The ink is almost dry on a plan to open the first district-based City Council office in Seattle. A staff member for District 5 rep Debora Juarez says the newly minted Council member intends to open an office inside North Seattle College by March.
“District days” are scheduled to happen every Friday for about six hours where Juarez and some of her staff will be available to meet with constituents. Opening a district office was a key issue for Juarez during her campaign.
While other Council members appear to be in a wait-and-see mode for holding similar office hours, Juarez may have drawn up a workable blueprint, particularly for District 3.
As a former economics professor at NSC’s sister school Seattle Central College, District 3 councilor Kshama Sawant has retained a strong connection, holding events and speeches on the Capitol Hill campus over the years. She has also voiced support for meeting constituents on district territory.
A staff member for Sawant’s office told CHS she is in on-going conversations about how to open and fund an office outpost. One idea getting kicked around is to use the Council’s quarterly budget update process to fund for district offices. No additional funds were made available for constituent offices when Seattle switched to district representation this year. A Juarez staff member said she is re-allocating her existing office and salary budgets available to every council member to open the North Seattle office.
Other ideas for where to put district offices have included placing them inside public libraries or neighborhood service centers, like the one at 23rd and Jackson.
Fears of ward politics under the new district system have been a non-issue in the month-old Council. At the neighborhood level, the opening of district offices may actually be one of the few noticeable changes from the previous all at-large format.
In 2014, the City conducted a survey of how district city councils work in six other cities. Most did not have district offices; some even barred Council members from using public funds to open them.
A possible overhaul of the the Department of Neighborhoods could factor in how the new district reps will reach their neighborhoods. DON is expected to complete a study about how to reorganize itself around the City Council districts this year. There are currently nine district coordinators assigned to 13 neighborhood districts which overlay seven council districts.
Meanwhile, Sawant is preparing for the 2016 edition of her annual People’s Assembly — this year, the event at City Hall falls on Saturday, February 27th:
People’s Assembly 2016 hosted by Kshama Sawant
Saturday, February 27at 11 AM
Seattle City Hall 600 4th Ave
Join me and many of Seattle’s best activists and organizers to discuss what to fight for in 2016, and how you can join the struggle to win:*a Millionaires Tax
*Tenants Bill of Rights
*12 Weeks Paid Family Leave
*And much more!Speakers will include: Kshama Sawant, Pramila Jayapal, Nicole Grant, Jon Grant, Sarra Tekola, and many others!
Panels on: Millionaires Tax • 12 Weeks Paid Family Leave • Unionizing Seattle Workers • Housing justice / Tenants Bill of Rights / Rent Control • Racial Justice / Black Lives Matter • Fighting Climate Change
Potential workshops include: Fair Scheduling • Municipal Broadband • Gender Justice • Immigrant Rights • Fighting Islamophobia • What is Democratic Socialism • Campaign to Free Nestora Salgado • Spiritual Activism • Lots more!
Questions or suggestions for a workshop? Contact Adam Ziemkowski in my office: 206-684-8016; <[email protected]
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If Ms. Juarez can figure out a way to finance a district office, then Sawant can too. But then she would have to…..gasp!….actually TALK to her constituents, wouldn’t she?
Hey at least she’s “voiced support for meeting constituents on district territory”. That’s something, since its not like it would be easy to, you know, just start “meeting constituents on district territory”
Bob – let’s be serious, she doesn’t want to actually talk to them – just allegedly talk for them with hollow solutions with no actual plan to back them up.
And while we’re being serious, Kshama would open her office in D3 if she could find a way to make everyone pay for it. Equally, of course, right?
Im guessing we could raise property taxes!!
The idea of a citycouncil person havin a office in their district is long overdue.It will give their voters an easier way of expressing to their councilperson.