December 31st, 2008
William Yardley writes for The New York Times and had a piece from Seattle in last Sunday's edition that captured the striving ambivalence of Seattle's growth boom. The article was about Edith Macefield, the recently deceased woman who held out against the forces of redevelopment in Ballard by refusing to sell when
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December 3rd, 2008
The most important first step in updating Seattle's Neighborhood Plans took place last night at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center. It was the inaugural meeting of the Neighborhood Planning Advisory Committee, the citizens group tasked with keeping the process true, transparent and on track. I was excited and told attendees I wished
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November 24th, 2008
I received a link to a great (and very short) video from global bike trekker Willie Wier on Beacon Hill. The video shows the transformation of what were two desolate, fenced-off concrete bowls in Jefferson Park into the bedrock of acres and acres new park space. Beacon Hill had two reservoir bowls.
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Posted: November 24th, 2008 under
Neighborhoods.
September 26th, 2008
A much more experienced office-holder than myself advised me to narrow down the number of initiatives I work on and maybe let go more of the details of those initiatives. It sounds like advice. It's awfully fun doing it the other way, though. Monday the Mayor and I helped unveil a new
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August 22nd, 2008
I understand that the Seattle Public Schools have a tough job when it comes to expanding, renovating or building new schools. We live in fairly built-out city. There aren't a lot of big lots waiting to have schools plunked down on them. Likewise, when it's time to renovate or expand a school
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August 6th, 2008
This has been a tough year for random and not-so-random acts of violence in our city. Too many young Black men killed with a not-so-mysterious lack of cooperative witnesses. The Rainier Beach man who was punched and later died over an argument about traffic cones. The Philadelphia Cheese Steak shop owner at
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Posted: August 6th, 2008 under
Neighborhoods,
Public Safety.
Tags:
Neighborhoods
July 27th, 2008
In March the Department of Neighborhoods, the Seattle Police Department, Seattle Fire Department and the City's Office of Policy Management released a report card of sorts on the effects of the Alcohol Impact Areas. The AIA is a state-sanctioned overlay that covers Downtown, Pioneer Square, the ID, lower Queen Anne, Capitol Hill,
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July 3rd, 2008
Yesterday the City and the Pro Basketball Club (the OKC Guys) settled the lawsuit over contract performance just before Superior Court Judge Marsha Pechman was due to release her decision. While it's painful to see the Sonics leave Seattle and unsatisfying to not hold the OKC Guys accountable to their contract to
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July 2nd, 2008
Liz and I played hooky from rowing this morning and took Bill Dog for a walk instead. It was a lovely morning and we were walking S. Holly St. toward Martha Washington Park when Liz looked down a side street, stopped and asked, "Is that a coyote?" Sure enough about a half
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Posted: July 2nd, 2008 under
Neighborhoods,
Public Safety.
June 2nd, 2008
Through my spot on the Board of Health I get to hear about the persistent disparities in health, health care access and health care quality between people of color in our region and people of Euro descent. These are linked to poverty and long-term patterns of discrimination that take years to rectify.
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