by Elizabeth Turnbull
On Friday the King County Equity Now and Decriminalize Seattle coalitions demanded that the funds from Mayor Durkan’s commitment to channel $100 million dollars of the city’s 2021 budget to BIPOC communities, go through a participatory budget process to ensure BIPOC communities control where this money goes. Continue reading King County Equity Now and Decriminalize Seattle Coalitions Direct New Demand to Durkan
by Chetanya Robinson
In an effort to speed up the construction of housing for people experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Seattle is investing in 599 new permanent supportive housing units. Continue reading City to Invest in 599 New Housing Units for Those Experiencing Chronic Homelessness
by Carolyn Bick
Seven days after Aisling Cooney filed a public records request with the Seattle Police Department (SPD) to get her own arrest records and associated materials from her arrest at the Capitol Hill protest on July 25, the records department succinctly informed her in an email that these records wouldn’t be available to her until late February 2021.
Cooney isn’t alone. At the advice of lawyers with Smith Law, at least four others who have also filed for their arrest records — as well as associated documents, recordings, and more — as part of several civil lawsuits they hope to bring against SPD have received similar messages: the SPD’s Legal Unit is “operating under an extreme backlog of requests, staffing shortages, the redeployment of supporting units to SPD’s frontline COVID-19 response, and, pursuant to CDC recommendations and City direction, reassignment to remote access.”
Continue reading Some Detained Protestors Must Wait at Least Six Months for Own Arrest Records, Hampering Legal Effortsby Mark Van Streefkerk
The new Beacon Hill Bike Route Project will bring new bike lanes and greater connectivity to Southeast Seattle in three segments, from the Dr. Jose Rizal Bridge to the intersection at Beacon Avenue South and 39th Avenue South. The plan is now in the early design phase for the first segment, which extends from the Dr. Jose Rizal Bridge to South Spokane Street, and the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is actively seeking feedback about potential bike routes. Community members can find out more through online information and Q&A sessions as well as sign up for email updates, and take an online survey available through August 26 here. Continue reading New Bike Lanes Are Coming to Southeast Seattle: Here’s How You Can Have a Say in The Beacon Hill Bike Route Project
by Paul Faruq Kiefer
(This article originally appeared on The C Is for Crank and has been reprinted under an agreement.)
Vanessa Caver learned of her brother’s killing several days after Seattle police officers shot Terry J. Caver near an intersection in Lower Queen Anne on May 19th. Her daughter called her unexpectedly to pass along the news. A few more days passed before she got a call from a sergeant from the Seattle Police Department called her to ask if she wanted to talk about her brother’s death. “I didn’t know what to talk about,” she explained when we spoke this week. “And the sergeant couldn’t tell me anything.” Continue reading Terry J. Caver, The Black Man Killed By SPD Officers In May, As Remembered By His Family
by Carolyn Bick
Though his office unveiled a $40 million fund for undocumented workers earlier this week, Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee said in a press conference on Aug. 13 that the one-time payment fund won’t be available for undocumented workers until the autumn. He also said that the state has made available another $3 million in CARES Act funding for certain food production workers who have to quarantine themselves, due to infection from the novel coronavirus.
Continue reading Relief Fund for Undocumented Workers to Go Live in Autumn, Inslee Saysby Carolyn Bick
In early June, Grace Harvey’s doctor ordered them to leave their house for several days. It wasn’t because their normal living conditions were unhealthy. It was because a significant amount of the tear gas Seattle Police Department (SPD) officers used against protestors on Capitol Hill had leaked into their house, and Harvey has pre-existing medical conditions.
“And it was like, ‘Okay, thank you for that input, but I can’t leave my house indefinitely,’” Harvey said with a laugh.
Still, Harvey did as they were asked and ended up staying elsewhere for two days. But they also decided enough was enough and started a Change.org petition to gauge the public’s interest in a recall election for current Seattle mayor, Jenny Durkan. That petition has since snowballed, and Harvey has become the Chair of the Recall Durkan campaign, whose name is as deceptively simple as its overall goal: to hold a recall election for Durkan.
Continue reading Here’s What’s Going On With the Mayoral Recall Election Fight — Without All the Legaleseby Ben Adlin
As more South Seattle small businesses reopen amid the ongoing pandemic, a new program led by a local chamber of commerce wants to ensure that customers and employees feel as safe as possible.
The Seattle Southside Chamber of Commerce last week announced the launch of the “Southside Promise” campaign, an effort to equip local businesses with information and guidance to safely reopen. The program, a partnership with the City of Tukwila, provides face masks and other personal protective equipment and offers a reopening toolkit — essentially an in-depth slideshow presentation — aimed at helping businesses navigate the sometimes dizzying process of reopening.
Continue reading South Seattle Businesses Have a New Guide on the Road to Reopeningby Paul Faruq Kiefer
(This article originally appeared on The C Is for Crank and has been reprinted under an agreement.)
The King County Medical Examiner’s office has provided The C Is for Crank with more information about the Black man killed by Seattle Police Department officers on May 19 in Lower Queen Anne. His name was Terry J. Caver, and he was 57 years old.
Continue reading Victim in May 19 SPD Shooting IdentifiedBy Paul Faruq Kiefer
(This article originally appeared on The C is for Crank and has been reprinted under an agreement)
In a press conference Tuesday morning that she insisted was not “a wake,” Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best said she is stepping down on September 2 because, in her words, “When it’s time, it’s time.” Continue reading Police Chief Carmen Best Explains Her Decision To Resign; Durkan Says No Search For Replacement This Year
