West Seattle, Washington
05 Saturday
(Added 11:33 pm: Unedited WSB video of the hour-and-a-half-long forum)
6 PM: Seattle Referendum 1 – which a court fight shaved down to two sentences out of 140 pages of city legislation – 
may turn out to be the only actual ballot measure related to the tunnel that’s proposed to replace the central-waterfront section of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. If you’re not sure how you’ll vote August 16th – or if you’re not sure what you’re voting on – or what it all means – or even if you are deeply versed on the subject, come on down to the West Seattle High School Theater, where two reps each from the main pro- and anti-tunnel organizations are at centerstage in a 6-7:30 forum presented by the WS Chamber of Commerce. Your WSB editor is moderating; the final half-hour is scheduled for audience Q/A.
7:56 PM: Forum over – thanks to the 20 or so folks who were there, and to the panelists, Gary Manca and Jeff Upthegrove on behalf of anti-tunnel Protect Seattle Now and City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen and Vlad Oustimovitch on behalf of Let’s Move Forward. We have it all on video and will put it up, unedited, when it’s done uploading later tonight.
11:33 PM: Video now up.
We’ve talked about the West Seattle Grand Parade, the Alki Art Fair, West Seattle Outdoor Movies – but one event on Saturday in West Seattle that’s outside the category of “summer fun” is also expected to draw hundreds. “Speak Out for Good Jobs Now” is a rally organized by activist groups for noon-2 pm at South Seattle Community College‘s Brockey Center, during a daylong leadership conference, explained by organizers:
Congress has forgotten that good jobs are the driver of a stable and prosperous economy. We’re here to remind them. … The Progressive Congress Speak Out Tour is part of a [daylong] community leadership training conference organized by Washington CAN. Attendance is free, and language interpretation and child care are provided. The leadership conference includes sessions on the history of unions, holding big banks accountable, and structural racism.
The noon-2 pm “Good Jobs Now” event is scheduled to include U.S. Reps. Jim McDermott (D-Seattle) and Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota), emceed by former Eastside congressional candidate Darcy Burner and Magdaleno Rose-Avila. If you use Twitter, the event has a hashtag: #CPCjobs. If you want to sign up for the full-day conference, go here.
Both of West Seattle’s major community meetings on Wednesday night tackled the topic of Metro Transit‘s potential cuts. In our video above, County Councilmember Joe McDermott talked about it at the joint meeting of the Southwest and Delridge Neighborhoods District Councils in High Point, listing the West Seattle routes that Metro says are doomed if either the County Council or voters don’t agree to a $20/year fee to cover its budget gap. McDermott has said he’ll vote for the fee, but if five fellow councilmembers don’t do the same (so far, four have committed), it won’t take effect without voter approval.
Concurrently Wednesday night, at the Morgan Community Association meeting at The Kenney (WSB sponsor), a Metro rep who was there mostly to talk about West Seattle RapidRide – still scheduled to debut in September 2012 – began with a recap of the fee-or-cuts situation. The proposed fee is scheduled to go to a County Council vote next Monday, she said, but first, the last of three public hearings on Metro’s future is tonight (Thursday) at Burien City Council Chambers (4th SW/SW 152nd), and there’s some talk that it could draw hundreds, as did the previous hearing, last week at the County Council chambers downtown.
If you haven’t been to one of the hearings and can’t make it to this one, you can still officially send a comment on Metro’s future and what you would like to see – use this form on the county website.
One of the few things that will actually be settled by the August 16th ballot is Seattle Referendum 1 – since most of the ballot otherwise is comprised of primary races, narrowing candidate fields to the top two.
“Settled,” of course, is a relative term here.
Technically, Referendum 1 asks you to approve or reject Section 6 of City Ordinance 123542, related to Seattle’s role in the 99-tunnel plan. The “section” is what remains after a separate court fight.
Symbolically, it has been pointed out that this may be Seattleites’ only chance for a public vote on something related to the tunnel.
Or is it a potentially meaningless vote?
That’s part of what we’ll discuss at what appears to be the city’s only all-tunnel pre-election forum, happening right here on the peninsula tomorrow night, as the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce presents a public forum, moderated by your WSB editor, Thursday at 6 pm, West Seattle High School Theater. Two reps from each of the two major groups campaigning on the issue – pro-tunnel Let’s Move Forward and anti-tunnel Protect Seattle Now – will be there; you’ll have a chance to ask your question after the first round of opening statements and moderated discussion. Hope to see you there.
