Immigrant query
Some say it’s a long shot that the Lynnwood City Council will pass a law like Seattle’s prohibiting local police from asking about a person’s immigration status — particularly in a city where police give desk space to agents from Immigrations & Customs Enforcement (“Washington police team up with immigration officers,” RC, Sept. 5-11, 2007).
But, with the support of Mayor Don Gough, members of Lynnwood’s Latino community think they can do it.
On Sept. 22, the Washington Community Action Network, which has been working to increase the voice of Lynnwood’s Latino residents, held a public forum to talk about recent ICE activity in Lynnwood and the prospects for changing the city’s law. After a meeting with Gough, says Washington CAN organizer Maru Villalpando, the mayor agreed to forward the ordinance idea to the recently formed
Lynnwood Diversity Commission to draft a law for later presentation to the City Council.
The Diversity Commission will take up the proposal — and public testimony — at a meeting scheduled Oct. 10, 6:45 p.m., at the Lynnwood Library, 19200 44th Ave W.
—Cydney Gillis
Solids and the Sound
The hulking cruise ships that berth in Seattle can’t dump sewage into Puget Sound. But as soon as they get 12 nautical miles from Washington’s shoreline, they can relieve themselves of some of the 35 tons of waste they accrue each day. When they do, environmental watchdogs say, some of the nasty, partially treated solid waste can flow back into the region’s inland waters.
But King County councilmembers on Monday promoted a way to keep the waters cleaner — if they can channel all that biomass into a wastewater treatment plant.
At the council’s behest, the county’s Wastewater Treatment Division will explore offering cruise ship companies a carrot: a way to dump their waste into pipes running to Renton’s South Treatment Plant. The county is working with the state Department of Ecology and a cruise ship trade association on the effort.
—Adam Hyla
Lights out on nightclub bill
Mayor Nickels wants licensing for Seattle nightclubs, and he wants it now. That’s why last week he vetoed a City Council bill that would have set up another commission to study the licensing idea for another year. In a letter to the City Council, Nickels noted that the current commission has been investigating licensing since March 2006. “It is time for us to put an end to this debate, move beyond process, and focus our work on ensuring a vibrant and safe nightlife industry,” Nickels stated in a press release.
The veto, the second of Nickels’ administration, likely dealt a death blow to the council’s legislation; Sally Clark, a proponent of the legislation, says the council is unlikely to muster the votes for an override. Though the licensing program remains in limbo, the Council has already passed legislation that establishes a Nightlife Enforcement Team, and has plans in December to revamp the city’s Noise Ordinance.
—Patrick Reis