Seattle Community Council Federation

COMMUNITY BUDGET CONFERENCE  WHEN: SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 12-5 P.M.

2012-01-28T16:01:00.000-08:00

WHAT: COMMUNITY BUDGET CONFERENCE 

WHEN: SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 12-5 P.M. 

WHERE: SEATTLE CENTER’S NORTHWEST ROOMS

Sponsored by Seattle’s City Neighborhood Council and Seattle Center, in cooperation with the Mayor, City Council, City Budget Office, and Department of Neighborhoods    Help Seattle City government kick off its two-year budget process! Find out why budgeting matters and how to get involved in the decisions that affect you! Join the Mayor, the Director of the City Budget Office, City Councilmembers, and representatives of more than 20 City departments in dialogue about Seattle's revenue and spending priorities.    The Sunday, Jan. 29 Community Budget Conference begins with a budget fair (noon to 1 p.m.) where you can talk one-on-one with agency representatives. At 1 p.m. there will be addresses by Mayor Mike McGinn, City Council Budget chair Tim Burgess, and City Budget Director Beth Goldberg. At 2 and 3 p.m. there will be presentation/discussion groups where you can hear and quiz City officials from agencies large and small. The conference will end with a 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. panel discussion among City Councilmembers.

Only once every two years can you engage on budget issues with such a wide range of City agencies and officials -- transportation, parks and recreation, utilities, library, neighborhoods, economic development, civil rights, ethics and elections, arts, health, human services, housing, firefighting, emergency preparedness, police, planning and development, Seattle Center, and Seattle Animal Shelter. Confirmed attendees include the City Attorney, City Auditor, City Librarian, Chief Judge of the Municipal Court, deputy police and fire chiefs, Seattle Center director, and the heads or deputy heads of most other City departments.

Sunday’s conference is open to the public, free of charge, with snacks and beverages. Seattle Channel 21 will record it for later video rebroadcast, and streaming video will also be available anytime on the City web site. Interpretive services are available upon request. Seattle Center’s Northwest Rooms are near the intersection of Republican Street and Warren Avenue, close to First Avenue North and Mercer Street. On-street parking is free on Sundays.

Don't miss the Community Budget Conference--Sunday, January 29, noon to 5 p.m. at Northwest rooms at Seattle Center! For further questions: (206) 322-5463, cleman@oo.net; or credmond@mac.com. The City Neighborhood Council is an official City of Seattle advisory body, composed of one representative from each of the thirteen district councils, which are also official advisory bodies. The program agenda for Sunday’s conference, and background about CNC and district councils, can be found at seattle.gov/neighborhoodcouncil.

2011-12-19T14:09:00.000-08:00

The memorial aka "wake" for Kent Kammerer will be at Mohai ( Museum of

History and Industry) on Friday, January 6,

2012. The gathering will run from 5pm to 9pm with a slide show and speakers
beginning at 7pm. The museum is open for touring until 7pm free to all
attendees. Light hos-d'oeuvres will be served. Any donations to offset the
costs will gladly be accepted but certainly not required.

Lile Kammerer, Kent's daughter

Seattle Loses its Neighborhood Yoga

http://crosscut.com/2011/11/14/mossback/21554/Kent-Kammerer%3A-Seattle-loses-its-neighborhood--Yoda/

By Knute Berger

Kent Kammerer wasn't a journalist, but he talked to people. He loved talking to people.

I first got to know him when I was invited down to the Seattle Neighborhood Coalition, a rag-tag, grassroots group of truly independent Seattleites that meets once a month in a diner to hear speakers talk about civic issues. The SNC can be a tough crowd. That first time, I was on a panel with then Seattle Times Executive Editor Mike Fancher, who was nearly eaten alive by citizens angry at the paper, and the media in general. The SNC may be a kaffeeklatsch, but the participants can bite.

A couple of things struck me. One was that it was a refreshing change from Seattle Nice: these were activists who weren't shy about asking questions or speaking their minds. And these were no-Astro Turf activists, but people who represented and loved their varied patches of Seattle. It was like a meeting of Darwin's finches all in one room. Grumpy finches.

The other was that the group had no particular ideological bias, save a general questioning of civic authority, namely city hall, downtown business, the media, and conventional wisdom. They are a coalition of folks who don't indulge in group-think. Some lament Seattle's one-party-townness, but at the grassroots, outrage is often less driven by ideology than circumstance. As a guest, you never knew from which field a ball was coming, left, right, or from somewhere up in the bleachers

Presiding over it all, like a mossback Yoda, was Kent Kammerer, who booked the guests and took careful, thorough minutes of the meetings, which he would send out afterwards. I was impressed by these documents because they showed that Kent actually listened to what was said, and worked hard to present even views he strongly disagreed with fairly. And over the years, as I attended breakfast both to speak and listen, I became friends with Kent. I found a retired teacher who was intensely curious, deeply thoughtful, not cynical — capable still of hope and outrage — and someone deeply committed to democracy.

Through the SNC, he helped facilitate direct links between neighborhood activists and policy makers and others who were civically engaged. Recent coalition guests include King County prosecutor Dan Satterburg, new city librarian Marcellus Turner, Sound Transit and Metro critics Emory Bundy and John Niles, Anne Levinson on police accountability, University of Washington Professor David Montgomery talking about how civilizations unravel and fall apart. The ensuing Q&A's at the breakfasts are always the best part. I love the image of a bunch of crusty neighborhood activists discussing theories on the fall of empire while eating hashbrowns at Ballard's Salmon Bay Cafe.

Kent was the ringmaster of a crucial level of civic debate in Seattle. He helped create an old-school social network with more substance than Facebook. It was a place where people could gossip and argue over the back fence, but also often put questions — big questions, or wonky or trivial questions — to people in the know.

Kent loved new information. He was a teacher, but also a student. And his love of asking questions extended everywhere. I remember early on Crosscut, I had written a story that had infuriated the town of Pomeroy, Washington. Kent wrote me. It turned out he had traveled to Pomeroy, he knew Pomeroy, and that I had missed some important things about the place. Kent knew these things because he'd once parked his RV there and had met and talked with the locals in this obscure part of Washington. He was well-traveled around the region, and I imagined him exploring it "Travels with Charley"-style. His impressions were insightful. They came from listening. It turns out, Kent not only took the minutes at SNC meetings, but he had a knack, an ear, and a love for talking to people who were just people and taking in their stories and opinions.

When we launched Crosscut, Kent approached me to explore the idea of writing for us. He loved Crosscut, which was non-ideological, eclectic, deeply civically engaged, and powered by a wide group of contributors. He began writing stories, coming to Crosscut's own pizza lunches to question guests. They are a bit like a writer's version of SNC. He didn't have to take minutes here, he could grill the visitors without the obligation of being a fair host.

I admired Kent. For his compassion for people. His belief that our world, our city, is full of variety and diversity, and that this is inherently good. I remember in the arguments about density, one of Kent's concerns was that the variety of housing options would disappear. People ought to be able to have affordable choices of single-family homes, condos, apartments, and trailer parks, he thought. He didn't want planning to trump choice. He wanted a city for walkers, transit riders, drivers, and cyclists. He wanted government to be more open. He wanted it to be less mired in bullshit. He wanted it to stick up for the little guy. Not a classic urbanist, he still wanted to know how cities worked, and how they could work for everyone.

.His pursuit of that benefited all who received his advice, his feedback, who heard his questions, who listened to his stories, who were inspired by his caring, his activism. In echoes of Tom Joad, for me at least, wherever people are gathered in places like the Breakfast Club in Lake City, the last place Kent and I shared a meal together and talked about the state of the city, wherever they ask tough questions of their leaders and their neighbors, wherever they listen to the answers, Kent will be there.

Knute Berger is Mossback, Crosscut's chief Northwest native. He also writes the monthly Grey Matters column for Seattle magazine and is a weekly Friday guest on Weekday on KUOW-FM (94.9). His newest book is Pugetopolis: A Mossback Takes On Growth Addicts, Weather Wimps, and the Myth of Seattle Nice, published by Sasquatch Books. In 2011, he was named Writer-in-Residence at the Space Needle and is writing the Needle's official 50th anniversary history. You can e-mail him at mossback@crosscut.com

Fed meeting dates changed - Next meeting Tuesday, September 27, 2011

2011-09-25T14:46:00.000-07:00

PLEASE NOTE THAT OUR MEETING DATES HAVE CHANGED FROM THE FOURTH THURSDAY TO THE LAST TUESDAY OF EACH MONTH,

AND PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS TO REFLECT THIS CHANGE.

SEATTLE COMMUNITY COUNCIL FEDERATION

Regular Meeting

Central Area Senior Center, 500 30th Avenue South 98144

http://seattlefederation.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Agenda

Developing a Report Card for Seattle’s Transportation Department

featuring Peter Hahn, Director, Seattle Department of Transportation

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) develops, maintains, and operates a transportation system to promote the safe and efficient mobility of people and goods, and to enhance the quality of life, environment, and economy of Seattle and the surrounding region. With gas tax revenues down and budget shortfalls, how is SDOT doing in accomplishing its mission? Where will cuts be in the upcoming budget process? How will cuts affect the backlog in deferred maintenance? What is the status of the Bridging the Gap Levy? How will the $60 in increased car tabs be used, should voters approve that measure in November? What will happen if the measure fails? These are just a few issues that Director Hahn will address. Bring your issues and questions.

The September meeting will also include our monthly Round Robin of issues and projects in your neighborhood. If you have informational materials you would like distributed at the meeting, please email electronic copies or links to Jeannie Hale atjeannieh@serv.net.

7:00 Call to Order and Introductions

7:05 Administration

1. Changes to the agenda

2. Treasurer’s report

3. President’s report

7:10 Developing a Report Card for SDOT: Peter Hahn, Director, Seattle Department of Transportation

8:15 Round Robin

1. Text amendment on siting of essential public facilities—update

2. Renewal of the Families and Education Levy—please review materials from August meeting

3. Increase in car tabs ballot measure—should the Federation take a position?

4. Other

9:00 Adjourn

Federation Meets Thursday, August 25, 2011, 7 p.m. - At the Central Seattle Senior Center

2011-08-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

SEATTLE COMMUNITY COUNCIL FEDERATION

Regular Meeting

Central Area Senior Center, 500 30th Avenue South 98144

http://seattlefederation.blogspot.com/

Thursday, August 25, 2011

AGENDA

Sustaining Seattle’s Parks and Community Centers

featuring Christopher Williams, Acting Superintendent of Parks and Recreation

There are a host of issues confronting Seattle’s Parks and Recreation Department. How these issues are resolved, coupled with continuing budget shortfalls, will affect how our park facilities are operated and maintained. What should be the criteria and structure of public private partnerships? What went wrong and what went right with the Building 11 lease process at Magnuson Park? Is it possible to restore hours to the limited use community centers? How will the City deal with the $200 million backlog of major maintenance projects? What should be the priorities of the Parks and Recreation Department? These are just a few of the issues that Acting Superintendent Christopher Williams will address at the August Federation meeting. Bring your questions and issues.

The August meeting will also include our monthly Round Robin of issues and projects in your neighborhood. If you have informational materials you would like distributed at the meeting, please email electronic copies or links to Jeannie Hale at jeannieh@serv.net.

7:00 Call to Order and Introductions

7:05 Administration

1. Changes to the agenda

2. Treasurer’s report

3. President’s report

7:10 Sustaining Seattle’s Parks and Community Centers: Acting Parks Superintendent Christopher Williams

8:15 Proposed Text Amendment on Siting Essential Public Facilities: This measure would allow waiver of all development regulations in neighborhoods throughout Seattle (To review the proposal, the DNS and the Director’s Report, go to http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/luib/Notice.aspx?BID=642&NID=12547.)

8:30 Round Robin

1. Renewal of the Families and Education Levy

2. Comp Plan Amendment Update

3. Other

9:00 Adjourn

REMINDER - Annual Federation Potluck ‑ Sunday, July 31, 2-5 p.m. at the home of Jeannie Hale, 3425 W Laurelhurst Dr NE, 98105

2011-07-18T18:34:00.000-07:00

Annual Federation Potluck

Sunday, July 31, 2-5 p.m.

at the home of Jeannie Hale,

3425 W Laurelhurst Dr NE, 98105, 206-525-5135

The Seattle Community Council Federation invites you to kick back at its annual summer potluck, the singular gem of our yearly events. Enjoy lively conversation with community leaders in a garden setting. Do you know where things are with the Roosevelt-Ravenna Zoning Issues? How about our new and wonderful meeting place at the Central Area Senior Center? These are just a couple of things that will likely surface. Since it’s election season expect to see a few hopefuls.

This year we’ll also celebrate the recent Birthday of our sisterish organization, the Seattle Neighborhood Coalition, a salon discussion group that has met each and every second Saturday for 28 years to meet and greet local notables, usually from Seattle, often King County, and occasionally Olympia and other outliers. SNC guest speakers compete for an agenda spot because they know that they’ll be talking with unusually well-informed and well-intentioned citizens who have a common goal of making Seattle a better place to live, and led by the ineffable and unflappable Kent Kammerer, have used their institutional memory and collective wisdom to accomplish significant ends.

Wear flip-flops or sandals so you can dip your toes in the warm pool, or even go for a swim if you’re inclined. Everyone is welcome, including those kids who can take adults seriously around pools.

Please bring a salad, main dish, appetizer or fruit plate to share. Wine, beer and soft drinks are provided.

If you wish to be able to more completely comprehend some of the issues under discussion it’s recommended that you read at least one book by New Urbanite pioneer Jane Jacobs, and watch at least one complete season of The Wire.

Directions: There are dozens of ways to get to the potluck.

HERE’S A MAP or here are two options:

From the south: Go northbound on I-5. Take the SR 520 exit that goes to the Bellevue and the University District. Be sure to exit at Montlake. At the end of the exit, turn left. Then drive along Montlake Boulevard past Husky Stadium. The road curves around and then passes University Village. See other directions below.

From the north: Go southbound on I-5. Take the NE 50th exit (as the NE 45th Street Viaduct is closed). Go down NE 50th until about 19th and then winding around to eventually get down to the back side of University Village. You’ll eventually get to Five Corners (the intersection of NE 45th, Blakely, Mary Gates, etc.).

