

Our just-released 2014 Service Guidelines Report, which analyzes the performance of our transit system and identifies investment needs, found that Metro should be providing 15 percent more service to meet current demand countywide. …

(That report does not appear to be online yet; it wasn’t linked, and we could only find the 2013 version. We’ll check on Monday.)

PRESCHOOL (Seattle Propositions 1A/1B):
Prop 1A – 31.29% – 49,393 votes
Prop 1B – 68.71% – 108,477 votes

What’s next? Thanks to Diane for forwarding e-mail about meetings to discuss how the resulting Seattle Preschool Program will be planned and implemented. Two meetings, both on December 6th, are in West Seattle, at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, the first focused on curriculum, the second on teacher training/coaching. They and others around the city, starting later this month, are listed on this flyer.

SMALLER CLASS SIZE (Statewide Initiative 1351):
Yes 50.49% 945,851 votes
No 49.51% 927,356 votes

What’s next? This trailed on election night, but now supporters have declared victory. How this will be made to happen, the Legislature has to work out, as the text says.

SEE FULL, UPDATED LOCAL AND STATE RESULTS: If there’s something else you want to check on, King County’s results are all linked here; statewide races and measures are all linked here.

Waiting to see what the second round of vote totals looks like? King County Elections just announced plans for TWO daily updates for the rest of the week:

King County Elections will post two sets of general election results reports today and for the rest of this week due to the volume of last-minute voters returning ballots. The Elections Department will issue a first set of results by 4:30 p.m. as planned, along with a second set of results by 8:00 p.m.

King County Elections has received about 518,000 ballots to date for the general election, not counting a substantial number of drop box returns yesterday. Ballots will continue to arrive, however, they must have valid postmarks indicating that they were mailed on or before election day in order for them to be processed and counted.

Each voter’s signature must be verified before a ballot is opened, inspected, scanned, and ultimately tabulated. Ballots that come in that are damaged, reflect write-in votes or were not voted consistent with the directions, require additional handling and time to process. On average, a ballot takes a little more than a day to process so it can be added to the results report.

You can use the King County Ballot Tracker to see if your ballot was received and signature verified. (Example: We dropped ours at one of the vans on Monday. Ballot Tracker shows they’ve been received.) And you’ll find the latest results update here.

The election-night vote count for King County is in, and here’s how the local ballot measures are going:

TRANSPORTATION BENEFIT DISTRICT PROPOSITION #1 – results here
59 percent yes, 41 percent no

*Added 9:13 pm: Mayor Murray issued a statement saying in part, “Great cities need great mass transit – and Seattle is a great city. Seattle voters understand that, and today’s passage of Prop 1 is the next step to getting the transit system that Seattle wants and that Seattle needs. With today’s vote, we are now able to do something that has eluded elected leaders of this City for decades, and that’s significantly add to existing transit service in Seattle.”

*Added 11:52 pm: Murray, County Executive Dow Constantine, City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen and others will meet the media downtown Wednesday morning to talk about what’s next now that Prop 1, which includes a car-tab fee and sales-tax increase, has passed. We’ll be there.

PROPOSED TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY, CITIZENS’ PETITION (MONORAIL) – results here
80 percent no, 20 percent yes

SEATTLE PRESCHOOL MEASURES – This is a two-part set of results – here (“should either measure become law?” and here (which is preferred, 1A or 1B)
Should one become law? 65 percent yes, 35 percent no
Which one? 67 percent for 1B, 33 percent for 1A

HIGHLINE PUBLIC SCHOOLS BOND MEASURE: Results here
57 percent yes, 43 percent no (note: 60 percent approval is required for passage)

MORE RESULTS: Other county results are here.

In this story, we’re tracking the big statewide measures for starters, and will add other regional results, including Legislature and Congress races. The initiative numbers, you should note, will change often, since results are coming in from counties all over the state, and some will be counting all night long (unlike here in King County, where there won’t be a second count until tomorrow). We’ll update the initiative results, with time notations, as often as we can, in the hours ahead.

