Dow Constantine had the Best Year of Any Local Politician

There have been a few "Year in Review", or "2011 Predictions" made in the local media that curiously show Dow Constantine's picture and then their story runs off to the Seattle mayor and other local issues (yes, the mayor is treated as an issue).

I suppose it is implied that the King County Executive had a good year while some of the stories rehash the City of Seattle Executive's public conflicts. I know that it is not an exciting story, having to ask all of your county employees to give up pay to help balance the county budget.
It isn't as exciting as, say, having the new mayor grilled by the city council (so, no follow-up meeting?)

Well, the list of accomplishments is worth repeating linked here, listed below.

Full funding for the long-awaited replacement of the South Park Bridge, in collaboration with federal, state and local leaders.
Federal funding for long-term interim repair of the ailing Howard Hanson Dam to reduce the flood risk in the Green River Valley, in collaboration with federal, state and local leaders.
A regional partnership with cities on a new model for animal services.
A regional partnership with cities on jail planning, to avoid unnecessary construction of new city jails.
A consensus with regional leaders on reforms in theprovision of Metro bus service.
The purchase of 250 acres of Maury Island, including a mile of shoreline, that completes the Executive's 12-year effort to preserve the longest remaining undeveloped Puget Sound shoreline in King County.
Completion and adoption of the first-ever countywide strategic plan.
Completion of the first phase of an upgrade to the County's human resources business processes, replacing manual practices from the 1970's with more efficient automated workflows that provide critical access to real-time data.
Creation of a new County energy policy to achieve even greater energy efficiency, reduce operational costs, and curtail greenhouse gas emissions.
Reform of DDES permitting to a fixed fee model rather than hourly rates, and creation of a customer service unit for rural owners.
Adoption of a new King County budget, one week ahead of schedule, achieved several of the Executive's goals by:
Consolidating his effort to put County government back on sound financial footing by creating annual efficiencies of three percent, leading to budgets that will be sustainable over time,
Sticking to his principle of maintaining reserves without resorting to one-time gimmicks,
Working with more than 90-percent of the County's employees to preserve services to the public by forgoing a cost-of-living adjustment for next year, and
Preserving the principle of restoring services, to the extent possible, in those areas where employees have sacrificed their COLA.

The county is bleeding money, fact.
Without major changes in local tax structure the county, including Metro bus service, will see major cuts in every budget going foreword, fact.
The state legislature has resisted action to help the county because of the many budget problems the county has failed to begin to address in the past, fact.
This year the county pulled together to seriously begin to address major budget issues, including demonstrating leadership by example (except the King County Sheriff Deputies, and their shameless County Council weasel Reagan Dunn), fact.

So, with that I will state, Dow Constantine had the Best Year of Any Local Politician

Predictions for 2011, the Year of the Hollow Victory

Last year my predictions revolved around Seattle's new mayor, Mike McGinn. McGinn was the outsider urban density lobbyist change agent (not much really changed).

It can be difficult to predict likely outcomes of a strong willed individual transitioning from random populist ideas to the cold reality of having to be the mayor of an entire city. As entertaining as it was, the world and my 2011 predictions will not revolve around the Mayor (you're welcome).
Feel free to review my 2010 Predictions.

2011 will be the Year of the Hollow Victory

I'll work my way from the outside in to Seattle.

1.a. Congressional Republicans will back their way into championing a Public Option and Universal Healthcare, thinking Medicare will become privatized at the state level.
1.b. Congressional Democrats will champion state's rights.

2. King County will represent those that "have" in Olympia, and they will gain control of what the state will stop doing. Yes, this is the year an arts bill passes in Olympia.
The state will stop spending $6 million dollars a year on arts programs, passing the responsibility to counties.
The Washington State Legislators will get out of the business of "One Washington" politics, where everyone either gets or is denied what somebody else in the state either gets or is denied. You don't want to be taxed so you don't want the mean old state to force services on you, good luck to the "red" counties. (not really a prediction, but a point of fact).

3. The state will take all municipalities "off the hook" for paying for state roads.
Mike McGinn gets his way, sort of.

4. The deep bore tunnel starts, Mike McGinn supporters go looking for a new mayoral candidate.

5. The state will grant counties the power and authority to raise taxes to pay for transit by popular vote, adding an increase to the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax limit counties and cities can have.

6. Seattle will lead the vote on increased MVET taxes in King County.

7. I predict a more practical challenge for one of 5 Seattle City Council seats will be from somebody not so identified with the tunnel, will have name recognition, and champion the lessor Seattle themes and memes. It looks like tunnel opposition, without the stink of losing that argument.

8. Bellevue will reveal a major public works proposal for a regional center, with a public/private proposal that only missing one thing, public money.

9. King County will revisit the plans for the expansion of the Washington State Convention Center (now a Public Facilities District), with a public/private proposal that is only missing one thing, the private business.

10. Seattle Center's Key Arena will become the worlds largest planter, much like people sometimes do with old boots, or toilets, as they prepare to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the World's Fair with a ferris wheel and urban blight.

11. Oil prices will rise (not that kind of oil). This will be a record harvest for Washington State high quality mint oil.

12. The redistricting will split the 8th Congressional District, causing a major shift in King County Democrats from Olympia Washington to Washington D.C.

As gasoline use drops, so does state revenue | Seattle Times Newspaper

Better gas milage = less gas tax, because less gas is purchased, so there is less tax... Surprise!

The trend toward lower gasoline consumption is like a flashing yellow light in the new 20-year plan from the Washington Transportation Commission.

To improve or even maintain mobility in the state, the commission is recommending new ways to raise money beyond the gas tax: wider use of toll charges, a new vehicle excise tax, local tax options and a tax on alternative- fuel vehicles.
. . .
As gasoline use drops, so does state revenue, Seattle Times Newspaper

Rep. Ross Hunter named chairman of House Ways and Means Committee | Seattle Times Newspaper

Congratulations to Ross Hunter.

State Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, is the new chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. He replaces Rep. Kelli Linville, D-Bellingham, who lost to a Republican challenger in the November election.

The House Ways and Means chair is one of the most powerful jobs in the state Legislature, serving as one of the lead architects of the state budget. Hunter, in a way, gets to keep his old job as chairman of the House Finance Committee as well. That panel was eliminated and absorbed into Ways and Means.

Hunter's counterpart in the Senate is Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, chairman of that chamber's Ways and Means Committee. Both men will play key roles in figuring out a way to close a projected $4.6 billion shortfall in the next two-year budget. The Legislature will meet in January to start working on closing that gap.

You can see all the committee assignments here.

Politics Northwest | Rep. Ross Hunter named chairman of House Ways and Means Committee | Seattle Times Newspaper

Ways & Means
Rep. Ross Hunter (Medina) - Chair
Darneille - Vice Chair, Appropriations
Hasegawa - Vice Chair, Finance
Carlyle
Cody
Dickerson
Haigh
Hudgins
Hunt
Kagi
Kenney
Ormsby
Pettigrew
Seaquist
Springer
Sullivan

All of the Democratic committee members of the Washington State House Ways & Means Committee voted in favor of House Bill 2912 last year, a bill that would redirect control of King County lodging taxes from the state to the control of King County, for use in arts, heritage, youth athletics, regional centers, arts centers.
Hopefully a similar bill is introduced this 2011 Session.
Who is the chairman of the Senate Ways & Means Committee? Ed Murray.
I think our questions will eventually revolve around floor votes in the House and Senate.

America's thirst for gasoline is dropping for the long haul | Seattle Times Newspaper

Less gas consumption, less gass tax, less revenue to maintain our roads. The first Nissan Leaf was delivered to a driver in Seattle last Friday.
Expect tolling, and MVET taxes to make up some of the difference, which can compete with mass transit revenue sources.

Nation & World | America's thirst for gasoline is dropping for the long haul | Seattle Times Newspaper

Debaters find little agreement on Hwy. 99 tunnel plan | Seattle Times Newspaper

This is the most accurate and concise news report the political conflict over the Deep Bore Tunnel replacement for the Alaska Way Viaduct, that is part of Washington State Highway system.

Politics | Debaters find little agreement on Hwy. 99 tunnel plan | Seattle Times Newspaper

Seattle Times: State lawmakers skip drama, cut budget by millions

In a rare one day Special Session the Washington State Legislature met on Saturday to cut the budget.
The State Senate did meet on the floor, suspended rules intended to slow things down, referred the bills to the Ways & Means Committee for brief public testimony, and executive session to vote on passing the bills back out of committee. The House did the same, strangely quick. outgoing House Ways & Means Chair Kelli Linville remarked during the testimony in committee that it was going so quickly. She looked around the committee meeting room after the speakers that had signed up had already spoken to see if there was anybody else that wanted to testify. A few lobbyists went on record, almost apologetically, pointing out that we all know where we are and what is happening.
Quick and painful.

