Comunity Council Annual Meeting Recap

(Wallyhood welcomes Eric Fisk, the incoming Wallingford Community Council President, to our pages.)

Hello! After a fierce campaign for the Wallingford Community Council presidency where many able and compelling candidates declined to serve, it turns out I will be filling the role. I got involved when renovating Meridian Playground- the council was the fiscal sponsor and helped connect me with the right people and processes in city government. The many volunteer groups at the annual meeting this past Thursday were great to see, including the John Stanford International School playground group, the McDonald School playground group, Sustainable Wallingford, the Wallingford Chamber, the Wallingford Senior Center, and Family Works.

I hope you can attend a meeting in the future. If you’re a liberal that believes government has a role in improving society, then you owe it to your beliefs to do your bit in engaging with government. If you don’t get involved, then you know what will happen: government will be steered by those that pay campaign bills for politicians, sue government, or manage to generate embarrassing press coverage.

Upcoming meetings will deal with 520, disaster preparedness, redrawing lines on the pavement for bikes, the new dump design in south Wallingford, and all sorts of other exciting stuff. If there’s an issue you want to see addressed and you have the energy to help make it happen, please let me know in by writing to wccprez at wallingford.org. Especially if you want frisbee golf in Lower Woodland Park.

Here’s a recap of what Frank Chopp had to say at the annual meeting- a Wallingfordian and probably the most powerful legislator in Olympia…

• On his time establishing the Fremont Public Association (now Solid Ground): Fremont was formerly Seattle’s “Haight Ashbury”- overrun with drug traffic, high unemployment, and blight. Government provided virutally no social service programs at the time. In the mid 70s and early 80s, the FPA was created to channel activism for housing, poverty programs, job centers, and a few galvanizing projects like the Waiting for Interurban sculpture and the Fremont Street Fair. They also helped start up recycling in Seattle, setting routes to match up with each city council member and embarrassing mayor Royer when he failed to separate his bottles from his trash. They grew beyond Fremont to help organize human service organizations like Seattle Food Banks, health clinics and shelters.
• Advice to Wallingford: focus on one or two efforts. Consider carving out part of the 300,000 square foot Lincoln High School for Community Center activities. Money exists in 3 funds- the 1) the Building Communities Fund ($32 million), 2) Community Schools Fund ($12 million, for buying up old school buildings); 3) Washington Works Housing Fund ($25 million) to fund work force housing in neighborhoods. Next wave of community schools funding may run through the Department of Commerce (next legislative session)- contact Frank for more info.
• Funding social service in the north end: Don’t seek funds tied to poverty issues, educate people about the need so the rules of the game will change, and use the Washington Works housing fund.
• The “Seattle pays cost overruns on the tunnel” issue: The cap on costs came out of the senate, not the house, he did not put it in but sees no political way of removing the cap. If Seattle wants a deep bore they need to pay for it, you can’t just keep doing the most expensive projects, and an advisory group (citizen’s group) recommended the surface option. He blames Nickels for the current situation and sees no way out of it.
• Congestion tolls on single occupancy cars: Ed Murray is setting up tolling at the state level, work with him. Frank has pushed for an HOV-3 requirement for tolling 520. The audience would rather see an HOV-2 limit that has tolls set based on a throughput requirement, plus a break for commercial trucking.
• Are there any “buy local” grants: Due to budget, local communities are largely on their own. Solid Ground has an idea they are pushing – dedicate existing restaurant tax to local food/pea patch/urban farm initiatives.
• Green building requirements in the housing initiatives: Ask Karl Schroeder of Frank’s district office, #360.786.7206, about what LEEDS rating these programs must meet via the Housing Trust fund and Washington Works housing.
• Funding public education via the lottery: Reports from my friend who works at Cryptogmblr.com, money that was going to public schools is now going to higher ed as it makes for better advertising model (lottery = realize your dreams + that of a college kid) and does not associate public schools with gambling.
• Why did public financing of judicial elections stall in the senate: Most people agree that judges should be nonpartisan, but things happen and it didn’t pass.
• Wallingford and 40th hole, Wallingford dump remodel, land use in general: These are city issues. If you want it fixed, apply pressure on the owner or city government.
• Finally, an interesting tidbit from Frank – many neighborhood groups were originally formed to exclude blacks and jews from neighborhoods. Ick, not any of ours I hope.