Andrew Taylor

Come and chat with Councilmember Conlin at a District Council meeting on Tuesday. (apologies for informal headline: strict character limit!)

What's a District Council?

The City's view of neighborhoods interacting with government is, of course, a hierarchical one: neighborhood groups make up a local City sponsored body ( a District Council) which sends representatives to a Citywide body, the City Neighborhood Council (aka CNC). We are member of the East District Council (see map): Janis Maloney (Madison Park Merchants) and I shared the job of representing the East District on the CNC this last year. Paul Stoms (Madison Park) has chaired the East District Council for several years. Meetings also typically include representatives from First Hill, Yesler Terrace, POWHAT and other local areas. It would be good if the Capitol Hill Community Council had a representative!

The City Neighborhood Council recently had elections: Kathy Nyland from the Greater Duwamish District Council is the new chair and Laine Ross of the Downtown District Council is the new vice-chair.

Below is the agenda for Tuesday's meeting (6:30 PM, Capitol Hill Library). it'll be a great chance to chat one-on-one with City Council Chair Richard Conlin. (yes, cynics, he is running for City Council again this year). Draft Bylaws attached, for those who care about such things.

 

East Neighborhoods District Council

(Madison Park/Yesler Terrace/First Hill/Capitol Hill)

 

Notice & Agenda

 

Date:         Tuesday February 10, 2009

Time:         6:30 to 8:00 PM

Location:   Capitol Hill Library (425 Harvard Avenue East)

Room:         Large Conference Room, Mezzanine Level  

 ·      Introduction, (15 minutes).

·      EDNC welcomes Councilmember Richard Conlin, Seattle City Council President, (30 minutes including Q&A session).

·      Tentative presentation by Department Of Neighborhoods Director, Stella Chao, on the services and programs of the DON, (15 minutes).

·      Continue discussion on the EDNC bylaws revisions, Andrew Taylor, (15 minutes).

·      Select the EDNC recommended representatives to the Neighborhood Matching Funds/Citywide Review Team, (15 minutes).

·      Adjourn. 7:45 PM.        

                                                                     

Executive Board of the East Neighborhoods District Council:

 

-Chairperson, Paul Stoms, (Madison Park).

-Janis Maloney, CNC Representative, (Madison Park). Andrew Taylor, Alternate, (Miller Park).

-Pending, Citywide Review Team Representative.

For more information please call the Capitol Hill Neighborhood Service Center at (206) 684-4574

 

Addendum (2/6/09 noon)

In addition, we are having a brief presentation by the applicants of the "Unpaving Paradise" a Neighborhood Matching Funds project, a fund raising neighborhood effort for the proposed John & Summit park.

Administrative Design Review for Townhouses: Public Involvement

DPD invites you to attend a public meeting on the topic of Design Review for townhouses in Seattle. The purpose of the meeting is to provide information and take public comment on draft proposals for a new design review process. Public Meeting Thursday Jan. 29 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. Bertha Landes Room Seattle City Hall 600 4th Ave. The project involves re-examination of the City’s administrative or staff-level design review (not the design review process for development that is reviewed by the Design Review Boards). Doors open at 5:30 p.m. A presentation will begin at 6:00 p.m., followed by an opportunity for comment, questions and discussion. We hope you can join us. Questions may be directed to Geoffrey Wentlandt at 684-3586 or Geoffrey.Wentlandt@seattle.gov

City Inside/Out premieres Friday, January 23, 7 p.m., Cable 21; All six candidates for the new office are profiled. (and will surely be repeated there).

Watch the show online

SEATTLE — You know that ballot you got in the mail this week? It wasn’t a mistake. There is an important election on Tuesday, February 3. The person elected will be responsible for running one of the largest county elections’ offices in the country. To make matters even more urgent: There is no primary and the expected turnout is only around 33 percent of registered voters.

This week City Inside/Out takes an in-depth look at the race for King County Elections Director. Since there is no substitute in taking the measure of a candidate than sitting down and talking to them, we feature on-camera profiles with all six people running for this new non-partisan office: retired business executive Bill Anderson, high-school teacher Chris Clifford, current King County Elections Director Sherril Huff, former King County Councilmember David Irons, former King County Elections Superintendent Julie Kempf and state Senator Pam Roach.

We also know voters want some perspective on the race, so we interview Washington State Secretary of State Sam Reed and two political strategists—Democrat Cathy Allen and Republican Randy Pepple.

Before you vote, get informed: watch City Inside/Out, Friday, January 23, 7 p.m., Cable 21 on SEATTLE CHANNEL. Did you miss last week’s show on the controversy over school closures? Watch it now by following this link:http://www.seattlechannel.org/CityInsideOut/ 

I was talking at the weekend to someone who's read the school reassignment plans more closely than I did. Here's the local scoop as I now understand it.