As the 4Culture, Arts and Heritage, as well as others that are wanting the King County hotel taxes to be given to the county, and the county and city governments go ask for more taxing authority for transportation, be sensitive to the situation many small communities find themselves in.

Below is a summary of what was cut, expect more when the legislature begins the 2011 session on January 10th.

State budget cuts

State budget cuts approved by the Legislature on Saturday include:
$50 million from public schools, including the elimination of funding to keep class sizes smaller in K-4 classrooms.

$51 million from higher education, including $11.4 million from the University of Washington, $7.5 million from Washington State University, $2 million from Western Washington University and $26.4 million from community and technical colleges.

$12.3 million from Disability Lifeline, a program that provides cash payments to the disabled poor. Monthly payments will drop from $339 to $258.

$27.7 million by reducing enrollment in the Basic Health Plan, a subsidized insurance program for the working poor. The state won't fill slots as they come open.

$48.4 million from the Department of Corrections, including the closure of the McNeil Island Corrections Center.

Reducing payments to health-care centers that receive federal money.

Reducing emergency payments to families in need but not on welfare. One-time payments will drop from $1,250 to $1,000.

Eliminating nonemergency adult dental care for the poor.

$13.8 million by extending last year's furloughs for state employees to include all Department of Social and Health Services employees, and requiring them to take two additional furlough days.

$17 million from natural-resources programs, including $5.8 million from the Department of Ecology.

A 6.2 percent across-the-board reduction in the governor's office, the budget office, the Legislature, the judiciary and the offices of separately elected statewide officials.

Source: Washington State Senate Democrats,

Washington State Legislature
Local News | State lawmakers skip drama, cut budget by millions | Seattle Times Newspaper

Washington State Legislature Special Session is Saturday, 9am (aka, One Day Sale)

This Saturday the Washngton State Kegislature will stop their ongoing regular meetings in order to have a Spevial Session.
That's right, the legislature is in Olympia to have regularly scheduled committee meetings during the week, but on Saturday there is a one day fire sale of state programs in order to chop almost a billion dollars out of the current state budget that runs through June 2911. The budget that starts in July 2011 will also need significant cuts in order to have a balanced budget through June 2013.

What is cut on Saturday will set the stage for what stays cut, and what else is cut. The state will stop doing all kinds of things that counties can not afford to pick up, and large cities are just now figuring out is not there anymore.

I wish you all the best of luck.

sportspressnw.com | Local Sports, Local Writers

About a eighteen months ago I had a chat with Art Thiel. Our discussion was about the end of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. On that day, June 1, 2009, Publicola.net announced that its online political newsy publication had secured financial backing. Mr. Thiel told me about his idea to try an online sports publication.
Here is a bit of that 2009 conversation:

Mike: At the same time, if you step away from here, and create your own, you are then competing with the PI or Hearst as an online entity, if you go that direction. So, people choosing to go that direction, it seems to me, that they, were, were people breaking into specialty subjects, or how did that come about?

Art: There was nothing that organized. It was just everybody who just thought that they had a talent or a skill who wanted to try to pursue it, who were looking at options. But, I mean, there’s maybe a collection of 15 to 20 people contributing to Seattle Post-Globe, which is the biggest group. But there is another group just started, just today, called investigate west (www.invw.org launches July 8th), which is lead by assistant metro editor Rita Hibbard and has several people who made their living investigative reporting, are together, for a website, that they hope will be sponsored. And, I think they had affiliation with University of Washington grant money that will help sustain them for a while. That’s another experiment. I’m working on a website with my colleague Steve Rudman that will off sports commentary, per haps, on a subscription basis (www.nwsportspress.com).
So, everybody’s got a different agenda, and a different timeline. And, obviously, it varies with urgency, a lot of people with younger kids are saying I’ll take any job I can get; PR, or construction.

Mike: But that’s not your position, that’s not where you’re at?

Art: Right, I want to continue in journalism, and I want to continue with this website. And the PI, also, Hearst did not fully commit to the electronic version until early in March. So, we didn’t know if they were going to pull this trigger, and they finally did. And they belatedly, at the end of that period, said ok, “you, you, you, and you”, and these steps [gestures] go up to the second floor where they were meeting everyone and making their proposals. And so, it was a very strange period there in mid-March where the phone would ring, and somebody would say, “come up stairs to the meeting room”. So, you’d watch who would go up the stairs to see who got the job, or, they came back down and said “no”, ‘cause some people did turn it down.

I did not follow-up and post the rest of our conversation, and at some point it migrated to the back burner.

It is good to see this come to life. It reminds me of what I haven't done, and what a benefit it is to have more voices in the local sports media.

Here is is, SportsPressNW.com | Local Sports, Local Writers

Home
About Sportspress Northwest

From Art Thiel and Steve Rudman, co-founders:

The coin of the realm, we are told regarding online content, is traffic. And traffic, it is said, travels best on the big, lower road.

So if success is sought, we are informed, we will pursue stories such as this:

WOODS, PALIN DENY BALLOON BOY IS THEIR LOVE CHILD; OCTOMOM SAYS, ‘HE’S MINE!’

Nah.

Welcome to Sportspress Northwest, where insight is our focus and content is king.

That’s not to say we aren’t having fun. But we’ve chosen the highway.

We’re covering Northwest sports with local writers, videographers and photographers who enjoy journalism’s standards, technology’s opportunities and users’ passion. We enjoy good writing and clear thinking. We like to look ahead, and look back, to get a clue about where we are today.

The media biz is in tumult, but that doesn’t mean there’s been much change in sports fans’ desires to be well-informed, amused, provoked and inspired.

We co-founded Sportspress Northwest Inc., and assembled a staff of savvy, credentialed journalists, in the belief that there are decent livings to be made on the web providing quality commentary, reporting and research for a large, local market of sports passionates. Yes, it’s a niche appeal, but with more than 50 years of combined journalism experience between us, we know this place has the capital, advertisers, sponsors and consumers to help experienced local journalists sustain a new effort at entrepreneurial journalism for a popular subject.

So we’re taking a little risk — free, fresh, familiar and, we hope, fun for Seattle and the Northwest.

Twenty-one months after the demise of the print paper where we worked, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, we start again with contemporary commentary, news, biography and history on platforms of audio and video as well as text and photos, using an able stable of pros who provide original reporting with minimal aggregation of content from other sources.

At the beginning, Sportspress Northwest is devoted to the how and why, not the what, of our five most popular teams –- Seahawks, Sounders, Mariners and University of Washington football and basketball.

Our main home-page feature, Pressing the Point, contains a rotation of our best stuff – columns, analyses and major features on events, issues, personalities and trends. Next door is Daily Beat, stories about the most significant developments on the teams in their seasons.

The primary navigation bar provides drop-down menus for each team that contain the most comprehensive seasonal information found under a single click in any local medium.

Under Rosters, you will find biographies of every current major league player in town. Read up on the playing histories of Ichiro, Jake Locker and Matt Hasselbeck, and you will win so many bets you will face the threat of banishment from the bar.

So too with Timelines, which chronicle all the teams’ non-game developments. Nowhere else will you find all 250-plus transactions the Seahawks have made since Pete Carroll became coach.

The bottom half of the home page is The Field of Play, where a collection of wry, informed takes, especially including the Exit 164 column by Seth Kolloen, will provide you the edge in every sports conversation.

Because our emphasis in Pressing the Point is on the how and why, game stories are secondary – most fans these days know outcomes instantly. But an account of every game in 2010 is available under Recaps, so you can grasp the sweep of a season and find key trends, moments and records in a single file.

Now and in the coming months we will roll out The Vault, the most comprehensive almanac and reference work ever assembled for a local market. It will be part of a collection of new, premium features that will include a modest annual membership in the Sportspress Northwest community.

With success, we will expand coverage to more sports – Storm, Seattle U. and Gonzaga basketball, Washington State University sports, preps, horse racing, motor sports, etc. Much of our faith in success rests with you, the discerning fans of sports and our region who have followed our previous work. Joining our new conversation here, through site visits and sharing via social media, will help us connect our sports community locally and around the globe.

We are at the beginning, far from complete. Free of the costs of print, helped by the availability of local media vets and new aces from blogosphere, and inspired by people willing to invest in the aspiration to quality journalism, Sportspress Northwest will grow and flourish — with your help.

