Performance Audit No. 1

Posted Feb. 28, 2007 at 1:49 pm by Rick Anderson

State Auditor Brian Sonntag has produced the first long-awaited performance audit, as authorized by voters through Initiative 900, and the findings, if followed, could save taxpayers as much as $21 million over the next couple decades, Sonntag says. The audit, of the state motor pool, itself cost $114,000, and that sounds darn right cost-effective. Among the conclusions:

The Motor Pool has 113 underused vehicles that should be sold or reassigned.The pool's rental rates do not cover its operating expenses. And the pool's method of purchasing vehicles results in excess interest costs.

Of 1,470 vehicles, 1,300 are permanently assigned to various state agencies. On average, the state purchases 280 vehicles each year, and the pool has grown from 1,283 vehicles in 2001 to 1,470 in 2006. Cutting back as recommended will save $1.5 million annually, says the auditor. Hear hear.

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Della Kicks off Campaign

Posted Feb. 28, 2007 at 12:23 pm by Aimee Curl

Seattle City Council member David Della, who this morning kicked off his reelection campaign for a second term, said he was worried the chilly drizzle might keep people away.

Not so. Supporters braved the rain and the 7 a.m. start time to fill Seattle Center's Fisher Pavilion. One organizer estimated the crowd totaled close to 400 and likely raised between $15,000 and $20,000 for Della's coffers.

Della told those present, which included King County Executive Ron Sims and City Council members Richard McIver and Sally Clark, that he "loves this city" and "loves his job."

He said he promises to make Seattle a "world class city" with opportunities for all. "I worry that today's Seattle no longer provides affordability for working class families and individuals," he said.

It may have been Della's party, but the background noise was council member Peter Steinbrueck's decision not to seek reelection after nearly a decade in office. Steinbrueck said yesterday that he plans to leave in part to dedicate his time to fighting a viaduct rebuild and promoting the surface street option.

When it came time at the Della event to get out the pocketbooks, emcee and Gallatin Group principal John Arthur Wilson, had this advice for the crowd: "If you're thinking about contributing $50, double it. If you're thinking about running for Peter Steinbrueck's seat, triple it!"

The challengers are already starting to line up. Venus Velázquez, one of six finalists for the seat now held by council member Sally Clark, fired off a press release this morning announcing her candidacy for Steinbrueck's seat. 

Topics: Politics

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Road Page

Posted Feb. 28, 2007 at 12:10 pm by Huan Hsu

What the most literate city in America reads on the bus

Reader: Dan Ayers
Age: 31
Occupation: Manager of product support team
Residence: Queen Anne
Bus: Route 13 to downtown, 8:15 a.m.

Book: Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story, by Christopher Moore
State of completion: About halfway through.

Plot summary by Amazon.com: Becoming a vampire has given the twentysomething heroine "a crampless case of rattlesnake PMS"—a grumpy mood in which she realizes that she can dress to the nines as a "Donner Party Barbie" and still end up disillusioned and unhappy, just another slacker doing her own laundry and watching sucky TV 'til the sun rises.

Plot summary by Dan: "It's about a girl who becomes a vampire and has to deal with that. It's a comedy."

The hook: "I've never read anything by [Moore], but I heard he was good, so I bought this."

Critique: "Well, I'm still reading it. It's good. I'm enjoying the different characters."

Afterward: "I read mysteries and hard-boiled detective novels, mostly. I highly recommend Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye."

Topics: Books & Authors

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Gold Star for Baird, Murray takes Silver

Posted Feb. 27, 2007 at 6:22 pm by Aimee Curl

The Oscars weren’t the only coveted awards getting handed out this week. Forget about the gold guy, think gold mouse— and not the cheese-eating type. The Congressional Management Foundation, a non-profit based in Washington D.C., has for the third time given a very public nod to senators and representatives who have Web sites that are both useful and usable.

