Category: Councilmember Godden

Beautiful blossoming cherry trees.

Who owns the Arboretum?

That was the question that Dr. Sarah Reichard, Director of the UW Botanic Gardens, asked as I stepped into the golf cart, about to take a springtime spin through the 230-acre botanical garden and park on Union Bay led by Kenan Block, Fred Hoyt and Jack Collins.As luck would have it, I had covered enough Arboretum events as a former newspaper columnist to be able to guess at the answer: The park belongs to the University of Washington and the City of Seattle.  The way it works is that the city owns the land and the UW owns the botanical collection – more than … Continue Reading »

I like to think of it as good LUC because we’ve had some remarkable successes, reviewing and passing 55 pieces of legislation and providing oversight for the ongoing work of three city departments.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(click to enlarge)

Getting a kiss from Cocoa

The Seattle Animal Shelter is a model for animal rescue shelters everywhere. The shelter provides temporary homes for several thousand animals every year – rescued dogs, cats and critters. Only the handful that are incurably ill or overtly dangerous fail to find adopted homes.

But, admired as Seattle’s shelter has been, it has suffered through some difficult times during the recent recession. The City, facing a steep shortfall in revenue, had to give top priority to public safety and essential human services. Other less critical city services, including the shelter, suffered steep reductions.

During those tough times, the diminished staff at the animal shelter received some partial help from its many … Continue Reading »

Past lives continue to haunt us. How well I know. Although I have been a City Councilmember for these past 10 years, some Seattleites still remember me from my apprentice years as a daily columnist – eight years writing a column at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer a dozen years at the Seattle Times.

It was a job that I loved. I found great satisfaction in chronicling life in my favorite city.  Nothing made me happier than for some newcomer to tell me that they were wondering whether to relocate and my column gave them a feeling for what life would be in Seattle.

As a columnist, I had this secret aspiration: I wanted to hold a mirror up to Seattle and tell readers … Continue Reading »

Reception for the 40th Anniversary of the Seattle-Tashkent relationship

Think back, if you can, or imagine, if you cannot, what the world was like 40 years ago. It was a chilling time. The United States was engaged in the Cold War with the Soviet Union. The United States’ war with Vietnam was winding-down. The world was different and scary place.

But in the midst of those difficult years, there was at least one bright and hopeful move. For, in 1972, during a dinner at the 10-year-old Space Needle, Seattle Mayor Wes Uhlman suggested a sister-city relationship to his counterpart, the mayor of Tashkent.

The next year, against all odds, that sister city relationship became a reality. This agreement incredibly … Continue Reading »