Seattle Forward

Real Change

Tim Harris, the founder and editor of Real Change, has a message that irritates.  He doesn't mince words; he's forceful, direct, compelling. His words, and his newspaper columns, cause some to squirm, including me.  But the irritation we feel shouldn't come from what Tim Harris says, it should come from our revulsion at the continuing, some argue growing, problems of homelessness and poverty.

Tim and I met last Friday and talked for just over an hour.  We talked about the homeless living on the streets of Seattle, in greenbelts and under freeway bridges, people we've both seen and spoken with.  We talked about the poor and those suffering mental illness or addictions to drugs and alcohol.  Tim spoke of "treatment on demand" for drug addicts and the need for more emergency shelter and transitional housing.  He said our community can and should do better in how we treat those who are in trouble and need special care. 

Tim Harris' words reminded me of those said by another many, many years ago:  "For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me." 

The problems of poverty, homelessness and addiction are very complicated, but don't you think the wealthiest country in the world could do a better job of responding to these complications?  I do.  This doesn't mean we ignore public safety concerns, no, not at all, but it does mean that we consider all our options, including those that stretch us beyond our comfort zone.  It's long past time.

It was nearly 72 hours ago that I met with Tim Harris.  Our conversation has been with me ever since. 

Food for Thought and More

I toured Lifelong AIDS Alliance on Capitol Hill yesterday afternoon with Ania Beszterda, Marc England, David Richart, and Patrick Schultz, all staff members of the trend-setting, highly organized, efficient and effective nonprofit organization serving a diverse group of clients throughout the Puget Sound region. We walked through the Chicken Soup Brigade kitchen that prepares thousands of specialized meals each week then delivers them to home-bound clients, observed distribution of food to walk-in clients, and checked-out the nearby thrift store, even watched the basement sorting of the thousands of pounds of clothing donated each week. (Monday is a big SALE day at the thrift store located at 1017 E. Union Street on Capitol Hill.)

Lifelong AIDS Alliance provides food, housing and health insurance to people living with HIV/AIDS in the greater Puget Sound region. Over 85% of the Alliance's clients live on less than $15,000 per year.

Friday Miscellaneous Thoughts

This has been a busy week, so here are a few observations.

SEPA, Growth, Density  The Council is considering changes to the threshold levels that trigger SEPA (environmental, traffic, etc.) review of proposed development projects as proposed by the Mayor.  I generally favor the changes, but, and this is really important, they have been proposed without considering other closely related issues that continue to cause a great deal of angst around town--ugly townhouses, multi-family zoning changes that are in the pipeline, generally weak design review tools, and the current policy of allowing home clustering in environmentally sensitive areas through a series of twists and creative interpretations that is allowing construction of mega-houses with wall-to-wall asphalt ground cover.  This last issue is a blockbuster and impacts every neighborhood that has steep slopes, greenbelts, and streams.  I strongly believe that we should consider the SEPA changes in the context of all of these other issues so people can be assured that we have a strategic, big-picture focus, know what we're doing, and understand how people feel about the growth and population density we are experiencing and will continue to experience for many years to come.

School Safety  A couple of years ago, because of staffing shortages, the city withdrew almost all of the school-based community resource police officers assigned to our high schools.  These officers were highly regarded by faculty and students alike, and they were a strong deterrent to school and neighborhood crime.  Yes, police staffing remains an important challenge, but I believe we should begin thinking about how we can reintroduce officers to high schools and perhaps on a part-time basis to our middle schools.  I met with the presidents of our city high school PTSAs on Tuesday night and they asked for these officers back.  School board members share the same desire.  Police officers in our schools can be one factor in our struggle against youth gangs. 

Human Services  Yesterday morning I participated in groundbreaking ceremonies for Hope Place, a women's and children's shelter and transition center being constructed by Seattle's Union Gospel Mission.  It was powerfully emotional.  We sat on plastic folding chairs set up on the parking lot which will soon be bulldozed to make room for the new five-story building that will contain 208 beds.  Two soon-to-be graduates of UGM's women's program told their stories.  I was really proud of the high quality and effective services UGM and other nonprofit organizations in our city provide every day of the week.  Seattle is a city that really cares. 

The Vanishing Middle Class, Immigrants, and Pre-Kindergartners

I spent four days last week in Washington, D. C. at the annual Congressional conference of the National League of Cities. Here are a few highlights.

Vanishing Middle Class
There was lots of talk about how America's middle class is disappearing from some of our largest cities. We certainly see this trend in Seattle where rising costs and perceptions about declining schools and crime are pushing more and more middle class families to the suburbs. (I wrote about this in 2006.)

Steve Crawford, a Brookings Institution scholar, shared insights at the conference about America's 100 largest metropolitan areas, including Seattle. According to Brookings' research, two-thirds of Americans live in our largest 100 metro areas and these folks produce 75% of the country's GDP. Crawford urged delegates to focus on creating a broader and more diverse middle class in order to stop middle-class flight. He decried the federal government's failure in recent years to promote an urban agenda. Crawford's associate, Bruce Katz, has written extensively on the national need to focus more keenly on our cities. Here's Katz's latest piece.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform
One of my surprises at the conference was the talk given by Tamar Jacoby, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank in New York City. Jacoby argued for comprehensive immigration reform, including a clear path to citizenship for illegal immigrants in the country that does not include high fees or exit-then-return requirements. She said the current one million immigrant annual quota should be raised to 1.5 million to match the current flow of legal and illegal immigrants. Jacoby presented a compelling economic and moral argument for why America should continue to welcome foreign immigrants, including those who are already here, legally or illegally. This testimony by Jacoby before a Senate committee in 2005 presents much the same case.