The City Council has just approved a change in the city rules that have required food trucks to find private lots to set up on: Now they’ll be allowed to get permits to park on streets, with some restrictions, as detailed by our partners at the Seattle Times. (To read the full text of what the council approved, here’s the ordinance, and here’s a related resolution.)
(At left, Steve Sundquist, who hit a home run just before we left for breaking news, with Tom Rasmussen and Tim Burgess)
5:13 PM: Exactly one month till the primary election – but the challengers-vs.-incumbents match that just got under way here at Lincoln Park may be even more of a thriller – mostly because of the weather; it began just as the downpour hit (and now, a bit of sun).
(Video added, game’s start during the aforementioned downpour)
Back at their endorsements meeting, the 34th District Democrats publicly invited just about every politician in the room to come join in a softball game at their annual picnic – and most if not all of them accepted. Officeholders we’ve seen include five Seattle City Councilmembers (Tim Burgess, Sally Clark, Jean Godden, Bruce Harrell, Tom Rasmussen), two U.S. Reps. (governor candidate Jay Inslee and Jim McDermott), State Reps. Eileen Cody and Joe Fitzgibbon, King County Councilmember Joe McDermott, and School Board member Steve Sundquist; candidates include Diana Toledo from the King County Council Position 8 race; Maurice Classen, Bobby Forch, Michael Taylor-Judd, Brad Meacham from City Council races, and pro/anti Referendum 1 (tunnel) reps.
7:56 PM: Finally got a chance to add some of our photos – after the jump (PLUS – added 1:48 am Sunday – game recap courtesy of Michael Heavey):Read More
Politics can have its moments of levity. Seattle City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen and West Seattle political activist Chris Porter had one Wednesday night during the candidates’ reception/mixer at The Hall at Fauntleroy co-sponsored by the Greater Seattle Business Association and West Seattle Chamber of Commerce. It’s the first of two pre-election events with which the Chamber is involved this month – the next one is the tunnel-related Referendum 1 forum that it’s presenting a week from tonight (6 pm July 21st, West Seattle High School, two reps from each side, with your editor here as moderator). More photos after the jump:Read More
Five weeks till the August 16th primary – which will narrow down the field in some races, and will decide the City of Seattle tunnel-related referendum. For your calendar-marking reference, three candidate/issue events are coming up in West Seattle in the next few weeks:
First, this Wednesday night, it’s the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce/Greater Seattle Business Association co-sponsored candidates’ reception at The Hall at Fauntleroy, 5:30-7:30, register here ($10 members/$15 nonmembers and students).
Second, a week from Thursday, the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce presents a “Just The Facts” forum on tunnel-related city Referendum 1, with two referendum opponents from Protect Seattle Now and two referendum supporters from Let’s Move Forward, plus your editor here as moderator – that’s 6 pm July 21st in the West Seattle High School theater. (Admission free.)
Third, a combination ice-cream social/election forum presented by a new coalition of local neighborhood and community advocates, “Voice Your Voice,” 6:30 pm July 28th at South Seattle Community College‘s Brockey Center, with city, county, port, and school-board candidates, plus Referendum 1, all scheduled to be part of the program. According to organizer Karl de Jong, the candidates will be on ice-cream-scooping duty before the “moderated debate-style forum.” (Admission – and Husky Deli ice cream! – free; donations will be accepted for West Seattle Food Bank.)
Just announced on various city websites including this one (with news conference video) – $3 million more to prevent SDOT job cuts and fix roads. Which ones? We’re checking. (Official news release here.)
Four members of the Seattle City Council spent an hour-plus this afternoon at the encampment that’s called itself “Nickelsville” since its inception three years ago at the West Seattle site to which it returned in May. Our video above is the entire visit – an official meeting of the Housing (etc.) Committee – unedited, beginning after chair Councilmember Nick Licata convened the meeting and had members sign in at the camp’s front desk. (Also in attendance – Councilmembers Sally Bagshaw, Sally Clark, and Tom Rasmussen.)
