Archives for February 2007

On the biography page of his legislative website, state Rep. Glenn Anderson (R-Fall City) proudly notes his “active” participation in Encompass (formally Children’s Services of Snoqualmie Valley), an organization whose stated mission is to “value” and “nurture” children and families.

Hmm. Perhaps I’m missing something, but I’m wondering how one nurtures children by protecting the use of products that strangle them?

A few days ago the state House passed by a 95 to 1 margin HB 1256, “Preventing serious injury and strangulation from window blind cords or other significant safety hazards in child care settings,” and Rep. Anderson cast the lone vote in opposition.

Since 1991, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has received 174 reports of strangulation involving cords on window blinds, including the December 2005 strangulation death of Jaclyn Frank, an eighteen-month old baby girl from Washington State, who got caught in the cords of a blind near her crib at a residential day care home. According to the House Bill Analysis, HB 1256 would update the safety standards at child care facilities:

The prohibition of the use of window blinds or other window coverings with pull cords or inner cords capable of forming a loop and posing a risk of strangulation to young children is added to the minimum safety requirements for child care licensing.

The bill would be known as the Jaclyn Frank Act.

I’ve emailed Rep. Anderson asking him to explain his vote, and I’ll post an update as soon as I hear back.

I’m rested, I’m tanned and I’m back. Okay, I’m kinda jet-lagged, and I’m my usual pasty-white self. But I am back, and I’m talking politics as unusual again tonight on “The David Goldstein Show” from 7PM to 10PM on Newsradio 710-KIRO. I like to go with the flow, so things could change, but here’s what I have lined up for tonight’s show:

7PM: What’s up (or down) with the Viaduct? Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels joins me at the top of the hour to talk about the latest developments in the ongoing debate over how to replace the Alaska Way Viaduct. Is WSDOT trying to bury tunnel? We’ll ask the mayor.

8PM: TBA

9PM: Did you ever get a really big break? And what did you do with it? The man who gave me my break at 710-KIRO is moving on, and I can’t thank him enough. I want to hear from you on how a big break might have changed your life, and give you the opportunity to thank your benefactor. (Or maybe, I’ll just rant about a bunch of stuff.)

Tune in tonight (or listen to the live stream) and give me a call: 1-877-710-KIRO (5476).

While sitting on the tarmac in Atlanta, I learned that yesterday was Program Director Tom Clendening’s last day at 710-KIRO.

I suppose you don’t bring in a new program director to leave the programming unchanged, so I have no idea what the future might hold for me at the station, but whatever happens I’ll remain eternally grateful to Tom for giving me the extraordinary opportunity I’ve had so far.

In truth, my brief radio career has been rather charmed. One generally doesn’t break into this business at a 50,000 watt legacy station in a major market. Most aspiring hosts work their way up from small stations in smaller markets, or through various on- and off-air jobs at larger stations. But understanding that a local news/talk audience is best served by hosts who are passionate and informed about local issues, Tom occasionally took a chance trying out raw, local talent like me.

If I have a long career in radio I’ll always have Tom to thank for giving me my start, and… well… if I don’t, then I’ll still have Tom to thank for the amazing run I’ve had. All one can ask for in life is the opportunity to succeed or fail on one’s own, and that’s what Tom gave me.

So thank you, Tom. I hope you land on your feet.

“This is not a pipe” -Belgian Surrealist René Magritte

“This report was not a report” -American Surrealist Holly Armstrong

I read this comment by “shoephone” at Washblog:

I was disappointed that Will produced a photo that presumes much and explains nothing. I’ll wait for the facts on what’s actually IN the study. Or file folder. Or pretty white and yellow binder.

I want to explain the binder in the photo, and exactly what is in it. First, this is from Mike Lindblom’s excellent story in the Seattle Times:

A previously unreleased report shows that when the state’s Alaskan Way Viaduct project team examined a four-lane-tunnel concept in January, the group thought the tunnel could handle the expected traffic.

