Nearly 900 of you watched Seattle Speaks about marijuana policy live online last night. 120 of you were there in person at Town Hall. And over 400 emailed, commented or participated in online polls before and during the show. Did you tune in? If not - never fear - it's not too late to learn more, connect and take action on this issue!

Follow this link to watch the show:
http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=3381001

moderator C.R. Douglas kicks off the show.

Learn more, connect and take action*:
ACLU of Washington | www.aclu-wa.org
Casey Family Program | www.casey.org
Cannabis Defense Coalition | www.cdc.coop
The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation | www.thc-foundation.com/Washington
King County Bar Association Drug Policy Project | www.kcba.org/druglaw
LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) | www.leap.cc
The Matt Talbot New Hope Recovery Center | www.mtcenter.org
NORML | www.norml.org
Ryan’s Solution Foundation | www.ryanssolution.com
SAMA (Science and Management of Addictions) Foundation | www.samafoundation.org
Seattle Hempfest | www.hempfest.org
Sensible Washington I-1068 | www.sensiblewashington.org
Southwest Youth and Family Services | www.swyfs.org
Washington State Department of Health | www.doh.wa.gov/hsqa/medical-marijuana/
YMCA of Greater Seattle | www.seattleymca.org

*This listing is not exhaustive. We encourage you to get involved and learn more.

What do you think?

Tracking audience opinion during the show.

Do you favor the legalization of marijuana in Washington for adults? Do you think it's addictive? Are there other concerns or benefits we should know about? Do you know of resources we haven't listed above that others might find helpful?

This banner is bigger, and it is better! Additionally, it's twice as colorful. Check it out in this CityClub Family Photo! (Taken with a timer set on a camera propped on a chair, just like a real family photo!)

End of year announcement! CityClub's office will be closed for the holidays starting Thursday, December 24. We'll re-open on Monday, January 4 - just in time to turn right around and host Legislative Preview!

Thankfully, our website is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - so you can register for our events at your leisure, at 11 p.m. on New Year's Eve if you want!




P.S. Did you know we lit a holiday tree?

We wanted to point your browsers over to our friends at The Seattle Channel - where Mayor Nickels and C.R. Douglas filmed the Mayor's final episode of Ask the Mayor.

From the program description: "Find out what the Mayor's plans are once he leaves office, what his biggest accomplishments are and what he believes are his biggest regrets. Plus find out how he'll work with Mayor-elect Mike McGinn as he begins his new job as Mayor of Seattle. Those topics and more including, SR 520 plans, Viaduct latest and the City budget are all discussed on this episode of Ask The Mayor."

Well, I have to say, sometimes it's hard not knowing much about sports - especially when the first Year in Review prediction to come true is very much about sports!


On Friday at our Year in Review program, Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna predicted that UW football player Jake Locker would return for his senior year with the Huskies. In that moment, I had the opportunity to put that prediction out on our Twitter stream - which would enable me, now, to point that stream and say "You heard it here first, folks!" Instead, I tweeted this: "McKenna - by the latter part of 2010 we'll see actual economy growth, and something about sports? (Sorry, I know nothing about sports!)"

Ouch! Today, The Seattle Times reports it's true.

Technically, if you were at Year in Review or have seen the video, you did still hear it here first. With no help from our Twitter feed, alas! (Now, if that prediction has been about the Rat City Rollergirls, then we would have been in business!)

Stay tuned for more possible prediction fulfillment as 2010 progresses. In the meantime, we'll have video and more photos from Year in Review up soon!

- Sara @ CityClub

It may be hard to think about 2010 when you're so excited about relaxing at the end of 2009, but the show goes on here at CityClub! In January we'll be taking on the nation's economic and business climate with two men who are incredibly qualified to tackle the subject. Are we on the way to recovery, and is it sustainable? Save the date: January 15! No idea who David Tang and Blake Nordstrom are? Never fear - check out these bios.


DAVID TANG

Mr. Tang is the Managing Partner, Asia for K&L Gates and his law practice concentrates in the areas of foreign investment, cross-border financings, mergers and acquisitions, real property related transactions.  He has more than 25 years of transactional experience in the Greater China market.  Mr. Tang was managing partner of Preston Gates&Ellis LLP from 1995-1999.  He is based in the Seattle and Beijing offices and speaks Chinese.  Mr. Tang is a member of American Law Institute and included in Best Lawyers and International Who's Who of Business Lawyers.  He served on the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco from 2002 - 2008 and as its Chair from 2006 - 2008.



BLAKE NORDSTROM

As president of Nordstrom, Inc., Blake Nordstrom has an extensive background in merchandising and company operations. The company’s Board of Directors appointed Blake president in August 2000. Blake is also a Director on the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

A fourth generation family member, Blake began his career at an early age working in the stockroom of the downtown Seattle store. After managing Nordstrom Hillsdale in San Mateo, Calif. in 1989, and then the downtown Seattle store in 1990, Blake was appointed vice president and general manager of the Washington and Alaska region in 1991. He was named co-president in 1995 with responsibilities including operations, the Shoe division and Nordstrom Rack. Later he also took on the role to support the Credit division. In 2000, Blake assumed the position of president for the Nordstrom Rack group, supporting all aspects of store operations, expansion and marketing prior to becoming president of Nordstrom, Inc. in August 2000.

Raise your hand if you're in the office today! The workforce here is small but mighty. Our office will be closed the rest of the week for Thanksgiving (back on Monday, November 30) but before we take off, I wanted to make sure to share a few little nuggets of information:

• Seattle Speaks! The Seattle Channel has launched a great website as follow-up to the Youth Violence program CityClub, Seattle Channel and Town Hall hosted on November 10. The website includes information about the show, a little background on the youth violence issue, poll results (collected both before and during the program), comments sent to Seattle Channel as the program was airing live, and links to learn more and get involved. Click here to check it out!  Also, video is now available online as well! To skip straight to that, click here.

• 2010 Jefferson Awards! It's full steam ahead for CityClub on this front, and we're working hard, alongside new media partner KING 5, to bring it together! Nominations for the 2010 Washington State Jefferson Awards will be opened in January 2010 on KING5’s Evening Magazine, Northwest Cable News, KING5.com and SeattleCityClub.org. Nominations are open to everyone in our state. So take a look around at the inspiring, involved people in your neighborhoods and consider nominating them for the Jefferson Awards. Our community is full of everyday heroes! (Never heard of the awards? Not sure how to nominate? Until we're ready to launch online, you can find information on JeffersonAwards.org.

We're looking forward to finishing off the year at our annual Year in Review program -- but first, we're looking forward to a four day weekend. Everyone have a great holiday!

Question seven! We managed to squeeze a lot of questions and a lot of discussion into our 90 minute "Seattle Speaks: Youth Violence" program with Seattle Channel on Tuesday night - but we missed question seven.

Now, we need you to weigh in. What new  voice could add the most to this conversation? Answer now!

Although streaming video is not yet available for this program, here are the upcoming air dates and times for the program on Seattle Channel Cable 21: