Results tagged “jandrago”

• The bus tunnel shut down at 7:10 a.m. this morning for about 20 minutes, thanks to an automated (and false) alarm--for the third time in six months. Funnily enough, we think every time has been during morning rush hour, too.
• Publicola's newest addition, Erica Barnett, broke the news to Seattle taxpayers that we've paid over $43,000 since 2006 to send the City Council's Jan Drago to China, India, Iceland, the United Arab Emirates, and Finland.

Seattle councilwoman Jan Drago has announced today (and via Facebook) that she will be lacing up her political shoes to run for mayor. The former preschool teacher has served on the city council for 16 years and has been a reliable ally (not anymore) for Mayor Greg Nickels over the years--who is seeking his third go-at-it as mayor. Having been around the "city" block before, Drago's bid makes her a serious contender against Nickels. The other mayoral candidates vying for the top job include: environmentalist Michael McGinn, corporate headhunter Norman Sigler, 82-year-old lefty grandma Dorli Rainey, former Sonic James Donaldson and T-Mobile executive Joe Mallahan.

Jan Drago, chair of the Seattle city council's transportation committee, oversaw a 4-2 committtee vote yesterday that came down in favor of more streetcars, a whopping $600 million network of them. Licata and McIver voted nay. Now we wait to see if the full council will contract streetcar fever. The proposed First Hill line would run from Capitol Hill to the ID, while the Central line would fill in for the old waterfront streetcar, running from Seattle Center to King Street Station. The Fremont-Ballard and U-District lines would meet up with the SLUT. This is all well and good, but where's our cable cars running up James, Denny, and Queen Anne Hill? Cable cars or gondolas, we're open to discussion.

The story so far: Two years ago, amid trumpets and fanfare, the City of Seattle sold the 15-story Alaska Building to developer Kent Angier, to be used for "affordable workforce housing." The selling price was $8.5 million dollars -- $500,000 to $1 million less than offers from developers interested in turning it into office space. The City says it had an unwritten understanding with Angier that the building would be used for housing. Recently, Angier announced plans to build instead a non-union Marriott hotel.

Seattle will vote February 13th on whether to vote on whether to build a replacement Viaduct or a tunnel, the City Council announced today.

Gov. Gregoire told Mayor Nickels Wednesday afternoon that the tunnel option for replacing the Viaduct is dead.

Something needs to be said about Erica Barnett's article in La Strangeur concerning the possibility that the City Council will make the final decision on the Viaduct without the requisite and meaningless public referendum, and that something is: "Hell Yeah!" Do we have to vote on every damn decision that's made around here? The City Council exists to make decisions on transportation infrastructure. That's what they do. Seattlest's job is to spend a little time every week trying to make them see how any decision besides the one we've made our personal lord and savior is blasphemous, and then to ridicule them when they end up worshiping at the altar of a viaduct rebuild. That's what we do. We're Americans, damn it! We rank voting just above walking on the scale of shit we hate to do!

The man who brought the Space Needle to Seattle is resigning his position as City Councilman. Jim Compton, who was elected to the City Council in 1999 because he used to be on the TV, is stepping down to teach in Egypt and Romania. Or maybe after a heartwarming montage, it will be his students who teach him---how to love again.

Last year, while Dino Rossi and Christine Gregoire spelunked for votes among felons, troops on leave, and the deceased in their closely-contested gubernatorial race, some saw it as evidence that this state's electorate is divided right down the middle...irreconcilably broken between pinko commie lefty and fascist pig righty.

Richard Conlin: The incumbent is a “reasoned, independent voice of dissent” and “consistent and thorough supporter of neighborhoods.” But his “patient examination of issues” is “sometimes frustrating.”

At Seattlest, we read the candidate endorsements so you don't have to flip that far into your paper. In our thorough research, certain themes emerged. At the P-I, they wrote endorsements as if they were late for a meeting. For Seattle City Council--return all the incumbents, they say. Statewide Initiatives? Say no to everything! Port Commission? It's time for change!

There's approximately 550,000 people in Seattle, and about 45,000 of them voted yesterday. What did this select few decide?

The most important thing when running for political office is raising money. Campaign signs are pretty, shaking hands builds muscle, and everyone loves rides on your campaign pony. However if you can’t raise money to get your message across you’ll find yourself a loser on election night with a basement full of campaign stickers.

Maybe we’re taking our democracy for granted. I mean after all we live in a country where we can vote for whoever we want to, be it a Yale-educated male millionaire or a taller Yale-educated male millionaire. However, looking at this fall’s civic elections there are still three races where, as of now, we will have no choice in the matter.