Since then, the state Department of Transportation (DOT) reversed course, concluding Feb. 13 that the option nicknamed “Tunnel Lite” — in which cars would use the shoulders as exit-only lanes at peak times — would be unsafe. Gov. Christine Gregoire promptly declared she would only support a $2.8 billion six-lane elevated highway.

Staffers in the pro-tunnel administration of Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels say they’re outraged the DOT didn’t mention the 50-page report during weeks of intense public debate. A state DOT administrator called the report relatively insignificant and said the issues it covers have been aired in public.

The fifty page report mentioned in the article is, in fact, an executive summary of the eight hundred and fifty page report prepared by Parsons Brinckerhoff, well-known engineering firm.

WashDOT calls that 850 page report “relatively insignificant,” or a “glorified file memo.” That report, which approved of the Hybrid Tunnel, was ignored four weeks later when Governor Gregoire announced the Hybrid Tunnel wouldn’t work.

That’s the report in the binder. WashDOT flip flopped, and now they’re trying to hide it.

The Smith Tower is hands-down the most appealing structure ever built in downtown Seattle, or in Washington state. It stands in sharp contrast to the Columbia Center just a few blocks away. One terra cotta, one black glass. Smith Tower isn’t doing too well on the commercial market, however.

Smith Tower has struggled a bit to attract and retain business tenants as more modern office towers emerged in recent decades.

“The building itself was never ideally suited to a modern, commercial office-type tenant,” said Kevin Daniels, president of Nitze-Stagen, a private commercial-property investment firm.

The floor space in the upper stories is too small — just 2,000 square feet — and the spaces on the lower levels are either too cut up or too big.

Smith Tower’s occupancy rate was up to 90 percent last year, from 75 percent a decade earlier. But that could reverse itself with the reported departure of two of its largest tenants.

Perhaps my favorite reason to see Smith go residential:

Matthew Gardner, principal in the Seattle-based land-use economics firm Gardner Johnson, said Smith Tower’s conversion “could be incredible.”

“The building itself is iconic, so it does make sense to go down this road.”

Gardner also said the switch would benefit Pioneer Square by bringing more residents into the neighborhood.

Nice.

Some NASCAR guys were in Olympia today, and one unleashed this… gem. Analyst Darrell Waltrip on why the track can’t be built without public money:

“You know what, it’s math. My two and your two makes five. … With your help and with our help, everybody works together, this is a win-win. And it is a win-win in a much faster pace and a win-win with everyone involved.”

For $145 million, state taxpayers can help build a track that’ll be used twice a year.

UPDATE:
Well, if Waltrip thinks that two plus two makes five, perhaps we should spend that $145 million on math education? [–Goldy]

According to Holly Armstrong, spokeswoman for the governor, this:

is NOT a report. Then what is it? An eight hundred and fifty page piece of brainstorming?

According to David Dye (WS-DOT’s urban corridor guy), this:

is a “glorified file memo.” Sure, right.

I wonder if Seattle’s legislators, many of whom signed a letter saying they do not support WS-DOT’s ‘rebuild’ option, are going hold somebody accountable over this ignored study.

Oops… I mean “glorified file memo.”

In my earlier post, I referred to a study done by WS-DOT that showed the Hybrid tunnel to be feasible. That study, done January 8th through 12th, was incorrectly described as being just fifty (50) pages long. This is not correct. The study WS-DOT ignored is in fact…

Eight hundred and fifty pages long.

If you had a binder of that size sitting on your desk that told you the Hybrid Tunnel was workable and safe, how could you forget it existed?

You may remember Initiative 831, written by Goldy, that declared Tim Eyman a horse’s ass. In the end, the initiative had enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, but Goldy’s efforts were thwarted by a meddling Attorney General by the name of Christine Gregoire. She felt that this brilliant initiative was not suitable initiative material (“frivolous,” I think she called it).

Huh? Is there is some kind of truth in anatomical attribution principle that is only known by law students at Gonzaga University? Too bad…by many accounts this was the single best initiative offered since the Rosellini administration.

