Everett Council of Neighborhoods

Council of Neighborhoods Meeting Minutes July 27, 2015 Meeting was called to order at 4pm. Agenda and minutes of the previous meeting were approved. Attendance: Nikki Oku, Roger Hoot, Kari Griffith, Steve Bugge, Tom Norcott, Colleen Kain, GeorgaDee MacLeod, Shelley Weyer, Arthur Olson, Jim Prissel, Andrea Tucker, Victor Harris, Laurel Hasley, Jo Brodersen, Dennis Dudder, George Lockeman, Vanessa Randall, Teresa Schultz Staff: Wendy McClure, Deborah Wright, Alexa Ramos Citizen Comments: None Mayor Stephanson: Mayor shared updates on actions with the legislature – a transportation package was approved at $670 million. Projects include peak hour lanes between Everett and Marysville, hard running shoulder both directions AM south and PM north. A freight mobility project 41st to Rucker to waterfront and a new half intersection at Hardeson at Boeing plant were also approved. Several other projects around the county will help Everett workers who live out of town. Everett has joined Tacoma and Seattle on a water conservation advisory - our source lakes are down, we are asking customers to take some water efficiency steps, wait for full load of clothes or dishes, etc. More tips are available on the city website. Free water conservation shower heads are available. Watching rainfall and usage very closely. Approval of $54 million for WSU building at Tower and Broadway, and a sign is up for public notice. Plans call for a 4 story 90,000 sq. ft. building. About 193 parking spaces in a parking lot are to be built in what is now a mobile home park. Residents are being given a year’s advance notice to move. WSU intends to offer several new programs including engineering, pre-med , Sustainable food systems, WSU medical school. The Broadway bridge project is on track, a little ahead of schedule. Detours seem to work pretty well. NNO will have firefighters and police out that night, trying to meet with folks as many stops as possible. Mayor will also circulate around to as many sites as he can. Cultural Arts latest is “Word on the Street” which starts Aug 4th. Street Tunes starts Aug 5th. Mayor’s house is for sale, but he not moving away. The house is too big, he is ready to sell it, possibly will move downtown to apartments. George asked about parking problems for the Presbyterian Church on Rockefeller. He sees the need to pump more money into transit, to make it more convenient. He sees the need to improve service to make it more realistic to do business downtown with 20 minute waits. Mayor responded that on Sundays, there is reduced ridership and therefore reduced service. Mayor described proposed carbon tax, but governor was able to put a billion$ into multi- modal funding. Legislation was written to put funding into highways, not transit or safe route to school. Everett is planning to buy more buses soon but starting to restore some service as well.