Emmett O’Connell has a piece about the possibility of merging Olympia, Lacey, and Tumwater. When I lived in North Thurston County, it always seemed like something that ought to happen, but I only lived there for a few years, so not enough to really understand the ins and outs of the local political culture.

Emmett gives some examples of mergers not working and links to another piece about different politics. Fair enough, but the city cultures never felt that distinct to me. I’ve mentioned it before, but here in Seattle when I ride my bike across city lines to, Shoreline or Lake Forest Park for example, it feels like it’s a different city at the border. I’ve had that feeling in New England crossing from a small exurban Mass town to a small exurban New Hampshire town. It never felt that way to me on a bike or a bus going from Olympia to Lacey or Tumwater (I didn’t drive when I lived down there, but being in a car can mute that sort of thing, sometimes).

They seem to be doing fine as three separate cities. But I’ve always though they might do better as one.

Joel Connelly has a piece on coal interests giving to Republicans who then spend it on pro-coal candidates in Whatcom County.

– State Republicans, on May 1, received a $10,000 donation from Pacific International Terminals. Pacific doubled down with a $20,000 contribution on Sept. 17.

– The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, on June 25, made two donations totaling $10,000 to state Republicans.

– The state Republican Party, on May 1, gave $5,000 to the Whatcom County Republican Party. It followed with a second $5,000 donation on May 24, and a third $5,000 donation on July 19.

– The state party has given $500 apiece to four candidates — Kathy Kershner, Michelle Luke, Ben Elenbass and Bill Knutzen — who have been endorsed by the Whatcom County Republican Party. The county party strongly supports the proposed coal export terminal.

–The Whatcom County Republican Party, between July 29 and Aug. 1, made donations of $900 apiece to Kershner, Luke, Elenbass and Knutzen.

I’m not here to say that they can’t do that. If the law allows it, corporations are going to make political donations that maximize their profit. But it is scuzzy. And perhaps it shouldn’t be allowed. It should definitely be called out.

– 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.

– 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.

Congrats to Kathy Best for the job of something between dog shooter’s lackey and important protector of the First Amendment (Seattle Times link).

Kathy Best, a longtime Seattle journalist and a Seattle Times editor for six years, has been named the newspaper’s editor, Seattle Times Publisher Frank Blethen announced Monday.

Best, who most recently has been one of The Times’ two managing editors, begins the new job immediately, Blethen said. She replaces David Boardman, who resigned after 30 years at The Times in August to become dean of Temple University’s School of Media and Communication in Philadelphia.

Before joining The Seattle Times, Best was the assistant managing editor for Sunday and national news at The Baltimore Sun. She had also been assistant managing editor/metro at the St. Louis Post–Dispatch and at the Seattle Post–Intelligencer.

So a few things. 1) It’s possibly inevitable that the news reads like a press release, but it’s still somewhat disappointing. I mean a fair number of Seattle Times pieces about things The Seattle Times likes read like press releases for those things. So, sure. I don’t think The Seattle Times would do a hard hitting thing on their new editor even if there was dirt to be had. (If you have dirt, I’m willing to listen, but I don’t generally care about people’s personal life.)

2) Later in the piece we get this, “Best told the paper’s news staff that with the uncertain future facing the industry, ‘all of us in this room need to stay laser-focused on our mission: producing useful, meaningful, kick-ass journalism that readers can’t get anywhere else.'” I’m not sure that has been their focus but yay for swearing at The Seattle Times, both in the news section and from their new editor. Here’s hoping for more. I assume there will be more “fucks” here on a given week than in the paper in her entire time at the helm, but I’m glad for the swearing.

3) I don’t know enough about her to know if this is a good hire or not, but I’m glad they hired a woman. I don’t know if this will change stories that get covered or how they cover them, but I hope it broadens the lens a bit.

– Happy probably a US Government shutdown because the GOP are horrible day!

– How was your storm experience? Did you see any lightning?

– A lot of ST alerts because of the storm.

– Georgetown and South Park are the Seattle neighborhoods with the worst air.

– (a) Don’t cross the grocery store picket lines. (b) I think we might be able to declare My Northwest’s trolls worse than HA’s. Step it up, you guys.

– Riding a bike (and unmentioned in the piece, but also walking) where there’s Viaduct/Tunnel construction is kind of scary.

– That’s not an education. That’s carefully nurtured stupidity.

A long time ago, I had a lovely conversation with a lady who explained to me that she would get on the bus at the Free Ride Area, look at what the transfer is for the day and find a matching one. Then she would show that when she got off the bus, and keep showing it the rest of the day. After that, I’ve seen it a few times on the bus, but I never knew what to do about it.

