Podcasts about mercer island

Vauhini Vara’s new essay collection opens with a heart to heart with ChatGPT. In her prompt, she asks the program to give her feedback on a few chapters of her upcoming book. “I’m nervous,” she tells it. “That’s completely understandable,” it responds with a cheery exclamation point. “Sharing your writing can feel really personal, but I’m here to provide a supportive and constructive perspective. Take your time, and whenever you’re ready, I’ll be here to discuss it with you.” So begins a high tech odyssey through old Google searches, Amazon product reviews, social media profiles and experiments with artificial intelligence. Along the way, Vara explores the technology that came of age alongside her, including her teenage years on Mercer Island and college experience at Stanford, and how her relationship with it has changed over time. The book is part-memoir, part critique of how tech companies have positioned their products as “collaborators,” or even companions, in our lives. Every couple chapters, Vara invites the large language model to respond to her writing. It’s just one of the ways she breaks form in the book. It’s called “SEARCHES: Selfhood in the Digital Age.” Guests: Vauhini Vara, author Related Links: Elliott Bay Book Company | Events 45368 Vauhini Vara Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

URSULA'S TOP STORIES: Females in Flight // Cruise season underway // The M's are smoking hot // Canadians boycotting WA State // Mercer Island cop's drunken excesses caught on body cam // WE NEED TO TALK. . . 

The Eastside of King County has a new Queen of senior living support. Senior Care Authority's eldercare consulting franchise network now covers Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Sammamish, Issaquah, Newcastle, and Mercer Island, Washington - all under the guidance of Veronica Griffiths. Go to https://www.seniorcareauthority.com/locations/eastside-king-co-and-surrounding-areas/ Senior Care Authority City: Petaluma Address: 755 Baywood Drive Website: https://www.seniorcareauthority.com

Rabbi Daniel Lapin is known world-wide as a noted rabbinic scholar, best-selling author and host of the Rabbi Daniel Lapin Podcast where he shares his knowledge of how the world really works. He is one of America's most eloquent speakers and he has helped many people around the world grow in their five F's: Faith, Family, Finances, Friendship, and Fitness through ancient Jewish wisdom. He was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, later studied in yeshivas in Gateshead, London, and in Israel. He emigrated to the United States and founded The Pacific Jewish Center. His more recent projects, along with his wife Susan, include online courses, a community called The We Happy Warriors, and has written many best-selling books, including their most recent book, The Holistic You: Integrating your Family, Faith, Finances, Friendships, and Fitness. Rabbi Lapin is an avid boater and sailed his family from Los Angeles to Honolulu in the summer on their own 44 foot sailing cutter. As the family grew, the Lapins switched to calmer waters, boating in the San Juan and Gulf Islands in Washington State and British Columbia. He and his wife Susan homeschooled their seven children on Mercer Island, Washington and now live in Baltimore, MD.Gems:Our primary obligation is to teach ourselves, not just our children.We are responsible for our own growth and progress; nobody else is responsible.Parents must be on the same page.Create an authentic connection with G-d rather than a formalistic one.Teach children to build a relationship where they can talk to G-d.Judaism is more than just a ritualistic way of life.Try to get out of your comfort zone.We pass down principles that are relevant at all times.Think through what you're going to tell your children.Be open to freshness.How we teach needs to be linked to each child as an individual.Raise children that we would really like.We can't expect things to be easy.Homeschooling is more viable than people think.Our job is to acculturate the next generation. Dot-by-Dot Hebrew CurriculumA Kriah curriculum designed for the classroom, home, or Remedial with readers,workbooks, & games.Parenting On PurposeThis course will help you better understand your child and build a deeper connection.AmazonWe receive a small commission for any items purchased through my Amazon link.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

In this Library Life episode, Chrissie is sharing 4 ways that authors Ben Clanton and Andy Chou Musser supercharge their school visits:Make a pre-game videoConsider the endpapers of the visitPlay interactive drawing gamesShare real-life artifacts from the creative lifeCheck out Chrissie's Substack post all about author visits, featuring her best tips and tricks for planning and hosting.Check out Ben Clanton's work on his website.Check out Andy Musser's work on his website.In the PNW and want to learn more about Chrissie's favorite indie bookstore? Learn more about Island Books on their website (located in Mercer Island, WA).Be sure to subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. You can follow the show on Instagram @bookdelightpod, follow Chrissie on Instagram @librarychrissie, and subscribe to Chrissie's kidlit newsletter at librarychrissie.substack.com.If you want to support the show, please consider becoming a paid subscriber on Substack. For $7/month, you are helping to pay the costs of the show and receive exclusive content like extra booklists, live video Q&As with Chrissie, reviews of books Chrissie did not like, and more. Visit librarychrissie.substack.com to subscribe.

Spencer Tyler is Director of Customer Retention | Subscription Strategy at Investor's Business Daily.  In this episode, Spencer discusses growing up in the Northwest, Mercer Island, Seattle, the Grunge music era, family, movies, working in the commercials industry, producing music videos, bringing your passions into your professional life, user experience, storytelling, five years living in New York City, Los Angeles, Investor's Business Daily, customer success, comparing business leadership to movie production teams, and advice to his younger self. 

What’s Trending: What the Transit Union is trying to do to make sure Sean Yim, the bus driver who was stabbed on the job, didn’t die in vain. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced today that the media conglomerate will be making major changes as it pertains to their fact-checking and censorship policies and practices. US Fish and Wildlife is issuing a $20,000 reward for information about each of three recent wolf poachings in Washington State. // Big Local: KREM in Spokane published a story trying to help the NAACP of Spokane find individuals in alleged KKK attire, but there seems to be more to the story that we’re not being told. Meanwhile, Mercer Island leaders condemn racist vandalism at middle school. And a Seattle Times article vilifies the city of Everett over homeless cleanup. // The new Surgeon General warning on alcohol has Americans in a tizzy. Jason breaks down what the warning really means and the real health effects caused by consuming alcohol.

In this powerful conversation with Rev. Elizabeth Riley, we discuss what it means to get raw and real in our prayers, something Elizabeth has become well known for on TicTok where she Rage Prays for all to see. We discuss why religion appealed to Elizabeth from a young age and how she sees her place advocating for marginalized communities through her work in the church. Working with Elizabeth's prayers has helped me to open up and reconnect to my spirituality. I hope you might find the same and gain some direction for where to find social justice in the spiritual community. In this episode, we cover: The importance of community in one's healing What kinds of communities to seek out and how to find them Why messy prayer is the best prayer How toxic positivity is weaponized against women How to fit prayer into your day Ways to pray authentically Tips for healing the impacts of trauma with prayer Rev. Elizabeth Ashman Riley is an Episcopal priest serving in the Diocese of Olympia, WA. The former rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church on Mercer Island, she was called as their first female rector at the age of thirty. An Alaska native, Riley was ordained through the Diocese of Alaska as a deacon in 2012 and as a priest in 2013. She received her bachelor's degree from St. Mary's College of California, and her Master of Divinity from Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley. Rage Prayers is her first book. It's based on her “rage praying” videos on TikTok, where she has more than 60,000 followers. Find @therevriley on TikTok, Instagram, and Threads, -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your support is deeply appreciated! Find me, Lara, on my Website / Instagram You can support this podcast with any level of donation here. Order The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga: How to Create Safer Spaces for All Opening and Closing music: Other People's Photographs courtesy of Daniel Zaitchik. Follow Daniel on Spotify.

Nine students from the Mercer Island High School Jazz Band, directed by David Bentley, perform in the KNKX studios with their School of Jazz mentor Jay Thomas.

On this week’s edition of All Over The Map for Seattle’s Morning News, we visited a pocket park on Mercer Island along the shores of Lake Washington. It was here where a "rich and creamy" reminder of the island’s history was recently discovered by a pair of divers. Franklin Landing is a tiny street-end park on the west side of Mercer Island, essentially opposite Seward Park over on the Seattle side of Lake Washington. A dock at this location was a key piece of the "Mosquito Fleet" transportation infrastructure from the late 19th century to 1940, when the first Lake Washington Floating Bridge (which crossed Mercer Island) opened to vehicle traffic. KIRO Newsradio was joined early Friday by Matt McCauley. He’s known to many as "Mr. Lake Washington History;" McCauley is an author, historian, underwater explorer and a good friend of Seattle’s Morning News.

On this edition of The Blazers Balcony, presented by Spirit Mountain Casino, Brooke Olzendam and Casey Holdahl discuss...• The Trail Blazers rattling off three-straight wins after looking left for dead a little over a week ago• Shaedon Sharpe scoring 30+ in consecutive games and his popularity amongst various fanbases• Donovan Clingan's historic performance in the victory versus the Timberwolves• The spectacular play of Robert Williams III, Deni Avdija, Dalano Banton, Kris Murray and Rayan Rupert off the bench• Lamar Hurd barking at Toumani Camara• Is this the real Dalano Banton• The upcoming road trip with stops in Oklahoma City, Houston (x2), Memphis and Indiana• Brooke cutting the line, the Brightside trading card kiosk, "DB Hooper" and fan-created merch, getting the kids back in the building, Mercer Island vs. Shadle Park, get us to Las Vegas for the NBA Cup

This past weekend KMIH radio from Mercer Island high school was crowned the Nation HS radio station of the year! The head teacher there is none other than Brad's friend and former coworker Downtown Joe Bryant from the Bob Rivers show in Seattle! He told Brad all about the station and the kids who won!

Joined by chef Jason Farrish, Eating Adventures dives into the diverse menu of the new Mercer Island restaurant The Crawlspace Gastropub. Tune in to hear how the idea of the restaurant transformed into reality, the importance of cultural influences when curating a menu, and future vision of the restaurant! 

Two new restaurants have opened up on Eating Adventures' very own home: Mercer Island. The 2 locally owned restaurants, The Crawlspace Gastropub and Allister, have wonderful menu options to explore! Tune in to hear Chloe's review of the Crawlspace, and Hayley's review of Allister!  

Jason “Puck” Puckett is joined by Jim Moore on today's Daily Puck Drop….Jim starts off with telling Puck he walked seven miles already!   They dive into the Mariners and how this year was the worst because they had so many high expectations for the team.  Should Mariner fans not go to the games this weekend, college football action this weekend with Washington at Rutgers, Cougars taking on Boise State and “sports hating” your rival and why that's ok.  Jim and Puck are joined by their handicapper, TroyWins.com and they go over this weekends games in college and NFL.  Troy is no fan of the Cougs and Puck and Jim let him have it.  they also discuss some of the most absurd lines from the weekend. After Troy leaves, Jim and Puck play Friday VOICEMAILS and we here from Cam Ward, Jedd Fisch, Geno from Dino's and Howard Cosell Chris Egan from KING 5 strops by for his weekly visit and they went right into their frustration with how the Mariners season went and wondered what fans could possibly do to change the outlook of their franchise.  The fans really have no power when it comes to their team.  Before he leaves, Chris promotes the KING 5 “Big Game” of the Week between Hazen and Mercer Island. Rundown 00:00 Jim already did a seven mile hike because he ate everything in his kitchen last night!! 08:48 Jim and Puck go right into the struggles of the Mariners and why it was the worst season they can remember….What can fans do, should they stay away and would that make any difference.  Seahawks take on the Lions and continue to have the worst OL in the league…why?39:11 TroyWins.com stops by to make his picks for the weekend, including his thoughts on the Huskies, Cougars and Seahawks.  Also, Troy gives his “Lock of the Week.” 01:01:10 Friday VOICEMAILS as Puck and Jim up their conversation. You hear from Cam Ward, Jedd Fisch, Geno Smith and Howard Cosell 01:12:41 Chris Egan, KING 5, jumps on for his weekly chat and they go right in on the Mariners and their disappointing season.  Dan Wilson needs to bring back the Little League players meeting after games.  Can fans make a change with ownership.   Why do the Mariners dislike their fanbase so much.   Chris promotes KING 5 “Big Game” of the Week. 01:34:55 “Hey, What the Puck?!”   Mariners fans deserve better and we are in an abusive relationship. What can we do to change it?

Chris Egan from KING 5 strops by for his weekly visit and they went right into their frustration with how the Mariners season went and wondered what fans could possibly do to change the outlook of their franchise.  The fans really have no power when it comes to their team.  Before he leaves, Chris promotes the KING 5 “Big Game” of the Week between Hazen and Mercer Island. 

It really made me smile to see Nick Mautone from the old Mt. Vernon, N.Y. neighborhood all over the news during the U.S. Open. Not for playing tennis. Nick invented that now infamous signature U.S. Open "Honey Deuce" cocktail that took the media by storm this year. At $23 a drink, it generated about 10M dollars at The U.S. Open this year alone!   Nick Mautone invented the drink back in 2007 when Grey Goose hired him as a consultant to create a signature cocktail for the event.  Talk about a never-ending drink! Even Nick couldn't believe the cocktail commotion he's caused. (Do people get royalties from inventing drinks?) I thought it would be fun to contact Nick and invite him on my show to take another bow, and give him some old-time love and find out!  Nick said, “Because I was a brand ambassador and a hospitality consultant to Great Goose Vodka, which I started with in 2005. As a consultant, it was the single best consistent gig I ever had in my life. I loved it and without going into details, they paid me well. I had a great expense account. They flew me all over the world to talk about Grey Goose, train teams, distributors, do great events like the US Open, and I played golf with celebrities!”  Nick's a warm and wonderful guy and he's written all kinds of books to teach people how to be great mixologists. Books that both professionals and those interested in being great mixologists at home will benefit from. Nicks a dad, a futurist, and the brother of one of my best childhood pals Carol Mautone. The Mautone house was chock full of kids (seven I think? LOL) and commotion and their house always smelled like great Italian food! Their Dad had a specialty food business, and their sweet mom Adele was constantly shopping and making food. Never knew how she kept up with them all, but she always had a smile and always welcomed me and others into her home with open arms. It's probably where her kids learned about the true meaning of ‘hospitality'.  Carol became a chef and moved to Italy but now teaches English to foreigners and I've been threatening for years to fly over and visit her. Soon! Meanwhile, I stay in touch with her lightly on Facebook and I've connected with lovely Nick too a few times over the years.  Nick and his family moved out to Washington State, to Mercer Island, near Seattle. I followed Nicks career in the restaurant industry. He started out bussing tables, backing bars, and then he and his brothers and sisters opened a place called American Pie on the Upper West Side of New York. Nick Mautone now has 40 years of hospitality industry experience. He believes in the power of mentorship, leadership, collaboration, and possibility. Nick is the architect of an inventive process called “Hospitality Sabermetrics” — think Moneyball for Hospitality he says, and has a sixth sense when it comes to foreseeing trends. He is known for nurturing sustained success, streamlining operations, and aligning core values in every sort of hospitality business. Since his start, Nick has worked with some of the most iconic and influential restaurants in the world including Gotham Bar & Grill, Hudson River Club, and most notably, Gramercy Tavern where he was managing partner alongside Danny Meyer and Tom Colicchio for seven years, and helped define and nurture a fledgling idea Danny and the group coined called “Enlightened Hospitality.”  So, what is Enlightened Hospitality? Nick explained, “Enlightened Hospitality' is the core values of how you operate your business, and you hear that term a lot in business leadership programs where a company will say these are our core values and these are the way we want to operate our business, and these are the non-negotiables that we will not forsake any amount of money. And so, they are the guiding principles, if you will, that you want to live by, that we wanted our business to operate by, and we wanted, as people, to live by.” And I think it really made sense. I think that's why I enjoyed it, that's why I took the job. Danny had core values; Tom Colicchio had core values. At some point during the first few years that I was there, we actually took those core values and encapsulated them into our manuals and then we used them as part of our review process. And it really became a great way to manage people, and everyone knew their expectations. Everyone screws up, bear that in mind, but if you screw up and you forsake one of those core values, we'd sit you down and say, hey, you know, it just didn't work for us the way you handled this particular situation. Look at how we want to operate. Here's the way and the waterfall of progression of how you should handle these situations. And people get it. And then, you know, nine out of 10 times, they understand what they did wrong, they correct the problem, and they move forward. If not, they understand and they choose to move on because they can't live in those core values, and both are acceptable outcomes.” Nick's spent a lifetime trying to keep integrity in all he does.  I wanted to know his thoughts about the current state of the restaurant business. So many restaurants have struggled after COVID. Some reopened, some did not reopen. Getting and retaining good help is the #1 problem I hear from most in the restaurant business I've spoken to. Nick said, “So, the pandemic forced this change to happen five or 10 years earlier than it needed to.” One, people need to get paid appropriately, plain and simple. Tips notwithstanding, yes, tips count for your income, but you need to be paid appropriately. Most importantly, people need to be treated appropriately. And what I found, you know, in my career, and I don't speak for Danny Meyer, but I will say in our organization during that time, and I know it carries to today, our number one goal was to treat our employees well and take care of them to the best of our ability. And if we do that, then we can honestly live with honor and hold ourselves to a high standard as being good about the business. A lot of people didn't operate that way, so the pandemic forced that change. And now you see this, people leaving the industry, going on to do other endeavors. It will come back because everyone needs to eat and everyone needs human companionship and the connectivity that comes with sitting in a restaurant or a bar or a movie theater or whatever it is and seeing other people. So, I think it'll come back. It's just going to take a little time.” Nick is the founder of Mautone Enterprises. Whether you're a first time first-time restaurateur, or turning around a big ship on the wrong course, Nick's your guy to help guide you and your staff to profitable collaboration. Here's his website: nickmautone.com Enjoy this podcast my warm conversation with Nick Mautone on The Debbie Nigro Show. 

