West Seattle, Washington
03 Thursday
With more than 80 percent of the primary-election ballots yet to be returned, per King County’s daily updates, it looks like many voters are going down to the wire. WSB candidate-closeup coverage is concluding with last looks at the Seattle mayoral challengers (we interviewed the incumbent earlier in the campaign). We sent them five questions, 4 geared to West Seattle.
By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Joe Mallahan says he has a plan. The T-Mobile vice-president and candidate for Seattle mayor sees plenty of room to run the city more like a business. He plans to focus on the customer – citizens — providing service, accountability and efficiencies.
The Wallingford resident would put the brakes on the Mercer Street realignment project, and says the South Lake Union Streetcar diverted money for expanding Rainier Valley bus service. He opposes expanding the streetcar system.
As mayor, Mallahan says, he would cut the number of consultants the city hires, and build expertise among city workers.
With more than 80 percent of the primary-election ballots yet to be returned, per King County’s daily updates, it looks like many voters are going down to the wire. WSB candidate-closeup coverage is concluding with last looks at the Seattle mayoral challengers (we interviewed the incumbent earlier in the campaign). We sent them five questions, 4 geared to West Seattle.
By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Norman Sigler says one of his best skills is his ability to bring diverse communities and groups together. If elected mayor, Sigler plans to build on his matchmaking experience to create partnerships that will work on solutions to transportation and education issues, homelessness, neighborhoods and the economy.
Sigler has lived in Seattle for about six years. He lived for two years in West Seattle, specifically on bus routes #54 and #120, he notes, before moving to the Magnolia area.
Although he preferred the surface solution for replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct, Sigler said he won’t oppose the bored tunnel solution in the interest of moving the project forward instead of discussing it for decades. Then he wants to get to work on an elevated train down the middle of Interstate-5 between Everett and Olympia.
With more than 80 percent of the primary-election ballots yet to be returned, per King County’s daily updates, it looks like many voters are going down to the wire. WSB candidate-closeup coverage is concluding with last looks at the Seattle mayoral challengers (we interviewed the incumbent earlier in the campaign). We sent them five questions, 4 geared to West Seattle.
By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
It seems that mayoral candidate and environmentalist Mike McGinn has one focus to his campaign – to stop the deep-bored-tunnel plan that will replace the central section of the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
McGinn wants to tear down The Viaduct, and let traffic flow on surface streets with a dramatically improved bus system and expanded light rail, along with more opportunities of bicycling and walking. He contends the tunnel idea is too expensive, will increase taxes too much, is guaranteed to have huge cost over-runs, and by-passes downtown without exits.
Candidate McGinn’s position is in stark opposition to Mayor Greg Nickels‘ support for the tunnel, and has sparked an overheated back-and-forth in the days before the ballot deadline.
We happened onto the mayor’s campaign stop (with wife Sharon Nickels) while covering another story at West Seattle Farmers Market this morning. With ballots due Tuesday night, we are publishing one last round of candidate-closeup coverage, focusing on the mayoral race. In Mayor Nickels’ case, we interviewed him earlier in the campaign, asking questions suggested by WSB’ers, so we’re providing links to those stories (taken from a video-recorded interview in late May):
Interview with the mayor, #1: Keeping parks clean
Interview with the mayor, #2: Keeping the peace on Alki
Interview with the mayor, #3: Why re-elect him? How does he address the claim he’s not so likable? What can be done about the “Hole Foods” situation?
Interview with the mayor, #4: Will/should Seattle annex the rest of White Center (assuming the southern part votes for Burien annexation in this election)?
Nickels’ website is at gregnickels.com. We also have covered multiple forums involving the candidates in this race and others; all WSB Politics coverage is archived here, newest to oldest. Be sure to vote – your ballot must be postmarked by Tuesday, or dropped off in one of the dropboxes around the county (no postage needed if you choose that option – the nearest ones are in North Delridge and White Center) by 8 pm Tuesday night. (More mayoral-candidate coverage ahead.)
