Seattle’s Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee wants to hear from the public about their transportation priorities at a series of public meetings. The closest meeting to Queen Anne is next Tuesday, May 24 at the Fremont Library.

In January 2011, Mayor McGinn and the City Council convened a 14-member Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee III (CTAC) to advise them on priorities for maintaining and improving Seattle streets and sidewalks and to evaluate funding options including a potential ballot measure. Input from the community will inform the CTAC’s decisions and recommendations.

The meeting is from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Fremont Library, 731 N. 35th St. Mayor Mike McGinn is scheduled to attend that meeting. The first half-hour is an open house, followed by presentations by CTAC members and Seattle Dept. of Transportation Director Peter Hahn. The final hour will be small group discussions.

If you can’t attend the workshop but still want to participate, you can comment or take an online survey here.

This afternoon Mayor Mike McGinn’s office announced a new neighborhood survey on crime, put together by grad students at the prestigious Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington.

The online survey “will help determine residents’ primary public safety concerns in their own neighborhoods and on public transportation.”

With this survey, the City hopes to have a snapshot of perceptions of the police and public safety at a neighborhood-by-neighborhood level. The survey also gives residents an opportunity to anonymously offer their opinions on the police and public safety in Seattle — a new option for this kind of survey.

The new survey asks residents their opinion of public safety conditions in Seattle’s urban villages, if there are any urban villages they avoid, and why.

At all events, you’ll have choices like these on crime:

• Very serious problem

• Serious problem

• Minor problem

• Not a problem

Question No. 9 asks you to name the most serious crime problems in your neighborhood. There’s a list of 20 choices – including “no crime” and “other.” You get to pick no more than five.

There are 47 questions – possibly more if you ride transit often – including ones dealing with police harassment and effectiveness. You can take the 10-minute survey here. The Evans School will release the results to the mayor’s Youth and Family Initiative in May.

Do you have public safety concerns specific to Queen Anne? In addition to sharing your thoughts on the survey, please leave a comment here.

The Seattle Department of Transportation held an open house to inform and answer questions about the West Mercer Place portion of the Mercer West Project on Tuesday night.

The open house, held from 4 to 7 p.m. in the Northwest Rooms Plaza of the Seattle Center, gave the public a look at different possible plans for the street while providing a forum for comment and criticism with SDOT representatives. In the Rainier Room, posters of the different plans, stages of development, area studies and traffic analysis were displayed with a short video presentation at the front of the room.

“It’s been a good conversation and I think we had a good turnout,” said SDOT Project Manager Eric Tweit.

SDOT presented five alternative plans for West Mercer Place: Alternative No. 1 adds a sidewalk to West Mercer Place, Alternative No. 2 adds a sidewalk and a bike lane, Alternative No. 3 and No. 4 add the sidewalk and bike lane and extends the merge lane on West Mercer Place. Alternative No. 5, which can be a standalone or combined with any of the previous 4 alternatives, would extend the left-turn lanes on Elliott Avenue West. The illustrations of alternative No. 1 and No. 2 can be seen here, No. 3 and No. 4 can be seen here, and Elliot Avenue West left-turn lane extension with the alternatives summary can be seen here.

“More traffic is going to try to use Mercer, so the question became can West Mercer Place handle it? Do we need to or do we want to even increase the capacity?” said Tweit. “We were pretty concerned about what the cost and impact would be, so this is really the culmination of that evaluation of whether there is a benefit to doing it.”

The changes in traffic through West Mercer Place with the Mercer Corridor Project and the replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct prompted many of those who live in that area to voice their opposition. (See our past coverage of public meetings and community events surrounding this debate here.)

“We recently heard from a lot of reasonably and understandably concerned people who live on West Mercer Place, so this is an opportunity… for people to see and comment on the project,” said Tweit.

Tweit said that those he spoke to were opposed to the addition of a lane on West Mercer Place, and, along with the increased traffic, many of them were concerned about the possible loss of parking in the area. He said of the alternatives, No. 1 and No. 5, those that made the least amount of change to the area, were most popular.

