White Center Now: The blog about White Center

(9:39 AM UPDATE: Added link to full text of “lose-lose” handout mentioned below)

We routinely cover the 34th District Democrats‘ meetings, since they are this area’s largest political group and you never know what news might break when that many local leaders and activists gather. Wednesday night, news broke out again; outside The Hall at Fauntleroy, the group’s usual meeting spot, a cluster of people holding NO SEATTLE ANNEXATION signs stood greeting people as they arrived. It was dark and rainy and our photo didn’t turn out well, but the main point of their presence was to make themselves known to Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin, who heads the committee that will decide soon whether to send Seattle annexation to the North Highline ballot. Conlin was at the meeting to talk about the council’s priorities, but was questioned about annexation by both Ivan Weiss of Vashon and Liz Giba of White Center. In the video above, Weiss is concluding his question off-camera – he had begun by listing the range of potential costs of annexation to the Seattle budget – and Giba is seen asking hers, about the future of the White Center and Boulevard Park county library branches, on-camera. Conlin repeatedly said he thinks North Highline should have the right to choose, which seemed to signal he will advocate strongly for going ahead with an election this fall, and also offered that he believes White Center is part of the Seattle community, so should be able to vote on whether to actually become part of Seattle. Meantime, the Seattle-annexation opponents were handing out a flyer headed “Seattle Annexation of North Highline: A Lose-Lose Resolution,” with one side devoted to why they believe it’s a bad idea for Seattle and the other to why they believe it would have negative effects on North Highline – they’ve promised to get us an electronic copy so we can share it with you here.

ADDED 9:39 AM: Here’s the complete flyer.

2 pm tomorrow is when the Seattle City Council Regional Development and Sustainability Committee takes up the North Highline annexation issue, potentially moving Seattle annexation of White Center (and environs) toward a vote this fall. Here’s the agenda; if you don’t have Seattle Channel on your cable (21), you can watch online from anywhere at seattlechannel.org. (Or go to Seattle City Hall – committee meetings begin with a chance for public comment.)

That’s video from the King County Courthouse this afternoon, as two 34th District state legislators were sworn in by King County Superior Court Judge Mary Yu — State Sen. Sharon Nelson and State Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, who was elected to the position left vacant by Nelson when she ran (unopposed) for the Senate. They will join longtime State Representative Eileen Cody in Olympia, representing the area that includes White Center as well as West Seattle, Vashon and Maury Islands, and part of Burien (among a few other areas). Here’s what they had to say after the ceremony:

The ceremony drew dozens in the County Council chambers – among them, newly elected County Councilmember Joe McDermott (whose departure from the State Senate cleared the way for Sen. Nelson to move up) and County Executive Dow Constantine.

As of this afternoon, Joe McDermott is the newest member of the King County Council, representing District 8, which includes White Center, West Seattle (and a few other swaths of the city), and Vashon/Maury Islands. In the county-provided photo above, he was sworn in by Clerk of the Council Anne Noris, hours after the November 2nd election results were certified. The official news release announcing his swearing-in quotes Councilmember McDermott as saying, ““I am honored the voters of the 8th Council District chose me to serve them in a position that has a long legacy of strong, effective leadership … We must work together to provide meaningful and efficient government services with an eye to the future. We cannot let today’s economic crisis keep us from meeting our commitments in regional planning, environmental stewardship and public safety.” McDermott spent the past decade in the State Legislature, in the State Senate since 2007, following seven years in the State House. On the nine-member County Council, he succeeds Jan Drago, appointed early this year after the November 2009 election moved Dow Constantine up to County Executive; this election was for the remaining year of Constantine’s unexpired term, so the position will be back on the ballot in November 2011. Final certified results of this election are here; McDermott had 68 percent of the vote, Diana Toledo 32 percent. They were the top two finishers from a field of four in the August primary.

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.”

(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.

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.

The King County Council has four public hearings coming up about the county budget, and the closest one is in Seattle. Here’s the official announcement:

In preparation for a 2011 King County Budget that will include $60 million in cuts, the chair of the Metropolitan King County Council’s Budget Leadership team is encouraging the public to get involved by going to the Budget Committee’s four public hearings.

“During this difficult budget process, programs and services that our residents depend on are going to be cut or eliminated,” said Councilmember Julia Patterson. “We need to hear from the public about the services they value, their ideas for saving money, and how we can do more with less.”

Hosted by Councilmember Patterson, the four public hearings will be held:

· Wednesday, September 29 – King County Courthouse, County Council Chambers, 10th Flr, 516 Third Avenue, Room 1200, Seattle
· Tuesday, October 5 – Bellevue City Council Chambers, 450 110th Ave. NE, Bellevue
· Tuesday, October 12 – Mt. Si High School, Wildcat Court, 8651 Meadowbrook Way SE, Snoqualmie
· Tuesday, October 19 – Maleng Regional Justice Center, Jury Assembly Room 2E, 401 4th Avenue North, Kent

All meetings begin at 6:30 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 2011 Budget Blog, Facebook and Twitter.

Follow the Council’s deliberations through Twitter, Facebook and our 2011 Budget Blog by visiting the King County Council Budget Web site at:
www.kingcounty.gov/council/budget.aspx

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.

We’re at the 34th District Democrats‘ monthly meeting in West Seattle’s Fauntleroy neighborhood, on behalf of White Center Now and partner site West Seattle Blog, and Burien City Councilmember Brian Bennett – toddler daughter in arms – is currently speaking to the group. Among the topics he’s touched on: Annexation of the rest of North Highline, including White Center. Bennett told the group he feels that “North Highline has the potential to be one of the most thriving, dynamic communities in our region, and they need strong representation – we need to make sure they get that. Personally, I favor giving them the opportunity to join Burien … I think they would have a strong voice, and that we can provide strong services to them … but we’re going to have to provide a strong voice (in making that happen).” (Bennett says he grew up on what is currently the line between North Burien and the remaining unincorporated area.) Currently Seattle is on a not-too-fast-track to pursuing a possible annexation vote next year; Burien considered fast-tracking one some months back, but ultimately pulled back.

We published this report early today at partner site West Seattle Blog – but you’ll want to know, because you’ll be voting on them in August too: Two local races have candidates who hadn’t previously gone public – a South Park man is the fourth contender for King County Council District 8, and a West Seattle man is challenging Rep. Eileen Cody (34th District House Position 1). Full story here.

We get this in e-mail every week – but it’s not worth anything unless we share. So from hereon out – at least for as long as White Center remains an unincorporated area! (though county legislation also tends to affect those in cities, too) – we’ll bring you “This Week at the County Council,” as e-mailed on Fridays, for the week starting the following Monday. Click ahead to read the latest edition – take note of the parks item on Tuesday: Read the rest of this entry »

Just posted at partner site West Seattle Blog: Normandy Park City Councilmember Shawn McEvoy says he’s in the running for King County Council District 8, the seat currently held by Jan Drago, appointed last year but not planning to run this fall (as of last time she discussed it publicly, anyway). McEvoy joins State Sen. Joe McDermott in the race.