West Seattle, Washington
13 Saturday
They’ve already endorsed King County Council Chair Dow Constantine for County Executive, but otherwise, the 34th District Democrats have a lot of deciding to do tomorrow night – this area’s biggest political event of the primary season. Their website runs down the order in which they will vote on who to endorse, and notes that most of the voting will be done on written ballots. If you’re a member, be there – 7 pm, The Hall at Fauntleroy. As for the actual election: August 18 is the official date, but the voting begins as soon as the ballots arrive, and the county starts mailing them July 29.
Though August 18 is the official date for the primary election, voting begins in less than a month, as King County Elections will start mailing ballots four weeks from today (military/overseas ballots even sooner). Candidates in the hottest incumbentless race, King County Executive, talked environmental issues last night at Town Hall downtown, as a sizable audience looked on:
By Johnathon Fitzpatrick
Special to West Seattle Blog
The stage was set as if for a musical recital, with tall backed bar-stools and music stands. Hoping for a quintet performance by King County Executive candidates, the full audience that gathered at Town Hall for a debate on environmental leadership had to settle for the regular quartet performance by the four elected Democrats running in this officially nonpartisan race – King County Council Chair Dow Constantine of West Seattle, State Rep. Ross Hunter of Medina, County Councilmember Larry Phillips of Magnolia and State Sen. Fred Jarrett of Mercer Island. (8 candidates are running; see the full list here.)
As they climbed onto their seats for the debate, someone in the crowd shouted: “Where’s Susan?” That question seemed to be on many minds, as the audience erupted in boos when Clifford Traisman, moderator for the otherwise-orderly debate hosted by the Washington Environmental Council, gave the now-familiar explanation that candidate Susan Hutchison had declined their request, citing a prior engagement. (She did attend a forum the night before – here’s the Daily Weekly‘s account – and mentions the environment on her website’s “issues” page.)
Will Seattle’s future townhouses transcend the dominant design critiqued in that city photo/graphic? City Councilmember Sally Clark hopes so. Tonight — almost one full year after she, Mayor Nickels and West Seattle architect Brandon Nicholson stood together at the Capitol Hill announcement (July 2008 WSB coverage here) of the proposal to change the Multi-Family Code, particularly as it affects townhouse design, the committee Clark chairs brings the topic to West Seattle. At 6 pm at Youngstown Arts Center, her Planning, Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee convenes a “review and discussion of issues surrounding townhouses and other low-rise housing.” Those issues are detailed in this 12-page memo, if you have time for a little advance studying – after which, if you have something to say, tonight’s agenda has room for it, with a full hour set aside for public comment. (And if you want to check on the status of the entire Multi-Family Code proposal, that’s all here.)
We’re at The Hall at Fauntleroy, where City Council President Richard Conlin is one of four councilmembers here (with Tim Burgess, Nick Licata and Sally Clark) for the “town hall” meeting tackling three topics: Youth violence, public schools, and tree protection. The latter is one of his signature issues, so our photo shows him facilitating one of the small-group discussions into which the meeting has split. Almost 100 people are here, and we’re in the second round of small groups – based on a show of attendee interest, each small-group round has had two groups talking about youth violence, one about schools, one about trees. The facilitators are asking participants for their ideas regarding those issues – and after this round of discussions is over, we’ll all hear brief reports on those ideas; we’ll add a summary here later, and “what happens next” – the gathering is scheduled to continue till 9. After sitting in on the tree conversation, we’re now in a youth-violence session; in both, participants have announced themselves as being from other areas of the city – this is the only council “town hall” south of the Ship Canal this time around, and we’ve heard from people so far who are here from Beacon Hill and Rainier Beach, among other areas (a few from the north end too – Capitol Hill and Magnolia). 8:58 PM UPDATE: The meeting has wrapped up. Will add the toplines soon. 11:35 PM UPDATE: Read on for our full report:Read More
CITY COUNCIL IN WEST SEATTLE: City councilmember sightings in West Seattle are far from rare, but an appearance by the entire City Council is, and that’s exactly what’s happening tonight, 6:30 pm, The Hall at Fauntleroy. It’s the second of two town-hall-format meetings with which the council’s kicking off summer, and this one has something the other one didn’t – a keynote address by a violence-prevention expert from Chicago, Gary Slutkin, who’s spotlighted in this video clip we found:
Also at tonight’s meeting, time is promised for you to voice your ideas on the night’s three big topics – youth violence, public schools, and tree protection. Full agenda here.
SOUTH DELRIDGE/WHITE CENTER COMMUNITY SAFETY COALITION: Tonight’s the monthly meeting of this crime-prevention and safety-evangelizing group, 6 pm, St. James Place (9421 18th SW; map).
