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

I agree with Pythagoras. For several years, I've looked for some conversation among the state's largest businesses and most thoughtful civic activists on the need for a state-wide agenda for the 21st Century. Alas, that conversation occurs only in small groups, centered on one or another need ... like education ...

Posted Mon, Mar 12, 3:20 p.m.

My benefits have nothing to do with this situation, Arthur, although the WEA has spent a lot of time and money trying to make it about legislative benefits. The legislature is covered by the PEBB; what we've been trying to promote is an identical vehicle for education employees, dubbed the ...

Posted Sun, Mar 11, 5:05 p.m.

Well, Dick, we agree that there is not yet a sustainable budget on the table. And, for all of the reasons you outline here, one is unlikely to appear anytime soon. I am as disappointed in the Senate Republican budget as I am in the House Democratic budget ... but ...

Posted Tue, Jan 17, 10:53 a.m.

Good piece. While there is decidedly a difference between "reform BEFORE revenue" and "revenue AND reform".... I think as the session continues, the distinction in these two phrases will blur. I know what the former means, and it isn't particularly inconsistent with the latter, if we're looking at the problems ...

Posted Thu, Nov 10, 9:19 a.m.

Thank you, JT! I hesitate to "out" those centrist Republicans, coming as I do from the other side of the aisle. But you know that I have enjoyed the collaborations that we've pulled off, to date ... and look forward to many more.

Posted Thu, Nov 10, 7:29 a.m.

David, we really have to get you out of Seattle more frequently. Last year, a group of Senate Democrats from suburban districts rallied around a reform agenda, against the Party of Government forces that you identify here and with the assistance of a few outlier members of the Party of ...

Posted Tue, Oct 18, 8:40 a.m.

Right on! (No pun intended.) Excellent article. I might have attended this event, because I have a good many conservative friends and because I think Mitch Daniels has been the type of Republican that my mom and dad would have approved of. But then I saw that John Bolton was ...

Posted Mon, Oct 17, 6:02 p.m.

I saw this story and almost laughed. Almost. Knute, we've had this conversation. At least a couple of times. And I think you may have written this column before, at least once. The Northwest likes its own peculiar brand of fragmentation and local control ... always has, probably always will. ...

Posted Tue, Oct 4, 10:11 a.m.

At this point, Cameron, I think it is fair to ask for an honest list of reductions, and I think those are sufficient, already. We're bleeding educational opportunity in a way that our own parents would be ashamed of. It's also fair to demand some meaningful reform; arguable, we've fallen ...

Posted Tue, Oct 4, 9 a.m.

"For many of those who worry about meeting the challenges, Fontenette put it in a nutshell: 'I saw Gov. Gregoire’s speech about how the community needs to step up. But the community doesn’t have any money.'” At risk of stating the obvious: Government has only the money that the public ...

Posted Mon, Jun 13, 7:48 a.m.

Debate on this issue, about the bill we finally passed, has become an echo chamber ... no longer newsworthy but just the same old arguments (largely baseless) bouncing off the walls.

Posted Wed, Jun 1, 8:13 p.m.

Excellent summary!! Thank you so much for the best 500-word treatment of this issue that I've seen, to date. And clearly deserving of a crosscut shout-out. I didn't know much about the workmen's compensation system before I started working on the question of whether we could come up with a ...

Posted Fri, May 27, 8:09 a.m.

Ivan: Sorry, yet again, fact-free assumptions. The truth of the matter is that the settlement is voluntary, subject to rigorous criteria ... we took out any incentive to coerce (or even appear to be coercing) with numerous sideboards. And it is paternalistic to the max to think that dribbling pension ...

Posted Thu, May 26, 9:50 p.m.

This is a polemic that has little to nothing to do with how the workmen's compensation system actually works, the parameters of voluntary settlement programs throughout the 50 states and what we in the legislature did, substantively, in this legislation. Crosscut editors, please, can we add some symbol to stories ...

Posted Sun, May 8, 8:55 a.m.

Bravo to Richard and Jan for excellent rebuttals. Replacing and improving any piece of critical infrastructure will create local opposition, always. As composed to a local street, of course, a rebuild of SR520 looks imposing. And the opponents have extraordinary staying power. But the elected officials who have stood together ...