From Five Corners (the intersection of Blakeley, Mary Gates, NE 45th, 35th, etc.): This is where there is a Tully's on one corner, Baskin Robbins on another, UW student housing on another and a field on another). I live a little over half a mile from the corner of Mary Gates as follows:

Take the Mary Gates entrance into Laurelhurst (at Five Corners) and take the next three RIGHT turns onto every city street you come to, except the last one. What you'll be doing is going in a semicircle around the lake’s Union Bay, as follows:

· Go along Mary Gates, past the Center for Urban Horticulture and turn RIGHT onto Surber (you'll see a pedestrian refuge island here and the Battelle property on your left);

· Go to the end of Surber and turn RIGHT at the T onto 42nd and go a couple of blocks;

· At the lopsided Y, turn RIGHT onto 43rd and go half a block;

· Turn LEFT onto NE 35th; you'll see a vacant lot on your right and the lake;

· Go up the steep one-block hill and I live in the house at the top of the one-block hill behind the high hedge on the right hand side. Parking is scarce so you might have to park a ways away, but it’s well worth it.

Jeannie Hale

Keep up-to-date on the Federation website, seattlefederation.blogspot.com

Good and not-quite-so-good news

2011-06-21T17:34:00.000-07:00

First the not-quite-so-good:
Due to a confluence of unforeseen and unwelcome events the June 23, 2011 Federation meeting has been regretfully cancelled, the first such cancellation in memory, and perhaps in our almost 63 years of existence.

More not-quite-so-good:
NOAA Pacific Marine Headquarters, our meeting place for the past decade, has been closed, its functions and personnel relocated to Newport, Oregon. The building has been stripped of its contents, the doors locked, and the keys turned over to the leaseholder who owns the facility and the underlying property. We regretfully bid goodbye to by far the best and most comfortable meeting facility we ever had. The building was fully ADA compliant, with ample parking.

Now the good:
Next month we plan to celebrate our 63^rd Anniversary at our Annual Summer Party to be once again held at the home of President Jeannie Hale.
Stay tuned for details.

More good:
Dianne Snell, our super-efficient secretary, has arranged for our wonderful new meeting place, which takes us back to our roots when we were incorporated as Washington State Domestic Corporation No. 110226, the Jackson Street Community Council, on July 1^st, 1948.
It could hardly be more central, it’s in the Central Area, and in fact it is the Central Area Senior Center, once a nursing home, now repurposed into a luxurious, modern, well equipped meeting facility in Leschi, just one block west of and one block south of Jackson, above Frink Park, perched atop Leschi Ridge, with a panoramic view of the traffic (beautiful from a distance) I-90 traffic flowing across Lake Washington below with Mount Rainier looming in the distance.
Like the NOAA Headquarters, it’s fully ADA compliant, and has ample parking on two adjacent lots.
It’s located at 500 30th Avenue South and is easy to drive to if one avoids I-5, easy to do, at least from the north end.
Here’s a map.

Still more good:
Our new meeting place is not controlled by the Federal government, so is not subject to the requirements of the Homeland Security Act. There are no guards, nor an entry requirement that you show picture ID to anyone.

Come right in, sit right down, and let your good ideas flow!

Yearly dues for member groups are $50. SCCF welcomes new member groups, and encourages renewal by groups whose membership in SCCF may have lapsed. Individual donations are also welcome and tax deductible, and go very far, as SCCF is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) organization. Please mail your check to SCCF, 2370 Yale Avenue East, Seattle, WA 98102-3310. For questions, contact treasurer Chris Leman, (206) 322-5463, cleman@oo.net.

Keep up-to-date on our website, seattlefederation.blogspot.com

ACTION ALERT FOR THURSDAY MORNING 10:30AM - Magnuson Park BUILDING 11--Pass It On!

2011-06-14T23:15:00.000-07:00

Subject: ACTION ALERT FOR THURSDAY MORNING 10:30AM BUILDING 11--Pass It On!

• WHAT’S HAPPENING: Building 11 in Magnuson Park´s North Shore Recreation Area (the home of Sail Sand Point and Hobie CAT) is under attack. On June 20th Seattle Parks & Recreation will hand over the keys to a private developer so he can put in a full service Virginia Mason Internal Medical Clinic & Pharmacy, and a high-end enrollee-only daycare. Traditional arts, cultural and recreational uses will be restricted to less than a quarter of the building, with water-related recreation reduced to barely 10% of the rentable space.

Increased parking and automobile traffic for the medical clinic and daycare--an additional 500-plus trips per day--will limit access to the hand-launched boat area, as will the additional 13,000SF (equal to two city lots) of outdoor space the developer wants for his commercial purposes--and he´s not even proposing to pay for this.

• THIS THURSDAY MORNING, JUNE 16TH, 10:30AM. PLAN TO ATTEND THE PUBLICHEARING ON BUILDING 11'S PROPOSED LEASE AMENDMENT. Meeting in the City Council Chambers in City Hall.

Bring a sign or two, a friend or two, and plan to make public comment that you do NOT want the North Shore Recreation Area commercialized for a medical center and an expensive daycare.

Thank you for your support of a true parks vision for Magnuson Park and for working to insure that water recreation remains the main focus of the North Shore Recreation Area.

•WRITE TO CITY COUNCIL TODAY. Write City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw and her Parks Committee members Tom Rasmussen, Bruce Harrell, and Jean Godden today to say you don´t want a medical center at Magnuson Park. Ask them to restore the North Shore Recreation Area vision of a center for non-motorized boat recreation. Tell them to vote NO on the upcoming Building 11 Investors LLC lease amendment.
While you’re at it, write ALL the Councilmembers. The Parks Committee consists of:

Sally.Bagshaw@seattle.gov, Tom.Rasmussen@seattle.gov, Bruce.Harrell@seattle.govJean.Godden@seattle.gov. The other five are: Nick.Licata@seattle.gov,Tim.Burgess@seattle.gov, Sally.Clark@seattle.gov, Richard.Conlin@seattle.gov, andMike.OBrien@seattle.gov.

For updated information check http://building11.org under IMPORTANT DATES.

City Neighborhood Council's budget committee meets this Tuesday, May 31, 5-6 p.m. in room 370 of City Hall.

2011-05-31T09:24:00.000-07:00

Come help discuss CNC's annual budget letter and the possible consolidation of DON with four other agencies.

The City Neighborhood Council's Budget Committee invites you to its meeting this Tuesday, May 31, 5-6 p.m. in room 370 of City Hall (601 Fifth Avenue, third floor). We will discuss the draft budget letter to the Mayor and City Council that the CNC, as it has yearly, will adopt at its June 27 meeting. Attached is the draft that was sent out along with the agenda for the May 23 CNC meeting. There is still time for the district councils and the CNC budget committee to suggest revisions.

In particular, we will discuss on Tuesday the McGinn administration’s consideration of partial or full consolidation of the Department of Neighborhoods with four other agencies (Office of Economic Development, Office of Housing, Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, and Office of Sustainability and Environment). This possibility poses both risks and opportunities for the mission we have associated with DoN for the past two decades, and we welcome your thoughts. Following is how this topic is addressed in the attached draft CNC letter:

CNC is cautiously receptive to proposals to consolidate the Department of Neighborhoods with some other offices, but only if doing so strengthens the core DoN functions discussed above. We are intrigued by a possible merger of DoN with the Office of Economic Development and the Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, which together could become a new Department of Neighborhoods, Economic Development, and Arts and Cultural Affairs. However we suggest that it would be a better fit to move the Office of Housing to the Department of Health and Human Services and to move the Office of Sustainability and the Environment to the Department of Planning and Development.

Background about the neighborhood budget process. City Council resolution 28115 that charters CNC and the district councils as official advisory bodies, states that "The responsibility of the City Neighborhood Council shall include review and recommendations regarding City budget issues, including the general fund, capital and block grant budgets, and the Neighborhood Matching Fund." The resolution also states that "The City Council shall consider the recommendations of the City Neighborhood Council and the comments of neighborhood organizations and District Councils in its review and actions on the City budget."

The CNC Budget Committee seeks to involve the district councils and other volunteers in budget discussions. Past CNC letters on the budget to the Mayor and City Council (and other background on CNC and the district councils) can be found at http://seattle.gov/neighborhoodcouncil. For questions or to comment, please contact CNC Budget Committee chair Chris Leman, cleman@oo.net (206) 322-5463.

FEDERATION MEETS THURSDAY, MAY 26 2011, 7:00 P.M. -- Will the Changes in Design Guidelines Affect Your Neighborhood?

2011-05-23T14:08:00.000-07:00

SEATTLE COMMUNITY COUNCIL FEDERATION

Regular Meeting

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency), Pacific Marine Center on Lake Union

1801 Fairview Avenue East

http://seattlefederation.blogspot.com/

Thursday, May 26, 2011

AGENDA

Will the Changes in Design Guidelines Affect Your Neighborhood?

featuring Cheryl Sizov, Department of Planning and Development

Design guidelines are the primary tool used by Design Review Boards in the review of proposed projects. Guidelines deﬁne the qualities of architecture, urban design, and public space that make for successful projects and communities. The guidelines help to reinforce existing character and protect the qualities that the neighborhood values most in the face of change. Will this continue with the recent changes in Design Guidelines? The changes were prompted in part by changing conditions in neighborhoods, emerging issues in design and development, and new best practices in the field of design review.

Issues and the Absence of Process in Siting Social Service Facilities

featuring Kwame Amoateng and Ann McNally, Jackson Place Alliance for Equity

How should a community respond when the city decides to put a “crisis solutions center,” a facility to house individuals picked up by the police for certain offenses deemed to be mentally unstable or under the influence of drugs, across the street from residential homes and near a community center that serves young children? Learn about the experience of the Jackson Place Alliance for Equity.

The May meeting will also include our monthly Round Robin of issues and projects in your neighborhood. If you have informational materials you would like distributed at the meeting, please email electronic copies or links to Jeannie Hale at jeannieh@serv.net.

7:00 Call to Order and Introductions

7:05 Administration

1. Changes to the agenda

2. Treasurer’s report

3. President’s report

7:15 Changes in Design Guidelines: Cheryl Sizov, Department of Planning and Development

8:00 Issues and the Absence of Process in Siting Social Service Facilities: Kwame Amoateng and Ann McNally, Jackson Place Alliance for Equity

8:40 Round Robin

9:00 Adjourn

NOAA is a federal facility on high security alert, so attendees must enter by the security gate and may need to present photo ID. If you haven't attended a recent Federation meeting, please send your name, contact information, and address to rickbarrett@gmail.com to be added to the entry list. No e-mail? Call 206-365-1267. The building is ADA compliant, with ample parking in front.

Founded and incorporated on July 1, 1948, as the Jackson Street Community Council, the Seattle Community Council Federation is one of the nation's oldest and most active coalitions of neighborhood groups. Since then our 501(C)3 Articles of Incorporation have been updated to now cover the entire City and include all Seattle neighborhoods.

Disturbing Disclosures Re Magnuson Park Building 11 Lease Agreement -- Immediate Citizen Input Needed

2011-05-20T15:44:00.000-07:00

Note: Gail Chiarello is a long-time neighborhood leader involved with Magnuson Park.

This message is cross-posted to the SeattlePOSA (Parks and Open Spaces) listserve as well as being posted on this blog.

[Re: Magnuson Park Building 11 Lease Agreement]

Sally.Bagshaw@seattle.gov,

Tom.Rasmussen@seattle.gov,

Bruce.Harrell@seattle.gov
cc	Jean.Godden@seattle.gov, Mike.O'Brien@seattle.gov, Nick.Licata@seattle.gov, Sally.Clark@seattle.gov, Tim.Burgess@seattle.gov, Richard.Conlin@seattle.gov, Christopher.Williams@seattle.gov, Mike.McGinn@seattle.gov

Good Morning Sally,

I was troubled to hear Bruce Harrell state you told him I support the Building 11 Lease Amendment handed down yesterday by the Mayor.

That is absolutely not true. My concerns remain as they have all along:

1. This is a half-century lease.

2. The historic vision for the North Shore Recreation Area was non-motorized small watercraft activities.

3. The proposed amendment reduces these activities to less than 5% of the building.

4. There is less than 20% of the building set aside for arts, culture and recreation--the classic activities of a park.

5. The building will be 80% high-end commercial.

6. VMMC is a prohibited use under the Shoreline Master Program.

7. The LLC cannot be trusted. It gains traction through misrepresentation & threats of lawsuits.

8. There is every evidence of favoritism, special backdoor channels, misuse by a Sail Sand Point Board member of his Board position, all to the benefit of the LLC.

9. The lease assignment clauses are so murky & complex that the City effectively loses its rights over the building in perpetuity.

10. The City loses revenue from this building in perpetuity.

I am totally uneasy with the precedent the proposed lease amendment sets in placing a medical facility in a public park--and those who point to the UW pediatric dental clinic fail to mention, that clinic is placed on UW property within the park! As we see with Children's, large medical centers are omnivorous in their willingness to consume the surrounding landscape.

From e-mail evidence obtained through public disclosure, you appear to have had a warm and cordial relationship with the LLC for many months, offering to help them with their problems with Virginia Mason, suggesting "beer summits" you were willing to attend to help smooth their way, stating that you have heard nothing but wonderful things about their junior partner, and so forth.

This gives me some pause. We have not had the benefit of all this schmooziness. We approached your office for weeks, with e-mails, phone calls, and requests for meetings, and were unable to get your attention until we showed up at your Coffee with the Two Sallys at the Pinehurst Safeway.

We are NOT on the same page when it comes to the Building 11 LLC lease amendment and we will seek the Council votes to defeat it. I do not expect you to join us, but it is time City Council restored some citizen trust and just said NO.