PARKS BOARD: As previewed on Wednesday, tonight’s meeting is scheduled to include the board’s final decision (recommendation to the Superintendent) on two issues with West Seattle ramifications: Possible changes in parks’ operating hours, and synthetic turf. 7 pm, parks HQ downtown (map).
This topic has come up at some of the candidate forums we’ve attended – the unpopularity of the so-called “head tax,” formally known as the “employee hours tax,” requiring Seattle employers to pay a $25 annual tax for each employee. Now, there’s word of a formal proposal to repeal it – read on for the city news release:Read More
We’re just back from Seattle U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott‘s office downtown, where several local families including members of West Seattle’s CoolMom group visited to ask him to support the American Clean Energy and Security Act (here’s a National Wildlife Federation page about the campaign; here’s more information on the bill from OpenCongress). The congressman wasn’t there but staffers greeted the group and also accepted hand-created items including this:
The proposal, House Bill 2454, also known as ACES, may come up for a vote in the U.S. House later this month. You can share your opinion on this (or any other matter before Congress) with Rep. McDermott, whose district includes the entire city of Seattle, by going here.
(WSB photo from Upper Fauntleroy, December 2008)
The city Ethics (and Elections) Commission issued a short letter to Mayor Nickels late today, saying that in his response for an investigation into whether any aspect of the snowstorm response constituted an ethics violation, “… there is insufficient evidence to charge anyone with a violation of the Ethics Code.” Accompanying that letter, their report on who they talked to and what they found out. See the report here; see the letter here. We’re checking the report now for any West Seattle specifics – you’ll recall, one of the allegations was that extra snow-clearing was done in north West Seattle, where the mayor, deputy mayor Tim Ceis and SDOT director Grace Crunican live. ADDED: Page 3 of the report is where the findings in those allegations begin – read on for our cut-and-paste if that’s easier:Read More
“DUMP THE PUMP DAY”: Area transit agencies say today’s the day to take a bus, ride a bike, walk, carpool, anything but drive alone. Side note: Just looked up our D-the-P Day item from last year. It notes that gas at a certain station was about $4.33, while on the same date in 2007, it was more like what it is now, just under $3. (P.S. We just might see you today on the King County Water Taxi.)
SOUNDWAY “VACATION” TO DESIGN COMMISSION: Why the Water Taxi, you ask? We’re expecting to head downtown for a Seattle Design Commission review at 11 this morning at City Hall – seems terribly appropriate this one’s happening on “Dump the Pump Day,” because it involves greenbelt once targeted for roadbuilding that never happened, the “Soundway” property in the West Duwamish Greenbelt. For this to officially be preserved as greenbelt, its once-planned streets/alleys have to be officially “vacated,” and the SDC has to off on those. (Here’s the agenda.)
ALSO AT CITY HALL: The next big campaign forum is at 5 pm tonight, presented by the City Neighborhood Council. City Council candidates are in the spotlight this time.
SOUTH SEATTLE COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS MAKE HISTORY: Tonight’s SSCC graduation at Brockey Center, 7:30 pm, includes the first 4-year graduates from its Hospitality Management program.
That’s West Seattle Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Patti Mullen with Seattle City Councilmember Tim Burgess at Chamber HQ earlier this afternoon, as the WSCC hosted its latest “Lunch with LEO” (Local Elected Official). Burgess was the second councilmember to take part (after Tom Rasmussen last month – WSB photo here). Since Burgess chairs the Public Safety, Human Services and Education Committee, you won’t be surprised to hear that most of the questions from participants involved crime and other public-safety matters, including much discussion of the new Youth Violence Prevention Initiative. That’s one of the main issues in the spotlight when the entire City Council comes to West Seattle later this month for a town hall-style meeting (6:30 pm June 25, The Hall at Fauntleroy, as reported here). We also asked Burgess for his thoughts on the “Nickelsville” homeless encampment situation on the eastern edge of West Seattle (most recent WSB coverage here); he did not comment directly on whether the campers should be evicted for trespassing (as they were on another section of the same site last fall) but did say, “Encampments do not provide permanent solutions,” while allowing that this one was better than encampments like those cleared off the hillsides over I-5, but then pointing out that the better solution, in his view, lies with measures such as the new Housing Levy that voters will consider this fall. (Watch the WS Chamber’s website for the next “Lunch with LEO” opportunity.)
