Rep. Reuven Carlyle of Seattle’s 36^th district began the new legislative session and his second term in Olympia as vice chair of the Higher Education Committee this month.

“What I hope to do is to really bring about some genuine reform in our education system—in K-12 and higher education,” said Carlyle. “I have four young children, and that’s the heart and soul of who I am and why I ran for office.”

Carlyle has worked on the committee during the last two sessions, but this is his first in a leadership position.

The state’s education system is moving in a troubling direction that warrants immediate and profound action, according to Carlyle. He said this area of state government distresses him the most and characterizes the shift of funding from the state to the students as “a disaster waiting to happen.”

“The state is retreating from its obligation to open the doors of access to higher education, and it’s going to become more and more elite and privatized,” Carlyle said. “But there’s many of us giving it all we have fighting tooth and nail to try to educate the public about the value of changing course and really being much more aggressive about allowing everybody to access higher education, not just a small segment of society.”

Photo from Carlyle’s Facebook page.

Carlyle will also serve as a member of the budget-writing Ways and Means Committee. This is his first time serving on the committee, which is especially critical given the state’s current economic woes.

“Our economy is going through the most extraordinary structural change in generations,” Carlyle said. “This is a time to break down old clichés and old stereotypes about state government and about taxes and services and to really honor the will of the public to rebuild our state.”

From Washington’s House Democrats website:

In the December special session, $588 million of the $1.6 billion budget deficit for the current budget cycle was addressed. How to address the remaining amount is the Ways and Means Committee’s first problem, before moving onto the projected $4.6 billion shortfall in the two-year budget starting in July.

“It’s time we thoughtfully lay out our state’s priorities and do our best to fund them,” Carlyle said.  “I’ll be challenging colleagues to start fresh with our budgeting, and put dollars where we can unleash opportunity and the entrepreneurial spirit in our state.”

Also serving on the Ways and Means Committee are Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles and Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, both representing the 36^th district.

Carlyle will continue to serve on the Technology, Energy and Communications Committee, and hopes to use his voice to bring technological efficiency to the state infrastructure. The current session will run from Jan 10 to April 24.

36th District Representative Mary Lou Dickerson is once again calling on the state legislature to legalize marijuana. House Bill 1550, which was introduced this morning, would legalize the use of cannabis for adults age 21 and over.

Rep. Dickerson says that legalizing marijuana could generate $400 million per biennium for the state. “Subjecting cannabis to a licensed, regulated system would not only improve public health and safety, it would generate hundreds of millions of dollars for health care at a time when Washington’s budget is being decimated,” said Dr. William Robertson, founder of the Washington Poison Control Center.

Under the bill, cannabis would be sold through state liquor stores with growers applying for a license through the Liquor Control Board. The LCB, according to a press release, has a 96 percent success rate in preventing alcohol sales to minors.“Drug cartels and black-market dealers have made it easier for kids to get cannabis than alcohol,” Dickerson said. “The Liquor Control Board has a proven track record of shielding kids from its products. I’m confident our bill will break the back of cannabis crime-syndicate profits and make it possible to preserve vital health services across Washington in these very difficult budget times.”

In 2010, Dickerson submitted a similar bill, HB 2401, which didn’t make it past the Committee on Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness.

House Bill 1550 is not to be confused with legislation introduced this year by 36th District Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles concerning medical marijuana reform (Senate Bill 5073 and House Bill 1100). Read more about these bills here.

Residents who battled to keep the Queen Anne Community Center gym open have finally won.  Today, the City Council voted 8-1 in favor of a plan to keep the gym open and add back 15 hours of drop-in time each week at the center.

Queen Anne Community Center gym

Councilmembers went against the mayor’s proposed budget that called for the gym to be closed and rented out as a production studio.  That planned rental agreement later fell apart. 

Councilman Tom Rasmussen voted against the measure as a whole since he opposed turning some space at other community centers into offices for Parks staff.

It appears the Seattle City Council may save the Queen Anne Community Center gym. During budget discussions this morning, council staff members presented a plan that would keep the gym open next year. The gym would be available 30 hours a week during drop-in time, and would also be open to the extent that people pay registration fees for basketball lessons and for facility rentals.

Queen Anne Community Center gym

The staff proposal would add back 15 hours of drop-in time to the community center as a whole on top of the 15 hours proposed by the mayor. The City Council must still approve the changes when it votes on the budget later this month.

Mayor McGinn had proposed closing the QA gym next year and turning it into television studio space. That plan fell apart after producers of the television show for children decided to back out in the wake of community opposition.

