Seattle City Council endorses Happiness Initiative

I'm a little late blogging this, but the City Council has unanimously endorsed our Happiness Initiative.  Council President Richard Conlin presented the formal proclamation to us last Monday:

The full text of the proclamation is on our website (PDF), and for me the key part is this:

The Seattle City Council encourages organizing local town meetings in libraries, community centers, and other public gathering spaces in Seattle neighborhoods, where residents discuss the survey and objective data, identify actions they are taking and want to take, and recommend action ideas for neighborhood organizations, city agencies and the City Council.

The Seattle City Council intends to consult the available happiness data and the recommendations from these town meetings as it pursues future policy options in a time of scarce resources.

Local media picked up on the story:

KING-5: City Council aims to make Seattle happy

KPLU: Seattle council wants you on the ‘happiness team’

Opt In Phone Book Ordinance Passes City Council

This is the official press release from zerowasteseattle.org, a fiscal sponsoree of Sustainable Seattle.

Grassroots Activists Applaud Seattle Council for Passing Yellow Pages Ordinance Today

Toughest Phonebook Restrictions in the Country

SEATTLE -- Today, the Seattle City Council voted 8-1 in favor of a new ordinance which creates an enforceable opt-out system restricting unwanted delivery of yellow page phone books. In addition, the distributors of the books will pay the city a per book ($0.14 per book) and per ton fee ($148.00 per ton) to recover the costs to the city to recycle the phonebooks and set up the opt-out registry. The mayor is expected to sign the Council bill.

Council Member Mike O’Brien has been the leader of the effort, taking up the issue early on and even asking citizens to bring him their unwanted books. His office was flooded with hundreds of books, creating mountains of books that his staff had to peak around in order to speak to visitors to his office.

“This is a big step forward for citizens who are tired of getting unwanted phonebooks dropped on their doorsteps,” said Jeanette Henderson who has been one of the grassroots activists as part of Zero Waste Seattle promoting this legislation for the past year.

Seattle citizens will be able to go to a single web page to cancel either all phone book delivery, or to select the number and types of yellow page books they still want delivered. This opt-out system will be similar to the national “do not call” registry for unwanted solicitation phone calls

“We have seen an immense amount of public support for this ordinance,” says Ellie Rose of Zero Waste Seattle, “It is not every grassroots campaign where you have people lined up six deep to sign your petition!”

Heather Shute of Environment Washington highlights the savings to the city, “According to Seattle Public Utilities, the city currently pays over $350,000 per year just to handle the recycling of phone books. In addition, many people toss the books into the trash, and off they go to the landfill!"

Another feature of the ordinance is a restriction on non-recyclable attachments to phonebooks. “How many people remember to pull off those magnets when they toss their books,” asked Jolie Lemoine of Zero Waste Seattle. “Those magnets end up going to the paper mills and getting slivered up and contaminating the recycled paper. We are pleased that these will no longer be allowed.”

In addition to cost savings, grassroots activists raised issues of privacy and climate change. Scott Stromatt of the Cascade Chapter Sierra Club said, "The ordinance is a positive step forward in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Seattle and in limiting the intrusion of unwanted phone books on our property."

Heather Trim of Zero Waste Seattle continued, “Seattle is already a leader in working to reduce our carbon footprint and advance zero waste goals. We expect that many cities across the US will be following suit quickly. Most jurisdictions are looking to save money, reduce waste, and address climate change. This ordinance is a win-win!”

“We applaud the leadership of the City Council to stand up to the pressure of the Yellow Pages lobbyists who worked hard to fight this ordinance,” said Sally Wolf of Zero Waste Seattle. “Our City Council voted to implement a simple system to let Seattleites to say “No” to unwanted phone book delivery.”

For more information about Zero Waste Seattle: zerowasteseattle.org

City Council Carbon Neutral Panel

April 13, 2010

SEATTLE-It was a packed house as the City Council opened up the panel to public presentation and comment. There were guest speakers invited by the council to give testimony and advice on the ways to the ends of Carbon Neutrality (a term one of the speakers derided as sounding too passive) that included a US representative, an executive director of a non profit, city employees and a leader in the sustainability field.

