Author: Jean Godden (Jean Godden)

Kevin G. Gallagher and Jean.

City Hall was over-run by kinder-kids on June 4th. The visitors were a happy delegation from Room 103, a kindergarten class at Bryant Elementary. These brainy five and six year-olds were displaying their knowledge of City Hall and the elected officials who work there.

When I ran into them, almost literally, they were walking down an inner hallway on the second floor, the councilmanic floor of City Hall.

In unison, they asked, “Jean Godden, Jean Godden, why do you like libraries?” It was quite awesome to be recognized by name and … Continue Reading »

Guests of the Mary’s Place luncheon donate shoes for the women. Hot sauce is another popular donation item.

Your name could be Sally or maybe Debra. And you and your toddler could be homeless, left out in the cold, with no clue of where to go and without a place to lay your heads this very night.

If that’s you – and it wouldn’t take much for any of us to end up homeless — then you’ll be eternally grateful to Mary’s Place, a day shelter established in 1999 in response to the needs of homeless women and children. Since then, … Continue Reading »

A blurry Geena Davis (thanks to my colleague, Sally Clark, for snapping the pic)

Women’s charities used to be funded by the farmer’s wife contributing egg money to overseas missions. That’s definitely not true today — not since the YWCA began its tradition of Inspire Luncheons 25 years ago.

What began modestly a generation ago has become a three-venue production, raising somewhere around $1 million annually to empower women and families. This week’s 25th anniversary event at the Washington State Convention Center first paid tribute to the late KOMO Anchor Kathi Gertzen who would have celebrated her 55th birthday that same day, April 29. For 24 … Continue Reading »

Last week I broke bread with a delegation from 15 countries across the globe, 16 women and one lone man. The visitors came to this country to participate in the U. S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program.

Cathy Allen, CEO of the Connections Group, posing with two of the visitors.

What I learned from these visitors is invaluable. I heard how they have been working on behalf of women and children in their countries to combat violence against women, counter human trafficking and address child sexual abuse.

At the dinner event, sponsored by the Center for Women and Democracy, I was lucky enough to be seated next to Daniella Misail-Nichitin from … Continue Reading »

It’s National Volunteer Week and few groups have a better excuse to celebrate than Gilda’s Club Seattle.

One of 28 groups nationwide, the club takes its name from the late Saturday Night Live comedian Gilda Radner. After Radner contracted ovarian cancer, she was helped by friends. Her wish was that people everywhere could enjoy such support.

Although Gilda’s Club Seattle maintains a hard-working core staff, much of the support work –  hosting support sessions, teaching yoga, art, cooking and exercise – is done by dedicated volunteers.

Sunday afternoon, Executive Director Anna Gottlieb handed out more than a dozen “we couldn’t do it without you” awards recognizing the service of those volunteers. The large audience was seated in the comfortable mismatched easy chairs and … Continue Reading »

It’s easy to get blinded at L.A. Live, the glitzy entertainment complex in the heart of LA’s downtown. There are sky-high banners, dueling strobe lights, giant advertising signs and flashy promos. Everywhere you look there’s enough stimuli to power an electric substation.

The complex includes a 14-screen multiplex, a sports arena with three tiers of suites, enough restaurants to feed a ravenous army, a 1000-room hotel and a revived convention  center.

The 23-acre site once was under-utilized land, a scary part of town where no one walked alone at night.  Now thanks to can-do vision and a slew of public/private partnerships, L. A. Live is a people magnet, drawing stars and average Joes alike from all over the vast urban area. The … Continue Reading »

Nothing beats a field trip for understanding how this city’s infrastructure works. Thus, even though it was spitting rain under cloudy overcast skies last Thursday, my staff and I eagerly took a tour of a unique and amazing stormwater project.

On paper, it’s known as the Windermere Basin project.

In practice, it’s a super-sized undertaking, a 2.05 million gallon underground storage tank that’s under construction near Magnuson Park. The tank sinks several stories into the glacial till and is, literally, the size of a football field. When finished it will have state-of-the-art technology to keep heavy rainfall from flushing stormwater and wastewater into Lake Washington.

Previously, the basin area was protected by a … Continue Reading »

“Lean In,” the best seller by Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg on what’s holding women back, is once again shining a light on gender inequality.

It’s a topic that still merits discussion. And it’s particularly relevant in this era of states competing with one another to see which can most severely limit women’s health and reproductive choices.

Washington, a state that once earned kudos as a leader in gender equality, has fortunately avoided some of the worst of the march to the 19th Century. But we have to recognize that even this region is falling short when it comes to women representing women across the broader spectrum.

It’s true that we have had two women governors in this state. And, yes, we’re represented by … Continue Reading »

Originally published on March 5, 2013, on KPLU.

Thousands of Seattle families had their water shut off last year. A city council member is introducing a measure to help one group of them — households with young children.

Social service providers told a city council committee what it’s like for parents to lose their water: unable to clean up after changing a diaper, forced to send kids to school unwashed and to borrow buckets to flush the toilet.

One provide, Bill Talbot of the Salvation Army Seattle White Center, was not speaking secondhand. Years ago he himself suffered an accident that cost him his income.

“Our water was shut off, then the meter was pulled. When you get to that point, you’re living in a house that’s no longer habitable. It is going … Continue Reading »

Access to clean water and sanitation is in the news. Matt Damon is even on strike over it. But we don’t have to look across the globe for things we can do. It might surprise you that here, in Seattle, some children lack access to clean water in their homes. This isn’t right, and it’s time we did something about it.

When I took over as chair of the LUC (Libraries, Utilities and Center) Committee last year, I began hearing troubling stories about children living in homes without access to clean water.

And today we heard detailed accounts of what it is like. At this morning’s committee meeting, human service providers (pictured above) told me … Continue Reading »