I-594 (FIREARMS) – results here
9:09 pm – 59.72% yes, 40.28% no

I-591 (FIREARMS) – results here
9:09 pm – 45.44% yes, 54.56% no

I-1351 (CLASS SIZE) – results here
9:09 pm update – 49.43% yes, 50.57% no

STATEWIDE ADVISORY VOTES – results linked here

U.S. HOUSE, DISTRICT 7 – results here
Jim McDermott, 80%
Craig Keller, 20%

STATE SENATE, 34TH DISTRICT – results here
Sharon Nelson, 98% (unopposed)

STATE HOUSE POSITION 1, 34TH DISTRICT
Eileen Cody, 98% (unopposed) – results here

STATE HOUSE POSITION 2, 34TH DISTRICT – results here
Joe Fitzgibbon, 81%
Brendan Kolding , 18%

Tuesday is Election Day; more like Election Deadline Day ever since our state converted to voting by mail. If you haven’t sent in your ballot yet, three of the next four days bring visits by the King County Elections ballot-dropoff vans. Same spots as recent elections – on the driveway into West Seattle Stadium (4432 35th SW) and on the street outside Greenbridge Library (9720 8th SW). Both locations are scheduled for 10 am-5 pm tomorrow and Monday, 10 am-8 pm Tuesday. No postage needed if you’re taking your ballot to a van or to the 24-hour dropboxes elsewhere in the county, but you DO need correct postage if you’re mailing yours. If you’ve already sent in/dropped off your ballot, track it online. Two other links of potential interest: Sample ballot here; pamphlet info here.

The hottest local political race isn’t on the November 4 ballot you should have received by now – and won’t even be decided for another year.

Four candidates are now running in City Council District 1, which includes West Seattle.

This morning, Amanda Kay Helmick, chair of the Westwood-Roxhill-Arbor Heights Community Council, is announcing she’s in the race.

She joins Chas Redmond, David Ishii, and Tom Rasmussen, the only member of the current City Council living in the District 1 boundaries, which were set when city voters approved Charter Amendment 19 last year, changing the council from nine at-large members to seven by-district and two at-large.

Along with chairing WWRHAH, Helmick co-founded the West Seattle Transportation Coalition, which launched in September 2013 as the WS Transit Coalition and expanded its focus weeks later while emerging as an early voice against proposed Metro cuts.

Helmick also represents Delridge on the City Neighborhood Council, which she says needs to be strengthened and empowered. She is an eight-year West Seattleite whose full bio is on her newly launched website. From her official announcement:

“We have multiple and disconnected plans, and no one in the city is talking about how these plans overlay and affect the people of Seattle,” Helmick said of the city’s current transportation and land use initiatives. “I want to empower the under-served communities of West Seattle and South Park and give them a voice in these plans.”

According to Helmick’s campaign website, she is collecting petition signatures to get onto the ballot. The filing deadline for next year’s council elections is May 1st, 2015.

There’s a lot to decide in the November 4th election, now less than a month away – closer, really, since voting begins when ballots start arriving at mid-month. If you’re not registered and want to sign up online or by mail, tomorrow’s the deadline – here’s how to register (same goes for updating your address if you ARE registered). If you miss that, you’ll be able to register in person at the King County Elections offices in Seattle and Renton on September 27th – but why delay? Easiest way to do it is to sign up right here, right now.

With relatively rapid redevelopment in parts of some Seattle neighborhoods – West Seattle, Ballard, Capitol Hill come to mind – concern percolates about losing “character.” In some cases, neighborhoods have special districts as “overlays” meant as an attempt to preserve some of that character – Pioneer Square, notably, and Capitol Hill’s Pike-Pine area, for example. But what about other neighborhoods, like West Seattle, where the Southwest District Council has been trying for two years to get a historic-resources survey going for part of our area, as a first step?

“Neighborhood Conservation Districts” might be a tool for our area and others, suggests Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, who is sponsoring a briefing on the concept tomorrow, during the first part of the City Council’s two-part Monday meeting. Here’s the slide deck they’ll be going through:

The presentation during tomorrow’s 9:30 am Council meeting (agenda here) will not include a vote – it’s just a briefing, and there’s no specific council bill attached to it. But Councilmember Rasmussen tells us, “If my colleagues agree, I will continue to work for legislation to establish a process for neighborhoods to nominate themselves to become Conservation Districts.” Tomorrow’s briefing should start around 10 am and will be live online and on cable via Seattle Channel.

Sometime this week, since we last checked the city’s Elections and Ethics website, its list of candidates in next year’s elections switched to show the only City Councilmember living in West Seattle now running for its new council district. Tom Rasmussen had been listed there as “undesignated,” running for either one of the two at-large seats that will remain, or for District 1 (West Seattle/South Park), but now is listed as one of three candidates in that district, along with Chas Redmond and David Ishii. You can see all the declared-so-far council candidates (and city ballot measures) on the right sidebar of this page.