Funny, It Doesn't Feel Like We're Adding Jobs

Don't give up yet! (www.despair.com)

With a river of employees exiting the doors at the bank-formerly-known-as-Washington Mutual's fancy headquarters, and rumors of a very large axe falling later this month at Microsoft, it feels like the Northwest is job-seeker hell. No so, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Puget Sound Business Journal reports that the employment tracking agency counted 19,000 new jobs in the Seattle metropolitan area during November, putting us fourth behind Houston, Dallas, and Washington D.C.

The report doesn't say what those new jobs are, but if you were a recent victim of the cuts, it seems there are sources of income out there, so there's some goodish news.

Topics: Business

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Do You See a Decision on The Viaduct in Your Crystal Ball?

I sense...a new study

Seattlest is asking readers its annual question: Will this be the year we finally decide what to do about the Alaskan Way Viaduct?

Topics: Transportation

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Questions Remain in Final School Closure Recommendations

APP students might be moving to Thurgood Marshall Elementary

Seattle Schools Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson made her final recommendations for school closures last night. Probably the most unsettling idea that remains on her list is the splitting up of elementary and middle students in the Accelerated Progress Program (APP). Half of those students currently placed at Lowell Elementary will move to Thurgood Marshall, and half of Washington Middle School's APP students will move to Hamilton. APP families have long opposed having these cohorts broken up, believing that a stronger program results from having a big pool of high-achieving kids. Goodloe-Johnson explains her move by saying that moving some of these programs into new schools will improve access to them. There are some workability questions she has not addressed however.

Among them: How will the district avoid the have and have-not scenario at Thurgood Marshall by having mostly white, middle class APP students in a program that is separate from the mostly minority, low-income students that are there now? This has been a problem that has plagued other schools-within-schools like Garfield and Washington. (Moving half of Washington's APP cohort to Hamilton doesn't seem to solve that problem for Washington, but it doesn't create quite the same kind of problem at Hamilton, which already has a significant middle class population.) Thurgood Marhall has struggled academically, with only 36 percent of last year's 4th graders passing the reading section of the WASL, compared to 76 percent of 4th graders in the district at large. It is in the first stage of sanctions under the federal No Child Left Behind law (although as my story today points out, those sanctions are not as threatening as they seem). And students there wear uniforms. Will the APP students placed there? That would be a cultural shift.

It will be interesting to see what happens to APP enrollment. The terrible economy might have more private school families thinking about their public school options. But the upset to the program might also make them uneasy. In any case, the School Board still has to vote on the recommendations January 29th.

Topics: Education

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It's Not Easy Being Gay

It's no news flash that homosexuals are persecuted the world over. But it is sadly ironic that on the same day that a local couple is charged with asylum fraud for instructing straight applicants to claim they were persecuted for being gay in their homeland to facilitate entry into our "gay-friendly" country, 11 Seattle gay bars get notes threatening ricin attacks.

Topics: Gay Rights

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Tim Eyman, Chronic Debtor

Tim Eyman has taken out a $50,000 loan to finance his newest anti-tax initiative. This is on top of the still outstanding $175,000 loan from the unsuccessful I-985. (Both come from a $250K line of credit from taking out a second mortgage on his house.)

It seems a lot of people are getting a chuckle out of the fact that the dude who advocates fiscal restraint and living within our means is borrowing so freely. But of course there's nothing wrong with handling your personal finances one way and advocating that the state handles its finances another. And, of course, there's nothing wrong with us wishing that financial ruin knocks Eyman out of the game altogether.

Alas, he likely doesn't have to worry too much about the debt. Woodinville money-man Mike Dunmire has acted as something of a sugar daddy, bankrolling Eyman's efforts. Sadly, the state of Washington doesn't have a sugar-daddy to cover its massive budget shortfalls. Neither do those now finding themselves out of a job and without health insurance. But at least their car tabs are cheap.

Topics: Politics

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What's in a Green New Deal?