With more than 80 percent of the primary-election ballots yet to be returned, per King County’s daily updates, it looks like many voters are going down to the wire. WSB candidate-closeup coverage is concluding with last looks at the Seattle mayoral challengers (we interviewed the incumbent earlier in the campaign). We sent them five questions, 4 geared to West Seattle.
By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Magnolia neighborhood activist Elizabeth Campbell knows she is a long shot for the mayor job. She entered the race late, hoping that a lawsuit she won against the city in the spring in connection with the Fort Lawton Army Reserve property would infuse her campaign with some momentum.
A King County Superior Court judge decided the city, which wants to put 80 units of housing for homeless people on the land connected to Discovery Park, failed to consider alternate uses for the property.
Campbell’s campaign struggled to raise money and get attention. A friend’s illness took her away from campaign appearances. She also tried to get a “no tunnel” initiative on the ballot, and she is working on her master’s degree in Public Administration at the University of Washington.
Still, Campbell is fired up over the issues and was eager to answer our questions.
With three days left to vote by mail for Tuesday’s primary, this morning we are wrapping up our close-up looks at candidates in races including the three Seattle City Council contests you’ll find on the primary ballot. Previous stories are in the WSB Politics archive.
By Jack Mayne
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
City Councilmember Nick Licata is running for his fourth term even though he acknowledges he said in 1997 he would not serve more than three terms.
Licata is opposed in the Tuesday primary election by Jessie Israel and Martin Kaplan. The two who get the most votes will move on to the November general election.
The councilmember says he has “found through experience that a formulistic approach to government does not work,” and that “specific time limits on serving the public, is one such formula.”
He rejects criticism that he is “Mr. No” on the Council, too often opposing issues with no positive approach to counter his objections.
With three days left to vote by mail for Tuesday’s primary, tonight and Sunday morning we are wrapping up our close-up looks at candidates in races including the three Seattle City Council contests you’ll find on the primary ballot. Previous stories are in the WSB Politics archive.
By Jack Mayne
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Jessie Israel is seeking to replace a Councilmember she once supported but now says has done more obstructing than supporting solutions to the city’s problems.
The 35-year-old Ballard resident is running for City Council Position 6 against incumbent Nick Licata and candidate Martin Kaplan. She has never been a candidate before but she is certainly not a political neophyte.
“I was co-chair of the Women’s Political Caucus for five or six years, so I have been following campaign politics for many years,” she says.
But why Licata, who has gotten more than 70 percent voter support in his last two races?
With three days left to vote by mail for Tuesday’s primary, tonight and Sunday morning we are wrapping up our close-up looks at candidates in races including the three Seattle City Council contests you’ll find on the primary ballot. Previous stories are in the WSB Politics archive.
By Jack Mayne
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Behold, a political candidate who says he is not a politician and maintains he will serve only one term in office “because I can get a lot of work done in four years.”
Martin Kaplan, a 60-year-old Queen Anne resident, says his experience makes him ready to start working as a City Councilmember on the day he is sworn in and can work harder for voters because he will not have to spend all that time during his term trying to line up financial and political support for a reelection bid.
“I won’t be involved in (preserving) the future of my political life,” says Kaplan, who contends that he is running “against two politicians,” Nick Licata and Jessie Israel. Licata is finishing his third term on the Council, and is running for a fourth, which he once promised would be as much time as he would serve. Israel is running for the office for the first time, but her political involvements over the years show she is no political novice.
With three days left to vote by mail for Tuesday’s primary, tonight and Sunday morning we are wrapping up our close-up looks at candidates in races including the three Seattle City Council contests you’ll find on the primary ballot. Previous stories are in the WSB Politics archive.
