"I thought I had an original thought, but I didn't."

– Councilman Rick Talbert during joint study session with planning commissioners on changes to the mixed use centers regulations.

Despite the recession and housing market deflation, Washington continues to grow and attract new residents from out-of-state, according to 2009 population estimates from the state Office of Financial Management. But the growth has slowed considerably from its recent peak.

As of April 1, Washington's population stood at 6.67 million, up 1.2 percent from the year before. Not surprisingly, that annual growth rate was down from the recent high of 1.9 percent in 2006. The state grew by an estimated 80,600 people during the year, about 39,000 from in-migration from other states.

“The continued housing contraction nationwide and poor economic conditions appear to be limiting the mobility of the population usually influenced by labor market opportunities,” said Theresa Lowe, the state's chief demographer in a press release. “Many job seekers are finding it difficult to sell their homes or to relocate to accept employment at the price of paying two mortgages for an extended period.”

In the annual competition for Washington's second city, Tacoma (with 203,400 residents) is still slightly behind Spokane (205,500). Spokane grew at a slightly more robust pace.

Pierce County and most of its cities and towns continued to grow. The county's population stood at 813,600, up from 805,400 in 2008.

See the standings below:

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A new reader board for the Tacoma Dome should be up and running by the week of July 13, Dome manager Mike Combs said Monday.

The computer system in the old sign died in mid-April, he said, and at more than 20-years-old the manufacturer in Portland wasn't able to repair it.

The system was so old, part of the programming process involved floppy disks, Combs said.

Travelers on north- and southbound Interstate 5 will be treated to a full-color LED display.

The cost of the upgrade is expected to run $175,000 to $200,000 and will come from the Dome's reserve fund, he said.

Attorney General Rob McKenna has launched a new website to help residents find their way through the state's open records laws.

The site is called “Unredacted: Uncovering the truth about Public Records and Open Public Meetings."

“Citizens contact us when, for example, they believe that a city or county council meeting has been held illegally behind closed doors,” McKenna said in a statement. “Our new site provides a road map for pulling back the curtain to find out what elected officials are up to.”

Find the site, called Unredacted, here.

It's campaign season again, which means campaign signs are springing up like dandelions.

City Council candidate John Miles (who's running against Joe Lonergan and Beckie Summers Kirby) has been challenging one opponent's sign etiquette.

He wrote in an e-mail to Kirby:

Dear Beckie:

Seven of your campaign signs are on the Oakes Street right-of-way between 58th and 62nd Streets. Five are at fence-lines for maximum confusion about whose property they abut. The other two are at the corner of 60th Street. Two were already lying on the ground last night.

According to city code, “signs placed in planting strips must have the permission for such placement of the abutting property owner.” I spoke to several property owners who insisted that they had not authorized placement of the signs. One indicated that they would call Tacoma Cares this morning to complain.

Please remove the signs.

Before continuing on, I'll note that the reason I'm blogging about this instead of writing is a story is that city officials told me today that Tacoma Cares had received no complaints.

=> Read more!

The tunnel boring machine pictured below was built by Herrenknecht AG (which has an office in Tacoma), for a tunneling job in Madrid, Spain. Below the picture are links to three companies that are in the business of building these huge machines (they're about 55-60 feet in diameter) and which are likely to be interested in getting the job to build a "drill bit" for the 1.7-mile deep-bore tunnel under First Avenue in Seattle to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Here is a link to Herrenknecht AG. This is a German firm with an office in Tacoma.

Here is a link to RobbinsTBM in Kent. Company HQ is in Ohio.

Here is a link to NFM Technologies. This is a French firm that recently was sold, to Mitsubishi, I think.

In Friday's report from the Tacoma City Manager to the City Council, I noticed a small item. The city has applied for a Paul Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement grant.

"Funds (would be used) to eliminate a backlog in the analysis of forensic evidence. Funds would be used to hire a contract latent print examiner for cases from 2008."

I searched our clips using key words like "backlog", "forensic," "fingerprint" and "Tacoma." Everything that comes up is several years old.

It appears there's some sort of forensic and fingerprinting backlog in Tacoma that we haven' written about. Good to know.

(Photo: multiple fragments of tissue)

Actually, that's not right.

Seattle making a run at attracting/stealing Russell Investments may be making enemies south the King-Pierce border, but it is part of a long tradition.

In fact Tacoma has gotten the best of the competition recently, carting off three big shipping clients and several smaller ones. And just seven years ago Tacoma launched a campaign to place billboards and advertisements throughout Seattle urging business to consider defecting.

The picture below was taken in May of 2002 by Peter Haley and depicts Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma unveiling one of those billboards near Safeco Field.

So while there are lots of reasons for Russell to stay in Tacoma, the place where it was born and raised, it seems a bit odd to say Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels is breaking some "gentlemen's agreement" when he made a bid for the company.

I write about all this Sunday.

As has come up in the comments section of several posts this week, I am leaving The News Tribune next week. For the record, I wasn't laid off, nor was I fired. I'm entering a three-year graduate writing program at the University of Idaho.

For most of my time at the TNT I've covered aspects of the criminal justice system, but many of you have known me more recently as a city hall reporter. Government and politics have never been my bailiwick, but I hope I've at least adequately kept my finger in the dike while the paper looks for a permanent replacement for Jason Hagey.

Opportunities for journalists to get up on a soapbox don't come around very often (and by nature they shouldn't), but after the jump I intend to wax just a little.

