We had two great presentations in the Council’s Economic Resiliency & Regional Relations Committee yesterday on current job trends and the better coordination under way in the Seattle area to prep people to be successful competing in the sectors that are hiring. Matt Houghton from the City’s Office of Economic development started off breaking down the current 8 percent unemployment rate in this area. Approximately 3 or 4 percent is considered “normal” unemployment (unless you’re the person unemployed). Approximately 4 percent is due to the contracted economy and approximately 1 percent is due to a mismatch between the worker skills available and the worker skills needed. You might be out there searching and see plenty of “help wanted” ads, but not in the fields you know. Despite 8 percent unemployment around here, approximately 17 percent of employers have recently reported difficulty finding qualified workers to fill jobs.

Then let’s add in the overall increase in competition for well-paying work. It takes more education and skills prep to earn a decent income and this trend will continue. The big figure everyone is using estimates that 67 percent of all jobs in Washington will require some kind of post-high school education between 2014 and 2019. Some kind of education after high school, a year in college even, has become the single biggest predictor of life-long earning power. And the further you go in post-high school education and training, the better your prospects.

But how? If you’re out there working in a lower-paying job, you need an education or training boost the most, but face the highest hurdles. Cost is one hurdle, the need for remedial courses in math or reading can be another. The partners in the Pathways to Careers and Pathways to Completion projects have identified significant transition points where people fall out of the system for one reason or another. Like between acceptance to community college or training program and actually signing up for classes. The programs focus on standardizing and compressing the long and somewhat mysterious application and prep time periods, working people into a cohort for mutual support, mandatory program orientation and advising and overall support with getting to class and achieving completion goals.

The City of Seattle is a partner in the Pathways to Careers work and I think it’s money well spent. Giving people the boost they need to get even a little post-high school education can change individual lives and the trajectory of a family. Job competition will only get hotter. Leaving people behind is unacceptable. Thanks to Seattle Community Colleges, the Seattle Jobs Initiative, The Workforce Development Council, OED and to funders like the Gates Foundation for their work.

Soon we’ll talk about the 13 year concept embraced by Seattle Community Colleges and others as a way to institutionalize access to post-high school education – and the life-long benefits it can bring.

I parked at Pacific Place and walked around to see how things looked after the Black Bloc attacks of yesterday. By 9 a.m. there were more media with cameras and mics than workers with drills removing plywood.

A few photos from my visit to Sixth Ave. and Pine Street this morning

Everyone seems to be trying to make sense of yesterday’s action and determine if the City could have done more. Personally, I think SPD officers did a terrific job channeling, quelling, protecting, seizing and arresting where necessary. Some radio voices have called yesterday “WTO II,” but I have a feeling those might be people who weren’t here during WTO I.

A few photos from my visit to Sixth Ave. and Pine Street this morning

A lot of people are talking about what the message from the destruction is supposed to be. I’m “the establishment,” so I know I’m not supposed to understand the message. No one is for corporate greed, but I do like jobs in Downtown. I need a new pair of running pants and was thinking about going to Niketown soon (gasp). I don’t agree with everything in his post, but I did find Brendan Kiley’s post from early, early this morning, “Why All the Smashy-Smashy? A Beginner’s Guide to Targeted Property Destruction,” to be thought-provoking.

A few photos from my visit to Sixth Ave. and Pine Street this morning

I was on the UW campus in 1986 and recall the anti-aparthied actions. I recall the shantytown in Red Square and the crashing of Board of Regents meetings, but not the breaking of a window. It’s hard for me to see the Black Bloc as a meaningful, effective extension or adaptation of the track I personally value more – peaceful, focused civil demonstration and, when necessary, disobedience.