First, everyone got a guided tour of the camp, from the kitchen area near the entrance, to the two goats’ grazing area on the eastern end. It currently has 91 residents, camp leaders say. Then, there was a sitdown roundtable discussion. A few headlines emerged: Operation Sack Lunch plans to start bringing lunches to Nickelsville five days a week starting next Monday; the camp is asking the city to help them get hooked up with utilities – not with paying for them, just with getting them hooked up. They also are waiting to hear the city’s longterm intent on whether they will be able to stay at that location; as we first reported shortly after their return to the site, Mayor McGinn said he would not seek eviction, but the Council has not taken a formal position.
The tour stopped short of this noteworthy sight:
That’s the play equipment procured and installed thanks to the efforts of WSB Forums members, who have taken a special interest in – and have been providing lots of help to – Nickelsville and its residents, who include longtime Forums member/WSB commenter “miws” Mike. He has just taken on a brand-new Nickelsville position, pet coordinator; you’ll see him in our video too (he and others in leadership positions got a chance to explain their work to the visitors). As for who will use the swing set – four children are among the camp’s current residents, councilmembers were told.
The Seattle City Attorney’s Office is working on a proposal for medical-marijuana regulation in the city, since the state efforts came to a chaotic end. It appears on the agenda for next week’s Housing/Culture/Health Committee meeting (2 pm July 13th), but the proposal itself isn’t ready for release, according to the city attorney’s spokesperson, Kimberly Mills, who tells WSB, “We’re fine-tuning the ordinance and it will go up on the council site at midnight Friday. You’ll be able to get a copy at that time, and our office and council staff can talk about it early next week.”
If you want to speak out on the choice King County Executive Dow Constantine says must be made – big cuts in Metro bus service, or a $20 car-tab fee to cover the budget gap (original WSB coverage and 76 comments here) – the County Council’s Transportation, Economy and Environment Committee has set three hearings. They’re all outside West Seattle, but if you’re interested, you might consider either the July 12th hearing at the Council Chambers in the County Courthouse downtown (516 Third Avenue), or the July 21st hearing in Burien City Council Chambers (400 SW 152nd); the other hearing is in Kirkland. All hearings start at 6 pm. West Seattle’s County Councilmember Joe McDermott is a member of the committee. For the $20 car-tab fee to kick in, either six county council members have to approve it, or a majority of the council has to send it to voters. (More background in the original county news release about Constantine’s announcement.)
The August 16th primary is seven weeks from Tuesday, but your vote-by-mail ballot will arrive a lot sooner, and candidates are making the rounds to make their pitches. Thursday night, the West Seattle Democratic Women hosted candidates for the two Seattle City Council positions that are on the primary ballot – Position 1 and Position 9. Our video above shows the forum, unedited, while the candidates were speaking and answering questions – the first hour is on the first clip, with the ensuing 12 minutes on the second. (You can watch either in a larger window by clicking the YouTube logo to go to the YT page; please note that YT chooses the freeze frames you see on the video “play” boxes above, we did not.)
WSDW vice chair Lynne Ingalls moderated the forum. All four Position 1 candidates participated – Maurice Classen, Bobby Forch, incumbent Councilmember Jean Godden, and West Seattleite Michael Taylor-Judd; from Position 9, two of the three candidates participated, incumbent Councilmember Sally Clark and Dian Ferguson. WSDW decided on endorsements before the meeting at the West Seattle Golf Course ended; they backed the incumbents, Clark and Godden (note the WSDW’s endorsement rules/qualifications on the left side of their website’s home page). None of the other three council positions up for election this year has more than two contenders, so those candidates all go straight to the November general-election ballot.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Maybe the next politician-meets-the-people Town Hall can be a joint city-county effort, with Mayor Mike McGinn and County Executive Dow Constantine both facing the crowd.
The mayor’s Hiawatha Community Center event tonight brought many a question that should have been addressed by that other government headquartered in downtown Seattle.
