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April 13th Meeting Minutes
Call to Order: 7:00 PM
I. Flag Salute led by King County Executive Ron Sims
II. Chair Ivan Weiss introduced Ron Sims to meeting attendees.
King County Executive Ron Sims is running for re-election this year
and wanted an opportunity to update our members with some of his
accomplishments and goals that he will be addressing in the future.
The following is a synopsis of those items:
• Went from 175 miles to 300 miles of walking trails in King
County.
• Currently have 130,000 acres of working forests in the county.
• 650,000 people participate in the Puget Sound Healthcare
Alliance that provides high quality health care with lower premiums.
• Created a regional water supply plan that addresses the problems
of global warming.
• King County continues to be a leader in fiscal restraint
and received the highest rating from Moody?s Investor Service which
placed it in the top 37 counties in the country.
• Working toward building a competitive transportation plan
that encompasses buses, light rail, and the monorail.
• Believes in investing in marginalized neighborhoods such
as White Center and has committed to 200 million dollars in investment
there.
• Developing a Puget Sound Health Care Consortium which will
begin in 2007. This program will provide an incentive program for
participants to help drive down costs for health care.
• Would like to end homelessness within 10 years. The county
currently has 9000 citizens with no place to live.
• Developing a Blue Ribbon Commission made up of professionals
in various fields to see if we have a systematic problem in our
voting system.
III. Ann Martin is a member on the Elections Board and is looking
for volunteers to become inspectors, judges, and observers for upcoming
elections.
IV. Seattle City Council (Pos. 2) member Richard Conlin addressed
meeting regarding his upcoming bid for re-election in 2005. The
following is a synopsis of his list of accomplishments:
• Worked with Russ Polzin and Eileen Cody to develop sound
ways to preserve green areas within 34th district.
• Has always been ?neighborhood focused? and worked to move
37 neighborhood plans through Council approval.
• Worked with leaders of 34 other King County cities to make
local transportation funding is a common goal for the 2005 Legislature.
Is working to secure its adoption as a lead goal for the Association
of Washington Cities and the Puget Sound Regional Council.
• Is working to improve bicycle paths and initiated a forum
for bike advocates and city staff to help find ways to improve bicycle
mobility in Seattle.
• Was chosen as Vice-Chair of the Board of Health of Seattle
and King County.
• Believes that he is an important, independent voice on the
City Council and asked us to support him in his bid for re-election.
• Q&A
V. Chair recognized King County Council Member Dwight Pelz who
is running against Richard Conlin for Pos. 2 on the City Council.
o Endorsed by many leaders in the Democratic Party including Paul
Berendt.
• Was chosen to work on the King County Canvassing Board.
• Has 30 years of experience in public service and activism.
• One of his most important accomplishments took place in 1977
when he helped to organize the initiative that overturned the state?s
tax on food and groceries.
• He is the founder and former executive director of Washington
Fair Share and the Light Brigade.
• Believes that he is a hard worker and took on outside responsibilities
of Field Strategy Chair for King County on the Dean campaign.
• Also worked as the 37th District volunteer organizer for
the Dean campaign.
• He served in the Washington State Senate representing the
37th District from 1991 to 1997.
• Believes that the City Council currently has a lack of leadership
and experience that he will be able to bring to the Council if elected.
• Q&A
VI. Chair recognized Angel Bolanos who is running for Seattle City
Council (Pos. 8) that is currently held by Richard McIver. Bolanos
listed the following items that he would like to bring to the Seattle
City Council:
• Fiscal Responsibility
• Open Government
• Clear Platform
• Sustainable economic policy by neighborhood. This would ensure
that some neighborhoods have more than others.
• Improved police presence in our neighborhoods.
• Wants to create a civilian review board to oversee police
activity.
• Q&A
VII. Chair recognized Robert Rosencrantz who is also running for
Pos. 8 on the Seattle City Council. Following is a summary •
f things Rosencrantz would like to achieve if elected:
• Would like to create linking hubs between major transportation
systems i.e. buses, train, and monorail. o Has many years of experience
working on affordable housing in King County and would bring that
experience to help fix housing shortage.
• Would work to get public partners to work with the city to
increase housing for low-income.
• Q&A
VIII. Chairs Report:
• Chair reported that there was strong participation from citizens
to lobby against the Bankruptcy Bill and thanked them for their
hard work.
• Ivan delivered a letter to Adam Smith from the 34th District
Democrats at a citizen?s rally in Tacoma expressing our concern
over his possible vote for the bankruptcy bill.
• Actions from local lobbying efforts have resulted in both
Adam Smith and Jay Inslee voting NO on the Bankruptcy Bill.
IX. New Business:
• Member Georgie Kunkel announced that the next West Seattle
Democratic Women would be Thursday, April 28th, 11:00 am at Merrill
Gardens. This group currently has over 45 members.
