State of the City Address
Mayor Greg Nickels
March 7, 2007

Good afternoon.

Ladies and Gentleman, Members of the City Council, Rotarians, honored guests, friends and neighbors, it is my great honor today to report that the state of Seattle is strong and growing stronger.

Seattle is a young city. It has been 155 years since a small band of settlers from the East landed on the shores of Elliott Bay to start a new life. They possessed two things of tremendous value: a sense of what was possible and a determination to achieve it. Fortunately for them, a remarkable man -- Chief Seattle -- happened to be in West Seattle at the time of their landing.

Through the years the City named to honor that man, Seattle, has overcome enormous challenges and enjoyed great success. When fire leveled the city in 1889, we did not abandon our home on Puget Sound; we rebuilt it, stronger than ever. When we created our water, power and parks systems in the early 1900s, we didn't think in years, we thought in centuries. When we invited the world to Seattle for the 1962 World's Fair, we didn't focus on the past, we celebrated the future. What other City would dare to build a space ship on a stick as its enduring icon?

We have prospered because, through booms and busts, the people of Seattle have had an unshakable belief in their power to create a better future for themselves and their children. That is the Spirit of Chief Seattle: a sense of the possible and a determination to achieve it. As I travel across this city, it is clear that Seattle's Spirit is as strong as ever.

Global Climate Disruption

As strong as Seattle is today, there is a threat that not only clouds the future of this city, but the future of the entire planet -- global warming pollution from the burning of fossil fuels.

We know our climate is changing. We can see it in the declining snow pack and retreating glaciers right here in the Pacific Northwest. For us, the threat is clear. A warming planet means less snowfall in our mountains. And we need snowfall to provide clean pure water to drink, to power our homes and businesses, to fill the streams and rivers for salmon and to nourish our forests.

Here in Seattle, we have pledged to do something about this threat. On February 16, 2005 the day the Kyoto Protocol became law in 141 other countries -- but not the United States -- I pledged that Seattle would meet the greenhouse gas reduction goals of the Protocol. Knowing if we had pursued this goal alone -- to reduce emissions by 680,000 tons by 2012 -- it would have been a purely symbolic gesture, I challenged mayors across the country to sign the U.S. Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement and join Seattle in taking action. But today, I'm proud to report that 418 mayors from across this nation have signed the agreement and stand with us.

Together, we represent all 50 states and nearly 61 million Americans. That is larger in population than Italy, and about the size of the United Kingdom and France. Thanks to a vision of what was possible and a determination to achieve it, a symbolic act has become an engine for real change. I want to thank everyone who has supported this important effort. That is the Seattle Spirit.

Already, a climate of change is taking place in our city.

Through Bridging the Gap and Transit Now, we will make it easier to get around the city by bike, on foot and in transit. We have earned a reputation as America's Green Building Capitol. This summer we will launch a public education campaign to show people how to reduce their global warming pollution at home, at work and on the road. Together we are making a difference for the future of our planet.

But this is just a small start. To truly turn the tides on climate change, we will need to commit to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions even more -- 80 percent by 2050.

Some might say it's impossible. But in Seattle, we see the possibilities and are determined to achieve them.

This is a pivotal moment for mankind. Today, for the first time in human history, more than half of the world's population lives in cities. As engines of the world's economy cities are responsible for two-thirds of the greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

Some might look at that and conclude that cities are the problem. I look at it and conclude that cities are the solution. And so in Seattle we say to the country and the world, as President Kennedy did 41 years ago: Ask not what the climate will do for you, but what together we can do to protect the climate.

By all accounts, the Puget Sound Region is going to continue to grow. An estimated 1.6 million more people will call this area home by 2040. If we take the steps now to shape this growth, our urban centers will be enriched with a diversity of new jobs, opportunities and people. But if we rely on the status quo, the tide of growth can destroy the very spirit that makes our area such a great place to live.

The choice before us today is simple: do we grow smart and address the problems we face, or do we grow worse and resign ourselves to a more troublesome and warmer future?

It is incumbent on us, today, to choose the right path and build a great city.

