White Center Now: The blog about White Center

In tonight’s election, though the results won’t be final for weeks, some things are clear after just the first round of ballot-counting. White Center’s King County Councilmember Joe McDermott has won election to his first full four-year term, leading Diana Toledo, 67%-32%. … In the North Highline Fire District contest, Liz Giba leads Mark Ufkes, 52%-47% … In the only contest for Highline School Board, incumbent president Sili Savusa is losing to Tyrone Curry, who has gained some fame for his lottery win and subsequent donation, 55% for Curry to 44% for Savusa … Burien had three council races on the ballot, and one of the city’s most outspoken opponents of annexing White Center (and vicinity) has defeated an incumbent: Bob Edgar has 60% of the vote, to 40% for Gordon Shaw. In the other two races, incumbent Lucy Krakowiak – one of two “no” votes on last month’s annexation resolution – leads former North Highline Unincorporated Area Council chair Greg Duff, 64%-36%, while pro-annexation incumbent Jerry Robison leads Debi Wagner, 54%-46%. Next ballot count is due around 4:30 tomorrow afternoon.

King County Elections has released its one-and-only Election Night tally, with more results promised tomorrow afternoon. Of note for this area:

Of interest if you use the Alaskan Way Viaduct, Seattle Referendum 1 (tunnel-related): 60% yes, 40% no

King County Council District 8 (which includes White Center and environs): Joe McDermott* 67%, Diana Toledo 27%, Goodspaceguy 5%

King County Veterans/Human Services Levy: 66% yes, 34% no

And in neighboring-maybe-annexing Burien, former North Highline Unincorporated Area Council president Greg Duff is running second to Lucy Krakowiak in the City Council Position 2 race.

Full King County-wide results here; next count, tomorrow afternoon.

The August 16 primary is less than two months away, and local groups are making their endorsements. Both of the legislative-district Democrats’ groups in this area have now made their endorsements. King County Council Position 8 will be on the August ballot since there are three candidates (the top two advance to November). The 11th District Democrats have just posted their endorsement list (read it here) – they have endorsed both Joe McDermott and Diana Toledo in that race. The 34th District Democrats held their endorsement meeting earlier this month and endorsed McDermott (here’s the list on their site; here’s our coverage on partner site West Seattle Blog). Not sure whose district you’re in? Here’s the map for the 11th District; here’s the map for the 34th District. (Any Republican groups have endorsement meetings just past or

(Crossposted from partner site West Seattle Blog)

He’s only been on the job six months, but King County Councilmember Joe McDermott is already running again. Last fall, he was elected for the year remaining in what was now-County Executive Dow Constantine’s term, after Jan Drago served a year as an appointee; this time, a full four-year term is at stake. Thursday night, in bowling shoes, McDermott presided over his official campaign-kickoff party at Roxbury Lanes. Among those in attendance were County Council colleagues Julia Patterson, Larry Phillips, Larry Gossett, and Bob Ferguson, State House Rep. Eileen Cody, elected city officials from Burien and Tukwila, members of the North Highline Unincorporated Council, and community advocates from neighborhoods in the 8th District including White Center, South Park, and Vashon. And from McDermott’s home neighborhood, West Seattle – his parents Terri McDermott and Jim McDermott:

Though all at the party were exhorted to have fun and get some bowling in, there was of course the opportunity for the candidate to offer a short speech first:

McDermott spent almost a decade in the State Legislature before moving to the County Council. The other candidate in this race so far is another West Seattleite, Diana Toledo, whom he also faced in last year’s general election. We covered her kickoff party at the Admiral Theater last week.