Sustaining Seattle’s Parks and Civil Engagement—A New Approach featuring Becca Aue and Thatcher Bailey, Seattle Parks Foundation and Dan Catchpole, Journalist

2011-04-26T13:55:00.000-07:00

SEATTLE COMMUNITY COUNCIL FEDERATION

Regular Meeting

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency), Pacific Marine Center on Lake Union

1801 Fairview Avenue East

http://seattlefederation.blogspot.com/

Thursday, April 28, 2011

AGENDA

Sustaining Seattle’s Parks and Civil Engagement—A New Approach

featuring Becca Aue and Thatcher Bailey, Seattle Parks Foundation

and Dan Catchpole, Journalist

There is a need for dialogue on a wide range of important issues confronting our city, and hopefully, consensus. The April meeting will feature a discussion on parks funding issues and a proposed approach to civic engagement on issues in general that are divisive.

Becca Aue, Program Director, and Thatcher Bailey, Executive Director, Seattle Parks Foundation, will brief the group on the report, Sustaining Seattle’s Parks: A Study of Alternative Strategies to Support Operations and Maintenance of a Great Urban Parks System, and will respond to questions. Finding the right mix of solutions for our parks relies on a broad community dialogue. For more information about the Parks Foundation, go to www.seattleparksfoundation.org.

Seattle’s parks lack a consistent, sustainable source of funds to pay for operations, maintenance, rehabilitation, and repair. There is currently a $25 million shortfall in the annual cost of operating and maintaining the existing parks system and a $200 million backlog of major maintenance projects. The recent report prepared for the Seattle Parks Foundation and its partners outlines a range of potential solutions based upon a nationwide review of best practices.
Dan Catchpole, journalist, will discuss his proposal for bringing diverse groups together to reach consensus.

The April meeting will also include our monthly Round Robin of issues and projects in your neighborhood. If you have informational materials you would like distributed at the meeting, please email electronic copies or links to Jeannie Hale at jeannieh@serv.net.

7:00 Call to Order and Introductions

7:05 Administration

1. Changes to the agenda

2. Treasurer’s report

3. President’s report

7:15 Sustaining Seattle’s Parks: Becca Aue and Thatcher Bailey, Seattle Parks Foundation

8:15 Engage Seattle—Civic Engagement for Seattle’s Next 50 Years: Dan Catchpole

8:40 Round Robin

9:00 Adjourn

NOAA is a federal facility on high security alert, so attendees must enter by the security gate and may need to present photo ID. If you haven't attended a recent Federation meeting, please send your name, contact information, and address to rickbarrett@gmail.com to be added to the entry list. No e-mail? Call 206-365-1267. The building is ADA compliant, with ample parking in front.

Good news for Neighborhoods - Bernie Matsuno will lead Department of Neighborhoods

2011-04-21T13:32:00.000-07:00

Matsuno will lead Department of Neighborhoods

One of the original staff members of Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods was named director Wednesday by Mayor Mike McGinn.

Bernie Matsuno was one of the first hires when the department was created in 1988 by then-director Jim Diers. Matsuno had been serving as interim director since Feb. 1.

"Bernie has great experience in the Department of Neighborhoods from its inception," McGinn said in a statement. "Her experience will help all city departments engage and partner with the public in improving our communities."

Matsuno had previously served as acting director under Mayor Greg Nickels, and then again this year when McGinn announced he was not reappointing Stella Chao, who had led the department for four years.

Chao was credited with reaching out to previously underrepresented communities including young people and immigrants. But critics said the department lacked a strong sense of mission under Chao and that she hadn't inspired staff in the way the popular Diers had. The department faced sharp cuts in the 2011 budget. Six neighborhood service centers were closed and three district-coordinator positions eliminated.

Matsuno previously worked with Jim Diers, the popular Neighborhoods director who was let go when Nickels took office in 2002. She helped create the department's Matching Fund program, which provides city money for neighborhood projects such as parks, playgrounds and landmark artwork such as the Fremont Troll and the China Gate in the International District.

Her workload will be tremendous as she rebuilds the tattered Department, perhaps even liberating it from it's forced and crippling alliances with the density-driven Department of Planning and Development, which has resulted in less than optimal outcomes in many Seattle neighborhoods.

Matsuno is certainly a dedicated and savvy leader, now she'll finally have the opportunity to follow in Dier's footsteps.

ALERT! - CITY COUNCIL TOMORROW (MON., APRIL 18) SHOULD NOT PASS C.B. 117142.

2011-04-17T16:09:00.000-07:00

CITY COUNCIL TOMORROW (MON., APRIL 18) SHOULD NOT PASS C.B. 117142'S INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT UNLESS ITS TRANSPORTATION BENEFIT DISTRICT IS MADE SUBJECT TO THE CITY CHARTER, LAWS, AND REGS; AND THE DISTRICT’S HUGE POWERS OF EMINENT DOMAIN, PROPERTY HOLDING AND DISPOSAL, EMPLOYMENT, AND CONTRACTING ARE REMOVED

The City Council’s handling of its governing role in the Seattle Transportation Benefit District (STBD) is jarringly at odds with the policies and processes that the Councilmembers say they support. At tomorrow’s Monday, April 18 meeting, the Council should not pass C.B. 117142, the proposed Interlocal Agreement, until the ordinance establishing STBD and this agreement are revised to make STBD fully subject to the City Charter, laws, and regulations, and the City Council rules; and until the City Council by ordinance and by this agreement removes the STBD’s far-reaching powers of eminent domain; property acquisition, holding, and disposal; employment; and contracting.

In creating Seattle’s Transportation Benefit District the City Councilmembers automatically became its governing board, and by state law (RCW 36.73.020.3) and Seattle Ordinance 123397 the Councilmembers are acting “in an ex officio and independent capacity” -- that is, independent of the City charter, laws, regulations, or rules. In their choices for the text of Ordinance 123397 (passed Sept. 20), the STBD charter and by-laws (adopted Oct. 25 by them at STBD’s first and only meeting), and in the Interlocal Agreement up for approval tomorrow, the City Councilmembers have created for themselves a body with far-reaching powers in which they are free to act in all kinds of unaccountable ways, at wide variance from the accountable procedures that govern them in their day jobs as Seattle City Councilmembers.

The only real direction in Ord. 1123397 to STBD is that it “preserve and maintain transportation infrastructure, improve public safety, implement projects identified in the SDOT planning documents and CIP, invest in bicycle, pedestrian, freight mobility and transit enhancements and provide people with choices to meet their mobility needs.” Additional ordinances may be passed that add to STBD’s functions, simply if the City Councilmembers “find the action to be in the public interest.” In pursuing these functions, STBD’s governing board of City Councilmembers is not bound by Seattle’s charter, ordinances, resolutions, regulations, or rules. And RCW 36.73 denies to Seattle voters the ability to close STBD down by public initiative, an option available to Seattle voters for matters governed by home rule. STBD may be may closed down only by the City Councilmembers acting by ordinance or as the STBD board members.

It is little understood by the public that under RCW 36.73 the Seattle Transportation Benefit District has vast powers to act without the protections of Seattle’s charter, ordinances, resolutions, regulations, or rules. Ord. 123397 (which established STBD) allows the City Councilmembers as the STBD board to act “for any purpose allowed by law,” and state law provides to any transportation benefit district such far-reaching powers (beyond control of Seattle’s Charter, ordinances, resolutions, or regulations) as:

to take property by eminent domain
to acquire, hold, and dispose of real and personal property
to hire and manage employees
to contract for construction, consultants, or any other purpose
to impose a $20/year vehicle license fee without public vote; and to place addition taxes before the voters
to issue bonds
to sue and be sued

C.B. 117142 (what the City Councilmembers propose to pass tomorrow as their “interlocal agreement” with themselves as the STBD governing board) restricts none of these powers. The only hint of a restriction is the meaningless statement that “The STBD has no employees.” STBD may have no employees right now, but there is nothing in C.B. 117142 that would prevent STBD in the future from hiring employees or exercising any of the powers listed above.

Like the ill-fated Monorail Authority, the Transportation Benefit District is state-chartered and thus free of protections that have been painstakingly built into the Seattle’s Charter, ordinances, resolutions, regulations, and rules to ensure that its powers are not abused. Given the minimal and unaccountable language of its authorizing ordinance, charter and by-laws, the STBD is restricted only by state laws, which are weak and which the legislature is free to weaken further. As a local government, Seattle has home rule and more than a century of protections for citizens’ rights. In how it has created the STBD outside of the home rule paradigm, the City Council has quite unnecessarily given up the many protections of the Charter, ordinances, resolutions, and regulations:

STBD is not subject to any of Seattle’s laws and regulations on competitive bidding, equal employment, human rights, ethics, public records disclosure, civil service, whistleblower protection, percent for the arts, tree protection, and even the Comprehensive Plan.

STBD escapes the jurisdiction of all of Seattle’s boards and commissions such as the Civil Service Commission, Public Safety Civil Service Commission, Ethics and Elections Commission, Design Commission, Planning Commission, Human Rights Commission, and Commission for People with Disabilities.

In acting as the STBD board, the City Councilmembers are not even covered by their own City Council rules. The by-laws that the City Councilmembers adopted for STBD on Oct. 25 state misleadingly that “the procedures of the City of Seattle City Council will govern the procedures of the Board,” but then belie this statement by following it with this breathtaking loophole: “Failure to follow procedural rules will not in itself constitute sufficient grounds for invalidating any Board action.” Rules mean nothing if the City Councilmembers do not require themselves to observe them when they are convened as STBD.

To make matters worse, the STBD by-laws depart from the City Council rules by stating that “despite any apparent conflict with City Council rules, a TBD Resolution may be introduced and acted upon during the same meeting of the Board.” Also, unlike the City Council rule for public comment to be allowed at the beginning of every full Council and Council committee meeting, the STBD bylaws ensure this opportunity only when the STBD “considers adoption of its annual plan for service or imposition of any tax, charge, or fee,” with the by-laws saying dismissively that for other STBD meetings and topics, that the Board (that is, the City Councilmembers) “from time to time may, in its sole discretion, permit public comment regarding additional topics.” And to add insult to injury, the Oct. 25 STBD meeting delayed public comment until after these faulty charter and by-laws had already been adopted.

If there is any dispute as to the legal issues raised above, please join in asking City Attorney Pete Holmes to prepare and release to the public a detailed legal memorandum analyzing them. During most of Seattle’s history, City Attorneys have issued such public legal memos, and Holmes promised during the campaign that he would start doing so again. A good start would be for him to issue a detailed public legal opinion on the issues raised above.

By e-mails, voice mail, and/or fax, please urge the City Councilmembers not to pass C.B. 117142 without revising and strengthening Ord. 123397 and the proposed Interlocal Agreement with themselves as STBD boardmembers to make the Seattle Transportation Benefit District fully subject to the City charter, laws, and regulations, and to the City Council rules; and that the City Council by ordinance and a revised Interlocal Agreement remove STBD’s far-reaching powers of eminent domain; property acquisition, holding, and disposal; employment; and contracting. And please testify at the Monday, April 18, 2 p.m. public comment period, in the second floor Council Chambers of City Hall, 601 Fifth Avenue, just before they vote. Below are the voice mails and e-mail addresses, or find the Councilmembers on Twitter and Facebook. It’s best to write to each Councilmember separately, not address all in one message. The fax number is (206) 684-8587.

sally.clark@seattle.gov 684-8802

tim.burgess@seattle.gov 684-8806

tom.rasmussen@seattle.gov 684-8808

jean.godden@seattle.gov 684-8807

richard.conlin@seattle.gov 684-8805

sally.bagshaw@seattle.gov 684-8801

bruce.harrell@seattle.gov 684-8804

nick.licata@seattle.gov 684-8803

mike.obrien@seattle.gov 684-8800

This e-mail was put together as a public service by Chris Leman, (206) 322-5463, cleman@oo.net

Delridge memorial for Vivian McLean: ‘Let’s keep her spirit alive’

2011-04-11T13:16:00.000-07:00

Delridge memorial for Vivian McLean: ‘Let’s keep her spirit alive’

April 9, 2011 at 9:50 pm | In Delridge, West Seattle news, West Seattle people | 6 Comments By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Her community-advocacy work was intense and serious – yet Delridge community activistVivian McLean was also known for her whimsy.
After almost two hours of tributes – from politicians, from neighbors, from family – her memorial this afternoon at Delridge Community Center, 16 days after her death at age 90, ended with a round of “The Hokey-Pokey” (video*).
Though our view didn’t include every single member of the standing-room-only crowd, participation looked universal. That would have included King County Executive Dow Constantine, former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, City Council President Richard Conlin, City Councilmembers Jean Godden, Nick Licata, and Tom Rasmussen, County Councilmember Joe McDermott, and Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith. And neighborhood luminaries too numerous to name (Steve Daschle of Southwest Youth and Family Services emceed). Even Jim Diers, the former Department of Neighborhoods director renowned for his evangelization of “Neighbor Power!” was on hand; Diers is the one who urged mourners, “Let’s keep her spirit alive.”