This afternoon the Council’s Committee on Economic Resiliency and Regional Relations will receive a report we commissioned on increasing job density without radically altering allowed land uses around the SODO light rail station. For those of you not familiar with the area or if you’ve been daydreaming whenever LINK stops at this under-used station, the SODO platform sits in the middle of an industrial area to the south of the Stadium stop. Just to the west you see the Lander Post Office garage and the Starbucks mermaid coyly peeking up out of the Starbucks SODO headquarters. A light rail stop in an industrial area is a little bit like a unicorn or an odd carnival sideshow. It’s odd. Job densities in industrial areas are low almost by definition. Industrial and manufacturing companies need space to make and store things. Over time, manufacturing has become generally more streamlined and automated, meaning it takes fewer people to make and store things than it did a few decades ago. Also, it’s not like you and I use light rail to pick up a few things from Home Depot, a cabinet maker, or a granite counter-top showroom.

So, what’s the stop good for? A year or so ago I started thinking about whether we could induce more job density near the station while still tilting the area game toward industrial and manufacturing-friendly companies. The report from Community Attributes gives us a great snapshot of who works in the area, where the employees come from, and what kind of demand we see in the space market that could be met in the area. Not surprisingly, there’s no easy, quick answer to attracting businesses with more employees who might actually uses light rail to commute. Check out the recommendations, though. Maybe a “mixed use overlay” allowing additional office space (though not residential) near the station would be OK. I also like the “compatability matrix” employed by some of the other cities reviewed.

After today’s presentation we’ll spread the report around to advocates in the SODO area and some real estate and employment experts to determine which ideas to pursue. Your feedback is welcome.

I’m supposed to be fair and rational. I’m supposed to give new ideas a fair shake. I’m supposed to ask first, fire later. But drones? Really? This is the latest tech toy we absolutely have to have?

OK, I’ll ask and learn, but I’m not optimistic about warming to this idea. I know they aren’t the drones we hear about on the news in Iraq, but I still see it as a step further away from human interaction and decision-making. Even if I can be convinced that we – cities — need small, pilotless, helicopter-like vehicles for surveillance and searches, does every city have to have a drone or two? Couldn’t we have a regional holder of the drones? We could check them out as needed and share the cost maybe. And we could have a thoughtful conversation about whether we really need them and under what circumstances they should be checked out of the regional drone library.

Apparently we’re already under way since we’re training operators. How did that happen?

I once wrote an editorial for the UW Daily that somehow connected a squirrel carcass that I cycled by every day on my way back and forth from campus to the need for greater recycling. Institutional and devoted recycling was still a new-ish thing. Critics said there’d be added costs and the confusion of how to separate recyclable items. I think I said something about how the squirrel carcass would break down long before any of the non-recyclable materials we were throwing away. I think I ended with “Do it for the squirrel.”

But that’s not my point. My point is you can learn what several of Seattle’s major Universities and college campuses are doing to reduce waste, operate more efficiently, and cut green house gas emissions by attending or checking out the broadcast of Thursday’s noon Council meeting (in City Council Chambers, City Hall) on sustainability on Seattle’s college campuses. We’ll talk with reps from the University of Washington Seattle campus, Seattle University and the Seattle community colleges about their goals for carbon neutrality, recycling, composting and even the production of locally grown food.

The discussion is part of Council’s overall work on climate action. The City is in the midst of devising a new Climate Action Plan and we’ve committed to “carbon neutrality” for Seattle. In discussing with partners how to get to carbon neutrality we decided we’d like to hear from and showcase the work of some of the city’s biggest (in terms of property and operations) institutions. It’s one thing to offer courses on sustainability, it’s another to practice it with tens of thousands of students, thousands of faculty and staff, dozens of kitchens, hundreds of buildings, multiple vehicle fleets, huge public events, and so on.

More Thursday. Do it for the squirrel.

As we start another week let me mention three things that made last week good from the perspective of economic resiliency.

