Seattle Forward

Council Town Hall Meeting Thursday Night

The Council will hold a Town Hall meeting Thursday (June 25) to discuss youth violence, public education, and the city's tree canopy in West Seattle.  Dr. Gary Slutkin is our special guest.  Slutkin is head the the Chicago Ceasefire project which has had a remarkable track record in reducing gun violence, and youth violence in particular.  Join us if you can.

Date/Time:  Thursday, June 25, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. (Doors open at 6 p.m.)
Location:  The Hall at Fauntleroy, 9131 California Avenue SW (Map)

Thursday Town Hall Meeting Reminder

The Seattle City Council is holding a Town Hall meeting this Thursday which will feature a keynote address by Dr. Gary Slutkin, the Executive Director of The Chicago Project for Violence Prevention.  Dr. Slutkin was an epidemiologist with the World Health Organization for many years, and since 1995 has worked on the violence epidemic with Chicago leaders, clergy, and law enforcement to develop and implement new strategies for violence reduction.  We hope you will attend this important presentation and share your views on how Seattle can best address the challenge of youth violence.

Doors open at 6:00 p.m. and the program will start promptly at 6:30 p.m.  

Thursday, June 25, 2009 

Doors Open - 6:00 pm

Program Starts - 6:30 pm

The Hall at Fauntleroy 

9131 California Avenue SW

Monday's Night Town Hall Meeting

The Council held a town hall meeting last night on supporting excellent city schools, how to improve the city's tree canopy, and preventing youth violence.  About 35 people attended the event held at Eckstein Middle School on N. E. 75th Street. 

Even though attendance was low, I found the conversation one of the most productive in my short 17 months on the Council. 

The next Town Hall Meeting is Thursday, June 25 in West Seattle.  The same three topics will be discussed.  Dr. Gary Slutkin, executive director of Chicago Ceasefire, will be the keynote speaker.

Here's a quick summary of what I heard last night.

23% to 25% of city kids "opt out" of Seattle Public Schools, that's 1 in 4 children being diverted to private schools by their parents; the City should designate the school district as a "priority customer," wave certain procedures and regulations and provide stronger support; the City should form a closer partnership with the school district, even consider "taking over" certain support functions such as exterior landscaping, building management, and other non-academic functions.

Seattle had a tree canopy of 40% in the early 1970s, that's declined to 18% to 12% (depending on which study you believe) today; tree preservation and planting should be encouraged through positive incentives (e.g., tax credits, land use waivers, etc.); responsibility for tree issues should be consolidated in one City department; stricter regulations that prevent cutting down trees should be imposed, including the necessity of a cutting permit.

Nearly everyone in the audience had heard about the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative and was concerned with youth violence and gangs.  The primary focus of our conversation was on stronger partnerships with the school district, increase city-provided security in and around schools, the value of mentorships, and the need for better job training and job opportunities for young people.  The city's Initiative does provide significant funding for summer youth jobs, and the Council will be hiring several individuals to work in our offices. 

Montreal Gangs

Last night, Renee Cunningham, executive director of the Seattle Police Foundation, and I rode with a Sargent from Montreal's Eclipse police unit, a specialized squad of uniformed officers who focus on certain high offender street gang members.  There is a separate gang unit made up of detectives who build cases and identify gang leaders.

The gang problems in Montreal—about 20 street gangs operate citywide—involve prostitution, drugs, and illegal guns.  The Eclipse squad targets gang leaders who range in age from 30 to 45 years. 

Montreal's gangs include foreign gang members from Haiti, Jamaica, and other Latin American countries.  Juveniles are recruited "to do the dirty work."   We visited one strip club in downtown Montreal frequented by gang members.  Officers checked identifications of patrons and spoke with the owner, a woman with a government day job helping juvenile offenders make better choices (that was a massive disconnect, for sure).  The obvious question was whether the owner uses her day job to "recruit" dancers for her club.  Police suspect she does.

About a month ago Montreal police arrested the leaders of a motorcycle street gang—many remain in jail—who controlled much of the street prostitution and drug trafficking in the downtown core of the city.  In their absence, other, less organized gangs have moved to establish their own foothold.   

