Posted Tue, Apr 3, 1:31 p.m.

David Smith, that 75 million would have come from similar sources as Chris Hansen has identified for the new arena. Frank Chopp saved Key Arena from modernity, and that's about it.

Posted Tue, Apr 3, 12:41 p.m.

Few entertainment groups own their facility, Gary. McCaw Hall?

Posted Tue, Apr 3, 11:56 a.m.

Well, this close enough for public consumption. "Sideshow" Bob Keller's performance played will to the press that was made up primarily by sports beat reporters and columnists to stupid to consider facts, which Keller was largely without, would be the basis of the judges decision. I was in the courtroom ...

Posted Sat, Mar 3, 10:41 a.m.

Should the Dems finally give up on pretending Rodney Tom is one of them? A couple Dems do something kind of like this and it results in one of the Dems having the "courage" to act like a jackass, and another encouraging it only to issue some brief and meaningless ...

Posted Tue, Feb 28, 8:19 a.m.

And then there is Bellevue. Art didn't mention this in his story, that's strange. http://www.king5.com/news/Arena-Talk-in-Bellevue-Too-140676183.html

Posted Wed, Feb 22, 6:44 p.m.

I didn't answer the "why Dow" question very well from Dow's perspective, since I don't actually know what his thoughts are, but this is how it looked like it would go to me: Somebody would propose an arena. The county would be involved in some way. The county has credibility ...

Posted Wed, Feb 22, 5:07 p.m.

David, the property is already zoned for stadiums. See page 20 of the draft www.StadiumDistrict.org proposal crafted by the Mariners and Seahawks. The Mariners and Seahawks inadvertently made the case for something to go on in the Stadium District during their off seasons, how can they get more sustained activity ...

Posted Mon, Feb 20, 6:10 p.m.

Neither draw money from the general fund. So, it is pretty much personal preference, and not so much journalism.

Posted Mon, Feb 20, 10:46 a.m.

This should make for awkward holidays since Charles Royer is on the Mariners board. My questions stem from the side of me that knows the long-term success and growth of our city and region is most dependent on the job growth and dynamism of the private economy. Sports are part ...

Posted Sat, Feb 11, 9:53 p.m.

Population of Washington grew by about a million people in the past decade, none of them enjoy sports? Really? 10 more years, another million, still no more sports fans? If you want to argue both sides of that, be my guest. No matter how difficult we make it for strangers ...

Posted Sat, Feb 11, 9:38 p.m.

Well written speculation and handwringing. The sixth ticket is the Mariners, they suck, and don't appear to care beyond attracting enough fans to turn a profit. The Sonics revenue fade began when Safeco opened and KeyArena suite leases ended. The Sonics then just as the Mariners now, failed to compete ...

Posted Sat, Jan 28, 1:42 p.m.

Survey says: Roughly three-quarters of the public (77%) say that they think there is too much power in the hands of a few rich people and large corporations in the United States. In a 1941 Gallup poll, six-in-ten (60%) Americans expressed this view. About nine-in-ten (91%) Democrats and eight-in-ten (80%) ...

Posted Sat, Jan 28, 12:31 p.m.

Republicans calling the President the divider-in-chief think they have the equivalent of liberals shouting "racism" when they shout "class warfare". The basic failure in this belief in the power of this position is that it lacks a majority to hold that position (or at least not advocate for more power ...

Posted Sat, Dec 24, 12:19 p.m.

I think the multi-national corporations that directly benefit from the tourism industry can go ahead and pay their own way for edvertising. It is enough that the citizens pay for tourist traps, like Pike Place Market (tm) as some tourist amenity for the Seattle hoteliers. We have built a lot ...

Posted Sat, Dec 17, 2:50 p.m.

This was pretty predictable. . . Since he has been back in town, Steinbrueck has made a few appearances in political life, including moderating a City Council candidate forum this summer. "There's a lot of talk going on around town," he said. "I've been hearing a lot of dissatisfaction, frankly, ...

Posted Mon, Dec 12, 6:52 p.m.

Every minute Richard DeBolt spends in Olympia is a "colossal waste of time and taxpayer dollars."

Posted Thu, Dec 1, 11:51 a.m.

Before the horse drawn carriage, Italian gondolas, and the dreaded velocipedes, drag this 20th century discussing into the 19th century I will just go ahead and say "telecommuting". This will sound shocking, if not stunning, but much of the citizenry willingly pays for substandard data transmission rates at exorbitant prices.

Posted Fri, Nov 25, 11:22 a.m.

Ted, The council is not planning on voting on any of this. The Council also cut more than $250,000 in position adds proposed by the Mayor, reduced planned funding for possible 2012 ballot measures to assume that there will only be one measure on the ballot, and maintained separate Offices ...

Posted Wed, Nov 23, 2:42 p.m.

Fwiw, I would break up the band thusly: North region divided in 2, east and west http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/nsc/northregion.htm Central region divided in 3, east (would include Lake Union), west, downtown South region divided in 2, east, and west (West Seattle and Delridge) 7 Eliminate 2, hire a city manager. Eliminate 1 ...

Posted Wed, Nov 23, 2:20 p.m.

City of Seattle leadership structure: 1. How useful would Councilmembers elected by district be to you? 2. Compared to actual democracy, is our service quality better, worse, or about the same? 3. Compared to actual democracy, how effective is our service? http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2C8X8HB

Posted Wed, Nov 23, 2:09 p.m.

We must have as much open green space for spin dancing at Hempfest. The people demand it!

Posted Wed, Nov 23, 1:02 p.m.

A good start would be to elect the council by districts. Our current "at large" system creates mediocre, rubber-stamp leadership who lavish most of their attention on special interests and a few affluent neighborhoods. At least the rest of the hoods would have someone to call about the basics...potholes, sidewalks, ...

Posted Wed, Nov 23, 12:37 p.m.

Whatever you want to spend LID money on is not my concern (crossrip, there is another "silo" for you). Beyond that, I am just trying to have the local community center and library be open, and the community center lights in the slightly secluded parking lot to be on when ...

Posted Tue, Nov 22, 7:47 p.m.

Oh, one more thing, screw you, crossrip. You don't know me.

Posted Tue, Nov 22, 7:46 p.m.

Crossrip, you are missing the point (surprise!). My "ilk" don't want ham handed "solutions" propelling the state, county, and city into a fungible money grab fantasy, only to end up in court trying to explain the state has been claiming to create these programs, with funding approved by voters, or ...

Posted Tue, Nov 22, 2:44 p.m.

Btw, the short answer is no, we need the silos. Do I have to explain how SB 6889 (2010) came about? state raiding the Convention Center fund to the tune of $54 million dollars, hoteliers taking the state to court, ring any bells? Not yet? Hoteliers agreeing to a $12 ...

Posted Tue, Nov 22, 2:28 p.m.

I'm hoping for a City Library District 2012 in Seattle to generate and isolate revenue from the city general fund and operate the facilities with.

Posted Mon, Nov 14, 11:20 a.m.

Maybe we already have a top 2 primary system, but the party apparatus that shuns democracy and ensures party control of elected positions needs to be phased out. As tragic as it is that state Senator White died, and as much as I think David Frockt would make a fine ...

Posted Sun, Nov 13, 12:31 p.m.

I was thinking about this situation the same morning this story was written, a system so obviously broken that even I can see it. I'm going to ramble, get over it. The problem is in the smaller dynamic, not the larger. Your solution is to introduce a 3rd way without ...

Posted Fri, Nov 4, 9:47 p.m.

"not proving funding mechanisms" sb "not providing funding mechanisms"

Posted Fri, Nov 4, 9:45 p.m.

Compounding the problem is the aging infrastructure, especially in small towns. I'm not talking about roads and bridges (though those are visible problems) but sewer pipes, gas mains, etc. This was brought up a few times last year during the legislative session. This past summer had the joint committee working ...

Posted Fri, Nov 4, 9:11 p.m.

The problem I have is inadequate neighborhood representation by my at large city council. It's just bad. The car tab vote map will spell this out. North Seattle should just become part of Shoreline, and if the car tab vote passes, that's pretty much what will happen. What great benefit ...

Posted Thu, Nov 3, 9:20 p.m.

Why don't the upzones include actual living wage jobs? The neighborhoods with single family housing iare criticized by upzone cheerleaders as having too many nimbys but the facts are that real estate development that plants a giant cube of condos is usually what is proposed, very little infrastructure and rarely ...

Posted Sat, Oct 22, 1:28 p.m.

I hope they like picking onions. Fwiw, people are also migrating to urban areas. Some red states are getting more people and it is going to make them a little more purple than they may be comfortable with.

Posted Sat, Oct 8, 7:48 p.m.

Income is income. I don't care how you got it, worked for a paycheck, shuffled money on paper, somebody died, don't care. To some degree I agree with Ted Van Dyk. I would want to balance that freedom in the marketplace with what I like to call the corporate death ...

Posted Wed, Oct 5, 4:42 p.m.

Some subjects lend themselves to individualized instruction, some don't. And some subjects of sufficient complexity require a professor (os assistant) to teach, some don't. Some subjects require group interaction and social queues that occur with the highest quality while in the presence of others, some don't. There really is a ...

Posted Tue, Oct 4, 7:36 p.m.

I live in the 1st now. The 1st is a mixed bag, as-is. Each plan has some major shifts, but I think I favor the Foster map at this point. Moving those parts of Kitsap back to Kitsap makes sense to me. I think the potential tolling and natural constraint ...

Posted Mon, Oct 3, 4:30 p.m.

Get rid of the at large council and you will see a change. Break the council into 4 at large and 5 districts. The busybody network breeds its own type if cronyism.

Posted Sun, Oct 2, 7:14 p.m.

Yes, let's quickly get beyond this so we can focus on the fact that he is a jackass.

Posted Sun, Oct 2, 1:28 p.m.

Kage87Z, this is where you are failing in your argument, you are not including, and are in fact demising, the point of the story: KIRO TV failed to perform to reasonable journalistic standards. They failed to cinfirm basic facts when those facts were identified as being in question. They failed ...

Posted Sun, Sep 25, 7:26 p.m.

Contrast Prop 1's proposal with the King County Council vote to raise car tabs $20. The county had a pretty clear math problem, and the solution was $20 to sustain bus service for two years, until the state proposes a sustaining funding model. You don't have to like or agree ...

Posted Sun, Sep 18, 1:08 p.m.

Well, where do I begin? 1st, I agree that we should "thank" the technological advancements in electronic self-publishing for encouraging interest in the 1st Amendment. The ease with which the citizenry are able to publish, its democratization demonstrates a benefit of democracy, freedom of expression. 2nd, the Right and the ...

Posted Wed, Sep 14, 7:27 p.m.

Your "early news coverage" link doesn't go to a story.

Posted Mon, Sep 5, 4:06 p.m.

News flash, really old news flash, go into the Seattle Times archives and you will find stories about people on bikes blowing through stop signs and speeding down hills 80 years ago, 80.

Posted Mon, Sep 5, 3:06 p.m.

I love technology, iPad turned "electrified" into "eke tidied". I'll throw a dollar into the street if anybody can tell me what "eke tidied" could possibly mean. Btw, bikes are great, Seattle should go ahead and finish pushing families out of Seattle, I'll go somewhere with my family where population ...

Posted Mon, Sep 5, 2:52 p.m.

Electrify the bus routes on major arterials to reduce some of that carbon. Whatever you do, minimize putting tracks in the ground, unless you want to see more cyclists doing summersaults in front of you. When eke tidied buses reach the end of the wire they unhook and flexibly keep ...

Posted Sun, Sep 4, 1:44 p.m.

I agree with Bertolet on expanding the PSRC, but agree with Peter on right sizing the inter-local planning. I'm not seeing work/home integration in a lot of this, just vertical bedroom communities.

Posted Sun, Sep 4, 1:32 p.m.

I agree with pragmatic and would add that a super special REET should be added to those condo sales to help pay for anything beyond retaining wall and shoreline restoration. I'm not about to vote for another Bridging the Gap between my wallet and some billionaire's real estate development. The ...

Posted Sun, Sep 4, 10:50 a.m.

The downtown edition of Golden Gardens would be ok with me, I might actually use it.

Posted Sun, Sep 4, 10:36 a.m.

Peter, In your dialog you didn't mention jobs. Where people live and work has been separated by land use choices that force people to live in one place and travel my energy consuming means to go to work. I see plenty of upzone cheerleaders talk about "walkable communities" but the ...

Posted Sun, Sep 4, 10:28 a.m.

Orino, it was earlier than that, and I am aware of the annexation, my question was: why isn't now part of Shoreline. What most people downtown think of what it means to live un Seattle are living a different life than those of us that do not have streetcar/trolley/light rail/sidewalks ...

Posted Sat, Sep 3, 9:52 p.m.

Break Seattle city council into 5 sub-regions with 4 at large positions. NE, NW, SE, SW, and downtown. The city council interests would be more in line with county and state reps. Silos by city function can only take policy so far.

Posted Sat, Sep 3, 9:45 p.m.

Some of this lack of regional focus may come from the lack of actual representation in Seattle. Sure, there are overlapping jurisdictions, but who would actually represent the northernmost part of Seattle in finding a synergistic relationship with the southern part of Shoreline in its relationships with King County Metro ...

Posted Sat, Sep 3, 8:57 p.m.

You can go ahead and put this treasure next to the Century21 plan, they can keep each other company while they wait for funding from all of Seattle for the apparent use as a neighborhood park. If downtown really wantsto spend a penny more on anything beyond a simple park, ...

Posted Sat, Sep 3, 6:29 p.m.

I was giving this a lot of thought today, and then I read your article. I was trying to figure out why north Seattle (north of 130th, or there about) wasn't part of the City of Shoreline.

Posted Fri, Aug 26, 11:42 a.m.

Mr. MacDonald, Thank you for writing this and highlighting a different way of looking at transportation. I'll pick up the book you mentioned. I found this link to the ICOET conference. I'll look that over, too. I didn't notice a link in the story. http://www.icoet.net/ICOET_2011/

Posted Mon, Aug 22, 7:01 a.m.

Sore loser.

Posted Thu, Aug 18, 8:51 a.m.

jmrolls, you are not accepting or rejecting my opinion but the EIS estimate. For the portions that are the same elements the duration does not get much better or worse. When the viaduct comes down there will be a tunnel to take some of the through capacity. I don't really ...

Posted Wed, Aug 17, 8:33 p.m.

jmrolls, yes, 10 years. That was a deal breaker for me. To get the surface option you pretty much have to use the elevated plan out to stage 5. You might be able to shave a few weeks here and there on switching and detours, but you are stuck with ...

Posted Wed, Aug 17, 11:32 a.m.

We will know in 5.5 years, if it were ST we would know in 8, if it were a new elevated we would know in 10. The state road goes under ground and as big as it is for 100+ years, with the train tunnel, and the bus/LR tunnel.

Posted Wed, Aug 10, 4:02 p.m.

I have already voted for the Referendum. The late voters may have an opinion but simply do not care enough about this particular vote to bother. This is a matter of motivating and less about lobbying a bunch of undecided voters. Latching on to other things on the primary ballot ...

Posted Sun, Aug 7, 9:21 p.m.

Wells, step away from the glue gun.

Posted Sun, Aug 7, 2:04 p.m.

toughbretts, manufacturing involves making things and moving those things around via transportation corridors. We debate them in Seattle, they build them in South Carolina. As long as people think Seattle and the PugetSound economy would be just fine with businesses that just service each other we will build an out ...

Posted Wed, Aug 3, 12:48 p.m.

"One thing that strikes me about guys like Ceis is that they frequently wrap themselves in the cloak of pragmatism while promoting projects that are often highly problematic. It's a little like today's Tea Party radicals claiming to be conservatives. " Knute, by this measure, you are no better. Unfortunately ...

Posted Wed, Jul 27, 7:44 p.m.

I'm not sure what people were expecting the mayor and former lobbyist for Great City (tm) to do. You got what you voted for, Seattle, an upzone shill. There are plenty of places in the city to build plenty of cubes. Developers will always want more for every project, it ...

Posted Sun, Jul 24, 3:13 p.m.

The stadium Index is worthless. Before Republican policies drove the economy into the toilet the era of stadia/arena funded by public dollars was becoming less fashionable. The Supersonics relocated to a refurbished arena, not a new one. The last major new arena I can think of that was built that ...

