The conversation will center on five questions:

1. How well do the City’s spending areas align with your priorities?
2. If you had to decide which City services to protect from a $1 million budget cut, what factors would you consider in making your decision?
3. Which City programs or services do you think are most appropriate for direct user fees and which are least appropriate?
4. For which City services, if any, would you be most willing to pay additional property taxes?
5. What does it mean to you to feel “heard” by your local government?

Next Monday’s meeting on May 21 will run from 6pm to 7:30 p.m. in the New Holly Gathering Hall, 7054 32nd Ave South.

These conversations offer the public a chance to learn the basics of our city’s budget and the challenging funding decisions that accompany it.

Rather than formal public hearings where community members advocate for specific programs, these budget conversations are informal. Attendees need not come prepared with detailed knowledge of the budget or City operations. The Council will hold its formal public hearings on the 2013 City budget and Capital Budget this fall, after the Mayor has delivered his budget to the Council.

I wrote about the City’s budget in this earlier post, reporting that 2011 ended with a projected $17 million balance – $12 million more than previously expected. $5 million of this is from revenue and $7 million is from under spending. Under City policies, half of the balance will go toward replenishing the Rainy Day Fund. The remaining $6 million will serve as a cushion for this year. There will be no mid-year reduction in the budget, a welcome relief from most recent years.

Question number 2, above, is relevant to many City departments and services. One that comes to mind due to the $1 million figure is the Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, which falls under the Council committee I chair. That office represents less than half of one percent of the City’s operational budget. A few years ago, the Council created a funding mechanism intended to remove it from the general fund balance by directing 75% of admissions tax revenue to fund the office. This revenue is generated mostly by cultural events, such as sports games, movies and music concerts. The arts office’s budget automatically increases or decreases in response to the amount of culture-related taxes generated, allowing it to fund Seattle non-profit artists and cultural organizations accordingly. Last year, the Mayor re-directed about $1 million away from the arts office to fund Parks Department arts programs and their Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center. The Council expects that funding to be returned to the arts office next year.

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During the first week of December 2011, I wrote Urban Politics # 316 saying that I, like Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat, was outraged that people had to pay bills of $800 to get their cars back from Seattle towing companies. State law doesn’t limit what towing companies can charge to impound cars off private property, so I decided to see if the City could set a limit.

I and other Councilmembers asked the City Attorney’s Office if they believed Seattle could place limits on what towing companies charge. They indicated that Seattle should be able to regulate tow company rates from private property (the city contracts for tows off city streets after soliciting bids, thereby setting rates).

An interdepartmental team began work on this, involving Fleets and Administrative Services, and staff from the Mayor and Council.

STATE LEGISLATIVE SESSION

The state legislature began meeting at the start of 2012, and regulation of what towing companies can charge for impounds off private property was on the agenda. The first draft of a bill was introduced on January 12, so Seattle’s efforts shifted to the state legislature.

 Bills proposed in the House and Senate originally would have preempted Seattle or other cities from setting local limits, and set limits higher than Seattle wanted. The House passed a bill introduced and amended by Representative Pollet that set a cap, but allowed cities to set a lower cap. The Senate bill would have preempted any local regulation, but didn’t come up for a floor vote.

The state legislature then met in two special sessions in April, but took no further action on the bill.

OUTREACH TO TOWING INDUSTRY

This cleared the way for Seattle to take up consideration of a bill. However, the State retains the ability to preempt any local law, so it is important to proceed with care. Seattle’s lobbying in the state legislature emphasized that for any Seattle law, there would be outreach to the towing industry to seek their input. It’s thus important to establish a clear record of seeking collaboration with the industry.

Mayor McGinn sent a letter to towing industry groups recently seeking their collaboration and meetings are scheduled to begin next week that I plan to monitor or attend. Earlier requests for information during the state session didn’t receive a response from towing companies, making it difficult to determine a reasonable fee.

Frustrated in trying to move legislation forward, I let the Mayor know that if he could not reach an agreement by the beginning of July with the towing industry, I intend to introduce legislation regulating the industry. I hope the towing industry will participate, and assist in developing a reasonable consumer protection law. Most companies don’t charge the kind of excessive rates that have received so much publicity; a towing regulatory law would reign in the bad actors.

I will look forward to finally seeing legislation introduced in July that can provide reasonable towing fees in Seattle.

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You may remember that in March, I proposed a program that would require inspection of properties that have been the subject of serious complaints first and then inspecting Seattle’s 42,000 rental properties, slowly over a period of ten years.

Today the Councilmembers in attendance (myself along with Councilmembers Bagshaw, Godden, and Clark) agreed that given that we don’t know exactly how much rental housing is in poor shape, the best way to improve the condition of unsafe housing is to knit together an approach of a. making safe the housing that we know now is not safe and b. inspecting – over the next ten years – the rest of the rental housing in order to gather better information.  After we know more about the condition of all Seattle’s rental housing, we will evaluate the program and determine a schedule for future inspections.

The legislation we will consider next will be drafted with these elements as well as a number of others important to the Councilmembers I’ve been working closely with to develop this program.  Here are just a few of those elements:

1. In the year prior to the implementation of the program, DPD must engage in a multi-language outreach and education for tenants, landlords, and property managers.
2. In the first three years of the program, require landlords to complete a self-declaration that they comply with minimum safety conditions for each unit at their property.  These self-declarations will be submitted when landlords register their properties with the city and renewal will be required every 5 years.
3. DPD will require that landlords with properties that have multiple serious complaints to get an inspection before they are allowed to register their property.
4. DPD will expand its use of civil warrant authority when a 3^rdparty complains about the interior or exterior conditions of a rental property, as long as the conditions meet the legal threshold required by civil warrant authority.
5. Starting in second year, dedicate trained private inspectors to perform random compliance inspections.  Allow inspector flexibility on percentage of units to inspect in multi-unit buildings, but maintain a minimum floor of 15% of the units in multi-unit buildings.  Properties less than 5 years old, owner occupied, or that are otherwise inspected under existing public subsidy programs would be exempt.
6. Require property-owners to maintain inspection records to enable the City to conduct audit of inspection quality.
7. Create a team that includes tenants, landlords, advocates to – on an on-going basis – act in an advisory role in implementation and evaluation.

I have great hopes for the positive impact of the public policy we are shaping today for renters living in substandard.  In LA (because the complaint-based inspection system didn’t work there either), in 1998 they adopted the Systematic Code Enforcement Program (SCEP). SCEP inspects all multi-family residential properties in the City on a 4-year cycle–approximately 185,000 units annually.  The program received the Ash Institute Award from the Kennedy School: and resulted in a $1.3 billion re-investment in the City’s rental housing stock.  On average, this program costs tenants in LA less than $13 year.

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Back in 2008, I wrote about an arts education bill (UP #264) I was pursuing in our state legislature. The bill would have redirected lottery proceeds dedicated to paying baseball stadium bonds to a state-wide School Arts Program once the bonds were retired. The Washington State Arts Commission would have created a School Arts Program Committee and a competitive grant process to support arts-infused curriculum, programs, and projects in public schools. Unfortunately, over the three years it came up for a vote, it failed to pass.

Some of you may be wondering why I pursued that bill and why the Obama Administration is spending $14 million to inject the arts into education. For one, the arts are designated as a core subject area in Washington State schools, yet funding for arts instruction lags far behind that of other core subjects.

Our state’s schools may have made arts a core subject in part due to research such as a 1998 finding by Shirley Brice Heath of Stanford University, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Americans for the Arts. It found among other things that young people who regularly participate in the arts are four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement.

But, I don’t believe test scores alone can determine a student’s success in life. “Stringent standardized testing requirements have forced schools and teachers to obsess over test scores at the cost of teaching critical thinking and creativity. The very nature of standardized testing is that new ideas are punished,” says Diane Ravitch in the Studio 360 article. She’s the author of The Life and Death of the Great American School System and served in the Department of Education in both the George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations.

She adds “If we have a generation of kids who can’t think for themselves, our whole country is in trouble. Nations that have the highest test scores have the lowest creativity scores. The more we raise our test scores, the more we sacrifice creativity.”

The solution, Ravitch believes, is not more federal dollars. Support needs to come from local and state government, which must consider music and visual arts as valuable as reading and math, that the arts are just as important in schools as are basic subjects — that art actually is a basic subject.

We are fortunate that in Seattle schools, the arts are a basic subject. However, among the applicants for Families and Education Levy (FEL) 2012-2013 funding, no arts educators qualified. The City’s Office for Education (OFE) has now pledged to reach out to those who didn’t qualify through a series of workshops intended to produce qualifying applicants for 2013-2014 funding.

