The state legislature may have cut Seattle entirely out of federal transportation stimulus dollars, but at least we’re getting our fair share of the much smaller stimulus program aimed at criminal justice services: $2.7 million of the $14.3 million being distributed to Washington state municipalities. Of course, that’s only because the money is being divied up nationally according to a federal formula based on population and crime statistics, rather than the “Fuck Seattle” politics that tends to dominate Olympia these days.
(Hat tip, TNT)
Wingnuts!
Intellectual curiosity is something you want to have, not something you want to be.
Just thought I’d mention that.
(Yeah, it’s off topic. We’ve been without an open thread lately.)
so what you are saying is: Crime pays.
Whaaaaa Poor Wittle Seattle Wiberwals only got coal in their Obama stocking. Whaaaaaaaaa.
3)It’s your side that did that, thinking that cities above 200,000-300,000 people can get the short end, and play the they run the state card. If it were not for trying to be in the middle, I would like to see some Seattle Representatives do the same to Conservative areas of the state. I used to think the whole state was in it together, but when people like you decide to bring the Liberal-bashing mantra that was going on nationwide into this state, it kind of shook my belief. You hate Liberal Seattle, good, if you fly anywhere, drive to Portland and catch a flight, because Seattle’s name is jointly on the airport here.
As for the Criminal Justice Stimulus, good Seattle is not being cheated out of that. As a victim of crime, I think the SPD and other law enforcement and criminal justice entities in the Greater Seattle area, which includes the suburbs, last time I checked, needs all the help it can get. The SPD does a good job(the response time when I had to call 911 after being mugged was great, plus 1 minute is expected when it happens near the precinct, at shift change. Engine 2 and the medics from Fire Station 2 were quick to respond(2 blocks away).(THis happened in early 2005 by the way).
A few weeks ago, I saw a good example of SPD professionalism in action. There was a High Speed Chase that originated in the Central District, it ended near Ranier Ave and Letitia, turned out to be the best spot to close in on them and block it, it was where Ranier begins to curve as you head south. A lot of people would have been hurt. But I am sure the trolls would have been cheering if any innocent Seattlelites had been hurt, or worse, because in their eyes, we’re all guilty of just being Seattlelites, and automatically Liberal. The SPD did not decide that using side streets to get into position to block these guys would be a bad idea because it might cause an accident, they moved to do their job, Protect and Serve. They have lost a lot more people in the line of duty than say, the Cheney PD, but it is much more dangerous police work in Seattle. In this case, they used the side-street to avoid traffic, even though people were pulling over for them.
The SPD is a big force, than say the Tukwilla PD, but we need it now more than ever. WHen the Tukwilla PD faces a shooting near the Southcenter Mall, they are calling for backup, and several Police agencies arrive(I’ve seen it), and I would not be surprised if the SPD answers the call too if needed.
By the way, I used to be against the Plea Bargain, but changed it when I was in that position. After the late Norm Maeling chose to plea-bargain with Ridgeway, people were outraged. When I was faced with having to testify, I was asked by the prosecutor if they could pursue a plea-bargain. I said yes. If it spares the truama of testifying, go ahead. My position now, is that Plea-Bargains should only be sought if the victim is there to give permission, but with murder cases, there is no victim to ask.
To clarify, I did not mean Murder is a victimless crime. What I meant was by it’s definition, there is no living victim of a murder to ask if they can plea bargain with the suspect. ALthough I guess a victim’s family member counts, although some murder victims, having no family to speak up for them, or worse, some judging them for life decisions.
The continued lamentation about the legislature bashing Seattle is beginning to sound a little weird, also indicates that some people need to do a little research into how mega-regions operate.
I will say again: Geographic boundaries of cities in the Puget Sound metropolitan region are arbitrary. The ebb and flow of jobs, housing, services, transportation through the region may touch one city or another sort of serendipitously.
Microsoft, the biggest thing to hit this area since Boeing, is headquartered in Redmond. Not Seattle, not Bellevue. Not Kirkland. We could do a lot of caterwauling about how Redmond has been unjustly and flagrantly ignored in distribution of transportation dollars, too. But we don’t.
Before Boeing shifted its headquarters to Chicago, it’s home office was physically located in … TUKWILA! Bu t the whole story and focus was on Seattle. Did Mayor Steve Mullet of Tukwila get his nose bent out of joint? No, because he understood how the media “sees” the region and took no offense.
The alas-poor-us-in-Seattle shtick is like a old joke, told too many times. Seattle needs a new PR strategy.
“douched” Goldy if you’re going to play a journalist on the internet, and i mean this in a good way, use words the way the rest of us use them. douche: dumbass, from douchebag a noun; to douche: wash genitals after sex.
i know you want to be punchy, but beside being an affront to common sense, this neologism hurts the ears