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Check out the film Glacial Balance, which was screened during my Sept. 28th City Council committee meeting. The film, by Ethan Steinman, is a documentary on the Andean glaciers and the lives of those who depend on them for survival. Although those glaciers are far away, they portend climate changes Seattle cannot escape.
On August 16, Seattle voters approved Referendum 1 by 58%. Although the vote was technically about the City Council’s decision making process, it was widely interpreted as a referendum on the tunnel project itself.
On August 17, the Seattle Transportation Benefit District Board (STBD), which consists of Seattle City Councilmembers, unanimously voted to place a measure on the November ballot for a $60 vehicle license fee. It would run for 10 years, and raise $204 million.
This past Monday (7/18/11), the City Council unanimously approved Council Bill 117229 that I sponsored which mandates that medical cannabis providers in Seattle abide by city business rules and regulations.
I believe our excessive war spending has contributed to our nation’s substantial debt, and does not contribute to meeting our growing needs at home.
For these reasons, I introduced Resolution 31306, calling on Congress and the President to redirect war spending to domestic priorities, and to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as soon as can be done safely for our troops.
There are approximately 190,000 people working in Seattle without paid sick leave. If you are not one of them, why should you care? Because, if they get sick, they go to work sick handling your food, your groceries, or your personal items in your home while caring for your loved ones. And it does happen. One in four grocery workers report coming to work sick when they don’t have paid sick leave. With 78% of accommodation and food service workers, about half of retail workers, and one fourth of health care workers not earning paid sick days, chances are they are going to work sick. In King County, from 2006 to 2010 approximately 30% of recent food borne illness outbreaks (almost all due to norovirus) was linked to food handlers who worked while sick.
I am recommending that the full Council amend the South Downtown legislation to roll-back the maximum height limits in Pioneer Square to the maximum height limit of 120 feet as proposed by DPD, for the following reasons.
Special Post
Melissa Hines, director of the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs’ funding programs and leader of the office’s arts education initiative passed away Friday, April 8th, from leiomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer. She was 63.
The impending loss of the 619 Western Building resulting from Alaska Way Viaduct tunneling presents 3 problems: finding new accommodations for the displaced artists; the building by law must be saved or replaced in a manner that retains the historical character of the neighborhood; and potential impacts on Pioneer Square’s cultural vitality must be mitigated by relocating as many displaced artists as possible within the neighborhood.
21 days before the 10 year anniversary of the Nisqually earthquake that significantly damaged the Alaska Way Viaduct, the Seattle City Council voted 8-1 (O'Brien voting 'no') to approve a series of agreements with the State regarding the tunnel and a variety of related projects.