Posted Sat, Mar 12, 7:14 p.m.

Late 1970s, as a newcomer here from the south ... I bought Starbuck's at U Village and compared it favorably to a local small roaster in Chapel Hill that I'd liked. Clearly, the cool coffee boutique that was A Southern Season didn't have the business savvy behind it that Sbux ...

Posted Tue, Mar 8, 7:46 a.m.

I know you have to fill the space, Chris, and your ruminations are as knowledgable as anybody's, I guess. But is it remotely possible that all Joe Zarelli wants is a reasoned, balanced, non-reactive and (gasp) non-posturing solution to this year's budget problem? Your are political; I am notoriously NOT. ...

Posted Sat, Jan 29, 11:21 a.m.

If this is going to be the quality of the "letters to the editor" space, I think you should just abandon this slot and give it over to something else. The comments to Crosscut articles take the place of the "letter to the editor" in the old newspaper format, I ...

Posted Fri, Jan 7, 1:31 p.m.

Bravo! It doesn't matter whether you agree or disagree with the proposals, as launched. Doubtless, there will be a lot of tweaking, if either initiative makes it to implementation. What matters is that we are seeing some bold ideas launched from the elected executive's office (usually the best place for ...

Posted Mon, Dec 20, 3:58 p.m.

Um, pardon me, but this is pretty obviously a public relations release by a party interested in the status quo (and ready to put up major money in support of the status quo). A PR piece masquerading as some sort of analytic op-ed. The Gov is right that a more ...

Posted Sat, Nov 27, 9:42 a.m.

This is a powerful story, well told. But the parenthetical line appearing near the end stopped me in my tracks. "(This was not the first time that I realized that so much that happens in hospitals is determined by the hospital's legal department.)" Sad. It shouldn't be that way.

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

I'm agreeing w/Mr. Baker and pepper2000, in that we're having trouble articulating exactly what's needed here and that the competitive advantage remains in the two parties. And that Susan Hutchinson's campaign could only be described as non-partisan in the most superficial of terms. Really, David! Pretty thin veil of non-partisanship ...

Posted Fri, Nov 12, 2:28 p.m.

Lisa: Agreed, we're not going to see a return to robust private pensions in this decade, anyway. Part of the difficulty in dealing with these issues that there are no easy generalities to differentiate between public/private employment or to use as launch points for analysis. The Pew Center on the ...

Posted Fri, Nov 12, 11:57 a.m.

Lisa: Agree entirely that there are serious social ramifications to ending the concept of a pension system. What I think David is alluding to, though, in his second point is the cognitive dissonance inherent in having a private workforce largely without pensions supporting through taxation a public workforce with pension ...

Posted Fri, Nov 12, 9:49 a.m.

Dick, I agree with your assessment of the Fiscal Commission's recommendations, you must read all 50 (sigh) slides. Picking and choosing just fires up one or another end of the political spectrum. But that's how this country has been governed for some years now. sjenner: Thanks for the links. I ...

Posted Thu, Nov 11, 8:16 p.m.

Everyone knows that I am Rep Deb Eddy, thus Cameron's challenge to me is in the context of my elected service. He knows who I am. I'm simply asking him to unmask, also. The anonymity of posters on this and other internet sites diminishes the dialogue in the public square, ...

Posted Thu, Nov 11, 4:25 p.m.

I think the accusations-from-behind-the-mask thing is really dumbing down debate. You know who I am. Cameron, if you let me know who YOU are, then we can discuss further. If you care about politics as much as your presence online would indicate, you should be willing own up to an ...

Posted Thu, Nov 11, 12:52 p.m.

Excellent suggestion, David. I would be glad to either serve on or support such an effort.

Posted Thu, Nov 4, 7:11 a.m.

Slight correction. Rep. Larry Springer is in the 45th District; I'm in the 48th, w/Rep Hunter. Confusion caused by Kirkland being split between the two districts. Rep. Deb Eddy

Posted Fri, Oct 8, 10:08 a.m.

