Seattle Forward

City Budget Passes; More on Youth Violence

The Council voted this afternoon to adopt the 2009 City budget.  This document provides a summary of the various changes the Council made to the Mayor's proposed budget. 

Most significantly, the Council added funding for homeless services, domestic violence and sexual assault prevention, emergency food and nutrition services,library collections (e.g., books, tapes, videos, etc.), and youth violence prevention programs.

Stopping Youth Violence

Last January and February I spoke out about youth violence and gangs in our city.  Several of my colleagues on the Council have done the same.  Since then, I've written extensively on this topic on my blog (www.timburgess.com).  Unfortunately, this situation is spiraling downward.  There was extensive gun violence in the metro area this past weekend. 

The 2009 budget the Council passed today includes revisions to the Mayor's Youth Violence Initiative: adding police officers to select public schools, encouraging more police intervention efforts against gangs, increasing illegal gun interdiction efforts, and adding case management services for frequent offenders.  The budget also continues funding for additional police officers, part of a multi-year effort to increase the size of the police force.

Here are some immediate steps that can save lives and reduce violence in our city.

Guns are readily available to juveniles, and they are using them to kill! This problem of illegal guns must be addressed.   It is a regional problem that demands a regional and state solution.  More

Another Senseless Teen Killing

We've lost another of our children to gun violence this weekend.  I've updated an earlier post on youth violence.  As I've said for months now, illegal guns are easily available to children who want them as symbols of power and control.  Add the influence of gangs and we have a perfect storm. 

Jail Location Update

City officials today narrowed potential jail locations inside Seattle from the original four locations to two, and then added a new third site for consideration.  You can discover all the details here. 

Of the original four in-city sites, Interbay and First Avenue South Bridge remain active.  The new in-city location being considered is a county-owned vacant lot next to the existing jail in downtown Seattle at 5th and James Street.  Three other potential sites were identified today by our partner north and east county cities in Shoreline, Bellevue, and unincorporated King County near Redmond. 

I strongly favor a regional jail solution and the announcement today that six sites will move forward for further evaluation is a strong step in that direction.  Adding on to the existing downtown jail is a very attractive option because it would allow use of existing facilities (e.g., jail kitchen, medical facility, laundry, etc.) and provide for continued centralization of jail and other criminal justice facilities. 

Read my earlier posts on the location of the jail.

Interesting Trivia

Here are a couple of tidbits to brighten your day.

Earlier today the city sold $205,080,000 in municipal bonds to finance water system capital projects and to convert some 1995 and 2002 bonds from variable to fixed rate.  This is the largest municipal bond sale in the country since the financial crisis began to unfold in September.  Five financial service companies participated in the competitive bidding process.  Merrill Lynch & Company won with an interest rate of 4.987%. This bond sale is significant because it is the largest in the past several months and because the interest rate is very competitive and very close to what the city would have achieved had the bonds been sold earlier in the year before the current economic downturn.  Kudos to the city's finance director, Dwight Dively, and his staff.

Working with local residents and business owners, the city will soon close several downtown alleys to anyone other than residents, property owners, or employees or customers of businesses adjacent to the alleyways.  Most of the alleys are in the Belltown and Pike-Pine corridor areas.  Once posted, these closures will allow police officers to question individuals in the alleyways, and in some circumstances make arrests for trespassing.  The alley closures are part of anti-crime efforts in the downtown section of the city aimed at suppressing open-air drug trafficking, public drinking and intoxication, prostitution, and other quality-of-life criminal behavior.  Kudos to police and traffic planners for an innovative solution. 

Honoring Civil Rights Heroes

I took this photograph this afternoon at the Mercer Island Community Center.  It was an event put on by Museum Without Walls and honored three local civil rights heroes—Larry Gossett, King County Councilmember (center with red tie); Carver Gayton, head of the African American Heritage Museum (to Gossett's left); and, Rita Bender (to Gossett's right), a woman who worked in the '60s in the south and whose husband was killed because of his voting rights advocacy in Philadelphia, Mississippi. 

The students are from Seattle's Franklin High School and Mercer Island High School.  They traveled as as group through the south this past summer as part of MWW's Multicultural Scholars Program.  Full disclosure, my daughter, Kim, has been a group leader on these trips for several summers. 

My City Budget Priorities

This morning the Council began voting on various elements of the City's budget for 2009 and 2010. The Mayor submitted his proposed budget on September 29. Council members, along with our very capable staff analysts, have spent the past six weeks digesting what the Mayor proposed.

Believe me, some of our decisions today and Friday will be very difficult, possibly involving layoffs and program cuts.

My votes will be guided by these considerations:

1. Public Safety. Professional police and fire services are the City's number one responsibility. I will make certain that we remain committed to adequately funding our fire department and funding to put more patrol officers on the street to protect our neighborhoods.
   

Election Night in Seattle

I took this photo a few minutes ago at 1st and Pike Street downtown.  I'm sure these folks are celebrating the election of Barack Obama after spilling out from The Stranger's party at the Showbox, but the Pike Place Market Levy is also passing based on the latest results. 

This has been a truly amazing night for America! 

Funny thing, I couldn't get into The Stranger's party.  Security guards were checking for special wristbands, but one apparently had to get those earlier in the afternoon.  Sorry, Stranger friends, I tried. 

Stop Youth Violence

(Updated, Sunday, November 23, 2008) Tragically, another one of our children has been killed by gunfire.  He is Daiquan L. Jones, shot dead at a shopping mall just south of Seattle. Daiquan is the sixth young man this year to be gunned down this year. 

Here's the roster of Seattle children deaths this year—

Daiquan L. Jones, age 16, killed by gunfire on November 22, 2008 at Westfield Southcenter Shopping Mall. 

Quincy Coleman, age 15, killed by gunfire on October 31, 2008 near Garfield High School.

Pierre LaPoint, age 16, killed by gunfire on August 5, 2008 along Rainier Avenue South.

Perry Henderson, age 18, killed by gunfire on January 26, 2008 in the far south end of the city.

De’Che Morrison, age 14, killed by gunfire on January 11, 2008 on South Rose Street.

Allen Joplin, age 17, killed by gunfire on January 3, 2008 in Belltown.

We must stop this violence that rips at our city’s soul.  Fortunately, there are specific steps we can take to make a huge difference.  Other cities have done it and so can we.