Tim Burgess' City View

A Safe and Clean Downtown

A safe and clean downtown is something we all want for our city. Taking a big step toward that end, the City Council voted unanimously yesterday to renew the Metropolitan Improvement District (MID) for 10 years and expand it to Belltown.

The MID is one of the city’s nonprofit Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) where landowners pay special assessments to contract with private firms that provide additional trash pick-up, alley cleaning and other services that make the neighborhood cleaner and safer. The Council considered this renewal and expansion after it was presented to the Council in a petition signed by a significant majority of the would-be MID ratepayers. Because state law limits City government’s ability to raise revenues, BIAs have become an important tool for business districts throughout Seattle to raise their own revenue to make their sidewalks, buildings and streets more inviting to residents and customers.  

Consistent with our focus on results, the Council amended the proposal to require a performance audit of the MID to ensure that these beneficial services continue to be provided in an effective manner.

U District Walk and Talk

This Thursday evening I will be joining the organization Feet First for a walking tour and conversation about the University District. With light rail expansion on the horizon, exciting changes are coming to this neighborhood. The event is free but RSVPs are requested through this Web site: http://feet-first.ticketleap.com/university-district-walk--talk/.

If you live, work, study or play in the U District, come out and join us!

Health, Crime and Growth in Southeast Seattle

Two events Saturday afternoon in southeast Seattle—one in the far south, the other up north at Franklin High School—highlighted the challenges and opportunities this culturally rich, growing and important area of our city faces.

We kicked off the afternoon with the grand opening of Neighborcare's sparkling, high quality medical and dental clinic in Rainier Beach.  Neighborcare is the city's largest provider of health services to our low-income and uninsured residents.  They also operate several of our school-based health clinics.

The new Rainier Beach clinic is the first of Neighborcare's facilities to combine dental and medical care at the same location. 

We moved to Franklin High School for a Great Cities event focused on the relationship between health, transportation, growth, and public safety. (Much more after the jump.)

More Police Crosswalk Emphasis Work

Seattle police continue their special emphasis patrols targeting drivers who fail to yield to pedestrians.  Last week, officers focused on California Ave S.W. and S.W. Dawson streets in West Seattle and Dexter Ave North at Galer Street in lower Queen Anne.  You can read earlier posts on this topic here.

The July 27 enforcement efforts lasted one hour at each intersection and resulted in 30 pedestrian right-of-way citations and 35 other citations for things like no driver's license, no proof of insurance, expired tabs, speeding, seat belts, and using a cell phone while driving.  These efforts are smart policing and are directly linked to the number one cause of pedestrian-vehicle collisions--drivers failing to yield to pedestrians at crosswalks. 

Big Vote On Downtown Park Boulevard

The Council voted 9-0 yesterday afternoon to create a four-block park boulevard on Bell Street between First and Fifth Avenues.  Read Seattle Times story here. 

This is a very big deal because this park boulevard will (1) improve pedestrian safety in this section of Belltown, one of the highest population density neighborhoods in the city, (2) improve public safety by bringing more people to the expanded sidewalks, and (3) increase our "green zone" in the center city. 

There is discussion underway about similar projects, including along Pike Street from the Market to the Convention Center, along Third Avenue, and perhaps in some outer neighborhoods.  All good ideas to further our goal of making Seattle the most walkable city in the country. 

Beware: More Police Stings to Protect Pedestrians

Here is the text of an email received this afternoon from Seattle police related to their continuing stings aimed at drivers who fail to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks.  As we've written many times before . . . drivers beware!

"Members of various traffic squads conducted a pedestrian crosswalk enforcement operation at two locations  on Wednesday, June 17 - the first at 41st & Stone Way in North Precinct and the second at Martin Luther King Way & Alder in East Precinct.  We were joined and observed at roll call for the 41st & Stone operation by three people from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, including former SPD Captain John Moffatt.

 

"From 10 AM to 11 AM we conducted operations at 41st & Stone.  In that time we wrote 32 citations for driver's failure to yield right of way to pedestrians and 27 other citations, including 12 insurance, 11 expired tabs, 2 no valid license, 1 passing in turn lane, and 1 seat belt citation.