Oh, dear. I'm usually railing at people in my generation (and older) that it isn't the 1950s anymore, and etc., etc., and we have to plan for a different future. HOWEVER, that said, I think that Prof Locke's editorial piece here was (1) at least partly tongue-in-cheek (I particularly chuckled ...

Posted Fri, Oct 1, 4:09 p.m.

Agree with Reuven's comments, completely. David, your assertion is just wrong ... children do walk in the 'burbs and are not dependent on adults to drive them everywhere. But that's not the point. The high cost of living, bad schools and public safety did NOT drive my daughter and son-in-law ...

Posted Mon, Sep 27, 6:44 a.m.

This is an over-the-top polemic that isn't worthy of the time needed to read it. Comparing the current situation in City Hall with Watergate is a tactic worthy of the worst right-wing shock jocks, connecting completely unrelated things for psychological effect. It's also known as propaganda. Regionally, over time, I've ...

Posted Sun, Sep 12, 12:15 p.m.

I'm still trying to figure out the relationship of the WVU-Morgantown PRT and "two decades". Maybe that date reflects completion of the inter-campus system? In 1968, 42 years ago, Boeing and UMTA posters outside my newly-built Towers Dorm declared that the PRT was coming soon!! Apparently, it took longer than ...

Posted Tue, Sep 7, 5:11 p.m.

Bravo, Reuv ... excellent piece. And, of course, illustrates why I so enjoy working with you ... energy, intellect, thoughtfulness and rock-solid values. And a back story. :-)

Posted Thu, Aug 5, 4:42 a.m.

Knute, with the deepest respect, this is about as apples-and-rutabagas as you can get! We live in an urban region with over 3 million citizens, only a fraction of which live in Montlake. So when you try to compare can-do spirit of the impromptu funding of a couple of summer ...

Posted Sat, Jul 24, 8:38 a.m.

My English grammar teacher would shoot me for having written that paragraph. Sorry.

Posted Sat, Jul 24, 8:28 a.m.

A point of clarification, David: RACE TO THE TOP concerns the distribution of federal funds that are marginal to the core sources of education funding (state and local). Dow's proposal to link METRO service to land use is NOT analogous. METRO is the sole transit service providers (+Sound Transit, of ...

Posted Thu, May 13, 9:33 a.m.

As usual, fine piece of work, Doug. I especially like the second-to-last paragraph ... as succinct a statement as I've seen of what could be at least a beginning point for the performance-measure discussion. Years ago, I had the privilege of serving a (very) brief stint as staff to the ...

Posted Tue, Apr 20, 7:42 a.m.

Thank you, Jan. As long as one's view is sufficiently narrow - Bellevue to Seattle, then revisiting the SR520 bridge design makes perfect sense. But taking a larger view -- which is what PSRCis charged with doing -- indicates a slightly different problem. Political decisions are necessarily framed by the ...

Posted Mon, Mar 8, 9:11 p.m.

This just gets weirder and weirder. The assumption is that, somehow, moving Microsoft into the WAMU tower would magically do away with the need for the SR520 bridge. What are you people smoking?

Posted Thu, Mar 4, 4:03 p.m.

Almost 20 years ago, this state adopted the Growth Management Act, governing how further growth would occur, so that we'd avoid the ugly sprawl of southern California. Here in the Puget Sound region, we established the Urban Growth Boundary, beyond which urban development should not occur. By setting a boundary, ...

Posted Thu, Feb 25, 8:55 a.m.

Over the next few months, I hope the Mayor has an opportunity to talk to the leaders of the the other agencies in our region who deal with transportation and transit, such as Sound Transit (Snohomish County Exec Aaron Reardon is chair) and King County Metro (Down Constantine, county exec), ...

Posted Sat, Feb 6, 7:38 p.m.

Will the editors please explain why "Editors' Pick" is laudatory?

Posted Fri, Feb 5, 9:15 a.m.

The reporting here was largely right-on EXCEPT for giving some authenticity to the KING TV poll that it might not deserve and Jan's point about the source of the 20,000+ additional trips (PSRC projections, not a design objective for the bridge). It's kind of disappointing to see some of the ...

Posted Sun, Nov 29, 4:45 p.m.