New day. Pro standards. Cool tools.

Welcome.

Art Thiel

Awesome!

I just get this feeling that something is missing, but not ever forgotten.

Sodo site selected for homeless is found to be contaminated | Seattle Times Newspaper

Seatlle Mayor Mike McGinn sure did mess this up. He offered his solution without understanding the situation. He can't lay this on the city council, or opponents of contaminated sites.

Mayor Mike McGinn chose the site this month without knowing it was contaminated, even though a city consultant reported those findings more than a year ago.
Sodo site selected for homeless is found to be contaminated, Seattle Times Newspaper

Two things need to be understood here: how will we clean up this site; where will the encampment go now?

Nissan Leaf runs equivalent of 99 miles per gallon | Seattle Times Newspaper

That's a "gallon" of electrons.

The Nissan Leaf, an electric car aimed at attracting environmentally conscious motorists, will get the equivalent of 99 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving, based on government testing.

Nissan Motor Corp. said Monday the Environmental Protection Agency's fuel efficiency window sticker, which provides information about the car's energy use, would estimate the electric car will achieve the equivalent of 106 mpg in city driving and 92 mpg on the highway.

EPA's tests estimate the Leaf can travel 73 miles on a fully charged battery and will cost $561 a year in electricity. Nissan has said the Leaf can travel 100 miles on a full charge, based on tests used by California regulators.

Nissan and General Motors Co. are both releasing electric cars within weeks in the auto industry's most prominent attempt at mass-producing vehicles that shift away from petroleum. The Leaf does not have a gas engine and must be recharged once its battery is depleted.

Business & Technology | Nissan Leaf runs equivalent of 99 miles per gallon
| Seattle Times Newspaper

Click the link and read about the Chevy Volt, a electric-gas hybrid.

Welcome to the future.

My first Xtranormal video, Furry Costume

If you do not have flash, then watch the iPhone version of the movie, Furry Costume, here.

New leadership Recommendations, Ed Murray as Senate Ways & Means Committee Chairman | Seattle Times Newspaper

Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown says Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, has been recommended by the caucus Committee on Committees to become chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, one of the most powerful jobs in the Legislature.

The full caucus will take up the recommendation in December. If approved, Murray would replace to Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton, who is in line to become the president pro tempore of the Senate.

Politics Northwest | New leadership for several state Senate committees | Seattle Times Newspaper

This is good news for Seattle, and King County.

I am going to repeat this from the prior post (again):
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

Seattle Times: State budget likely to go from bad to much worse

"Should we get out of the business of those things that we never heard a word in four public meetings or on a website with thousands of hits?" she asked. "Should we be funding it?"

When asked for an example, Gregoire said, "As hard-hitting as this may sound to people I very much respect, we heard nothing about the arts. If you put that into print I bet I'll hear something."

State Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, isn't sold on the idea of cuts to the arts. "One of the things we know is the arts is a major jobs generator," he said. "There are 8,000 related art jobs in my legislative district alone. We have to be careful, if we're going to cut programs, that we don't create the anti-stimulus budget."

The state spends about $6 million every two years on the arts. While that might not sound like much money compared with the overall state budget, "We can't afford anything right now," Gregoire said. "Every time I get a call, I get 'Well, it will only cost X.' It's every call. I get this from legislators. I tell every single one of them ... I don't have X."

Local News | State budget likely to go from bad to much worse | Seattle Times Newspaper

Ed Murray is right, our economy in THIS area depends on arts funding. It also depends on Safeco Field being able to keep its parking fee as a means to fund capital maintenance. It also depends on a great variety of arts and entertainment to attract tourists, business, and in turn increase tax revenues, that in turn increase the general fund.
These "tourist taxes" are set to start expiring next year if the state does not take any action. To keep the taxes going takes a majority vote in the state legislation. Attempting to recreate these taxes later would take a 2/3 majority vote in the state legislature. Quite frankly, if the rest of the state does not see our business directly benefitting them then they are not likely going to be interested in supporting it on a purely ideological way.

Seattle Times: Bellevue budget shortfall amid Bel-Red revamp

Bellevue and the Bel-Red development slows its pace to match the reality of the economy.

An ambitious plan to turn Bellevue's Bel-Red neighborhood into a bustling, urban center with a downtown Kirkland-style heart has run into an obstacle — a $100 million shortfall in the city's capital budget. . . .

The current budget proposal from City Manager Steve Sarkozy includes work on roads critical to Bel-Red, such as $32 million in design work for the future Northeast 15th Street, but excludes more peripheral projects, like the $2 million expansion of Northeast Second Street, which would help funnel traffic out of downtown.

The city must keep moving quickly enough to keep the confidence of investors like Wright Runstad, which has partnered with the city for the Bel-Red neighborhood. The Seattle developer bought the 16-block swath once occupied by Safeway's distribution center.

The city's ambitions for the area center on Wright Runstad's plans to build more than 3 million square feet of office space, 1,000 residences and parks in a style similar to Kirkland's downtown and roughly as big as Seattle's Pioneer Square. Sound Transit also is planning a light-rail station on the site.

Greg Johnson, president of Wright Runstad, said the company sees recovery in the apartment market and is moving forward with planning and development for multifamily buildings on the site, with the goal of having buildings open by 2013 or 2014, he said.

"There couldn't be a better time to do public-private [projects] because of the bidding environment," he said.

The city has committed to design work for Bel-Red and has tried to position itself for some projects for federal grants, both of which are important, Johnson said.

Bellevue has a reputation as forward-thinking and reliable when it comes to making public policy.

"We don't want them to slow down any more than they have," Johnson said. "They're debating whether they want to keep pace on projects or shift priorities. We're advocating keep the same priorities and at least commit projects to keep pace on design."
Bellevue budget shortfall amid Bel-Red revamp, Seattle Times Newspaper

Seattle Times Columnist Danny Westneat: Husky fan questions UW's 'Qwest' for a new $250 million stadium

Let's follow the self-serving argument by Mick McHugh for just a second, and see what kind of tool for that business owner Danny Westneat is.

Why in the world is the University of Washington about to spend $250 million for a new football stadium?

"I'm here looking out at this $500 million football stadium, that we've already built, and which sits empty most of the time," McHugh said the other day. "Can't we think about all this a little differently?"

McHugh was at the helm of his Pioneer Square bar, F.X. McRory's. It's across the street from the Seahawks' football palace, Qwest Field.

For the past year, McHugh has been buttonholing anyone who comes by about his idea to have the Huskies play all their home games at Qwest.
. . .
"The UW is raising tuition, they're restricting local enrollment, they're closing themselves off from the community," McHugh says. "What if they took that $250 million for the stadium and used it for scholarships instead?"
Danny Westneat | Husky fan questions UW's 'Qwest' for a new $250 million stadium | Seattle Times Newspaper

Gosh Danny, I have no idea why a guy that owns a business across the street from Qwest Field is using you to lobby for more business at Qwest Field across the street from his business.

It's the money, stupid. You play in Qwest Field owned by a Public Facilities District then they get the revenue, at least some of it. You play in Husky Stadium the Husky Stadium gets the revenue, all of it.

Hey, maybe Westneat can go ask the owner of the Ram Restaurant at University Village if moving the football games away from his business to a good idea.

What Danny Westneat failed to do is gather facts before writing his column. He is clearly unaware that Husky Football pays for itself and covers the cost, and scholarships, in many other sports. This is nit an "either, or" proposition; either we fund academics or we fund athletics. The funding for academics comes from the State of Washington and tuition. The funding for the stadium remodel is coming from stadium revenues and private donations. Many of those private donors already give to the University of Washington as much as they are choosing.
It is their money, not yours.

“SUPERSONICSOUL: Home Teams and Heartache.”

Seattle Times Newspaper, National Politics: Bachmann bid for GOP leadership gets cool reaction

Self-proclaimed tea party leader Michele Bachmann's bid for a top Republican post in the House received a cool reaction Thursday from Speaker-to-be John Boehner, an early test of how GOP leaders will treat the antiestablishment movement's winners in Tuesday's elections.

"Constitutional conservatives deserve a loud and clear voice in leadership!" Bachmann, R-Minn., who founded the Tea Party Caucus, said in a one-paragraph Facebook announcement that she is running for GOP conference chairman.

House Republican leaders don't disagree. But that doesn't mean they want the hyperbolic Bachmann being a spokeswoman for the new majority during the 2012 election cycle.

Boehner, aware of the role tea partiers played in making him the next House speaker, is endorsing no one. His lieutenants are lining up behind Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, leaving no doubt that Hensarling - and not Bachmann - is the leadership favorite to chair the GOP conference.

