– The Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation discovered radiological contamination in Magnuson Park in 2009 and fenced off the area but did not publicly announce the problem, officials acknowledged in an unusual public meeting Wednesday night. (Seattle Times link)

– Congress manages to get a lot done. If by a lot, you mean naming post offices.

– The Damsel in Distress part 2.

– just because he looked like a hero compared to the rest of the dipshits and reprobates in the Bush administration doesn’t actually make him one.

– I can’t be the only one who thinks the people of Spokane are having a sigh of relief about what’s going on in Toronto knowing that Jim West could have been worse.

– Despite the fact that I don’t like Sarah Palin’s politics, I think it’s pretty cool for Republic that she’s coming to town.

– I love this discussion of enclaves of Olympia.

– The Tim Eyman Memorial Bridge

Well shit.

Sen. Mike Carrell, who has been receiving stem cell transplants since last month for a blood condition, died Wednesday from complications related to his treatment. He was 69.

Senate Republican Leader Mark Schoesler said Carrell died at a Seattle hospital of lung complications from his ongoing treatment of stem cell transplants from his brother and chemotherapy. Schoesler said that Carrell died in his sleep with his wife, Charlotte, nearby.

Earlier this year, the Lakewood Republican was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, also known as pre-leukemia. The chronic disease affects blood-forming stem cells.

When we last checked in on professional genius and part time legislator Representative Ed Orcutt, he was complaining about all the carbon bikes were pumping into the air. Before that he was calling hungry families special interests in defense of keeping loopholes for private jets and out of state banks. What I’m saying is the people of his district clearly insist on electing only Mensa members. So his latest email to constituents should come as no surprise.

Since the incident, I have been on a conference call with the Governor (which included WSDOT and WSP officials); two briefing calls with National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) officials; and have met with NTSB officials on the deck of the bridge. From NTSB to WSDOT, it is clear that the reason for the collapse was due to a collision with the super structure of the bridge — not a lack of structural integrity of the bridge. The bridge would indeed be standing today had the truck’s load NOT rammed the super structure of the bridge. In fact, 11 of the 12 sections of the bridge are still standing.

I suppose the person who emailed him wanted to be able to rest assured that if a truck hits other bridges that those bridges won’t collapse. But instead we get 11/12 of the bridge is still up. Look on the bright side!

Now I know what you’re thinking. “What? Is? ?????? Fuck!” But if you’re anything like me, you’re also wondering if Representative Orcutt is drunk emailing constituents. Because if that’s the case, he maybe needs help instead of the constant mocking he gets from here. I don’t know. But if this is a call for help, maybe don’t do it at the expense of Washington citizens.

– I hope you had a good Memorial Day.

– But the bigger lesson to learn from the Skagit River bridge collapse is that government matters.

– So, basically, the Washington Post just made me less likely to agree with them because they didn’t seem to understand what the actual stakes were. Just because James Rosen isn’t a North Korean intelligence asset (or the dupe of one) doesn’t mean that he isn’t stupid enough to do just as much damage as if he were.

– Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, you’ve got some explaining to do.

– I would have assumed the IRS would be more politically sophisticated than to devise the crude screen they used during those cycles. But they did have an obligation to check.

– It’s always a bit tough to tell from pictures, but it looks like a good turnout in Olympia for the day of action against Monsanto.

I’ll email these to the Seattle mayoral candidates later today. I still haven’t figured out the calendar. I’ve put them here first in case y’all have any more suggestions or tweaks. I’ll update this post to reflect any changes if I make them before sending.

1) Now that I-502 has passed, what will 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?

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

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

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

5) When there are police incidents, the response from the top is important. With hindsight, in the wake of John T. Williams being killed by a Seattle police officer what, if anything, should the mayor’s office have done differently what, if anything, did it do right?

Jesus.

Washington State Patrol confirms an I-5 bridge over the Skagit River has collapsed and at least two cars with people inside are in the water.

The incident has closed all northbound and southbound lanes.

This piece in The PI’s Big Blog about Seattle being a healthy city is fine. But I’m confused about this from the setup (bold mine):

We may be hard to get to know and a drag to ride the bus with, but when it comes to being healthy, Seattleites rank right up there with Bostonians.

What? Are we more of a drag to ride the bus with than most other places? Is it just the bus or any public transit?* I feel like I don’t even know what the stereotype about Seattle bus passengers is. Is this a reference to another piece that I missed?

Compared to a lot of the places that I’ve lived (larger like London and smaller like Olympia both come to mind), we’re much more conversant, chatty, maybe even flirtatious with strangers. If anything, people are more likely to drag me into a chat that I don’t really want to participate in than I’d like. And when you ride the same route regularly, you get to know some of the other people. I guess if you hate those damn kids, they can be annoying, but no more than anywhere else. For me, other than the occasional person with a mental illness, the other passengers are generally pretty pleasant.

Your mileage may vary, of course. There are horror stories that I’ve heard from women about sexual harassment and worse on the bus. Still, I don’t think it’s more of a drag than anywhere else.

[Read more…]

– The first time I read the Silicon Sound I thought it sounded pretty good. But maybe it’s catching up to somewhere else.

