One week ago, mayoral candidate Mike McGinn came to High Point Library for a “town hall” meeting (WSB coverage here). He’s just announced another West Seattle meeting (along with 5 others around the city): 3 pm Sunday (Oct. 4), Hiawatha Community Center. Opponent Joe Mallahan has not had similar meetings, so far. Meantime, both mayoral candidates are expected at the Delridge/Southwest District Councils-presented West Seattle Candidates’ Forum on Oct. 15 (7 pm, Youngstown Arts Center).

(Photo by Kevin McClintic, taken during the “Nickelsville” open house on Saturday)
ORIGINAL 1:24 PM REPORT: We have a call out to a Port of Seattle spokesperson to try to confirm the reported park closure as well as the estimated time of police arrival, but in the meantime, we’ve just received this news release from a spokesperson for the encampment:

PARK CLOSES TODAY – NICKELSVILLE DETERMINED TO STAY – POLICE ARRIVE TOMORROW, 9/30/09, AT 12 NOON

* T-107 Port Park closes today at noon
* Nickelsville will stand through arrival of Port of Seattle and Valley Police tomorrow, Wednesday, at noon
* Candidates for Seattle City Council, David Bloom and Sally Bagshaw, will stand with Nickelsville tomorrow
* Nickelodeons who plan to stay and peacefully stand-up to removal by police will ultimately risk arrest

Chief of Police Colleen Wilson says “We’re going to take back our port.” However, Nickelsville plans to stay as they at the current portion of the park where they reside, as they have no other place to go. Residents, friends, citywide Nickelsville supporters and more will stand with Nickelsville when Port and Valley police (i.e. Renton) arrive to remove the encampment. City Council candidates David Bloom and Sally Bagshaw will be present to stand with Nickelsville.

The only City of Seattle Police used tomorrow will be animal control officers to collect unaccompanied pets.

T-107 Park, located at 4700 W Marginal Way SW (map), closes today at Noon. Cars will be impounded 24 hrs later. Nickelsville will stand as a community until it is forceably removed by police.

1:35 PM UPDATE: Just spoke with Charla Skaggs from the port, who tells us that the park is indeed closed – to everyone – they had to do this to give 24 hours’ notice that vehicles would be towed and that anyone in the park would be trespassing. She also says that the park is likely to stay closed a while AFTER the encampment is gone because “we will have to do some repair and maintenance.” She says that Port officials including the police chief met with encampment reps last night to tell them about the closure and reiterate the deadline as well as explaining what would happen to their property and their pets if the camp was swept, and to stress again that they hoped that “they will leave voluntarily.” Says Skaggs, “We don’t want this to become an arrest situation but they’ve been given a deadline – they will have been on our property for 69 days.” She says the port believes there are area churches who are willing to host the encampment but its organizers “have to reach out to them.” She would not confirm that noon is the expected arrival for police but did mention the noon closure today was something of a 24-hour warning.

(cameraphone photo added 8:32 pm, a few protesters gathered in the park near Admiral Church sign)
ORIGINAL 8:12 PM REPORT: We’re out watching to see if the homelessness-advocacy group SHARE makes good on its threat to have protesters camp outside Mayor Nickels‘ North Admiral home tonight (earlier report here) to protest a denied request for bus-voucher money. So far, here’s what we’re seeing: Police have had a presence outside the mayor’s house for at least an hour, including a watch commander; about a dozen people believed to be part of the protest are gathering at California Place Park a few blocks away (thanks to @macjustice for the tip on that via Twitter). They have just had a meeting with one police officer and now they’re meeting to discuss what they plan to do from here. 8:41 PM UPDATE: Now they’re at the mayor’s house. They’ve been told they can’t be on sidewalks, in the street, or in gardened parking strips – so they’re setting up in what areas are left. Media-wise, at least 2 TV stations are there along with us, Seattle Post-Globe, and Real Change News. A spokesperson says they have at least 40 people there; we’re taking a count – that means they’re in parking strips in front of neighbors’ houses too – 7 houses, to be exact, stretching most of the way along the block. 9:40 PM UPDATE: A couple of our clips – too dark out there to get much usable video without a light, but what you’ll see first is Southwest Precinct Sgt. Joel Sweetland talking with the group before they walked from the park to the mayor’s house, discussing ground rules:

And here are some of the campers getting settled on a parking strip:

Barring word of anything happening overnight, we plan to go back in the morning to check on the campout’s status. 7:44 AM TUESDAY UPDATE: We haven’t gone yet but tipster Mac says via Twitter, ” Judging by the wheeled portapotty and loaded van that just drove by my bus stop, looks like the protesters are done.”

The homeless-advocacy group SHARE says members will be camping outside Mayor Nickels‘ house in North Admiral tonight as a protest over funding for bus vouchers. The Seattle Post-Globe has details from a SHARE planning session this morning. Meantime, SHARE itself has been issuing news releases – here’s the latest:Read More

Though he won’t be in office next year, Mayor Nickels is still charged with presenting a budget proposal – and he’s doing that right now before the Seattle City Council; watch it live online via Seattle Channel. 2:35 PM UPDATE: The speech is over; it was more of a farewell address and list of accomplishments, than a detailed budget presentation (all that will be in the documentation – which you can find here). Among a few mentions: 446,000 potholes filled (and a plug for continuing to report them to 206-684-ROAD), 21 more patrol-officer positions to be added to Seattle Police, and six reservoirs covered or being covered (including Myrtle and West Seattle/Westcrest). As noted here yesterday, three budget hearings are coming up, all listed here.

It may have been most noteworthy because so many other Seattle political forums/debates seem rather tame and pleasant, seldom much discernible disagreement, and when disagreement is voiced, it’s voiced relatively softly. But not in the Seattle City Attorney debate that just wrapped up before the West Seattle Democratic Women. This event frequently erupted with disagreement and accusations – with challenger Pete Holmes‘ criticism of incumbent Tom Carr (photo left) often meeting with Carr retorting that what Holmes had just said was wrong or distorted. Points on which they disagreed included the fate of domestic-violence advocates in the City Attorney’s Office – Carr alleged that Holmes wants to cut the jobs, Holmes says they should be “independent” and separate from the office so they can better advocate for the victims; he also expressed concern about “no-contact” orders in potential misdemeanor domestic-violence cases, where he suggested things might be blown out of proportion – after that, Carr said Holmes’ answer “scared (him).” They also disagreed over the need for a new jail to handle city misdemeanor offenders — Carr isn’t sure it can be avoided (but says his office has worked hard to reduce the need for one), Holmes believes it can. We’ll add more details later – you’ll also see stories elsewhere, as reporters from the Seattle Times (WSB partner), Seattle Weekly, and The Stranger were here as well. Meantime, WSDW members voted on endorsements after the debate, and in the City Attorney’s race, they backed Carr; they didn’t issue endorsements in all races, but in the ones where they did – for County Executive, Dow Constantine; Sally Bagshaw for council position 4; Rob Holland for Port Commission; and they’d already endorsed Jessie Israel for council position 6. ADDED: Video from the closing statements by Pete Holmes and Tom Carr – including some of the aforementioned tension (Carr begins his clip by saying he’s “flabbergasted” at what you’ll hear Holmes say in the first clip):

The Weekly has published its story here, with more on the domestic-violence advocate issue we mentioned above. ADDED SATURDAY: Holmes alleged during the debate that Carr’s office had sent someone to jail for stealing a can of tuna. Carr just sent us a note saying he’d checked into the claim and has published his side of the story on his website.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Why take on a 3-term incumbent City Councilmember who also happens to be the council’s current president? Our first video clip (above) includes High Point resident David Ginsberg‘s explanation of why he’s running against Richard Conlin; Ginsberg was one of nine candidates for Council, Mayor and Port Commission who appeared at the Highland Park Action Committee‘s candidates’ forum last night at HP Improvement Club.