We’re not yet publishing every back-and-forth in every key race – our in-the-works Election page will be your HQ for that, if you’re interested – but since this is a major issue for West Seattle, here’s the statement just issued by King County Council Chair Dow Constantine‘s County Executive campaign regarding the latest developments in the continuing process of a potential new Seattle-and-other-cities misdemeanor-offenders jail (with a West Seattle site remaining under consideration) – he says if he’s elected KCE, there won’t be a need for a new city jail – read on:Read More
Today we spotted that additional “no trespassing” sign stenciled onto a concrete barrier at the homeless encampment that calls itself “Nickelsville” (note the hand-lettered sign on the left side of the photo), now in its second week on state-owned land on the east edge of West Seattle (2nd SW/Highland Park Way; map). We had a request out to the camp spokesperson for comment on where things stand, when this arrived from a group of state legislators including West Seattle’s Reps. Sharon Nelson and Eileen Cody:
Dear Governor Gregoire,
As you know, the tent city providing housing for approximately fifty homeless men and women has relocated once again, to land in West Seattle owned by WSDOT and currently not in use.
We write today to respectfully request that WSDOT allow the residents to stay on this unused land temporarily while they work towards a long-term solution for their community.
Due in large part to our troubled economic situation, homelessness has sharply increased in recent months. The 2009 annual One Night Count, conducted on January 30, found 2,827 individuals without shelter in King County, in addition to the approximately 5,800 who found shelter at emergency shelters and transitional housing programs.
Meanwhile, 50 homeless men and women died outside or by violence in 2008, and 16 have already died this year. Our state’s willingness to be patient and compassionate towards those without homes will mean the difference between life and death for many of these individuals.
Please consider negotiating with the residents of the tent city to work towards a mutually agreeable solution.
Sincerely,
Sen. Karen Keiser, 33rd District
Rep. Maralyn Chase, 32nd District
Rep. Eileen Cody, 34th District
Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, 36th District
Rep. Bob Hasegawa, 11th District
Rep. Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney, 46th District
Rep. Sharon Nelson, 34th District
Rep. Jamie Pedersen, 43rd District
Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, 37th District
We note that West Seattle’s State Sen. Joe McDermott is not among the signatories and will be asking him for comment; the most recent statement from encampment organizers is on their website, noting the original trespass posting last Tuesday (WSB coverage here) and saying, “… The good news is that there has not YET been any time and date set for forcible expulsion, or d-day. …” 10:39 PM UPDATE: First – heard back from Sen. McDermott; he is out of state, in a study program this month at Harvard, so that’s the only reason he isn’t involved in this right now. Second, also heard back from Nickelsville spokesperson Revel Smith, who says “… nothing new tonight. Arranging hot food, donations and things like that.” Smith also shared this photo of the camp, beyond the barrier we showed above:
More of Smith’s photos from the camp can be found here.
Next time West Seattle’s biggest political group, the 34th District Democrats, meet, they will decide who else to endorse for the August primary — and that’s why more than two dozen candidates in almost one dozen races came to The Hall at Fauntleroy last night for our area’s biggest pre-primary candidates’ forum.
One week earlier, four of the contenders for King County Executive took questions in the InSPIRe-sponsored forum (WSB coverage here) across the street at Fauntleroy Church (WSB sponsor); with many 34th DDs involved in that group, they urged members to attend that event to get a look at the KCE candidates, but as for everything else – last night was the big night.
The marquee race: Seattle Mayor, which started the night; also featured – four Seattle City Council races, the Seattle City Attorney race, Seattle Port Commission positions, and Burien City Council. Read on for our marathon roundup of highlights (focusing on the city races) – including links to the 34th DD’s own coverage, as well as photo galleries, and a link to what we sent out via Twitter during the event:Read More
This is the epicenter of Seattle politics tonight – The Hall at Fauntleroy, where the 34th District Democrats are hosting their big candidates’ forum — all major races except King County Executive (that race was handled with a separate forum across the street at Fauntleroy Church [WSB sponsor] last week). The major candidates for mayor are all here – including incumbent Greg Nickels, Councilmember Jan Drago, Michael McGinn, Joe Mallahan, James Donaldson, Norman Sigler. If there are any fireworks during the meeting, we’ll add them here – otherwise look for the detailed report later (we’ll also be tweeting from time to time at @wsblive rather than our regular Twitter account). The first few minutes focused on the mayoral race, with yes/no questions – notably, “Do you support parking meters in The Junction?” Nickels no, Drago yes. ADDED 8:05 PM: The mayoral section of the forum is over, no fireworks. Questions included support for labor, philosophy on transportation and helping the homeless. “Nickelsville” only came up when Mallahan alluded to it but said he would only call it a “tent city” because anything else “wouldn’t be fair.”