As it stands right now, the Queen Anne Community Center’s gym is still scheduled to be closed next year even though a deal to turn the gym into a television studio fell through.  But there are more signs the City Council could reverse that part of the mayor’s budget.

City Council members heard more about the proposed cuts to five community centers across Seattle during a meeting yesterday.  Our news partner the Seattle Times reports Council President Richard Conlin expressed concerns about reducing access to the centers.

“I can’t help feeling we’re making a mistake,” Conlin said.

Queen Anne gym

Earlier this month, Councilmember Tim Burgess also voiced support for keeping the QA gym open.

“This is not a City Council idea (to close the gym).  It came from Mayor McGinn,” Burgess told the Queen Anne Community Council.  “You have lots of support not to do this on the Council.”

The Council is expected to adopt a budget before Thanksgiving.  The final public hearing on the budget takes place tonight (10/26) at 5:30pm at City Hall.  Sign in starts at 5pm.

Unless the budget changes, Queen Anne will lose its crime prevention coordinator.  We’ve confirmed that Terrie Johnston (pictured right) and two other coordinators in the city were told they’ll be laid off effective April 1.  As for the remaining four coordinators, no one is sure if they’ll be forced to cut back on their hours or cover larger areas to fill the holes. 

Crime prevention coordinators, civilian employees in the Seattle Police Department, work directly with residents doing everything from setting up block watches to going door to door to warn about recent crimes. They’d been part of the police budget up until last October, when the positions then became paid for with federal grant money that runs out in the spring.

With the help of the nonprofit Common Language Project and communications students at the University of Washington, we take a closer look at what the loss of these coordinators could mean to our neighborhoods.

Continue reading “Crime Prevention Coordinators Face the Budget Axe”.

BizKid$ has pulled out of the proposed partnership with the Queen Anne Community Center, in which the national children’s public television series would have rented out the gym as production space for at least a year, according to the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation.

The proposed partnership was part of Mayor Mike McGinn’s 2011 budget. Parks and Recreation says the deal would have “expended revenue to continue Parks and Recreation programs, and expand financial literacy for children in the Queen Anne neighborhood and throughout the City.”

Since the plan was first announced last month, many in the community have publicly opposed the deal attending budget meetings, rallying for support from City Councilmember Tim Burgess, and seeking out ideas for alternative plans in order to keep the gym open to the community.

Seattle Parks and Recreation did not give a reason for why BizKid$ decided to walk away from the deal. We’ve put in a call to BizKid$ executive producer Jamie Hammond, but have not yet heard back.

The Queen Anne Community Center gym may become part of a larger budget battle apparently brewing between Mayor McGinn and the Seattle City Council.  The fight to stop the gym from closing took a twist Wednesday night when City Councilman Tim Burgess attended a meeting of the Queen Anne Community Council.

“This is not a City Council idea (to close the gym).  It came from Mayor McGinn,” Burgess told the audience.  “You have lots of support not to do this on the Council.”

Gym at Queen Anne Community Center

Frustrated residents and volunteers at the community center voiced their concerns about Mayor McGinn’s proposed plan to close the gym next year and turn it into a production studio for a children’s television program.  That would mean the loss of several activities including youth basketball, toddler gym, Family Fridays, and senior aerobics.  One volunteer said the producers of the television show toured the gym this week and had no idea just how bad the community center’s condition is, including old wiring.

“I said fellas if you think you’re going to put some big t.v. lights in here, you’ve got a surprise coming,” saidvolunteer Pat Barger.  “This is not a done deal and I hope it is never a done deal.”

The community council plans to send a letter to the City Council urging them to keep the gym open and suggesting that Seattle Center be used as a location for the television studios instead.  One community council member summed up the mayor’s plan to close the gym this way.

“It’s anti- Queen Anne.  It’s anti-family.”

The Queen Anne Community Council discusses the mayor’s plan to close the gym.

Councilman Burgess also hinted that the City Council may be prepared to make changes to the mayor’s proposed budget.

“You just need to remember, where are the centers that they’re cutting?  They tend to be, except for Alki, they’re in the north end of the city.  You can see a pattern here of public policy decisions that the mayor has been making that, I’m not going to question his motives, but they are dividing our city.  The way I look at this on the community centers, he’s daring us to restore this money to these community centers” said Burgess.

We have a message in to the mayor’s office to see if he has any comment.

Burgess urged Queen Anne residents to email the City Council, attend the last two public hearings on the budget, and to voice their opinions during regular City Council meetings over the next few weeks.

