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Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn‘s 2011 budget proposal calls for layoffs of more than 200 city workers, higher parking fees and library fines, a hiring freeze for police officers and cuts to arts, culture and recreation.

By Emily Heffter

Seattle Times staff reporter

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CLIFF DESPEAUX / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Mayor Mike McGinn delivers his 2011 city budget address Monday at the Rainier Beach Community Center. Even with cuts, he hopes to rebuild the facility.

Seattle budget hearings

The Seattle City Council will hold public hearings on Mayor Mike McGinn’s 2011 proposed budget. All hearings begin at 5:30 p.m., with sign-in at 5 p.m.Wednesday, Sept. 29: Northgate Community Center Gym, 10510 Fifth Ave. N.E.

Wednesday, Oct. 13: The Brockey Center at South Seattle Community College, 6000 16th Ave S.W.

Tuesday, Oct. 26: Seattle City Hall, Council Chambers, second floor, 600 Fourth Ave.

Watch Mayor Mike McGinn’s budget proposal address

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn’s 2011 budget proposal calls for layoffs of more than 200 city workers, increased parking fees and library fines, a police hiring freeze and cuts to arts, culture and recreation.

Residents also would pay more for electricity and other utilities under McGinn’s plan.

He addressed a roomful of people just after noon Monday at the Rainier Beach Community Center. Amid many cuts to departments, McGinn proposed funding a $20 million rebuild of the aging community center in Rainier Beach — something that was included but unfunded in last year’s budget.

The City Council, which is hearing a budget address from the mayor Monday afternoon, must adopt a budget before the end of the year.

The mayor and council must fill a $67 million shortfall in the $888 million proposed 2011 general-fund budget. In 2010, the general fund was $905 million.

“We did not attempt to balance this budget simply by asking the public for more money. We know it’s tight out there,” McGinn said.

The mayor proposed cutting 294 positions, 214 of which are currently filled.

Parks and community centers

The parks department would take an $8.1 million cut, with 105 jobs on the chopping block.

The good news is that swimming pools wouldn’t close and lifeguards would remain at all public beaches.

But seven of the city’s 22 wading pools would stay closed.

In a move sure to draw criticism from neighborhoods, hours would be reduced at five of the city’s 26 community centers — Alki, Ballard, Laurelhurst, Queen Anne and Green Lake.

“I didn’t take these decisions lightly,” McGinn said.

The Rainier Beach center would close for two years for its renovation.

Parks fees would increase.

Libraries

The library system would absorb 8.5 percent in cuts, but keep hours as they were in 2010. Libraries would be closed for a week in late summer, as they were this year.

His budget would maintain library hours, but remove librarians from eight branches, making them “circulating branches.” Those libraries would remain open for 35 hours a week, but no librarian would be on duty.

Library fines would go up.

Public safety

McGinn called for a halt to police hiring, but proposed re-deploying 30 officers to patrol jobs.

Parking

The mayor called for paying more at the meter, including charging for parking 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays (Sundays are currently free) and extending paid parking for two hours, until 8 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays.

The hourly parking meter rate would rise by $1.50 an hour downtown and 50 cents in other parts of the city. Current rates are $2.50 an hour downtown and between 75 cents and $2 an hour elsewhere.

The City Council, meanwhile, voted last week to raise commercial parking taxes by 2.5 percentage points, to 12.5 percent total.

Higher utility rates sought

Seattle City Light rates would increase by 4.3 percent in 2011 and another 4.2 percent in 2012.

Solid-waste rates would increase 7.5 percent, and drainage rates would increase 12.8 percent.

Water rates would increase 3.5 percent.

City employees’ pay

McGinn announced Sept. 11 that he had made a deal with a coalition of the city’s unions to lower their cost-of-living increases to the rate of inflation, saving $2.3 million from the city’s general fund. That deal affected about 6,000 workers, most of the unionized workforce.

The mayor also froze executive salaries. The budget situation could get worse or better depending on what voters do in November.

Mayor made “value decisions”

McGinn said he relied on “values” to make cuts and raise fees in his budget proposal. They included living within the city’s means, being effective, considering race and social justice, maintaining public safety and health, sharing prosperity, and being environmentally sustainable.

For every cut and fee increase, McGinn said, “I’ve made a value decision that I hope reflects the public’s value decisions.”

After the nearly one-hour speech dominated by the nuts and bolts of his plan, McGinn concluded by urging people to use the tough economic times to consider the “shared destiny” of people who live together in a city.

“I believe we will ultimately say to ourselves, ‘Look at our city. Look how proud we are of it. Look what we can do.’ ”

McGinn is delivering his budget to the council amid a power struggle between the two branches of government. Last week, McGinn accused Council President Richard Conlin of violating the city charter by signing a state environmental study about the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement project. McGinn says only the mayor had the authority to sign that document.

