Nick Licata was elected to five terms on City Council, serving from 1998 to 2015. During his time in office, he chaired committees covering areas including parks, public safety, human services, and arts and culture. He served as Council President from 2006 to 2007. In his college years at Bowling Green State University, Licata was student body president and president of Students for a Democratic Society before earning a degree in political science in 1969. He then moved to Seattle to attend graduate school at the University of Washington, where he received a master's degree in sociology in 1973. Licata was a longtime activist in the community, helping to found the Coalition Against Redlining; Citizens for More Important Things, which campaigned against excessive public funding for sports stadiums, and Give Peace a Dance, a nuclear disarmament group. He was a founder of The Civic Foundation and the Friends of Westlake Park, and he was a member of the first board of directors for the Capitol Hill Housing Improvement Program. He worked as an insurance broker for 17 years prior to his election to City Council. In 2003, Licata published the children's book Princess Bianca and the Vandals, and in 2016 after leaving Council, he wrote Becoming a Citizen Activist. In 2012 The Nation named him the Progressive Municipal Official of the Year. He was the founding chair of the national municipal policy network Local Progress.
Record Group 4650 documents Nick Licata's tenure on the Seattle City Council. The records are comprised of thirteen series:
4650-01: Electronic Correspondence
4650-02: Subject Files
4650-03: Culture, Arts, and Parks Committee Records
4650-04: Newsletters
4650-05: Neighborhoods, Arts, and Civil Rights Committee Records
4650-06: Public Safety, Governmental Relations, and Arts Committee Records
4650-07: Special Committee on Pedestrian Safety Records
4650-08: Housing, Human Services, Health, and Culture Committee Records
4650-09: Culture, Civil Rights, Health and Personnel Committee Records
4650-10: Monorail Ad Hoc Committee Records
4650-11: Finance and Culture Committee Records
4650-12: Moving Image Collection
4650-13: Budget Committee Records
Descriptions of each series can be found below.
Records are open to the public.
[Item and date], Nick Licata Records, Record Group 4650-00. Series [number] Box [number], Folder [number]. Seattle Municipal Archives.
CloneSpy was used to filter and log duplicate files. Duplicate files and non-record material were deleted. CUSpider SSN Scanning and DtSearch were used to screen for personal and sensitive information. DROID was used to identify file formats, extract metadata, and facilitate processing decisions. Files were then logged and transferred using Robocopy to preservation storage.
Digital files have been combined into the pdf/a format for accessibility. Original functionality such as hyperlinks may not be available.
Electronic records are available for use onsite in the SMA reading room.
Email correspondence from City councilmember Nick Licata’s tenure as city councilmember. This series includes the councilmember's correspondence on many topics related to the committees Licata chaired covering parks, public safety, human services, and arts and culture. Constituent correspondence spans a wide range of subjects of concern to citizens, especially homeless encampments, sports arena proposals, the Woodland Park Zoo elephants, the minimum wage, public banking, and ride-share regulations.
Correspondence, memoranda, staff reports, and notes in electronic and paper format regarding issues of note during Licata's 18-year tenure on City Council. Primary issue areas include civil rights, parks and recreation, transportation, cultural events and resources, and social welfare concerns. Transportation-related topics in the records include the monorail, the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement, Sound Transit light rail planning, pedestrian safety, and streetcars. Other records in the series cover planning for the downtown library, the civic center campus, South Lake Union development, and sports stadiums. Major parks issues include Sand Point/Magnuson Park, the arboretum, Woodland Park Zoo, Discovery Park, Seattle Aquarium, and off-leash dog areas. The city's police reform efforts are addressed in detail within the records, as are marijuana legalization, affordable housing, homelessness, paid sick leave, and minimum wage legislation. Other topics covered include nightlife regulation, Pike Place Market, labor issues, the teen dance ordinance, City Light, and the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting and protests in Seattle.
Correspondence, draft legislation, reports, notes, and staff analysis related to issues and legislation discussed by the Culture, Arts, and Parks Committee during Licata's tenure as chair.
Newsletters created by Nick Licata to provide a forum for his opinions and as a means of disseminating information and public policy issues to his constituents. Subjects include all issues that come before the City Council with emphasis on Licata's special areas of interest including parks and recreation, cultural resources and activities, the arts, transportation, and social justice concerns. Includes both "Urban Politics" and "Nick's Notes."
Agendas, correspondence, reports, and draft legislation relating to the arts, human rights and discrimination, neighborhood improvement projects, housing, transportation, ethics and elections, and historic landmark preservation. Includes materials on the Seattle Monorail Project (Green Line) and the Downtown Hygiene and Day Center.
Agendas, correspondence, reports, and draft legislation relating to public safety, police accountability, the arts, and human rights and discrimination. In 2004 and 2005 the committee was known as the Public Safety, Civil Rights, and Arts Committee.
Agendas, reports, presentations, background materials, and staff notes relating to pedestrian safety issues referred to the Committee.
Correspondence, draft legislation, reports, notes, and staff analysis related to issues and legislation discussed by the committee during Licata's tenure as chair. Topics discussed included biosafety, civil warrants, foreclosure prevention, homelessness, low-income and senior housing, immigrants and refugees, the Indian Services Board, medical marijuana, music commission, rental properties, prostitution, wage and labor regulations, Yesler Terrace, and the funding and development of housing, health, and community programs.
Agendas, correspondence, reports, and draft legislation related to topics before the committee during Licata's tenure as chair, including HIV prevention, arts education, cultural overlay districts, and social justice issues.
Ad Hoc Committee chaired by Councilmember Licata to discuss issues related to the Seattle Monorail Project. Committee met in 2002 prior to meeting of Committee of the Whole (COW) in 2002. Includes informational binder about project proposals.
See also Committee of the Whole Briefing Notebooks (4600-12) for 2002 Monorail COW meetings.
Committee meeting records maintained by Nick Licata's office. These records include materials on city finances such as budget appropriations, surplus property, real property, and public banking. Records also address wage and labor standards, marijuana business regulations, and for-hire vehicles and taxis. Committee records contain poetry and materials on Arts District(s) planning, zoning cultural buildings, and LPAT (Landmark Performing Arts Theater). Series includes records from a joint meeting with the Housing Affordability, Human Services and Economic Resiliency Committee.
Moving images, both analog and digital collected by Councilmember Licata's office. Included are Words' Worth Poetry Readings, recordings about the Poet Populist program and recordings related to his City Council committees. See moving image database for itemized listing. Copies of poems can be found in Councilmember Licata's harvested website on Archive-It: https://www.archive-it.org/collections/3241?q=words+worth+scott&page=1&show=ArchivedPages
Committee records maintained by Licata documenting the budget development process in 2014 and 2015. Records include presentations and public comments. 2014 records are electronic and 2015 records are paper.