To do that, we need to change the way we think about the challenges confronting our community -- we need to have a vision of what is possible and a determination to achieve it. In the age of global warming, the choices we make on a wide range of issues, from education and housing to public safety and transportation, don't just affect the quality of life in our city; they affect the future of life on our planet. How we build our cities may well determine the fate of our planet.

Education

Growing smart means being smart.

Let's start with the public schools that are charged with educating our children.

Today, too many parents in Seattle face a difficult choice: stay in the city and put their faith in a school system that fails to inspire confidence, or move to the suburbs and trade the promise of a better education for a longer commute.

Every year in Seattle, the Seattle public schools shrink by another 600 students -- parents choosing to send their children to other school districts or private schools. That's the equivalent of a large elementary school each year. That must stop. Instead of losing children to suburban schools we should be attracting families with children back into the city.

Public education is the foundation of a great city -- and the future of our city is at stake. Our schools have reached a state of disarray that goes beyond finances -- it has become a crisis of confidence.

What we need most right now is a vision for how to create the best education system in the country. With a majority of the seats on the school board up for election this fall we have a chance to set a new course.

Today, we have a powerful tool to help improve the education and lives of thousands of children in Seattle: the $117 million Family and Education levy approved by Seattle voters two years ago.

This levy sets a new direction for how the city will invest in the success of all our children. For the first time, we are closely tracking the results of programs aimed to prepare children for kindergarten, to close the achievement gap and to increase the graduation rates from our high schools.

Almost all of the levy programs met or exceeded the goals we set for them in the first year. It is something to be proud of, but it also means that our expectations are far too low -- for ourselves and our children. That must change.

The vision is clear: we live in the most educated city in the country; we should have the best public school system in the country. Our students are up to the challenge. We must give them the tools they need to succeed in school and in life.

We begin with setting higher expectations for ourselves and then demand the Governor and Legislature increase funding. Today Washington State is 42 nd in the nation per pupil in funding our public schools behind Nebraska and just ahead of Alabama; we should be in the top ten by 2010.

Housing

Growing smart means decent and affordable housing.

People should be able to afford decent housing near where they work and not be forced to commute to outlying counties.

In Seattle, people used to have a split personality when it came to growth. We hated sprawl and despised density. Today, I'm proud to say that we have changed our thinking about using density as a tool to create a vibrant, compelling and more affordable city.

Across this city, we see new homes and new investments sprouting up in our urban neighborhoods. Ballard, Northgate, Southeast Seattle, and the Center City neighborhoods are creating the kind of mixed-use neighborhoods that will absorb growth that might otherwise have sprawled into distant suburbs.

Urban growth has a direct benefit to our environment. A single 200-unit residential tower is the equivalent of 45 acres of a typical suburban development. The average person living in a city produces one-third less carbon dioxide (the pollution that causes climate change) than someone who lives in the suburbs.

We've taken steps to encourage more housing, especially in our Center City. Today, more than 2,000 units are under construction, an estimated 20,000 more homes will be built in or near downtown over the next 20 years.

The multi-family tax credit has created 800 affordable homes in the city. We are using the city's housing levy not only to help the very poor, but to create home-owning opportunities for teachers and others who work in our city.

Even eliminating minimum parking requirements in our Neighborhood Business Districts can help keep homes more affordable, letting the market determine if the $25,000 cost of a stall is necessary. Fewer parking spaces mean more living spaces.

The vision is clear: if you work in Seattle, you should be able to afford to live in Seattle. We have the determination to get there.

We are also determined to help our most vulnerable citizens by ending homelessness in our region. Seattle has joined with King County and non-profit groups to give people the support they need to break the cycle that put them on the streets and find stable, permanent housing. It is called Housing First.

Between 500 and 700 chronically homeless people live on our streets today. These are the toughest people to reach, often suffering from mental illness, drug or alcohol addiction, or both.

On too many days, these folks end up in the hospital emergency room, or the sobering center, or the jail -- cycling through an expensive system without ever getting the real help they need.

Housing First will provide these people with a safe, secure place to live with the health and treatment services they need to start getting better.

It is not only more humane, it is more effective.

I had a chance just before Christmas to visit Judith and Sunshine, two residents at Plymouth on Stewart in downtown Seattle. Plymouth on Stewart is using the Housing First approach to help 20 people who were chronically homeless. Judith and Sunshine have had their lives reconnected to their family and community. Later this year, they will celebrate their first full year in a real home. Today for the first time in many years Judith and Sunshine can see a better future.