Greg Duff had to leave the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council when annexation put his home inside Burien boundaries, but he continued public service by joining the Burien Planning Commission. And now, according to a news release we received this morning, he is running for Burien City Council Position 2. Read on for the announcement in its entirety: Read the rest of this entry »

The winners of last Thursday’s North Highline Unincorporated Area Council elections are now announced on the NHUAC website – the four incumbents:

Congratulations to the winners of the May 19th Election.
District 3: Liz Giba
District 4: Ron Johnson
At Large: Doug Harrell and Patrick Mosley

It’s been in the works a long time … and now a date is set for the dedication of the Deputy Steve Cox Memorial at his namesake park in White Center, according to the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council website:

The memorial for Deputy Steve Cox, killed in the line of duty on December 2, 2006, will be held on May 15 … at 3 PM. The memorial is located in Steve Cox Memorial Park, 1321 SW 102nd St. May 15th is also National Peace Officers Memorial Day as designated by President Kennedy in 1962

This is sure to be among the topics when the council meets this Thursday, 7 pm, at the North Highline Fire District HQ. Also remember NHUAC’s Election Night – a two-hour period for you to stop by and vote – is at the same location, on May 19th. Also from the NHUAC site:

The NHUAC elections will be held on Thursday, May 19 at the North Highline Fire Station, SW 112 Street, White Center. Voting will be from 6PM to 8PM.

The candidates are:

District 3: Liz Giba
District 4: Ron Johnson
At Large: Doug Harrell
At Large: Patrick Mosley
At Large: Aileen Sison

Each position is a two year term with requirements to attend one meeting per month.

From Barbara Dobkin on the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council:

If you live in District 1 or District 2 (see District boundaries below) of the North Highline Unincorporated Area, and are thinking of running for a seat on the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council, there is still time to submit an application.

There will be a special three day filing period, April 26, 27, and 28, for the upcoming Council election to be held on May 19, 2011.

Applications will be accepted for a two year terms for these two districts.

District One. All precincts lying easterly of State Route 509.

District Two. All unincorporated area bordered on the north by the City of Seattle, on the south by the City of Burien, on the east by State Route 509 and on the west by 4th Avenue SW.

To obtain a Candidate Filing Statement or to learn more about the position contact Barbara Dobkin, Chairperson, Elections Committee, bdobkin@northhighlineuac.org, or visit our website: www.northhighlineuac.org.

You can also see, and download, the candidate filing statement here.

After today’s vote-count update, Highline Public Schools sent this news about, and reaction to, the levy vote:

Highline Public Schools’ Educational Programs Levy appears to be passing, with the latest vote count showing yes votes at 60.7 percent. The measure needs a simple majority of 50% to pass.

“We are grateful to Highline voters for this show of support,” says Highline Superintendent John Welch. “This shows how much our community values the education of our children. Even in these tough times, people are willing to invest in education and support our local schools.”

The levy makes up about 25 percent of the funding for operating schools. Most of the levy dollars pay for teachers and staff positions. The levy also pays for basics such as bus transportation, building maintenance, and textbooks. These costs are not fully funded by the state.

The Election Night results are in, and the Highline Public Schools levy – which only needs a “simple majority” to pass – has 60 percent approval. Here are the latest results.

In a special election on February 8th, voters in the Highline Public Schools district will decide the fate of a levy to raise more than $40 million a year, replacing a levy that’s expiring. (You can read about it here.) If you need to register to vote, or change your information, the deadline for doing so online – in order to make sure you get your ballot in the mail in time for that election – is this Monday. You can get it all done by going here.

While the King County Council wasn’t expected to take a final budget vote until next Monday – they did it today. Here’s the official news release with the announcement:

The Metropolitan King County Council today adopted a $5.1 billion 2011 King County Budget that reflects the painful choices made to produce a balanced budget, but maintains core public safety services and protects survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence.

The adopted budget includes a $621 million general fund budget, of which 76 percent is directed toward public safety and criminal justice programs. The proposed budget protects the County’s AAA bond rating by not using the County’s cash reserves or tapping the rainy day fund.

“King County government made the difficult choices necessary to balance our budget. We went through this budget line-by-line to cut spending in the most responsible way possible, just as many individuals and families everywhere are doing with their own household budgets,” said Councilmember Julia Patterson, Chair of the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee. “Given the fiscal challenges we are facing, this budget does all it can to protect public safety, maintain the quality of life in our communities, and protect our most vulnerable residents.”

