That’s Mayor Nickels‘ first post-election TV interview, with KING5‘s Jean Enersen, broadcast tonight. Only a few minutes long, but you hear him say why he thinks he lost, and what he considers his biggest failure. Meantime, his successor, Mayor-elect Mike McGinn, has posted a video on YouTube with a message to citizens:
We linked that video in the WSB Forums earlier today along with the transition team’s request for your answers to three questions – see them here.
Update from the King County Council – looks like they’ve agreed to consider candidates who want the permanent job, as well as those who don’t. They’ve now fully laid out the process for appointing a successor to Dow Constantine in the County Council 8th District seat once he becomes King County Executive a week from tomorrow – read on to see the full process, who’s on the advisory committee that’ll recommend finalists, and how to apply:Read More
It’s all over – Bob Warden went into Southwest Community Center with his concealed weapon (backstory here), a parks security staffer came up to him and asked him to leave, he left, now he says he’s got grounds to sue. Big media circus, of course, including TV, newspaper and new-media crews. Here’s the TV contingent (photo added 12:58 pm – sorry we didn’t get the photojournalists’ names, but at left and right, reporters Theron Zahn from channel 4 and Chris Daniels from 5):
Adding more shortly, video and photos. The reason Warden said he chose SWCC at noon was because they were having the Dogs in the Hood show; as of 12:30, the people and dogs who showed up for the show left when they saw all the commotion. (Photo above – TV reporters asked to see his gun, after he’d been asked to leave; when he entered the center, it was under his jacket.) ADDED 12:55 PM: Here’s video as we followed Warden entering the center, after spending about 15 minutes talking with the media outside, then leaving as he’d said he would if asked:
(Despite what you heard him say there toward the end of our clip, he had sent a letter to the city Parks Department informing them he’d had a gun, so you could say they DID know.) Police were standing by inside the center but did not get involved at any point.
With Warden was one of his young-adult children, Casey. A few people showed up to support him, including a man who worked the media sidelines handing out pamphlets for the Museum of Flight, where he said he was a docent. We asked Warden if he’d be going home and starting to draw up legal papers immediately; he said, no, he’d probably watch some sports.
Following this morning’s vote to raise electricity rates, another high-profile budget action’s been taken by the Seattle City Council: Councilmembers voted to restore $860,000 in funding to the Seattle Public Librarybudget. According to the Friends of Seattle Public Library website, here’s what that means in terms of library operations in West Seattle: The Southwest and West Seattle (Admiral) branches will remain open 7 days a week, 10 am-8 pm Mondays-Thursdays, 10 am-6 pm Fridays-Saturdays, 1-5 pm Sundays. But the Delridge and High Point branches (South Park too), currently open 6 days a week, will be reduced to 5 days a week (closed Fridays and Sundays) – 1 pm-8 pm Mondays and Tuesdays, 11 am-6 pm Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10 am-6 pm Saturdays. Read more here about what the library budget action means.
8 months ago, just weeks into his campaign for King County Executive, Dow Constantinewon an early endorsement and donation from this area’s biggest political group, the 34th District Democrats. Tonight, as you can watch in our video above, he gave a triumphant, thankful six-minute speech to the group for its role in helping him win a “long, tough campaign” that at the start, he admitted, seemed like “a long shot.” He also laid out a few priorities in moving toward what he promised would be “fundamental reform,” and invited everyone to a swearing-in ceremony that’ll break with tradition – around 4 pm on Nov. 24th, after the certification of the election (which as of tonight has him up 59%-41%), not in County Council chambers, but likely at the historic First United Methodist Church that he helped save downtown.
Meantime, as you can hear him say at the end of the speech, his election sets off something of a chain reaction, provided subsequent events go the way the 34th DDs hope they will. They passed a resolution tonight urging the County Council to appoint State Sen. Joe McDermott to the District 8 Council seat Constantine is leaving. McDermott made an appeal to the group at the start of what was on the agenda as a legislative preview from him, and State Reps. Eileen Cody and Sharon Nelson (who in turn was mentioned as a likely State Senate successor if McDermott moves to the County Council):
This is no slam dunk for a variety of reasons: The County Council is looking at a process that would mirror what they did with the interim County Executive appointment of Kurt Triplett – seek to fill the job for the remaining year of its current term with someone who wouldn’t be interested in running for the full term next year. (They’re scheduled to take up legislation regarding the process next Monday.) Bad move, in the view of 34th DDs chair Tim Nuse: “The caretaker role doesn’t work,” he declared toward the start of tonight’s meeting. “Our interests won’t be represented as strong as possible in the council. … A year from now, regardless of the decision the council makes, Joe will be our county councilmember – he’s gonna run and gonna win – so it’s a very clear message to (the County Council) ‘let’s do it right the first time’.” That message may be coming from hundreds of voices – the resolution passed tonight called for every supporter to call every councilmember about the appointment.
