Richard McIver

Richard McIver (June 14, 1941 – March 9, 2013) was a member of the Seattle City Council. He was selected from 114 applicants to fill a vacancy on the Council in January 1997, was elected to the position that fall, and was reelected in 2001 and 2005. As of October 2007 he was chair of the Finance & Budget and Budget Committees, vice-chair of the Economic Development & Neighborhoods Committee, and a member of the Housing, Human Services & Health Committee. In his 2001 campaign, he defeated music critic, monorail booster and author Grant Cogswell. In a film about that campaign, Grassroots, McIver was played by Cedric the Entertainer. McIver chaired the City Council's Housing & Economic Development Committee. He was vice-chair of the Environment, Emergency Management and Utilities Committee and was a member of the Transportation Committee. He was an alternate member of the Energy & Technology Committee. (From 2004 through 2007 he was the chair of the Council's Budget & Finance Committee.) McIver was strongly identified with Rainier Valley, one of Seattle's poorer neighborhoods. According to at least one obituary, his greatest achievement in office was the creation of a $50 million Rainier Valley Community Development Fund, and he was "deeply worried" about Link light rail impacting "immigrant- and minority-owned businesses along Rainier Avenue."