Montreal: City of Creativity

I'm in Montreal, Quebec with about 60 other Seattle-area business leaders and government officials.  (For the record, I am paying all costs associated with this trip from my personal funds.)  These inter-city study missions are sponsored by the City of Seattle and the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce; the first was in 1983 (Baltimore). 

We arrived in Montreal last night and return to Seattle Friday evening.  The focus of the trip is Montreal's aerospace industry, transportation, health care, police services, especially anti-gang efforts, and the creative sector as a driver of economic growth.

Here are a few highlights so far . . .

Best Phrase:  "Transportation cocktail," as in what cities need when engaged in transportation planning.  The phrase was used this morning by Helen Fotopulos, mayor of the borough of Plateau Mont-Royal, one of 82 municipalities that make up greater Montreal.  Mayor Fotopulos said:  "The city has diversity in transportation options, everything from cars, subway, trollys, pedestrian walkways, bike lanes, a transportation cocktail really." 

Mayor Fotopulos (hands raised) describing her approach to urban planning, density, and transportation. 

Note Mayor Greg Nickels in background to the left of Mayor Fotopulos.  Councilmember Jean Godden is partially hidden on the far left. 

This photo was taken during a walking tour this morning that included an old section of the borough that has been redeveloped with small shops, bars, and restaurants while preserving affordable housing.

Best New Service:  Bixi Montreal is a new bicycle service launched two weeks ago in the central core of Montreal by the city government.  Users pay $78 per year for unlimited use of a bicycle in 30 minutes increments; exceed 30 minutes and you pay $1.50 per minute as a penalty.  The service is designed for short rides from point A to point B, not commuting or leisurely rides. Widely used in Europe, the service is aimed at commuters who use public transportation to get to work but might need a bicycle to run a quick errand or get across town for a meeting.  Just over 3,000 users have signed up so far.  By the end of May there will be 300 Bixi Montreal stations installed in the city.  The photo to the right shows Seattle transportation director Grace Crunican examining one of the Bixi bikes.  Bixi Montreal representatives are coming to Seattle in August to show off their bicycles and station technology.

I rode one of the Bixi bikes.  They are made in Quebec just for Bixi, have three speeds, and are heavy.  Thankfully, Montreal is relatively flat.  Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay and Mayor Greg Nickels even took a little test ride. 

Best Experience:  Coming up tonight when I ride with Montreal police gang unit officers starting at 9:30. 

Council Approves Youth Violence Prevention Initiative

The Council voted 8-0 this afternoon to approve full funding for the Mayor's special initiative to curb youth violence.  Read earlier posts on this topic here.

Stopping Youth Violence

Monday afternoon, April 27, 2009, the City Council will likely give final approval to Mayor Greg Nickels' Youth Violence Prevention Initiative. 

I recently sat down with four young people in a medical school classroom at the University of Washington for a discussion about youth violence, a pressing and continuing challenge in our city.  Just before our meeting, the room had been used for a class on cardiology, apropos for a discussion about the heartbreaking reality of street violence involving our children.

Each of the young “reporters”—three men and one woman—described their own histories with violence.  Listening for about 90 minutes to these good people was extremely informative. They chose to be vulnerable and their comments were raw, tragic, and piercing; I’d like to share a few of the more poignant comments from my notes.  I’ve blended statements from all four of the youth to provide a sense of the breadth and impact of their personal experiences. 

“. . . the seeds of violence were planted at home; that’s where I learned to fight . . . I’ve never considered myself a violent person, but I kept getting into fights . . . my grandpa would pick me up after a fight and rather than steer me in a good direction would ask ‘who won?’ . . . teachers need to look past my angry words and try to understand what’s motivating those words . . . we just want people who can see our positive strengths and have empathy . . . I remember being

Protecting Our Children

Mayor Nickels and I announced the assignment of specially-trained and hand-screened police officers to five Seattle middle schools today.  This is one element of the city's Youth Violence Prevention Initiative that will likely be approved by the full City Council before the end of April.  This news conference was held at Seattle Public Schools' headquarters.  I'll have more to say about this Initiative in the next few days.

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.