There didn’t seem to be much likelihood Ms. McLean will ever be forgotten. And not just because you can see her legacy at places such as Vivian McLean Place, the apartments over Delridge Library, which she fought for, or in other projects by Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association – which she helped create. It’s the people on whom she has left such a mark, that will continue to tell her story, and carry her work forward.
Speaker after speaker shared vivid memories of the woman who embraced so strongly the community where she had lived since 1948. Before Deputy Mayor Smith read a proclamation declaring today to be “Vivian McLean Day,” one of her four children – son Bruce McLean - shared personal stories of growing up with his mom. She nurtured others, too – not just the schoolchildren with whom she worked as an educator for so many years, but also other activists, and those who chose to move into the political realm. “Vivian adopted me for a little while,” recalled Council President Conlin. “She was incredibly tenacious.”
Conlin, it should be noted, was the only non-West Seattle-residing politician to speak, but that was a reminder that Ms. McLean’s reputation was known off-peninsula too.
County Executive Constantine lauded her for the “perspective” she provided, recalling her as “extraordinary.”
Former Mayor Nickels said Ms. McLean had decided early in his political career that he “was worth betting on” – and once he was elected to the King County Council in the ’80s, “she contacted me by letter and phone (often) to let me know how I was doing.”
Back in the day, Nickels said, “there were three people (I learned) you never say no to – one of them is here in this room today, Margaret Ceis – (also, the late) ‘Bert’ Weeks … and Vivian McLean.”
Other community activists offered eulogies as well. From the back of the room, Alexandra Pye, explaining to the crowd that she is using a wheelchair now, nonetheless stood up from it to tell her story of seeing Ms. McLean dancing, just a few years ago. Lucy Gaskill, a West Seattleite active with the Seattle League of Women Voters, said Ms. McLean epitomized what someone in her organization strives to be.
And her activism stretched well into her later life. White Center Food Bank volunteer coordinator Audrey Zemke shared the story of a phone call two years ago in which Ms. McLean said she wanted to “help out” – which, subsequently, she did. “She taught me that life is about living today.”
A montage of photos and tributes (put together by Shayla Simoes of SWYFS) visually told the story of highlights during Ms. McLean’s life – including her advocacy for Longfellow Creek and other greenspaces. (You can click through the slides below.* Some of the tributes came from comments left on the WSB story about her death on March 24th.)
And since she was known for her poetry, it was only fitting that – as was done during her 90th birthday celebration last fall (WSB coverage here) – some of her poems were read.
Sandy Adams read “The Healing Tree.” Margaret Ceis read “Walk Out Tall.” Susan Harmon read a poem with lines of inspiration, including “Speak up; do not try to hide.” A similar theme graced “A Giraffe Is Born” – as in, sticking your neck out – read by Pete Spalding, who prefaced the reading with a memory: Once he took on a leadership role in Pigeon Point, the neighborhood where Ms. McLean had long lived, “seldom a week went by without a message from (her), something she noticed on a walk, something (she had decided that) I now needed to take care of!” Pablo Lambinicio read, “Have I Told You Lately That I Care?”
And then, there was Jim Diers. “Vivian is the kind of activist we should all aspire to be. As the mayoral proclamation read toward the start of the memorial – it declared Vivian McLean made Seattle “a richer and better place.”
============================================================
*Hokey-Pokey video by Karrie Kohlhaas, who also uploaded the tribute montage PowerPoint to Scribd so it could be embedded here and elsewhere.

6 Comments »

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Here’s a link to the tribute that played for Vivian today at the memorial: http://www.scribd.com/doc/52680397/Vivian-McLean-Memorial-pptx
Click the arrows just below the image on the left to advance the slides. Thanks to Steve Daschle of SW Youth and Family Services for putting this together and the many neighbors and family members who shared their photos with us.
Comment by Karrie Kohlhaas — April 9, 11 11:19 pm #
I wanted to get up and say “thank you” to Vivian from all the newer residents of West Seattle who never knew her or knew who she was.
She made our neighborhood a much more caring, safe and beautiful place with her relentless “community organizing.” THANK YOU VIVIAN!! (better late than never).
Comment by howie in seattle — April 10, 11 6:01 am #
What a great celebration of the life of Vivian McLean yesterday. Our Pigeon Point neighborhood as well as our Delridge community is a much better place today thanks to the decades long efforts of Vivian. Rest in peace my friend.
Comment by Pete — April 10, 11 6:47 am #
Here is another link to the Hokey Pokey video in case the one above didn’t work:
http://vimeo.com/22186892
What a great way to end Saturday’s celebration of such a vibrant woman.
Comment by Karrie Kohlhaas — April 10, 11 12:19 pm #
Inspiring! Thanks!
Comment by Miranda — April 10, 11 2:46 pm #
Vivian was a recent past-president of the Seattle Community Council Federation when I first became involved with that organization a couple of decades ago. Established in 1948, and likely the nation’s longest-lived non-profit of it’s type, still effectively advocating for neighborhood and community interests, and where Vivian’s spirit lives on and guides decisions.
Without Vivian’s tutelage and encouragement by example I could have easily abandoned the seemingly quixotic eight- year quest of closing Seattle’s (and ultimately Washington states) terribly toxic medical waste incinerators. Vivian was my inspiration all the while.
Comment by Rick Barrett — April 10, 11 10:37 pm #

Renowned neighborhood leader Vivian McLean passed March 24, 2011 at age 90

2011-04-06T11:17:00.000-07:00

Vivian with Rasta

Below is the obituary that appeared in the Sunday, April 3, 2011 Seattle Times, (available for download at legacy.com).
Above is Vivian with Rasta, her beloved Amazon Parrot, on her shoulder. I last spoke with her on the phone just a few days before she passed, and she gave no hint of impending death or illness. Vivian had been a Seattle Community President and Vice-President, co-chaired the City Neighborhood Council’s Neighborhood Planning Committee, and had a hand in virtually every public effort and improvement in her geographical area over a decades-long history. She always hosted the Federation Christmas Party at her lavishly decorated Pigeon Point home. To get a wider idea of her many accomplishments just search the Seattle Times website for “Vivian McLean”

Vivian’s Celebration of Life will be held at 2:30 p.m. this Saturday, April 8, 2011 at the Delridge Community Center, 4501 Delridge Way SW. Here’s a map.

Rick Barrett

Vivian Lavane McLEAN Born November 3rd, 1920 in Bemidji, Minnesota to Harry and Lou Cox-Arnold. Sisters Carol, Marion; brother Dale (deceased); husband Donald McLean (deceased). Raised on a farm in Michigan, moved to Seattle in 1948 from Detroit, and settled into her Pigeon Point home until her death 3/24/11. As a community activists/organizer Vivian participated in the City's Model Cities program, and Forward Thrust. Worked as a para-professional in special education at Boren and Denny Junior High and Chief Sealth. Vivian was a Volunteer Coordinator for Seattle Public Schools. Vivian served on numerous Boards including West Seattle Chamber of Commerce; Duwamish Peninsula Community Commission, South Seattle Community College Foundation; West Duwamish Greenbelt for Open Space; Seattle Teachers Association; Delridge Land Use Task Force. She was an advocate of green spaces in the Delridge Community. Vivian was involved in the setting up of 13 neighborhood councils. She was supporter of Southwest Youth & Family Services and helped found the Delridge Neighborhood Development Association (DNDA). She served as capital campaignco-chairwoman of the DNDA Three Projects One Community Campaign, which raised $30 million to build 93 affordable housing units, a new location for the West Seattle Food Bank, and the development of the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. Survived by Daughters Anne Dennison, Sandra Hein, Sons Brian and Bruce McLean, six grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren. A Celebration of Life will be Saturday April 9th at 2:30pm at the Delridge Community Center, 4501 Delridge Way SW, 98106. Memorials can be sent to DNDA (Delridge Neighborhood Development Association).

Here are some comments on the West Seattle Blog's story about her 90th Birthday party on November 4th 2010:

8 COMMENTS

Vivian is tryly an inspiring neighbor leader who has led the eay for many years. Thanks to Vivian we all have a much better Delridge community to live in today.
Comment by Pete — November 14, 10 10:58 am #
Happy Birthday, Vivian!
.
Mike
Comment by miws — November 14, 10 11:01 am #
So beautiful and strong! Wow!
Comment by I. Ponder — November 14, 10 11:28 am #
Birthday greetings from Melinda & John. I refer to you as the political mother of Delridge. Many thanks!
Comment by Melinda — November 14, 10 3:04 pm #
Sorry I did not know about Vivian’s milestone achievement. Yet another one! My best wishes for many happy days reflecting on the many stones you moved up the hill!
Comment by Judy Pickens — November 15, 10 7:47 am #
Happy Birthday Vivian.
You fill our hearts with happiness and joy.
Continue your good works!
Fondly,
Joan Bateman
Comment by Joan Bateman — November 15, 10 9:31 pm #
I am privileged to say that Vivian was a key mentor in my life. I will be sending her a print of this tribute since I don’t believe she has Internet, but maybe that’s changed. We haven’t been in touch for over a year.
Happy Birthday to one of the true heroes of our society, who always remained true to her values, helped me and others to learn about community building, and showed me that honey works better than vinegar.
Comment by celia barry — November 26, 10 7:14 pm #
Vivian has been a mentor, supporter, co-conspirator, and excellent community advocate not only for PP and also citywide. Truly an inspiration and we hope she lives long and, well you don’t exactly prosper as a civic advocate, but you can sure feel accomplished!
Comment by Stephen Lundgren — December 3, 10 4:35 pm #

Here's her Birthday Picture

and here's a link to her birthday story.

Tonight's Meeting - More Info.

2011-03-29T13:36:00.001-07:00

What is the State of the Hanford Nuclear Waste Site?

Come Find Out

Join us today, March 29th - 6-9:30pm

Seattle Center, NW Building, 305 Harrison St.

Come hear about the state of the Hanford Nuclear Site in Eastern WA
and dialogue with decision makers about your concerns.

Vit Plant

HOT ISSUE: Will the Waste Treatment Plant work as designed?
The Waste Treatment Plant (aka the Vit Plant) will mix radioactive tank waste with glass, to immobilize the peanut butter-like sludge of plutonium reprocessing waste.

Hanford Challenge

Protecting our future with a cleanup that works.

Join us tonight for the Department of Energy sponsored State of the Hanford Site Public Meeting

2011-03-29T12:05:00.000-07:00

Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility

Join us tonight for the Department of Energy sponsored State of the Hanford Site Public Meeting. Learn about recent news related to the cleanup and and let them know there are lots of concerned citizens demanding nothing but the best.

Tonight- 6:00-9:00 Seattle Center, Olympic Room

Tonight, March 28 2011 - Chernobyl 25 Years Later: Lessons Learned? Networking Reception, Discussion, and Photo Exhibit

2011-03-28T14:57:00.000-07:00

Chernobyl 25 Years Later: Lessons Learned? Networking Reception, Discussion, and Photo Exhibit

Event Details

Speaker

Dr. Alexey Yablokov, Councilor of the Russian Academy of Science, Nuclear and Radiation Safety Program Chair for the International Socio-Ecological Union, and Author of "Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and Nature"

Date & Time

March 28, 2011 - 6:00pm

Registration Time

March 28, 2011 - 6:00pm

Location

University of Washington

Kane Hall Walker Ames 225 & 210

Seattle, WA 98195

See map: Bing Maps

Prices

Member: $10.00
Non-member: $15.00
Student: $10.00

Event Information

Event Location: http://www.washington.edu/maps/?l=KNE

Moderator and Commentator: Tom Carpenter, Executive Director, Hanford Challenge

Note: The Networking Reception is included in the cost of the event! The discussion part of this event will begin at 7:00 p.m.

Twenty five years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, what do we know about the real environmental, health, and economic impact(s)?

With the current nuclear crisis in Japan and the nuclear energy industry again on the rise globally as an “alternative” to fossil fuel energy, what lessons have we learned from the Chernobyl disaster and how have these lessons affected nuclear energy policy and practice today?

Finally, is nuclear energy today a safe alternative energy supply?

The World Affairs Council and Hanford Challenge present Dr. Alexey Yablokov, who will address the real consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe including poor public health, elevated mortality rates, and new and unusual illnesses. Dr. Yablokov will also discuss why the true impact of Chernobyl has been silenced and why the World Health Organization has not spoken out. Dr. Yablokov and Mr. Carpenter will also be prepared to discuss the current situation in Japan, comparisons with Chernobyl, and possible impacts in Japan and globally.

Dr. Alexey Yablokov was the environmental advisor to Russian President Yeltsin and advisor to the Gorbachev administration. He is a Councilor of the Russian Academy of Science and currently serves as Nuclear and Radiation Safety Program Chair for the International Socio-Ecological Union. Dr. Yabolokov is currently one of the leaders of the Russian Environmental movement and the author of many books about ecology, zoology, and radiobiology. Most recently, Dr. Yablokov authored, “Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and Nature,” a comprehensive presentation of all the available information concerning the health and environmental effects of the low dose radioactive contaminants that were emitted from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986. The official discussions emanating from the IAEA and associated UN agencies (e.g. the Chernobyl Forum reports) have largely downplayed or ignored many of the findings reported in the Eastern European scientific literature and as a consequence these reports have erred on the side of negative findings simply because much of what was known was not included in their assessments. This new book provides a complete and extensive summary of all known research, including that published in Russian and Ukrainian, and provides new insights to the likely long-term health and environmental consequences of nuclear accidents.

Note: Dr. Yablokov’s presentation will be in English. The Q&A section of the program will be facilitated with support from a consecutive Russian language interpreter.

This event will feature, "Chernobyl, 20 Years - 20 Lives" (2006), a photo documentary journeythrough the lives of 20 people whose lives were forever altered by the devastating nuclear explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 26th, 1986. In an attempt to understand the implications of the catastrophe on mankind, Mads Eskesen travelled in the affected regions, made interviews and took pictures of the everyday life. These trips resulted in 20 moving stories about human destinies that have been radically changed by the accident. The images offer an insight into the fate of a few of the victims of Chernobyl and reveal some of the impacts of the continuing catastrophe.

Note: The Networking Reception is included in the cost of the event! The discussion part of this event will begin at 7:00 p.m.

Hanford Challenge and FRAEC members can register at the member price.

Co-Presenter:
Foundation for Russian American Economic Cooperation (FRAEC)
Government Accountability Project
Ukrainian American Club of Washington
Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility

The World Affairs Council cannot refund cancellations later than 48 hours prior to an event.

The World Affairs Council is a non-partisan, non-profit organization which provides a forum for speakers representing diverse points of view. The opinions expressed by any and all speakers, presenters and/or guests at Council events are those of the speaker alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the World Affairs Council members, staff, Board of Trustees, or Advisory Council.

Federation meets Thursday, March 24, 2011 - Double Feature! - Bioterror; and Hanford, Seattle, Chernobyl, Plutonium and you ,

2011-03-22T23:30:00.000-07:00

SEATTLE COMMUNITY COUNCIL FEDERATION

Regular Meeting

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency), Pacific Marine Center on Lake Union

1801 Fairview Avenue East

http://seattlefederation.blogspot.com/

Thursday, March24, 2011

AGENDA

Is Seattle Safe from Radiation from Japan’s Nuclear Power Plants? What

are the Risks from Hanford and Biocontainment Labs?

featuring Mike McCormick from LabWatch Seattle and Tom Carpenter from Hanford Challenge

The State’s Department of Public Health has advised residents that most of the radioactive material in the failed Japanese nuclear plants is contained and poses no risks to residents in our area. But, what can we learn from the Japanese experience? How can Seattle address the risks and hazards of its biolabs? Learn about the issues from articulate and informed speakers at the March meeting.