The revenue picture

If voters pass state Initiative 1107, removing new sales taxes on candy, soda, gum and bottled water, the city would lose about $1.2 million next year, according to the city budget office. If one of two liquor-privatization initiatives were to pass, the city projects it would lose between $2 million and $4 million in 2011.

But if a countywide sales-tax increase passes, the city says it would gain $8.7 million, a third of which would have to be spent on public safety.

The council spent much of the city’s rainy-day fund last year, hoping the economy would rebound. It didn’t, and the city still suffers a loss of revenue tied to sales taxes and building permits.

Trying to stay ahead of the falling revenues, the mayor made $12.4 million in midyear budget cuts in June. He closed some wading pools, postponed hiring 21 new police officers and laid off 13 city employees, along with a variety of other cuts.

Staff reporter Sonia Krishnan contributed to this report. Emily Heffter: 206-464-8246 or eheffter@seattletimes.com

~ my 2cents ...

thoughtful Tuesday ….&some News

10/05/2010 Nativegrl77

Today definitely, feels like winter but the 206 should warm up a little by the end of the day. Though reports are that it is 37 across the water here in Seattle and the weather folks say Washington State might see some significant snow this year it is has just started to sunshine once again in the 206. Don’t get me wrong this is nothing compared to what is going on in parts of Phoenix, AZ and hoping everyone is holding on tight, moving to higher ground and or evacuating as soon as possible do not try to wait it out be safe. In other News today, President Obama will be holding a Community College Summit. The big news online is about solar panels, wind and clean energy. I just heard that the White House will be placing solar panels on the roof and they will be in full effect by next spring can we all just say its about time Mr. President. Though the White House did announce they would be getting solar panels the Obama admin has not taken any bids and no companies have been picked as of yet. I wondered when the Obama admin and family would read my tweet and blogs stressing the need and questioning when they will in fact put up solar panels up… heehee.

In the days ahead people will be getting their ballots in the mail and there may be some early voting opportunities. I cannot stress how important it is to read your voter pamphlets it is just as important to get your voted counted ..So Vote early for DEMS on Nov. 2nd

i saw a great quote …

Change will not come if we wait for

some other person or some other time.

We are the ones we’ve been waiting for

We are the change that we seek.

barack obama, 2/2008

Other News …

**There is a bread recall of white bread which was made with a nut but 3others were accidently included and is sold at Safeway -cashews, etc…

**Community Colleges all over the country are holding summits as well today..outreach

**White House Community College Summit being held today

**Tougher Federaly vehicle ratings have produced only 2 scoring high –the BMW 5series and the Hyundai Sonata ..crash tests include female dummies as well

**Seattle Wa. Tunnel is in the news again and gets the green light

**Mr.Clinton will be in Seattle 10/18/10 to campaign for Patty Murray

**Kohls will be creating about 4thousand jobs over the next 3yrs all over the country

**For more info on the Travel Alert or travel in gen go to: travel.state.gov

**Seattle,WA Greenlake mtg on 10/16 @the Greenlake lib –a change in funding or cuts are coming to that area

**Only 4weeks until the mid-terms and reporter jake tapper reports republicans lead 49% to 43% …calls it a blow-out instead of a tsunami… DEMS need to vote Nov.2^nd

**NYC ..bungled bomber plot perp is sentenced to life in prison

**Tumwater,WA has a $$45million jail empty due to major budget cuts and a lack of criminals

**The Federal improvement tax credit ends soon … don’t loose your opp to do some improvements on your house

**Meg Whitman voted against Cali’s prop187…immigration

CSPAN …

One Nation Working Together Rally
Saturday

C-SPAN Debate Coverage of Campaign 2010
Monday

Pres. Obama Meeting with Economic Advisory Board
Monday

Atty. Gen. Eric Holder Press Conference
Monday

White House Briefing with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs
Monday

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Miscalculations … a message from Speaker Pelosi

10/05/2010 Nativegrl77

The Republicans think they have won this election. They think you have given up and that you will not show up.

But the truth is — they have underestimated us before, and there is no doubt in my mind that this is their biggest miscalculation of all.

We will retain our Democratic Majority in the House because I have you in this fight. But we can’t wake up on the day after Election Day with regrets.

Thanks to you, we are halfway to our goal to match Republican Leader John Boehner‘s million-dollar pledge to our counterparts. We simply cannot afford to fall behind matching it before Friday’s deadline to send money for ads.

Please join us and contribute $5, $10 or more today and your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar today by House Democrats.

With so many competitive races, it’s important to remember that every dollar you give today could be the one that helps drive another Democratic campaign to victory. Shadowy front groups funded by GOP special interests are pouring millions into these races. We will never stop fighting to ensure the People’s House remains in the hands of the people.