• White Center Clean-Up Day will be on Saturday, May 14th.
Chair asked that ?all hands be on deck? for this one as it will
be a positive event for 34th District Democrats to show their support
for our White Center community.
X. Chair recognized member Russ Brubaker: Russ moved that the 34th
District Democrats make an early endorsement of Ron Sims for re-election.
Motion was approved and unopposed.
XI. Chair recognized 1st Vice Chair Lara-Ann Jordan, who recognized
Chair Ivan Weiss: Ivan moved to give King County Council member
Dow Constantine an early endorsement. The motion was approved and
unopposed. Dow briefly stood up and thanked the 34th District for
their support.
XII. New PCOs: Steve Karbowski 34-1427 and Irene Stewart 34-1473.
XIII. Chair recognized State Committeeman Bruce Stotler: Bruce
gave a brief report about the April 2nd meeting in Pasco.
XIV. Chair recognized member Tyler Smith: Smith moved that the
State Democratic Central Committee should increase their membership
from one to two of each gender for Young Democrats. Tyler made a
case that the Young Democrats have played a key role in some important
elections and gave the election of Brian Weinstein as an example.
Before the membership voted on the motion, Sarah Earl spoke up in
support followed by Leslie Harris who spoke against. Russ Brubaker
made a rebuttal in support followed by Bruce Stotler against. In
the end, the membership voted to approve the motion.
XV. Chair recognized King County Committeewoman Tanya Aguilar:
Tanya reminded us that Jim McDermott will be conducting a community
meeting on Saturday, April 23rd at White Center Heights Elementary
from 10:00-11:30 am.
XVI. Chair recognized Conrad Knudtson: Conrad reminded the membership
that we are in need of a new By-Laws Chairperson.
XVII. Meeting Adjourn: 9:00 PM
In case you missed our last meeting, the anti-Critical Areas Ordinance
people were out in force and made entering the Hall a truly interesting
experience. For the most part they were polite but at least one
is, well, a bit off kilter. In an e-mail to his group, cc to Ivan
(big mistake), this is what he had to say. Ron Sims and his entourage
of do-gooders along with 34th District Democrats, had to go through
our gauntlet to attend the meeting. Entourage of do-gooders? But
we did walk through a gauntlet. These people were obviously new
to demonstrating. There was something satisfying about watching
Susan Harmon very politely explaining to these right-wingers that
you cannot block the sidewalks or the crosswalk and showing them
where they could stand and where they couldn't. Susan certainly
knows what she is talking about, she's walked her share of her picket
lines.
This same man also had a slightly different view of our County
Executive who was unanimously endorsed at this same meeting. He
[Ron Sims] and his socialist followers are the antithesis of freedom,
liberty and property rights. In contrast, he and his ilk are the
epitome of socialism and radical environmentalism gone amok, that
oozes out of every pore of Europe, Canada and the United Nations.
He and the folks that elect him and others just like him, are true
enemies of a free state. Did you like that? There's more. He also
seemed to think that their cause is comparable to the Revolutionary
War. ?What Seattleite are doing to us in the rural areas, through
their elected representatives, the British did to the colonials
and thus the embers of a war between the city folk and the country
folk are being fanned into a real flame. Emotions are raw and almost
anything can happen.
Despite this, we had a good meeting. Ivan opened the meeting by
explaining that he lives on five acres Vashon, and it's laws like
the Critical Areas Ordinance that keep Vashon the beautiful place
to live that it is. There was no response from the people that were
by this time standing in the back of the room. If you are wondering
what the critical areas ordinance is, it is meant to protect land
in unincorporated King County from flooding and erosion coming from
neighboring properties and protect groundwater and wildlife habit
and ensure that urban areas do their part to protect water quality
and wetlands. This obviously affects what people can do with their
land.
They do have an interesting plan for making sure that we do their
bidding: So this is what I am proposing. Our protests should be
now focused on the City of Seattle. We should bring this enclave
of socialism to its knees with protests that block streets, shut
down buss (sic) routes, infuriate commuters and generally make their
lives miserable, as the candidates they elect into office have made
ours. Enclave of socialism? Seattle? And what do you want to bet
that these same people who are threatening to make our lives miserable
because of whom we choose to elect were not exactly sympathetic
to the WTO and anti-war protestors.
Photos from the April meeting are below (click any photo to enlarge
it). Left to right - King County Councilmember and Seattle City
Council candidate Dwight Pelz; Seattle City Council candidate Robert
Rosencrantz; critical area ordinance posters in front of the hall;
Conlin addresses the 34th's District meeting; Seattle City Council
candidate Angel Bolanos; Seattle City Councilmember Richard Conlin.
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