
For I Shall Not Pass This Way Again : Remembering Fitzgerald Beaver

The NW Facts Newspaper - www.NWFacts.com
When Diversity Matters Most. The Strength Lies In Differences, Not In Similarities
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The King County Library System (KCLS) has expanded its Study Zone program to help students and parents navigate remote learning environments during the pandemic. The free service is accessible online or by phone, and is open to students in grades K-12, and residents up to age 21 who are studying for their GED. Learn more about Study Zone Plus at kcls.org/studyzone. Residents may contact Ask KCLS or call 425.462.9600 or 800.462.9600 for assistance.
The expanded Study Zone Plus program allows students to practice their math and reading skills, exercise ESL/ELL conversation skills, study with peers in a relaxed virtual space, and boost energy and lower stress with fun social activities. Tech tutors are available to help students understand how to use remote learning software, and KCLS librarians can help students make the most of KCLS’ digital resources and databases. Tutors work with one to three students in a group setting, and students can select tutors by language skills or specialty.
“We know families are facing extra pressure with remote learning right now, and parents and students need as much support as possible,” stated KCLS Executive Director Lisa Rosenblum. “Study Zone Plus helps fill learning gaps, and keeps students active and engaged in core math and reading subjects during this time.”
“KCLS has offered the Study Zone program for 20 years,” added KCLS Public Services Specialist Annie Holloman-Poyner. “We have expanded upon this popular service to create a safe and positive online format that will feel familiar to students who have used Study Zone in the past, and is easy to use for newcomers.”
Study Zone Plus sessions are separated by grades K-5 and 6-12. Students can drop in any time during the following Study Zone Plus hours; no registration is required.
Grades K-5
Grades 6-12
About King County Library System:
Founded in 1942, the King County Library System (KCLS) is one of the busiest public library systems in the country. Serving the communities of King County (outside the City of Seattle), KCLS currently has 50 libraries and more than 700,000 cardholders. In 2019, residents checked out more than 5.6 million digital eBooks and audiobooks through Rakuten OverDrive, making KCLS the No. 3 digital circulating library in the world. In 2011, KCLS was named Library of the Year by Gale/Library Journal.
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Learning remotely from home is now the norm for many families across the country. Kids and caregivers alike have settled into a routine, though keeping children engaged can still be challenging. These ideas can help infuse more fun and moments of inspiration into school days to keep kids engaged and excited about learning.
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For parents facing uncertain school schedules, new ways of working and concerns about the health and safety of their families, life in a pandemic is stressful enough. Add in the potential for children to feel overwhelmed or unable to cope with the unfamiliar and many families feel they are in no-win situations. When it comes to selecting the best option for your family, keep these considerations in mind.
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Led by strong growth in clean energy storage, clean fuels, and energy efficiency, Washington state’s clean energy economy employed over 85,000 workers for the first time after adding 1,300 jobs in 2019. This continued a years-long trend of steady growth for the state’s clean energy sector employment before the COVID-19 health and economic crises, according to a new report from E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs), CleanTech Alliance, Low Carbon Prosperity Institute, and Renewable Northwest.
85,035 Washingtonians worked in energy efficiency, solar, wind, clean energy storage, clean vehicles and other clean energy occupations at the end of 2019, according to the new report Clean Jobs Washington 2020. In 2019, Washington’s clean energy industries provided over 11 times more jobs than the fossil fuel industry and over 55% of employment across the energy sector. Nationwide, Washington state had the 13th most clean energy jobs in 2019, accounting for nearly five out of every 200 jobs in Washington and employing more Washingtonians than worked as software developers or architects and engineers.
Washington state’s clean energy economy also provides high-quality jobs, according to a separate recent report from E2, the American Council on Renewable Energy, and the Clean Energy Leadership Institute. The sector’s median wage in 2019 ($25.40) was nearly 11% higher than the statewide median wage and more than 32% higher than the nationwide median. Jobs in clean energy were also found to be more likely to include health care and retirement benefits. The sector’s 10.5% unionization rate was second only to New York state for clean energy workers, and well above the nation’s economywide average.