=> Read more!

The nine-member Tacoma City Council has voted dozens of times on various ordinances and resolutions over the course of 22 meetings this year.

A review of voting records show that every item passed, usually by a unanimous vote. Only twice did any council members vote 'nay' and only once did a council member abstain.

This was something I noticed when I first started covering the council -- everyone got along, all the members were in lockstep with each other and presented a happy, united front. I was reminded of it yesterday during the Public Safety subcommittee meeting when Councilman Mike Lonergan was a dissenting voice on a smoking ban for parks (he also said at the meeting that Councilman Spiro Manthou supported only a buffer zone around playgrounds).

What I discovered is that by the time a particular ordinance or measure comes before the full council the differences between members have already been hashed out (public testimony notwithstanding).

What does this mean for the "home gamers" who follow the action on TV Tacoma or seek to petition the council in person? To me, it says they might want to get involved in the process at an earlier stage -- at the subcommittee level, where nascent legislation is hammered out. (This also suggests that journalists covering the city have to jump on topics early in the process, too.)

Outsiders may not realize this, but the Committee of the Whole meeting is where a lot of the action and debate happens. Those meetings aren't televised and they're usually standing room only, but audio recordings go up on line later in the week.

After the jump are the specifics on the two 'nays' and one abstention.

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The Tacoma School Board decided to extend Superintendent Art Jarvis’ contract by one-year Thursday, two days after giving him a positive annual review.

But the superintendent declined a salary increase, following the lead of other public officials who have declined raises during this year’s economic downturn.

Jarvis noted that Tacoma principals had forgone salary increases earlier in the year out of concern for the district's tight budget, and said he’d like to do the same.

"It would be in all fairness to the other employees that have agreed to help us out," Jarvis said. "I would not like to violate that."

Board members completed their evaluation of Jarvis' first year as superintendent Tuesday, noting he met or exceeded expectations in all areas and excelled at budgetary matters.

They subsequently reviewed his contract at Thursday’s board meeting.
Jarvis said the district is making budget cuts wherever possible to avoid laying off staff. School districts throughout the state have turned to staff reductions to cope with state budget cuts.

Board President Kim Golding said she thought it was appropriate that Jarvis not receive a raise this year given the district’s budget.
“I think it was nice we were able to extend his contract, because that means something to him,” Golding said.

Many head honchos of municipal and other public agencies have turned down salary increases in recent months, citing financial concerns during a bad economy.

Tacoma City Manager Eric Anderson turned down a 14.5 percent raise in March.

University of Washington President Mark Emmert did the same last November, just months before the University announced it would be cutting 600 to 800 staff positions.

Jarvis said that’s what the school district is trying to avoid.

“We’re all struggling not to lay off staff,” Jarvis said. “Ultimately the goal is to save as much as possible.”

Most of you -- owners of more than 300,000 parcels -- will get a notice mailed to you July 17 (that's a Friday), but the value that Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer Dale Washam and his staff have assigned to your property will be available on line next Monday at:

www.piercecountywa.org/atr

Owners of mobile and manufactured homes will get their notices next week in the mail.

Here's the release from Pierce County.

Notices of Value cards mailing earlier than expected

Assessor-Treasurer Dale Washam has announced that, through the hard work of the office staff, Notice of Value cards stating the assessed real property value for 2009 will begin to be mailed as follows:

The value notices for all mobile/manufactured homes in Pierce County will be mailed on June 30, 2009.

Real property parcels valuations notices for all real property (approximately 300,000) are scheduled to be mailed on July 17th, 2009.

=> Read more!

Two things to note in the press release below -- Metro Parks is asking people to leave Fido at home during taste of Tacoma at Point Defiance Park this weekend.

Anyone else thinking of starting a festival called "Taste of Tacoma" better think twice, it's copyrighted, buster.

Taste of Tacoma attendees are encouraged to leave pets at home this weekend

Metro Parks Tacoma, along with EQC Taste of Tacoma© organizers, want to remind attendees that only certified service animals are allowed within food court areas. For public health and safety, section 8.27.120 of the Tacoma Municipal Code's Animal Control laws restricts pets from food courts.

The EQC Taste of Tacoma© is a food-themed festival, which makes the majority of the event’s venue a large food court. Park officials encourage that furry friends be left home for the day to ensure that attendees are able to fully enjoy the full range of culinary and performance experiences that will be offered this weekend in Point Defiance Park. "Animals may not be tied off and left unattended, so pet owners who choose to bring an animal to the festival will be really limited in what they will be able to enjoy," said Phedra Redifer, Metro Parks Tacoma’s Festivals and Events Supervisor.

Code enforcement officers will be on site periodically throughout the event and owners are cautioned that violation of the code could result in fines.

Pets brought must remain on a leash at all times during park visits. Throughout the duration of this event, animals will be restricted to the designated Pet Friendly Zone located within a small boundary of the bowl. Owners are advised to look for 1.5'x2' signs marking the way to the festival's Pet Friendly Zone.

Okay, they still call it instant runoff voting (and I'm still not sure what the difference is). But another good-sized community will be deciding whether to switch to a new method of voting.

St. Paul will be taking its first run at the method that allows voters to rank candidates and avoid having a primary election followed by a general election. Pierce County tried it once and will be deciding whether to keep it.

This article in the St. Paul Pioneer-Press explains the politics behind the issue there.

