[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IurlK7bpn1w[/youtube]
Before the Seattle Times endorsed Republican Steve Litzow for his alleged ability “to reach across the political aisle in an increasingly partisan atmosphere in Olympia,” they might have wanted to take a closer look at how well Litzow did interacting with the person sitting right next to him on the putatively nonpartisan Mercer Island City Council. And in strident opposition to improving safety at a dangerous crosswalk, no less.
As the ad above says, it’s hard to reach across party lines when you’re yelling.
I actually drive by the intersection of Merrimount Dr. and Island Crest Way several times a week, as does Litzow, I presume, as our children attend the same middle school, and Island Crest is the main thoroughfare to and from. And from what I’ve seen, I sure has hell wouldn’t want to be a pedestrian in that crosswalk, so it’s hard to understand why Litzow would so angrily oppose the proposed improvement.
And yet he not only voted against the proposal, after it passed without his support he cut a deal with other politicians to pull the project’s funding.
19 days later, another child was hit by a car in the intersection.
So if that’s your idea of “fiscal conservatism,” I guess you should vote for Litzow. Otherwise, I strongly urge 41st LD voters to reelect State Sen. Randy Gordon.
Couldn’t agree more, Goldy. Last year I sent two comments online to the M.I. transportation manager one on the deplorable crosswalk situation and the other on a pothole that was forming near the off ramp. A couple teenagers were hit fairly shortly after that. Tangential to the topic, I know, but do you remember the campaign signs (I don’t remember for whom) that simply said “No Road Diet for Island Crest Way” I hope that guy sleeps soundly at night.
The pothole, however, was fixed within a week. No joke.
At local, state, and federal levels, we have the most whacked-out group of loons running for public office as Republicans that I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. These freaks should never serve as public servants. They can’t even conduct themselves in a civil fashion, let alone be expected to engage in reasoned, dispassionate discourse. November 2 could be a very sad day in this nation’s history.
Why is it, that you people presume the Republicans want to do anything?
I have had endless conversations about simple things like this with the fascists. They would rather not do anything that actually benefits people. Anything, improving traffic flow, safety for pedestrians, building schools or even upgrading the ones that already exist.
These people want to privatize prisons, city/State/National parks. Public education. Fire Departments. Law enforcement. Tax collection.
These people are anarchists, and outright solipsists. They have so much faith in their faith, that they will not believe their own eyes and ears on anything they don’t already believe.
Everything they need to know, they learned in Kindergarten.
So what if a few kids a year get smeared by cars at a particular crosswalk. They should be more careful, and the parents should have done a better job at educating or supervising them. So what if an occasional schizophrenic goes apeshit on his mom or his neighbors. Its not the governments job to supervise him or regulate the behavior.
A response to an exchange I had over at Publicola:
Link
So much for serving the public interest. These people are insane.
If those children weren’t pampered by leftist, nanny state socialists, they would fulfill their full human potential by creating a safer crosswalk themselves, and then charging the other, less useful students a reasonable user fee to avail themselves of the increased safety brought about by their betters.
I speak truth daily.
Often endlessly.
# 3: The wingnut’s vision of small government, fire departments privatized:
***************************
911 Operator: Good afternoon (or good evening). My name is (pause) David. How may I provide you with excellent service today?
Caller: My house is on fire! Send the fire department!
911 Operator: Certainly sir. And your address?
Caller: 1630 Sunset View Lane.
911 Operator: And what city is that in, sir?
Caller: Don’t you know what city this is? I’m in Seattle.
911 Operator: No need to get upset, sir. I understand you said Seattle. And what state is that in?
Caller: Are you kidding me? It’s in Washington!!!!!
911 Operator: As I said before, sir, no need to get upset. I’ve checked your account, and it looks like you signed up for our Special Response Service. Under that service we can only respond Monday through Friday, between 9:00 and 4:00 p.m. We can call you 24 hours ahead of time to let you know when we expect to arrive, within a four-hour window. I will set up a tentative appointment for next Tuesday morning – will you be home then?
Caller: What????? Aren’t you the fire department? You are supposed to come NOW!!!!
