Furniture is coming to Tollefson Plaza.

Tacoma city officials are pressing ahead with a four-phased plan aimed at bringing life to the moribund downtown open space.

Phase 1 includes placing some loose tables and chairs throughout the plaza, City Manager Eric Anderson told council members earlier this month at a meeting of the Economic Development Committee.

Officials from the city and the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce hope to order the furniture in the couple of weeks and have the items in the plaza this spring, said Chelsea Levy, metropolitan development manager for the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce.

The city is contracting with the chamber for operations and minor maintenance of the plaza.

Planters and garbage containers should follow soon.

It’s a bit of a risk not securing the tables and chairs, officials acknowledged.

Council members seemed to like the ideas, though Councilman Rick Talbert was curious how the city planned to keep the tables and chairs from "walking off."

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The governor may be back for more punishment, according to AP reporter Curt Woodward.

Gov. Chris Gregoire, newly elected to a second four-year term, is considering a rare third run at the governor’s mansion.

Gregoire, a Democrat, filed paperwork with the state Public Disclosure Commission on Feb. 10 indicating that she’s a candidate for governor in 2012.

Gregoire hasn’t fully decided whether to seek a third term, but she also isn’t giving up that option, administration spokesman Pearse Edwards told The Associated Press.

“She’s interested in running, but hasn’t made up her mind,” Edwards said Friday. “It keeps those options open.”

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Metro Parks Tacoma just sent out the following update:

During the Park Board Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday February 17, commissioners requested that three resolutions be included on the agenda for their regular board meeting on Monday February 23.

*Resolution R-13-09 would direct staff to begin the master planning process for Kandle Park with a recreational pool.

*Resolution R-14-09 would direct staff to provide $125,000 in drain system upgrades to Titlow Pool to bring it into compliance with the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act to allow operation this summer.

*Resolution R-15-09 calls for the creation of a task force to explore opportunities for development of a 50 meter pool in the South Sound area. The resolution directs that the task force complete its work and present a strategy by October 1, 2009 to the Board of Park Commissioners advising how the pool could be built and funded.

When I first saw those words in the news release from the Attorney General's office, I thought someone was addressing me. But not this time.

Turns out, those pejorative phrases were used by debt collectors trying to get money from consumers.

"That kind of language isn’t just abusive – it’s illegal," the news release said.

(For debt collectors maybe, but not for anyone addressing a reporter. It's been my experience that half of those terms are considered praiseworthy.)

Attorney General sues Everett collection agency for harassment, threats

SEATTLE – The Attorney General’s Office is suing an Everett-based collection agency accused of harassing, threatening and cussing at consumers. Representatives of Topco Financial Services, Inc., allegedly called debtors names such as “loser,” scum,” “plight on society,” “no good,” “lowlife,” “deadbeat,” “worthless,” or “terrible parents,” as well as profane names not suitable for print.

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House Bill 1382 had to be rewritten to win approval from the House Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee because it turned out to be so expensive. But committee chairman, Rep. Chris Hurst, D-Enumclaw, was among those who voted to move the bill ahead.

But state Rep. Mark Miloscia's bill did clear its first hurdle.

The bill requires authorities to collect DNA swaps from every adult arrested on felony charges or on lesser charges for soliciting a prostitute, stalking or some other sex crimes. (The original bill would have extended to juveniles, too.)

Looks like the bill would cost the Washington State Patrol about $3 million a year because the agency would have to hire 34 new workers to process an estimated 100,000 more DNA samples from suspect. However, the new requirement would take effect only if the state gets enough money from the federal government to pay for it.

The bill still has to win approval from the full House and it faces trouble if it gets to Sen. Adam Kline's Judiciary Committee. Kline is more comfortable with current law, which requires DNA samples from convicted felons, not just arrestees.

He and others also believe taking DNA swaps from arrestees constitutes an instrusion into privacy rights under the Washington state constitution.

Here is a link to the substitute bill.

There's a public records debate going on in Olympia that raises some interesting questions about the limits of open government.

State Attorney General Rob McKenna, who's built a reputation as a defender of open government, is asking for an exception to the public disclosure law when handling requests from inmates. He says a handful of inmates are abusing the law and wasting money and "terrorizing" with frivolous records requests. "Prison inmates developed a cottage industry, filing multiple, complicated Public Records Act requests with the hope state government will make a mistake so they can sue for a windfall," he wrote. "This abuse threatens timely access to government information for all legitimate requestors and devours tax dollars in the process.

He took the unusual request of sending a letter appealing for support from the news media, normally an absolutist bunch when it comes to public records. Here's
his letter, followed by a story by AP legal writer Gene Johnson looking at the issue. Read on and let us know what you think.

Dear friends,

A few state prisoners are jeopardizing legitimate public records requests, extracting a hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from our depleted state budget while terrorizing hardworking public employees. This urgent problem demands a bipartisan solution—and that’s why I’ve proposed new legislation to address it.

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House Bill 1614 would impose a $1.50 per barrel tax on oil. How that translates into concumer-level products isn't quite clear to me yet. I've made only very cursory inquiries into this bill.

It would raise between $110 million and $115 million per year, according the Rep. Timm Ormsby, D-Spokane, the bill's prime sponsor.

The tax, which would take effect July 1, would apply to products that contribute to surface water runoff pollution, including asphalt, road oil, lubricants, motor gasoline, residual fuel oil, and "any other petroleum substance that the state Department of Ecology determines contributes to stormwater pollution."

The tax would NOT apply to crude oil, aviation gasoline, jet fuel, home heating oil or diesel used on farms.

Ormsby said he wants the money to be used for stormwater pollution cleanup and prevention.

Here's the bill report on HB 1614.

Yesterday was a busy day so I'm just now catching up with my reporter colleagues on news they broke.

State Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, chairman of the House Finance Committee, told me yesterday he was not going to hold a hearing on the bill that would have put an 18.5 percent tax on most visual and audio pornography. Hunter said he didn't want to waste time on a bill that appeared on its face to pose problems. That is, a different sales tax rate for porn compared to other products.

The proposal, House Bill 2103, would have generated about $133 million over the next 10 years in revenue to the state.

It was put forth by state Rep. Mark Miloscia, D-Federal Way, who said he was dusting off a proposal from a few years ago by Sen. Val Stevens, R-Arlington.

Here is a link to my earlier post.