Everett City Council Christmas Eve Update

It was an interesting Christmas Eve meeting for the Everett City Council today. It started off during the public comment portion with the owner of two rental houses just south of Purple Haze in the 4200 block of Rucker yelling at the council and telling them that they have been ruined by the council not taking action to stop the opening of Purple Haze, Everett’s 3rd legal pot shop. The owner says her tenants have given notice and she now has to sell.

The meeting continued with updates on what the city plans to ask the State Legislature in the next session. Among items on the city’s wish list include 61 million dollars for a building for WSU in north Everett, improvements for the Boeing freeway and a peak hour hard shoulder lane on I-5 between Everett and Marysville to ease congestion. Also on the list is a request for new soccer fields at Kasch Park and help with the 78 million dollar bill for improvements to the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

Council members also held a unanimous vote on an emergency ordinance to require Government and public service buildings of over 25.000 square feet to provide adequate parking. The ordinance is a result of concerns that the new county courthouse may take up too much parking that is needed for downtown Everett businesses.

The council also heard about plans to try to reduce noise around the Cemex plant in the area of Glenwood and Merrill Creek and took action on various contracts ranging from political consultants to the bomb squad. You can see the tape of the meeting here.