Giving my blog a fresh coat of pixels

I have written here and a few other places over the past few years. As things have changed for me I have gravitated toward writing for somebody else, on my own, or commented on other people's work. To a great degree I have returned here think out loud, in front of strangers, and a few friends.
About "Friends", I only have a few, I do not collect them like baseball cards, or free phone apps.
The strangers drop by here in numbers that are greater that the number of people that I actually know in real life, few comment in public, actually more send me "off the record" emails.
I guess if you are going to visit then I might as well do you the honor of playing host to what I am really thinking about.
On the right side of the page and wrapping around to the bottom is almost exclusively politics, a social construct.
On the left, here, is what I am thinking about. I have changed the format to allow a larger video window. That is where the world is going, I hope to retrieve some clips for you.
The color change was selected with the King County Metro buses in mind, and the late 20th century Supersonics, and the early 20th century Metropolitans
I hope that one day soon I can wear a green Seattle sweater everyday during Winter, tip off, or dropping the puck.

I hope you find some use in the news feeds on this page, and my musings. When I go too far just exclaim "JOEL CONELLY!" in the comments section (anonymously).

Have a fantastic day,
Mr. Baker

Special Session in Olympia: $800 Million Dollars, April 6th or 7th

Today, Everett Herald writer Jerry Cornfield reports where the legislature is at on the budget.

Democrats, who hold majorities in both chambers, agree on an amount, $800 million, but not on how to generate all of those dollars.

They're deadlocked on about a quarter of that sum, with the Senate saying it should come from a higher sales tax and the House disagreeing. That chamber is pushing an end to tax breaks for large banks, out-of-state residents and buyers of custom-made software programs.

Yesterday, Kitsap Sun writer Steven Gardner reported on a possible end date to the special session

[State Senator Tim] Sheldon predicted the session will end on April 6 or 7, assuming Gov. Chris Gregoire gets assurances from the federal governmentthat it will commit to health care money that the state can “book” into its budget.

The conspiracy theory would be: they did not know how much help they were going to get from the federal government so they have been running in place for a month while they wait.

So, maybe we will see things start back up in Olympia, and hopefully some bills I have been following will get some action.

James Donaldson recommended by 46th LD Republicans

As reported by Mike Seely at the SeattleWeekly, James Donaldson is a big man with a big reach all the way to the 46th Legislative District Republicans (not that there's anything wrong with it).

So, why the power move to the Right?

Donaldson doesn't have the cash on hand to match his rivals' air games, which has his camp putting a good amount of faith in direct mail and turning out three oft-overlooked constituencies: (1) Republicans, (2) members of Save Our Sonics, which endorsed Donaldson last week and has 15,000 members, according to Donaldson campaign manager Cindi Laws, and (3) "20,000 WSU alums" who live in the area, according to Laws (Donaldson graduated from Wazzu). Will this be enough for Donaldson to make the finals? We'll soon find out.
SeattleWeekly: Republicans Dig Donaldson, And Hopefully Area Wazzu Alums Will Too

See the full list of recommendations from the 46th LD Republicans here: 46th LD Republicans (Seattle, WA) - Meetup.com

As I read mostly James Donaldson's 134 point plan I thought it had a "republican-ish" feel to it.
Read it here.
Hopefully Publicola did not exclude Donaldson from its "special series of Q&As this weekend with the four major candidates for Seattle mayor" because Donaldson was reaching out to Republicans.

At the time of their story Donaldson was 3rd in the polls, and yet he was excluded from being in their top 4.

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

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http://ManyWordsForRain.blogspot.com

The Stranger: Primary Endorsements for Mayor of Seattle - Mike McGinn

Publicola and the SeattleWeekly have not yet publish the names of people that fit their opinions (that is what it is).

So, Seattle Times - Nckels and Mallahan
The Stranger - McGinn
Muni League - Mallahan
Friends of Seattle (are they Astroturf?) - McGinn

Notice a pattern? How about the absense of Drago, Donaldson, Sigler, Garrett, and Campbell?

slog.thestranger.com/slog 2009 primary endorsements

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

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http://ManyWordsForRain.blogspot.com

The Seattle Times recommends: Nickels, Mallahan top so-so field in Seattle mayor's race

The McGinn supporters are going to be as upset as they had anticipated they would be by the Seattle Times endorsement.

Seattle Times endorsement

Friends of Seattle endorsed Mike McGinn.
I then dropped out of the FoS Facebook group, not because of the endorsement, I endorsed McGinn and Mallahan. FoS has an AstroTurf feel to it. If they are, or not, is not the point.

Today in Losing Propositions: "Drago exaggerates role in tunnel project"

This is from the Seattle Times Newspaper Editorial:

Mayoral candidate Jan Drago overstated her role in getting the downtown tunnel approved. If she wants to improve communication between Seattle and Olympia, she should be more accurate about what she actually accomplished.
Seattle Times Editorial: Mayoral candidate Drago exaggerates role in tunnel project

Ok, just so I have this right; the Seattle Times is chastising mayoral candidate Councilwoman Jan Drago for claiming too much credit for a viaduct replacement project the majority of Seattle did not vote for, that the state legislature chose to saddle Seattle for all of the cost overruns on. Umm, ok.

Last Spring she did testify in Olympia for the Tunnel project. I watched most of that on TVW.

Months before she stood next to Greg Nickels when the deal for the tunnel was announced, her contribution was committing Seattle to another Streetcar line to run from Alaskan Way on up the the empty KeyArena with no funding source to make it happen.

She stood next to Ron Sims, Sims' added bus service to add one million ridership hours was depending on car tab tax that never happened.