Sen. Patty Murray earned praise and a silver ranking for her “Frequently Asked Questions” section, which provides such important and obvious things as the senator’s snail mail and email addresses, and office phone number. Yes. The bar is low. According to the judges, only 26 percent of Congressional offices offer guidance on the best ways to contact your elected officials.

Rep. Brian Baird, who represents the southwest corner of the state stretching from Vancouver to Olympia, was given gold for providing content on his site that serves the needs of his audience “in spades.” He got high marks in the interactivity category for providing the basics like email updates and schedules for town hall meetings.

But Washington’s other Senator Maria Cantwell and Seattle Representatives Jay Inslee and Jim McDermott needn’t fret. They weren’t the only ones falling short of the golden mouse. Only 18 of the 615 House and Senate Web sites earned gold; 27 got silver.

Overall, the foundation found the majority of member Web sites “disappointing.”

“Congress has just not kept up with the demands of an increasingly Internet savvy public,” lamented Congressional Management Foundation Executive Director Beverly Bell.

A challenge to ye who represent the land of the tech-savvy. Get it together and blow ‘um away next year.

Topics: Politics

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Design Truly Within Reach

Posted Feb. 27, 2007 at 4:33 pm by Huan Hsu

Seattle industrial design student Adam Weisgerber recently beat out more than 1,000 competitors to win the fourth annual Design Within Reach Champagne Chair Contest.

Competitors were allowed to use the materials from no more than two champagne bottles (wire, label, cork, and foil—everything but the glass), with glue being the only permitted adhesive, to create a chair no larger than 4-inches by 4-inches by 4-inches.

Weisgerber, a Western Washington University junior currently in Louisville, KY, interning as an industrial designer for General Electric, heard about the contest in December and remembered it on New Year's Eve when friends popped celebratory champagne bottles. "I told all my friends to hold on to all the bottle parts," he recalls. "They thought I was crazy, and I'm like, there's this really cool contest and the more pieces the better."

He decided to make the chair out of cork ("I felt like cork was such a beautiful nautral material," he says. "I liked the purity of the cork") but only a few of his friends drink, so he ended up with only three corks. Two were reserved as raw material for the chair, leaving him with a single cork on which to practice.

Continue reading "Design Truly Within Reach"

Topics: Design

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Arms/Snakes Drag Frederiksen Away

Posted Feb. 27, 2007 at 7:53 am by Mark Fefer

Great news for screaming European teenagers, heartbreaking news for us: These Arms Are Snakes, having just played the Vera opening, will come blasting out of South by Southwest with a tour of the Midwest and then some huge shows in Europe and the East Coast, playing shrines like Irving Plaza. Unfortunately, our gifted and hunky art director, Arms guitarist Ryan Frederiksen, is going to pack up his SW design kit when he leaves for Austin. Nine weeks is too long for even us to pine away (and the way the band is going, who knows when they'll see Seattle again).

We'll be working his ass off until then, though. Thanks Ryan (in advance!), for all the great work!

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Candidate Eyeing School Board Race

Posted Feb. 26, 2007 at 10:47 am by Nina Shapiro

In a year when seemingly everybody has bashed the Seattle School Board as dysfunctional, potential candidates are starting to think about trying to replace Sally Soriano, Darlene Flynn, Brita Butler-Wall and Irene Stewart, all up for election this year. One person who's likely to throw his hat in the ring: Peter Maier, president of Schools First, a citizens' group that supports school levies. "I'm leaning in that direction," says Maier. As a lawyer, Maier brings the kind of conventional credentials bound to please the types who think the board has drifted too far into loony land, and his would-be opponent, Soriano, is among the furthest out. Other people said to be contemplating a run include Sherry Carr, a Boeing manager and Seattle Council PTSA president, who says: "I don't have any public statement to announce at this point." Meanwhile, current board members are weighing whether or not to run for re-election. "I'm giving myself some time to decide," says former board president Butler-Wall.

