Tag Archives: Mike O’Brien

Features

From City Hall to Clean Energy: Mike O’Brien’s Journey From Climate Legislator to Clean Energy Installer

by Alex Garland

It wasn’t an extremely hot day, but Mike O’Brien was sweating as he climbed up a ladder at a home in Georgetown, carrying hoses for heat pump installation. Trading bow ties and button-ups for faded flannel and Blundstones.

O’Brien is still the affable, friendly, and chatty guy from City Hall. At 55, and four years retired from politics, O’Brien’s youthful enthusiasm carries him through a job requiring more manual labor than his role on the Seattle City Council. “Yeah, it’s hard work. It’s exhausting, but good exhausting.”

Continue reading From City Hall to Clean Energy: Mike O’Brien’s Journey From Climate Legislator to Clean Energy Installer →
Community

From Pilot Projects to Systemic Change: Seattle City Council Mulls Solutions to Homelessness in Biennial Budget

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by Aaron Burkhalter

Councilmember Mike O’Brien took a stroll through a new solution to homelessness and the city’s lack of affordable housing.

It was a short walk — the length of a long trailer. At just a couple hundred square feet, the tiny cottage has enough room for a small table for two — maybe three — people, a downstairs queen-sized bed and an upstairs loft where children could sleep. It has a kitchen, indoor plumbing, and electricity, but it sits on a trailer hook up that is secured to the ground in the backyard of a home in Kent.

Continue reading From Pilot Projects to Systemic Change: Seattle City Council Mulls Solutions to Homelessness in Biennial Budget →

Civics

‘Done deal’ for Navigation Center Calls Into Question City’s Engagement Process With Little Saigon

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by Rachel Eagan 

With signs held high above their heads, 40 plus protesters ascended the steps of Seattle City Hall’s Council Chambers Monday morning to address the City’s failure in engaging the Little Saigon community around the neighborhood’s planned growth and development. Continue reading ‘Done deal’ for Navigation Center Calls Into Question City’s Engagement Process With Little Saigon →

News

As City Revives Civilian SPD Patrols, Role of Unarmed Officers Remains Open Question

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by Erica C Barnett 

(This article was originally published on C is for Crank and has been reprinted with permission) 

Last month, the Seattle Police Department and City Council member Mike O’Brien announced that the city would spend $2 million over the next two years to reinstate the mothballed Community Service Officer program and hire around a dozen new CSOs—unarmed SPD employees trained to respond to low-level calls, including minor property crimes, landlord-tenant disputes, runaway kids, and “nuisance” crimes like public intoxication. Over the course of 2017, a team of representatives from city departments, along with the independent Community Police Commission, will decide what the CSOs’ job descriptions will be, what kind of services they will and won’t provide, and even to whom they will report. Continue reading As City Revives Civilian SPD Patrols, Role of Unarmed Officers Remains Open Question →