White Center Now: The blog about White Center

He’s currently the County Councilmember representing District 8 – White Center, West Seattle, Vashon and other areas – so when Dow Constantine is sworn in as King County Executive in 2 1/2 weeks, how will his successor be chosen? A proposed process was unveiled this afternoon – here’s the county announcement:

With Tuesday’s election of Council Chair Dow Constantine as King County Executive, the Metropolitan King County Council may consider legislation Monday establishing a process for evaluating candidates for appointment to succeed him in representing Council District 8.

“It is important that the Council act quickly to ensure representation for constituents in District 8,” said Council Vice Chair Bob Ferguson. “Timely appointment will also allow the new councilmember to transition into the position, hire staff, and hit the ground running in the new year.”

A proposed motion introduced today would create a 10-member panel of community leaders and elected officials who live or work in Council District 8, and who represent the geographic, economic and ethnic diversity of the district that encompasses West Seattle, North Highline, Vashon/Maury Islands, Burien, Normandy Park, SoDo, the International District/Chinatown, Pioneer Square, East Beacon Hill, and portions of the cities of SeaTac and Tukwila.

As currently drafted, the proposed legislation calls for applicants for the position to submit application material to the Clerk of the Council by Monday, November 16.

The selection committee is proposed to meet no later than November 25 to interview qualified applicants and recommend two to five candidates for consideration by the Council, but not state any preferences among the recommended candidates.

The King County Council has final authority for making the appointment. Under the proposal, the Council’s Committee of the Whole would interview recommended candidates on Monday, November 30, with final Council action on an appointment no later than December 14. The appointee would serve in office until certification of the next general election in November 2010.

The proposed process is similar to that adopted earlier this year to fill vacancies in the offices of County Executive and County Assessor. Under the old partisan form of government, the political party of the official vacating office would submit nominees for an appointed successor, but voters last year amended the King County Charter to make most countywide offices non-partisan.

The proposed legislation establishes criteria to be used by the selection committee in evaluating the qualifications of eligible candidates, including:

· Knowledge of the functions of King County government;
· Knowledge of the issues and challenges facing King County government;
· Knowledge of the issues affecting the constituents of Council District 8;
· A demonstrated ability to develop a responsible budget;
· A demonstrated ability to respond to public concerns;
· Demonstrated leadership skills; and
· A commitment to the immediate business of King County that would make it unlikely that the individual would run for any elective office while serving as appointed councilmember.

Council Chair Constantine is scheduled to be sworn into office as King County Executive as soon as the results of the general election are certified on November 24.

Complete election results over at partner site West Seattle Blog – but one item of special note, this area’s King County Councilmember has just been elected the new King County Executive. The video clips at the top and bottom of this item together constitute Dow Constantine‘s entire victory speech at Tuesday night’s party at the Edgewater. His opponent Susan Hutchison hasn’t conceded, but Constantine’s lead can be said to be fairly insurmountable.

Another vote tally will be made public Wednesday afternoon.

Two notes re: King County government – First, Monday is the next “furlough day,” so most offices will be closed. More details here about what’s open and what’s not. Second, Wednesday is when King County Elections plans to mail ballots for the November 3rd election – so voting will start as soon as the end of the week. Election info is online now.

The King County Council‘s budget committee has just begun its first public meeting specifically to talk about next year’s budget, and one of those who will testify is Sheriff Sue Rahr. According to her spokesperson Sgt. John Urquhart, her talking points will include a contention that County Executive Kurt Triplett‘s budget proposal is not as rosy for her department as it sounds – she says it will cut patrol power in areas like White Center and Boulevard Park by as much as 75 percent. You can watch the testimony live right now through the Council’s online player. (Along with Rahr, King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg and other criminal-justice leaders are presenting.) UPDATE: “The budget, as presented, is not what it seems. It does not shield public safety,” Sheriff Rahr has told the council in opening remarks that she described as “short and sweet.” She says the budget, for example, overcompensates for the Burien annexation of south North Highline and would leave her with one deputy per shift in White Center. ADDED 1:12 PM: Sgt. Urquhart has provided the full text of Sheriff Rahr’s remarks to the committee:

The budget, as presented, isn’t what it seems.

It does not “prioritize” public safety.

It does not “shield criminal justice”.

It does not only cut “criminal justice by 1%”.

The Sheriff’s Office unincorporated budget alone will be cut by almost 6%.

A $3.5 million dollar cut is attributed to the Burien annexation. The appropriate reduction due to workload for the annexed area is only seven deputies. However this budget proposes cutting an additional 27 deputies due to the annexation.

From which unincorporated neighborhoods should those additional 27 deputies be cut?

