Taking it to the streets
Not sure if this is the first time the Seattle City Council has gathered on Delridge — but it’s probably the loudest time. Members were at Delridge and Myrtle to officially unveil the Pedestrian Safety Initiative (details here; we’re checking for West Seattle specifics) that’s part of the $900 million-plus city budget proposal. Here’s our first video clip (1 more to come) from the start of the event this morning; local kids appear nearby, about a minute in:
Second clip features a local neighborhood activist hoping to get her voice heard:Read More
Bulletin: Ferry District plan passes
8-1 in favor (King County Councilmembers sitting as King County Ferry District), only no vote was Reagan Dunn. Missed part of the discussion so checking to see what changes if any were included in the approved plan, which is FD2007-06.1, with Title Amendment T. Lots of happy talk about transportation in King County now going “back to the future,” with a modern-day version of the fabled Mosquito Fleet. West Seattle’s Councilmember Dow Constantine talked about how the Mosquito Fleet was swept away by the automobile, but now, “those automobiles are sitting in gridlock and we don’t have a lot of choices about how to get from place to place” — this is a step toward more options; it includes demonstration routes elsewhere on Puget Sound and Lake Washington, in addition to the Elliott Bay Water Taxi and county operation of the Vashon-Seattle passenger ferry that the state has to give up. More details in a bit.
Ferry District hearing just adjourned
We monitored some of this afternoon’s King County Ferry District hearing on the water taxi and other proposed foot-ferry operations. 
The district board members, aka King County Council members, had just received the proposed operations plan/budget (which we are awaiting to pass on to you) — they have a lot of decisions to make, and the next meeting is Tuesday morning. One thing we were glad to hear — toward the end of the meeting, West Seattle’s KC Councilmember Dow Constantine talked about the excellent in-person turnout (we saw some known WSB readers at the podium!) and also the fact more than 50 people submitted “online testimony” — for which the specific link was created after a WSB reader asked about it. Way to go for public participation, and stand by for more details on the decisions to be made and how it will affect you, both in terms of transportation and taxation. 4:15 PM UPDATE: Here are those details, contained for starters in the County Executive’s “transmittal letter” (read the full text here) — we’re still reading through it ourselves, but one topline is the proposed funding plan (quoting from the document now): “a property tax levy of 5.5 cents per $1,000 of assessed value over ten years.”
Election night: Get the latest results
1:20 AM UPDATE: Yet another update from King County’s elections dept., which appears to be finally calling it quits for the night after one more vote update. Now 99% of precincts are counted, but of course thousands of votes mailed as late as Election Day will still be trickling in. According to the county site, the votes counted so far represent 25% of registered voters in King County. One shift in the latest count: Incumbent Alec Fisken is now behind Bill Bryant in the race for Seattle Port Commission Position 5.
11:55 PM UPDATE: Yet another new count is out in the past half-hour. The Seattle Port Commission results are worth watching, given West Seattle’s ties to port operations. Incumbent Bob Edwards is losing; incumbent Alec Fisken is barely ahead in a squeaker.
11 PM UPDATE: The second batch of King County votes is in. No changes on the races mentioned below. Steve Sundquist looks to be on his way in as West Seattle’s next school-board rep, still ahead of Maria Ramirez 60%-40%. And Roads & Transit Prop 1 is losing 44%-56% — back to the drawing board (again) for the people trying to work out transportation solutions. Next big transportation issue to be tackled here in King County, remember, is the Ferry District, which includes Water Taxi operation, with that major public hearing coming up Thursday.
9:40 PM UPDATE: If you are waiting breathlessly for the next round of updated vote counts — King County says it’s not planning to release that next round till about 10:30. (But you can keep checking the links below just to see if it happens sooner!) Other notes from the first round of results: The City Council turned out to have a couple interesting races. Venus Velazquez (who has WS ties) is well behind Bruce Harrell; David Della is losing in a big way to Tim Burgess. In the school board districts outside West Seattle, the incumbents who are behind, at least in the first round of returns, are Sally Soriano (who has WS ties) and Darlene Flynn.
8:20 PM UPDATE: First results are in. King County voters are going against Roads/Transit, 45-55%. Steve Sundquist leads Maria Ramirez for West Seattle’s school board seat, 60%-40% (and two incumbents are losing in other races). Incumbent Dow Constantine leads challenger John Potter for West Seattle’s King County Council seat, 75%-25%. Here are the direct links for the latest numbers in races of particular West Seattle interest:
Roads & Transit Proposition 1 and statewide ballot measures
King County Council including District 8 (West Seattle/Vashon Island)
Seattle School Board including District 6 (West/South Seattle)
Seattle Port Commission (two races)
Seattle City Council Positions 1, 3, 5 (including West Seattle’s Tom Rasmussen, who had no opponent)
Seattle City Council Positions 7 & 9
All other results from King County & its cities/districts
Not their last appearance after all
That’s the scene after the morning voter rush at Peace Lutheran @ 39th/Thistle, with poll worker Frank at right. Conventional wisdom among poll workers seems to be that this is probably not the very last in-person election after all — looks like they’ll be working the presidential primary in February — but most likely the last “big” election, if King County really gets mail-only voting in gear for November 2008, with President, Governor, and more on the ballot. (More info on today’s election is in this earlier post; you can check here for local results and West Seattle-specific notes once the counting begins @ 8 pm.)