OFE will  hold four workshops: a full day on Monday, June 25^th; a half day on Tuesday, June 26^th; a full day on Wednesday, August 1^st; and a half day on Thursday, August 2^nd. For the June 26^th & August 2^nd workshops, OFE staff will meet with any arts education group requesting a one-on-one consultation. The workshops will present the Seattle School District’s general educational data and describe how FEL uses that data. School District staff will also be on hand to answer questions and to provide one-on-one instruction. Details on the workshops have yet to be published, so keep an eye on OFE’s web site for information on the location and times.

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On Monday May 7, the City Council will vote to refer a resolution I am co-sponsoring in support of an amendment to the United States Constitution to regulate corporate political spending and campaign financing.

The resolution comes as part of a national campaign to overturn the Citizens United ruling by the United States Supreme Court, spearheaded locally by Washington Public Campaigns, a group I’ve been in touch with since late 2011 about this issue. Groups such as United Republic are organizing nationally, seeking to gather momentum for this necessary change. Councilmember Conlin is the lead sponsor of the resolution.

A full council vote is scheduled for Monday, May 14.

In 2010 the Supreme Court ruled that corporations have the same rights as persons to unrestricted spending on political speech, and overturned parts of the federal 2002 Campaign Reform Act a majority of the Supreme Court interpreted the First Amendment of the Constitution to afford corporations the same free speech protections as persons.

This has allowed for unlimited corporate spending to influence campaigns, elections, lawmaking, and public policy decisions. The Court’s decision severely restricts the ability of federal, state and local governments like Seattle to enact reasonable campaign finance reforms and regulations regarding corporate political activity.

Several proposed amendments to the Constitution have recently been introduced in Congress that would allow governments to regulate the raising and spending of money by corporations to influence elections.

The Seattle resolution notes that the people of the United States have previously used the constitutional amendment process to correct decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court that are widely deemed to be egregious or wrongly decided or significantly out-of-step with the prevailing values of the populace, and resolves that:

the City of Seattle calls on the United States Congress to initiate steps to amend the United States Constitution with provisions that clearly state that:

(1)  Corporations are not human beings, and only human beings are endowed with Constitutional rights.

(2)  Contributions and expenditures for political purposes are not Constitutionally-protected speech, and that, therefore regulating political contributions and spending is not equivalent to limiting political speech.

(3)  Congress and the States shall have the power to regulate contributions and expenditures for campaigns and ballot measures, and to require public disclosure of the sources of such contributions and expenditures.

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I am happy to report that the Human Services Department (HSD) has made strong progress in supporting the Council’s effort to shelter all families this year.  To date, $250,000 of the $435,000 has been allocated to providers and contracts are expected to exceed the minimum number of families estimated to be served.

• YWCA has received $40,000 to serve more families in the Late Night Program and $30,000 to expand the program to day service referrals.  This program provides emergency vouchers with case management services to help families move off the streets.
• Solid Ground, El Centro de La Raza and Wellspring has received $150,000 for the Rapid Re-housing Program serving families.  These funds are for case management services and/or direct housing assistance including rent payments, move-in costs, security or utility deposits, payment of past due rent and/or utility payments.
• Compass Housing Alliance has received $20,000 for case management services and $10,000 for capital project needs associated with the Safe Parking Pilot Program, which will allow a small number of people to live in their vehicles in a church parking lot.

Another $185,000 will also be available soon.  HSD announced recently that it is seeking to use this portion of the Council funds to: 1. Support organizations to increase their community’s capacity to provide shelter for homeless families and 2. Support another agency with the ability to expanding shelter capacity immediately.

HSD will report to the Council by June 30 “concerning the number of families served by the funding added by the Council and whether there is further need for additional assistance for homeless families.”  In addition, I’ll be hosting a Guaranteeing Every Family Shelter Summit in July that focuses on further steps needed to assure that no families are sleeping on the streets in Seattle in 2013.

On a related note, here is a video from the art exhibit I wrote about last month, Looking Into Light – Documenting Family Homelessness in America, brought to us by the Seattle University Project on Family Homelessness.  The picture above is from that exhibit.  It’s short; I hope you can take a moment to watch it.

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Queue up your questions for the Seattle City Council
Councilmembers Burgess, Licata and O'Brien to appear on
May's City Inside/Out: Council Edition

SEATTLE – Take a moment to ask your questions of City Councilmembers. What should be the top priority for Seattle Public Schools new superintendent? What's the City doing to prepare for the upcoming plastic bag ban? How can residents get involved in this year's budget process? Whatever your questions, submit them now.

The May 8 episode of Seattle Channel's City Inside/Out: Council Edition will feature Councilmembers Tim Burgess, Nick Licata and Mike O'Brien answering your questions with host Brian Callanan.

Submit your questions for the Councilmembers by noon, Friday, May 4.

• Email: contact@seattlechannel.org
• Online: http://www.seattlechannel.org/CouncilEdition/
• Twitter: @SeattleChannel
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SeattleChannel

Don't miss this opportunity to put your issues before the City's lawmakers. Send in your questions now and tune in to Seattle Channel, Cable 21, 7:30 p.m., Tuesday,
May 8 to hear the Councilmembers respond.

Follow SEATTLE CHANNEL on Facebook and Twitter!

Seattle City Council meetings are cablecast and Webcast live on Seattle Channel 21 and on the City Council's website. Copies of legislation, Council meeting calendar, and archives of news releases can be found on the City Council website. Follow the Council on Twitter and on Facebook.

TK Lofts

Join me and Mayor Mike McGinn this Thursday, May 3^rd, for a 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. lunch hour brown-bag presentation on arts and cultural space development initiatives for Seattle. It will be held in the Bertha Knight Landes Room at City Hall. The Mayor and I will provide opening remarks.

Presented by the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs (OACA) and the Seattle Arts Commission (SAC), the presentation will include findings and recommendations from last December’s two-day event Cultural Space Seattle, which focused on shaping policies to keep and create affordable space for local artists and arts organizations. Updates will also be presented on the Artist Space Assistance Program, a pilot program coordinated by Shunpike to provide relocation and placement services for artists and arts organizations, and on Storefronts Seattle, a program for artists to create artwork for vacant storefronts.

Former artist haven 619 Western

Square Feet Seattle, a guide to acquiring cultural space, will also be presented. Square Feet Seattle is an update to a publication my office sponsored ten years ago titled Space for Artists 2002, which offered artists a wide variety of information on how to seek out space for artistic uses at that time.

In 2008, I sponsored along with Councilmember Sally Clark the work of an advisory group called the Cultural Overlay District Advisory Committee. In 2009, they delivered to the Mayor and City Council six recommendations acknowledged through Council resolution number 31155. I continue to work with my colleagues and the Mayor to implementing their recommendations.

Another of many former artists havens: The Washington Shoe Bldg

At Thursday’s brown-bag, OACA will also provide information on its new Cultural Facilities Program, which will award one-time funding for renovations and repairs of arts and cultural facilities. Applications open in mid May and are due June 20. The program was made possible through City Council funding I sponsored last year. Along with that legislation, I asked OACA to report to Council this summer on plans for making the program an annual one, rather than one-time. I think it’s time the City joins the County and the State in having a formal program that can respond to capital funding requests received each year from arts and cultural organizations.

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"Magic Carpet" free ride area, 1975 (Seattle Municipal Archives)

The Ride Fee Area was established in 1973 as a partnership between Metro and the City of Seattle. It was originally called the “Magic Carpet” ride free area (see photo).

The end of the Free Ride Area creates a challenge for people with little or no income, who use the Free Ride Area to access service such as healthcare and food banks. Some of these services are located in part due to the existence of the Free Ride Area. Seattle and King County are working with human services agencies on how best to address these needs.

I wrote King County with a request that they support providing a free shuttle service in the core of Downtown Seattle with stops near important local service areas.

I noted that eliminating the Ride Free Area will affect those with few resources, and could place an additional burden on human services providers. I encouraged support for a free shuttle service in the core of Downtown Seattle with stops near important local service areas, including Harborview Medical Center, and a 20-minute operation schedule.

Additional background information on the Ride Free Area, and the Congestion Relief Fee, is listed below.

In 2011, the King County Council passed legislation to implement a $20 vehicle license fee for two years, referred to as the Congestion Relief charge. This allowed King County Metro to avoid cutting 17% of bus service in King County. However, the authorizing legislation passed by the state legislature required a 2/3 majority vote for the Council to pass the fee. Consequently, in order to pass, a deal was required to eliminate the Free Ride Zone. Seattle was paying $400,000 for the cost of the operations, below King County Metro’s $2.2 million operating cost.