Community representatives, from organizations like the Queen Anne Community Council, the Greater Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce and the Department of Neighborhoods were on hand to speak to the public and SDOT officials. Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce Director of Marketing Mary Chapman said she was glad to see SDOT taking input from residents and businesses in the area and thought it was a positive sign.

“I feel that the mayor did not listen to us in terms of the Nickerson street road diet, [the Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce] does not support the road diet, but we really hope that they will be listening more actively as the plans for West Mercer are being developed by the Seattle Department of Transportation,” said Chapman. “We highly suggest that everybody make comments and do so very soon so that they can get as much realistic input from the people who live in the neighborhood as possible.”

FOLKpark volunteers were on hand to present their conceptual plan for Lower Kinnear Park and the proposed Uptown Loop, a collection of pedestrian and bicycle routes that circle and traverse lower Queen Anne. FOLKpark Chair Debi Frausto said that, as the Mercer West Project coincide with Kinnear Park projects, they hope they can leverage dollars with SDOT to save money on different aspects of development, like design and surveys.

“There are things where there are overlaps between us, like at entrances to the park. Let’s work together so that where we do them coordinates with pedestrian crossings, bicycle safety and those types of things so that we’re not designing in isolation,” said Frausto.

The next step for SDOT is to present the alternative plans to the local community organizations and councils and evaluate public comments. This will last through April, after which SDOT will make a recommendation to Mayor McGinn.

Comments on the alternative plans or other ideas and considerations can be e-mailed at mercerwest@seattle.gov.

Update 4:40 p.m.: Traffic moving through West Mercer Place is projected to reach more than 800 vehicles every hour by 2015, according to figures by KPFF, an engineering firm used by SDOT. These figures, presented at the open house, take into account the waterfront construction during that time. Between 590 to 660 vehicles per hour are expected to move through West Mercer Place after the Mercer Corridor and waterfront construction is completed, compared to the estimated 372 an hour that move through the street now.

The Office of Economic Development’s Only in Seattle initiative will expand to include Queen Anne and six other neighborhoods, Mayor McGinn announced last Wednesday.

The program is receiving an additional $40,000 from the City of Seattle as part of the Seattle Jobs Plan’s $1 million investment in neighborhood business districts, according to a press release from the mayor’s office. In addition to Queen Anne, Belltown, Capitol Hill, Greenwood-Phinney, Madison Valley, South Lake Union and the University District will be included in the initiative.

The initiative “highlights the hidden gems of shopping and dining in Seattle’s neighborhoods” with a website and online, print and transit advertising.

From the Office of Economic Development’s original press release on the Only in Seattle initiative:

Inspired by the “buy local” movement, the city’s Office of Economic Development (OED) worked with local business owners and neighborhood leaders to develop a campaign that would inspire people to discover and explore new neighborhoods and businesses that make up Seattle’s diverse retail community… The Office of Economic Development promotes a healthy business environment for neighborhood business districts and business organizations, and works to help grow and strengthen the business community in Seattle neighborhoods. The Only in Seattle campaign is only one of numerous OED-funded projects and activities that improve business districts.

“It’s an opportunity to showcase all of [Queen Anne businesses’] unique offerings not only to Queen Anne residents and other business employees in the area, but to people who live outside of the area whether they’re coming into the area as tourists or from the greater Seattle area,” said Director of Marketing for the Greater Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce Mary Chapman. “What we would really like to capitalize on is getting people to frequent our businesses regularly, not just come in on a one-time thing because you randomly found it, but purposely knowing what businesses are available in Queen Anne and coming to shop there frequently.”

In anticipation of the 2011 Only in Seattle marketing campaign’s expansion, the Greater Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce applied to add Queen Anne into the program.

“It was through the collaboration that we already had with the Department of the Economic Development that we filled out the paperwork and were accepted, so we’re extremely happy about that,” said Chapman, adding, “Involvement with the chamber means that we can go out and act on [Queen Anne businesses’] behalf both in terms of getting city dollars spent in our neighborhood and in terms of doing more public relations outreach in helping people in our community know about their businesses.”