Election Day: Transportation, education, taxation …
If you haven’t already voted by mail, you can vote in person (probably for the last time) 7 am-8 pm today. Here are links to the King County Voters’ Pamphlet, with details on what you’re deciding as well as arguments for/against: ballot measures here, candidates here, “video voters’ guide” here. Since there are five City Council races and two city Charter Amendments on the ballot as well, the city has its own voters guide for you (find it here). Here are a few more West Seattle specifics regarding today’s election, including exactly what Proposition 1 promises WS:Read More
Meet your new State House Representative
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Within the past hour, the King County Council confirmed Sharon Nelson a short time ago as State House Representative for the 34th District (West Seattle/Vashon Island). Rep. Nelson was appointed to the seat left open when Joe McDermott was confirmed as State Senator, succeeding Erik Poulsen, who resigned for a job in the private sector. Congratulations, Rep. Nelson! (Photo showing Rep. Nelson being sworn in by King County Superior Court Judge Mary Yu is courtesy of the Office of King County Councilmember Dow Constantine.)
34th Dems recommend Nelson to succeed McDermott
Just in from the 34th District Democrats‘ website: Sharon Nelson of Maury Island, chief of staff for West Seattle’s King County Councilmember Dow Constantine, was chosen tonight as the 34th DDs’ recommended choice for State Representative. (Photo at right, courtesy 34th DDs.) If the King County Council goes with the recommendation to appoint her, Nelson would succeed Joe McDermott, appointed to the State Senate last month after Erik Poulsen quit. Read more about Nelson here. The 34th DDs say the KC Council’s decision could come as soon as Monday.
Thursday night notes
DOG OWNERS, TAKE HEED: A post on the Westcrest Park Off-Leash Area Yahoo! group says Animal Control officers were at the park this week citing owners of license-less dogs. (The crackdown’s been under way citywide all year.)
BEACH DRIVE RESIDENTS ON ALERT: Beach Drive Blog shares a warning about car prowlers.
END OF AN ERA: We didn’t realize how sad we are going to be on Election Day until we saw the phrase in “print” in the online version of the newsletter for Fauntleroy Church, which plans a bake sale and bazaar for visiting voters (and others) that day and begins its pitch for volunteers this way: “For this last in-person election ever in King County …” BWAAAA! Seriously, we’re sad. We’ve voted in person every election, every place we’ve ever lived, since the very first elections for which we were eligible after turning 18, and as you have probably figured out by now, that wasn’t exactly yesterday. For some, trying to carve out time to get to “the polls” may have been a hassle, but for us we always found a way to make it a wonderful ritual and a time to remember how lucky we are. Sitting at the cluttered table marking up the ballot at our leisure just won’t be the same.
Tuesday tidbits, early afternoon edition
-After driving under the Fauntleroy overpass “Help 7-year-old Dylan fight leukemia!” banner again, we caught the phone number (and realized we originally posted the wrong name – surname on the banner is actually Redlinger). So we called that number last night to try to find out more; it was answered by a very generic voicemail/machine message. We left our contact info; no response yet.
-More on the lightning-speed condo conversion at the newly renamed West Water, south of Morgan Junction. Sarah e-mailed to say she saw a TV commercial for it, adding: “Thought it was interesting that they didn’t show any pictures of the condos themselves, but there sure were plenty of Alki and downtown!”
-One week till Election Day. You may well have voted already (if you vote in person, like us old traditionalists, this may be your last chance, we’ll see you at the polls). There’s been so much great election coverage all over other media sources lately that we haven’t had anything unique to add, but here’s one note we’ve been meaning to mention — if you are still trying to sort out where you stand on Proposition 1 (“Roads & Transit”), Chas Redmond pointed out the recent Sustainable West Seattle forum on Prop 1 is captured in a podcast (mp3 download) on the SWS site. One other election note – saveseattleschools.blogspot.com has an interesting West Seattle-specific observation on the School Board District 6 race. (Though the entire city votes on every School Board seat that’s on the ballot, whoever wins District 6 — Steve Sundquist or Maria Ramirez — will be “our” representative, replacing Irene Stewart, who decided not to run again.)
