Why did the Seattle Times sit on a story about robot longshoremen?

Turns out the Seattle Times sat on a story about robotic port operations in California that was published by Bloomberg before the arena vote.

In an email, the Seattle Times Peter Rosenberg told the Port of Seattle's Mike McGrath that they sat on the "Robot" story.

As I remarked on Sunday, May 15th:

An interesting thing about this story is that Bloomberg News wrote and posted the article on April 24th, a week before the arena vote. The Seattle Times didn't repeat it until 10-days later, after the May 2nd arena vote, on May 14th. 

http://manywordsforrain.blogspot.com/2016/05/how-long-will-seattle-support-tradition.html?m=0

When did the Seattle Times know about the Bloomberg story April 24th story?

Did the Seattle Times sit on the story to influence the Seattle City Council's May 2nd vote on the street vacation vote for the arena in SoDo by not showing the port eliminating jobs due to automation when moving container receiving from Terminal 46 to Terminal 5?

Just askin'

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

Seattle, Wa

Follow me here: @TweetMrBaker
Visit me there:
http://www.sonicsrising.com/authors/mike-baker

"Seattle Opera is travelling to Washington D.C. this week to lobbyforfunding."

Noted from the blog Seattle City Council Insight this item from Monday:

Notes from Monday Council meetings

Council member Gonzalez noted that the Seattle Opera is trying to raise funds for a major renovation of the Mercer Arena at Seattle Center. She circulated a letter for the Council members to sign expressing their support for the renovation and encouraging the federal government to help fund it. The leadership of the Seattle Opera is travelling to Washington D.C. this week to lobby for funding.

http://sccinsight.com/2016/05/16/notes-todays-council-meetings/#comment-32

See it here at the 18:56 point of the video.

The city doesn't know right now how much it will directly subsidize the Seattle Opera's renovation of Mercer Arena.

Would this qualify as getting a "throbbing civic pride hard-on" in Samantha Bee's dictionary?

http://crosscut.com/2016/05/seattle-city-council-samantha-bee-seawards/

Just asking.

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

Seattle, Wa

Follow me here: @TweetMrBaker

How long will Seattle support a tradition of subsidizing Pollution and Longshoreman, what is California doing about it?

As consumers demand lower prices for goods, and less polluting ways to transport people or goods, look for those demands to join forces at ports worldwide. Currently, and not coincidentally, the Port of Seattle and the Northwest Port Alliance is working on plans to modernize Seattle's Terminal 5 to be "more efficient" and "less polluting."

TraPac LLC's Los Angeles marine-cargo facility demonstrates how autonomous technology could revolutionize freight transport as much as or more than personal travel. TraPac's equipment doubles the speed of loading and unloading ships, saving money and boosting profits. Their impact is rivaling that of containerization, which eliminated most manual sorting and warehousing on docks after World War II.

"Self-driving won't just rebuild the current freight system, it will create a whole new way of thinking about it,'' said Larry Burns, a former research and development chief at General Motors Co. and now a consultant at Alphabet Inc.'s Google unit.

"It will happen sooner with goods movements than with personal transportation, because the economics are crystal clear.''

Commercial shipments currently produce half the state's toxic diesel-soot emissions.
…
More automation also could help Governor Jerry Brown achieve his goal of zero-emission freight movement in California. Commercial shipments currently produce half the state's toxic diesel-soot emissions and 45 percent of the nitrogen oxide that plague Los Angeles with the nation's worst smog. In Long Beach, where most residents are Hispanic, black or Asian, an estimated 15 percent of the children have asthma, six percentage points higher than the national average, according to a community coalition report.

The state's Air Resources Board is scheduled to release a draft Sustainable Freight action plan on April 29. It will encompass new regulations on vehicles and fuels, as well as subsidies for new infrastructure, communications and operating procedures, according to ARB Chairman Mary Nichols.

Brown wants 100,000 zero-emission freight-hauling machines in California by 2030, according to recent ARB workshop presentations. These could include self-driving cranes and carriers like those at TraPac. Brown also could subsidize fuel-saving alternatives, such as semi-autonomous trucks, which were recently tested in Europe. If they're clean enough, he may give them preferential access to freeways and docks. He also may promote Uber-like services to find loads for empty or half-empty trucks and is considering a per-container cap on pollutants and greenhouse gases at each terminal.
… (Bloomberg news)

Driverless cars may be the popular thing in the news but driverless and electric/battery powered container movement reduces pollution and increases efficiency.
So, how's the partnership with the Longshoreman's Union going?

To take full advantage of the new equipment, TraPac President Frank Pisano needs to help speed containers away from the docks, so he's implementing an appointment system for truckers. They often arrive unannounced and then wait as port employees scout around for their container. This waiting is becoming intolerable for drivers as congestion grows. By 2040, regional container traffic could almost triple to 41.1 million 20-foot equivalent units from 15.3 million last year, according to a recent forecast commissioned by the ports.