She said that all of the new neighborhoods to be included in the 2011 campaign are going to receive contacts within the next month to get the research started for the marketing campaign. In the coming weeks the Greater Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce will begin the data collection for the Only in Seattle marketing team.

The Only in Seattle marketing campaign began in November of 2010 with five Seattle neighborhoods: Ballard, Columbia City, Georgetown, Rainier Valley and West Seattle. The Seattle Jobs Plan was launched in August 2010 to encourage sustainable development and shared prosperity in the region.

Seattle’s annual cannabis festival and reform rally, Hempfest, has filed a lawsuit against the City of Seattle, Mayor Mike McGinn, the director of the Seattle Department of Transportation, the director of Seattle Center, and the chairperson of the Seattle Special Events Committee over permitting issues for the 2011 festival, the group announced in a press release this week.

Festival goers gather at the booth-lined Myrtle Edwards Park at Hempfest 2009.

The suit, filed in United States District Court Thursday, “seeks relief under the U.S. Constitution and the Washington Constitution, and was filed in an effort to obtain a 2011 permit to produce the annual free speech rally to reform America’s laws prohibiting cannabis,” the group wrote.

The festival, which has been an annual event in Seattle since 1991, has been held on the waterfront at Myrtle Edwards Park since 1995. Last year the Seattle Special Events Committee requested that the group seek out alternative locations for the festival in 2011–it’s 20th anniversary year. From Hempfest:

Upon the suggestion of the Special Events Committee, Hempfest contacted the Seattle Center in October 2010 to see if that venue would be suitable for 2011. After a few months Seattle Center representatives decided the center could not adequately host Hempfest until 2013 because of pre-existing reservations on some facilities as well as planned Seattle Center construction.

When the group filed a permit to host the festival at its usual spot at Myrtle Edwards Park, they were told that a conflicting construction project (the West Thomas Overpass Project, a pedestrian overpass that will link Lower Queen Anne with the waterfront, and was given the green light back in August) may interfere with the group’s plans to hold the festival in late August, its usual time.

Artists rendering of the West Thomas Overpass project, which would run from Thomas Street on Queen Anne all the way across to Myrtle Edwards Park.

From Hempfest:

The suit asks the city to issue an appropriate permit for Seattle Hempfest in August 2011 and, if necessary, to enjoin Seattle from implementing the “West Thomas Overpass project” in such fashion as to interfere with the use of Myrtle Edwards Park in August 2011. Planned summer construction of the sky-bridge in Myrtle Edwards Park, the location of Hempfest since 1995, has displaced the mammoth event which routinely draws more than 100,000 attendees annually.

Well aware of the slow-moving nature of the Seattle Special Events permit process, Hempfest submitted its special event application earlier than ever, in early November 2010, hoping for a decision within the 60-day period set forth by law. However, after months of negotiations Hempfest organizers find themselves with neither a date or a venue for the annual summer “protestival,” which is celebrating its 20th anniversary.

“It is with heavy hearts that we take this action against the city that we love,” Hempfest executive director Vivian McPeak said in the release. “We thoroughly wanted to spend the months leading up to Hempfest’s 20th anniversary working on the best event ever. Without a date or a venue that is almost impossible.”

“We are very excited about the prospect of a new foot bridge into Myrtle Edwards Park, but after initially being told by the city that the project would not impact our event, we were suddenly informed we needed to hold the event in June or take Hempfest somewhere else. We’ve been, and we still are looking for alternatives to Myrtle Edwards Park. However, there are few venues that are adequate and after many months of meetings we are simply running out of time. We hope we can work with the city to find a workable resolution soon and get back to producing our event,” McPeak added.

Hempfest organizers are holding a members party tonight, Friday, February 11 to discuss the lawsuit and other organizational news. The event will take place at Studio 7 in SoDo, at 110 S. Horton St., starting at 7 p.m. More information about this event can be found here.

At the Queen Anne Community Council‘s monthly meeting last night a lively audience addressed concerns over SDOT’s West Mercer plans for the Mercer Corridor Project.

The redevelopment of West Mercer is part of phase II of the Mercer Corridor Project, and is anticipated to begin in the summer of 2012.