After the seven deputies are cut from the new annexation area, there will only be 38 left to serve all of White Center, Skyway, South Park, Boulevard Park, and Vashon Island. From that small pool I should cut 27 deputies, a 75% cut in police protection to the highest crime neighborhoods in King County? That’s would leave enough to maintain one deputy per shift to cover all of White Center and Boulevard Park, one deputy in Skyway, no deputies on Vashon island, and no storefront deputies.

If that’s not acceptable, which neighborhood in north and east King County should pay for this annexation with a reduction in their police service?

For the record, we were already forced to cut 86 positions in the last year and half, most of those deputy positions. This will put us up to 113 cuts in less than two years.

Enough about the cuts…let’s talk about what appear to be adds to my budget.

The budget proposal transfers 34 civilian security screeners from the Facilities Management Division to the Sheriff’s Office, along with $2.1 million to pay for them.

This transfer includes no money for supervision of these 34 screeners. They will be supervised by the two court security sergeants who already supervise 30 marshals and court deputies. This proposed budget would have the same two sergeants supervising 64 people in thirteen different locations. These are employees who provide a critical service for the safety of everyone entering a courthouse in King County.

In addition, this budget provides no monies to train the screeners, insufficient overtime funds, and over $100,000 in negative contras.

This $2.1 million “increase” to our budget masks the real cuts to public safety and makes it appear that the Sheriff’s Office isn’t being cut as much as it really is.

Bottom line, I will not take the screeners into the Sheriff’s Office and accept responsibility for a service that cannot be operated safely.

In summary, this budget cuts the Sheriff’s Office for unincorporated King County by $4.1 million, or nearly 6%. This is unsafe and it’s unacceptable, especially in light of several recent surveys that show overwhelmingly that public safety is the number one priority for the citizens of King County.”

A news release we received from the county this morning – important information regarding keeping construction sites from becoming a problem during the rainy season – if you’re involved with construction, read on: Read the rest of this entry »

King County Executive Kurt Triplett – who will be succeeded immediately after the November election results are certified, by the winner of the Dow Constantine-Susan Hutchison race – has released his proposed budget. It still calls for mothballing county parks in unincorporated urban areas, which means the section of White Center not affected by the annexation vote, since Burien has said it will keep the annexation-area parks open. Here’s the full announcement from Triplett’s office; here’s the county council’s hearing plan:

Council to host four public hearings on 2010 King County Budget
in Bellevue, Kent, Renton and Seattle

Public input vital to budget process

The Metropolitan King County Council will host four public hearings to take comment on the 2010 Executive Proposed Budget.

Led by Councilmember Larry Gossett, chair of the 2010 Budget and Fiscal Management Committee, the four public hearings will be held:

· Wednesday, October 7 – Bellevue City Council Chambers, 450 110th Ave. NE, Bellevue

· Tuesday, October 13 – Maleng Regional Justice Center, Courtroom 3F, 401 4th Avenue North, Kent

· Thursday, October 22 – Redmond City Council Chambers, 15670 NE 85th Street, Redmond

· Thursday, October 29 – King County Council Chambers, 516 Third Avenue, Room 1200, Seattle

All meetings begin at 7:00 p.m. Day-after coverage of the public hearings will be available both online and on King County TV, seen on Comcast and Broadstripe Cable Channel 22. You can also sign up to follow the deliberations through the Council’s 2010 Budget Blog and Twitter.

Follow the Council’s deliberations through Twitter and our 2010 Budget Blog by visiting the King County Council Budget Web site at:
www.kingcounty.gov/council/budget.aspx

For those who missed it, KUOW today broadcast an interview with, King County Executive, Susan Hutchison.  You can find the interview at KUOW Weekday.  In a prior post I had made the following observation which sparked a fair amount of discussion:

Ms. Hutchison has never held public office.  She has never had to struggle with the political realities of governing a complex political entity whose ambits include not only roads and sewers but social services, neighborhoods and law enforcement.  It is difficult to see how her experience on the board of the Seattle Symphony prepared her, in the slightest way, for such a weighty role.

If anyone had any doubt about Ms. Hutchison’s lack of specificity on issues, policies or even advisors, it is worth a listen (available on podcast).  Pressed by the moderator to name a single advisor who she consults, or who she would bring to her administration, she flatly resisted naming anyone, except to say bus drivers.  Her conclusion was “trust me” they will be great people.  I have nothing against bus drivers, but maybe she could have named a couple of the guys that she intends to bring to the Hutchison administration that will “bring people together.”  I’m sorry but calling Hutchison a “lightweight” does not begin to describe the chasm that is her lack of qualification to hold such an important post.  Listen for yourself.