Cameron, if you think that you can boil this down to "[a] number please," then you are part of the problem.

Posted Sun, Nov 29, 10:50 a.m.

You have some very good points in here, EKCRNL (if I may shorten the moniker). The trick in large complex societies is figuring out how to BALANCE points of view. I am reminded of the day an elderly neighbor told me she'd never vote for a school levy again, "because ...

Posted Fri, Nov 27, 2:52 p.m.

That information only matters, Cameron, if you are "scoring" the game according to Democratic and Republican "messages". Your question about the Republican amendments goes right back to that place where it's all about Republicans versus Democrats. The caucus system of state legislative governance ensures that everyone -- including Speaker Chopp ...

Posted Fri, Nov 27, 10:08 a.m.

Internally to the Democratic caucus (remember, that's how Oly works, Cameron, it isn't some undifferentiated mass), I am working hard to be more inclusive, yes, and to champion a balanced analysis of the short and longer-term problem, including a need for a longer-term strategic analysis. I am not assigned to ...

Posted Fri, Nov 27, 7:59 a.m.

You know, I had something to add here ... but then read through the preceding commentary and thought ... possibly not worth the keystrokes? The CAO is a prescriptive county land use ordinance. The topic at hand is the overall state budget, a serious financial matter largely made up of ...

Posted Sun, Nov 8, 10:13 a.m.

I'd rather agree with your assessment, Knute. Would you please read the tea-leaves on the Seattle mayor's race? For us outside the city lines, the messages are - uh - subject to interpretation.

Posted Wed, Nov 4, 8:23 p.m.

I'm still trying to get past the headline allusion to "their GOP home." A political party is not a religion, a culture or a blood line. It is a set of political values and principles that can change over time. The Republican party of today has little to no resemblance ...

Posted Fri, Sep 18, 8:12 a.m.

Agreed, darn good piece. There are a lot of little things that support this lack of cohesion: PSRC's charter gives the counties weighted voting sufficient to derail good policy ideas that favor municipalities, should the cities reach collective agreement, and the boundaries for county council districts slightly favor Seattle pols. ...

Posted Thu, Aug 27, 7:58 a.m.

Well, as usual, a really fine piece of work from Doug. Again, this piece hints at the need to deal with transportation systemically as opposed to the haphazard way we do know. Everyone's deadly earnest in pushing their piece of the puzzle, but the puzzle still doesn't quite work as ...

Posted Thu, Aug 20, 9:29 a.m.

If nobody getting hurt is your primary goal in life, maybe so. Beginning of the Nanny State? I'd say it was more like the first sign of Americans afraid of their own shadows and the National Security State we now live in. Dog-walker

Posted Sat, Aug 15, 9:53 p.m.

Mr. Fellows ... well put! /deb

Posted Thu, Aug 13, 6:40 p.m.

I'm sort of liking that "militant moderate" tag. Following on Mr. Sell's comment, above ... the success of our own unique (to the US) form of capitalism is what supplies the wealth that has made our progress - civic, social, artistic, educational, philosophic - possible. Thus, protecting the markets is ...

Posted Thu, Aug 6, 5:57 p.m.

I liked this piece ... A LOT. Had not thought about looking at the history of the Progressive Party ... and while I expect that there is a lot of opportunity for compare/contrast ... well, it was a darn good piece. /deb eddy

Posted Thu, Jul 9, 10:46 p.m.

Would all of you anonymous posters like to own up to your real identities? If this blogging/posting/responding thing is going to amount to anything, then we need more folks willing to 'fess up to who they really are.

Posted Mon, Jul 6, 2:39 p.m.

Sarajane: Per your suggestion on the tech ideas: We began working in this direction, toward reform, back in '07 (my first session). Linville/Ericks championed reform, made it subject to a budget proviso. Hunter was fully on board, as were many others; we got it through both Houses!! We left town ...

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

Steve: Excellent question. FIRST AND FOREMOST, in any group (especially policy bodies, like city council, house of representatives), you must have a persistent voice for change so as to create the necessary window for discussion and the opportunity to build the "political will" (i.e., majority) for action. EXAMPLE: In a ...

Posted Mon, Jul 6, 7:29 a.m.