According to the SDOT website, this phase of the project, among other things, will provide freight with a route to and from 15th/Elliott Avenue West by adding a second eastbound lane, and improving key intersections to accommodate large trucks. The plan would also add a sidewalk to the narrow street that borders Lower Kinnear Park. But residents in the West Mercer Place area are concerned that the project will turn the residential street into a commercial truck thoroughfare.

A letter written by Rob Pennington, spokesman of a group of concerned residents in the West Mercer Place neighborhood, was submitted to the council’s transportation committee, intended to be sent to Mayor McGinn and the Seattle City Council as representative of the council’s official position. The primary issues outlined in the letter include the concerns over the truck routes and better conditions for pedestrians, bicyclists and businesses.

From the letter:

Uptown is a destination community, surrounded by a residential neighborhood that should be enhanced for pedestrian, bicycle and transit use with improvements to our North and South traffic flow. As projects proceed with the North Portal of SR 99 and the Mercer East Corridor, we believe that the concerns of West Mercer Street and West Mercer Place residents and businesses merit consideration over stakeholders outside our neighborhood.

The council ultimately voted against adopting the letter as it was written amidst protests from some of the citizens in attendance. Instead, a letter addressing Queen Anne transportation and incorporating Pennington’s West Mercer Place issues will be written and sent from the council.

Here are some of the highlights from the other issues discussed at the meeting:

• Updates from the Department of Neighborhoods from Central Team Neighborhood District Coordinator Christa Dumpys. There have been staff reductions and consolidations with the budget cuts, but Dumpys still remains the contact for Queen Anne and Magnolia. Both the director and deputy director of the Department of Neighborhoods have left, and the interim director starts on Friday. The Queen Anne/Magnolia Neighborhood Service Center has closed, and Dumpys is now working out of the Central Neighborhood Service Center on 23^rd and Jackson, but her phone number and e-mail are still the same.
• Council member Don Harper gave a summary of the Solarize Seattle program. In brief, the program will give tax credits and a bulk rate discount to Queen Anne residents who purchase solar panels for their home. More information can be found at solarizeseattle.org.
• Don Harper also spoke about the current state of the Smith Cove land trade. Certain issues (the inability to have an athletic field within 200 feet of a shoreline, and the Port of Seattle’s disinterested in making changes to the road) regarding the land in Interbay between the west yard and Smith Cove make the land swap unlikely, but Harper is proposing that the council asks the Port of Seattle for 50 more feet of Shoreline Parkway on the West Yard.

Mayor Mike McGinn announced in a press conference at Seattle Center this morning that the city and Center will be moving ahead with plans to build a Dale Chihuly ‘glass house’ exhibition space at the Center’s former South Fun Forest site.

Images courtesy of the Mayor’s office.

In addition to the glass house, the Center will also be accepting two of the nine other submitted ideas for the space: KEXP will also be joining the Seattle Center community, coming on as a non-profit tenant, and a family-centric open playground will also be built at the Center in the North Fun Forest site.

The press conference is still in progress. We will update this story as soon as it concludes.

Update 12 p.m.: After the city announced potential plans for building a 44,000-square-foot ‘glass house’ to showcase artist Dale Chihuly’s work on the Seattle Center campus last March, debate erupted over whether this was the right decision for the Center. After some public backlash, the city solicited alternative plans for the space at the South Fun Forest site, taking into consideration the 5oth Anniversary celebrations of the 1962 World’s Fair that brought the Space Needle to Seattle.

Of the nine proposals that were submitted, the city today announced that it intends to move ahead with three of them—Chihuly’s glass house, the KEXP studio, and a childrens playground—with the commitment that it will pursue other ideas as plans for the continued development of Seattle Center unfold.

“Our goal here is to make the Center more vibrant—more music, more art—we want to make it more kid-friendly, which is why we have the playgroung, and we want to make it more financially viable,” Mayor Mike McGinn said at the press conference. “So we can finance all of the great things that are free and of no charge to the general public.”

