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In the past few years, we have seen a number of major projects that have changed the face of our city. We brought down the viaduct and reconnected our downtown to the waterfront and its heartbeat, the Puget Sound. We are redeveloping the arena at Seattle Center and bringing major league hockey back to Seattle. And now, we are reconnecting two communities in Northgate that have been divided by I-5 for nearly 60 years.
Earlier this week, I joined Councilmember Deborah Juarez, Seattle Department of Transportation Director Sam Zimbabwe and community leaders to break ground on the Northgate Pedestrian/Bike Bridge Project.
 North Seattle is changing and growing rapidly. This project will connect community amenities like North Seattle College on the west side of I-5 to transit, Northgate Mall, and the future National Hockey League Ice Centre ? and neighborhoods on both sides of I-5 to retail, medical, and social services.
The Northgate light rail station will be open before we know it and with it, a new option for the thousands of people who live in this area to get around. But with this transformational investment in light rail, we also know that additional investments will be required to help people make first and last mile connections.
 I want to thank all the community partners who have helped us make this project a reality, including Representatives Valdez and Pollet, and Senator Frockt, who along with bike and neighborhood advocates helped Seattle achieve this important milestone.
And thank you as well to Seattle voters who overwhelming approved funding for this project. These investments are a big part of making Seattle a safe, connected, and sustainable city.
I can?t wait for Seattle Promise students to get out of class, jump on their bike to get to the light rail, go to their internships, jump back on the light rail to head back up to Northgate and watch some hockey at the Ice Centre. That awesome future is not that far away.
As always, please continue to write me at?[email protected], reach out via?Twitter?and?Facebook, and stay up-to-date on the work we?re doing for the people of Seattle on?my?blog.
 
 Mayor Durkan joined downtown Seattle employees this week alongside Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best, City Attorney Pete Holmes, and Councilmember Andrew Lewis to discuss the City?s actions on public safety in the downtown core. A crowd of Amazon employees attended a listening session at the company?s Blue Shift building to ask questions and learn what Seattle Police and the City of Seattle are doing to keep them safe.
In addition to expanding the police presence downtown, Mayor Durkan and Chief Best have re-launched the Community Service Officer program to help residents and businesses involved in non-criminal calls navigate services, engage with communities and neighborhoods, and support programming for at-risk youth. SPD has also added a mobile precinct in the Pike/Pine corridor and is working to combat gun violence in communities throughout Seattle.
Mayor Durkan joined transportation leaders and community bike advocates this week to celebrate the completion of four downtown bike routes as part of the Center City Bike Network. Speaking alongside cycling advocates and community leaders, Mayor Durkan reinforced the City?s commitment to building a more connected city with safe, affordable, and reliable options for people walking, rolling, taking transit, and biking all across Seattle. Since Mayor Durkan has taken office, the City has completed 25.8 miles of bike routes.
Seattle has often been praised for being one of the best bike cities in America: Seattle has had the nation?s largest drop in drive-alone commuting since 2010, and has seen a 22% increase in number of people who bike to work since 2006. The completion of this most recent sections of the Center City Bike Network means that, for the first time ever, cyclists have a safe connection all the way from Chinatown/International District to South Lake Union and beyond.
Read more about the Center City Bike Network here.
 Seattle/King County Clinic, Feb. 13-16 at Seattle Center, is getting ready to open its doors to anyone in need of health care services. The Clinic is the largest event of its kind in the State of Washington. It offers a broad range of FREE dental, vision and medical care. Clinic patients are parents, children, elders, veterans, immigrants, refugees, people living homeless and, in large part, wage-earners who struggle with the high cost of living.
The four-day clinic, now in its sixth year, is produced by more than 100 health care organizations, civic agencies, nonprofits and private businesses. The undertaking brings together thousands of volunteers help people who routinely face barriers getting the care they need.
The Clinic makes use of several venues on the grounds of Seattle Center. Clinic patients start their day at Fisher Pavilion. Doors open at 12:30 a.m., and they may wait there for when free tickets are handed out starting at 5 a.m. Patients are assisted each day on a first-come, first-served basis. They may choose service in two of the three general service areas, and they are welcome to return on other days for additional care. All services and procedures are provided free of charge by licensed healthcare professionals. Interpretation services are available, and patients do not need to show identification or proof of immigration status.
Patients can receive a variety of services ranging from dental fillings and extractions, eye examinations, physicals, behavioral healthcare and social work to prescription eyeglasses, immunizations, laboratory tests, mammograms, ultrasounds and x-rays. In its first five years, the Clinic provided $17 million in direct services to 20,000 patients who came from over 260 unique zip codes and spoke more than 50 primary languages.
Find out more about Seattle/King County Clinic by visiting http://seattlecenter.org/skcclinic or by calling 206-684-7200.
 For this week?s edition of the weekend read, we encourage you to explore this story from KIRO7, which details the recent groundbreaking on the new Northgate pedestrian bridge. The story begins:
Officials marked the groundbreaking Wednesday of a massive, multimillion-dollar pedestrian bridge stretching over I-5 to connect Licton Springs to the Northgate area.
?We?re going to have great housing, great restaurants, (the) NHL facility,? Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said.
"It's great to be able to just cut across instead of having to go all the way around," North Seattle College student Zach Gadian said.
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