“The budget cuts this year have been softened by the willingness of our labor partners/employees to ‘share the pain,’” said Councilmember Kathy Lambert, Vice Chair of the Budget Leadership Team. “We are most grateful to our county bargaining units that agreed to forego cost-of-living increases for 2011. This allowed us to create a $1.5 million emergency reserve fund for criminal justice needs, as well as to restore domestic violence and sexual assault funding and special court advocate programs that help people survive in turbulent times.”
“We had to make extremely difficult choices in this budget and use our limited resources to protect as many residents of King County as possible,” said Councilmember Larry Gossett a member of the Budget Leadership Team. “Law enforcement is an important aspect of providing public safety in our communities. However, public safety also includes providing human services for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence, alternatives to incarceration programs to reduce the numbers of people in the King County jail, and public health clinics to provide essential medical care to the most marginalized in our community. That is the true meaning of public safety.”

Following the Budget Leadership Team’s theme of “Balancing the Budget, Sharing the Pain,” the cuts made to close the $60 million shortfall in the 2011 budget will be felt throughout King County. More than 300 county positions have been eliminated. The King County Sheriff will lose 28 deputies and County Prosecutors will lose 16 attorneys and those that remain will see an increase in their caseloads. In the Superior and District Courts, 28 positions were eliminated, reducing probation services in both courts, and shrinking the services provided by court clerks and court reporters. There is no funding available for the replacement of the County’s aging Youth Services Center.

Human Service programs that traditionally received some county support were also cut. There is no general fund contribution to services for at-risk mothers, early learning or after school programs.

The 2011 budget preserves programs that prevent domestic violence and sexual assault by investing a portion of the savings created by County employees giving up their cost of living adjustments (COLAs). All but one County bargaining unit, the King County Sheriff Deputies, agreed to give up their negotiated COLAs, preserving $23.5 million in services across all county agencies for 2011. Of that amount, $6.1 million of the savings was in the general fund, making it available to provide limited funding to these programs. Funds were also made available to maintain, Step Up, a program that assists families impacted by juvenile domestic violence.

In all, the COLA concessions allowed the Council to save or partially save eight Deputy Prosecuting Attorneys, as well as public defenders, corrections officers, alternatives to incarceration programs and other vital public safety services. Working with the Superior Court, the Council also preserved funding for family services provided by the court, such as mediation, parent coaching and evaluation and child advocacy to troubled families.

“This balanced budget reflects the consensus of seven Council members representing a wide political spectrum,” said Council Chair Bob Ferguson. “These seven members worked throughout the process, never quitting despite difficult negotiations, and agreed on a budget consistent with this tough economy.”

“This is a painful budget made more manageable by the vast majority of King County employees’ willingness to sacrifice cost of living wages they were legally entitled to in order to preserve public services and jobs,” said Councilmember Larry Phillips. “We’re adopting a responsible budget plan given the economic climate that we’re dealing with, but it will mean King County residents—particularly the most vulnerable—will have less access to services.”

“This was an extremely difficult budget—by far the most difficult budget I’ve dealt with in the 17 years I’ve been involved in local government,” said Councilmember Jan Drago. “I was very impressed with the level of collaboration from my County Council colleagues and from Executive Dow Constantine these last eight weeks, and together, we were able to work through these daunting challenges because of our commitment to public service and our willingness to collaborate.”

Highlights of the 2011 Budget:

King County Sheriff Office: The adopted budget restores several positions in the Sheriff’s office using savings from sheriff captains and court protection marshals that agreed to forgo their cost of living adjustment increase for 2011. These positions include a fire investigator, a records and evidence specialist, and two communications operators in the 911 call center. The budget also directs the sheriff to prioritize the equivalent of two deputy positions for investigation of property crimes.

Criminal Justice Reserve: To balance the budget, the council made necessary cuts to the criminal justice agencies. The adopted budget has $1.5 million in reserve to ensure that the county is in position to quickly respond to the most pressing and emergent criminal justice and public safety needs in 2011.

Protecting the Vulnerable: Along with the county’s continuing support for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault survivors, the budget takes a proactive approach to the growing youth prostitution problem, providing shelter beds that will help take youths off the streets, away from prostitution.

