Seattle City Councilmember Bruce Harrell

News Release issued Wednesday, 6/22/2011

Discussion will help spread awareness and educate

SEATTLE – Seattle City Councilmember Bruce Harrell, Chair of the Energy, Technology and Civil Rights Committee, invites members of the public to participate in a lunchtime discussion on credit and foreclosure scams, computer scams and viruses, and how to protect your computer and family.

Joining Councilmember Harrell will be representatives from HomeStreet Bank and Seattle’s Department of Information Technology to guide the discussion and field questions from the audience.

WHAT: Fraud brownbag discussion

WHEN: Wednesday, June 29, 12:30 p.m.

WHERE: Council Chambers, Seattle City Hall
600 Fourth Avenue, second floor, Seattle 98104

Public outreach forums begin in May

As Chair of City Light, I have demanded that our customers have access to the same information that I have relative to the opportunities and challenges that face City Light. The public owns the utility so I wanted the public to exercise its vested interest in the plans of the utility. Over the past year, the City Light Review Panel has met 19 times in their work on developing City Light’s strategic plan. You may recall that the City Light Review Panel is a nine member group of key customer advocates whose job is to provide input and recommendations to City Light as the Strategic Plan is developed. If done correctly, this plan will serve as a six-year road map for City Light’s investments and operations. Prior to my initiation of these efforts, this kind of intense planning for an integrated Strategic Plan had never been done. Should we build a Smart Grid? Should we build another substation for load growth? How do we accommodate the onset of Electrical Vehicles? How much do we invest in our transmission lines, distribution lines, conservation plans, etc…? What should be the right portfolio mix of renewable energy purchases? These are complex issues and we not only want public input, we want to educate the public on the myriad of issues our utility faces.

Over the next two months, City Light will host seven forums for key stakeholders and the general public to gather input which will be used by the Council as the strategic plan development continues. I have opened these meetings with a full commitment to transparency and openness. These sessions are critical stages in our planning process.

For more information on strategic plan development and the City Light Review Panel, click this link: http://www.seattle.gov/light/strategic-plan/ . Here you will find dates and materials for the public outreach forums. You can also participate in an online survey.

Media Advisory issued May 3, 2011

Technology partnerships key focus for low-income students

SEATTLE — On Wednesday, May 4, Councilmember Bruce Harrell will introduce legislation launching the Great Student Initiative, a City of Seattle effort to establish partnerships with technology companies and financial institutions to provide Internet access to the most vulnerable students in the Seattle Public Schools. This unprecedented program will provide high-speed Internet service for $9.95 a month, 75 percent reduction from the average cost, to students in the Seattle Public School District who are eligible for the free lunch program. Seattle will be one of the first cities in the United States to address the technology inequity for young students through public/private partnerships.

WHO:
Seattle City Councilmember Bruce Harrell and Energy, Technology and Civil Rights Committee Members
Dan MacFetridge, Microsoft
Kathy Putt, Comcast
Cobi Jackson, One Economy
Pegi McEvoy, Seattle Public Schools
Holly Ferguson, Seattle Public Schools
Steve Sundquist, Seattle School Board
Roni Ayalla, Citizens’ Telecommunications and Technology Advisory Board
David Keyes, Department of Information Technology, City of Seattle
Sid Sidorowicz, Office for Education
Julie Nelson, Seattle Office for Civil Rights

WHEN: Wednesday, May 4, 2011, 2 p.m.

WHERE: Seattle City Hall, 600 Fourth Avenue, Council Chambers, Second Floor

I am pleased to introduce the Great Student Initiative, a new partnership program with information, communication and technology companies, and financial institutions to provide low-cost, high-speed Internet access, hardware and software for low-income students in the Seattle Public Schools, and creating a steering committee to advance the goals of the initiative. In the last 18 months, I have worked closely with Comcast and Microsoft’s Shape the Future Education program to build this public/private partnership to deliver technology access to our students. Now that the Families and Education Levy is moving forward, this technology initiative ties beautifully into our strategy of uplifting our children and eliminating the digital divide. In short, this initiative will allow the students in Seattle Public Schools who are eligible for the free lunch program according to federal standards (approximately 14,000 of 46,000), to obtain high-speed internet access at less than $10.00 per month and be furnished with a computer that allows them connectivity. This will be furnished at no or minimal cost to the city of Seattle.

Based on the City of Seattle Information Technology Residential Survey from 2009, 84% of households with incomes above $50,000 receive high-speed Internet, but only 46% of households with incomes under $30,000 receive high-speed Internet. Additionally, only 41% of respondents with no high school degree had high-speed Internet compared to 93% for respondents with a college degree. When correlating the relationship between technology access and race/ethnicity, 80% of Caucasians had high-speed Internet, 73% for Asian Pacific Islanders, 59% for African Americans, and 38% for Hispanic/Latinos. Furthermore, English speaking households had a high-speed Internet adoption rate of 77% compared to 19% for Spanish speaking households.

Seattle is ranked as the third most wired American city in terms of broadband adoption, high-speed Internet access options, and wireless Internet hot spots. Nationally ranked as the city with the eighth highest number of technology jobs, and backyard institutions like Microsoft, Amazon, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the University of Washington, we have a strategic advantage to compete to be the number one city in America that prepares its students for the new global economy.

According to the Washington State Employment Security Department, King County is projected to employ over 100,000 workers in computer and mathematical jobs by 2017, with an average annual growth rate of 2.7% between now and 2017. The United States Department of Labor projects more than 1,600,000 new IT jobs will be created in the United States by the year 2014. Eight of the nine fastest growing occupations by the year 2014 will be in the area of Information Technology. A Washington State Employment Security Department study confirms the 27% growth rate for our state as well, with some computer jobs posting growth rates of 6 % per year and higher. Between now and 2018, information technology jobs are projected to grow by 22 percent and account for 60 percent of the job growth, the fastest of all professional occupations. In King County, there are 233,000 technology jobs. On average, information technology jobs have a job multiplier of five to one.

It is imperative to equip all Seattle Public School students across all socioeconomic backgrounds with high-speed Internet, a quality computer, and software at home to compete and be successful in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Bottom line: equipping our students with these technology tools will allow them to successfully compete for jobs. The future is a global economy driven by technology and information technology plays a vital role in driving the economy of our city, county, state and nation.

CouncilMembers Bruce Harrell, Tim Burgess and Sally Clark join host C.R. Douglas for this month’s episode of City Inside/Out: Council Edition. Watch the discussion on the Alaskan Way Viaduct Project, tent city and more.

Today the full Seattle City Council honored the Seattle Section of the National Council of Negro Women. Founded in 1935 by Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, this organization has a long history of empowering women, changing communities and lives. She said, “Next to God we are indebted to women, first for life itself, and then for making it worth living.” It was our honor to have representatives in City Hall today.

Continue Reading »