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Thursday, July 31, 2008

City Neighborhood Council Tells Feuding Groups to Kiss, Make Up

posted by on July 31 at 10:28 AM

Just days after the Mount Baker Community Club (MBCC) split from the Southeast District Council (SEDC), the a city neighborhood coalition has asked the two Southeast Seattle groups to work out their problems.

The MBCC has been seeking a seat on the City Neighborhood Council (CNC)—a city-wide neighborhood policy advisory board, of which SEDC is a member—because of a longstanding feud over the direction of the SEDC.

The CNC is made up of 13 district councils across the city. Giving MBCC a spot at the table would require the city to add another neighborhood district, something it appears the CNC isn’t all that keen on doing.

While SEDC President Boyd Pickerell says he’s ready to sit down and hash things out with the MBCC, but MBCC’s Pat Murakami appears poised to push the issue.

Murakami says if the CNC won’t give MBCC what it wants, she’s ready to take the issue “up the chain of state agencies” to the state auditor or attorney general.The Southeast District Council as it exists right now, is in violation of its own bylaws, and they don’t care,” she says. “We need a true voice of community”

No deadline has been set for the MBCC and SEDC to hug it out.

RSS icon Comments

1

Are you the Judean People's Front?

Fuck off! We're the People's Front of Judea!

Posted by Mahtli69 | July 31, 2008 10:57 AM
2

Nobody expects the Spanish Ecuadorean Inquisition!

Posted by Will in Seattle | July 31, 2008 11:35 AM
3

That's a helluva legal threat from the MBCC person. I could be wrong, of course, but I'd wager the chain of state offices, the attorney general's office among them, has nothing to do with such matters and really doesn't give a whit of shit about mediating disputes regarding membership on a local Seattle neighborhood advisory committee.

Posted by Smarm | July 31, 2008 12:47 PM
4

Jonah needs to begin doing true reporting and check his facts. His story is irresponsible. Here's what is wrong with a mere 208 words.

1. Mount Baker SUSPENDED membership in the SEDC.

2. Mount Baker did not completely withdraw from the SEDC.

3. There is no City Neighborhood Coalition - Jonah must have created a new organization out of thin air. He means the CNC, which is the City Neighborhood Council.

4. The CNC has not taken no position as of this date.

5. The "two groups" are not the SEDC and MBCC.

6. The "two groups" are the SEDC and the newly formed SE Neighborhood District Council, or SENDC. MBCC is only one of many participating organizations in the SENDC.

7. The CNC did not ask the SEDC and SENDC to "work out their problems".

8. MBCC is not seeking a seat on the CNC.

9. The SENDC is seeking an at-large membership at the CNC.

10. Boyd Pickerell first contacted MBCC's president, Pat Murakami, a few days ago to sit down for a talk. This was done through the SEDC's secretary. Boyd did not contact Pat directly regarding this meeting which will take place next week.

11. Jonah clearly has no idea how much community councils and business associations would like the situation to change and the rift to be bridged.

12. I was asked what we would do if the CNC did not give the SENDC an at-large membership and stated we may have to go up the chain of agencies. However, no decision has been made at this time. That decision would be made by the entire SENDC body.

13. Again, any "hugging out" would occur between the SEDC and SENDC, not between SEDC and MBCC.

The only accurate statement in the entire story:

The Southeast District Council as it exists right now, is in violation of its own bylaws, and they don’t care," she says. "We need a true voice of community."

Posted by Pat Murakami | August 1, 2008 12:52 AM
5

14. Jonah spelled Boyd's last name wrong (as did I in my haste). It is Pickrell, not Pickerell.

Sorry about that Boyd.

Jonah - Perhaps the number of errors in your story is prophetic of the number of seats there will be at the CNC.

Posted by Pat Murakami | August 1, 2008 1:10 AM
6

15. Typo: "the a city neighborhood coalition"

Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.

Posted by Pat Murakami | August 1, 2008 9:06 PM
7

I always thought the Stranger looked out for the underdogs and was anti-establishment. What is happening in south seattle is tragic. The Karl Rove/Machiavellian style tactics being deployed by the City of Seattle & Social Service Agencies who receive their funding from Seattle are undermining the economic viability of our diverse community. It saddens me to see the Stranger is no longer objective. Also, I was at the CNC and at least 25 community members were there and as I understand it 3-4 Community Councils have withdrawn from the Southeast District Council. This is not about Mount Baker as a neighborhood; it's about the inner city being destroyed by city policies forcing all the lower income populations into one neighborhood.

Posted by leonard getz | August 1, 2008 10:30 PM
8

This whole situation seems conspiratorial in nature since neither the city administration or council will step into the fray and resolve the issues. It is definitely a hot potato. Having lived in many of the nicer areas of the city and been exposed to their cultures, it makes sense to me they would not want to have poor people, who they perceive to be criminals in their backyard. If Madison Park, Laurelhurst, Queen Anne, Windermere, and Magnolia really wanted to help the homeless, mentally challenged, and chemically dependent, opening up Sand Point Naval Academy & the Fort in Magnolia would be a non-issue. I applaud Mt. Baker for looking out for the interests of the economically challenged. My guess is the folks in South Seattle don't have the time or resources to challenge the fat cats in city government because they are too busy working to put shoes on their children's feet.

Posted by ralph prynne | August 1, 2008 10:59 PM
9

Give back neighborhood councils representation! Do not support the slew of non-profits authoritative efforts to silence the will of the RESIDENTS of SE Seattle by rubberstamping City policies and action agendas in our neighborhoods. These policies include BLIGHTING THE ENTIRE BEACON HILL, RAINIER VALLEY AND SEWARD PARK area. This allows them to enact eminent domain.

Jonah, your blurb about this important issue is trite and attempts to trivialize the importance of this fight. Not to mention all the factual errors in your reporting regarding the basics: WHO'S WHO and WHAT'S WHAT.

Jonah, you should read the City of San Francisco's new grand jury findings regarding the relationship between the city's policy to house the homeless and the non-profits that execute that policy. It's here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/17/BABT11PHFJ.DTL&hw=homeless+panhandling&sn=001&sc=1000


As the SF grand jury report states (pg 8),

Role of Non-Profits - Where Most of the Money Goes

...Most of the City's spending on supportive housing (at least $90 MM) goes to over 80 private, mostly non-profit organizations. Most depend largely or entirely on City contracts for their funding.

Perhaps because of this dependence, politics infuse their relationship with the City...On the other hand, one non-profit manager feared (rightly or wrongly) that a visit he got from a Controller's Office auditor was the result of his having publicly expressed views on a policy issue that differed from the Mayor's."

...To the extent that some non-profits may, in fact, feel a sense of entitlement, the Jury believes this can be remedied to a great extent by strengthening performance measures as recommended later in this report.

I will be writing to your editor, Jonah. The amount of factual errors just makes me wonder about the other "facts" presented throughout The Stranger! Ultimately The Stranger is responsible for allowing this poor performance of journalistic professionalism to be issued, but in the meantime, shame on you.

Posted by Jewalden | August 3, 2008 2:14 PM

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