I figured that when they eliminated the Free Ride Area, that would be the end of that. But I’ve seen it again. Now (at least the two times I’ve noticed it since the Free Ride Area went away) people (it might be the same person, it was the same route and I didn’t pay that much attention to them, despite the fact that I’m making a post about it now) pretend to be looking through their bag, and are like “just a minute, just a minute” while they find the right transfer. Since they’re right by the driver, and haven’t done it yet, this would be a better time to say something. Still, I’ve been quiet again. I feel terrible, but I don’t know what saying something would do. And I don’t want to be that guy if it’s someone who maybe can’t afford to take the bus otherwise, and who might be armed.

So should I say something to the driver? Should I call the person out on it, either before they show the transfer, or after? Should I just keep doing nothing? Does anyone else notice those, and what do you do?

Whip your fucking caucus. I mean I’m a Democrat, so the disorder you’ve sewn with your incompetence is usually fun to watch. But now that we’re a few days away from y’all not passing a clean continuing resolution, it’s time to do your job. It’s time to recognize that you are in the majority, so you have an obligation to do the basic stuff to keep the lights on.

I mean when your party was in the minority, you could rant on and on about continuing resolutions and debt ceiling rises, and whatever else it is you rant on and on about. And you could back your temper tantrum up with a vote against them because you knew that the Democrats were going to act like responsible adults and pass these things. Well, now you’ve gerrymandered your way into the majority, despite more people voting for Democrats for the House, so fucking act like you’re in the majority.

Have a vote on the clean resolution and fucking threaten your members who vote against it. Take away their plumb committee assignments. Make them do fundraising in North Dakota in January. Just — and I know this will sound silly — remind them that it’s their fucking job, for God’s sake. And don’t just get enough to squeak by with the support of the Democrats: fucking act responsibly and pass the damn thing with mostly Republican support. It’s your job when you’re in the majority. If you don’t like it, quit.

XXOO

Carl Ballard

It’s still a way from any strike actually happening, but (h/t):

With 98 percent of the votes, grocery store workers in the Puget Sound area authorized a strike on Thursday.

The union members said they’re upset in part over cuts to health care in the latest offer from their employers. The workers added that a strike isn’t imminent; they hope to return to the bargaining table and reach an agreement that addresses their concerns.

I hope that a strike isn’t necessary, but I’ll support them if they do strike. I’m not exactly sure what that means. I guess writing about it and not shopping at striking stores.

– Oh no, there might be housing literally in someone’s back yard.

– On a daily basis, working people in the Beacon Hill community come to that Bank of America to deposit their paychecks and probably to have confusing and infuriating conversations about their accounts and mortgages as well—in a word to get ripped off.

– Ted Cruz doesn’t understand Green Eggs and Ham. That’s over his head. But we should totally take him seriously.

– The Latest Anti-Obamacare Article To Go Viral Is Totally Wrong

– Oh, there’s a sensible treaty that the administration is supporting. Glad the right is freaking the fuck out.

– A mass shooting comic strip template

This is a pretty amazing story about one of the major coal exporters, from Sightline.

Cloud Peak Energy, one of the major coal producers in the Powder River Basin, is doing its very best to sound upbeat about coal exports. In an investor conference call this past July, the company declared that, even though falling international coal prices had eaten into their earnings, their exports were “still profitable overall.”

But a close look at Cloud Peak’s second quarter financial statements suggests a far stranger story: the company’s export division actually made most of its profits from derivatives trading rather than coal. Stripping away the financial-speak, the implications are striking: Cloud Peak’s export arm made at least 10 times more money betting against coal than it did selling coal.

Obviously some of that is reasonable and companies hedge their bets with these sort of financial instruments all the time. And this is one company. But given that they made $2.6 Million betting against coal and $200,000 on coal, it’s one more reason to not build more coal infrastructure as we look toward the future.

My questions are bold, Richard Conlin’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?

Because I-502 and the medical marijuana initiative have some conflicting provisions, we have been working to get legislation that will reconcile them. Senator Kohl-Welles is taking the lead on that, and we believe that the legislature will act early next year. In the meantime, it looks like Seattle will have a couple of dozen storefront licenses under I-502, and those are likely to be the major sources for marijuana. Collective garden storefronts are likely going to have to follow the 1000-foot rule, as the state seems to be emphasizing that in response to the federal government’s request for strict enforcement, but we won’t know until the legislature takes action on the reconciliation legislation.

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?

Thanks to great leadership from Dow Constantine and our hard work building relationships with King County and the suburban cities, we were successful in getting a very good agreement for a fair share of Metro service out of the last negotiations. Our critical goal was to replace the old 40-40-20 rule, which dedicated most new dollars to suburban service, with a more flexible rule based primarily on productivity of routes. I don’t think we need to fear not getting our fair share from Metro at this point, if we can get Metro funding legislation from the legislature. Our major challenge is getting a transportation package from the legislature, and we need to keep the urban-suburban coalition together and find a way to forge a compromise package with the more rational Republicans. A challenge, but it can be done, and our partnership with King County is strong.