The Center for Public Integrity took a look at all 50 states to see how rigorous their legislative financial disclosure laws are. Only three – Washington, Hawaii and Louisiana – received A's. Twenty states flunked.

California and Oregon received C's. Most of the rest of the West flunked.

"Too many states still get a failing grade when it comes to adequate transparency for their elected public officials," said Center Executive Director Bill Buzenberg.

"For 10 years now, the Center for Public Integrity has tracked this issue so citizens can know about the potential conflicts of interests in state government. The more information that remains hidden, the less likely the public will know about conflicts and undue influence."

Check out the center's interactive map to see how Washington ranks.

The Washinton Department of Ecology sent out this news release today, but it sounds as if DOE and X-cell Feeds in Tacoma have been butting heads over this issue for years. The animal feed company can appeal the fine.

X-Cel Feeds penalized for refusing stormwater rules

OLYMPIA – A company in Tacoma that makes animal feed is facing a $14,641 fine from the Washington Department of Ecology for refusing to follow clean water rules.

X-Cel Feeds has disagreed with Ecology for four years over a requirement to get a stormwater permit. Ecology’s permit spells out requirements for preventing water pollution and sets up regular water quality monitoring. The company is also receiving a formal Ecology order to apply for the stormwater permit.

X-Cel Feeds, 5436 S. Washington St., processes a variety of raw materials into animal feed. Many of the activities and products on the site are exposed to stormwater, which triggers the requirement an industrial stormwater permit. Runoff from the site discharges to Flett Creek, a salmon-bearing stream.

=> Read more!

Among the 9 stores that will be open from noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays -- starting next week -- are stores in Tacoma, Auburn, Bonney Lake and Olympia.

Here's the news release:

OLYMPIA – All state liquor stores will be open on Independence Day, July 4, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. State stores will be open during regular hours on Friday, July 3.

Contract liquor stores may also be open on Independence Day. Please contact contract stores directly for their holiday operating schedules.

Store schedules and phone numbers are available on the Washington State Liquor Control Board (WSLCB) Web site at www.liq.wa.gov.

Holiday sales

The 2009-11 Biennial Budget directs the WSLCB to open most state stores on seven holidays, including New Years Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day and Veterans Day. The WSLCB will post a list of open state stores prior to each holiday on its Web site at www.liq.wa.gov.

The holiday store openings are part of a series of Budget-directed projects that will generate an additional $16.1 million in revenue for state and local services during the biennium.

New Sunday Sales locations

Another revenue project is to open nine additional state stores on Sundays. Currently, 49 out of 161 state stores are open on Sundays and all 154 contract stores have the option of being open on Sundays. After July 1, 58 stores will be open on Sundays.

The following additional nine stores will be open from noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays starting July 1.

Auburn State Store No. 176 – 801 Auburn Way N. Suite E.
Bellingham State Store No. 123 – 101 E. Stuart Road
Bonney Lake State Store No. 60 – 19651 State Route 410 E.
Kirkland State Store No. 155 – 10042 N.E. 137th St.
Monroe State Store No. 80 – 304 E. Main St.
Olympia State Store No. 163 – 400 Cooper Point Road CV 24
Seattle State Store No. 43 – 4513 California Ave. S.W.
Seattle State Store No. 101 – 1702 Fourth Ave. S.
Tacoma State Store No. 103 – 6820 19th St. W.

More information about the new revenue projects is available on the WSLCB Web site at www.liq.wa.gov.</blockquote>

Just a little record keeping here:

During his failed bid for Pierce County Sheriff, local gadfly and female masturbation activist Robert "The Traveller' Hill filed a complaint with the state Public Disclosure commission accusing Pastor of improperly appearing in blood bank billboards.

The complaint was dismissed in April, a PDC report from May 19 says.

Got this from the State Patrol. I deleted the name of the suspect because we generally don't name them when they are arrested. We wait until they are charged by prosecutors.

Olympia Man Arrested for Vehicular Assault and Hit and Run

A 4-year-old boy was airlifted to Harborview Hospital yesterday with serious injuries to his face after an Olympia man lost control of his wagon striking the SUV the young boy was a passenger in. The man fled the scene.

At approximately 7:30 p.m. last night 34 year-old (name deleted) of Olympia was driving his 1999 Subaru Legacy Wagon eastbound on Yelm Highway in Thurston County at Normandy Road when he lost control of his vehicle.

He was driving in the center turn lane when he lost control and went into the eastbound lane of traffic hitting a 1992 Isuzu Amigo driven by 30 year-old Jeffrey M. Carroll of Olympia. Carroll’s vehicle left the road hitting a metal fence and rolled coming to rest on its roof. (The suspect's) vehicle crossed into westbound lanes, left the road and struck a fence coming to rest in a parking lot.

(The suspect) left the scene, running up the Chehalis Western Trail and was found minutes later at the Mountain View Vet Clinic. Carroll had two young passengers in his Isuzu, a 10-year-old male of Olympia and a 4 year-old male, also from Olympia.

The 4 year-old male was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center with serious injuries. Carroll and the 10-year-old male were transported to St. Peter Hospital with minor injuries. All were wearing proper safety restraints. (The suspect) was treated for injuries at the scene and booked into the Thurston County Jail on suspicion of Vehicular Assault and Felony Hit and Run.

The roadway was closed for 4 ½ hours during investigation of the scene. Drugs and/or alcohol may have been a factor in this preventable collision.