The crowd listened intently with applause and accolades coming at measured clap friendly quotes and themes for the mostly left leaning audience. One of the loudest applause lines was from Representative Jay Inslee when he touted the need for the US Senate to pass some form of energy bill like the House already has. This line was repeated at appropriate times throughout the meeting.

Representative Inslee also talked about bringing the conversation away from environmentalism and morality, but to economic stimulus and necessity. He gave examples of the green technological revolution China is undertaking as a matter of national directive. The biggest solar power plant is being built in China as we speak and the representative, channeling a diet version of the ghost of America being left behind, spoke of the amount of jobs, treasure and leadership the US was leaving unexplored because we do not have a governmental mandate for green technology.

Alex Steffen, executive director of Worldchanging.org, was a panelist whose views and ideas were all backed by science, data, and a heavy dose of cautious optimism. He spoke of the interconnection of social justice, women's rights, lowering consumption, and the emergence of a new city the size of Seattle being built every other day for the next forty years.

He spoke of the need for cities to be built smarter as nearly 70% of humanity will live in major metropolitan areas with the other 30% nearly all living in suburbs connected to major metropolitan areas by 2050. "We need a different plan; maybe they will be building their cities on the Seattle model," said Mr. Steffen. If we make Seattle carbon neutral though innovative technologies, and most important behavior change we could once again be a leader in the world in the face of an existential threat.

Mr. Steffen then dropped the most impactful line the entire night in response to a question about human population growth. The question was what are we going to do about a growing population that is expected to be 9 billion people by 2050. Mr. Steffen said, "Population doesn't matter. But if the rest of the world starts living the way the United States, and Europe does, that is a death sentence to this planet." No one clapped, no one even breathed. You could hear your neighbors breathing as the blame was shifted from those poor people having five or six children back to where the blame needs to be centered, our over consumption.

The council members had a chance to ask questions at the end of the presentations and Council member Licatta asked the question I've been hoping to hear from our political leaders for months now since the council published its 17 priorities. What about poverty and social justice? How can we ensure that the technology and planning does not leave behind the downtrodden and poverty stricken? The answers ranged from inclusion in the initial decision phases to diversifying the outreach for ideas.

The public questions were insightful for the most part with questions ranging from the viability of walking to schools, having a partnership with Metro and schools to eliminate school district run buses, to bringing bicycle sharing to the city as long as the city council doesn't get in the way. One speaker explained that bicycle sharing would create green, sustainable jobs and would not need any money from the city to get started. The audience applauded that.

Ignoring what hurts

Every time I walk into the city I start counting. I notice the first number usually huddled out of sight. I step over and continue to count the numbers swelling as I reach the downtown area. I notice more counts and I start a second count in my head to acknowledge the responses.


I usually stop counting when my heart can't take anymore, on some days that is one on others ten. Every number is a piece of myself tearing away as I do the second category of denial: seeing and refusing. The second category is better than the vast majority response: outright ignoring and denying humanity, but it still makes me feel like a shell of a person.


I'm talking of course of the people suffering from an economic downturn of years and seasons. The city has a homeless population that is rising with every turn of the earth, yet we pat ourselves on the back with pointless city wide counts that announce their approach like a child yelling out a count for a game of hide and seek. The city wide count of homeless is ineffective as the homeless simply retreat into their buildings, parks and urban forests. The count is simply a way of saving face. I don't count like that.

I count and look at every person who is on the street. I look and try to give them a smile, food, money if I have it and I try even harder to see them as people and not failures who have somehow brought this upon themselves. We cannot afford to think of ourselves as seperate anymore when we see the numbers increasing especially amongst the young.


The most disheartening fact is that the city of Seattle has not even made the ending of institutional poverty a core part of their priorities. Instead we have laws and ordinances making it harder for the downtrodden to make any type of living because we don't want to scare the visiting tourists from Wisteria Lane who would hold a clothe to their noses if they wanted to even recognize someone was there.