The city and Center are pushing ahead with deals with the Wright family, who own the iconic Space Needle and have been backing plans for the Chihuly exhibition space, stating that it will be a big tourist attraction and economic stimulus for the Center. After complaints from many in the community who would rather see the South Fun Forest used for public open space rather than a pay-for-entry exhibition, the Wright family tacked on several provisions to sweeten the deal, including joint programming with Seattle Public Schools, and financial support for the outdoor play area.

As part of the agreement, the Wright family will be donating $2 million toward the play area—$1 million for the initial construction of the public playground, and another $1 million to support its maintenance needs over the next 20 years.

“This project will bring 255 new jobs to the Seattle Center. And there will be no public funds needed to fund it or build it. We’re also proud to be joining in partnership with the Pratt Fine Arts Center, Pilchuk Glass School, and others,” Jeff Wright said. “It will maximize open space and it will give us opportunities with the Memorial Stadium.”

In additional to the Chihuly exhibit space, the Center will also become the new home for KEXP, which will be moving its broadcasting studio on campus and connecting with many of the other Center tenants, including the Vera Project, to built out the city’s musical programming.

Through the deal KEXP, a non-profit, will bring more live, free performances to Seattle Center, and will partner with Seattle Public Schools, the Seattle Public Library, the Seattle Channel, EMP, UW and a number of other local organizations to make music more readily available to city services and residents and develop multi-platform musical programing for the public.

“KEXP is more than a radio station—we are an arts organization and we make a different in people’s lives by championing music,” said KEXP executive director Tom Mara. “We are on our way to becoming a music center—a place that will bring vitality to the Seattle Center and economic development to a neighborhood, Queen Anne.”

The KEXP studio, which would be located in a 27,960-square-foot space in the Center’s Northwest rooms in the corner of Seattle Center, is still two years down the line. According to Mara and Mayor McGinn, the organization needs time to raise the funds to refurbish the building and outfit it for its needs.

“We’ve agreed that the earliest we can have access to this building is right on the heels of the end of the anniversary celebration, which is November 2012,” Seattle Center Century 21 chair Bill Block said, adding that the organization will soon be conducting a feasibility study to determine exactly how much they will need to make the “significant improvements in both the shell of the building and the interior” needed.

Mayor McGinn says that once KEXP is moved into the center, they will provide an “appropriate level of revenue and support” for the campus through the organization’s non-profit dues, and the promotion of the Center via KEXP’s daily broadcasts, events, and other promotions.

“We were arguing over this whether I was allowed to say they were the coolest music radio station in the universe—so I’m not allowed to say that, but they are very, very cool, and they represent Seattle’s spirit too,” he said. “The idea that we’re going to have them here in Seattle Center with the deal that they will be a non-profit center—they will be promoting Seattle Center nationally and internationally day after day.”

The timeline for the childrens play area is also is similar to that of KEXP, though it already has the financial backing of the Wright family. The playground site will be located in the North Fun Forest, which from April 2011 to October 2012 will be housing a 200-foot observation wheel, part of the Center’s The Next Fifty–Seattle 2012 anniversary celebrations. The playground itself is slated to open in 2013.

When asked if the city and Seattle Center would be pursuing any of the other proposed plans for the Fun Forest sites—which included Northwest Native Cultural Center, and Center Park—down the line, Mayor McGinn responded, “the short answer is yes.”

“It has more to do with the evolution of their ideas,” he said. “Chihuly and KEXP were further along in the development of their ideas, but we want to partner with other organizations in pursuing other ideas.” He added that the city will be putting together a task force made up of the Seattle Center Foundation, 4Culture, and a capital campaign led by Jeff Wright, to guide the further development of the north Fun Forest and Memorial Stadium. This task force will be charged with moving plans forward for:

• An open, competitive process to design and develop the north Fun Forest as open space along the lines of the vision put forward by Open Platform,
• Moving forward on the vision for the new Memorial Stadium, including removal of the southern wall, and
• an overall $10 million capital campaign commitment to improve open spaces in the Fun Forest area and where it integrates with Memorial Stadium.

“We’ve come up with something here that we hope really speaks to different parts of Seattle’s spirit,” said Mayor McGinn. “We want to make it something that speaks to the best of Seattle, and makes it an inspiring place.”

