Tim Burgess' City View

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.

King County Shelters: What the Numbers Tell Us

The King County Committee to End Homelessness recently released a report that highlighted for me why getting the facts matters in making public policy decisions.

The report reiterated the importance of providing the homeless with permanent housing as quickly as possible. When discussing the issue of temporary, emergency shelters and whether there are enough beds for homeless individuals, the report’s data led to some instructive conclusions.

Fairness in South Lake Union

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

The City Council is debating Mayor McGinn’s rezone recommendations for the South Lake Union neighborhood. Our decisions provide a historic opportunity to shape the future of our city in a way that properly balances public and private interests and creates an exciting, liveable mixed-income neighborhood.

Buried in the tongue-twisting zoning language of setbacks, floor-area ratios and set-asides is a simple idea: fairness. At the end of the day, can we craft legislation that encourages development in South Lake Union (and our other urban centers and villages) and also provides affordable workforce housing?

The answer is yes, and here are three guiding principles I will follow as we work to improve the Mayor’s zoning proposal.

A City Budget Re-Focused on Today's Needs

The following text was sent out this afternoon in my e-newsletter. You can sign up to receive my e-newsletter here.

Tomorrow morning my colleagues and I will take dozens of votes to modify next year’s city budget. It will be the next-to-final step in our eight week process of receiving, evaluating and adjusting the Mayor’s budget proposal.

I’m going to advocate for significant changes that will expand care for our most vulnerable neighbors, enhance transportation mobility by repairing streets and improving the speed and reliability of transit corridors and improve public safety. In essence, the changes I will be advocating for are all about focusing on the basics and paying attention to the urgent, immediate needs we have today.

Why I Asked for Housing Discrimination Audit

Fair and equal access to housing is a fundamental right.  No one should ever be denied a place to live because of race or the color of their skin or because they have a disability.  This equal access right is spelled out in Seattle's Municipal Code which also identifies other classes protected from housing discrimination.

Last December, after reviewing newspaper articles from 10 years ago that told of widespread housing discrimination in Seattle, Councilmember Bruce Harrell and I sent a letter to the City's Office for Civil Rights asking for an audit to determine whether illegal practices in rental housing were still occurring. 

Last Friday, the Office for Civil Rights announced the audit results.  Here are the key findings:

"Overall, 55% of the tests showed evidence of illegal discrimination. In the tests for race-based discrimination, 69% showed patterns of inconsistencies that generally favored white testers. The inconsistencies included quoting a higher rent to African American testers, not telling African American testers about move-in specials, or using different screening criteria with African American testers, including credit or criminal background checks.

"In the tests for disability-based discrimination, 38% showed patterns of inconsistencies that create barriers for people with disabilities. The inconsistencies included refusing to accommodate service animals, not telling testers about available units, or not providing parking areas with spots designated for people with disabilities."

These findings are highly disappointing. I am pleased that the City is pursuing legal action against some of the property owners identified in the audit because often the best education is good law enforcement.  Let's hope that in the future all property owners in Seattle comply with our fair housing laws which are intended to protect a fundamental American right to equal access to housing. 

 

Lessons on the Fragility of Life

Three things over the past couple of weeks have reminded me of the fragility of life.

Two weeks ago, a friend, neighborhood activist, former youth soccer coach, husband and father took his own life at a seemingly desperate and hopeless time. Phil Irwin was a good man; he coached my daughter’s team in their early years when they were just learning team sports. He followed a coach we parents had essentially "fired" due to his biting, degrading and never-ending screaming. (Continue Phil's story and more after the jump.)

UK Study Mission: Renewable Energy, Density, Transportation, Economic Growth, Public Education and More

Those Brits!  Focused.  Stiff upper lip.  And, did I say "focused?" 

I recently returned to Seattle after a week-long trip to Edinburgh, Glasgow and London.  I was part of the annual international study mission put together by the Trade Development Alliance and the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce.  (Don't fret, I paid my own way and didn't use a dime of City money. Highlights of my trip after the jump.)

