Archives for October 2013

– Today in apt metaphors.

– A good health care rundown and Q&A.

– of course not all ACA situations will be the same, but this is pretty great.

– A Shutdown Is Just What Conservatives Want, And It Sucks

– The problem with science–and in particular science involving living ecosystems–is that you can’t just unplug everything and go home. If you’ve set up an experiment with specific schedules for data collection, or living organisms of any kind, anything from weeks to years of work could be interrupted or lost during a shutdown.

– I am talking, of course, about octopus wrestling is the greatest thing anyone has ever written on any subject in this, or any other, universe.

OK, so I think I’ve figured out how to (a) have the House Republicans do their job passing a clean continuing resolution, and (b) let the House Republicans claim victory. Senate Democrats should load up a continuing resolution with some things they’d like. They can have a public option, or lower Medicare age (preferably to birth). Basically, they should negotiate this funding the government thing with the same bad faith as the Republicans.

Then when the Republicans inevitably, eventually do their job and fund the government, they can say to their Tea Party constituency, “Oh hey, we totally stopped the public option. Health care could have been more affordable still, but no.”

Since now the conversation is between the GOP doing their jobs and passing a clean resolution, or the GOP plan to continue their hissy fit for a little longer and demanding delays to the Affordable Care Act, when the Republicans eventually do their job, it will look like they’ve caved. Under the Carl Ballard plan, when they do their job, they can have saved the republic from socialism or whatever.

My questions are bold, Sally Bagshaw’s are as submitted.

1) Now that I-502 has passed, what should the purchase of marijuana look like within city limits? Will medical marijuana collective garden storefronts in Seattle have to abide by the 1000-foot rule established by I-502?

I support the sale of both medical and recreational marijuana through a licensing system that monitors the production, processing and sale of marijuana within city limits. As a Councilmember I have recommended that we preserve our Industrial zoning areas by minimizing the size of marijuana facilities in IG1 areas, allowing for such facilities in IG-2 and out of residential areas. I look forward to working with the Washington State Liquor Control Board, the Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture once their policies are set at the end of the year.

Yes, the 1,000-foot rule was established to separate schools and parks from marijuana stores and that should be applied to both medical and recreational stores. Preferably they will be treated enforced the same by the state.

2) With Metro’s ability to fund itself at the whim of the legislature, what should the city’s role be in public transportation? How should the City Council both make sure we get our fair share, and that the system serves the entire region well?

I fully support a local option measure to be passed by the State Legislature to allow King County Council to fund Metro Transit with a combination of Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (MVET), a VMT tax, or a tax that assesses vehicles based upon their weight and emissions among others. We absolutely MUST provide Metro with a reliable funding source that would support transit and roads. Without the funding, Metro must cut 600,000 hours of local and regional transit. This is unacceptable when we should be adding at least this amount to the system.

Since 1999 when Eyman’s first initiative – I-695 was on the ballot, I have worked to preserve funding options for Metro. At the time I was the chief lawyer for Metro transit, and fought as Metro was gutted by an ill-conceived initiative.

I have worked with legislators these past years, and continue to do so to encourage a special session in November 2013 to pass a statewide package. My preference would be for King County to be given councilmanic authority; in lieu of this, Metro can go to the people of King County and demonstrate how much additional transit is needed and ask for their support.

I am working with our local legislators and with King County Executive Dow Constantine and King County Councilmembers to advocate both a statewide and regional package. I also serve on the Regional Transit Committee and advocate for regional support that assures productivity, geographic equity, and social fairness. Metro transit’s ridership continues to grow; to reduce our regional congestion, we must increase ridership and decrease the reliance on single-occupancy vehicles.

Absent and new MVET funding, I believe the voters of Seattle would support a car-tab fee to support transit infrastructure development if the fee was progressively collected and road improvement projects were included in a comprehensive package. The City has a strong history of support for our transportation levy that was last passed in 2006. We also learned a lesson two years ago when the Transportation Proposition 1 was soundly defeated because it failed to balance transit with a comprehensive roads/bridges/infrastructure approach.

3) What should the waterfront look like after the Viaduct comes down? Will there be a streetcar or other transit?

I have worked on the Waterfront project for nearly a decade as chair of the Allied Arts Waterfront for All project. I co-authored a report developed after we sponsored two design charettes and one collaborative.

The potential opportunities for economic development, sustainable environmental features and a waterfront that is designed with universal access in mind will make this the best waterfront in the world.