Mike McCormick will address the continuing proliferation of high-containment biolabs in Seattle and why citizen oversight remains critical to our safety. For example, Alexandria Real Estate, the largest commercial builder/operator of high-containment biolabs has purchased several more parcels in the Eastlake/South Lake Union neighborhoods. Citizens need to be informed about the potential uses of these facilities and have a say as to whether they want them located in their neighborhoods and city without adequate safeguards.

Tom Carpenter will address the parallels between the events in Japan and here, especially as they relate to Hanford, with a special emphasis on the Columbia Generating Station, earthquakes, spent nuclear fuel pool above-ground and the Hanford nuclear waste tanks. He will also cover issues connected with the Waste Treatment Plant (aka the vit plant), the nuclear legacy at Hanford in the form of buried waste, and the tremendous technical, political, and financial challenges facing us in the cleanup ahead.

The March meeting will also include our monthly Round Robin of issues and projects in your neighborhood. If you have informational materials you would like distributed at the meeting, please email electronic copies or links to Jeannie Hale at jeannieh@serv.net.

7:00 Call to Order and Introductions

7:05 Administration

1. Changes to the agenda

2. Treasurer’s report

3. President’s report

7:15 Working to Prevent Nuclear Mistakes and Biolab Accidents: Mike McCormick and Tom Carpenter

8:00 Round Robin

9:00 Adjourn

NOAA is a federal facility on high security alert, so attendees must enter by the security gate and may need to present photo ID. If you haven't attended a recent Federation meeting, please send your name, contact information, and address to rickbarrett@gmail.com to be added to the entry list. No e-mail? Call 206-365-1267. The building is ADA compliant, with ample parking in front.

If you wish to familiarize yourself with the issues that will be discussed you might start by visiting these websites:

The Economist – Hanford -- From bombs to $800 Handbags

http://www.economist.com/node/18396103

Heart Of America Northwest

http://www.hoan.org

Wikipedia -- Bioterrorism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioterrorism

Labwatch – Seattle’s known Biolevel 3 Lab map (many are unknown)

labwatch.org/

Hanford - The most contaminated site in the Western Hemisphere.

Hanford Challenge www.hanfordchallenge.org

Chernobyl 25 Years Later: Lessons Learned?

http://www.world-affairs.org/events/2011/03/28/chernobyl-25-years-later-lessons-learned-networking-reception-discussion-and-photo

Chernobyl 25 Years Later: Lessons Learned? Networking Reception, Discussion, and Photo Exhibit

Event Details

Speaker

Date & Time

March 28, 2011 - 6:00pm

Registration Time

March 28, 2011 - 6:00pm

REGISTER

Location

University of Washington

Kane Hall Walker Ames 225 & 210

Seattle, WA 98195

See map: Bing Maps

Prices

Member: $10.00

Non-member: $15.00

Student: $10.00

Event Information

Event Location: http://www.washington.edu/maps/?l=KNE

Moderator and Commentator: Tom Carpenter, Executive Director, Hanford Challenge

Twenty-five years after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, what do we know about the real environmental, health, and economic impact(s)?

With the current nuclear crisis in Japan and the nuclear energy industry again on the rise globally as an “alternative” to fossil fuel energy, what lessons have we learned from the Chernobyl disaster and how have these lessons affected nuclear energy policy and practice today?

Finally, is nuclear energy today a safe alternative energy supply?

The World Affairs Council and Hanford Challenge present Dr. Alexey Yablokov, who will address the real consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe including poor public health, elevated mortality rates, and new and unusual illnesses. Dr. Yablokov will also discuss why the true impact of Chernobyl has been silenced and why the World Health Organization has not spoken out. Dr. Yablokov and Mr. Carpenter will also be prepared to discuss the current situation in Japan, comparisons with Chernobyl, and possible impacts in Japan and globally.

Dr. Alexey Yablokov was the environmental advisor to Russian President Yeltsin and advisor to the Gorbachev administration. He is a Councilor of the Russian Academy of Science and currently serves as Nuclear and Radiation Safety Program Chair for the International Socio-Ecological Union. Dr. Yabolokov is currently one of the leaders of the Russian Environmental movement and the author of many books about ecology, zoology, and radiobiology. Most recently, Dr. Yablokov authored, “Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and Nature,” a comprehensive presentation of all the available information concerning the health and environmental effects of the low dose radioactive contaminants that were emitted from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986. The official discussions emanating from the IAEA and associated UN agencies (e.g. the Chernobyl Forum reports) have largely downplayed or ignored many of the findings reported in the Eastern European scientific literature and as a consequence these reports have erred on the side of negative findings simply because much of what was known was not included in their assessments. This new book provides a complete and extensive summary of all known research, including that published in Russian and Ukrainian, and provides new insights to the likely long-term health and environmental consequences of nuclear accidents.

Note: Dr. Yablokov’s presentation will be in English. The Q&A section of the program will be facilitated with support from a consecutive Russian language interpreter.

Note: The Networking Reception is included in the cost of the event! The discussion part of this event will begin at 7:00 p.m.

Hanford Challenge and FRAEC members can register at the member price.

Co-Presenter:

Foundation for Russian American Economic Cooperation (FRAEC)

Government Accountabilty Project

Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility <http://www.psr.org/chapters/washington/>

“SUSTAINING SEATTLE’S PARKS” REPORT CONTAINS PROPOSALS (ESPECIALLY FOR A METROPOLITAN PARK DISTRICT) THAT WOULD UNDERMINE ACCOUNTABILITY AND FUNDING FOR SEATTLE’S PARKS

2011-02-25T14:45:00.001-08:00

In the name of “sustainable financing” for our parks, a report led by the Seattle Parks Foundation and sponsored by the Arboretum Foundation, MOHAI, Seattle Aquarium Society, Woodland Park Zoological Society, and Cascade Land Conservancy, lays out a strategy that would undermine current protections for Seattle’s parks, especially through special districts and privatization. The report (released Feb. 16, but dated Jan. 2011) can be found at http://www.seattleparksfoundation.org/Sustaining_Parks.html

The grave flaws in the report can be traced in part to a complete lack of prior public notice, including any invitation for input on its initial scope or to comment on a draft; and biased “survey” questions inviting premature endorsement of options. (I suggest that the survey be avoided until the options are better analyzed in a revised report and more fairly described in a future survey.) The Seattle Parks Supt. and the Chair of the Parks Board both sit ex officio on the Seattle Parks Foundation’s board (and probably on the boards of several other sponsoring groups)--not a good sign that the City will independently evaluate the report’s proposals. It’s all a sobering lesson in how such organizations and the City government itself see accountability, as the report calls for the City to turn over to them much greater control over our parks.

There are good things in the report (especially its analysis of the financial needs of our parks and how the Mayor and City Council have increasingly starved them of funds), but its analysis of options downplays those (such as impact fees on developers) that would fund our parks better under current management. Meanwhile, the study paints a rosy picture of the parks under future special districts and privatization, conclusions it reaches through misstatements and ignoring key issues.

There’s not the space here to analyze all parts of the report, but of most serious concern is that, despite all of the information below regarding their proposal for a Metropolitan Park District (MPD) having been provided to the Seattle Parks Foundation and its cohorts and to Bounds and Byers last year, they continue to push this alternative without addressing the serious issues raised. They have dollar signs in their eyes regarding the $88 million/year additional property tax base an MPD brings, but without even mentioning that state legislation could provide to cities that already have a Park Department that same additional tax base without needing to create a parallel and unaccountable new government.

Seattle’s parks, community centers, nature centers, and other Park Department facilities are endangered by proposals for a Metropolitan Park District. The authors of Sustaining Seattle’s Parks claim (p. 52) that an MPD would not be a “separate district.” They are incorrect--irresponsibly so. Like the ill-fated Monorail Authority, a Seattle Metropolitan Park District would be a state-chartered district, evading any of the protections that have been painstakingly built into the City Charter, ordinances, resolutions, and regulations.

As a state entity, a Seattle MPD would be governed only by state laws, which are weaker and which the legislature could further weaken at any time. Were Seattle to create a Metropolitan Park District with the City Councilmembers being the district board members, this entity would be state-chartered and thus not be bound by anything in Seattle’s Charter, ordinances, resolutions, or regulations. This loss of accountability could not be cured by the wording of a Seattle ballot measure or by the City Council’s re-enactment of these lost protections in its new guise as a state MPD board.

Background on MPDs. Although unaccountable to Seattle voters (who would be denied even the ability to close it down by public initiative), a Metropolitan Park District would have vast powers of eminent domain, employment, taxation, and the issuance of bonds, and it could operate a wide range of businesses, including stadiums and performing venues, airports, port facilities, and anything else “it shall judge desirable or beneficial for the public, or for the production of revenue for expenditure for park purposes.”

Public officials and civic leaders who should be strong stewards of Seattle’s parks and of open government have been rushing to establish a Seattle Metropolitan Park District without analysis or public discussion of the serious accountability issues that would accompany an MPD under current law. Instead of seeking the needed improvements in state law, in 2002 Seattle successfully lobbied for a change that further reduced an MPD’s accountability--allowing a City Council or County Council to serve as the governing body of a Metropolitan Park District [RCW 35.61.050 (3)].

This Seattle-sought change eliminated the independently elected park commissioners who would otherwise be in charge of the District, and who would be more accountable because their election would depend entirely on their stewardship of parks facilities. Several cities or counties have since created Metropolitan Park Districts in which their parks have suffered from the very issues of accountability and democratic control addressed here. It is to the discredit of Seattle that this misplaced lobbying opened up loopholes that are undermining parks all over the state, and now could eliminate current Seattle parks’ protections if we take their advice and go for an MPD.

Unlike almost any other Seattle program, the City’s parks and their funding needs are recognized in the City Charter. Unfortunately, mayors and city councils have had other priorities, giving parks an ever decreasing portion of City funds. The Mayor and City Council should correct this imbalance, not create a Metropolitan Park District that, under current state law, would make Parks Department funding even shakier and would destroy the park system’s protections and accountability. Were a Seattle MPD to be established with its own limited claim on property taxes, advocates for reducing City spending or for spending more on fire, police, and social needs will have a case against the spending of City property taxes for parks, and these funds are likely to diminish further. Tacoma once had a well-regarded and well-funded Parks Department, but it withered once the Tacoma MPD was established.

Authors of the report are attracted by the additional property tax capacity that it would bring, including the right to raise property taxes further without need for further voter approval. They don’t mention that the tax capacity of Metropolitan Park Districts is junior to other taxing entities such as school districts, the Port of Seattle, the County, and the City itself. In years when property tax revenues are down, a Seattle MPD would suffer huge losses. The largest existing MPD (Tacoma) has been chronically short of revenue, forcing it to ask voters for funding just as if it were part of the City government. State law prohibits a City from contributing funds to an MPD unless the City declares an emergency.

If Seattle really wants the additional tax base that state law allows to a Metropolitan Park District, it should seek a change in state law, providing this additional tax base to a City that chooses not to create an MPD. Establishing an MPD, with all of the accountability problems that it would bring, is not a responsible way to increase park funding.

Problems in accountability and state law. The City Council, in meeting as the Metropolitan Board of Park Commissioners, would not be covered by the City Charter or by any City ordinances, resolutions, or regulations--not even by its own City Council rules. It would be acting as a state-chartered body, and thus be subject only to state laws and regulations. And unlike the elected Tacoma MPD commissioners, the City Councilmembers would not be elected specifically for their work on a Seattle MPD, greatly diminishing their accountability for what they would do as the MPD’s governing board.

Some argue that Seattle can get around the unaccountability of a City Council acting as the state-chartered MPD Board of Park Commissioners by writing into a Seattle MPD’s charter that it must obey the Seattle Charter, ordinances, resolutions, and regulations. But such a requirement could not stand up in court, as state agencies are not subordinate to local agencies, and no agency can be bound beforehand by charter provisions, laws, and regulations that may be passed in the future.

It would also be unworkable if, acting as a state-chartered MPD Board, the City Council tried to re-enact as MPD policies the City Charter and the hundreds of thousands of pages of City ordinances, resolutions, and regulations, including the constant changes as they arise. Even worse: acting as an MPD Board, the City Council could repeal any of those commitments at any time, and unlike with its decisions under the City Charter, its decisions would be beyond any power of the public to challenge by initiative or referendum, which do not apply to an MPD. (Remember, the state law regarding MPDs doesn’t allow voters to close down an MPD by ballot measure.) As a local government, Seattle now has home rule and more than a century of protections for parks and citizens rights. These it would all be giving up by creating a state-chartered Metropolitan Park District.

Seattle should not even consider establishing a Metropolitan Park District without removal by state legislation of the following invitations to abuse. In the discussion below there are many citations to the Washington MPD statute, which can be found at http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=35.61.) Under current state law (which could be worsened further, without any way for Seattle voters to prevent it), a Seattle MPD would have the following powers:

Can acquire property, including by eminent domain (condemnation), and not only for parks, playgrounds, parkways, and boulevards, but also to “widen, alter, and extend streets” and to build and operate airports [RCW 35.61.130].

Can acquire City property (including street rights of way) by transfer without the procedural safeguards and public notice required when the City transfers property to other entities [RCW 35.61.290, RCW 39.30.010].

Can increase the property tax assessment on adjoining private properties that it claims have benefited from any street improvement it has done [RCW 35.61.220].

Can establish local improvement districts (additional taxes in a limited area) [RCW 36.69.200].

Can “sell, exchange, or otherwise dispose of” property by declaring it surplus [RCW 35.61.132].

Can issue revenue bonds and general obligation bonds, many without voter approval [RCW 35.61.100-115, RCW 39.46.110].

Can use community revitalization financing, under which a portion of the taxes collected in an area near one of its facilities can be denied to citywide uses or schools and be kept for its own use [RCW 35.61.137, RCW 39.89.050].