3pm-John had his Car stolen at SEA-Tac // Port of Seattle: Outage was ransomware attack; ransom has NOT been paid // Port of Seattle PIO Perry Cooper says garage cameras ARE operational… // Mercer Island high school has replaced detention with “reflection time” // Sao Paulo mayoral debate devolves into a WWE match 

6pm: JOHN HAD HIS CAR STOLEN AT SEA-TAC // Port of Seattle: Outage was ransomware attack; ransom has NOT been paid // Port of Seattle PIO Perry Cooper says garage cameras ARE operational… // Mercer Island high school has replaced detention with “reflection time” // Sao Paulo mayoral debate devolves into a WWE match 

What’s Trending: Mercer Island High school has banned detention. A Puyallup City Council member is objecting to the City’s plans to institute paid parking. The Cook Political Report is projecting a GOP majority in the Senate. // LongForm: GUEST: Eugene Johnson was seriously injured in a car accident with a suspected drunk driver but due to the backlog on blood tests, he won’t see justice for at least a year as the driver was released. // The Quick Hit: Robert DeNiro is claiming that Trump will not leave office if he is elected and compared him to a gangster. Actor Dean Cain says you should not vote based on a celebrity’s endorsement.  

Today's Episode Dr. Raj is joined by Kevin Martin from the band Candlebox! Today's Guest Kevin Martin is an American singer who is best known as lead vocalist of the rock band Candlebox. He also provided lead vocals for the bands The Gracious Few and The Hiwatts. Martin was born in Elgin, Illinois. His father worked for a salt company and the family moved to San Antonio, Texas when he was 10. They subsequently moved to Mercer Island, Washington near Seattle when Martin was 15. He and drummer Scott Mercado set out to start a band in 1990. Candlebox was formed in 1991 after guitarist Peter Klett and bassist Bardi Martin joined them. They gained a Billboard 200 top 10 hit in 1993 with their self-titled debut album, released by Maverick Records. The album's success was largely due to the single "Far Behind", a song written about two of Martin's friends who suffered heroin overdoses, including Andrew Wood of Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone. The single reached number 18 on the US Hot 100 and was a top 10 hit in both the US Modern Rock and US Mainstream Rock charts. About Dr. Raj Dr Raj is a quadruple board certified physician and associate professor at the University of Southern California. He was a co-host on the TNT series Chasing the Cure with Ann Curry, a regular on the TV Show The Doctors for the past 7 seasons and has a weekly medical segment on ABC news Los Angeles. More from Dr. Raj www.BeyondThePearls.net The Dr. Raj Podcast Dr. Raj on Twitter Dr. Raj on Instagram Want more board review content? USMLE Step 1 Ad-Free Bundle Crush Step 1 Step 2 Secrets Beyond the Pearls The Dr. Raj Podcast Beyond the Pearls Premium USMLE Step 3 Review MedPrepTGo Step 1 Questions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s Trending: The local media is still running out completely useless stories about to stay cool during heat waves. A new poll shows Biden running way behind a Democrat incumbent Senator. // Big Local: Mercer Island is threatening to restrict water if usage doesn’t decrease. A home seller in Kirkland was robbed during an open house. // Residents in Barcelona, Spain are shooting tourists with water guns to try and deter them from coming.

How much do retirees really spend in retirement? Does the Social Security Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) continue to rise with inflation? Is all the talk about higher future tax brackets just fear-mongering? Can "Johnny Mercer" afford to leave money for his heirs, and what should his strategy be for converting his retirement savings to Roth IRA for tax-free growth on his money? While Joe Anderson, CFP® and Big Al Clopine, CPA each take some much-needed vacation time, Your Money, Your Wealth® producer Andi Last enlists the help of senior financial advisor Rachel Fuss, CFP®, MPH from Joe and Big Al's team of experienced professionals at Pure Financial Advisors in Mercer Island, WA, to see if they can "Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive" for Johnny in YMYW Extra number 4. Free financial resources and transcript: https://bit.ly/ymywe-4 Watch the video of this spitball! https://youtu.be/wKi-VDALJAo Withdrawal Strategy Guide - free download Request your own Retirement Spitball Analysis YMYW Extra on YouTube | Guides | Blogs | Educational Videos | YMYW Newsletter Schedule a free financial assessment Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 01:17 - Johnny Mercer's Cars, Drinks and Pets 02:19 - Will Social Security Primary Insurance Amount Continue to Rise With Inflation? 05:20 - Retirement Spending: What's Reality? 06:40 - Are Future Higher Tax Brackets Just Fear-Mongering? 08:21 - How Much Can We Afford to Spend and Still Leave Money for Heirs? 11:07 - Final Considerations & Roth Conversion Strategy

What’s Trending: Washington State Republican Party accused Rantz of possibly stealing the Semi Bird documents – He has a confession. He’s Ethan Hunt.  // Jason goes over some of the problems with the Washington State GOP’s statement regarding the Semi Bird documents. // Two thieves are on the loose on Mercer Island (or, we’re supposed to believe they stayed on Mercer Island?) There’s a new commercial that is driving Jason nuts.

Welcome in to the Levelheads podcast! This week we haveJason Koehler from RKK Construction joining the podcast. Jason is a 2nd generation custom builder on Mercer Island which is in the Seattle metro area. Jason & the Levelheads tak abou tghe chalanges of building and permitting especially on an island! Listen in to find out how Jason is pivoting his business to adapt to a changing market.  You can find Jason on Instagram at @rkkconstruction Find us on Instagram!  @levelheads_pod @verduraconstruction @greenside_design_build @collectivebuildco

As second semester seniors, the school year is winding down, but our brains aren't. In this episode we talk about toxic productivity and the culture of workaholism Mercer Island has created for us and how it will impact our futures. 

Hello to you listening o Mercer Island, Washington!Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga.Imagine that voicing your ideas is an act of creation. When we have the courage to use our voice to speak our mind to say what we mean and mean what we say we have taken a bold and beautiful step toward making happen what we desire.Our best chance of being seen, heard, understood and listened to is by speaking with intention. Together we can find the words you didn't know you had to speak your ideas with confidence and conviction to make the change you seek.CTA: Whether you are ready to work with me as your trusted story guide or getting ready to be ready, I'm here to support you at Quarter Moon Story Arts! You're always invited: “Come for the stories - stay for the magic!” Speaking of magic, would you subscribe, share a 5-star rating + nice review on your social media or podcast channel of choice, and join us next time!Meanwhile, stop by my Quarter Moon Story Arts website to:✓ Check out What I Offer,✓ Arrange your free Story Start-up Session,✓ Opt In to my monthly Engaged Storyism© Network NewsAudioLetter for bonus gift, valuable tips & techniques to enhance your story work, and✓ Stay current with Diane and on LinkedIn.Stories From Women Who Walk Production TeamPodcaster: Diane F Wyzga & Quarter Moon Story ArtsMusic: Mer's Waltz from Crossing the Waters by Steve Schuch & Night Heron MusicAll content and image © 2019 to Present Quarter Moon Story Arts. All rights reserved.

URSULA'S TOP STORIES: Another panel falls off a Boeing jet mid flight // WSP pays $1.4M  over trooper's bogus DUI stops // GUEST: Sam Campbell on a crazy Mercer Island murder // 

Casey McNerthney on the case of a Mercer Island man who was murdered // Dr. Cohen on "resistance-training" as a means of a healthier heart // Jill Schlesinger on a landmark settlement between realtors and homebuyers // Daily Dose of Kindness: A smartly dressed young boy changes his school // Gee Scott on the real estate market changing drastically

In this episode of The Sunday Shakeout podcast, I interview Sophia and Victoria Rodriguez, two phenoms in the high school running scene. The Rodriguez sisters share their excitement about the upcoming events, emphasizing the team aspect and the thrill of competition. They discuss their training strategies, balancing solid work with strategic planning for peak performance. Sophia and Victoria also reflect on their transition from soccer to running, their move from Pennsylvania to Mercer Island, and the supportive community they found at MIHS. They offer insights into dealing with injuries, the importance of staying present, and their aspirations for the future in the sport. Despite not having social media, they share their passions outside of running and provide advice for athletes facing significant life transitions. Finally, there is a LISTENER Q&A at the end of the conversation, where we discuss various topics in running. This episode offers a glimpse into the lives and mindset of two dedicated athletes navigating the highs and lows of competitive running. I hope you enjoy this episode of The Sunday Shakeout! Contact me: ⁠thesundayshakeout@gmail.com⁠ Instagram: ⁠@thesundayshakeout⁠

Consider this your all-access pass to advertising's top agency/client matchmakers. We're chatting with power couple Robin and Steve Boehler of Mercer Island Group, the West Coast's top consultancy firm helping both brands and agencies solve critical business and organizational challenges. In this episode, Robin and Steve reveal all the insider info behind the agency review process — from how to catch a marketer's attention to what clients want to see in a pitch. They share tips on mastering the all-important "tissue session," the magic small agencies bring to a pitch, why chemistry and listening skills are make-or-break for agencies and so much more. Here's a quick recap of the convo:  What the agency landscape looks like in 2024 What an agency can do to get a CMO's attention Robin and Steve's perspective on DEI in the industry and what role it plays in agency matchmaking  The magic smaller shops bring to the pitch that larger agencies should take note of Three things a CMO should consider when hiring a new agency Whether or not the awards an agency wins matters to CMOs How to master the tissue session   When it is acceptable for agencies to pull out of a pitch Why agency pitch teams are not favorable for many clients  Plus, some rapid-fire questions that'll have you on the edge of your seat Connect with Robin and Steve on LinkedIn. Catch our favorite takeaways from this can't-miss episode here: https://www.curiosity.fun/thoughts/5-insider-strategies-from-agency-matchmakers-robin-and-steve-boehler Feast your eyes on Robin and Steve's tissue session strategies here.

On this week-in-review, Crystal is joined by Chair of Sierra Club Seattle, long time communications and political strategist, Robert Cruickshank! Crystal and Robert chat about Raise the Wage Renton's special election win, how a rent stabilization bill passed out of the State House but faces an uphill battle in the State Senate, and the authorization of a strike by Alaska Airlines flight attendants. They then shift to how gender discrimination problems in the Seattle Police Department create a toxic work culture that impedes recruitment, the inexplicable pressing forward by Seattle on ShotSpotter while other cities reject it, and the failure of a philanthropic effort by business titans to solve the regional homelessness crisis. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Twitter at @finchfrii and find today's co-host, Robert Cruickshank, at @cruickshank.   Resources “Renton $19 minimum wage hike ballot measure leading in early results” by Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks from The Seattle Times   “Washington State House Passes Rent Stabilization Bill” by Rich Smith from The Stranger   “Rent Stabilization Backers Aim to Beat Deadline to Keep Bill Alive” by Doug Trumm from The Urbanist   2024 Town Halls | Washington State House Democrats   “Alaska Airlines flight attendants authorize strike for first time in 3 decades” by Alex DeMarban from Anchorage Daily News   “The Seattle Police Department Has a Gender Discrimination Problem” by Andrew Engelson from PubliCola   “Harrell Plans Hasty Rollout of Massive Surveillance Expansion” by Amy Sundberg from The Urbanist   “Chicago will not renew controversial ShotSpotter contract, drawing support, criticism from aldermen” by Craig Wall and Eric Horng from ABC7 Chicago   “Despite Public Opinion, Seattle Cops and Prosecutors Still Prioritize Cracking Down on Sex Work” by Erica C. Barnett from PubliCola   “Council's Public Safety Focus Will Be “Permissive Environment” Toward Crime” by Erica C. Barnett from PubliCola   “The private sector's biggest bet in homelessness fell apart. What now?” by Greg Kim from The Seattle Times   “Amazon donation is ‘another step' after homelessness group's collapse” by Greg Kim from The Seattle Times   Find stories that Crystal is reading here   Listen on your favorite podcast app to all our episodes here   Transcript [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington state through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the full versions of our Tuesday topical shows and our Friday week-in-review shows delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, the most helpful thing you can do is leave a review. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. Today, we're continuing our Friday week-in-review shows where we review the news of the week with a co-host. Welcome back to the program, friend of the show and today's co-host: Chair of Sierra Club Seattle, longtime communications and political strategist, Robert Cruickshank. [00:01:08] Robert Cruickshank: Thank you for having me back here again, Crystal. [00:01:11] Crystal Fincher: Thank you so much. Well, we've got a number of items to cover this week, starting with news that I'm certainly excited about - I think you are, too - that this week, in our February special election, Renton had a ballot measure to increase the minimum wage which passed. What are your takeaways from this? [00:01:31] Robert Cruickshank: It's a huge win, both in terms of the margin of victory so far - nearly 60% of Renton voters saying Yes to this in a February election with low turnout. It will raise the wage to around $20 an hour in Renton. And I think it's a clear sign that just as we saw voters in Tukwila last year, and just as in fact voters in SeaTac 11 years ago - kicking all this off - moving to $15 an hour with a city ballot initiative that year, voters in King County, Western Washington want higher minimum wages. And I don't even think we need to qualify it by saying King County in Western Washington. You can look around the country and see - in states like Arkansas, when people put initiatives on the ballot to raise the wage, they pass. So I think there's, yet again, widespread support for this. And I think it also shows that the politicians in Renton - there were several city councilmembers like Carmen Rivera who supported this. There are others, though - the majority of the Renton City Council didn't. They spouted a lot of the usual right-wing Chamber of Commerce arguments against raising the minimum wage, saying it would hurt small businesses and make it hard for workers - none of which actually happens in practice. And voters get that. Voters very clearly understand that you need to pay workers more - they deserve more, especially in a time of inflation. This has been understood for well over 10 years now - that the minimum wage wasn't rising quickly enough and it needs to keep going up. So I think it's a huge wake-up call to elected officials - not just in local city councils, but at the state legislature - they've got to keep doing work to make sure that workers are getting paid well and that the minimum wage keeps rising. [00:03:04] Crystal Fincher: I completely agree. I also think, just for the campaign's purposes, this was really exciting to see. Again, not coming from some of the traditional places where we see ballot measures, campaigns being funded - great that they're funding progressive campaigns in other areas, but that these efforts are largely community-led, community-driven. The Raise the Wage Renton campaign, the Seattle DSA - the Democratic Socialists of America, Seattle chapter - were very involved, did a lot of the heavy lifting here. So really kudos to that entire effort - really important - and really showing that when people get together within communities to respond to problems that they're seeing and challenges that they face, they can create change. It doesn't take that many people acting together and in unison, speaking to their neighbors, to have this happen in city after city. And like you said, it started in SeaTac, and we see how far it's carried. I also think, as you alluded to, this puts other councils on notice. I know the City of Burien is talking about this right now, other cities are looking at this locally. And we have been hearing similar things from Burien city councilmembers that we heard from some of those Renton city councilmembers who declined to pass this on their own. They were parroting Chamber of Commerce talking points. They were parroting some old, disproven data. People recognize and so much data has shown that when you empower people, when you pay people, that is what fuels and builds economy. The economy is the people. So if the people aren't in good shape, the economy is not going to be in good shape. People recognize that. And we really do have to ask and reflect on - I think these elected officials need to reflect on - who are they serving? And where are they getting their information from? Because in city after city, we see overwhelmingly residents respond and say - This is absolutely something we want and we need. And there's this disconnect between them and their elected officials who are parroting these talking points - Well, we're worried about business. Well, we're worried about these. And I think they need to really pause and reflect and say - Okay, who are we really representing here? Where are we getting our information from and why are we seeing time after time that these talking points that have been used for decades, from the same old people and the same old sources, are completely falling flat with the public? I think they should be concerned about their own rhetoric falling flat with the public. They're certainly considering where these elected officials are as their reelections come due, as they're evaluating the job that they're doing. So I think they really need to think hard, evaluate where they are, and get aligned with the people who need the most help, who are trying to build lives in their communities. And stop making this go to the ballot. Stop making the people work harder for what they need - just pass this in your cities and make it so. [00:06:17] Robert Cruickshank: Absolutely. It would be certainly better for working people - for the elected officials to do this themselves. I am noticing a growing trend, though, of progressive and left-wing activists - socialists in this case, DSA - going directly to the ballot when needed. We saw it in Tacoma with the renters' rights legislation last year. We've seen it last year with social housing. And now again this week, House Our Neighbors came out with the initiative to fund social housing, which they had to split in two - due to legal reasons, you had to create the developer first, and then now you have to fund it. And again, the city council had an opportunity to do both here in Seattle. They had the opportunity to create the authority. They passed on that. Then they had the opportunity to fund it. They passed on that. And I am bullish on House Our Neighbors' chances to get their funding initiative, which would be through a payroll tax on large employers, passed by voters this fall. Because again, social housing was super popular at the ballot last year in a February election. Now they're going to go for November 2024 election when there's going to be massive turnout. It's unfortunate that people are having to put a lot of time, money, effort into mounting independent efforts to get things on the ballot - that's hard. It takes a ton of work, not just the gathering signatures and raising money, but just keeping a coalition going and all the meetings and stuff. But hats off to the people who are able to do that. It's not a sustainable way to get progressive policy done, but in a moment where there are more members of city councils who are aligned with the big corporations and wealthy donors, it's what you're going to have to do and it's building power. Ultimately - hopefully - it starts leading into successful victories in city council elections around the region, just as it's led to successes at the ballot box for initiatives. [00:07:59] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. We saw in this effort, as we've seen in others, significant opposition from some elements in the business community. There were some businesses, especially small businesses, who were supportive of this, who were either already paying their employees higher wages because that's how you attract people in business - is not doing the absolute bare minimum. But we saw significant resources spent. This campaign was outspent. And still, the people made it clear what they wanted with another really, really impressive and strong margin. So we'll continue to follow where that goes. We will certainly continue to follow other ballot measures on the ballot as they develop this year, especially with House Our Neighbors and the Social Housing Initiative in Seattle - just going to be really interesting to see. Moving to the legislature, significant news this week that rent stabilization has passed the State House and now it moves on to the Senate. What will rent stabilization accomplish? [00:09:03] Robert Cruickshank: So the bill, HB 2114, which passed out of the State House - it was the last bill they took up before the deadline to pass bills out of their original house - limits the amount of increase in rent each year to 7%. So a landlord can only raise your rent 7% a year. This is modeled on similar legislation that was adopted in Oregon and California right before the pandemic - in Oregon and California, it's a 5% annual increase. This being Washington state, we can't do things exactly the way that are done elsewhere - we've got to water it down a little bit, so it's 7%. But it's not rent control in which a property or a apartment is permanently capped at a certain level, no matter who's renting it. Like the Oregon and California laws, this one in Washington would exempt new construction. And the reason you want to exempt new construction is to encourage people to keep building housing. And there's plenty of research that shows now that one of the most effective ways to bring rent down, not just cap its growth, is to build more housing. So building more housing and then capping the annual rent increase on housing that's been around for a while generally works. And you're seeing this in California and in Oregon - especially in cities that have been building more housing, rents have come down while those living in older apartments, older homes, are seeing their rents capped, so they're having an easier time affording rent. This is all good, and it made it out of the State House on mostly a party line vote - Democrats almost all in favor with a few exceptions, Republicans almost all against. Now it goes to the State Senate where there's a number of conservative Democrats, like Annette Cleveland from Vancouver who blocked the Senate's version of the bill, who's against it. Surely Mark Mullet, a conservative Democrat from Issaquah running for governor - surely against it. And Rich Smith in The Stranger had a piece yesterday in which he related his conversation with Jamie Pedersen from Capitol Hill, one of the most rent-burdened districts in the city, one of the districts in the state of Washington - legislative districts - with the most renters in it. And Pedersen was hemming and hawing on it. And so it's clear that for this bill to pass - it surely is popular with the public. Democrats, you would think, would want to do the right thing on housing costs going into an election. But it's gonna take some pressure on Democrats in the State Senate to pass the bill, especially without watering it down further. The bill that Annette Cleveland, the senator from Vancouver, had blocked in the Senate would cap rent increases at 15% a year. It's like. - Why would you even bother passing a bill at that point? 7% is itself, like I said, watering down what California and Oregon have done, but 7% is still a pretty valuable cap. Hopefully the Senate passes it as is. Hopefully the State Senate doesn't demand even more watering down. There's no need for that. Just pass the bill. Protect people who are renting. [00:11:44] Crystal Fincher: Agree. We absolutely need to pass the bill. I do appreciate the House making this such a priority - building on the work that they did to enable the building of more housing, which is absolutely necessary, last session. And this session moving forward with protecting people in their homes - trying to prevent our homelessness crisis from getting even worse with people being unable to afford rent, being displaced, being unable to stay where they're living, to maintain their current job. So that's really important. But it does face an uncertain future in the Senate. I do appreciate the reporting that Rich Smith did. He also covered some other State senators on the fence, including Jesse Salomon from Shoreline, John Lovick from Mill Creek, Marko Liias from Everett, Steve Conway from Tacoma, Drew Hansen from Bainbridge Island, Sam Hunt from Olympia, Lisa Wellman from Mercer Island, and Majority Leader Andy Billig being on the fence. And so it's going to be really important for people who do care about this to let their opinions be known to these senators. This is really going to be another example of where - they've obviously had concerns for a while, they're hearing talking points that we're used to hearing - that we know have been refuted, that maybe that information hasn't gotten to them yet. And maybe they don't realize how much of a concern this is for residents. They may be - they're in Olympia a lot of time, they're hearing from a lot of lobbyists - and they aren't as close sometimes to the opinions of the people in their districts. But one thing that many people need to understand is that many of these districts are having legislative town halls coming up as soon as this weekend, but certainly in short order. We'll put a link to where you can find that information in the show notes. Make it a point to attend one of those. If you can't, call, email, make your voice heard - it's really going to take you letting them know that this is a priority for you in order for this to happen. It's possible. So we really need to do all we can to ensure that they know how we feel. [00:13:58] Robert Cruickshank: Exactly. And those State senators you named, they are all from safe blue seats. Not a single one of them, except for maybe John Lovick in Mill Creek, is from a purplish district where they have to worry about any electoral impact. Although, to be honest, this stuff is popular. There are plenty of renters in purple districts who are rent-burdened and who would love to see the Democratic majority in Olympia help them out, help keep their rent more affordable. So it's a huge political win for them. Some of this may be ideological opposition. Some of them may be getting a lot of money from apartment owners and landlords. Who knows? You got to look at the case by case. But gosh, you would hope that the State Senate has political sense - understands that this is not only the right thing to do, but a winner with the electorate, and passes the bill. But it is Olympia. And unfortunately, the State Senate in particular is often where good ideas go to die in Olympia. So we'll see what happens. [00:14:48] Crystal Fincher: We will see. We'll continue to follow that. Also want to talk about Alaska Airlines flight attendants this week authorizing a strike. Why did they authorize this, and what does this mean? [00:15:01] Robert Cruickshank: Well, I think it goes back to what we were talking about with workers in Renton. Flight attendants work long hours - they're not always paid for it. They're often only paid for when the flight is in the air. And their costs are going up, too. The expense of working in this country continues to rise and flight attendants continue to need to get paid well for that. Flight attendants' union is very well organized. There's the good Sara Nelson - Sara Nelson, head of the flight attendants' union, not Sara Nelson, head of Seattle City Council - is an amazing labor leader and has done a really good job advocating for the flight attendants across the industry. And you see that in the strike authorization vote - it was almost unanimous with almost complete 100% turnout from members of the Alaska Flight Attendants Union. Alaska Airlines has been facing its own issues lately, especially with some of their Boeing jets having problems. They've also, for the last 20 years, at least tried to cut costs everywhere they could. They outsourced what used to be unionized baggage handlers at SeaTac many years ago - that caused a big uproar. It was, in fact, concerns about Alaska Airlines and how they're paying ground crews that was a major factor in driving the SeaTac minimum wage ballot initiative way back in 2013. So here we are now - the Alaska Airlines flight attendants looking to get better treatment, better wages and working conditions. And huge support from the union. And as we've seen in this decade in particular, huge support from the public. And I think it's really worth noting - you and I can both remember the 90s, 2000s, when workers went out on strike weren't always getting widespread public support. And corporations had an ability to work the media to try to turn public against striking workers - now, teachers always had public support, firefighters had public support, but other workers didn't always. But that's really shifted. Here, there's a widespread public agreement that workers need to be treated well and paid well. You see that in Raise the Wage Renton succeeding. You see that in the huge public support for Starbucks workers out on strike who want a union contract. And if Alaska Airlines forces its flight attendants out on strike, you will see widespread public support for them as well, especially here in western Washington, where Alaska maintains a strong customer base. People in the Seattle area are loyal to Alaska, and they're going to support Alaska's flight attendants if they have to go out on strike. [00:17:20] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, and there's still a number of steps that would need to happen in order for it to lead to an actual strike. The flight attendants' union and Alaska Airlines are currently in negotiations, which according to an Alaska statement, is still ongoing. They signal positivity there. Hopefully that is the case and that continues. But first-year flight attendants right now are averaging less than $24,000 in salary annually. And especially here, but basically anywhere, that's not a wage you can live on. Those are literally poverty wages. And this is happening while Alaska Airlines has touted significant profits, very high profits. They're in the process of attempting to acquire another airline for $1.9 billion right now. And so part of this, which is the first strike authorization in 30 years for this union - it's not like this happens all the time. This is really long-standing grievances and really long dealing with these poverty wages - and they just can't anymore. This is unsustainable. And so hopefully they are earnestly making a go at a real fair wage. And I do think they have the public support. It is something that we've recognized across the country, unionization efforts in many different sectors for many different people. This week, we even saw - The Stranger writers announced that they're seeking a union, and wish them best of luck with that. But looking at this being necessary across the board - and even in tech sectors, which before felt immune to unionization pushes and they used to tout all of their benefits and how they received everything they could ever want - we've seen how quickly that tide can change. We've seen how quickly mass layoffs can take over an industry, even while companies are reporting record profits. And so this is really just another link in this chain here, saying - You know what, you're going to have to give a fair deal. It's not only about shareholders. It's about the people actually working, actually delivering the products and services that these companies are known for. The folks doing the work deserve a share of those profits, certainly more than they're getting right now. [00:19:44] Robert Cruickshank: I think that's right. And again, the public sees that and they know that being a flight attendant isn't easy work. But whoever it is, whatever sector they're in, whatever work they're doing, the public has really shifted and is in a really good place. They recognize that corporations and governments need to do right by workers and pay them well. Hopefully the flight attendants can settle this without a strike. And hopefully Alaska Airlines understands that the last thing they need right now is a strike. They've had enough problems already. So hopefully the corporate leadership gets that. [00:20:13] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. I also want to talk about a new study that certainly a lot of people haven't found surprising, especially after two very high-profile gender discrimination lawsuits against SPD. But a study was actually done that included focus groups with Seattle officers, both male and female. And what was uncovered was a pervasive apparent gender discrimination problem within SPD. What was uncovered here? [00:20:45] Robert Cruickshank: All sorts of instances of gender discrimination - from blocked promotions, to negative comments, to inequities and inconsistencies in who gets leave - all sorts of things that made it an extremely hostile work environment for women. And some of the celebrated women of the department - Detective Cookie, who's well known for leading chess clubs in Rainier Beach, sued the department for gender and racial discrimination. And what the study shows that it's pervasive, but the only times it seemed to get any better were when women led the department - Kathleen O'Toole in the mid 2010s and then Carmen Best up until 2020 seemed to have a little bit of positive impact on addressing these problems. But under current leadership and other recent leadership, it's just not a priority. And it speaks, I think, to the real problems - the actual problems - facing police. You hear from people like Sara Nelson and others on the right that the reason it's hard to recruit officers is because - Oh, those mean old progressives tried to "Defund the Police' and they said mean things about the cops. That's not