Results tagged “kingcountycouncil”

Looking at a projected two-year shortfall of $213 million, Metro Transit is in a position to scrimp, save, and make some serious cuts and changes. So what do we get? Proposals, proposals and more fictitious proposals--that (sigh) will save the day--from the King County Council.

The 16-member Blue Ribbon Committee has made the call and is sticking with their two recommendations for the interim office of King County Executive: former Seattle Mayor Charles Royer and interim County Executive and former Executive Chief of Staff Kurt Triplett (leaving former County Council members Steve Hammond and Louise Miller off their favorites). However, the King County Council has the final say on May 18, when they choose one of the four candidates to fill the seat of the newly crowned deputy secretary of HUD, Ron Sims.

Yesterday, King County councilman Larry Phillips officially announced his run for the King County Executive seat--an elected position currently held by Ron Sims, who may or may not be campaigning for a fourth term. Phillips accused Sims of losing focus on King County business, though the executive has issued formal statements re-affirming his dedication to local issues. Sims is rumored to be jonesing for a federal appointment within the Obama administration.

Seattlest just got done attending the press conference for the re-opening of the Downtown Bus Tunnel. After two years of work, it's set to reopen next Monday. That's exactly two years (as King County Exec. Ron Sims was fond of repeating over and over today) after it closed. We have to say, we're pretty impressed with what they've done.

We're glad we stuck around for the audience Q&A after the panel discussion on gentrification Thursday night, hosted by the University of Washington's Evans School of Public Affairs.

Yesterday while most of the city was all a-twitter about President Hu’s visit to the city (today he will get a tour of the Fun Forest, and attend a live taping of Northwest Afternoon), Ron Sims proposed a plan to pay for more buses by raising the county sales tax one tenth of one percent.

This Thursday the UW will host a panel discussion about change in Seattle's Central District, pitting gentrification against "revitalization"--the latter, we hope, being something said panel will subject to more rigorous definition. We are pleased to see this topic discussed in a public forum, but these days we wonder who listens to panels any more, much less an academic-sponsored one (as opposed to those ever-popular corporate-sponsored panels--everyone listens to them). What happens after the panel? Will EW cover the hot after-panel gossip?

Well, it happened. In a 7-2 vote that was never extended to the public, the King County Council agreed to spending at least $500,000 to change our logo from a crown to the likeness of Martin Luther King Jr. And to add to the surreal ludicrousness of this move, Ron Sims is designing the new logo. The jesters are now running the castle, Seattle.

On Friday the City Council capped off a busy week by appointing Sally Clark as Jim Compton's replacement.

Until we had to actually consider it we had absolutely no opinion of the waterfront trolley. We just watched it going by day after day from the loading dock behind our office. Generally empty. Everytime it clang-clanged its way through the intersection across the street we'd glance up and mutter curses at whichever driver thought they could beat it through. Just once did we see it hit someone. It was a minivan and we only got to personally witness the aftermath. What do you call it when something on rails does very little damage in a collision? If it were two cars you would have called it a fender bender.

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!

We're currently toning our TV watching muscles for the fall and we're extra excited about the new Seattle-based legal drama set to premiere as a part of Q13's Sunday lineup. King County Cold Case (or "K3C" as we'll immediately start calling it) is the story of a local crime lab headed by a hard-nosed prosecuting attorney played by Tom Skerritt. Hillary Swank will costar as a lawyer recruited by the department from the most-dangerous-offender project. One of the more significant subplots will involve a chaotic on-again off-again romance between Skerritt and Swank and their struggles to hold onto anything substantial in the present while they investigate the criminals of the past.

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

King County will be holding its primary election next Tuesday; however, in two races the primary will also act as the general election. Because Democrats live in the city and Republicans live on the Eastside, the two races that feature only candidates from a particular party will be decided next week (or in the courts sometime next June).

Council member Carolyn Edmonds by a vote of 381 to 288.

Political party infighting is nothing new, and as a result of the King County Council shrinking from thirteen seats to nine it is back in a big way.

Downsized King County Councilman Dwight Pelz, who originally planned to run for Richard Conlin's Seattle City Council seat, flip-flopped last week, and will instead run against Richard McIver.

Metropolitan King County Council interjected on the issue of the region's various Tent Cities yesterday, setting guidelines for the temporary permits the homeless communities will require. While it's nice to finally see the council acknowledge Tent Cities, the ordinance comes across as unnecessarily restrictive to Seattlest's eye, although others believe it is not strong enough.

We all remember Peter Venkman listing the side effects of a possible Armageddon, "Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, incumbents running against incumbents, mass hysteria!" This fall mass hysteria may be coming to a ballot near you.