Can commission its own police officers with full police powers [RCW 35.61.370].

Can conduct any business activities “as it shall judge desirable or beneficial for the public, or for the production of revenue for expenditure for park purposes” [RCW 35.61.130]. This includes merchandise and food sales, concerts and other entertainments, and the operation of airports and port facilities.

Can fund a wide range of public improvements, including street construction and maintenance, water, sewer, and drainage construction, sidewalks and streetlights, parking, and terminal and dock facilities [RCW 839.89.020].

Is not subject to any of the initiative and referendum powers that citizens have in the City Charter. Although initially established by voters, an MPD cannot be undone by voters. RCW 35.61.310 gives this sole power to the MPD board, and only if ten percent of the number of voters in the last election have petitioned them with this request.

Is not subject to any of Seattle’s laws and regulations on competitive bidding, equal employment, human rights, ethics, civil service, whistleblower protection, percent for the arts, tree protection, and even the comprehensive plan.

Escapes the jurisdiction of all of Seattle’s boards and commissions, even the Board of Parks Commissioners (Park Board), and also the Civil Service Commission, Public Safety Civil Service Commission, Ethics and Elections Commission, Design Commission, Planning Commission, Human Rights Commission, and Commission for People with Disabilities,

Is not subject to the overwhelmingly passed Initiative 42, a law which protects Seattle parks from being misused, sold or given away.

Can acquire and manage land outside the City limits [RCW 35.61.130].

Can annex land outside the City limits [RCW 35.61.275].

Conclusion. Without essential changes in state law, a Seattle MPD would be an historic mistake, and proposals for one (and for other special districts and privatization) are letting the Mayor and City Council off the hook from fully funding our parks from the City treasury. Hard-won protections must not be sold for a sketchy increase in property taxes, which state law should allow to Seattle and other localities without their having to create a state-chartered MPD that endangers the very parks it supposedly helps.

Don’t take the above concerns just from me. Let’s urge City Attorney Pete Holmes to prepare and release to the public a detailed legal memorandum analyzing the various issues raised. Back in 1999, parks and good government advocates urged the City to release to the public a thorough analysis of the legal and policy issues, but twelve years later, the City hasn’t done so. During most of Seattle’s history, City Attorneys (with the exception of a few recently, including the one Pete defeated) have issued such public legal memos, and Holmes promised during the campaign that he would start doing so again. A good start would be for him to issue a detailed public legal opinion on the issues raised above. You can contact City Attorney Pete Holmes at peter.holmes@seattle.gov, by voice mail at (206) 684-8200, by fax at (206) 684-8284, or by mail at PO Box 94769, Seattle 98124-4769.

The Seattle City Council in 1999 rejected a Seattle Metropolitan Park District proposal led by Ken Bounds (then Park Supt.) and Tom Byers (then Deputy Mayor) because of concerns about loss of accountability and protections for our parks. Now Bounds and Byers have again favorably recommended an MPD and other special districts but completely ignored the concerns.

The Seattle Parks Foundation, Arboretum Foundation, MOHAI, Cascade Land Conservancy, and Aquarium and Zoo societies issued the Bounds/Byers report without prior public notice, without asking for input, without issuing a draft for comment, and without ensuring coverage of the accountability issues that have been raised about its proposals for an MPD and other special districts and for privatization that would in many cases give entities like themselves more control over parks that are currently public. Their handling of this report is a reminder of why unaccountable entities should not be given such power, and why we must fight to maintain the public’s sovereignty over Seattle parks.

Chris Leman, author of the above statement, is a social scientist (Ph.D, Harvard University) who formerly was on the faculties of UW and Brandeis University, and at Resources for the Future, Inc. and the Office of the U.S. Secretary of the Interior. He can be reached at (206) 322-5463 and cleman@oo.net

Response to Public Records article from Gerry Pollet

2011-02-22T12:47:00.000-08:00

Rrom Gerry Pollet Please call your legislators and urge them to oppose ALL bills that reduce public access to public records, including efforts to charge for searching for records.

As a board member of the WA Coalition for Open Government and in my work as an environmental attorney, I have recently documented that many of the agencies claimed by our AG and legislators to be burdened by such costs of providing public records on pending major agency actions to the public (without which the public can not comment) fail to index the records they are relying on for decisions, and fail to keep electronic records in searchable formats - despite state laws requirin both. Then, the agencies complain to the Legislature that they need to charge thousands of dollars to search for the records when requested by citizen groups or individuals who need the same records to intelligently comment on pending proposals!

If these laws pass, neighborhood groups, environmental groups, citizen watchdogs, and candidates challenging incumbents will lose their most potent tool: public information.

Gerry Pollet

Federation meets Thursday, February 24, 2011 -- Seattle’s Shoreline Master Program—Proposed Changes featuring Maggie Glowacki

2011-02-22T07:21:00.000-08:00

SEATTLE COMMUNITY COUNCIL FEDERATION

Regular Meeting

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency), Pacific Marine Center on Lake Union

1801 Fairview Avenue East

http://seattlefederation.blogspot.com/

Thursday, February 24, 2011

AGENDA

Seattle’s Shoreline Master Program—Proposed Changes

featuring Maggie Glowacki

The City of Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development (DPD) is comprehensively updating Seattle’s Shoreline Master Program (SMP) for the first time since 1987. The SMP constitutes the policies and regulations governing development and uses on and adjacent to marine and freshwater shorelines. Learn how the proposed new shoreline rules affect you and your neighborhood from DPD’s Maggie Glowacki. To review the draft regulations, director’s report and supporting material, go to www.seattle.gov/dpd/Planning/ShorelineMasterProgramUpdate/.

The February meeting will also include our monthly Round Robin of issues and projects in your neighborhood. If you have informational materials you would like distributed at the meeting, please email electronic copies or links to Jeannie Hale at jeannieh@serv.net.

7:00 Call to Order and Introductions

7:05 Proposed Changes to the Shoreline Master Plan: Maggie Glowacki

7:45 Administration

1. Changes to the agenda

2. Treasurer’s report

3. President’s report

8:00 Round Robin

1. Sign waiver departure at Nathan Hale High School

2. Community Center Advisory Team—Update

3. Proposed changes to the Public Records Act to limit citizen access

4. Red Light Runner camera legislation

5. Sand Point Naval Air Station historic designation—Update

6. Other—Please bring priorities from your community group

9:00 Adjourn

NOAA is a federal facility on high security alert, so attendees must enter by the security gate and may need to present photo ID. If you haven't attended a recent Federation meeting, please send your name, contact information, and address to rickbarrett@gmail.com to be added to the entry list. No e-mail? Call 206-365-1267. The building is ADA compliant, with ample parking in front.

Founded in 1948, the Seattle Community Council Federation is one of the nation's oldest and most active coalitions of neighborhood groups. Yearly dues for member groups are $50. SCCF welcomes new member groups, and encourages renewal by groups whose membership in SCCF may have lapsed. Individual donations are also welcome and tax deductible, and go very far, as SCCF is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) organization. Please mail your check to SCCF, 2370 Yale Avenue East, Seattle, WA 98102-3310. For questions, contact treasurer Chris Leman, (206) 322-5463, cleman@oo.net.

We meet most months at 7 p.m. on the third or fourth Thursday at the NOAA Pacific Marine Headquarters, 1801 Fairview Avenue East.

HERE'S A MAP.

More on ALERT re public disclosure

2011-02-21T15:46:00.000-08:00

Additionally, calling this Washington State Legislation Hotline number, 1.800.562.6000, is a quick and painless way to weigh in on proposed legislation.

Someone at the other end of the call will distribute your comments to your representatives in the house and senate. You can request a response as well.

The hotline is open from 8am – 8pm Monday through Friday and 9am – 1pm on Saturdays.

ALERT! PUBLIC RECORDS ACT BEING DISMANTLED NOW - YOUR ACTION NEEDED

2011-02-21T11:22:00.000-08:00

Below is a message from well-respected land use attorney, Peter Eglick, about efforts to substantially diminish citizen access to public records. If you would like to read the bill and bill report on HB 1300, go to http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=1300&year=2011This bill is ready for a vote in committee. The companion bill in the senate is SB 5088 and info about that bill can be found at http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=5088&year=2011.Both have already had public hearings. You all likely know how difficult it is to pry public records from departments and agencies. These bills will create further obstacles. Please read the Times article (link is below) and take action to oppose these bills TODAY.

Jeannie Hale

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014281074_recordsbills20m.html

Please see the link above to today's Seattle Times story about attempts in the current Legislature to cut back on citizen rights under the Public Records Act. These attempts are in my opinion misguided because public records requests under the Act are often the only way to track government actions on matters of concern.

In particular, the current attempt in the Legislature to make citizens pay government staff salaries to obtain information that should be public in the first place would effectively eliminate the right to information except for those who are well-funded enough to not blink at such expense (mostly corporations and other wealthy entities). This would create a two-tier system of information haves and have-nots. It would become even more difficult for “ordinary” citizens to have access to information about what government is up to. Providing public records is a core government function, part of the cost of doing business for government. It is paid for by the taxes the government already collects. What government function is more important than allowing citizens access to the information necessary to exercising their rights as citizens in a democracy?

The justification for the approach now being pushed in the Legislature by some interest groups– that there are abuses in PRA requests – is largely undocumented and, when the evidence is examined, largely untrue (as the Times article describes).

The Times article also mentions proposals in the Legislature to burden citizen lawsuits to enforce the Public Records Act with additional procedural hoops. These proposals are also ill-advised. The fact is that there are, relatively speaking, very few of such enforcement lawsuits. They generally come about only in egregious cases. The credible possibility of an enforcement action is for some (not all) agencies the only incentive for compliance. And it is the only recourse for citizens when faced with an agency intent on noncompliance. Setting up procedural hoops to delay a citizens’ right to ask a Court to order release of records will only encourage a violating agency to slow the game so that it can continue to hide the ball. “Justice delayed is justice denied” is not just a cliché: it is a fact.

There is no denying that there are some government interests which – even in this day and age when records can be readily kept and accessed electronically -- still find it irksome that they cannot do business “off-the-record.” However, as Louis Brandeis, later a revered U.S. Supreme Court Justice, wrote in 1913, “Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.” The importance and curative power of sunlight in government has not diminished in the last century.

If you share my concern, please contact your state Senators and Representatives (even if just by e mail) and let them know that you oppose the changes proposed to the Public Records Act that would burden and diminish citizens’ access to public records.

Peter Eglick

ALERT - Your letter needed for Sand Point Naval Air Station Historic District Nomination

2011-01-28T17:36:00.000-08:00

Scroll down to see who to send and CC your letter to BEFORE NEXT TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2011.

Here's the Federation's letter as a sample for you:

January 28, 2011

Landmarks Preservation Board

Department of Neighborhoods

PO Box 94649

Seattle, WA 98124-4649

RE: Sand Point Naval Air Station Historic District

Dear Board Members:

The Seattle Community Council Federation, a coalition of community groups throughout the city of Seattle, supports the listing of Naval Air Station Seattle at Sand Point as a City of Seattle Landmark Historic District. NAS-Seattle has already received National Listing at the highest level of importance. The resources in the district proposed are all over 25 years old as required by City preservation laws for listing.

At our monthly meeting we were most impressed with the history of the first “Around the World Flight” and other early aviation events that occurred at Sand Point since it was our first regional airport. The pictures of the WWII development showed what a presence it was in our City at that time. NAS Seattle deserves to be under the protection of historic preservation staff and City preservation laws. It is a site and history known and appreciated by the whole city not just Northeast Seattle. Navy pilots who served at NAS Seattle even live outside the city now but remember their service time there. Its history should be remembered by our children and grandchildren too, preserved and celebrated.

Sincerely,

Rick Barrett, Vice President

1711 North 122^nd Street

Seattle, Washington 98133

206-365-1267

rickbarrett@gmail.com

cc: Parks and Seattle Center Committee Members

NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING

OF THE LANDMARKS PRESERVATION BOARD

to consider

Landmark Nomination for the Following Property:

Sand Point Naval Air Station

7400 Sand Point Way NE

The Landmarks Preservation Board will consider this nomination at its

meeting on Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 3:30 p.m. in the Seattle

Municipal Tower, 700 5th Avenue, 40th Floor, Room 4060.

The public is invited to attend the meeting and make comments. Written comments should be received by the Landmarks Preservation Board at the following address by Tuesday, February 1, 2011, by 5:00 p.m.:

Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board, Dept. of Neighborhoods, P.O.

Box 94649, Seattle WA 98124-4649.

Copies of the Landmark Nomination will be available for public review at the Department of Neighborhoods Office, at Seattle Municipal Tower, 700 5th Ave, Suite 1700, telephone: 684-0228. The nomination is also posted on the Department of Neighborhoods website:

http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/preservation/landmarks.htm

under the heading of “Current Nominations.”

From Lynn Ferguson, Friends of NAS-Seattle Historic District www.sandptnavsta.org;lynnferguson65@comcast.net 206-523-0391:

I urge you to send a short letter of support before Tuesday, February 1. It's really important. We have waited a long time for this. With your help it may happen. Lynn

Sand Point Naval Air Station Needs Your Help

As Sand Point Naval Air Station grew, so did NE Seattle. After WWI the need for an airfield close to Seattle was recognized when visiting dignitaries had to land on Jefferson Park Municipal Golf Course. Both the Army and Navy saw the military use of aviation and Sand Point was chosen as the site of the first municipal airport. At the time it was outside the city limits but close to Seattle and ship building Bremerton. A small county grass airport was the take off and landing of the historic Round-the-World Flight of 1924. The Navy was given the land for a Naval Air Station in 1926 and much work was done to improve buildings and landing strips with WPA funds in the 1930’s. It was the first Naval Air Station established in the Thirteenth Naval District, the Northwest states, prior to WWII and was one of only four when WWII began. Pearl Harbor was one but when it was bombed on Dec. 7^th, 1941 NAS Seattle became the center for staging for the Pacific theatre. At one time up to 7500 people lived or worked on the base. Active also for training during the Korean War, the base was gradually less active as jets required longer runways than biplanes and the city had grown around it. When it was deactivated in 1996, the buildings were given to the city, UW and Department of Housing.