Also notable in Ginsberg’s speech: He went into more detail about development/land use than other candidates, suggesting the entire land-use code should be thrown out, possibly replaced by a “smart code.”

The lineup ultimately featured no incumbents – Conlin hadn’t been on the RSVP list, but Councilmember Nick Licata had – he canceled at the very last minute (first sending a text message saying he was running late, then that he couldn’t make it; his opponent Jessie Israel hadn’t planned to attend). Another notable no-show: mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan, whose campaign spokesperson told us via Twitter that he had another commitment in Southeast Seattle.

Mallahan’s opponent, Mike McGinn, was also headed last night to a SE Seattle event — inbetween the Highland Park forum and his earlier “town hall” gathering at High Point Library (WSB coverage here). In our clip from his speech, he talks a bit about one of his highest-profile positions – opposition to the deep-bored tunnel replacement plan for the Alaskan Way Viaduct‘s Central Waterfront section:

Read More

We’re at High Point Library, where mayoral candidate Mike McGinn has just arrived for his first West Seattle “town hall” meeting. He’s also expected at the Highland Park Action Committee candidate forum at 7 pm tonight (opponent Joe Mallahan had not RSVP’d for that as of last report). He just opened by saying he’s not here to give a speech but to listen and answer questions. We’ll add some notes based on what he says – and what he’s asked. About two dozen people are here.

4:45 PM UPDATE: Pete Spalding from Pigeon Point asked the first question – what would McGinn do to help small businesses survive and thrive? McGinn said he supports raising the B&O tax exemption and making it easier to get permits – also doing more outreach, particularly to small businesspeople from what he described as “other cultures” who might have a hard time understanding the process.

(Post-forum note – After the jump, you can read the rest of our as-it-happened coverage)Read More

SCHOOL CHAT: This morning, for the first time since the start of the new school year, West Seattle’s school-board rep Steve Sundquist invites anyone and everyone interested in talking about education to join him at Uptown Espresso in The Junction (map), 9 am, for a coffee-hour chat.

ASTRONAUT SPEECH: Continuing his local appearances, West Seattle-raised astronaut Capt. Gregory Johnson speaks tonight at Museum of Flight (7 pm; map).

CANDIDATES IN HIGHLAND PARK: Many of the people who want your vote for Seattle Mayor, City Council and Port Commission will appear before the Highland Park Action Committee at 7 pm tonight, HP Improvement Club building (map).

CANDIDATE IN HIGH POINT: Before participating in that forum, mayoral hopeful Mike McGinn plans a “town hall” get-together at High Point Library (map), 4:30 pm.

CHEESE! Metropolitan Market launches a special two-week cheese celebration today; full details here.

That’s not all – more events tonight (including Cub Scout recruiting at OLG, 7 pm), on the WSB West Seattle-wide Events calendar.

Mayoral candidate Mike McGinn just announced a town-hall meeting in West Seattle – 4:30 pm Wednesday, High Point Library (map). Add that to two other events in West Seattle this week – with Election Day just six weeks from tomorrow (and ballots in the mail much sooner): 7 pm Wednesday, the Highland Park Action Committee presents a Candidates’ Forum (we’re checking on who’s RSVP’d) at Highland Park Improvement Club (map); Thursday at 11 am, West Seattle Democratic Women present a City Attorney candidates’ debate during their lunch meeting at West Seattle Golf Course (map). For the Wednesday events, just show up; for Thursday, lunch costs $10 members/$20 nonmembers (which includes membership in WSDW for the remainder of 2009) – registration starts at 11, lunch/program at 11:30 – contact WSDW at (206) 938-5706 or wsdwomen@yahoo.com.