On a broader level, the Congestion Relief charge was authorized for two years, until the end of 2013, so unless the state legislature takes action in 2013, the prospect of deep cuts still exists. I supported finding a permanent solution in the state legislature this session, but efforts were unsuccessful.

Click here for information on changes to riding buses downtown such as a changeover to a pay-on-entry system at all times. Metro will ask passengers to enter through the front door and exit via the rear door, to reduce the amount of time buses spend at each stop.

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This afternoon, in my Housing, Human Services, Health, and Culture Committee, I hosted a roundtable discussion with representatives from two landlord trade organizations – the Rental Housing Association (RHA) and the Washington Multi-Familiy Housing Association (WMFHA), Seattle King County Public Health, Columbia Legal Services, the Associated Students of the University of Washington, and another landlord with a unique perspective on rental housing inspections.

We started off reviewing the many points of agreement.  The major point that the Council has yet to determine is if your program goals are to a. get better information on numbers of illegal and substandard rental properties and b. have fewer Seattle residents live in substandard housing and c. have a self-sustaining, revenue-neutral program, how many rental properties should be subject to interior inspection?   Today was a good opportunity to hear the proposal of the 2 major landlord trade associations and the response of the other stakeholders to that proposal.  RHA and WMFHA propose inspecting a random 5% of units every year and believe that this will be sufficient to ensure that most landlords do not rent units with health and safety violations.   This may be true.  But it’s already true that most landlords do not rent units with health and safety violations.  I support a program that finds as many of the unsafe units as we can, so we can make those units safe for the families living in them.

If you’d like to watch the meeting, you can catch it here, and starting watching about 46 minutes in.

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Saturday was the first day of six-months celebrating the 50th anniversary of the World’s Fair hosted by Seattle Center in 1962. The Century 21 Exposition drew 10 million visitors, ended in the black and grew to be the regional hub for arts and culture that we know today. Click here for the Center’s schedule of celebratory events.

I didn’t attend the opening so I can’t talk of going on the Magic Mouse or riding the Bubbleator. However, my fondest memory to date of Seattle Center is when it was the site of Seattle’s longest running 24-hour dance marathon: Give Peace a Dance.

Mike Baker and I helped launch the annual dance marathon in 1983. That summer, over one million people demonstrated in New York City’s Central Park against nuclear weapons – the largest anti-nuclear protest and political demonstration in American history.

Give Peace a Dance attracted over a thousand people each year and went on till 1989. We had people form dance teams and they competed to raise the most money per team for the purpose of supporting the nuclear freeze movement and opposing nuclear proliferation. Between fifty and eighty thousand dollars was raised each year to create and air ads on prime time TV. One even received a national media award.

We didn’t start off dancing though. We started off running. The year before the dance marathon, we had formed Legs Against Arms and held a 10k run fundraiser for the same purpose. Check out our 1982 Legs Against Arms press release. The following year we decided dancing would be a lot more fun than running and began Give Peace a Dance.

Local graphic artist Art Chantry designed a couple of our posters, including the one above, which is now in New York’s MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) collection.

In 1986, there were over 70,000 nuclear weapons world-wide. This year, there are less than 20,000*.  I like to think that our dancing contributed to the decline. And Seattle Center gets credit for making it possible.

Let me know if you participated in Legs Against Arms or Give Peace a Dance – and if you’re still kicking up some dust.

* Federation of American Scientists

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Seawall in 1917 at Columbia Street (Seattle Municipal Archives)

Under the terms of the City- State agreement to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct, Seattle is responsible for replacing the nearly 100-year old seawall. The bored tunnel to replace the viaduct is planned for early 2016, and the seawall must be completed on the same timeline, and before the Viaduct can come down.

On Monday the Council will consider Resolution 31731, which lays out a process for determining the final amount for a bond measure on the November ballot. The work would be completed by July 2. Included is a review the City’s overall financial capacity, what other funding could be available, remaining risks in estimated project costs, environmental permitting, and construction approaches. The resolution calls for a June public hearing, and a review of a bond measure in the context of the City’s debt capacity limits and other capital priorities.

Seattle Municipal Archives

The most recent cost estimate, at 35% design, is $325 million. The King County Flood Control District has committed $30 million, and the City has spent funds on design. An estimated $178 million would go toward soil stabilization, needed to stabilize the portion of the waterfront adjacent to Puget Sound.

Because Seattle is responsible for funding replacement of the seawall, if a ballot measure does not pass, then seawall replacement would need to be funded through general government revenues, which would require a reduction in other services.

The Presentation on Elliott Bay Seawall on Monday’s agenda has additional information.

The seawall has two portions. The first portion, needed for Viaduct replacement, is planned for City funding. Federal funding is targeted for the second portion, in the north end of Downtown.

In March, when I was in Washington, DC I met with senator Cantwell, and staff from Senator Murray’s office, and emphasized the importance of federal involvement in funding the second phase. This city/federal split in funding would be in line with usual local/federal division for funding seawall projects.

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Special Committee to discuss Seawall

SEATTLE – The Seattle City Council’s Special Committee on the Central Waterfront, Seawall and Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Program will meet after Full Council on Monday, April 23. 

The Committee will discuss public safety and protection of the Central Waterfront, the downtown business district, transportation and public infrastructure, a possible bond measure to replace the Elliot Bay Seawall and the Seawall design, schedule, cost estimates and next steps.

WHEN:
Monday, April 23, 2012, following Full Council
(approximately 2:30 p.m.)

WHERE:
Council Chambers, Seattle City Hall
600 Fourth Ave, Second floor, Seattle 98104

View the committee agenda here.

Seattle City Council meetings are cablecast and Webcast live on Seattle Channel 21 and on the City Council's website. Copies of legislation, Council meeting calendar, and archives of news releases can be found on the City Council website. Follow the Council on Twitter and on Facebook.

Give Peace a Dance, A 24-Hour Dance Marathon

Give Peace a Dance, A 24-Hour Dance Marathon by Art Chantry

Image via Hammers Photos’ Photostream on Flickr

Starting the morning out on Alki is always a great beginning to the day.  This morning I got the chance because the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce held their Westside Annual Awards at Salty’s Skyline Room – with its always panoramic, if sometimes misty, view of downtown.

The West Seattle Chamber of Commerce has served as the leading business association for 82 years.  The theme of today’s awards program was: “Building the West Seattle Economy and Promoting Community.”

In keeping with “Building the Economy” part of this theme, land use economist Matt Gardner of Gardner Economics gave the keynote address.  Gardner told the 120 attendees that we are out of the recession and though we are coming back slowly, the worst is behind us.  Specific to the West Coast Metro Area, Gardner reported that Seattle is tied with Phoenix for having the strongest recovery, largely due to the primary drivers of our local economy, or the “five B’s,”– Boeing, biotech, benefactors, bytes, and batteries.  During the Q&A, I asked why the condominium market seems to be failing.  He responded that 20 percent of young adults live with their parents (this March 2012 Christian Science Monitor article says 30%).  Many do so because they can’t get mortgages and others, even if they could, don’t feel it makes financial sense for them to buy.   Gardner’s remarks are reported on by the West Seattle Blog, see here for the complete story.

Several Awards were given, including “Business of the Year,” “Emerging Business of the Year,” and “Non-Profit of the Year.”  The award I think that best exemplified the “Promoting Community” theme of the day was the award “WestSider of the Year,” given to tireless civic leader, Pete Spalding.  Although Pete is active on the Board of the West Seattle Food Bank and the Pigeon Point Neighborhood Council, I know Pete best for his work with the Southwest Precinct Advisory Council.  I worked with Pete in 2005 when I was Chair of the Council`s Public Safety, Civil Rights & Arts Committee and Pete participated in a Neighborhood Crime Summit that I organized.  The standing-room only Summit included presentations from each city precinct, highlighting crime statistics, staffing levels, and methods used by each precinct captain to make deployment decisions. As he always does, Pete represented the Southwest Precinct well in sharing his experiences and thoughts on how Seattle can become a safer community.  If you really want a blast from the past, see Pete in 2005 here and start watching at about 227 minutes into the video.

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By Seattle City Councilmember Nick Licata

SOCIAL MEDIA AND URBAN POLITICS

I wonder how many of you remember receiving my first e-newsletter, Urban Politics (UP) #01, back in 1996? It addressed transferring the Freeway Park garage to the Washington State Convention and Trade Center. In 1996, one would start their modem, wait 30 seconds to log on, check email, perhaps spend a few minutes chatting with an AOL buddy. One could browse, but there was no YouTube, Huffington Post or Wikipedia. There was no FaceBook, Twitter or Google Search to browse to. There was no such thing as a blog.