Two years ago some of the buildings still empty after ten years were deteriorating so that the historic district was declared one of the most endangered historic properties in the state by Washington Trust for Historic Sites and the City pursued National Listing for the site so tax credits could help with the building renovation. This was successful in July of last year. The next step for this historic property within the city limits is to become a Landmark District so it falls under city historic protection laws and Department of Neighborhood staff trained personnel. This will save the city money in that Parks will not have to hire an outside consultant to review design issues. It will allow for a design review process that will be set up after the property is designated overseen by trained City preservation staff. It will also allow for City building code relief as well as set design guidelines.

Please write the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board or come to a public hearing to tell them your story of why the base is important keep and celebrate. On February 2^nd 2011 the nomination of the site as the first landmarked historic district in 20 years in Seattle goes before the board for consideration. It has received National Listing at the highest level of importance, federal, due to its importance to aviation and military history. Now it needs your help to receive protection under City preservation laws. This helps establish a system of design guidelines and public input and well as giving building code relief to developers who save these historic buildings.

All buildings must be at least 25 years old. They met the federal standard to 50 years. In addition, there are six criteria for nomination. The site needs to meet only one but we feel it meets four of the six:

Criteria A “It is associated with a historic event,” the Around the World Flight and Lindberg’s landing

Criteria C: “The buildings are associated in a significant way with a significant aspect of the cultural, political or economic heritage of the city, state or nation”(1^st Municipal Airport and Navy base),

Criteria D: “It embodies the distinctive visible characteristics of an architectural style or period” as a large collection of WPA built Art Deco, Colonial Revival and rare pre-WWII aviation hangers and

Criteria F: Because of its prominence of spatial location, contrasts or siting, age, or scale, it is an easily identifiable visual feature of its neighborhood or the city and contributes to the distinctive quality or identify of such neighborhood of the City.”

If you served at the base or have a story about its importance to our economic development or national defense or aviation history please write or e-mail just one page to the Landmarks Board and let them know by the end of January. Public Notice is attached so you can see the whole nomination with historic photos.

Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board

Department of Neighborhoods

PO Box 94649

Seattle, WA 98124-4649 or attend the meeting Feb.2 at 3:30 Seattle Municipal Tower 700 5^th Ave., 40^th floor room 4060

Or e-mail Beth.Chave@seattle.gov

When you write please cc: Karen.Gordon@seattle.gov,Tom.Rasmussen@seattle.govJean.Godden@seattle.gov; Sally.Bagshaw@seattle.gov;Bruce.Harrell@seattle.gov

Lynn Ferguson Friends of NAS-Seattle Historic District www.sandptnavsta.org;lynnferguson65@comcast.net 206-523-0391

FEDERATION MEETS THURSDAY January 27, 7 P.M.

2011-01-24T20:54:00.000-08:00

SEATTLE COMMUNITY COUNCIL FEDERATION

Regular Meeting

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency), Pacific Marine Center on Lake Union

1801 Fairview Avenue East

http://seattlefederation.blogspot.com/

Thursday, January 27, 2011

AGENDA

Are Changes in Store for the Department of Neighborhoods?

Will Sand Point Naval Air Station be Designated an Historic District?

and More

The January Federation meeting will include a potpourri of issues facing neighborhoods and the City.

City Neighborhood Council Chair Chas Redmond will provide background and his expertise on issues relating to the Council directive to identify new approaches for DON to implement community outreach and engagement activities given fewer resources and to prioritize the roles and responsibilities of Neighborhood District Coordinators.

Lynn Ferguson, President of Friends of Naval Air Station Seattle Historic District, will brief the group on efforts to designate a new historic district in the City. Since 1970, the City has established seven historic districts recognizing the aesthetic and architectural value of these treasured cultural and historical resources. Now, the City is poised to recognize Sand Point Naval Station as an historic district with your support.

Time permitting, the January meeting will also include our monthly Round Robin of issues and projects in your neighborhood. If you have informational materials you would like distributed at the meeting, please email electronic copies or links to Jeannie Hale at jeannieh@serv.net.

7:00 Call to Order and Introductions

Administration

1. Treasurer’s report

2. President’s report -- Suggestions for new meeting location

7:15 DON and Neighborhood District Coordinators—CNC Chair Chas Redmond

7:45 Sand Point Naval Air Station Historic District—Lynn Ferguson, Friends of Naval Air Station Seattle Historic District

8:15 Round Robin

1. Implementing the Council’s SLI on Community Centers

2. Paid Parking in Parks—Which parks should be targeted? What are the benefits? The impacts?

3. Renaming the Brooklyn North Link Light Rail Station

4. Other—Please bring priorities from your community group

9:00 Adjourn

NOAA is a federal facility on high security alert, so attendees must enter by the security gate and may need to present photo ID. If you haven't attended a recent Federation meeting, please send your name, contact information, and address to rickbarrett@gmail.com to be added to the entry list. No e-mail? Call 206-365-1267. The building is ADA compliant, with ample parking in front.

Memorial for Ingraham Trees on Sunday, January 9, 2010

2011-01-08T18:10:00.001-08:00

Memorial for Ingraham Trees on Sunday, January 9, 2010

We were rained out last time when we tried to schedule a memorial service for the trees to be cut down at Ingraham High School. This time we have scheduled the gathering for the Broadview Public Library. It will be held this Sunday (January 9, 2011) afternoon from 1 PM to 2:30 PM at the Broadview Public Library at 12755 Greenwood Ave N. The trees are still standing but the Seattle School District has said they are going to start construction on January 20, 2011 so their days are numbered.

So please come to pay homage to the 70 plus years of service these trees have given to the citizens of Seattle by reducing storm runoff, providing habitat for animals, insects and plants, providing shade, cleaning our air of pollutants and producing oxygen to breathe from carbon dioxide and providing green space for our daily lives.

Bring a poem or a song or a picture or speak your own words, or bring memories to share. The gathering is informal. Bring something to share to eat or drink. The 29 trees to be removed from the NW Grove at Ingraham High School are a loss for the citizens of Seattle and future generations and Seattle School children. We need to dedicate ourselves to ensuring that Seattle stops it's policy of indiscrimately cutting down trees and giving them no value compared to man made structures of brick and wood and metal. Douglas fir trees can last much longer than our man made buildings if we let let live - their life range is from 500 to 1000 years. The trees being cut down at Ingraham High School are 20 years older than the school itself.

The Ingraham trees are some of the oldest in the city because only 50 acres of old growth trees remain in the city. The rest have been cut down. The Ingraham trees are the oldest of the remaining second and third growth trees in the city. So come and share with your neighbors and friends some time together celebrating the trees and what they have given us.

Steve Zemke

Chair - Save the Trees -Seattle

PS Contributions are still needed to help pay our remaining legal bills. Checks can be made out to Save the Trees-Seattle and sent to

Save the Trees- Seattle

c/o Steve zemke

2131 N 132nd St

Seattle, WA 98133

SEATTLE COMMUNITY COUNCIL FEDERATION

Keep up-to-date at our blog/website www.seattlefederation.blogspot.com

Multifamily Development Regulations Need Further Analysis

2010-12-13T17:49:00.000-08:00

SEATTLE COMMUNITY COUNCIL FEDERATION

November 22, 2010

Councilmember Sally Clark, Chair, Committee on the Built Environment

Members of the City Council

600 Fourth Avenue

Seattle, Washington 98124-4749

Subject: Multifamily Development Regulations Need Further Analysis

Dear Councilmember Clark and Members of the City Council:

For many years concerned citizens and neighborhood organizations have drawn the City’s attention to problems associated with rampant townhouse development in our low rise zones. These cramped “4 pack” projects typically provide inadequate access and open space, and they destroy rather than enhance the established development patterns of our neighborhoods. In places they cover whole city blocks. They stand in stark contrast to the dense livability envisioned by the Urban Village strategy underlying our City’s Comprehensive Plan. And they are a testament to what misguided development can do to our communities. The Seattle Community Council Federation, a coalition of community groups throughout the city of Seattle, offers the following comments on these important issues.

The Federation has argued that many of these undesirable projects are the result of lax administration such as a willingness to ignore access easement requirements. But the Nickel’s administration chose a major rewrite of the multifamily code which, after an independent analysis by independent teams last year (the ‘black hat/white hat’ exercise) initiated a further rewrite in the hands of Council.

Trying to rewrite the development rules for the city's most affordable housing class that covers almost 6 square miles spread throughout our city is a challenging task, but one that should acknowledge the variety of conditions under which it will be applied. While the overhaul generally attempts to encourage development in designated “areas of change” (our Urban Villages), it does not ensure that infill respects ‘context’ in our “areas of stability” (outside of the Urban Villages) where predictability and consistency of neighborhood building forms are most desired.

We recognize the tremendous effort that has gone into this process, and acknowledge improvements have been made over the last several months. But we are concerned that the final stages are being driven more by schedule than results and that additional work necessary to resolve real problems will not be allowed. Despite earlier indications that another independent ‘black hat/white hat’ review would be undertaken, it seems that COBE is intent on asking for passage as soon as possible. We think this is a mistake and will net a flawed code despite the years of effort.

What follows are what some examples of the most pressing issues that are imperative to address in the final legislation to avoid a variety of unintended consequences.

Abandonment of Urban Design Principles

We want to make it clear that we assert that some very specific faults remain with the code which would be clearly shown if an independent ‘black hat/while hat’ review exercise were undertaken.

1. Focusing on building types and the removing the public from the review process makes it likely that existing and intended development patterns will be ignored and neighborhoods with inconsistent streetscape characteristics and yard patterns will result.

The conversion of front and back yards to minimal setbacks, and the elination of side setbacks for end rowhouse will result in the placement of buildings incongruous with its neighbors. This will also introduce privacy and security failures. Respect of development patterns is a clear Comprehensive Plan goal, particularly outside of Urban Villages.

2. The upzoning of LDT à LR1, and L1 à LR2 and L3à L4 (LR3) in Urban Villages, coupled with removal of parking requirements in Urban Villages, will result in over-densification when green building bonuses are used. [1]

A few simple examples will best illustrate this dramatic flaw (see attachment for more):

o A 5000 sq ft lot zoned LDT in an Urban Village is now limited to 3 units and would be flats or townhouses with legal access provided perpendicular to the street. The proposal would force use of the certified green bonuses to retain 3 townhouse units, but could allow 3 rowhouses each with an accessory unit above, yielding 6 units - a 100% increase in unit density.

o A 5,000 sq ft lot zoned L1 in an Urban Village previously would allow 3 units, most typically townhouses with their own parking. Now as an LR2, if built green, the project could include 12 small apartments (~500 sq ft) with no parking provided – a 400% increase in units.

o A 5,000 sq ft lot zoned L2 outside of an Urban Village is now limited to 4 units and if unit lot access easements were enforced they would likely be flats or the lot would be combined with another to gain enough area for the access. The same potential as noted above (12 units) is possible if the proposed sharing of parking can be arranged. This is a 300% increase in units.

3. FAR as the overriding bulk/scale control will yield unpredictable lot coverage results and exacerbate the loss of the clear delineation between low-density MF zones and high-density zones. All zones now can yield a variety of density and building type outcomes.

Floor area ratio is a general planning bulk and scale tool for identifying project capacity where established patterns of open space and building placement make little difference. Applying it to low scale residential building types with fractional differentiation for various conditions is not appropriate. It might be easy to discern the difference between a building of FAR 2 and one of FAR 3, but not the difference between 1.2 and 1.3.

By choosing to use FAR as a way to incent or disincent certain building forms, rather than clearly allow or disallow, means profitability will rule what buildings are built and how they cover the lot. This defeats one of the primary objectives of land use regulations—the investment security of having a rough idea of the future of one's immediate vicinity.

Instead, specific building types, as identified by Neighborhood Design Guidelines should be considered. Also, specific building forms should be tied to zones as is being done elsewhere in the country. This ensures that the higher density projects are produced in appropriate places and that permeable open space is promoted elsewhere in compensation.[2]

Parking Requirements

Removal of parking requirements for projects in Urban Villages does not recognize real issues with severe parking problems in some neighborhoods. With likely Metro service cuts we will see street congestion exacerbated. Many neighborhoods are extremely concerned about the shortsightedness of these rules, and believe that this change in fact only externalizes development cost to the broader community by placing parking on the street. At the same time, these cars will compete with spaces that could be used by customers of small businesses and other visitors to the community. More granularity is needed in the determination of where parking should be required or exempted. At a minimum, a multi-unit project should require some shared parking if the area is already at an over-parked state (residential Parking Zone).

Design Review

Design review and citizen participation are being dramatically weakened or removed with the use of SDR. We are adamant that a strong design review process is the citizen’s right based on our Comprehensive Plan[3] and is necessary to develop quality infill in the multifamily zones by providing the developer with flexibility and input from the community.

The Design Review process however is already weakened by the ‘stacking’ of Boards with industry professionals who in review of their contemporaries’ projects are unwilling to seriously critique or pursue concerns voiced by the community, and is further made ineffective by Director rulings that allow unacceptable departures from the code. While perhaps ultimately in the project’s favor, it is a costly process and time-consuming process and one that only induces mistrust or contempt in our city agencies.

We believe that a strong citizen-based regularly-monitored design review processes (ADR, SDR, and DRB), along with recognition of extant neighborhood plans and sound codes will yield the best outcomes for our city. We would like to see more citizen staffing on Boards and, when development is more active, more Boards to ensure that projects may be reviewed in a timely manner. We also insist on the right to appeal decisions made by the Director concerning projects of 4 or more units in our neighborhoods.

Other

We object to the abdication for any responsibility in this legislation for the recognized Unit Lot Subdivision problems, including questionable access easements and optional CC&Rs. We remain concerned about how these multi-building projects with shared streetscapes and building elements will be maintained and whether there remains the potential for blighting. CC&Rs (Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions) should be required for all multifamily projects with shared areas and easements in order to address issues related to insurance, maintenance of common areas, building upkeep.