By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Brian Carver sees the future of Seattle in its young people. As one of five candidates for Seattle City Council Position 4, he says he would tap that creativity and energy to find long-term solutions to some of the city’s most persistent problems, including more affordable housing and jobs.
“I have always thought that working with youth is so rewarding and so necessary,” he said. “I am most interested in programs that empower youth so the direction of their life is in their hands and they are equipped to drive it forward.”
Carver, a 30-year-old North Seattle resident, has master’s degrees in business and engineering. He is the Worldwide Lean Manager at Amazon.com, in charge of making sure the company is operating as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. It’s a skill he wants to bring to City Hall.
King County Council District 8 – which includes West Seattle and White Center – is now atop the list for percentage of ballots returned, as of the latest nightly update: Just under 16%, half a point ahead of District 6 on the Eastside. So, 84% of us will vote this weekend (never mind those predictions of low turnout, we can prove them wrong). Toward that end, we have more than a half-dozen additional candidate stories to publish here in the next few hours, in case you still need more info to make up your mind. Earlier coverage is archived here.
Thanks to Bill Schrier, the 34th District Democrats‘ webmaster, for photos from tonight’s big annual fundraiser at West Seattle Nursery, the Garden Party – just two nights after the group made headlines by hosting a largely nonconfrontational health-insurance-reform forum featuring a congressmember and an overflow crowd. Tonight’s crowd — all fun, as you can see by the photo above (most exuberant, in the blue shirt, is Chris Porter, who chaired the party-planning effort). Media personality New York Vinnie (who lives in Gatewood) served as auctioneer:
If you’re wondering about the bright colors – there was a Brazilian theme tonight – including music from Grupo Amoroso. Plus candidates and elected officials in attendance – center and right, here’s State Sen. Joe McDermott and State Rep. Eileen Cody, with State Rep. Sharon Nelson‘s legislative assistant Joe Fitzgibbon at left:
In addition to the group’s expenses, the money it raises from events and dues goes toward everything from charity donations to campaign contributors for the candidates it endorses.
By 8 pm Tuesday, your ballot needs to be either in the mail (make sure it’ll get postmarked August 18th or earlier) or in a drop box (here’s the list – there’s one in North Delridge and one in White Center). If you’re having trouble, haven’t received your ballot, etc., you can get help in person tomorrow, 10 am-5 pm at King County Elections HQ in Renton. Read on for the official announcement, which also includes details on Accessible Voting Centers:Read More
With days to go till the official Election Day on Tuesday, but 87 percent of Seattle ballots not returned yet, it’s clear many voters are still making up their minds, so we’re continuing our series of stories looking at City Council candidates, with a few questions beyond the ones you’ve heard them answer at forums. You’ll see the ones we’ve already published in our Politics archive; right now, from the race for Position 8, which Richard McIver is leaving, we look at Jordan Royer:
By Kathy Mulady
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Jordan Royer says he wants to give families and small-business owners a voice on the Seattle City Council.
“There aren’t many people on the city council who have kids in public schools. The people who are paying the bills don’t have a seat at the table,” he said.
Royer, a 43-year-old North Seattle resident, is vice president at the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association. He has two daughters in public schools in Seattle.
Royer said his main emphasis will be on bringing common sense to government.