16 years later, I still email UP to my subscribers. In a world of 140 character limits and shortening attention spans, UP continues to provide readers a more in-depth analysis on timely public policy issues than other mediums tend to offer.

I have recently expanded UP to include social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and my City Council blog. As a compliment to my more comprehensive UP emails, I now post short informational items and announcements to my City Council UP blog, to Facebook and to Twitter. Each has a specific function.

My UP blog allows for photos, embedded videos and web links leading to additional information and resources related to the topic of the entry. In order to keep in touch with my blog, one needs to subscribe via an RSS feed (really simple syndication. see below). RSS feeds send notifications to a subscriber’s web browser. When one clicks on the notification, it redirects the browser to the source of the feed, in this case my blog. Facebook requires a free membership for access and reaches a much broader audience than does my blog. There, I post both links to my blog as well as short informational items and announcements. Twitter serves a similar function as does Facebook, although it only allows for 140-character-or-less posts, offering abbreviated links to posts exceeding that number.

Some of my recent UP blog postings that may interest you address the anti-poverty initiative called ONE, the City’s Transit Master Plan, trends in King County health inequities and a recent Film Forum film screening at one of my committee meetings.

While I will continue to email UP newsletters, I invite you to consider subscribing to my UP blog, liking me on Facebook and following me on Twitter. That way, you won’t miss postings there that I don’t address in the email version of UP. Instructions on how to do so are below.

Thanks!

COUNCIL MEMBERS & MAYOR’S EMAIL ADDRESSES

Sally.Bagshaw@seattle.gov

Tim.Burgess@seattle.gov

Sally.Clark@seattle.gov

Richard.Conlin@seattle.gov

Jean.Godden@seattle.gov

Bruce.Harrell@seattle.gov

Nick.Licata@seattle.gov

Mike.OBrien@seattle.gov

Tom.Rasmussen@seattle.gov

Citizens are directed to the following website to complete a form to send an email to the Mayor’s Office. http://www.cityofseattle.net/mayor/citizen_response.htm

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ONE, cofounded by the musician Bono, is a nonpartisan grassroots advocacy organization that works primarily in Africa with African activists and policy makers to fight extreme poverty and preventable disease. It does so by raising public awareness and pressuring political leaders to support smart and effective policies and programs that save lives, help put kids in school and improve their futures.

Ahead of the G8 Summit meeting next month at Camp David, Maryland, ONE is sending this video message to President Obama and other world leaders that US foreign aid investments are working and that extreme poverty needs to remain on the global agenda.

An example of applying foreign aid smartly can be seen in Africa’s cowpea industry. Africa produces 70 percent of the world’s cowpeas (black-eyed peas in the US). But, every year up to 50 percent of this crop is lost to insects. The solution? Three-bag storage, where crop is placed in a single three-bag thick container triple tied and sealed air-tight. This creates an inhospitable environment for pests and allows cowpeas to be stored pest-free for up to a year while avoiding the use of harmful pesticides usually employed to fight insects.

Called the Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage (PICS) project, this solution is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Purdue University. PICS ensures the bags are created by local manufacturers, bought by local distributors, sold to local vendors, who then sell to the farmers. PICS supports vendors primarily through media and advertisements so local farmers know where to purchase the bags.

Also contributing to the video are Mayor Mike McGinn; UW President Michael Young; Councilmember Richard Conlin; Seattle Legislative Aide Sahar Fathi; Derek Sciba of World Concern; Dean of the UW School of Public Health Dr. Howard Frumkin; and James Pedrick of World Vision.

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The Transit Master Plan is intended to guide SDOT for the next 10-20 years.

The legislation the Council will consider requires SDOT to provide annual status updates, and that the plan will be updated every five years.

The Transportation Committee, chaired by Councilmember Rasmussen, added a section requiring that SDOT keep the Council appraised of efforts involving the prioritization, planning, design and development of high-capacity projects.

The plan lists six priority strategies:

1. Continue Implementation of Priority Bus Corridors
2. Develop Center City Transit to Support Downtown Growth and Vitality
3. Plan, Fund, and Build Priority High Capacity Transit Projects
4. Enhance Walk-Bike-Ride Access where Needs are Greatest
5. Improve Transit Legibility
6. Pursue Funding to Enhance Transit Service and Facilities

Additional background information is available on SDOT’s Transit Master Plan website.

Implementation would require extensive cooperation with outside agencies, as King County Metro operates bus service, and Sound Transit operates light rail and regional bus routes. The state legislature would need to authorize any additional funding mechanisms.

Watch Seattle City Councilmembers share their
favorite Seattle Center memories

SEATTLE - In anticipation of the Seattle Center's Next Fifty celebration kick-off on Saturday, April 21, Seattle City Councilmembers sat down to share their favorite Seattle Center memories. Tune in to our Council Connection blog over the next week as they share their stories.

What:
Seattle City Councilmembers share their Seattle Center memories

When:
Morning and afternoon blog postings, April 16-20, 2012

Where:
Council Connection Blog at http://council.seattle.gov/
Subscribe to the RSS feed at http://council.seattle.gov/feed/

For more information on the Seattle Center's Next Fifty celebration, including the schedule of events, visit http://seattlecenter.com/news/detail.aspx?id=1719.

Seattle City Council meetings are cablecast and Webcast live on Seattle Channel 21 and on the City Council's website. Copies of legislation, Council meeting calendar, and archives of news releases can be found on the City Council website. Follow the Council on Twitter and on Facebook.

• In most countries there is a link between health and economic well-being, yet the U.S. is falling behind despite spending a lot more per capita on health than any other country.  Of 34 countries, the US ranks 27^th on life expectancy (i.e., 8^th from the bottom).
• The good news is that if King County were a country, it would rank 7^thout of 34 on  that same list.
• The bad news for King County is that in 7 of 10 measures of economic and health risk (e.g. poverty, smoking, and obesity), King County ranks among the top 5 of 15 largest counties in the US in greatest disparities by race.
•  Two reasons for this disparity in King County is that a. more affluent residents are increasing their physical separation from lower income residents and b. the communities in which one can afford to live have different features that contribute to health.  For instance, in South Seattle there are two fast food restaurants and two tobacco stores for every 1,000 residents, while in Woodinville there is one fast food restaurant and one tobacco store for every 2,000 residents.
• Of the successes in improved health for King County residents resulting from public health programs, on average, people of color, lower income and lower educational attainment often don’t release equal health outcomes.

Economic development and policy changes are tools policymakers need to use to improve health.  But an important point that Dr. Fleming drove home is that while it’s true that we have an opportunity in King County to make a difference, in order to do so, we really need to do things differently.

Data are available on Public Health’s Community Health Indicators website (http://www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/data/chi2009.aspx).

Library leaders and city officials join together in support of levy for The Seattle Public Library

Seattle Public Library Board President Marie McCaffrey, City Librarian Marcellus Turner, Mayor Mike McGinn and City Councilmember Richard Conlin announced support for a Library levy to restore cuts and improve core services at a noon press conference at Seattle's Central Library. City officials and Library leaders were joined by scores of Library patrons at the event.

The Library levy would fund increased Library hours, build the collection of books and materials, enhance computers and online services and improve building maintenance. The plan grew out of a two-year process that involved comments from more than 39,000 residents through public meetings, open houses, surveys, focus groups and forums. There were more than 14 million visits to The Seattle Public Library last year and over 11 million books and materials circulated.

The City Council is expected to vote on legislation that would authorize an Aug. 7, 2012, ballot for a Library levy at 2:30 p.m. today.

The seven-year Library levy of $17 million annually would stabilize the Library budget after four years of cuts that have eroded services. The Library has been closed for one week each year since 2009, 15 of 26 branches are closed two days a week, and the budget to buy books and other items has been cut by more than 13 percent since 2009. The levy would also provide an estimated $5 million to address anticipated cuts in 2013. The Library would continue to rely on the city's general fund for the majority of its budget. At about 15 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, the levy would cost the median homeowner approximately $52 a year.

"We owe a huge thank you not only to the mayor and council for their collaboration and support, but also to the people of Seattle who helped shape the plan over the past two years," said McCaffrey. "This is an important step toward completing the vision of the 1998 'Libraries for All' bond measure, which resulted in new and improved libraries across the city."