Reaching this goal in the next four days is critical for our campaigns to get their message out on the airwaves and on the ground. If you have given before and can give again, please dig deep and do so. There has never been a more critical time to give.

We are just $489,491 short of matching his pledge before Friday’s deadline.

Please join us and contribute $5, $10 or more today and your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar today by House Democrats.

Onward to Victory,

Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House

P.S. This is one of the most expensive mid-term campaigns in history, and shadowy GOP outside groups are pouring unprecedented amounts of money into these races. I need your immediate support to fully fund our campaigns. Contribute today.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

No Regrets

10/04/2010 Nativegrl77

I don’t have a crystal ball to predict the future.

I can’t tell you exactly how many seats will be won or lost on Election day. But I can tell you that — with your help — I am confident that Democrats will retain our Majority in Congress. The actions we take this week will make a big difference in the ultimate outcome. That is because, as of today, early voting has started in more than half the states. The next 4 days are essential to our success.

Last week, Republican Leader Boehner pledged $1 million to go after House Democrats in tight races. We must match that million before Friday’s deadline to wire money for next week’s ad buys. We can’t afford to fall behind now.

Please join us and contribute $5, $10 or more today and your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar by House Democrats.

With so many races being called “toss-ups”, every dollar you give will make a difference. Nobody wants to wake up the day after the election regretting that we didn’t do more. It’s getting down to the wire and we have to pull out all the stops to win.

With just 29 days to go until Election Day, we are making the critical, final decisions about where to deploy our field staff and volunteers, provide air cover for our candidates and invest every last dollar in the closing days of the campaign.

We need to make sure we get our message out and get all our voters to the polls.

Contribute $5, $10 or more to the Early Voter Rapid Response Fund and help us raise $1 Million to support our courageous candidates. This is so critical that if your contribution is received by Midnight Friday it will be matched dollar-for-dollar by a group of committed Democrats.

Onward to Victory,

Chris Van Hollen
DCCC Chairman

P.S. This is one of the most expensive mid-term campaigns in history. I need your immediate support to fully fund our campaigns. Contribute to the Early Voter Rapid Response Fund and help us raise $1 Million to support our courageous candidates. This is so critical that if your contribution is received by Midnight Friday it will be matched dollar-for-dollar by a group of committed Democrats.

~ my 2cents ...

Weekend rant &some News -#oneNATION

10/03/2010 Nativegrl77

–The Democratic Party must Unite in Solidarity … Vote Dems Nov 2nd–

Please understand that the President’s message the Democratic Party’s message is being held hostage by “The Media” clearly they are right of center !!!

Sunday buzz….It clearly is fall today …it feels like it but I am resisting the need to turn the heat on and have great thick socks on instead. The weather is mild compared to what my east coast and Caribbean folks are experiencing so the complaint is not that important. I will say how odd to have my ability to get my email subject to the damage tropical Nicole did and wow it did some that caused folks to come in for repair ….oh well. Dems need to Unite in Solidarity

The last few weeks, months and years we have heard “the media” put out information about the usual then when it comes to all things political or the issues at hand it becomes more clear to me what side of the issues these reporters, hosts, commentators are. It is just my personal take but these opinions when given are suspect because reality is most stations and their owners are quite right of center. If you a political junkie and watch enough or listen to enough so-called progressive radio it is obvious they try to provide spots so that those of us are left of center get our bits and pieces of go get’em blah blah blah but the fact is right of center has more money and that added to what Justice Roberts did has made it very difficult to get the Democratic Message out there. I found the Democratic Channel on YouTube and that helped to get the information needed that had no commercials, no person attacks by the station or their employee and instead of reading it you can hear what the politician said verbatim which is what we all should do; listen to what the politician says instead of heresy by talking heads. I cannot say how amusing offensive and troubling it is that someone gets paid to tell me I do not know what to think or feel about not only my political party but the issues and who may or may not be the right people to trust. That is offensive and it also makes me wonder are these people acting because sometimes the comments made are beyond anything anyone in their right mind should even say. I get it controversy sells but what we have going on before the November elections is rhetoric and vitriol on steroids from people on the right getting 75% of the airtime on cable and or the airwaves.

This leads to the 10-2-10 rally, which btw was such a great event. I watched it online and while I feel that any and all numbers being commented on by the “Media” they must include those of us who were on the #ONENATION website as well as face book and the unions; who also provided a plug-in, it is important that we all be counted as participants. However, while the “media” coverage was a disappointment the folks handling the rally in person on cnn and msnbc let alone mainstream television were not so surprising. If someone was lucky enough to be interviewed and do not get me wrong some did feel and say they felt the rally was in direct affront to the tea party rally. While others tried to get their message out the comments by most “reporters” was not about how diverse the audience, not how about the Republican tea party is against everything that remotely stands for #onenation and they(we) all came together at the National Mall. I saw no guns and or nasty racial or signs with words of hate of anyone in a Protected Class on them …It was a rally of Inclusion, it was a rally of people from diverse backgrounds who may not get angry, who may not be getting polled but who will be getting out the vote on November 2^nd.