She stood with Governor Chris Gregoire who stripped away support for the added bus service hours after Ron Sims announced that he was leaving his position as King County Executive to become the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

This Tunnel is, even by its supporters, a negative experience, 7 years in the making, following the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake.

Why anybody would think exaggerating their involvement in that mess is nuts. It says more about the fantasy one must live in to think this is an issue to campaign on than it does about mayoral attributes. She is a better communicator than Greg Nickels, and this pile of manure is her claim to fame, really?

It is no wonder a guy that looked to be a long shot, James Donaldson, is polling almost on par with Drago. Between Nickels and Drago's shared history, I guess James Donaldson should be seen as a potential mayor, and not as an "also ran".

A new KING 5 News poll has Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels leading challengers Jan Drago and James Donaldson, with the other candidates trailing the field.

The survey results:
Nickels: 24 percent.
Drago: 15 percent.
Donaldson: 14 percent.
The poll released Thursday showed that 26 percent of respondents were undecided.SeattlePI.com: Poll: Nickels leads Seattle mayor's race

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

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

SeattlePI.com: Another Democratic District disses Nickels

The 46th District Dems take a pass on Greg Nickels.

The Democrats of Seattle's 46th District are making no endorsement in the Seattle mayor's race, the third legislative district organization to take a pass on active Democrat and incumbent Mayor Greg Nickels.

Earlier this week, 43rd District Democrats made no endorsement, after balloting in which Nickels trailed a pair of newcomers, T-Mobile vice president Joe Mallahan and Sierra Club activist Mike McGinn.

The 37th District voted to give a joint endorsement to Mallahan and McGinn.
Read the SeattlePI.com blog post by blogger Joel Connely here.

Or, you can read the 46th District Dems report here. Joe Mallahan drew the majority of votes, but not the required 2/3 vote required to win the endorsement. News aggregator, Joel Connely, could have mentioned that point.
Have a great day,
Mike Baker

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http://ManyWordsForRain.blogspot.com

SeattlePI.com: District Dems back Mallahan, McGinn for Seattle mayor

SeattlePI.com's Joel Connely reports that the 37th District Democrats in Seattle have split their endorsement between two challengers, Joe Mallahan (T-Mobile) and Mike McGinn (Sierra Club).

The Alki Dems (Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce) went with the people ruling for the benefit of downtown, Greg Nickels (mayor of downtown Seattle) and Jan Drago (Streetcars for billionaires).
Too bad Paul Allen doesn't live in Seattle, so he could actually vote for the people working for him.

SeattlePI.com linked here!

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

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Seattle Times: Editorials & Opinion: Bellevue's creative tunnel vision

SEATTLE - Today's Seattle Times has an editorial affirming the newspaper's love for the Eastside of Lake Washington.

THE Eastside has emerged as a strong, enthusiastic proponent of light rail, joining innovative ideas and long-range visions of the region's development, making civic leaders' call for a tunnel under downtown Bellevue worth serious consideration.

Sound Transit officials estimate a tunnel would add between $500 million to $600 million to the overall cost of the regional transit expansion between downtown Seattle and downtown Redmond. The added cost shouldn't be taken lightly. Nor should it be discounted as economically out of reach.

As Sound Transit's board of directors this week choose the focus of further engineering studies, a tunnel ought to be included. Pushing forth a tunnel, in addition to the surface option, allows further research on the costs, benefits and impacts of each. - Seattle Times

Hey, what's $500 or $600 million dollars between friends?

Sound Transit link-light rail line that will run through Bellevue is marked with well thought out decisions with a vision of the future, according to the Times. Not mentioned in the option to run part of the rail through a tunnel is that Bellevue should on the hook for tunnel cost overruns, right? That is the new trend from the Washington State Legislature, right?

Seattle wanted a tunnel as part of the replacement of the Alaska Way viaduct and the legislature tagged Seattle with the cost overruns of the tunnel with the passage of Senate Bill 5768. In fact, both State Senators from Bellevue, Fred Jarret of the 41st and Rodney Tom of the 48th Districts, both voted to put the cost overruns on the citizens of Seattle (hey, that's me).

Don't start arguing fairness now Bellevue, you already approved this to be fair in the legislature through the actions of your senators there.

Ok, the "state" is one organization and Sound Transit is a regional organization. . . chaired by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. Yes, that is the same Seattle and mayor that Jarrett and Tom both voted to dump the viaduct project cost overruns onto.

I guess there is only so much the Seattle Times can cram into a puff piece about Bellevue.

Hey, on a side note, Fred Jarrett is running for King County Executive. Seattle is in King County, and so am I.
Greg Nickels is running for re-election for Mayor of Seattle.
What is a voter t do?

Holding your representatives accountable for their votes is coming too end, right now.

I'm not paid to write this so I can't be fired, so, get used to it.

Have a great day,
Mike Baker
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Seattle Times: Seattle councilman questions promotion of "unsafe" manager

SEATTLE - Seattle City Councilman Nick Licata wants to know where and why money appropriated by the appropriations part of city government is being spent on promoting a poor performing employee.

According to the Seattle Times, Paul Jackson Jr. was promoted from transportation manager to street-maintainence director. Mr. Jackson was the manager in charge of the umployees and trucks that did not remove the snow from Seattle streets after last December's snow storm.
Council President Richard Conlin and Council member Sally Clark did not think how Mayor Greg Nickels spends tax money was any of their business.
Checks and balances? Not today, thanks.

Council member Jean Godden did not have enough information to comment either way.

Read the story in the Seattle Times.

Have a great day,
Mike Baker
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