McGinn said people depend on libraries for access to information and resources they need to succeed. "Libraries are the great equalizers for people of all ages," he said. "A strong Library system contributes to the economic, educational and cultural vitality of our city." He noted that libraries are key partners in supporting his initiatives for youth and families and to bolster civic engagement. "Libraries support our residents looking for work, students needing homework assistance, and people who cannot afford a computer," he said. "Our libraries are educational centers in every community and gathering places for neighborhood meetings and activities."

Conlin initiated a study of alternative funding options for the Library in 2010 after recognizing the city's fiscal challenges and declining tax revenues were affecting services. A levy package grew out of that effort.

"At the City Council's April 3 public hearing, Library patrons spoke to how they have been impacted by the cuts and how critical it was that our libraries be open with the resources and assistance they need," Conlin said. "Libraries are particularly important in challenging economic times and it just doesn't make sense to cut services when people need them the most."

City Librarian Marcellus Turner said the plan was built to reflect the priorities of the community. "Libraries are the city's classrooms for both individuals and the community," he said. "The Library levy will help ensure we can provide essential Library services now and for the next generation of users." 

Ninety-one-year-old Eleanor Owen and local mystery writer Kathrine Beck also spoke about how the Library has helped them, and their families and friends, throughout their lives.

For more information, visit www.spl.org and select "Libraries for All: A Plan for the Present, A Foundation for the Future," or call 206-386-4636.

For more information contact: Andra Addison, communications director, 206-386-4103

Seattle City Council meetings are cablecast and Webcast live on Seattle Channel 21 and on the City Council's website. Copies of legislation, Council meeting calendar, and archives of news releases can be found on the City Council website. Follow the Council on Twitter and on Facebook.

While the first of my two monthly City Council committee meetings is dedicated to Words’ Worth, my second meeting features film. I call it Film Forum. I started Film Forum and Words’ Worth because I feel it’s important to remind ourselves of the connections between art and other aspects of our everyday lives…such as government. Since Film Forum’s debut in the summer of 2010, Adam Sekuler, program director for the Northwest Film Forum located in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, has served as the program’s curator.

Adam’s first selection in 2010 was Seattle animator Webster Crowell’s Last Call. The film utilizes recordings of street sounds generated near bars after closing time as the sound track for these hilarious stop-frame animations. His most recent screening was the Oscar winner Undefeated, by Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin. Set against the backdrop of a high school football season, this Academy Award winning documentary is an intimate chronicle of three underprivileged student-athletes from inner-city Memphis and the volunteer coach trying to help them beat the odds on and off the field.

Shortly after Lindsay and Martin’s Oscar win earlier this year, the press began speculating on whether Martin was the first African American to win an Academy Award for a feature-length documentary. According to the Huffington Post, Martin was quoted responding to this question in the Boston periodical the Bay State Banner: “I would have a hard time claiming such an achievement since I’m half black. My experience navigating the world is night and day different than that of someone whose parents are both black.”

I sponsored a Council proclamation honoring T. J. Martin’s achievement and in his prepared statement to the full Council upon accepting it, he said he shared his win with not only his co-director and producer, but with the City of Seattle.

Levy proposal addresses ongoing fiscal challenges and supports critical services

What:
After a two-year process involving the thoughtful contributions of tens of thousands of residents and collaboration between The Seattle Public Library, Mayor’s Office and City Council, a proposal to stabilize Library funding and improve Library services is complete.

Who:
Library Board President Marie McCaffrey, City Librarian Marcellus Turner, Mayor Mike McGinn and Seattle City Councilman Richard Conlin will announce a proposed Library levy to address ongoing financial challenges and support key service priorities: Library hours, collections, technology and building maintenance.

91-year-old Library patron Eleanor Owen and Seattle author Kathrine Beck will also speak about the Library’s importance to the city’s educational, cultural and economic vitality.

Library and city officials will be joined by other members of the City Council and Library Board, as well as the Friends of the Library, Library Foundation and members of the public.

When:
Noon Monday, April 9, 2012

Schedule:
Noon to 12:30 p.m. – Event Remarks
Library Board president, mayor, City Councilman Richard Conlin and city librarian will talk about the levy plan and what it offers the community. Two Library patrons will talk about the importance of libraries in their lives. The press will receive copies of the proposal, “Libraries for All: A Plan for the Present, A Foundation for the Future.”

12:30 p.m. – 1 p.m. - Other Broadcast Opportunities
Library officials, the mayor, City Council members, Library patrons Eleanor Owen and Kathrine Beck, as well as Library Friends and Foundation members available for further interviews. Opportunities to film baby story time, tax assistance program and poetry group and other activities happening in the building. City Council is scheduled to vote on the proposed Library levy for the Aug. 7, 2012 ballot at 2:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers, 600 Fourth Ave.

Where:
The Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave., Level 3

Information:
Andra Addison, The Seattle Public Library, 206-386-4103, andra.addison@spl.org
Caroline Ullmann, The Seattle Public Library, 206-615-1627, caroline.ullmann@spl.org

Seattle City Council meetings are cablecast and Webcast live on Seattle Channel 21 and on the City Council's website. Copies of legislation, Council meeting calendar, and archives of news releases can be found on the City Council website. Follow the Council on Twitter and on Facebook.

While the media correctly caught the gist of the Panel’s conclusion that that “the proposal is favorable, has promise, and generally consistent with the principles set forth by the Mayor and County Executive,” the Panel also found that there are many “important issues to be worked through to ensure these principles are met and to address other issues of importance to the community.” They recommended that the City “begin the processes that are required to address the multitude of issues at play…”

I examine their concerns in further detail in my Urban Politics # 320 newsletter.

By City Councilmember Nick Licata
with Newell Aldrich, legislative assistant

ARENA REVIEW PANEL LOOKS INTO FUNDING A BASKETBALL AND HOCKEY ARENA

This past Wednesday, April 4^th, the Arena Review Panel, a citizen group referred appointed by Mayor McGinn and County Executive Constantine, released their final report. The panel examined an agreement that would be between the City, County and the investor Chris Hansen to fund a new sports arena for a professional basketball and hockey team. The Panel was asked to adhere to three principles: 1) existing General Fund resources are protected; 2) the City and County should be significantly protected from any financial risks; and 3) the partnership should result in an investment to the community and region.

While the media correctly caught the gist of the Panel’s conclusion that that “the proposal is favorable, has promise, and generally consistent with the principles set forth by the Mayor and County Executive,” the Panel also found that there are many “important issues to be worked through to ensure these principles are met and to address other issues of importance to the community.” They recommended that the City “begin the processes that are required to address the multitude of issues at play…”

I’ll focus here on some of their recommendations for issues to be addressed, since that’s the work that local government and elected officials will be charged with examining. You can view the report, and other materials, at http://seattle.gov/arena/.

The report states that prior to any public contribution, all land use processes must be complete; NBA and NHL teams secured, with 30-year non-relocation agreements; private investors must establish a security reserve, and disclosure of members of the investor group, and due diligence to ensure their financial wherewithal.

EXISTING GENERAL FUND RESOURCES

The Panel noted that public investment would involve the use of General Obligation bonds, and the pledge of General Fund resources and the full faith and credit of taxpayers to fund the City and County portion of the debt issued for the project. The proposal places the burden on cost overruns during construction, and operating shortfalls, on the investor group. The panel found the intent of the proposal was to provide protections for the City and County General Fund, and raised the following issues:

General Obligations: because repayment of public bonds would ultimately be a liability against the City and County’s general funds, financial protections are important. I believe that this should be the highest priority for the City Council.

Unknown Costs: there may be additional operations costs, such as police and fire, as well as additional capital costs, such as traffic and transportation improvements; it will be important to be clear about specific funding sources and expectations about costs. I believe that these on-going costs can best be covered in a tightly written operations agreement with the team owners.

Substitution: some existing tax dollars could go toward this project (i.e. entertainment spending diverted from current spending to attending events in this venue); they suggest the impact will be small, but should continue to be examined. I believe this is an important issue, particularly if there is a continuous drain on the City’s general fund because it would divert funds away from other more important city responsibilities.

Key Arena: the City will need to evaluate the impact to the Seattle Center finances, and potential General Fund impacts. Key Arena made $100,000 last year, so it currently is keeping its head above water, but if another venue opens in town that serves the same audience the city could end up losing money on it each year.

Debt rating: the City and County should evaluate potential impacts on municipal debt ratings; changes in ratings could impact the cost of borrowing. See the Presentation on Bond Ratings for a better understanding of how the City could be impacted.