That short clip pans around to look at the overflow crowd inside The Hall at Fauntleroy last night, where West Seattle’s biggest political organization, the 34th District Democrats, opened their monthly meeting with the hottest national topic of the moment, health-care reform, featuring U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, who not only is Seattle’s longtime House of Representatives rep, but also a physician. (Here’s our first report, published last night as the meeting unfolded.) Before it began, sign-holders had lined the street outside the hall as well, with more conversation than confrontation:
McDermott’s appearance was arranged and introduced by Dr. Lisa Plymate of the 34th DDs, who is active with the reform-advocacy group Doctors For America (she’s at the center of this photo with McDermott and, at left, the 34th DDs’ newly elected secretary Michael Taylor-Judd):
(Photo by Dina Johnson)
The group set out its rules for last night from the start (and on its website even before the meeting) – this wasn’t a town hall, so if you weren’t a member, you were welcome to watch but not to speak. As the meeting began, chair Tim Nuse also asked those with signs to lower them once the meeting began. And the only real interruption came toward the end of this clip, after McDermott’s harshest words for the insurance and pharmaceutical industries that he claims are keeping health-care reform from passing:
The man who you hear yelling “THAT’S A LIE!” at the very end of the clip was escorted from the room. (Note: From comments after this story was published, here’s another account of what happened after the shouting.) But that was one brief moment; the meeting was raucous at times with applause and shouts of assent, but otherwise peaceful. As you heard in the clip, McDermott advocates so-called “single-payer” health coverage (explained here), as – suggested by volume and frequency of applause – do many who were in the room last night. Read on for more video and more details of the entire meeting – which also included an endorsement vote on a measure that isn’t even officially on the ballot yet:Read More
First – the city has decided to extend the deadline for those neighborhood-plan surveys we’ve been talking about here. Now they’ll take surveys through Friday, August 21st. Take the survey here – where you’ll also see the latest neighborhood-vs.-neighborhood chart (Ballard-Crown Hill is singularly ahead but if you add the 5 West Seattle areas together, we’re way out in front with 732 – think we can hit 1,000?). Second – five nights left to get your primary-election ballot into the mail or into a drop box. The county posted its nightly update on how many ballots have come back – it’s up to 11 percent countywide but almost 13 percent in the County Council district including West Seattle (now almost tied for “most votes counted” – just a hair behind the metropolitan Eastside). Still lots of time to prove the “low turnout” projection wrong.
We are at The Hall of Fauntleroy along with a HUGE crowd. The buzz started as soon as the 34th District Democrats announced that U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott would join their scheduled forum on health-care reform, during the regular monthly meeting. Outside the hall and inside, we’ve seen sign-holding demonstrators touting various positions in the debate – from “single payer” to “government stay out.” So far, it’s been peaceful although spirited – including a loud ovation for Rep. McDermott as he walked in (some boos, but they were all but drowned out). We will post updates as this happens. Not only is this “standing room only,” it’s “sitting on the floor” room only. Dr. Lisa Plymate is introducing the Congressmember now. Follow our Twitter feed for in-a-flash photos and updates too.
7:25 PM UPDATE: Rep. McDermott is speaking. He says, “This is a war … a war over whether the American people can have health security and economic security.” He says the opponents are the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, and he says their profits are the reason why. Many people here in the hall are murmuring “Yes!” as he speaks, something like a rollicking evangelical church service. He says he believes a bill with a “good public option” will emerge from the House of Representatives (he supports what’s known as “single payer”). Now he’s taking questions.
7:43 PM UPDATE: Still lively but not too much tension. Rep. McDermott has blamed insurance and pharmaceutical companies for “the opposition you’re seeing around the country,” and one man in the back yelled THAT’S A LIE! He also said that the House may not abide by the “deals made in the White House” with those industries. One woman asked, “What can we do to get single-payer back on the table?” and McDermott said, “I wish I had a good answer for that.”
7:56 PM: Rep. McDermott is done speaking. Now a rep from Washington Public Campaigns is speaking about publicly financed campaigns. Some of the crowd is dispersing now that McDermott’s portion of the health-care discussion is over (we can hear much discussion happening out in the hall and spilling out onto the sidewalk outside the hall). McDermott says he’ll have an “open meeting” in the area in September. The public-campaign advocate is tying health-care reform to campaign-financing reform, saying publicly financed candidates can “stand up” to the pharmaceutical and insurance industries.
*The meeting continues – we will only update if anything major happens – otherwise, watch for our full writeup later.