it at all. This report actually shows why there's a recruiting problem for police. Normal people don't want to go work for the police department. They see a department that is racist, sexist - nothing is being done to address it. Who would want to enter that hostile work environment? I remember when Mike McGinn was mayor - we were working for McGinn in the early 2010s - trying to address some of these same problems, trying to help recruit a department that not only reflected Seattle's diversity, but lived in Seattle - was rooted in the community - and how hard that was. And you're seeing why. It's because there's a major cultural problem with police departments all across the country - Seattle's not uniquely bad at being sexist towards women officers, it's a problem everywhere. But it's the city that you would think would try to do something about it. But what we're hearing from the city council right now - and they had their first Public Safety Committee meeting recently of the newly elected council - is the same usual nonsense that just thinks, Oh, if we give them a bunch more money and say nice things about cops and ease up a little bit on, maybe more than a little bit, on reform efforts trying to hold the department accountable - that officers will want to join the ranks. And that's just not going to happen. It is a cultural problem with the department. It is a structural problem. The red flags are everywhere. And it's going to take new leadership at the police department - maybe at City Hall - that takes this seriously, is willing to do the hard work of rooting out these attitudes. And you've got to keep in mind, when you look at this rank-and-file department - they elected Mike Solan to lead their union, SPOG - in January of 2020. Solan was a known Trumper, hard right-wing guy - and this is well before George Floyd protests began. Yet another sign that the problem is the department itself, the officers themselves, who are often engaging in this behavior or refusing to hold each other accountable. Because again, this toxic culture of - Well, we got to protect each other at all costs. - it's going to take major changes, and I don't see this City leadership at City Hall being willing to undertake the work necessary to fix it. [00:23:54] Crystal Fincher: I think you've hit the nail on the head there. And just demonstrating that once again, we get a clear illustration of why SPD has a problem recruiting. It is absolutely a cultural issue. It is what they have been getting away with despite dissatisfaction from women. And women in the department saying either we're targeted or discriminated against, but a lot of us - even though we're experiencing it - just try and keep our heads down and stay silent. And a lot of those people end up moving out eventually because who wants to work in an environment like this? We recognize this in every other industry. There's a reason why organizations and corporations tout their corporate culture, tout their benefits for women, their respect for women, their inclusion of women in leadership and executive-level positions. And we don't see that here. So if the leadership in charge of this - from Bruce Harrell, who is the ultimate head of the department, the buck stops with him to the police chief to the City Council - if they're actually serious about addressing this and not just using this as a campaign wedge issue with the rhetoric, they will have to address the culture of this department. Now, the Chair of the Seattle City Council's Public Safety Committee, Bob Kettle, who was recently elected in November, said that the hiring numbers were disappointed. He said - "The number of women that were hired in 2023 was not acceptable. We need to have a representative force where women are well represented. We need to be creating that culture and an environment of inclusion. And also the idea that you can advance, you can be promoted, you can move forward in the organization." So if he is serious about that, he has to address the culture - and that's going to involve addressing a number of things. That's going to involve, perhaps, addressing a number of the people currently in leadership who have created and who continue this culture and who are going to have to be dealt with if this is going to change. But this isn't something that's just going to change because there're new people elected in office. This isn't something that's just going to change because they're getting compliments more as a department and more funding has been thrown at them. This is going to take active engagement and a difference in leadership, a difference in training, a completely different approach. So we'll follow this. Mayor Bruce Harrell also said that he is planning to meet with women throughout the department to hear directly from them and listen to their concerns - we will see what results from those conversations and what happens. But now there is a lot of touted alignment between the mayor and city council here, so there really should be no roadblocks to them really addressing this substantively - if they're serious about addressing this. [00:26:58] Robert Cruickshank: I agree. And one of the ways you'll see whether they're serious or not is how they handle the SPOG contract. And one of the things that helps change a department's culture, where this sort of behavior is clearly known to not be tolerated, is for there to be real consequences. How are officers disciplined? How are officers fired? How are they held accountable? Right now, it's very difficult to remove an officer - the current contract rules make it very easy for an officer to contest a firing or disciplinary action and be reinstated or have the disciplinary action overturned. You're not going to eradicate a culture of racism and sexism without changing that as well. And that is at the core of the fight over the SPOG contract, and we will see whether the mayor and the city council are serious about cultural changes at SPD. And you'll see it in how they handle the SPOG contract - hopefully they'll put a strong one out and hold their ground when SPOG pushes back. But that's not going to happen, honestly, without the public really pushing City Hall hard. Because I think you see - from both the mayor and the city council - a desire to cut deals with SPOG, a desire to not go too hard at them. And I don't see - absent public mobilization - a strong SPOG contract coming. [00:28:07] Crystal Fincher: I think you're right about that. In other SPD public safety news, Seattle is planning a significant rollout of the ShotSpotter system. We've talked about that before here on the show - it's basically a surveillance system that's supposed to hear, to be able to determine gunshots from noises, to try and pinpoint where it came from. Unfortunately, it has been an absolute failure in several other cities - we've had lots of information and data about this. And this week, we received news that the City of Chicago is actually canceling their contract after this failed in their city. And so once again, people are asking the question - Why, with such a horrible track record, are we spending so much money and getting ready to roll this failed technology out in Seattle? Why is this happening? [00:29:04] Robert Cruickshank: Yeah, I mean, that's a good question. I see people on social media speculating it's because of campaign donations and things like that. I'm not sure that's it. I honestly think this goes back to something Ron Davis said in the campaign when he was running for city council, criticizing his opponent, Maritza Rivera, who ultimately won, and other candidates in-line with Sara Nelson for wanting to, in his words, "spread magic fairy dust" around public safety issues and assume that would work. And that really, I think, is what ShotSpotter is. It's magic fairy dust. This idea that there's some magical technological tool that can quickly identify where a gunshot is happening and deploy the officers there immediately. It sounds cool when you first hear about it like that, but as you pointed out and as Amy Sundberg has written about extensively, it doesn't work - just literally doesn't work. The number of false positives are so high that officers are essentially sent on wild goose chases - you can't trust it, it's not worth the money. And Chicago, which is a city with a very serious gun violence problem, explored this. And for them to reject it means it clearly does not work, and Chicago needs solutions that work. I think honestly, the reason why the city is adopting is they want to do something that looks like they're acting, that looks like they're taking it seriously, even though this isn't going to actually succeed. It is very much that magic fairy dust of trying to appear serious about gun violence, without really tackling the core issues that are happening here, without tackling the problems with policing, without tackling the underlying problems in communities and neighborhoods that can cause gun violence. There is a growing issue at schools in Seattle with gun violence. And students have been trying to raise this issue for a while, ever since a shooting at Ingraham High School in late 2022, another shooting that led to another student's death in near Chief Sealth High School in West Seattle recently, to a group of students robbing another student at Ingraham High School at gunpoint in recent weeks. There's a serious problem. And what you're not seeing is the City or the school district, to be honest, taking that very seriously or really responding in the ways that the students are demanding responses. And I think the really sad story with something like ShotSpotter is all this money and effort is being spent on a clearly failed piece of technology when other answers that students and community members are crying out for aren't being delivered. That's a real problem. [00:31:21] Crystal Fincher: It is absolutely a real problem. And I think there's near unanimous concern and desire for there to be real earnest effort to fix this. We know things that help reduce gun violence - there's lots of data out about that. The city and county have done some of them. They've implemented some of them on very limited basis. But it is challenging to see so much money diverted elsewhere to failed technologies and solutions like this, while actual evidence-based solutions are starved, defunded, and are not getting the kind of support they deserve - and that the residents of the city, that the students in our schools deserve. This is a major problem that we have to deal with seriously. And this just isn't serious at all. I feel like - it was the early 2010s - this technology came out and it was in that era of "the tech will save us" - everyone was disrupting in one way or another. There were lots of promises being made about new technology. And unfortunately, we saw with a lot of it in a lot of different areas that it just didn't deliver on the promises. So I don't fault people for initially saying - Hey, this may be another tool in the toolkit that we can use. But over the past 10 years, through several implementations in Atlanta, Pasadena, San Antonio, Dayton, Ohio, Chicago - it has failed to deliver anything close to what has happened. In fact, it's been harmful in many areas. And so you have people who are interested in solving this problem who are not just saying - Hey, we just need to throw our hands up and do nothing here. We're not trying to minimize the problem. They're in active roles and positions really saying - Hey, this is a priority. And unfortunately, this is not a serious solution to the problem. The Cook County state's attorney's office found that ShotSpotter had a "minimal effect on prosecuting gun violence cases," with their report saying "ShotSpotter is not making a significant impact on shooting incidents," with only 1% of shooting incidents ending in a ShotSpotter arrest. And it estimates the cost per ShotSpotter incident arrestee is over $200,000. That is not a wise use of government expenditures. A large study found that ShotSpotter has no impact - literally no impact - on the number of murder arrests or weapons arrests. And the Chicago's Office of Inspector General concluded that "CPD responses to ShotSpotter alerts rarely produced documented evidence of any gun-related crime, investigatory stop, or recovery of a firearm." Also, one of the big reasons why Seattle is saying they're implementing this is - Well, we're so short-staffed that we really need this technology and it's going to save manpower, it's going to save our officers' time, it's going to really take a lot of the work off their plate. Unfortunately, the exact opposite was shown to happen with ShotSpotter - "ShotSpotter does not make police more efficient or relieve staffing shortages." In fact, they found it's the opposite. ShotSpotter vastly increases the number of police deployments in response to supposed gunfire, but with no corresponding increase in gun violence arrests or other interventions. In fact, ShotSpotter imposes such a massive drain on police resources that it slows down police response to actual 911 emergencies reported by the public. This is a problem. It's not just something that doesn't work. It's actually actively harmful. It makes the problems worse that these elected officials are saying that they're seeking to address. With the challenges that we're experiencing with gun violence, with the absolute need to make our cities safer - to reduce these incidences - we quite literally cannot afford this. And so I hope they take a hard look at this, but it is really defying logic - in the midst of a budget crisis, in the midst of a gun violence crisis - to be embarking on this. I really hope they seriously evaluate what they're doing here. [00:35:54] Robert Cruickshank: I agree. And what you're raising is this question of where should we be putting the resources? And shout out to Erica C. Barnett at PubliCola, who's been writing in the last week or so some really good articles on this very topic - where is SPD putting its resources? A few days ago, she had a very well-reported article at PubliCola about enforcement of prostitution on Aurora Avenue, which is a very controversial thing to be doing for many reasons - is this is actually how you should protect sex workers? But also, is this how we should be prioritizing police resources? Whatever you think of sex work, pro or con, whatever your opinion is - is that where police resources should be going right now when we don't have as many officers as the City would like to have, when there's gun violence, and when there's property crime? And then she also reported recently about, speaking of Bob Kettle, he put out this proposal that he wants to focus on what he calls a "permissive environment towards crime" and closing unsecured vacant buildings, graffiti remediation as priorities. Again, whatever you think about vacant buildings and graffiti - how does that rank on a list of priorities when there are problems with gun violence in the City of Seattle? There are problems with real violent crime in the City of Seattle. And how are police department resources being allocated? I think these are questions that the public needs to be asking pretty tough questions about to City Hall, to Bob Kettle, to Sara Nelson, to Bruce Harrell, and SPD. Because, again, they haven't solved the cultural problem with SPD. They're not going to get many new officers until they do. So how do you use the resources you have right now? And it doesn't look like they're being allocated very effectively, whether it's cracking down, in their terms, on sex work on Aurora or buying things like ShotSpotter. It just seems like they're chasing what they think are easy wins that are not going to do anything to actually address the problem. And we will be here a year or two later still talking about problems with gun violence because City Hall didn't make it a real priority. [00:37:52] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. Also want to talk this week about news that was covered - actually in The Seattle Times and elsewhere - about the private sector kind of corresponding organization to the King County Regional Homeless Authority - We Are In, a philanthropic endeavor from some of the richest residents in the states and corporations in the state - actually folded. It was a failure. What happened? Why did this fall apart? [00:38:24] Robert Cruickshank: A lot of this stems from the debate in 2018 over the Head Tax - taxing Amazon to fund services related to homelessness. Mayor Ed Murray declared way back in, I think 2014, a state of emergency around homelessness. We're 10 years into that and nothing's been done. But what the City was looking to do in 2018 - Mike O'Brien and others were talking about bringing back the Head Tax, taxing the corporations in the city to fund services to address the homelessness issue. And the pushback from Amazon and others was - You don't need to tax us. We'll spend money better than government can and do it ourselves. And so that's what things like We Are In was intended to do. It was really intended to try to forestall new taxes by, in theory, showing that the private sector - through philanthropic efforts - can solve this more effectively. And guess what? They can't. In part because homelessness is a major challenge to solve without government resources, without major changes in how we build housing and how we provide services and where they're provided. And what you're seeing is that a philanthropic effort is not going to solve that. They keep chasing it because I think they have a political imperative to do so. But what happened was that We Are In wasn't producing the result they wanted to, leadership problems. And now Steve Ballmer is talking about - Well, maybe we'll just fund the King County Regional Homelessness Authority directly. It's like - okay, in that case, what's so different between that and taxation? There is a report that consultants came up with - I think got publicized in 2019 or 2020 - that the region would need to spend something like $450 million a year to really solve homelessness. You could easily raise that money through taxes and taxing corporations and wealthy individuals. And they are just so adamantly opposed to doing that. They would rather try to make philanthropic donations here and there, even when it's clearly insufficient to meet the need. It's not well thought out. It's not well programmed and just falls apart quickly. [00:40:27] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. I agree. Over so many years, we've heard so many times - Just run it like a business. We need to run government like a business. And over and over and over again, we see that fail - that doesn't work. When you can't target what you're doing to a certain market, when you're only serving a limited subset - when you have to serve the entire public, when you have to actually invest in people, and this isn't a quick product or service that you can use that automatically fixes a situation, there have to be systemic issues that are addressed. And sometimes there's this attitude that - Oh, it's so simple to fix. If you just put a business person in charge of it, they'll get it done. Look at how they built their company. They can certainly tackle this. And over and over again - this is the latest example - that just simply doesn't work. They aren't the same. They aren't the same set of skills. They operate on different levels. There's different training. Lots of stuff is just absolutely different. And part of me, fundamentally, wishes we would stop denigrating and insulting the people who have been doing this work, who have been really consistently voicing their concerns about what's needed, about what their experience shows solves this problem, about what is actually working. There are things that are working. There are things going right in our region that we seem to not pay attention to or that we seem to, especially from the perspective of a number of these organizations who spend so much money to fight taxes, spend so much money to pick councilmembers, saying - Well, we think we have a better solution here. And so we wasted time trying and failing with this when, again, the answer is systemic. We have to sustainably fund the types of housing and resources that get people housed once more, that prevent people from becoming unhoused, and that make this region affordable for everyone so that one unforeseen expense can't launch someone into homelessness. We have been doing a poor job on all of those accounts as a region for so long that it's going to take significant investment and effort to turn things around. Some of that is happening, and I'm encouraged by some things that we're seeing. But at the same time, we're also hearing, especially in the midst of these budget problems that cities are dealing with, that they're looking at unfunding and rolling back these things. Interesting on the heels of this ShotSpotter conversation, where we're investing money into that - they're talking about de-investing, about defunding homelessness responses, public health responses to these crises. And I think we have just seen that this group involved with this effort just does not understand the problem, had the opportunity to meaningfully participate in a fix, and it just didn't work out. That's great - they're doing a great job running their businesses. They can continue to do that. But it's time to really follow what the evidence says fixes this and not what business titans are wishing would fix it. [00:43:55] Robert Cruickshank: That's exactly right. And yet for the business titans, it's a question of power. They want to be the ones to ultimately decide how their money gets spent, not we the people or our elected representatives. I think of one of the things we started out talking about today is - rent stabilization bill in Olympia. Capping rent increases is a way to reduce homelessness. There are plenty of people who are pushed into homelessness by a rent increase they can't afford. Steve Ballmer calling up those State senators who are going to be tackling this bill saying - Hey, this would really help reduce homelessness if you pass this bill. I'm going to doubt that Steve Ballmer is making those calls. If I'm wrong, I'm happy to be wrong. I don't think I am. For them, they want the power to decide how their money is spent. And even when they spend it poorly, they still want that power. And I think they're willing to hoard that power even at the expense of people who really are in need, who are living without a home, and who need all of our help urgently. [00:44:49] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely agree. The last point I would want to make is that it's not like philanthropic funding is all evil, it's never helpful - it is. But this is about who is leading the solutions here and what we're doing. And I think that there are so many experts - so many people in organizations who are doing this work well - who need that additional funding. Let's put that philanthropic money into systems that are working instead of trying to recreate the wheel once again. So much time and money was lost here that so many people can't afford and that have had really horrible consequences. And I think a number of people who went into this were probably well-intentioned. But it just goes to show once again that - we know what works. And no matter how much we wish that it could be some simple fix over here, that it wouldn't require any public expenditure, it absolutely does. So it'll be interesting to follow and see what happens from there. And with that, I thank you for listening to Hacks & Wonks on this Friday, February 16th, 2024. The producer of Hacks & Wonks is the incredible Shannon Cheng. Our insightful co-host today was Chair of Sierra Club Seattle, longtime communications and political strategist, Robert Cruickshank. You can find Robert on Twitter at @cruickshank. You can find Hacks & Wonks on Twitter at @HacksWonks. You can find me on all platforms at @finchfrii, with two I's at the end. You can catch Hacks & Wonks on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts - just type "Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the full versions of our Friday week-in-review shows and our Tuesday topical show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave a review wherever you listen. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the podcast episode notes. Thanks for tuning in. Talk to you next time.