(34th District Democrats’ champagne toast tonight to last week’s election wins) 7:10 PM: We’re at The Hall at Fauntleroy for the first 34th District Democrats meeting since the election, and planning a few as-it-happens updates: First, even before we entered the hall, flyers expressing concern about the new Seattle Public Schools assignment plan were being handed out by a volunteer on the sidewalk. Second, on the tables is text of a proposed resolution supporting the appointment of State Sen. Joe McDermott as Dow Constantine‘s successor on the King County Council. Third, the meeting started with a tribute to veterans, twinned with a memorial bell rung 12 times for the victims of the Fort Hood massacre last week. More as it happens. 7:28 PM UPDATE: The group just heard from County Executive-elect Constantine, who got 34th DDs support early on and expressed major thanks for that. He says he’s planning to move the swearing-in ceremony outside County Council chambers so more people can attend – around 4 pm on 11/24 at the First United Methodist Church downtown, which he had fought to change from demolition. 8:17 PM UPDATE: Before the three 34th District state legislators present a preview of what’s ahead in the new session, Sen. McDermott told the group he’s hoping to win the County Council job. 8:50 PM UPDATE: The 34th DDs have just approved a resolution urging that McDermott be appointed, and promising that members will start calling County Councilmembers to voice their support. The resolution makes a point of saying that the 34th District has a majority of the 8th Council District’s population (a reference to what’s been mentioned several times here tonight, that 11th District State Rep. Zack Hudgins is another potential candidate for County Council; even if he is appointed, 34th DDs chair Tim Nuse declared, Hudgins would find himself running against Sen. McDermott, and losing, in a year). 9 PM UPDATE: As the meeting draws toward a close, City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen was introduced, and from the sidelines, he said, “I look forward to working with County Councilmember McDermott.” (A few minutes later, the meeting ended; look for breakout stories to come.)
At last night’s Junction Neighborhood Organization meeting, president Erica Karlovits told WSB she’d heard from the office of City Councilmember Bruce Harrell – who leads the Energy and Technology Committee — saying the proposed Seattle City Light rate hike will be discussed at the Budget Committee meeting tomorrow morning. She says that if you’ve got anything to say about a possible rate hike, you’re urged to get your comments to Harrell ASAP: bruce.harrell@seattle.gov. That’s echoed by Patti Mullen of the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce, who passed along this link to Harrell’s website, where he spells out the possibilities – anywhere from 7 percent to almost 14 percent, under a variety of scenarios. (He discussed rate-hike scenarios at a WS Chamber brownbag in July, where we took the photo at left.) Mullen points out that it’s important for businesses to pay attention to this as well as residential ratepayers: “Local businesses are barely able to claim ‘recovery’ mode at present, and this level of increase could be devastating to West Seattle ’s small business community.” She attended a City Hall discussion yesterday and heard a variety of viewpoints, including businesses saying they’d like to see City Light’s strategic plan first, and workers saying the utility needs money to pay for infrastructure upgrades.
Our area’s biggest political group – the 34th District Democrats– meets tonight for the first time since the election. Lots to talk about there; they’re also scheduled to look ahead to the legislative session. Here’s the agenda; the meeting’s at 7 pm,The Hall at Fauntleroy.
Quick followup on the political position that’s not settled yet, West Seattle/White Center/Vashon (etc.) District 8 County Councilmember (succeeding County Executive-elect Dow Constantine): Last Thursday, we reported that the council might take action today to set a process for appointing someone to serve till next year’s elections. But council spokesperson Frank Abe says that action’s been postponed a week “as a courtesy to councilmembers who requested time for further consideration.” (Who will seek the job, given the council may decide to only appoint someone not running for the permanent job? Maybe, just maybe, there’ll be a hint at this week’s monthly meeting of West Seattle’s largest political group, the 34th District Democrats, 7 pm Wednesday, The Hall at Fauntleroy.)
We asked this morning for information on the process to fill the County Council seat – representing West Seattle, White Center, Vashon Island and other areas – once Dow Constantine is sworn in as King County Executive on Nov. 24th. The info just came in – according to the process that’s being proposed, they’d be taking applications shortly for an appointed councilmember to serve until next year’s fall elections – read on for the details:Read More
King County Elections has just published its latest results, and the Seattle mayoral race hasn’t changed: Mike McGinn, 65172, 49.78%; Joe Mallahan, 64657, 49.38%. (Statewide, “yes” on 71 is further ahead of “no” than this time yesterday.) 5:18 PM: The Associated Press has officially declared Referendum 71 as having passed.
