Hi g h H oliday S ervices Sep 22 - Oct 2
NO TICKETS OR MEMBERSHIP REQUIRED
ChabadQueenAnne.com
FESTIVE DINNER • ROSH HASHANAH - YOM KIPPUR SERVICES • SHOFAR IN THE PARK • YIZKOR • CHILDREN'S PROGRAM • BREAK FAST
Sep 23-24 5:00 PM Kerry Park
Serving Queen Anne & Magnolia Since 1919 www.QueenAnneNews.com
SEPTEMBER 10, 2025
VOL. 106, NO. 37
Mercer Street Wasn’t Hard Enough Already
Waymo’s driverless cars set to test in Seattle, where patience goes to die
Staff Report
S
eattle commuters may soon find themselves sharing the road—and eventually their rides—with cars that don’t have anyone in the driver’s seat. Waymo, the autonomous vehicle company owned by Alphabet (Google’s parent company), has announced plans to expand its driverless taxi service to the Seattle metropolitan area. The company already operates in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin, where customers can hail rides through the Waymo One app. Seattle, with its steep hills, wet weather, and famously passive-aggressive merges, will be one of the next testing grounds. WHAT IS WAYMO? Waymo began as Google’s self-driving car project in 2009 before becoming its own company under Alphabet. Its fleet of modified electric Jaguar SUVs look ordinary— until you notice the spinning sensor tower on top, like a futuristic disco ball. Each ve-
hicle is packed with cameras, radar, and LIDAR sensors that build a 360-degree view of the world. Trips are requested through a mobile app, just like Uber or Lyft. The difference: no driver asking if you’ve “heard of crypto” or turning up their side hustle playlist. Just you, your destination, and a car silently calculating everything around it. WHY SEATTLE? Seattle is a tough city for drivers—and that’s exactly why Waymo wants to be here. Rain, fog, sharp hills, narrow streets, and bridges that seem to open whenever you’re late provide a gauntlet of challenges. If the cars can master Capitol Hill’s festival traffic, Ballard’s four-way stops, and Mercer Street during rush hour, Waymo will have bragging rights no software demo could buy. WHEN WILL SERVICE BEGIN? Testing is expected to begin in 2025. The first cars will still have human “safety drivers” behind the wheel. Once regulators are satisfied and Waymo feels confident in
Seattle’s conditions, the service will shift to fully driverless rides. In other cities, the move from testing to public availability has taken anywhere from a few months to over a year. Translation: don’t delete your bus pass or Uber app just yet.
“Apparently, robots prefer density over detours” WHERE WILL IT OPERATE FIRST? Waymo’s early coverage zones will likely include Downtown Seattle, Capitol Hill, The CID, and the University District. Bellevue and Kirkland are also part of the rollout. Neighborhoods like Magnolia, Queen Anne, and West Seattle may have to wait until later phases. Apparently, robots prefer density over detours.
WAYMO, 3
New Audit Finds Potential Fraud, Payments to Unapproved Subcontractors, Other Issues with some DCHS contracts
By Daniel DeMay King County
A
report released Tuesday by the King County Auditor’s Office found instances of potential fraud by contractors and payments to unapproved entities in some Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) contracts, known as community grants. The audit looked at contract management across four locally funded youth programs – Family Intervention and Restorative Services, Liberation and Healing from Systemic Racism, Restorative Community Pathways, and Stopping the School-to-Prison Pipeline – during a period of dramatic expansion of grant-funded programs from DCHS; grant funding in 2019-2020 was $22
million and in 2023-2024 had grown to more than $1.5 billion. With that significant growth in grant funding, DCHS was working to promote equity in contracting, reducing barriers for organizations that had limited government experience. But in so doing, the department exposed itself to greater financial risk. DCHS fell short on internal oversight, resulting in improper payments, including potential fraud, across multiple programs and contracts, auditors found. “The Department of Community and Human Services took on a lot of risk with public money without putting in a safety net,” said King County Auditor Kymber Waltmunson. “By implementing our
recommendations – some as simple as providing anti-fraud training and creating contract monitoring checklists for staff to follow, DCHS will be better able to embed the county’s value of responsible financial stewardship into its culture. Doing so will help ensure that DCHS funds are used to provide the county’s most vulnerable residents with the quality services they deserve.” Auditors noted that DCHS has taken positive first steps to begin strengthening its oversight of community grants by creating a contract monitoring workgroup last year and adding three new positions to its compliance team this year. The audit also found: • DCHS manages high-risk grants. In 2024, DCHS rated 48% PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE of the 359 grant rePAID cipients it reviewed SEATTLE, WA PERMIT 1271 as high risk. DCHS assigns higher risk to entities that lack experience being funded or
monitored by federal, state, or local agencies as well as those with fewer financial staff. • Auditors found potential fraud in which, for example, grantees likely altered documents to support expenses submitted for reimbursement. • Auditors found payments made to unapproved entities and for expenses tied to cash withdrawals and other questionable support. DCHS lacks written policies and procedures and offers limited training on invoice review, reducing consistency and accountability. • DCHS’s compliance team did not do in-depth reviews of grantees’ financial management as often as department policy required, delaying corrective action. • Cause: DCHS’s compliance
team had several vacancies between 2022 and 2024 and faced difficulty hiring and retaining staff. • Action by department: DCHS allocated three new positions to its compliance team in 2025 and provided training on a revised Contract Compliance Monitoring Policy to all divisions in June and July 2025. • DCHS has not clearly communicated financial management requirements to grant recipients. In addition, grantees rarely sign up for free financial consulting, limiting the ability of the Best Starts for Kids capacity-building program to reduce financial risk to DCHS. • Action by department: DCHS is developing an orientation for grantees and plans to launch it in the fall of 2025. The audit made several recommendations, including: • DCHS should strengthen financial management safeguards. • DCHS should work with Public Health – Seattle & King County to identify efficiencies in the financial
DSHS, 4