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Politics

Darya Farivar increases lead for LD 46 State Rep Position

While not all the votes are counted yet, it seems that disability rights activist Darya Farivar has opened up a significant lead over Pediatrician Dr. Lelach Rave in the competitive LD 46 of just under 5,300 votes as of this writing according to the WA Secretary of State.

Current Results (Source: WA Secretary of State)

This lead would be hard to overcome especially since the latest drop of votes increased Farivar’s lead over Rave, however nothing is out of the realm of possibility in elections.

Farivar has claimed victory on Twitter, but Rave has not conceded as far as we can tell. We’ll see how things continue to go as the votes are counted.

Mayor Murray Announces Funding for New SPD North Seattle Precinct

A friendly press release showed up in my inbox this afternoon – which should be great for our North Seattle Precinct.  It sounds like North Seattle is getting some attention down at City Hall!

Here’s the press release:

SEATTLE (April 22, 2016) – Mayor Ed Murray today announced the funding strategy for the new Seattle Police Department North Precinct, slated to break ground in 2017 and open for business in 2019. The mayor will propose no new taxes to pay for the project.

“Because of our vibrant local economy and vigorous real estate sales, we can construct our new North Precinct within existing and projected resources,” said Murray. “While we do have other public safety infrastructure projects on the horizon, there is no need to send a public safety levy to the ballot in near future.”

Seattle continues to collect large receipts in the Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) from the sales of residential and commercial properties, which can only be used to pay for City capital projects, including transportation infrastructure, Parks buildings and public safety facilities.

Due to projected ongoing strength of REET receipts, the mayor will not propose a public safety levy in 2016 or 2017.

To date, $21 million has been appropriated toward the $160 million precinct project, which will be located at Aurora Avenue North and North 130th Street. The mayor is proposing to fund the remaining $139 million through a combination of REET receipts, 30-year bonds financed by future REET receipts, and the one-time sale of other City assets.

The new North Precinct will accommodate future growth in the Seattle Police Department and replaces the existing North Precinct facility at 10049 College Way North, which is seriously over-crowded. Expansion at the current site is not possible and the existing building constructed in 1984 to house 154 staff, is now home to more than 250 personnel. Planning work began on this project in 2013.

In 2015, Seattle collected a record $73 million through REET on commercial and residential real estate transactions. The City projects that REET collections will continue to remain strong: $56 million in 2016, $56 million in 2017, $60 million in 2018 and $64 million in 2019. A portion of these revenues will be directed towards the construction of the new North Precinct facility.

“Public safety and community policing are high priorities for Seattle residents,” said Councilmember Debora Juarez. “A new police station will house more officers in a better location, which will help ensure police are available to residents when they call. Safe communities are healthy communities.  The proposed financing approach for this facility means we can make a significant investment in our community without asking voters for a new tax increase.”

“With the current North Precinct overcrowded and sitting on a swamp, a new precinct building cannot come soon enough,” said Councilmember Tim Burgess, chair of the Council’s finance committee. “The Council has long pushed to move this project forward as quickly as possible, and I’m pleased that Mayor Murray has developed a solid funding plan to advance construction.”

As part of the City’s effort to respond to homelessness, the City continues to partner with Mary’s Place to provide additional temporary shelter for homeless families within the old PI Bank building at 130th and Stone Way, which currently stands on the site of the new precinct.

District 5 Office Grand Opening: Tomorrow

Sorry about the late post, but there is a grand opening of our new D5 in-district office tomorrow, March 4th from 4pm to 7pm.  The new district office is an exciting way for D5 residents to connect with City Council in our own neighborhood.

The Link to the Facebook page and then an RSVP form – make sure you RSVP!

Here’s the information from the City of Seattle:

SEATTLE – Councilmember Debora Juarez (District 5, North Seattle) will celebrate the grand opening of her in-district office at North Seattle College this Friday, March 4. Councilmember Juarez will welcome North Seattle neighbors to her permanent North-end office (room 1451) and provide light refreshments while chatting with residents about city issues.