I am encouraged by early designs incorporating public beaches and parks, and the connection between Pike Place Market and the Aquarium. As a downtown resident, I also support efforts to connect the street car on 1st Avenue; if we decide to do this, I recommend we dedicate a separated lane to the streetcar so it moves faster than cars, and extend the line all the way from the Sculpture Park to Lander Street, perhaps redirecting traffic on 1st Avenue so it serves northbound traffic only. This would simplify our downtown grid with one-way traffic on all streets except Third Avenue, which would remain primarily accessible for buses. I would retrofit the George Benson Street Cars so they could operate on the same tracks as the streetcar.

4) What should happen in the next 4 years to make sure that police reform both satisfies the Feds, and works for Seattle citizens?

One primary goal of the Department of Justice-directed police reforms is to result in greater trust between officers and the communities they serve. Right now serious efforts are underway through the Monitor, the new Ombudsman, and the Office of Police Accountability to assure this happens.

I acknowledge that the police have a tough job, and individual officers are feeling beleaguered by the investigation and are understandably cautious. As we are implementing the Department of Justice Police Accountability Plan, our community must also come together to support the efforts of officers who are trying to do the right thing. The great majority of them are good officers believe they are truly trying to “protect and serve”

The creation of the Community Police Commission will provide guidance on reform issues and ensure community involvement. The community panel and court-appointed monitor will report back to the judge and to the Department of Justice. This provides for police reform that is community driven and results-focused. Los Angeles found it took nearly a decade to change the culture. I hope it takes us less time.

5) A recent study found Seattle is the worst of the 50 largest US metro areas in terms of pay equality for women. Why do you think that’s the case, and what is the city’s role in closing that gap?

The study brought to light many important issues facing women in Seattle and our community as a whole. Not only are men paid 9.5 percent more than women, but the Seattle city payroll has more men in higher-wage positions and is only about one-third women.

Some of this is historic: some of our employees who receive the highest income are Seattle City Light and police officers that work over time and in emergencies. Although we are beginning to see signs of change, particularly in the police department, the majority of employees in these positions traditionally have been men. Also, the structuring of some city departments results in divisions being dominated by women (the Department of Human Services for example).

I fully support our apprenticeship programs and vocational programs that encourage women to pursue journeyman positions in the construction industry. As a law school graduate myself, I encourage women to get their education and pursue whatever interests them. For the thirty+ year of my professional career, I have supported other women who are building lives and careers, and worked to assure women in my departments have been paid fairly

In some circumstances, veterans of our wars receive preferences, and they enter the pay scales at a higher rate. Since to date more returning veterans are men, this explains in part why some new hires are paid more than others.

I encourage women to get additional training and apply for positions where they can. In a world where more women are supporting families this has to change, women must have opportunities to pursue their education and additional training so they have advantages during promotions.

This is not a new issue. It is one that I have been working on for decades; I want to delve into this report and investigate how salaries compare in similar jobs and circumstances and make appropriate adjustments based on skills, abilities, and fairness. I look forward to supporting a Gender Justice Initiative and providing –as our president says – ladders of opportunity for women across the City.

The federal government has succumbed to a small group of White Collar Terrorists, but that won’t stop us! Please join us for an evening of prognostications over a pint at tonight’s meeting of the Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally.

We meet tonight and every Tuesday evening at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Our normal starting time is 8:00pm.

Can’t make it to Seattle tonight? Check out another DL meeting over the next week. The Tri-Cities chapter also meets tonight. The Lakewood chapter meets on Wednesday. And for Thursday, the Spokane chapter meets. On Friday,the Enumclaw chapter meets. And next Monday, the Yakima, South Bellevue and Olympia chapters meet.

With 210 chapters of Living Liberally, including eighteen in Washington state, four in Oregon, and three more in Idaho, chances are excellent there’s a chapter meeting near you.

– Happy shut down the government for no damn reason day.

– But at least we know that no matter what’s actually happening, everyone is equally to blame.

– This is our exchange in Washington, so if you need health care or just want to see if you might, here you go.

– Your Five-Step Guide to Obamacare Week

– Welcome to our newly wet Septembers, Western Washington.

– In all seriousness, this letter from the CoC is perhaps the best evidence yet that the old-guard GOP and their corporate benefactors have finally lost control of the useful idiots they’ve been manipulating so successfully for so long. Nobody who has a fact-based idea of what could happen in a shutdown or — worse — a sovereign debt default wants either. But one is well on its way, and another is terrifyingly possible because most Republicans in Congress are more worried about appeasing the actual lunatics who vote in GOP primaries than doing the right thing for the country.