Seattle Forward

Kevin Johnson and Police Chief Search

OK, I get to meet lots of people in my work, but yesterday was a hoot when our little delegation from Seattle walked into the office of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson.  That's Mayor Mike McGinn's legal counsel, Carl Marquardt, on the left.  Members of our team not pictured are Pam Inch from the city's personnel office and Kate Joncas, co-chair of the Mayor's Police Chief Citizen's Search Committee.  Mayor Johnson was one of the leaders we met with in Sacramento to learn more about Chief Rick Braziel, one of the finalists to become Seattle's new chief. 

On Tuesday, our team was in East Palo Alto, California meeting with Chief Ron Davis and meeting with community leaders. 

Next Wednesday, June 2 at 9:30 a.m., all three finalists for the Seattle position will appear before the City Council's Public Safety and Education Committee in a public session at City Hall.  Wednesday night, the finalists will participate in a public forum at Seattle Center.

Mayor McGinn is expected to select his appointee by the middle of June.

Youth Commission Town Hall

Councilmembers Bagshaw, Clark, O'brien and I, along with Mayor McGinn, participated in the Seattle Youth Commission's spring Town Hall forum at the Vera Project at Seattle Center Saturday afternoon.

Nearly 200 young people from across Seattle participated.  Earlier this year, through legislation I developed, the Council established the Youth Commission in order to give youth a stronger voice at City Hall.  Our dialog yesterday covered climate change, the recently enacted tax on bottled water, how many police officers work in the city, the quality of school lunches, the new neighborhood-based school assignment plan, how much the Mayor is paid, budget cuts that may force closure of community centers or libraries, and safety on Metro buses.  The Commission has recently proposed two new city efforts designed to help young fathers with parenting skills and to improve dialog and understanding between youth and the police.

Snapshot of Mayoral Vetoes Past 20 Years

On Monday the Council will reconsider and vote on Council Bill 116807, the aggressive solicitation measure the Council adopted 5-4 on April 19, 2010.  Mayor McGinn vetoed this legislation on April 26, 2010 and returned it to the Council.

The City Charter requires the Council to "reconsider and vote" on whether to sustain or override the Mayor's veto.  

There have only been eight mayoral vetoes in the past 20 years; twice the Council overrode the Mayor's veto, four times the Council sustained the Mayor's veto, one time the Council did not reconsider, and the eighth reconsideration will be Monday.  Here's the list:

Council Bill 108078 related to city retirement policies.  Adopted by Council July 9, 1990; Mayor's veto overridden on August 6, 1990.

Council Bill 113302 related to teen dancing restrictions.  Adopted by Council on August 21, 2000; Mayor's veto sustained on September 18, 2000.

Council Bill 113803 related to public restrooms and automatic public toilets.  Adopted by Council on August 20, 2001; Mayor's veto overridden on September 10, 2001.

Council Bill 113818 related to parking regulations.  Adopted by Council November 5, 2001; Mayor's veto sustained on December 10, 2001.

Council Bill 114147 related to transition housing.  Adopted by Council on June 24, 2002; Mayor's veto sustained on July 22, 2002.

Council Bill 114183 related to a contract land rezone.  Adopted by Council on June 24, 2002; Mayor's veto sustained on July 22, 2002.

Council Bill 115986 related to the regulation of nightlife.  Adopted by Council on September 17, 2007; Mayor's veto never reconsidered by Council.

Ordinance 116807 related to regulation of public conduct, specifically aggressive solicitation.  Adopted by Council on April 19, 2010; Mayor's veto to be reconsidered on May 24, 2010.

Another Safer Streets Element Advances

First proposed in 2008, another element of the Council's Safer Streets Initiative advanced today when Police Chief John Diaz announced a competitive process to select a mental health professional who will work closely with the department's Crisis Intervention Team. 

As originally proposed by SPD in 2008, former Chief Gil Kerlikowske wanted to pair mental health professionals on a full-time basis with his specially-trained crisis intervention officers.  Working with Kerlikowske and others, my office developed a proposal to secure King County mental health and drug dependency funding.  The two-year pilot project was eventually fully funded with MIDD funds, however those funds were withdrawn when the economy turned sour.  The city then submitted an application for federal funds which were awarded last year. 

Council President's Statement on Alaskan Way Project

Council President Richard Conlin blogged this afternoon on the Alaskan Way corridor project, forcefully rebutting Mayor McGinn's recent statements about possible cost overruns.  As usual, Conlin advances reasoned, rationale, factual arguments. 

Police Chief Choice: Better Get It Right!

We are moving into the final weeks of the police chief selection process and, in my view, we had better get this important decision right for a whole variety of reasons—public confidence in our police officers to be the fair, respectful and effective protectors we expect, the morale and stability of our police force and our desire to reduce crime in an era of shrinking resources. (Read my earlier posts on the selection of a new police chief.)

The last point above—reducing crime at a time of shrinking resources—shouldn't be overlooked when public attention is rightly focused on what is a regrettable and troubling incident.  

Reducing crime—the most important goal of any police department, in my view—is crucially important to protect our neighborhoods and there are evolving theories about how to do it in a manner that upholds fairness and civil liberties. 

No Seattle Jail Needed

King County Executive Dow Constantine announced an agreement this morning on regional jail services that eliminates the need for Seattle to build our own jail for misdemeanor prisoners.  This has been a long time coming, but it is great news.  (Read the news release: Download 05-13 jail space agreement.)

When Constantine was campaigning last year he promised a new focus on regional solutions; he delivered today! 

My colleagues and I were never thrilled with the idea that we might have to build a new facility to house our misdemeanor offenders, but we knew we had to plan for that possibility when King County insisted they couldn't house our prisoners after 2012.  Councilmembers Bruce Harrell, Nick Licata and I started a series of private discussions with City and County officials last summer.  These discussions intensified after last November's election, encouraging Constantine to take a different approach to jail services.  We urged him to view jail services as a regional matter and to engage more aggressively with municipal governments that would avoid multiple cities launching their own jail projects.  After he took office, Mayor McGinn joined these efforts that culminated today in the announcement that Seattle would stop planning work for a new city jail. 

Earlier this year, the County and City agreed to an extension of jail services through 2016, today's agreement extends that date to 2020.  Kudos also to the south county cities that worked closely with us to forge an agreement that will allow Seattle misdemeanor prisoners to be housed in the already-under-construction regional facility in Des Moines.  

I blogged about this issue last August. 

Police Chief Selection Moves to Council Soon

The Mayor's Police Chief Selection Committee has forwarded the names of three finalists to the Mayor for his consideration.  Mayor McGinn is expected to appoint a new chief in early June, then the Council will begin our confirmation process. 

The Council's Public Safety and Education Committee will hold a public discussion with the three finalists on Wednesday, June 2 at 9:30 a.m. at City Hall.  Read this earlier post for more information on the Council's priorities for the new chief and my perspective. 

Facts About Immigration

Here are some interesting facts about immigration that will debunk some of the more common myths surrounding this contentious, yet often misunderstood, issue. 

Welcome the Stranger

Each passing day I grow more troubled by what the state of Arizona has done in adopting a new law that gives local police the power to stop, question and demand documents from anyone they suspect of being illegally in the country.  It's not American.  (Seattle journalist Timothy Egan has a biting piece on this topic in the New York Times. And Andrew Sullivan has an interesting perspective here.)

Yes, there are legitimate questions and concerns about illegal immigration, but the heavy-handed approach Arizona is taking is not the way to address those issues.  We've already seen that border fences, increased patrols, even high-tech electronic surveillance can't stop