911 Operator: As I said, sir, that’s not the service level for which you signed up. Would you like to pay an expedite fee to get an earlier response?
Caller: Just send the &#@*!#& fire truck!!!!!!!
911 Operator: Now sir, if you insist on using that kind of language, I’ll just have to hang up on you.
Caller: Look, what’s it going to take to get a fire truck out here now?
911 Operator: Well, if you are willing to pay for our Super Expedited Service, we can have a truck at your residence sometime in the next two hours.
Caller: Is that the best you can do????
911 Operator: Unfortunately, that’s the only opening I have in our schedule. In order to provide you with excellent service at the most reasonable rates possible, we only have one fire truck in Seattle, and it’s currently out at an appointment.
Caller: Okay, Okay, how much is this going to cost?
911 Operator: We just need a major credit card so we can charge your account, and then we can process the expedite service request. It should only take an hour or so. And the cost is $10,500.
Caller: What???? $10,500 to get the fire department to come out within two hours?
911 Operator: Well, if you’ve got a better option, feel free to call them. But we’ve bought up all the private operators in Seattle, so you will have to contact someone from Tacoma and try to talk them into coming out.
Caller: Okay, Okay, here’s my credit card info……..
911 Operator: Okay, we will send you an e-mail verification within the hour. You will need to respond to it to accept the appointment for sometime in the next two hours after that.
Caller: How can I do that? My computer is in my house, and my house is burning????!!!!!
911 Operator: Well, we could have it sent to a mobile device. If you don’t have one, we can sell you one for only $500.00, and have it delivered to you within three business days….
Caller: Never mind. Cancel the whole thing. My house just collapsed in a pile of flame and ashes.
911 Operator: I’m sorry to hear that, sir. Of course, if you had read the e-mail which you haven’t received yet, you would have seen that there are no refunds, so you are still being charged the $10,500 expedite fee. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go to lunch now…..
Caller: Lunch? It’s 11:00 p.m.!!!! Where are you???
911 Operator: Sir, I’m not allowed to give that out, or to say what part of India I am looking at now…. (oops)….(phone hangs up).
@5
You forgot the Hindi accent. You know that call went to Bangalore.
Oops, you did have that in there, my bad. Allergies are making it kinda hard to read my laptops screen at times.
@5
Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
@ 7
Oh. Allergies you say.
maybe you shouldn’t be bogarting those “allergies.
@9
I wouldn’t be bogarting the allergies, I’d be bogarting my allergy meds. I tried that once, nothing happened.
but why is randy against 1098? is that horsetrading with the wealthy waterfront contributors?
Litzow is trying to look more moderate than he is. He was a supporter of that crazy property rights initiative in 2006 (see MI council Sept. 2006 minutes) and that initiative was designed to either destoy local governments entirely by making them pay billions they didn’t have to real estate developers or basically end zoning and land use planning so as not to pay property owners.
rhp @ 5
Kudos. Sadly, however, what Teabaggers (and lost) want.
I finally got my explanation as to why Litzow lost Mercer Island, including his own precinct, to Gordon in the primary.
Goldy – it would help if you actually did your homework instead of just spouting the dem propaganda. The bill Litzow voted against was a road diet on Island Crest Way which had no impact on the intersection in which the kid was hit – that is at 42nd and Island Crest Way – which is about 300 yards north of Merrimount and Island Crest Way. If you did your homework, you would realize that what the council and Litzow agreed to was to build cross walks at that insection but delay the funding for the road diet, which again has no impact on where the child was hit.
# 5, 13: I did another one similar to that over a year ago, but didn’t save it. I think the former one was better (I spent more time on it).
Sadly, the events in Tennessee recently show just how stupid it is to rely upon private or “subscription” fire departments. The suburb in which I grew up had a private fire department for many years, and I saw a home up the street from me burn down as the fire department watched because the owner hadn’t paid the subscription fee. The owner, who also was the town’s fire marshall, fought like mad to keep the town from establishing it’s own fire department, including filing a suit accusing it of “taking” his business without just compensation which held up the creation of the public fire department for years.