PROTECTION FROM FINANCIAL RISK

The panel noted the proposal is in sharp contrast to the arrangement between the City of Seattle and the Sonics. They noted the intent is to shift risk from the City to private investors, and recommended additional scrutiny for what would happen in the case of bankruptcy or default by the investment group.

On this topic the Panel made a number of good suggestions. I will not cover all of them, but a few stood out for me.

+ Ensure investors will not return to City/County for additional public funds in the future, through, for example, a covenant. Since the average life of a professional sports stadium or arena is less than half of the 30 year lease that is being sought, this is a very real concern. Future maintenance, and any arena reconfiguration, must be covered by the investors.

+ Consider whether local market is large enough to support additional teams. Seattle currently has the Mariners and Seahawks, and the Seattle Sounders of MLS draw major-league attendance, averaging 38,000 (the annual total is more than the Seahawks). In addition, UW football draws major-league crowds, and will soon have a revamped Husky Stadium. Two additional franchises may be challenging for the region to sustain. A 2006 City report on KeyArena suggested the area may have been overbuilt with luxury suites. In any case, these issues highlight the need for any agreement to have solid guarantees to protect the public from financial risks.

+ Evaluate strength of ownership group and investor business model, and have a third-party evaluation of the financial strength of the ownership group. This is a very reasonable request and one that the City should be in a better position to evaluate since Hansen said at the press conference on April 5^th that he expects to announce his investment team sometime in June. The Mayor should provide the City Council with ample time to follow up on his panels’ recommendation that their financial strength be reviewed by a third-party.

+ Protecting maritime and Industrial activities from being impacted by traffic congestion was also identified as a concern by the panel. This issue was also raised by the Manufacturing Industrial Council, Port of Seattle and Longshoreman’s union. In response, Hansen indicated he will pay for a $50,000 traffic and parking study of the potential impact of the arena on the surrounding area. The parameters of the study have not been released yet.

+ One new element in the development of the Arena proposal was also introduced yesterday. According to the Seattle Times, Hansen said that the deal could go forward without a hockey team and that it was “highly likely” the arena could be built with only a basketball team; a hockey team could come later. I seem to recall the Mayor saying that the City would not proceed until both NBA and NHL teams were secured (that’s what the Arena Review Panel report indicates). This would be a major change, particularly in how it could affect the business plan for the arena. According to estimated revenues provided to the Council, elimination of the NHL team would cut the projected admission tax revenues expected from the arena by 43%; of course, hopefully one would be found at some point.

+ The Panel’s report does not examine other questions, such as the use of city debt; the Initiative 91 issues I mentioned in an earlier blog post; or questions of the lifespan of arenas. These important issues will hopefully be covered by the City before a decision is made.

It is still too early to have an in-depth, complete evaluation of this proposal. But it is certainly better than any we have seen in the past and it deserves an honest and fair assessment. I hope the City can do one.

Because of concerns some advocates of low income housing have expressed to me about too many housing levy funds being used by the Seattle Housing Authority for the redevelopment of Yesler Terrace, on Monday I sent a letter requesting that Levy Oversight Committee (LOC) review the Levy Administrative & Financial (A & F) Policies as they relate to Yesler Terrace.

The Office of Housing supports $7.5 million of city levy funds for Yesler Terrace over the five years, contingent upon the Council passing a proposed Cooperative Agreement with SHA.  This would be roughly 7.5% of the housing levy funds expected to be received over that five year period.

According to Ordinance 123013, the Housing Levy Oversight Committee is empowered to “make recommendations on the A & F Plans and on actions to be taken, including additions to or deletions of programs or amounts of funds allocated to the several programs, so that Levy Programs may be conducted in a timely and efficient manner.”

Yesler Terrace is a 30-acre publicly subsidized housing community owned by Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) and located on the southern slope of First Hill, adjacent to downtown, Harborview Medical Center, the International District and Seattle University.  There are 1,200 residents at Yesler Terrace: they are families with children, seniors, people with disabilities, and immigrants, earning on average about $14,000 a year.  Since 2006, SHA has been working towards the redevelopment of the neighborhood.

Soon the Council will begin review of the redevelopment.  You can find more here.

I am pleased that the LOC has already responded to tell me that it looks forward to reviewing the current Levy A & F policy to determine whether they feel it is adequate or whether they believe greater specificity is needed to guarantee fair access to limited housing levy dollars. The LOC is scheduled to review proposed amendments to the Levy Administrative & Financial Plan in the next few months and they have asked the Office of Housing to schedule an additional meeting on Yesler Terrace and intend to also review the proposed Cooperative Agreement for Yesler Terrace, which contains the proposed Levy funding, before it is transmitted to Council.

I traveled to Olympia to testify in favor of both bills.

One of them I wrote about  in an earlier blog post: SB6574. It allows the City of Seattle to retain admissions tax receipts that would otherwise go to Qwest Field while the Husky Football team plays there during  Husky Stadium’s expansion.

Public art sculpture Black Sun, by Isamu Noguchi, being installed at Volunteer Park, September 1969.

Had this bill not passed, the Husky football game admissions taxes would have stayed with Qwest Field rather than going to the City, as they normally do.  The result would have been an estimated $900,000 to $1 million hole in the City’s budget. About $750,000 of that would have come out of the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, impacting hundreds of arts organizations, arts education programs, artists and audiences.

The bill passed in the Senate 36  to 11 and in the House 96 to 2. The Huskies are expected to be playing in their new and improved stadium in time for next season’s opener.  

The other bill signed by the Governor that Seattle residents and those throughout our sate will benefit from is SB5539. In 2006 the State Legislature created the Motion Picture Competitiveness Program with the intent of maintaining Washington’s position as a competitive location for filming motion pictures, television episodes and television commercials. The Program allows taxpayers that contribute to an incentive fund to receive a credit against their business and occupation tax. Qualifying production companies that film in Washington can apply for payment from the incentive fund, with the total amount of tax credits granted in a calendar year not to exceed $3,500,000.

UW film crew recording at City Light, October 1998.

The program expired in 2011 and was not then renewed by the Legislature. The State House of Representatives Office of Program Research indicated that for each dollar spent in Washington by the film industrmy, $1.99 of economic activity was estimated to be generated throughout the state. Production companies receiving incentive payments spent $36 million in Washington since the beginning of the program through 2009, resulting in a calculated economic impact of $72 million. This impact does not include any potential effects from tourism, nor does it include the lost economic activity that could result from the loss of state revenues through the tax credit.

The bill passed the Senate 40 to 8 and in the House 92 to 6. It was one of the only, if not the only, incentive bills for businesses considered by the Legislature that was supported across the board by organized labor.

If you’d really like to get into the details, you can check out the 52-page report, A Plan for the Present, a Foundation for the Future  Libraries for All Proposed 2012 Levy.

Information on forthcoming Council meetings on the levy are available at the Council’s Special Committee on the Library Levy website.

A public hearing on the levy will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 3 at City Hall.

Feedback sought on proposed Seattle Public Library Levy

SEATTLE – Providing funding stability for the Seattle Public Library is a priority for the City of Seattle. Seattle City Councilmembers invite members of the public to provide their feedback on the proposed Library Levy legislation before the Council. 

WHAT:
Public Hearing on the proposed Library Levy

WHEN:
Tuesday, April 3, 5:30 p.m. (Sign up will open at 5 p.m.)

WHERE:
Council Chambers, second floor
Seattle City Hall, 600 Fourth Avenue, Seattle 98104

Over the last two years, the Library has involved over 39,000 residents in strategic planning for the Library's future and setting priorities for Library services. In community surveys, focus groups panel discussions, five open houses, and three community meetings, the people of Seattle came together to identify the priorities for the Library's work now and in the future. Please take this opportunity to share your feedback on the proposed seven year Library Levy.

For more information on the proposed Library Levy, please visit the Council's issue page.  The proposed legislation will likely be voted on at the April 9, meeting of the Special Committee on the Library Levy at 2:30 p.m. in Council Chambers.

Seattle City Council meetings are cablecast and Webcast live on Seattle Channel 21 and on the City Council's website. Copies of legislation, Council meeting calendar, and archives of news releases can be found on the City Council website. Follow the Council on Twitter and on Facebook.

I was at PLUS for the vote on my proposed Comprehensive Plan Amendment to “Guide the operation of safe and healthy transitional encampments to temporarily address homelessness in the City.”  The Comp Plan, including my amendment, passed after some debate.  From my perspective the impact of this language being included in the Comp Plan recognizes that there are temporary encampments in Seattle and that the Council and the Executive both want to be involved in setting new policy so that where encampments are permitted, they are safe for residents and do not negatively impact the neighborhoods where they are found.