A proposal to close the gym at the Queen Anne Community Center was met with strong opposition during Wednesday night’s public hearing on the city budget.  Under the mayor’s plan, the gym will be closed in 2011 to make room for BizKid$, a national public television series for children.  BizKid$ will use the gym as a production studio until at least the end of 2011.  Volunteers and supporters of the community center showed up Wednesday in Northgate to tell the City Council they want the gym to stay open.

“Yesterday afternoon the phone was ringing off the hook.  All kinds of parents and coaches wanted information,” said Pat Barger who serves as a volunteer at the community center.

A sign urging the City Council to keep the gym open

The community center gym and McClure’s gym are used by 22 youth basketball teams, and Barger isn’t sure how many of those teams can be relocated.  The gym is also used for several other programs.  Even though the rest of the community center will remain open, Barger fears BizKid$ may eat up other space in the facility.

“It impacts everyone from babies to the elderly.”

The community center will also go from 5 full time staff members to one full time person and two half-time staff members.

Another impact from the proposed budget involves the East Queen Anne wading pool, which will only be open three days a week next summer just as it was this year.

A crowd lines up to speak at Wednesday night’s budget hearing in Northgate

To see more on the mayor’s proposed budget, click here.  

The next public hearing on the budget takes place Wednesday, October 13 at South Seattle Community College at 5:30pm.  The City Council has also set up a  web page where you can submit ideas to balance the budget and vote on other suggestions.

We’ll soon know the fate of the Queen Anne Community Center and Pool. The mayor’s mid-year budget cuts will be announced on Monday (6/14), including any cuts to the city’s Parks and Recreation department.

Queen Anne residents turned out in force back in May to fight to keep the center open. The cuts being announced for the rest of this year could involve closing centers or programs, scaling back hours, or doing nothing at all. Even if the Queen Anne center survives this mid-year round of cuts, there is still concern about even more cuts for 2011.

The mid-year cuts will be unveiled during the City Council’s budget committee meeting on Monday at 10:30am. We’ll bring you all the details, or you can watch live on the Seattle Channel (21 on Comcast) or online.

Queen Anne residents turned out in force during last night’s city budget hearing at North Seattle Community College.  They voiced their concerns about budget cuts that could impact the Queen Anne Community Center and Pool.

A loud crowd full of different organizations packed the cafeteria to plead their cases to Mayor Mike McGinn and the Seattle City Council. City officials are calling for a 3 percent cut across the Parks system, but insist there is no list detailing which parks, community centers, or pools might actually be impacted. But Queen Anne residents clearly feel programs at the community center and pool could be in jeopardy and wanted to make sure their voices were heard early in the process.

“I’m here for the community center because it’s so important,” said Queen Anne resident Rebecca Fink.  “These kids are doing homework together, playing together, bonding.  It gives the kids a place to go.”

The mayor and City Council were clearly moved by some of the stories they heard last night.

“We don’t have a specific proposal from Parks, but this discussion is very helpful to let us know what is important to you,” Mayor McGinn told the crowd.

The Parks department will come up with its suggested budget changes over the next several weeks before presenting them to the mayor. Three more public hearings are set for September and October.

This is just a reminder that the Seattle Public Library will be changing the operating hours at many of its branches across the city as of tomorrow, Wednesday, February 3, as a result of a $1.7 million cut to SPL’s 2010 budget.

The Queen Anne branch, located at 400 W. Garfield St, is currently open from 1 to 8 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays, 10 a.m. to 8 .m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and is closed Sundays. Beginning tomorrow it will be part of a group of 15 Seattle branches operating under a new, reduced schedule, open only five days a week:

• Monday & Tuesday: 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.
• Wednesday & Thursday: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Friday: Closed
• Saturday: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Sunday: Closed

Other nearby branches that will also be operating under this new schedule include the Magnolia, Fremont, Green Lake and Wallingford branches. The Ballard library is the closest of 11 branches will still be open seven days a week, under a different reduced schedule. For the full list of branches hours and schedules, click here (.pdf).

A group opposing the hour cuts, Friends of The Seattle Public Library, tried to prevent this schedule change several months ago through advocacy and petitioning, but to no avail.

Thanks to the West Seattle Blog for the tip!

Last month our sister site, MyBallard, spoke with 36th District Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, who told them she was planning on filing a bill this upcoming legislative session (which begins January 10) that would legalize marijuana. Yesterday they reported that Rep. Dickerson and five other state representatives pre-filed HB 2401.

Meanwhile, Rep. Reuven Carlyle wrote down his thoughts on how he’ll vote on the state budget, which is projected to reach a $2.6 billion deficit in 2010, on his blog. He outlined three criteria for how he will vote on the budget – spending levels, revenue levels, and the question of system change and reform.