Facts Are Friendly: Citywide Affordable Housing Distribution

Sometimes when I'm at neighborhood meetings or walking neighborhood business districts, I hear concerns about the clustering of social services and affordable housing.

In the spirit of "facts are friendly," my office asked the City's Office of Housing for a map showing the distribution of City-funded affordable housing projects. Take a look after the jump. The first map shows projects by size and the second highlights recent projects. 

Seattle's Good Side

I saw two perfect examples of Seattle's good side last week. 

Last Friday at lunch I sat and listened as Lily Tomlin made us laugh at ourselves.  She was in town to help Plymouth Housing celebrate its 30th anniversary of effectively and efficiently serving our homeless neighbors. (Nicole Brodeur writes about Tomlin's visit in today's Seattle Times.)

Plymouth Housing got its start when parishioners at downtown's Plymouth Congregational Church stood up and took action to help homeless people living on our sidewalks, in our doorways, and under trees in our parks.  That direct action 30 years ago has grown into one of our finest social service organizations that houses over one thousand individuals in small, comfortable apartments.  Many Plymouth residents struggle with chronic mental health, alcohol and drug problems.  Many are military veterans.  Plymouth not only provides each with an apartment, but they staff their buildings with professionals who are especially equipped to lend necessary and important assistance to the residents.  Often called "housing first" or "wrap around services," this link between an apartment that brings dignity to residents and services to deal with very real and specific challenges is the core reason for the organization's success.  

Plymouth is an excellent partner of the City, which has provided funding for more than 900 units of housing in 12 different Plymouth developments over the years.  It is well managed and recognizes the value of accountability and measuring effectiveness.

Last Thursday morning at breakfast I marveled at how the newspaper, Real Change, has given a boost to thousands of homeless and low-income women and men over the past 16 years.  The Real Change breakfast was a bit more edgy, provocative, even prickly, compared to the Plymouth lunch.  Real Change follows the personality of its founder and editor Tim Harris, who, as I've written before, makes us uncomfortable in a good way.  There were a few gentle barbs thrown at me because of my sponsorship of an aggressive solicitation ordinance earlier this year that was passed by the Council but vetoed by Mayor McGinn. Joe Martin, a long-time Seattle humorist and passionate advocate for the poor, delivered a very funny roast of Harris, who was celebrating his 50th birthday at the breakfast.  Tim himself was designated Seattle's "brutal humanist," and gave a thoughtful speech about what he sees right and wrong with our good city. 

While listening to Harris, I thought of my neighborhood Real Change vendor.  His name is Walter and he's stood at exactly the same spot in front of my favorite grocery store for years.  We have interesting conversations about his life, my life, the banner headline on this week's edition of his paper, how sales are going.  I remember when he told me he had moved into a more permanent shelter.  Walter is my most personal link to Real Change, but the breakfast gave me a better glimpse of the scope and breadth of their work.

Two meals last week.  Two examples of the good side of Seattle.

Moving Forward

The City Council took an important step yesterday in adopting two parts of my five-point plan to address crime and street disorder on our streets and sidewalks. 

In summary, the five measures to improve the qualify-of-life on our streets includes more police foot patrols, continued hiring of officers to increase police presence in our neighborhoods, enhanced efforts to connect those in need with appropriate social services, making more “housing first” units with support services a priority in order to give those who have been chronically homeless a real opportunity to find a safe place to call home and a new law to prohibit intimidating behavior during the course of a solicitation. 

First, the Council voted 5-4 in favor of the aggressive solicitation ordinance that creates a civil infraction for intimidating behavior that causes fear or the compulsion to give while soliciting.  The penalty:  a $50 fine or community service.  Read my statement delivered yesterday in support of this legislation: Download 2010 04 19 CM Burgess Remarks on Solicitation. Mayor McGinn has said that he will veto this ordinance.