April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month
On Monday April 9th the Seattle City Council and Mayor Durkan signed the Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) Proclamation. SAAM is an annual campaign to raise awareness about sexual assault and to educate communities on how to work towards a world free from sexual violence. While many regions have been organizing events addressing sexual violence since as early as the 1970’s, SAAM was first observed nationally in 2001.
On April 9th 2018 I had the opportunity to present the 2018 Sexual Assault Awareness Month Proclamation at the Full Council meeting of the Seattle City Council. In attendance to receive the proclamation were representatives from the Seattle’s Women’s Commission, the Coalition Ending Gender-Based Violence and the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center.
On April 25th the City of Seattle will observe “Denim Day.” Denim Day was founded after a ruling by the Italian Supreme Court where a rape conviction was overturned in part because the victim was wearing tight jeans. Denim Day is designed to draw attention to victim blaming and to allow all of us to take action to say that they is no excuse for sexual assault. I will share more details about this year’s Denim Day events as they become available.
Gap Stores Secure Scheduling Study
You may recall that in late 2016 I and Councilmember Gonzalez led the City Council to pass the Secure Scheduling Ordinance. This ordinance requires that businesses covered by the law must post work schedules 14 days in advance, must provide a written good faith estimate of hours, grants employees a 10 hour “right to rest” between closing and opening shifts, guarantees predictability pay for last minute scheduling changes as well as access to additional hours for existing employees before hiring new additional employees.
Recently a study from Gap retail stores has been released. This study began in 2015 with a small group of Gap stores in San Francisco, and was expanded to include a total of 28 stores between the San Francisco and Chicago metropolitan areas.
The study ran from November 2015 to August 2016, with 19 of the 28 stores being selected to the “treatment condition” and nine stores assigned to the control group. During the study all 28 stores required two-week advance notice for work schedules, and they eliminated the practice of on-call shifts.
With the study recently being released they found:
- Consistency, predictability, and worker input increased. The intervention produced significant, but modest increases in these three dimensions of schedule stability.
- Adequacy of work hours did not increase for most associates. Part-time Plus associates saw an increase in hours during the intervention period, but the average associate did not.
- Stable scheduling sharply increased median sales by 7% in treatment stores during the intervention period—a dramatic increase in an industry in which companies often work hard to achieve increases of 1-2%.
- Stable scheduling also significantly increased labor productivity by 5%. Treatment stores generated an additional $6.20 of revenue per hour of labor than did control stores.
- Fluctuating customer demand is not the primary source of instability. Only 30% of the variability in weekly payroll hours was explained by changes in traffic from week to week. Store managers identified three key sources of headquarter-driven instability: inaccuracies in shipment information, last-minute changes in promotions, and visits by corporate leaders.
The City of Seattle is also studying the impacts of its ordinance, with the baseline report recently released and heard in Councilmember Mosqueda’s committee last Thursday, you can view that here and watch the committee meeting here. As our study proceeds into the first year of evaluation I will continue to share the results with you.
It’s that time of year again. SPU’s annual Spring Clean event is here. From April through the end of May, Seattle Public Utilities, the Department of Neighborhoods, and the Seattle Department of Transportation are partnering with residents for the Spring Clean. Every year hundreds of residents cleaned-up litter and remove graffiti in their local neighborhoods. The City helps support these volunteers with FREE bags, gloves, safety vests, and waste disposal. All the projects are conducted on public property.
If you’re interested in getting involved you can call (206) 684-7647, or register online here.
Vote on South Park Transportation Safety Improvements
The Department of Neighborhoods has released a survey to help prioritize $500,000 in spending approved by the Council in the 2018 budget for transportation-related public safety improvements recommended by the South Park Public Safety Task Force.
You can take the survey here. The survey is also available in Spanish, and Vietnamese.
The survey has specific options, and cost estimates, for projects such as street lighting, and crosswalk upgrades.
United We Dream Mobile App: Notifica
As the Trump administration continues to increase its raids in our cities and states, organizers are getting more creative about how to protect and defend people from deportation. Last month, United We Dream launched a mobile phone app, Notifica, available in English and Spanish.
The app allows people to notify friends and family if they have an interaction with ICE. It’s intended to inform family members and legal advocates or other contacts, and begin organizing to stop the detention and deportation of that affected user.
Immigrants with access to legal representation are more likely to succeed in their cases, as noted in a 2016 study by the American Immigration Council. Last year the Council approved funding for legal representation through non-profits; here are links for those resources in the Seattle-King County Immigrant Legal Defense Network..
Here’s a link to a social media tool-kit, a flyer, and FAQs from United We Dream.
On April 27, I will be at the South Park Community Center (8319 8th Ave S) from 2:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Please be sure to arrive no later than 6:30 p.m., the final meeting of the day will begin at 6:30 p.m.
These hours are walk-in friendly, but if you would like to let me know you’re coming in advance you can email my scheduler Alex Clardy (alex.clardy@seattle.gov).
Additionally, here is a list of my tentatively scheduled office hours. These are subject to change.
Friday, May 25, 2018
Senior Center of West Seattle, 4217 SW Oregon St
Friday, June 15, 2018
South Park Community Center, 8319 8th Avenue S
Friday, July 27, 2018
Southwest Neighborhood Service Center, 2801 SW Thistle St
Friday, August 17, 2018
Senior Center of West Seattle, 4217 SW Oregon St
Friday, September 21, 2018
South Park Community Center, 8319 8th Avenue S
Friday, October 26, 2018
Southwest Neighborhood Service Center, 2801 SW Thistle St
Friday, December 14, 2018
South Park Community Center, 8319 8th Avenue S