Celebrating International Women’s Day On Monday March 5th the Seattle City Council and Mayor Durkan signed a proclamation declaring Thursday March 8th, 2018 as International Women’s Day.  The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is Press for Progress.  This year the Seattle City Council and Mayor Durkan celebrated International Women’s Day with a proclamation touting the many achievements […]

My Thanks There is much to be thankful for as I write this on Thanksgiving Day eve.  There are individual people to be thankful for their contribution to making Seattle a better city.  There are groups that I am thankful for as well who, in raising their voices together and with my occasional helping hand, […]

This Week in the Budget The City Council’s Budget Committee will hold a second public hearing on the 2018 budget on November 1 at City Hall. In addition, there will be hearings on the Seattle Asian Art Museum Renovation, and the Department of Parks and Recreation’s Central Waterfront Piers Rehabilitation Projects, as required by law. […]

City Auditor Releases Hate and Bias Crimes Report As chair of the Council committee with oversight of civil rights issues, I thank the City Auditor’s Office for their report released earlier this week, Review of Hate Crime Prevention, Response, and Reporting in Seattle. Addressing hate and bias crimes is vitally important, especially given the national […]

South Park Public Safety Task Force Report Released On Tuesday, the report and recommendations of the  South Park Public Safety Taskforce were presented in the Gender Equity, Safe Communities and New Americans Committee chaired by Councilmember González. The task force was created during the Council’s budget process. The report makes recommendations for both short-term and […]

MHA DEIS Issues for District 1 Last week I encouraged you to get your comments on the Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) Citywide Rezone Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) into the Office of Planning and Community Development before the Monday 8/8 deadline.  I hope that you did.  I also let you know that I was working […]

Public Hearing on Officer Involved Shooting of Charleena Lyles The tragic shooting death of Charleena Lyles, a mother of four young children, last weekend is a stark reminder of how the calls for police reform nationally must continue to be addressed by Seattle locally. On Tuesday I attended the vigil for Ms. Lyles and heard […]

South Park Public Safety Task Force Update During the 2017 budget process, Councilmember González and I co-sponsored a budget action to create a South Park Public Safety Task Force during 2017. South Park had the 3rd highest number of gunshots reported in Seattle neighborhoods during 2016, and the highest increase over 2015, according to Seattle […]

Sweetened Drink Tax Yesterday, in the Affordable Housing, Neighborhoods and Finance Committee the public finally saw the newly proposed bill for the sweetened drink tax.  This has been an issue that I’ve been tracking closely for the last couple of months as I’ve had several concerns about not only how to spend projected revenue, but […]

Regarding the Shooting on Alki Councilmember Gonzalez held her Gender Equity, Safe Communities, and New American’s committee this morning.  On the agenda was a presentation about the Seattle Police Department’s response to gun violence.  Although I am not a member of the committee, understanding how deeply our community was impacted by this tragic event, I […]