– So, related to the Salon piece, I think articles like it serve as important reminders of how Wikipedia’s form, so to speak, can’t always be separated from its content. (h/t)

– Jesus, London

– Just remember: the state can’t touch our guns (or require tornado shelters) because of freedom…but adults’ private decisions about whom to love must suffer the full brunt of state power.

– I am going to opt for not being in the same car as your dog, sorry.

– I digitally scan bowling ball surfaces and I vote

This is pretty neat:

Mills, a Central District resident, said Books on Bikes is a “full-service library model. I’m not aware of any other library that does this. We will be able to provide people with help on digital downloads, as well as offer reading suggestions, have popular new titles available for check-out, provide Library card sign-ups, assist with research and much more,” he said. The trailer to accommodate all the librarians’ needs was developed and constructed by Colin Stevens, who runs Haulin’ Colin in Seattle.

And just to head off the almost inevitable how-come-there-aren’t-books-on-cars trolling, there are. And that’s pretty cool too, but not a new program.

Later in the week, I’m going to send out candidate questions to everyone running for Seattle mayor. I have my own ideas about what to ask, but I thought I’d throw it out to the comment section before I send anything off.

The general rule is it would have to be broad enough that it could be asked to all of the candidates so no in your first term questions for McGinn or legislature questions for Murray, for example. But there are more general questions about things that happened in McGinn’s first term or in the legislature when Murray was there. I talked to Lee and Darryl at Drinking Liberally and there was some discussion of Metro and I-502, but we weren’t sure if that’s a city question. I’m definitely going to ask a police reform question.

Here are the questions I emailed out to City Council candidates 2 years ago.

Aside from Seattle mayor, I think I’m going to ask the top 2 people in each City Council seat after the primary. Are there any other seats you’d like to see questions asked?

– The most surprising thing about this poll is that 32% of Seattle voters think McGinn did a good job handling the police department. Who?

– Erica C. Barnett has a not good for McGinn take on the poll.

– Vermont is the 4th state with a Death with Dignity law.

– I don’t think it’d be unreasonable to seize Apple’s assets until it came to a reasonable agreement on its tax bill.

– It feels like we’re overpaying our college sportsball coaches.

– Virginia is for haters.

– 5 Ugly Lessons Hiding in Every Superhero Movie

If you want to help out Oklahoma, here are some things:

– The Red Cross

– People on Twitter are saying if you text “REDCROSS” to 90999 it’s a $10 donation.

– If you’re looking for someone in the region, you can see who has registered as safe and well.

– Much of this came from the White House page.

If you have any other resources, feel free to leave them in the comments.

– Christians aren’t being persecuted, as you can see from this map.

– The fare system for Rapid Ride E doesn’t seem very rapid.

– I should be clear about something — the invocation of Walter White or Mordecai Wyatt Johnson or Barack Obama isn’t to say that most (or even many) black people share their particular ancestry. The point is that what you check on your census form in America is a product of social context.

– Who do you really serve? The country, or the liars in your BlackBerries?

– Goldy decides not to challenge Richard Conlin.

– Hannah Hart came to Seattle

N in Seattle already mentioned it, but, this is a surprise.

From his botched announcement last November to this abrupt end, Burgess’s campaign never caught the tailwind many expected. He was considered a leading challenger last year—a sort of mayor in waiting, after Mayor McGinn’s two years of floundering—but McGinn seems to have found sea legs at City Hall, and a pack of heavyweight contenders crowded into the race in January and February. In particular, state senator Ed Murray and to a lesser extent Council Member Bruce Harrell have emerged in the race as safe bets for institutional backers that represent downtown business, and, unlike Burgess, can’t be portrayed as conservative outliers (Burgess infamously sponsored a controversial aggressive panhandling bill that failed in 2010).

Burgess has also been unraveling this week.

After the news that the 36th District—Burgess’s home district—would split its endorsement between him and Murray, yesterday came the news from PubliCola that Burgess fired his spokesman. And then the 46th District Democrats, who represent the relatively wealthy, white district of northeast Seattle that seems like Burgess’s base, didn’t endorse him at all. Also the city council’s biggest advocate to bring back the Sonics, Burgess took a blow when the NBA nixed the deal Wednesday.

At the beginning, I’d thought he’d make it through the primary, so that’s obviously yet another Carl Ballard prediction wrong. It also means I won’t have a chance to do a metacommentary on this old Seattle Times op-ed he wrote before he was elected to City Council. And his dropping out this late means we won’t have to deal with some Republicans.

I love these activists almost as much as I hate Tacoma’s response.

One morning, they were just there: Crosswalks and a short bike lane in a Tacoma business district to help people get across a dangerous street.

Business owners loved it.

But the city recently spent $1,000 to grind away the illegal crosswalk paint, leaving one business owner to ask King 5, “How much is paint versus having this grinding machine…?”

I mean if the community liked it, you should consider leaving it. I assume there are legal concerns about treating something that isn’t a crosswalk according to the law like it’s a crosswalk. Still, it seems like they could just change the fake crosswalk into a real crosswalk with some legislation.