Category: public safety

Responding to the Ghost Ship warehouse fire puts the city in a bind

On By In letters, public safety

Two months ago, a warehouse in Oakland known as the “Ghost Ship” caught fire and burned, killing 36 people. It was being used as a live-and-work facility for people in the Bay Area arts community, and there were numerous building code violations in the building, on top of illegal occupancy, that contributed to the tragedy. Could an incident like the Ghost Ship fire happen in Seattle? Easy question: it absolutely could. The hard question, however, is what the city should do about it. And that was the subject of a two-part discussion in the Council’s Civil Rights, Utilities, Economic Development …

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Seattle’s Winter Weather Preparedness, and What You Should Do

On By In council briefing, public safety, transportation, utilities

It’s looking increasingly like Seattle will greet the new year with a major cold snap, with highs around freezing and dropping to the low 20’s overnight. But the long-term outlook suggests we might see more of the same before spring arrives. Before the Council began its holiday recess, it received a briefing from several city departments on their preparations for winter weather as well as the outreach and messages to the city’s residents. At the end of this post is a list of the best ways to get information and report problems during a severe weather event, as well as information …

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Notes from this morning’s Council Briefing

On By In council briefing, homeless, housing, human services, labor, police, public safety

It was a very news-worthy council briefing: a preview of this afternoon’s debate and vote on the source-of-income discrimination ban, what’s up with secure scheduling legislation, lots of stuff in the GESCNA committee, an update on the homeless crisis response and a throw-down between Council members Juarez and O’Brien over the North Precinct police station.

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This week: I hope you caught up on your sleep this weekend

On By In committee, council briefing, election, environment, full council, human rights, labor, parks, police, public safety, tax, this week, utilities, zoning

For the past several weeks the Monday afternoon Full Council meetings have been pretty tame affairs, with not a lot of legislation of substance up for approval. That streak ends tomorrow.  Oh, and the committee meetings this week are equally full of important legislation and presentations.

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