“District representation means having your Councilmember in-district, which is the platform I ran on,” said Councilmember Juarez. “A North-ender’s trek downtown can be a time-sucking ordeal, which is why I’m so excited to establish this convenient, centralized office for us to connect with each other.”

The district office will be open on a drop-in basis on Fridays from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., beginning March 11, or by appointment. Contact District 5 Director Sabrina Bolieu at Sabrina.Bolieu@seattle.gov or 206-684-8805, if you’d like to arrange a meeting.

WHAT:

Councilmember Juarez’ district office grand opening celebration

WHERE:

North Seattle College

9600 College Way N., Room 1451

Seattle, WA 98103

WHEN:

Friday, March 4

4 p.m. – 7 p.m.

WHO:

Councilmember Debora Juarez

North Seattle Residents

See you there!

Chief O’Toole Hosting Townhall on Nextdoor: NOW

We just received notification that Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole is hosting a Townhall on Nextdoor.com.  You’ll need to have an account, log in, and visit her post: https://nextdoor.com/news_feed/?post=21603359.  Make sure you post any questions you may have by 3pm today.

Here’s her post:

Good morning Seattle. Welcome to the first ever Nextdoor Town Hall.

I often say policing is a vocation, not just a job. I’m honored to lead the men and women of the Seattle Police Department and to serve the residents of this great city.

Today I’d like to take this opportunity to hear directly from you. Let me know what we’re doing right, where we can improve and what questions you have. Simply reply to this post with your questions by 3:00 PM today and I’ll try to answer as many as possible with a post by 6:00 PM this evening.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

I look forward to seeing lots of questions from the North Seattle area, especially about the local policing, or maybe lack thereof.

North Seattle Councilwoman Goes on District 5 Tour: Friday

Attention District 5 Residents – which is pretty much North Seattle through and through: our Councilwoman, Debora Juarez will be going on a ‘tour’ of District 5 this Friday, February 19th.

During this time, she will be visiting various places throughout the North Seattle Area.  Below are the list of places and times that she will be there.

  • 10am – 11:30am Northaven, Senior Living With A Heart (11045 8th Avenue NE)
  • 1:30pm – 2:30pm North Helpline (12736 33rd Ave NE)
  • 3:00pm – 4:00pm Mary’s Place (1155 N. 130th St.)
  • 4:30pm – 6:30pm The Shanty Tavern Reception (9002 Lake City Way NE)

They are asking people to RSVP to this event, please email her Legislative Assistant at Sabrina.Bolieu@seattle.gov to notify her that you are coming.  You also should separately (this does not count as an RSVP) respond “yes” to the Facebook Event.

Does anyone plan on being at one of these events?  I would love to hear more about some of them, and I plan on being at the Shanty Tavern Reception myself.

See you there!

Ballots due TODAY!

Time to vote! This is just a reminder that your ballots are due TODAY! If you would like to see your vote guide, you can look it up here.  On this ballot should be two ballot measures, both for currently expiring property tax levies supporting schools.

Make your voice heard on this beautiful sunny Seattle day.  Make sure North Seattle is a big voting block.  Vote!

Also, if you can’t get to a mailbox, a reminder that there’s a drop box in Magnuson park today.

Drop off Your Ballots: This week at Magnuson Park

Neighbors – it’s that time of year again; time to vote.  On this ballot: two expiring property tax levies for Seattle Public Schools.  Regardless of your views on this, it is extremely important that we all vote on issues like this.

Obviously, you can vote by mail; which is probably the typical way for submitting your vote this year, but there will also be a drop-off van available in Magnuson Park this Saturday, next Monday and Tuesday.

Here’s a screenshot with a map of where the van will be:

Other locations include:

  • Ballard Library
  • Shoreline – Aurora Shopping Center
  • UW Campus
  • King County Admin Building

There’s also a few more on the Eastside and South County, all of which can be found here.

Happy Voting!