In his first speech, Mayor Bruce Harrell spoke of “listening to communities and to neighborhoods.”

District 1 Community Network, a coalition of West Seattle/South Park advocates, plans to invite him to do exactly that at their March meeting.

That’s part of what was discussed at D1CN’s first meeting of the year last night, online.

INVITING THE MAYOR: Discussion about this focused on hoping to talk with Mayor Harrell about how the city can improve its engagement with neighborhoods. D1CN members are looking for more clarity on what role he envisions for the Department of Neighborhoods. They’re also hoping to offer ideas for how city departments might better coordinate with each other when interacting with neighborhoods.

Other topics:

WINTER-WEATHER SHELTER UPDATE: Cindi Barker provided updates on the emergency winter-weather shelter that opened at American Legion Post 160 in The Triangle. She said the community stepped up to help out. The number of overnight guests at the shelter peaked at 18 people when the temperature dropped well below freezing last week. Post commander (and shelter manager) Keith Hughes now has 30 cots and a good supply of blankets as well as food – according to Barker, food donations have ranged from nonperishables to pizza deliveries. What Hughes needs most right now, she said, is morning volunteers; looking ahead, he is also interested in multilingual volunteers – for example, having a Spanish-speaking volunteer would have helped a lot on some recent days/nights. (Contact info is in this WSB story.)

Neighborhood/group reps shared updates:

HIGHLAND PARK IMPROVEMENT CLUB & ACTION COMMITTEE: Kay Kirkpatrick said the survey regarding HPIC’s post-fire rebuilding/reenvisioning is still open through tomorrow – and you don’t have to be an HP resident to participate. Third meeting about the project is set for January 19th. Meantime, HPAC meets again on January 26th, with guests from SDOT and SPD to talk about traffic issues.

HIGH POINT: Community builder Ella McRae said a school-supply drive set for later this month might be postponed until February because of pandemic concerns. She also said the Urban League plans a voter-registration effort focused on registering young voters, and will also give a presentation about voters rights on February 3 as part of Black History Month.

MORGAN COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION: The quarterly meeting January 19th will include an introduction of new businesses (such as soon-to-to open Ezell’s Famous Chicken) and will include a spotlight on disaster preparedness and community self-sufficiency planning.

WEST SEATTLE BRIDGE COMMUNITY TASK FORCE: Member Deb Barker says it seems likely the CTF will continue – nothing official yet, though. (We have asked Mayor Harrell’s office about this. If the CTF is continuing its work, its regular monthly meeting would be next week.)

WEST SEATTLE TRANSPORTATION COALITION: This month’s meeting on January 27th will include guests from Metro and Washington State Ferries to follow up on questions raised at previous meetings.

D1CN’S NEXT MEETING: First Wednesday most months, so that means 7 pm February 2nd.