AAA Bond rating: The credit rating agencies recently reaffirmed the county’s AAA bond rating. Through fiscal restraint, the council has not spent any of the county’s $15 million rainy day fund or any of its six percent cash reserve, which amounts to an additional $31 million in reserves. These cash reserves prepare the county for unforeseen emergencies and are vital to maintain the county’s high credit rating, which saves taxpayers millions of dollars every year.

One more County Council note: Our area’s newly elected King County Councilmember, Joe McDermott, is expected to be sworn in a week from tomorrow, after the election results are certified. He will serve the remaining year of what was King County Executive Dow Constantine‘s unexpired County Council term, and then would have to run for re-election again next year; the 2nd-place finisher in this year’s race, Diana Toledo, says she will run again next year.

ADDED 6:27 PM: The two County Councilmembers who voted against the budget have sent out a news release of their own:

The Metropolitan King County Council today adopted the 2011 budget on a 7-2 vote with Councilmembers Reagan Dunn and Pete von Reichbauer voting no. These Councilmembers cited the systematic dismantling of King County’s criminal justice system for their vote against the budget.

“The 300,000 residents of King County will now have to live with 28 fewer sheriff deputies than last year,” said Dunn, Chair of the Council’s Law, Justice, Health and Human Services Committee. “I cannot vote for a budget that does not first protect public safety before funding non-mandatory programs.”

“The people of South King County want more law enforcement not less,” said von Reichbauer. “Crime is a growing issue for my constituents and I want more officers on the street and more prosecutors in the courtroom.”

This summer, Councilmember Dunn with support from Councilmember von Reichbauer, offered a plan to fund criminal justice that was tax neutral in that the average taxpayer would have paid no new taxes. Instead of adopting this plan, the Council chose to put Proposition 1, a straight two-tenths of one percent sales tax, on the ballot with no offsets. Proposition 1 failed by more than 10 percentage points, leaving King County with a $60 million deficit.

“The taxpayers of this county are struggling and they are looking to the Council for solutions,” said Dunn. “I tried to offer some reasonable alternatives but my ideas were not taken seriously. Now we have a budget before us that makes people less safe.”

Councilmember Dunn was a member of the Budget Leadership Team but walked out after being told that no Sheriff’s deputies would be restored in the budget. The Budget Leadership Team sited the fact that the King County Police Officers Guild (KCPOG) refused to forego their cost of living increases to save jobs within that department as a reason for that decision.

“I am not going to defend the Sheriff’s union for not giving up their COLAs. But I am going to stand up for my constituents who must live under the lack of police protection,” said Dunn. “In my opinion, we must balance the need to send a message to labor with the right policy decisions on public safety. This budget does not represent my principles.”

Three amendments were offered by Dunn:

* Taking $820,000 from the criminal justice reserve to restore six prosecutors, four to the violent crime unit and two to the economic crimes unit. The amendment was defeated by a 6-3 vote with Councilmembers Dunn, Hague and von Reichbauer voting in support of the amendment.
* Cutting $3.27 million from the Public Health budget to restore 26 deputies to the Sheriff’s office, including 16 for property crimes investigation, two for storefronts in unincorporated King County and eight School Resource Officers. The amendment failed on a 5-4 vote with Councilmembers Dunn, Hague, Lambert and von Reichbauer voting in favor of the amendment.
* Adding $100,000 of critical funding to the domestic violence and sexual assault programs. The amendment failed on a 7-2 vote with Councilmembers Dunn and von Reichbauer supporting the amendment.

“It was important to me to not just vote no. I wanted to once again offer some reasonable alternatives to save our criminal justice system,” said Dunn. “My alternatives were not supported by a majority of the Council but the perspective of the citizens of unincorporated King County and citizens who are concerned about public safety were heard.”

ADDED 6:34 PM: And the councilmember who has represented White Center almost all year, Jan Drago, has released her own statement on the budget as well:

Metropolitan King County Councilmember Jan Drago released this statement on today’s vote approving the 2011 King County Budget:

“This was an extremely difficult budget, and grappling with a $60 million budget gap was no easy task. It was by far the most difficult budget I’ve dealt with in the 17 years I’ve been involved in local government. There were very difficult choices and, in the end, no easy answers or quick fixes. Our final budget was not able to avoid layoffs or service cuts, so we are faced with no other option here in King County than to live within our means.