Two updates this afternoon in the ongoing controversy over whether the homeless encampment that calls itself “Nickelsville” will be allowed to stay on Port of Seattle land at Terminal 107 Park in West Seattle: First, a spokesperson for the encampment sent this short announcement:
The port has withdrawn request to show just cause for eviction of Nickelsville residents. Hearing tomorrow before King County Superior Court Judge Kallas is cancelled. Nickelsville looks forward to meeting with the port this week. Date and time pending.
Second, the port has issued its own, longer statement, posted on its website and republished here in full:
On July 23rd, the Nickelsville encampment moved onto the Port of Seattle’s Terminal 107 public park without permission. Port staff members believe that legally, the Port of Seattle has neither the authority to provide housing nor the ability to donate property for the encampment.
“We understand the difficult situation that many of the Nickelsville members are in, and share the concern of many in our community about the serious problem of homelessness,” said Port of Seattle CEO Tay Yoshitani. “But the port must consider not just our legal authority and our responsibility to create jobs and economic growth for the region, but the needs and wants of other residents in the region who live adjacent to and use port parks and facilities every day.”
Yoshitani has asked Washington State Auditor Brian Sonntag, Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna and Washington State Speaker of the House Frank Chopp to clarify the port’s legal authority to donate the property for housing. Yoshitani hopes the request for legal clarification can be expedited.
In a separate action, the port has withdrawn the motion for unlawful detainer filed before King County Superior Court. The motion was scheduled to be heard on August 13th. However, the port reserves the right to proceed with the Notice of Trespass given to the encampment on July 24th, and Yoshitani has instructed staff members to continue working toward the previously stated August 21st deadline for the encampment to leave port property.
“By withdrawing this motion and seeking additional legal clarity, the port continues to try to work through this issue collaboratively,” Yoshitani noted. “I also encourage Nickelsville members and community advocates to maximize efforts to identify a more appropriate site for the encampment.”
Tomorrow marks three weeks since the encampment moved from another West Seattle location, 2nd SW/Highland Park Way, state land where it had been set up for a month, following almost nine months at various locations elsewhere in the city.
COURT CASE: South Park murder suspect Isaiah Kalebu is expected in King County Superior Court at 8:30 this morning to answer charges including aggravated murder (which could bring the death penalty) in the July xx attack on two women who were asleep in their home when he allegedly broke in.
CLOSED SCHOOLS’ FUTURE: Also happening downtown this morning (9 am), the city Hearing Examiner is scheduled to hear an appeal of the June city decision determining that closed school campuses around the city – including Fairmount Park, Genesee Hill and EC Hughes in West Seattle – could be repurposed for various new uses without convening a School Use Advisory Committee.
PORTERHOUSE OPENING: The new restaurant/pub in the Admiral District (2329 California SW, just north of Admiral Theater) opens mid-afternoon. Lots of new food and beverage details in the West Seattle-headquartered Washington Beer Blog‘s review from the “soft opening” party Monday.
REP. MCDERMOTT TALKS HEALTH-CARE REFORM: Tonight, the long-hot topic gets its highest-profile West Seattle discussion yet, as the 34th District Democrats bring in Seattle’s Congressmember Jim McDermott in addition to other expert panelists. The agenda’s here, but also note the disclaimer on the group’s home page – this is NOT a “town hall meeting” and while everyone’s welcome to attend and listen, “only members may speak and participate,” per the group’s bylaws. The meeting starts at 7 pm, The Hall at Fauntleroy.
We promised nightly reminders; here’s a quick one. Next Tuesday’s primary is the first major election since King County went all-mail – so you need to mail or drop off your ballot by 8 pm that night (August 18th). Election authorities project a fairly low participation rate, but there’s no reason it HAS TO turn out that way – there are major issues/races to be decided, from Seattle Referendum 1 (deciding whether to approve the disposable-shopping-bag fee the City Council approved last year) to narrowing down big fields to two “finalists” in races including Seattle Mayor and King County Executive. You don’t actually have to mail your ballot – you can also put it in one of the 24/7 drop boxes around the county, including the Delridge Neighborhood Service Center (5405 Delridge Way; map) and the King County Library‘s White Center branch (11220 16th SW; map). The first results will be out shortly after 8 pm Election Night.
