Nickels Newsletter - January 2005

Dear Friends:

In many ways, the depth of the South Asia tsunami tragedy is only now beginning to be understood. More than 200,000 people have lost their lives; hundreds of thousands more have lost family members, their homes, and their livelihood.

Our support for people of these nations cannot end. Relief efforts are ongoing, and reconstruction has just begun.

Friday, January 21st, was a city-wide "Day of Giving for Tsunami and Earthquake Relief." At giving stations throughout the city, city employees and the public came out in droves to support the victims of the earthquake and tsunami. More than three dozen locations were staffed by city employees, including City Hall, Seattle Municipal Tower, the Alaska Building, the Central Library, more than a dozen branch libraries, all the golf courses and several community centers.

I am proud to announce that more than $28,000 was collected for Mercy Corps, NW Medical Teams and UNICEF.

It is not too late to give. You can visit the City's Tsunami Relief web page, and by clicking through to an organization, they will know that you were part of this great movement. I know that many of you have already given to the relief efforts; I encourage you to give a little more to help these nations build a future for themselves. If we all do a little, we can do so much.

Thank you,

GREG NICKELS
Mayor of Seattle

P. S. -- Monday, Feb. 7, is the mayor's annual State of the City address. I will talk about the work we've done and the work ahead. We put a focus on four priorities for city government, made the right choices in South Lake Union, Northgate, the Rainier Valley and in other neighborhoods, and we are seeing positive results. I've never been more optimistic about the future of our great city. You can watch the address live or later on the Seattle Channel.

Celebrating the Memories of Dr. King and Elliott Couden

On Monday, January 17, we honored the legacy of Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Parades, seminars and work projects throughout the city showed that Dr. King's contribution to the African-American community, to civil rights and to the progression of human rights is alive and well. Also that day, we mourned the loss of a local civil rights leader. Elliott Couden was a real-estate broker who, inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr., fought housing discrimination in Seattle. He was instrumental in the passing of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 and was named White Center's Citizen of the Century for his courage and compassion. He died just before Christmas and his memorial service was Monday, Jan. 17.

Remembering Fallen Heroes

Jan. 5 marked the 10th anniversary of the infamous Pang Warehouse fire. On that day we remembered the four Seattle firefighters who gave their lives in 1995 to protect our city - Lt. Walter Kilgore, Lt. Gregory Shoemaker, Firefighter Randall Terlicker and Firefighter James Brown. Our hearts go out to their families, friends and co-workers who lost so much that day. Their tragic deaths touched the heart of this city as few others have, before or since. The circumstances of their deaths caused the Fire Department to make fundamental changes in how we fight fires. It is still a dangerous job and always will be, but the changes we have made in the last 10 years have improved the safety of our firefighters. We are all in debt to Lt. Kilgore, Lt. Shoemaker, Firefighter Terlicker and Firefighter Brown for their sacrifice.

Gates Foundation announces purchase of City property for headquarters

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation joined me in announcing the purchase of 12 acres of City property next to Seattle Center for its headquarters campus. This is a proud day for Seattle to have the world's largest private foundation establish its headquarters in the heart of our city.
Read the news release

I've recommended that the proceeds of the sale of this property be kept for improvements at the Seattle Center. For a detailed listed of those projects, read the news release.

Seattle expands "e-Government" services

Seattle businesses can now renew their annual business licenses online and pay for the renewals, as well as business taxes, online too. We're making it more convenient to do business with the City.

2005 Race and Social Justice matching funds awarded

In the spirit of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I announced 48 Race and Social Justice Neighborhood Matching Fund Awards totaling $499,365 in City funds that will match $660,480 raised from the community in donated labor, materials, and money. These awards support projects specifically aimed at improving race relations and promoting social justice in our city, such as bringing the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum exhibit to Seattle and holding an Immigration Community Forum to raise awareness about issues affecting immigrant and refugee communities.
View details about the awards

More housing and jobs in Center City

We recently announced a major step in our environmental and housing agendas. New zoning proposed for Center City will significantly increase the amount of housing, including affordable housing. The proposed rules provide for an affordable-housing fund as large as $95 million. The new height and density rules would have major environmental benefits: reducing sprawl in the region by encouraging residential growth in the urban center where infrastructure exists; encouraging housing near transit so people can live without cars; and improving the air we breathe by reducing automobile pollution.
Visit the Center City Website

City Light marks 100th anniversary of first kilowatt

Jan. 10 marked the 100th anniversary of the day City Light generated its first kilowatt of electricity at the Cedar River Power Plant, the first municipally-owned hydroelectric plant in the United States. This milestone comes on the heels of the good news we received last month when two credit-rating agencies boosted their financial outlook for the utility from negative to positive. Our goal has been to stabilize City Light in the wake of the energy crisis, for the long-term benefit of its ratepayers. These ratings say we're on the right financial course.
Learn more

Capehart Housing will become part of Discovery Park

After months of discussions among the U.S. Navy, American Eagle Communities, the Magnolia community, and the City, we reached agreement to add the 23-acre Capehart housing site to Magnolia's 534-acre Discovery Park. This is a win for everyone, especially the Magnolia community. Seattle will pay $9 million for the property containing the Capehart housing, which will return to the City for park use. American Eagle will be responsible for demolishing the housing. The agreement also provides that the housing in the historic district within the park will be preserved and privatized.
Learn more

Magnuson Park Outdoor Learning Lab

In December I visited the Magnuson Park Outdoor Learning Lab with sixth-grade students from Aki Kurose Middle School.
See more photos of the visit