Sign vigilantes strike again – and, again, it’s legal
Not far from the epicenter of our recent discussions about the relative signlessness of the Fauntleroy overpass, arose this complaint e-mailed to us last night by Andrea about anti-campaign-sign vigilantism on the roadside itself:
It seems we have an anti-campaign sign thief on the WS Bridge (near Kids on Logs). This week I’ve noticed various signs – both D & R candidates – gone missing. My Democratic friends and I are supporting Dan Satterberg for King County Prosecutor and have been posting these signs. Twice now, they’ve been removed. For example, today around 4:00 there were many signs for Dan and some other school board candidates. At 6:30, all were removed and in a pile. Isn’t this illegal? I know many people think they are annoying, but I thought we lived in a free country where we can express ourselves.
Actually, research reminds us, it’s not illegal. According to city sign regulations, under the heading “Yard Signs Prohibited on Public Property,” city law “prohibits placement of campaign signs on all public property, includin but not limited to: medians, boulevards, parks or public golf courses, greenbelts, rights of way to arterials or freeways, bridges or overpasses or planting strips that abut public property, such as schools, public buildings, parks or public golf courses.” However, the regulations also say, “yard signs may be placed on … planting strips abutting private property, with the consent of the property occupant.” Lots more interesting reading, involving all types of “temporary signs” (not just political), here.
West Seattle’s new State Senator
Photos just in — courtesy of M. Thomas (thank you!) — from today’s swearing-in of West Seattle’s State Sen. Joe McDermott, after the King County Council (shown in the second photo) officially appointed him. (Top photo shows Sen. McDermott taking the oath of office with a former State Senator from West Seattle, Judge Mike Heavey.)
If you don’t know a lot about Sen. McDermott, check out his bio on the State House site. Among many other things, he formerly taught at South Seattle Community College; on a completely tangential note now, SSCC happens to be where the WSB video crew attended the Northwest Wine Academy release party this evening; clips and info coming up late tonight.
Monday evening miscellany
-Following up on the process of choosing a new State House Representative for West Seattle (and the rest of the 34th District), now that the King County Council has formally appointed ex-Rep. Joe McDermott to the State Senate: The 34th District Democrats now have the date, time, and place set for their meeting to make a recommendation: 7 pm November 1st, Hall at Fauntleroy. That will be eight days after their candidates’ forum.
-For everyone who helped out with the Prudential NW Realty food drive at three local supermarkets a week ago, Bill Barna sent the final numbers and a big thank you: 2,575 pounds of food donated, $1,805 cash donated. By the way, you can donate to the West Seattle Food Bank online any time here.
-If you happened to see the tv story about public sex at Westcrest Park, you may be interested in the Slog take on it today. (Also, we received a note from a WSB reader who has written to the city about the Westcrest situation twice and hasn’t even received a reply.)
-Speaking of Slog, our favorite citywide news blog, we are honored to have finished right on its heels in a contest we didn’t know was happening till a reader wrote to tell us WSB was among the winners – the Evening Magazine Best of Western Washington “Best Local Blog” category. WSB is the only neighborhood site, and the only not-owned-by-a-bigger-media-business site, on the BoWW list (along with Slog, which is run by The Stranger, the other winners were a blog by the Seattle Times and Citizen Rain, which is a production of KING5.com). If you were among those who voted, THANKS!
34th District Democrats’ leader drops State House bid
Last night, we mentioned the 34th District Democrats are supporting West Seattle’s State Rep. Joe McDermott for the appointment to succeed ex-State Sen. Erik Poulsen, and we mentioned there’s a big slate of candidates who would in turn be pursuing McDermott’s House job. This afternoon, one major name is off that slate: 34th DD chair Ivan Weiss. He explains why in this statement on the 34th DD website, in which he throws his support to Sharon Nelson, chief of staff to West Seattle’s King County Councilmember Dow Constantine. She (like Weiss) is from the less urban part of the 34th District, Vashon Island.
In more “other news”: Rep. McDermott recommended for Senate
After a meeting today, the 34th District Democrats are officially recommending that West Seattle’s State Rep. Joe McDermott (photo at left) be appointed to the State Senate seat just vacated by Erik Poulsen. Read all about it, including the latest list of candidates who in turn will seek appointment to McDermott’s House seat, at the 34th DDs’ site.
Rally tonight in The Junction
According to a MoveOn.org e-mail just forwarded to us by a reader (thank you!), the group is trying to organize rallies tonight to protest the presidential veto of children’s health-insurance expansion and to ask Congress to override it; one of those rallies is supposed to be in The Junction tonight @ 6 pm. 8:10 PM UPDATE: We drove by around 6:05; there were two small clusters of people on corners of Cali/Alaska, with a couple signs. A lot like the regular Sunday anti-war protests, though not quite that size.
Election countdown
The November 6th election is exactly six weeks away. 2007 is not as glamorous an election year as next one will be, with marquee offices like President and Governor on the ballot in ’08, but this one’s a bit of a sleeper, featuring ballot issues that could affect our community for years to come.
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we heard council members were coming to
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