It's Day 39 of the 60-day 2024 legislative session in Olympia, and schedules are tight. We were lucky to grab 20 minutes with Rep. Tana Senn, and the luck is yours, as well. Her bills on emission-free school buses, adult family homes, firearm safety, and getting special-needs kids off on the right foot are moving toward the governor's desk, and we'll talk about all these and more in today's Capitol Ideas.

Zibby welcomes professional ballerina and faculty member at the Pacific Northwest Ballet, Miriam Landis, to discuss LAUREN IN THE LIMELIGHT, a heart-warming middle-grade novel that revolves around three young dancers in a small-town ballet school in Mercer Island as they navigate the challenges of ballet, including the significant milestone of going on pointe. Miriam shares insights into her writing process during the pandemic, her decision to start her own publishing house, Rhododendron Press, and the importance of authentic representation in literature, especially for the dance community. Purchase on Bookshop: https://bit.ly/476xLFjShare, rate, & review the podcast, and follow Zibby on Instagram @zibbyowens! Now there's more! Subscribe to Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books on Acast+ and get ad-free episodes. https://plus.acast.com/s/moms-dont-have-time-to-read-books. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello to you listening o Mercer Island, Washington!Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga.Imagine that voicing your ideas is an act of creation. When we have the courage to use our voice to speak our mind to say what we mean and mean what we say we have taken a bold and beautiful step toward making happen what we desire.Our best chance of being seen, heard, understood and listened to is by speaking with intention. Together we can find the words you didn't know you had to speak your ideas with confidence and conviction to make the change you seek.CTA: Whether you are ready to work with me as your trusted story guide or getting ready to be ready, I'm here to support you at Quarter Moon Story Arts! You're always invited: “Come for the stories - stay for the magic!” Speaking of magic, would you subscribe, share a 5-star rating + nice review on your social media or podcast channel of choice, and join us next time!Meanwhile, stop by my Quarter Moon Story Arts website to:✓ Check out What I Offer,✓ Arrange your free Story Start-up Session,✓ Opt In to my monthly Engaged Storyism© Network NewsAudioLetter for bonus gift, valuable tips & techniques to enhance your story work, and✓ Stay current with Diane and on LinkedIn.Stories From Women Who Walk Production TeamPodcaster: Diane F Wyzga & Quarter Moon Story ArtsMusic: Mer's Waltz from Crossing the Waters by Steve Schuch & Night Heron MusicAll content and image © 2019 to Present Quarter Moon Story Arts. All rights reserved.

Josh Hammer in for Jason Rantz What’s Trending: Niagara incident likely not linked to terrorism—it is still a concern that is the first thing we think.  Big Local: Antisemitic hatred strikes Mercer Island, a brazen burglary outside of a grocery store in Sumner and a fire at Renton senior apartments displaces many ahead of holidays. You Pick: CDC says you should not wash your turkey before cooking it and Target is at again with holiday pride merchandise.  

