August 5
Seattle Sites of the Day:

Monorail - Seattle Initiative 53
   Locations

About sixty five local small businesses are hosting petition signing centers for Initiative 53, a proposal to allocate $6 million to the Elevated Transportation Company to let it carry out its monorail route planning and funding studies.

Voters created the ETC in 1997 with Initiative 41. Last week, seven Seattle City Council members deleted or rewrote most of Initiative 41's provisions without technically repealing it.

Initiative 53's backers hope to gain 24,000 signatures by August 15, from voters who are registered inside the Seattle city limits, to place Initiative 53 on the city's November general election ballot.

SCN Association:

Volunteering with SCN

SCN is seeking volunteers with project management experience who can commit to at least 15 hours of volunteering per month.

Volunteer Program Coordinator

Part-time contractual position:

The Volunteer Program Coordinator needs to bridge the gap between professional human resource management and the grassroots culture that is the heart of SCNA.

We currently have a dedicated core of individuals who need more structured support, including an expanded volunteer base. The VPC will develop the current volunteer program into one that better serves this great group of talented professionals. The VPC will have oversight authority and responsibility for the entire SCNA Volunteer Program.

Duties include working with volunteers, team coordinators and board members to create, implement, and maintain improved volunteer support processes. The VPC will be supported by and report directly to the Co-Presidents of the Board of Directors, Melissa & Steve Guest (guests@scn.org).

SCNA has existed as an all-volunteer organization since 1993. With no staff, the current 50+ volunteers of SCNA have very broad responsibilities for providing our programs and services - many of the volunteer tasks require very high skill levels.

Most volunteer work is being done virtually (this position is an excellent opportunity to telecommute), with no physical SCNA office at present. There are several monthly coordination meetings, usually in the Seattle area, for the different teams and committees, and a great deal of email and telephone communication.

We currently recruit volunteers with a volunteer signup form on our website, volunteer recruiting text at VolunteerMatch, SeattleWorks and Sound Opportunities, and through email to our mailing lists for currently active and "on-reserves" volunteers. We have a process for new volunteer orientation and assignment, as well as a vast list of ideas about what we wish we could do.

We expect that whomever takes this position will be supported by the 3 existing volunteers who've been working on the volunteer program, and will also be able to recruit more volunteer assistance as needed.

- Talk with existing volunteer team coordinators and committee chairs to determine specific volunteer needs throughout organization.

- Expand existing recruiting efforts, targeted for the specific volunteer skills needed.

- Help train SCNA leadership in areas of volunteer management and retention.

- Improve current intake process, with clearer task descriptions, better matching of volunteers to tasks and more follow through.

- Identify areas throughout the organization needing better volunteer support, and help suggest and implement improvements.

Accepting applications until position is filled.

"The Vera Project was started in large part because of the great Dutch band The Ex. ... at DV8 in Seattle. The Ex opened the show... I mentioned that I was going to study in a town called Groningen and they started to laugh and said, 'Groningen sucks, but they have one of the best clubs in Holland called Vera.'

"I went to Vera within a couple days after arriving in Groningen and quickly learned what The Ex were talking about. ... Peter Weening has been the 'Artistic Coordinator' at Vera for almost 20 years... He agreed to let me work some shows...

"I quickly learned that Vera was an amazing place with some of the nicest and most dedicated members (volunteers) that I had ever met. Vera's success as a 100 year old organization (30 years as a music venue) begins and ends with its volunteers who have both rights and responsibilities.

"They are responsible for creating a unique, comfortable, and professional atmosphere with admirable artistic integrity, as well as powerful voting rights that govern how the club will operate. The end result is a communal environment where people do great work that is globally respected.

"There are similar venues all over the U.S. and Europe, but what makes Vera unique is that it is publicly owned. I devoted my academic research to understand how two seemingly different cultures (sub and public) could work so well together. ... Shannon Stewart... was also spending a lot of time at Vera as well as researching the value of public art in communities.

"Coincidentally, Seattle's once lively music scene was dying as clubs such as the RKCNDY and the Velvet Elvis were being forced to shut down. ... After arriving home, three other people got involved and we started the Vera Project, which seeks to explore the benefits and challenges of a city-supported, all-ages music and arts venue [in Seattle].

"In the past, the Vera Project was primarily concerned with exploring the potential for a city sponsored venue. ... now we are using what we have learned to establish a very unique venue in Seattle. ... we are convinced that we can create a safe and vibrant community where creativity and responsibility go hand in hand."