As they grapple with this onslaught, the California facilities lag far behind some counterparts in adopting autonomous technology. Since 1993, Rotterdam has used precursors to the self-driving equipment Pisano is installing. Europe's largest facility, it now has five fully automated deep-sea terminals.

At Los Angeles and Long Beach, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union refused to formally accept self-driving and automated technologies until 2008. Since then, none of the ILWU's 14,000 full-time West Coast dock members have lost jobs, but 10,000 contingent workers are called less often, said Jim McKenna, president of the Pacific Maritime Association, an employer group. He declined to say how much less. But it's enough that ILWU leaders are no more enthusiastic about having Jerry Brown promote autonomous driving in the name of clean air today, as they were about having corporations promote containerization in the name of efficiency half a century ago.

"If I have to lose a year or two at the end of my time in this world so I can send my kid to school, I have no problem with that,'' said Mondo Porras, vice president of ILWU Local 13 in San Pedro.

If Brown wants to clean the air by making ports more efficient, Porras said, he should stop Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other retailers from using them as rent-free storage lots.

Such finger-pointing is inevitable, said Jon Slangerup, chief executive of the Port of Long Beach, because no single entity has door-to-door responsibility for freight that's passing through—like an airport with no air-traffic control system.

With his Sustainable Freight plan, Brown is offering himself as the controller the ports need. And he's trying to harness the increased efficiency of self-driving to encourage everyone—shippers, terminal operators, union workers and truckers—to go along.

"Efficiency and the environment go hand in hand,'' Slangerup said. "They're two sides of the same coin.''

On This Waterfront, Robot Longshoremen Are the New Contenders - John Lipper - Bloomberg News. April 24, 2016 — 9:01 PM PDT Updated on April 25, 2016 — 11:45 AM PDT
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-25/on-this-waterfront-robot-longshoremen-are-the-new-contenders

Expect the same foot dragging from the ILWU in Seattle! and their political enablers. A couple extra years of West Seattle residents breathing in exhaust from idling trucks waiting to load/unload and ships billowing pollution into the air is a perfectly acceptable exchange for the Port's welfare workers.

Tax subsidized jobs are more important to the ILWU than the health and wellbeing of the citizens. How long will the Seattle City Council continue to embrace this historical "tradition"?

An interesting thing about this story is that Bloomberg News wrote and posted the article on April 24th, a week before the arena vote. The Seattle Times didn't repeat it until 10-days later, after the May 2nd arena vote, on May 14th.
The Seattle Times contributions to the story were changing the headline from, On This Waterfront, Robot Longshoremen Are the New Contenders, to, Self-driving robots are the new longshoremen on L.A. waterfront. Also, this quote from the Northwest Seaport Alliance:

In Seattle and Tacoma, port officials are planning a new operations center that includes a goal of clean-energy productivity, but none of the companies working there have plans to introduce automated carriers anytime soon.

"I think the industry is probably moving in that direction, but we have yet to see any of that up here," said Tara Mattina, a spokeswoman for the Northwest Seaport Alliance, which manages the Seattle and Tacoma ports. "At this point it's still done by humans — really highly skilled humans, I would say."
Self-driving robots are the new longshoremen on L.A. waterfront - Seattle Times, 5/14/2016
http://www.seattletimes.com/business/self-driving-robots-are-the-new-longshoremen-on-la-waterfront

Did the story arrive from LA by truck or by ship? Seriously, 10-days? Were the Seattle Times not following west coast port news? Were they not interested in repeating it before the arena vote on 5/2/2016? Do they have something to hide?

I've reached out to the Port of Seattle and the Northwest Seaport Alliance to see if there was a written exchange between them and the Seattle Times.

Have a great day,
Mike Baker
Seattle, Wa

Follow me here: @TweetMrBaker

Port of Seattle coveted Chris Hansen's SoDo arena property

Looks like the Port of Seattle found a great location for an office building where it could consolidate its white collar workers, Chris Hansen's SoDo property.

(I'll do my Geoff Baker imitation here.) This information was obtained by a public records request. Why were they hiding this information from the public?

But seriously, even the realtor working for the Port of Seattle recognized the great non-industrial location, that has great road access for all of those office workers. I'm not sure where they would park.

"Now, further documents not only show that some work on the scoping project, identified as SD-16, was still being paid for in March of this year (there's a $4,600 invoice out of a $45,000 overall scoping project), but a map of SoDo sites under consideration reveal that Hansen's arena site itself was listed as a potential new home for the Port; that's site number six in the document obtained below in a public records request related to the Port's site search."

(Publicola.com)

Port Considered Developing SoDo Office Space on Hansen's Arena Site | Seattle Met
http://www.seattlemet.com/articles/2016/5/12/hansen-arena-site-appeared-on-list-of-potential-new-port-headquarters

Well, what a bunch of tax dependent assholes the Port of Seattle turned out to be.