"There are few who have done as much for the Republican team as Jeb," the expected House majority leader, Eric Cantor of Virginia, said in a statement.
National Politics | Bachmann bid for GOP leadership gets cool reaction
| Seattle Times Newspaper

This will come back to hurt the GOP. The "wildly uninformed" have spoken. A self-proclaimed leaderless movement deserves a self-proclaimed leader, that little bit of hypocrisy only took two days to manifest itself.

Welcome to Washington DC Tea Party and two years of self-loathing.

Did the selection of Dino Rossi, a candidate that could run a close race, backfire on Washington State Republicans?

Democrats retaining control of the Washington State Legislature should help King County gain control of its tourist taxes, and other transportation taxing options to support Metro Transit.

The votes are still being counted.

I mailed my ballot on Monday, it was received by King County Elections today. You can figure that most ballots mailed Monday or Tuesday would be counted by Friday. The numbers released tomorrow evening should be enough to declare winners in most races.

Usually late voting benefits Republicans, so I am told. I am guessing that a late "get out the vote" effort to boost U.S. Senator Patty Murray’s chances will benefit Democrats in state races, especially in King County.

I had heard that having Dino Rossi in the race against Patty Murray would give her a run for her money, and would prevent Murray from spending her money to help other races. I think that worked against the Republicans in races where a Tea Party Candidate was not running, for example: in the 48th State Legislative District Ross Hunter is about a point up on his opponent, former Washington State Republican Party Chair Diane Tebilius. She is anything but Tea Party material. Had Murray been up (or down) in the polls by 5 or 6 points the "get out the vote" effort would not have have had Joe Biden (twice), Michelle Obama, and a host of others showing up to support Patty Murray.

Here is the King County Elections web site.
Ross Hunter and Rodney Tom are in the 48 Legislative District, in King County.
The counts for state-wide and Federal elections are King Cointy’s numbers ONLY.
New numbers are available at 4:30 pm everyday until November 23, when the vote is certified.

The state collects and reports those totals (they have a neat iPhone app)

To further my Rossi selection backfired guesswork, it was quite likely that the state Senate was going to shift from Democratic Control to the Republicans by 1 or 2 seats, instead the Democrats might hold the Senate by 1 or 2 seats. One of those seats might be Rodney Tom’s.

• Three-term incumbent Sen. Tracey Eide, D-Federal Way, was leading her challenger, Republican Tony Moore, by just more than 2 percentage points in the 30th District in Southwest King County.

• Incumbent Sen. Rodney Tom, D-Bellevue, was leading his Republican challenger, Gregg Bennett, by just more than 1 percentage point in the 48th District, which includes parts of Bellevue, Redmond and Kirkland, along with Medina and Clyde Hill.

• Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, was leading Republican challenger Dave Schmidt by 93 votes in Snohomish County's 44th District, which includes Mill Creek, Snohomish, Lake Stevens and parts of Marysville.

To gain a one-vote majority in the Senate, Republicans may need to take all three of those and hang onto other races in which they lead. Democrats made gains in all three of those races in Wednesday's count.

Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, acknowledged his party could lose three or four Senate seats but said he was encouraged that Democrats gained votes Wednesday in some close races.

"It's a good trend," he said. "It continues to appear that we're bucking the national trend."
3 races in King, Snohomish counties could help Dems keep control of Senate, Seattle Times Newspaper

The Democratss took a beating in Washington State, but not to the degree predicted about a week ago. Maybe they have the National Republican Senatorial Committee to thank.

RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms

As I age I am spending an usual amount of time uneducating my learning methods. A problem we may have is figuring out a cost effective way of delivering knowledge with the least waste for the consumer, the student, and know that any changes we make are actually better.

The future is always different than we think it is going to be.

2011 Legislative Session in Olympia, 4Culture, and Tourism Taxes

Less than two weeks ago I sent an email King County Executive Dow Constantine asking him to have a a priority the return of King County's tourism taxes to the control of King County. Today I received a positive response.

As Mr. Constantine reminds me, he did testify in favor of such a bill last year. His testimony was March 18th, 2009, to the Washington State Senate Ways & Means Committee to be precise. The bill was SB 6116.
You can watch the vidoe of his speech by clicking on this TVW.org link here, and start watching at the 14 minute, 22 second mark. Of course, if you do that you would skip past Ross Hunter testifying in favor of the same Senate Bill over his own House Bill HB 2252. HB 2252 was overly "prescriptive".

Here was my message Mr. Constantine:

Dear Mr. Baker:
 
Thank you for your e-mail requesting that I advocate for 4 Culture funding during the upcoming session of the Washington Legislature.
 
I am a longtime supporter of arts, culture, preservation, and heritage programs and have a history of working to obtain funding for these purposes. Last year, as a County Councilmember, I traveled to Olympia to testify in favor of House Bill 6116, which would have extended King County’s local-option hotel/motel taxes and reserved a portion of the funds collected for arts and heritage. Earlier this year, I supported the latest version of this bill (HB 2192) and Deputy Executive Fred Jarrett testified in favor of its passage.
 
I will continue to support the use of visitor taxes to benefit programs and institutions that attract visitors to this region, including the arts, during this legislative session. I consider it a smart investment, as tourism is a major industry that benefits the entire state.
 
Thank you again for writing.
 
Sincerely,
 
Dow Constantine
King County Executive

 

 
From: Michael Baker [mailto:communicate.with.mike (at ) gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, October 08, 2010 11:15 PM
To: kcexec ( at )kingcounty.gov
Subject: 2011 Legislative Session in Olympia, 4Culture, and Tourism Taxes
 
The Honorable Dow Constantine

I want you to know that I am a sports fan and that you are also a parent and a proud citizen of King County. I urge you prioritize securing 4Culture’s funding future, as well as the other arts, entertainment, and heritage funding that would benefit by King County securing its tourism taxes in the 2011 legislative session in Olympia.

Have a great day,
Michael J. Baker
Seattle, Wa
 
Visit me here:
http://manywordsforrain.blogspot.com/

I know that I can count on you during the legislative session in January to support Dow Constantine's efforts. Hopefully, Ross Hunter will be there, too.

Fuck Dino Rossi, and his shallow, brainless, talking points

This banner ad shows up on my page I figure I have the right to use it in commentary.

Dino Rossi is a fucking scumbag. He is a real estate speculating lawyer/banker. He believes and profits in the destruction of America. He is what is wrong about America's recent past that should not be repeated.

He may be in league with Satan.

4Culture, too, now has Dow Constantine helping us in Olympia

This is very good news, though not surprising, as he has chosen to be publicly committed to this effort.
I'll repeat their post here:

We have Dow - now on to Olympia!
We received word this week from our friends at 4Culture that they had met with King County Executive, Dow Constantine and that he has committed to support 4Culture’s efforts in Olympia in 2011! If you see Dow, thank him for his continued support of arts and heritage in our region. Advocates, we must now turn our attention to the Washington State Legislature. Here are two things you can do to help:

1. KNOW who is running for office in your area. Create your personalized voters guide to educate yourself on the candidates and issues. If you’d like to learn more about candidates stand on the arts, check out this candidate survey from the Washington State Arts Alliance.

2. VOTE by November 2, 2010. Learn how here.

The outcome of this election will have a HUGE impact on the make up of the state legislature this year. YOUR VOTE can make a difference to arts and heritage funding in King County for many years to come. No joke!

No joke is right!
If you are a voter in King County how you vote, if you vote, will mean a lot for 4Culture, for sports fans, for heritage programs, for a lot of things the state, county, and city of Seattle can not afford to fund, but absolutely depend on.

What I hope to help avoid, in some little way, is to get interested parties to work together, pull together, and get this done for King County.

Seattle Times: Tunnel would mean more traffic on waterfront

To quote myself:

In my opinion, and I've stated this other places, the answer may be most of the above:
I was a Surface proponent but that thing got wider and wider, and had all those stoplights, pedestrian friendly stoplight timing, that a bypass tunnel looked like a needed thing. In fact, I was, and to a great degree still am, a believer that we will end up with both (of some sort).
I-5 "improvements" means eliminating a downtown exit. That may be something we look at having to do in the future anyway.
What we are not ever going to get from the state is a through-tunnel after a surface option has been developed.
What we would get with going surface is the State always having a say in anything we run on the surface, anything.

Bury the state through-tunnel first, work on surface transit next, make getting through Seattle completely the state's problem. That is the last thought, or statement, that I have had on this subject.