Posted Sat, Jul 23, 2:29 p.m.

Anti-tunnel campaign apologizes for attack on pro-tunnel environmentalists Still, Goldman said, it was "totally inappropriate" to challenge the credentials and environmental experience of tunnel backers because they disagreed about the project. The environmental community has been sharply divided over the $2 billion tunnel. The Sierra Club, Sightline Institute and Earth ...

Posted Sun, Jun 19, 3:51 p.m.

Jean Godden is vulnerable, but none of the others that voted for the tunnel agreements is. Maybe Jean should have endorsed Jessie, as was rumored by Publicola last year.

Posted Sat, Jun 11, 2:09 p.m.

In response, top to bottom: Roger, you've got the job as McGinn campaign volunteer, congratulations. Bluelight, has his cake and complains about it, too. gabowker, the invisible bus awaits. mikejames, so true. Geezer, we all want to run our own lives. Societies figure out ways to do that cooperatively (see ...

Posted Sat, Jun 4, 7:57 p.m.

So, David, these cities have leadership. They see a problem and then decide to do something about it. You say they then actually do something. Tell me more. They must have their own "gadfly" lawyers suing everything that moves. How do they just move forward?

Posted Wed, Jun 1, 11:39 a.m.

Knute, what are you for? All that noodling and you failed on the same point if clarity you apparently wanted from the council. The "opposition" failed to put an alliterative forward. "If tunnel proponents are so certain of the rightness of their faith — that the deep bore is indeed ...

Posted Sun, May 29, 8:06 p.m.

I, too, would very much like to see polling on Constantine in the match ups for governor. Mayor looks like a step down, and cleaning up after McGinn doesn't look too appealing. Cantwell would serve sheriff Dave his head.

Posted Sun, May 29, 7:49 p.m.

It just wouldn't be a silver lining without some of you dark clouds. One more time, this tax credit is, by law, for tourism within the county. Had this bill not passed then in 2021 the control of the tax would have gone to the cities to use for tourism. ...

Posted Sun, May 29, 6:56 p.m.

It was pretty clear by the quotes but that's just me, I guess. (really do want an answer to my question)

Posted Sun, May 29, 5 p.m.

So, Tim, are you apposed to a specific B&O; tax for out of state athletes where the the revenue would be exclusively used to build and maintain the facilities that the athletes directly benefit from (nexus)? This could be similar to an amendment Rodney Top put on HB 2912 last ...

Posted Tue, May 17, 6:41 p.m.

Doesn't he look tired.

Posted Fri, May 6, 9:11 p.m.

Even though i disagree with many of them, there are better arguments in the comments than anything Roger has written. Crosscut, please, enough of Roger.

Posted Thu, May 5, 10:13 p.m.

Across the board cuts is something the governor threatens the legislature with, not a primary method of leading on budget and policy. He might as well throw darts. As far as the NBA comments go, lobbying to prevent Bellevue isn't the same as actually trying to get something done in ...

Posted Fri, Apr 8, 11:33 a.m.

"The way most of the tunnel proponents talk, you would think the decision is already made — which means the EIS must be done, right? Wrong." Policy been set? That is yes, the Washington State Legislature passed a bill, the Governor signed it, the City of Seattle passed an Ordinance ...

Posted Tue, Mar 29, 7:59 p.m.

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 ...

Posted Fri, Mar 18, 10:21 p.m.

Rick Barrett, don't forget to mention that the 1990 "plan" stated that adding density without basic mobility infrastructure (sidewalks) would result in a dangerous environment. There are miles of open rain water run off ditches throughout North Seattle that it just seems absurd to read the word, "hamlet". The city ...

Posted Fri, Mar 18, 10:02 p.m.

Develop, baby, develop By McGinn fanboy, Roger Valdez Sorry the tax payers didn't gift every developer anything they ever wanted, Roger. Ask anybody the was getting railroaded in North Seattle if they give a ratsass about your benefactor's feelings. Gosh, it took too long to get a 24hour Fitness on ...

Posted Wed, Mar 16, 6:12 p.m.

You should have that discussion with the mayor and proponents of the August vote. Put all three on a ballot, there isn't a majority "yes". You, and the folks giving this the Surface treatment, have a majority "no" but not a majority "yes".

Posted Wed, Mar 16, 5:51 p.m.

The surface only option is a non-starter, but that will not be on the ballot, neither will a retro, or rebuild if a viaduct. What will be on the ballot is a "no". Faced with no alternative to the "no" the state will keep going. If the "no" people are ...

Posted Wed, Mar 16, 5:38 p.m.

Please see this article. The 2009 story was timely, then.

Posted Wed, Mar 16, 3:18 p.m.

I do not agree that those two things are related in reference and context of the article. What has happened and when is pretty important.

Posted Wed, Mar 16, 12:01 p.m.

The legislature can't wait to call a Special Session in August to act on the opinion from Seattle. Just watch TVW, folks from all over the state a being "gaveled" by the Speaker of the House for not speaking to the bill before the body, for wandering off into rants ...

Posted Sun, Mar 13, 7:24 p.m.

arties4453 must be talking about next year's short session, or the session in 2013, because the cutoff date for bills to be introduced was two weeks ago, and the cutoff to pass out of their house of origin was a week ago. It looks like Ed Murray is taking state ...

Posted Thu, Mar 3, 9:31 p.m.

David, the restaurant industry already testified in favor of allowing those taxes carried against their businesses until 2015 partly because the workforce housing is intended for restaurant industry workers, and hotel workers. The opposition in testimony in the House was from the car rental agencies, and the folks that want ...

Posted Sat, Feb 26, 11:05 p.m.

It is nearly impossible for some people to feel happy for anyone or anything connected with Boeing, sometimes going out of their way to remain consistent in that fact in the face of good news. In light of what is good news, as witnessed by the recognition that this was ...

Posted Mon, Feb 21, 8:04 p.m.

"The restaurant and bar associations should not allow the Safeco stadium tax to survive." The bill ends the restaurant and bar, more accurately known as the food and beverage tax, after 20 years, in 2015 with this bill and every bill that has survived a committee over the past 3 ...

Posted Sat, Feb 19, 6:19 p.m.

I do not think Peter Gallahger is right about the bill creating a parking tax at Safeco, there is an existing parking tax that is part of the admissions tax RCW 36.38.010. I think this is what they were requesting 2 years ago in SB6116. For the most part it ...

Posted Tue, Feb 15, 7:36 p.m.

Well, I think the unspoken plan right now is to drive the site into the ground until the vast majority of fans don't care if you plow it over and finally put up more condos. Once you sell off parking to the Gates Foundation you pretty much tell the tenant ...

Posted Sun, Feb 13, 8:41 p.m.

"rising gas prices", now there is an obsolete idea..

Posted Sat, Feb 5, 4:54 p.m.

You only get so many chances to make a first impression. I think you have it about right about going along with th consensus with the things has has less interest in. He may have figured that the press isn't a challenger to his ideas, just headline hunting. Let's see ...

Posted Tue, Feb 1, 8:06 p.m.

Just how "rural" is Yakima County? They get $2.4 for each $1 the contribute. http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2011/01/25/1295977794-2008_rev_and_exp_by_county2.pdf Yakima County has 241,446 people (ofm estimate). So, please, save the poor farmer BS. The slippery slope we are heading down, no matter what happens with this bill, is to a shift of local taxing ...

Posted Thu, Jan 20, noon

Thanks Knute. Putting on my provincial hat, King County has projects and programs that are on a scale the rest of the state could not support in a meaningful way, but we could have a mechanism in King County to address our own items in the hotel tax. The funding ...

Posted Mon, Jan 17, 9:25 p.m.

Unpatriotic? That there is nutty. You might want to get outside of your local bubble and see that even car-loving people are not even interested in paying for their own roads. http://news.opb.org/article/40398-poll-northwest-residents-dont-want-pay-more-roads/ I'll guess that there is a profound lack of "patriotism" right now. Not only do I expect what ...

Posted Mon, Jan 17, 7:33 p.m.

mhays, I have really bad news for you, talk radio listeners have no idea that Crosscut exists, you can tell, people are using facts in their arguments.

Posted Mon, Jan 17, 7:26 p.m.

No known transit plan will get me from my remote outpost in North Seattle to work someplace other than downtown. Telecommuting is about the only transit option that I could benefit from. Unless transit does more than pump people into downtown cubicles it will suffer. You have to hope that ...

Posted Sun, Jan 16, 8:09 p.m.

Developing vertical bedroom communities without making a serious effort to plan to have enough jobs to actually support the purchase of a home in a "sustainable" community looks like it doesn't even give population migration a chance to work for us, and there is way too much of it. The ...

Posted Thu, Jan 13, 6:58 p.m.

I like the idea for wants of localities, but be clear in retaining state responsibility for needs of the state. Schools, roads, public safety, state-wide standards; there are some very basic levels that the state can make the case for asking for revenue, but not while it is in the ...

Posted Tue, Jan 4, 10:27 p.m.

Btw, I have worked for plenty of Republican business owners, money is not red or blue, but green. There are some pretty consistent themes and ideas that come directly from union ideals that go directly to the Democratic Party Platform, Adam.

Posted Tue, Jan 4, 10:23 p.m.

Whatever you have to tell yourself, Adam.

Posted Mon, Jan 3, 5:57 p.m.

This isn't Savage Love and this might not be the Letter of the Day, but I'll just make the analogy leap here; maybe Mr. Vogt is a Republican in denial.

Posted Thu, Dec 30, 3:03 p.m.

Mr. Brewster, I posted my 2011 Predictions yesterday, a few are strangely similar (we could have Erica Barnet check the time stamp). I am calling 2011, The Year of the Hollow Victory. http://manywordsforrain.blogspot.com/2010/12/predictions-for-2011-year-of-hollow.html I just don't see Ron Sims coming back to run. It looks like Dow Constantine is having ...

Posted Mon, Dec 27, 4:41 p.m.

Back to the here and now, the cost and purpose of LR on 520, the Seattle mayor wants the citizens of Seattle to help pay/enable/subsidize to sprawl. I am just not that into the idea of LR to make transit junkies feel good. There should be a fine charged to ...

Posted Mon, Dec 27, 12:23 p.m.

" It allows us to accommodate added people using existing infrastructure, and it lets residents save by using their cars less, or even by not having cars." Light Rail isn't existing, isn't free, and "density" didn't just spout up around the mass transit orifice. I have no idea how people ...

Posted Sun, Dec 26, 4:44 p.m.

I dont know Wendell Cox, so, are you disputing what he said, or who said it?

Posted Sun, Dec 26, 10:36 a.m.

Don't pay for people to leave, no light rail on 520. People will move closer because employers have to pay higher wages, or jobs will move to the people. Maybe those jobs no longer sustain the community that they are currently located in? Stop encouraging jobless "walkable" communities. The giant ...

Posted Wed, Dec 22, 6:51 p.m.

Maybe NOW we can get a bill like SB 6051 passed. http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=6051&year;=2009

Posted Wed, Dec 22, 11:05 a.m.

Looks like you are telling 2 or 3 stories, Mr. Brewster. McGinn doesnt really have a dog in the Seattle Center fight. Contrast that with the tunnel. How do I know that he has learned anything if he starts off with a different set of personal criterial? A: I don't.

Posted Fri, Dec 17, 3:51 p.m.

We have the same problem in King County, maybe the legislature will not choke this year. Still unhappy with Rodney Tom.

Posted Thu, Dec 9, 10 p.m.

No, I don't know why I need so many at-large city council members. I get better local support from my county council member and state house rep, in fact, I think everything north of 130th should cede to the City of Shoreline. The county of downtown Seattle already just goes ...

Posted Thu, Dec 9, 8:47 p.m.

We learned the Mike Henderson has an opinion. What did we get for the millions of public dollars that went into Beneroya Hall to support a broken Seattle Symphony business model? What did we get for the 2 million dollar driveway at Seattle Center for the "theater district"? What did ...

Posted Thu, Dec 9, 6:38 p.m.

Fwiw, Dow Constantine supports the idea of bringing back Seattle professional Mens basketball. http://sonicscentral.com/blog/?p=2872

Posted Thu, Dec 9, 6:09 p.m.

Brandon Roy. Split that hair.

Posted Wed, Dec 8, 8:31 p.m.

Lincoln, you have a mouse in your pocket?

Posted Wed, Dec 8, 7:47 p.m.

I'll work my way up the page: Orino, Survey says! A minority is against it no matter what. Seattle polled better than Bellevue. http://tinyurl.com/SurveyUSAsonicspoll SteveC, see the survey above. 41% that "care" in a Seattle market is a larger than the entire universe of opinions in the Oklahoma City market ...

Posted Wed, Dec 8, 1:21 p.m.

So, how is that Century21 plan voted on by the city council 2 years ago doing? Maybe I should just copy and paste my comments here from two years ago when the rah! rah! about having a 50-year celebration, "will we celebrate urban blight?" Guess we are. What I really ...

Posted Fri, Dec 3, 9:32 a.m.

My walking-texting is something I should avoid in the future.

Posted Fri, Dec 3, 8:25 a.m.

Spock, I there wasnt an event worth going to the other night. I am so happy to read that the mayor has learned to hide his true feelings, hooray. Whenever pressed for a direct answer on building a new viaduct he has flatly sand "no", that he does not support ...

Posted Thu, Dec 2, 9:35 p.m.

He is being outclassed by Dow Constantine, how about a story about Dow "learning" his new position?

Posted Thu, Dec 2, 9:30 p.m.

Learning will show up in how he operates in the future. His legislative priorities for Olympia are an echo of 3 moths ago. He can't give up the fights that retain his base of support (Spock), and TaylorB1 shows that he has nothing/nobody to gain by doing anything different, unless ...

Posted Wed, Dec 1, 11:08 a.m.

If he gives up on lost causes then he loses his base. He has driven off anybody else.

Posted Sun, Nov 28, 7:56 p.m.

And here is why this "proposal" is DOA. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/editorials/2013532898_edit29loans.html

Posted Sat, Nov 27, 2:25 p.m.

Please stop with the Hutchinson thing. She was a Republican party donor for years and then we are all supposed to forget all that in her first run for public office? There was not a "fine line" for her to walk, she put her self on a line with zero ...

Posted Fri, Nov 26, 10:28 p.m.

The governor does not decide this, stop pretending.

Posted Fri, Nov 26, 10:26 p.m.

Agree with Ryan. McKenna will get Rossi numbers in King County, and similar results.

Posted Fri, Nov 26, 10:24 p.m.

Last legislative session UW was arguing against expending 4-year degrees to community colleges while at the same time lobbying for more funding so they can afford to deliver more. The state is forcing UW to argue for an unsustainable future delivering a greater emphasis on undergraduate education. Are they an ...

Posted Fri, Nov 26, 12:14 p.m.

To make the idea "suck" less the grant/coupon should be directed to state schools only. The state must offer more 4-year degrees through community colleges. The state could then allow the state universities to raise its prices. There is an artificial competition/scarcity for high demand degrees. It is a shame ...

Posted Fri, Nov 26, 8:58 a.m.

"Susan Hutchison ran a conservative nonpartisan campaign" That is one way to look at it, ducking questions about your own positions and associations would be another. How many election cycles has the county election operated as non-partisan? How long have we had the top two primary? I think the less ...

Posted Thu, Nov 25, 9:21 p.m.

Bull-Moose for a new generation

Posted Thu, Nov 25, 7:08 p.m.

The statewide insoluble problems are not much better than King County's. At least you could be governor while dealing with them. The state will degrade into haves and have nots, being King County Exec may be better in the short term but the already high resentment of King County affluence ...

Posted Mon, Nov 22, 4:53 p.m.

Overstating the "wave" by inaccurate polling doesn't help, either. http://tinyurl.com/LandlineBias The gap is growing. If the poll says you are tied then there is "enthusiasm" to vote. If the polls were accurate, showing Rossi more accurately then I just would not expect as many Republicans voting if the are told ...

Posted Sun, Nov 21, 12:12 p.m.

"Rasmussen: predicted Rossi +1; difference 5.6 percent; MOE 4 percent." No MOE there. The poll missed who actually won. I think Nate Silverman has covered this a few times, they track well, but have a consistent bias. Being wrong the same way, often enough, makes me question their methods and ...