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Unnoticed Milestone: 3,500

Posted Feb. 23, 2007 at 6:23 pm by Rick Anderson

The American war tolls in Iraq and Afghanistan have now crept over 3,500 - remember when 1,000 was a startling milestone? The count now includes ten more troops with Washington state connections killed in 2007 and just added to our War Dead pages. Altogether, 173 members of the military with state connections have died in Afghanistan, the Philippines, Pakistan, and Iraq since October 2001. Ages 18 to 53, they left behind 105 children, 77 widows, and two widowers. Another reminder, as Bertrand Russell put it, that war doesn't determine who is right, only who is left.

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Former Straight Talker Stumps in Seattle

Posted Feb. 23, 2007 at 3:32 pm by Aimee Curl

Listen here to the senator's speech.

John McCain today became the first 2008 contender to visit the Emerald City this pre-election year— and got a warm welcome in the traditionally lefty hotbed that is Seattle.

To ensure there’d be no funny business, participants at the luncheon event were asked in advance to be on their best behavior. “Please be respectful of the senator’s time on stage,” emcee and KCTS radio host Enrique Cerna said before bringing McCain on. “Hold your questions and comments until the end.”

Members of the City Club and guests of the World Affairs Council obliged and greeted the Republican Senator from Arizona with a standing ovation. They dined on salmon and sorbet while he told them why this doesn’t have to be the “Asian century.”

“Some say the American century is a thing of the past, but the U.S. and Asia ascending doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive and it shouldn’t become so,” he said.

McCain gave the locals some love by waxing poetic about his time as a military Senate liaison traveling with “legendary” former Washington Senator Henry (Scoop) Jackson.

Continue reading "Former Straight Talker Stumps in Seattle"

Topics: Campaign 2008

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The Condo Apocalypse?

Posted Feb. 22, 2007 at 6:49 pm by Brian Miller

One's first thought about the possible conversion of the historic Smith Tower to condos is likely to be, "Well, sure, I'd love to live there—if I had a million bucks." Or two. The upper floors of the skinny 1914 landmark would feature panoramic, 360-degree views ("four exposures" in real-estate parlance). You'd have turn-key elevator rights to your own private landing at each 2,000-square-foot urban aerie. Meaning those precious upper floors would be priced around $1.4 million and up. Unquestionably, it would become one of downtown's premier residential addresses. Unquestionably, it would also exert further gentrification pressure on the region south of Yesler to the stadium district (where more condo development is planned). In other worlds: good-bye to those bodegas selling 40-ouncers and fortified wine, and hello to Whole Foods.

Continue reading "The Condo Apocalypse?"

Topics: News

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Bus Stop Blues

Posted Feb. 22, 2007 at 3:02 pm by Aimee Curl

The trials and tribulations of public transport for those who had to slog to work on Monday have not gone unnoticed by your elected officials.

At Wednesday’s meeting of King County’s Regional Transit Committee, Metro Transit General Manager Kevin Desmond said he’d look into whether enough people rode buses on Presidents Day to make it worth sticking to the regular schedule next time.

Council Member Bob Ferguson said he got complaints from folks who had long waits for buses— buses that showed up overflowing with commuters when they finally arrived.

“It’s not like Christmas or New Years. A lot of people work that day,” he said. “I was sympathetic to the folks who had to take the bus and the service wasn’t there.”

Though the government types may have had Monday off, sympathy for the work-a-day riders was contagious.

Said Metro’s Desmond: “Obviously we don’t want to put out normal weekday service and have it grossly underutilized. But if the demand was there, we need to reevaluate.”

Topics: Transportation

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Greg vs. Gregoire

Posted Feb. 22, 2007 at 10:16 am by Rick Anderson

Get out the popcorn, the show has begun: Mayor Greg Nickels says he's "outraged" at the state for its "flimsy" work studying his tunnel-replacement plan for the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Yesterday the governor returned fire, when her spokesperson, Holly Armstrong, called Nickels' spokesperson, Marianne Bichsel, a liar. Deep in its story, the P-I reports: 

...Armstrong...said the [tunnel] documents the city disclosed are not a full-blown study with any definitive conclusions. She called Bichsel's claim the state had hidden the information "ridiculous and a lie."