Instead of making some changes and choices to give shelter, education and mental health help they need, we have chosen to be satisfied with an annual count that is meant to soothe and not inform. When are we going to make serious reform in regards to the poor and impoverished? We cannot ignore them forever if we want to be able to look ourselves in the mirror. We hug our children and kiss our loved ones while we watch our fellow people suffer.


We need to have a public outcry in order to put the pressure on community groups, churches, and government. We do not want more laws making being homeless a crime, but we want a paradigm shift away from blame and towards understanding. There are numerous groups involved in eradicating poverty and many of them have made the difference in scores of people's lives, but we cannot simply write a check to Real Change, or drop off an old pair of shoes at Good Will, we have to make concrete changes in the way we think of our fellow person.


Give your shoes to charity, write checks and buy papers from Real Change, but don't start subtracting from your count with every handout. People need a hand up. We need to make it unacceptable to ourselves and our city that people live in tents and garbage pails. It needs to tear at us every time we sip on our latte and then shake our head saying we don't have any to spare. The clock is ticking and it is time we stop hitting the snooze button.

From the Mayor's Office

SEATTLE – Mayor Mike McGinn and the Seattle City Council announced today that the Rainier Beach and the Broadview-Bitter Lake-Haller Lake neighborhoods will begin an update of their neighborhood plans in 2010.

The neighborhood plan update process is a unique opportunity for community members to address local priorities.

Councilmembers Mike O’Brien and Sally J. Clark along with Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith will work with neighbors to address recent growth, infrastructure, housing affordability, and other neighborhood concerns. The Department of Neighborhoods and the Department of Planning and Development will facilitate the updates.

“The Neighborhood Plan Update process is an exciting opportunity for these two communities,” said O’Brien. “Recent and future transportation investments in both communities will be an important factor to consider in these updates. I look forward to working with these neighborhoods to fully utilize the new investments as a catalyst for improving housing, open space, jobs, and cultural amenities that make neighborhoods great places to live. “

In Rainier Beach, there will be a review of potential growth around the light rail station, with a focus on improving the commercial core and enhancing involvement of traditionally underrepresented communities. The Broadview-Bitter Lake-Haller Lake Neighborhood Plan Update will consider ways to take advantage of the anticipated bus rapid transit service arriving in 2013. The challenges resulting from recent growth in the Bitter Lake urban village will also be addressed.

“I’m excited for the Rainier Beach and Broadview-Bitter Lake-Haller Lake neighborhoods to re-open their neighborhood plans for tuning up,” said Clark. “Both are terrific communities with affordable housing, incredible parks and new challenges when it comes to smartly taking advantage of transit.”

“I’m looking forward to working with Councilmember O’Brien, Councilmember Clark and these great communities to see how best we can build our city together,” said Smith.

These two neighborhood plans were chosen to be updated based on a review of the criteria established in Ordinance 122799, the information collected through status reports and associated community outreach, and a review of the recommendations from the Neighborhood Plan Advisory Committee.

Journalism that Matters part one

Sustainable Seattle was invited to host a table and participate in Journalism that Matters. We came to learn, to change and to affect change from this un-conference for transforming our world through the communication.

Norm Rice spoke to being a green city council member in 1978. As a grad from the School of Communications, he identifies the importance of effective communications. Norm talked about how he once worked to address the issues of how minorities gain access to electronic media and how access to electronic media transforms lives. He said that while he did not find the solution, seeking for it transformed his life. Civic engagement was and is fundamental: Being heard. Can you frame the question to bring out hopes and dreams so we can articulate and work with strategies for moving forward. Do not frame in the negative, Norm cautions us, ask for a transformation in specifics: What does sustainable transportation look like? Gathering people, facilitating meetings, helping people speak and ensuring people listen creates consensus on issues. When organizations- governmental, non-governmental and others partake in active learning after bringing people together to discourse, people step up to the plate, engage in working together to solve a problem. Accountability and political will on the part of policy makers are key to implementing civic engagement. Communicate the aspirations and goals on a civic engagement process- this process is key – it is a long process, and this process is key in success. The civic engagement process is about life and hope – civic engagement is a process by definition. Life, hope and aspirations are the engine that keeps the process alive. When the task is accomplished, the people will remark- “we have done it ourselves.” This is the mark of success.