Posted Sun, Nov 21, noon

Maybe it is that it has a bias, and when does it stop being a poll and is recognized as the fundraising "fact" Republicans are paying for, a shill.

Posted Fri, Nov 19, 9:45 p.m.

Some confirmed his desires, and he wrote about those. Too close to call? Really? The Rasmussen bias is great for republican fund raising right before the end of the election, and I believe that has become its function.

Posted Fri, Nov 19, 8:06 a.m.

I used the Rasmussen poll to predict Murray would win by the poll bias (-1+4=3) 3.

Posted Thu, Nov 18, 9:33 p.m.

Well I think we have the governor give up the One Washington ideal. Some people really do want less government services, taxes, and regulation so they are free... to be dumb, still poor, and live in their own industrial filth. The red county fantasy will become reality. Seattle voted for ...

Posted Thu, Nov 18, 8:58 p.m.

It is not so good for Democrats, but much worse for Republicans. It appears that King County Executive Dow Constantine, and now Washington State Governor Chris Gregiore are giving the Republicans what they want, less services. Just as we saw Reagan Dunn rail against tax increases and then attempt to ...

Posted Thu, Nov 18, 8:40 p.m.

Keep polling yourself for "likely" results of imagined engineers outside of the area. That is really working for you.

Posted Tue, Nov 16, 6 p.m.

I like a punchline, how about additional legislation that would be needed to put the cost overruns on Seattle area resident who benefit would be a tax increase requiring 2/3 majority vote. This all might explain the suddenly interested legislators considering it. It would not really require opening it up ...

Posted Sun, Nov 14, 8:34 p.m.

On you last point, you and Knute are mistaken, or are turning a blind eye to the facts. The fiscally "thrifty" mayor proposed two taxes exclusively on cars. He is saving Seattle from the cost overruns so he can spend every penny on west side light rail that somehow will ...

Posted Sat, Nov 13, 7:45 p.m.

The down ticket dems should the Cornyn for backing a proven loser of close races that drew a major GOTV push. Dems should also thank Republican leadership within the state and at the national level for rerunning a cookie cutter establishment candidate for a third loss, holding off a general ...

Posted Sun, Nov 7, 6:56 p.m.

I have had this overriding thought with me for the past couple days. The idea of "One Washington" is absurd now. The statewide candidates, as well as policies, are going to have to get smarter about what should be controlled and administered at the state level, and what will be ...

Posted Sun, Oct 31, 2:06 p.m.

The opposition can agree on stopping the tunnel but not the alternative.

Posted Thu, Oct 28, 4:52 p.m.

If #3 happens then jmrolls will likely get his wish, and I am fine with that. If 1 or 2 happens then we should expect the state to build its highway. Does the remake viaduct require utility relocation, sea wall, yes. Some of the other stuff? Maybe not, though the ...

Posted Sun, Oct 17, 7:03 p.m.

Here is the breakout by state. http://pewhispanic.org/data/election10/ California will be very interesting to watch this year.

Posted Sun, Oct 17, 6:58 p.m.

Yes, Bella, I was being kind. This election will really expose the rift as we look closer at state and local races during the midterm. 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) ...

Posted Sun, Oct 17, 1:43 p.m.

"Businesses learned to do the same work with fewer employees, thus increasing their productivity." To a great degree I think this is true, but there is a significant portion I will call productivity profit taking. a portion of the population did not retire, their replacements were not hired. The training ...

Posted Sun, Oct 17, 10:06 a.m.

The polls are slowly becoming guesswork. Pew research shows cellphone only homes are are growing, are polled less often, do lean to the Dems. An example, about 1/4 of younger Hispanic homes are cellphone only. Younger voters do not vote at the same rate, but they (like all of us) ...

Posted Sat, Oct 9, 4:42 p.m.

No, i know the question I asked. Having a utilization discussion will not actually help you.

Posted Sat, Oct 9, 3:09 p.m.

If you own a car and a bike are you getting more lanes for your tax contribution than just owning a car or just a bike? 18% of the general fund comes from B&O; taxes (just ahead of the sales tax at 16%), let's try not to kill the good ...

Posted Sat, Oct 9, 12:30 p.m.

Before autos were the problem there were the trolleys. The abstract does not mention it but the cyclist was speeding. The editorial was requesting that speeders on bicycles should be stopped by police (also on bikes, as to be able to catch them). Enough stops would discourage cyclists from speeding. ...

Posted Sat, Oct 9, 11:41 a.m.

When you do not completely depend on click through numbers and eyeball counts stories like these are thankfully infrequent.

Posted Sat, Oct 9, 11:32 a.m.

My sub-title Migrating Political Birds Run Afoul http://www.publicola.net/2010/10/08/wherein-the-c-is-for-crank-decides-a-crosscut-editorial-is-beneath-her-contempt/

Posted Fri, Oct 8, 8:35 p.m.

http://www.politicalcompass.org/printablegraph?ec=-4.00&soc;=-4.36

Posted Fri, Oct 8, 7:26 p.m.

Let the testing begin. http://www.politicalcompass.org/test

Posted Fri, Oct 8, 11:16 a.m.

I think some people will need a Birth Certificate for the co-lead, an original one, not one of those certified copies. If magic happened, and the surface proponent in charge got his preferred option today we would, in fact, be talking about the same EIS, going through the same process, ...

Posted Mon, Oct 4, 9:57 p.m.

"in the public's hands" my ass. McGinn sends out an email via Walk/Bike/Wait for a Bus listing the things he wants to raise taxes for, and when the McGinnions can lobby the city council. Instant AstroTurf. from the email: Please let them know that supporting funding increases for Walk Bike ...

Posted Mon, Oct 4, 3:56 p.m.

It means neither are invited to the rally.

Posted Fri, Oct 1, 4:43 p.m.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rally-to-restore-sanity-Seattle/115318411857946 Please, wear sensible shoes.

Posted Thu, Sep 30, 9:14 p.m.

People leave all the time, the problem is, as you have pointed out, the caliber of talent. Normally I would just think some new person will want to come here and work in a great city, let's see if the executive can hire talented employees. For reasons stated, an insular ...

Posted Sat, Sep 25, 9:35 p.m.

The council should just plan on and ordinance at each milestone along the way where the mayor would normally perform his duties.

Posted Fri, Sep 24, 9:14 p.m.

The elusive city charter: http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~public/charter/charter.htm#articleIV

Posted Fri, Sep 24, 9:13 p.m.

ARTICLE V. Executive Department Sec. 10. REMOVAL OF MAYOR The Mayor may be removed from office after a hearing, for any willful violation of duty, or for the commission of an offense involving moral turpitude, upon written notice from the City Council at least five days before the hearing. He ...

Posted Fri, Sep 17, 7:39 p.m.

Yes, is appears that McGinn is practicing a form of Jackassian Democracy. The state is going to get out of the business of providing many things, the county is (unfortunately) a trend setter. It is the city's turn to figure out that they are not going to have the level ...

Posted Fri, Sep 17, 7:14 p.m.

No, not the Seattle Center.

Posted Fri, Sep 17, 3:44 p.m.

They might as well build condos and get it over with. Nothing say "fun" like amorphous solids. Good report, terrible news.

Posted Thu, Sep 16, 6:48 p.m.

Heck is closing the gap on Jaime Herrera. That must be isolated too.

Posted Wed, Sep 15, 8:43 p.m.

Maybe it is the timing of when we had our primary and when many others have there primaries. Joe Biden said on the Rachel Maddow show tonight that people are angry and are voting in the primary, but when faced with thinking about the choice in the final election that ...

Posted Sat, Sep 11, 12:55 p.m.

Sadly, no, the budget is now projected to fall by 67 million. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politicsnorthwest/2012851156_business_groups_offer_mayor_id.html The potential savings is still important. The state and county have already started traveling down this path with limited success. The state and feds have made the effort to put non-general fund resources in to action to ...

Posted Wed, Sep 8, 11:42 a.m.

How are the races in the state 48th LD looking? Your former state GOP chair didn't do as well as your hyperbole would let on. Where the libertarian, tea party, Freedom County folks are doing well it does look good. Not quite the same "tide" with the mainstream GOP folks. ...

Posted Mon, Aug 30, 8:03 p.m.

So, one solution does not fit all?

Posted Sun, Aug 29, 8:56 p.m.

Let's see: an idillic and functionally useless mayor, a call for smart people with good ideas to spend their money here; need regional leadership so we can use 18th century solutions to supplant 20th century solutions so dinks can bike or rail to commute where much from the glowing screens ...

Posted Wed, Aug 25, 7:20 p.m.

That is some heavy wishful thinking, Knute. He was a registered lobbyist for upzones. Now he is mayor upzone. He has zero desire to spend one penny less than he can, he just wants it dumped into the west side upzone corridor. We "need" the most expensive mass transit option ...

Posted Tue, Aug 24, 7:22 p.m.

Stanza free ebook reader has Project Gutenberg in its directory. The screen is really something else.

Posted Sun, Aug 22, 9:27 a.m.

I sure could use a bus in North Seattle that travels to Everett. Metro dumping the one express that ran to south Everett early in the morning forced me to buy a commuter car. Ok, back to your fighting.

Posted Fri, Aug 20, 7:07 p.m.

Imagine how badly Tebelius would have done had their not been such a powerful Republican tide. State Representative Legislative Dist No. 48 - Position 1 Diane Tebelius Prefers Republican Party 11265 45.00% Ross Hunter Prefers Democratic Party 13744 54.90% Write-in 27 0.11% I do remember some of Chris' earlier writings. ...

Posted Mon, Aug 16, 9:55 p.m.

When I return for some far away place I know I am home when I see the Space Needle. On the "Seattle Beat" Sea Fair record the Needle wasn't even on the cover. It was inside in historical context, another symbol. http://preview.tinyurl.com/SeattleBeatCover http://tinyurl.com/SeattleBeatInside

Posted Mon, Aug 16, 5:24 p.m.

All solutions, real or imagined, require that we have more transit. I think the cost of shutting off the viaduct is lost on too many people, some folks have chosen to omit that information from their discussions on the matter to promote their personal preference. In the end it could ...

Posted Thu, Aug 12, 10:55 p.m.

"In any case, this is really not about pining for past "decades of joy", is it ?" It always is about that, what is the market for "pining", and does it provide a serviceable social gesso at a party hosted by board chair Leslie Chihuly at the Dale Chihuly boathouse. ...

Posted Thu, Aug 12, 6:53 p.m.

Quinn, I am sure somebody like Sherman Alexie (or, whatever the symphony equivolent is) would testify in federal court to that, 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 ...

Posted Thu, Aug 12, 3:36 p.m.

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, ...

Posted Mon, Aug 9, 9:21 p.m.

As far as what kinds of groups form on your sites, why, and what breaks groups you could talk to John Gastil. My two cents on self revealing information, identification, and elements that lead to superior discussion; that all is a result of trust, who they can trust in the ...

Posted Mon, Aug 9, 9:06 p.m.

Anon posts will become less and less as people that spend more time online differentiate between their personal selves online and their public selves online. Ever see somebody with two cell phones? One is from work (work identity) and the other is personal (personal identity). I think we will eventually ...

Posted Sat, Aug 7, 4:27 p.m.

"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?" The answer is no, the tunnel ...

Posted Sun, Aug 1, 6:27 p.m.

WSDOT will have more and better data on pricing and utilization before the tunnel opens, tolling will begin on 520 in 2 years. The state will want the most revenue possible in order to pay off the construction.

Posted Sun, Aug 1, 9:55 a.m.

I understand the trade-off, that did not answer my questions.

Posted Sat, Jul 31, 10:03 p.m.

Thanks everybody for proving David Brewster's point. If a vote is forced then I expect more than one option on a ballot, no majority winner, and the state keeps moving with its tunnel. Remakinlbly absent in the conversation has been the state legislators that represent "Seattle area" residents, as if ...

Posted Sat, Jul 31, 8:01 p.m.

Good summary Mr. Copeland. I think the debate was/is very healthy. It helped focus enough attention on what we are doing, and why. We will have at least one week of the viaduct debate as the council finishes its activity (for now). I would appreciate some coverage and connection to ...

Posted Sun, Jul 25, 1:28 p.m.

About as much as Cary Moon talks about the re-elect Greg Nickels fund raiser she had in May of 2009.

Posted Sat, Jul 17, 2:25 p.m.

I am willing to guess that the council will put two advisory votes on the ballot: Cost overrun provision yes or no before the state can start drilling? (let them take the risk of keeping the project going while they revisit this in session) Which option do you prefer as ...

Posted Sat, Jul 17, 8:06 a.m.

Cocktails42, the point I am making is not that more people want the tunnel, or any other option. The only thing to get the most votes was to move forward. To be completely unfair to McGinn, he campaigned on the notion that the tunnel could be stopped and everybody would ...

Posted Fri, Jul 16, 5:46 p.m.

Rep. Carlyle, I am so sorry, this was supposed to be a surprise. There WAS going to be a secret mayoral write-in vote to make you the next mayor. (Way to go Brewster, you spilled the beans.) Well, waking up Wednesday morning, November 6, 2013, to find out you were ...

Posted Fri, Jul 16, 12:29 p.m.

When discussing potential cost overruns, it's important to start with the correct numbers. The state's cost to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct is estimated at $3.1 billion. Of this amount, more than $1.1 billion is for prior program costs and completed work (such as repairs to viaduct columns and relocation ...

Posted Fri, Jul 16, 11:29 a.m.

To Mr. Brewster's point, I agree, and here would be my ranking: People that have clean hands; Peter Steinbrueck People that take responsibly for their actions: Ed Murray Everybody else wrestling with the tunnel at the local level.

Posted Fri, Jul 16, 11:17 a.m.

The poll last year had moving ahead as the winner, explaining McGinn's hair splitting to get elected. Unfortunately he may be seen to be exactly what he implied he was not, an obstructionist. If he were interested in the tunnel as a solution he could claim his cost overrun arm ...

Posted Sat, Jun 26, 5:06 p.m.

"case to potent could be made.", should be "A case to protect could be made" I had lost a battle over the keyboard with my cat.

Posted Sat, Jun 26, 5:01 p.m.

I saw that too. I liked the variety of comments they came with the decision. The tea leaves remind me of other 1st Amendment arguments, and protections. It looks to me that a generalized fear that something bad to me could happen is not enough to prevent my name from ...

Posted Sun, Jun 20, 4:55 p.m.

Whittier effect?

Posted Sun, Jun 20, 11:01 a.m.

A couple months ago Ross Hunter wrote on his blog that he would try a different way to resolve the annual legislative failure. How about inviting the candidates to weigh-in on this. http://www.redcounty.com/node/40894 What would Tebelius have to say about any of this?

Posted Sun, Jun 20, 10:48 a.m.

A broken business model is not isolated to just sports entertainment. Specialized faciliies often built with public money, emotionally more deserving, fail to escape the criteria and having something that does not rely on the whims of politics to sustain operating revenues. The Seattle Times has an interesting story on ...

Posted Thu, Jun 17, 2:16 p.m.

Lookout, you are not as opposed as Beth Campell, she'll have you know.

Posted Wed, Jun 16, 9:05 p.m.

"Publicola tried to get into the meeting and was shown the door. Tunnel opponent (and erstwhile supporter) Cary Moon, who was not invited, gleefully got off a zinger saying only cheerleaders can be Gregoire stakeholders." Uh, Publicola asked, were told no, they could not show up. Elizabeth "Choppaduct Queen" Campbell ...

Posted Wed, Jun 16, 6:20 p.m.

RIF the Republicans agreed, then flipped. The story to put in the can for opening in a couple years is about the campaign issues they executives ran on, and their ability to deliver. Constantine went into the job promoting the idea of reform and cuts. Ylthat was going to happen ...

Posted Mon, Jun 14, 6:13 p.m.

Did Gottesma. Mention that the Mass income tax rate is a punishingly high 5.3%, causing MIT to shudder its doors? Venture capitalists bitching about taxes, gosh, could not have seen that coming. Public University President bitching about not getting enough money, double shock!! Ack!

Posted Thu, Jun 10, 11:30 a.m.

On the career path, for a very long time politics has been treated like a trade union. The endless blathering between both rookie mayoral candidates attempting to give some proof of their ability to be politicians was a bit much last year. It is tough for anybody outside of the ...

