(Photo by WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand)
34th District State Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon had ample reason to smile tonight. Not only did other local political leaders including King County Executive Dow Constantine turn out for his re-election campaign kickoff at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center tonight, Rep. Fitzgibbon, a Burien Democrat, is running unopposed, since no one else filed for the position. (Our area’s senior State Rep. Eileen Cody does have an opponent this time around, Vashon Democrat William Giammarese; the primary this year is August 7th, and the general election is November 6th.)

Much of the time, you don’t find out much about an initiative till signature gatherers show up on corners and outside businesses, asking you to take a look and consider signing. The group behind proposed Seattle Initiative 103 – meant as a counter to the so-called “corporate personhood” ruling – is organizing meetups in neighborhoods around the city, and sent word of one set for May 21st in West Seattle – read on:Read More

Though we’re still three months away from the primary election, six months away from the general, it was endorsement time tonight at the monthly meeting of the 34th District Democrats, our area’s biggest political group. We recorded the meeting on video and will add that here later, for those interested; if you just want to cut to the chase, read on for the list of who won what, including the group’s vote not to endorse the only West Seattleite running for statewide office:Read More

Mayor McGinn has just wrapped up a two-hour visit to West Seattle, starting with a walking tour that began at Mountain to Sound Outfitters in The Triangle…

… and then moving on to an hour-long Town Hall Q/A session at the Senior Center of West Seattle. We’ll be adding more photos, but first, here’s our as-it-happened highlights from the Q and A:

QUESTION: Dick Hurley said he’s lived in West Seattle more than 30 years and sees lots of transportation expenditures “while my alley has fallen apart – it’s so bad that cars will bottom out, just in my alley.” He wondered why Local Improvement Districts to fix things like that are no longer available.

MAYOR: “It’s news to me … I’ve always thought we should make it easier to form those, because if people want to tax themselves, we should make it easier to form one.” He talked about his history in the Greenwood neighborhood and getting sidewalks put in to alleviate pedestrian challenges. He went on to acknowledge that the city has been neglecting road problems, though he is “blowing away pothole records set by previous administrations” – though he would just as soon not have the potholes there in need of filling. And he wishes he could find more funding for street and right-of-way improvements/repairs: “That’s what makes this special down here, how it feels on the street.”

QUESTION: From Sam with Standup America: “I spoke to you at another town hall last week about the salary gap” – he meant the mayor’s salary: “You’re talking about money you can’t get for roadways, but you’re giving yourself an annual increase … Why do you think it’s right that your income continually grows while (others’ income doesn’t)?” An audience member asks where Sam lives; “Capitol Hill” he replies.

Much more ahead, including news of a major paving project for Delridge Way:Read More

We KNOW you have something to say about how the city should spend its money. So even though none of these meetings is in West Seattle, we’re sharing the heads-up about a three-meeting invite from the City Council for the first round of community conversation in the process of hashing out the next budget:

Join the Seattle City Council for one of three conversations in May about the City budget and community priorities. Participants will engage City Councilmembers and neighbors in conversation centered on five thought-provoking questions about the future of our City.

North Seattle
Monday, May 7, 2012, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
North Seattle Community College, 9600 College Way North, College Center, Room 1161

Central Seattle
Monday, May 14, 2012, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
Seattle Central Community College, 1701 Broadway, Broadway Edison Building, Room BE1110

South Seattle
Monday, May 21, 2012, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
New Holly Gathering Hall, 7054 32nd Ave South

All sorts of city budget background is available via this council webpage.

He was here last month for a Town Hall at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center (WSB coverage here), and now Mayor McGinn is returning to West Seattle for another one in two weeks, according to an e-mail announcement this afternoon. It invites anyone interested in Q/A with the mayor to come to the Senior Center of West Seattle, 5-6 pm Thursday, May 3rd.

Of all the volunteers who helped make this afternoon’s Democratic precinct caucuses happen around West Seattle and beyond, they might have had the best job – hanging out in the sunshine to help people find their way into the Chief Sealth International High School Galleria. Inside, it was a little lonely – one woman asked the check-in-table volunteers, “Am I the only one?” She wasn’t the only one there – we counted more than 30 before the caucusing officially began at 1:30 pm – but she might have been the only one from her precinct. Each precinct had a table, and some tables were empty. But that made it a convivial gathering – Chris Porter rallied everyone around as he read the introduction and rules:

As is usual for caucuses, this was the first step in a process that could lead a determined delegate all the way to the Democratic National Convention in September in Charlottesville. Unlike 2008, when the caucuses were packed because the party hadn’t settled on its nominee yet – today was more about trying to rally the party to look ahead to November, including a pitch for support, monetary and volunteer. “What a difference four years makes,” someone observed, looking around. The bright side of low turnout: High odds of getting elected as a delegate; Porter extolled the virtues of moving on to higher-level caucuses and making an impact on the party platform.

