Staying in touch outside of Broadview Community!
On behalf of our Broadview Community Council members I attended two meetings this week. One meeting was our Northwest District Council on Wednesday evening at the Greenwood Senior Center and the other was the Seattle Community Council Federation meeting, held at the NOAA headquarters on Lake Union Thursday evening. Both of these organizations are integral to providing platforms for learning about events and issues that affect our daily lives.
NORTHWEST DISTRICT COUNCIL (nwdistrictcouncil.org): The recent reorganization of this group adds more neighboring communities. Also, there is a new Department of Neighborhoods (DON) staff person providing support by the name of Rob Mattson. The highlight of the March meeting was to review a list of eight projects submitted for funding through the 2011 Neighborhood Projects Fund in our District. We reviewed each project and set a date of April 22 by which time each voting organization must submit three projects for funding to DON. If any reader wants to discuss these projects, please contact me (patamccoy@gmail.com). There are currently about 16 member organizations on this group, however, many were not represented at the meeting. I’m planning to contact those in our Broadview/Bitter Lake area and provide them with voting information. Please check out the NWDC web site if you want more background information.
SEATTLE COMMUNITY COUNCIL FEDERATION (seattlefederation.blogspot.com): Check out the web site if you’d like to see agendas on a regular basis. This group meets on third Thursdays at the headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Last night’s meeting was a real eye opener. I’ve got a stack of literature on HANFORD CHALLENGE (hanfordchallenge.org) and the main speaker was Tom Carpenter, Executive Director. Tom is a lawyer who represents nuclear whistle blowers. Frankly, I had NO idea about any of this but the situation in Japan prompted the Chair to arrange for this program. Here’s just one quote regarding the Hanford site:
“Every gram of plutonium results in one ton of nuclear waste. There are 53 million
gallons of nuclear waste in 177 underground waste tanks. Waste lives for about 300 years. It
can’t be made harmless. These tanks were to last 20 years but they are way beyond their
design life. Japan’s waste storage system was well designed. The Hanford system is only
moderately well designed.”
There is an event on Tuesday night you may want to attend to learn more entitled “What is the State of the Hanford Nuclear Waste Site?” It will be in the Olympic Room within the Northwest Buildings at Seattle Center, 305 Harrison Street, from 6-9:30 p.m. March 29.
The other speaker was Mike McCormick (labwatch.org) who talked about the continuing proliferation of high-containment biolabs in Seattle and why citizen oversight remains critical to our safety. He urges that citizens need to be informed about the potential uses of these facilities and have a say as to whether they want them located in their neighborhoods and city without adequate safeguards. Check the site for more information.
