Watch the Seattle Inaugural Ceremony now.

The meeting was open to the public. However, space in the City Council’s Chamber (second floor, Seattle City Hall) is limited with a large number of guests expected. A live video feed of the ceremony was also shown in the Bertha Knight Landes Room (first floor, Seattle City Hall) to accommodate overflow attendees. 

Immediately following the installation ceremony, a public reception for all newly elected officials will be held in the Bertha Knight Landes Room, starting at approximately 3 p.m. The reception is organized by the City Council’s Legislative Department and will feature brief remarks from elected officials as well as performances from local musical groups. The reception is open to the public and will end no later than 7 p.m.

Seattle City Council 2009: A Year in Review
Hosted by C. R. Douglas
Plays Thursday, December 31, 6:30 p.m.
Join SEATTLE CHANNEL’s C.R. Douglas as he sits down for one-on-one interviews with all nine Seattle City Council Members: Council President Richard Conlin and Councilmembers Tim Burgess, Sally Clark, Jan Drago, Jean Godden, Bruce Harrell, Nick Licata, Richard McIver and Tom Rasmussen. Find out what they think were the Council’s biggest accomplishments and what, if any, were the lost opportunities of 2009. Plus, hear their thoughts on what the political and policy climate will be like at City Hall with new Mayor Mike McGinn and two new Council Members, Mike O’Brien and Sally Bagshaw. They also share their concerns about the City and their hopes for 2010.

TownSquare: CityClub’s Annual Year in Review
Plays Thursday, December 31, 10:00 a.m.
CityClub’s 2009 Year in Review panel includes four of our region’s top leaders: Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna, Senior Counselor Jack Schneiderman, Chair of the Association of Washington Business Jack McRae, and President of Washington State University Dr. Elson Floyd. The four panelists are experts in the areas of education, politics, healthcare and journalism. They will analyze the current state of our region and make predictions about the region’s future.

An Evening With: The Year in Film
Premieres Thursday, December 31, 11:00 p.m.
Waiting for the new year? What better way to pass the final hour of 2009 than figuring out the best and worst films of the year! The Everett Herald‘ s and Art Zone’s Robert Horton moderates a panel discussion with local film critics about the year in film. Joining Horton are MSN.com’s Kathleen Murphy, The Stranger’s Andrew Wright, and Chicago Sun-Times ‘ blogger Jim Emerson.

City Inside/Out with C.R. Douglas: The Year in Politics
Plays Saturday, January 2, 6:00 p.m.
Tune in for our one-hour special, where we take stock of 2009. We’ll sit down with the newsmaker of the year–Seattle Mayor-elect Mike McGinn–, hear from past three past Seattle mayors–Norm Rice, Charles Royer and Wes Uhlman–about lessons learned, and convene a journalist roundtable on the year’s headlines. In-studio guests are Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Joel Connelly, The Seattle Times‘ Lynne Varner and The Puget Sound Business Journal’s Deirdre Gregg and Publicola’s Josh Feit.

See if you can match the statement to the pundit:

1. “I think [the McGinn] administration is going to be the most unpredictable change in Seattle politics since Wes Uhlman was elected way back forty years ago—a whole new generation, a whole new outlook, a whole new crowd.”

2. “The tunnel wasn’t as big an issue to ordinary voters in the general election as media types thought it was.”

3. “This [McGinn] vote was anti-establishment.”

4. Initiative-writer Tim Eyman “is the zombie of Washington state politics. His obituary is written after every initiative [that] loses and he comes back with something else.”

Answers: 1. Conservative John Carlson 2. Anti-tunnel pundit Erica. C. Barnett     

3. Centrist Joni Balter  4. Mossback Knute Berger.  

From regional transit to public health, the King County Executive oversees services that impact nearly two million residents. This year, since Ron Sims took a job with the federal government, there is no incumbent in the executive race. On the latest edition of City Inside/Out, host C.R. Douglas referees a political battle that is as intense as any race on this year’s ballot.

Candidate Susan Hutchison is a former newscaster who positions herself as an outsider that will bring change to county government. Her opponent, Dow Constantine, has been a King County Councilmember for seven years and says he has already started the reforms to make county government work better.

Hutchison is outspoken in her criticism of the county. “By any measure, the county is broken,” she says. “We need leadership in King County that can take the bull by the horns , exercise fiscal discipline…[and] focus on law enforcement, law and justice and public health.” She adds, “We’ve had reckless spending for way too long.”

Constantine replies that positive change at the county is well underway. “King County has made tremendous progress…While I was Budget Chair [of the King County Council] I was able to reduce the general fund budget while increasing the support for public safety and requiring the Executive to set aside money for a rainy day…That’s the kind of reform I have been pushing against the old status quo.”

Bass vs. Smith-Blum

Bass is running on her eight-year record—which has included frequent dissents. “If you look at the track record of the stances I’ve taken, they’ve been on point.” She cites the examples of her early support for ending the school district’s racial tiebreaker and her consistent advocacy for a student assignment plan based on neighborhood schools. Smith-Blum is running as an innovator. “Can we educate our children fully?” she asks. Her ideas include adding foreign language instruction to all elementary schools and the elimination of middle schools in favor of K-8s—schools that have students from kindergarten to eighth grade.

Chin vs. Patu 

Chin and Patu differ in their view of Seattle School Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson. Patu, a retired 32-year district employee, says, “My vision of what I’d like to see happening in the Seattle Public Schools is not exactly on the line with what Maria Goodloe[-Johnson] is doing. I congratulate her for the good work that she has done but there needs to be a lot more supervision” from the School Board. Chin, a long-time school volunteer, is more supportive of the superintendent.  Goodloe-Johnson “is a very strong educator. She has faced some very significant challenges in her first three years. She has addressed many of those,” he says. Chin also mentioned that he liked that Goodloe-Johnson could admit when she had made mistakes. 

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