In the end, it has been strange to listen to the coverage of the 10-2-10 rally. It should make folks aware of again…what side of the aisle “The Media” is on, so this is a red flag for what we will all be subject to over the next few weeks because of the November elections. The mid-terms use to be a no big deal but in this election year, the importance of who gets in Congress is the difference between continuing the progress needed if we are truly getting out of the ditch the last guy left. It will be about whether it will be your family member out of work, social security, forced to give up their rights as a woman, become reasonably suspicious and carry papers or put in a gender box and without rights completely. The choice is obvious to me because my family is #onenation and what that means is a family who practices inclusion, believes in a person’s right to choose, a right to love and marry who you want and what makes me upset is that implication by folks on the right that being brown black or mixed like my family also means we are all criminals. It is beyond offensive that anyone has to say that not all people of colour are gang members, or killers or you fill in the negative behavior but to take it further who says or believes that all white people are racist because i absolutely do not believe that either. The big difference at the 10-2-10 rally was people of varying races were standing side by side without the BS that glenn beck has been stirring up. The fact is reasonable adults can stand, work, rally and possibly agree to disagree without the nasty rhetoric and behave in a close environment. That needs to be acknowledged as an experience that was in direct conflict of the beliefs of those on the right who think engaging in legal racial profiling is necessary in order to control folks. This attitude goes against how most Americans feel but SB1070 which includes the stupid birther law; ares vehicle to control dark folks from being apart of the political process. I would like you to ask yourselves how reasonable is that?

The Sunday coverage started for me with cnn’s Holmes, who decided to bring in david webb; a tea party organizer and while he is black I fear his words of hate about his fellow man truly offended me as he rattled off the various groups represented at the rally out on the National Mall. I am going to try accept that no matter how the “media” covers the 10-2-10 rally I know why it was important that it happened and for it to get national play. The fact is we will continue to hear from folks on the right who get more airplay then those of us left of center because they are more controversial. They not only practice Exclusion they epitomize a sad reminder that race, hate and discrimination of all kinds is an issue that will be alive and well us unless we truly become #onenation and fight for equality. Our Votes for the Democratic Party in November will help continue the change that 53% voted for in 2008 the change we wanted we voted for means we have to get involved force push forward the change that includes ALL Americans not just a few it means everyone.

FYI the BS that happened even before President Obama took office is the reason things are still awful…the votes of No by the Republican Tea party has continued the slow move toward progress. It took at least 8 years of spending by the last guy, Wall Street and folks like AIG to cause an almost complete economical collapse. I do not understand why people do not get the obvious. The Republican party that caused the economical recession if in power again will strip everyone of their current programs your family friends and neighbors have used or paid into for years. They will not only get less government help but those who saw themselves as middle class or above will know they are not because the privatization of any social service program will mean no caps on cost increases given at any moment during the year you are a customer. The best example I have is if you have rent control then you are okay but if you do not “they” can increase your rent whenever their revenue is subject to being slashed, cut or folks just are not interested in living in their buildings or housing as much so the cost is then passed on to the current customers. This would be bad and that is what privatization is. It gives Corporations a right to control the costs; the services rendered the product you get. The alternative to what the Democratic Party is offering will increase the chaos, increase the numbers using the emergency rooms for medical services. The reports of how the public trusts Republicans to fix the financial situation more than Democrats is truly offensive and my question is have people lost their minds. I watched as the reports came out about how the 2Wars waged and the 2Bush tax giveaways to the rich were done WITHOUT PAYGO and this kind of behavior continues as Republicans stall block or make Democrats in the Senate scale down bills needed to get our country back on track. The blame is the Republican Tea Party and their agenda to ruin the Obama administration whether that means throwing their own constituents under the bus…When will they finally understand this.

Vote Dems if you agree to: NO Privatization … NO Cuts medicare, medicaid, soc security, Nurses, Firefighters, Police and Teachers …That is what the Republican Tea Party wants!!!

Other News …

**The state dept has issued a travel alert to US citizens in Europe

**Top taliban leader killed in attack

**Cali lawmakers reach a deal on their budget

**News Corps gave $1Mil to Chamber

**1200 NASA workers will be laid off

**Grocery workers are in mtg with worker rights issues with QFC,Fred Meyer,Safeway

**Rick Sanchez is fired after comments during a radio interview

CSPAN …

One Nation Working Together Rally
Saturday