Later this afternoon at 2pm, my HHSHC (Housing, Human Services, Health and Culture) Committee  received a final recommendation from Department of Planning and Development (DPD) about how they think the City should implement a new rental housing licensing and inspection program that I’ve been working on since 2006 and that the State Legislature authorized in the 2010 State Legislative session.   Since then, the most progress to date was made in June, 2010 when the Council passed a “placeholder” law with the plan to revisit the legislation after a group of stakeholders met and helped DPD to develop a recommendation to the Council.

Today’s recommendation from DPD was another big landmark in the long process of developing this program.  Still many questions are yet to be answered.  There is a lot of agreement around the licensing component of the bill.  Additionally, there’s agreement that landlords should be permitted to self-certify that they are in compliance with a set of defined life-safety standards.  One of the issues relates to the need to “trust, but verify” these self-certifications. Like me, most people want an inspection program to focus on improving the condition of unsafe housing, yet it’s hard to say exactly how much rental housing is in poor shape because we don’t have much information about the condition of our rental housing.  In 1988, the City inspected 350 buildings chosen at random for housing code compliance. The results of those inspections showed 13 percent of rental units had moderately severe to severe Housing Code violations.

So the question becomes if we allow landlords to self-certify compliance, how many properties do we aim to verify compliance with inspection?  In Los Angeles, the Systematic Code Enforcement Program (SCEP) has as its goal, inspecting all 800,000 units in Los Angeles every 5 years.  The DPD proposal is to randomly select some percentage of properties to be inspected.  But if the program relies upon only minimal random inspections we may not have sufficient data to evaluate the program.   I think we will be better able to evaluate the quality of housing stock after we have gradually inspected all the properties for compliance over a ten year period.  I propose a program today that requires inspection of Seattle’s 42,000 rental properties over a period of ten years. After we have gathered information about the condition of all Seattle’s rental housing, I think we should evaluate the program.   An evaluation might suggest a schedule for future inspections – for instance every 5 years or putting different properties on different schedules depending on if they passed inspection or failed. Or an evaluation might suggest changing the model to inspect only some percentage of units needed to provide an incentive to property owners to maintain their properties.

I’ll be working with Councilmembers, DPD, and rental housing stakeholders over the next couple months to develop legislation to fund and implement this important new program.

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When Capitol Hill’s Odd Fellows Hall was sold a few years ago, Velocity Dance along with a host of other small arts organizations was forced out by unaffordable rent increases. Velocity appealed to the City Council for funding to help them re-locate elsewhere on Capitol Hill. Since the Council prefers to not directly fund such initiatives, I sponsored legislation setting aside capital funds for our Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs to award the most deserving capitol arts projects. Velocity was funded and they are now doing quite nicely in their new digs across the street from the future site of 12^th Avenue Arts.

Still, it is rare that we hear of a completely new cultural amenity coming to a neighborhood with the potential of being embraced and loved by many. Capitol Hill Housing (CHH), a Seattle-based non-profit developer, may have good news on that front.

Their 12^th Avenue Arts project, to be located at what is now a parking lot for the East Precinct Police Station, proposes 6,200 square feet of new cultural space and arts-related commercial space. Their new building will include artist studio space and two stage theaters – 149 and 80 seats – available to rent at rates affordable to even the smallest arts organizations. This newly created arts facility will address the continuing displacement of cultural organizations from Capitol Hill, such as Odd Fellows Hall.

They enlisted an Arts Advisory Group of artists, organizational leaders and funders to help guide their development process, such as Charlie Rathbun of 4Culture, Jennifer Zeyil of the Canoe Social Club and Mark Mueter of On The Boards.

Other arts interests in the neighborhood have expressed support, such as Northwest Film Forum, Velocity Dance Center, Richard Hugo House and Three Dollar Bill Cinema. There’s an expectation that these and other nearby organizations might occasionally rent 12th Avenue Arts for events they cannot accommodate in their own spaces.

In addition to new affordable space for the arts, their project plans to provide 88 newly designed apartment homes for families and individuals that may otherwise be priced out of the neighborhood. CHH stresses the need for affordable housing by citing a recent finding that a minimum wage earner would have to work 87 hours a week to afford a market-rate one bedroom apartment in the Seattle area.

The building will also provide the community a new public meeting space for free or at low cost. They are planned to be publicly accessible and to serve as a focal point for community meetings, special events, exhibitions, celebrations, learning classes, etc.

In exchange for contributing land on which the 12 Avenue Arts project will be built, CHH will provide secure below-grade parking for the Police Department’s East Precinct.

12^th Avenue Arts’ fundraising committee consists of community leaders such as Ruth True, owner of NuBe Green and Founder of Western Bridge Art Museum; Sue Colition, Vice President of the Paul G.Allen Family Foundation; Jerry Everard, owner of Neumos; Tim Keck, publisher of The Stranger and Deborah Person,  Managing Director of the Seattle International Film Festival.

To learn more about 12^th Avenue Arts and to express your support, I encourage you to visit their website.

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By City Councilmember Nick Licata

With Newell Aldrich, Legislative Assistant

Urban Politics (UP) blends my insights and information on current public policy developments and personal experiences with the intent of helping citizens shape Seattle’s future.

The City Council heard a proposal  today to place a library levy on the August 7, 2012 ballot. The levy would provide $17 million per year for seven years to expand library hours, collections, technology/computers, and maintenance. The levy would begin at the start of 2013, the same time the 2004 Fire Facilities levy ends. The annual cost for the owner of a house with the median assessed value for Seattle of $361,000 would be $52 per year.  Under the proposal, all city libraries would be open on Sundays, and libraries would remain open year-round.

Seattle’s library system has been caught in a budget crunch during the last several years. 95% of the library’s operating budget comes from the City’s General Fund, which makes the library vulnerable to fluctuations in City revenues, which have suffered during the recent economic downturn.

Since 2009 the library budget has been cut by 9%, accounting for inflation. This has resulted in a decrease of 190 operating hours per week, a reduction to the collections budget, cuts in the maintenance and technology budgets, and a week-long closure of the system. The library’s capital maintenance budget is largely funded by Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) revenues, which have declined sharply in recent years with fewer home sales.

At the same time, library usage has increased. Library visits and circulation of materials went up sharply from 2004 to 2009, until operating hours were reduced.

The library faces other long-term pressures beyond declining revenues from the recession.  In 2001 Washington State voters passed I-747, a Tim Eyman initiative that limited property tax increases to 1% per year. The state legislature later adopted it after the State Supreme Court overturned it. The result is that revenues have not kept up with inflation. Adjusted for inflation, operating revenues decreased from 2005 to 2008, before the impact of the economic downturn.

In 1998, Seattle voters passed the $196 million Libraries for All construction bond measure. In 2008, the construction program was completed, expanding service to several Seattle neighborhoods. The expansion, however, required additional operating hours.

The City Budget Office estimates a $5 million operating shortfall for the library system in 2013.

Recognizing the looming shortfall, in November 2010 the Council requested the City Librarian to develop a plan to explore options for library funding, in order to forestall additional cuts. The Seattle Public Library estimates that adjusting to the $5 million shortfall would entail closing 5 branch libraries or closing all branches on Fridays year round, in addition to cutting the collections budget by 50%. In December, 2011 the Council passed Resolution 31345 which set out a timeline for the Library Board to hold three community meetings to hear public input. Public response was large: over 33,000 survey comments were received.

Having libraries open on Sundays was the highest priority listed by the public. In addition, the one-week closure of recent years would stop with this levy. Users could place up to 50 holds, instead of the current 25. $3.8 million would go toward operating hours, $2.5 million to collections, $1.5 million to technology, and $3.7 million to maintenance, in addition to covering the $5 million shortfall to maintain current operations.

A public hearing on the measure will take place on Tuesday, April 3 at 5:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers on the 2^nd floor of City Hall at 600 4^th Avenue between James and Cherry.

You can review materials from the previous council meetings of the Special Committee on the Library Levy, which met on February 6 and December 12, and watch the meetings on the Seattle Channel for December 12, February 6, and March 23.

The Summit today will showcase what we’ve learned during the other first phases of the Summit.   There have been 12 regional Community Gatherings over the last year and a half.  Also,   Action Teams were formed in the first phase of the initiative to begin working on projects that will make the visions reality.   Today’s summit is the second phase of the Aging Your Way initiative, the goal is for participants to interact with people who are working with new community-based models to transform communities and make use of the talents and resources of the residents in the nearby areas.