The State Patrol will continue to focus on keeping our roadways safe from aggressive drivers and drunk or drugged drivers by getting them off the road and arresting them. You can also help keep our roadways safe; if you observe someone driving erratically or think they may be under the influence, call 9-1-1 right away.

This quick and very important phone could allow us to get that driver off the road and prevent roads from being closed for hours and ultimately could save a life.

My Olympian colleague, Brad Shannon, wrote a story in Sunday's paper about this topic and I didn't want to steal his thunder.

And since the House Clerk's office made this info so convenient, I figured I'd post it here for your perusal.

Here is the expense list in PDF.

Also, here is the e-mail the deputy clerk sent to House members, alerting them that Brad was sniffing around their spending so they wouldn't get caught flat-footed. Wasn't that considerate? (A member forwarded it to me, and you can probably guess that it wasn't Ed Orcutt.)

Brad Shannon, of the Olympian, has made a request for data on member reimbursements for discretionary expenses incurred in 2007 and 2008. The Olympian’s request includes travel expenses, per diem, expense account reimbursements (quarterlies), postage, printing, newsletters, and other expenses. This information will be provided to the press by the close of the business day.

Please be advised that the top spenders are likely to receive follow up questions from the press regarding their expenses. Attached is a rank-ordered list of 2008 expenditures by member (the average expense per member was around $37,000). The Accounting Office provided a more detailed list of these expenses (by expense category) to you on January 27, 2009. This information has also been forwarded to your communications staff to help respond to any inquiries that you may receive.

Please let me or the Accounting Office know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thanks,
Bernard Dean, Deputy Chief Clerk, Washington House of Representatives

This is a last-ditch effort to try to qualify Initiative 1043 for the ballot with next week's deadline for signature turn-in looming.

Here is a link to the Spokesman Review story.

The bright yellow will set them apart from others. This is for specialty plates. They will be issued starting next Wednesday.

DOL redesigns disabled parking tabs for specialty license plates

OLYMPIA—On July 1, the Department of Licensing (DOL) will start issuing a redesigned disabled parking privilege license plate tab for use on specialty license plates.

This special tab can be used to make most types of specialty license plates function like a regular disabled parking (DP) license plate. They can’t be used on standard issue plates, regular disabled parking plates, rideshare plates, ham radio operator plates or on license plates that do not require annual renewal.

In the past, the DP tab was produced using the same color background and text as regular license expiration tabs. The new DP tabs will be produced using a bright yellow background with black text. This will make them much easier to distinguish from standard license tabs.

DOL began working on this change following reports that the tab used for this purpose looked too much like a regular tab and wasn’t being recognized as a legitimate DP parking credential by law enforcement, parking attendants or other motorists.

Individuals requesting the new yellow disabled parking tab also will receive a blue decal with the universal symbol of access and the phrase “DISABLED PARKING PRIVILEGES” in white letters. This decal, which is about six inches long, can be placed between the bolt holes on the bottom of the plate for added visibility. The use of this decal is optional.

These changes were approved by the Washington State Patrol.

This will be to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Scott Noble, who stepped down last week after he pleaded guilty in a Driving Under the Influence of drugs or alcohol case the resulted in injuries to others.

Noble was sentenced last week to 8 months in jail.

County accepting applications from citizens interested
in appointment as King County Assessor

Council sets guidelines for evaluation process

With the vacancy occurring last week in the office of King County Assessor, the Metropolitan King County Council is welcoming applications from citizens seeking appointment to serve in the office until voters elect a new Assessor in November.

Under a motion adopted by the Council on June 22, applicants have until noon on Monday, July 6, to submit their information to the Clerk of the Council. The mailing address is:
Clerk of the Council
516 Third Avenue, Room W-1039
Seattle, WA, 98104

Applications can be also sent to the Clerk by e-mail at anne.noris@kingcounty.gov. Her phone number is 206-296-0364.

Applicants must include a written statement of interest, resume, supporting documentation, three references, and answers to five questions pertaining to the position. Those five questions are:

1. What are the duties of the King County Assessor as you understand them?

2. What do you consider the most important qualifications of an excellent county assessor, and why?

3. What are your qualifications for serving as county assessor?

4. Do you intend to run for the office of King County Assessor in the November 2009 general election?

5. Why are you interested in this temporary appointment?

=> Read more!

That's 1 week from today, next Wednesday. Jim Merritt and Marilyn Strickland will face off and answer questions.

Now, all we need is a Tacoma City Hall reporter and we'll have all bases covered, so to speak.

City Club of Tacoma hosts Tacoma mayoral candidates July 1

Tacoma, WA – June 22, 2009 – With the expiration of Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma’s term at the end of 2009, the City of Tacoma will elect a new mayor next year for the first time since 2002. This is your opportunity to see and hear both candidates for the job: Jim Merritt and Marilyn Strickland. Each of the candidates will speak briefly and then take audience questions. The forum will be moderated by a member of the League of Women Voters of Tacoma-Pierce County, which is co-sponsoring this program.

Date: Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Location: Wheelock Student Center Rotunda, University of Puget Sound, 1500 N. Warner Street, Tacoma, free parking
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Cost: $23 for members, $30 for guests (includes dinner), some $5.00 dessert/coffee only tickets at door
Advance reservations are needed by Monday, June 29 at 253-272-9561, or office@cityclubtacoma.org.

