Real Change News | Just Heard 10/14/09

October 14, 2009
Vol: 16 No: 45

Just Heard

Just Heard 10/14/09

by: Cydney Gillis , Staff Reporter

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Releasing police files

The Seattle police union has fought for three years to keep a civilian review board from seeing unedited police reports — and the names of officers accused of misbehavior — but on Oct. 7 a state labor commission ruled in favor of disclosure.

The Public Employment Relations Commission overturned a previous hearing examiner decision, saying that the review board of the police department’s Office of Professional Accountability should see the full details of incidents, not marked-up versions, as long it maintains strict confidentiality.

In 2006, the Seattle City Council passed a law to do this, but the Seattle Police Officers Guild fought the measure, arguing it was a change in working conditions that had to be bargained. The union may yet appeal the new ruling, but Councilmember Nick Licata, the law’s sponsor, says he’s hoping it won’t so the city and citizens can concentrate “on how to ensure the OPA is effective, fair, and responsive to all parties in resolving citizen complaints.”

Next week, a group focused on police misconduct — the October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality — plans marches across the nation, including one in Seattle that starts with a rally at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 22 at Occidental Park in Pioneer Square.

NewHolly suit settled

Just in time for winter, the Seattle Housing Authority has agreed to pay $1.4 million to 150 private homeowners at NewHolly so they can fix their faulty heating systems.

The money is part of a $3 million settlement that ends a lawsuit filed last year by the NewHolly Homeowners Association against the housing authority, which redeveloped the Beacon Hill site as a public/private mix of 1,400 homes and low-income rentals.

Homeowners in Phase 1 of the project sued, says attorney Dave von Beck, after learning that the housing authority had withheld a 2006 engineering report from them that documented problems since 2004 with the pipes of a hydronic system that provides both hot water and heat.

“The sense of relief at NewHolly is palpable,” says Bridgette Maryman, president of the homeowners association. “Now we face the challenge of making sure that everyone… does what needs to be done to fix their homes, so that everyone has heat.”
—Cydney Gillis

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