November 2009

Federal Way is the seventh Washington State city to earn a “regional center” designation for its City Center area. The designation, granted by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), allows foreign investors to apply for an EB-5 Visa and ultimately qualify for legal permanent residency, also known as “green card” status.

Qualifying investors must commit from $500,000 to $1 million* in businesses or developments that will create at least 10 jobs per investor.

The 17-year-old federal program approved only a handful of regional centers across the nation this year.

“This is a potentially great new source of capital investment in our City Center,” said Federal Way Economic Development Director Patrick Doherty. “While foreign investors are free to put their money anywhere in Washington, this designation makes Federal Way an attractive investment location.”

The City sought the designation in response to a growing number of foreign firms, or local firms with access to foreign capital, that have expressed interest in this mechanism to help finance redevelopment projects within the Federal Way City Center.

Friends of the Hylebos’ efforts to save Federal Way’s forests from invasive plants recently got a major boost from one of the region’s top employers and the county government.

The Boeing Company has contributed $20,000 towards the Friends’ forest health efforts, while King County’s Wild Places in City Spaces fund awarded a $10,000 grant.

The funds will go into direct action to save trees at the Dumas Bay Preserve.

“The forests that make our city beautiful are literally being strangled to death by English ivy,” says Friends’ Executive Director Chris Carrel.

“The Dumas Bay Preserve is the most threatened forest in the city. With this support from Boeing and King County, we will mobilize volunteers to clear ivy from the trees and begin restoring the forest to health.”

The group will begin work in early December and is finalizing dates that will be announced soon. Surveys performed by the Friends found that the trees in Dumas Bay forest were anywhere from 25% to 100% invaded by ivy. Without intervention the trees will eventually die and be replaced by a monoculture of English ivy.

I am a reasonably handy guy when it comes to repairing things.

Over the years I have tackled lots of different projects from faulty toasters to building entire homes from scratch. I lean towards working with things made of wood, but I enjoy the feeling of victory in the repair of machinery too. Readers of this column may remember how I restored a number of cars, and motorcycles, including my big green ford truck, "Beats Walking."

The truck has been fun to drive to the dump and to load up with firewood, but this summer, I found the starter motor was becoming a little hinky when I drove the truck on hot days.

From past experience, I figured that the starter motor was ready to be replaced, since it was original to the truck, and because I’ve changed a few starters in the past, I decided to do it myself instead of taking it to the shop.

I suspect that this column may provoke some comments about racism, but I believe it has to be said, so here goes!

At the September 22nd Federal Way School Board meeting during public comments Ms. Diane Turner made some public comments.

Ms. Turner identified herself as a parent and resident of the Federal Way School District when in reality she is the Public Relations Director for the School District.

Earlier in the “Public Comment” section of the meeting it was pointed out that both Blacks and Hispanics has not scored well in achievement.

Ms. Turner, a Black, decided to respond to this situation with a rationale for this situation.

It is not clear that employees of the school district should be taking the podium during public comments as they have the option to speak without time restrictions during the regular meeting, but that is not the topic for this column.

Ms. Turner proclaimed that she was speaking for the African American parents in the school district and listed a history of the African Americans in the Nation and how this has caused the achievement gap.

By City Council member Nick Licata

Ed. Note: This editorial originally appeared in Licata's "Urban Politics" newsletter.

No one likes higher utility rates, but one is certain to come next year.

Given that Seattle City Light is in a budget crisis, it will run out of cash early next year and will need to issue a significant amount of debt ($200 million) to fund its capital program.

The Seattle City Council must decide this week what their rates will be for 2010.

Below, I provide a brief and hopefully understandable explanation of what the situation is. I have not touched on all possible elements that could affect the utility’s rates, but I’ve tried to hit on what seems to be the most important in meeting this critical challenge.

First off, a bit of context: City Light’s rates are significantly lower than the nearest comparable electrical utilities, Puget Sound Energy and Tacoma Light and the Snohomish Public Utility District, even after the mayor’s proposed 8.8 percent increase is included.

Seattle Department Of Transportation crews plan to perform maintenance work on the Alaskan Way Viaduct this weekend and through next week.

The northbound lanes of the Battery Street Tunnel will be closed from 10 p.m. Saturday, November 14 to 6 a.m. Sunday, November 15. Northbound traffic on the Alaskan Way Viaduct will be directed off the viaduct at the Western Avenue off-ramp. During this time SDOT crews will work on the fire suppression system in the tunnel on behalf of WSDOT.

The center, northbound lane on the Alaskan Way Viaduct will be closed from Virginia Street to the Western Avenue off-ramp from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. from Monday to Wednesday, November 16 to18. SDOT crews will replace a crash cushion that was damaged in a recent vehicle accident.

The southbound lanes of the Alaskan Way Viaduct will be closed 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. weekdays from Tuesday, November 17 to Tuesday, November 20, from Denny Way through the Battery Street Tunnel to just south of the Elliott Avenue on-ramp. During this time SDOT crews will complete repairs to railings that were damaged by recent vehicle accidents.

Seemingly all of Greenwood turned out for the Nov. 10 meeting hosted by the Seattle Fire Department and Seattle Police Department to answer questions about the string of arsons plaguing the neighborhood.

Hundreds of residents packed the Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church's basement, spilling out into the foyer and the upstairs sanctuary.

Seattle Fire Marshal John Nelson opened the meeting by saying he was as nervous about the over-capacity crowd crammed into the church as about the meeting's topic.

"In order to get as many people in here as possible, I'm stretching my comfort level," he said.

Assistant Fire Chief Alan Vickery, a Greenwood resident, told the crowed that there have been 14 non-accidental fires, most of them damaging businesses, in the Greenwood area since June.

The most recent fires have damaged 11 businesses since Oct. 23.

The police and fire department have teamed up and requested assistance from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to solve the recent arson attacks, Vickery said.

He said the Seattle Fire Department takes arson seriously because it has lost six firefighters to arson over the past 20 years.

This notice just posted by WSDOT- Washington State Ferries
The Issaquah is temporarily out of service due to necessary repairs. The Tillikum will operate on the Issaquah's schedule for the remainder of the evening. Expect some delays. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. Updates will be posted as they become available.

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