7:53 PM UPDATE: Rory Denovan has sent word of who’s confirmed for the HPAC forum on Wednesday night:

Mike McGinn, Candidate for Mayor
Sally Bagshaw, Candidate for City Council, Position 4
David Bloom, Candidate for City Council, Position 4
Nick Licata, Candidate for City Council, Position 6
Tom Albro, Candidate for Seattle Port Commission, Position 4
Rob Holland, candidate for Seattle Port Commission, Position 3
Robert Rosencrantz,Candidate for City Council Position 8
Mike O’Brien, Candidate for City Council, Position 8

CANDIDATE FORUM IN HIGHLAND PARK: Next meeting of the Highland Park Action Committee, 7 pm September 23, is now taking shape with a candidates’ forum as the centerpiece; HPAC chair Dan Mullins says they’re focusing on all the big races – King County Executive, Seattle Mayor and Council, Port Commissioner – and “the candidates are responding to our requests” (no final lineup yet though). It’ll be at the Highland Park Improvement Committee building, 1119 SW Holden (map).

MAYORAL HOPEFULS AT THE LABOR TEMPLE THIS WEEK: Less than one week after their much-talked-about first “debate” – more of a Q/A forum – downtown, Joe Mallahan and Mike McGinn will share the stage again at 4:30 pm this Wednesday (September 16) at the Seattle Labor Temple, 2800 1st Avenue (map) — not in West Seattle, but it was among the events announced at last Wednesday’s 34th District Democrats meeting.

MAYORAL DEBATE: In case you’re not going to the big showdown between Joe Mallahan and Mike McGinn at the Cinerama downtown today, sponsors say they’ll stream it here (look for that stream around noon – 12:15 pm update – it’s started, with an intro from moderator Steve Scher – 12:25 pm – added the embedded version above, click to watch – 1:57 pm, it’s over but you can click to see the archived video).

PORT COMMISSION CANDIDATES ON THE RADIO: Marcee Stone mentioned this at last night’s 34th District Democrats meeting (we’ve added more details to our report; see it here) – West Seattleite Max Vekich and incumbent Tom Albro are both scheduled to be on KUOW (94.9 FM or listen online) at noon.

WEST SEATTLE VOTERS HATED THE BAG FEE: May not surprise you. But if you’re interested in the breakdown, seattletimes.com (WSB partner) has made a map with the breakout on what parts of the city backed the bag fee in last month’s election and which parts didn’t. Doesn’t appear ANY part of West Seattle had a majority “yes.” 12:13 PM UPDATE: Via Twitter, @labradoodles points out that if you follow the link to a larger version of the map, you will see two small clumps where the fee was supported (here’s that link).

We covered tonight’s 34th District Democrats‘ meeting as-it-happened on our special @wsblive Twitter account (read the updates here). And now, here are the headlines from the 2-hour-plus Hall at Fauntleroy gathering, till we add more details later:

Anyone endorsed by the group for the primary who made it to the general got to keep that endorsement. But under terms of a one-time rule change, anyone who wasn’t endorsed and made it to the general was welcome to try again tonight. At the head of the line: Mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan (photo above). For the primary, the 34th DDs endorsed Mike McGinn, who’s in the general with Mallahan, and incumbent Greg Nickels, who isn’t. But a vote to add an endorsement for Mallahan fell short – two-thirds majority was required, and Mallahan came up with 49 percent, so McGinn is the sole 34th District Democrats’ endorsee for November. In the City Council Position 4 race, the 34th DDs endorsed David Bloom tonight, adding that to Sally Bagshaw, who retains her share of the endorsement that also had included West Seattleite Dorsol Plants, who didn’t make it to the general but is backing Bloom. A proposal to endorse Mike O’Brien for Council Position 8 – where the pre-primary dual endorsees were Robert Rosencrantz, who made it to the general, and David Miller, who didn’t – failed.

More on tonight’s endorsements (which included other races), and other news from West Seattle’s biggest political group, coming up.

12:29 AM NOTE: In the meantime, the full list of endorsements is on the 34th DDs’ own website, per webmaster Bill Schrier – check it out here.

