Ingraham NW Tree Grove Fight Back Before Seattle Hearing Examiner for Third Time.

Save the Trees-Seattle is commencing another full blown hearing today on trying to save the old conifer and madrone trees in the NW grove at Ingraham High School in North Seattle. Last year we seemingly won our appeal before the Seattle Hearing Examiner - she agreed with us that the NW Grove was an uncommon habitat in Seattle and that city environmental law said it should be protected.


Unfortunately the Hearing Examiner gave the Seattle School District the option of moving the project or reducing the footprint and the Seattle School District  choose to just reduce the footprint. Trees be damned. The Seattle school District reduced the footprint of the project from a previous 44% of the grove to 38% and then started playing additional games.

They said the impact was much less because they now claimed the grove didn't start at the edge of the school but 30 feet out. Problem is 30 feet out is where the tree trunks are and groves start where their roots and canopy drip lines are, not where tree trunks actually are.

And of course the Seattle School District  claimed that all the alternative building sites they looked at cost more. Originally they claimed that a 2 story building on the north side would destroy 4 classrooms in the existing building. Then in the second Addendum to their Environmental Checklist they claimed 2 classrooms were lost. They of course had to replace these classrooms so the alternative site would have to have a larger building and cost more.

The only problem is that the Architects finally agreed with Save the Trees-Seattle that no classrooms would be lost with a two story building on the north side. So the Seattle School district now claims that they must build a 2000 square foot entrance way for any North side building. In other words the fix is on. They have added extra study rooms and more utilities, you name it, to each of the other sites besides the west addition in the NW Grove grove to jack up the price.

This is the public's taxpayer dollars at work, ignoring what is good environmental policy and setting out to destroy more of an uncommon plant habitat in Seattle that also has significant canopy - these are 75 year old, 100 foot tall Douglas fir, western red cedar and Pacific Madrone trees - part of the last 50 acres of this habitat in Seattle according to a report done by Seattle Urban Nature. on the State of Seattle's Madrone Forests.

The Hearing process starts at 9 AM on the 40th Floor of the Seattle Municipal Tower, 700 5th Ave. The Hearing is today, Wednesday June 23, 2010. The public is welcome to attend. The appellants go first and then the Seattle School District and Seattle Department of Planning and Development.

Public Support Growing for Obama's Health Care Law

An article published in today's Seattle Times states that supporters of the the health care legislation supported by President Obama and passed by Democrats in Congress now outnumber opponents The Associated Press-GfK poll showed 45% in favor of the legislation to 42% opposed.

The poll found support increased since May among men (from 36 percent to 46 percent), people in their prime working years (from 35 percent to 49 percent among 30- to 49-year-olds) and Republicans (from 8 percent to 17 percent.) The uptick among Republicans comes even as party leaders are calling for the law's repeal.

The article credits the increased support on the public supporting a number of key provisions of the bill including:

"...coverage for young adults on their parents' plan until they turn 26; a $250 rebate check for older people with high prescription costs; tax credits for some small businesses that cover their employees; and federal money to train more primary-care doctors and nurses"

Significantly the poll found that the public trusts the Democrats to do a better job of handling health care than Republicans by a margin of 51% to 39% That's not surprising considering that no Republicans supported the legislation and they made every effort they could to obstruct reform of health care to try to prevent Obama from passing the legislation and having a significant legislative victory.

Republican obstructionist tactics failed and are a sign of the lack of new ideas or an agenda that appeals to Americans interested in solving our countries problems rather than engaging in partisan politics Obama is developing a track record despite the childish tactics of the Republicans who are more intent on trying to get back into power than on dealing with our problems.  Electing naysayers and do nothings just isn't going to happen. The obstructionist tactics of the Republicans are destined to come back and bite the Republicans at the polls.

Democratic Women in Office Far Outnumber Republican Women

With the recent primary victories of some Republican women for state wide offices in California, Connecticut, Nevada and South Carolina it has become fashionable for some in the media to hail this as some kind of banner year for Republican women.  The fact is that Democratic women currently far outnumber Republican women holding office. And even if Republican women win a few seats this year they will still be far behind.

