Tim Burgess' City View

Invest Early in Our Children to Build the Strongest Seattle

The following article was sent out in my City View Newsletter, which you can sign up to receive here.

What if Seattle became a national leader in providing early learning opportunities for all of our children?

To achieve this ideal, we must move at the speed of light. Why? Because the more we research how children learn and grow, the more we confirm investing early—years before kindergarten—yields the best results.

This morning, two national experts on early childhood development and learning briefed the City Council and made the case for early investments. You can review the presentations of Dr. Steven Barnett (National Institute for Early Education Research) and Dr. Sarah Roseberry Lytle (University of Washington’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences) here and here.

Dr. Lytle told us that, only hours after birth, infants can tell the difference between their native language and a foreign language and that 85% of a child’s brain is developed by the time they are three years old.

Seattle Public Library Sets World Record

To kick off the Seattle Public Library's summer reading program, two college students worked with the Library to set a world record for the longest book domino chain: 2,131 books! The three-minute video is a must watch.

Moving Beyond the Status Quo to Provide More Workforce Housing

The following article was sent out in my City View Newsletter, which you can sign up to receive here.

Today the City Council approved bold amendments to the zoning legislation that will positively impact South Lake Union for a generation. In February, I articulated my three guiding principles focused on fairness as the City Council considered a major increase in housing and office density for the neighborhood:

1. Increase benefits to the public in exchange for value given to the private sector.
2. Build homes for our workforce.
3. Support our public school system.

I am pleased to report that, after collaborating with economists, local businesses and affordable housing advocates, we are on a path to achieve all of these goals.

Together we passed in committee a sensible solution that brings affordable workforce housing to the City’s hottest real estate market far above the level called for in the Mayor’s original proposal. Now many more nurses, school teachers, construction workers and other working families can call this booming neighborhood home.

Using Science in Government

Two recent events highlighted the City Council’s efforts to focus on evidence-based programs and decisions.

On Friday, the Office of City Auditor organized a forum in City Hall where University of Washington professors presented research on various topics relevant for city policymakers, from transportation to crime to human services. Then, yesterday morning, researchers from the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy at George Mason University briefed the Council on several crime prevention efforts underway to make Seattle neighborhoods safer.

Using science and data to guide government investments and programs is smart government. You’d think that would be obvious and readily accepted. Think again.

Writing in The New York Times a couple of weeks ago, Jon Baron, president of the Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy, lifted the rug to reveal a few awkward facts.

Survey Says . . . Public Safety, Education, Transportation

Correction: the survey summary as originally posted contained an error in calculations on the chart and graph of per capita respondents by zip code on pages 14 and 15. The information has now been corrected.

Last Wednesday we closed our online, non-scientific survey of residents about the 2013-2014 City budget. We’ve spent the last few days compiling the results into a summary presentation, which you can view here. 

The survey asked 19 questions regarding priorities for city spending, what residents value most about their neighborhoods and how they feel about city services.

The results show that people want to be safe, they want good schools and they want to be able to get around town in a variety of ways. Respondents gave public safety, public schools and transportation the highest ranks when asked to order the “most important” local government services and, separately, the priorities “local government should focus on.”

Another Step to Welcome our Immigrant Neighbors

Our city just took an important step in our continuing effort to welcome and embrace our immigrant neighbors.

The City Council voted a few minutes ago to unanimously confirm Magdaleno Rose-Avila—he goes by Leno—as the first director of the City’s new Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, an office that I led the effort to create during last fall’s budget deliberations.

Seattle is home to 103,173 foreign-born residents who actively contribute to our city’s economic, social and cultural well being (2006-2010 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates). This population is incredibly diverse, but shares some common strengths and common struggles.

Libraries Win, So Do Our Children

The positive approval of the special Libraries for All Levy this week was a strong affirmation of Seattle’s care for our children. The vote proved once again that Seattle voters are indeed amazingly generous and want to invest in the things that matter.

Now, starting next year, every day of the week, every week of the year, children and adults throughout Seattle will have a safe place to nurture their love of reading and learning. Public libraries represent a sanctuary of learning in every neighborhood. Public schools provide the same.  

I strongly believe public libraries and public schools need our enthusiastic support so that our children can thrive and grow into responsible citizens. Learning is the rock-solid foundation for economic opportunity that leads to good jobs and a successful life.

That’s why I worked so hard last year for passage of the Families and Education Levy that provides vital support to our schoolchildren most at risk academically. Seattle voters generously approved that measure for children as well.

You Deserve Results from the City Budget

Yet, I took to heart what some critics of the Library Levy said: Why is the City not funding such key priorities through the general fund budget? That’s a fair question that deserves an answer.

Could You Survive Extreme Senior Management Turnover?

Consider whether any business or nonprofit organization could survive if, in a six year period, they racked up senior management turnover statistics like the following:

4   different Chief Executive Officers
4   different Chief Division Officers
5   different Chief Financial Officers
6   different Vice Presidents of HR
3   different General Legal Counsels
5   different Special Division Directors
4   different Chief Operating Officers
4   different Chief Information Officers
3   different Communications Directors
17 different Board Members

Could your company handle such disruption among key employees? That's an average of nine senior management changes in each of the six years. Nine key leaders gone each year. Can you guess the Seattle organization that experienced this level of leadership turnover in the six years ending in 2011?

Roxhill Stars Rock!

Council President Sally Clark and I visited Roxhill Elementary School last Friday morning. It was one of those visits that pump you up and get you excited.

Roxhill is barely inside the city's southern boundary, hugging the north side of Southwest Roxbury Street. It's a Level 3 school in Seattle's numeric grading system (that's a C letter grade), improved from Level 1 just two years ago. Credit goes to Principal Carmela Dellino and her staff of 29 dedicated and engaging teachers for the progress.

Roxhill's student population is more diverse than the city as a whole—27% Black, 40% Hispanic, 17% Asian/Pacific Islander, 12% White. Thirty-five percent of Roxhill's students are English language learners. Seventy-five percent of the students are enrolled in the free/reduced lunch program. Twenty-three percent of the students receive special education attention. Student achievement lags behind the school district's overall elementary school averages, but Roxhill students are getting better on their reading, math, writing and science tests. Their academic improvement rate beat district-wide averages in both math and reading in the 2010-2011 school year.

After walking the hallways of Roxhill and visiting classrooms, you can see why. The visit revealed a school focused on learning. It was orderly and clean. Students worked well together. Teachers and their helpers, including student teachers from the UW, were walking around, sitting on the floor, encouraging and drawing out the best from their students.

We saw child-focused commitment.  We saw teachers and student teachers pouring themselves into the kids. We saw the order and discipline of the building and classrooms.  We saw engaging and stimulating teaching methods being used.  We saw kids who were learning, having fun and working with each other. We sat in on a local government civics lesson for third graders.

Impressive. That's the word that kept coming to mind as I drove back to City Hall. Impressive principal and teachers. Impressive academic progress being made.

Roxhill is another example of a Seattle public school that's working.

Seattle Channel City Inside/Out

Councilmembers Bagshaw and Rasmussen and I joined host Brian Callanan for the March taping of City Inside/Out: Council Edition. You can watch our conversation below as we touch on issues related to education, public safety, transportation and a new sports arena.

Seattle Channel Video can be played in Flash Player 9 and up