Roger Valdez, Tunnel hater, is this week's Seattle upzone cheerleader, by me, August 7, 2010

Today the Seattle Times woke up to the fact that a replacement for the Alaskan Way Viaduct would put a lot of cars on surface streets absent a significant transit component.
That is the next step in building a complete alternative to what we have today. A bypass tunnel, a wider surface street for local traffic, and an obvious need to mitigate people movement with more mass transit is where we are at.

No matter what the option was going to be, we will need more mass transit going into the future. It is unfortunate the the Mayor of Seattle has chosen the the path he has, for he has hurt this city's ability to lobby the state legislature for more taxing authority.

From today's Seattle Times:

No proposal exists for Highway 99 buses between Sodo and South Lake Union. James Kelly, co-founder of the new pro-tunnel group Enough, said transit should operate in the tunnel.

The pedestrian group Feet First and operators of Bill Spiedel's Underground Tour have worried about seemingly vague ideas for managing increased traffic through historic Pioneer Square. Tour CEO Sunny Spiedel urges the city to demand answers before the state signs its construction contracts.

"Done poorly," she said, "this could ruin either our fragile neighborhood or our connection to the new waterfront."

Ample off-street bicycle trails appear in the Sodo design, but the plan from Pioneer Square to the Olympic Sculpture Park at the north end of Belltown remains a mystery. Some bike lanes, or a raised "cycle track," would be part of the boulevard, said Eric Tweit, a Seattle transportation project manager.

Off-street trails are to be decided. Seattle has hired design firm James Corner Field Operations to consider such things, as it designs nine acres of promenade between the boulevard and Puget Sound.

David Hiller, advocacy director for the Cascade Bicycle Club, said the state traffic predictions tend to assume long-term growth when, in fact, overall driving in Seattle was flat through the 2000s.

Tunnel would mean more traffic on waterfront, Seattle Times Newspaper

Two things there: a plan has resources, like money, so there isn't an intracity bus plan to mitigate the people movement. Somehow the Surface+Transit Option would have gotten state support for transit and the Tunnel+Transit Option never will.

The Tunnel opponents are both saying that the Tunnel+Transit Option dumps too many cars on surface streets (as if a surface option wouldn't) and that there will not be as many cars on the road as the state is predicting.
There either will be too many cars, or not. Glad we have that settled.

After the transit portion is secured the next effort should be to go after eliminating one of the I-5 exits under the Washington State Convention Center to increase throughput on I-5.

If people care to remember, I-405 was supposed to act as a bypass around a constrained I-5 running through Seattle. The real answer there is to increase the throughput on I-5 no matter what option was to be chosen.

The answer is:All of the above.

Join 4Culture for the first annual Dow Drive!

Let's help the 4Culture folks lobby King County Executive Dow Constantine.

This is part of their 4Culture in Olympia in 2011

Join us for the first annual Dow Drive!
The Dow Drive is when we ask the arts and heritage advocates like you to write to King County’s Executive, Dow Constantine, to tell him why important arts and heritage are to you and urge him to support 4Culture in Olympia in 2011. Please write before Thanksgiving (November 25) and we will be so thankful!

Why are we asking you to do this now?
Dow is working furiously right now to finalize King County’s budget and legislative priorities for 2011. We want to make sure funding for arts and heritage through 4Culture is near the top of the list.

Why will he care what you have to say?
We pay taxes, we vote, and we matter! We are a powerful sector of the workforce in King County, we drive cultural tourism, we educate, and we make people proud to live and work in this region.

Here is how you can help:
Write a personal note to Executive Dow Constantine. Let him know that you are an ______ [e.g. artist, heritage specialist, arts/heritage administrator, preservationist, fan of culture (Sports Fan)] and that you are also a ________ [e.g. mother, educator, truck driver, business owner] and a proud citizen of King County. Urge him prioritize securing 4Culture’s funding future in the 2011 legislative session in Olympia.

Send your note or email to:
The Honorable Dow Constantine
King County Chinook Building
401 5th Ave. Suite 800
Seattle, WA 98104

E-mail: kcexec@kingcounty.gov

Thank you for being part of the first annual Dow Drive!

I threw "Sports Fan" in the form letter they put together. I know more Sports Fans than sculptors.

Moving forward with King County Executive Dow Constantine

On Wednesday, September 8th, at the invitation of our super friends at Sonicsgate.org, a few of us had the good fortune of meeting with King County Executive Dow Constantine and his Director of Government Relations Sung Yang.

After some handwringing over the past, and well deserved compliments of the film Sonicsgate, Camp Jones brought us back to the present by asking what can we do now, and Brian Robinson asking Dow if he was willing to be proactive in working towards a new team.

Adam Brown, Jason Reid, Camp Jones and Brian Robinson provided Dow with smart answers to good questions. I think our conversation kept returning to our desire to get something, anything, moving in the future.

My favorite question was the "why me" question.

I'll answer that now as I think all of us did then, we need political leadership. Turning to the City of Seattle just hasn't worked out so well in the past (it's true). And... a solution anywhere in King County is a solution.

To me, turning to the city now this is what I see:

rumor: Things are so testy between certain council members and Mayor Mike McGinn that certain council staffers are not allowed up on the 7th floor.
Publicola.net, Moring Fizz, 9/14/2010

Seattle may not be the solution in the end, and they just do not look like they can agree and lead on who presses the button in the elevator, or signs a draft document. I am sure they will sort things out, soon.

When I look at King County, and in particular Dow Constantine, this is what I see:

“There’s simply no substitute for being there when it comes to getting a feel for a community, its people, and its issues,” Constantine said in a news release. “I met every mayor in King County on their own turf and let them set the agenda for our discussion.”
, IssaquahPress.comKing County executive completes sojourn to 39 cities, 9/15/2010

I am the mayor of my own opinion, and that's about it. But, you know, he was that way with us too.

Back to the answer to Camp's question; what we can do now is work with all of our friends in getting legislation passed at the state level that would bring home our tourism taxes.
I know that this makes people crazy.
We all have to try to keep an open mind and look at different ways to get something accomplished.

With Husky Stadium no longer in the picture, and our friends at 4Culture looking at "evaporating" if something does not pass this legislative session, it is in King County's best interest in helping all of us get a bill passed this legislative session.
As we know more, you will know more.

Let's move forward together.

Thanks,
Mike Baker

(originally posted at Sonicscentral.com)

Seattle Times: Panel backs Chihuly exhibit at Seattle Center

If we are going to be handing over public land to the tourism industry then they can fork over some of that hotel tax money, right now.
This stuff aint free, and I am getting tired of paying a levy for maintenance and capital investment for these "sites" if its intended audience are out-of-towners.

Who are we building the city for?
Where is the tax-benefit nexus?

No more levies for tourist traps. Let the hotelier's new Public Facilities District and the 7% hotel tax start paying for the upkeep of these Seattle-ish "public" parks.
The entire Seattle Center site, if this is the direction they really want to take that site, should get its capital money from the 2% sales tax credit on Seattle hotels that is part of the Convention Center tax revenue.
No more "park" money if this is the direction they want to go. Go ask the tourism industry for our tax money back while you are kissing their asses.

A citizens panel selected Dale Chihuly's glass-art exhibit Friday for a much-prized site at the foot of the Space Needle. The panel's conclusion, after months of meetings and debate, is the same as the one Seattle Center officials reached last spring.

Seattle Center Director Robert Nellams will study the panel's recommendation and present his choice to Mayor Mike McGinn. The City Council will make a final decision this fall.

The committee expressed skepticism about seven other proposals for the 1.5-acre site, and said the commercial and privately owned Chihuly exhibit would not cost the city any money and would attract tens of thousands of tourists in time for the 50th anniversary celebration of the World's Fair in 2012.

With city budget cuts coming, an unfunded master plan for the Center and a basketball arena that is missing its NBA team, Seattle Center will need something to celebrate in two years.

Panel backs Chihuly exhibit at Seattle Center, Seattle Times Newspaper

Seattle Times: State predicts another big shortfall, will cut spending 6%

House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, released a statement saying: "The fact is, the current budget situation clearly demonstrates that state government must be rescaled to fit the new fiscal reality. It will take more than just a quick special session to do that right."
State predicts another big shortfall, will cut spending 6%, Seattle Times Newspaper

Peter Callaghan of the Tacoma News Tribune asked the policy makers who are are part of the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council what the government would look like in the future; either the state is an education, health, and safety agency, or does the state shave chunks out of the areas of spending?
In answering that question Hunter said, in part, "we are going to have to decide what we do that are important to that economy... what we are responsible at the state level, what we are responsible at the local level, do we need to move some things across those boundaries. I think it is going to be a wrenching process." (tvw.org, 9/16/2010, 48.20 min., Economic & Revenue Forecast Council quarterly review.