Alongside Evergreen Pool, dozens of swimmers and supporters gathered this evening to show their support for getting it reopened as soon as possible following the shutdown that starts tomorrow. They heard from WhiteWater Aquatics, the group trying to work out a deal to take over the pool that the county’s shuttering – WhiteWater says it’s hoping to have a deal by January, sooner if at all possible — but that means the pool is facing a closure of at least four months:

James Bush from King County Council Chair Dow Constantine‘s office says there’s not much they can do since the budget crisis is threatening park/pool facilities all over the county, though he reminded the group that the pool started the year with only six months of funding and managed to get two more. After the rally, some concerned swimmers gathered outside:

Rally organizers advised several courses of action: Contact King County Executive Kurt Triplett and Council Chair Constantine (who represents most of this area); also work with the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council, which will talk about the pool situation at its next meeting this Thursday, 7 pm, North Highline Fire District headquarters. We’ve got more from the rally, including video of swimmers young and old who had something to say – will be adding that as the evening goes on. EARLY TUESDAY NOTE: We decided to put up four video clips in a separate report; see that report here.

Got word tonight from North Highline Unincorporated Area Council president Greg Duff that a rally is planned Monday night at Evergreen Pool, to “save the pool.” You’ll recall that King County Council chair Dow Constantine announced Thursday that the pool would have to close September 1st, TFN, because a deal isn’t yet worked out for someone else – potentially WhiteWater Aquatics (as discussed at the last NHUAC meeting) – to take over its operations. The rally is set for 5-7 pm; the pool is at 606 SW 116th (map).

Regardless of whether or not your part of White Center will remain unincorporated, you have a stake in King County’s future – and you’re invited to come discuss it tonight in West Seattle. It’s the last in a series of meetings around the county, and the closest one to White Center – 6:30 pm tonight, The Hall at Fauntleroy; read more about it here.

From King County Council Chair Dow Constantine‘s office:

Metropolitan King County Council Chair Dow Constantine today called for a County hiring freeze through the end of 2009, a step that could save an estimated $15 million, including approximately $1 million in general fund spending.

“We must cut spending immediately to offset costs for essential ‘lifeboat’ programs that were only granted partial-year funding in this year’s budget,” said Constantine. “Leaving positions vacant will provide funds to be used in next year’s budget, which has already been projected to have a shortfall of almost $50 million.”

Due to the public safety and public health nature of their positions, the proposed freeze would not affect the hiring of personnel in four key areas:

· The King County Sheriff’s Office,
· Corrections officers in county correctional facilities,
· Health care providers in county correctional facilities and county health centers,
· The King County Superior Court, King County District Court, or King County Prosecutor’s Office.

Although exempt from the proposed hiring freeze, the legislation encourages the responsible department heads or separately elected officials operating these agencies to consider suspending the hiring process for administrative positions not directly associated with the provision of public safety or public health services.

A provision is also included to allow hires by the County Executive in cases where the department can show that keeping a position vacant would actually increase costs to the county.

“The Council voted last December to ratify the Executive’s declaration of a budget emergency,” said Constantine. “With tax collections in decline and economic indicators showing more hard times ahead, we need to take immediate, decisive action to protect public services.”

This afternoon at 1:30 Today, the King County Council Budget Committee will take up spending issues including $80,000 proposed to keep Evergreen Pool open two months beyond what at one point was going to be its shutdown date – today. County Council Chair Dow Constantine‘s office says the final vote won’t be till July 13, but that the pool will stay open at least till then. As for what would happen beyond the two-month extension – nothing’s been determined yet.

Just received from King County Council Chair Dow Constantine‘s office:

Today, I co-sponsored legislation for a supplemental appropriation ordinance that includes two additional months of funding for pool operations. This money will keep the pool open through the warm summer months—the facility was originally slated to be closed at the end of June; this funding extends operations through the end of August.

I am currently working with Councilmember Larry Gossett, the chair of the Council’s Budget and Fiscal Management Committee, on finding funds to keep the pool in operation for the remainder of the year.

Obviously, these are just temporary solutions, but they give more time to community members who are working on a proposal to keep the pool open permanently by transferring it to private or non-profit operation.

I am also coordinating with the 34th District state legislators (Rep. Sharon Nelson, Rep. Eileen Cody, Sen. Joe McDermott) to set up a strategy meeting in the near future to continue this community discussion.

