B.J. hits the road
It appears that someone isn’t happy about who the mayor chose to head the Seattle Parks Department: A press release from the mayor noted last week that Sept. 12 will be the last day for Interim Parks Superintendent B.J. Brooks, who has resigned.
Brooks was in the running for the top Parks job after serving three years as deputy director under former Superintendent Ken Bounds, who retired earlier this year in the wake of controversies about the lack of public input in Parks decisions such as tree-cuttings in Pioneer Square and putting a concert series at Gas Works Park – two issues over which citizens sued the city.
On Sept. 10, Mayor Nickels named Timothy Gallagher, a naturalist and former director of Los Angeles County’s Parks and Recreation, the new superintendent, pending City Council approval, which is expected in October. In the meantime, the mayor has appointed 14-year Parks veteran Christopher Williams to run Parks in Brooks’ absence.
Clean Dreams fix
For those trying to get off the streets, the city has relented: After pulling the plug on Clean Dreams, a city-funded program that helps addicts and prostitutes turn their lives around, the city has decided to continue funding critical client services using what’s left of the $140,000 that the city had budgeted for the program this year.
That’s about $50,000 that will keep 54 clients in rehab, job training, and housing until their services end, the year ends, or the money runs out, says Terri Kimball of the city’s Human Services Department.
Mayor Greg Nickels has proposed another $180,000 for recovery services in 2008, but not necessarily for Clean Dreams; instead, the money would be awarded after a competitive bidding process.
This year’s funding does not pay for any staff, but a private donor has reportedly stepped forward with a pledge of $10,000 to help pay for the two interim managers, Charles Davis and Tara Moss, who have taken over the program from former director Nature Carter-Gooding.
Carter-Gooding and another counselor had been paid by the program’s parent organization, Street Outreach Services, which closed its doors in July after the Public Health Department yanked its funding for failing to complete an audit.
—Cydney Gillis
Dumping
Thanks to a new state law approved in March, junked TVs and computers are unlikely to be dumped locally. But, says Seattle-based Basel Action Network, e-waste is usually dumped in countries like China or Nigeria, where it poisons local ecosystems with deadly metals. An earlier version of the state’s new recycling bill forbade export of e-waste to certain countries; that clause was later removed.
In light of Basel’s findings, the state Department of Ecology is drafting regulations to be announced next month.
—JP Gritton