1. The M’s, Danny and My New Coat. I got to meet Danny Bonaduce. OK, at best you’re thinking, “What does Danny Bonaduce have to do with economic resiliency?” I could start by just saying that Danny himself is a lesson (probably many lessons) in resiliency, but my main point is that I met him at the grand opening of the new Carhartt store downtown. Carhartt chose Seattle for their fifth retail location in the United States. The opening is a nice vote of confidence in Seattle, a place where many workers, whether they’re toiling on a fishing boat or in front of a computer screen, probably sport a Carhartt jacket. The company remains family owned and CEO Mark Valade was there with Danny and Edgar Martinez. The CEO and Edgar were given sledge hammers to do Carhartt’s version of the ribbon cutting — smashing through a panel of drywall. And in a flashback to the old days, the hammer flew out of Edgar’s hands both times he swung.

Thanks to Carhartt for choosing Downtown Seattle. Danny, KZOK’s morning host and new Seattle resident, was charming, by the way.

2. The Tile Project, Barista Training & Education, YouthTech, YouthBuild, and the Civic Justice Corps. YouthCare, this area’s premier agency getting youth off the streets and into safe shelter and housing, held its annual fundraising lunch this past Thursday. One thousand people attended at the Westin and witnessed moving testimonials of loss, change and triumph, as well as a stress dream play out before their eyes. The “pitch” man, the guy tasked with motivating us to give, was the leader of Youth Care’s Youth Build program which trains 30 formerly homeless young people a year in basic construction in partnership with Habitat for Humanity and South Seattle Community College. He started off strong talking about how the participants learn more than just how to hammer, they learn to work as a team with “one heart beat” and every time something “real” happens on the work site someone can call it out, “one heart beat” and the rest of the team claps in unison. He did such a great job taking us to that moment that he lost track of his speaking points. He blanked. Completely. Untethered.   For more than a minute.   And it was fine.   Another YouthCare staff person strode up with a fresh set of his speech notes and then he was back on track.

I loved that they highlighted YouthBuild in the pitch. YouthCare’s many skill-building and employment training programs capture young people resilient enough to survive and who need a whole new set of skills to make it as adults in the job market.

3. B&G Machine revamps humungous engines in Seattle. I ended the week with a field trip to B&G Machine in Georgetown. B&G is owned by the Bianchi family now which purchased it after operating a small machine shop in Columbia City years ago. B&G refurbishes huge diesel engines. Lots of them. We looked at engine blocks and crank shafts the size and length of a Volkswagen. Johnny Bianchi, who runs the company now with his brother and dad, explained that much of their business comes from mining companies opting for a 4-6 week refurbishment over a 72-week wait for a much costlier new engine. He says they’re even getting engines shipped to them from China because B&G does the careful work involving cleaning, grinding and calibration so much better than any shop closer by in China. We could have jumped over to their other location in the area to see (and hear) the retooled engines tested, but ran out of time.

Industrial advocates argue, and I think they’re largely right, that we (Downtown people) underestimate the vitality of the industrial sector in Seattle because it’s not in front of us every day the way some other office building industries are and, even when you’re in an industrial area, driving by a warehouse you don’t really have any idea what might be happening inside. As B&G has expanded they’ve had to be resilient in many ways over the course of decades of City regulatory decisions. The park with the Hat & Boots and a P-Patch just south of B&G received solar protection when B&G built out a few years back, but the decision came late in B&G’s design work, meaning they slanted the back roof line and can’t make full use of the inside space under the lower ceiling. Trade-offs. They’re also proud owners of a drainage retention system that may never connect to anything in the street. But just in case we ever build the new line in the street, they’ll be ready.  That’s a hard one to explain to people.

Thanks to B&G for being in Seattle, for being great at what they do, and for the tour.

We marked a major milestone this week in the longer-than-anticipated road to making the P-I Globe an official city landmark. Wednesday Councilmember Jean Godden, Councilmember Tim Burgess, Museum of History and Industry Executive Director Leonard Garfield and I stood before assorted media and historic preservation advocates to announce that the Hearst Corporation will donate the giant metal and neon globe with letters around the circumference (or equator in this case) to the Museum of History and Industry. Yesterday’s announcement was timed to coincide with the afternoon meeting of the City’s Landmark Preservation Board where the Globe was officially nominated for landmark status.