Two advocates for keeping Evergreen Pool open, veteran Cyril Miller and North Highline firefighter Ed Marrs, are pleading their case with King County Council leaders today, according to this seattletimes.com story, which says they’ll be meeting with County Council Chair Dow Constantine and Councilmember Larry Phillips this afternoon. Evergreen Pool remains slated for shutdown after the end of next month unless either the county finds more money or a community coalition figures out how to take it over.

He has longtime ties to the area – and tomorrow night, he’s scheduled to be back in White Center for a guest appearance at the White Center/South Delridge Community Safety Partnership meeting, 6 pm, St. James Place – here’s the formal announcement of the meeting featuring Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg:

The White Center-South Delridge Community Safety Meeting
Thursday, April 23rd, 6-8 pm,
St. James Place, 9421 18th Avenue SW

Guest:
Dan Satterberg, King County Prosecuting Attorney

Topics:
* Elections & Vote on By-laws
* Summer Activities!
And if you are interested in helping pursue AIA (Alcohol Impact Area), please contact me and we’ll see how to best link you up with the effort. Thanks so much.

And: If you have a specific concern, you may email or call me and let me know before the meeting and I will pass on the information to SPD or KCSO or the appropriate city/county department. With advanced notice, law enforcement officers are able to find out more information about specific incidents and concerns and share that information at the meeting. Everyone is welcome to bring up concerns at the meeting, but if we know the concerns a head of time, we may be able to find out more information for the community. Thanks!

… Please spread the word to your neighbors!

Dinner will be provided. Please call Karen at 767-0760 if childcare or interpretation is needed.

Satterberg had been scheduled to appear earlier this year but had to cancel at the last minute because of a family emergency, nonetheless promising to reschedule, so this is the fulfillment of that promise.

So says this news release just in from the King County Sheriff’s Office:

Sheriff Rahr Applauds Seattle Mayor

Sheriff Sue Rahr has applauded Seattle’s mayor Greg Nickels pledge that there will be no cuts to police or social services as he trims $13 million from the city’s budget for 2010.

In an e-mail to Nickels from Rahr on Friday, the Sheriff wrote, “I applaud you for making public safety a top priority in the face of difficult budget decisions. It’s refreshing to see an elected public official take action that demonstrates a real commitment to the safety and well-being of the people we serve.”

The Seattle Police Department plans on adding 154 officers between mid-2005 and 2012, a 25% increase in their patrol force. Those additions are on track as planned, despite the budget cut for next year.

The Sheriff’s Office has faced stiff reductions in their budget in 2009, and was forced to cut about $7.5 million for 2009, resulting in the loss of 47 deputies and 18 civilians assigned to unincorporated King County.

The Executive’s Office notified Sheriff Rahr to plan for another budget reduction in excess of $7 million for 2010. That could mean an additional 70 job cuts for next year.

Of course, as you know, somebody different will be in the executive’s office next year — since current Exec Ron Sims finally gets the confirmation hearing for his federal job this Thursday; an interim exec has not yet been chosen, but the list of candidates does not include those who are in the running for the “permanent” post this fall.

Lots of news this afternoon, and this is the latest development. We’ve posted the full announcement on our partner site West Seattle Blog; read it here.

We showed you that video, provided by the King County Sheriff’s Office, while deputies were looking all around the region for the people responsible for that multiple shooting in SeaTac earlier this week. Just got word from KCSO that arrests have been made – read on: Read the rest of this entry »

To see what’s open and what’s not, go here.

The South Park Bridge (seen in our February 2009 video from a Duwamish boat tour) made a cameo appearance during a CBS network news story last night; see it here. Accompanying news release from the county today:

Constantine: National news report spotlights need for South Park Bridge replacement

“Last night the CBS Evening News made a national example of the crumbling South Park Bridge, which, as their story correctly pointed out, is so dilapidated that it may have to be shut down next year. When that happens, we will lose a busy crossing point over the Duwamish River that carries 20,000 vehicles a day, and the too often neglected South Park neighborhood near Boeing Field will suffer further as a result.

“It should never have gotten to this point. Over the past few years, I have worked to identify a funding source for the replacement of this crumbling, unsafe public structure. I successfully lobbied to get this project included in the 2007 Roads and Transit ballot issue, and like the reporter who covered this story, I felt that the South Park Bridge was an excellent candidate for federal stimulus funds. I made sure to get this bridge at the top of King County’s stimulus funding list, and I traveled to Washington, D.C. in December and January to meet with our state’s delegation to spotlight the bridge’s replacement as a worthy stimulus project.

“I will continue to fight for funding to replace this key piece of King County infrastructure. This project would create many new construction jobs and would ensure a brighter future for working-class neighborhoods. Given the possibility of further stimulus spending in the future, I will continue reaching out to our delegation in Washington, D.C. to get this project completed.”