November 24th, 2015
On the Monday the Council approved the 2016 City of Seattle budget. As Chair of the Council’s Budget Committee, I was responsible for assembling a balancing package for consideration by the City Council. The budget passed by the Council focuses on urgent, immediate needs. I believe that when more people have a chance to reach […]
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October 16th, 2015
This may sound like a boring topic with a title that is trying hard to make it exciting. However, if I were to title it “How to spend a million dollars,” you might read it. And, hopefully you are right now. So here it is in a nutshell. The City’s 2016 Budget determines how your […]
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September 28th, 2015
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray today released his proposed 2016 budget and proposed 2016-21 Capital Improvement Program. The City Council’s Budget Committee will begin its consideration of the budget on Thursday, October 1, with an overview provided by the City Budget Office. Public input is vital to Council review and helps Councilmembers develop a budget that […]
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May 18th, 2015
Are you aware that musicians must often “pay to play” or play for “zero minus expenses” – the venue pays them nothing while they must cover their own costs? Does that seem fair?
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March 30th, 2015
WHAT’S NEW? On Wednesday, April 1, 2015, the City of Seattle’s historic new minimum wage law goes into effect. All employers will have to pay their employees a minimum of $11 an hour, but those employers with 500 or fewer employees can count tips and medical benefit payments to help them reach the $11 minimum […]
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Posted: March 30th, 2015 under
Budget and Economic Development,
UP.
March 27th, 2015
The March edition of Council Edition is available online. Councilmembers O’Brien, Sawant and I join host Brian Callanan to discuss the city’s housing crisis, including tenants’ rights, encampments, and linkage fees. We also discuss participatory budgeting and Seattle’s minimum-wage increase.
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March 2nd, 2015
Are you a community group with ideas for advancing racial equity?
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February 20th, 2015
The Seattle Human Services Coalition and I will co-host a forum about Participatory Budgeting, and discuss how it’s worked in other cities, and how it could work here in Seattle. Participatory Budgeting is a democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend part of a city budget. The forum will be on […]
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Posted: February 20th, 2015 under
Budget and Economic Development.
January 30th, 2015
On January 27 we held the first forum on Participatory Budgeting, a democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend part of a city budget. We’ll look to hold a second meeting within the next month or so. We saw a presentation by Ginny Browne of the Participatory Budgeting Project, and she […]
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January 26th, 2015
Remember the Kingdome, its falling tiles, and its implosion in 2000?
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