This morning the Seattle City Council’s communications team announced that they have launched a new blog, “a resource for community members and journalists. The blog is maintained by the Seattle City Council Communications Team, with the aim of delivering high-quality, accurate information about Council issues in accessible ways. It features top analysis by Council staff, news and updates from City Hall, press releases from Councilmembers, videos from Councilmembers and much more.”
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Signing off
For once, I won’t be wordy and nerdy. I have three last thoughts to share. 1. Thank you for reading my words. That is the most valuable gift you can give to any writer. 2. Please support local journalism, especially local journalism reporting on local government. It’s our government, and if we want to hold it accountable to us then we need to know what it is (and isn’t) doing. Good, professional reporting costs money to produce, and we need to be prepared to pay for it. 3. You can disagree with someone and still be respectful. Civil servants and …
Continue readingWednesday news roundup
A little bit of everything this morning in the news.
Continue readingLocal reporters and editors request City Auditor to investigate city officials’ use of private email accounts
Today, several local reporters and editors, including myself, sent a joint letter to the City Auditor requesting an investigation into city officials’ practices of using private email accounts and other private electronic media to conduct city business. Below is the letter we sent, along with the attachments demonstrating the extent of the issue. The City Auditor reports to the City Council, an arrangement that usually is well-suited to the Council’s oversight responsibilities over the executive branch. In this case, however, the issue implicates several (if not all) City Council members and their staff, as well as the Mayor’s office. Since …
Continue readingHappy first anniversary, SCC Insight
A year ago today I launched Seattle City Council Insight. What a crazy ride it’s been.
Continue readingWhat you should be reading
Welcome to all the new readers! Yesterday was a crazy day here at SCC Insight, but I’m thrilled and humbled by all the new attention and for all the words of support. I am also humbled to be in the company of a number of very talented writers and journalists who also cover Seattle city government, who have been doing this for years (unlike me, the newcomer) and have developed keen insight and intuition for the topic. I thought it might be helpful to share with you a list of my colleagues so you can follow their writing as well as mine. I …
Continue readingNotes from this afternoon’s Full Council meeting
(Updated 9/28 8:00pm. See below) Whew. Well that happened.
Continue readingNews roundup: TV news, MHA, and secure scheduling
It’s been a very quiet week for news reporting on the City Council this week…
Continue readingCouncil doubles down on local broadcast news resolution
Through the time I’ve been writing about the City Council, I’ve developed enormous respect for our nine City Council members. They are, by all measures, dedicated public servants who work long hours and are sincerely trying to do the right thing for Seattle and its citizens. They wrestle with difficult, often seemingly intractable, problems to try to find compassionate solutions that help people. Like the rest of us, they have flaws, they make mistakes, they’re not perfect — and while we should hold them to a high standard, that standard shouldn’t be perfection. But today I lost some of my …
Continue readingThis week: long-term planning
Several long-term planning efforts get airtime this week in Council Chamber.
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