Seattle Forward

Sleeping on the Grass

A group of about 40 people slept in front of my house and my neighbors' houses last night.  They were advocates with the group SHARE/WHEEL, a local nonprofit organization that operates several homeless shelters around the city.  They showed up a little after 7 p.m. last night and left just before 7 a.m. today. (Read this Queen Anne View summary of the protest. And this editorial in today's Seattle Times.)

The campers were protesting what they believe is the city's inadequate funding of their services, especially money for Metro transit passes so those living in their shelters can travel to jobs, job interviews, and other necessary appointments.  Because SHARE is facing a budget shortfall, they have asked for more money.  The city offered to advance $50,000 to SHARE from their 2009 allocation of just over $300,000 on the condition SHARE keep their shelters open through the end of this year.  SHARE's annual subsidy from the city is paid out monthly and there was concern that if the city advanced what would be the equivalent of two monthly payments SHARE would deplete all of its financial resources before the end of December.  SHARE declined to accept the year-end condition.

That's the big picture, but I want to recount what I learned last night and this morning as I spoke with some of those in front of my house. 

Just after 10 o'clock, I ventured outside and spoke with a group of the protesters.  The TV cameras had gone and we were alone.  (Joleen took the above photo on her iPhone from inside our house.) I'm

Facts on Seattle Social Services

There's been a lot of talk recently about how Seattle responds to homelessness and other social service challenges.  My open discussion about street disorder tied to aggressive panhandling has created quite a bit of response, including this thoughtful piece at Crosscut.com today.  Comments received by my office are running nearly 3:1 in favor of some limited restrictions on panhandling as a means of reducing street

Bank on Seattle

Last week, I sat in on a small but very important celebration here at City Hall.  Representatives from 10 cities across the country were gathered for a briefing on financial literacy and how best to help low income residents build financial assets.  In the photo to the left, Councilmember Sally Clark has just presented books on Seattle, suitable for table-topping, to leaders of the city coalition. 

Here's an interesting set of facts:  Seattle has approximately 28,000 households without bank accounts.  In 2008, city government helped launch a program called "Bank on Seattle."  Sally led the charge and has represented the City Council in this effort to create financial literacy and stability.  Twenty-two financial institutions in Seattle have signed on and offer special programs and services that provide education, encouragement, and appropriate entry-points for households without bank accounts.  In the first year, 3,500 people were enrolled and opened a bank account.  They are on the road to financial stability and asset building. 

San Francisco is one of the 10 cities across the country with a similar program.  The head of their program acknowledged at last week's briefing that our 22 financial institution partners was significantly more than he had in San Francisco.  Nice!  But, hey, we're not competitive. 

Farmer's Markets and Pedestrians

The City Council this afternoon passed 9-0 new rules and regulations for farmer's markets that makes the permit process easier and greatly reduces permit fees. Go shop at your neighborhood farmer's market!

The Council also adopted the city's first Pedestrian Master Plan.  Now we need to fund its implementation! 

Funds for Prostituted Children Stripped Away

The King County Regional Policy Council voted this week to strip away special funding that had been approved last year to establish safe housing for children involved in street prostitution.  But, at the same time, we voted to preserve the funding category so when the economy improves and funds are available the project would be eligible for restoration.  But, I'm not going to wait.

Ever since it became clear that the funds would likely disappear I've heard from several individuals who wanted to know what they could do.  One individual even pledged $125,000 in personal funds to help launch the safe house project. 

Today's Seattle Times carries an excellent opinion piece by State Representative Mary Lou Dickerson, chair of the House Human Services Committee, on why this project is so very important. 

My goal now is to put together a package of government and private sector funds that will allow this crucial safe housing project move forward.  Stay tuned. 

Violent Crime Rate Increases Dramatically

We have experienced a surge in violent crime this year, according to police department crime stats through the end of July.  Total violent crime (homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) reported to the police increased 22% through the first seven months of the year compared to the same period last year.

The overall serious crime rate (Part One offenses, violent crimes plus burglary, theft, and vehicle theft) increased 6% through July.

The increase in violent crime is limited to two street-crime offenses--robbery and aggravated assault.  Robbery has increased 25% and aggravated assault (an assault involving a weapon and/or serious bodily injury) is up 22%.  Conversely, homicide is down 33% and rape is down 11%.

Vehicle theft continues to decline sharply, down 17% through July, continuing a drop that began several years ago when City Attorney Tom Carr launched a unique targeted prosecution effort aimed at the most frequent auto theft suspects. 

The crime rate increases we are seeing this year are an abrupt reversal of the multi-year decline we had been experiencing through last year.  In 2008, city reported crime dropped to levels last seen in the late 1960s. 

Action Steps to Save Rescue Funding for Prostituted Children

Several people have asked who will make final decisions about the funding for safe housing for children involved in prostitution.  Read earlier posts here.

Here is a list of the decision makers and their contact details—

King County Interim Executive Kurt Triplett, 401 5th Ave, Suite 800, Seattle 98104, [email protected], 206-296-4040

King County Council, 516 3rd Ave, Room 1200, Seattle 98104 - Visit www.kingcounty.gov/council.aspx to find your Council District

• Bob Ferguson, District 1, [email protected], 206-296-1011
• Larry Gossett, District 2, [email protected], 206-296-1002
• Kathy Lambert, District 3, [email protected], 206-296-1003
• Larry Phillips, District 4, [email protected], 206-296-1004
• Julia Patterson, District 5, [email protected], 206-296-1005
• Jane Hague, District 6, [email protected], 206-296-1006
• Pete von Reichbauer, District 7, [email protected], 206-296-1007
• Dow Constantine, Candidate for County Executive, Council Chair, District 8, [email protected], 206-296-1008
• Reagan Dunn, District 9, [email protected], 206-296-1009

Safe Housing for Prostituted Children At Risk

The economic crisis is taking a toll on local governments and is threatening new rescue services aimed at children involved in street prostitution in Seattle and King County.  Prostituted children is a topic we don't like to discuss, often seek to avoid, and would rather have it just go away.  But, we have ignored this crisis for too long already. 

The Seattle Times has a good summary of the latest developments in this morning's paper.  

My earlier posts on this issue are here. 

The King County Regional Policy Committee—my colleague, Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, and I represent the City on this panel—will take up this issue next Wednesday at 3 p.m. at the County Council chambers.

This has been an uphill battle from the beginning, starting last summer when the City released a special study that documented the magnitude of the problem.  Get the Boyer report on children involved in prostitution in Seattle here:  Download Report_YouthInProstitution

Health Care Context

I frequently use the phrase "facts are friendly."  I first heard it almost 20 years ago when I was sitting with one of my ad agency's competitors.  We were discussing the common practice among advertisers to draw conclusions about consumer behavior based on intuition or hunch, a deadly undertaking when trying to determine how best to use scarce advertising dollars. 

Well, no surprise, it happens all the time in government, too.  People draw conclusions based on personal preferences, bias, sometimes prejudice, political agendas, and so forth.  We've seen this all too much in the current debate about health care reform.  Who do we listen to?  Who understands the facts?  Can I trust this source?  What should we do?  It's complicated, for sure. 

Yesterday while scanning various news websites I ran across this article by journalist T. R. Reid.  I know about Reid because I used to hear him discuss current affairs from his post in Japan on NPR.  And last week, I heard him interviewed on Fresh Air while driving to Oregon.  Reid's written piece and his interview on NPR offer interesting perspective and facts about health care in several foreign countries.  Worth reading and listening to; we could learn some things from what's happening in other countries. 

Reid's new book is The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care.  It's available at local bookstores.