So you can imagine my surprise and delight today when I learned that…

[o]n a 90-3 vote, with five lawmakers excused, a measure designating the Pacific chorus frog as the state amphibian. “I have not heard from the newt or salamander lobbies,” said bill sponsor, Rep. Brendan Williams, D-Olympia, before passage of the bill, which now heads to the Senate.

Hmm… Pacific chorus frog is the common name for Pseudacris regilla, meaning something like splendidly dishonest locust, which, if you think about it, sounds an awful lot like Tim Eyman. On the other hand, calling Eyman a lying locust is an insult to locusts and other agents of plagues, rusts and pestilences everywhere. I mean, locusts don’t steal money from donors and then lie their supraanal plate off about it, do they?

This House measure got me to thinking that, perhaps, Goldy’s initiative would have succeeded if, instead of declaring Eyman to be the body part of an animal, he had declared Tim Eyman an official state organism—the whole organism. That’s not frivolous, is it? I’m thinking maybe the official state Myxogastria (i.e. slime mould). Or how ’bout the official state Spirogyra (pond scum)? I can’t decide.

In this era of scientific enlightenment, all life forms have equal value. So think of it as an initiative to celebrate biodiversity. I think even the new Attorney General could get behind it.

CORRECTION:
I-831 had about 60,000 signatures by the time the AG obtained an injunction — pretty impressive for a joke initiative with no money or organization. It still would have been a long shot, but had we managed to qualify it for the ballot, I’m pretty sure the measure would have passed. [–Goldy]

Late, Late Show host Craig Ferguson, explained to viewers why he decided not to mock the clearly troubled Britney Spears after seeing photos of her shaved head:

“For me, comedy should have a certain amount of joy in it,” Ferguson said. “It should be about attacking the powerful – the politicians, the Trumps, the blowhards – going after them. We shouldn’t be attacking the vulnerable.”

Exactly.

Hmm. Perhaps this explains why there are so few truly funny conservatives?

Governor Gregoire seems intent on painting herself into a rhetorical corner with her adamant refusal to seriously consider any option for replacing the Alaska Way Viaduct that doesn’t include a massive, double-decker freeway running through Seattle’s waterfront. Which is really a shame, because the surface-plus-transit alternative is shaping up to be a political compromise in which nearly everybody could claim victory… even the Governor.

Make no mistake, the surface option is gaining ground. The Governor may have successfully torpedoed the political viability of Mayor Nickel’s tunnel, but that has only resulted in rebuild opponents coalescing around a single alternative. A sure sign of this shifting momentum was the raft of public statements made by legislators earlier this week warning that a surface solution could cost Seattle taxpayers a pretty penny.

A rebuild, we are told, would be entirely financed by the state, but the surface option might draw only a fraction of the state funds already committed to the project. This was intended to scare Seattle voters into choosing the devil we know, but it was unintentionally revealing. First, it shows that even Olympia’s rebuild proponents now take seriously the surface option’s political viability. Second, it put forth a lower range — a billion dollars — from which the city can now negotiate the state contribution. Somewhere between $1 billion and $2.8 billion dollars… that’s how much we can expect from the state for a surface-plus-transit solution.

And I’m guessing the final figure would be closer to the middle-to-high end of the range. Rebuild, tunnel or surface, the state still has to tear down the existing structure, modify ramps to and from the Battery St. tunnel, and rebuild both the seawall and the elevated structure from the 1st Ave. ramps to the West Seattle Freeway. We constantly focus on the 2-mile stretch across Seattle’s downtown waterfront, but that’s only part of the project, and thus part of the costs. There is a political argument to be made that state taxpayers should not be expected to pay the bill for all of the local surface and transit improvements such an option would entail, but I’d be surprised if the state could get away with less than a $2 billion contribution.

But by ignoring the growing momentum towards a surface solution the Governor risks blowing political capital on a fight that at best, might earn her a Pyrrhic victory, for as much as she now pooh-poohs the public vote she once called for, voters in this state take their plebiscites seriously. A close vote might be easily dismissed as inconclusive, but should voters overwhelmingly reject a rebuild, the Governor’s tough stance puts her in the position of either appearing to cave to Seattle bullies — exactly the perception she’s apparently trying to avoid — or alienating her political base.