Reuven is one of the most intriguing people to come on to the political stage in several years, and I love this post. Yes, admittedly, Reuv is a friend of mine, in the way we become friends with colleagues who share certain attributes, beliefs. He is truly a joy to ...

Posted Mon, Jun 29, 12:14 p.m.

No stealth here. I have been involved in local political issues since about 1990; I have only been in a partisan position since 2006. My politics are well known to be pretty eclectic/moderate; I've supported changing the county positions - executive and council - to nonpartisan status for years. I ...

Posted Mon, Jun 29, 9:12 a.m.

Yes, the large majority of the budget goes to DEDICATED TASKS - utilities like the provision of sewer services and garbage disposal (not pick up, by the way). The county's general fund gets some (important) overhead, but these expenditures are not discretionary in any real sense. The REMAINDER OF THE ...

Posted Sat, Jun 27, 9:28 a.m.

Oooohhhhh, I get that. Neither am I. But we can't have an honest talk about what really matters to the county, the issues, if we aren't willing, at some level, to compare/contrast.

Posted Sat, Jun 27, 7:02 a.m.

Thanks, Chris, for these necessary - and right on - observations. This county has a rare opportunity to actually improve the management of its government, to the benefit of all of us. The chances of it happening grow slimmer daily, as we speed toward an August primary date that most ...

Posted Sat, Jun 20, 8:52 a.m.

Today's story in the Times about the $500,000 spent on the Transportation Department investigation -- investigating things like personnel practices, discrimination, etc. -- is a good example of what's wrong here. Rather than facing up to the fact that the management here is abysmal ... well, the answer to that ...

Posted Fri, Jun 12, 10:56 a.m.

Some years ago, I was sitting in a meeting with some pretty left-wing people and a question came up about the oversight and evaluation of contract negotiations between teachers' unions and school boards for best practices, ensuring the welfare of the students and teachers as beneficiaries, as opposed to the ...

Posted Fri, Jun 12, 7:09 a.m.

While I couldn't quibble with the description of events here, certainly we should acknowledge that Rep. Kevin Van De Wege (Sequim)DID sponsor the Neah Bay tug bill in the House. He worked the bill hard in the Ecology & Parks committe and in caucus, moving the bill to the floor ...

Posted Mon, May 11, 11:40 a.m.

I'm going to double-check on this, to make sure I got good information ... but my understanding was that the auditor had every dime he needs for audits over the next biennium. I-900 was an initiative that actually came with funding to pay for it (there's a good idea!), 0.16 ...

Posted Sun, May 3, 6:58 a.m.

I thought it was a fair analysis until I got to the last paragraph, which alleges that we are "neither moving left nor right, but rather backwards and down. Elections are supposed to create a mandate to govern. Eventually one side has to win, implement its agenda, and submit the ...

Posted Sat, Feb 21, 9:19 p.m.

While the drafters of the GMA left these determinations to local governments (this would be about 18 years ago?), the decision to leave these matters to local control hasn't proved itself in RESULTS. I'm not going to defend every section of this bill (not on Local Gov and not in ...

Posted Mon, Feb 2, 2:58 p.m.

"The only real energy behind the push for a new region-wide transportation agency was a desire by rail critics to stop the Sound Transit Board from getting light rail approved." You are entitled to your opinion, of course, but this does not and has never been my position. I've never ...

Posted Mon, Jan 26, 4:45 p.m.

And I'm pleased to see that all those conversations with Scott have borne fruit. He gets it!! At least when he's willing to concede my points.

Posted Mon, Jan 26, 4:42 p.m.

dn - HB 2101 was the bill sponsored by then-Rep Fred Jarrett and me. SB 6803 was an early attempt by Sen. Ed Murray, but he later abandoned the effort. We tried re-writing that bill, but ended up focusing on our own HB 2101. While we had a lot of ...

Posted Mon, Jan 26, 11:05 a.m.

It's funny (in an ironic way) that the issue of governance is revived just when I'd given up on it -- at least for the current session. The key to avoiding a duplication of all-process-all-the-time is to focus on the MOBILITY of people and goods, design a SYSTEM that provides ...