Highlights from the WSB Events calendar:
LANDMARK COURT FIGHT: This morning in the Court of Appeals, 1st Division, both sides in the Satterlee House court fight get 10 minutes each for oral arguments in the two-year fight over proposed homebuilding on the landmark Beach Drive home’s lawn.
TUNNEL TALK: 6-8 pm tonight at Madison Middle School, it’s your next chance to comment on the future of the Highway 99/Alaskan Way Viaduct corridor. Specifically, the city, state and federal governments want to hear what you think should be included in the “environmental” studies before the deep-bore tunnel can be built – but that doesn’t just mean ecological impacts. The open-house format meeting also will include displays of the latest information on the project and people who can answer whatever question you have about what’s on the drawing board and how it’ll affect the way you get around.
CANDIDATES’ FORUM: 7 pm tonight at The Hall at Fauntleroy, West Seattle’s biggest political group, the 34th District Democrats, will host candidates for every major job except County Executive (since they faced off last week across the street). It’s a prelude to their endorsement vote at next month’s meeting, but it’s your best chance this summer to get a look at the candidates in the crowded races that will be narrowed down to two in August.
(added 10:56 am) HIGHLAND PARK IMPROVEMENT CLUB: HPIC meets tonight at its HQ, with potluck/social hour at 6:30 pm, meeting including installation of new officers at 7 pm.
June 25, the Seattle City Council‘s coming to The Hall at Fauntleroy for a Town Hall meeting – focused on youth violence, public schools and tree protection. Thanks to Ron Angeles for sharing the announcement (which also includes word of similar meetings elsewhere in the city) – read on for details:Read More
Is another showdown ahead at the “Nickelsville” homeless-camp site on the eastern edge of West Seattle (2nd SW and Highland Park Way, as reported here Saturday morning)? We happened to get a photo of the “trespass notice” earlier today (above) and had been checking into its implications – now we’ve received an update from Nickelsville spokesperson Revel Nt:
TODAY Washington State Department of Transportation posted an undated trespass notice at the Nickelsville encampment.
Governor Gregoire’s Senior Adviser Ron Judd visited Nickelsville and talked with campers.
Wa State Attorney General Rob McKenna said state law does not allow temporary agreements regarding state land.
At this time, Governor Gregoire hasn’t decided what is possible or not yet regarding their stay on that site.
Ron Judd is coordinating a meeting between the Mayor’s Office, Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis and Nickelsville. We don’t know whether Mayor Nickels will meet with them directly.
Nickelsville asks that everyone please contact Governor Gregoire at (360)902-4111 or e-mail: govcommoffice@gov.wa.gov, and ask the Governor for negotiations for their stay.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
The word heard at Monday night’s King County Executive candidates’ forum at Fauntleroy Church (WSB sponsor) more often than you would expect to hear at a meeting of rivals for a big, open job: Agree.
As in:
“I agree with Dow.”
“I agree with Fred.”
“I agree with Larry.”
“I agree with Ross.”
Of course, consider the fact that all four are Democrats, though they can’t run under that label since King County Executive is a nonpartisan job, made so by the voters last year; also, all four are current or former state legislators. The one major candidate who doesn’t fall under either of those umbrellas, former TV anchor Susan Hutchison, didn’t even respond to repeated invitations to participate tonight, according to organizers from InSPIRe (Seattle Progressives Inspiring Reform), which presented the forum.
The fact three of the candidates even showed up is proof nobody’s writing off West Seattle just because this area’s largest political group, the 34th District Democrats, has already taken a vote supporting hometown guy Constantine. But just because you’re speaking in West Seattle, doesn’t mean you’ll only be read about and heard about in WS, so off we go with coverage of what was and wasn’t said — read on:Read More
Long version later, short version now: Big crowd tonight at the Fauntleroy Church (WSB sponsor) Fellowship Hall as the West Seattle-rooted progressive political group InSPIRe presented the peninsula’s biggest candidates’ forum so far this primary season. Four of the five major King County Executive candidates participated: From left in the top photo, that’s Rep. Ross Hunter, King County Council Chair Dow Constantine, County Councilmember Larry Phillips, State Sen. Fred Jarrett. Hunter and Jarrett both live on the Eastside; Phillips is from Magnolia; and Constantine, of course, is a West Seattleite. (Susan Hutchison was invited but, the group says, did not even respond to repeated invitations.) No clashes, no fireworks, little disagreement, aside from one brief burst of “yes/no” questioning, when the question was “Should King County be in the ferry business?” — the two county councilmembers — who are also former state legislators — answered “yes,” Jarrett and Hunter said “no.” We “tweeted” highlights while taking notes – you can read those raw summaries at our @wsblive Twitter page – and stay tuned for the full story in a bit.