Some county-flavored foreshadowing came when breakdancing Vicious Puppies Crew performed pre-mayor with three dancers in yellow T-shirts promoting County Council candidate Diana Toledo – they were the second act, after Defined Movement:
But most of all, county considerations came into play when the mayor was peppered with questions and complaints about transit, which is mostly the county’s responsibility, the way things work now. Here’s video of the event in its entirety:
If you’d rather read the toplines, our story continues ahead: Read More
Two types of networking were in evidence at Wednesday’s monthly West Seattle Chamber of Commerce lunch, and the top photo is proof of one: Regional collaboration between business-advocacy groups. At left is Susan Davis, executive director of the Rainier Valley Chamber of Commerce, which teamed up for the event with the WS C of C, whose CEO Patti Mullen is at center, and those on hand included, at right, April Thanos from the Greater Seattle Business Association (which is having an event in WS soon – more on that later.)
With less than two months till the August 16 primary, the guests in the spotlight at West Seattle Corporate Center (Delridge/Andover – with the giant flag) were most of the candidates running for the five Seattle City Council seats on this year’s ballot, including all but one of the incumbents, on hand for what was billed as “speed networking.”
(Vicious Puppies Crew 2010 clip from YouTube)
Even if you’re NOT interested in asking Mayor McGinn a question or hearing what he has to say, you might consider going to his Town Hall at Hiawatha Community Center tomorrow (Thursday) night. For one – there will be a short entertainment break around 6:30 pm, with two West Seattle-based youth groups performing for a few minutes each: the breakdancing Vicious Puppies Crew and the synchronized dancers of Defined Movement. Before that, from 5:30 till 6:30 pm, the community-information fair will include your chance to meet people from, and find out about, a wide variety of groups and issues. As mentioned here yesterday, the West Seattle Triangle planning team will be represented – the two draft proposals for that area’s future have just gone public, including major zoning changes, and they’re seeking public comment, as well as ready to answer questions. Today, Ed Pottharst from the Department of Neighborhoods shared a list of other participants in the information fair:
Admiral Neighborhood Association
Alki Community Council
Whale Trail Project
Seal Sitters
Alki Wildlife Habitat
Alki Community Center Advisory Council
Barton P-Patch
Concord International Elementary School
Delridge P-Patch
Genesee-Schmitz Neighborhood Council
Lincoln Park P-Patch
Morgan Community Association
Nature Consortium
Southwest Seattle Historical Society & Log House Museum
Sustainable West Seattle
West Seattle Be Prepared
West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network
West Seattle Chamber of Commerce
West Seattle Food Bank
West Seattle Helpline
(If you’ll be tabling there and aren’t listed, leave a comment!) Again – 5:30 pm info fair, 6:30 pm performers, 6:40 pm mayor/others Q/A. Hiawatha is at 2700 California SW, probably best to park at West Seattle High School’s California-facing lot if you’re driving, since Hiawatha’s own lot is fairly small.
Local neighborhood-organization leaders argued successfully to save it from last fall’s round of budget cuts – but now the West Seattle Junction Neighborhood Service Center (Alaska/42nd) is again slated for closure, according to a memo from the Department of Neighborhoods. This is part of almost $9 million in midyear budget cuts just unveiled by Mayor McGinn‘s office. From the memo by DON director Bernie Matsuno outlining more than $206,000 in cuts for the department:
… With these reductions, there are major staffing and programmatic impacts. We will be closing the West Seattle Neighborhood Service Center and moving operations into the Delridge facility. Although we believe this will not impact the community significantly (the Delridge facility is less than two miles away), NPIS staffing will be. We are losing funding for two, .5 FTE Customer Service Representatives (CSR) positions. Losing staff is never easy; we will do everything we can to support and assist staff as they seek other employment. The West Seattle facility will close on June 30.
The Junction center couldn’t stay open forever – it is on the site of the future Conner Homes development, which could start construction as soon as next winter. We are still reviewing the mayor’s plan to look for other West Seattle-specific cuts. This is the only West Seattle-specific cut listed in the presentation made to the Council Budget Committee this morning.
The fields are set for the August 16 primary – and another Seattle City Council candidates’ forum is on the horizon for West Seattle. As previously noted, council candidates will be at the WS Chamber of Commerce‘s next monthly luncheon meeting June 22 for a “speed networking” event. And just announced this weekend, the next day – Thursday, June 23 – the West Seattle Democratic Women will host all four candidates for City Council Position 1 – Maurice Classen, Bobby Forch, incumbent Jean Godden, and West Seattleite Michael Taylor-Judd. Though WSDW usually meets for lunch, this will be an evening event – no-host bar at 6:30, dinner at 7, program at 7:15 pm, and the group says “candidate endorsements will be considered.” Dinner is $12 WSDW members, $15 nonmembers (or you can just get coffee/dessert for $5). Reservations or questions: wsdwomen@yahoo.com, 206-935-3216.