The tone echoed by each of the speakers was that this plan is not the be all end all of Seattle Center, but rather just the beginning of the Center’s revitalization, as the city works to solidify it as a focal point for Seattle’s arts and cultural scene, and the heart of the South Lake Union to Elliot Bay loop.

“It’s not Chihuly or KEXP, it’s Chihuly and KEXP and this great family center,” said City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw. “It’s going to connect South Queen Anne and Uptown and the Center here in a way that we’ve never seen before.”

“Today is a testament to what Seattle Center means to the community,” said Seattle Center director Robert Nallams. “That’s the beauty of this place—it’s something for everybody, not everything for everybody.”

Mayor McGinn reiterated that the work is not done yet—the Center will have to break ground on the new exhibition space soon if it expects to complete it in time for the 50th Anniversary celebrations.

“Chihuly and that exhibit is going to be ready to go before the 2012 celebrations. The City Council will be reviewing this, of course, but I have to say we are uniting on this and it’s going to happen,” Bagshaw said.

“Nothing about this was pre-ordained. There were negotiations, and more negotiations,” Mayor McGinn said. “We have some very firm things we’re doing today—Chihuly, KEXP, the playground, and the opportunity for open space. We have more work to do…We’re doing out best here to make this the kind of place where people want to be.”

The Nickelsville homeless tent camp is supposed to move out of its current location in the U-District on November 15. But instead of being forced to find another temporary home, it could soon have a permanent one in Interbay or Magnolia.

Nickelsville camp currently in the U-District

A citizens panel appointed by Mayor McGinn recommends that Seattle put a permanent homeless encampment on city land within a month and open up parks and the basement of City Hall to people with nowhere else to sleep.

KING 5 and our news partner the Seattle Times report the potential sites include two in the Magnolia/Interbay area. One location is on city property under the Magnolia Bridge next to the playfield (1451 23rd Ave W) and the other is the Interbay substation at 3222 17th Ave W.    The remaining sites are in Haller Lake, West Seattle, and South Seattle.

The citizens panel will now look over the list and make its recommendation.  We’ll continue to track developments and bring you reaction throughout the week.

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.

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.

If you’re one of our readers, chances are you’re fairly adept at getting around the Internet, and have at least probably dabbled in finding information through government web sites, especially Seattle.gov.

Knowledge as Power (KAP), a non-profit based in Seattle with a primary objective to empower politically engaged citizens, is running a Usability Study on Seattle.gov that wants to see how easy (or hard) that site is for people to navigate and to find the information they need/want. And they’ll give you $20 in Tippr credit.

KAP founder and executive director Sarah Schacht explains on her blog:

When I was approached by the Mayor’s office in March for ideas on open gov work that could be implemented across Seattle’s services, the first thing I pointed out was that our city, like many others, doesn’t really know what residents want from their government in terms of openness and online services. It would be important to do a usability study, and use the results to guide future redesigns’ prioritization. Problem was, there’s no money for that kind of work, especially in governments that are slashing staff and announcing doomsday budgets. So, I put my bargain-hunting to work, again, to help fuel the usability study.

So for less than $250 in KAP funds, this study will give Seattle’s Department of Information Technology (DoIT) and Mayor McGinn’s office a roadmap for improving Seattle.gov, based on the feedback of about 50 Seattle residents who will sit down for an hour (if you’re chosen after doing a short online survey). Let KAP tell you more:

Essentially we are looking for participants like you to sit in a room and let us takes notes as you browse for information on Seattle.gov. It’s as easy as that, and in return we will give you $20 in Tippr credit. (Tippr.com is a local Seattle company similar to Groupon, LivingSocial, etc. Your $20 credit gets you $40-$60 worth of Seattle goods.)

Right now we are looking for two specific groups of people:

1) People who use or have used Seattle.gov for a business purpose (e.g. perhaps you’re a startup and you have to use the website to find and apply for permits) and

2) Ordinary Citzens! We’re looking for people of every level computer competency to come in and test the website.

Come help your city — or at least its web site — work better. Fill out the short application page here.