My colleagues and I put out the idea of making the Globe an official landmark many months ago, before we knew how much work really goes into both a landmarks nomination and planning for the long-term life of an object like 19-ton globe topped by an 18-foot eagle. We were moved to save the Globe when it seemed Hearst might leave town completely and as we all realized that the Globe represents important Seattle and journalism history – and it looks cool. If you missed the television coverage of the announcement, you missed Councilmember Godden speaking eloquently and from the heart about what it meant to work at the P-I with luminaries of journalism and literature.

In the past many months we’ve worked with the great Mimi Sheridan to build the landmark nomination, and hatched (and re-hatched) plans with Leonard and representatives of Hearst and the P-I Globe Building to make sure we not only make the Globe a landmark, but that it survives as a well-cared-for icon. I thought the landmark nomination packet was difficult to build, but it was nothing compared to discussions about intellectual property, contract provisions, logistics and costs for transport and storage, memorandums of understanding, public benefits, endowments, property access privileges, historic preservation grant opportunities, and certificates of approval.

Currently the Globe sits atop the PI Globe Building on Elliott by Myrtle Edwards Park (having moved there in 1986 from its home at 6^th and Wall in the Regrade). The Post-Intelligencer ceased print operations 2009 becoming seattlepi.com. Recently the remaining staff moved out of the building. It’s likely that before the end of the year the current owner of the building will ask that the Globe find a new home. At that point MOHAI and the City will determine a temporary home for the Globe where restoration work can happen. There’s no City money going into the project, but we may be able to provide storage and restoration space in a former military hangar at Magnuson Park. Finding a permanent home for the Globe will be a little tougher. We’ll need help vetting ideas and you’ll see opportunities to suggest and work through possibilities when we get to that point.

For now, people can share their ideas (and support) with the MOHAI via MOHAI’s website, Facebook page and Twitter account. They’ve even created a #lightuptheglobe hashtag for the project. Hmmmm. Maybe the Globe needs its own twitter account…

When I was 11 I had the 1976-77 Portland Trail Blazers team photo taped to my bedroom door. If I had that photo still I could have checked it to recall the fifth starter of that world championship team. Instead, I hit Wikipedia and learned the other starting guard was (drum roll, please)… Lionel Hollins.

Hearing Chris Hansen describe how he felt when the Sonics won the title in ’79 took me back to staying up too late for the broadcasts, crouching on my knees in front of the television with the volume down far enough my sister and parents wouldn’t hear it. I don’t remember specific plays from the championship games, but I do remember the celebration on the court afterwards. I remember Dave Twardzik saying something about how unbelievable winning was, how he thought he’d by then he’d be taking a lunchbox to work and punching a clock.

Some are immune, but the drama and elation of sports are powerful for most of us. Some of us have rules about which sports we’ll follow. Our dog walker, for instance, banished the NFL from her television after Michael Vick’s conviction. My eighth-grade teacher said she followed only collegiate basketball. The pro’s didn’t demonstrate enough good decision-making or gratitude by her measure.  Plenty of my circle say, “But we already have a pro basketball team.”

The idea of a new basketball and hockey arena in Seattle won’t be embraced by all.  I’ve heard from more than a few people strongly in favor of a new arena and I’ve heard from a few raising concerns.  Whether you love the idea or think we need another sports venue like a hole in the head, I hope you want Councilmembers to give the proposal released last Friday a fair shake. It’s what I intend to do.