Not exactly where she wants to be heading into a contested election.

So how does the Governor turn this into a win-win situation? The Governor has repeatedly drawn a line in the sand, demanding that any Viaduct replacement must maintain capacity. The key to accepting the surface option as both a transportation and political compromise rests on how we define the word “capacity.”

In recent months, WSDOT has insisted on defining capacity in terms of moving vehicles, but that’s not always been the focus of transportation planners. Indeed, the Environmental Impact Statement sets forth a broader vision of the project’s purpose:

Purpose of the Proposed Action

The purpose of the proposed action is to provide a transportation facility and seawall with improved earthquake resistance that maintains or improves mobility and accessibility for people and goods along the existing Alaskan Way Viaduct Corridor.

Hard-nosed rebuild supporters have mocked King County Executive Ron Sims as some kind of enviro-whacko hippie for stating that we should be focused on moving people, not cars — but that’s exactly the stated purpose put forth in the EIS. And that’s exactly the language the Governor needs to join former tunnel supporters in support of a surface compromise.

It’s not a matter of redefining the word capacity — “mobility” was always the definition from the start, and accepting an alternative that improves mobility, while perhaps decreasing vehicle capacity, is perfectly consistent with Gov. Gregoire’s line in the sand. That is, as long as she doesn’t paint herself into a rhetorical corner by insisting otherwise.

From today’s Seattle Times:

A previously unreleased report shows that when the state’s Alaskan Way Viaduct project team examined a four-lane-tunnel concept in January, the group thought the tunnel could handle the expected traffic.

Since then, the state Department of Transportation (DOT) reversed course, concluding Feb. 13 that the option nicknamed “Tunnel Lite” — in which cars would use the shoulders as exit-only lanes at peak times — would be unsafe. Gov. Christine Gregoire promptly declared she would only support a $2.8 billion six-lane elevated highway.

The State of Washington studied the Hybrid Tunnel January 8th through the 12th, 2007. They looked at several elements of the plan: cost, capacity, the “flex” lane, the tunnel’s shoulders, freight mobility, and more. The Hybrid Tunnel, the City of Seattle’s official choice for replacing the Viaduct, was to be included on the March 13th ballot. The 50 page study produced showed the Hybrid Tunnel to be not only cheaper than the original tunnel proposal but technically feasible in every respect.

But on January 12th, Governor Gregoire stopped the study.

On February 13th, WSDOT flip flopped, and declared the Hybrid Tunnel unsafe.

While I have not favored building a tunnel on the waterfront for some time, this news strikes me as being incredibly unfair and dishonest. WSDOT, including Doug MacDonald and David Dye, appear to have disregarded the facts with which they don’t agree in favor of facts that fit their goals: building an elevated freeway on the waterfront.

These revelations show that the tunnel never got a fair shake, and it gives me every reason to believe that the ‘surface plus transit’ plan will never get the fair shake either.

If a workable $3.4 Billion Hybrid Tunnel is rejected in favor of a Frank Chopp Fantasy Viaduct, the price of which could easily exceed $3.4 Billion, can Gregoire, Chopp, and other legislators honestly say with a straight face that a “rebuild” is any more financially viable than a hybrid tunnel? Gov. Gregoire demanded that the public have a vote on what is built; she said such a decision should be made by Seattle voters. From that moment on, the State of Washington has done everything it can to rig this March 13th vote.

Seattle voters have been told that no matter which way we vote, the “rebuild” is the winner. Legislators have told Seattle voters that they’ll lose funding if they go with the “surface plus transit” option. Speaker Frank Chopp has declared that he’ll ignore the March 13th vote if Seattle chooses a tunnel. It is political theater that is being staged at Seattle’s expense.

In 2004, Governor Gregoire promised, if elected, that she would “blow past the bureaucracy.” She should start now.