Chris Jordan came on and asked us to reach into our hearts, to think with our hearts, to speak from the heart. Allow your heart to be broken, and to be broken again. Speak authentically. Take the templates off. Care. This is the key to transforming space, shifting our world. This is the key to reaching the wisdom we all carry, to reaching those big huge goals we are seeking, and feeling so close and yet, like Tantalus, so far. Chris Jordan is a visual artist who uses consumption products to depict and emphasize the amount of waste in the American culture.

The New Mayor of Seattle

The atmosphere at the swearing in event was hopeful, optimistic and rushed. The new mayor of Seattle Mike McGinn was sworn in today for the first day of his term at the City Hall on Fourth and James at 2:00 p.m. right on time. The general feeling that the newly elected officials were: renewal, cooperation, collaboration, and sustainability.

Mayor McGinn spoke in front of a crowd of over one hundred and fifty and a additional overflow room of seventy or so citizens after his swearing in ceremony. He spoke of his campaign to be elected hearkening back to his promises he made during the grueling fight with Mallahan and promised to put his progressive values to work right away. Mayor McGinn announced that he had ready to sign a series of executive orders that were mainly economic in nature. One order was a wage freeze for senior level city employees and another executive order was to review all consulting contacts the city has in order to trim the fat from the budget.

The mayor talked about how he wants his administration to be open and transparent. He also spoke about the need for citizens, which he referred to over a dozen times in his ten minute speech, to be more involved in civic life. Town halls and citizen actions are to be a center point in how he collects information and gets ideas.

"The citizens of Seattle believe in this city." Mayor McGinn said as he wrapped up his speech. He then rounded out with a list of our common beliefs such as: opportunity, fair treatment, economic security, innovation and solutions to be an example city to others. He also spoke about making his "Progressive Agenda" come to fruition.

The other swear ins were the new City Attorney Mr. Peter Holmes and City Council members. Peter Holmes was sworn in immediately after the Mayor left the stage and the first words out of his mouth was a quote from Mark Twain. "If you carry a cat by its tail, you will learn more than any other way." He compared the campaign to a wrangling of different cats and the struggle to remain focused and forward thinking. Mr. Holmes went on to talk about his main objective as city attorney was to keep Seattle in the forefront in a nation of law.

Mr. Holmes took a strong stance against simply locking up those who commit crimes. He stated that the United States puts more of its citizens in jail or prison than any other country in the world. He then said that "Seattle will not be in the jail building business." to scattered applause. He then pointed out that civil liberties and public safety are not mutually exclusive themes and he pledged to do his best to protect civil liberties and work in partnership with law enforcement and citizens to uphold public safety.

The council members who were sworn in today at City Hall were: Richard Conlin, Nick Licata, Sally Bagshaw and Mike O'Brien. All the new council members spoke after their swearing in session for a few minutes highlighting their main objectives with the exception of Mr. O'Brien who spoke only thanks to his supporters, family and constituents.

Mr. Conlin spoke mostly of renewal and neighborhoods working together. He also emphasized transportation as a means to connect neighborhoods more efficiently, such as light rail and bicycle paths.

Mr. Licata was sworn in by his stepson who needed assistance up to the podium as a person with physical disabilities. Mr. Licata thanked his stepson and supporters while wiping away tears after he was sworn in. He went on to speak about the power of commissions and participatory democracy.

Mrs. Bagshaw gave a truncated version of her acceptance speech with five priorities: creating a job growing economy, housing for all economic levels, transportation reform with more focus on bicycle boulevards and pedestrian pathways, strengthening the public school system, and neighborhood character protection in regards to population growth.

After the ceremony there was a brief session of the city council with the voting for the president going unanimously to Council member Conlin. He was the only person nominated and before the process even began one of the members jokingly said into the microphone, "The fix is in."

Now that the officials that were elected are officially in their positions it is time to see what they will do. We need to be involved and hold them accountable to us their constituents and we must be ever vigilant and grateful for this new chance to make this city better.

What are the priorities for Seattle and the surrounding areas for 2010? What can we accomplish and how are the ways we can accomplish them?