“While the adopted budget is $5.1 billion, almost 90 percent of that money is already committed. The General Fund, which is where elected leaders have some discretion to make spending decisions, is only $621million. Of that, 76percent of the General Fund money pays for the county’s criminal justice programs.

“Knowing that the decisions we faced would be difficult and painful, my colleagues and I committed early on to make the process as transparent and open as possible to the public to help them understand these difficult circumstances. We took testimony from more than 400 people at five public hearings, with countless more who wrote to us with their concerns and their pleas. While we weren’t able to avoid some painful cuts, we were able to restore some critical programs, including domestic violence and sexual assault support programs, Family Court services, support for alternatives to incarceration, the Step Up program, the Court Appointed Special Advocate program.

“So much of what is happening today with local government budgeting affects the people that have the least, and we did as much as we could to try and restore the programs that really help the people in need. Some of these decisions were based on the heartfelt testimony we heard at the public meetings, and I want to thank everyone who made the decision to get involved and participate in the process. It’s important that people know they can make a difference.

“I want to thank my County Council colleagues and King County Executive Dow Constantine for keeping the lines of communication open and for truly making this a collaborative process from start to finish. I was very impressed with the level of collaboration from all branches of King County government these last eight weeks and the commitment to openness and transparency. I also want to thank the thousands of county employees who made important sacrifices that allowed us to avoid some layoffs and restore some of these critical services to the public. Together, we were able to work through these daunting challenges, and King County will be a better place to live and work because of our commitment to public service and our willingness to collaborate.”

We’ve been covering the election all night on partner site West Seattle Blog – but the same races are relevant to White Center too. It was a good night for guys named Joe – at left, Joe McDermott talked with us as the only election-night ballot count put him way out in front in the race for King County Council District 8; at right, Joe Fitzgibbon talked with us after learning he had a sizable lead in the race for 34th District State House Position 2. One major issue of note for White Center and the rest of the unincorporated area – King County Proposition 1, the sales-tax increase that was supposed to prevent law-enforcement and criminal-justice budget cuts from being so severe, is losing, with 56% no. For an overview in many other races, check out not only WSB but also our regional partners at the Seattle Times.

Still making up your mind about King County Proposition 1? The Seattle Times (WCN partner) takes a look tonight.

(Top, moderator Jerry Robison, during the forum, with Joe McDermott and Diana Toledo; bottom, Joe Fitzgibbon and Mike Heavey right before it began)
It’ll take some time to write the full report since the candidates’ forum presented by the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council tonight ran almost two and a half hours, but here’s a really quick summary: NHUAC’s Barbara Dobkin told your editor here (covering on behalf of both White Center Now and West Seattle Blog) afterward that they’re “thrilled” they drew such a huge turnout for the forum – the room at the Greenbridge YWCA Education Center was packed. NHUAC’s Pat Price gave a short introduction, and longtime community leader Jerry Robison moderated the forum expertly. A collection of pre-prepared questions – NHUAC had solicited e-mailed inquiries – and “live” audience questions ranged across a wide variety of topics, from White Center annexation to abortion rights. The first audience question came from the White Center/West Seattle entrepreneur who ran in one of the spotlighted races:

Mac’s Triangle Pub owner Geoffrey “Mac” McElroy would have asked the last question too, but he yielded to a man who hadn’t asked anything yet. (He was the third-place finisher in the 34th District House #2 race.) Other questioners included people from White Center and West Seattle, including several who identified themselves as Greenbridge residents (the development itself was the topic of several questions). Moderator Robison sat at a desk between one containing the 34th District State House Position 2 candidates, Joe Fitzgibbon and Mike Heavey, and one containing the King County Council District 8 candidates, Joe McDermott and Diana Toledo. Though the state race was the closest in the primary between its “top two,” those two candidates clashed on virtually nothing, while the county candidates jabbed at each other several times, over items from factual errors to mischaracterizations.

