WWW . THESKANNER . COM
J ANUARY 16, 2013
S EATTLE , W ASHIGTON
V OLUME XXXV, N O . 15
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C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW
S TA N D U P
New
Police
Panel
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
Mayor appoints
Community Police
Commission
Julie Weitz and Teri McClain joined hundreds of people at the StandUp Washington - March and Rally Against Gun
Violence On Sunday Jan. 13. Participants marched from Westlake Park to Seattle Center Mural Amphitheater to
remember the teachers and children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut
and demand the state legislature and Governor do something to curb gun violence in Washington.
Seattle Preps for Climate Change
Parts of Interbay, Georgetown, South Park, West Seattle may flood
SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle
officials predict that parts of the
city will be under water as the
shoreline creeps higher due to
global climate change.
City agencies are calculating
the local effects of climate
change and how to respond and
adapt to protect people and
infrastructure, The Seattle
Times reported.
Agencies were preparing for
more intense heat, protecting
the new downtown sea wall
under construction and calculat-
ing the number of pump stations
and outfalls that would be under
water, as they anticipate sea-
level rise caused by heat-trap-
ping greenhouse gases such as
carbon dioxide pumped into the
atmosphere by humans.
Calculations by the Washing-
ton Climate Impacts Group and
the Washington Department of
Ecology published in 2008 pre-
dict a sea-level rise in Seattle of
six inches by 2050. Less-likely
scenarios are sea-level rises of
three inches on the low end and
22 inches on the high end, the
Times reported.
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A green ribbon commission
has come up with recommenda-
tions to respond to climate
changes.
City council members have
scheduled a news conference
Monday to unveil a map show-
ing neighborhoods of Seattle,
including parts of Interbay,
Georgetown, South Park, West
Seattle, Harbor Island and Gold-
en Gardens, that are likely to be
flooded by rising sea levels.
``We did this map to under-
stand impacts on our infrastruc-
ture,’’ Paul Fleming, manager of
climate and sustainability for
Seattle Public Utilities, told the
Times. ``In the big picture, this
isn’t just about sea-level rise.
It’s about drinking water, urban
flooding, and how we design
new projects.’’
Seattle’s water supply is in the
central Cascade Mountains, so it
won’t be infiltrated by seawater
creeping toward groundwater.
But as the sea creeps upward,
water supply, drainage and
wastewater infrastructure possi-
bly could be affected by every-
See CLIMATE on page 3
SEATTLE - Mayor Mike McGinn this
week announced his appointments to the
new Community Police Commission.
The new panel is intended to become a
partnership between the police department,
its officers, community members and public
officials.
“Public safety relies on public trust and
engagement,” said McGinn. “That’s why I
proposed the creation of a Community
Police Commission as part of our agreement
with the Department of Justice to implement
reforms in the Seattle Police Department.”
The members of the Commission include
Rev. Harriet Walden, co-founder of Mothers
for Police Accountability; Rev. Aaron
Williams, Mount Zion Baptist Church, sen-
ior pastor; and Marcel Purnell, Youth Undo-
ing Institutional Racism, among many
others.
McGuinn says the role of the Commission
is to support the development of reforms,
establishment of police priorities and mech-
anisms to promote community confidence
in the Seattle Police Department.
The Commission’s 15 members are
appointed by the Mayor and are subject to
City Council confirmation.
The agreement requires that one member
from the Seattle Police Officers Guild and
one member from the Seattle Police Man-
agement Association sit on the Commission.
The remaining 13 members were selected
from applicants who reside or work in Seat-
tle and include residents from each of the
five geographic police precincts.
“I thank all the members of this new com-
mission for volunteering their time and
experience to help build trust in our police
force by working to develop reforms and
engage the larger Seattle community,”
McGinn said this week.
The co-chairs of the Community Police
Commission are Lisa Daugaard and Diane
Narasaki.
Claudia D’Allegri, Sea Mar Community
Health Centers, vice president of Behavioral
See POLICE on page 3
Flu Now ‘Widespread’ in Washington
Six people have died of the flu so far this season, including a child
By Doug Esser
The Associated Press
SEATTLE (AP) — Fever, cough and
headache caused by the flu are now wide-
spread in Washington, the state Department
of Health said Friday.
Previously the flu had been at a regional
level. It was upgraded in a new report,
meaning the flu is in more than half of the
communities in the state, said spokesman
Donn Moyer.
Widespread flu is not unusual, but the
activity appears to be increasing and could
be worse than the previous two seasons,
which were considered mild, Moyer said.
``We get to widespread flu activity in our
state almost every season,’’ Moyer said.
The activity seems to be a little early. It
typically peaks in January and February.
``We’re ramping up,’’ Moyer said.
Six people have died of the flu so far this
season, including one child, all in Western
Washington. There were 18 flu deaths in
2011-2012 and 36 the previous year. The
most state deaths were 98 in the swine flu
season of 2009-2010.
``Every one of these deaths is tragic, espe-
See FLU on page 3