(Photo by Mike Siegel/THE SEATTLE TIMES [WSB partner])
West Seattle-residing King County Executive-elect Dow Constantine has just announced his transition team – including another West Seattleite, Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis. Read on for the official announcement (p.s. regarding the main not-settled-yet race, Seattle Mayor, the next vote count should be out within an hour or so):Read More
(original photo replaced 9:46 pm with our clip of Constantine arriving at the podium – speech video to come) Dow Constantine vs. Susan Hutchison – results here. Constantine starts off with a big lead. We’re at his campaign party – huge cheer as the results were announced; he is not expected to speak until after 8:30. Rep. Sharon Nelson is speaking now (8:21) – saying it’s been “a long campaign against a Republican stealth candidate.” She says Dow came in and fought “for what is right … for King County.” 9:01 PM: Constantine gave an energetic, resolute speech – declaring this a “new beginning” for King County – but also exhorting Hutchison supporters to “join us.” We have it all on video from about 1 foot away (thanks to Teri from Furry Faces Foundation for assisting in crowd maneuvering!) and will upload the whole thing when we are back at HQ.
He stood next to his partner Shirley at the podium during his speech, after sharing the podium briefly with two of the state legislators who were among his primary opponents – Sen. Fred Jarrett and Rep. Ross Hunter. Now he’s giving TV interviews a few feet away from where we’re sitting in the media zone. 9:56 PM UPDATE: The crowd has gathered again here in the media zone – as the presumptive King County Executive-elect is back to give another round of interviews to TV people (and others), with the late news nearing; other camera-wielding types are starting to gather. We’ve added a video clip atop this story before finally attempting to leave the venue – his arrival at the podium, introduced by Rep. Nelson. 10:11 PM: Just talked to Constantine for a brief moment as he continues making the rounds – we noted that his presumed election means that West Seattle will remain home to one of the area’s top elected officials – he smiled, “It’s my turn to represent.” 12:20 AM UPDATE: Susan Hutchison has not conceded. Here’s the remainder of Constantine’s speech – 10 minutes, starting with some humor:
ADDED 1:33 AM: Our partners at the Times have a clip from Hutchison’s election-night remarks:
(TwitPic from McGinn campaign – new one substituted 9:13 pm) Joe Mallahan vs. Mike McGinn – results here. McGinn has a narrow edge in the early going. King County Elections is not planning to release a second vote count tonight, so the next update won’t be until tomorrow afternoon. Meantime, here’s a photo of Mallahan from independent journalist Johnathan Fitzpatrick (the Mallahan party is also at the Edgewater, where we are still at Constantine HQ – they’re two floors down) aka @jjtweets:
Johnathan says Mallahan says he “is hoping to be a successful candidate” — way too early to know how this will turn out. 10:06 PM: Adding a video clip published on YouTube by The Stranger’s crew, with McGinn speaking to supporters:
(Early Wednesday, substituted Christopher Boffoli‘s video – which starts with two West Seattleites! – for the original early-going photo that held this spot)
“Approve” means that the domestic-partnership rights law will take effect; “reject” means it won’t. Results here. Referendum 71 supporters planned a live stream from their Capitol Hill party here. Yes on 71 is ahead in the early going. WSB contributing journalist Christopher Boffoli is at the pro-71 party and says it’s jampacked. 11:44 PM: Adding more photos from Christopher. Here’s West Seattleite Anne Levinson, who chaired the Approve Referendum 71 campaign:
State Sen. Ed Murray and partner Michael Shiosaki:
Sen. Murray said, “This is the side of the mountain, not the top of the mountain. We have a lot of work to do. This is an important step but it is still not fully equality. So tonight my friends, we celebrate, but tomorrow we go back to work.”
City Attorney – West Seattle incumbent Tom Carr vs. Pete Holmes Council Position 2 – Incumbent Richard Conlin vs. West Seattle resident David Ginsberg Council Position 4 – Sally Bagshaw vs. David Bloom Council Position 6 – Jessie Israel vs. incumbent Nick Licata Council Position 8 – Mike O’Brien vs. Robert Rosencrantz
8:19 PM – Leaders after the first round of results are Holmes, Conlin, Bagshaw, Licata, O’Brien.
9:25 PM: Conlin is at the Edgewater right now at the Dow Constantine party and just said hello – long enough for us to get a photo.
All King County races (which includes Seattle city races) are linked from here.
All state races are linked from here.
For national results, we recommend MSNBC.com – go here.