SUMMARY

The proposed legislation reflects an underlying disregard for the built environment and urban design elements of our neighborhoods in exchange for freedom of design for a project on a lot. Your cover letter dated October 18 states one of the goals for these amendments is to “Generally maintain the current overall scale and density of Lowrise zones”.

Yet these zone redesignations and code changes replace a clear delineation of densities and intensity of use from low duplex/triplex through the more intense larger-form structures with many units. We now have the possibility of

1. similar sized buildings, building types and similar unit densities throughout all the lowrise zones regardless of zone designation, and

2. loss of predictability about the number of units and unit size in all lowrise zones, and

3. an abandonment of urban design principles disturbing the existing characteristics of our neighborhoods, including yard and streetscape patterns.

A neighborhood is left with little certainty of how much can be built and what it will look like.

We are NOT against density, particularly in Urban Villages. What we strongly object to is the loss of gradation and the increased potential for incongruous development, the loss of targeted densities through zoning, and the potential disregard for extant conditions that would affect how projects are added to our communities.

We assert that the issues that remain with the proposed legislation are critical, represent divergence from our Comprehensive Plan, and yet are fixable. Please allow the additional public analysis necessary through a similar exercise to the black hat/white hat’ effort last year that uncovered the variety of flaws with the original Nickels proposal. We must complete this task and allow refinement to correct these significant errors.

Thank you for considering the views of the Seattle Community Council Federation. We look forward to hearing back from you soon.

Sincerely,

Jeannie Hale, President

3425 West Laurelhurst Drive NE

Seattle, Washington 98105

206-525-5135 / fax 206-525-9631

jeannieh@serv.net

ENC

[1] Appendix B, the map of these upzones, belies the declaration that there is “no upzoning.” It took several years of costly “remapping” by petition to resolve a similar deception in 1988 through 1991.

[2] This is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan “Yards and Open Space” Policies LU36 & 37, and “Environment” Policy LU10: “Strive to increase the amount of permeable surface and vegetative cover in the city in order to mitigate the heat island effect of developed areas, control storm water flows and reduce pollution.”

[3] LU 55: Employ a design review process to promote development that:. . . Allows for diversity and creativity in building design and site planning.

ALERT - Sunday December 12, 10 a.m. Memorial Service for Ingraham Trees

2010-12-10T09:44:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

It is with sadness that we announce that we have reached the end of our efforts to save some 29 mature Douglas fir, western red cedar and madrone trees at Ingraham High School. We recently lost our appeal before King County Superior Court Judge Teresa Doyle and are unable to continue with an appeal to the Appellate Court because of the cost and potential liability if we lose on continued appeal.

Save the Trees - Seattle has succeded in reducing the trees to be cut in the NW Grove from an initial 70 to less than 30. The 29 trees to be cut down represent about one quarter of the trees in the NW Grove. We also succeed in saving a mixed conifer madrone grove of the trees on the east side of the school that had been protected for 50 years in an agreement with the Parks Department but which the Seattle School District had targeted for a parking lot.

Our efforts to save the NW Tree Grove helped to get the City to pass a stronger interim tree protection law which currently protects tree groves from future development. We also originated the idea and worked to pass legislation to create the current Urban Forestry Commission. And we are working now to fight the proposal by the Mayor and his Department of Planning and Development to deregulate tree protection in the city that would send us back to the roar of chainsaws clearcutting what trees remain in Seattle's reduced tree canopy which has been reduced by half since the 1970's.

The time to appeal expires as of Dec 9th so we expect the Seattle School District to rev up their chainsaws and cut the trees down as early as this weekend. We urge you to stop by and say good-by to the 29 trees condemned to die because of the City's and the Seattle School District's blindness to environmental and ecological values.

If the trees are gone when you come by, we urge you to pay homage to the 70 plus years of service they provided the city by reducing stormwater runoff, cleaning our city's air, producing oxygen for us to breathe, providing a park area for the school and the neighborhood, providing habitat for birds and squirrels and insects and other animals and plant life, for being part of the last 50 plus acres of an uncommon plant habitat in Seattle (a conifer madrone forest), and for just being there for their beauty and serenity.

This Sunday (Dec 12th) at 10 AM we will hold a Citizen's Memorial Service on the North side of the tree grove to honor the trees for their 70 years of service to our neighborhood and city and to say good -by.

The street is N 135th between Ashworth Ave N and Meridian Ave N. Please come by and bring something in writing or a sign or flowers or something to post on the wire fence circling the grove. Bring a poem or words or a picture to share with others as we grieve for this unnecessary loss of part of our city and our neighborhood and our green urban forest infrastructure.

And vow to write to the Mayor and the Seattle City Council, urging them to reject efforts to eliminate all protections for existing trees as the Mayor proposes. Urge that they strengthen our tree laws to protect trees like those being cut down at Ingraham.

And if you are able to - please donate to Save the Trees to help pay off our legal bills and support our efforts needed over the next year to get a much stronger tree protection law passed. Contributions can be sent to Save the Trees-Seattle, c/o Steve Zemke, 2131 N 132nd St, Seattle, WA 98133. If you have questions or would like to help in our fight, you can contact us at stevezemke@msn.com or call 206-366-0811.

We want to thank everyone who has helped over the last three years. Your support has keep us going. While we have not saved all of the NW Grove, we have reduced the impact and loss overall. We as a group are dedicating ourselves to strengthening our City's tree laws so that other trees in our city can avoid the fate facing those trees being cut down at Ingraham. On Sunday we will pay homage to those trees that are dying an unnatural death despite their long service of 70 years to our city. We hope you will join us in saying thanks on Sunday.

Steve Zemke

Chair - Save the Trees-Seattle

Come by and see the trees and post something on the fence or leave something when you can. As noted, there is no guarantee that the trees won't be cut down before Sunday. The 29 trees to be cut down are those closest to the west side of the School Building.

E-mails for the Seattle City Council and Mayor are:

tim.burgess@seattle.gov

sally.clark@seattle.gov

richard.conlin@seattle.gov

sally.bagshaw@seattle.gov

jean.godden@seattle.gov

mike.obrien@seattle.gov

nick.licata@seattle.gov

bruce.harrell@seattle.gov

tom.rasmussen@seattle.gov

Mike.McGinn@seattle.gov

Postal mail can also be sent to all of the above at:

Seattle City Hall 7th floor, 600 Fourth Avenue, P.O. Box 94749, Seattle, WA 98124-4749

Please forward this message to others, as time is very short. Let neighbors and others know and come on Sunday.

ALERT - Comments due Monday 12/13/2010 - SHA's 785 page Yesler DEIS fails to address loss of low income housing

2010-12-09T21:37:00.000-08:00

For immediate release: December 9^.

Contact: John V. Fox 206-632-0668 or Bill Kirlin-Hackett 425-442-5418

From: Seattle Displacement Coalition (SDC) and the Interfaith Task Force on Homelessness (ITFH)

"SHA's 785 page Yesler DEIS fails to address loss of low income housing and its impact on our community"

- Coalition and Interfaith Task Force file their comments today (link to their comments below)

SHA is now taking public comment on the draft EIS outlining alternatives now under consideration for demolition and redevelopment of the 561 unit Yesler Terrace Public Housing Community. Despite 785 pages of information, the document neglects to provide one shred of information about how their plans will adversely affect our city's dwindling stock of very low income and affordable housing. Not one of the alternatives studied indicates how many of the 561 units currently on site ever will be replaced and what the impact that loss would have on our city. Here is a link to our full list of concerns and comments submitted earlier today. We are raising issues and calling for a level of analysis that is legally required and must be included in the final document due out early next year.

http://www.zipcon.net/~jvf4119/Yesler%20DEIS%20Comments%202010.htm

The deadline for written comments on the DEIS is this coming Monday, December 13. What is contained in this DEIS will be the basis for and inform critical decisions our Seattle City Council will be making early next year whether to grant SHA’s request for significant upzones, alley vacations, and other land use changes necessary for SHA's plans. That is why it's so important for the final EIS to include full disclosure of these potentially negative impacts especially those caused by the loss of low income units in our city.

Summary of our comments:  In sum, we've called for SHA to explicitly declare how many public housing units will be lost under each of the redevelopment options they are considering and to provide the required detailed environmental assessment of what the impacts will be accompanying those losses. To date - and after more than four years of preparation - SHA still has not pledged to retain all 561 low income housing on site. Instead they plan a massive very dense redevelopment that would include highrise offices, retail uses, and construction of as many as 3000-5000 housing units - most offered as expensive condominiums. They see the site in fact as a cash cow and revenue generator. Much of the land - SHA would sell off to developers - who then would complete various elements of the project. Nearly all of the tree canopy including most of the 22 "Heritage" Trees now on the site would also be removed.

Yesler Terrace, is the last of Seattle’s historic garden communities located immediately south of Harborview and across the freeway from City Hall. It has a 70 year history. Gary Locke and his family lived there as did hundreds of other young households struggling to get their feet on the ground. It's also been renovated many times and remains structurally sound despite SHA's claims to the contrary. The 561 units sit on 30 acres of prime development property overlooking downtown and Puget Sound. You’re eligible for a unit at Yesler Terrace if you earn no more than 30 percent of area median income. That’s about $23,000 a year for a three-person household. You then pay about 30 percent of your income for rent. As it happens, the average income of families living at Yesler Terrace now is only 18 percent of median, about $15,000 a year for a three-person household.

There are over 100,000 households in King County with incomes in this very low income range according to King County's Housing Benchmark's report, but only about 300 unsubsidized privately owned units in all of the county offered at rent levels affordable to this group. Only about 10,000 subsidized units, including what now exists at Yesler Terrace are available at these very low income rent level (serving those at or below 30% of median) That's why we cannot afford to lose any of these public housing units or spend millions in limited housing dollars to replace them - dollars we don't have and that we instead must use to expand our stock of these much needed units.

SHA has an obligation to provide full disclosure of how their plans at Yesler Terrace will affect our city's precious remaining stock of low income units. SEPA and NEPA rules require it. Our comments raise several other issues such as failure to adequately assess the historic character of Yesler Terrace, failure to adequately assess loss of green canopy and open space and failure to assess the full impacts of the project on the neighborhoods immediately adjacent to Yesler Terrace, specially the Squire Park area east of the site where SHA already is accumulating property and redeveloping in conjunction with their plans at Yesler Terrace.

SEATTLE COMMUNITY COUNCIL FEDERATION

Keep up-to-date at our blog/website www.seattlefederation.blogspot.com

Seattle Community Council Federation

COMMUNITY BUDGET CONFERENCE WHEN: SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 12-5 P.M.

Fed meeting dates changed - Next meeting Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Federation Meets Thursday, August 25, 2011, 7 p.m. - At the Central Seattle Senior Center

AGENDA

REMINDER - Annual Federation Potluck ‑ Sunday, July 31, 2-5 p.m. at the home of Jeannie Hale, 3425 W Laurelhurst Dr NE, 98105

Good and not-quite-so-good news

ACTION ALERT FOR THURSDAY MORNING 10:30AM - Magnuson Park BUILDING 11--Pass It On!

City Neighborhood Council's budget committee meets this Tuesday, May 31, 5-6 p.m. in room 370 of City Hall.

FEDERATION MEETS THURSDAY, MAY 26 2011, 7:00 P.M. -- Will the Changes in Design Guidelines Affect Your Neighborhood?

AGENDA

Disturbing Disclosures Re Magnuson Park Building 11 Lease Agreement -- Immediate Citizen Input Needed

Sustaining Seattle’s Parks and Civil Engagement—A New Approach featuring Becca Aue and Thatcher Bailey, Seattle Parks Foundation and Dan Catchpole, Journalist

Good news for Neighborhoods - Bernie Matsuno will lead Department of Neighborhoods

ALERT! - CITY COUNCIL TOMORROW (MON., APRIL 18) SHOULD NOT PASS C.B. 117142.

Delridge memorial for Vivian McLean: ‘Let’s keep her spirit alive’

Delridge memorial for Vivian McLean: ‘Let’s keep her spirit alive’

6 Comments »

Renowned neighborhood leader Vivian McLean passed March 24, 2011 at age 90

8 COMMENTS

Tonight's Meeting - More Info.

What is the State of the Hanford Nuclear Waste Site?

Come Find Out

Join us today, March 29th - 6-9:30pm

Seattle Center, NW Building, 305 Harrison St.

Vit Plant

Hanford Challenge

Join us tonight for the Department of Energy sponsored State of the Hanford Site Public Meeting

Tonight, March 28 2011 - Chernobyl 25 Years Later: Lessons Learned? Networking Reception, Discussion, and Photo Exhibit

Chernobyl 25 Years Later: Lessons Learned? Networking Reception, Discussion, and Photo Exhibit

Event Details

Speaker

Date & Time

Registration Time

Location

Prices

Event Information

Federation meets Thursday, March 24, 2011 - Double Feature! - Bioterror; and Hanford, Seattle, Chernobyl, Plutonium and you ,

AGENDA

“SUSTAINING SEATTLE’S PARKS” REPORT CONTAINS PROPOSALS (ESPECIALLY FOR A METROPOLITAN PARK DISTRICT) THAT WOULD UNDERMINE ACCOUNTABILITY AND FUNDING FOR SEATTLE’S PARKS

Response to Public Records article from Gerry Pollet

Federation meets Thursday, February 24, 2011 -- Seattle’s Shoreline Master Program—Proposed Changes featuring Maggie Glowacki

More on ALERT re public disclosure

ALERT! PUBLIC RECORDS ACT BEING DISMANTLED NOW - YOUR ACTION NEEDED

ALERT - Your letter needed for Sand Point Naval Air Station Historic District Nomination

FEDERATION MEETS THURSDAY January 27, 7 P.M.

AGENDA

Memorial for Ingraham Trees on Sunday, January 9, 2010

Multifamily Development Regulations Need Further Analysis

ALERT - Sunday December 12, 10 a.m. Memorial Service for Ingraham Trees

ALERT - Comments due Monday 12/13/2010 - SHA's 785 page Yesler DEIS fails to address loss of low income housing

COMMUNITY BUDGET CONFERENCE  WHEN: SUNDAY, JANUARY 29, 12-5 P.M.