Please click here to watch the TVW.org video.

The state will get out of the business of providing state-wide solutions. That begs the question for the counties and municipalities be in the business of providing? Will the state pass the power and authority for the counties that have when they can no longer deliver for the have not's?

I am going to repeat this from the prior post:

"Should we get out of the business of those things that we never heard a word in four public meetings or on a website with thousands of hits?" she asked. "Should we be funding it?"

When asked for an example, Gregoire said, "As hard-hitting as this may sound to people I very much respect, we heard nothing about the arts. If you put that into print I bet I'll hear something."

State Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, isn't sold on the idea of cuts to the arts. "One of the things we know is the arts is a major jobs generator," he said. "There are 8,000 related art jobs in my legislative district alone. We have to be careful, if we're going to cut programs, that we don't create the anti-stimulus budget."

The state spends about $6 million every two years on the arts. While that might not sound like much money compared with the overall state budget, "We can't afford anything right now," Gregoire said. "Every time I get a call, I get 'Well, it will only cost X.' It's every call. I get this from legislators. I tell every single one of them ... I don't have X."

Local News | State budget likely to go from bad to much worse | Seattle Times Newspaper

Ed Murray is right, our economy in THIS area depends on arts funding. It also depends on Safeco Field being able to keep its parking fee as a means to fund capital maintenance. It also depends on a great variety of arts and entertainment to attract tourists, business, and in turn increase tax revenues, that in turn increase the general fund.
These "tourist taxes" are set to start expiring next year if the state does not take any action. To keep the taxes going takes a majority vote in the state legislation. Attempting to recreate these taxes later would take a 2/3 majority vote in the state legislature. Quite frankly, if the rest of the state does not see our business directly benefitting them then they are not likely going to be interested in supporting it on a purely ideological way.

Seattle Times: State budget likely to go from bad to much worse

As we enter the season of "hard choices", and the extremes of those that have resources and those who do not, decisions will be made in the Washington State Legislature. The state will be forced to choose between the businesses it will stay in.

The choices are even harder at the King County level. They have already made many of these choices, and the state will stop doing what the county wants in support of their needs. The City of Seattle is in the same position, with the state handing off to the county things it has already handed off to the city.

What we will likely, hopefully, see is the state shift the ability to do something about the the things the state will no longer do.
Last year the state passed an education funding bill that allowed the "haves" in the wealthier jurisdictions the ability to raise school levies. The "tax poor" jurisdictions were given some more state money, but not much.
Education is a state need, in the state constitution, that will get the state's energy.
Arts funding, tourist attractions, tax loopholes for pet projects are not in the state constitution.
One person's wants are another person's needs. In King County the business and local governments depend on tourism and business sectors that depend on amenities to attract and retail businesses that employ high wage earners, tax payers.
If the state is going to get out of the business of arts, tourism, and heritage infrastructure funding then I expect that they would pass the ability to keep those things going, including the on-going re-investment in that infrastructure to the county and the cities.
Just because the state does not want to be in a particular business support that does not mean every municipality in the state should have to get out of supporting that business.

To further this point, I think these businesses that benefit should carry the tax burden, that is, the future of tax levies to pay for things that are (more or less) tourist attractions should end. These kinds of choices are coming now, anyway. The nexus of general fund type revenue streams and what those revenues pay for will be drawn more directly. The same should be true of the non-general fund tax resources. For example, if hotels in King County (or Bellevue, or Seattle) carry a 2% sales tax on top of the existing state/county/city sales tax then that revenue should go toward funding things the perpetuates/benefits those businesses. But, the sales tax credit should stay with the state/county/city that is tasked with providing a superior social context that these businesses profit from by association.

"Should we get out of the business of those things that we never heard a word in four public meetings or on a website with thousands of hits?" she asked. "Should we be funding it?"

When asked for an example, Gregoire said, "As hard-hitting as this may sound to people I very much respect, we heard nothing about the arts. If you put that into print I bet I'll hear something."

State Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, isn't sold on the idea of cuts to the arts. "One of the things we know is the arts is a major jobs generator," he said. "There are 8,000 related art jobs in my legislative district alone. We have to be careful, if we're going to cut programs, that we don't create the anti-stimulus budget."

The state spends about $6 million every two years on the arts. While that might not sound like much money compared with the overall state budget, "We can't afford anything right now," Gregoire said. "Every time I get a call, I get 'Well, it will only cost X.' It's every call. I get this from legislators. I tell every single one of them ... I don't have X."

Local News | State budget likely to go from bad to much worse | Seattle Times Newspaper

Ed Murray is right, our economy in THIS area depends on arts funding. It also depends on Safeco Field being able to keep its parking fee as a means to fund capital maintenance. It also depends on a great variety of arts and entertainment to attract tourists, business, and in turn increase tax revenues, that in turn increase the general fund.
These "tourist taxes" are set to start expiring next year if the state does not take any action. To keep the taxes going takes a majority vote in the state legislation. Attempting to recreate these taxes later would take a 2/3 majority vote in the state legislature. Quite frankly, if the rest of the state does not see our business directly benefitting them then they are not likely going to be interested in supporting it on a purely ideological way.

The state, county, city are all asking where does money come from, where does it go to, and is it sustainable.

Hopefully this year State Senator Rodney Tom can mind his own business.

Go Storm! NBA basketball? (an open letter to Steve Ballmer)

An open letter to Steve Ballmer (I did send an email into the Steve Ballmer email inbox that must be staffed by a team of email readers, here is an edited version).

Mr. Ballmer,
Should I bother encouraging diehard basketball fans to get state authorization to use King County hotel taxes to help facilitate developing an arena not knowing if it will have a public partner?
A few thousand of us Sonics fans would like to know if you are still interested in owning an NBA franchise.

Just askin'
If I can get the public and private partners to indicate they are still interested then our actions have a purpose.

Moving this foreword became my personal hobby after the Sonics left town.

Thank you for your time, and, Go Storm!
Michael J. Baker
Basketball Fan
Seattle, Wa

An edited version of this letter, Go Storm! NBA basketball? (an open letter to Steve Ballmer), can be found here: 
http://sonicscentral.com/blog/?p=2865

Visit me here:
http://manywordsforrain.blogspot.com/

MOHAI threatens to close if mayor wants to renegotiate deal on new space | Seattle Times Newspaper

Just so we are clear, the money MOHAI is getting is NOT coming from the City of Seattle's general fund. It is coming from the Department of Transportation because they are being forced to relocate out of the way of the new State Route 520 bridge.

The mayor is reaching into a non-profit to take money. It isn't denying city funds it doesn't have.
He is making a mistake.

"Now is not the time for one nonprofit, no matter how worthy it is, to get everything it can out of the city," McGinn said.

Last fall, the City Council agreed to let MOHAI negotiate with the state Department of Transportation to reimburse it for the value of the museum's buildings and surrounding city parkland. At the time, the council assumed MOHAI would get about $15 million for the buildings, plus about $7 million in rent for the land.

But the state decided to buy the city property instead of renting it, so the city then agreed it would make up the difference to MOHAI — up to $7 million. The city's acting parks director signed an agreement with the museum.

The museum later announced that its negotiations were so successful that it got $40 million from the state — more than twice what the city assumed when it had agreed to chip in the $7 million.

Now McGinn wants to back out of the deal, which he says is not legally binding without a council vote.

Local News | MOHAI threatens to close if mayor wants to renegotiate deal on new space | Seattle Times Newspaper

RSA Animate - 21st century enlightenment

This and similarly thoughtful videos are found at .

For over 250 years the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) has been a cradle of enlightenment thinking and a force for social progress.  Our approach is multi-disciplinary, politically independent and combines cutting edge research and policy development with practical action. Find out more...

Here is a thought:

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
Margret Mead.
US anthropologist & popularizer of anthropology (1901 - 1978)

While you are here, how about some music.

What's your hangup? Pew Research shows a decline in landline telephone use

Keep these numbers in mind when you hear about political polls as we head toward November elections. 26% of households do not have a landline, and are not likely represented in telephone surveys of "likely voters".

In the case of the landline phone, a rising thumbs-down verdict comes not just from the survey but also from the marketplace. According to a Pew Research Center analysis of government data, just 74% of U.S. households now have a landline phone.1 This is down from a peak of 97% in 2001.2
From the Pew Research report, The Fading Glory of the Television and Telephone

Well, who are they missing?

