On the Mayor's Mind - Feb 8 2015
Sunday, February 8, 2015
 |
| Mayor Winstead |
By Mayor Shari Winstead
The beginning of the year is always busy for the Shoreline City Council, and 2015 is twice as busy! If you’ve been following the light rail station area planning, you know that on Monday night, Feb. 9, the Council will be having their final discussion of the 185th Station Subarea Plan and Planned Action Ordinance, before final adoption on February 23. The Council is very appreciative of the many folks who have submitted comments via e-mail, voice mails and public comment, both at the Planning Commission meetings and Council meetings.
We have been holding community meetings and Council discussions for almost two years. We’ve met lots of people and heard concerns as well as excitement over the changes light rail will bring to our neighborhoods. The City recently put together “Answers to frequently asked questions about station areas” - I hope you will take a moment to read through it, as it contains valuable information and the answers to questions many of you have asked. (Shoreline Area News)
The Council Rules set the public comment period for 30 minutes, or a “per speaker” time limit of 3 minutes. If there are more than 10 people signed up to speak, the per speaker time is reduced to 2 minutes. This rule is in effect for a couple of reasons. First, so that all speakers can provide their comments in a timely manner (some people can’t stay all evening waiting for their turn to speak.)
While I anticipate Council waiving the 30 minute rule, because we do want to hear everyone’s comments, I encourage folks to come early and sign up if they need to leave the meeting early. Also, this is the only opportunity for all seven Council members to discuss their many questions and possible amendments regarding this critically important issue, as we can only have these discussions in an open public meeting.
Therefore, It will be very much appreciated if all speakers are prepared to stay within the three minute comment time (or two minutes, if there are 10 or more speakers signed up to speak.) This is not only to allow the Council ample time for the discussion, but also to be fair to all the speakers, so that everyone’s time is equal.
It will no doubt be an interesting discussion, and I hope that you will attend, or you can stream the meeting live from the comfort of your living room.
The adoption of the 185th Street Plan will take place at our February 23 meeting. Please note an early start time of 6:30pm for that meeting. (Most meetings start at 7pm) Our next discussion on the 145th Street Station area has been moved from Feb. 23 to March 2, 2015, as many of you requested.
 |
| Mayor Winstead in Washington D.C. |
What else have I been doing? Well, I spent a quick 36 hours in Washington, DC last week (my birthplace!) on City business. I had six meetings on Wednesday, starting at 8am, and finishing around 6pm.
I met with staff from Gov. Inslee’s DC office, staff from Congressmen Larsen and Reichert’s office, with Congressman McDermott, and Senators Murray and Cantwell.
Our primary reason was to seek funding to make long overdue needed changes to SR 523 (145th Street). This goes hand in hand with light rail, as Sound Transit moves forward with the 145th Street light rail station. If you travel on 145th St, you know first hand the congestion and all but non-existent pedestrian access.
In order to make light rail easy to get to, 145th Street needs some serious changes. The good news is that everyone I met with was very positive about this project. We received many suggestions of possible funding sources, and offers to set up meetings with partner funding agencies. We are still working on the route development plan, but once that is ready, we will be ready to get funding.
Many folks ask why we go to DC to have these meetings, instead of setting up meetings when these folks are in their Washington state offices. The staff in the DC offices are experts on funding mechanisms. Our making the effort to come to the DC office is a clear expression of how serious we are about our projects, and making Shoreline better. The Aurora Avenue project ($130 Million) was funded with 90% federal and state grants, primarily due to the City’s lobbying efforts in DC. And our great success with the Aurora project gives our federal delegation the confidence to fund more projects in Shoreline, a win for all of us!
And speaking of Aurora Avenue, we are expecting to have the project ready for a ribbon cutting in December. I hope you will be there - we all have a lot to celebrate with our safe, environmentally sustainable and beautiful Aurora Avenue North (and to celebrate the end of the major construction!)
Posts
