crosscut.com : King County

Vanity profanity! The 600 license plates banned by the state

Crosscut — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:00:01 PDT

Try as they might, some motorists can't outsmart officials when it comes to custom license numbers. On the other hand, sometimes seemingly illicit alphanumerics are actually demonstrably proper.

Sausage Links, transit migraine edition —Â part deux

Crosscut — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:00:01 PDT

Want to know if the new light rail line will stop in your neck of the woods? Any minute now, the Sound Transit board is expected to approve this map of proposed transit routes to be placed on the ballot. For now, here's the buzz:

Sausage Links, transit migraine edition

Crosscut — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:00:01 PDT

Ready to pay $6.85 round-trip to drive across the 520 bridge? Me neither. That's the proposed toll that would raise money to help pay for improvements to the floating fossil. But the idea of a toll begs another question, something I've been dying to get reader input about: Do you think having a toll on local bridges like 520 will sway voters to vote for the proposed light rail measure this November? Thoughts?

Sausage Links, cats, bats, and politicians edition

Crosscut — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:07:01 PDT

Remember when everyone thought Democratic congressional candidate Darcy Burner wasn't going to get extra money from the party to beat U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Auburn? Well, think again. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has "reserved $949,000 of air time to boost Burner's campaign." Here's the reaction from the right-wingers at Sound Politics. ...

Fixing our big flat tire

Crosscut — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:00:01 PDT

Sound Transit, the Viaduct, 520, the Mercer Mess — everywhere you turn, there's a Puget Sound transportation problem awaiting solution. It's time for citizens to demand leadership from leaders and to push for reform of agencies and even government.

Sausage Links, pot, farms, and medicine edition

Crosscut — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:58:01 PDT

Count on the alt-weeklies to provide blow-by-blow coverage of the recent ~~medical marijuana bust~~ illegal search and seizure. Dominic Holden at The Stranger has the story about the incident — along with copies of the police report and the arresting officer's search warrant. According to the reports, Seattle Police officers tore down a wall while searching for an illegal pot-growing operation that didn't exist, while seizing bags of marijuana and medical records. The folks at Seattlest would like to remind the SPD that medical marijuana has been legal in Washington for nearly 10 years. ...

Sausage Links, fancy-pants luncheon edition

Crosscut — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:21:01 PDT

The Queen of fist-bumps, New Yorker cover girl Michelle Obama, is in Seattle today to headline a fundraiser for Gov. Chris Gregoire. The event is expected to bring in $400,000 for Gregoire's re-election campaign. Seattle Times chief political reporter David Postman will have live coverage of the event as it develops, while Eli Sanders at the Stranger already has pictures from the WaMu Theater. ...

Sound Transit showdown

Crosscut — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:00:01 PDT

The votes for a 2008 submission of a $15 billion package now are almost there, thanks to some last-minute concessions to Snohomish County. The election will be risky, but the transit agency faces greater risk by waiting until 2010.

Sausage Links, cougar-hunting edition

Crosscut — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:28:01 PDT

Praise the Lord and release the hounds — because our good state Legislature has enacted a law which makes it legal once again to use dogs to hunt cougars. Now, I didn't even know cougar hunting was legal in Washington — minus Cougars wearing crimson — but apparently, it is. While the bill was actually passed by the Legislature in February, the Department of Fish and Wildlife will hold a public meeting on Friday to discuss whether the pilot program should continue for another three years.

Meanwhile, Micheal Reitz of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation has compiled a list of some other curious laws enacted by the Washington Legislature this year. My personal favorite: Violators may face up to $1,000 or up to a year in jail for selling raw or unprocessed huckleberries without a permit.

The case for more rail transit

Crosscut — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:00:01 PDT

The region has tried a largely bus solution for 40 years, and by now the capacity flaws are apparent. If we are really serious about building density, we need to lay more rails.

Sausage Links, tree-cutting edition

Crosscut — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:09:01 PDT

Timber! The Seattle Times has a series of special reports about the lack of oversight in the logging industry and the cost to state taxpayers. According to the report, no one checked when Weyerhaeuser started clear-cutting unstable slopes, some of which eventually slid and cost millions of dollars to clean up. Naturally, David Goldstein at Horse's Ass blames Republican-led deregulation. ...

Sausage Links, gas cards for bad guys edition

Crosscut — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:20:01 PDT

Alright everybody. Let's head to Tacoma. If we hurry, we can help Tacoma-Pierce County Crime Stoppers catch sexual predators, gangsters, domestic violence abusers, and violent criminals. Why? Because they're giving away $250 gas cards and up to $1,000 in exchange for information that would lead to arrests. Here's the list of criminals. Start hunting. After all, what better incentive is there to dodge outrageous gas prices than to catch perverts? Don't answer that.

Sausage Links, blame-game edition

Crosscut — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:05:01 PDT

David Goldstein at Horse's Ass says everyone has missed the boat about the latest mess surrounding the "top-two" primary. The Seattle Times blamed the parties. The parties blamed the state. Others blamed the lawyers. Goldstein, however, says the person to blame for what could be the "most monumental legal fuck up in state history — one which puts the legitimacy of our entire 2008 election in jeopardy" — is state Attorney General Rob McKenna.

Sausage Links, mayor-about-town edition

Crosscut — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:49:01 PDT

Oh, Greg. You are trying to break our hearts! Just when we vilify you for airballing the Sonics all the way to OKC for a cool $45 million — you show you're a real Mayor-about-town houses and plastic bag taxes.

For better or worse, everybody's talking about Mayor Nickels' proposals today. Erica C. Barnett at The Stranger says she spotted a "Plastic Monster" at last night's public-comment meeting about the proposed plastic bag tax, while Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat warns if we don't choose paper the plastic bag police will get us. Meanwhile, the folks at Sound Politics rail against Nickels for the new town house plan, which they argue will regulate affordable housing "out of existence." ...

Sausage Links, top-two headache edition

Crosscut — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:23:01 PDT

David Postman had a busy morning. First, The Seattle Times chief political writer reported the proper way to describe the ~~death with dignity~~ "assisted suicide" initiative. Then he dropped a political firebomb, reporting the state's political parties haven't yet given up trying to ax the "top-two" primary, with both Republicans and Democrats claiming the entire '08 election won't count. I thought that headache was over. Turns out it's just getting started. ...

As the Sonics leave town, it may help the arts

Crosscut — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:17:01 PDT

In all the reporting about the Sonics decision, we tend to overlook the intense clamoring over a taxing source, the so-called "stadium taxes," that bedevils the politics. A lot of groups want to lay claim to those taxes, which are supposed to go away after the Kingdome, Safeco Field, and Qwest Field are paid off, but are really catnip to politicians for their pet causes. The taxes have two attractions: they are not really an "increase" if you just extend their life, and they fall mostly on visitors, who don't vote locally.

One of the main supplicants is the arts. Thereby hangs an interesting story.

The 100-year gamble to save our quality of life

Crosscut — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:00:01 PDT

A close look at the ambitious "Cascade Agenda," which hopes to preserve the central Puget Sound region's natural systems from a Pugetopolis that sprawls all the way to the Cascades. The mechanisms are known, but it's not clear they can work well enough or soon enough.

Sausage links, Seattle SuuuuuuperSonics edition

Crosscut — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:00:01 PDT

Today's the day of reckoning for the city of Seattle and the SuperSonics. Judge Marsha Pechman will rule at 4 p.m., and we'll know who wins this OK Corrall shootout. Mayor Greg Nickels will hold a press conference at 5 p.m. to discuss the decision (live on the Seattle Channel). Here are the pre-announcement perspectives: state Rep. Bob Hasegawa, Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat, Stranger writer Josh Feit, Crosscut writers Ross Anderson and Sue Frause. ...

Sausage Links, hammer-time edition

Crosscut — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:00:01 PDT

Tri-City Herald reporter Chris Mulick digs deep into Washington state's bungled attempt to land a $2 billion uranium enrichment plant, along with its 400 high-paying jobs. According to Mulick, Gov. Chris Gregoire chose not to pursue bidding for the plant, deciding instead to play it cool politically. As a result, Idaho got the plant. Washington lost the money. And Dino Rossi just got more ammo for his campaign. Still, Gregoire's got a sizable lead in the polls, at the moment. ...

The top-two primary may cost Ron Sims his job

Crosscut — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 10:10:01 PDT

King County Council member Larry Phillips is starting to get organized to challenge fellow Democrat Ron Sims for County Executive in 2009, according to this account in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Ordinarily a Democrat wouldn't have much chance of toppling a still-popular Democratic incumbent, but our new election laws are changing the odds.