The latest estimates of telephone coverage, released last week by the National Center for Health Statistics, found that 25% of households (and 23% of adults) in the second half of 2009 had no landline service and only cell phone service (just 2% of households had no telephone service of any type). For certain subgroups in the population, the numbers are considerably higher: 30% of Hispanics are cell-only, as are 49% of adults ages 25-29.
From the Pew Research report, Assessing the Cell Phone Challenge

Wow, if you are hispanic and in your late 20's then it just looks like you are under represented in political surveys.
Before you start thinking this is an isolated situation, think again. The general trend is away from landlines.

(Pew Research, 2009)

Polls have a margin of error, depending on how many people are in the sample. The problem is that at some point very soon the polls will simply be wrong. You should anticipate getting a call on your cell phone in the near future. What the caller on the other end will not know is if you are standing in your home, or are driving down the road. The nature of the problem is that a perfectly reasonable landline activity will intrude in to your cellphone context, anywhere, placeless.
It will take years of society rule making to negotiate the right time/place involving a device whose killer app is its landline-ness-less.

It has taken a decade, or so, for a cell phone call to be an acceptable activity in some shared social spaces. Yakking on your phone at a fast-food restaurant when you are alone is pretty safe, unlike having your ringer going off in the middle of a movie theater during a movie.
Those calls are most likely you talking to somebody you know.

Now imagine it is a survey call on your cellphone.

seattlesportsblog: Thunder in OKC Means Lightning In Seattle....

People talking about people talking about a new arena. This time it is the NHL playing in the Tacoma Dome until a new arena is built in Seattle.
A few days ago somebody wanted to talk to me about an arena in King County. A few weeks before that somebody else asked me questions. And, before that. . .

There are some constants in all of these exercises (none of these are facts, just obvious assumptions): Key Arena is dead; there isn't an actual location for the new arena; the NBA and NHL will occupy the building; the building will be completely privately funded (people forget the municipal infrastructure service to an arena, but that can all get offset by some user fee/parking tax); there is always an assumed owner; the City of Seattle and the State of Washington are assumed to be of little or no use; the market is too big to ignore; the fans are better people than any of the other parties involved.

With that I give you the Seattle Lightening (next time, make sure you take a few swings at Jeff Smulyan, thanks).

The fact Leiweke was chosen as the new head of operations in Tampa and given part ownership is not a coincidence, it’s due to behind the scenes work with many people in this area on Clay’s Funhouse and on the fact the ownership in Tampa especially Jeff Vinick (now the 6th ownership group in less than 20 years) is looking for a way out of the failed Sun Belt hockey experience. Leiweke has gotten buildings done in Minnesota and a handful of other towns. He has the knowledge and the friendships in Seattle to do the same.

The St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa is tied to Lightning ownership, that makes an escape clause a moot point….There isn’t one…Whoever owns the team can pack up anytime they choose to and (pardon the pun) bolt.

The building issue in Seattle isn’t the issue (right now), where the issue lies is with some behind the scenes dealings (trust me, there are talks going on as I type this) about how long a team would be stuck in the Tacoma Dome as a “temporary venue” …Personally, I think it’s “if they come, we will build it”…

Leiweke is our best friend right now when it comes to an arena sport, and we need to keep up the goodwill during his TEMPORARY stay in Tampa. Remember folks, you might not like hockey..That’s fine…But you think an NBA team wouldn’t follow closely behind a Seattle Lightning strike?

Things about about to heat up….Get those season ticket deposits ready because 2011 isn’t that far off and Tampa is about to feel karma kick it square in the ass….Tampa Bay Mariners? Psssssh….Seattle Lightning, my how times change….

Read the whole thing, here,
seattlesportsblog: Thunder in OKC Means Lightning In Seattle....: "Thunder in OKC, Lightning In Seattle? By: Anonymous Tod Leiweke is gone to Tampa.....As a Seahawks fan it registers somewhere between 'Hey!..."

Now, go buy a New Seattle Arena, 2014 bumpersticker right now.

Are symphonies still 'too big to fail'? || Crosscut.com

This is strangely familiar.

Sounds like a broken business model, is this "dance halls for millionaires"?
The Sonics left, and things penciled out just fine. There are plenty things to do, and attraction in the area (fill in the rest of the anti-sports entertainment rant).
Let a private company blah, blah, blah.", and if they leave, they leave.
He [young French conductor Ludovic Morlot] is the Kevin Durant of maestros.
Well to-do people in luxury boxes and corporate ticket holders using the entertainment as a backdrop for their business dealings can find some other venue for that, we don't need (insert entertainment in a public building here).
I noticed that David Brewster did not mention how much public money we have pumped into our grand music hall, sort of skipped past that part.

Anyway, the Everett Symphony cut short/suspended much of its activity, many, many others are in a similar position.

I am sure somebody like Sherman Alexie (or, whatever the symphony equivolent is) would testify in federal court that the symphony is a cherished institution, and it would be disappointing for those that enjoy that form of entertainment. Still, it is much like other forms of entertainment that has had the benefit of public support in some way, but still fails as a business.

Having decades of joy go away would be sad, I can empathize. I know all of the arguments.

— Mr Baker

One of the interesting civic dramas in the next few years will be the effort to turn around the fortunes of the Seattle Symphony. I say "civic" drama, because the plight of these orchestras very much involves a city's reputation, particularly its ability to attract corporations and to serve as a symbol of a region's rising cultural reputation. Such orchestras are nearly always "too big to fail."

Are symphonies still 'too big to fail'? || Crosscut.com

Good luck with that argument.

Seattle center site idea: New home for radio station KEXP | Seattle Times Newspaper

The right idea.

A second letter signed individually by Dave Matthews said, "KEXP's proposed location within Seattle Center would give residents and visitors at all economic levels access to live music, with in-studio sessions and performances in the Park's beautiful outdoor setting.

"It would also create tremendous educational opportunities, growing the city's next generation of artists through apprenticeships, master music classes, recording classes and more."

Also coming out Tuesday in support of KEXP's bid: Sub Pop Records co-founder Jonathan Poneman; Sasquatch! Music Festival promoter Adam Zacks; Alice in Chains manager Susan Silver; Seattle Theatre Group's Josh LaBelle; National Public Radio President and CEO Vivian Schiller; and University of Washington President Mark Emmert.

Music & nightlife | Seattle center site idea: New home for radio station KEXP | Seattle Times Newspaper

Music would bring that space to life, and draw a variety of people to Seattle Center.
I hope we do this, I would go with my family.

Roger Valdez, Tunnel hater, is this week's Seattle upzone cheerleader

Roger Valdez has written an article over at Crosscut.com, "Tunnel debate is redefining Seattle politics", where he basically argues that the Alaska Way deep-bore tunnel opponents are some kind of coalition, or they could, or should be a "positive" coalition. I guess he has the vision thing.

There's a lot to debate about whether I have cast these protagonists appropriately. But it's hard to dispute that tunnel opposition has created some strange bedfellows. The problem with tunnel opposition is that it doesn’t necessarily form a coherent basis for a positive political movement. Opposition doesn't always make the most fertile ground for a for the seeds of positive change.

Imagine if environmentalists, preservationists, homeless advocates, and neighborhood density advocates turned their opposition of the tunnel into a positive movement. Could the anti-tunnel urge form a kind of opposition party against the seemingly dominant group that is pushing the tunnel? Are we ready for partisanship in Seattle or are we too nice? The question is, can tunnel opponents find common ground to move beyond the tunnel and, for example, elect a slate of new like-minded members of the city council next year, when there will be five seats up for grabs. Do they even want to?

, Tunnel debate is redefining Seattle politics, Crosscut.com

The answer is no, the tunnel opposition can not find common ground. There are the Dan Bertolet and the "Surface+HopethereisTransit" proponent group, and the rebuild/replacement Viaduct proponent group. They mainly agree in their opposition to the tunnel. It breaks up at that point. No matter how you (any of you) move the pieces around you will not end up with a majority of proponents.
The ONLY thing a majority of people will agree to is that they want something for nothing, or even the hint that it could cost them something (cost overruns).

Let's be completely unfair to Roger Valdez, I don't know him, don't care to, but he's an idiot.
What has been the most effective argument against the tunnel?
There could be cost overruns if the legislature passed another bill to put Seattle area tax payers on the hook. The bad news is that this is true of any option.

Where the "Friends" are really going is that we are about to commit tax capacity and bonding authority to something that does not directly benefit the upzone corridor (see map of West Side light rail, uh, well, there isn't a map, not a real one.
Mike McGinn is not interested in saving anybody money, get that straight, he wants to spend it where his benefactors want it.

