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Richard McIver City Council Records, 1996-2009

Overview of the Collection

Creator
McIver, Richard J.
Title
Richard McIver City Council Records
Dates
1996-2009 (inclusive)
Quantity
3,528 digital files, (446 mb)
18.4 cubic feet
Collection Number
4654
Summary
Records of Seattle City Council Member Richard McIver.
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
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Content Description

Record Group 4654 documents Richard McIver's tenure on the Seattle City Council and reflects his activities in various Council committees.

Records contained in Series I, Electronic Correspondence, include general correspondence from Councilmember Judy Nicastro and her Legislative Assistants. It includes series includes general correspondence from Councilmember Richard McIver and his Legislative Assistant Francis Youn.

Records contained in Series II,Subject Files, include correspondence, memoranda, reports, studies, and other materials reflecting McIver’s interests and work on City Council.

Records contained in Series III,Transportation Committee Records, include agendas, draft legislation, correspondence, reports, and staff notes relating to traffic and transportation issues referred to the Committee.

Records contained in Series IV,Housing, Human Services, and Community Development Committee Records, include agendas, draft legislation, correspondence, reports, and notes related to issues before the committee during McIver's tenure as chair.

Records contained in Series V, Finance and Budget Committee Records, Agendas, draft legislation, staff reports, studies, correspondence, and memoranda related to City finances and budget matters that came before the Committee during McIver's tenure as chair.

Records contained in Series VI, Housing and Economic Development Committee Records, include agendas, draft legislation, background information, and reports covering issues before the committee, including multi-family housing, Bush Hotel rehabilitation, Fort Lawton redevelopment plan, and condominium conversion, among others.

Records contained in Series VII, Video Collection, include related videos.

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Biographical Note

Richard McIver served 13 years on the Seattle City Council. He was appointed on January 27, 1997, by a vote of the City Council, to fill the seat vacated by John Manning who resigned after pleading guilty to domestic violence charges. McIver was to serve until the next scheduled election when candidates would run to fill out the final two years of Manning’s term. However, McIver chose to run for the seat being vacated by Cheryl Chow who was stepping down after serving two terms on Council.

McIver was elected to a full term at the November 1997 election and subsequently was reelected for two more terms. Although his 1997 election was a landslide victory, he faced stiff opposition in 2001 and 2005. In the former election he faced Grant Cogswell, the mercurial Monorail advocate. McIver won with just under 55 percent of the vote, an unusually narrow margin for a sitting Council member. In 2005, his opponent was State Democratic Party leader Dwight Pelz; this time McIver received 53.5 percent of the vote.

McIver, born in 1941, was a native of Seattle. He graduated from Garfield High School and attended Fairhaven College at Western Washington University where he received an interdisciplinary Bachelor’s degree in Community Development, including majors in Urban Planning and Finance. After college McIver served 16 years with the City of Seattle in the Office of Urban Renewal and the Department of Community Development. Following his tenure with the City, he worked in a variety of planning and community development organizations. Among those was the Washington DC consulting firm A.L. Nellum and Associates where he administered HUD-funded efforts related to economic development in 21 communities around the country. He also served a stint as development director for the Tacoma Housing Authority, and just before his appointment to City Council, McIver was the Executive Director of the Washington Association for Community Economic Development, a state-wide association committed to the revitalization of disadvantaged communities.

While serving on City Council, McIver chaired four committees, all of which covered areas of expertise that he had developed over a long career of public service. He chaired the Transportation Committee (1997-2001); Housing, Human Services and Community Development (2002-2003); Finance and Budget (2004-2007); and Housing and Community Development (2008-2009).

McIver was a powerful advocate for disadvantaged communities and underdeveloped neighborhoods. He was also an outspoken advocate for the City’s Race and Social Justice Initiative, which was created to combat institutional racism. He was fiscally conservative when it came to the City’s budget. As chair of the Budget Committee, he asked critical and sometimes acerbic questions about agency budget items.

McIver’s final term in office was beset with some personal problems and health issues that undoubtedly played a role in his decision not to run for another term.

After McIver left City Council, he became the executive director of the Rainier Valley Community Development Fund, an organization he helped establish in 2006. The Fund provides loans to small businesses and real estate developers in the Rainier Valley.

McIver’s health deteriorated in 2012 following a stroke and he died on March 9, 2013.

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Use of the Collection

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 7 series:

4654-01: Electronic Correspondence, 1999-2009

4654-02: Subject Files, 1996-2009

4654-03: Transportation Committee Records,1997-2001

4654-04: Housing, Human Services, and Community Development Committee Records, 2002-2003

4654-05: Finance and Budget Committee Records, 2004-2007

4654-06: Housing and Economic Development Committee Records, 2008-2009

4654-07: Video Collection, 1997-2000

Processing Note

According to legacy practice, 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

  • Community Development
  • Economic development--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Housing
  • Housing--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Landslides
  • Light Rail Transit
  • Social Services
  • Taxicabs
  • Traffic
  • Transportation Planning
  • Transportation--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Washington State Convention and Trade Center

Personal Names

  • McIver, Richard J.

Corporate Names

  • Ballard Terminal Railroad Company.
  • Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (Wash.).
  • Pacific Medical Center (Seattle, Wash.).
  • Seattle (Wash.). City Council.
  • Seattle (Wash.). City Council.
  • Seattle (Wash.). City Council. Finance and Budget Committee.
  • Seattle (Wash.). City Council. Housing and Economic Development Committee.
  • Seattle (Wash.). City Council. Transportation Committee.
  • Seattle Mariners (Baseball team).

Geographical Names

  • Ballard
  • Seattle
  • Seattle (Wash.)

Finding aid prepared by Seattle Municipal Archives. Revised by Sarah Shipley.
2015

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

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