But this increasingly central pillar of Washington state’s economy has been temporarily upended due to the COVID-19-driven economic downturn. While some jobs have been recovered since May, Washington state’s clean energy industries remain down some 17,100 jobs since the pandemic began in March—more than five times the entire sector’s job growth since 2017. The losses represent over 19% of the sector’s total workforce.
Clean Jobs Washington 2020 comes at a critical juncture in the State’s efforts to recover from the COVID-19 health and economic crises. With the Washington State Legislature set to reconvene in January, policymakers will have the opportunity to leverage clean energy as an engine for broader economy recovery by enacting policies to get clean energy back on its growth trajectory. Policies such as a clean fuels program, clean truck standards, a state-wide limit on carbon pollution, and carbon pricing can drive investments in climate solutions and bring robust economic growth across the state.
Zach Amittay, Washington Advocate of E2, said:
“With the economic impacts from COVID-19 driving significant unemployment across Washington state, investments in the clean energy sector have proven potential to stimulate a recovery. With a focus on smart clean energy policy, lawmakers have the opportunity to generate thousands of new clean energy jobs and millions of dollars in investment to rebuild and strengthen our economy for the long haul.”
Mark Liffman, Founder & CEO of Seattle-based Omnidian Inc. and E2 Member, said:
“Omnidian is proud to be part of Washington’s growing clean energy economy. While these are challenging times for many in the sector, this report’s findings are still clear: our state’s present and future is increasingly being powered by clean energy, and that’s good news for our environment, our economy, and our workforce.”
David Giuliani, Founder & Chief Engineer of Low Carbon Prosperity Institute, said:
“Clean energy will power Washington state past this pandemic caused pause. Replacing fossil fuel combustion with clean alternatives, notably electrification, will also reduce waste and save wasted money going up in tailpipe emissions. The money we then spend will primarily be in our home state, amplifying prosperity by the velocity of money. New industries and businesses will continue to burst forth as our storied northwest entrepreneurialism takes on these fascinating challenges. We can have both a clean and highly prosperous fairly-shared economy, and put an end to the false question – what are you for, a clean economy or a prosperous economy?”
Mel Clark, President & CEO of CleanTech Alliance, said:
“The CleanTech Alliance is a strong proponent of the great work E2 does, including compiling this report. The CleanTech
In addition to detailing sector-by-sector employment, Clean Jobs Washington 2020 also breaks down jobs at the city, county, legislative and congressional district levels. See more details here.
More details by sector:
Other key findings:
Background:
Clean Jobs Washington 2020 is the third iteration of the annual employment analysis. The report expands on data from the 2020 U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER) produced by the Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) in partnership with the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO), using data collected and analyzed by the BW Research Partnership. The report was released in March 2020 and is available at www.usenergyjobs.org. E2 and Clean Energy Trust are partners on the USEER, the fifth installment of the energy survey first released by the Department of Energy in 2016 and subsequently abandoned under the Trump administration.
Additional Resources:
Previous E2 Clean Jobs Washington Reports:
Previous E2 Clean Energy Unemployment Reports
The county has assured voters its ballot collection teams are out emptying boxes at least once a day and in busy locations, twice a day.
“Ballard Library, for example, tends to be our busiest box. Others in that top tier include Crossroads in Bellevue, Redmond City Hall, our box at Elections HQ and more.” officials said.
Officials said that the ballot drop box bins hold about 5,000 ballots and could “theoretically hold more.” However, what they see more often “than a truly full box is the ballots stacked up a little funky and that makes it hard to get more in there. But we’re expecting to break records this weekend.”
The pandemic has more places across the nation following Washington’s lead, offering mail-in options.
Decriminalize Seattle and King County Equity Now Statement on Introduction of Bill Gutting Efforts to Divest from Policing and Invest in Black Community
Coalitions Urge Council Members to Reject Surrender to Durkan and Defend Black Lives
Seattle City Council President Lorena González will introduce a bill that guts efforts to divest from policing and invest in the Black community. This is unacceptable. This is anti-Black.
