Shoreline City Council Meeting September 4 2012

Devon Vose Rickabaugh

Notes from Shoreline City Council Meeting September 4 2012

By Devon Vose Rickabaugh

Shoreline City Council unanimously Passed a resolution to support Marriage Equality and Referendum 74 on the November 6th ballot. 

During public comment Kate Beck of Shoreline said she would like to introduce her partner as her wife since they are raising their children together and are committed to spending the rest of their lives together. “She is my wife.” 

Merchant Marine Arthur Allen said he announced to his shipmates that he was allowed to get married in his state which he viewed as a sign of respect. He said he didn’t care about the subdued reaction of his shipmates because “It felt so good to have my home state behind me”. Councilmember Eggen remembered being stationed during the Viet Nam War with a group of men who ostracized a man for the entire year of service for being gay. “I didn’t like it then and I don’t like it now.” Mayor McGlashan said that since gay and lesbian couples are moving to outlying cities including Shoreline “We have a duty to our community to be passing this resolution tonight. "As the only openly gay member of the council I didn’t think I’d see this happen in my lifetime.” He said the Democratic National committee has made it one of their agenda items. “It’s a very exciting time locally and nationally.”

The council also passed a resolution to create a Community Renewal Area (CSA) for the Aurora Square Area after hearing concerns from citizens and a few owners in the square. The president of the Northwest School for Hearing Impaired Children said they would like to opt out of the CSA since they are not a retail store and don’t want to be a part of improvement efforts. Several council members encouraged them to reconsider since possible road and sewer improvements in the future could leave them out if they were “not at the table”. All ten owners at the square were included in the CSA with the understanding that if they wanted to opt out at a later date they could. The next step is to create a renewal plan.

The council also voted to support AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System) on the ballot November 6. AFIS is a county wide public safety tool. Since its inception in 1988 more crimes have been solved where detectives have no known suspect by capturing fingerprints and palm prints from all subjects booked into jail. The system is also used to store DNA collected at crimes scenes. This technology was used to solve the rape of a 12 year old girl in Shoreline. A palm print was lifted off the girl’s glass-topped dresser then electronically searched and matched. The suspect was identified swiftly and quickly arrested within a few days of the crime.