Budget Czar

The city’s budget forecast for the next few years is underway, and
the preliminary prognosis, in the words of finance department
director Dwight Dively, is “not that good.” According to finance
department officials, who briefed city council members on the budget
outlook this week, the city expects revenues to slow down over the next
few years to a total growth rate of 1 percent to 2 percent. The
biggest loss will be in real-estate taxes (the taxes that pay for
the city’s building projects), which are expected to fall about $10
million short of expectations. ERICA C. BARNETT

Tree Czar

City council member Tom Rasmussen has asked the city auditor’s
office to conduct an audit to determine how well city departments are
doing at increasing the tree canopy in Seattle. Under an urban
forestry plan adopted last year, the city is supposed to increase the
amount of land in the city covered by trees to 30 percent, from a
current canopy of about 18 percent.

The problem is, trees are maintained by many different departments,
and some departments are doing better than others at replacing
trees they cut down, planting trees where they can grow (rather than,
say, below power lines), and taking care of trees in their
jurisdiction.

At the same time, the city’s Department of Planning and Development
is looking at revisions to the city’s Tree Code (yes, there is
such a thing) that could make it much tougher for citizens to cut down
trees on their private property. And the council is considering an
amendment to the city’s comprehensive plan to appoint a “tree czar” to
manage all trees in the city.
ERICA C. BARNETT

(Self-Appointed)
Neighborhood Czar

On April 21, over objections from neighborhood activists who argued
they were subverting the will of neighborhoods and lowering
environmental standards, the city council passed legislation exempting
some small developments in urban centers—the densest areas of the
city—from review under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA).
The rationale: Since the council set the original standards for SEPA
review, they’ve passed numerous laws that are redundant with
SEPA. Moreover, the aesthetic issues most neighborhood activists have
with new development are better addressed through design review (which
actually looks at aesthetics and neighborhood “fit”) than by
SEPA (which doesn’t).

Later this year, the council will look at expanding the number of
projects that are subject to design review—a process that will
actually put more neighborhood development plans under the
scrutiny of neighbors.

That didn’t satisfy density opponent and City Neighborhood Council
chair Chris Leman, who denounced the council, accusing them of
relegating urban-center residents to “second-class citizenship” and
delivering “a terrible setback to citizen rights and the
environment.”

Clearly annoyed by Leman, new council member Tim Burgess said Leman
and his ilk were trying to sway the council and citizens with
“disinformation and disingenuous comments” about the proposal.
“These changes are reasonable; they do not take away the environmental
protections and environmental reviews that some have suggested [they
do],
and to suggest that is disingenuous.”
ERICA C.
BARNETT

Getaway Car

Seattle Seahawks defensive tackle Robert Eugene “Rocky” Bernard was
arrested early April 21 and booked into the King County Jail for a
domestic-violence assault.

Bernard was celebrating his 29th birthday at the downtown
club Ibiza, at Second Avenue and Yesler Way, and, according to a police
report, got into a scuffle with an ex-girlfriend, who is also the
mother of one of his children. According to the report, Bernard
punched the 21-year-old woman in the forehead, sending her
backward into a glass divider.

The report says the woman ran out of the club with a friend and got
into the friend’s car, where Bernard reportedly stood next to the
vehicle, pounding on the windows.

The woman drove to a “safe location” and called 911. Officers called
Ibiza to locate Bernard, who was later arrested at the club.

The Seattle City Attorney’s Office has filed assault charges in the
case. Bernard, who has pleaded not guilty, could receive
a maximum
$5,000 fine and up to a year
in jail if convicted.

The Seahawks did not respond to requests for comment. JONAH
SPANGENTHAL-LEE