Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Green Seattle - Biking Like Copenhagen

The City of Seattle Department of Planning and Development
city green building
Invites you to:
Bicycling: A Sustainable Choice

Niels Tørsløv, City of Copenhagen

More than 36 percent of all Copenhagen commuters arrive on bikes, and cycling has become a significant part of urban life there. Now the city has even more ambitious goals -- service improvements aim to increase bicycling commute trips to 50 percent by 2015. Copenhagen's use of cycling to improve public health and reduce the city's carbon footprint inspires cities around the world. Please join us for a brown bag lunch with city of Copenhagen Traffic Director Niels Tørsløv, who is visiting a number of North American cities to share his knowledge and experience.

Sponsored by:
Seattle Department of Transportation, Cascade Bicycling Club,
& International Sustainability Institute
Bicycling: A Sustainable Choice Niels Tørsløv

Friday, Feb. 27, 2009 Noon - 1 p.m.
Seattle Central Library's Microsoft Auditorium
1000 Fourth Ave.
Seattle, WA 98104

Community Action - Las Vegas

A MESSAGE FROM LAS VEGAS Hip-Hop Congress
Dear Partner Organizations,

The Stop the “F” Street Closure LLC is a non-profit organization made up of residents of the historic Westside community, concerned Southern Nevadans, and civil rights activists. Our main cause is to oppose the closing of two major streets, “D” & “F”, which was decided and approved without proper outreach to the community. Legal representation was sought and once it was confirmed that this action was a gross violation of the community’s civil rights, on December 24, 2008, a lawsuit was filed against the City of Las Vegas and NDOT.

In October 2008, we were made aware of the permanent closure of “F” Street as well as “D”. After receiving unfulfilling explanations from key city and state officials for the closures, we then decided to form this coalition. Although our persistent opposing was rewarded by the city’s approval to reopen “D” Street in February 2009, the symbol of the closures is still the underlying issue, and “F” Street, the only through access to the city’s “new downtown” remain a serious concern.

Presently, we are planning a protest march down the Las Vegas Strip on Saturday April 18, 2009, the weekend the National Broadcastors Association convention will be in town. We feel it’s important for oppressed community and representatives of oppressed communities across the globe to stand up and be heard.

We would like your support in this time-sensitive cause. Please join us in our march and together let’s reclaim communities that are in dire need of outside help. Your contributions would be greatly appreciated.

For further information, I can be reached at 702.379.8966.


For your perusal, please visit our website: http://www.westlv.org/ or http://www.westlv.org/, which houses informative links and an online petition. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Trish Geran,

Chairwoman


Brandon Greene,

Outreach Coordinator

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Changes Coming in the ID: EVENT

Anticipating significant zoning changes to South Downtown the International District community produced a plan to guide and shape growth, ID Vision 2030.

Please join us at GGLO on March 12 for a brownbag lunch presentation on ID Vision 2030 by Tom Im, hosted by Seattle Great City Initiative.

Tom Im has been a community organizer and planner for InterIm Community Development Association in the ID for the last 11 years.

----------------------------
Find details here
Time: March 12, 2009 from 12pm to 1:30pm
Location: GGLO Harbor Steps
Street: 1301 First Ave – Enter at GGLO Level A-off of the steps.
Event Type: brown, bag, lunch

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Event: Olympia, WA Feb 19th!

Hearing Feb 19th Thurs Set on Senate Version SB 5687 of Futurewise TOD (transit oriented development) Bill in Government Operations Committee

TIME: 330 PM
PLACE: Olympia Senate Hearing Room to be determined (stay tuned)

The hearing on this bill that will do so much damage to our urban environment is being held on "Environmental Lobby" Day! You can see below that the other side on this issue is mobilizing so please call, testify, email today your opposition to this bill (see emails of Senators to call listed below) **

Don't forget to attend Sally Clark's forum next Wed. the 18th on this bill - the other side is organizing for it I know! (6:00pm to 7:30 at Langston Hughes that day 104 17th Ave. S.) for more information contact 206-799-6082) or go to our website for a lot of good information on how it will impact your nabe! http://www.zipcon.net/~jvf4119/