 

"From 12:30 PM to about 1:45 PM we worked the MLK & Alder location.  This crosswalk has been repaved recently by SDOT as a raised crosswalk.  Here we wrote 23 right of way pedestrian citations and 10 others, including 7 insurance, 2 expired tabs and 1 driving with license suspended citation.

 

"This totals 55 right of way pedestrian citations and 37 others.  During the operations, there were 161 police crosswalk crossings  and 33 civilian crossings, totaling 194 pedestrian crossings.  Approximately 28% of these crossings resulted in failure to yield to pedestrian citations.  With a total of 92 citations, this was our most productive day of operations in recent memory.

 

"Our next operation date will be scheduled in the near future."

Police Stings and Accountability

Seattle police have been working to improve pedestrian safety with a series of "sting" operations aimed at drivers who fail to yield the right of way to pedestrians.  I've written about this before.  Now, The Seattle Times has written about it.  So, beware, you've been warned . . . again!

My committee will take up the Mayor's nomination of Judge Michael Spearman as the new Office of Professional Accountability auditor tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m.  You can read the nomination packet on Judge Spearman here.  Read today's Seattle Times editorial endorsing Judge Spearman. 

Police "Stings" Target Bad Drivers

Every once in awhile, the police department shoots an email to Council members on the city's special Pedestrian Safety Committee to inform us about yet another "sting" operation aimed at driver's who fail to yield to pedestrians crossing at street corners.  Well, another one happened on March 27 when police issued 53 citations to drivers failing to yield to pedestrians at 41st and Stone Way North in the north police precinct and at Martin Luther King Way at East Alder Street in the east precinct.  On average, during these operations one third of all pedestrian crossings resulted in a failure to yield the right of way to a pedestrian. 

I've written about these "sting" operations before here and here. 

This type of police enforcement is important because the most significant factor in pedestrian injuries and deaths in Seattle is the failure of drivers to yield. 

Snow Response: Evaluation Round One Complete

After two days of meetings and briefings on the city's response to the December snow storms, plus my own personal observations made while moving around the city during the storms, including walking throughout downtown and my own neighborhood, I'm beginning to understand some of the core problems that led to the less than adequate mobilization of city resources.

I posted some initial thoughts yesterday, including a list of some of the successes that were achieved during the storms.  It's important to keep these successes in mind as we continue to dissect what went wrong. 

Our review of exactly what happened in city government is very important because it will help us be better prepared for the next emergency, whether nature-caused or man-made.  And we have a lot to learn from these December storms.

Now, I also acknowledge that it's very easy to play Monday morning quarterback, that hindsight is invaluable and always more obvious.  But we shouldn't be deterred from asking the hard questions. 

I've drawn some very preliminary conclusions that still must be tested against the facts and refined, but, at this stage of the process, they help me focus my work—

1. I don't believe city officials properly assessed the big picture or strategic scope and impact of the storms.  This failure led to inadequate mobilization of resources.  Most of the testimony

Snow Response: Briefings Continue

Today is Day 2 of the Council's review of the city's snow response.  Here are the key facts and conclusions I gleaned from yesterday's briefing:

1. The Mayor's decision to allow some use of salt, along with de-icing solutions and sand, is a good one and represents the kind of balanced approach necessary to enhance mobility of vehicles around town.  Scientists told us yesterday that the occasional use of salt to melt snow and ice is not a significant negative factor with regard to fish populations.  Far more damaging is the debris from vehicle brakes, dripping oil, and other vehicle pollutants that flow into the storm water drainage system and eventually into Puget Sound, lakes and streams.
2. The director of SDOT reported that city crews plow to the roadway surface and do not plow to leave a compact layer of snow/ice.  This is contrary to what has been reported by the news media, personal observation, and anecdotal reports from citizens throughout the city.  We need to get to the bottom of this issue, so to speak. 
3. It is not clear whether Metro's primary snow routes for buses are all included in the city's