1. Montlake kids stay at Montlake.
2. 1/2 of Lowell APP (advanced placement, elementary school) kids go to a new APP program at Thurgood Marshall. The rest stay at Lowell School (north end of Broadway).
3. The special education classes stay at Lowell, which has the building modifications etc to accommodate them.
4. TT Minor School building will be closed. The Montessori program goes to Leschi school and the rest of the TT Minor classes go to Lowell.
5. Plans for the Meany building remain unchanged. The middle school there will be closed, and the students reassigned. Many will go to Washington middle school. Nova alternative high school moves to the Meany building, along with the Secondary Bilingual Orientation Center.

I've heard two concerns about the effects of the plan on APP:

1. Splitting the program makes it harder for APP to offer different levels of classes for subjects such as math, where kids can have very different requirements. (With >1 class in each grade, that's relatively easy). I agree with that concern.
2. Concerns about a building co-housing APP and regular classes. That's how it was when my kids were in APP at Madrona. It seemed to me to be working OK and I was not aware of any problems. 

The new plan should satisfy the Montlake supporters and may be acceptable to the TT Minor supporters:

• the kids stay together
• they're only a mile from the old school
• they're away from the gunfire-prone Central Area
• they're away from the TV towers (which some people fuss about, I don't)
• they're right next to Volunteer Park
• they're a couple of blocks from the Capitol Hill library
• they're near to Dilettante for after-school Chocolate Martinis.
• they're near to President-elect Obama's Seattle home!

At the risk of looking outside our little Hill bubble, Fox News notes:

Aides to President-elect Barack Obama insist Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire will not be named as the new commerce secretary nominee.

The aides told FOX News that "others" are pushing Gregoire's name, but she absolutely is not the candidate to replace New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who dropped his nomination on Sunday in the face of a federal investigation into pay-to-play allegations. 

Gregoire had been the buzz late Monday night, a claim enhanced by the fact that she traveled to Washington, D.C., on Sunday night to appear at a pre-congressional forum hosted by The Associated Press but then canceled her appearance after her arrival in town.

Her office issued a statement on Tuesday saying that Gregoire had departed for Iraq to visit Washington Army National Guard troops as part of a gubernatorial delegation that included Govs. John Corzine of New Jersey and Rick Perry of Texas.

"In August, I had the honor of participating in the farewell ceremony for the Washington Army National Guard troops in Yakima as they left to serve Operation Iraqi Freedom. I promised I would visit them and it is with great humility that I acknowledge their critical service for our state and our country," Gregoire said in a written statement.

Regular Seattle Yard Waste Service Resumes Monday

Yard waste service -- including Christmas tree pickup -- will resume Monday on a normal schedule for Seattle residential customers. Check your schedule for your next yard waste pickup date. Extra yard waste will be collected at no additional charge, through Friday, Jan. 16

(The linked press release mentions " today (Sunday, Jan. 4) " and "tomorrow (Monday, Jan. 5)." so "Monday" is indeed today, Jan 5th.  The press release was "For immediate release: 1/5/09")

A group of educators, students, and parents have posted an online petition to the Seattle school board to stop Seattle school closures now. Please read and sign the petition if you agree. And make sure to pass the link around to as many of our concerned City of Seattle community members as possible.

http://www.petitiononline.com/espvsn/petition.html

• Large Projects
• Fundraising
• Empowerment & organizing
• Technology 101
• "Sharing our gifts"

From the City Council website:

2008 Snowstorm

• President Conlin’s Statement on Snowstorm Response
• Council Meetings to Review City’s Snowstorm Response

Note especially this meeting at City Hall:

Tuesday, January 6  at 9:30 a.m. - Joint Meeting of the Transportation and Environment, Emergency Management, and Utilities Committees:  Briefing and Discussion with Seattle Department of Transportation, Human Services Department, Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle City Light, Office of Emergency Management and King County Metro Transit.  Time will be available for public comment. 

and this one: 

Friday, February 20 at 9:30 a.m. - Joint Meeting of the Transportation and Environment, Emergency Management, and Utilities Committees: Establish a detailed Action Plan for improved response. Time will be available for public comment.

Can't attend a 9:30 AM meeting? Who can? Write/E-mail your thoughts to City Council.

Metro's web page notes that most buses are running today (Saturday) but that the 10 and 12 are not (Due to adverse weather, all service on this route is currently canceled. Service will resume when weather and road conditions clear.) Buses 8 and 11 are (presumably) on their regular scheduled routes.

Update 5: 20 PM  #10  This route will only be operating between Downtown Seattle and 15/John. There is no service north of John St. 

Single length #43 trolleys are passing my house (20th & John) on a regular basis and they all have LOTS of room for you. 

#48 is running its regular route in our neighborhboods: Due to adverse weather, this route is operating an unpublished reroute. Northbound Reg Rt to WB NW 85th St/24th Av NW, L on SB 24 Av NW, R on WB NW 80th St, R on NB 32 Av NW, R on EB NW 85th St to regular route.Update (5:20 PM): apparently back to full service.