(story updated below) On August 27th, with the City Council in recess, Mayor Durkan quietly returned unsigned the Council’s ordinance restricting SPD’s use of so-called “less lethal weapons,” allowing it to pass into law unchallenged at least for the moment. But she did take the opportunity to attach a scathing letter detailing a litany of complaints about the legislation, calling it “of doubtful legality,” and claiming that the Council knows that “significant parts of the bill will never go into effect” because of its flaws.
Continue readingCategory: mayor
Durkan quietly returns two bills to Council unsigned
Last Friday, Mayor Durkan quietly returned two bills to the City Council unsigned – neither approving nor vetoing them – allowing them to officially become law without her action.
Continue readingCouncil passes new independent Office of Economic and Revenue Forecasts out of committee
Yesterday afternoon the City Council voted to pass out of committee an ordinance creating a new Office of Economic and Revenue Forecasts and a Forecast Committee to oversee it — an ordinance that likely violates the City Charter.
Continue readingGonzalez scolds Durkan over public records requests, but needs to get her own house in order (UPDATED)
For the past several days there have been ongoing revelations regarding mishandling of public records in the city’s executive branch, and particularly in the Mayor’s Office. In brief: for several months from late 2019 through mid-summer 2020, text messages from the city-issued phones of Mayor Durkan, SFD Chief Scoggins, and SPD Chief Best were not archived, and the problem wasn’t discovered until last summer. Once it was discovered and efforts to retrieve the lost texts failed, the Mayor’s Office tried to recreate them by contacting the people that the Mayor had texted. The Mayor’s Office then — allegedly at the …
Continue readingDurkan won’t run for re-relection
In an email to her supporters, Mayor Jenny Durkan announced this morning that she will not run for re-election in 2021.
Continue readingMayor Durkan decides on repairing West Seattle Bridge instead of immediate replacement
This morning Mayor Durkan announced that the city will move forward with repairing the cracked main span of the West Seattle Bridge, with the expectation that it will reopen by mid-2022, restore the bridge to its original expected lifetime, and push out building a replacement for up to 40 years. However, she also said that SDOT will start studying an eventual replacement strategy now, and it will approach Sound Transit about jointly building a third span to West Seattle that could incorporate light rail, bicycles and pedestrians.
Continue readingState Supreme Court tosses recall petition against Mayor
After hearing the case on an expedited schedule, this afternoon in a brief two-page order the Washington State Supreme Court unanimously rejected as “factually and legally insufficient” a recall petition filed against Mayor Durkan and certified by a lower court.
Continue readingCatching up on the recall petitions
Two recall petitions — for Mayor Durkan and Council member Sawant — are moving through the court systems. Let’s check in.
Continue readingCouncil overrides Mayor’s 2020 budget veto
Earlier this evening, the City Council voted 7-2 to override Mayor Durkan’s veto of its “rebalanced” 2020 budget.
Continue readingState Supreme Court will hear appeal of Durkan recall petition certification, quickly
The past week has been a crazy whirlwind in legal filings as Mayor Durkan appeals to the state Supreme Court a lower court’s certification of the recall petition against her.
Continue reading