Defeat Proposition 1, as happened last week, and you leave a lot of taxing authority on the table. Not surprisingly, local governments are pouncing. Their greediness perhaps got out of hand this week...
Former Seattle Mayor Charles Royer pens an interesting think-piece in Sunday's Seattle Times, urging us to pay more attention to the squeeze on middle class housing in high-cost Seattle. The essay is very diplomatic, as befits a former mayor, but it scores some valuable direct hits on local politics.
Gingerly, Royer calls for a "conversation" about this topic, using a word that normally suggests that the proposer of some strong medicine doesn't really want to be candid. What he's saying is that the city has done a fair job in building low-income housing, going from 8,000 subsidized units to 21,000 today. But what about the middle class?
The annual tango over the Seattle City Budget has followed the usual dance-steps manual, with the City Council making a few minor tweaks in Mayor Greg Nickels' budget, and declaring a sweeping victory...