By Peggy Sturdivant

The first Ballard District Council meeting of the year took place on January 13, 2016. If you’re unfamiliar with the existence of the Ballard District Council (BDC), its members and relationship to the City of Seattle government, well that’s a topic for another time. Except in August the BDC meets the second Wednesday of every month in the meeting room at the Ballard Library.

Let’s jump right to the first 2016 meeting in which City Council member Mike O’Brien was on the agenda for “updates to the district.” He was re-elected to the City Council in November over challenger, and BDC member, Catherine Weatbrook. During O’Brien’s first term the City Council was not divided into districts; he now represents District 6, which includes Ballard, Loyal Heights, Fremont and some of Greenwood.

After introductions and announcements O’Brien had 30 minutes on the agenda followed by Weatbrook who is BDC” representative to the city-wide Neighborhood Council (CNC). The best exchange of the evening came when O’Brien stood up and offered his seat to Weatbrook. “Thanks but I tried that already,” she said.

Meanwhile I was at the table on behalf of Ballard Historical Society, mostly to announce upcoming training dates for the Mapping Historic Ballard project. But I was also curious about whether there would be a good turnout because of O’Brien’s visit. I’d posted it as a public event on NextDoor media where there is much tremendous discourse about whether O’Brien is plugged into the concerns of District Six.

If O’Brien wasn’t a draw then it seemed possible that Neighborhood District Coordinator Thomas Whittemore’s update on the Public Safety Meeting or Pot Shop land use rules would be a hot topic.

Turnout was about average.

Perhaps first time attendee and Ballard resident Angie Gerrald’s remark addressed what seems like a disconnect to me. “How are we supposed to know about meetings like this?” In busy lives, between work, home, neighborhood and kid’s school auction how is someone supposed to learn about Ballard District Council, unless they’ve become a volunteer for an organization that’s a member? How is someone who cares deeply about Ballard like Gerrald to know she could get on the email list to receive Whittemore’s weekly “Ballard Bits” update with its collection of city and Ballard notices? Perhaps the bigger question is whether citizens who do start attending Ballard District Council find it an effective connection to city government. Oh well, one second Wednesday of the month at a time.

O’Brien made brief remarks stating, “I see my role as the first line of accountability between District 6 and city government.” He said he knows Ballard has unique challenges. Longtime BDC member Warren Aakervik of North Seattle Industrial Association followed up immediately, asking O’Brien what issues he thinks are unique to Ballard. O’Brien cited growth, transportation constraints, challenges around homelessness, proximity of residential, industrial and business, and police response time. (The Seattle Times graphic on the long 9-1-1 response time for areas in District 6 was illuminated over O’Brien’s shoulder).

O’Brien didn’t make any promises, but did address the added complexities of his role in second term on Seattle City Council. “Assignments used to be aligned through committee, but now those of us with geographic areas are overseeing a dual role.” He was strongest on a question about rising rents, “I would support some form of rent stabilization,” he said, “lack of a program is completely failing us.”

That was the last question, but the evening wasn’t over. Under Weatbrook’s directions all the attendees broke into one of four groups, neighborhood planning, transportation and land use, advocacy, and growth as part of comments to Comprehensive Plan (also another topic entirely). Each group had an animated conversation so the discussion went long. After each group summarized it was time to adjourn, without the report on the Public Safety Meeting or the Pot Shop land use rules. Everyone left their seats but kept talking. Two men from Cannabis City circulated asking for support to open a licensed retail marijuana shop in the Ballard Avenue Historical District.

I wrote down a quote from the group discussing the advocacy topic, “How do we get more people to the BDC table?”

It was an open ended question, but for the first time Mike O’Brien was at the table for the district. He was there at the beginning of the meeting and he stayed all the way to the end.