Phase Three will strive to support the actions and models that result from the Summit and strengthen communities throughout the region.

To learn more see here:  Aging Your Way Summit

You can help shape their plan by attending one of their three remaining public meetings. Tonight’s, Monday, March 19^th, will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the South Shore K-8 School, 4800 South Henderson Street. They’ll provide translators for Spanish, Somali, Chinese, Vietnamese and Tagalog.

If you miss tonight’s meeting, try Thursday’s, March 29, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Chief Sealth International High School, 2600 Southwest Thistle Street. They’ll provide translators for Spanish, Somali and Vietnamese.

Your last opportunity will be their youth meeting on Saturday, March 31^st, from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Meany Building, where Nova High School/Seattle World School reside, 301 21st Avenue East. The meeting will be led by young people engaging middle and high school participants.

Space is limited. RSVP is required. RSVP by visiting www.arts-ed.eventbright.com. For more information, contact Tamara Gill at 206-733-9591.

The Wallace grant was in part awarded to Seattle Public Schools in recognition of progress made by Seattle’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs’ (OACA) and Seattle Public Schools’ Seattle Arts Education Partnership — a multiyear collaboration between OACA, the Seattle Arts Commission and Seattle Public Schools — to put the arts back in the classroom for all students.

I’ve wanted to put arts back in the classroom, too. Back in 2006, I proposed the state-wide Public School Arts Program. Twenty-four legislators co-sponsored the resulting bills (HB 2192 & SB 6065) that called for redirecting lottery revenues then going toward Safeco Field construction bonds that were projected to be paid off by this year. After two years, neither bill reached the Senate or House floor for a vote.

The Program would have partnered schools with artists and arts organizations to fund individual programs and projects at schools throughout the state. The goal was to deliver arts-infused curriculum that were interdisciplinary and that exposed students to other cultures, thereby strengthening our communities. The State Treasurer indicated then that redirecting this lottery revenue starting in 2012 would yield approximately $5.5 million each year and over ten years could have climbed to $8 million annually.

Why did I fight for these bills? Because according to Americans for the Arts and the Stanford University and Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, young people who consistently participate in comprehensive, sequential and rigorous arts programs are 4 times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement, 3 times more likely to be elected to class office within their schools, 4 times more likely to participate in a math and science fair and 3 times more likely to win an award for school attendance.

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Preliminary estimates indicate that 2011 General Fund revenue collections were $4.6 million above projections, and $26 million higher than in 2010.

The result is that fiscal year 2011 will have a roughly $17 million balance, $12 million more than expected. $5 million of this is from revenue, and $7 million from under spending. Under city policies, half of the balance will go toward replenishing the Rainy Day Fund. The remaining $6 million will serve as a cushion for 2012.

The state budget under consideration could result in less revenue for the City for 2012 and 2013, so this is timely news. In any case, there will be no mid-year reduction in the budget, a welcome relief from most recent years.

Mayor McGinn has directed most city departments to set a 1% under spend target in for General Fund-dependent departments, and 0.5% for Police, Fire and Human Services, in order to prepare for 2013.

The meeting can be viewed at the Seattle Channel website.

Voters believe, by a 2:1 margin, that elected officials supporting Paid Sick Leave laws show that they understand the challenges of balancing work and family, and that those elected leaders are helping give workers economic stability in a tough economy.  Also, in Connecticut, research done after passage of their law, found this issue can energize and engage voters.  Most importantly, Paid Sick Leave is good for public health and the right thing to do in a nation where more than forty percent of workers do not receive paid sick days and may lose pay and risk losing their jobs when they take time off due to illness.

Some critics argue that Paid Sick Leave laws are bad for business, but there’s no evidence of this and cities with Paid Sick Leave laws have strong workforces and prospering small businesses.  Nevertheless, if there is an unlevel playing field for business created when some cities have paid sick leave and others don’t require it, one way to address that concern is by standardizing the requirement across the nation.  With this vision in mind, I’m looking forward to sharing, with other elected leaders across the nation, the story of Seattle’s passage of Paid Sick Leave, why I am such a strong advocate of this policy, and how I was able to build support among my colleagues on the Council.

For more information on Seattle’s Paid Sick Leave legislation, see here.

Weslake Center

Who is the “public” in public space? How can public spaces become more sustainable? Should public spaces accommodate protest? The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) will host a panel discussion on the future of public space, 6:30 to 8 p.m., this Thursday, March 15, in the Olympic Sculpture Park’s PACCAR Pavilion.

Panelists are Margaret O’Mara, historian with the Department of History, University of Washington; Julie Parrett, landscape architect; and Michael Seiwerath, executive director of Capitol Hill Housing Foundation and a Seattle Arts Commissioner. Marcie Sillman of KUOW 94.9 FM will moderate the panel.

They will discuss the recent article “The Future of Public Space: Evolution and Revolution“, featured on the American Society of Landscape Architects’ blog The Dirt, and an international design ideas competition about public space launched by Seattle Center and AIA Seattle. 

Their discussion is part of SAM’s Art and Environment series. The event is presented in collaboration with AIA (American Institute of Architects) Seattle, Seattle Center, and the University of Washington College of Built Environments, and is sponsored by the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs.

The event is free but registration is required. To RSVP, please click here.

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• February 29
• March 7

The panel is scheduled to meet on Monday, March 12, in the Chinook Conference Center in the King County Chinook Building at 401 5^th Avenue, Suite 121-123.

The March 7 meeting included a discussion with prospective NBA team owner Chris Hansen, and discussion of public-private partnerships and financial matters. One document from the meeting includes a listing of cities with multiple professional sports franchises, prepared in response to a request from panel members.

Two sheets list sample estimates for revenue from the financial model used for the project. While not definitive, they are useful for illustrative purposes. The first lists revenue from admissions and TV.

The second document lists an estimate of revenue generated by the arena, the city and county taxes generated to finance 30-year bonds, and the security reserve. It estimates Admissions tax revenues would account for 64% of Seattle taxes, with Business and Occupation 18%, Property Tax 11%, and Sales and Leasehold Excise 4% and 3%, respectively. It also estimates the amount of rent payments that would be needed to cover bond costs, and a $39.6 million security reserve after 10 years.

The panel will issue a report during the forthcoming weeks; additional information about the review panel materials, membership, and charge are available at the City’s Arena Review panel website.

On February 29, the City Council Government Performance and Finance Committee, chaired by Councilmember Burgess, held an informative briefing on the City’s debt capacity. You can download the presentation or watch the meeting by clicking on the links.

The hearing will take place in Seattle City Hall at 600 4^th Avenue from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Bertha Knight Landes room on the first floor.

The Board is tentatively scheduled to consider the rules and make a decision on May 16. If approved, September 19 is the tentative date the rules would be effective. At that point, local governments would be able to petition the Board to expand service hours. Under current rules, alcohol service is prohibited from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m.

Written comments can be sent to the Liquor Control Board through May 7 at rules@liq.wa.gov.

Additional information about the proposal is available at the Liquor Control Board website.

In 2010, the City Council passed a law I sponsored called the Nighttime Disturbance Ordinance. This ordinance allows Seattle Police officers to issue citations for making unreasonable noise, threatening persons, or fighting from midnight to 5 a.m. in Seattle’s mixed-use neighborhoods. A history of that ordinance is available in Urban Politics #297.

The City’s Technology Matching Grant is one way of doing so.

Currently our Department of Information Technology (DoIT) is seeking applicants from Seattle organizations and community groups for its annual Technology Matching Fund grants of up to $20,000 for technology access and literacy, or use of tech tools for civic engagement and community building.

The application deadline is April 3rd. 

The Technology Matching Fund supports technology literacy access and civic engagement projects that reach technology underserved communities, thereby increasing “digital inclusion.”

The City’s grant program goals are:

Technology Literacy and Access:

* Empower technology underserved communities so that all residents have the technology skills necessary for civic and cultural participation, employment, lifelong learning, and access to essential services;

* Increase technology literacy;

* Increase access to computers, the Internet, and other information technology; and

* Increase the creation of relevant online content.

Civic Engagement:

* Engage individuals not usually involved in the civic process; and

* Increase residents’ use of technology for civic engagement and community building by integrating technology tools into activities to increase awareness of community issues, to increase community problem solving and to increase interaction with government.

Descriptions of past projects are available from DoIT’s web site.

I encourage you to spread the word and, in turn, encourage those you suspect might be interested to consider applying.

The Fund is administered by the City of Seattle Department of Information Technology and is supported through cable franchise fees. The Technology Matching Fund was established in 1997.

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