Monday, June 21, 2010
The Week Ahead: Abatements, Roads, and a Talk at a Conference
The Lakewood City Council will be picking up the pace this summer as we begin preparing for fall hearings about the city budget. Tonight's council meeting at 7 has a couple of hearings about abatements. That sounds sort of dull, but abatements are important because they involve cleaning up properties that are junky and dangerous. We'll hold hearings to decide whether to assess cleanup costs on three properties that had to be cleared off, at 15116 Portland Ave. SW, 5421 Chicago Ave SW and 8301 Custer Road.
There are some other matters, including awarding contracts for some new road construction. Tucci & Sons is the low bidder for improvements and resealing of Steilacoom Boulevard between Farwest to 87th Ave SW. They'll put in another signal at Farwest and Steilacoom and replace some asphalt curb with concrete. Almost all of its $1.1 million cost is covered by a federal grant. Another company, Global Contractors, is up for approval for a project, mostly funded by grants, to put proper sidewalks around Park Lodge School (which only has sidewalks now on Gravelly Lake) as well as a better-marked school crossing on 100th.
A week from today, on June 28, our citizens' transportation advisory board will give us some stern warnings about the condition of Lakewood roads. (There will be be a public hearing about what road projects we can afford on July 6, if roads are your interest)
The other thing coming up this week that I know about is the annual meeting of the Association of Washington Cities. AWC is basically the equivalent of a professional trade organization for local city leaders. City Council members from around the state will be heading to Vancouver (the U.S. one) to hear from experts and compare notes. The programs are always good, but I tend to learn as much or more in comparing experiences with other council members.
My loyal readers, both of you, will recall I was a presenter at least year's conference. I repeat again this year Thursday afternoon in a panel about how elected officials can use Social Media (blogs like this, Facebook, etc...) effectively. My co-presenter, Ramsey Ramerman, will talk about how to do all this and comply with state public meetings and public records laws. The title of our presentation is "Social media: Stepping out of the box. Staying in the lines."
It's a funny paradox that tools that make government more open and transparent create huge liability if they're not used legally. And because these tools are all so new, and few people are using them, it's hard to identify best practices and be sure what's legal and what isn't. It's going to take new laws and expensive court decisions to let us know for sure how courts will interpret the use of Social Media.
Here's how our part of the program is described in the annual meeting program.
Social media – Stepping out of the box.
Staying in the lines.
Social media such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs are rapidly changing the way we work, connect and communicate. In a world of social media, the lines between personal and work lives are blurring, and in some ways, being erased. How elected officials should use these tools to support city work is still emerging.
• Explore the possibilities of using social media.
• Learn about the evolving legal risks.
• Consider public records and open meetings requirements.
Speakers
Councilmember Walter Neary, Lakewood
Ramsey Ramerman, Assistant City Attorney, Everett
Moderator
Councilmember Jennifer Gregerson, Mukilteo
Over time, more and more local city council members will use social media tools either to make government more open or because increasing numbers of people who use tools like Twitter will get elected. It's fascinating to help people identify best practices and new ways of involving people who might not otherwise be involved in public policy.
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There are some other matters, including awarding contracts for some new road construction. Tucci & Sons is the low bidder for improvements and resealing of Steilacoom Boulevard between Farwest to 87th Ave SW. They'll put in another signal at Farwest and Steilacoom and replace some asphalt curb with concrete. Almost all of its $1.1 million cost is covered by a federal grant. Another company, Global Contractors, is up for approval for a project, mostly funded by grants, to put proper sidewalks around Park Lodge School (which only has sidewalks now on Gravelly Lake) as well as a better-marked school crossing on 100th.
A week from today, on June 28, our citizens' transportation advisory board will give us some stern warnings about the condition of Lakewood roads. (There will be be a public hearing about what road projects we can afford on July 6, if roads are your interest)
The other thing coming up this week that I know about is the annual meeting of the Association of Washington Cities. AWC is basically the equivalent of a professional trade organization for local city leaders. City Council members from around the state will be heading to Vancouver (the U.S. one) to hear from experts and compare notes. The programs are always good, but I tend to learn as much or more in comparing experiences with other council members.
My loyal readers, both of you, will recall I was a presenter at least year's conference. I repeat again this year Thursday afternoon in a panel about how elected officials can use Social Media (blogs like this, Facebook, etc...) effectively. My co-presenter, Ramsey Ramerman, will talk about how to do all this and comply with state public meetings and public records laws. The title of our presentation is "Social media: Stepping out of the box. Staying in the lines."
It's a funny paradox that tools that make government more open and transparent create huge liability if they're not used legally. And because these tools are all so new, and few people are using them, it's hard to identify best practices and be sure what's legal and what isn't. It's going to take new laws and expensive court decisions to let us know for sure how courts will interpret the use of Social Media.
Here's how our part of the program is described in the annual meeting program.
Social media – Stepping out of the box.
Staying in the lines.
Social media such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs are rapidly changing the way we work, connect and communicate. In a world of social media, the lines between personal and work lives are blurring, and in some ways, being erased. How elected officials should use these tools to support city work is still emerging.
• Explore the possibilities of using social media.
• Learn about the evolving legal risks.
• Consider public records and open meetings requirements.
Speakers
Councilmember Walter Neary, Lakewood
Ramsey Ramerman, Assistant City Attorney, Everett
Moderator
Councilmember Jennifer Gregerson, Mukilteo
Over time, more and more local city council members will use social media tools either to make government more open or because increasing numbers of people who use tools like Twitter will get elected. It's fascinating to help people identify best practices and new ways of involving people who might not otherwise be involved in public policy.
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It is likely the attempt of Lakewood, in cooperation with lobbyists from AWC, to pursue yet another "control" of gambling bill. Could you keep me apprised of this?
There wasn't much discussion of specific legislative plans at any of the sessions I attended this week, except for concerns about how the state budget will affect city budgets. I'll make a mental note to let you know, David, when state legislators come to meet with the Lakewood council because that's a good time to weigh in.
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