We applaud their determination.

Public Safety

Growing smart requires feeling safe.

Keeping the public safe is a challenge facing many cities. If people don't feel safe in their homes or on the streets, they will move to where they do.

We are fortunate to live in one of the safest big cities in America. Last year, crime in Seattle fell 8.2 percent. Crime is the lowest per capita since 1972. I'd like to thank the men and women of the Seattle Police Department for their dedication and service. We rely on them every day to keep Seattle safe and they do a tremendous job.

As the city grows into this new century, so must our police department.

A few months ago, I challenged Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske to work with me to develop a plan that will build on our successes and make our neighborhoods even safer in the years ahead.

We call the strategy Neighborhood Policing, and it represents the most significant improvement in police services in more than 30 years.

The goal is simple: make policing stronger, faster and smarter in every neighborhood in the city. How do we do that? By adding more patrol officers, changing the way we deploy our current force, and focusing more resources on crime prevention.

What will this mean in your neighborhood? We will improve response times in emergencies and increase the number of officers on your streets. And those officers will be able to focus more time and energy on tackling persistent problems specific to where you live. And there will be officers free to respond should a city-wide or regional emergency occur.

To achieve our goal, it will require adding 154 new patrol officers by 2012 -- a 25 percent increase in patrol staff. We have made a tremendous start on that effort. In recent years, we already have added 49 of those new patrol officers. Starting next year, we will add an average of 21 officers a year until we reach our goal of stronger, faster and smarter neighborhood safety.

But simply adding more officers is not enough. We have to make better use of those we already have on the force. The plan calls on changing the way we deploy our current force, so that we have more officers on duty during the busiest times, namely late morning and on Friday and Saturday nights.

We do a good job today of responding to emergencies. But during the busiest times of the week, that can be challenging. The goal of neighborhood policing will be to respond to emergency 911 calls within an average of seven minutes 24 hours a day, seven days a week in every neighborhood.

These changes will make policing smarter. Neighborhood policing will free up more time for officers to work on persistent problems that can affect quality of life in a neighborhood.

For example, in the University District, that means more foot and bike patrols around businesses. On Capitol Hill, it means more opportunity to patrol parks for drug dealers. In South Park and Georgetown, it means more time to stop property crimes. And in Rainier Beach, it provides more officers to focus on safety in and around schools.

Together, these changes will make our city even safer. I'd like to thank the police chief and his staff for their hard work on developing Neighborhood Policing. I look forward to working with the City Council to get these new officers funded, hired, trained and on the streets.

This month also marks the one-year anniversary of the Capitol Hill massacre. I will never forget how I felt that morning standing outside the home where six young people had lost their lives in a senseless act of gun violence. It is inconceivable to me why we as a society continue to allow criminals and people with evil intentions access to such deadly firepower.

We must do more to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and out of reach of children. I have called on Olympia to take three common-sense steps to reduce the toll these weapons take on our communities.

First, join the 18 other states that have closed the gun show loophole, which allows convicted felons to purchase weapons without a background check.

Second, join the eight other states that have banned military-style assault weapons. Congress allowed this Brady bill provision to expire. It is time we again stopped allowing this kind of firepower on our streets.

Third, require safe gun storage and trigger locks. This will help prevent theft of weapons and protect children and others from accidental shootings. And it will reduce the number of homicides and suicides.

We will never be able to say for sure whether any of these common-sense steps could have prevented a particular incident. But public health experts tell us that if we reduce the amount of illegal weapons on our streets, it will save lives.

We will not waiver in our determination to keep our city safe.

Conclusion

Our city is young. But our city is strong. We do not have to reach back far in history to find the bedrock of our community. It is that foundation we will use as we build a better city for tomorrow.

The views from the shores of Elliott Bay can be as inspiring as they were 155 years ago. So can the Seattle Spirit.

If we make the right choices today and confront the challenges before us -- in education, housing and public safety -- we can clear away the fog that shrouds our future. We will show the world how one great city can make a difference in the battle to protect our climate for our children and their children.

We see what is possible. And we have the determination to achieve it.

Thank you and God bless our home, Seattle.