The Christian Science Monitor has a story today about whether the recession will prevent the "Green revolution," i.e. the re-making of the world economy along more environmentally sustainable lines. Many worry that the need for economic stimulus and "shovel ready" projects, as well as the structure of state constitutions, may derail the "green" part of Obama's "Green New Deal", funneling money instead towards building roads. (Eliot Spitzer wrote an interesting piece on how we need to look to "transformative" investments.)

Of course, bridge collapses are not cool and there's a genuine need for investment in traditional infrastructure. But lest we be too narrow in our thinking, Seattle think tank Sightline has been running a series called "Economic Turnaround," focusing on the types of solutions —particularly local ones—that might be found in a green new deal. Yesterday's entry on capturing the hot exhaust emitted by natural gas-fired boilers is a good example. Also worth reading is the entry on Van Jones, a proponent of green collar jobs training—i.e. training unskilled workers in the retrofitting that will be required to meet energy efficiency goals. There's already a shortage of such labor. (See also the two entries on "Financing Retrofits for All".) It's not sexy, but environmental and economic solutions can't always be shiny trains and plug-in cars.

Topics: Environment

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Morning Links

Salt won't help with this: Flooding predicted

Schools chief finalizes list of recommended closures.

That's as good as money, sir—those are IOUs: Obama warns of trillion dollar deficits.

Iraqi patriotism on the rise. (h/t Matthew Yglesias)

Grand jury charges local couple with gay asylum fraud.

RNC hopefuls boast of online social networking prowess, gun collections. Ron Sims may not pack heat—just a guess—but I'd venture that he could tweet any of these punks under the table.

Topics: News

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Afternoon Edition: Impending Carb Nap

"These carbs are making me sleepy."
"Me too."

Kauffman praises Indonesian Ramen and the pacific qualities of the carb nap.

How to become a bartender

Onstot praises king cake, calls Catholic holidays austere. Father Mullen begs to differ on Catholic holidays.

Preview of the week's food events

Novoselic says ranked choice voting is no more complicated than byzantine gerrymandering.

Somewhere, Johnny Cash is smiling: Feds crack down on mistreatment in King County jails.

DVD extras should have their own awards.

Your dreams were your ticket out: Welcome back, PJ.

Free MP3s!

Health Care for musicians.

What's green and goes tweet? The Crocodile!

Topics: Afternoon Edition

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Laid Off? Worried About Being Laid Off? The Church of England Has Just the Prayer For You

The "Prayer on Being Made Redundant" and the "Prayer for Those Remaining in the Workplace" can be found here.

Topics: Religion

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Woodland Park Zoo Named "Seventh Worst Zoo for Elephants"

If you kids don't behave, I'll send you to Seattle!

In Defense of Animals, a California-based animal rights group, released its "Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants" list for 2008, and Woodland Park Zoo is tied with Washington DC's National Zoo for 7th. At blame, says IDA: the zoo's efforts to breed 30-year-old Chai and 33-year-old Shanthi, in defiance of herpes and age-related pregnancy complication risks. Chai, who miscarried last June, also recently lost her 6-year-old daughter, Hansa, to Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus, a virus that can cause massive and fatal hemorrhaging.

Zoo public relations manager Gigi Allianic, says the list "is part of a national campaign to remove elephants from zoos. We provide [our elephants] with excellent nutrition, exercise, veterinary care and enrichment. Woodland Park Zoo is dedicated to keeping elephants from becoming extinct. Conservation and education are the reasons we care for elephants in zoos."

As for the pregnancies, she says, "Elephants have a higher chance of a successful birth before age 25. In the wild, elephants can breed successfully into their 40s and 50s and we believe that is the case for our Asian elephant, Chai, age 30. There is no data available on higher risk of birth complications for older elephants." As for the herpes risks, she says that the experts the zoo works with say that virtually every elephant carries the virus, and it's unclear why some show symptoms and others don't.