It's a refreshing breath of foul air - and while we don't expect it to degenerate to the level of "Greg, you tunneling whore!" or "Chris, you ignorant slut!" they've at least got everyone's delighted attention.  

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Ex On Valdez

Posted Feb. 21, 2007 at 2:10 pm by Mike Seely

After a mere five months on The Stranger's neighborhood (and, recently, police) beat, sources confirm that Angela "Crash" Valdez is fleeing Capitol Hill for D.C.'s Washington City Paper, former home of recent Weekly additions John Metcalfe and Huan Hsu. Crash's predecessor at The Stranger, Tommy "'Lil T" Francis, bailed this past August after roughly eight months on the same beat. Francis is now a staff writer at New Times Broward-Palm Beach, a sister paper of the Weekly.

Topics: Newspapers

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Hells Angels Ride into Court

Posted Feb. 21, 2007 at 12:40 pm by Rick Anderson

Jury selection in the trial of state Hells Angels members is set to begin next week in U.S. District Court here, and people are nervous: to protect their identity, jurors will remain anonymous, apparently referred to by numbers rather than names during empanelling. Witnesses are also being protected, identified only by initials in court documents; prosecutors also asked that some related witness documents be partially sealed. A new indictment includes added claims of witness tampering and extends the list of alleged biker crimes. They include drug, robbery, kidnapping, conspiracy and murder charges against the five members of the Nomads, as the state Hells Angels chapter calls itself.

Last week, Judge Robert Lasnick ruled on a revealing series of motions filed by chapter president Smilin' Rick Fabel of Spokane, hinting at some of the topics likely to arise during the trial. Details were sketchy, but the motion refers to an earlier attempted payoff to a judge and intimidation of a Spokane prosecutor. Several murder cases are cited including an apparent plan to kill rival biker George Wegers of Bellingham, international president of the Bandidos Motorcycle Club, who last year was convicted of conspiracy and racketeering here, getting 20 months. Lasnick turned down many of Fabel's exclusionary requests but did agree to a memorable one: prosecutors and police witnesses will not be allowed to refer to the outlaw bikers as a "gang."

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Braving Oly

Posted Feb. 20, 2007 at 3:36 pm by Aimee Curl

Forget about the Cascadia Subduction Zone. There’s a more volatile north-south fault— and it slices direct from city hall to the state capital. The growing Seattle/Oly rift was evident during today’s city council briefing where members discussed their statehouse field trip last week, the specter of the “V” word hanging like a thick Seattle fog over the show-and-tell session.

Council members Jean Godden, Sally Clark, David Della and Jan Drago said they met with 18 state senators and representatives during their two-day tour to brief lawmakers on the city’s legislative priorities. The city's wish list numbers a couple dozen strong and runs the gamut from housing and education to the environment and public safety.

One of the bills council members are lobbying against would transfer ownership of the Washington Talking Book & Braille Library from the city to the state and likely result in moving the library from Seattle to Olympia.

The council grumbled about the proposal, sponsored by Rep. Phyllis Kenney (D-Seattle), with members saying they didn’t understand why changing ownership was necessary. They city’s spent $8 million on the library and “wants compensation” if the state takes it,” Della said.

“So this would be a state eminent domain action against the city if the state takes it?” Councilman Richard McIver asked, a not-so-veiled jab at the continuing brouhaha over the Viaduct that got him knowing nods and chuckles from his counterparts.

The city’s government relations reps vowed to keep a close eye on the measure, HB 2058, and get back to the council on its chances for passing. The proposal has been referred to the Capital Budget Committee, but hasn't been scheduled for a hearing.

Kip Tokuda from the city’s intergovernmental relations office tried to assure the council that the viaduct battle hasn’t poisoned all of the city’s efforts in Olympia.

“We’re actually doing quite well on most of our issues,” he said. “Our tack is to keep below the line of fire and keep on task.”

More chuckles all around.

Topics: Politics

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