Dear District 2 Friends and Neighbors:

One of my top priorities for 2005 is election reform and ensuring King County does not repeat mistakes made in the November election. In late January, I hosted a town meeting on election reform with Dean Logan, King County Elections Director. It was our most successful town meeting yet with nearly 200 North Seattle residents in attendance and standing room only. I was pleased by the great turnout, but particularly thankful for the civil discussion we held on election reform.

At the town meeting, I distributed an informal survey. The results showed a large majority of the attendees support moving the primary to an earlier date, preferably in June. Also, there was great support for making the Secretary of State a non-partisan elected position and changing the due dates of absentee ballots to Election Day, instead of only requiring postmark on Election Day. Please see below for further election reform information.

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Election Reform

I am working on a bipartisan election reform package with Councilmembers Julia Patterson (D) and Kathy Lambert (R). These improvements can all be adopted by the Council:
• Require provisional ballots to be formatted or coded to prevent machine tabulation at the poll site.
• Require a space plan be created to centralize election facilities instead of the multiple facilities currently operated.
• Increase funding for poll and election worker training to ensure correct election procedures.
• Direct King County Elections to conduct a pilot special election entirely by mail to examine voter turnout, cost savings, and efficiencies.

Two weeks ago, I visited Olympia to meet with Secretary of State Sam Reed and Senator Jim Kastama, Chair of the Senate Government Operations & Elections Committee to discuss necessary election reform. Counties are creatures of the state and state law largely dictates county election procedures. Most election reforms, such as moving the date of the primary to June or August, must be passed by the Washington State Legislature.

That is why I am lobbying legislators and I encourage your participation as well. Contact the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000 to leave a message for your legislators regarding needed election reforms that you support. To find your legislators, please visit: www.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/Default.aspx.

My next print newsletter focuses on elections and will include a formal survey that I will also make available online. I hope you will take the time to complete the survey to help guide public policy regarding our election system.

Council Reduction This Fall

The King County Council will reduce from 13 to 9 members. Council district lines were finalized on January 15, 2005, and can be viewed at the Districting Committee Website at: www.metrokc.gov/council/districting. All King County Councilmembers will be up for re-election this fall and will run based on the new district lines.

I agree with the editorial pages of The Seattle Times and The Seattle P.I. -- I was disappointed with the overtly political distortion of the district line drawing process. State law required the Districting Committee to draw the boundaries to correspond as nearly as practical with the boundaries of existing municipalities and to recognize natural boundaries and communities of related interest. This did not happen in many respects. North Seattle is split into three separate districts, combined with unrelated communities that cross natural boundaries and lump together areas of little resemblance. In my view, this process constituted politics first and the people second.

More Information:

Panel formally adopts voting-district changes
The Seattle Times – January 16, 2005

Ferguson and Irons look like the losers in redistricting
The Seattle P.I. – January 12, 2005

Partisanship takes back seat to survival as King County Council shrinks
The Seattle P.I. – December 6, 2004

In the Community

North Lake Union: Council ignores Wallingford Community

On Monday, February 7, 2005, the King County Council voted to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the eventual sale of the Metro-owned property known as the “tank farm” located in Wallingford, one block away from Lake Union and Gas Works Park. The Wallingford Community and a County-appointed stakeholder group opposed this sale. A RFP will now be released for interested parties to bid on the property. The RFP was catered to an informal offer by a specific developer. The Wallingford Community desired to keep the property in public hands for the eventual use as open space and a public educational aquatic center with community meeting rooms.

The King County Council formed a stakeholder group of interested citizens to produce a master plan for three county owned properties in the Wallingford / North Lake Union area. Overwhelmingly, this group determined that the property should remain in public hands. The King County Council ignored the recommendations of the citizen group and will proceed with the RFP.

I am very disappointed that after the council asked for community input on what should be done with this property, the council turned their back on those recommendations from the very citizens who will be impacted by this sale. Giving the impression that you want input and then ignoring that input only leads to hard feelings.

My amendment to reduce the minimum offer to $4.3 million, the appraised value of the property, passed unanimously. The original RFP included a minimum offer of $11 million, nearly 3 times the appraisal of the parcel, and would effectively price the community out of consideration. Although the RFP will be released, I am pleased that the minimum offer is set at the appraised value to allow for the potential for a community related bid.

The King County Council will vote in June on whether to sell the property.

More information:

County takes step to sell land near Gas Works Park
The Seattle Times— February 8, 2005

County votes to sell land near Gas Works Park for possible development
The Seattle P.I. – February 8, 2005

County seeks to sell property near Gas Works for $11 million
The Seattle Times— February 2, 2005

Neighborhood persuades Sound Transit to choose 12th Avenue location

I am pleased by Sound Transit’s January 27, 2005, vote to chose the 12th Avenue N.E. and N.E. 65th Street alignment for “North Link” Light Rail. I live very close to the 12th Avenue N.E. proposed location and have a personal interest in this site. I often use the 65th Street Park & Ride and my wife and I frequent Horizon Books, Bengal Tiger, and Bus Stop Espresso.

I wrote to all Sound Transit Board members and testified at the January 27 board meeting in support of the 12th Avenue alignment. My office also financially supported the Roosevelt Neighbors Association with their outreach effort through printing reimbursement for their newsletter. I followed this planning effort for more than a year, met individually with many constituents, and attended numerous community meetings on this issue.

Congratulations to the citizens who actively took part in encouraging the Sound Transit Board to support the community with the 12th Avenue N.E. alignment. In particular, I want to thank Jim O’Halloran for his great civic activism. As President of the Roosevelt Neighbors Association and founder of the NorthLink Neighborhoods for 12th, Jim was instrumental in bringing the community together and lobbying the Sound Transit Board.

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Phone: (206) 296-1002 | Fax: (206) 296-0198 | TTY/TDD: (206) 296-1024 | Toll Free: (800) 325-6165
Mailing Address: King County Courthouse, 516 Third Avenue, Room 1200, Seattle, WA 98104-3272