About Jim Merritt
Jim is a long-time small business owner. Owner of Merritt Arch, a local architectural firm he founded in 1975, he has been significantly involved in such landmark projects as Tacoma’s Union Station and the SR-509 Cable Stay Bridge. Learn more at www.merrittformayor.com.

About Marilyn Strickland

Marilyn is currently the Interim Director of Marketing & Communications for Bates Technical College and has served on the Tacoma City Council in the at-large Position 8 since 2007. Learn more at www.stricklandformayor.com.

=> Read more!

Prompted by a law firm that aids the poor, the Tacoma School District has begun offering an education to teenage inmates at the Pierce County jail.

But the firm has filed a class-action lawsuit to ensure the program continues.

The lawsuit, filed in Pierce County Superior Court last week, names the school district, Pierce County and state school Superintendent Randy Dorn as defendants. It seeks an injunction forcing them to offer educational services at the jail.

Columbia Legal Services, a nonprofit law firm that advocates for the needs of low-income people, filed the lawsuit. It has been negotiating for several months with the county and the school district over education services at the jail.

After the firm threatened to file a lawsuit, the Tacoma School District last month pledged to begin offering classes for inmates under the age of 18. The district already offers classes at Remann Hall, where most of the county’s juvenile offenders who are detained serve their sentences or await trial.

Tacoma schools Superintendent Art Jarvis declined to comment on the lawsuit. But Jarvis and sheriff’s department spokesman Ed Troyer confirmed the district launched an education program at the jail before district classes ended last week.

Jarvis said the program will resume in the fall.

“I thin it’s the beginning of a program that will be very helpful to the young people there,” Jarvis said.

=> Read more!

The ethics charge against Sen. Pam Roach was dismissed, but she certainly wasn't exonerated for her actions.

A quick summary: Roach, an Auburn Republican, got involved in a DSHS case on behalf of some constitutents, the grandparents of a child. The foster mother of the child lodged an ethics complaint against Roach in October 2008, essentially saying that Roach crossed the line in her advocacy for the grandparents' interests and put the foster mother in jeopardy by effectively identifying her and bad-mouthing her on her (Roach's) blog, partly through a link to her legislative aide's (LA) blog.

This part seems to be the most damning part of the Ethics Board ruling:

7. Respondent (Roach) and her former LA resorted to questionable tactics in dealing with the foster mother. The LA’s website and its contents appear to be his private activity. The foster mother’s contact information provided on that site could have resulted in a dangerous situation for the foster mother and the child. Providing her physical address and location was reckless and unrelated to the permissible advocacy on behalf of the grandparents. Respondent’s linkage to this site from her private blog also appears reckless and contributed to the potential for threats to the safety of the foster mother and the child. If there were sufficient evidence to support a finding that public resources were used in this disclosure we would determine that reasonable cause existed to believe that such use violated the Act’s prohibition against personal use of public resources.

This opinion is based upon a very fact-specific situation involving assistance rendered to relatives of a minor child who alleged they were being denied priority rights afforded them by law and who requested Respondent’s assistance on that point. Based upon the facts as we understand them to be, there is no reasonable cause to believe Respondent violated the Act, as it is currently written, through the use of her official position and the use of public resources.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Complaint is dismissed.

Here is a link to The Roach Report, Pam's blog.

Mike O'Connell of the Ethics Board staff was particularly concerned about the activities of Roach's legislative aide, enough to append the following note to Democratic and Republican lawyers for the Senate.

=> Read more!

A group that wants to keep Pierce County’s ranked choice voting system has launched a new web site.

Citizens for a Better Ballot hopes to convince voters to oppose Charter Amendment 3 in November. The County Council approved the amendment in February after voters got their first taste of ranked choice voting last November.

Kelly Haughton, a retired Russell Investments executive and long-time ranked choice voting advocate, is the president of Citizens for a Better Ballot. University of Puget Sound professor Richard Anderson-Connolly, another RCV supporter, is vice president. You can download a PDF of the group’s political committee registration form here).

Oddly, the group’s web site features prominent photos of Barack Obama, John McCain and Howard Dean, each supposedly a supporter of ranked choice voting (though the site offers nothing to document their support).

The one by Portland, not British Columbia.

2010 State Republican Convention to Be Held in Vancouver

The Washington State Republican Party (WSRP) has selected Vancouver to host its state convention in 2010. The event, set for June 10-12, 2010, will bring in Republican delegates and alternates from around the state, and will include major speakers to draw in additional supporters who have never attended a convention before.

“Vancouver offers a lot of amenities for our delegates, and the city made a strong bid to attract the convention. They’re excited to have us and we’re excited to have the convention in Vancouver,” said Luke Esser, Chairman of the WSRP.

=> Read more!

It's cheaper to rent a pretty much any room smaller than a suite in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Manhattan's Times Square for a night than to rent Tacoma's Tollefson Plaza for five hours.

And that's at the lowest rate for nonprofits and community groups hoping to put on events that are open to the public and that aren't accepting donations, making sales or offering concessions.

The fee schedule was presented to the City Council's economic development subcommittee Tuesday afternoon by the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce, which is responsible for booking events for the space.

The Council had asked for more information about how events were being booked at the plaza -- "the pinkish concrete triangle bounded loosely by the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel, the Link light-rail line and Pacific Avenue," in the words of TNT reporter C.R. Roberts. They also wanted to know whether the fee levels were preventing community groups from renting the space.

