Wow, could this piece be any more negative and one sided? I think you need a hug. City planning in a growth management state is about adding livable density in urban areas so we can all still enjoy our mountain ranges, river valleys and farmlands. Sometimes that means new apartment buildings in the state's largest city without an EIS.

It's hardly one-sided. Kent is simply describing what goes on in City Hall too often on a regular basis that is "under the radar." Big decisions are being made that affect the livlihood of our city, while few citizens are aware of the give-aways at our expense, giveaways that usually affect us negatively. Kent has given most of his life to helping build strong neighborhoods and effective citizen engagement. His analysis is essentially a public service, and more people need to pay attention to what our elected officials are doing when public attention is diverted elsewhere.

Kent, I work for Vulcan and have a question about your piece. What specificaly do you mean by the "Millions have been spent to update infrastructure in South Lake Union to support Paul Allen’s development projects"? You say there are no development fees, but all the major infrastructure upgrades in South Lake Union have come with strong financial support from Vulcan and other property owners, including Mercer St and Lake Union Park - projects that benefit the entire city, not just SLU.

Thanks for that article. There is so much being done to my neighborhood-downtown Seattle-that the quality of life continues to go downhill. I fear we are at a breakpoint where downtown will become a "no-go" zone. People who drive in/drive out and can find a place to park and dine think that alls well. But most of the downtown corridors are rife with "crack-to-go" dealers 24/7/365. The alleys have continued to be the toilets of choice, the Pike Place tourist mall is great for tourists and cruise ship visitors, less so for locals. Having observed the death of the University District and Pioneer Square through poor urban planning I predict that Downtown Seattle is next. But thn how many of the planning and decision makers live in Seattle proper? Is their mind on their neighborhoods or is it on their weekend home? I read an interview article about the city urban design council of Vancouver BC; seems all of them lived close-in to the city proper and either walked, bicycled or took public transit to work. For them their city is a daily reality. For our councils and governing boards alas city planning is an abstract exercise. That's why I have little hope that the combined seawall/viaduct tear down/tunnel will do anything but destroy the social and physical fabric of my neighborhood. One might review the costs and mistakes of the downtown transit tunnel for an idea how off the planning can be. Or look at the hidden costs associated with the Kingdome, the Paul Allen sports stadium, the baseball stadium or the new Gates Foundation complex at Seattle Center. Worse of all none of this is authorized in a democratic fashion; it's all back rooms decision making, the voice of the people is rarely heard, the vote on saving the Pike Place market being the one clear exception. But even then in the end we got what we voted not to have and one can expect the same from the numerous public/private works projects in place right now. The last bit of honesty regarding the tunnel I saw published was the report that highway tolls throughout the region could be raised due to a failed tunnel toll collections. Thats an example of a real EIS statement. But that's rare. Nowhere was the public truly informed of the real costs of the sports stadiums, the cruise terminals, the viaduct replacement, the Gates Foundation building etc. And so it goes. Actually if it weren't for the initiative process the people of Seattle would be almost powerless.

Also, the King5TV expose of parking tickets being 'fixed' for a $125,000 yearly city employee. The entire parking enforcement 'work force' should be audited and subject to FOIA scrutiny to see who has gotten all the new jobs dishing out tickets (hint; SPD folks in need of 20 years). And, all the autophobic SDOT employees who live and breathe just to harrass automobile and truck drivers. And, the huge number of library and parks employees....the list goes on.

For an example of lots of secretly misspent taxpayer dollars see “The Long Con”,
Anatomy of a Two-Year Undercover Sting and What It Has to Do with Law Enforcement’s Habit of Wasting Large Amounts of Money on Investigating People for Their Social Habits and Political Beliefs.

Here are a few excerpts:

“…And then the SPD officer and Rick have an unusually candid exchange, one that shows how costly and futile this whole investigation has been.
"The degree of surveillance and monitoring has been extremely expensive," the officer tells Rick, sounding equal parts intimidating and frustrated. "When you've gone to the QFC and Corsair and Tubs. Think over the last two years—everything you've done in private and on the streets, people you've talked to, what you've had in your possession, conversations, intentions, plans... I have to emphasize the level of surveillance we've run over the last two years. … We have hundreds of hours of surveillance, wire, video..."
"That would seem to be an absurd waste of state financing and funding," Rick says. "And that actually scares me more than the charges... You guys aren't after anything bigger than this? This is it?"

