The criminal division of the Seattle City Attorney’s Office has published its first quarterly report on the activities in the first three months of 2022. It contains an unprecedented amount of detail, in charts and graphs, on the case referrals from SPD and the ones that were declined, further broken …
Continue readingSeattle office space demand for April 2022
VTS has posted its monthly update on office space demand for April. Nationwide, demand for office space was relatively unchanged. Here it rebounded somewhat after a substantial drop in March, though it still remains at 58% of 2018 levels. According to VTS, the April upswing in Seattle was “driven in …
Continue readingAll the candidates on the August primary ballot in King County
King County Elections has posted a list of all of the candidates and ballot measures who have filed for the August primary election. They have also provided some filing statistics for last week, better known as “Filing Week.” And for the record, here is the list of all the candidates …
Continue readingNew proposed contract with SPD supervisors’ union
The City of Seattle has negotiated a new contract with SPMA, the union representing SPD lieutenants and captains (as opposed to SPOG, the union representing frontline officers and sergeants). Most of the changes relate to wages and benefits, not the issues that are sources of ongoing friction between SPOG and …
Continue readingSeattle water supply status
As of May 16, Seattle Public Utilities reports that things are in good shape for this summer: snowpack in the Cedar/Tolt watershed are well above normal for mid-May, and the city’s reservoirs are above the long-term average for this time of year. We can thank all that precipitation over the …
Continue readingAppeals court ruling on railroad tracks in the Burke-Gilman Trail “missing link”
This morning the state Court of Appeals ruled that the City of Seattle does not have the right to require the Ballard Terminal Railroad Company (BTRC) to relocate railroad tracks that cross where the city intends to build out the “missing link” of the Burke-Gilman Trail. The court ruled that …
Continue readingCrowd psychology, policing and interactional dynamics: analyzing the early stages of the 2020 protests in the city of Seattle
The Office of the Inspector General for Pubic Safety commissioned a study by two UK researchers on the “crowd psychology” aspects of the interactions between SPD officers and protesters in the summer of 2020. Their final report was published today. Their recommendations: The current study concludes that, while the SPD …
Continue readingCourt-appointed monitor’s comprehensive assessment of the Seattle Police Department
This afternoon Dr. Antonio Oftelie, the court-appointed police monitor, submitted his Comprehensive Assessment of the Seattle Police Department, as required under the 2012 Consent Decree. From the executive summary, here is the monitor’s summary assessment: In sum, based upon its reviews conducted over the course of 2021 and 2022 to …
Continue readingLeaked Seattle City Attorney’s Office memos to Human Rights Commission
As first reported by the South Seattle Emerald, last month the Seattle City Attorney’s Office sent a memo to the Seattle Human Rights Commission advising that it does not have legal standing or authority to petition the U.S. District Court to seek amicus curiae standing with regard to the 2012 …
Continue readingDemocracy Voucher Program 2021 Biennial Report
The Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, which administers the Democracy Voucher Program, has completed its 2021 Biennial Report on the program. Over the 2020-2021 period, the program spent a total of $5,347,010; $3,397,050 in program disbursements to campaigns, and $1,949,960 in administration costs. That’s a 36.4% overhead rate. Participation in …
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