6pm - Mercer Island high school band touches down in NYC to play in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade // John’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade story // How much of a raise will REALLY make you happy? // Snoop fooled us all

3pm - Mercer Island high school band touches down in NYC to play in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade // John’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade story // How much of a raise will REALLY make you happy? // Snoop fooled us all

What’s Trending: Concerning trend of non-charged sexual assault cases in King County and kid should not be getting news from TikTok. // Josh Hammer and other speakers for YAF get shouted down on campus. // Rantz is somewhat happy for Mercer Island band kids and then he gets mad about Black Friday shopping tips.

Bryan talks about some of the games he watched over the weekend. About a year ago, Matthew Perry talked about how he wanted to be remembered in life. Comedian Nate Bargatze took part in a hilarious SNL sketch about George Washington and U.S. systems of measurement. Kamala Harris downplayed the border crisis in an interview with 60 Minutes. There was a deadly crash involving a wrong-way driver on Mercer Island this morning. // People in Lakewood posed Halloween skeletons in lewd positions. A checking of the texting. // Bryan wants to go check out the suggestive skeletons in Lakewood. Wild card in the Middle East is the remote possibility Iran is making a dirty bomb to make Israel unliveable. Woman fled to China after fatal crash in Bellevue.

What’s Trending: Second King County councilmember wants director to step down for anti-Semitism and University Place school board candidate Linda Wojciechowski highlights her campaign to bring values back to schools.  Big Local: Encouraging number of people attended Israel support rally in Bellevue, and a Mercer Island family frets over daughter living in Israel. You Pick: Is it problematic to jail someone over hateful speech? Rantz highlights an incident involving a French-Swiss writer.

Israel at war with Hamas after surprise attacks, over 900 Israelis and at least 11 Americans are dead -- Ari explains why the atrocities committed by terrorists against a country the size of New Jersey on the other side of the world matter to you here in the United States and Washington, and why the Biden administration has blood on their hands Protestors clash in Kirkland over Hamas attack // AOC, squad members SLAMMED after calling for

Hello to you listening o Mercer Island, Washington!Coming to you from Whidbey Island, Washington this is Stories From Women Who Walk with 60 Seconds for Wednesdays on Whidbey and your host, Diane Wyzga.Imagine that voicing your ideas is an act of creation. When we have the courage to use our voice to speak our mind to say what we mean and mean what we say we have taken a bold and beautiful step toward making happen what we desire.Our best chance of being seen, heard, understood and listened to is by speaking with intention. Together we can find the words you didn't know you had to speak your ideas with confidence and conviction to make the change you seek.CTA: Whether you are ready to work with me as your trusted story guide or getting ready to be ready, I'm here to support you at Quarter Moon Story Arts! You're always invited: “Come for the stories - stay for the magic!” Speaking of magic, would you subscribe, share a 5-star rating + nice review on your social media or podcast channel of choice, and join us next time!Meanwhile, stop by my Quarter Moon Story Arts website to:✓ Check out What I Offer,✓ Arrange your free Story Start-up Session,✓ Opt In to my monthly Engaged Storyism© Network NewsAudioLetter for bonus gift, valuable tips & techniques to enhance your story work, and✓ Stay current with Diane and on LinkedIn.Stories From Women Who Walk Production TeamPodcaster: Diane F Wyzga & Quarter Moon Story ArtsMusic: Mer's Waltz from Crossing the Waters by Steve Schuch & Night Heron MusicAll content and image © 2019 to Present Quarter Moon Story Arts. All rights reserved.

*Note, we are aware part of the video froze; that's life!  RESEARCH! - Dr. Helbig gave a killer presentation today… at Stanford.  It was so cool to see SYNGAP1 mentioned. “Deciphering the Epilepsy Phenome – Understanding Longitudinal disease trajectories and outcomes” it showed how much data you can get form EHRs, ciitizen and NHS.  We need them all.  Sign up for Ciitizen!  https://www.ciitizen.com/SYNGAP1/ - SRF Supported work out of Huganir's Lab is on BioRx! https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.06.552111v1.full.pdf - Grants due on 9/1, already seeing good stuff. https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/professionals/grants/how-to-apply VOLUNTEER SITE IS UP - https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/volunteer-with-syngap-research-fund WEBINARS ARE A VALUABLE RESOURCE - https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/families/resources/all-webinars/webinars - Yesterday, Dr. Underbakk, Previously with Dr. Courtney NPR ARTICLE INCLUDING JACKIE KANCIR - https://wpln.org/post/episodes/the-cost-of-care-for-disabilities-and-chronic-illness SYNGAP STORIESAshley Frye is killing it.  Suzanne Jones just did an episode.  The CHOP team listens, so do clinicians.  Call Ashley and share your story. COMPANY UPDATES - Stoke had great news - https://investor.stoketherapeutics.com/news-releases/news-release-details/stoke-therapeutics-reports-second-quarter-financial-results-2 - Praxis also having good results - https://investors.praxismedicines.com/news-releases/news-release-details/praxis-precision-medicines-provides-corporate-update-and-9 - Have not heard from RegEl or Ionis. EVENTS - Getting ready for the Soiree - August 26th. - Cannonball set for October 4-6 - SRF SYNGAP1 CONFERENCE      - Register, book etc. https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/professionals/syngap1-roundtable-2023-syngap-research-fund     - Watch #s10e109 https://youtu.be/to8SAwdzCmg BIOMARKERS NEED BIOSAMPLES AND EEGS - Combined Brain collections are great Dr. TJB met our very own Pavel this weekend!  Plasma, plasma, plasma. - UCLA Study is moving forward for EEG collection.  Contact Declan via study page. Upcoming times and places to do biosamples, thanks you Corey we are at 18 Syngapians and 21 Siblings.  KEEP GOING - GLUT1 Deficiency, August 26th, 9am-5pm (Embassy Suites, 13700 Conference Center Drive South, Noblesville, IN 46060) - IRF2BPL Foundation, Sept 22nd-23rd 2023 (Home 2 Suites by Hilton, 7145 Liberty Centre Drive, Liberty Township, OH 45069, 513-644-2207) - KCNQ2 Cure Alliance Conference, Sept 29th-30th 2023 (Hilton Hotel Chicago 300 E Ohio St, Chicago, IL 60611) - NARS1 Conference, October 1st, 9am-5pm (13550 Commerce Blvd Rogers, MN 55374) - Prader-Willi Syndrome/USP7 Foundation, October 5-7 (1672 Lawrence St, Denver, CO 80202) - TBRS Community, Oct 12th-14th 2023 (Morgan's Wonderland, 5223 David Edwards Dr, San Antonio, TX 78233) - COMBINEDBrain Meeting, Oct 15th-16th 2023 (Washington DC) - FAM177A1, Oct 29th 2023, 9am-5pm (2737 77th Ave Se Suite 101 Mercer Island, WA 98040) - ADNP Syndrome, Oct 30th-Nov 1st 2023 (Los Angeles, CA) - SYNGAP1 Research Fund, Dec 1st-3rd 2023 (8978 International Drive Orlando, FL, 32819) —--- CONFERENCE  Registration link: https://Syngap.Fund/Orlando   Hotels ASAP: https://Syngap.Fund/2023hotel  Shirts https://www.bonfire.com/srf-syngap1-conference-2023/  Volunteer with SRF! Info@SyngapResearchFund.org  This is a podcast: subscribe to and rate this 10 minute #podcast #SYNGAP10 here  - https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/syngap10-podcast Apple podcasts:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/syngap10-weekly-10-minute-updates-on-syngap1-video/id1560389818 Episode 111 of #Syngap10 - August 12, 2023 #epilepsy #autism #intellectualdisability #id #anxiety #raredisease #epilepsyawareness #autismawareness #rarediseaseresearch #SynGAPResearchFund #CareAboutRare #PatientAdvocacy #GCchat #Neurology #GeneChat --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/syngap10/message

*Note, we aware part of the video froze; that's life!    RESEARCH! - Dr. Helbig gave a killer presentation today… at Stanford.  It was so cool to see SYNGAP1 mentioned. “Deciphering the Epilepsy Phenome – Understanding Longitudinal disease trajectories and outcomes” it showed how much data you can get form EHRs, ciitizen and NHS.  We need them all.  Sign up for Ciitizen!  https://www.ciitizen.com/SYNGAP1/ - SRF Supported work out of Huganir's Lab is on BioRx! https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.08.06.552111v1.full.pdf - Grants due on 9/1, already seeing good stuff. https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/professionals/grants/how-to-apply   VOLUNTEER SITE IS UP - https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/volunteer-with-syngap-research-fund   WEBINARS ARE A VALUABLE RESOURCE - https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/families/resources/all-webinars/webinars - Yesterday, Dr. Underbakk, Previously with Dr. Courtney   NPR ARTICLE INCLUDING JACKIE KANCIR - https://wpln.org/post/episodes/the-cost-of-care-for-disabilities-and-chronic-illness   SYNGAP STORIES Ashley Frye is killing it.  Suzanne Jones just did an episode.  The CHOP team listens, so do clinicians.  Call Ashley and share your story.   COMPANY UPDATES - Stoke had great news - https://investor.stoketherapeutics.com/news-releases/news-release-details/stoke-therapeutics-reports-second-quarter-financial-results-2 - Praxis also having good results - https://investors.praxismedicines.com/news-releases/news-release-details/praxis-precision-medicines-provides-corporate-update-and-9 - Have not heard from RegEl or Ionis.   EVENTS - Getting ready for the Soiree - August 26th. - Cannonball set for October 4-6 - SRF SYNGAP1 CONFERENCE      - Register, book etc. https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/professionals/syngap1-roundtable-2023-syngap-research-fund     - Watch #s10e109 https://youtu.be/to8SAwdzCmg   BIOMARKERS NEED BIOSAMPLES AND EEGS - Combined Brain collections are great Dr. TJB met our very own Pavel this weekend!  Plasma, plasma, plasma. - UCLA Study is moving forward for EEG collection.  Contact Declan via study page.   Upcoming times and places to do biosamples, thanks you Corey we are at 18 Syngapians and 21 Siblings.  KEEP GOING - GLUT1 Deficiency, August 26th, 9am-5pm (Embassy Suites, 13700 Conference Center Drive South, Noblesville, IN 46060) - IRF2BPL Foundation, Sept 22nd-23rd 2023 (Home 2 Suites by Hilton, 7145 Liberty Centre Drive, Liberty Township, OH 45069, 513-644-2207) - KCNQ2 Cure Alliance Conference, Sept 29th-30th 2023 (Hilton Hotel Chicago 300 E Ohio St, Chicago, IL 60611) - NARS1 Conference, October 1st, 9am-5pm (13550 Commerce Blvd Rogers, MN 55374) - Prader-Willi Syndrome/USP7 Foundation, October 5-7 (1672 Lawrence St, Denver, CO 80202) - TBRS Community, Oct 12th-14th 2023 (Morgan's Wonderland, 5223 David Edwards Dr, San Antonio, TX 78233) - COMBINEDBrain Meeting, Oct 15th-16th 2023 (Washington DC) - FAM177A1, Oct 29th 2023, 9am-5pm (2737 77th Ave Se Suite 101 Mercer Island, WA 98040) - ADNP Syndrome, Oct 30th-Nov 1st 2023 (Los Angeles, CA) - SYNGAP1 Research Fund, Dec 1st-3rd 2023 (8978 International Drive Orlando, FL, 32819) —--- CONFERENCE  Registration link: https://Syngap.Fund/Orlando   Hotels ASAP: https://Syngap.Fund/2023hotel  Shirts https://www.bonfire.com/srf-syngap1-conference-2023/    Volunteer with SRF! Info@SyngapResearchFund.org    This is a podcast: subscribe to and rate this 10 minute #podcast #SYNGAP10 here  - https://www.syngapresearchfund.org/syngap10-podcast Apple podcasts:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/syngap10-weekly-10-minute-updates-on-syngap1-video/id1560389818 Episode 111 of #Syngap10 - August 12, 2023 #epilepsy #autism #intellectualdisability #id #anxiety #raredisease #epilepsyawareness #autismawareness #rarediseaseresearch #SynGAPResearchFund #CareAboutRare #PatientAdvocacy #GCchat #Neurology #GeneChat