Joanne Buselmeier, finance and administrative manager at the chamber, told the committee that they had cut deals for groups who said the prices were too high, like the Tacoma City Marathon. The fee structure was based on, but lower than, Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square.

Councilwoman Marilyn Strickland questioned whether the fee structure given the differences in size and population density between Portland and Tacoma.

"The outcome here is to get people there," she said. The sentiment was echoed by the other council members.

The city licenses the space to the chamber at no charge. They chamber uses the fees it collects to cover the cost of managing the place. The idea, Buselmeier said, is to get it up and running and solvent enough to turn into a self-sustaining nonprofit corporation.

There's more ground to cover with this issue, of course. If I wasn't leaving the paper next week it would already be up on my white board. I know the paper has been contacted by concerned parties that expressed frustration about the rental rates and also questioned why the chamber was given the license instead of a local group whith lots of experience booking venues.

Not just disappointed. But tremendously disappointed. Oh yes.

The Pierce County legislative delegation sent a letter to Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels to express their collective "tremendous disappointment" over those tax breaks that Seattle if offering Tacoma's anchor tenant.

I'll bet Nickels won't get a wink of sleep after he reads the letter. (Yes, that was sarcasm. The problem with the Pierce County delegation is that Nickels already knows, from his days presiding over the Sound Transit board, that Pierce County officials are just so doggone happy to be sitting at the same table as the Seattle-King County big boys. Just look how little Pierce County got out of the 2nd round of Sound Transit projects.)

Here's the letter. It will make you tremble in your boots.

The city of Tacoma paid the wages of an as yet undetermined number of police officers while they participated in a charity basketball tournament in late May, city officials said Tuesday.

The investigation, which was based on a “whistleblower” complaint filed with the city manger’s office June 1, is continuing. It was still unclear how many officers participated, how were on duty or whether, as the complaint alleges, additional officers had to cover their shifts on overtime. The anonymous complaint also claims officers were paid for a full 10-hour shift, even through the game lasted only a couple of hours and that they were paid for practice sessions in the weeks leading up to the tournament.

One of the reasons there are so many unknowns is that one of the key individuals has been on vacation, city spokesman Rob McNair-Huff said.

“What we have been able to determine is that there were some police department staff who apparently were compensated while playing in the basketball game,” he said.

The May 29 event was the fifth annual contest between Tacoma’s police and fire departments to benefit the Hilltop Action Coalition.

The “Hilltop Challenge” raised about $7,000 this year, said Jeanie Peterson, the non-profit’s director of community initiatives.

She said she hoped the investigation didn’t overshadow the good the event does. Proceeds from ticket sales and ads placed in the brochure help fund the group’s efforts to clean up the Hilltop neighborhood.

“We’ve reduced crime with by 80 percent on the Hilltop through the partnership that we’ve built over the years with community policing,” Peterson said. “It’s a way for community to give back to our agency.”

She said the event is not only a good way to build camaraderie between the two agencies, but promoted physical fitness among the officers.

This year, the firefighters won 80-68, bringing their total victories to four, the agency said in a news release on its Web site. The Tacoma Police have claimed a single victory.

There were no photos showing the number of police players; 13 people are featured in the firefighters’ victory shot.

KOMO-TV, which reported on the allegations Monday, reported that one firefighter was also on duty during the event. Fire Department spokeswoman Jolene Davis said that upon further review, the firefighter had actually been using a vacation day.

Nor did the fire team get together and practice while on duty, she said. Firefighters are, however, allowed and encouraged to use one hour of their 24-hour shifts for physical fitness.

It was also unclear Tuesday whether city employees have been paid during past years while participating in the game.

Police Chief Don Ramsdell issued a memo to all personnel on June 17 stating that “effective immediately, all events requesting department participation for fundraising purposes will be done on a volunteer basis and not on paid duty time. This will include preparation and/or practicing for the event.”

(Photo from a news item on Hilltop Action Coalition's Web site.)

=> Read more!

That apparently is the issue now before the Washington Supreme Court, which will hear arguments on the case tomorrow.

Below is an e-mail news release from the American Civil Liberties Union Washington. So, it's not exactly balanced, but you can get the drift of the issue. And it's not every day you've got the First and Second Amendments teaming up on the same side of a lawuit. (Check out who the plaintiffs are.)

The ACLU wants the Internet filters (which prevent the user from visiting certain sites) removed at the request of adults. Probably has some key words that are verboten. I wonder if "Political Buzz, the Naked Truth" would be filtered out.)

Washington Supreme Court Considers Suit Seeking
Access to Information on Internet for Library Patrons

Tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. the Washington Supreme Court hears oral argument in an ACLU of Washington lawsuit to defend the rights of adults to access information on the Internet on public library computers. It is challenging a filtering policy that hampers adults in researching academic assignments, locating businesses and organizations, and engaging in personal reading on lawful subjects.

The ACLU is representing three library users and a nonprofit organization in the lawsuit (Bradburn v. NCRL) filed in 2006 to ensure that patrons of the five-county North Central Regional Library (NCRL) in eastern Washington have access to useful and constitutionally protected information. The lawsuit challenges the library system’s policy of refusing to honor requests by adult patrons to temporarily disable a filter on public computers for sessions of reading and research.

=> Read more!

Well, you don't really expect Larry Phillips or Dow Constantine to suggest raising taxes for bus service BEFORE the King County executive election, do ya?

But after a few months of bus drivers selling brownies at bus stops and making no dent in a projected $168 million deficit, the King County Council might think about tapping into the taxing option it got from the Legislature this past session.