Things were buzzing at our second stop, West Seattle High School:

Most balloon-festooned tables had lively conversations going on – the official business part of the caucus was scheduled to “start no sooner than 1:30, and end no sooner than 2:00,” per the rules. 34th District Democrats chair Tim Nuse was circulating; former State House candidate Mike Heavey told us he had counted about 100 people on hand, and our informal count tended to agree. And while at Sealth, we’d seen just one candidate sign – for President Obama – as well as an advocacy table (for marriage equality), WSHS had campaign signs galore, not just Obama/Biden, but also for governor candidate Jay Inslee and U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott. WSHS also is where West Seattle Republicans caucused on a gray day six weeks ago (WSB coverage here), with a packed house, but that was their sole spot for the entire peninsula (today the D’s also caucused at Madison Middle School, West Seattle Elementary, and Highland Park Elementary). Next step for the Dems: The district caucuses on April 28th.

“If someone [still] doesn’t know the caucuses are happening, we can’t help them at this point,” said 34th District Democrats chair Tim Nuse at Wednesday night’s monthly meeting, mentioning an awareness-raising campaign that he said has included 7,000 door-knocks, thousands of phone calls (including 10,000 robocalls Wednesday with a message from King County Executive Dow Constantine), and paid ads (including one here on WSB).

That would be the Democratic precinct caucuses – happening this Sunday at 1 pm at locations all around the district (if you’re a Democrat, find your location here). Even though the presidential candidate is not up for debate, the 34th DDs say there is much to talk about and many reasons to attend yours. But after that pep talk, last night’s meeting at The Hall at Fauntleroy moved on to many ways of looking ahead to August and November, including a surprise speech by our area’s Congressmmember, and three mini-campaign-forums – we’ve got them all on video, ahead:Read More

If you missed the mentions before – yes, Democrats are caucusing in our state, even though, as the 34th District Democrats‘ website puts it, “there is no mystery as to who our candidate will be.” The 34th DDs’ website explains why. Next Sunday (April 15th) is the day, 1 pm the time, multiple gathering places; if you are a Democrat, you can find yours by using this lookup. (Here’s our coverage of the local Republican caucuses last month.)

This wasn’t in our morning roundup but in case it’s a subject about which you’re passionate – a reminder that the Seattle City Council‘s public hearing on the proposed Seattle Public Library levy is tonight, City Hall downtown, 5:30 pm (they’re taking signups starting at 5). Lots more info here. If finalized, the levy to raise $17 million a year would go to voters this August. If you can’t make it to the hearing, you’ll be able to watch it live via Seattle Channel, cable 21 or online.

By our count, there are about two dozen people participating in the Occupy West Seattle rally in The Junction. Police are there too – including Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Steve Paulsen. Our crew at the scene says it’s gone as the group had said it would – they walked from KeyBank to Chase, and are now on the California/Oregon corner.

The announced 4 pm start time of the rally coincided with a blast of snow and hail.

ADDED: Our video from the event, and a few more photos:Read More

Local filmmakers made that video clip (featuring actors from the West Seattleites-featuring “The Collectibles“) to educate you, entertain you, and inspire you to give them a hand. Not the applause kind – the making-a-call or writing-e-mail kind. ASAP. They’re trying to save their industry from an unhappy ending.

As West Seattleite Todd Downing explains, SB 5539 – regarding incentives for the film industry in our state – is hung up in the State Legislature. The State Senate has passed it (including a “yes” vote from our area’s Sen. Sharon Nelson) but it hasn’t come to a vote in the State House, and it might fade to black if that doesn’t happen by Thursday. A phone call or note from you might help it get there. Todd elaborates:

Just about every state in the US has a film industry tax incentive program to entice productions to the state, and local areas within the state. Washington’s program is about mid-range in comparison to other states. What it does is refund a certain percentage of a production’s expenditures based on budget level and local talent/crew hired.

As we are sandwiched between Oregon and BC, both of which having superior incentive programs, much of our talent and skilled crew end up leaving the WA film community for jobs in Portland or Vancouver. Our existing incentive program is the baseline that we must build on to create more jobs for skilled crew and support personnel, as well as keeping performance talent in the state … Anyway, the numbers are pretty overwhelmingly in favor of continuing the current incentives by a huge margin of return per dollars spent.

Want to give SB 5539 a boost? We noticed on the Legislature’s website that it’s scheduled for a public hearing in Olympia at 10 this morning, before the House Ways and Means Committee (whose members include West Seattle State House Rep. Eileen Cody). You might not be able to get there, but you can call the legislative hotline at 1-800-562-6000, and e-mail/call Rep. Cody to urge that she support getting the bill to a vote.