Mayor Mike McGinn announced his selection of current interim Seattle Police Chief John Diaz to take on the permanent post Thursday, June 24. Seattle Channel recorded the mayor’s announcement, which you can watch below.

Diaz stepped in as interim chief when former Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske left to take up a new position as the nation’s Drug Control Policy Director. The mayor had narrowed the selection pool down the three finalists last month, including Diaz, Sacramento police chief Rick Braziel and East Palo Alto, California police chief Ron Davis, when Braziel withdrew from the race. For more information on Diaz and what’s in store for the Seattle Police Department, read this piece by our news partner, The Seattle Times.

Mayor Mike McGinn is hosting a community forum on Wednesday, June 2, where the three Seattle Police Chief finalists will discuss their experience and answer questions from the public.

Mayor McGinn began looking for a new police chief back in January, after former Chief Gil Kerlikowske left his post to take a presidentially appointed position as the nation’s Drug Control Policy Director. Narrowing down the list provided by the 26-member Police Chief Search Committee, McGinn has settled on the final three: Rick Braziel (.pdf), the current chief of police in Sacramento; Ron Davis (.pdf), the chief of police in East Palo Alto, California; and Interim Seattle Police Chief John Diaz (.pdf).

The forum will begin at 6 p.m. in Seattle Center’s Rainier Room. It will be moderated by Search Committee Co-Chairman Charles Rolland and will have opening remarks by Mayor McGinn. Each candidate will give a five-minute presentation, followed by a half-hour of discussion, in which audience members are encouraged to submit questions. Various community representatives will also be present with prepared questions for the candidates, and translators will be available to help anyone who needs assistance.

If you can’t make it to the meeting, the event will be streamed live online at both the Seattle Channel and Mayor McGinn’s blog.

Mayor McGinn is expected to make a final decision sometime in June, subject to the Seattle City Council’s confirmation of his police chief appointment.

Over the last couple of weeks the proposed W Nickerson Street “road diet” has become a hot topic in the Queen Anne community. This week supporters of the plan to restructure Nickerson between Warren Ave N and 13th Ave W from two lanes in each direction to one, adding a middle turn lane and bicycle lane, found reinforcement in the recent release of an SDOT report indicating the positive effects of a similar “road diet” implemented along Stone Way N in Wallingford two years ago.

Citywide politicians have also been getting involved in the debate, including Mayor Mike McGinn who supports the plan, and Councilman Tom Rasmussen who this week said came out in opposition of the diet, which he says should be delayed until projects at other high-volume corridors including Mercer Street and the Alaskan Way Viaduct tunnel are completed in 2016. From our news partner, The Seattle Times:

Peter Hahn, the new transportation director, said he had authority to carry out the $200,000 makeover without further council or mayor actions — and if it failed, the road diet could be easily reversed.

Rasmussen says he heard an immediate outcry from neighborhood and Democrat groups. Nickerson is one of only two east-west streets directly feeding Ballard industries. Meanwhile, angry drivers tell the Times that bicyclists should use the Ship Canal Trail, a block away.

According to the Times, Seattle has completed some 24 “road diet” lane reductions citywide since 1972, and Mayor McGinn is pushing hard to continue the program.

The mayor, a longtime environmental activist, announced the Nickerson road diet May 11, as part of a re-emphasis on walking, biking and transit projects. One goal is for lower car speeds to improve pedestrian safety; the street passes through Seattle Pacific University.

Although SDOT says the road diet on Stone Way N has increased safety by significantly lowering the number of collisions between cars, bicycles and pedestrians along the stretch, Rasmussen said the council may work to stop the project by:

a) pass a budget proviso withholding road-diet money, b) pass a recommendation for or against the plan, or c) watch what happens, perhaps adding language repealing the road diet if things went bad.