Update: Suzanne Roy of IDA sent this statement (word doc), submitted jointly by IDA and PETA to the US Fish & Wildlife Service, opposing an extension of the zoo's permit to import semen to inseminate Chai. It explains in greater detail why the group views inseminating Chai as particularly risky. For example, young Asian elephants that are housed with African elements seem to be at greater risk for contracting the virus, and the zoo houses Watoto, an African elephant, along with its Asian elephants.

Topics: Animal Cruelty

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Yellow Pages Terrorism Hits New Low

Topics: Books, Business, Dangerous Jobs, News, and What's in your Dumpster?

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San Francisco Looks at Congestion Pricing; Maybe We Can Look at Parking Requirements

San Francisco is doing preliminary studies for what would be the US's first congestion pricing scheme. With about half of San Francisco's density, we're still struggling with ideas like congestion parking. But we certainly have a stake in San Francisco's experiment. Having a nearby city that has taken down its waterfront freeway and capped downtown parking without sparking an urban mobility apocalypse makes it easier for us to take small (easing parking requirements that drive up housing prices and result in ugly townhouses) and, I suppose, not-so-small (getting rid of the viaduct) measures toward a more enjoyable and less car-dependent city.

Topics: Transportation

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County Elections Director Race Just Got Even Sexier

Stefan Sharkansky at Sound Politics uncovers that current Elections Director, Sherril Huff, who is running for the new, elected post, claimed on a questionnaire never to have failed to pay taxes, despite having received federal tax lien in 2004 for $13,534.27 in unpaid taxes.

Topics: Campaign 2009 and County of King

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US, County Jail Deal

King County has a preliminary agreement with the Dept. of Justice to prevent deaths and improve the unhealthy conditions in its aging downtown jail. But there seems no end to the county's non-denial denials. Exec Ron Sims says he is "gratified that this agreement acknowledges the jail improvements already underway before the DOJ issued its report." Detention honcho Kathy Van Olst says the agreement comes "as we fulfill our mandate for providing safe, secure and humane detention." Health Dept. chief David Fleming says "We're pleased that the Department of Justice has agreed with us on the path forward."

Trust us, they say: despite the deadly history of the jail's previous years - and even a death in the midst of the DOJ probe that found civil and human rights violations - the county was going to fix the problems without being forced. Never mind that, after two jail inmates committed suicide (one by overdosing on hoarded jail medications, the other by hanging, using an easily accessed TV-set cord), Sims inexplicably pronounced jail medical care was "efficient and well-managed."

That's why the most important part of the proposed agreement with the feds is this: The DOJ will, as part of the settlement, file a federal lawsuit, seeking potential damages and penalties. And it will remain open until the county restores human rights to prisoners and no longer allows conditions that lead to death penalties for drug users and petty thieves.

It's no longer something the county can say it was already doing. Now it actually has to do it.

Topics: County of King

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Fuzzy Math

Huntington Apportionment Is Easy!*

Most people don't think about the intricacies of elections. Do you ever wonder why your U.S. congressional rep is reelected in a landslide year after year? (See: Jim McDermott.) Or why most people can't even name their state representative? This is often because the election is settled in advance, for the benefit one party or another, by redistricting. Then these "safe seat" races fall off the political radar.

The United States constitution requires that congressional seats be reapportioned every 10 years according to the census. This has profound political implications, because somebody needs to draw the new district boundaries. The way it happens usually turns the notion of democracy on its head. In effect, the result of redistricting is to cherry-pick voters for incumbent lawmakers, instead of forcing them to compete for votes. Thus the major parties maintain control of those safe seats.

No matter that your calendar currently reads 2009, the 2012 reapportionment of congress has already begun. I'll let the Republican Governors Association state how much reapportionment counts: "The 2010 state-level elections will determine congressional and state legislative apportionment for the next 10 years, and who is governor of each state will be of utmost importance. A 25 seat congressional swing is up for grabs as a result of state-wide elections."

In other words—let's rig the system in our favor! Though, to be fair, Democrats mostly feel the same way.

Continue reading "Fuzzy Math"

Topics: Contention & Conscious

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