From the WSB West Seattle Events calendar, for today/tonight:
VYING FOR VOTES: This just might be one of the biggest candidates’ forums of the primary season in West Seattle: Four of the major King County Executive candidates declared so far — Dow Constantine, Ross Hunter, Fred Jarrett, Larry Phillips — will be at Fauntleroy Church (WSB sponsor) at 7 pm tonight in a forum presented by InSPIRe, all welcome. Audience Q/A for the candidates is part of the plan, and you can even submit a question online right now (via this page).
PICK A PLAYGROUND (DESIGN): 7:30 tonight at Delridge Community Center, come share your thoughts about the three proposed designs for the new DCC playground to be “built in a day” next month — see all three designs here — so the eventual choice will truly be the community’s choice.
BINGO’S BACK: The popular Monday night bingo games at Alki UCC resume tonight after a Memorial Day hiatus. Doors open 5:30 pm, games start at 6:30.
FOOD DRIVE: All Bartell Drugs locations have a food drive this month, starting today – they’ll be collecting nonperishable food items at their stores. Read more here.
TAE KWON DO: The Hiawatha (Community Center) Tae Kwon Do Club is inviting new members (18 and up) to its classes, Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays – find out more at (206) 684-7441.
Mayor Greg Nickels makes his re-election campaign official Monday. During our interview with him at Admiral Starbucks on Saturday morning, we asked some of the questions we solicited from WSBers, starting with the one you see answered in the top clip: Why should he get a third term? Meantime, if you’re just catching up after the weekend – we’ve already published three excerpts:
First: The park-trash-can phase out
Second: Getting hassled on Alki – can police do anything about it?
Third: (published on White Center Now) Will Seattle annex White Center (assuming the rest of North Highline goes with Burien)?
We had 25 minutes to talk with him, a blink of an eye in political interview time, but we squeezed in as many questions as we could, most of them from those offered by WSBers after we asked on Friday for suggestions. The very first one posted here on WSB also speaks to his campaign overall: Lillian suggested he and other politicians have a problem with inauthenticity, and asked how he would get people to believe in him and what he wants to do – in his answer, you will hear him acknowledge that he doesn’t always come off authentically and warmly in the media:
We’ve still got several answers to roll out, and we’re not going to jam them all into this third report, but we did ask about one West Seattle sore spot, the “Whole Foods hole” – can the city do anything to try to stop this sort of “big dig, followed by big stall” situation from happening? Go forward to see/hear his answer:Read More
We’re continuing to roll out chunks of our Saturday morning interview with Mayor Nickels, who’s doing the media rounds as he prepares to officially file his re-election campaign papers this Monday. To recap: We had about 25 minutes with him at Admiral Starbucks (they chose the spot, we chose the outdoor table); we asked WSBers (also via Facebook and Twitter) for question suggestions, and got MANY more than we could ask in that short time. The clip above is his answer to a question we asked as a followup to the recent Alki Community Council meeting following the May 1st Alki shooting – some in attendance (and, later, in WSB comments) voiced more concern about getting harassed at the beach, than about the threat of violent crime. Police in attendance noted there’s no law against, for example, standing around and saying something “vile.” So is there anything that can be done? we asked the mayor; reply above. Yet more from the interview to come (and we will be adding soundbite transcripts shortly to this story, and our 1st one – about the park trash-can issue – see that here). P.S. Ken, whose post-ACC comment we linked above, is the person who started the Alki Neighborhood Watch Facebook group – if you haven’t joined yet and you’re interested, find it here.
Going to do anything about the “fewer trash cans in parks” policy that the Parks Department is pursuing? That’s the first WSBer-suggested question we asked Mayor Nickels this morning, and the answer is in the :45 video clip above. Backstory: As noted here last night, we were offered a half-hour to interview Mayor Nickels, as he prepares to officially kick off his campaign for a third term by filing paperwork this Monday. This morning, we got about 25 minutes with him at Admiral Starbucks (they chose the location); he appeared with his wife Sharon Nickels and their dog Edgar – saying they walk there every morning – as well as the folks who helped arrange the interview, including campaign spokesperson Sandeep Kaushik. We sat outdoors on the east side of the coffee shop, and we asked some of the many questions WSBers kindly sent in response to our request for suggested questions – many more than we could squeeze in, and we hope to get a chance to ask more later in the campaign. Meantime, we’ll share more from this interview later – just wanted to get out the park/trash answer, for starters.
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