By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
The Morgan Community Association usually packs a ton of updates and revelations into its quarterly meeting, and that’s exactly what happened tonight at The Kenney during the MoCA gathering facilitated by president Deb Barker.
SEATTLE CITY LIGHT EV LOT: Lizzy Kay and Grant Barton from brought an update on the eight-charger lot at Fauntleroy/Morgan/42nd. As we first reported back in xxx, the utility fired its contractor (in late July) and is now working with the entity that bonded the contractor (a surety) to figure out what happens next and when. Next month, they hope to have that information. It won’t have to go out into a full bidding process, she said. “We are absolutely committed to completing this project,” she said. A change emerged in Q&A – all eight chargers will be City Light owned and operated (no Tesla charges after all). Until the work resumes, City Light is checking on the site periodically, and wants to hear about any problems you might see.
MORGAN JUNCTION PARK EXPANSION: Olivia Reed from Seattle Parks said this project is on schedule and budget, with construction anticipated in “late summer” next year; they’re moving toward the 60 percent design milestone. Trae Yang from Parks, the project manager, talked about “risks” on the project, such as the storm-main extension issue. “I’ve found a path forward” with a funding source to cover its costs, she said. That source is a “reimbursement” situation so they have to do the work and then go after the money. Another “minimized risk” was a mysterious culvert discovered under California and beneath the skate-dot site, but she’s had some challenges finding documentation about it – there apparently once was a bridge spanning a ravine. Her “construction sequencing” plans will help ensure the culvert “is not going to be a problem for us.” Some things, she said, “we’re not going to know until we dig.” That could mean they’ll find pockets of contamination not detected before, but she has a “pretty healthy contingency” set aside. She also mentioned a geotechnical report that shows the soils under the skate-dot site “are not as good as we hoped” so they’re working to analyze what that could mean. Construction pricing has been fluctuating wildly too, she said. “Everything could change tomorrow and we could see double the cost.” She also mentioned they’re considering a mid-block crossing based on the anticipated increase in park usage.
In Q&A, Yang said the Eddy Street issue hadn’t been settled yet. She also said they can’t just buy material like concrete now and set it aside – “fixing construction pricing is something we’re not allowed to do.” Beveridge Place Pub co-owner Terri Sink said she hopes that as many of the native plantings can be retained as possible: “We look forward to being partners on the project.” We asked about the current project budget, since they’d mentioned feeling good about it: $1.25 million for the north parcel, $720,000 for the south/skate-dot parcel. Reed said the skate-dot implementation plan will be added to the website soon.
TRAFFIC CONCERN: A father and daughter who live near Fauntleroy/Holly mentioned a school-bus stop at California/Holly requiring a group of middle-schoolers to cross there, in a spot where people come “ripping through” in both directions. So they’re trying to get some improvements there, reaching to SDOT. The daughter said waiting for cars to stop might take a long time, but stepping into the street to ensure drivers can see her can be dangerous too. They’re hoping for support and encouragement, and are already talking with the Safe Routes to School team. michael.harold@gmail.com
POLICE UPDATE: Lt. Pat Daly from the Southwest Precinct brought West Seattle stats first – “crime is down but we understand that may not match the perception in the community.” Big drop in violent crime, down 17 percent; property crime down six percent; auto theft down 31 percent; slight uptick in thefts, 1704 this time last year, 1742 this year; slight uptick in robberies, 90 last year 94 this year, but “our robbery detectives identified a ring of about five individuals responsible for 18 of them, we’ve made some arrests. … A lot of that was convenience stores.” 79 shots-fired incidents so far last year, 70 this year. Morgan Junction specific, 21 burglaries so far this year, less than half what had happened this year; auto theft up a bit, 51 this year compared to 47.