(9:15 PM UPDATE: Statewide and countywide results continuing to show up here)

10:11 AM: We’re at West Seattle High School, one of two sites in the 34th Legislative District where Republicans are gathering to participate in their party’s statewide precinct caucuses this morning. 34th Republicans chair Jim Clingan had told us they expected the WSHS Commons to be packed; the tables here, each for a specific precinct, are indeed full, maybe 300 people by our count. Craig Keller, who is leading this meeting, is just starting to speak, to explain the rules; he’s been presiding over sign-ins. The gathering is scheduled to continue till noon.

11:22 AM UPDATE: We stayed at WSHS until all the individual tables were about to get down to business. Keller (above) explained to participants that they had two things to accomplish: Elect delegates to the next level of caucusing (one or two delegates per precinct, depending on each precinct’s “Republican voting strength” in the 2008 election), and participate in the presidential “straw poll.” (Participants would have to pledge that they were Republicans – since we don’t have formal party registration in this state – and that they weren’t participating in any other party’s caucuses.) Results were not to be announced at individual caucus locations; they were to be reported to county and then state headquarters, which is expected to announce them tonight. After WSHS, we headed south to White Center to check out the caucusing location that also included precincts from south West Seattle:

This one was run by Jim Clingan, who told us they’d counted about 200 people. One thing of note: We looked at both locations for evidence of presidential-candidate preference, and the only candidate whose logo we noticed was Ron Paul: Somebody wearing a Ron Paul hoodie at WSHS: a stack of Ron Paul signs outside the doors at Evergreen.

4:16 PM UPDATE: The Paul campaigning – he was the only Republican presidential candidate to come to Seattle – seems to be showing in the early results; he’s a close second to Romney. You can watch statewide results updates on this State GOP website.

9:15 PM UPDATE: Statewide, it’s Romney 37 percent, Paul 26 percent, Santorum 25 percent, with 90 percent of the vote counted. King County is listed as 75 percent counted, also with Romney in first place, Paul in second.

Just after opening Village Green Perennial Nursery for the season, owner Vera Johnson has a quick out-of-town trip ahead – way out of town. Eight months after her very public foreclosure fight with Bank of America, she is going to Washington, D.C. – and if you too have been through something similar, she would like to take your story along for the ride. Vera explains, “I was asked to go to D.C. to meet with the Obama Task Force next week. We have meetings scheduled with folks at DOJ, HUD, and other agencies involved in the newly created mortgage-fraud task force. We’re going to spend some time together talking about the work happening in our cities and states, AND there’s going to be a Senate Banking Committee hearing on “public and private solutions to the mortgage crisis” (ie. Principal reduction) on Wednesday 3/7 – perfectly timed for us! I was asked to collect personal stories with photos of people who are dealing with this personally.” She is representing WA-CAN (Washington Citizens Action Network) and asks, “E-mail me your story of any Fannie/Freddie nightmares. Include a family photo. By Sunday ….. vjvillagegreen7@gmail.com.” She heads out on Monday.

With the Republican presidential nomination still undecided, the party’s precinct caucuses in our state tomorrow, 10 am-noon, are getting national attention. If you are interested in participating, our partners at the Seattle Times have put together a pretty good primer. There’s an FAQ on this party-owned site. And there’s a lot of good information from WSB’er JoAnne in new comments she has added following our caucus preview published last weekend. As she mentions, West Seattle High School (3000 California SW) is the major caucusing spot for this area – but if you are in south WS, your precinct may be caucusing in White Center, at the Evergreen Campus (830 SW 116th) – doublecheck your location here. We’ve checked in with 34th District Republicans chair Jim Clingan, who explains that results will NOT be announced at the caucus locations – they’ll go to the party’s county HQ, then on to the statewide GOP, which should announce statewide results tomorrow evening.

P.S. Democratic caucuses are NOT on the same date as the GOP this year; theirs are on April 15th.

Since the Republican presidential-nomination race seems far from settled, expect a lot of national-media attention on our state in the coming week, with the party’s precinct caucuses set for one week from today – 10 am to noon, Saturday, March 3. To get your Republican caucus location online, you have to use the “caucus locator” lookup; we tried a sampling of precinct numbers (using this map) and so far it looks like north West Seattle goes to West Seattle High School, south West Seattle to the Evergreen Campus in White Center (let us know if your precinct comes up with someplace different). Though in 2008, both parties caucused on the same day, this year they’re more than a month apart; Democratic precinct caucuses are on April 15th, also 10 am-noon, location list and times to come. And in case you’ve forgotten, there’s no presidential primary; it was called off to save an estimated $10 million.

After exploring non-elected roles in the 2 years since he left the Seattle Mayor’s office, West Seattle’s Greg Nickels is going before voters again. It’s just been announced he is indeed going to run for Secretary of State. Here’s the news release:

Former Seattle Mayor and King County Councilmember Greg Nickels, a Democrat, will run for Secretary of State. Nickels’ entry ends weeks of speculation and resets the fields in the race to replace retiring incumbent Sam Reed.

Read More