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FEBRUARY 12, 2025
VOL. 106, NO. 7
Construction of final segment of QueenAnne Seattle WaterfrontMagnolia projectnews begins
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By Spencer Pauley The Center Square
The final segment of Seattle's waterfront revitalization has started construction six years after the Alaskan Way Viaduct was demolished in early 2019. The Bell Street Improvements project broke ground on Tuesday. The project will improve connections from the Belltown neighborhood to the waterfront in the 1st Avenue – Elliott Avenue segment. More specifically, the Bell Street Improvements project will construct a two-way protected lane, remove a travel lane, and widen sidewalks in order to calm the flow of traffic along Bell Street. “The new and improved pedestrian and bicycle connections between Belltown and the waterfront are crucial to increasing foot-traffic, providing benefits for community members and local businesses, and creating safer routes for cyclists traveling throughout downtown,” Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell said in a statement on Tuesday. “We are one step closer to realizing our vision of our waterfront and a stronger downtown.” This project totals $5.2 million, or less than 1% of the total $806 million funded for the Waterfront Park project, which is funded through a combination of public and private investments, with the city contributing $320 million.
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A portion of funding for the waterfront revitalization comes from property owners within the Waterfront Lid boundary area. The property owners’ portion of the funds are based on the “special benefit” they receive from those improvements.
The tax is an annual assessment payment based on a $1,000 assessment paid over 20 years at a 3.8% interest rate. According to the Waterfront Seattle website, the total payment from 2022 through 2041 would be approximately $1,586 based on a $1,000
assessment for a property owner within the district. The Bell Street Improvements project construction is expected to be completed in early summer. The total Waterfront Seattle Revitalization project was originally projected to finish in late
2023. However, that was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a lack of concrete delivery availability between December 2021 and April 2022 as a result of a concrete strike in King County, according to Waterfront Seattle.
New EO to streamline inquests into law enforcement-involved deaths in county By Spencer Pauley The Center Square
King County Executive Dow Constantine has issued an executive order to revise the process for judicial inquiries into law enforcement-involved deaths. The executive order was announced on Wednesday and goes into effect immediately. It shortens the judicial inquiry process
to be completed within 12 months of a person’s death by focusing on the core investigative function. According to Constantine’s office, the previous process saw judicial inquiries – also known as inquests – occur years after a deadly use-of-force incident occurred. Prior to Constantine’s order, once an inquest jury completed, there was no further review of a case.
In response, the new executive order establishes a “Deadly Incident Review and Recommendation Panel,” which will review outcomes of inquest proceedings and law enforcement practices in order to develop recommendations for policy makers. Constantine said members of the all-volunteer panel will include experts in law enforcement, mental health, civil rights law, and
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judicial practice, as well as a person whose family member died during an altercation with law enforcement or corrections. Another key change involves revising the inquest process to now include an inquest administrator, inquest program attorneys, witnesses and a jury. Counsel from the parties involved in a deadly useof-force incident will have the opportunity to present
their view on the matter to the inquest attorneys but will not be direct participants in the inquest itself. “This streamlined inquest process will deliver objectivity, while easing the emotional toll on all involved, and will allow more effective review of officer training and useof-force policies to help jurisdictions improve procedures and minimize the chance of deadly encounters involving law enforcement,” Constantine said in a statement. The updated inquest process will be followed up with reviews of four cases: the death of Shaun Fuhr, which occurred on April 29, 2020; the death of River Hudson, which
occurred on May 6, 2020; the death of Denis Rodriguez Martinez, which occurred on Feb. 7, 2019; and the death of Ryan Smith, which occurred on May 8, 2019. Constantine began drafting the new executive order to update the county's inquest process after a Washington Supreme Court ruling in 2021 changed the focus of inquests in a way that has resulted in what Constantine’s office describes as “unnecessarily contentious and drawn out.” The Deadly Incident Review and Recommendation Panel is expected to convene for the first time later this spring once a nomination process is completed.