🚈 New light rail station opening

Seattle Youth Ask To Be Consulted on Gun Violence Interventions

Following the shootings near Rainier Beach High School, at Bite of Seattle, and across Belltown this month, our city has been in the middle of intense public discourse about how to address gun violence and youth-focused interventions. Now, as city council negotiates on Mayor Wilson’s budget proposal, the volume is likely to get even louder. Part of this budget includes an expansion of youth-focused programming, which the Mayor says will tackle the root of gun violence. However, youth involved in violence reduction programs told CHUM News, “policymakers and officials rarely consult youth, and fail to meaningfully include young people in the creation and enactment of relevant programs.” [CHUM News]

• Mayor Wilson’s gun violence prevention plan: The plan has been nine months in the making and moves violence intervention work under the Community Assisted Response and Engagement (CARE) Department. It creates two new positions to oversee implementation: a Director and a Coordinator of Gun Violence Reduction. The City will also begin its first Violence Reduction Council (VRC), bringing together public health, social service agencies, and criminal legal system partners to review every homicide in order to identify systemic improvements. And it will invest more than $8 million in programs to prevent violence through support to young people and their families. [The Urbanist]
• Current youth engagement efforts are scant: The Mayor’s office has one existing program for soliciting youth input on gun violence. The Human Services Department operates a grant program, which includes youth input when determining grant approvals. But the young people in this role are all already involved in programs managed by the Human Services Department or the Department of Neighborhoods, which means many youth voices are left out. And the young people who spoke to CHUM say Mayor Wilson’s gun violence plan does not explicitly include new methods to consult youth. [CHUM News]
• Students want conflict management skills: Rilan Springer told CHUM, “There’s no education on conflict management. … We need to constantly be teaching children how to approach these problems because they’re dealing with bigger problems than I think most adults have seen before.” [CHUM News]

🚉 Pinehurst light rail station to open Sept. 30: The new station sits between Northgate and South Shoreline and will serve both the 1 and 2 Lines, with trains arriving every four to five minutes. The opening date aligns with the start of classes at the University of Washington and will feature station art from Seattle-based artist Romson Bustillo. The station was approved in 2016 as part of the ST3 ballot measure. [The Urbanist]

🏖️ Denny Blaine recognized as LGBTQ+ landmark: City council passed a formal resolution on Wednesday declaring the beach as “a site of historic and cultural importance to Seattle’s LGBTQ+ community” and “supporting efforts to preserve and interpret its cultural heritage.” The resolution comes three years after former Mayor Harrell exchanged texts with wealthy park neighbor Stuart Sloan, saying he shared “disgust” at nude beachgoers. [The Stranger]

🖊️ Voters of color, young voters more likely to have ballots challenged: Older and white voters have their signatures challenged less frequently than voters of color and younger voters, according to UW research. White voters have 1.5% of ballots scrutinized for discrepancies, compared to 1.9% for Black voters, 2% for Asian voters, and 2.2% for Hispanic voters. Challenges decrease with age, from 5.3% for voters 18 to 25, to 0.7% for those 66+. [Washington State Standard]