By Jeanne Kohl-Welles

By the time you read this, I already will have resigned from the state Senate and taken office as an elected member of the King County Council for District 4, succeeding my dear friend, Council Chair Larry Phillips, who retired as of Dec. 31st and who so graciously supported my candidacy. It’s been a very challenging transition for me as I cherished serving my 36th Leg. District constituents for 24 years in the Legislature. While doing so has been one of the most significant experiences of my life, I am excited to take on this new challenge and am gratified the entire 36th is contained within the 4th Council District so that I can continue to serve you.

Representing Ballard has been particularly meaningful to me—being of Norwegian ancestry, sponsoring Senate floor resolutions annually for the Blessing of the Fleet (and speaking at the annual service) and Syttende Mai and walking in the parade, toasting the King and Queen of Norway at a few of the annual Syttende Mai luncheons at the Sons of Norway Hall, and escorting Queen Sonja when the royal couple was here in 1995.

And back in the late 1990s, I worked with Scandia’s owner Tom Miller (prior to his death) and Rob Mattson, longtime Ballard Neighborhood Service Center Director, in initiating planning for Ballard’s civic center and a new location for the Nordic Heritage Museum. Tom, Rob and I were quite the team—Tom would ask us to come by the restaurant to inform us of his new ideas (always bold and brash) and of our assignments.

Another one we pursued was having me co-convene a new effort, the Ballard Rail Group and Passenger Rail Coalition, that played a major role in voter approval of the 1996 ballot measure creating the RTA (Rapid Transit Authority/Sound Transit) after the 1995 measure failed. It would not have been approved without Ballard citizens’ votes. However, only a provisional station was granted by Sound Transit, and we’re still waiting nearly 20 years later for an actual station. I am working on being appointed to the Sound Transit Board!

Tom, Rob and I also convened a coalition, along with the business and bicycle communities, and the City of Seattle to resolve the Burke-Gilman Trail Missing Link – Ballard Terminal Rail controversy. An agreement was reached in 1996, but nearly 20 years later, challenges remain.

I’ve also worked for years in advancing our maritime industry and have served the past two years on the Joint Legislative Task Force on the Economic Resilience on Maritime and Manufacturing in Washington, created by Rep. Gael Tarleton’s legislation.

And I’m pleased to have worked with others in the community, such as Lillian Riley and Groundswell NW, to secure funding for local capital projects in or near Ballard, such as the Nordic Heritage Museum, Webster School Playground, Ballard Corners Park, Hazel Heights P-Patch, Ballard Corners Park, Phinney Neighborhood Association, Soundview Park Playfield, Woodland Park Zoo, and the Taproot Theater. Others include the Pacific Science Center, McCaw Hall, Counterbalance Park,, KEXP, Cornish Playhouse, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Seattle International Film Festival, Daybreak Star, and the Kiwanis Ravine.

Fortunately, as a County Councilmember, I will be able to continue assisting in securing funding for important local projects, as Larry Phillips has done for so many years. In fact, he and I worked together on many of them.

In general, my focus during my time representing you has been to effect social change by tackling significant social problems, e.g., to enhance the protection and wellbeing of children and vulnerable adults, and to promote social justice and economic opportunity and equity.

Fortunately, I made significant progress by strengthening our state’s child care safety requirements, school funding and quality, access and affordability for higher education, and reducing discrimination, misconduct and sexual harassment in schools and at work. I also tackled domestic violence, campus sexual violence, commercial sexual exploitation of children and adults, and human trafficking. Additionally, I obtained results in improving access to medical marijuana for patients in need and creating a marijuana research license through legislation of mine enacted this year. I appreciated being awarded the 2015 Seattle Hempfest Excellence in Cannabis Activism Award at Seattle’s Hempfest festival for being a tireless advocate for medical marijuana patients.

I also helped make strides in addressing disparities in health care, mental health services, and housing. I’ve already requested that I be appointed to the Council’s Health, Housing & Human Services Committee to continue my work on these important issues. And I was humbled to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Washington Low-Income-Housing Alliance in September for my efforts on this issue.

Improving public safety has been very important to me in my work in the Legislature and that experience will guide much of my work at the King County Council. Part of this will be working to eliminate racial/ethnic disparities in our juvenile justice and adult criminal justice systems and to expand proven diversion programs, as well as to strengthen gun safety laws. I was recently honored to have been given an A++ rating in this year’s Washington Community Action Network’s racial justice report card, the second highest among all legislators.

In addition, I will continue my work to eliminate unsafe oil trains as a member of SELA, the Safe Energy Leadership Alliance of local, state and tribal leaders in the Pacific states and Pacific Northwest and Canada. And I will continue efforts to improve mobility and reduce congestion, including expanding transit, bicycling and pedestrian modes and extending light rail to Ballard and West Seattle. I’ll also be working on climate change and environmental sustainability measures.

I am fortunate to be able to continue working on strengthening access, affordability, quality and success in higher education as I was elected in November as Chair of WICHE, the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, a consortium of 15 member states and U.S. territories working to expand educational access and excellence for all citizens of the West. And, I was pleased to participate at the White House Convening of State Education Leaders in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 8.

I was thrilled to gain funding for construction of the Galer Pedestrian Bridge across Aurora Ave. N. on the east side of Queen Anne Hill, which took years of work following the initial lead of my predecessor, Sen. Ray Moore, and to be part of a group of legislators who secured funding for the Aurora Bridge Suicide Prevention Barrier and other improvements (inadequate, however). And I assisted in getting funding for capital projects at our public colleges and universities.

As I leave the Senate, I will no longer serve on the Washington State Arts Commission, but hope to be appointed to the County’s 4Culture Board and to continue leading on enhancing our arts, film, culture and heritage programs, and to help in getting Daniel James Brown’s book, The Boys in the Boat, filmed at the University of Washington.
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During the Legislature’s annual fall assembly days in November, my colleagues memorialized my time serving in the Legislature by presenting me with a collage. It was a very moving moment for me and the personalized notes from senators and staff alike made me realize all the more how much I am going to miss serving in the Senate.]

It has been an honor and a privilege to serve you and the entire 36th Legislative District. Please do not hesitate to contact me at the King County Council, at jeanne.kohl-welles@kingcounty.gov or by phone at 206-477-1004. My current legislative assistant Adam Cooper will become my Chief of Staff at the Council and will able to be reached at adam.cooper@kingcounty.gov.
I look forward to hearing from you!