The City should continue to push for more investments in public transportation, and the core strategy (in addition to partnership with Metro) should be to prepare possible routes for inclusion in the Sound Transit 3 package, which I am trying to get on the ballot in 2016. Our priorities should be serving Ballard and West Seattle from downtown more effectively and connecting the UDistrict with Ballard. On a regional level, we should be able to complete the light rail spine from Tacoma to Everett, and start filling in light rail routes on the East Side and in South County.

In the short term, our most immediate priority for Seattle is to get a light rail station in the Lynnwood Link DEIS at 130th Street, a decision that the Sound Transit Board will make in October or November. On the City land use side, we should focus on developing a transit oriented development plan for the East Link station at Rainier and I-90.

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

The waterfront should be open, accessible, and lively. We must keep the salience of pedestrians at the heart of our planning, and emphasize that this means all pedestrians, which requires using universal design principles to guide decisions. I am disturbed by the width of the proposed roadway, and support looking for ways to reduce it, such as by eliminating one of the two planned access lanes for ferry traffic. Managing a traffic lane to provide additional access at peak times is a better alternative than constructing a second ferry access lane that will be a barrier for pedestrians and not needed at most times.

We must also ensure that the waterfront is activated and safe at all levels. I would like to see a variety of active recreation areas as well as diverse businesses and a design that employs CPTED principles to make this area attractive and accessible for all.

We will have transit along the waterfront, but at this point a bus system appears to be more cost effective than a streetcar. However, no final decision has been made, and will likely not be made for a year or two. A lot depends on whether a streetcar line is developed on First Avenue.

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

Seattle has an effective police force that does a good job in protecting public safety. The vast majority of officers are competent and professional. However, there are members of the force who have engaged in practices that have infringed upon individual rights, exercised inappropriate uses of force, and caused severe consequences for members of the public. This is a failure of leadership. While I respect the managers of SPD as individuals, they have not been able to create a system that properly trains, supervises, and assists individuals in the force to carry out their responsibilities without creating these kinds of problems. I see this as a systems failure, that may have been compounded by individuals, but that can only solved by a combination of leadership, effective training, clear lines of supervision, and swift and effective corrective action when necessary.

We must have a strong, effective, and experienced Police Chief who will be able to take charge of the Department and work effectively with all members of the Department as well as City leadership and members of the public. This leader should have extensive management practice in a Department of comparable size and complexity and be ready to implement tools to bring together the strong record of effective policing that is typical of SPD performance with remedies that will create a system of accountability and oversight that will be fair, transparent, and effective in preventing further problems in the future.

We are moving towards resolving the issues in the DOJ report through adopting new procedures for training and operations that will guide police officers in the future. With implementation of these procedures by the right kind of leadership and organizational structure, we can restore the confidence of the public in the force, effectively protect public safety, and satisfy the DOJ.

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?

We have been analyzing the data in detail, and now have very good information about the City’s own work force. It turns out that in the City there is very little pay inequality within job classifications; the primary source of difference lies in the predominance of men in jobs that are higher paying (in fact there are slightly more job titles in which women are paid more than men than ones where men are paid more than women). We can solve this in two ways:

First, by reevaluating the pay scales to ensure that we are in fact appropriately valuing work that is predominantly done by women. For example, we should ask why truck drivers are paid a higher wage than child care workers. This pattern consistently undervalues work traditionally done by women, and reevaluating job descriptions will reduce much of the disparity.

Second, we should redouble our efforts to ensure that women are more fairly represented in positions that are high paying, such as management and technology jobs. We can do this partly by consciously seeking out women for these positions, but we must also support ways to increase the supply of women in these job categories by working with the educational system to attract women to scientific and technical careers, and by looking at ways to structure jobs to provide the kind of flexibility that women are more likely to seek than men (such as flexible schedules and other arrangements that make it easier to have and raise children).

We suspect that the pattern in the private sector is similar to that in the City, and as a City we should work with the private sector to make similar changes, and consider regulatory approaches where those are appropriate.

– No matter what, the GOP will complain about welfare.

– Half of Seattle residents don’t drive alone to work. So, you know, let’s cut Metro or whatever.

– A Rising Tide Lifts Mostly Yachts

– If you invite NRA spokespeople on your air, you are responsible for the bullshit they spew.

– Keep in mind that in both cases, the prisoners were railroaded for political reasons which these governments now find politically difficult to reverse. Very exceptional indeed.

– “Oh hey, there are a lot of open seats in the back of the bus. Why don’t I just stop here in the first third and stand here blocking the aisle.” ~ The guy in front of me, apparently.

– Private hospitals offer better service to people who can afford it therefore something something Obama!