Nickels Newsletter - January 2006

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year! And after the new year holiday, it seems only fitting that our first official holiday commemorates Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. What better way to start off each year than by honoring a true man of peace and justice. I hope you all had a chance to celebrate the holiday in a meaningful way.

For me, 2006 is not only a new year, but also the turning of a page as I begin my second term as your mayor. On Jan. 9, I was honored to take my oath of office and renew my commitment to our four priorities. We have made a difference in people’s lives but there is much work still to be done. We don’t rest on our laurels in Seattle -- we roll up our sleeves and keep moving ahead. We will tackle the challenges we face in our homes, in our schools and on our streets. We will replace the dangerous and deteriorating Alaskan Way Viaduct, create more affordable housing and work to close the achievement gap in education. In the days and months ahead, I will detail my goals for my second term and how we can work together to achieve them.

A few weeks into the new year, we are paying more for postage, looking forward to the winter Olympics featuring our own Apolo Anton Ohno, and getting more serious about recycling. The people of Seattle are leaders in recycling -- residential recycling has increased by almost 6 million pounds. But we strive to do better -- our goal is to recycle 60 percent of our waste, instead of the current rate of 40 percent. We can do it.

On Jan. 1, we began enforcing our recycling ordinance. Now garbage collectors will not pick up household garbage cans containing large amounts of recyclable papers, cardboard, aluminum, tin, glass and plastic bottles and jars. Collectors will leave notices on the cans requiring residents to remove recyclables from containers before garbage pickup the following week.

With this ordinance we aim to save residents and businesses as much as $2 million a year and keep future garbage costs low. If you would like more details, visit www.seattle.gov/util, or call (206)RECYCLE (732-9253).

Thank you Seattle, for all that we have accomplished in the past four years. Your determination and imagination will guide us toward a bright future. This is the Jet City and Seattle is ready to soar. Let’s fly!

Sincerely,


GREG NICKELS
Mayor of Seattle

Safe kids are cool kids

As part of our pedestrian safety campaign which we launched last spring, we joined with the Seattle School District and State Farm Insurance to produce the “Safe Kids are Cool Kids” 2006 calendar, featuring 14 drawings from elementary school students from throughout the district. I want to thank the hundreds of school children who submitted their drawings about being safe walkers, the Pedestrian Advisory Board for selecting the winners, and State Farm Insurance for sponsoring the printing. The calendars are being distributed to all district elementary school students. It’s never too early to talk about pedestrian safety.
(Drawing by Grace Young Shin Lee, a kindergartener at Green Lake Elementary School.)
Read the news release
See the calendar - Acrobat PDF 2 MB

UW women win 2005 national volleyball championship

Girls rule ... again, in Seattle sports. Two years ago, it was the Storm, last year it was the girls high school basketball teams at Garfield and Chief Sealth High Schools. This time it’s the UW women’s volleyball team winning the 2005 National Championship. It was a pleasure to proclaim the week of Jan. 8 Husky Women’s Volleyball week, in recognition of the team’s first-ever championship, with a 3-0 sweep over top-ranked Nebraska. They also swept the tournament without dropping a single game. They simply out-smarted and out-played each of their opponents. Congratulations to the 17 extraordinary women on the team.
See the proclamation - Acrobat PDF 228 kb

Taking steps to end homelessness

With a commitment to no loss in City-funded shelter beds in 2006, we have awarded $6.2 million in funding to local nonprofit organizations who provide shelter and transitional services for the homeless. All agencies running shelters in 2006 will offer services or referrals to services to help move homeless people out of shelters and into transitional or long-term housing. These services will help them stabilize their lives, get healthy, find work, and remain housed permanently.
Read the news release

Lake City Clean and Green brings together City and community

In November we had our 48th Clean & Green Seattle event. This was in Lake City, a great place to live that’s rich in economic and ethnic diversity. Housing is affordable, businesses are enhanced by new investments and community services provide valuable resources to the most fragile members of the community. It was gratifying to see the community, private development, and the City come together to spruce up a local mini-park to make it a welcoming place for all members of this community.

Affordable homes slated for Belltown and Central District

Having a roof over your head isn’t a luxury, it is a necessity. Whether you’re a family struggling to stay off the streets or a service worker struggling to make ends meet; we must keep housing within reach for those who need it most. To that end, we have committed $5.1 million to help build 85 apartments for homeless families and low-income workers in the Belltown and Hiawatha neighborhoods. The Belltown View Apartments project will create 25 units above a new Belltown Community Center. The Hiawatha Artist Lofts will provide 60 live-work homes for Seattle’s creative work force, targeting those making anywhere from minimum wage to $32,700 for a single-person household.
Read the news release

Visiting our firehouses

One of the highlights of my months as mayor has been my regular visits to our 33 fire stations. In November I visited Fire Station 38 in northeast Seattle. With this visit I have now visited all of our fire stations, which will all be renovated or replaced in the coming years through the 2003 Fire Levy. This month, we will break ground for the new Fire Station 10 at Fourth and Washington. Please join me for the ceremony at 1 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 21.

Tunneling through Beacon Hill

Sound Transit is making progress. One of the more dramatic parts of the link in south Seattle is the underground Beacon Hill station, being built approximately 165 feet below ground at the corner of Beacon Avenue South and South Lander Street. On a recent tour of the shafts I felt a bit like I was in a futuristic sci-fi movie. The station will have two shafts: the main shaft, housing four high-speed elevators, emergency staircases, ventilation shaft and other equipment, and the secondary shaft, providing ventilation and emergency staircases.