The basics: Mr. Hansen (with the help of so-far-unnamed allies) has purchased the SODO Stadium District land necessary and would buy an NBA team when one becomes available (another group would need to purchase and move in a hockey team). Mr. Hansen would chip in $290 million and the City and County would under-write arena construction with a total of $200 million via councilmanic bonds. That debt would be paid back over time via rent payments and taxes and fees “captured” from the site and arena operations (city property taxes, city business and occupation taxes, city lease excise taxes, city sales tax, and city admissions tax). The team owners would operate the new arena and enjoy profits off the activities inside. The NBA team would have a no-relocate requirement for the 30-year term of the bonds. If revenues in any month don’t meet the debt payment amount, the owners would write a check for the difference. At the end of the 30 years, the city and county would own the land and the arena.

Since we (the people of Seattle) are being asked to go in on building the new arena to the tune of $150 million, we (the people jilted by a pro basketball team once before) need to be cautious and do our homework. The proposal released last Friday took more than seven months to build.  We’ll need a little time to unpack it and ensure it’s not just feasible, but a good step for the city.  How long we have to do that fair review depends on what happens elsewhere in the NBA. I take Mr. Hansen at his word when he says his motivation is not to “take” another city’s team, rather his goal is to return an NBA team to Seattle. That means he has to be opportunistic, prepared and patient.

I’ll have many questions, among them:

• How will the City of Seattle avoid a replay of the Sonics’ painful, expensive exit?

OK, maybe that’s too broad. Breaking that down a bit:

• How will we ensure that the city’s General Fund is shielded from responsibility for the arena debt?
• Can the NBA truly guarantee a no-relocate clause?
• How do we measure the economic impact of a new arena? How many permanent new jobs will be created and at what wage levels? How many new “heads in beds” for the hotels?
• How will the addition of a third venue in the Stadium District impact traffic? Specifically, what might a third venue mean for Port-related and other industrial traffic?
• How would use of our debt capacity for a new arena affect our debt limit? How might using City-issued debt for the arena affect our ability to debt-finance other major projects?
• How do we account for impacts to Key Arena operations?
• Are we a big enough market to support two more major teams? How does the size of our market affect projections for corporate suite sales, advertising and sponsorships?  All of these affect team business success and the ability of team ownership to fulfill debt payment back-up obligations.

Watch for review of the proposal to get under way in the Council’s Government Performance and Finance Committee in the near future.

While I’m plotting which stores to hit on my general route home that might still be stocked with water — read here about the water main break in South Seattle and if you live in one of the affected areas, don’t drink from the tap – I’ll relay to you the stats from Union Gospel Mission’s first month of running a shelter at the old Fire Station 39 in Lake City.

I visited the old Fire Station 39 for a dinner with the crew very soon after I joined City Council and it was clearly a tired building in need of replacement. Building the new FS 39 down the street meant the old FS 39 could be put out to pasture. In the long-term this means selling the property or signing a long-term lease with a developer who will build new housing. In the short-term, the building has had an interesting second life as a controversial stopping point for the encampment known as Nickelsville (they packed up last year) and, now, as a winter shelter for men and women.

Union Gospel Mission stepped forward last year with a proposal to run a winter shelter for men and women with connections to medical care, employment, permanent housing, treatment and other help people need to leave the streets. Union Gospel does this with no compensation from the City. December was the first month of operation and here are the stats so far:

• Provided 1,248 shelter nights in December (33 men, 8 women average per night)
• Served 3,526 meals during the month of December (hot breakfast, sack lunches and hot dinner)
• Placed 4 women (3 that had children) into transitional housing.
• Placed 2 men into long-term addiction recovery programs.
• Connected 2 men to employment (staff helped them search and apply for job online with CPU station for guests)
• Medical screening weekly from Seattle University Nursing Students and Addiction Recovery Intakes and Counseling provided weekly.
• Morning Watch coordinator engaged homeless people sleeping on the streets 63 times (some repeat customers) to invite back to the shelter for breakfast and services.
• Reported decrease in calls from community over public intoxication and loitering since the shelter opened.
• Reported decrease in people sleeping in front of businesses since the shelter opened.
• Reported decrease in homeless people trying to gain unauthorized access to nearby a apartment complex and overall loitering.
• Weekly meetings with the community advisory group to hear feedback on the impact of the shelter on area residents and businesses, and to collaborate on solutions