On this Tuesday topical show, Crystal welcomes Bryce Yadon and Marcella Buser from Futurewise to talk about the For Our Future campaign's success in passing middle housing and climate planning bills during the 2023 legislative session. Bryce and Marcella share how organizing a broad statewide coalition and sustained efforts by key legislators finally pushed middle housing across the finish line, then delve into the details of implementation, rulemaking, and why the policy appeals to so many.  The conversation continues with diagnosing why a transit-oriented development bill had trouble moving forward and describing what impacts the climate planning bill will have in our communities. Finally, Marcella and Bryce encourage interested folks to get involved and help Futurewise tackle continued action and future legislation around land use in Washington state. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Follow us on Twitter at @HacksWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Twitter at @finchfrii, find Futurewise at @FuturewiseWA, find Bryce Yadon at @BAYadon, and find Marcella Buser at @marcymarce98.   Bryce Yadon Bryce started working with Futurewise and as a lobbyist in December of 2014. He has a BA from Seattle University in Political Science and a Masters from Middlesex University in Environmental Sustainable Management. He is a contract lobbyist who works on issues related to land use, housing, and transportation representing and working with a broad range of organizations, advocates, and businesses. Marcella Buser Marcella Buser is Futurewise's State Organizer and has been organizing for the past 5 years in Oregon and Washington. She's organized thousands of volunteers around efforts to pass missing middle housing and climate planning in the GMA in Washington, and other environmental and public health policies in the Northwest. She grew up in rural Oregon on her parents' apple farm and in her free time you can find her gardening, cooking, and enjoying live music.   Resources “2023 Legislative Wrap-Up!” from Futurewise   Missing Middle Housing One-Pager | Futurewise   Climate-Resilient Growth One-Pager | Futurewise   Transit-Oriented Development One-Pager | Futurewise   “Four Vital Housing and Climate Bills Survive the Washington Legislature” by Ray Dubicki from The Urbanist   Transcript [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington state through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the full versions of our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, the most helpful thing you can do is leave a review wherever you listen to Hacks & Wonks. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. I am excited to be welcoming two folks from Futurewise - Bryce Yadon and Marcella Buser - here to talk about the work that Futurewise and others did on land use and policy bills during the legislature and in general - trying to help our community serve the people who live in it better. So just starting out - starting with Marcella - what brought you to this work and why is it so important? [00:01:18] Marcella Buser: Thanks for having me on, Crystal. I think what brought me to organizing and what brought me to Futurewise are two different things. I got involved in organizing back in college. I grew up on a farm, so I had never been canvassed before. I really didn't know that activism and organizing were a thing, but I grew up caring a lot about the environment, and sustainable agriculture, and everything related to growing up on a farm. So it wasn't until I was in college that I had my first experiences with organizing and learned that protests don't just happen out of serendipity, but there's a lot of planning and organizing that goes behind it. So I really fell in love with organizing and I thought it was so cool that I could be a part of making my voice heard and passing bills. I was still a teenager at the time - you didn't have to be an expert on the issue and I thought that was awesome. So I absolutely fell in love with organizing, took it on as my career and I've been doing that for the past five years, working on a variety of issues. And really the thing that keeps me so engaged in organizing is knowing that there are still thousands of people out there that, like me, really cared about these issues but have no idea that they can be a part of the solution. And then with Futurewise - I'm relatively new to the team - I just joined last fall, but I absolutely love it. Growing up, again, on a farm - I always saw cities as these expensive, polluted, scary places. Density was a bad word to me. And it wasn't until I moved to Seattle and started working with Futurewise that I learned - really, if we want to be protecting our farms and our forests and our green spaces, having these dense cities is the solution. This is the way to protect our world. And when you're building cities well, they can be equitable and affordable and environmentally friendly. So I absolutely love still learning more about urban planning and land use - and organizing on these issues. [00:03:27] Crystal Fincher: Excellent. And what about you, Bryce? [00:03:29] Bryce Yadon: Thanks for having us on and letting us join. I got my start in Olympia in 2006 - I believe, was my first legislative session, if I'm remembering correctly - it feels like a really long time ago now. And worked my way up to becoming a contract lobbyist in 2009 and 2010. And I represented a few groups and organizations that I didn't always see eye to eye on, and it was a little more difficult to work. So I took a break from politics for a few years, got my master's and came back - in environmental sustainable management - figuring out that really the environment and land use is where my passion lies, just generally. And I got lucky enough to have some friends who worked in and around Futurewise and helped connect me to, at the time, Hilary Franz, who hired me on as the State Policy Director in 2015 - early 2015, late 2014. And really, I have been working on land use, transportation, housing issues since then. And it all really, like I said, stems from 10 years of searching about what I cared about before I fell into the lap of Futurewise. And it's been really exciting to see the organization continue to grow and being able to continue to work on a host of issues that kind of change every year on the land use realm, because there's a lot to do in that space. So yeah, just a long time of slowly working my way into the land use and transportation realm. And now I'm lucky enough to continue to do it. [00:04:54] Crystal Fincher: Excellent. So like you said, there's so much to do. But there have been some headline issues over the past couple years, culminating with this last session - middle housing, transit oriented development, the GMA climate bill. Starting with middle housing and the coalition - getting that together - the multi-session effort that it took to pass it, but resulting in passage. What was that process like? And why is this so important? [00:05:21] Bryce Yadon: Yeah, I'll start off with that. It was a multi-year thing, and I do want to mention that there was a couple of different priorities moving in tandem throughout the last few sessions. Representative Bateman, Representative Macri, and others had been working on middle housing for a number of years before Futurewise got involved. We always knew we would eventually be able to really help. But a few years ago, what we started off with was what was called House Bill 1220, which was an update to the housing element of the Growth Management Act. And the reason why that is important is it set the stage for us to take on these larger issues, such as middle housing and TOD. And what that update did was required local jurisdictions to plan differently for housing types. It also required the state to start addressing and issuing housing targets that are a little more specific than they used to be. They used to just be general - you should be allowing this many units. Now we're more in the detailed units. And so from a Futurewise perspective, it started back in 2020 with the introduction of that bill and worked forward. And we had built a small coalition on updating the housing requirements under that - knowing that in 2024, the vast majority of local jurisdictions are going to be updating their comprehensive plan required by law - where all these planning documents come together to facilitate access to housing, hopefully. So that was - from a Futurewise perspective - that was our first kind of go at trying to figure out what was the preliminary step to take. And then what it allowed us to do then is look at how do local jurisdictions implement this new law? What are the opportunities that Futurewise and the state need to give them to really fully embrace income levels, housing at all income levels, affordable housing, and those important things. And so when we were able to team up with Representative Bateman, she had already built a small coalition that was pretty strong. But over the course of about six months, myself, Futurewise, Marcella teamed up with a very large coalition that cut across areas that normally don't - we had business, we had realtors, we had environmental organizations, we had labor all teamed up, because there's one thing that everybody needs, which is housing. And I think that was a big deal to kind of restructure what the coalition looked like going into the 2023 session. And I think that one of the best and interesting parts about that, when we look at the breadth of knowledge within that coalition - like I said, we had folks - we had realtors who understand what people are looking for in housing these days and what they want to market to folks. We have builders that are seeing where they're getting hangups in where and how they can build. You have environmental organizations like Futurewise that understood that a lot of the density and outcomes we're looking for to protect the environment are around types of new housing, and it's like middle housing - that take up less space, that provide community and those things. And I think that was one of the key aspects at the end of the day was just the coalition having such knowledge in different aspects that really helped push it over the line. And again, Representative Bateman and others had worked on it for, I think, three or four years prior to Futurewise stepping in and really helping out. So I want to give a lot of credit to the previous work they did. And then the one other thing that I think is extremely important to realize that our coalition and all the work Marcella and everybody else did - one of the things that we can't substitute is hard work from a member. And there was Representative Bateman who was consistently meeting with her colleagues one-on-one, folks like Representative Macri, Representative Fitzgibbon and others meeting with members one-on-one just about this specific bill to make sure that we were addressing policy concerns throughout the whole thing. So I think that was the key culmination for us is - it was a four-year period, there was two different tracks we were taking, and then they lined up at the right time. And again, we think this is one of the policy implementation bills for House Bill 1220 that we passed a number of years ago. [00:09:27] Crystal Fincher: Got it. Marcella, Bryce covered a little bit about the coalition with this - and it was a broad and varied coalition, but a coalition that even within the housing space didn't agree on all issues - and were working together on some bills this past session, were working in opposition on other bills this session. What did it take, and what was the process of pulling this coalition together and keeping it together throughout this session, throughout the changes in the bill? Can you walk us through what that was like? [00:09:55] Marcella Buser: Yeah, so I can walk you through the grassroots side of the coalition - because how Bryce and I work together - Bryce is on the inside, working to create a policy that most people can get behind. And then I'm working on the outside with the rest of the state, making sure that we have the people power needed to get these bills over the finish line. So like I said, I started last fall - my very first day on staff was joining one of these coalition meetings and seeing all the different players in the room. My priority was coordinating the grassroots side of the coalition, so bringing together local groups that really cared about these issues, environmental groups, racial justice groups, everyone that had different types of reach and diversity in their interests. I would say how much we cared about missing middle and seeing this bill over the finish line united us way more than any of our differences could have separated us. Honestly, one of the larger challenges, rather than working on these other issues, was just balancing everyone's strengths. Like a local group might have expertise in a certain area but might not know about the rest of the state, whereas a comms team might have really great publications but not a large membership base to reach out to. So I think that was more - the bigger challenge is balancing that and through having really open and honest conversations every week in the meeting that I coordinated, we were able to figure out - okay, where can everyone make an impact? What makes sense for everyone? And how can we keep this bill moving? [00:11:33] Crystal Fincher: So what comes next? What does implementation look like for this? And what can people in their communities expect to see as a result? [00:11:42] Bryce Yadon: That's a really good question. Funny enough, we've been having both internal conversations as well as a few conversations with people in the governor's office and the Department of Commerce. So the immediate next step is going to be that the Department of Commerce is going to start a rulemaking process for implementation at the local level. We have a phased approach to this piece of legislation, so the four central Puget Sound counties - so King, Kitsap, Pierce, and Snohomish - have to update their development regulations and implement this piece of legislation by June of 2025, because it's due six months after the comprehensive plan. This gives us a two-year time window to assist local jurisdictions in implementation. So the first thing that we're going to probably start seeing is the Department of Commerce both from a small group area - small groups - calling people in to get feedback and ideas on how this should be implemented, what should the regulations and sideboards should be for implementation of this bill. We're also going to see - because the rulemaking process is public - we're also going to be seeing opportunities for the general public to provide feedback to the Department of Commerce through hearings and other things over the next six months to a year. [00:13:01] Crystal Fincher: And pausing right here, what does it mean - what kinds of things are being taken up and handled in rulemaking? What is going to be determined there? [00:13:08] Bryce Yadon: Yeah, that's a good question. So things such as what does the definition of substantially similar to development regulations that apply to single-family homes. So things that we didn't define very well that are going to be required. So again, one of them was you can't have any more restrictive requirements than you have on a single-family zone. So those will be things like matching up your setbacks and making sure that it's clear that we have a - you're either following the law, or not. So I think some of those rules will be very clear - that we think they're clear in the law, but we need to make sure they're there. I also think we'll also see things that will be able to be just adopted out of the rules to a local city's ordinance. And so things, like I said, what do setbacks look like for middle housing comparatively to other types? Or what does open space look like between courtyard apartments - how much is open space needed to create a courtyard apartment situation? What should the average heights, or what could be heights, that would facilitate different unit sizes for each development? What does substantially similar for affordable housing look like? 'cause we do have affordable housing incentives built into the bill. So those are some of the things. But I think it's going to be imperative of us all to think about how broad and how flexible can we make sure that this is, that the rulemaking is so local jurisdictions can really facilitate the development of these housing types. And I think that's one of the things that we want to make sure is going to occur at the end of the day. So those are some of the things - obviously, I'm probably missing a whole host of them because it's such a big piece of legislation and we haven't done this much extensive rulemaking on a bill in a while - like this, I should say, let alone on housing at the state level in a long time. And then - how's it going to impact the local area after we get through that? Second, you're going to see local jurisdictions taking up public hearings, opportunities to engage. There's multiple pathways for local jurisdictions to comply with the law. There's one that says - you have to upzone 75% of your single-family homes and you can protect 25%. But there's a lot of stipulations within that, so making sure we have folks on the ground that are paying attention to high risk of displacement areas, other areas that might have been formerly redlined. So we obviously need people at the local level to be engaged at the planning process. It also provides folks an opportunity to give feedback on development regulations. Again, another kind of rehash of setbacks, heights, other requirements that might go along with this. And then in reality, what do I think is going to look like on the ground in four or five years when we start seeing more of these develop is - more community and more homes for people. I live in a townhome - there's 11 units that is on two formerly single-family homes. And I've got a great community - I know my neighbors, I talk to them, we garden together out front - which is really exciting. So what I think we're going to see is just - is more housing options, maybe not always affordable for 80% and below, but more affordable than the single-family home that it replaced, which is really providing housing opportunity. So fits within the character of the neighborhood - the houses next to me look like they belong there and my house looks like it belongs here. And I'm right next to two-story apartment building that's next door to me as well, so it's a really diverse community and it's really exciting to see. So that's what we expect to see on the ground - is more people getting housing, more community being built, and facilitating a walkable environment that really creates and thrives in that community-based planning process. [00:16:54] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, thank you for going into detail on what rulemaking means. I think that's a part of the process that is not known to as many people as the legislative process. And so much is determined about the implementation with those - whether it's this legislation or any piece of legislation - it's so important to continue engaging and following through rulemaking. I've explained it before - it's like the difference - the law that was passed is like a script on paper and the rulemaking is what fills in all of those details to actually make it a movie. There's so much more than the words on the paper in the ways that they're interpreted, in the ways that they can manifest in reality. And so making all of those decisions about - What exactly does that definition mean? What does that look like in real life? - makes a big difference. So whether it's this or any piece of legislation, really - if you've been engaged in the fight to get it passed, please continue to stay involved. Or if you want to get involved for the first time, do it within this rulemaking period because it does impact how this will turn out in real life. Marcella, what was it about this that brought so many people to the coalition? What were some of the concerns that you had to overcome to continue to build this coalition? And what are you most excited to see as a result of this passing? [00:18:09] Marcella Buser: Yeah, I think so many people were brought to this coalition because regardless of what you care about, there is a reason why missing middle affects you in a positive way. So talking with folks that care about climate change and care about having more walkable communities - great, missing middle is a solution for you. Folks that care about dismantling systemic racism - great, missing middle is for you. I think the biggest barrier that we faced with this bill on the ground was less with the coalition and more with local opposition. So I'm thinking in particular about Edmonds. At the start of session, we saw a lot of letters to the editor against missing middle coming out of Edmonds, and eventually started seeing lawn signs and flyers - all of this work against missing middle. And we learned that this was coming from a group called ACE, or Alliance for Citizens of Edmonds, and they are an organized group that's been around since 2004. And part of their mission is, and I quote "preserving the character of Edmonds." So we knew that if we were going to get this bill passed, but - not just passed, get this implemented - we needed to have a very local and strategic approach to this. So we started working with our partners in Edmonds. We got connected with CARE, Coalition for Accessible and Resilient Edmonds, and started hosting regional meetings working to get more folks in the area involved. And we saw our engagement double - partially because we were there doing the work we needed to turn these folks out, but also because folks were seeing these lawn signs and thinking - You know, I don't really agree with that. I think I'm on the other side of this. And it ended up being successful. We got all of the representatives and the senators in that district to vote Yes on missing middle. But this was a big lesson learned - that if we want to keep passing zoning reform in the future and if we want to be implementing missing middle, we need to make sure that we're building these massive, stronger bases in these local, typically wealthier, smaller communities and making sure that we have the support needed to keep this work up. So I think that was one of the biggest struggles. And so making sure that our coalition wasn't just the folks that work on the statewide level, but we were working with individual smaller groups that work in these local communities - like Edmonds, Bellevue, Mercer Island, Bainbridge - and making sure that they were a part of this larger movement. [00:20:45] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. And what - looking forward into another bill that you were working on - the transit oriented development bill, where does that stand? And where is it going? [00:20:57] Bryce Yadon: That's a good question. So just in terms of actual process real quick, it will go back to - I believe it goes back to the Senate. So it'll still be introduced next year, goes back to the last place that it passed, which would be - we have different steps, so it'll go back to the Senate. [00:21:12] Crystal Fincher: And what would it do? What would that bill accomplish? [00:21:15] Bryce Yadon: So the bill - it is a complement to the middle housing bill. So the middle housing bill obviously dealt with areas - just your entire city, generally speaking. What TOD, Transit Oriented Development Bill, did was really increase housing availability around our transit investments. So things like light rail, frequent transit service, or bus rapid transit, thinking about - again, King County has the Rapid Ride line, so it would increase development capacity at all the stops along the Rapid Ride line. They have Swift up in Snohomish County. Spokane is getting a number of bus rapid transit-type lines. So really what it would have done is taken areas - many of the bus lines go through a whole host of different zoning types - they go through commercial, they go through multifamily, and they also go through single-family. And what this was saying is the Legislature invested around $3.7 billion into bus transit in 2022 - let's leverage that to create housing opportunity around those things so people don't have to drive - thinking about how we implement our climate plans and meeting our goals for vehicle miles traveled that we have in state law. So it would have allowed, within a quarter mile of bus rapid transit, a substantial increase in what they call floor area ratio or FAR. FAR is a wonky term to look at your lot size and how much building capacity you can have on top of it. I think most of us would defer to like heights - so we normally see 40-foot heights or 60-foot heights. This does it based off of - how many square feet can you build per lot, depending on the size and location. But I'm going to defer back to like heights and density just because I think it's easier to understand, and I think that's the direction we'll probably inevitably see the bill go because people can envision it better. So functionally it would have allowed something - instead of two stories, it would have allowed something like five stories or six stories and that typically is wood frame construction over concrete that's the cheapest to build when you start talking about multifamily. And then around light rail, it would have done the steel and concrete type of construction, which can be upwards of 70, 80 to 150 feet or any skyscraper in Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, Everett - those types of buildings - around light rail. So it would have really increased the development capacity - and instead of thinking of it as a station area, you would think of it more as a transit line. So you would have whole sections following a bus that could be upzoned that might be currently single-family or low-rise development and really increase the capacity. So I think that was fundamentally what the bill did at the end of the day. And I think there was a lot of confusion, even among members and the lobbying team, as I mentioned - FAR and other requirements. So I think there has to be some peel back and look at how can we best talk about it and represent and show what the bill will do. I think that was one of the positives of missing middle - we were able to provide photos and built environment that showed what middle housing is. I think we were having a hard time providing that for transit oriented development because it was a different way to look at how we develop. I think there's three or four cities that use FAR and the rest use height, and we got to probably move back towards that way to get people to see it better. [00:24:44] Crystal Fincher: And Marcella - when it comes to the GMA climate bill, why was that so important to pass and what impact will it have moving forward? [00:24:54] Marcella Buser: Yeah, I can't speak on the exact policy, but this bill is huge. Futurewise has been working on this for the past three years and this is going to change the way that we are looking at how we develop our cities. Before this bill, cities didn't need to plan around climate change, but now we are taking that into consideration - and we know that this is one of the top issues that people in our state care about and are looking to see action on. It's great being in Washington - we are one of the climate change leaders in the country, if not the leader, in climate change action - but there's always more that needs to be done. [00:25:34] Crystal Fincher: Looking at the specifics and through the eyes of a layperson, through the eyes of someone just in the public - what would they expect to see differently and what would it do? [00:25:45] Bryce Yadon: I'll say a couple of things, and I know that Marcella heard a lot of on the ground conversations - because again, I think one thing that we did well this year was take the stories of people on the ground and turn them into our key talking points and other things. One of the things that we're probably going to see is a better thought process on what does climate resiliency look like for flooding. We know that we're going to see increased storms, we're going to see sea level rise - and sea level rise will impact, obviously, the whole Puget Sound and the coastal areas. So we're going to see better and more thoughtful development regulations and development patterns within those flood zones. We've had a law for a long time that says - You really shouldn't be building in them. But we're also seeing a larger flood zone - they're increasing as time goes on because these are more severe. So I think the first thing we'll probably see is not immediate, but more thoughtful development regulations, exit patterns, access away from areas that are eventually going to be hit with floods and other things. I think another thing that we're going to see - thinking of, say, eastern Washington right away - is the planning and understanding of where development patterns occur and likelihood of wildfires. We've all seen the devastation in California and in some of the small towns in Oregon over the last few years with devastating impacts to people's homes and properties and livelihoods lost. And I think Washington has typically done a good job at trying to create this buffer between development areas and areas that are susceptible to wildfires, but we're going to see more action in that area. And then we're also going to see better plans to prevent wildfires from expanding into these communities. So it might not be immediate on the ground impacts, but it's one of those things. And I think the second thing I want to mention, within the context of this, is with the GMA climate bill, we added - we made a change to how local jurisdictions plan for travel and transportation - requires vehicle miles traveled to be reduced over time. But in addition to that, it said - when you're doing your transportation plan, you have to plan for a multimodal environment. That means not only are you planning for vehicle traffic on roadways, but you should be planning for - What does transit look like within corridors? What does bike facilities look like in corridors? And what does pedestrian facilities look like in corridors? We know cities have a lack of pedestrian access - there's whole sections of all of our major cities that don't have access to sidewalks. And this is going to put those front and centered and say - You can't only invest in moving vehicles quickly. What you have to do is you have to invest in - safety is the number one priority for all users on the roadway. And you have to figure out how you're going to be investing in all modes of transportation instead of one. So I think what we're probably going to see immediately is a reworking of our transportation system, hopefully - and I think that'll be the most impactful. Hopefully we'll see speeds come down, vehicle crashes reduced, we'll see safety increase, we'll see access to crosswalks and pedestrian facilities that - again, a lot of jurisdictions just haven't invested in because their number one priority has been the speed of a vehicle to get through one singular intersection. So I think in the short term, that's probably going to be one of the major things we're going to see right away, within the context of what the immediate impacts are going to be, which is really exciting - something that we've been working on with partners for years. [00:29:12] Crystal Fincher: It is really exciting. And so necessary, especially through our - basically a mobility safety crisis that we are in the middle of - and hopefully people will be taking action to address that soon. So now that we're post-session doing this kind of evaluation of everything that happened and looking forward - Marcella, what is necessary in the next year, leading up to this next session, locally and in conjunction with state legislators to pass these bills and continued action as needed? What's needed to bring the coalition together around the continued action to make sure that we can continue moving forward? [00:29:51] Marcella Buser: Yeah, there's a lot that's needed. I think working through session - some of the best organizing that will set a campaign up for success happens before legislators are even back in Olympia. So really our campaign for next year is already starting now. It takes a lot of effort working in local communities and statewide, finding the volunteers that care about these issues that - again, maybe don't know how to get involved. Or maybe they really care about climate change and housing, but don't even know what land use is - they've never even heard the phrase zoning before. So making sure that we are reaching as many of those folks as possible, getting them involved, teaching them that they can be a part of the solution, and making their voice heard. And then - yeah, working with the coalition - took some time off, recovered from session, but now getting back to working with these groups, finding that common ground of - Okay, maybe we aren't working on missing middle or something else, but where do our interests coincide? And not only working with our past partners, but making sure that we are identifying new groups that want to get involved, making sure that our coalition is very diverse - that we are representing local groups and not just the Seattle area, but we are getting statewide. So there's a lot of work to do if we want to be building up the support that we need to be a really robust campaign, starting in January when bills are getting introduced. [00:31:19] Crystal Fincher: And if people are interested in joining this effort and getting involved, who can they contact and how can they find out more information? [00:31:27] Marcella Buser: Definitely get in touch with us. If you go to our website, we have ways - you can fill out a volunteer form and I'll get in touch with you to tell you more. There is a variety of ways for people to get involved. So even if you're hearing this and you're like - I don't have a ton of time for that, but I'm interested - during session, we send out weekly action alerts that take five minutes to email your legislators to vote Yes, or to sign-in Pro for hearings for bills. That's huge - that goes a long way. But we also have great opportunities for folks to get involved if you do have more time - if you want to volunteer, take on leadership, help run things like in-person lobby days. But also even if you don't have any time at all, you can always donate - and that always goes a long way with our campaigns - making sure that we have the resources needed to stay in this fight for as long as it takes to win. [00:32:20] Crystal Fincher: Thank you so much, Bryce and Marcella, for joining us today and helping to inform. Any parting words that you have, Bryce? [00:32:27] Bryce Yadon: Just thank you for your time and thanks for everybody's engagement in the last legislative session. And I just want to echo what Marcella said, which is - if you're interested, there's millions of ways, both from your local city all up to the state, and happy to help anybody who's excited to do that. [00:32:44] Crystal Fincher: All right. Thank you so much for joining us. [00:32:46] Bryce Yadon: Thank you. [00:32:47] Marcella Buser: Thanks. [00:32:47] Crystal Fincher: Thank you for listening to Hacks & Wonks, which is co-produced by Shannon Cheng and Bryce Cannatelli. You can follow Hacks & Wonks on Twitter @HacksWonks. You can catch Hacks & Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts - just type "Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the full versions of our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave a review wherever you listen. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the episode notes. Thanks for tuning in - talk to you next time.