Posted Mon, Dec 29, 2:45 p.m.

"We" means us. The citizenry of the state. I meant no contextual exclusivity; I'm sorry to have given that impression. We - all of us - are in this together. Now more than ever. Joe Zarelli is on that task force because the constitution of the state of Washington puts ...

Posted Mon, Dec 29, 12:49 p.m.

Nickels, through direction to the multiple Sound Transit lobbyists working Olympia during session, vehemently opposed putting the Puget Sound Regional Council "on steroids" when we tried to discuss it in 2007. Just to be clear: The city of Seattle comprises almost 600,000 people within the borders of King County. Last ...

Posted Mon, Dec 29, 11:39 a.m.

Thanks, David. (1) I'm not sure that Frank exerts a stranglehold so much as he's developed a process for bringing a bill to the floor. Bills that won't pass, due to insufficient support, don't get put on the floor calendar. Some people believe that the votes would CHANGE and votes ...

Posted Mon, Dec 29, 7:43 a.m.

David - Please advise as to what would constitute reform in the legislature, in your opinion.

Posted Thu, Dec 18, 4:17 p.m.

Suggestion for next week: Drive your car to a friend or family member's driveway. Could be in Seattle, or outside the city somewhere. Park it. Now -- having packed light, of course -- throw your backpack on your shoulder and catch Metro to the airport, bus or train station. Or ...

Posted Wed, Dec 17, 6:48 a.m.

A not-so-small quibble, Chris. You state that "the number one predictor for political behavior is how often you go to church. Values have replaced economics." These "values" voters are largely evangelical/born-again Christians, as opposed to "suburban moderates." As long as the Republican party characterizes suburban moderates as being devoid of ...

Posted Mon, Dec 1, 6:49 a.m.

The viaduct as originally conceptualized by WSDOT was an engineer's dream and a political nightmare (also, ugly). Thus, the grinding process that we now find ourselves in ... It's easy to cast Chopp's idea as "out there" if the vision is, as you point out, a soft urbanism associated with ...

Posted Sat, Oct 25, 5:25 a.m.

Jan - Your opinion is certainly shared by some. I don't find the challenge of "so what's your idea?" to be very useful. We're not voting on my idea, or John Niles' idea. I see some inconsistency in acknowledging the need to connect transit, land use, the environment at the ...

Posted Fri, Oct 24, 7:08 p.m.

Jan says: "The biggest hurdle to actually reforming regional government has been the wait for the Sound Transit votes - which has basically been dictated by the legislature. If it fails, we wait some more. If it passes, we might actually be able to do something in time to assemble ...

Posted Fri, Oct 24, 6:53 a.m.

MadisonAve - It's interesting that you can throw around accusations - true or not - about real people, who use their real names, or identifiable tags, but fail to identify yourself. While there is a case to be made for Prop 1, it sure isn't being made on these postings. ...

Posted Thu, Oct 23, 6:57 p.m.

This piece was mislabeled. It is NOT a line-by-line debunking. It's a polemic. The author's status as an "economics journalist" doesn't appear to have any relevance either to the subject matter nor to have contributed to the post. I agree with Doug's comments, posted by Chuck.

Posted Thu, Sep 25, 5:22 a.m.

One little problem ...: David: Excellent post. I have only one little criticism. As a current House Democrat, I get a little annoyed whenever there's a reference to the "personal machine in the House that will do his [Chopp's] bidding." In the framework of how a bicameral legislature works, what ...

Posted Tue, Sep 9, 5:24 p.m.

Apparently, it's no longer about issues: Watching the development of this presidential campaign, there was reason to hope that we would have some form of real discussion of issues. Apparently, the need to win is stronger that any need for civil debate. So I'm now reconciled to another food fight. ...

Posted Mon, Aug 18, 7:50 a.m.

Good article; comments could get weird: Ratcityreprobate is right; Kunstler talks nonsense but sells books. Cliff Wirth is at a minimum associated with the "peak oil" consulting company whose services include "relocation" to that safe, sustainable place. His comment is more self-marketing than anything else. I'll second RCR's observation that ...

Posted Tue, Jul 29, 10:36 a.m.

