Seattle Forward

Perfect Storm

Perfect storm, perfect win tonight.  I saw my first Storm game of the season tonight at Key Arena.  Wonderful! 

The Storm are a great asset to our city.

St. Petersburg Departure

We spent all day yesterday meeting with St. Petersburg city and port officials, conversing with business leaders, and debating the wisdom of importing Washington State wine to Russia with U. S. Consular representatives. 

St. Petersburg is the fourth largest city in Europe, behind Moscow, London, and Paris.  The city, named after the apostle Peter, has nearly five million residents, an unemployment rate of zero—or 1.5% if the other figure-quoting government official is to be believed.  The economy is booming and there aren't a sufficient number of skilled laborers for the many factories under construction.  Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Nissan, and other auto manufacturers, are hurriedly constructing factories to meet the growing demand. 

Public infrastructure needs are overwhelming—roads, sidewalks, transit buses, all need significant upgrading.  But you can overlook these pressing issues in favor of the magnificent architecture, historic buildings, broad boulevards,  sweeping parkways, and bustling streets.  This is a great city with a long, tragic past, but hope is palatable here.  People are upbeat.  Things are happening.  Let's hope they get it right this time around.

This photo was taken yesterday afternoon in front of St. Petersburg City Hall. 

St. Petersburg Intro

Our Seattle delegation has arrived in St. Petersburg, Russia, a city of five million people that celebrates its 305th anniversary tomorrow (Tuesday). 

We met today with Maria Chernobrovkina, director of the American Chamber of Commerce and with attorneys at Baker and McKenzie, a US-based law firm with officers here and in Moscow. 

Today's briefing identified three challenges facing the city—a lack of skilled labor, shortage of workforce housing, and severe port capacity issues.  St. Petersburg handles most of the ocean import/export freight for the entire country and the infrastructure and cargo capacity can't keep up. 

We ran into a class of police cadets yesterday afternoon; most are 17 or 18 years of age and are enrolled in a five-year study program.  Upon graduation, these cadets will become municipal police officers.

We're with St. Petersburg city officials tomorrow. 

 

APTs St. Petersburg Style

OK, you've got to see this public toilet in St. Petersburg.  Notice the attendant peering from her little window in the center of the structure! 

Several observations about the success of the St. Petersburg experience—the toilets are very small and are clearly intended for one person only, they cost a small fee, and an attendant, who is responsible for cleaning, is present whenever the toilets are open for business. 

Helsinki Wrap Up

We've wrapped up our amazing visit to Helsinki, Finland.  What a great city!  Neat, clean, orderly and a population that's well cared for. 

Helsinki's annual operating budget is about $6 billion, six times Seattle's.  The city government is responsible for all social services and education, transportation, sanitation, and just about everything else except for police services which are a federal government responsibility. 

My biggest take-aways from our time with city officials—

Universal, preschool education beginning at age one if parents desire and are willing to pay the approximately $300 per child monthly fee.  Kindergarten beginning at age seven—yes, two years later than Seattle!  An education system that provides all tuition fees, books, supplies, and for university students room and board stipends . . . all covered by the government. 

Transportation systems that are fully integrated—light rail, streetcars, buses, roads, and walking and bike paths.  You can get almost anywhere by foot or bicycle.  The Helsinki streetcar system is wonderful and being expanded to outlying suburbs. 

Taxes are high for sure.  Personal income taxes hover around 50%, but marginal rates can increase that to nearly 70%.  But, remember, people don't pay extra for education or health care which is universal for everyone, even foreigners who can successfully emigrate, which is very difficult; only an overage of 800 immigrants are granted entry each year.  There is also 12% VAT, a "value added tax," similar to our sales tax. 

City government is structured very differently than ours.  The City Council has 85 elected members.  This legislative body sets city policy and passes laws; their power and influence is exercised through a City Board of 15 members that serves as the administrative governing body of the city.  The Board, and the Mayor, are appointed by the Council. 

On to St. Petersburg, Russia next . . .

Quick Facts on Helsinki City Government

Today (Thursday) is the second-to-last-day of our visit to Helsinki before we move on to St. Petersburg, Russia.  Here are a few quick facts gleaned from various presentations and discussions our delegation has had with city leaders—

* The City Council has 85 members.  Yikes!  But the Council appoints a 15-member City Board to serve as an executive committee which administers city government.

* The annual operating budget is nearly $6 billion, six times Seattle's annual budget.  Municipalities in Finland are responsible for all social services, public education (K-11 essentially), preschool, transportation, and fire services. Police services are provided by the federal government; there is one national police force. 

* Twenty percent of all workers in Helsinki (population about 560,000) work for the government.