The following is a summary of current women officeholders as reported in a recent post by The Democratic Strategist:

13 Democratic women U.S. senators, vs. 4 Republicans
56 Democratic women House of Reps. members, vs. 17 Republicans
3 Democratic women Governors, 3 Republican women Governors
4 Democratic women Attorneys General, vs. 0 Republican women A.G.'s>
50 Democratic women holding statewide office in the U.S., vs. 21 Republican women
70.5 percent of women state senators are Democrats, vs. 27.2 percent Republicans
70.3 percent of women state legislators are Democrats, vs. 29.4 percent Republicans

A good source for information on women in public office is the website of Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics.

Washington State ranks high in several categories compared to other states.  It currently has the 6th highest number of women (32.7%)  in the State Legislature.  Along with Arizona and Connecticut it is one of only 3 states that have both a current woman Governor (Democrat Christine Gregoire) and one in the past (Democrat Dixy Lee Ray).  In addition to a woman Governor, we also have 2 women as US Senators - Democratic Senator Patty Murray and Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell. 

Senator Murray is up for re-election this year. Here's a You Tube video about her campaign entitled Senator Patty Murray fights every day for the people.

When are American Women Going to Storm the Corporate Boardroom?

French women aren't waiting around for men to step aside and put more women on corporate boards.  According to Bloomberg Business Week last month a group of women disguised with fake beards stormed the podium of Veolia Environnement - a water utility during a shareholders meeting.  The women tauted the utility for only having 1 woman on a 17 member board.

The article goes on to note that these tactics are actually having an impact.

That kind of stunt is becoming common during this season of French annual meetings. The activists, who decline to reveal their identities for fear of retribution, are demanding that companies, including Veolia and insurer Axa (AXAHY), deal with the "boy's club" reputation of their corporate suites. Today, management has to take such pranks seriously. French lawmakers are considering legislation that would require at least 40 percent of companies' boards to be made up of women within six years or risk not being able to add new male directors.

Legislation has already passed France's lower House of Parliament in January, 2010.  It is now before the Senate. French corporations are already responding by adding more women to their Boards.  According to Governance Metrics International - a corporate research group in New York City, Women make up only 9.5% of 103 French corporate Boards.

Norway in 1992 actually passed legislation mandating quotas for women on corporate boards.  Women then only comprised 6.8% of 23 corporate boards.  Now the figure is 34%.

Governance Metrics International noted that women comprised only 8.5% of 405 corporate boards in Britain  and 12.2% of the boards of 1,754 US corporations.

The other side of the coin of course is that women are also severely under represented in legislative government. Figures from a wikipedia article on women in government point this out very clearly. "16% of all parliament members in the world are female. In 1995, the United Nations set a goal of 30%"

The same wikipedia article notes that "The United Kingdom and United States are roughly in line with the world average. The House of Lords has 139 women (19.7%), while there are 125 women (19.4%) in the British House of Commons. In the U.S., 17 of the 100 United States Senators are women, while 77 Representatives are women (17.9%)."

An article posted on the Brooking Institute website notes that "Women have long been underrepresented in French politics. French women have only been able to vote and eligible to serve in office since 1944, significantly later than in countries such as the United States (1920) .... The number of French women in office remained low for 50 years. In 1945, women represented 5% of National Assembly députés. In 1996, they still made up only 6% of députés, although they constituted 53% of the electorate. Following the 1997 legislative elections, women now make up close to 11% of députés, but still only 5.9% of senators."

It seems to me that more women need to run for office as a form of storming the male dominated political power structure in France and America and most other countries in the world.. At least women in France are challenging the corporate world. While equality for women in governance and corporate power is an important progressive goal, obviously gender alone will not bring about necessary changes for a more just society. One need only witness right wing fanatics like Sarah Palin and Michele Bachman who get a lot of attention but are not supportive of progressive legislation that makes a better world for both  men and women. 