In today's episode we sit down and connect with Dr. Jon Conte. Jon shares his expertise on the impacts of trauma as it pertains to “trauma-informed” and what a truly trauma-informed environment means for those in education. He shares with us that the power of the empathic connection is so strong for students in schools, yet can also create the vulnerability of the empathic strain on the teachers. Jon highlights that providing a space where teachers can openly process their experiences, is vital in combating burnout.  Dr. Jon Conte is a world renowned expert on mental health issues related to child abuse and trauma. He is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington and maintains a private practice on Mercer Island, specializing in forensic mental health issues surrounding child abuse and the effect of trauma work on health care professionals. Jon is the editor of the Journal of Interpersonal Violence and Trauma, Violence and Abuse: A Review Journal, and is the consulting editor for the Journal of Forensic Social Work. Intro Song: Poet's Row, Young Bones

On this week-in-review, Crystal is joined by former Pierce County Council Chair Derek Young! They discuss the official end of the death penalty in Washington state, the abortion pill decision from the U.S. Supreme Court, Pierce County & rural students struggling emotionally and socially after covid, how Seattle's failure to act on housing is hurting other cities, and some interesting political races shaping up in Pierce County. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Twitter at @finchfrii and find today's co-host, Derek Young at @DerekMYoung.   Resources Climate Justice Work with 350 Seattle's Shemona Moreno from Hacks & Wonks   “Washington Legislature votes to repeal death penalty” by Melissa Santos from Axios   “Washington state officially abolishes death penalty” by Lisa Baumann from The Associated Press   “Budget committee weighs Inslee's plan to stockpile abortion medicine” by Jim Camden from The Spokesman Review   “Gov. Inslee buys 3-year supply of abortion pills in case of ban” by Joseph O'Sullivan from Crosscut   “Pierce County students ‘absolutely in crisis' after COVID, say area superintendents” by Becca Most from The News Tribune   “Four Vital Housing and Climate Bills Survive the Washington Legislature” by Ray Dubicki from The Urbanist   “WA Senate passes bill allowing duplexes, fourplexes in single-family zones” by David Gutman from The Seattle Times   “The Battle for the Seattle City Council, Part 1: The Incumbents” by Doug Trumm from The Urbanist   Find more stories that Crystal is reading here   Transcript   [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington state through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the full versions of our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, the most helpful thing you can do is to leave a review wherever you listen to Hacks & Wonks. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. If you missed our Tuesday midweek show, Executive Director of 350 Seattle, Shemona Moreno, shared with me how the organization approaches climate justice work through deep systems of change. Today, we're continuing our Friday almost-live shows where we review the news of the week with a co-host. Welcome back to the program, friend of the show and today's co-host: former Pierce County Council Chair, Derek Young. Hey Derek. [00:01:15] Derek Young: Hey, thanks for having me back. [00:01:16] Crystal Fincher: Of course - always appreciate and enjoy having you on the show. There's a lot of news out of Olympia this week - I think we will start with talking about Washington officially abolishing the death penalty. How are you feeling about this? [00:01:32] Derek Young: If you'd asked me this question 15 years ago, I might've had a different answer, but I think it's pretty clear to me now that the system that we had was unjust and that it was not equitably applied. And that was ultimately the reason for that initial Supreme Court case - that said that you can't impose this penalty unless you can show that it's being basically ordered in all cases. And obviously, I think that the final straw for most people was Gary Ridgway - because if you're not gonna use it in that case, which is the worst imaginable, then how can you apply it in others? So we've been waiting for the law to actually be finally changed - because we had basically executive restraint, I would say, in imposing it - but now it's official. And I think it's not only from a moral sense - the good thing - but from a practical sense too. The more - at least I've come to understand - how often people are convicted that are innocent, or at least shouldn't have been found guilty because of defects in the case - you can always let someone out of jail or out of prison. And we see that happen more and more often, not necessarily in Washington - I haven't noticed many cases here - but the Innocence Project has done tremendous work around the country and proving that people were spending decades in prison. And while tragic in itself - if we had executed those folks, they would not have been able to reverse those decisions. [00:03:18] Crystal Fincher: Right - it is absolutely the correct moral thing to do and the fiscally responsible thing to do. As you said, we have not had an execution in Washington State in about 13 years, since 2010. You're right - we've been relying a lot on executive restraint - Inslee pledged to never sign a death warrant while he was in office. The Legislature, I believe in 2014, acted to put a moratorium on the death penalty - this officially abolishes it in the state. And I do think it is absolutely a moral issue. We should not be putting people to death. It's also more expensive, it's also impractical. We have a deeply, deeply flawed criminal legal system. To have death be a consequence that flows from a result, from a system that we know is deeply flawed, doesn't make any sense. For me personally, it doesn't make sense to put people to death from a state perspective anyway. And I hope more of this spreads to more places throughout the country. There are other states who have also outlawed the death penalty - hopefully more continue to do so. [00:04:22] Derek Young: Yeah, and I do think it's good to acknowledge why some people react really emotionally to this. There have been some really heinous crimes committed - certainly we've had our share here in Pierce County that I think really drove the conversation around that - just saying these crimes were so horrific, they deserve the ultimate punishment. And I certainly understand that. At the same time, the outcome is still the same if we ensure that those folks are never getting out, unless we can prove they're innocence. And if they can, then they should be let out. So there is a degree to which - I think we have to try to separate that desire for retribution for some rather horrific crimes, and weigh it with the moral and practical reality and financial realities of the death penalty - which is, it's hard to do, but I think it's important and the Legislature and the governor deserve credit for doing it. [00:05:25] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. In other important legal news this week, we are today - as we are recording this in the morning - waiting on an expected Supreme, United States Supreme Court decision today about whether to allow restrictions on mifepristone, an abortion pill, to go into effect while a lawsuit brought by anti-abortion groups targeting the pill proceeds. This is going to be a big deal and really goes to show how - even a movement that some people here in Washington, a state that has moved to protect reproductive rights - thinking, Supreme Court, different states are outlawing abortion, but that's them, doesn't really affect us in other states. And if you want to get away from that, just move to another state - this is a states rights issue, and you can move to a different state if you don't like it. Moving to a different state does not necessarily mean that you will not be impacted, and this is a perfect example. How are you seeing this? [00:06:22] Derek Young: Yeah, I guess I should not have been surprised because it had been rumored that there were, there was some judge shopping going on to bring this case. And in fact, from my understanding, is that the organization that brought it literally just invented itself and opened up an office in one particular court district in order to bring this case - so they must've done their homework. But I thought, even more interesting, was that the attorney general and governor appeared to have been prepared for this both legally and practically - the governor had ordered the stockpiling so that we would protect some supply of mifepristone. But also the attorney general, within - I believe it was a day - had a case in front of the Eastern District in Washington and got essentially a counter case in order to try to stop things. I don't think that we can count on a positive outcome 'cause when you have conflicts, eventually these things tend to end up in the Supreme Court. And we know how that Court has been ruling and been behaving lately. But to me, it's just shocking that there would be a judge asserting their own judgment over the FDA in a case like this. And from what I understand from legal experts, it was a wacky case and decision - that there were a lot of assertions that simply aren't true, got way outside the law and into the efficacy and the safety of the drugs - that that's certainly not a judge's expertise. So I don't know - on the one hand, I wanna be shocked, but I don't think we can be at this point. [00:08:09] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, absolutely. And the heart of this is really about whether the FDA is the ultimate authority on this or not. And this is essentially overruling the FDA, which has years of data and studies and experts who deal with this, or a judge who was put in place to handle rulings largely like this in a way that conservatives were confident would be friendly to them and their position. So it's an interesting place. I absolutely applaud Governor Inslee's decision to buy what's anticipated to be a three-year stockpile of mifepristone and think that's an excellent use of our state funds to make sure that we protect women's and people's reproductive rights here in Washington State. It's going to be interesting to see what the result and outcome of whatever this decision is - certainly hope that reason and justice prevails. But as you said, reason and justice has not been prevailing with this Supreme Court, as currently constituted. So I generally do not hold much hope that their rulings are going to reflect what most legal authorities consider to be sound jurisprudence and reasoning. So we're eagerly awaiting. If we happen to get it while we're recording, we will let you know. Odds are it's going to happen later in the day, but we will see. [00:09:33] Derek Young: The thing that gives me a little bit of hope here is that the initial stay by Justice Thomas was extended - that suggests to me that maybe there is some behind-the-scenes dissent, I guess is the right word, that maybe this might even be a bridge too far for some of the core conservatives. I'm hoping that that's the case. But what's unusual about it is that typically the Supreme Court doesn't - when they issue stays, they don't put deadlines necessarily on them - it's when they want to come back to them, they will. This seemed to be tipping his hand that he wanted to rush this and couldn't quite get it together. So I'm hoping that says there's maybe - out of that block - one or two justices that are getting cold feet and maybe realizing that overruling administrators is a bridge too far. If you've ever complained about judicial activism, this is the ultimate judicial activism. [00:10:40] Crystal Fincher: It absolutely is. And not even a borderline attempt - this is wholesale. I know the law says one thing, I know precedent says one thing - but we're doing something different 'cause I feel like it time. Conservatives seem to have no problem with that when it goes their direction. Not what you would call small government, not what you would call a personal freedom and liberty, but here we are. [00:11:03] Derek Young: And it's not like the FDA is known for rushing through things. [00:11:06] Crystal Fincher: Not at all. [00:11:07] Derek Young: My biggest complaint with them is that they tend to be feet dragging and overly cautious. So this is long established - good science behind it. We understand its safety and efficacy. In fact, in nearly all cases, this would be the most, the best method for women to seek out. So I really don't understand the objection. [00:11:34] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, absolutely. This is just about the safest way to have an abortion. If you fit within the timeframes that this is supposed to be taken in, has the least amount of complications out of all of the methods here. It's been in use for decades. Not controversial at all, except for when a moral panic spins this up and here we are. We'll continue to follow this. And again, if we get this decision while we're recording, we'll let you know. Otherwise, you know to be on the lookout for it. This week, we also saw an article in The News Tribune talking about how Pierce County students are struggling after the pandemic. What were your takeaways from this article? [00:12:19] Derek Young: Yeah, it's one of those things that's unfortunately not surprising, but something that we really need to address. And it's obviously not just Pierce County - this is kids all over the country and frankly, the world. The impact to them during the pandemic was significant in terms of their social emotional wellbeing, and it's causing a crisis. And it's not just in our schools - we see it definitely in how they're doing academically - but in their lives in general. And certainly we've seen it unfortunately manifest itself on our streets with kids, at alarming rates, getting into violent situations. And so I think it's good to recognize and it's good to see our superintendents are on top of this. Social emotional learning is something that we worked a lot on even before the pandemic in public health, but the resources are thin. And so that's something that has to be addressed, likely by the Legislature. If we leave this up to local governments to sort out, it's gonna be tough to come up with the kind of resources we're talking about, but it needs to be dealt with because - I think everyone assumes that the problem was just being out of school and going hybrid for that time period. And that's a part of it - for sure - but kids suffered a lot of trauma. I don't think people realize - how many people lost caregivers, or how many of their caregivers lost income - and so their lives were thrown into turmoil at an important time in their lives. And so it's something that we have to hit head on, and I'm glad to see people taking it seriously. I also think it's worth noting the disparity between districts and how some of the rural districts would struggle to handle this on their own. And so it's something that I'd like to see our health departments, with the support of the state, take up and try to ensure that we have resources distributed equitably. I know Councilmember Hitchen, who has been - in her previous life before she joined the County Council with me, was a teacher in a rural high school - and is super aware of the impacts to the kids that she was there to educate. And so she seems to be taking this on, in particular, as Chair of the Human Services Committee and also a member of the Board of Health - I think the Vice-Chair now. So I'm glad to see that folks - after I left - are working hard on this. [00:15:18] Crystal Fincher: Yeah and this is a big issue, as you said, for rural districts. This is a big issue and they're really these - there were administrators from the Franklin Pierce School District, White River, Peninsula, Carbonado and Bethel school districts who got together - those superintendents got together and addressed Pierce County Council's Human Services meeting on Tuesday. They talked about lessons that they learned from the pandemic. Obviously the pandemic was a new experience for everyone at every level, so things didn't happen perfectly. A lot of people learned lessons. One of the things that they talked about was the confusion of navigating through a time where they were getting different guidance from the CDC, state authorities, health departments, and other leadership - whether it's the OSPI or the State - just all these levels of government who were trying to figure things out, but saying different things, giving conflicting information. And really superintendents in schools having to ultimately make sense of and implement that in a very uncertain time - was a challenge. And then they went on to talk about the impacts that the students are feeling that you articulated so well. And that yes, definitely impacts to the academics - reading, writing, math - but the most striking challenges that they're seeing are not academic. They're, as you said, social and emotional. They're dealing with the complications that everyone felt during this pandemic. This pandemic took quite a toll on the community. We talk about huge numbers - over a million people died, tens of millions of people potentially disabled with long COVID and not able to live life in the same way that they were able to before, or work in the same way that they were able to before. And when those are caregivers, when those are people who are responsible for the finances and the income in the family, that is incredibly destabilizing. And so we have these kids who just went through years of destabilization. Some of them were not able to stay in the same place, not able to keep doing the things that they've been used to doing. And it's just a big challenge. And they're seeing the impacts of that and how they deal with each other and how they're not able to emotionally regulate as effectively as they did before the pandemic - understandably. But this now creates a situation where we need to double down on the resources, on the help. This is not a time to be cutting resources in schools as unfortunately, a lack of state funding is forcing a lot of schools to do. But losing counselors, losing school nurses, losing resources, losing places where kids could congregate and teens had things to do - lots of those things were decimated throughout the pandemic, suspended, taken away, have not returned in the way that they did before. And so you have kids who are just floating away and being lost and compounded with challenges in rural areas, like a lack of stable and reliable internet access for many people in the district just creates all of these problems that are manifest. They manifest in our criminal justice system. They manifest in abuse - substance use and abuse. If we don't address this head on, if we don't pour resources and time into trying to solidify the future for these kids, I don't know what's gonna happen but it doesn't seem like it's gonna be good. [00:19:06] Derek Young: No. And I think the thing that is - you touched on something there that I think is really important. The districts were - I will say, as someone who was there at the time - they were doing their best to sort through it. And in this sort of chaotic environment where you're learning something new every day and trying to adjust on the fly, trying to adjust to conditions on the ground - they were doing their best. But I can also understand why they would have some frustration coming out of that. This is a good example of the sort of things - I am annoyed that we are not doing a better job of having some lessons learned coming out of this because there will be another pandemic at some point. If we don't figure out - here's the things that went well and here's went wrong - shame on us. And I had pushed - and Senator Murray to her credit had done so on the Congressional side - to create a joint task force at all layers of government to do an after-action report. For whatever reason, that didn't get into the final bill as something that we were going to push. I thought that it was gonna pass, but apparently there were some objections. And I just think that's a shame because we need some sort of trusted bipartisan report-out to tell us what we got wrong and what we got right. And just to your point on the - all of the experiences that kids had - it doesn't look like the same, it's not the same for everyone, right? You mentioned that we have people with long COVID and such. We also know that this disease causes neurological problems, and that's becoming something that we're more aware of now. I always point to it as - everyone's acting weird, right? We know that people's behavior changed during the pandemic and that's gonna come out in ways that are unexpected - and not only for the kids themselves, but also if your parents have changed in their behavior, that's gonna affect them as well. So it just feels like we need to address this as directly as possible, like you said, because if it's not - we know what happens when young people don't get their needs met. And that tends to be really bad outcomes later in life. So you're better off - financially - investing in the types of resources that will help support them, whether it's social services, some sort of social emotional learning programs, whether it's extra help in schools. I don't really care what that looks like, but it needs to be really well thought out. And it's no different than the impacts of what happens to a person when they lose housing. We know that that trauma lives with them for a very long time, if not forever. And so if you take a step back and say - What if we kept them in housing? Almost always, you're going to save a huge amount of money down the road. So these are kids - they're depending on us to fight for them - let's do it. [00:22:48] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. And again, we all have a role to play in this, different levels of government have a role to play in this. This is not something that the districts can solve themselves. The White River School District Superintendent talked about how they suffer from a lack of programming and resources, saying that there are resource deserts that lack stable internet access, programming geared towards youth, pharmacies, grocery stores, and public transportation. The Bethel School District Superintendent said there were only three parks in his entire school district - no Boys and Girls Club, no YMCA - with over 20,000 students. No pool for kids to go to in the summer - just they lack resources in the entire community. And of course that's going to impact them. So we'll link this article by Becca Most in the resources in the show notes so you can read it. It's just something that we have to get our hands around. We know that bad outcomes are happening when we don't address this. And if we allow kids to go through this system, we're really cheating them. We're not giving them what we should be, what they're due. We're not living up to our paramount duty, as our State Constitution said, to provide a quality education. And we certainly aren't setting these kids up for success. We can and should invest in this. This article also talks about the increasing needs for special education students. And at a time where our Legislature is still debating about special education funding and whether there should be a cap and maybe not, we do have more kids who need this. This is not just frivolous over-identification - these are kids in need. And of course there's a greater need. So why we're capping that need - I don't know at all - but the need has certainly increased and we shouldn't be punishing, ultimately, districts and kids for presenting with those needs. [00:24:45] Derek Young: Yeah, absolutely. [00:24:46] Crystal Fincher: Also want to talk about the progress that we've made in housing. We talked a bit about this last week, but we have now seen more housing bills passed - four major housing bills have passed. Definitely HB 1110, the missing middle housing bill, passing was big. Also we saw HB 1293, which streamlined some development regulations, which has been cited as something slowing down the ability to build the capacity in housing that we need. Accessory Dwelling Units being allowed under HB 1337, as well as some transit-oriented development. When you think about these housing bills and the progress made on housing, what does this mean to you? Where are we, and what lesson should we take from this? [00:25:36] Derek Young: Yeah, first of all - my thanks to the legislators who worked hard on this, because it was one of the more difficult fights that I've seen in the Legislature. It's taken a couple of years to get these ideas through, not in this exact form, but certainly in something looking like it. And I'll start by saying housing is at the center of almost all of our social problems. And just to take a step back to the example we just used - Bethel School District, for those of your listeners that aren't familiar with it, it's basically that southeast corner of Pierce County. It starts in the urban area, but goes into the very rural areas, like Graham-Kapowsin area. And you could characterize it as - that's sprawl policy that Pierce County had for a number of years - the lack of infrastructure that you spoke about is a direct result of those land use policies. And it pushed more and more people away, but in a pattern of development that's not sustainable for basic services. And so what you end up with is people who are isolated, who don't have access to public transportation, good public services - like you said, parks. And it's really a tragedy. But if you also want to see us reduce vehicle miles traveled - because that's our number one source of climate pollution - if you want to reduce the amount of pollutants going into our waters, if you want to see reduction in housing costs, because it's the number one increased cost in the last 20, 30 years in our region. If you want to complain about inflation, that's the worst part of inflation. All of those things come back to whether or not we're providing enough housing in our urban areas. And frankly, we have a collective action problem. And the reason it's an issue is that you can basically say, each community can say - Well, that's all well and good, but I don't want it near me. And I understand why people have a fear about that - it's fear of change, and I guess that's reasonable. But I will just say that if you think that having someone live next to you with shared walls, like I have, is more of a problem than all of those other issues that I just listed out - I don't think many people would agree with you. But again, we have this collective action problem where at the local level, we're making these decisions, but having this regional problem. So it's really important that this get passed. And I don't think this is going to be - you're not gonna see skyscrapers in Mercer Island next year as a result of this. It's a pretty modest approach and really just allows fourplexes and sixplexes in a lot of areas with access to good transit. And so the advantage here is that we distribute the burden of growth - because I recognize there can be some impacts - but we do so in a manner that makes sense. And also just note that - people may wonder why the guy from Gig Harbor is always talking about urban development. And first of all, I live in a part of the city that actually had a lot of growth, and one of the denser neighborhoods you'll find anywhere. But the more important thing is that if we don't locate the housing for all this job growth that we've had in the region - particularly in King County, by the way - then that will push the market out further and further, and it will destroy more farmland, it will destroy more rural areas, and take up more of our natural lands. So we all have a part to play in protecting what makes this place so special. And that, ultimately, I think is why this passed with pretty tremendous bipartisan support, I will say. And that took a tremendous amount of work. That was - I don't think there was even a majority support in the Democratic caucus for a long time, in either Democratic caucus. So getting to the point where it passed pretty overwhelmingly - it took - to the credit of the principal sponsors. [00:30:32] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely, it makes perfect sense. I will also add that the GMA climate bill HB 1181 passed, which is important to ensure the planning takes place in the way that it should to enable this growth further in the future and trying to sow the seeds for making sure we do make climate-conscious decisions in all of the planning decisions that we make. This is a big deal. I hope Seattle does get its act together because everyone is relying on Seattle getting its act together. As you said, we're all impacted by what happens in the big city. Unfortunately, the big city is lagging behind. Hopefully this legislation from the state will assist Seattle in doing so. Also want to talk about just what you see in Pierce County - lay of the land - what's happening in election land, what districts, councils, positions are interesting, where is control at stake? What are you seeing that's noteworthy out there? [00:31:33] Derek Young: So as you know, this is a municipal election year. So all of the cities, school districts, special taxing districts have their races in this year. In Pierce County - our County Council, like the other partisan offices, are in the on-year election so those will take place next year. So I think you're starting to see these shape up - sometimes the municipal races don't start quite as early as a legislative race. So you may see people pop up during filing week. In fact, I've always thought it was funny that there's sort of a trend of everyone watching and refreshing their filing page - watching to see who jumps in and what race. So sometimes we have to wait 'til filing week. A couple trends that I think it's important to keep an eye on are school district races that used to be, frankly, pretty sleepy and sometimes it was difficult to recruit people to run. It's a volunteer job - thankless in the best of times - suddenly turned very political in recent years. And you've seen around the country how some of this has been weaponized by pretty extreme folks on the right, and questions about what should be taught in our classrooms about our history, about equity. And then frankly, the echoes of the pandemic - about policies that we had to protect students and staff. All of that has really worn on the districts themselves. But I don't think that - I think especially in the kind of more rural and suburban districts, we may see that trend continue where there's candidate recruitment happening to try to install board members who will do things like ban books. I don't know specific races where that is something that we should be keeping an eye out for, but given what we experienced here - like in my school district, in Peninsula, and thankfully was unsuccessful. But they've had more success in other places - I think it's important to keep an eye on that. [00:34:10] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, I agree it's important to keep an eye on that. What do you see in terms of Tacoma and the city council? [00:34:16] Derek Young: So one of the most interesting races - and this is often the case where Tacoma, like Pierce County, has a two-term limit on office. So very often you'll see re-election races not even get an opponent or maybe not a very serious one, but the open seats tend to be where there is a lot of interest. And so the district - I'm blanking on the district number, but the Hilltop District, Hilltop-Downtown-Central Tacoma District - Councilmember Keith Blocker is leaving and he's, I think, done a tremendous job for his community. And there are at least three candidates that I know of now that have shown interest or announced. And each kind of brings their own unique take to how they would approach the office. It's not one I'm engaged in personally, so I don't wanna tout anyone in particular, but that one I think is gonna be the most competitive that I can tell outside or looking in. I know in some of the other city council races, growth concerns are an issue and tend to be what drive city politics - which getting back to that state bill is also why sometimes you have to set some minimum standards so that they don't get in the way of good policy. But I know in my own community in Gig Harbor, but Lakewood, Puyallup, some of the larger core cities outside of Tacoma - they may see similar type races because there've been growth concerns there as well. And this is what kind of creates these conflicts - is that there's a lot of political incentives to try to push back. And so that is always interesting in how it plays out. [00:36:19] Crystal Fincher: It is. We will continue to keep an eye on how those unfold, as you said. During this recording, I've checked to see if anyone new has filed at the PDC - definitely a refresh-a-thon will be going on until the very end of filing week, in May. I think it's May 19th, isn't it? Is that the last day of filing week? [00:36:40] Derek Young: I know it's that week, yeah. [00:36:43] Crystal Fincher: It's that week in May. Yeah, it is, it is. Filing week is May 15th through 19th. So we will follow and see who hops in these races. Also, for a Seattle-centric review, Doug Trumm has started a great series, The Battle for Seattle City Council, with its first part looking at Districts 2, 6, and 7, which each have incumbents in the races. So we'll also include a link to that article in the show notes. And with that, I thank you for listening to Hacks & Wonks on this Friday - every time I say this date, it just is wild how fast time flies. It flies when you get as old as I am, let me tell you. Anyway, thanks for listening on this Friday, April 21st, 2023. The producer of Hacks & Wonks is Shannon Cheng. Our insightful co-host today is the former Pierce County Council Chair, Derek Young. You can find Derek on Twitter - if Twitter is still there - @DerekMYoung, that's D-E-R-E-K. You can find Hacks & Wonks on Twitter @HacksWonks. You can find me on Twitter @finchfrii, that's two I's at the end. You can catch Hacks & Wonks wherever you get your podcasts - I like Overcast as an app, but you can choose whatever you want - just type "Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to get the podcast, be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the full versions of our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek topical show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, please leave a review wherever you listen. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the podcast episode notes. Thanks for tuning in - talk to you next time.

You know, I usually record these conversations from my fancy podcast studio/office in downtown Seattle, but this time I actually called our guest, Joel McHale, from my home on Mercer Island—a fitting venue for our conversation because Joel also happens to hail from this very same Seattle suburb. Now, as many of you probably know, Joel has gone on to have a very successful acting career in Hollywood. He's largely known for his sarcastic pop culture commentary on The Soup or his snarky self-centered character Jeff Winger in the critically acclaimed series Community. But long before his face ever broadcast through the glowing pixels of your television screen, Joel had a childhood that wasn't too far removed from my own. We both played sports through high school and college and happened to know a lot of the same people. Joel, like me, even went to the University of Washington. Now that may be where the similarities end, but while his college experience was tainted by the unorthodox hazing rituals of the rowing team and a questionable sense of brotherhood at the Theta Chi fraternity, Joel always knew that his real family waited for him on stage. Since the seventh grade he loved the theater and looked for every opportunity to meet with like-minded adolescent thespians who inspired and challenged each other creatively. Determined to make a career out of this passion, Joel completed a Master of Fine Arts at the University of Washington and figured that the best place to test out his merits was the entertainment mecca, Los Angeles. And while it took him a few years to get going, Joel is a hustler. Saying yes to everything offered, he's shown up in television shows and movies in nearly every genre. From bit parts in blockbuster films like Spider Man or starring in the dark romantic comedy Happily, to sitcoms like Will & Grace and the sci-fi phenomenon The X-Files. But despite the breadth of his impressive IMDb page, Joel still worries that each job is bound to be his last. Well Joel, from all of us on the outside, I think you can relax. It seems like you're doing alright. After my conversation with Joel, you'll hear my chat with a relatively new country music artist by the name of Austin Burke. But it's not actually Austin's music that brings him to The Nordy Pod. He's here as a customer to share a story which took place at our Rack store in Scottsdale, Arizona. The experience moved him so much that he pulled out his phone and started recording as it was happening. He then posted the video for his nearly one million followers on social media. It got shared around enough that we eventually caught wind and loved the story so much that we called him up, and the Nordstrom employees who made Austin's visit so memorable. Thanks for tuning in to episode 32. We hope you enjoy it! Did you know that YOU can be on The Nordy Pod? This show isn't just a one-way conversation. We want to hear about what Nordstrom looks like through your eyes. Share your Nordstrom experience, good or bad, by giving us a call and leaving a voicemail at: 206.594.0526, or send an email to nordypodcast@nordstrom.com to be a part of the conversation!

Released Wednesday, February 15, 2023 Season 3; Episode #029 Let's explore the island between Seattle and Bellevue, Washington in the fresh water Lake Washington, today on WeatherJazz®! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/andrebernier/support