Posted Wed, Jun 9, 5:52 p.m.

Holding a different opinion than yours is not evidence that they did not dig carefully into the facts 5 years ago.

Posted Wed, Jun 9, 11:03 a.m.

I am very happy for Bellevue. Infrastructure spending does not always translate into operating budgets, but I do agree that a facility like this invites more. See how I did not mention stadium taxes and arts funding failing again in the legislature.

Posted Wed, Jun 9, 10:44 a.m.

Tunnel now, or Choppaduct 5 years later, with the same cost overrun provision and an inflated overall cost. Choices, choices. Crossrip, I expect the answer to be more years of tolls. That is something the legislature can revisit and not hope the Port chooses to raise taxes just because somebody ...

Posted Tue, Jun 8, 10:27 p.m.

Yes, I dissagree with that. Just because the Port can impose another LID does not mean they can be compelled to do so by the State or County. The Port has just as much will and authority to choose to fund more of the project as the State does next ...

Posted Tue, Jun 8, 7:26 p.m.

Not that anybody cares, but, Ed Murray was on KUOW last week saying that he wants to get that provision off during the regular session so they can apply for federal dollars. Btw, the port already agreed to the lid long ago, and that is it. They can not be ...

Posted Sun, Jun 6, 11:23 a.m.

Maybe the link headline should title your sum, or a clearer visual break between your sum and the link at the foot (i am nitpicking). Your sum is great, I'll read a couple of these. Thanks.

Posted Sun, Jun 6, 11:17 a.m.

Thanks, this is a hellofa lot better.

Posted Thu, Jun 3, 5:40 p.m.

It is harder to be a bomb throwing while standing in the same room as your target. I think this "debate" was a great idea, but I doubt McGinn will learn something. People that do not want to be in a group, and are motivated by goals that are in ...

Posted Thu, Jun 3, 5:08 p.m.

The mayor that cried "what if". Maybe we should plug up the hundred year old train tunnel just to be safe.

Posted Thu, Jun 3, 4:31 p.m.

As somebody not an attorney, she is best known for the tabacco case. http://www.atg.wa.gov/pressrelease.aspx?&id;=4520

Posted Sun, May 30, 9:29 p.m.

Remarkably sparse summary. How about more of a digest. Oil spill's challenges engulf NOAA Seattle team A Seattle-based NOAA team is in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico oil-spill crisis, and the scientists are hunkered down for the long haul. By Ross Anderson [Editor says something here, and where ...

Posted Sat, May 29, 12:50 p.m.

Clearly the roof does more filtering and provides more utlility than the mayor's beard does.

Posted Wed, May 26, 9:57 p.m.

Fred Thompson has entered the race.

Posted Tue, May 18, 9:30 p.m.

Oh hotels taxes, if I can't have you, nobody can. Somehow the 4Culture folks will get screwed again by Frank Chopp, only this time sports stadiums will not be the fall guy.

Posted Mon, May 10, 6:18 a.m.

Oh, he is not ltelling lies, but hair splitting, lawyering. When he burns his fans with that act, and he will, the game will be over.

Posted Sun, May 9, 4:26 p.m.

What is the estimate for just the digging part of the tunnel? I've read it, I think few actually have, though. The 2.8 billion dollar number is many elements put together, opponents tend to conflate all of the parts when fear mongering. Propnents, like me, tend to point to contingency ...

Posted Tue, May 4, 5:49 p.m.

Or, popular services that have a landfil full of restriction while having a requirement to generate a portion of their own revenue end up being the target of people already inside that influence for exploitation. I'm looking at you, Seattle Center. Robert Nellams (who sits on the Seattle Center Foundation ...

Posted Thu, Apr 29, 11:25 a.m.

I saw the headline and thought this might be the obvious solution, that the story was about Austin Jenkins.

Posted Wed, Apr 28, 11:20 p.m.

Parting out the grounds to single bidders championed by people that claim to be trying to get more revenue is kind of sad. It is as if the Space Needle is the only entity that would be interested to develop a space on public property at the base of the ...

Posted Mon, Apr 19, 8:12 p.m.

Or Albersons at 130th and Aurora Ave. North, the hookers think it's walkable. Enjoy your bubble.

Posted Mon, Apr 19, 7:31 p.m.

Tax bikes to pay for moving sidewalks.

Posted Thu, Apr 8, 7:50 a.m.

Don't go to Disney World with Nick? Don't go to the former USSR with Nick? Disney World is like private insurance companies, only, the let Nick in with a pre-existing unhappiness condition because the government made them? He has not made up his mind about the Chihuly "museum" and it ...

Posted Wed, Mar 31, 1:23 p.m.

"In short, this is pragmatic compromise that offers us a vast majority of positive results." This is not pragmatic, and it is not a compromise, it is a single-sourced business proposition. The only compromise is to the Seattle Center master plan.

Posted Wed, Mar 31, 12:51 p.m.

So, there isn't existing enclosed space identified on the master plan that this business could occupy? If located in one of those planned enclosed spaces could the proceeds from that lease be used to pay for ripping down that Fun Forest building to create open space?

Posted Tue, Mar 30, 10:09 p.m.

I was there tonight, thank you David for speaking to the caving in by public officials to the first effort to take a planned open space. There are enclosed spaces on the site, near the site, all over Seattle right now, that would do ALL of the things the proponents ...

Posted Tue, Mar 23, 7:28 p.m.

FWIW, "I think more drastic urban surgery has to happen.", is the last thing we need more of. There are plenty of upzone candidates that don't have a 7 million dollar publicly funded fountain for you to prey on. Gifting my public property to you makes me want to throwup, ...

Posted Tue, Mar 23, 6:39 p.m.

This looks like an effort to isolate it even more. I am not comfortable with giving away Seattle Center to those neighborhoods. I see your point, and to some degree agree with personalizing the area. I have been thinking about Seattle Center over the past few days, and have not ...

Posted Sat, Mar 13, 4:01 p.m.

Btw, maybe "arts" has a broken business model. That is what the "sports" are always told. I preferred the simplicity of SB 6051, though the error of leaving Yakama short spelled doom. Attempting to right that wrong with the committee striker Ed Murray looked like he was going to try ...

Posted Fri, Mar 12, 8:25 p.m.

Thank you for writing a story about HB 2912. It has been a challenge for outsiders like me to gleen information on it since every faction, other than 4Culture, has been pretty silent. A development that I think could help the situation in the near future is the eventual passing ...

Posted Fri, Mar 5, 12:42 p.m.

From one broken business model to another. Hey, at least 4Culture is up front about begging for a public handout. This back room public land and money grab kind of make me a little sick. Were "we" going to charge rent, or is that reserved for non-profits?

Posted Thu, Mar 4, 4:49 p.m.

Richard_Conlin, meet Erica C. Barnett. "BREWSTER’S HALF-BAKED ARGUMENT AGAINST LIGHT RAIL" http://www.publicola.net/2010/03/04/brewsters-half-baked-argument-against-light-rail/?utm_source=RSS+Feed&utm;_medium=feed&utm;_campaign=Feed%3A+publicola+%28PubliCola+%7C+Seattle%27s+News+Elixir%29

Posted Sat, Feb 27, 9:22 p.m.

This is who McGinn is, combative, argumentitive, disrespectful of those that do not agree with his point of view. As his term in office wears on all of us he will ear out his welcome. It will matter little as time goes on where I do, or do not, agree ...

Posted Sun, Feb 14, 1:53 p.m.

That team should really come together right before they are locked out of their jobs, and forced to take contract altering pay cuts.

Posted Tue, Feb 2, 12:45 p.m.

(Would help is [sb] would help this).

Posted Tue, Feb 2, 12:42 p.m.

Passing SB 6661 (HB 2912) would help is little, too.

Posted Thu, Jan 28, 7:06 a.m.

And, how did the "McGinn for Mayor Voluntee Drive" go? Or, is that some other Paul Byron Crane on the right hand side of this page? Hey, there's Julie McCoy, awesome! http://af-za.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=204802780455

Posted Thu, Jan 28, 6:45 a.m.

Paul Byron Crane, do you have a photo of you hugging Mike McGinn last July at the "Great City’s Summer Street Scene”? Or, maybe there is another Paul Byron Crane that posts comments on the Great City web site saying, "see you there". Eh, just askin' http://www.greatcity.org/2009/07/09/save-the-date-for-great-citys-summer-street-scene/

Posted Thu, Jan 21, 10:22 a.m.

Mr. Paananen, it might help people like Art to get a thumbnail sketch of the risks. What major risks did you start with that are now mitigated, and how? What risks you still have and what mitigation strategy is identified that is intended to prevent the risk from becoming an ...

Posted Tue, Jan 19, 7:13 a.m.

I watched both interviews, too. Until the Republicans can offer a private alternative to the state worker's comp that does not involve entities that participate in riskless risk taking then Mr. Chopp will be able to keep it as it is. Privatization that the Republicans have been selling for the ...

Posted Sat, Jan 16, 10:03 a.m.

Not sour grapes, the Nickels "style" was as a bomb thrower (at least early on). This is not any different, maybe worse, in that he did not make a factual case (other than claiming safety). What authority says this has to happen sooner than the corrently published completion date? The ...

Posted Fri, Jan 15, 12:38 p.m.

That was "leadership"? I thought he was undercutting a process already in motion. I think he could have lead those people with facts to the opinion he expressed. He stood outside and had a press conference. I think he is competing, not leading.

Posted Fri, Jan 15, 9:29 a.m.

Art, I'll guess that no matter what, with this mayor, Seattle will be on the hook for the seawall no matter what. The state is obligated to relace its highway, anything beyond that I suspect the state will pull its arms in on.

Posted Fri, Jan 15, 7:13 a.m.

My guess is that he is forcing the timeline inside of the tunnel replacement goal (to be open by 2015). The mitigation plan would be the defacto surface option. He has no idea how long the seawall will really take.

Posted Fri, Jan 15, 6:44 a.m.

"U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will have a large role in the replacement process." After watching the meeting between the legistlatute and the Feds (on tvw, last Fall) this part is bigger than I ever thought. The creative new design is subject to federal approval. Bringing them in before too ...

Posted Thu, Jan 7, 7:33 p.m.

False alarm, this has nothing to do with me.

Posted Tue, Jan 5, 9:49 p.m.

I suppose it is best that we smile, and agree, even though the fundimental attribution error keeps repeating through this well written idillic vision of a non-existant past. People talking on cell phones someone else while facing you and making eye contact has less to do with the introduction of ...

Posted Tue, Jan 5, 7:48 a.m.

2. Perhaps blaming the nature of the common social use of wireless telephones for a technologies and problems that predated it by a few decades, such as the bicycle, for clogging up sidewalks is absurd. I think that people riding bikes, roller skating, and rollng hoops with sticks on sidewalks, ...

Posted Tue, Jan 5, 7:19 a.m.

Dear technophobe, 1. Your private conversations are private without regard to the addition, or absense, of technology. You are obligated to keep them so.

Posted Sun, Jan 3, 11:14 a.m.

Thanks for re-posting this report. I got a LOT of milage out of it this past year. 6 months before Mike McGinn officially stopped being a lobbyist this report was written. For some strange reason Mike McGinn was surprised that the city council was "rushing" to get the tunnel approved ...

Posted Sat, Jan 2, 3:34 p.m.

"Density is a byproduct of creating interesting places. Density is a by-product of high-amenity environments." Other than this, what benefit is Mike McGinn's West Side Seattle light rail? Is it just more upscale than RapidRide C & D lines? http://www.kingcounty.gov/transportation/kcdot/MetroTransit/TransitNow/RapidRide.aspx My bigger question is, are we taxing ourselves out of ...

Posted Mon, Dec 28, 3:36 p.m.

For fun, substitute "AWV Tunnel" for "Sound Transit", and "West Side Light Rail" for "Monorail" here: http://www.seattle.gov/council/licata/up/up89.htm Good luck getting out in front, scruffy, we've seen this show before.

Posted Mon, Dec 28, 3:19 p.m.

"Bonding authority" sb "bonding capacity"

Posted Mon, Dec 28, 3:09 p.m.

Serial-Catowner has summed up what I have been saying for 6 months: "Happily, I live in a rural county that will be happy to take some of that $1.9 billion and let Seattle solve its own problems. Although McGinn and his supporters have repeatedly insinuated that the $1.9 billion could ...

Posted Mon, Dec 28, 7:31 a.m.

Well, R, the admin does state that King County did not get state authority for more Metro, but failed to mention the city's ability to use its existing mvet. Admin did not bring anything to discuss but speculation and opinion about speculation. I will be happy to have a meaningful ...

Posted Mon, Dec 28, 7:23 a.m.

"Cost escalations are typical for projects of this size and ambition, despite everyone’s best intentions. Expensive isn’t necessarily bad — if the benefits are worth it." And here is the WSDOT estimate page (note: the construction portion of the 1.9 billion dollar tunnel is 900 million, Escalation (per Global Insight) ...

Posted Mon, Dec 28, 7:10 a.m.

"January 2011: The final EIS will be released, which may spark more lawsuits from parties concerned about the lack of alternatives being considered or about shortcomings in the analysis." Facts will not support somebody's anti-tunnel opinion?

Posted Mon, Dec 28, 7:06 a.m.

"why again is it worth building?" BTW, it is a pass-through tunnel, that is the function of the tunnel, so, feel free to edit out the paragraphs that completely miss this point.

Posted Mon, Dec 28, 6:55 a.m.

I guess we should go ahead and cap off the tunnel that's been there for 100 years. http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file;_id=4029 I have no idea why Crosscut bothered to give the green light to speculation from Cary Moon, a McGinn advisor, to write such drivel. The sky is falling, or might fall, or ...

Posted Sat, Dec 26, 8:55 p.m.

"Seattle University, having returned to the ranks of major college basketball, plays home games at the Key." Let's be clear, SU, the Storm, they are lower bowl performers (2800 to 5000 fans) The Zags, and other one timers fill about almost as many seats as an NBA preseason game All ...

Posted Sun, Dec 20, 8:21 p.m.

The "Fun Forrest" should go, though that is not exactly what the writer is writing about. A few limited amusements that are well done is a fine idea. I was not thrilled with the grass and sidewalk park that is currently planned (another promanade, that's not unique either) is anything ...

Posted Sun, Dec 20, 8:08 p.m.

@orino, and the dolt editor that picked that comment, as I read the column I see the writer laments not having a fun place to go with his kids. I do not see the writer pining to keep the "Fun Forrest", so, I think your rant is over the top ...

Posted Thu, Dec 17, 8:38 p.m.

Those aren't donuts on the counter in that first picture.

Posted Thu, Dec 17, 8:36 p.m.

Ok, now you all know. The line forms behind me for piroshkis.

Posted Thu, Nov 26, 5:32 p.m.

Cut #1: Eliminate levy equalization, Republicans put their money where their mouths are.

Posted Fri, Nov 13, 4:43 a.m.

Which council member ends up heading which committees will also be interesting, and potentially challenging for Mayor-elect NcGinn (but that's another story). To ddmiller's point; the neighborhood plans should be reviewed, updated, and actually followed. Both general election candidates agreed on increasing density. It might be a good idea to ...

Posted Mon, Nov 9, 9:56 p.m.

"Be flexible and sincere" When communicating with people that do not cling to his vision McGinn is neither. Prepart yourself for at least two years of protracted debate on policy and priorities. And then there is Olympia, the waisted efforts await you Mayor McGinn, good luck trimming 520 down from ...

Posted Wed, Oct 28, 12:03 p.m.

Gosh, Knute, at least this week you did not call Mallahan a shill. Mighty big of you. The Mallahan and the tunnel "boondoggle" vs McGinn Surface Street Option, reducing 520 from 6 lanes to 4, and all the other stuff that requires cooperation from all the people he intends to ...

Posted Tue, Oct 27, 2:24 p.m.

Oh, I mean, wanted a hand-out. There, much better. Watching Republicans crying for a redistrution of wealth was interesting. They could have cut the budget by tens of millions of dollars but chose to run unending debate as a stall tactic on the final night of the session. Taxes are ...

Posted Tue, Oct 27, 12:26 p.m.