RE: Same leopard, different spots: Digg: I never speak for my colleagues in the legislature; it's risky enough just speaking for myself. Six days ago, my left knee was replaced. The medical literature probably advises AGAINST making serious policy pronouncements this soon after surgery (much less blog-posting!). That said, it's ...

Posted Tue, Jul 29, 8:25 a.m.

Same leopard, different spots: Morrill and Ratcityreprobate are "comparing" the region 1975 - present day - 2040 from different perspectives. Morrill's description of similarity argues for the future continuation of past-observed compromise between competing policies. RCR chooses data-point or factual differences between then and now to argue against Morrill's conclusion. ...

Posted Thu, Jun 26, 9:18 a.m.

RE: New Capacity Needed: You know Olympia, huh? Thanks for this.

Posted Thu, Jun 26, 9:15 a.m.

Thanks to the former Tom Heller!: I read the question late last night and decided to answer it this morning, after some research. But I check in this morning and "the former Tom Heller" answered the question about East Link vs. I-405 statistics ... quicker and, frankly, undoubtedly BETTER than ...

Posted Wed, Jun 25, 7:43 p.m.

RE: Can't politicians be honest AND get re-elected?: Good questions, Richard. Thank you. Light rail isn't a bad idea. I am PRO light rail, in addition to being PRO transit. The part that really, really worries me is this: the light rail proposal on the table right now, focused as ...

Posted Wed, Jun 25, 4:45 p.m.

RE: Hey DEBO as long as you are here...: I'd be breaking the norms to go that far off-topic here, Cameron, but I'm always willing to engage in other policy conversations at deb@debeddy.net.

Posted Wed, Jun 25, 2:23 p.m.

Doug makes clear that BRT is only ONE part of the equasion: For all of the comments trashing or calling out the limitations of BRT: no, BRT is NOT the end-all, be-all. Doug makes clear that he's using observations, recommendations on buses as an EXAMPLE of how we might do ...

Posted Wed, Jun 25, 9:05 a.m.

RE: Well done series. Kudos to Doug.: Richard: I am much more interested in an open and honest public dialogue than in getting re-elected. Absolutely true. I weighed in here because I think we need to get beyond a roads-versus-transit argument that is now embarrassingly passe -- and ask how ...

Posted Wed, Jun 25, 7:29 a.m.

Well done series. Kudos to Doug.: For some years now, we've known that something was not right in transportation. If we were on the right track, proposals to the public - like Proposition 1 - would easily pass muster at the ballot box. That isn't happening. Doug is getting some ...

Posted Wed, Jun 11, 8:18 a.m.

Reconciling various policies ...: We have an economic policy in this state which promotes growth, for the purpose of providing revenue for government services AND well-paying jobs for citizens. Our land use policy, as so compellingly illustrated here, tries to accomplish multiple ends ... some of which are clearly in ...

Posted Mon, Mar 24, 6:01 p.m.

It's hard to get traction on these issues: This year, I wrote and the House and Senate passed HB 2927, which prohibits the scanning of the RFID's unique identifier in the new enhanced (high tech) drivers license - except in limited circumstances, like when crossing the border. Washington State's implementation ...

Posted Sun, Feb 10, 7:48 p.m.

Exert yourself and do a little research.: Kieth wonders about the beef, then strings together a bunch of questions. Then Crosscut editors give him a little "editors' pick" symbol. Hmmm ... what was Kieth's significant contribution? Answers to most of the questions he poses can be found by checking on ...

Posted Tue, Jan 22, 5:38 a.m.

Good ideas, but ...: Please stop with the "czar" stuff. It was never a good idea, but it made a good quote that just can't seem to die. You are quite correct in asserting that a directly-elected regional super-agency solves nothing ... but to stop there, Richard, and not acknowledge ...

Posted Thu, Jan 3, 9:42 a.m.

RE: house of cards: mhays: Thanks for the "between-party ramble." Although I appreciate Knute's caution about proffered kool-aid (oh, yeah!), solving our local growth problems by try to link land use (density) and transportation presents us with multiple variables, only one of which is the pro-growth drumbeat. In a later ...

Posted Tue, Jan 1, 3:23 p.m.