* Helsinki is clean, orderly, and efficient. There are bike paths everywhere.  The streetcar system is wonderful.  And it's bustling with energy. 

The photo was taken in the Helsinki City Council chambers.  That's my colleagues Jan Drago and Tom Rasmussen standing next to me. 

Awkward Candor in Helsinki

Last night at dinner, Jukka Hienonen, CEO of Finnair, gave a speech  to our delegation from Seattle about the future of Finland's national airline (55.6% owned by the Finnish government) and their expansion plans for Asia.  The dinner and Hienonen's talk were sponsored by Boeing.

The awkward moment came when Hienonen described Finnair's recent purchase of Airbus planes and then went on to explain why they didn't chose Boeing aircraft (primarily price and fuel efficiency issues).  The room became very silent; at least 12 Boeing executives were in the room.  But, Hienonen's candor was appreciated and Boeing representatives made it clear they would never give up their sales efforts.  Congratulations to Boeing for inviting Hienonen to be the keynote speaker despite losing the latest sales round.

This photo shows Bryce Seidl, president and CEO of Pacific Science Center, along with his counterpart at the Finnish Science Center (left), and Mayor Juhani Paajanen of Vantaa, the Helsinki suburb where last night's dinner was held. 

Helsinki Almost Like Seattle

I'm in Helsinki, Finland this week as part of an international study mission with two of my Council colleagues and about 70 Seattle-area business, education, and government leaders.  This morning we were briefed by city officials on challenges facing Helsinki.  Does this list sound familiar?

1. Climate change and our response.

2. Shortage of moderate priced housing for workers and the increasingly difficult task of finding mid-wage employees.

3. Aging population and what this means to future work force.

4. Urban sprawl.

5. Drawing more people to public transportation options (nearly half of commuters already use public transport in the Helsinki region; and they have a great streetcar system).

More from Helsinki throughout the week . . .

More on Automatic Toilets

Hey, not everything about this job is glitzy and fun.  Sometimes we just get to deal with the little things that matter and make our neighborhoods better places.  So, it's public toilets this week. 

Everyone agrees that our city's experiment with automated public toilets has been a massive failure.  Maybe if we had installed the smaller version (would have violated disabled access requirements) and charged a quarter or two like in Europe (state law forbids fees here) this experiment would have turned out better. 

Facts are friendly, as I like to say, and the facts related to APTs are very clear--they are magnets for criminal behavior and just aren't necessary.  There are 152 publicly accessible toilets within two blocks of the five APTs with daily usage capacity of 109,116.  That's compared to a capacity of only 1,140 with the APTs.  Suggesting that we should keep the crime toilets in place until we can find even more alternative toilet stalls just doesn't make sense.  The city's own study clearly established that removing the toilets immediately would "minimally impact publicly accessible toilet services." 

Anyway, here's a fact sheet (Download apt_quick_brief_51408.pdf) that provides more information. 

Automated Public Toilets Removal

The City Council's public utilities committee voted 3-0 yesterday afternoon to ask that the automated public toilets (APTs) located in center city parks and on Broadway on Capitol Hill be removed in June instead of next January as originally proposed.  The full Council will vote on the matter next Monday at 2 p.m.

Read the Seattle PI's coverage of this story in today's paper.  Read the APT evaluation report prepared by the city and given to the Council March 17, 2008.  Read Seattle Public Utilities media summary of the APT report and recommendations. 

The committee took yesterday's action because—

1) By removing the APTs the city will save approximately $4.5 million over the next five years and an additional estimated $300,000 this year and next in toilet lease and operation costs.

2) The APTs have become "crime magnets" and have created a public nuisance, especially in the downtown parks.  The areas around the toilets are unsafe because the APTs are used as a meeting place for drug use and trafficking, prostitution, and binge drinking.  Assaults, robbery, and thefts are common around the APTs.  The APTs have lowered the quality of life and violated the sense of community surrounding the downtown parks. 

3) There are 152 publicly accessible toilets within two blocks of the APTs with daily usage capacity of 109,116.  These numbers compare with maximum daily usage of the five APTs of 1,140. 

4) Incidents of public urination and defecation in alleyways and on sidewalks have increased since the APTs were first installed in 2004.  One of the original justifications for the APTs was that they would help decrease these incidents.  They have not.

I am urging my colleagues to approve the committee's resolution on Monday.  If you agree, please let your voice be heard by sending an email to the following Council members or phoning their offices—

[email protected] 206-684-8805
[email protected] 206-684-8801
[email protected] 206-684-8807
[email protected] 206-684-8804
[email protected] 206-684-8803
[email protected] 206-684-8800
[email protected] 206-684-8808