And if we render our own wax from bee hives we can make candles for light to read by, saving on the power grid infristructure spending. Stop supplimenting counties that choose to not raise school levies, with tax money from districts that dochoose to pass levies. Not too many Republicans ...

Posted Tue, Oct 27, 10:09 a.m.

Isn't there a push from the state insurance commissioner's office to have a special session in December to deal with flood insurance, too?

Posted Sat, Oct 24, 11:16 a.m.

Mmm, yes, best of luck and I welcome your efforts. "Publicola eats your lunch on a daily basis" The antithesis of good journalism, Publicola. What they do do is report everyday, and maybe that news roundup, and minor reporting can come back to Crosscut. The ham-handed editorializing these they are ...

Posted Wed, Oct 21, 9:58 a.m.

McGinn has taken both sides of the issue.

Posted Wed, Oct 21, 9:33 a.m.

Ya, that was bad form, "schill", you act like he was brokering development projects and getting paid by Vulcan to do so, Great City, great lobbyist.

Posted Tue, Oct 20, 8:53 p.m.

Has he had a press conference on his backing off the "take over the schools" position, or did he just stop talking about it? When asked point blank yesterday if the overrun clause will be enforceable. McGinn sidestepped that and just said that "it is the current law". That situational ...

Posted Tue, Oct 20, 8:41 p.m.

You do know there is 800 million in fluff, right? 1.9 b estimated in January + 400 milin tolls (padded by the legislature) and if needed + 400 million more in tolls. If the 1.9 billion dollar tunnel goes over 2.8 billion dollars then the state's unenforceable clause kicks in.

Posted Tue, Oct 20, 3:21 p.m.

Ok, my turn at a headline for next January: Promanade Funding Deal Breaker for McGinn

Posted Tue, Oct 20, 3:17 p.m.

Don't be absurd, it is never too late to convert the Viaduct into a sewage canal. Just as it is never too late to do the same thing to the Seattle Center. http://crosscut.com/2007/10/11/real-estate/8149/

Posted Tue, Oct 20, 1:57 p.m.

It was impossible to soften (move closer to Mallahan) a month ago while McGinn's campaign was belittling Mallahan's policy positions (even predicting them). It is interesting that the points Mallahan opposed McGinn on during debate, the tunnel and schools, are viewed in the media as McGinn "softening" his position, rather ...

Posted Tue, Oct 20, 10:11 a.m.

Tunnel estimate is 1.9 billion 400 million added/padded covered by tolling and if that is not enough, 400 million more in tolling. The 1.9 billion dollar estimate from January has 800 million in padding in the bill that was passed. The 2.4 billion dollar number is padded already, compounding risk ...

Posted Tue, Oct 13, 12:01 p.m.

Btw, I participated in a similar idea a few decades ago while attending high school in Everett, WA. Back then the unemployment rate was so freakishly high that HS kids, like me, were competing with family bread winners for entry level jobs. Welcome to 1982 everybody, close down pulp mills ...

Posted Tue, Oct 13, 11:52 a.m.

Mmm, opting out if Public Education has its plus side, and its minus side.

Posted Sun, Oct 11, 7:07 p.m.

Sometimes, like these times, there are so many falling plates that we all had spinning that we do not know if we should reach out to save a few, or cover our ears to protect ourselves from the crashing sound. (note to hipsters, this is plate spinning: http://www.platespinning.com/) I am ...

Posted Wed, Oct 7, 8:55 a.m.

"The challenge for the district is to bring up the quality of its weakest schools, mostly those serving low-income neighborhoods, so fewer families feel they need to get out." This has always been the challenge, this change has to be a "fight" for some parents to avoid having their eggs ...

Posted Sat, Oct 3, 1:38 p.m.

Seattle does not have an existing subway, the alteratives are all multi modal surface solutions in Seattle. After a couple years of holding the surface option as my preference, to the point of seeing the 7 lane wide remake of HW 99 in Shoreline, between 145th and 165-ish, as the ...

Posted Sat, Oct 3, 11:25 a.m.

Today, Jacobs is a patron saint for those who want saner urban development,.. LOL! More than reasoned debate, positions used as valuing the mental health of somebody with an opposing view.

Posted Thu, Sep 24, 8:17 p.m.

Confused, have some maps. http://transit.metrokc.gov/tops/bus/neighborhoods/region_text.html Seeing nearly empty busses on rural routes, even once in a while, do not exactly encourage MORE support for more bus service in areas that have packed busses in suburban and urban areas. The entire county should have it's needs served, not just its politicians.

Posted Sat, Sep 19, 1:49 p.m.

My simple advice for Mike McGinn is to propose things that happen in the future in more open terms; civic aspiration, and an alternative idea to stopping the tunnel, should have been that message. Joe Mallahan's response was spot-on, but uninspiring. In Mr.Mallahan's transportation messaging, and his direct response to ...

Posted Fri, Sep 18, 8:17 p.m.

"McGinn mentioned the possibility of funding the light-rail extensions with car-tab taxes, sales taxes or other taxes." http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politicsnorthwest/2009879532_mike_mcginn_wants_more_light_r.html which tax, how high, for how long if it is car-tabs, good luck getting mvet authority from the state.

Posted Mon, Sep 14, 7:41 p.m.

"we are back to being a nation deeply divided." "We" are back from Republican rule, with Republicans having to acknowledge that there is an opposition. The question, really, for Dems is: Why bother acknowledging the Republicans? What good are they in the state they are in, all broken and conflicted? ...

Posted Mon, Sep 14, 11:47 a.m.

Btw.. "If we simply take the three polls at face value and average them together (6.7 points), they in fact point toward a statistically strong likelihood of a bounce. Concluding that there is no bounce on the basis of the ABC poll, as some smart commentators appear to have done, ...

Posted Mon, Sep 14, 11:40 a.m.

"By the end of August those numbers had changed dramatically, to 51-46." So, Obama's "low" point hit right around his margin of victory last November. Release the GOP hounds! Which birther or deather will be nominated to run for President in 2012?

Posted Sat, Sep 12, 1:11 p.m.

Jmrolls, i was contesting the term "gift". What the trade-off that Nickels made, and how they arrived at $22 million is a point well taken. I have never paid $22 million dollars for a gift, don't know, maybe that is what a gift is in other societies. Wells, it is ...

Posted Fri, Sep 11, 7:35 p.m.

He is against the tunnel, but for the Mercer fix to his Great City supporter, Vulcan. He delivered $145 million public dollars (is that a park, or publicly paid for sidewalks in and around major development?) to fluff developers activity. Surprise, they like him.

Posted Fri, Sep 11, 7:14 p.m.

I am done. http://manywordsforrain.blogspot.com/2009/09/is-publicolanet-having-endorsers.html

Posted Thu, Sep 10, 10:51 a.m.

"What makes this even odder. . ." There is nothing odd going on here, Drago said, as reported here in Crosscut, that she would do this. Both candidates for mayor need to agree on killing some projects and issue joint statements to stop them. Jan Drago has other transportation scripts ...

Posted Wed, Sep 9, 8:34 a.m.

All very good questions, many of them are poorly answered to this point by broadsides from the candidates. The relationship between the council, mayor, and the neighborhoods (other than downtown) appears to be driving the political change. The candidates will follow the votes to the neighborhoods, giving different answers to ...

Posted Tue, Sep 8, 9:38 p.m.

Oh ya' this went about the way I thought it would. Good try Fred, good points and questions.

Posted Tue, Sep 8, 8:38 p.m.

Btw, "Excuse me...mayor Nickels gave the parking lot to the Gates Foundation.", that gift cost the Gates Foundation $22 million dollars. Their building is coming along quite nicely.

Posted Tue, Sep 8, 8:03 p.m.

Yes, there is no greater pleasure in Seattle than a transfer from one mode of transportation to another. Wasted time, or treasured transition? I can not wait, to wait between the bus and a new monorail for the pure elation of elevated exileration. "Concentrate on the low-cost Fun Center areas ...

Posted Tue, Sep 8, 3:49 p.m.

"I suspect this Circulator Monorail idea was surreptiously opposed by automobile-related interests to whom The Seattle Times is obviously beholden." I can not speak for the ST, I am not in your monorail loop, any streetcar, or trolley line, but I do live in Seattle. All of these fantastic mass ...

Posted Tue, Sep 8, 12:51 p.m.

" If so, how can anyone with an ounce of environmental consciousness support maintaining Seattle Center as a car-centric destination?" Electric car, solar panels on roof of house. Next question.

Posted Tue, Sep 8, 12:47 p.m.

They sold the parking lot to the Gates foundation.

Posted Mon, Sep 7, 9:36 p.m.

The amusement ride areas will not have amusement rides after 2010. You are proposing to connect an obsolete thing by spending a billion dollars on a monorail. ingenious? I will need more convincing. So, while you are proposing a billion dollar monorail as a celebration of 50 years of the ...

Posted Mon, Sep 7, 9:18 p.m.

"Take Bumbershoot for example...why is the whole thing crowded onto a few acres of inaccessible and expensive urban land? It should be spread around the whole community." did you notice the fence? They charge money to get inside that fence. Did you notice it was a celebration of the "Seattle" ...

Posted Mon, Sep 7, 7:46 p.m.

Does the courtyard belong to the Science Center or Seattle Center?

Posted Mon, Sep 7, 12:34 p.m.

Monorail? If we are going to relive billion dollar rejected ideas let's revisit a new multi-use facility at Saettle Center, a destination for the multi-modal transportation utopia Drago and Sims dream of. Let's have a large scale convention center at Seattle Center (or not). http://crosscut.com/blog/crosscut/17746/ hey, how did the WSCTC ...

Posted Mon, Sep 7, 11:25 a.m.

What exactly should we celebrate? That it happened? I went to Bumbershoot yesterday. As I went into the Northwest rooms to see the Seattle/Moscow Poster show (good work Danny) I could not help but reflect for a moment on the Seattle Center Master plan. One of the few fixed structures ...

Posted Mon, Sep 7, 10:14 a.m.

A modern musical prelude will likely have fewer accordians. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bBNMBqhrNmw/SQTv-CJ6pEI/AAAAAAAAABw/TGWvJp8ccLE/s1600-h/SeattleBeatoutside.jpg http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bBNMBqhrNmw/SQTv2hwir5I/AAAAAAAAABo/BI94uVOdCSI/s1600-h/SeattleBeatinside.jpg

Posted Sun, Sep 6, 1:03 p.m.

Here is an idea, collect a tax and choose how you want it spent. Bike tax. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2008474326_opin07jimvesely.html

Posted Sun, Sep 6, 12:49 p.m.

Rob K, the post WWII neighborhood I live in has turned over the population (for the most part) and there are plenty of children that own bikes, it is not particularly safe to ride them around here. Not only is there not a poorly marked bike lane, there are few ...

Posted Sat, Sep 5, 11:44 p.m.

Mmm, yes, I think the essay appears to have missed the past 8 months of how the Republicans have performed in rallying around the word no. WF Buckley died and the Conservatives are (in real terms) brainless. They are reduced to emotional, reactionary, and inflamitory rhetoric that only leads them ...

Posted Thu, Sep 3, 9:18 p.m.

The paint on my bike lane isn't just right, blah, blah, blah. Are you kidding me! In my neighborhood bikes, cars, and walkers "share" a road that does not have a painted line at all, no sidewalk, few stop signs, an open ditches . . in Seattle. Sharrows? You got ...

Posted Wed, Sep 2, 6:25 p.m.

I see the press here, looking for legislators, looking, looking. . . nope, not there. Amendment I Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably ...

Posted Tue, Sep 1, 11:37 a.m.

I am only surprise by how many little groups that opposed Nickels appear to find an elevated level of perceived power. The "winners" failed to pull in a majority, the incumbant had nearly 2/3 of the voters pick somebody else, and yet every fragment in opposition sees its contribution to ...

Posted Wed, Aug 26, 12:18 p.m.

I saw the headline and thought Ted Van Dyk was ranking mayoral candidates. Ha! Ha! Thanks for pulling this together, very interesting data and information. I do get around the north end, between Seattle and Snohomish (and stops inbetween), places I grew up around. Yes, outside of the Seattle bubble ...

Posted Tue, Aug 25, 2:09 p.m.

A fine article. The Ed Murray rumor should not be a shock to anybody after reading this, and thinking about those missing and conflicting parts trying to put humpty's office back together again.

Posted Mon, Aug 24, 9:20 p.m.

Ted, my suggestion was a counter opinion to your bias, if the Aerospace Competitive Council ihas a problem because they would "How can we keep giving Boeing things that it says it needs?" I suggest that you start out you editorial with the question: How can we actively say no ...

Posted Mon, Aug 24, 10:13 a.m.

The larger question becomes: what industry mix do we want, and when is an industry helpful, or not, on balance? Are we actually "giving" away assets that would not exist if that industry, or business, were not here at all?

Posted Mon, Aug 24, 9:34 a.m.

The governor created the aerospace competitive council. Maybe they could be invited to express their opinion here, writing their own "guest" article.

Posted Mon, Aug 24, 8:24 a.m.

"shakedown effort"? Is every entity in this state that has a lobbyist, or goes to Olympia to testify for or against anything in the legislature, or is this a slant you save for large corporations? Boeing might leave, SEIU is taking us to court, teachers in some districts might go ...

Posted Sat, Aug 22, 12:15 p.m.

The return of the choppaduct.

Posted Sat, Aug 22, 11:43 a.m.

Mallahan was quoted as saying he would kill the Paul Allen beautification project Mercer, at spend that money where it was intended to go, sidealks and road repair. Two birds with one stone. So, Nickels will be voting for... and the people that voted for Nickels... McGinn's sliver of a ...

Posted Thu, Aug 20, 10:14 p.m.

As much as I enjoyed the greater point, and the "vehicle" used to tell that story with the abstract, I can nit help but think the stillness of coasting on our self absorbed myth happened with something much smaller, the KeyArena remodel in 1994. The vision of Seattle Center was ...

Posted Wed, Aug 19, 8:08 p.m.

The whole McGinn campaign is tied to one issue that he has a lot less control over than he will let people believe. Still, the Greenwood area has gotten a LOT of attention over the years due, in part, to his efforts. The important part was that they got the ...

Posted Wed, Aug 19, 4:21 p.m.

Greens and libertarians at hempfest (I avoid all three), not only is political space curved, but also a a little paranoid and has the munchies. Btw, I am not kidding about finding the natzi and getting his opinion about embracing Obama and his policies. That might help the contexturally challenged ...

Posted Tue, Aug 18, 5:09 p.m.

Wow, sorry about the repeats. I have had a tough time getting crosscut to load on any computer I use, the past few mornings.

Posted Tue, Aug 18, 8:16 a.m.

Well, have you tried having a guest columnist write an article called, "More Natzi than Thou"? Maybe Rachel Maddow could have the head of the Natzi Party on her show to tell Rush who is who, and what is what.

Posted Tue, Aug 18, 8:13 a.m.

Well, have you tried having a guest columnist write an article called, "More Natzi than Thou"? Maybe Rachel Maddow could have the head of the Natzi Party on her show to tell Rush who is who, and what is what.

Posted Tue, Aug 18, 8:13 a.m.

Well, have you tried having a guest columnist write an article called, "More Natzi than Thou"? Maybe Rachel Maddow could have the head of the Natzi Party on her show to tell Rush who is who, and what is what.

Posted Mon, Aug 17, 11:51 a.m.

"Fuse distributes this guide, compiling compiles the endorsements of a wide range of progressive organizations with the goal of making it easier for voters to identify and vote for progressive candidates. The participating organizations include groups such as Washington Conservation Voters, SEIU, Planned Parenthood Votes, and Progressive Majority." - Aaron ...

Posted Sun, Aug 16, 3:30 p.m.

What should be understood is that Republicans have zero interest in bipartisan support of anything. GW Bush had that, Johnson had enough of it, Obama is pretending that the Republicans will participate in the general welfare of this country. At this point he needs to take to more useful of ...

Posted Sun, Aug 16, 3:04 p.m.

A random search of findlaw "Blue Cross loses court case" brings an "alleged" example: " BOUDIN, Circuit Judge. This is an appeal by Island View Residential Treatment Center ("Island View"), S.S.E. ("Stacy") and S.A.F. ("Sarah") seeking to recover from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts ("Blue Cross") the cost of ...

Posted Sun, Aug 16, 2:49 p.m.

"alleged misdeeds of insurance companies", alleged? How about "legendary", or "infamous".

Posted Sat, Aug 15, 1:13 p.m.

Spring 2011, an early gift to Obama's second term run.

Posted Sat, Aug 15, 12:12 p.m.

eastkingcountyrednecklogger, you are not going further, are are some place other than "Progressive". You imagine things not said as the antithesis of your construct (if I see myself as an angel then there must be a devil). I have, in my remarks, pointed to policy points of view between what ...

Posted Thu, Aug 13, 8:25 p.m.

I agree with Deb. BTW, the "buy local" movement requires a sell local, a business, a small business in many cases. As a progressive person I support small business, and local business policy the makes that exchange beneficial for my community. I support policy that makes public farmer's markets possible, ...

Posted Thu, Aug 13, 4:05 p.m.

Do the Regressives have a definition? There was some language contained in corporation requirements for this state that spell out that a business should benefit the community. The old-school progressives (that is me, I guess) have a policy interest in busness from the "good" business owner's pov. This state is ...

Posted Thu, Aug 13, 12:10 p.m.

Ya' CVD should know. It is not enough to be just an insider, but a special subset of insiders bath in the gloomy glow of Mayor Nickels. Wait until the sports nuts go nuts October 12 (CVD should know about this, too). It will be like playing political lawndarts.

Posted Wed, Aug 12, 12:08 p.m.

So, I hope this does not invite a Seattle - Everett version of the birther movement. I, for one, can only claim living in Everett for a decade or two, sadly, shamefully, I was born in Seattle. You have no idea how hard it is to live as an Everett ...

Posted Sat, Aug 8, 2:22 p.m.

It looks like the downzone of vacant light industrial land perpetuates urban blight in our city.

Posted Sat, Aug 8, 1:46 p.m.

The "Editor's Pick" was the original writer's refeed. Sweet. Group hug, well, dyad. Raise the REET rate, and stop picking and choosing favorites. Stop funding basic gov services with REET, fund affordable housing with it, and infrustructure. prescribed density efforts? no thanks

Posted Wed, Aug 5, 8:40 p.m.

I do agree that many of the others on the council are willing to just say yes, but Nick is not running against them. So, maybe make comparisons between people running against each other? Anyway, here are my primary top two endorsements (if the Times can, then I can). http://manywordsforrain.blogspot.com/search/label/Endorsements%202009

Posted Wed, Aug 5, 8:33 p.m.

"Nick Licata, contrary to the comment above, is not disposed to say no." - Ted_Van_Dyk Yes he is disposed to say no. You are only the authority of your opinion, Ted_Van_Dyk, not mine. You offered nothing more than your opinion as a counter-argument to my opinion. I like the color ...

Posted Wed, Aug 5, 7:14 p.m.

Or, maybe, Progressives think some people have so little respect for the views of others that the feel free to co-opt a label or brand in order to schill an idiology not progressive enough to evolve a new term that describes them in a better light. Republican/Libertarian co-opting has similar, ...

Posted Tue, Aug 4, 12:02 p.m.

I am for having the city find local sponsors to support (logo) reusable bags to be sent to every man, woman, and child in Seattle. Possibly have local school children design a Seattle bag logo. This is not unlike the Seattle City Light - PCC bag. Positive, cost neutral solutions, ...

Posted Tue, Aug 4, 11:46 a.m.

So, this is where the David Miller supporters gather. About Nick Licata, it is not that he says no, it is that he looks for the no, predisposed to the no. One of his challengers, Jessie Israel is predisposed to the yes, so I am likely opting for Marty Kaplan. ...

Posted Mon, Aug 3, 11:25 a.m.

I dropped out of the FoS Facebook group. After their "Analysis" was published, then they bacame too needy. Experience is bad, unless it is good; the bag tax is good and they will hold it against a candidate, unless they like the person (like, not like-like). The whole thing has ...

Posted Wed, Jul 29, 3:28 p.m.

How many people that drive the car into the ditch also are their own tow truck driver? Really, keep doing the same things, in fact PROMOTE them to even greater power so they can "fix" what was broken while they happen to be there (but not their fault, oh no). ...

Posted Mon, Jul 27, 12:25 p.m.

The same day Ron Sims admitted that he was leaving for DC the governor admitted that the transit portion of the plan (a million hours for metro) were not a deal breaker. The car tab idea died, and so, uh, how about everybody take a giant step back and see ...

Posted Sun, Jul 26, 9:03 a.m.

Eagle Scout said: I am starting to realize that the anger that many bloggers and others carry in their comments is due to other "stuff" in their lives and they are tranferring it to other issues such as Seattle, or the Mayor, or the police, or whatever. And I am ...

Posted Thu, Jul 23, 12:25 p.m.

The warm spit crack is a selling point for Ross.

Posted Thu, Jul 23, 11:53 a.m.

Constantine, here is some information for you: Haller Lake was annexed more than 50 years ago with the promise of sidewalks. White Center, vote no until the state treats all of you fairly. Constantine, you have lost my vote, thanks for helping me with that choice. Why is it that ...

Posted Wed, Jul 22, 5:39 p.m.

Red counties and towns that will cheer this one will get screwed in the end, and wonder why. Good job Tim, more self distructive customers.

Posted Wed, Jul 22, 5:35 p.m.

And then he will make a big freaking deal about his poorly formed idea ending up in court where people getting paid my tax money will attempt to make time bend backward. And the dems will just deny the red school districts blue money, and use that money to fill ...

Posted Wed, Jul 22, 2:16 p.m.

"It mandates steps that are tactically impossible. Under I-1033, state, county, city, and other taxing districts must pass budgets based on inflation figures that won’t be available until after budgets, by law, must be written and passed." answer?

Posted Wed, Jul 22, 12:26 p.m.

Address the order of operations, please, thanks.

Posted Wed, Jul 22, 11:29 a.m.

Nothing changed for my except my taxes, you're welcome.

Posted Wed, Jul 22, 11:21 a.m.

So much boilerplate, so little actual thought. So, Tim, how about answering the first bullet? Let us pretend you are right, though, I think you are not, how does the budget get written before inflation figures are known, and then rewritten for the refund. I think H.G. Wells powered his ...

Posted Tue, Jul 21, 3:14 p.m.

15. Park and Ride, afffordable housing? Neither! 16. Promise and deliver multimodel transportation to the same pools of population. The people that have do not have it working together, and those that don't still paying for it, neither group happy.

Posted Tue, Jul 21, 11:57 a.m.

I will prove all of David Brewster's points by saying that I love stories about me, the Seattle citizen, and my familiar problems that I embrace that descibe me, and my place in this world.

Posted Fri, Jul 17, 8:08 p.m.

A little hair has been split over funding for King County arts, heritage programs, and Seattle Center by all five of the candidates for King County Executive. No new taxes! http://manywordsforrain.blogspot.com/2009/07/they-said-no-new-taxes.html

Posted Thu, Jul 16, 7:36 p.m.

So, no state funding for affordable housing, huh.

Posted Thu, Jul 16, 12:06 p.m.

The skateboard park WAS part of the parking the city sold to B&M; Gates Foundation, mmmm irony, that was and is part of Seattle Center. Ron Sims' big ditch was nutty, the current plan was a new and exciting way to remodel the facility with the least cost to the ...

Posted Wed, Jul 15, 5:18 p.m.

Said the one year bandaid guy.

Posted Wed, Jul 15, 11:17 a.m.

And, what about next year, and the year after that. . . Special Sessions deserves special bills. http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=6116

Posted Tue, Jul 14, 11:53 a.m.

How about the city acts on the Seattle Center master plan before the "Fun Forrest" closes and we have nothing to celebrate but an exquisite corpse, $570 million for the whole plan (without a KeyArena remodel)? What would we really be exhibiting, urban blight? As much as I think this ...

Posted Mon, Jul 6, 9:48 p.m.

I think his bill sponsorship is pretty well in line with the article that he has written here. http://www1.leg.wa.gov/House/Carlyle/SponsoredBills.htm I did find some of the examples simplistic, but not unworthy of discussion or investigation. That is part of the problem when writing something like this, it has to have enough ...

Posted Sun, Jul 5, 9:06 a.m.

The rest of the city promised sidewalks as part of the annex. So, I blame the city for not holding up their end of the bargain. I pay City of Seattle tax rates, Rob. There is, has been, an easement on ALL of the property around here. Front yards end ...

Posted Sun, Jul 5, 9:06 a.m.

The rest of the city promised sidewalks as part of the annex. So, I blame the city for not holding up their end of the bargain. I pay City of Seattle tax rates, Rob. There is, has been, an easement on ALL of the property around here. Front yards end ...

Posted Sat, Jul 4, 12:27 p.m.

Btw, the SDOT advisory Board meets on 7/8/2009 (if this is current), two weeks before is heads to council. http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/pedestrian_masterplan/docs/Calendar_Revised_05.27.pdf The priority map places higher value on "Vibrancy". If you think walkability is a bullshitbuzzword, try Vibrancy. http://seattletransitblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/pmp-summary_high-res_33.jpg So, if you have infrastructure then you will get more (and end ...

Posted Sat, Jul 4, 10:49 a.m.

Rob K. has a point, this debate is about communities that have sidewalks and shop spaces to walk to, what a problem to have. I have neither. So, I will offer the third argument here, I am without the thing to walk on (promised 50 years ago when annexed), or ...

Posted Fri, Jul 3, 2:30 p.m.

I just walked to Northgate Mall after walking to Albertsons on 130th and 99. But, I am not what the city planned for. I think there is some value in challenging users of the walkability word to define it, rather than throwing off the bright white light of the buzzword ...

Posted Fri, Jul 3, 10:49 a.m.

Nick Licata has chased the urban wine bar vote to its conclusion. He may be able to hang on as the general opposition person on the council, but that depends, in part, on Greg Nickels and his running mate Jan Drago being favored in the Fall. They are not that ...

Posted Fri, Jul 3, 9:07 a.m.

You cite two places with sidewalks in your urban example. The other Seattle that was annexed in the early 1950's did not get the promised sidewalks found in Greenwood and Freemont. Zoning in and out the types of businesses to show walability failure is amusing. Watching my neighbor drive his ...

Posted Sat, Jun 27, 12:45 p.m.

I agree with Chris, Deb, and Ted. This is a trifecta for me, and a first. I am going to bookmark this page, and cherish this event, always. Can I throw in the library system to the list? Shoreline has a nice King County library, maybe King County's City of ...

Posted Sat, Jun 20, 7:33 p.m.

The automobile is not going away Keith, oil is. Cars do not always equal oil. None of these trolley/streetcars will ever reach the Haller Lake area, annexed more than 50 years ago on the promise of sidewalks yet to be delivered. There is more of Haller Lake hood served by ...

Posted Thu, Jun 18, 7:43 p.m.

As a Seattleite, never needing the viaduct or its replacement tunnel so far for my life in the 206, I am glad to hear from somebody that will get some utility out of it. No matter what happens, I will not have a view of the water, not now, not ...

Posted Wed, Jun 17, 6:32 p.m.

Come on up to 13700 block of Roosevelt Way N, 3 blocks north of Ingram HS. There, the district has sold land to a "developer", and it has sat dozed flat for a couple years. You'll love the pre-car open ditches and sidewalks promised when the hood was annexed 55 ...

Posted Fri, Jun 12, 6:10 a.m.

How is the Eastside vs. Westside working out for everybody?

Posted Thu, Jun 11, 7:21 p.m.

Hey, John Carlson can read, and then rip you off anduse you as radio filled.

Posted Wed, May 27, 7:13 p.m.

So, we are height/weight proportinate no matter how much we diet on density zones? A little planning is good, and minding our own damn business in Seattle might be best for all involved? Oh ya', that's madness.

Posted Mon, May 25, 9:06 a.m.

Dow is for change even when he is voting for things to stay exactly as they are for the next six months. He is that interested in changing things. Words, deeds? He may be the #1 change agent but now is not the time to roll over on a "throw ...

Posted Wed, May 20, 8:50 p.m.

I had aclass assignment to interview somebody I knew. So, I interviewed my son about the WASL. I asked him how the tests could be better. He said the WASL his 5th grade class took could be harder, the problems more complex, and he didn't see the test as a ...

Posted Sun, May 17, 10:01 p.m.

And maybe they prove that they are not the same person by showing up together to pat themselves on the back over the tunnel and trolley. Really, I am not really seeing her as a change.

Posted Sat, May 16, 8:40 p.m.

dbreneman, how do we convince people to pull money out of a general state fund for local city tourist capital investment and promotion? The sales tax is not uniform now for reasons local jurisdictions have decided on. You and Lisa Brown need to figure that one out first before floating ...

Posted Fri, May 15, 7:36 p.m.

I am no help, but this would not be the first online publication to print a digest of its reporting in order to gain "press" access. Hello tax break! Hello SeattlePI.com "news" letter?

Posted Fri, May 15, 5:21 p.m.

And replace the revenue with?

Posted Fri, May 15, 11:27 a.m.

City council supported this bill in Oly, and now on the same day they get their law the Times of Seattle editorialized against the idea of having some 4 or 5) council members elected by a given section of the city. Why break up a good thing? They get what ...

Posted Thu, May 14, 9:31 p.m.

How about having new councilmenbers by district and after so much time on the council you "move" to a city-wide seat. Seat people in the city-wide by how long they have been in position. The locally entrenched would have to move to a city-wide race at some point.

Posted Thu, May 14, 11:47 a.m.

All state senators in state-wide elections is a bad idea, but having city council in a big pool is a good idea, right? The response about being able to game the council is interesting, and a good thing for downtown, or well to-do parts of the city. An individual should ...

Posted Wed, May 13, 4:48 p.m.

Will I get a ballot in the mail to vote for those people in charge of those neighborhood groups? I think not. Handing self-proclaimed leaders funding authority is not something I could ever see supporting.

Posted Wed, May 13, 3:51 p.m.

I'm in!

Posted Tue, May 12, 9:43 p.m.

Ya' really coulda' used SB6116, hey, maybe September.

Posted Sat, May 9, 7:01 p.m.

I thought this session launched Austin Jenkens.

Posted Fri, May 8, 7:21 p.m.

Will he run for mayor?

Posted Wed, May 6, 7:35 p.m.

Change the fuel.

Posted Wed, May 6, 3:45 p.m.

So, in a couple years (and I mean two) I move on solar power on my house, and an electric car (thanks Nissan) how will that change the argument, if at all. The assumption of oil, pro and con, is the length and use of the buggy whip debate and ...

Posted Mon, May 4, 11:18 p.m.

About the income tax ideas floating around, I have no idea why somebody would pick a dollar number while Frank Chopp uses multiples of the poverty level when championing children's health care. It reminds me of so many fees that fall out of date as inflation eclips their buying power. ...

Posted Mon, Apr 13, 6:49 p.m.

Punditry or not, the reality is that it does cost some money to advertise your message, and Nickels has locked up a lot of funds. The two challengers have issues but will have to articulate solutions, and have the funds to advertise those solutions, just to have a shot at ...

Posted Mon, Mar 30, 7:20 p.m.

Hey! that's no act, she really has disappeared, Joe Biden says, "Hey, want to see a neat trick I learned from the last Vice President", how was Joe to know that Dick used to wear a top hat and wave a magic want when ordering somebody of to a secret ...

Posted Fri, Mar 27, 11:22 a.m.

It was either Salish Sea, or Cascadian Distopia's Post-Industrial Northwest Toxic-Stew. But Salish Sea fits on the hats and jackets (they must have hats and jackets, right?)

Posted Fri, Mar 27, 11:15 a.m.

We are not seeing partisan backroom dealing. We are seeing the art of political accomplishment. That's what got him to be Speaker. He delivers! from today's Seattle Times: Tension and divisions growing among House Democrats Signs of a rift are showing among House Democrats — a surprise for a group ...

Posted Fri, Mar 27, 10:37 a.m.

With a 9 billion dollar deficit he has been the Speaker of the House that has provided valuable leadership to get us to this hole. As muck knocking the governor takes from the republicans on the state of the state finances I think she has yet to sign a budget ...

Posted Fri, Mar 27, 6:23 a.m.

Yes, speaking of dollups of low-income housing as sweetener, I see Ross Hunter's HB 2252 King County Stadium Tax bill left the House side with loads of future revenue for low-income housing (and no future funding for stadiums). I guess that was the only way 4Culture could get funding beyond ...

Posted Thu, Mar 26, 8:39 p.m.

So, if you are going to grow something then it better be energy, I guess that's the logic being floated by Obama. Had the Republicans actually done what they said they would do once in power, and not hide GW Bush's veto pen for profit taking from the tax payers ...

Posted Sun, Mar 22, 1:34 p.m.

It is getting late in the session to be doing this, unless they want to spend money on a special session, killing support by voters. What happens if they go on as if voters would approve something only to have us vote no?

Posted Sun, Mar 22, 1:23 p.m.

Scenantics, formal, informal

Posted Fri, Mar 20, 11:37 a.m.

electrons, trees, missing the point of "new" mediums replacing old. I think you can read what I am thinking and you are not reading what I am thinking in the newspaper that was printed last night. Telephones became "popular" when chatting wasn't something the operator worked hard to stop you ...

Posted Wed, Mar 18, 6:03 a.m.

The Seattle PI did not chase conservatives stories, the Times cornered that market. Will the Times try to capture PI readers by covering things leftys like, or will they go down with the newspaper industry ship? There have been a variety of sources for the leftys to get stories from, ...

Posted Mon, Mar 16, 11:36 a.m.

There are plenty of activities that I like to do that I rather not watch others do, much less pay to watch others do. Find your sport, even if that is hating other people's idea of a good time, and run with it. I'm ready for crosscut.

Posted Wed, Mar 11, 11:21 a.m.

Pick a level you are comfortable with. Tenth Circle Added To Rapidly Growing Hell http://www.theonion.com/content/files/images/onion_news1285.jpg

Posted Mon, Mar 9, 8:15 a.m.

Why is a 720,000 sf building better than a 380,000 sf building? One of them has restaurants, retail, etc, around the outside of the bowl enclosed in the building. That 240,000 space is almost as much space as the convention center folks wat at 5 times the cost, what would ...

Posted Mon, Mar 9, 8:10 a.m.

The 2006 study, was back when the public portion was $220 million for a remodel, or $20 million if the team left and we want the arena to be at least up to "minor league" standards, good times. Since then the Steve Ballmer and Matt Griffin had taken back $70 ...

Posted Sun, Mar 8, 9:24 p.m.

The 720,000 sf facility generates more money than that 380,000 sf 1994 remodel, but go on, you are on a roll. (Somebody tell Rashard Lewis to sell his QA home, he's still hurting Seattle).

Posted Sun, Mar 8, 9:17 p.m.

Is this the 380,000 sf or 720,000 sf arena? And please, more ALL CAPS statements. I need to email a link to Chris Van Dyk and let him know he has been duped, twice.

Posted Sun, Mar 8, 12:44 p.m.

Ok, I'll stop, but just one more ignorant post, as a parting gift. Yes, I want to bond and build. It employs people now, and builds stuff that hangs around for a long time. but that $15 million a year is the first I have heard that it would cost ...

Posted Sun, Mar 8, 10:01 a.m.

Lincoln, more than half of the season ticketholders are from outside of Seattle. Tax a Storm ticket, at their prices, for 15 games, for the 4800 fans and you can compare that to 2 to 3 times the fans, 2 to 3 times the games, etc, comparing Storm or Seattle ...

Posted Sat, Mar 7, 5:19 p.m.

no, not using it just the same, in order to get that higher mpg you have to cause less damaging friction.

Posted Sat, Mar 7, 12:22 p.m.

Lincoln, the city revenue used on KeyArena would come from KeyArena activity taxes if, and only if, there is an NBA team selling $95 tickets to tax, and parkers parking for that event. The revenue will not exist or be spent unless there is an NBA event there. But thanks ...

Posted Fri, Mar 6, 5:58 p.m.

Postpone anything with the word "streetcar" in it.

Posted Thu, Mar 5, 11:29 a.m.

I agree with dbreneman. I'll throw out there that a couple thousand years ago odometers solved this overly complicated solution to this unusually simple problem. Tax gas, tax power meters on autos at a much reduced rate (lighter things that have less friction with the road often go further). This ...

Posted Mon, Mar 2, 1:11 p.m.

Matt, I make this point every time somebody (Jan Drago) imagineers one of these trolley/streetcar plans.

Posted Mon, Mar 2, 11:11 a.m.

Nice map, where is the rest of Seattle? Or are just the people on that map going to pay for it? So far there are lots of plans for my money, but for me, not so much.

Posted Sat, Feb 28, 2:51 p.m.

I am not sure how one can tell the difference between retribution and whatever it is called at any other time. The conflicts between Seattle and the representitives is not new, putting Tim Burgess' happy face out there for the state legislature to slap would not make him more effective, ...

Posted Wed, Feb 25, 8:37 p.m.

More bitching to balance out anything positive that could be, imaginedor real, by having somebody that knows something about Washington state going to Washington DC.

Posted Sat, Feb 21, 6:56 p.m.

"smart", "generally" Don't bother going into the hairsplitting differences.

Posted Sat, Feb 21, 2:50 p.m.

The state now has two key parts it needed to make significant progress; the federal stimulus package, and a new budget forcast. I expect there is a big shell game going on right now swapping federal dollars for state planned expenditures where they can. What is diffferent this time around ...

Posted Sat, Feb 21, 2:21 p.m.

States mandating city urban planning requirements? I guess the GMA love will be shared in the urban areas the same way it is in rural arena.

Posted Tue, Feb 17, 9:44 p.m.

Btw, check out hb 2250 and 2252 written by Ross Hunter.

Posted Tue, Feb 17, 9:43 p.m.

There is a bill that looks to suspend the 1% for arts. If there is federal money for anything I think the state plays a musical buckets of money in most cases.

Posted Mon, Feb 16, 7:46 p.m.

Let's study this while we attempt the surface option, uh, I mean we take down the viaduct before it falls on a bus load of children.

Posted Fri, Feb 6, 8:04 p.m.

Ron Reagan, really? Why would he put himself through that thankless process.

Posted Wed, Feb 4, 7:54 p.m.

(sic)That may be

Posted Wed, Feb 4, 7:53 p.m.

Lisa, tell me more about me, and how I am viewed, and possibly how you do not see any subtext and just think people are not being direct with you. This makes for good reading for others from other places that my be an accidental tourist.

Posted Wed, Feb 4, 7:35 p.m.

I am a pure Seattle-centric partisan, Seattle still in King County, right? Not being a politico, or writer, I will freely advocate for a Seattle-centric county exec, sign me up.

Posted Tue, Feb 3, 2:41 p.m.

Dori Monson can only dish it out, he can not take it. He is a partisan hack, and I am talking him up with that.

Posted Tue, Feb 3, 8:12 a.m.

I would want the cartaker to know what is going on with the council and county right now.

Posted Mon, Feb 2, 7:47 p.m.

Maybe the powers the be can post a job at www.caretaker-jobs.com (yes, it's real). We can all run in place while somebody makes sure we have coasters under our iced-tea glasses. I am happy for Ron Sims, but the last thing I want or need is a "caretaker" while the ...

Posted Mon, Feb 2, 6:52 p.m.

talking down one preference and up another just described your point of view, and not much else. The misery of living where people choose to, even at the expense of a longer commute may not be you cup of tea, but it has no less value to them than does ...

Posted Mon, Feb 2, 6:31 p.m.

Algae bio-oil has an advantage over the price point debate, the price can be fixed and known over a much longer period of time. The large scale industrial user needs that as badly as they do cheap gas. That economy if scale is going to be flying over our heads ...

Posted Mon, Feb 2, 6:14 p.m.

alge & electric Gregoire says car tabs not required for tunnel, Sims' chair not even empty yet and the car tab/bus portion is stripped from the tunnel.

Posted Mon, Feb 2, 3:59 p.m.

"No plan needed" really hasn't served me well, and throwing your handsin the air and yelling Sound Transit and build more roads as driving a comprehensive solution has all the brainpower of yelling Yatzee and thinking that has it solved.

Posted Mon, Feb 2, 10:12 a.m.

I see the sidebar of "related stories" did not include the living tribute to Jan Drago's streetcars she desires. How about overlaying Chris' story on the tunnel "solution" and ask ourselves if supporting pass through traffic in any city should have such a high price tag, and center a great ...

Posted Sun, Feb 1, 1:11 p.m.

Chopp does not have to stop this, just point the tax revenue structure to the voters and let the people say no.

Posted Sun, Feb 1, 12:59 p.m.

And I thought the Rocket had it right with Ronald Ray-Gun. The god squad is a contributing factor to my lack of interest in the NFL, though I have taken to attributing the loss of one team to another as "god's will". It is a source of amusement for me, ...

Posted Tue, Jan 27, 11:49 a.m.

I am incenced. "people" did just vote for more of the mishmash paid with sales tax, and now we are getting a second dose of bus/streetcar with car tabs. Before, during, and after I will still be Mr. Car/bus/bus, I may get to change my name to Mr. Car/train/bus Lucky ...

Posted Mon, Jan 26, 4:56 p.m.

Yes, we all agree, it's broken. Now what?

Posted Mon, Jan 26, 4:55 p.m.

Ms. Eddy, everyone is elected to lead, and the sure do try too, but the method for solving this problem, for example, is the creation of a new stand alone entity that is different then the way things are, but this is a symptom to the nature of the relationships ...

Posted Mon, Jan 26, 4:43 p.m.

Ms. Eddy may be the greatest legislator ever but the current governmental organizational relationships are not conducive for comprehensive solutions. The governo, county exec, and city mayor all decide-ish a tunnel, then Frank Chopp, then Ms. Eddy, then maybe the voters again, then maybe back to the legislators, if the ...

Posted Mon, Jan 26, 3:48 p.m.

There is no natural jurisdiction for Debo's idea, or that of the story writer. If it were just transportation, and much of this story I have written myself here and other places, but this is subject to a larger topic. I suggest that we should all go back and read ...

Posted Wed, Jan 21, 7:36 p.m.

The sky might fall.

Posted Tue, Jan 20, 8:27 p.m.

Cameron, I watched the same program. Both guests did appear to be talking going in positions and both mentioned being shut out of the process in different was that they hope or plan to be different. Linville mentioned that more people would be writing the bills, getting more involvement. And ...

Posted Sun, Jan 18, 5:34 p.m.

It's the market for the medium, not the ideas expressed there. Having been laid off by market change or downturn, it is depressing for the individual.

Posted Sun, Jan 18, 3:19 p.m.

So, all of the other options cost less, so the majority people are part of a variety of minority options. They can not agree on a solution but they can agree to be against any one option. You may not get a majority to agree with you option, but you ...

Posted Sun, Jan 18, 2:59 p.m.

I am not saying there is or is not a better viaduct solution. There are too many options for a majority of people to support, or the one would have been built by now. But the result of this expensive choice and how it is going to get paid for ...

Posted Sun, Jan 18, 12:57 p.m.

J.R., there is a position, POV, that anybody could take and run as a third option candidate and beat either one (or both). They battle over the same turf on behalf of the competing interests; people that build million dollar condos, and those that live in them. Drago's position will ...

Posted Sun, Jan 18, 9:37 a.m.

I guess what Licata does could be called populism in contrast to Drago, though this is an isolated comparison. Jan is Vulcan's champion, and Nick is the wine bar/public art champion, both competing to tax me, the guy that wants neither. Downtown has two champions competing at the expense of ...

Posted Sun, Jan 18, 8:25 a.m.

There was a little known 10th option to use two smaller tunnels as pneumatic tubes.

Posted Sat, Jan 17, 8:47 a.m.

With the commercial buildings taking a dive not all of those workers would fit the viaduct project, or many of the stimulus plans that call for roads and bridges. Updating public building should pick up a lot of them, heating, air, wire. There is a lag, though, the drop off ...

Posted Sat, Jan 17, 8:29 a.m.

If any of the viaduct plan is about jobs it is liminged in scope, the variety of jobs lost does not completely match what this project provides. Buying a streetcar, and a couple months of putting down track, the tunnel, moving utilities.

Posted Fri, Jan 16, 7:03 p.m.

Is there a transportation project yet that Drago has been involved with that actually had funding in place for the entire project? BTW, The first avenue streetcar ends at Seattle Center, how's that hotel tax looking?

Posted Wed, Jan 14, 9:05 p.m.

As you read my opinion for free I ask you to think about the monitary value of opinions based on observations of data and information gathered and reported by others. Now think about the Time grab for columnists a few years ago. Newspapers like the Times may be too top ...

Posted Sat, Jan 3, 9:40 a.m.

We have a Seattle Center master plan.

Posted Wed, Dec 31, 1:18 p.m.

The act of god that would bring it down has that other component to go along with the destruction, that darn death. If you think your commute is long now, try being crushed to death in your car on the viaduct. Bumper to bumper turns into bumper to casket. Let's ...

Posted Wed, Dec 31, 1:05 p.m.

"join hands to catch the waterfall of coins" That is pure gold, very funny.

Posted Tue, Dec 30, 5:48 p.m.

"The Republican leadership appointed him. That's all the justification that's needed. Whatever recommendations come out of the task force have to pass legislative muster, anyway." - Deb They appointed him by the way the qualifications were described. They do not have to justify anything, true, but the legislature that produces ...

Posted Tue, Dec 30, 4:56 p.m.

This could cross the water rather than having any of the viaduct options, proposal #10.

Posted Mon, Dec 29, 5:08 p.m.

Joe Zarelli is on the task force because he is a coucus leader, read the pages that formed the task force, he has no other connection to a hotel tax collected in Seattle, and in all of King County. He was appointed, has no vested interest in the existance of ...

Posted Mon, Dec 29, 2:25 p.m.

No natural juristiction for local solutions, at every level is a problem to be solved, and not a "welcome to" destination. I am not part of your inside "we", and find the contextural exclusivity offensive. Do not completely miss the point, your argument about Nickels is an example within the ...

Posted Mon, Dec 29, 12:38 p.m.

BTW, how about that Choppaduct. There is a fine example of Chopp participating in a process.

Posted Mon, Dec 29, 12:30 p.m.

Well, I'm not writer, but I'll take a swing at this "fair question". Let's listen to Ross Hunter try to split the hair, as interviewed after the December 1st meeting of the Joint Task Force Local Financing Options for King County. Right about the 4 minute mark through 4:30 is ...

Posted Mon, Dec 29, 10 a.m.

Hmmm, that's one version of history. Glad I moved from David Miller's urban planning fantasy camp. Enjoy your ditch!

Posted Mon, Dec 29, 9:37 a.m.

The union the seceding was to be from was the state and county more than the country itself. I am with him on that front. Having to get city taxing authority from the state for the county to administer is dumb. See Ron Sims' vision of Seattle Center written by ...

Posted Sun, Dec 28, 11:45 p.m.

I am hopeful that the interested parties in the Seattle Center master plan start to compose actionable plans and that look to the future. I am hoping that KeyArena will find a way to be a better asset to the Seattle Center and the city after the loss of the ...

Posted Fri, Dec 26, 8:35 p.m.

Having lived on 15th Ave NE from 1998 through 2004, and having a child in a stroller, navigating the mishmash of semi-sidewalks, parking lots, and the odd crosswalk in the middle of NE Northgate way near the post office, I can attest to the planting of density that looked inward ...

Posted Fri, Dec 26, 4:07 p.m.

The viaduct will hurt him early and often. A majority will not like the selection no matter what it is.

Posted Fri, Dec 26, 12:48 p.m.

The Dems had a runner start at the 2008 presidential race by the bungling of the long desrired position of national power by the likes of Tom DeLay.

Posted Fri, Dec 26, 12:05 p.m.

I agree with Chris, just look at the shallow four-year-old sound-bites Dino Rossi was using in the debates just two months ago. The more meaningful idiology behind it, if it was there, did not get expressed in tangible action plans. When pressed Rossi spat across the board spending cuts. What ...

Posted Wed, Dec 24, 2:08 p.m.

I think we should have a study to look into the idea of slowing down, then let's have a stakeholders meeting to discuss the findings of the study and the impact that change would have on a population that can not act without further study on the impact mitigation activities ...

Posted Tue, Dec 23, 2:56 p.m.

The streetcar means another cost to the other Seattle that the streetcar will never, ever, ever reach. The street in front of my house does not have a painted line. The sidewalk does not extend beyond the 3 blocks it has covered since it was poured 58 years ago. The ...

Posted Tue, Dec 9, 2:33 p.m.

I spend some time every election reading the statements in the voter pamphlet looking for looking for coded language, word choices, that could tell me who the zelots are. Political buzzword jumble.

Posted Thu, Dec 4, 11:33 a.m.

"The state is looking at a $500 million expansion". $500? WSCTC is asking for $766 million. http://www.leg.wa.gov/Joint/Committees/LFOKC/meetings.htm#DEC01

Posted Fri, Nov 28, 1:26 p.m.

I'm not kidding.

Posted Fri, Nov 28, 1:23 p.m.

If Steve Ballmer is willing to pay 150 million dollars to increasedrevenue the building draws 88% of the time, and his 12% he chooses to have a mass knitting, that's his problem, as long as that 12% generates enough revenue for the city to recover its portion, and the mass ...

Posted Fri, Nov 28, 12:34 p.m.

CVD, don't let the fantasy that selling out an event means that the city was able to gain as much revenue from the event as any other arena in the top 25 media markets in the country. All you need to do is have Obama come back 3 or 12 ...

Posted Fri, Nov 28, 11:07 a.m.

In a city council Seattle Center sub-committee meeting 2 months during the committees final acceptance of the Seattle Center master plan Director Nellams noted that Key Arena would go from 120 - 160 events a year to 80 - 120. Councilman Conlin was surprised at the drop in the number ...

Posted Fri, Nov 28, 10:13 a.m.

There was a chance that Clay Bennett was going to be "stuck" in Seattle for this season, and possibly next. So, Oklahoma City is being treated to the team that might have been in Seattle for two years. He spent much of the past year stripping the cost of those ...

Posted Wed, Nov 26, 9:24 a.m.

On the consumer end of things for major infrastructure projects the ever increasing raw material costs have the opposite effect for Seattle. The cost of rebar for the replacement of the viaduct has also changed. If Seattle were going to actually do something with the Seattle Center Master plan in ...

Posted Tue, Nov 25, 12:37 p.m.

Ronald Raygun lived in a house with a gate and security in LA and DC. He thrived, good for him, the rest of us, not so much.

Posted Tue, Nov 25, 9:49 a.m.

If the money that leaves the city to be spread around the state was kept in Seattle, then yes. The mayor was lamenting that very thing about 6 months ago, having to have to go to the state, via the taxing authority of the county, so he might use some ...

Posted Fri, Nov 21, 4:53 p.m.

Why in the world would the city of Seattle "step up" to pay for an idea they do not like (viaduct), at a cost greater than the mayor's preference, cut and cover. The governor's state highway is the state's responsibility, so she has proclaimed. And the state is only willing ...

Posted Thu, Nov 20, 8:10 p.m.

btw, I am no example to judge the good students by.

Posted Thu, Nov 20, 8:09 p.m.

about that proofreading thing, have you posted an unpaid intern position at huskyjobs? As a rapidly aging and middle aged COM major I can tell you that the weekly email from the mothership in room 118 listing the intern and job listing I think only had one posting from you ...

Posted Thu, Nov 20, 7:51 p.m.

That's smart, a kind of nameless team of offices and occupations are harder for Chopp to argue against. There is strength in nameless and faceless numbers. (Just don't make eye contact.) I suppose having the current economic conditions are the only way to stop this above ground tunnel, but I ...

Posted Thu, Nov 20, 7:30 p.m.

I don't believe any of this. I saw "Christopher Hitchens rails against" and I started thinking about all the things he doesn't rail against, hmmm, nothin'. I believe he will have another drink.

Posted Mon, Nov 17, 4:46 p.m.

The rebuilding of that bridge had emegency funding, for an actual emergent need, earmark to somewhere, that doesn't have the same ring to it. Design reviews of older bridges may be less costly then rebuilding stuff out of fear that it is like something else.

Posted Sat, Nov 15, 7:59 p.m.

I re-use those plastic bags. If they get taxed I will buy plastic bags at a cheaper rate. If I am forced by penalty of law, by tax, to end up picking up after my dog with a paper bag then do not by shocked when it ends up smoldering ...

Posted Sat, Nov 15, 4:11 p.m.

I was thinking the same thing yesterday. Why give gm a bunch of money to keep making cars that are losers in the market. The SUV factories are not going to just come to life because gm was given money, and why would we want them to? There are plenty ...

Posted Sat, Nov 15, 4 p.m.

How much would it cost to send every home in Seattle a reusable shopping bag? How much would a local business pay to have its logo of support on that bag, even if another business had its logo on the same bag? I think that cuts down on many of ...

Posted Wed, Nov 12, 6:09 p.m.

construction workers commit fewer crimes while working, pay taxes that pay for police, and there is some thing when they are done, otherwise you are left with unemployment insurance being payed and a higher unemployment rate. Building stuff has a greater dollar for dollar return. It also would not require ...

Posted Sun, Nov 9, 6:01 p.m.

The Washington State Task Force on Local Funding Options in King County meets December 1st, at Bellevue City Hall. There will be proposals for projects that could start right away, and not get bogged down in planning, using existing taxes that can not be scooped up and used to fill ...

Posted Thu, Oct 30, 6:46 p.m.

my interest is not about the NBA but Seattle Center, and in that Key Arena, and in that and anchor tenant, and that happens to be the NBA. If the arena was large enough it may as well be the NHL, 30 nights of competitive ice dancing every year for ...

Posted Thu, Oct 30, 6:14 p.m.

whatever upgrades lacross needs they can pay for. The improvements the city is seeking provide a greater tax return from activity. You do not think the rest of the footprint needs an upgrade, or a second ramp to the floor, but the city does, their customers other than the NBA ...

Posted Thu, Oct 30, 4 p.m.

"The number of events in KeyArena is not important. If there are 20 to 40 fewer events in 2009 in KeyArena without the Sonics, so what?" Mostly vacant buildings I guess are some kind of asset, I guess. Those 20-40 Sonics games saw the majority of ticket buyers come from ...

Posted Thu, Oct 30, 2:16 p.m.

The suggested plan could comply with the measure, said Chris Van Dyk, who led the I-91 campaign. "The key thing is that if it addresses the use of public funds in a positive way and allocates those public funds toward the public places and the public infrastructure," Van Dyk said. ...

Posted Thu, Oct 30, 1:41 p.m.

tell that to Robert Nellams while they struggle to fill dates at Key Arena. As long as you think Thomas the Tank Engine and BMX bicycle racing are the definition. Il have double checked the dollar reference, it is 20 million if they leave so the venue to be a ...

Posted Thu, Oct 30, 10:43 a.m.

and, read Senate Bill 6638 and tell me where it can be spent on general fund obligations, I'll spare you, it doesn't. The hotel folks were a wee bit unhappy that money from that fund was scooped up and used for some body else's more important things. They are directly ...

Posted Thu, Oct 30, 10:32 a.m.

just because something is attractive to the NBA doesn't make it subjust to I-91. This project is already subject to I-91, the NBA specific improvements are paid for with private money. Events pass by Key Arena, or don't bother coming to the Seattle are at all. When Neil Young was ...

Posted Thu, Oct 30, 8:40 a.m.

I-91 is avoided by the funding structure for the statement of work. The publicly owned common areas around Key Arena, as well as making the venue competitive for non-sports events is what the public money is being directed at. The portionof the arena that are for the benefit of sport ...

Posted Thu, Oct 23, 3:19 p.m.

So, if Carlson had breasts Knute would be nicer to him? Anyway, had Palin been a Dem, and taxed big oil more and gave the money to the citizens, being tax payers or not, she might be called a Socialist, rather than a Maverick by Republicans. Had she left her ...

Posted Wed, Oct 22, 6:10 p.m.

another neglected city want that not funded at the level of need by the city or the consumers. Maybe they should ask for a trolley, or claim it as art and swipe the 4culture money.

Posted Mon, Oct 20, 3:48 p.m.

yes, I am talking about that part of the road. You do know that there is a not view of Puget Sound there that might be an important element missing there.

Posted Mon, Oct 20, 10:54 a.m.

celebrate doing nothing, claim victory, and punt this out for 10 years. Had this been the solution acted on 10 years ago would where we are right now with millions of dollars spent on on neo-industrial band-aids. We have the punt plan. Last time I think we had Frank Chopp's ...

Posted Sun, Oct 19, 6:37 p.m.

how much of a protest vote does Bob Barr get if the faithful McCain losing?

Posted Sat, Oct 11, 3:23 p.m.

Sims spends entirely too much time on other people's situations, like the viaduct, like Seattle Center, like most of his "ideas", while the County backs its way into a downturn in the economy . The areas that insist on becoming towns and cities still rely on the county for services. ...

Posted Tue, Oct 7, 10:27 a.m.

RE: information v. knowledge: You are missing the point; I don't, you don't, but she does have to be able to refute Biden's claims using HER knowledge, not mine, not yours, as we are not running to be Vice President of the United States of America. You can turn this ...

Posted Mon, Oct 6, 6:47 p.m.

path to gov office passes through AG's office, again: Rossi, McKenna did not throw you under the bus, you stumbled in front of it.

Posted Sat, Oct 4, 10:22 p.m.

RE: information v. knowledge: Now, what are Palin's positions on all that that Biden knows, and you know but do not agree with? How is it that you know enough to know you do not agree with him, but she doesn't? Oh, that's right (wink) she's a Washington outsider. I ...

Posted Sat, Oct 4, 12:02 p.m.

Bong hits 4 Palin: You asked if she respects the First Amendment. I have to tell myself, for fear that she could be the VP, that she does not respect the First Amendment. If she did respect it then maybe she would not have agreed with the Supreme Court ruling ...

Posted Sat, Oct 4, 11:13 a.m.

information v. knowledge: In the case of Information v Knowledge, this judge finds in favor of knowledge. Palin has a "talent" for retaining information relating to her idiology. She did not express, or did not have that information given to her, beyond the prep work. She could not connect her ...

Posted Sat, Oct 4, 10:12 a.m.

Adding insult to injury: One of the "pork" items not mentioned in this, and most stories written about the propping up of the spoiled children of old money, is the temporary write-off of sales tax on federal returns. This is the tax-tax, federal tax on income that is taken as ...

Posted Thu, Sep 25, 11:09 p.m.

The current bad situation made worse: 1. Chopp is too late. 2. The solution explores the worst of all solutions and then covers it in ocular platitudes. A viaduct, a park up in the sky, a sink pipe in rain city, wrapped in retail shopping. Did he run out of ...

Posted Sat, Sep 20, 1:37 p.m.

about lies & politics: I have found the public reaction, in general, to lies strangely satisfying. It looks like 8 years of Bush has had some impact on the public, lies are not as popular as they used to be.

Posted Fri, Sep 19, 7:55 p.m.

What moves the needle vs who owns the needle: I guess you could not have two little horses running toward a finish line. Does the invisible hand that moves the needle belong to one, or a few of you, crosscutters?

Posted Fri, Sep 19, 12:01 a.m.

RE: so close, I can almost touch it: The desire to put this road up in the sky is as practical a solution as putting north Aorora up in the sky, that is none. Do we really want to spend a billion dollars putting Aurora Ave with a waterfront view ...

Posted Thu, Sep 18, 8:28 p.m.

so close, I can almost touch it: We could reduce the cost quite a bit by hacking off those columns. The money saved could remodel the Seattle Center. Aurora, in Shoreline, between 145th and 150th for some strange reason was not elevated 80 feet into the air when they reworked ...

Posted Wed, Sep 17, 12:26 p.m.

30 million reasons why the city will not let Key Arena go: The City of Seattle is not going to support a competing facility at Seattle Center outside of the Master Plan that was just adopted. Please include something more about that the next time you are imagineering facilities on ...

Posted Mon, Sep 8, 1:54 p.m.

RE: Freeway Park: If this is the state's activity then does the entire state pay for it?

Posted Sun, Sep 7, 4:53 p.m.

Key Arena enclosure: The "public" funding portion of enclosing the outer portion of Key Arena is supposed to provide more meeting space of this type. Key Arena would go from about 370 thousand sq to nearly 800. I would just assume have the Key Arena rebuild and the Convention Center's ...

Posted Wed, Sep 3, 6:54 a.m.

$30 million dollar motive: According to the settlement between the City of Seattle and Clayton "rhymes with Satan" Bennett the state must authorize Seattle, or King County, a funding source to provide 1/4 the cost of an arena (new or used) by December 31, 2009, or the city is out ...

Posted Mon, Aug 11, 11:16 a.m.

as a reader, the business struggles to serve the community: As a reader of just about everything involving the Sonics trial I can tell you that the newspaper coverage was spotty, at best. Sports columnists playing Court Reporter made me want to throw up (me, and a few thousand of ...

Posted Sat, Jun 21, 10:31 p.m.

blame the fans: owners, lawyers, writers, a judge, politicians, unemployed political operatives, secret business of the NBA dependent on public money, fear, greed, all external to the fans and players they watch. And yet, the team owner managed to (de)construct the worst team in franchise history and sent a letter ...

Posted Thu, Apr 3, 11:32 a.m.

concentrated power in the hands of a few is not democracy: When it was announced that Washington Lt. Gov. Brad Owen was granted knighthood I wondered what King Chopp was going to say while tapping his pen on each shoulder.

Posted Sat, Mar 15, 5:38 p.m.

lead by example: if money can be better spent on the laundry list of non-sports and entertainment things then let's start with that 1% for the arts that everybody not living in a tree, or under a rock, pays for no matter what they think of spending tax money on ...

Posted Sat, Mar 15, 3:51 p.m.

Hey strawman, where does money come from?: Hi, the Seattle portion of the public funds are to be repaid through revenue generating activities from having the Sonics playing games and as an anchor tenant at Key Arena. No Sonics, no revenue, no private money upgrade to the facility to the ...

Posted Thu, Mar 13, 11:32 a.m.

a different Seattle Center area to fund: How about finding a protion of the Century21 Seattle Center remodel that the city anticipates having to fund on its own, and offering that to the state "Leadership" as a politically viaible alternative? There are other items at Seattle Center that are more ...

Posted Sun, Feb 24, 12:03 p.m.

The big ditch is dead, kind of: Sims desire to make a great big pretty ditch may have gotten sandbags, to some degree, by the Seattle City Council giving Nickels the ok to negotiate a long term lease with new Storm owners. The sandbags are very popular, have smiling faces, ...

Posted Sat, Feb 23, 11:33 p.m.

Art reflecting society, or the other way around: It is interesting that in order to win the game the ball has to move, players have to share, and defend as a team, and then there is the sport called basketball. I think Sims was right in his editorial he had ...

Posted Mon, Nov 26, 10:38 p.m.

not there yet: Soccer "fans", keep bitterly complaining about other sports that I actually like and how the world (other than me) love soccer more thank life, I'm almost caring about soccer, not because I like it, but I'll pretend to like it (just liked everybody but you). Just kidding, ...

Posted Wed, Nov 21, 11:53 a.m.

Not something I would pay to watch strangers do.: Maybe it has something to do with the perceived absence of a class system, that everything is a competition. There must be many points scored, statistics kept, individuals lauded, to keep Americans like me interested. My son that is the sports ...

Posted Mon, Oct 22, 7:05 p.m.

RE: Since when does advertising equal education?: the big difference between P&G and political advertisements is that if P&G lies I have some limited recourse,truth in advertising hasn't completely gone away. Political ads can be chalk full of lies and that's ok, according to recent court rulings. So, please stop ...

Posted Mon, Oct 22, 1:25 p.m.

The candidates are on free public radio right now: KUOW, the number one new and talk station, is giving away airtime for free, right now. I guess the commercial market is letting you down Chris.

Posted Mon, Oct 22, 12:15 p.m.

RE: Doorbelling: "Rely on doobelling in a countywide election? Good luck with that! Yes, going door to door is something you do, but it can't take the place of money. " What do you want, a handout? It isn't luck, it's hard work involving people. If you can't get people ...

Posted Mon, Oct 22, 11:29 a.m.

Media Assumption: Mr. Vance points out the costs of media. Ok. And then he tells us that he/they need more money because people will not know the candidates because they can not afford to buy airtime. Not ok. I know many people, not one of them I had to meet ...