Pre-Kindergarten Prep
Another conference workshop focused on pre-kindergartner education. Many children in America, including in Seattle, aren't prepared to enter kindergarten. They're not ready for school, have limited health care, and, frankly, lack the nurture and care necessary for a successful school experience. Several conference speakers, including one city council member from Alexandria, Virginia, argued that pre-kindergarten early-childhood educational prep and social skills training produces hugh improvements in later life success. Kids who enter kindergarten with pre-school experience have much lower teen pregnancy rates, lower welfare participation levels, less divorce, and less involvement in the criminal justice system. Seattle has some city programs that fund pre-kindergarten education, we'll be looking at more as we prepare the budget for 2009.

Lobbyist Regulation Vote Monday

On Monday, the Council will consider legislation requiring paid lobbyists to register with the city and disclose their activities. It's solid legislation that I have co-sponsored and strongly support. I blogged about the new law when it was first introduced.

But, over the past few weeks, opponents of the new regulations have flooded Councilmember's emails with ludicrous arguments, most triggered by one sole city activist. The arguments being advanced in opposition are so misguided you'd think they were coming from those who are against any regulation of lobbyists at all.

Here are the opponents' arguments and my rebuttal to each.

The proposed law is flawed because it exempts Council staff members and other city employees.
The new law is designed to shine light on the lobbying activities of private-sector paid lobbyists, not public employees who work for the Council or in other city departments. My goodness, we hired our city employees, pay their salaries, and give them their assignments. They work for the public! Of course they talk with Council members; we seek them out all the time and value their opinions and perspective. Including Council staff members or other city employees in the new regulations would reduce communication between Council members and city employees and would create bureaucratic havoc.

The proposed law is flawed because it exempts public employees of other governmental bodies, such as King County, the Port of Seattle or Washington State.
While it's true that government employees, including elected officials, are exempt from registration, the exemption does not apply to public employees "specifically employed or retained by a government agency to lobby." So, if the Port or King County hire individuals as lobbyists, they must register and disclose their activities.

The proposed law is flawed because the penalties for violations are too severe.
The law gives the city's Ethics and Elections Commission authority to conduct investigations and hold hearings to determine whether violations of the lobbyist regulations have occurred. The maximum penalty is a fine of $5,000 per violation, a penalty that is absolutely consistent with the potential penalties under the city's ethics and elections laws. Imposition of maximum penalties by the Commission has been extremely rare; I can only remember two cases--the Thomas Stewart and Strippergate money laundering cases--in the past 15 years that resulted in fines equal to the maximum penalties now allowed. The Commission's practice is to use education, training, and minor fines, except when deliberate and egregious violations are found.

The lobbyist registration law the Council will consider Monday is long overdue and establishes very clear public policy that the work of private-sector paid lobbyists, along with government agency lobbyists, should be open to public scrutiny.

Cities Coming to Our City

Seattle has been awarded the National League of Cities 2013 annual conference.  The event brings together Mayors and Council members from across the country.  It's estimated the Seattle conference could draw nearly 6,000 people who might spend $10-$12 million while in town. 

I'm in Washington, D. C. attending the NLC conference this week.  I'm joined by Councilmembers Richard Conlin, Nick Licata, and Richard McIver.  I'll blog more on what I'm hearing tonight and tomorrow. 

North Seattle Town Hall Forum

About 150 people attended the Town Hall Forum King County Councilmember Bob Ferguson and I held last night in the Maple Leaf community of northeast Seattle. 

Turnout was great and people's passions for their city were obvious.  Questions focused on drug crimes, police, Metro bus service (need more frequency), land use (townhouses, maximum lot build outs), parks, transportation, and the Port of Seattle. 

Take Sound Transit Survey

Take the Sound Transit survey and make your opinion known.  It will take you about 5 minutes. 

Wrist Slap for Traffic Death

Like many city residents, I was dismayed to read about the wrist-slap sentence given to a West Seattle motorist who struck and killed a pedestrian back on November 14, 2006.  You can read local newspaper accounts from last Friday of the sentencing here and here.

City Attorney Tom Carr is right when he criticizes the sentence as inappropriate for a frequent traffic violator who has struck two individuals with his car in two separate incidents, killing the most recent. 

Here's why this really matters in our city where we pride ourselves on being pedestrian-friendly.  In 2006, when the fatal collision that led to the controversial sentence occurred, there were 565 pedestrian-vehicle collisions in Seattle reported to the police, a staggering increase of 21% over the most recent 5-year average.  That's a pedestrian hit rate of 1.5 per day!  (Read the city's 2006 Pedestrian Collision Report which includes detailed statistics, tables, and summary information about causes of collisions and much more.)

Deferred sentences, like the one given last week, are not appropriate for defendants who have multiple violations and whose actions have resulted in the death of one of our neighbors.  Reducing pedestrian-vehicle collisions will take a focused effort that includes education, strong police enforcement measures, wise street designs, and Municipal Court judges who understand the significance of their own role and are willing to signal the community that flagrant violations like what happened in this case will bring strong penalties.