Valdez, Bortolet, McGinn, Friends of Seattle, Party of the Future, Great City, Hugeasscity (now part of Publicola.net), this is a parliament of political whores. (no dishonorable mention of the Stranger's Dominic Holden, water carrier)

There isn't a majority of anything in Seattle, except in opposing any single replacement for the Alaska Way Viaduct, that's it.

In my opinion, and I've stated this other places, the answer may be most of the above:
I was a Surface proponent but that thing got wider and wider, and had all those stoplights, pedestrian friendly stoplight timing, that a bypass tunnel looked like a needed thing. In fact, I was, and to a great degree still am, a believer that we will end up with both (of some sort).
I-5 "improvements" means eliminating a downtown exit. That may be something we look at having to do in the future anyway.

What we are not ever going to get from the state is a through-tunnel after a surface option has been developed.
What we would get with going surface is the State always having a say in anything we run on the surface, anything.

Bury the state through-tunnel first, work on surface transit next, make getting through Seattle completely the state's problem. That is the last thought, or statement, that I have had on this subject.

Well, who is Robert Valdez (not that it really matters)?

Crosscut missed a few facts about Roger Valdez. I wanted to know what vested interest Roger Valdez has. It looks like he touches many of the same organizations that Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn was either a direct part of, or was endorsed by, or in some way advocated for Mike McGinn in the past. It looks like they are still on the endless campaign team.

Research Associate at Sightline Institute
and
CEO at Bricoleur LLC
Linkedin

Seattle Great City Initiative
(past and future clients)

He was a sometime HugeAssCity writer, check out this gem from 8/23/2009:
First, everyone will incessantly ask about it. “Why are you so focused on the tunnel?” The answer is “I have to. If this City commits $900 million dollars (which is sure to become $1 billion) we won’t have money to do any of the other critical things this city needs done. We are essentially committing to a decade of our resources into essentially will be a Viet Nam like quagmire. How can we focus on crime, sidewalks, transportation—all things our City is supposed to do—when a years worth of City budget dollars are going to be pumped down a hole for less than two miles of tunnel, with no exits in or out of downtown, not enough capacity and no ability to accommodate transit.”

The second and more practical reason is that it focuses attention on McGinn and keeps it there. McGinn will win because everyone will be talking about McGinn and the tunnel. Malahan will kind of just disappear. And the more we talk about the tunnel and the more people realize what a horrible boondoggle the thing is the more people are going to think it’s a bad idea.

I am so convinced of this that if Mallahan was my friend I would advise him to abandon his pro-tunnel stand, maybe even just say he’d be willing to rethink his position. The basis of McGinn’s candidacy would effectively be threatened because the issue that animated his resurgence would be gone. All that would be left is a fundraising knife fight which he would be almost certain to lose. But it is highly doubtful that the interests arrayed against reconsidering the tunnel option will allow Mallahan to double back on his position.
How To Win In November

Oh, a little bit of irony there, that he guessed the wrong guy would "double-back".

But wait, there's more!

Endorsements for McGinn for Mayor
Personal:
Roger Valdez - CEO, Bricoleur LLC
McGinn for Mayor, endorsements

Mmmm, looks like his Crosscut article is a rehash from a Hugeasscity article from last December.

What Just Happened?: The meaning of McGinn’s win
. . .
So what did happen? My theory is that the people of this city are ready for a new story. They are rejecting the Forward Thrust vs. Lesser Seattle, Spy versus Spy, conflict which has defined politics in our town since the 1970s. These two parties were pretty clear, the latter focused on big capitol projects the former focused on keeping Seattle a small town dominated by fishermen and descendents of pioneers. One group supported the Nordstrom Parking Garage (remember that one) and the other opposed it, for example. The Thrusters saw the garage as supportive of growth which would create economic development and the Lessers saw it as another attempt to pretty up Seattle for Yuppies and people from out of town.
What Just Happened?: The meaning of McGinn’s win

Here, Dan Bertolet sings the "Part of the Future" meme song:

The Party of the Future

Preface: To waste some time I wrote the riff below with the deluded idea that I might get it published in the Seattle Times, but upon submission was told they don’t publish op-eds that tout one candidate over another. Except their own, apparently. The “Party of the Future” meme was inspired by local brainiacs Alex Steffen and Roger Valdez, and isn’t mind-shattering stuff for the HAC bubble, but my big fat blogger ego compels me to post it anyway.

But if you believe that the reigning political establishment is unlikely to fulfill Seattle’s potential to become a city that will prosper in the face of serious future challenges; if you believe Seattle needs to step up and passionately respond to a rapidly changing world; and if you believe that these challenges and changes actually present inspiring opportunities, then please consider voting for Mike McGinn and the party of the future.

Mike McGinn is running a campaign that is almost entirely powered by volunteers, and funded primarily by small contributions from individual donors. And the promise of a McGinn mayorship is a future in which the establishment is compelled to follow the will of the people. As in when McGinn bucked conventional wisdom and led a campaign to reject a 2007 transit funding ballot measure because it was tied to excessive funding for roads. McGinn believed that enough people wanted light rail for it to stand on its own, and the passage of Proposition 1 in 2008 proved him right.

Hugeasscity: Party of the Future

And then there are the "Friends of Seattle", not actual friends, but a euphemism for lobbyist, Roger Valdez is a founder and active member of Party of the Future a project of the Friends of Seattle.

Tight circle.

What does Roger Valdez have to say about himself?
Roger Valdez is the bricoleur behind Bricoleur LLC.

Roger Valdez has worked as a campaign manager, lobbyist, legislative aid and program manager. Most recently he was legislative aide for City Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck. He was the manager of the Tobacco Prevention Program at Public Health Seattle King County and served as Regional Health Officer for Seattle. As a Neighborhood Development Manger for the South West Sector in the City's Department of Neighborhoods, he worked on implementing neighborhood plans. About Roger Valdez [Google].


Roger Valdez, not doing magic.

Lastly, what does Crosscut say about Roger Valdez?

Roger Valdez is a founder and active member of Party of the Future a project of the Friends of Seattle. Party of the Future is an informal group of active Seattleites creating dialogue about the City Council and its decisions going into the 2011 City Council elections. Most recently they conducted a poll of Seattle voters on a variety of issues including the tunnel, alternative transportation, and land use, and how these issues might play into voters' decisions.

Tunnel debate is redefining Seattle politics || Crosscut.com

What is this about?
Well, ever week the Seattle City Council has had a meeting on the deep-bore tunnel. So, every week the opponents have to keep the opposition campaign alive with some seemingly random voice. This week it is Roger Valdez (guess it can't be Cary Moon every week).

Where the entire tunnel vs. some imagined alternative "debate" falls down is that there is an argument over the mode of commuting from "livable communities" to living wage jobs. The train lovers argue that an 18th century transportation system is the solution to a 20th century transportation "problem".
Lot's-o-talk about how people must commute, not much on why.

Why don't these walkable communities have living wage jobs within walking distance? The people that can afford these upzone condo-munities have to travel to some other place to make enough money to afford this lifestyle choice.

Until that "why" question is asked and studied in a meaningful way we will not know we have the best "how" answer in the commute/sprawl/density debate.

Fwd: Project Update #7: Thunderbitch: Women Designers in Northwest Rock 1966-2010, exhibit catalog printing by Daniel R. Smith

Begin forwarded message:

From: Kickstarter <no-reply@kickstarter.com>
Date: August 4, 2010 5:28:59 PM PDT
To: Communicate.with.mike (a t) gmail.com
Subject: Project Update #7: Thunderbitch: Women Designers in Northwest Rock 1966-2010, exhibit catalog printing by Daniel R. Smith
Reply-To: No Reply <no-reply@kickstarter.com>

See this update on Kickstarter.com

Catalog is Printed!

By Daniel R. Smith

I will have catalogs on hand for those coming to the Tether opening tomorrow. Otherwise please bear with me—once I get past the exhibit opening I will start mailing out books, probably as soon as next week!

There's been a lot of great press on the exhibit already:

The Stranger: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/poster-of-the-week/Content?oid=4596070

The Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thearts/2012523106_artwalk04.html?prmid=head_main

City Arts: http://www.thunderbitch.com/ndxz-studio/site/img/City_Arts_TB_article_sm.jpg

Seattle Show Gal: http://www.seattleshowgal.com/musical-philanthropy-thunderbitch/

Russian World: http://www.thunderbitch.com/ndxz-studio/site/img/RW-2010-08-02-B05.pdf

cheers,
Dan

• 
  
  

Leave A Comment

---

KICKSTARTER