June 8, 2016 The Skanner Page 5
News
Events & Announcements
Community
Calendar 2016
cont’d from pg 4
SATURDAY, JUNE 11
1ST ANNUAL LEGISLATIVE WRAP UP: Join the Washington State
Commission on African American Afairs, Representative Eric
Pettigrew, Dr. Wanda Billingsley and others for a report back to
the community of the recent legislative session from an African
American perspective. 1 p.m. – 3 p.m., Martin Luther King, Jr.
Baptist Church, 4519 NE 10th Ave., Renton.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15
MUSIC IN THE MINI PARK: A series of six music and dance per-
formances expressing cultural traditions by local performers. 5
p.m. – 7 p.m., Lake City Mini Park, 12363 Lake City Way NE.
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
SATURDAY, JUNE 18
Beacon Hill Festival
The Dearborn Park International Elementary School S.C.A.T.S (Seattle Cirque & Acrobat TeamS) performed June 4 at the 27th Annual
Beacon Hill Festival.  The popular festival featured a variety of entertainment, food and activities for families.
Briefs cont’d from pg 4
Plus+ report gave our staf [and] administration an
edge we didn’t have before.”
Schools and partners interested in improving their
FAFSA completion rates are invited to join this excit-
ing efort.
OSAC is currently accepting applications for new
FAFSA Plus+ sites, and encourages school districts,
high schools, TRIO programs, Tribal Education Agen-
cies, Indian Organizations, and community-based or-
ganizations to complete the non-competitive applica-
tion at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JZ7FPRB.
Seatle Briefs
Murray Sends Funding Plan for
Additional Police Oicers to City
Council
This week Mayor Ed Murray sent the Seattle City
Council his proposed funding plan to inance the hir-
ing of 200 new police oicers and investments in the
City’s 911 call center as outlined in his 2016 State of
the City address.
The proposal calls for an addition of 200 oicers by
the end of 2019, expanding the Seattle Police Depart-
ment to the highest staf level in the history of the
department. This level of expansion is in line with
the police staing study conducted by Berkshire Ad-
visors.
The expansion of the Seattle Police Department will
be inanced through reprioritizing existing resourc-
es, identifying eiciencies and by increasing selected
fees and taxes on Seattle businesses.
The cost of the 200 additional oicers, improving
the 911 call center and other information technology
investments will cost $37 million per year. Murray is
proposing to raise $14 million in new revenues and
fund the remaining $23 million (nearly two-thirds
of the necessary funding) from existing resources.
Roughly half of the General Fund resources has al-
ready been approved by Council for hiring additional
police oicers.
The proposed increases in taxes and fees on Seattle
businesses are:
• 3.2 percent increase over two years in the existing
Business and Occupation (B&O) tax rates, which
have not risen since 1991, generating $8.4 million
per year. A retail business with $1 million in reve-
nues would pay an additional $70 a year.
• Restructuring and increasing the City’s Business
License fee, with fees increasing in ive steps de-
pending on the size of the business, generating $5.8
million per year. The smallest businesses would
see a license fee increase of $25 a year.
Incoming calls to SPD’s 911 call center call have
placed a growing strain on the current system. Call
center volumes have increased by 13 percent since
2010.
The call center will be adding staf and making tech-
nology investments to handle the growing number of
calls for service.
Other technology investments at the department
include technology infrastructure to support body
worn cameras for oicers and a new time tracking
tool to help manage oicer overtime.
Sen. Murray Announces New
Voucers for Homeless Veterans
Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior
member of both the Senate Appropriations Subcom-
mittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Devel-
opment and the Senate Veterans’ Afairs Committee,
announced new resources to help homeless veter-
ans secure stable housing and supportive services.
Washington state will receive an additional 142 hous-
ing vouchers that will be distributed among housing
authorities, part of $38 million in grants to help vet-
erans around the country.
The rental assistance announced today is provided
through the HUD-Veterans Afairs Supportive Hous-
ing (HUD-VASH) Program which combines rental
assistance from HUD with case management and
clinical services provided by VA, a program Murray
helped restart in 2008 and which she has continued
to help fund every year since. Since 2008, more than
79,000 vouchers have been awarded and over 111,000
homeless veterans have been served through the
HUD-VASH program.
County Council
Recognizes
LGBTQ Pride
Month
The
Metropolitan
King County Council
this week declared June
LGBTQ Pride Month, cel-
ebrating the accomplish-
ments and history of
the region’s lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender,
and queer communities
while acknowledging the
challenges to their full
participation in society.
Pride Month is cele-
brated in June in rec-
ognition of the June
1968 Stonewall Riots in
New York, considered
the start of the modern
80TH ANNUAL SOUTH BAY GRANGE STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL:
Vendors new and returning, entertainment, hamburgers, hot
dogs, strawberry shortcake, bulk strawberries for sale and
much more. This festival beneits our summer children’s theater
program. This festival is free for all. Noon – 6 p.m., South Bay
Grange, 3918 Sleater-Kinney Rd. NE, Olympia.
SUNDAY JUNE 19
HALF PRICE DAD’S DAY: Bring your dad to the zoo for a wild time
on his special day. All Dads will receive half-of general admis-
sion for their special day! 9:30 a.m. – 6 p.m., Point Deiance Zoo
& Aquarium, 5400 N. Pearl St., Tacoma.
movement for equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender and queer people.
While there have been a number of accomplish-
ments in LGBTQ residents gaining the rights that
most citizens take for granted, there are still chal-
lenges for their communities.
A number of states have challenged equity laws for
the LGBTQ communities with the adoption of “bath-
room protection” legislation that would prevent
transgender residents from using the bathroom that
corresponds to their gender identity.
In 2012, King County supported marriage equality
legislation in Olympia.
In 2008, the Council sent an amendment to the King
County Charter adding gender identity and expres-
sion to the anti-discrimination section to voters, who
approved it with a 71 percent yes vote.
Seattle’s annual Pride Parade will be held June 27.
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