Fmr City Council Pres | CivicTide Founder | City Builder
Seattle, WA
Joined November 2021
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Lots of honks from commuters this morning for Judge @odonnell4judge for Supreme Court!
Sara E Nelson retweeted
Council discussed proposed budget amendments all week and our brief covers some of the ones that caught our attention.
The Chair's proposed Balancing Package drops Nov. 3rd. And now we wait.
civictide.org/b/2026-w44-one…
Thanks to CM Rivera and co-sponsors Kettle and @CMrobSaka for the amendment to restore the proposed $7 million cut to SFD overtime.
There are millions of dollars of budget adds on the table but this one’s a no-brainer given low @IAFF27 Fire Fighter staffing levels.
Seattle City Councilmember Maritza Rivera is proposing to restore $7 million in annual overtime funding for the Seattle Fire Department (SFD) that Mayor Katie Wilson cut from her proposed 2027-28 budget.
mynorthwest.com/mynorthwest-…
Sara E Nelson retweeted
In our Opinion, a homelessness plan without treatment is just a fresh coat of paint on Housing First.
A “by-name list” is a delivery mechanism, but what matters about the Mayor’s new strategy is the substance.
civictide.org/b/2026-w44-why…
Sara E Nelson retweeted
October Forecast: Do we have more money than projected or not?
That's the question and our brief on the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council's Oct. 16 forecast has the answer.
civictide.org/b/2026-w43-oct…
I’ll always be grateful for @TRSkerritt’s support and guidance during the establishment of the Seattle Film Commission, even attending a press conference the day of the vote.
That’s just one example of how deep his championing of the local film community went.
Sending heartfelt condolences to his family and loved ones.
Rest in peace, Tom.
#seattlefilm
Tom Skerritt, the acclaimed character actor who starred in “Alien,” “Top Gun,” “Contact” and more, died Wednesday at his home in Seattle. He was 93. seattletimes.com/entertainme…
Sara E Nelson retweeted
The Mayor's floating a bill to delegate authority to the HR Director to implement an early retirement program with no Council input or review.
It was discussed in the first session of Council Issue ID, when Central Staff sleuths out what the numbers in the Mayor’s proposed budget really mean – drawdowns from special-use funds, impacts on reserves, cuts to Council’s prior commitments, etc.
We’ve published three Issue ID briefs so far and we’ll take on last Friday’s October forecast from the Office of Economic & Revenue Forecasts next.
civictide.org/b/2026-w42-bud…
Sara E Nelson retweeted
Full house celebrating CivicTide's launch last week!
Follow for more photos: instagram.com/civictideseatt…
Sara E Nelson retweeted
In our Opinion, the major gap in Seattle's homelessness response is lack of addiction treatment -- because the Mayor raided $2.1M Council restricted for recovery services & sober housing to spend on shelter expansion.
Read all about it:
civictide.org/b/2026-w41-bri…
Treatment disappears in the shell game of the Mayor's proposed budget for homelessness.
In our brief on the Mayor's proposed homelessness budget, we identify some discrepancies in the numbers and raise some policy issues of our own, clearly marked.
civictide.org/b/2026-w40-may…
Sara E Nelson retweeted
Didn't catch the Budget meetings last week? We've got you covered.
Our Public Safety Brief gives you the facts driving the AYFKM response to the Mayor’s cuts to SPD, SFD, & CARE and their long-term impact on Seattle's emergency response system.
civictide.org/b/2026-w40-may…
The damage has been done. It's going to take a lot more than not raising taxes to stop the bleed revealed in @downtownseattle's report.
Positive reinforcement for not raising taxes is understandable, but for reasons explained in Opinion, it's a pretty low bar.
Indeed, the devastating numbers in @downtownseattle's report quantify the damage already done and reinforce our case.
civictide.org/b/2026-w39-the…
This news came the day after HSD presented their budget to Council — zero funding for the treatment services we got into the budget last year.
Thanks to @KCProsecutor for filing those cases and to CM Rivera for calling HSD to task for this major gap in our homelessness response.
Between January and July of this year, Belltown produced more felony drug dealing cases than any other neighborhood in a new King County report. king5.com/article/news/crime…
Sara E Nelson retweeted
Positive reinforcement for not raising taxes is understandable, but for reasons explained in Opinion, it's a pretty low bar.
Indeed, the devastating numbers in @downtownseattle's report quantify the damage already done and reinforce our case.
civictide.org/b/2026-w39-the…
Report: Downtown Seattle lost 13,000 jobs in a year, while Bellevue’s tech hub boomed geekwire.com/2026/report-dow…
Sara E Nelson retweeted
Seattle lost 18,605 jobs in 2025, or 3% of its total, with much of the loss concentrated in the tech sector, according to a Downtown Seattle Association report. seattletimes.com/business/ec…
A quick teaser to CivicTide's take on the Mayor's proposed budget.
Why not follow the page while you're at it?
Here's our big-picture take on the Mayor's proposed budget, human written and published last week.
Source documents are linked and you can access all budget documents as they're released in one place from our homepage -- how handy!
Regarding public safety: although the proposed budget doesn't make a net reduction to SPD, we're concerned about cuts to recruitment positions and this month's indefinite freeze on hiring bonuses, both of which undermine Seattle's competitiveness in the goal of adequately staffing patrol. And the $7M cut to SFD's overtime can only increase 911 response times, given such low fire fighter staffing levels. Bleak.
As for No New Taxes, we have thoughts -- check out the Opinion column.
civictide.org/b/2026-w39-may…
Check out CivicTide's great coverage last week and please FOLLOW our page! Next up: Budget.
CivicTide backs outcomes‑based governance on issues that impact daily lives: public safety, homelessness, housing, addiction, fiscal decisions, etc.
This is about putting out dumpster fires and mobilizing support for Councilmembers taking hard votes.
On that note, the Mayor released her proposed budget last Tuesday. Now it’s before City Council where debate is heating up and amendments & decisions will come soon.
And CivicTide is already part of the conversation:
KOMO and KUOW included CivicTide in their breaking coverage of the Mayor’s budget rollout, KIRO NewsRadio got into the politics, GeekWire covered how our platform works, and Axios reported on the results we aim to achieve.
Now comes the fun part: putting CivicTide to work.
See what we’re tracking: CivicTide.org
KOMO: shorturl.at/HEo5r
KUOW: shorturl.at/UDYa4
KIRO NewsRadio: shorturl.at/bXdcc
Geekwire: shorturl.at/OGogN
Axios: shorturl.at/jdmkj
