Tim Burgess' City View : Let Your Voice Be Heard

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All official correspondence or requests regarding the City of Seattle should be sent to me at the above email link.

Current Readings

Sonia Sotomayor: My Beloved World
Enrico Moretti: The New Geography of Jobs
Chapter 3 is about Seattle.
Howard Thurman: Jesus and the Disinherited
Mr. Thurman passed in 1981 but his insights continue to influence thinking today, especially about the intersection between religious faith and public policy.
Paul Tough: How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character
The author of "Whatever It Takes," the story of Geoffrey Canada and the Harlem Children’s Zone, provides insight into the early development of children. What’s best? Cognitive or non-cognitive learning? Tough’s theory is that character is what really matters.
Timothy Noah: The Great Divergence: America's Growing Inequality Crisis and What We Can Do about It
A sobering and rational analysis of the greatest threat to American democracy, packed with helpful ideas for reform. Noah identifies the six most significant contributors to income inequality. Read this book if you care about the middle class and our nation and city!
Eric Liu & Nick Hanauer: The Gardens of Democracy: A New American Story of Citizenship, the Economy, and the Role of Government
Another values-driven read from two local authors. Read it to discover a new way of looking at the economy and our politics. It's an inspiring essay.
Anthony S. Bryk: Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago
In 1988, Chicago public schools decentralized, granted parents and faculty resources and authority to reform. This book reports on a seven-year study of what happened and identifies the practices and conditions that were essential for improvement of student academics. The authors arrived at their conclusions by researching 100 elementary schools that improved and 100 that didn't. The five essentials—school leadership, parent/community ties, professional capacity of faculty/staff, student-centered learning environment, and instructional guidance system.
Franklin E. Zimring: The City that Became Safe: New York's Lessons for Urban Crime and Its Control (Studies in Crime and Public Policy)
What's really happened with New York crime? Nationwide, crime dropped about 40% in the 1990s. But from 1991 to 2010, a period of two decades, New York City crime declined 80%, twice the national average. Why? What factors explain this amazing reduction in urban city crime? Zimring gives his perspective in this new work, lessons Seattle can learn from.
David M. Kennedy: Don't Shoot: One Man, A Street Fellowship, and the End of Violence in Inner-City America
Kennedy has shared his ideas with us and Seattle police successfully used his Drug Market Initiative along 23rd Avenue to stop decades of open drug trafficking. Now, Kennedy's new book tells the whole story, from the beginning to today. It's a story of reform, hard work, determination, and guts. It's about justice in the true sense of that word, a justice that infects a community and spreads. It's about the police and how their pursuit of excellence can inspire all of us. It's about cities and specific neighborhoods and how to create peace and community. If you want safe streets and sidewalks, if you want to end mass incarceration, if you want racial equity, if you want truth and fairness returned to the justice system, read this book!
Jan Gehl, Architect and Urban Quality Consultant: Cities for People
Gehl is a global expert on urban places. His firm's 2008 conclusion that Seattle should move as many vehicles as possible underground and work to reduce surface traffic is a compelling argument. Read Gehl's book at the same time you read Edward Glaeser's "Triumph of the City." Both authors present persuasive arguments for city planning that focuses on people.
Edward L. Glaeser: Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier
This is a very exciting, visionary, provocative book on the future of cities. Lots of good application for Seattle.
Michelle Alexander: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
If you read it carefully and with an open mind, this book will cause you to get a knot in your stomach. It did me.
Charles M. Payne: So Much Reform, So Little Change: The Persistence of Failure in Urban Schools
This is a very interesting book. Payne traces the American experiment with public education, especially related to African American children living in urban poverty. Solid recommendations on how to improve.
Anthony A. Braga & David L. Weisburd: Policing Problem Places: Crime Hot Spots and Effective Prevention (Studies in Crime and Public Policy)
An excellent examination of police patrol practices, why they are often misguided and recommended changes. This book could revolutionize police-community relationships.
Alan Khazei: Big Citizenship: How Pragmatic Idealism Can Bring Out the Best in America
A get-involved, make a difference shout out. Practical, yet inspiring and motivating. Khazei is the founder of CityYear, the youth volunteer movement.
Diane Ravitch: The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education
Ravitch was despised by some when she advocated for No Child Left Behind. Now she's seen as a defender of teachers and traditional education methods. I find her to be a careful researcher and historian who adapts as necessary to focus on what's best for our children.
William Antholis and Strobe Talbott: Fast Forward: Ethics and Politics in the Age of Global Warming (Brookings Focus Book)
Quick, pithy, rock solid argumentation for action on climate change and global warming.
Jonathan Alter: The Promise: President Obama, Year One
If you love the "inside baseball" aspects of government, this book is for you. The President's first year in stark detail.
David Remnick: The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama
Detailed, insightful, sweeping in scope. The more I read the more I like Barack Obama.
John Heilemann & Mark Halperin: Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime
Great story. Moves quickly. Intimate insights. Reminds us of human frailties.

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April 25, 2012

Let Your Voice Be Heard

Join the Seattle City Council for one of three conversations in May about the City budget and community priorities. You will engage City Councilmembers and your neighbors in conversation centered on five thought-provoking questions about the future of our City. A flier that can be distributed with more information is available here.

Let your voice be heard at one of the following dates and locations:

North Seattle
Monday, May 7, 2012, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
North Seattle Community College
9600 College Way North
College Center, Room 1161

Central Seattle
Monday, May 14, 2012, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
Seattle Central Community College
1701 Broadway
Broadway Edison Building, Room BE1110

South Seattle
Monday, May 21, 2012, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
New Holly Gathering Hall
7054 32^nd Ave South

Three Mondays in May feature the World Café format and are a chance to meet and engage your elected officials and neighbors in conversation, a place to learn about the basics of the City budget and choices faced by City policymakers and an opportunity to participate in the civic life of your home community.

These conversations are not a formal public hearing and do not require extensive knowledge of City politics, policy or history. The Council will hold public hearings on the 2013 City budget and Capital Improvement Program in the fall where members of the community will be invited to advocate for specific programs and services.

Discover other ways to let your voice be heard at City Hall at www.seattle.gov/council/budget.

Posted on April 25, 2012 at 02:39 PM in Budget and Finance, Cities, Future Agenda | Permalink

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Let Your Voice Be Heard

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