Support a Progressive Voice in the Northwest this Wednesday!

The Northwest Progressive Institute is holding their Spring Fundraising Gala this Wednesday, June 9, 2010 from 6:30pm - 9:00pm at the Commmunity Center at Mercer View,  8236 SE 24th Street on Mercer Island.  View Map  Check-in and dinner served at 6:30 PM. Main program begins at 7:30 PM

The event should be a lot of fun, a chance to talk to other progressives and has a great lineup of speakers including King County Executive Dow Constantine, State Representative Hans Dunshee, Seattle Port Commissioner Gael Tarleton, John de Graaf (author of Affluenza), Suzan DelBene (candidate for Congress) and with Jon Soltz as Master of Ceremonies.

 Food is provided by ʻOhana' and music is by the Shoreline Jazz Ensemble. Enjoy a delicious buffet, meet fellow progressives, and learn more about the work of the Northwest Progressive Institute's political strategy center and media outreach. Tickets and additional information available at http://www.nwprogressive.org/

Individual tickets are $45 and a household is $75. Students & Low Income Families are $20. Children are welcome free.

To buy tickets or to make a donation if you can't attend the event go to:
http://www.nwprogressive.org/donate/

The Northwest Progressive Institute has been has been a consistent advocate for progressive ideas in the Northwest and needs your support to continue its work.

Sponsors of the event also  include Chip Hanauer, Sandy Levy, Maureen Judge, Kim Allen, Ralph Gorin, Jessica Greenway, Dave Upthegrove, Roger Goodman, Bob Ferguson, Eric Oemig, Sharon Nelson, Rob Dolin, Steve Zemke and Lynn Allen.

Seattle Urban Forestry Commission Needs to Concentrate on New Tree Ordinance

The following are comments presented to the Seattle City Council's Committee on Regional Development and Sustainability on June 4, 2010 by Steve Zemke, the Chairperson of Save the Trees - Seattle

"I want to again commend the Council for their action last year in recognizing the importance of Seattle's urban forest to the infrastructure and well being of our city through their actions to create the Urban Forestry Commission and set a task of revising and strengthening our tree and urban forestry ordinances.

The 9 member Urban Forestry Commission has been meeting since January and has been busy coming to grips with the multitude of issues dealing with trees in the city. I have been impressed with the commitment and level of thought and experience the Commissioners have brought to the table to assist the Mayor and City Council in their efforts to protect trees and reach the goal of significantly increasing Seattle's urban forest and canopy.

I think if anything the Commission has been faced with too many issues and need now to refocus their efforts by doing a long range work plan. I believe their main priority should be to focus in on helping you draft and evaluate provisions as proposed for a revised tree and urban forestry ordinance in Council Resolution Number 31138 passed last August 3, 2009, the same day you created the urban forestry commission.

Trees continue to be lost every day in the city. Rumor circulating among city departments dealing with trees has it that a figure of 17,000 trees a year are lost in Seattle. We need to deal with this loss by among other things setting up an expanded permit system to remove any tree over 6 inches on both private and public property. Other cities do this and successfully. They are placing a much higher priority on having a green city than Seattle is.

Permits are already required before someone can remove a street tree.

In addition all persons performing tree trimming and removal should be required to get a business license from the city before they can remove trees in the city as a business. Our current system of protecting exceptional trees is complaint based. By the time anyone in the city receives a complaint the trees are gone.

Rather than requiring property owners to understand all the in and outs of complex tree regulations thoroughly, put the burden on those who profit by illegally cutting down trees in our city. Severe penalties and loss or suspension of a business license would go a long way to end illegal tree cutting. Educating several hundred people engaged as arborists or other tree service people in city laws to protect trees is a lot easier than trying to reach some 600,000 or so city residents.

The city needs to move now to tighten our urban forestry protections. Please urge the Urban Forestry Commission to focus their energies on helping you fulfill the directives given in Resolution 31138."