“To me systems change is about looking at our structures, systems, infrastructure of methodology, norms and behaviors and asking one core question: What would our systems look like if we designed them anew, today, from scratch?” he wrote. “We too often pull back from ‘what is possible’ before we even get a new idea of the drawing board. I’m not suggesting everything is broken and yet much of how we do business in state government does require a bold new approach.”

Carlyle went on to list several “modest but legitimate examples” of how government reform could be applied, tackling issues such as licensing and liquor (specifically the debate between whether these should be government run, or private sector), technology, transportation funding and the building of public infrastructure, and education reform and the Race to the Top challenge. Read Carlyle’s thoughts here.

Anyone interested in speaking with representatives about the upcoming legislative session is welcome to attend the 36th District Legislative Delegation holiday open house next week, on Tuesday, December 15 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Sen. Kohl-Welles’ and Rep. Carlyle’s district office on the base of Queen Anne at 3131 Western Ave, Suite 421, in the Northwest Work Lofts building. Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles and Reps. Mary Lou Dickerson and Reuven Carlyle will present an overview of the 2010 legislative session and answer constituent questions.

In September May Nickels announced his proposed 2010 capital budget plan for the City of Seattle, a plan which significantly cut Seattle Public Libraries funding. This proposal would have limited resources and branch hours at locations all over the city. However, our news partner, the Seattle Times, is reporting that the Seattle City Council budget committee recently restored $863,000 from the proposed $2.8 million cut to the 2010 public libraries budget.

That means 11 library branches – Ballard, Douglass-Truth, Lake City, Rainier Beach, Southwest, Beacon Hill, Broadview, Capitol Hill, Greenwood, Northeast and West Seattle – and the Central Library downtown will be able to operate seven days a week. However, the Queen Anne Public Library (and neighboring Fremont), along with 13 other branches were not as fortunate. Those 15 libraries will, as of the new year, only be open five days a week, operating on 35-hour weeks rather than 60.

Currently the Queen Anne Library is open 50 hours a week and closed on Sundays. As of January 1, on Monday and Tuesday the library will maintain the current hours of 1 to 8 p.m. On Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday that library hours will change to 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. (before Wednesday and Thursday the hours were 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday). Under the new schedule the library will be closed on both Friday and Sunday.

Get more information on the budget cuts here. You can read more about the City Council’s latest decision here.

Last month Mayor Nickels announced his proposed 2010 capital budget plan for the City of Seattle. This budget would drop Seattle Public Libraries funding by 37 percent from the 2009 budget (from $1,646,000 to $1,031,000).

And like the week-long furlough the Libraries took in August to save money, the new budget will cut SPL resources, and hours, for branches all across the city. Jennifer Johnson-Fong, a Queen Anne resident and vice president of Friends of The Seattle Public Library, petitioned outside the Queen Anne branch today in an attempt to sway City Council from reducing the SPL budget even further. She wrote,

Queen Anne and 20 other branches are scheduled to be closed Friday and Sunday (the Sunday closure is new to many of the 20 branches) plus operate at reduced hours – all year.  The Queen Anne Library would be open just 35 hours a week if the proposed budget remains unchanged by Seattle City Council. The new Queen Anne hours of operation could be this:Monday, Tuesday:
1 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Wednesday, Thursday:
11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

CLOSED FRIDAY

Saturday:
11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

CLOSED SUNDAY

The proposed budget will impact all of our communities and neighbors who are relying on our libraries for computer access, job search resources, educational support, gathering spaces, programs and librarian assistance. In 2008, more than 13 million customers visited the Library and so far this year, visits are up another 8 percent. Circulation of books and other items was up 20 percent in 2008; this year it is up an additional 11 percent.  According to The Seattle Public Library, “Early estimates show the reduced hours may result in the loss of approximately 27 positions, or the equivalent of 18.8 regular full-time employees. In recent months, the Library has temporarily filled open regular positions to try to mitigate the impact and avoid layoffs.  Expected earnings of each Library employee will be cut approximately 1.9 percent due to the one-week closure.”  http://www.spl.org/default.asp?pageID=about_history_2010reductions

I’ll be handing out a flier that details how the community can help to keep neighborhood branch hours.  Sending emails to council members is the easiest and has a big impact.  The flier also lists the 21 branches slated for drastic reductions and the list of 5 other branches whose hours will increase in an attempt to compensate the 21 other neighborhoods affected.

The Friends also has a petition on our Facebook Cause Page.