(Monday photo courtesy CoolMom.org)
In that crowd of more than 40 people visiting federal offices in downtown Seattle Monday morning were Tara Reynolds, Terri Glaberson, Jen Bradbury and Cynthia Tamlyn from the West Seattle chapter of CoolMom. The visit – which also included people from Washington Environmental Council, Fuse Washington, Climate Solutions and People for Puget Sound, among other groups – was meant to urge Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell to take “action on a climate/energy bill that President Obama can take with him to Copenhagen in December,” as Glaberson explains. The bill, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (HR 2454), passed the U.S. House in a close vote earlier this year — after a CoolMom visit to the office of Seattle’s Rep. Jim McDermott – and now is facing a U.S. Senate vote (legislative details here). More on Monday’s visit on the CoolMom website; they also have a photo gallery here. If you want to tell the senators what you think about the bill, Sen. Murray’s contact info is here; Sen. Cantwell’s, here.
We’ll be reminding you daily from here on out to get your ballot in the mail – we need the reminder too, as diehard oldschool in-person voters who are being dragged kicking and shrieking into the all-mail-voting age. Our favorite VOTE! reminders today come from Hella Bus, a site for the youngest voters, who they’re imploring to prove certain stats wrong. Meanwhile, the county King County Elections Department is publishing nightly 8 pm updates on how many ballots it’s received back — tonight’s update says they’ve received just under 8% so far: See the count here. (It’s broken out in various ways including cities and county-council districts; among the latter, the one including West Seattle – District 8 – has the second-highest percentage of ballots mailed back so far, 9.2%, second only to the 9.4% of District 6 (metro Eastside). If you would prefer to drop off your ballot rather than mail it, there are two nearby drop boxes, both available 24/7 till the voting cutoff time, 8 pm August 18th — the Delridge Neighborhood Service Center (5405 Delridge Way; map) and the King County Library‘s White Center branch (11220 16th SW; map) – here’s the full list of dropboxes countywide. Once you’ve dropped off or sent your ballot, keep checking here to make sure it’s been received. And if you’re still deciding how to vote – we’ve profiled many of the candidates and have a few more stories to run, plus a last look at the mayoral hopefuls; see what we’ve published so far, and watch for upcoming stories, by checking the WSB Politics coverage category (on the CATEGORIES list toward the bottom of the sidebar, where you’ll also find RSS links for each category, if you prefer to get your news via RSS). You should have received a voters’ pamphlet by mail as well as your ballot(s); if you want to find the guides online, here’s the city guide; the county/port guide links are here.
The spokesperson for the homeless encampment that calls itself “Nickelsville” — ensconced at Terminal 107 Park in West Seattle (July 24 photo at left by Christopher Boffoli) for two weeks now, after a month and a half at another WS site — sent out a media update last night with several new developments. Key among them: What they say is a new tactic, authorities serving what they describe as “eviction papers” to individual campers, ordering them to appear in King County Superior Court. Read on for the full update:Read More
It’s the hottest topic in coast-to-coast politics at the moment – will our health-care system change? Are the proposed changes for the better or for the worse? Our area’s biggest political organization, the 34th District Democrats, will take on health-care reform at next Wednesday’s meeting (7 pm, The Hall at Fauntleroy), headlined by Seattle’s U.S. House Rep. Jim McDermott (who is a physician as well as a politician). The forum also will include Lisa Plymate, M.D., who’s active not only with the 34th DDs but also with Doctors for America. See who else is on the roster (and what else is on the agenda) by going to the 34th DDs’ website at 34dems.org — where you’ll also find information about their big annual fundraiser one week from tonight, the Garden Party.
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