Another important round of community meetings on Seattle School Levy is coming up beginning tomorrow and going into next week.  None are at a location in the Central District.  However, our schools will be affected by this planning and the implementation of the plan if the levy passes and anyone of them is intended for the entire District.  Plan to attend one.  Note that middle school assignments will be affected by the reopening of Meany,  The Mann building is also part of the most current proposals, as is a Central area location for the World School.  The meetings are as posted below:

• Thursday, September 20, 6:30-8 p.m. at Whitman Middle School, 
• Monday, Sept. 24, 6:30- 8 p.m. at Madison Middle School
• Thursday,  and Sept. 27, 6:30-8 p.m. at McClure Middle School

If you are not able to attend these meeting, additional information and many documents can be found online at http://bit.ly/SPSBEX.  The Seattle School District will continue to collect, record and review all comments. Send comments to [email protected]. 

The proposed list of potential BEX IV (Building Excellence Capital Levy) projects presented in September was revised and totaled around $650 million about 100,000 million less than the proposal circulated last spring. For instance TT Minor has been removed from the list and the Central Area location for the World School has not been determined. The final recommendation will be sent to the Board for approval this fall for the February ballot. It is  important to note the project list shown below is not final:

• Arbor Heights Elementary: Replace existing building with new/expanded facility by 2019. Fairmount Park: Open this existing building with necessary upgrades, add classrooms and a lunchroom by 2014 Lincoln building: Modernize and open as a new high school by 2019. 
• Mann building: Modernize and construct a new addition for NOVA by 2014.
• Meany Middle School: Reconfigure for a comprehensive central region middle school by 2017. Mercer Middle School: Build an addition to meet enrollment projections by 2019. 
• North Beach Elementary: Replace the existing building and add capacity by 2018 Northeast Seattle elementary school: To meet growing capacity, add K-5 school on Thornton Creek site. Olympic Hills K-5: Replace existing building with a new/expanded facility by 2017. 
• Queen Anne Elementary: Build classroom and gym addition to the building by 2019. 
• Schmitz Park: Replace existing Genesee Hill building with a new/expanded facility on the Genesee Hill site; relocate Schmitz Park to the new facility by 2015.
• Wilson-Pacific: Replace building with a new elementary and middle school for additional capacity by 2017. 
• Wing Luke Elementary: Replace existing building with a new/expanded facility by 2020. 
• World School: Determine a permanent location in the Central area by mid-September 2012.
• Lincoln High School: Funding to reopen Lincoln for 1600 students in 2019-2020 is included.
• Downtown School: Some funding for an interim downtown school is also included.

Reopening Meany will definitely impact the current student assignment plan for all the Central Area residents, since all middle school students here are currently guaranteed a seat at Washington Middle School.  It will also affect the boundaries and programs for Washington Middle School.  The current boundaries for our schools are not well-matched to the available capacity in terms of the populations residing within each assignment area and the capacity at the associated building.  Currently BEX IV planning has not addressed how those assignment area boundaries will be redrawn.

Beyond educating our children, public schools play an important role in neighborhood identity and cohesiveness.  All of Seattle property owners pay for Capital Levies, BEX IV through property taxes. Landlords usually adjust rents accordingly. We all have a stake in good schools for our neighborhoods. During the past decade, the Seattle School District has moved to a neighborhood assignment plan with only a few alternatives.  Ensuring that our neighborhoods have great schools is important to all who live here.  Commenting and asking questions are important to the process. 

This temporary reroute due to construction along Broadway  will inconvenience those who are specifically wanting the west bound stops along E. Union from 12th to Broadway and the ones from Broadway to Boren, as the reroute will be on Madison until it returns to the regular route on Seneca.

BELOW IS A LIST OF THE STOPS THAT WILL NOT BE SERVED ON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY:

West Bound :  E UNION ST and 12 AV, E UNION ST/BROADWAY, UNION/SENECA ST and HARVARD AV, and SENECA and BOREN AV 

East Bound: SENECA ST and BOREN AV,  BOYLSTON AV and E UNION ST, and  BROADWAY AV and E. UNION.

Construction Reroute – Route 2

On Saturday, September 15, from the start of service until Sunday, September 16 to the end of service, Route 2 will be rerouted in the First Hill & Capitol Hill neigborhoods due to restrictions on Union St at Broadway Av.

During this time, Route 2 headed toward Madrona Park will travel instead via Seneca St, Boren Av, Madison St, E Madison St to its regular route, making all posted stops along its reroute.

Route 2 from Madrona Park will travel instead via E Madison St, Madison St, Boren Av, Seneca St to its regular route, making all posted stops along its reroute.

Thank you for riding and using Metro’s services.

By joanna

http://www.seattlelwv.org/ The League of Women Voters of Seattle-King County 

Voting in the primary is important.  Just one example is a Supreme Court that will be decided in the primary.  There are only two people in one of the race and any judge that get 50% +1 of the primary vote will be your next Washington State Supreme Court Justice.   There are also other candidates ballot issues that deserve your attention

http://www.kingcounty.gov/elections/currentelections/201208.

Some other sites that might help with decisions.

http://votingforjudges.org/

The Municipal League rates candidates:

http://www.munileague.org/

The Democrats

http://wa-democrats.net/?page_id=38

http://wa-demchairs.org/kcdems/2012/races.php

The Republicans:

http://www.wsrp.org/

http://www.kcgop.org/primary-election-2012/

2 sites where you enter your address to get ballot info.  The first has no endorsements, and the second endorses.

http://www.vote411.org/

http://progressivevotersguide.com/2012/washington/primary/

The Capitol Hill Blog took some position.  Their comments along with the comment section may be helpful to read.

http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2012/07/30/last-minute-cap

April Forum – The Seattle Central Waterfront Plan

http://kingcounty.gov/council/news/2012/March/youthctrforum.aspx

Metropolitan King County Councilmembers who are part of the bipartisan coalition supporting a ballot measure that would ask voters to fund construction of a new Children and Family Justice Center will participate in a forum on the proposal hosted by Seattle University. 

Councilmembers Bob Ferguson, Kathy Lambert and Larry Gossett will join other speakers on the campus of Seattle University on Thursday, April 5:

Thursday, April 5 
1:30-3:30 p.m. 
Wyckoff Auditorium, Seattle University Campus 
900 Broadway, Seattle