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Judy Nicastro Records, 1993-2004

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Nicastro, Judy
Title
Judy Nicastro Records
Dates
1993-2004 (inclusive)
Quantity
15 cubic ft., (38 boxes)
2,944 digital files, (199 MB)
Collection Number
4661
Summary
Records of Seattle City Council Member Judy Nicastro, dating 1999-2003, including Subject Files and Land Use Committee Records. Of particular interest are records related to her work on the Housing and Land Use Committees. Also included are records documenting issues related to campaign finance contributions from an adult entertainment club whose land use application was before the City Council.
Repository
Seattle Municipal Archives
Seattle Municipal Archives
Office of the City Clerk
City of Seattle
PO Box 94728
98124-4728
Seattle, WA
Telephone: 2062337807
Fax: 2063869025
archives@seattle.gov
Access Restrictions

Records are open to the public.

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Biographical Note

Born into a working-class New Jersey home in 1966, Judy Nicastro learned the importance of political power first-hand when she and her mother suffered from funding cuts to widows' benefits in President Reagan's 1981 budget, an experience that helped shape her populist agenda as a Seattle Council Member in later years. Nicastro earned a law degree from the University of Washington in the 1990s, where she also served as Student Body President, before settling in Fremont and working for the Boeing Company as a buyer of 767 airplane parts.

In 1999, at a time of skyrocketing rent increases due to Seattle's booming economy, Nicastro won a Seattle City Council position on a renters' rights platform. This was an important issue to many Seattle residents at the time, fifty-two percent of whom were renters themselves. Nicastro served one term on City Council (1999-2003) and earned a reputation as a fiery character--outspoken, unpredictable, and brash--known for her off-the-cuff comments, verbal assaults on opponents, and continual sparring with Mayor Greg Nickels and labor union leaders. Criticized for her seemingly erratic voting record, she retorted: "I'm not a rubber stamp for anyone. I don't work for the mayor. I don't work for labor. I don't work for the affordable housing community. I work for the people." After initial doubts concerning her effectiveness, Council President Margaret Pageler praised Nicastro for her pragmatic rather than knee-jerk approach to politics, pointing out that she was "more interested in finding solutions than in being politically correct." While many cheered her actions as those of a working-class advocate for the rights of the underdog, others denounced her as a game player lacking seriousness of purpose.

During her time on the City Council, Nicastro chaired the Landlord/Tenant & Land Use Committee and served as vice-chair of the Committee of Culture, Arts & Parks as well as the Housing, Human Services & Community Development Committee. Through her committee work Nicastro helped to make changes which significantly increased Seattle renters' leverage in dealing with landlords. She sponsored a bill which strengthened landlord retaliation provisions in the Municipal Code--changing penalties from criminal to civil--and gave tenants the right to organize for the first time in Seattle history. She also pushed for Emergency Order Tenant Relocation Assistance and led the effort for an expanded rental assistance program, and she lowered parking requirements for affordable housing, making it cheaper for developers to build low-income housing. In 2002, Nicastro was the only Councilmember to oppose placing an $86 million Housing Levy on the ballot, explaining that it would provide too much money for home ownership programs rather than the people the "low income" levy was intended to help.

In addition to advocating for renters' protections and low income assistance, Nicastro became involved with small business incentives and local environmental and humanitarian affairs as well, supporting human services and homelessness funding and sponsoring and defending many issues involving civil rights, communities of color, women and domestic violence, fair labor practices, gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered interests, animal rights and off-leash areas, and public safety. As chair of the Land Use Committee, Nicastro was a consistent proponent of more compact urban development, especially in areas where rapid transit had been proposed.

In 2003 Nicastro was one of three council members investigated by the City Ethics and Elections Commission in the "Strippergate" scandal, accused of rezoning a Lake City strip club to allow for additional parking in exchange for campaign contributions from the Colacurcio family, who have alleged ties to Seattle's history of political corruption. The Commission investigation determined that Nicastro had accepted over $22,000 of campaign funding from Frank Colacurcio Jr. and other family members, which at least partially explains her defeat in an attempt at a second term in office.

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Content Description

Record Group 4661, comprising 15.8 cubic feet of textual and graphic records, documents Judy Nicastro's four-year tenure on the Seattle City Council and reflects her activities in various Council committees. The record group consists of three records series: I. Electronic Correspondenc, II.Subject Files and III. Land Use Committee Records.

Records contained in Series I include general correspondence from Councilmember Judy Nicastro and her Legislative Assistants.

Records contained in Series II are divided into two subseries (Interdepartmental & Intergovernmental Files and Issue Files), reflecting their original arrangement by Nicastro and her staff. Records are arranged alphabetically within each subseries according to broad functions and activities related to the work of the Legislative Department and to various Council Committees. The records date from the time of Nicastro's term in office (1999-2003). As with all Council Members' records, published documents have been removed to be cataloged and indexed in the Seattle Municipal Archives' Published Documents database.

Records in Series III, Landlord/Tenant & Land Use Committee Files, documents deliberations and recommendations of the Land Use Committee on legislative matters relating to landlord/tenant issues, urban design and land use issues, and quasi-judicial land use issues. These records are arranged chronologically.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

[Item and date], Judy Nicastro Records, Record Series 4661-[xx]. Box [number], Folder [number]. Seattle Municipal Archives.

Restrictions on Use

This material is available for use onsite in the SMA reading room.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Records are arranged in three series:

4661-01: Electronic Correspondence, 2003

4661-02: Subject Files, 1999-2003

4661-03: Landlord/Tenant and Land Use Committee Files, 1999-2003

Electronic Correspondence is arranged with the folder structure of his subseries is that of the original mailbox as it was preserved by Groupwise exported through Nexic Personal Publisher. Original subfolder names and order have been maintained reflect divisions by both date and subject. Subject Files are arranged in two subseries and are arranged alphabetically in each according to functions and activities. Landlord/Tenant and Land Use Committee Records are arranged chronologically.

Processing Note

According to legacy practice, electronic files were burned on a compact disc from network storage for transfer to archives. Disc images were then captured and files moved to network storage with regular fixity checks. CloneSpy was used to filter and log duplicate files. Duplicate files and non-record material were deleted. Spider2008 PII Scan and DtSearch were used to screen for personal and sensitive information. DROID was used to identify file formats, extract metadata, and facilitate processing decisions. ReNamer was used to remove and log problematic characters from file names. Files were then logged and transferred using Robocopy to preservation storage.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • City planning--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Civil rights--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Discrimination in housing--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Land use--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Low-income housing--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Monorails--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Neighborhood planning--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Parks--Lighting--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Political ethics--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Rental housing--Law and legislation--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • School crossing guards--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Women politicians--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Zoning--Washington (State)--Seattle

Personal Names

  • Nicastro, Judy

Corporate Names

  • Seattle Monorail Project
  • Seattle (Wash.). City Council

Family Names

  • Colacurcio Family

Geographical Names

  • Seattle (Wash.)--Politics and government
  • Seattle (Wash.)

Form or Genre Terms

  • Architectural drawings
  • Diagrams
  • Maps
  • Photographic prints
  • Renderings

Finding aid prepared by Seth Dalby. Revised by Sarah Shipley.
2004

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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