RE: Response to Cameron: And therein you have posed the heartburn question. As a freshman legislator, I did a lot of watching, learning last year. There are major differences in city/county councils and the state legislature - including the sheer numbers of votes (98 in the House, 49 in the ...

Posted Mon, Dec 31, 9:52 p.m.

Response to Cameron: Pension funding and reserve accounts are two different things. Without regard to the pension issue, it is NEVER a bad idea to keep some money in reserve. If revenue forecasts change (which they do, sometimes), a reserve fund permits bridge funding or an orderly 'ramp down', depending ...

Posted Sat, Dec 29, 7:13 a.m.

Further discussion on the same-old-same-old ...: Tarl, I appreciate your passion, but you're shooting at trees in a very snarled-up forest. And that, of course, is part of the problem ... PSRC is the agency by which all of us - cities, counties, states, agencies, modes, advocates, gadflies and etc. ...

Posted Sat, Dec 29, 6:37 a.m.

We have been thinking about it ...: You ask, dn, that centrists think about how local government will pay for basic services when inflation outstrips revenue growth. The increase in costs is only one aspect of the local-government budget discussion, as I suspect you may already know. There are also ...

Posted Fri, Dec 21, 10:31 p.m.

Why is this about Sound Transit?: Mr. Van Dyk, please refrain from helping the restructuring effort. Your post may be a good illustration of your own Plan B, but has little to do with structural reform that Rep. Jarrett and I have been talking about and working on for several ...

Posted Thu, Dec 20, 10:12 p.m.

Okay, let's give the new team a chance.: If ever there was an easy audit choice, if one were looking for a place to uncover trouble, it'd be the Port in 2007! Dinsmore's arrogance and the commission's complacency were on display for some years before the latest headlines about Dinsmore's ...

Posted Mon, Oct 1, 12:06 p.m.

RE: Have they got a deal for us!: We'll return to this discussion ... some day, some how. But thanks to you both for discussing it intelligently ... instead of the histrionics about how this would somehow result in the demise of Sound Transit, an allegation which gets bandied about ...

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

RE: We WILL be discussing all of this ...: I have NO information that anyone's used anything nefariously ... and you're right, RFID only offers a new way to collect the same informaton that we're already giving out, incrementally, to various agnecies, public and private. And yes, with appropriate encryption, ...

Posted Thu, Aug 16, 4:53 p.m.

RE: We WILL be discussing all of this ...: Agreed. In short order, we'll have to wrestle with some issues, because we need a tolling policy. And the federal grant serves to make that part of the discussion urgent. And those "enhanced" drivers' licenses are to be available early next ...

Posted Thu, Aug 16, 4:40 p.m.

RE: Privacy Does not Exist: We consensually give up lots of information about ourselves; cell phones track our whereabouts right now. Yes, this technology may help us get the "bad guys" ... and that's good, as a general proposition, unless, incrementally, the definition of "bad guys" grows quite broad . ...

Posted Thu, Aug 16, 3:36 p.m.

We WILL be discussing all of this ...: As we discussed briefly earlier, Knute, the privacy issues raised by government's use of RFID technology need dealt with ... and they will be. Tolling policy was back-burnered at the legislature last session, because there wasn't a sense of urgency. This grant ...

Posted Fri, Jul 27, 9:51 a.m.

Well, okay, as far as you went ...: Knute, in questions distributed before the event, legislators were asked to address the pros and cons of using RFID in public services. The failed bill discussed at length in this post dealt only with private, mostly retail, uses; government and medical uses ...

Posted Fri, Jul 20, 12:16 p.m.

Ditto, George.: Excellent articles, Knute (and good to see you yesterday) ... I'd stumbled on to the "Political Calculus" article a few months ago while searching for something else. I really enjoyed it, because it offers a slightly new way of looking at a situation that sometimes seems bogged down ...

Posted Sat, Jun 30, 7:56 a.m.

Clearly marked "ESSAY": Before we conclude "xcut is vapid", we probably need to differentiate between "news" and "essays". Mossback's work here is an "essay." Interesting socio-political observation, though ... especially the passive-aggressive characterization of the area's decision-making style.