Seattle Forward

Boeing & Machinists Win!

The Council issued the following statement this afternoon about the tentative agreement reached by Boeing and the Machinists that will keep production of the 737MAX in Renton.  All nine Council members signed the statement.

"We applaud the Boeing Company and the Machinists for working together to reach this tentative agreement. If approved, this contract will invigorate our regional economy and support thousands of jobs for the region. This agreement is an important example of what can be accomplished when business and labor work together to reach mutual understanding. It is a big win for Seattle, the greater Puget Sound region and the state of Washington."

Today's announcement is a huge win for Seattle, for Renton, for all of Washington state. 

The Police, Occupy Protesters and Civil Order

Twelve years ago this week Seattle was rocked by the World Trade Organization (WTO) conference civil disorder.  It was ugly.

Legitimate WTO demonstrators saw their protests disrupted—and their message overshadowed—by individuals who wanted to wage violence against the police, WTO delegates and local businesses.  And because police commanders were not adequately prepared they responded with rapidly escalating interventions, including chemical irritants and rubber bullets.  Chaos reigned in our streets.

In early 2000, the City Council appointed three citizen review panels to determine what happened at the WTO meetings.  I chaired the panel that examined the police response.  Our report to the Council in September of that year included 11 major findings and recommendations, including very specific recommendations on police tactics to maintain order and the use of chemical irritants (see “Finding 3: Large-scale arrests rather than chemical irritants or other less-lethal force should be the tactic of choice in dealing with unlawful assemblies”).

After re-reading that 2000 report, I'm reminded of the vital importance of consistent clarity and boundary setting by the Mayor, the City Council and the Chief of Police. In

Seattle Schools Headed in Right Direction

Today Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Susan Enfield released the district's annual scorecard (it's like a report card) as well as individual scorecards for every school.  There's good news and continuing challenges, especially around the academic achievement gap.

Key highlights include:

• The overall average on-time graduation rate rose to 73% in the 2010-2011 academic year.
• Enrollment has risen to 48,528, continuing a multi-year rise in the number of students.
• Students in Third to Eighth grades outperform their statewide peers. However, the district has not yet released the disaggregated data to show performance of particular student groups, for example African American students, English Language Learning students, etc. That detail is coming soon.
• Several south Seattle schools showed huge improvements: West Seattle Elementary improved from Level 1 (the lowest ranking out of 5 total levels) to Level 3; Mercer Middle School went from Level 3 to Level 5; Dearborn Park Elementary jumped from Level 1 to Level 3.

After the jump you can read the remarks I shared at the announcement...

Occupy for Reform

No wonder the Occupy Wall Street protest movement, including Occupy Seattle, has captured the support of the American people. 

Just watch this segment from last night’s 60 Minutes on CBS regarding members of Congress using insider information to make millions. Or this segment from November 6 where felon Jack Abramoff tells all about buying our elected officials in Washington, D.C. 

I watched both of these 60 Minutes’ reports last night; my blood was boiling!

Occupy Wall Street has tapped into a deep, strong and explosive undercurrent of thought running through America.  It’s a core belief that something is seriously wrong with our country economically, politically and ethically.  60 Minutes has confirmed the worst with their two reports. 

Thank you, Seattle!

Seattle voters passed the Families and Education Levy yesterday.  The Levy is one of the most innovative and outcome-based education support measures in the country. 

This Levy was a big ask, especially during these tough economic times. Our voters have strongly embraced doing all we can to provide our schoolchildren a high quality education and prepare them for college and the career of their choice.

The Council conducted a year-long planning process with a 24-member citizen advisory group before placing this Levy before the voters. As a result, this Levy has substantial safeguards built in for strong performance measures, accountability and transparency.

My colleagues and I look forward to working with the Seattle Public Schools and our communities to implement this investment in our students and schools.

The 2001 Levy will provide funding that will be available beginning with the 2012-2013 school year.  The current Levy, which expires in December, provides funding through the end of the 2011-2012 academic year. 

More Bad News About Growing Poverty

The Brookings Institution this morning released a new report on concentrated poverty in the United States, including the Seattle metropolitan area. 

The bad news—

• More people are living in poverty—46.2 million—than ever in U. S. history; that's 15% of the U.S. population.
• The federal poverty line for a family of four is $22,314. Could your family of four successfully cope with that level of family income?
• There is a growing concentration of poverty in some neighborhoods, with a recent increase in close-in suburban areas.  Still, people living in cities are four times more likely to live in neighborhoods of high concentrated poverty than those in the suburbs. The midwest and southern regions of the U. S. have seen the highest increases in poverty.  Review the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue statistics, which haven't changed much since 2000.
• A particularly interesting finding of the Brookings study is that the general economic improvement the country experienced in the late 1990s did not reach neighborhoods with concentrated poverty, a direct challenge to the "all boats rise" philosophy we all like to believe.  (Interestingly, this same reality can be seen with crime statistics where citywide rates can decline significantly while, at the same time, micro places across the city can be experiencing crimes surges.)

Unfortunately, the Brookings report confirms what we already know—the middle class and the poor are getting hammered in today's America.  I've written about this previously here. The growing disparities in income and the shockingly high concentrations of wealth in our country are fueling the Occupy protest movement, including here in Seattle.  These issues are very real and need our attention.