Word to the city council, they don't give two fucks about you. They will use you as long as you allow it.

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

Seattle, Wa

Follow me here: @TweetMrBaker

Full Disclosure #1, I was a Viennese mole man in a former life

I had self guided past life regression hypnosis, in a former life I was a Viennese mole man.

I'm stating this now in case I run for Precinct Committee Officer office, later.

The forgotten mole men of Vienna's sewers | Dangerous Minds 

(Not me in this picture)
http://dangerousminds.net/comments/the_forgotten_mole_men_of_viennas_sewers

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

Seattle, Wa

Follow me here: @TweetMrBaker
Visit me there:
http://www.sonicsrising.com/authors/mike-baker

Jim McDermott announced his retirement from Congress, candidates are lining up

Heidi Goover at The Stranger has a good summary of names circulating or are being circulated. Two names she didn't mention were Seattle Mayor Ed Murray and King County Executive Dow Constantine. There's probably a good reason, the Democrats are in the minority in DC and they both are in pretty good jobs already.

The one name Groover glosses over is King County Councilmember Joe McDermott. McDermott is, in my mind, the likely front runner. His short stint in Olympia as a Rep and a Senator was left behind for the county council.

The other name that will draw some attention is State Senator David Frokt.

Brady Walkinshaw, state representative that started campaigning before the retirement was announced.

Joe McDermott, King County Council member, former state rep and senator.

David Frockt, state senator representing the 46th legislative district.

Jenny Durkan, former U.S. attorney who is now practicing at a private firm

• While Joe McDermott says he's still thinking about whether to run, most people expect him to definitely jump in. Frockt and Durkan are also strong possibilities. Everyone else people are talking (or whispering) about is a wildcard, with just as many reasons they might get in as reasons they might stay out.

• A candidate will need to raise somewhere around $1 million to make a viable run for this seat. As the only one already formally in and with more than $200,000 raised in his first month, Brady Walkinshaw has a clear advantage.

• None of the four most likely contenders has a strong anti-establishment or outsider identity. They're likely to agree on many federal policy issues. Absent a few nuances, like Walkinshaw's relative lack of experience, their résumé make them all pretty equal in terms of viability for the seat.

• Walkinshaw, McDermott, and Durkan are all gay, meaning they'll be left to split what several sources called Seattle's "gay money" as well as support from high-profile LGBTQ groups. Again, Walkinshaw—who's also close with Ed Murray, a longtime state lawmaker before becoming Seattle's first gay mayor—has a head start on that fundraising. 

Where's the Radical Lefty Who Wants Jim McDermott's Seat In Congress?

http://www.thestranger.com/blogs/slog/2016/01/05/23344127/wheres-the-radical-lefty-who-wants-jim-mcdermotts-seat-in-congress

Kshama Sawant's popularity doesn't extend beyond Seattle's Capital Hill.

Pramila Jayapal. I keep hearing her name but that's about it.

Mike McGinn? No, his isolationist, Seattle go-it-alone may have played will with the Stranger, but he couldn't draw a majority in Seattle to keep on being mayor.

Mike O'Brien? He would do well, but was just re-elected to Seattle City Council. His popularity might get him votes from Seattle but it's questionable if that would extend through a congressional district.

Robert Cruickshank, a senior campaign manager at Democracy for America and former McGinn staffer, says candidates for the 7th should focus on the issues that are coming up in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination like the Trans Pacific Partnership, college tuition and debt, and banking reform. They should also consider taking the more populist path of a candidate like Bernie Sanders.

"All of these candidates are going to have to demonstrate to Seattle voters why we should be excited about them," Cruickshank says. "None of them should assume their résumé is going to get the job done."

Lorena González? She has been in her Seattle City Council position for almost a couple months.

Rod Dembowski. The King County Council member is a little too moderate.

Reuven Carlyle. The state representative for the 36th district will probably take a serious look at running and could jump in.

Courtney Gregoire, Port of Seattle Commissioner, daughter of former governor, Chris Gregoire, might have the resources to give it a run.

There are no shortage of names but a shortage of time. The primary is eight months away, that means separating yourself from the pack by securing funds and support will have to happen within the next two months.

It's very likely the general election will have two democrats facing each other. What will become attributes worth differentiating to show a difference worth voting for is yet to be know. The race may come down to experience as a legislator. This why I lean toward Frokt and McDermott as front runners. Both are respected in their current positions, and have been around long enough to claim the experience label but not around so long as to be stale, or amass political baggage.

(Yes, this is where I have returned to for writing about politics, mainly.)

2016, shouting in the new year

"NOBODY WILL PAY TO REMODEL KEY ARENA FOR BASKETBALL AND HOCKEY!"

(Image - ESPN)