Nickels Newsletter - November 2006

Dear Friends,

I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday. November has been an eventful month, ending with a cold snap that made it especially challenging for commuters and the homeless. I'm glad to say we were able to provide emergency shelter for all comers and our transportation crews went into high gear to keep our main arterials drivable.

The month began with the historic elections throughout the nation. Here in Seattle, voters had a pretty full ballot but enough of you stuck it out to the end and, not only voted on, but passed Proposition 1. I want to thank the voters for passing this important transportation levy. It's great news for the future of transportation in our city. We will now be able to reduce the $500 million backlog of bridge and street repairs that has been building for decades. Whether you bus, bike, walk, or drive, we are going to get our roads and pathways working again. Let's get Seattle moving.

Coming on the heels of the good news on election day, we were saddened by the tragic and untimely deaths of two of our own -- Seattle Police Officer Elizabeth "Beth" Nowak, and City Councilmember David Della's Chief of Staff Tatsuo Nakata. Our condolences to their families, friends, and co-workers.

Just before Thanksgiving, the council adopted the 2007-2008 biennial city budget. With a continuing focus on my four priorities -- getting Seattle moving, building strong families and healthy communities, creating jobs and opportunity for all, and keeping our neighborhoods safe, the adopted budget will allow us to make a difference in peoples' lives. We will invest in neighborhoods, add police officers, move forward on my Environmental Action Agenda, support community facilities, improve parks, stabilize Seattle Center's finances, help small businesses, and more.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving and the upcoming holidays, I thank each one of you for helping make Seattle the best it can be and hope your holidays are filled with joy.

Sincerely,


GREG NICKELS
Mayor of Seattle

Nellams named Seattle Center director

Just before the holiday, I was pleased to announce Robert Nellams as my choice for director of Seattle Center. Robert is the right person for the job -- he has worked for more than a decade to make Seattle Center the nation's best gathering place. He has the passion and vision to guide it to an even brighter future. He knows what needs to get done and he is ready to get started. I look forward to a great future for Seattle Center under Robert's able leadership.
Read the news release

Making it safer for pedestrians

In the wake of the tragic death of Tatsuo Nakata and two other pedestrian accidents, we took immediate steps to improve pedestrian safety across Seattle. The Police Department has stepped up enforcement of speed limits, negligent driving and other vehicle and pedestrian laws. Since I launched my 10-point pedestrian safety campaign to reduce accidents across the city last year, SDOT has restriped more than 700 crosswalks to improve visibility, erected new signs highlighting pedestrian safety, and improved numerous street crossings. But, no matter how much we do, the bottom line is still that drivers especially must take responsibility for keeping our streets safe. When you are behind the wheel, a thoughtless moment can take a life. I call on all drivers to slow down, follow the rules and stay aware. And when you're a pedestrian, be alert to your surroundings and cross streets safely and legally.
Read the news release

Seattle Police Department honors outstanding work

For the fifth year, our Police Department and the Seattle Police Foundation honored outstanding work performed by department employees in the past year. Nominated by their peers, 54 Police Department employees were honored in 14 distinct categories. All of the honored employees – whether uniformed or civilian -- went beyond the call of duty. They are all heroes. Congratulations to the honorees, and to all of those nominated as well.
Read the complete list of honorees

Celebrating the Hmong new year

It was a pleasure to participate in the Hmong new year celebration at Seattle Center this month, featuring traditional music, dance, games and the presentation of awards recognizing those who work to enrich and preserve the Hmong culture in Seattle. As part of Seattle Center's yearlong Festal series of world cultural events, this year's celebration marked 30 years since the Hmong began arriving in Seattle. It was especially gratifying to see so many young people celebrating. This kind of cultural celebration helps them see the value of who they are and what they can contribute to our society. Happy new year to all of our Hmong neighbors.

Green Seattle Day is not a rock band

This summer I challenged Seattle to help replace our shrinking tree cover by preserving existing trees and planting more than 600,000 new trees across the city. Our existing trees are suffocating under a blanket of ivy and blackberries. We usually think of spring as the time of year for planting and yard work, but fall is really the better time for planting trees and forest restoration. So, proclaiming Nov. 4 "Green Seattle Day," I joined with 225 volunteers at Lincoln Park and nine other locations around the city. We planted 1,725 trees, shrubs and groundcovers that day. I also heard that 57 salmon showed up at the event at Carkeek. We're on our way to restoring our urban forest, one of the most important contributions we can make to our environment.
Read more about the Green Seattle Partnership

Meeting future leaders of Seattle

You're never too young for a hands-on civics lesson. Just ask the 7- and 8-year-olds in Brenda Swidler's and Erica Greenberg's class at the Spruce Street School. They recently came to City Hall on a class field trip. I'm always happy to meet with our next generation of leaders. And this group was very interested in the elections, the role of the mayor and the relationship with the City Council, and how ideas become law. They asked a lot of perceptive questions. The future is in good hands.

Affirming Muckleshoots treaty rights

In January 1856, following months of clashes with federal troops in south King County and Thurston County, Native Americans attacked Seattle. Most settlers were warned by friendly Indians and took shelter. Marines from the Navy ship Decatur drove off the attackers, but two settlers and a number of raiders died in what became known as the "Battle of Seattle." Now 150 years later, we celebrated an historic agreement between the city of Seattle and the Muckleshoots resolving some ongoing treaty disputes, including the effect of the City's operations in the Cedar River Watershed on fish runs and tribal hunting access to the watershed. Toasting this agreement with water from the Cedar River, we reaffirmed our commitment to preserving and protecting our environment, with pure Cedar River water for people and fish, for all time.
Read the news release