SIDE NOTE: All 4 Position 1 candidates participated in the 34th District Democrats‘ forum a month ago – we have it on video here; last Wednesday, the 34th DDs gave a dual endorsement to Godden and Forch.
The time and agenda are now set for Mayor McGinn‘s June 23rd Town Hall meeting in West Seattle (first reported here last month). The location is indeed Hiawatha Community Center (2700 California SW), the date still Thursday, June 23rd, and the time breakdown is as follows:
5:30 to 6:30 pm: Community information fair
6:30 to 6:40 pm: Performance by local artists
6:40 to 8:00 pm: Open Q&A with Mayor McGinn and City staff
His last West Seattle Town Hall was at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center in December (WSB coverage here), though he’s been here more than a few times since then, including this past Monday at Don Armeni for the SPD Late Night Emphasis Patrols announcement (which is when we took the photo above).
The day after Marty McLaren received the 34th District Democrats‘ endorsement for West Seattle’s seat on the Seattle Public Schools board, over incumbent Steve Sundquist, two more challengers filed to run against him. Today is the final day for candidate filings in the August 16th primary races, and Joy Anderson and Charita Dumas have joined McLaren and Sundquist in the race for the District 6 seat. Both are West Seattleites who were involved in the legal fight to stop the closure of Cooper Elementary School (here’s a story from two years ago). Three other school-board seats are on the ballot this year, and each incumbent in those races has at least two challengers so far.
A standing-room-only crowd filled the main room at The Hall at Fauntleroy tonight for the 34th District Democrats‘ pre-primary-election endorsement meeting. “Always one of our best-attended meetings,” as the group’s vice chair Sabra Schneider observed. The toplines: 34th DDs member and Seattle School Board incumbent Steve Sundquist did not win the group’s endorsement; the only challenger who has filed, Marty McLaren, was endorsed, with 62 percent support. On the Highway 99 Tunnel city referendum, “approve” – essentially pro-tunnel – was endorsed. And in much-contested City Council Position 1, incumbent Jean Godden and challenger Bobby Forch won a dual endorsement on the third ballot. Full details of the 2 1/2-hour meeting, including other endorsements, and video, are coming up. (11:38 PM NOTE: 34th DDs webmaster Bill Schrier just sent word the list is up on their site – see it here.)
2:02 AM: Here’s our video of the entire meeting (including non-endorsement business at the beginning and the end), in two parts, but none is edited or altered – the 2nd part picks up 2 minutes after the 1st ended, but no speaking was missed (they were collecting votes), and ends a few minutes short of the end of miscellaneous meeting-ending “good of the order” (the camera’s power ran out):
Now, if you want to read highlights of how it unfolded – that’ll be done in a few hours. that’s been added; click ahead:Read More
It’s filing week, which means that by the end of this week, we’ll know officially who’s on the August 16 primary ballot (here’s who’s filed so far).
If you like seeing and hearing candidates in person before making up your mind, here are two upcoming opportunities in West Seattle: Wednesday night, the 34th District Democrats have their endorsement meeting, always lively, 7 pm (or come early and mingle with candidates/activists), The Hall at Fauntleroy, agenda here. Then on June 22nd, the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce‘s monthly luncheon is a “speed networking” event with City Council candidates, 11:30 am at the West Seattle Corporate Center (Delridge/Andover).
Both events are open to the public as well as to the respective organizations’ members (but there’s a cost for the Chamber lunch; call 206-932-5685 for info/reservations).
You might find a door-to-door political canvasser outside your home or apartment tomorrow night – and thanks to a heads-up from Diane, we can tell you in advance, they’re legitimate. They will be asking people to support a potential city ordinance requiring that employers provide paid sick days. The notice Diane shared says that canvassers will gather at Pioneer Coffee (2536 Alki SW) at 5:30 pm Thursday, heading out to West Seattle neighborhoods over the ensuing two hours.
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