NEW BIZ: Upward Physical Therapy is now open at 6040 California SW. Proprietor Maureen Babcock said it’s been “fun” since opening last December. She’s lived in West Seattle for eight years. They “provide holistic, individualized care” in the gap between injury rehab and “true physical performance.” They also have classes such as getting ready for ski/snowboard season and getting ready for hiking season. Outdoor enthusiasts are their specialty, as well as male pelvic-floor issues and Parkinson’s Disease.
MORGAN HAZARDS WALK: Barker read a reminder from Emergency Hubs organizers about the Morgan Junction Hazards Walk set for 10 am Saturday, meeting outside Thriftway (California/Fauntleroy; WSB sponsor). Rain cancels.
CANDIDATES: Lively Q&A happened after each of four candidates got five minutes to intro themselves. (We’ll be publishing in-depth interviews with all four in the days ahead, but here are a few quick points from what they said at MoCA.)
State House 34th District Position 2
Mary Anito – Education, housing, health care are her three big issues. She mostly said those are all problems that we need to solve, without proposing specific solutions.
Joe Fitzgibbon* – As House Majority Leader, he gets to “do more,” and is proud of his previous environmental leadership. He led the House in the biggest tax-reform package in decades and touted the small-business tax cut and “Millionaires’ Tax” that were part of it. He said there are “policies to pursue” that can increase affordability. (He did not offer specifics.)
King County Council District 8
Nick Duda – “I’m worried about the direction” our city’s heading in. He says it reminds him of Detroit. He says his three key issues are public safety – crime might be down but he’s not hearing that from people he doorbells – public health – particularly addiction and how it factors into homelessness (he said San Francisco-esque policies could be pursued) – financial accountability. He also thinks local/regional leaders have spent too much time worrying about the federal situation.
Teresa Mosqueda (who joined online because she had to stay home with her 7-year-old daughter) – she referred to some of what had been discussed earlier in the meeting and said Safe Routes to School were important to her early advocacy work. Health is a huge issue for her, particularly ensuring people have health insurance and access to affordable care, so she wants the county to invest in its clinics as well as Harborview Medical Center. She also touted investing in affordable housing and arts/culture.
Q&A: First for Mosqueda and Duda, what would you do first, specifically? For one, Mosqueda said, permitting to accelerate housing. For one, Duda said, better tracking of people through homelessness and criminal-justice processes.
Next for Fitzgibbon and Anito, education funding – define “basic education” and the state’s responsibility. Fitzgibbon said there was a new definition in 2017 and then prototypical modeling. That all worked for a few years but now we need to “uncap the revenue stream” to properly fund it. Anito said we need to “properly fund” everything; she mentioned the. PTA at her school, Alki Elementary, funds gaps “but that is not equitable.”
Q for Anito and Fitzgibbon – An attendee felt climate change is the transcending-all issue. She said Anito hadn’t said anything about it.”Climate change is a given” but “it is not EVERYTHING.” She says she’s a scientist but we have to solve the other things first. Fitzgibbon mentioned all the climate laws that passed but we have to figure things out like batteries. The datacenter bill that failed in the State Senate will be revived and should bring in a quarter-billion dollars.
Q for incumbents – lots said about revenue generation, so what taxes/fees have you opposed? Fitzgibbon mentioned an energy tax in 2015, a statewide payroll tax, and a real-estate excise tax. Mosqueda mentioned an “impact fee on housing” that would have been imposed on developers building housing. Duda asked to chime in and went over a list of taxes and fees he said his opponent had supported; Barker steered him back to the question, what would you oppose? He cited one specifically, the latest sales-tax increase passed by the County Council.
Q for Fitzgibbon – if the Millionaires’ Tax survives, what percent would he commit to K-12? He said he thinks more than the 40-50 percent of the state budget that currently goes to it.
Sign of a good meeting – attendees and guests lingered in at least half a dozen follow-up conversations afterward.
NEXT MEETING: MoCA usually meets on third Wednesdays in January, April, July, and October – watch for location announcements at morganjunction.org.