ADDED 9:42 AM THURSDAY: More details from last night’s meeting, including Mallahan’s explanation of what he considered an “ignorant” remark – click ahead:Read More

The precinct-by-precinct breakdown of votes from the August primary is available; seattletimes.com (WSB partner) has published a look at the mayoral race (summary: the areas of West Seattle that didn’t vote for the WS-residing incumbent were split between Joe Mallahan and Mike McGinn). If you’d like to do some number-crunching of your own, here’s the link to a zip file with enough numbers (in plain text) to make your eyes swim. We pulled out the mayor’s home precinct in North Admiral just for curiosity’s sake — turnout passed 50 percent, and Mallahan came in second – this is the text block pulled/cut-and-pasted directly from the county file:

“City of Seattle Mayor”,”SEA 34-1417″,8,34,7,”Kwame Wyking Garrett”,0
“City of Seattle Mayor”,”SEA 34-1417″,8,34,7,”Registered Voters”,320
“City of Seattle Mayor”,”SEA 34-1417″,8,34,7,”Times Counted”,167
“City of Seattle Mayor”,”SEA 34-1417″,8,34,7,”Norman Zadok Sigler”,0
“City of Seattle Mayor”,”SEA 34-1417″,8,34,7,”Jan Drago”,10
“City of Seattle Mayor”,”SEA 34-1417″,8,34,7,”Write-in”,0
“City of Seattle Mayor”,”SEA 34-1417″,8,34,7,”Joe Mallahan”,37
“City of Seattle Mayor”,”SEA 34-1417″,8,34,7,”Greg Nickels”,75
“City of Seattle Mayor”,”SEA 34-1417″,8,34,7,”James Donaldson”,12
“City of Seattle Mayor”,”SEA 34-1417″,8,34,7,”Mike McGinn”,22
“City of Seattle Mayor”,”SEA 34-1417″,8,34,7,”Times Over Voted”,0
“City of Seattle Mayor”,”SEA 34-1417″,8,34,7,”Times Blank Voted”,6
“City of Seattle Mayor”,”SEA 34-1417″,8,34,7,”Elizabeth Campbell”,5

A completely nonscientific comparison to a precinct on the other side of West Seattle – ours, 34-1524 in Gatewood/Upper Fauntleroy, with 253 registered voters – it was Mallahan 38, McGinn 30, Nickels 27, Drago 13, Donaldson 10, Campbell 2, Sigler 1, Garrett 0, 7 blank ballots. If you want to find out your own precinct number so you can see how the vote total turned out, one way is to look up your “voter guide” (right side of this page). ADDED 10:38 AM: The Times has just added another breakout – county executive – see it here.

King County has certified the results of the August 18th primary. You can find all results here; we’re breaking out how West Seattle-residing candidates did in the final certified countywide vote totals – top three in each race (top 2 move on to November 3rd election), West Seattleite with asterisk before name:

COUNTY EXECUTIVE
Susan Hutchison 110052 33.05%
*Dow Constantine 89833 26.98%
Fred Jarrett 40527 12.17%

SEATTLE MAYOR
Mike McGinn 39097 27.71%
Joe Mallahan 37933 26.88%
*Greg Nickels 35781 25.36%

SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL POSITION 4
Sally Bagshaw 63348 51.01%
David Bloom 22690 18.27%
*Dorsol Plants 17822 14.35%

SEATTLE PORT COMMISSION POSITION 4
Tom Albro 121518 41.86%
*Max Vekich 81362 28.02%
Robert Walker 61848 21.30%

Besides Constantine and Vekich, two other West Seattleites will be on the November ballot – their races only had two candidates, so it was an automatic pass to the general – Tom Carr, incumbent Seattle City Attorney challenged by Pete Holmes, and David Ginsberg, challenging incumbent City Council President Richard Conlin in the Position 6 race. Finally, a few turnout notes from the August primary: 31.5% participation countywide (percentage of ballots returned); 38.5% participation in Seattle; among the County Council districts, ours – District 8 – had the second-highest turnout, 37.2%, eclipsed only by District 4 (downtown/north end) with 38.2% (the lowest was District 3 [easternmost King County] with 24.6%).