The winter shelter proposal has not started out popular with many residents or businesses in Lake City. Councilmember Sally Bagshaw and I met last year with representatives of the business district who had specific, valid concerns about safety and crime, and about a shelter becoming a magnet for “out of area” homeless. At the end of the day, though, the fact remains that Lake City has people living on the street and in vehicles (my assignment area for the One Night Count in 2008 was Lake City). We should get them safely inside and connected to services moving them toward a permanent home via a shelter operated with community accountability. Opening a new homeless shelter is an important, humane thing to do, but it’s no one’s idea of a great achievement because of what it signals – too many people in need. That said, congratulations to the Union Gospel Mission for a job well done.

Sunday night I participated in a safety walk with four officers from SPD and about 40 Othello-area neighbors. We walked and talked through the streets surrounding the Othello Light Rail station – the area where Danny Vega, a beloved member of the city’s Filipino and gay communities, was beaten leading to his death.

There’s a great power in standing up to be seen. We should do it more often.

For many of the neighbors, it was the first ever extensive walk around the area. Most people, if they walk in the area at all, have their route to and from home. Mr. Vega was on his usual route when he was jumped in November.

The tragedy of Danny Vega’s death brought press coverage to what locals in South Seattle who rely on transit in the Light Rail Corridor already know – too many frightening attacks with serious consequences have also occurred.  More than 30 street robberies or attempted robberies have occurred in South Seattle since Sept. 1, Seattle police reports indicate.

One attack is too many. Thirty is way, way too many. My greater neighborhood is filled with hardworking people, many of whom have no practical alternative to walking to and from the bus or light rail. Nor should they have to worry about walking to and from the bus or light rail. It has to be safe to walk to and from the Othello Street station, and from the Mt. Baker, Columbia City, and Henderson Street stations.

During Sunday night’s walk, organized by the Southeast Seattle Crime Prevention Council and followed Monday night by a walk around the Columbia City station, we looked for dark spots or secluded, dangerous areas. We found a full half block with no street lights and no lights on adjacent property, and five burnt out pedestrian-scale lights just across from the station itself. We found some places very well lit with well-trimmed landscaping. We saw the mounted video camera that captured the images of two young men stashing a jacket into a dumpster near where Danny Vega was beaten. We saw mostly good sidewalks, but some cracked and heaved areas that make walking (or rolling in a wheelchair) difficult.

In the end, though, there isn’t much unique about the greater Othello area. I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s a great neighborhood of small businesses, homes, a new apartment complex and the great Othello Park.  The attacks on people can and do happen just about anywhere.  They are thwarted by a combination of efforts and luck. More light, tidier landscaping, more eyes on the street from neighbors and other walkers.

While investigating the specific attack on Mr. Vega, SPD has also focused resources on preventing more attacks from occurring. Capt. Nolan of the South Precinct has responded to the attacks with emphasis patrols targeting the areas where these attacks have been occurring. Also, the precinct now deploys a two-officer special emphasis car that does nothing but cruise the corridor on the look out for transit predators. South Precinct Anti-Crime Teams and Gang Unit officers also work the problem. 

These are all good moves, though community members have reason to ask why the pattern of attacks wasn’t publicized sooner. I remain concerned that South Precinct doesn’t have the number of officers needed to cover the area with a consistent visible presence.  Not only are we not hiring to replace all our retiring or otherwise departing current officers, but events in other parts of the City (like Occupy) require shifting officers out of neighborhood patrol assignments and into special duties. The result is a patrol force stretched too thin.

For now – big thanks to Lieutenant Hayes and Detective Cookie for their company and assistance Sunday night.  The punch list from our Othello area walk-around includes replacing lights, adding new ones, trimming hedges, fixing sidewalks – and follow-through.