A quick update on issues we’ve previously written about.
Pronto! bike sharing, a half-year after the Seattle City Council rescued it (for $1.4 million and counting) appears dead.
And not in a good way.
A Danny Westneat column in the Seattle Times is here.
“Talk about misrepresentation,” says City Councilmember Tim Burgess, one of only two to vote against the buyout (seven voted in favor.) “In the spring they’re telling us they need this money to save the system. ‘We need these assets so we can expand,’ they said. And now they’ve turned around just a few months later and said ‘this system is crap, we need to start over from scratch.’ ”
Bottom line: All three of the bidders to fix the current system – which has fallen to one rider per bike per day on our city owned 500 bikes – say Pronto! will never work. And the city should buy electric bikes instead.
Councilwoman Debora Juarez, who represents most of Maple Leaf, was one of the seven who voted to spend the $1.4 million.
The new $149 million North Seattle Police Precinct – aka The Bunker – also appears dead despite majority support last month.
Now it’s this month.
We’re not going to run a special levy to pay for this project, which has been in the works since 1998. We have spent millions planning it, during which time it has risen to $160 million from $88 million, then shrunk a bit.
From PublicCola: “The council member who represents the north district, Debora Juarez in District Five, voted for the August resolution and—in a scene reminiscent of a 2016 college campus—was shouted down by Black Lives Matter activists as Juarez, who prides herself on her Native American roots, played the unfamiliar role of the out-of-touch, white Baby Boom liberal professor.”
Juarez is now against the new project, which would replace the existing North Precinct station near North Seattle College. In a press release this week she said:
Plans to re-evaluate the project will be done with a commitment to rebuilding a useful and productive North Precinct station. Constituents…deserve a cost-effective proposal that is responsive to racial justice issues and will provide for north end public safety reliably over the long-term. I hope you will join me in supporting this proposal to take the time to do this project right.
Good news dept:
Introducing Roosevelt Jazz Band 1
Roosevelt Jazz Band 1 will play with special guest, D’Vonne Lewis. D’Vonne Lewis Limited Edition will also perform as part of the Earshot Jazz Festival on October 22nd at 7:30 p.m. in the Roosevelt High School Performing Arts Theatre. D’Vonne Lewis is a Roosevelt graduate and former drummer in the Roosevelt Jazz Band. Tickets are available online through earshot.org. Tickets are $18 for adults and $10 for students. A “Family Pack” is available for $50 and includes two adult and two student tickets.
