Pierce County bus driver Gary Zies makes a phone call while awaiting for bus commuters at a nearly deserted Lakewood Station for the first day of the new facility in Lakewood. (Lui Kit Wong/The News Tribune)

Sound Transit officials are holding a news conference Tuesday to announce a new bus route from South Tacoma to downtown Seattle.

ST Express Route 593, which begins service Monday, will let commuters begin using the park-and-ride facility at the new South Tacoma Sounder Station -- even though the train is still a couple years away from reaching South Tacoma.

Commuters can ride from the station, located at South 60th and Adams streets, to Seattle via the Tacoma Dome, said Sound Transit spokeswoman Linda Robson. At the Dome stop, riders can choose to get off the bus and board the Sounder commuter train the rest of the way, or remain on the bus to Seattle, Robson said.

Similar service is already running from the Lakewood Sounder station.

Sound Transit plans to start construction next year of a stretch of railroad track in Tacoma that will extend Sounder commuter rail service to Lakewood, possibly by 2012.

Following a Monday meeting with Pierce County business, labor and government leaders, Gov. Chris Gregoire said she is asking the state Department of Transportation to take another look at some county road projects.

Specifically the governor said she wants DOT Secretary Paula Hammond to look at a few high-priority projects that were left unfunded in her transportation plan. A $5 billion shortfall in transportation funds led Gregoire to suggest that construction of carpool lanes on I-5 and the purchase of right-of-way for Highway 167 to the Port of Tacoma be delayed.

That has led Pierce County leaders to claim that their county was shortchanged to the benefit of expensive projects in King County like a rebuilt Highway 520 bridge and the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

"I know there are competing projects but our stakeholders feel we are not getting our fair share," Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy told Gregoire.

After the session with 20 people at the University of Washington Tacoma, Gregoire said she is sensitive to the complaints.

"I'm talking with Paula about it," Gregoire said. The governor said Pierce County is one of the state's most-populated and is a vital connector.

"I've asked her to rethink things to see if she can put some of those back up on the list," perhaps using federal stimulus dollars, Gregoire said.

Gov. Chris Gregoire said today she was thrilled the appointment of King County Executive Ron Sims to the No. 2 spot at the federal department of Housing and Urban Development.

Gregoire said she had pushed the Obama Administration to pick Sims and said the state will benefit by having someone who knows how federal housing programs work at the local level.

And while she had no candidate to recommend to the King County Council, she did have one bit of advice: pick someone who will not be a candidate for the job this fall.

"Is it better to have someone at the helm of county concentrating on the problems there rather than someone who has to run for the office," Gregoire said.

The King County Council will make the appointment following state law that controls the filling of vacancies in partisan offices. The council majority, like Sims and Gregoire, is Democrat.

Pierce County voters likely will determine whether the county retains its ranked choice voting system beyond 2009.

By a 2-1 vote, the County Council’s rules committee this morning approved an amendment to the county charter that would repeal ranked choice voting.

The amendment still must win the approval of the full council next week. But it appears to have the votes necessary to send the proposal to voters in November.

Voters approved the new system in 2006 and used it for the first time in November. The new system eliminates primary elections for most county offices. Instead, all candidate advance to the general election, and voters rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate wins a majority of first-place votes, voters’ second and third choices are considered and the winner is determined by a process of elimination.

Opponents say the system cost too much ($1.7 million last year). They say allowing all candidates to advance to the general election makes it hard for voters to fully vet the candidates. And they say the new system is confusing to many voters.

“(Voters) don’t go to the polls to be confused,” former Councilman Harold Moss told the rules committee.

Supporters say the system gives voters more choices by encouraging more candidates to participate. Though they acknowledge some voters were confused, they blamed an inadequate voter education effort. They say it will take more than one election to judge whether ranked choice voting is working.

“It is very difficult to change,” former Tacoma City Manager Jim Walton told the committee.

=> Read more!

King County Executive Ron Sims has finally made it official - he'll resign to take a position with the federal department of House and Urban Development.

Sims' position will be pretty high-ranking – deputy secretary.

The Spokane native is at the end of his third term as executive and had planned to seek a fourth. He served on the county council before that and was on the staff of former state Sen. George Flemming.

Sims, 60, has twice run for statewide elected office. In 1994 he was the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, losing to then-U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton. And in 2000 he lost the Democratic primary for governor to Chris Gregoire.

Sims was a state co-chairman of the Hillary Clinton campaign but jumped over to Obama once he had secured the presidential nomination.

The King County charter provides for a deputy, designated by the executive, to take over the duties if a vacancy happens. But the council can also appoint a successor and that is what the council plans to do.

The executive was already subject to this fall's election. So far only county Councilman Larry Phillips has declared for the office.

Read his letter to supporters here.

=> Read more!

At least three Seattle news outlets are reporting this morning that King County Executive Ron Sims in, in fact, taking a senior position in the Obama Administration.

Sims and his staff have been dismissive of the rumors about a job change. Sims even welcomed county Councilman Larry Phillips into the race for executive, which will be on the ballot this fall.

But now KIRO TV, the Seattle Times and the Associated Press are reporting that Sims will become deputy secretary of the department of Housing and Urban Development.

Sen. Ken Jacobsen, D-Seattle, has thrown a red flag onto the field and is challenging the decision by Western Washington University to dump the winning, but money-losing 105-year-old football program.

Jake, even though the UW is in his legislative district, is prime sponsor of a bill that would create a task force to review the Bellingham school's "process" for making its decision. And maybe reinstate it before the 2009 season.

Apparently, the alumni are raising holy hell, and others (Central) is worried about losing a rivalry and the annual "battle of Seattle."

WWU officials say they can save $450,000 a year by cutting football.

Here's my earlier post, with thanks to the Bellingham Herald.

SENATE BILL 5784
State of Washington 61st Legislature 2009 Regular Session

By Senators Jacobsen, Hobbs, McCaslin, and Delvin

Read first time 02/02/09. Referred to Committee on Higher Education &
Workforce Development.

AN ACT Relating to creating a task force to review the process of
Western Washington University's decision to terminate its one hundred
five year old football program and to make recommendations about how to
potentially reinstate the program prior to the 2009 season; creating
new sections; providing an expiration date; and declaring an emergency.

=> Read more!