On February 24th, the Seattle City Council unanimously approved the release of $500,000 in reserve funds for food and food assistance programs to help expand capacity and satisfy unmet needs in these tough economic times.. These funds were earmarked in the 2003 budget we approved last fall as a special Council Food Programs Initiative for 2003, which I sponsored.
The impetus for this initiative arose during our budget hearing process when we heard from Bob Cooper, the director of Food Lifeline, that Washington State ranks # 1in the United States in hunger problems among its residents. Councilmembers were shocked by this news and I, as Budget Chair, was determined to try to do something about it.
The funding will go to the Human Services Department to contract with food service providers to purchase more food and improve food distribution services. Specifically, this funding will target special dietary needs not part of the regular food delivery system (such as infant formula and culturally appropriate foods), geographic needs throughout the City and the ability of the investment to leverage other funding sources.
Because food programs are limited in the amount of clients they can serve and the type of food they can provide, half the money will go toward purchases and activities that will increase the long-term capacity of food programs, such as refrigerators, stoves, kitchen utensils, etc.
The one-time funding in this ordinance brings the total to $2.29 million the Council has approved for food banks, emergency meal, home grocery and other food programs in 2003.
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Westcrest Park in West Seattle is a jewel of our City's parks system. And for many years it was one of the least used parks in the City. At least it was until we placed an off-leash area there in 1996.
On February 3rd, 2003 the Council passed the ordinance that provides for a wonderful off-leash area, much larger than that initially placed in Westcrest. This is good news. I had proposed an amendment to expand the new area to include the trails included in what came to be known as Option C. The bad news is that my proposed amendment failed. Only co-sponsor Judy Nicastro and Margaret Pageler supported the amendment. Both Councilmembers have been strong supporters of establishing and expanding off-leash areas.
There was considerable lobbying on this issue, particularly from environmental groups who claimed that off-leash usage would destroy the under story of the forest. But the Parks Department, the steward of all of our park properties, did its own SEPA review of the this option and gave it a DNS, or Determination of Non-Significance, meaning that such use would not be problematic. That Parks could issue a DNS and then still claim that off-leash use WOULD be problematic is something I have a hard time understanding!
In 1995, when I was researching possible sites for off-leash areas within the City, the Seattle Police Dept. suggested that we consider all of Westcrest Park for an off-leash area because of considerable illegal activity within the park. Police officers thought that the presence of numbers of dog owners would drive out this illegal behavior. The police officers were correct - the illegal activity began to abate once the off-leash area was established. In 1997, when the Council made permanent several off-leash areas, we directed the Parks Dept. to consider making the whole of Westcrest an off-leash area. Parks chose to look at an area smaller than the whole park but larger than the pilot area, and in the years since, had allowed a tacit expansion of off-leash into the Westcrest trails. Once Westcrest became safer to use, thanks to the off-leash area, other people returned to this virtual unknown gem of Seattle's parks system.
It strikes me as wrong that the very users who made this park safer for all users should in the end be penalized because of their work! I am unhappy with the Parks Department's processes -moving from the initial planning which allowed the inclusion of the trails, and their own SEPA DNS, to a new Pro-Parks planning process that chose to ignore the entire prior planning to arrive at a conclusion that determined that the trails should not be included.
In the final analysis, however, we have a Westcrest off-leash area that is quite a gem. I encourage all of you to use this area and to leash your dogs before walking the trails. Let us not give opponents of all off-leash areas any cause to complain about "irresponsible" dog owners!
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Things are moving quickly in the University District. The AVE is under construction and the Mayor has proposed to lift the Lease Lid and to help curb the noise emanating from a private residential property. Both pieces of legislation were referred on March 3rd to a joint committee of the Finance, Budget, Business and Labor and Land Use Committees.
On February 12th, I attended a press conference on the Ave. with the Mayor to introduce the two pieces of legislation to the community and to emphasize the City's commitment of the revitalization of the University District.
On February 13th, I toured businesses on University Way and met with local retailers to discuss proposals to revitalize the area. This also provided me with the opportunity to solicit comments on Mayor Greg Nickels' plan to lift the lease lid for University of Washington expansion in the area.
"We have an exciting opportunity to revitalize and enhance the Ave."
University Way has been undergoing major construction since the beginning of the "Ave Project" in late June 2002. Planned amenities include wider sidewalks, pedestrian lighting, more street landscaping, benches and a street art project called "traffic of ideas."
The following two paragraphs discuss proposed legislation, which affect the University of Washington and its relationship to the University District business area - the Lease Lid Lift and the changes to the noise ordinance.
Current restrictions limit new leases to an area west of the University - the Permitted Leasing Zone. Also, except for the Permitted Leasing Zone and UW campus, new leases by the University are currently prohibited in a larger area surrounding the University - the Primary and Secondary Impact Zones, also shown on the attached map. Existing leases may be retained and renewed in this area. The University is also currently limited to a maximum of 550,000 gross square feet (gsf) of leased space in the Primary and Secondary Impact Zones, including the Permitted Leasing Zone. Today, the University leases approximately 543,000 gsf of space in these areas. Additional limitations prohibit the University from leasing residentially zoned land and limit UW use of street-level space in commercial zones to certain customer-oriented uses. Under the Mayor's proposal, UW uses would be subject to the limitations of the underlying zoning only. A requirement that changes the lease limit to be made through a major amendment to the University's Master Plan would be eliminated.
The University would continue to be required to first make reasonable attempts to locate uses on-campus and, if leasing off-campus, to locate its uses near compatible uses. Also, a requirement that the University's Transportation Management Program (TMP) apply at leased property off-campus would be retained.
The Mayor's proposed legislation creates a new violation under the City's Noise Control Ordinance (SMC 25.08) for frequent, repetitive or continuous noise emanating from a private residential property (in a Single Family or Multifamily zone) that is audible to a person of normal hearing at a distance of 75 feet or more from the property. The noise must be associated with a gathering of more than one person at the residential property, and occur between the hours of 10:00 p.m. (11:00 p.m. on Friday or Saturday nights) and 7:00 a.m. A violation of this ordinance is a civil infraction and is subject to a civil fine of $250. A repeat violation within 24 hours of receiving a civil infraction can result in a criminal fine of $500, imprisonment in City jail for 6 months or both. Three or more violations at a property within a 12-month period can result in the City Attorney commencing abatement proceedings against the owner and/or tenant of the property, in which the court would be authorized to order any remedy that is reasonably likely to abate future noise violations at the property.
There will be many opportunities for people to hear about the proposed legislation and the possible affects on the area. There will be a briefing on April 2nd at a joint committee meeting of the FBBL/LU Committees, a public forum in the U-District on April 8th from 6-8pm at University Heights and a public hearing in Council Chambers on April 10th beginning at 5:30pm. The committee is tentatively scheduled to vote on the legislation on April 16th, but that is subject to change depending on what we hear from the public and questions that Councilmembers have. If the legislation is not voted out of committee on April 16th, it will be scheduled for a vote on May 7th. You can find a copy of the schedule and a link to the legislation on my web page www.cityofseattle.net/council/drago. If you have comments I would encourage you to please share them with us.
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February was a very busy month for the City Council and it is showing no signs of slowing down. I look forward to hearing from you on the many things that are happening in the City.
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