UPDATE: Only the 7.5-cent-per-$1,000 in property valuations is available. I incorrectly reported in my first posting there was a $20 car tab option. That was vetoed by the governor.

County Council calls on Metro Transit to become
more entrepreneurial

Motion seeks to leverage revenue through partnerships and entrepreneurial activities

The Metropolitan King County Council today unanimously passed a motion calling on Metro Transit, which is facing a $168 million shortfall over the next two years, to report on efforts to leverage Transit Division resources through partnerships and entrepreneurial activities.

“When the Girl Scouts need extra money, they sell cookies. Looking at a $168 million budget hole, what kind of clever revenue-generating activities can Metro come up with to fill the budget gap and protect bus service?” said Councilmember Larry Phillips, sponsor of the motion. “It’s time to think outside the box and explore innovative ideas for keeping bus service on the streets.”

=> Read more!

The four 82-year-old ferries, whose replacements are well overdue, are headed to a scrap heap in California to be recycled.

Apparently, the state couldn't find a buyer who could put them to any water-borne use, so we sold them for $200,000.

Could be worse. The state ferry system could have sold them to some guy who claimed he could rehab them and turn them into tourist attractions in Commencement Bay.

WSDOT Ferries Division sells Steel Electric class vessels to California recycler

SEATTLE – Washington State Department of Transportation Ferries Division (WSF) has sold four 1927-built Steel Electric class vessels to Eco Planet Recycling, Inc. of Chula Vista, Calif. The total combined sale price for all four ferries is $200,000.

The Washington State Department of General Administration approved the sale on Wednesday, June 17 followed by completion of the signature process on Thursday, June 18. Receipt of the payment was confirmed late on Friday, June 19.

=> Read more!

Vitamin E (for Education) is a term coined by state Rep. Larry Seaquist, D-Gig Harbor. He said it refers to the "next step" in education, beyond House Bill 2261, the ed reform measure that passed this session.

Seaquist said he voted against HB 2261 -- not because he opposed it but because it didn't go far enough. He said he brought together a groups of teachers, parents, union folks, special ed workers, etc. a few weeks ago in Bremerton and has more meetings planned over the legislative interim.

Anyway, the 26th Legislative District Democrats have a slew of folks on tap for their July 7 meeting.

The 26 Legislative District Democrats are pleased to announce their upcoming General Meeting Tuesday July 7th at 7 PM. The location is Givens Community Center, Kitsap Room, 1026 Sidney Ave. Port Orchard WA. 98366. The outstanding lineup of speakers including Andrew Morrison potential Candidate for 26th Representative running against Jan Angel, Julie Anderson candidate Pierce County Auditor, Fred Chang for Port Orchard City Council, , Representative Larry Seaquist on Vitamin E (bill to restructure education in Washington State), and Rodger Zabinski candidate for the Port of Bremerton.

The meeting is free and the general public is welcome. For more information call Chairman Mark Brown at 360-895-6033.

Sincerely,
Mark Brown
26th LD Democratic Chair

Professional initiative promoter Tim Eyman is offering his followers bobble-head dolls (of him, or course) as incentives to get more signatures on the home stretch. He correctly points out that his may be the only measure to make it onto the November ballot.

The bobbleheads aren't free, by the way. (I wonder if I should get one for Sen. Adam Kline? I'll bet the anti-Eyman would just love a memento of the campaign.)

Eyman writes, "We ordered a few more "Super Eyman" bobbleheads as a fun way to inspire more June donations to I-1033. Send me an email (tim_eyman@comcast.net) and make me an offer (100% of the proceeds go to I-1033 -- we really need the $$$) -- it's a great conversation starter, a unique gift, and a neat memento from this year's campaign."

Here's part of an e-mail he sent to supporters today:

RE: We've hit 270,000 signatures for I-1033 -- need at least 22,000 more before July 2 deadline -- difficult, but doable.

Over the weekend, we reached a major milestone in the signature drive for the Lower Property Taxes Initiative I-1033. Jack and Mike worked all weekend in Spokane to fully review and process all the petitions we've received so far. Late last night they reported that we've hit 270,000 signatures (270,055 to be exact). We need at least 22,000 more in the next 11 days to make it.

Difficult, but doable. Working together, we can do this.

It's clear that we're going to need every single one of those 11 days so we've made an appointment with the Secretary of State to turn in our petitions on the last day which is Thursday, July 2nd. The media has reported that we're the only initiative that's got a shot at qualifying for the ballot.

=> Read more!

In May Tacoma’s general fund was $7.1 million lower than what was budgeted. By June that grew to $11.1 million, threatening to eclipse nearly $12 million in cuts the city is already undertaking.

Curious about how concerned residents should be, I sat down last Friday with Tacoma City Manager Eric Anderson to talk about the numbers.

His short answer was that the city isn’t where it wanted or hoped to be, but we’re not to the point where more drastic measures, like reductions in city services, or furloughs or layoffs of city employees are necessary.

Anderson previously recommended battening down the hatches with $11.7 million in spending cuts, realized throughout 2009 and 2010. They include measures such as not filling vacant staff positions, reducing travel and training, postponing purchases and cutting back on subscriptions.

These cuts would be made under a four-tiered plan that ranges from quick, easy items to Level 4 - a " Katie- bar-the- door Great Depression."

I asked him if there was a number that residents should be looking for, a level of shortfall that would indicate things have really gone off the rails.