Meanwhile, community members in support of the plan have organized a support group, Supporters of the Nickerson St. Road Diet, to counteract the recently formed 15th Ave W Coalition. Founder Charles Redell sent this letter out to community members today:

I first read about the 15th Ave. W Transportation Coalition earlier this week on Magnolia Voice. The fact that Magnolia Community Council wrote a letter against the proejct in which it claimed to represent 24,000 Magnolia residents got under my skin because I fully support the road diet for Nickerson. After reading the Stone Way Road Diet study and talking to a few people about the safety issues for bike rider and pedestrians on Nickerson St., I decided to start Supporters of the Nickerson St. Road Diet to see if we can get a group of people together to make it clear that many, many people in these neighborhoods of all stripes support this plan.

The Google group was created two days ago and is getting coverage in a few outlets already. People are joining the Facebook group and we are planning efforts to get the word out about the benefits this road diet will bring to the area. Among them are a safer street for pedestrians and bike riders, increased business opportunities for local, small businesses and a more livable neighborhood overall.

All supporters of the Road Diet are welcome to join and take part.

We’ll keep you posted as this discussion continues.

After a lot of public backlash upon the announcement of a smoking ban in all city parks on Wednesday, February 17, Seattle Parks and Recreation Superintendent Tim Gallagher yesterday decided to amend his decision, relaxing the rules that would have banned smoking in parks effective April 1, 2010.

The Board of Park Commissioners recommended this language in the Code of Conduct: “Smoking, chewing, or other tobacco use is banned within 25 feet of other park patrons and in play areas, beaches, or playgrounds.”

“Based on the input from the public that followed my initial decision,” Gallagher said, “I have decided that a gradual approach to a smoking ban is reasonable.”

This comes after the rule banning firearms in Seattle parks was tossed out last week by King County Superior Court Judge Catherine Shaffer, who said the city cannot pre-empt state law.  Our news partners at the Seattle Times reports that the city will now be required to remove the 116 metal signs in city parks that read “FIREARMS PROHIBITED.”

In response to the ruling, Mayor Mike McGinn expressed his disappointment, stating, “Cities should have the right to restrict guns in playground, pools and community centers where children are present…It’s time for the state Legislature to change that law.” Read more about the gun ban ruling here.

Mayor McGinn is searching for a new chief of police and has asked the public to help develop the selection criteria. Former Chief Gil Kerlikowske left the Seattle Police Department upon his appointment as the nation’s drug czar by President Obama last year. The Seattle Police Chief Search Committee, a 26-member citizen panel, has been tasked with the job of narrowing the pool of potentials down to three finalists to recommend to the mayor in May, in the hopes of making a final selection by June.

The search committee is posing the following questions to community members:

• What qualities are you looking for in a new Police Chief?
• What is the most important public safety issue in Seattle?
• What does the Seattle Police Department do well?
• What changes would you like to see?

To encourage community input the city has set up three ways for those interested to respond – by attending one of three upcoming public forums, visiting the new website or dialing into a dedicated phone line set up for the search.

The first meeting will he held tomorrow, Wednesday, February 10 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Northgate Community Center, located at 10510 5th Ave NE. The first two hours of the meeting has been allotted for public comment, with the final hour reserved for the search committee “to begin developing competitive selection process and assessment criteria.”

The next two meetings have been set for 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 17 (at Franklin High School, located at 3013 Mount Baker S.) and Friday, February 26 (at New Holly Gathering Center, located 7054 32nd Ave. S.) Language interpreters will be available at the third and final meeting in the following languages: Tagalog, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Laotian, Amharic, Oromiffa, Khmer (Cambodian), Somali, and Tigrinya.

For more information, see the search committee website. Download the meetings flyer here (.pdf). Can’t make it to a meeting? Answer the committee’s four questions online or over the phone by calling 206-684-CITY (206-684-2489).

Want to discuss the 2010 budget one-on-one with city departments and representatives? This Sunday, January 31 you’ll get your chance at the Citizens Budget Conference 2010 (.pdf) from 12 to 5 p.m. at Seattle Center’s Center House.

The conference will include overviews of the budget by Mayor McGinn and the City Council Finance & Budget Committee Chair Jean Godden, a Q&A with city agencies, and time to chat with city department representatives one-on-one at their individual tables. Download the full agenda here.

This event it sponsored by the City Neighborhood Council and Seattle Center, in cooperation with the City Council, Mayor’s office, Budget Office and Department of Neighborhoods.