The gutted bill follows a pattern of the Executive branch bleeding into the Legislative branch, with Mayor Durkan reshaping legislation that Council has already passed. This new bill represents an utter capitulation to the Mayor, who has shamelessly not moved from her anti-Black, pro-police position. The bill does not get us closer to creating true community safety. We reject this approach and question the motives behind it. We urge Council members to override the Mayor’s veto outright. For the first time in their careers, we urge them to stand on the right side of history, stand for Black lives, and against the Mayor’s anti-Black obstructionism.
This summer’s historic uprising in defense of Black lives—following the police murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Manny Ellis and too many others—inspired millions across the country to demand a rethinking of our reliance on racist policing. These movements compelled our Council members to heed the calls for an end to the era of bloated police budgets and failed models of “public safety,” an era that resulted in the police murders of Charleena Lyles, John T Williams, and many others. Council members voted for the first time to minimally cut a police budget, rather than grow it. They voted for a modest $3 million to fund a Black-community led research process to let those most impacted by policing lead the planning of a new world beyond it. They voted for $14 million to fund community interventions to generate safety that do not rely on policing, including $4 million to urgently address gun violence needs in the Black community.
These bills passed with a veto-proof majority. Mayor Durkan’s August 21st veto was anti-Black. It was offensive to all those who stand with Black lives and against racist policing. But it was not unexpected. In fact, this was her fifth veto of a council bill—more than any of the previous five mayors had during their tenure. Council members knew when they voted that they were signing up for an override vote. Nothing has changed except for the Mayor’s public relations machine going into overdrive to justify a veto of a cut to a tiny fraction of SPD’s overall budget, as well as a veto of an investment that pales next to SPD’s overtime budget. That brings us to this moment, to a so-called compromise that reflects a Mayor who continues to attempt to strong-arm the City Council into doing her will.
We reject the new bill, a bill which reflects the Mayor’s contempt for Black people and nothing more. We reject a bill that does not reduce the size of SPD, that keeps the failed Navigation Team mostly in place, along with budget lines for mounted police, police officers in school, and more. We reject a bill that offers $200,000 in bonuses to cops hired in 2020, even as essential city workers face layoffs. We reject a bill that outright slashes community investments in true public safety to $2.5 million down from $14 million. As these investments are needed to address substantial gun violence happening in the Black community right now, this gutted proposal is straight anti-Black. We reject a bill that locks thousands of Black community members (especially elders, youth, and those without political connections to the Mayor) out of the process of reimagining public safety.
Our council members were elected to serve their constituents. This summer, we saw them begin the process of creating true community safety. We saw them vote for Black lives. We urge them to override the veto and reject surrender to the Mayor’s pro-police agenda. We urge them to stand for Black lives and restore badly-needed balance to the legislative/executive relationship. We ask them not to flip-flop on one of the most important votes of their careers. Nothing has changed—our city is still in urgent need of rethinking our approach to public safety. The material conditions for most Black people haven’t changed. They won’t change without the City Council standing in defense of Black lives and avoiding capitulation to the Mayor’s defense of the status quo. We urge Council members to stay the course, follow through on their public commitments, and vote to override.
With the help of community feedback, we’re moving forward with the design for one-lane protected bike lanes on each side of MLK, from S Judkins St to Rainier Ave S. The project will improve safety for people walking, biking, and driving along MLK Way. It will also provide better bike connections to important destinations in the area, including the Mt Baker and (future) Judkins Park light rail stations, Metro transit center, and Franklin High School.
Join us for an online early design drop-in session
On Tuesday, August 11, we’re hosting an online drop-in session to share information about the project, gather your feedback on the early design concept, and answer your questions.
Online event details
5 to 6 PM
Tuesday, August 11
https://tinyurl.com/MLKPBL | Password: MLKWayPBL
Presentation transcripts available in English, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, and Traditional Chinese
To request an interpreter or accommodations for persons with disabilities, please contact (206) 684-0392 at least 5 business days prior to August 11.
Participate in our online design concept survey
During the event on Tuesday, August 11, we’ll launch a survey that will remain open through Tuesday, August 18. The survey, which will be available in English, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, and Traditional Chinese, is intended to get a better sense of your travel and parking needs and your feedback on the early design concept. The input you share will inform the next phase of design.
