Seattle City Councilmember Bruce Harrell

Mentoring Month Proclamation

Today, during Full Council, this year’s first joint Mayoral and Council Proclamation was presented recognizing January as Mentoring Month. I sponsored this proclamation and asked Mayor Mike McGinn and Councilmember Licata to join me. The proclamation calls upon public officials, businesses, public and private agencies, religious and community leaders, educators, and all Seattleites to support mentoring and give young people in our community the gift of time and friendship through mentoring programs.

Mentoring programs depend on volunteer mentors. I believe mentors can play a powerful role in a child’s life. When mentors care, they can help reduce youth violence and give a young person the hope to lead a healthy and productive life. This proclamation raises the awareness of the importance of mentoring. Our City must make the city-wide call to recruit individuals and create an ecosystem that produces better students, better people, and a better community.

Columbia Ridge Exterior

You may recall in April of 2009 I presented legislation to the Full Council that passed which allowed City Light to enter into a 20 year power purchase agreement with Waste Management Inc. This agreement allows Seattle to receive electrical output and renewable energy credits from the Columbia Ridge Land Fill Gas (LFG) electric generating facility in Oregon. We are operational now, converting landfill gas from our garbage into energy!

Video link: Seattle City Light - Garbage to Power Program

City Light is purchasing approximately 5.78 average megawatts of power annually. This is enough to power over 5,000 homes! This is yet another element of renewable energy City Light can add to its portfolio as is required under I-937. By way of background, there are 509 LFG facilities nationwide and two-thirds of those facilities generate energy. Washington State currently has four operational facilities. As Chair of the Energy Committee, I will continue to add renewable energies to our already-clean hydroelectric power. If we generate energy from waste, it is a win-win for everyone.

Columbia Ridge Generator

I celebrated this partnership of clean power between City Light and Waste Management at a press event. Video link >>>

Following is a press release for that event. Continue Reading »

Selection of Seattle’s Police Chief will be one of the most important appointments made by Mayor Mike McGinn during his first term. Several months ago, Mayor McGinn’s transition team took the first steps by contacting the same people that former Mayor Nickels had chosen to serve on the Police Chief Selection Committee in September 2009. Additionally, Mayor McGinn added four new members. As one of the four, I have been asked and agreed to serve on this important Selection Committee.

My Criteria. While I am committed to help in the search for the person best suited to be Seattle’s Chief of Police, some of the qualities I will look for in a permanent Chief are below, but I look forward to hearing your perspective:

• Assertive enforcement of the law
• Transformational Leader
• Vast wealth of knowledge in police work
• Appreciation and respect for diverse communities
• Strong recognition of preventative measures that lead people to commit crimes
• Respect for and experience in police accountability
• Transparency

Inclusive Process. I believe this is an opportunity to have an inclusive process that will bring many people forward. Continue Reading »

Establishing financial policies for a billion dollar organization such as City Light cannot be taken lightly. Following the energy crisis of 2001, the Utility, the Council, the Mayor and the City Light Advisory Committee took great strides to ensure that the Utility continued to deliver reliable, low-cost and environmentally responsible power. Part of these efforts included the implementation of financial policies intended to restore and sustain the Utility’s financial health. The record is clear that thoughtful and deliberate actions were taken and our city is better for it.

In order to continually improve the Utility for the people, I have pushed for a renewed look at these policies to determine whether, given the current economic climate, any adjustments can be made to these policies. The goal is continued focus on the Utility’s core mission, but also to lower its costs and increase its efficiencies. Moreover, these policies should proactively reflect and define how the Utility addresses the fluctuations in its wholesale revenue activity.

Based on this rationale, the Energy, Technology, and Civil Rights Committee passed Resolution 31181 which establishes interim financial policies for City Light with respect to setting electric rates and on January 11, 2010 the Full Council approved these policies.

Continue Reading »

On Monday, January 11, 2010, the Council voted 7-1 to permit taller buildings in a small portion of the South Lake Union neighborhood. I abstained from the Council vote because of the potential that an “appearance” of a conflict of interest could have been suggested had I participated. My wife Joanne Harrell was appointed by Governor Gregoire to sit on the University Of Washington Board Of Regents and the expansion in issue directly affects the University of Washington Medical Center. The Board of Regents may ultimately pass judgment on this issue and I did not want to jeopardize any decisions made by the Council.

The passage of this “text amendment” permits some buildings to go as high as 120 feet. The previous limit was 65 feet. However, if a development met certain biotech criteria, a height of 85 feet was permitted. A majority of the Council believed passing the “text amendment” was necessary to accommodate development that will attract federal research grant money. This is one of those issues where not everyone will be happy with the outcome. However, this new facility will serve as a key driver of the economic development of South Lake Union’s burgeoning biotech sector. My goal will be to continue to work with the neighborhood communities such that their commonsensical and logical needs for meaningful public open space and construction designs that are truly neighborhood-friendly are met.

I have been hearing from citizens and I have read some recent internet postings regarding the issue of parking lots in the vicinity of light rail stations. Here is the issue: In the early part of the decade, the Seattle City Council passed legislation which established transit overlay zones which prohibits certain types of land uses within quarter mile circles of light rail stations. I am certain this legislation was passed with good intentions. However, the lack of parking lots in the overlay zones are producing unintended consequences for businesses and residents. Case in point: the Safeway store on South Othello and Martin Luther King Jr. Way South sits adjacent to the Othello Station. When the light rail line opened, store management noticed that their parking lot was being filled by light rail riders. Grocery stores do not have the resources to manage their parking lots. In turn, Safeway contracted with Diamond Parking to manage their lot to ensure that the “park and hide” stopped and Safeway customers would have a place to park. Sounds reasonable, correct? Because of Safeway’s location in the transit overlay zone, Diamond Parking was verbally told by the city that they could not operate a “pay lot.” This is a situation where a business is being hampered by city regulation.

I have heard from citizens and businesses in neighborhoods along the light rail line about their disappointment that private parking lots are not permitted in the overlay zones. I have heard that more parking is desired in these areas to help promote economic development. I am looking into a policy change regarding parking lots in transit overlay zones. While the policy to prohibit parking in these zones may have been well intended, it appears as though it was implemented against the will of the people and the discussion needs to be re-introduced.