See flyer below from Coalition of Environmental Groups & how they've disregarded Our Neighborhood Concerns - They say we are spreading "misinformation" Note below that a coalition of environmental groups are coordinating support for this bill in its current form without any consideration to the issues neighborhoods and low income housing advocates have been raising in our city. Last week over 120 residents at the Mt Baker Clubhouse from all over the city roundly condemned the bill in its current form. Three weeks ago, the Federation of Community Councils with over 20 groups present unanimously voted to oppose the bill. Two days ago, the 37th District Dem's covering areas directly affected by the bill voted 4-1 to oppose this bill Yet these environmental organizations to date have paid no heed to these concerns and accuse us of spreading misinformation. Its a darn shame that so many of these enviro groups in this coalition, including organizations many of us have supported for years with our dollars and memberships, have chosen to give blind support to the Futurewise bill.

In its current form, the 50 acre mandates within one half mile of at least nine Seattle transit stations in our nabe's would require Seattle to upzone for 17000-20000 units in each of these nine areas. Many of them now are at 4-9 units per acre (2000-4000 units) and house literally thousands of low income, multi-racial, and working people (this includes half the developable land in SE Seattle - the low income, multi-racial, and working class half). There is no doubt it would set off massive levels of displacement and gentrification not to mention dramatic loss of trees and open space in our inner-city communities. Contrary to Futurewise and the claims of the Low Income Housing Alliance, the housing mitigation measures in the bill are not adequate by a long shot to stem these losses that would result if this bill is passed in its present form.

Call or write members of the Senate Government Operations Committee whose names are listed below to oppose SB 5687. Sponsors of this Senate version include Senators Kline, Kohl-Welles, Kauffman, McAuliffe, and Jacobsen.

You might also email/call them too and your Senator. (go to State Senate website for their phone #'s) -
D's:Senator Darlene Fairley mailto:fairley.darlene@leg.wa.gov
Senator Eric Oemig mailto:oemig.eric@leg.wa.gov
Senator Joe McDermott mailto:mcdermott.joe@leg.wa.gov
Senator Craig Pridemore mailto:pridemore.craig@leg.wa.gov
Senator Pam Roach (R) mailto:roach.pam@leg.wa.gov
Senator Don Benton (R) mailto:benton.don@leg.wa.gov
Senator Dan Swecker (R) mailto:swecker.dan@leg.wa.gov

We have supported (and some of us are members) of the organizations listed on the alert below. They work on important causes we care a lot about. Many of us worked with some of these long standing groups to get growth management passed in the first place. But we cannot countenance such blind support like this for a bill destructive to our neighborhoods. They do a disservice to their important goals and to our "urban" increasingly threatened communities. The logic that environmental values within our urban neighborhoods (especially predominately low income and multi-racial areas) must be sacrificed to preserve these environmental values out there - somewhere else - is completely unacceptable. A 50 unit per acre one-size fits all mandate with no regard or even analysis of how it affects our communities, with not even an attempt to take input from these affected communities, and across large areas of our city is completely unacceptable

Monday, February 2, 2009

Ron Simms Leaving King County for HUD

Ron Sims to leave Seattle for HUD
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

King County Executive Ron Sims is taking a post in President Obama's administration as deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

A source in Washington's congressional delegation confirmed the appointment, which requires Senate confirmation, to The Associated Press on Monday, requesting anonymity because the news had not yet been announced.

Sims, who has been the top elected official in the state's most populous county since 1996, scheduled a Monday morning news conference. His office declined to comment.
Sims was first elected to the King County Council in 1985 and appointed executive after Gary Locke was elected governor. Sims won election the next year and was re-elected in 2001 and 2005.

He is a Central Washington University graduate who worked on consumer protection issues at the state attorney general's office and the Federal Trade Commission. He ran Seattle's juvenile offender program and worked as a legislative aide in the state Senate before he was elected to the King County Council.

King County, which includes Seattle, is the 13th largest county in the nation with a population of 1.8 million. The county accounts for more than 40 percent of the state's jobs. The county government has a work force of over 13,000 and an annual budget of $4.4 billion.