Last night at the Ballard District Council meeting, Seattle City Council President Sally Clark spoke about her role in city council and about upcoming agenda items for the council this year. Key agenda items Clark expects the council will address include the seawall replacement, South Lake Union zoning, and the Yesler Terrace redevelopment.
Clark also highlighted the Committee of Economic Resiliency, of which she is the Chair. Plans for that committee include expanding job training opportunities by partnering with community colleges. She also talked about the work her committee is doing to help small businesses, restaurants in particular, get started. They are developing a map that outlines each step of the process. “If you decided today that you wanted to open a restaurant, and you thought you had a location, we are going to do a process map of all the hoops you have to go through to get to opening day,” explained Clark. The map will include information about how long it would take, how many permits are needed, how many consultants to hire, etc. Clark says that way, they can drop steps or combine steps to make the process easier.
One of the district council members asked why the committee was spending so much time on restaurant planning in particular, when neighborhoods like Ballard have more than enough restaurants already. Clark responded that restaurant openings involve the most hoops; more permitting, licensing, and consulting. However, Clark did recognize that neighborhoods like Ballard tend to lose many retail shops and other non-restaurant businesses. She mentioned that there are some examples of forums that compile “leakage surveys,” where residents are asked to provide information about what they buy outside of Ballard. They then present that to potential lease holders, and work to bring those types of businesses to the neighborhood.
Sally Clark has served on the Seattle City Council since 2006. She has been the Seattle City Council President since January 2012, when she was unanimously elected by the council.