That dropbox outside the Delridge Neighborhood Service Center at 5405 Delridge (map) is the one place in West Seattle you can take your ballot all the way up till 8 tonight. If you get there before 7, go inside for the Voters’ Open House and meet folks like Delridge District Coordinator Ron Angeles (left in the photo below) – cookies, coffee, and tote bags while they last.
Just before sunset, we went out to look for afternoon sign-waving (here’s who we found this morning) – nobody in Admiral when we went through; on the Fauntleroy walkover, we found county assessor candidate Bob Rosenberger with supporters:
And at 35th/Fauntleroy, kitty-corner from where West Seattle-residing King County Council Chair/County Executive candidate Dow Constantinecampaigned this morning, a supporter of his opponent Susan Hutchison stood with signs this afternoon:
Here’s the schedule for results tonight: King County plans just ONE release of results, around 8:15 pm. We will have all the major results here on the WSB main page, along with coverage from some of the biggest Election Night events, including the Constantine party at the Edgewater downtown, and the Approve Referendum 71 party on Capitol Hill. (They’ve also announced they’ll have a live video stream online – here’s a link.)
That video shows the scene this morning at the Fauntleroy/35th entrance to The Bridge – with King County Council Chair/County Executive candidate Dow Constantine joining supporters including State Sen. Joe McDermott. A bit east from there at the Fauntleroy walkover, sign-wavers included one of his top supporters:
That’s the candidate’s mom, Lois Constantine. Also on the overpass, City Council candidate David Ginsberg (shown here last night) and sign-waving on behalf of mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan:
The Constantine and Mallahan election-night parties will be at the Edgewater on the downtown waterfront – they’re among the many parties on this map compiled by West Seattle activist Brian Allen, who’s added more updates since we showed it to you early yesterday morning:
Whomever you’re voting for, tonight’s the deadline, though vote-counting will take days. You can mail it if you’re sure it’ll be postmarked today, but the really foolproof way to get it in, if you haven’t already, is via dropbox up till the 8 pm deadline; the Delridge Neighborhood Service Center (5405 Delridge) has one and will be the site of a Voters’ Open House 3-7 pm, and there’s also one at the White Center Library (full countywide list, with addresses, here). While this area (County Council District 8 in the breakout) has returned a higher percentage of ballots than any other – according to the county’s running tally – that still amounted to only 25 percent by last night.
The Fauntleroy Way/West Seattle Bridge approach walkover is a must-visit on Election Eve and Election Day morning – if you’re looking for photo ops, anyway. And that’s where we found City Council candidate (and High Point resident) David Ginsberg just before sunset tonight. We’ll check back on sign-wavers at bridge approaches in the morning. Remember to get your ballot in by the end of the day tomorrow – if you have to push up right against the deadline, you can get it to a dropbox by 8 pm (visit the one in Delridge between 3 and 7 and you can check out the Voters’ Open House). [Disclosure: The Ginsberg campaign has a paid political ad on WSB.] Another sight tonight:
J. Leddy got the photo – the 74 is the giveaway as to the carrier – it’s the Bremerton-based John C. Stennis.
Haven’t voted yet? If you drop off your ballot at the Delridge Neighborhood Service Center tomorrow afternoon/evening, you’ll find an extra touch – it’s one of six NSCs around the city offering Voters’ Open Houses. Delridge Neighborhoods District Coordinator Ron Angeles explains, “When people drop by with their ballots, we hope to provide them with some information about the role of Neighborhood District Coordinators, and other Department of Neighborhood Programs. We also hope to engage people to find out more about their areas of interest, i.e. Land Use, Transportation, Public Safety, Housing, Parks/Open Space, Human Services, Emergency Preparedness, and particularly, Citizen Participation, Involvement, and Volunteerism. We’ll have coffee, juice, and cookies.” The Delridge NSC is at 5405 Delridge (map), and tomorrow’s open house is 3-7 pm – the dropbox itself is available around the clock till the voting deadline, 8 pm tomorrow.
SOUTHWEST POOL SCHEDULED TO REOPEN THIS MORNING: What was supposed to be a 3-week project to install federally mandated drain upgrades at West Seattle’s only city-run year-round pool turned into an 2 1/2-month shutdown after problems were found – but today, it’s over, and Southwest Pool planned to reopen starting with 6 am lap swim. They’re offering some special “welcome back” pricing – read about it here. One other note:
TWO DAYS AND ONE NIGHT LEFT TO VOTE: That map compiled by West Seattle activist Brian Allen shows the announced Election Night parties for key candidates and campaigns. (Note there’s one scheduled in West Seattle – for city attorney Tom Carr, at Christo’s.) So – have you held up your end of the deal? Vote by end of day tomorrow! TONS of info here.
who leads the Energy and Technology Committee — saying the proposed 
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