We have the entirety of the forum on video which we will publish as soon as it’s uploaded, both here and on partner site WSB, and we’ll be writing a longer article with overall highlights, too. While Election Day is officially November 2nd, you should have your ballot by now, and that’s the deadline to send it in or drop it off if you haven’t done so already. More to come!

10:38 PM UPDATE: Here’s part 1 of the video:

11 PM: And part 2:

12:50 AM: Part 3:

Again, separate article to come.

One last reminder about the last major candidates’ forum before the November 2nd election – North Highline Unincorporated Area Council is presenting it, at Greenbridge YWCA, with both candidates in each of the two hot open-seat races – King County Council District 8 (Diana Toledo and Joe McDermott) and 34th District State House Position 2 (Mike Heavey and Joe Fitzgibbon) – expected to be part of it. Doors open at 6 pm, forum starts at 6:30 pm. If you have advance questions, NHUAC is inviting them – e-mail address is on their home page.

It’s just been brought to our attention that while we’ve mentioned this several times on partner site West Seattle Blog, we haven’t mentioned it here! In case you haven’t already heard – the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council is presenting the biggest candidates’ forum between now and Election Day, with both the State House Position 2 and King County Council District 8 races featured. **Doors open at 6 pm** (corrected) October 21st at the Greenbridge YWCA, you will hear from all four candidates in those races – House candidates Mike Heavey of West Seattle and Joe Fitzgibbon of Burien, and KC Council candidates Diana Toledo and State Sen. Joe McDermott, both West Seattleites.

If you are in the recently annexed North Burien (North Highline) area and have lived there at least a year, you’re eligible to run for the suddenly opening Burien City Council seat, according to this news release:

The City of Burien is accepting applications for City Council Position 6 which is being vacated on Dec. 31, 2010. Incumbent Councilmember Kathy Keene recently announced she is leaving the position in order to retire in Florida next year.

Applicants must be a registered voter and have lived in the City for at least one year. Residents of the North Highline area that was annexed to Burien in April 2010 are eligible if they have lived in their North Highline residence at least one year.

Prospective Councilmembers should have an interest in City government and in serving their community. Councilmembers typically attend three or more evening Council meetings a month and participate on local and regional governmental organizations. Councilmembers are paid $600 per month.

The City Council will review the applications and interview top candidates. Councilmembers will vote the appointment at the Jan. 3, 2011, Council meeting after which the successful applicant will be sworn into office. The newly appointed Councilmember will fulfill Keene’s term which expires on Dec. 31, 2011. The Councilmember will have to run for the office at the next General Election, in November 2011, to continue in the position.

Applications are available at City Hall, 400 S.W. 152nd St,, Ste. 300, online at www.burienwa.gov or by calling (206) 248-5517. Applications will be accepted through 5 p.m. on Oct. 27.

Their original endorsee Marcee Stone -a former White Center resident – didn’t make it to the general election, so tonight in West Seattle, the 34th District Democrats had a decision to make: Endorse Burien’s Joe Fitzgibbon, or West Seattle’s Mike Heavey, for the State House Position 2 seat? The result was Fitzgibbon – 96 votes to 31 votes. That was the biggest of many endorsement votes during tonight’s meeting, which we chronicled as-it-happened on partner site West Seattle Blog – above, our brief interviews with both candidates afterward.

(crossposted from partner site West Seattle Blog)
A change at the top in the 34th District State House Representative Position 2 results, after the latest vote count made public by King County Elections: Now Joe Fitzgibbon of Burien is ahead of Mike Heavey of West Seattle, by 186 votes out of more than 22,000 counted in this race so far. Again, the finishing order won’t change what happens next – both Fitzgibbon and Heavey are going to the general election, since it’s extremely unlikely that the 3,000-plus-vote gap between them and #3 Geoffrey “Mac” McElroy would completely close – but for politics-watchers, it’s interesting to keep an eye on the daily updates until the election is certified at month’s end. No change in the King County Council District 8 race, which has gaps big enough that none are likely – it’ll be Joe McDermott vs. Diana Toledo (both West Seattleites) in November.