After the online drop-in session, we’ll send an email with links to the event recording and the survey. We’ll also post both links to our project webpage.
Stay connected with us
We want the design to work not only for people who love to bike, but also for everyone who lives and works in the area. Visit our webpage for updates and contact us with questions at (206) 900-8750 and .
We look forward to hearing from you!
Lisa Harrison
Communications and Outreach Lead
(206) 900-8750
You’re receiving this email because you’ve expressed interest in the MLK Protected Bike Lane project. Please encourage others to sign up for email updates here.
AHF seeks to apply and enforce the federal Fair Housing Act and California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act to stop the discriminatory effects of four Hollywood developments: Sunset Gordon Tower, Palladium Residences, Crossroads Hollywood and one planned at the Amoeba Music site
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) filed a ‘petition for review’ with the Supreme Court of California in litigation it first filed in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles in August 2019 against the City of Los Angeles, the L.A. City Council and several luxury property developers. The petition was filed Monday, July 27th (Case No. S263550).
AHF has asserted violations of both federal and state housing laws intended to eliminate housing discrimination, barriers to minority housing and integrated communities in the permitting, planning and construction of four luxury mixed-use residential, commercial and/or entertainment development projects within the Hollywood area.
AHF’s petition to the Supreme Court now seeks to overturn the Appellate Court ruling in order to allow for enforcement of the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) and California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) inasmuch as AHF believes and asserts it should apply to the four Hollywood development projects: Sunset Gordon Tower, Palladium Residences, Crossroads Hollywood and one planned at the Amoeba Music site.
The four upscale developments are within a one-mile radius in Hollywood, putting economic pressure on lower income residents in the area. Three of the four stretch along Sunset Boulevard. AHF’s lawsuit asserts these four buildings will predictably displace people of color from their homes and neighborhoods and were approved without providing adequate measures to prevent such displacement. The fair housing laws protect minorities who are disproportionately impacted by a city policy or practice that is facially neutral.
In its filing, AHF outlines the crux of its reasoning for submitting a petition for review:
“The primary issue presented in this petition is whether state and federal fair housing statutes will continue to address the practical reality of disparate-impact discrimination and reach this latter form of discrimination, or, as the Court of Appeal held in its published decision, these fair housing statutes are to be narrowly construed to bar such claims based on a newly announced standard for pleading a prima facie case of disparate-impact discrimination.”
“Not a single one of these luxury property developments in Hollywood has nearly enough housing units set aside as affordable for very-low or extremely-low-income families and they collectively continue the gentrification and wholesale displacement of low-income, largely minority communities from Hollywood,” said Michael Weinstein, president of AHF. “We believe the courts were incorrect in their interpretation of the laws and respectfully are seeking reconsideration before the Supreme Court of California.”
AHF’s petition notes and poses another question:
“As recent events confirm, centuries of discrimination have created ongoing and significant disparities for communities of color seeking their rightful place in the American dream. This petition raises a fundamentally important question of whether historically discriminated against minorities have any remedy under fair housing law for policies that effectively drive them out of certain communities.”
It also states that:
“Affordable housing and racial justice are issues of obvious statewide importance. This case involves both, because the Court of Appeal’s published opinion imposes new barriers for communities of color and other victims of discrimination to challenge housing policies that force minorities to leave ‘desirable’ neighborhoods for good.”
Studies show that large scale, high end market-rate housing development without sufficient affordable units is linked to the mass displacement of neighboring low-income residents. These low-income residents are disproportionately people of color. AHF offers a prime example of such low-income and minority displacement in its initial lawsuit and the current petition—the Crossroads Hollywood development, which will demolish over 80 existing rent stabilized apartments, displacing a decades-old, tight-knit community of largely low-income, predominantly Latino residents.
The Hollywood Center neighborhood is approximately 50% white, 32% Hispanic/Latino, 12% Asian, and 6% Black or African American. However, Hispanic/Latino residents are disproportionately lower income, with both median household and per capita income far below the County medians.
The four Hollywood projects in development targeted in AHF’s lawsuit and petition include:
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 1.4 million individuals in 45 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us @aidshealthcare