Tonight, we’re at a CityClub event downtown where Councilmember Sally Clark is speaking. More on that event later, but last night, she was in West Seattle, talking with the 34th District Democrats about the city budget – including the latest developments regarding two matters of intense interest in West Seattle: Proposed cuts in the Department of Neighborhoods budget, and big changes at Alki Community Center. We recorded the entire 34th DDs meeting on video – Councilmember Clark speaks for about 16 minutes at the start of the 2nd clip below (if you want to see any clip fullscreen, just click on the lower-third of the video image):

Councilmember Clark briefed the group on the newest developments in both major West Seattle-related budget issues, discussed at the City Council Budget Committee hearing hours earlier: While the council already had discussed dropping the mayor’s proposal to close the city Neighborhood Service Center in The Junction, they are expected to make further changes in the fate of the Neighborhood District Coordinators: The mayor planned to cut six positions (including the one held by Stan Lock, who works out of the Junction NSC); the council now is expected to cut three, keeping 10 to serve 13 districts citywide (West Seattle is split into 2 districts by the city for this purpose – eastern WS is considered the Delridge Neighborhoods District), and has not yet sorted out how that will be allotted. Regarding Alki Community Center, which was to be cut to 15 drop-in hours a week, the council now has signaled its intent to add back 15 hours, for a total of 30 hours a week; whether that means more hope for fewer program cuts (the Alki Art Fair is considered to be in jeopardy, for example) remains to be seen.

Another major part of the 34th District Democrats’ program; in the first segment of our video above, the group heard from State Sen. and County Councilmember-elect Joe McDermott; about 10 minutes into the third segment of video, you’ll hear from State Rep. Eileen Cody – just re-elected last week – and State Rep.-elect Joe Fitzgibbon. Rep. Cody said it’s going to be a tough year; she also noted she is now the most-senior member of the House, which, she added, lost 4 Democratic seats. Rep.-elect Fitzgibbon talked about the initiatives’ effect, saying he’s pleased about most of the results except for the income-tax measure’s failure and I-1053 (requiring a higher level of approval for tax increases); programs have to be moved closer to paying for themselves. The legislators also answered audience questions, with transportation one of the hottest topics.

For more of the meeting, check out the videos; the 34th District Democrats usually meet the second Wednesday of the month, 7 pm, The Hall at Fauntleroy.