On July 11, 2008, for example, when Bryan went with Brady McGarry to Tacoma to meet the "young, stinky, and disorganized" protest kids, at least seven other officers—plus a SWAT team, according to a vice-unit surveillance log acquired by The Stranger—monitored the situation. The officers named in the police report are Sergeant Ryan Long (who made $133,339 in 2009, with $28,805 in overtime), Sergeant Jim Kelly ($120,503, with $14,196 in overtime), Detective Todd Novisedlak ($109,888, with $15,158 in overtime), Detective Dale Williams (there are two detectives identified as "Williams, D" in city salary records, one who made $111,638 and $2,151 in overtime and one who made $115,086, with $17,748 in overtime), Detective Ron Brundage Jr. ($109,974, with $13,371 in overtime), Detective Trent Bergman ($137,274, with $44,296 in overtime), and Detective Rick Hall ($112,659, with $20,822 in overtime).

Here's a little more math about the public resources that this investigation sucked up. According to documents acquired by The Stranger, during May and June of 2008, Bryan showed up to play cards at Rick's apartment eight times. For those eight card games (i.e., eight police shifts for Bryan), the investigation paid for 112 shifts by supporting officers: 9 officers one night, 5 officers another night, 11 officers another night, etc. One night, an FBI agent came out. Another night, a SWAT team was there. And that's just in a two-month window.

Read the whole story here: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-long-con/Content?oid=7989613

Very good article, Kent. Thanks.

Back in the days when there were two newspapers and even a television station that considered coverage of city hall a vital and necessary part of their mission of public service, you read or viewed stories about stuff like this all the time.

Today, there's more actual news on SLOG than on any other "serious" local media outlet. Crosscut included...

Good one! I'd like you to follow with more articles about these things.

Seattle should change from at-large City Council elections to voting for them by districts. It would be a start for bringing some transparency and accountability to the positions. In the past the excuse has been made that the district process might make it easier for those with influence to win city favors. Well don’t look now but that ship has already sailed. The current council is one rubber stamp with 9 heads that spends about half its energy on 2-3 affluent neighborhoods. When legislative bodies work in lock-step it’s virtually impossible to ascertain who is pedaling and who is just along for the ride.

Local governments are creatures of the state government. The transportation benefit district (TBD) is just one. The countywide ferry district, flood control district, and its own TBD are three more. The voters will know to hold city councilmembers accountable if the Seattle TBD does terrible things. It is the tool provided the cities to fix our transport infrastructure. It is likely to be accomplish very useful maintenance, pedestrian, transit, and bicycle projects. If the TBD is to raise any more than the $20 vehicle license fee, the measure will have to be approved by city voters.

The SR-520 will yield two useful things to its users: better flow and reliability, and, a flow of revenue to support bonds to replace the bridge. Tollpayers will get value in time; without the toll, they pay in slower and less reliable travel times. Generally, the value of time is much higher than the toll.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2014985104_guest07shea.html

Good work, Kent. Thank you for digging into this topic.

Thanks for that Kent. Makes me fee less alone.

It’s easy to overlook what’s going on at City Hall if you just sit back and hope the “best-kept secrets” are handed to you on a silver platter. City government is, in fact, set up to be completely TRANSPARENT, but you have to be an active participant in the process if you want to have your say in how your tax dollars are spent.

First, you need to vote for quality candidates who you are choosing to make decisions on your behalf (i.e. democracy). Second, you need to gather information. The City of Seattle offers a website that allows you to gather almost everything you’ll need without leaving your desk. The council members and mayor have blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter feeds, press releases, email boxes, mail boxes, office hours, town hall meetings, telephones answered by real people, the list goes on. Each department has a Public Information Officer whose job is to speak to constituents and the media about the activities of their department. All you have to do is pick up the phone.

If you still can’t find what you’re looking for, you can always submit a public records request with the City Clerk’s office. If an elected official drew a comic on a napkin and made it into a paper airplane, that's a public record.

OTK,
You do an outstanding job on Step One, except for exaggerating the ease of public records requests. Please go on and explain Step Two, unless, that is, you are a public official and until you leave office, retire or are laid off have no idea of what an effective approach to Step Two entails.

"...hordes of people are on their way to Seattle and will need cheap housing.." Except that newly built housing will not be cheap.

I agree that citizens need to take the long view. Problem is, many of these government actions are not immediately 'in your face'. When we see the effect on the ground in our neighborhoods, it is way too late.

There is one option I see, if neighbors want to do the heavy lifting. Create an overlay. Establish exactly what the built environment and uses will be, and the conditions for the development and evolution desired.