“It isn’t that easy,” he said, noting that an $11 million shortfall is only 2.5 percent of the $440 million fund. “It’s a lot of money but it’s a big system.”

There are a few other things that residents should understand about the general fund, Anderson said.

First, the taxes that feed the general fund over the biennium don’t come in via 24 equal installments. Property tax comes in lumpy disbursements and sales tax collections tends to be highest around the holiday shopping season.

Second, the city is operating on a two-year plan based on economic forecasts that expect a steady decline until the end of the year and then an economic upswing in 2010. (See sketch.)

After June’s numbers come in, Anderson will be making a report to the City Council about where he thinks things stand and how the city might react.

I also asked him about the $12 million in cuts that were already being made and whether city could make them without affecting service. Anderson said it could. So why weren't we taking advantage of those savings previously?

Anderson’s answer was basically in the financial crisis has forced the city to find new efficiencies and new ways of doing things.

“It doesn’t mean we’re less effective,” he said. “It means we evolve over time.”

Scott Noble was sentenced today. He resigned yesterday.

Rob McKenna
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF WASHINGTON
1125 Washington Street SE · PO Box 40100 · Olympia WA 98504-0100

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 19, 2009

Former King County Assessor sentenced to eight months for drunk driving crash

SEATTLE—Today in King County Superior Court, former King County Assessor Russell Scott Noble was sentenced to eight months in jail after pleading guilty to one count of felony vehicular assault in a drunken crash that injured him and two others on Jan. 18.

The standard sentencing range for this crime is three to nine months in jail. The Attorney General’s Office recommended the maximum.

“This sentence demonstrates that driving drunk is a serious crime that cannot be tolerated,” Attorney General Rob McKenna said. “Mr. Noble could have easily killed himself and the two victims in the other car due to his poor judgment. Today’s penalty reflects the seriousness of his crime and I hope it brings closure to both him and his victims.”

Noble resigned as assessor Thursday. Per state law governing elected officials convicted of felony crimes, Noble will not be eligible for public office in the future.

When I was out at Fort Nisqually a few weeks ago to see the new/old buildings (don't forget the dedication and celebration Saturday from 11 to 5), I was talking with park district historian Melissa McGinnis. The last time we'd worked together was when Wright Park was being renovated and the subject of missing items came up.

One is a water fountain dedicated to missionary Narcissa Whitman. It featured a Grecian figure holding water vessels. The cast iron statue disappeared in the 60s.

What other lost artifacts might be out there somewhere? I put together a list that will appear Sunday in the News Tribune and on thenewstribune.com. Some of the other items are the Fun Circus sign, the tribal petroglyph and the Fern Hill School cupola.

What would you add to the list?

This has been a busy Friday for Gov. Chris Gregoire, as far as announcements and appointments, etc.

Lorraine Lee of Federal Way is moving from the top job at the Washington Liquor Control Board (chairwoman) to top administrative law judge, one of Gregoire's "small cabinet" posts. The salary isn't small: $110,000 a year.

I think this is the job that my former next-door neighbor, Art Wang, once held.

Further down, you'll see a copy of an e-mail that Lee sent to a bunch of Liquor Board stakeholders. The Liquor Board is undergoing some changes, too. They didn't dodge the bullet, as the Fish and Wildlife Commission did.

Gov. Gregoire announces appointment of new administrative law judge

OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire today named Lorraine Lee as chief administrative law judge at the Washington State Office of Administrative Hearings.

“Lorraine’s career in both law and state government is extensive and distinguished,” Gregoire said. “This position requires an excellent grasp of the legal system as well as familiarity with state agencies. Lorraine’s experience as an attorney, public servant and manager makes her an exceptional fit for this position.”

=> Read more!

The Fish and Wildlife Commission has had vacancies for a long time. And this past session, there were proposals to either shrink or neuter the commission. Those failed.

There's still a vacancy at the top. The agency's executive director left, and it wasn't all his own idea.

There's at least one familiar name here: Rollie Schmitten. He used to be director of the Washington State Department of Fisheries. That was before it was combined with the Game Department.

Gov. Gregoire appoints members to Fish and Wildlife Commission

OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire today announced the appointments of David Jennings, Rollie Schmitten and Dr. Brad Smith to the Fish and Wildlife Commission.

“I am pleased to welcome these exceptional members to the Fish and Wildlife Commission,” Gregoire said. “I know each brings the specialized knowledge necessary to best protect our natural habitat and wildlife. I am also confident that these commissioners will work diligently to select the most qualified person to lead the department.”

=> Read more!

In fact, Pierce Transit got the lion's share of this latest batch of federal funding for mass transit projects in Washington. (That includes ferries, by the way.)

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., actually oversees a committee that is of some value to the state, given all of our transportation projects. She is chairwoman of the Senate Transportation and Housing Appropriations Subcommittee.

The money for Pierce Transit will pay for 6 buses and it appears there also will be some machinery to for the compressed natural gas, which is what the buses run on.

UPDATE: (2:08 p.m.) Lars Erickson at Pierce Transit sent me a note to correct a few things in my original post. First, PT is buying nine buses, not six. They will be deisel-electric buses, not compressed natural gas. Right now, PT's entire fleet on fixed bus routes -- 174 buses -- are natural gas. Read his e-mail below.

Hey Joe-

I wanted to touch base with you about your posting this morning regarding Senator Murray’s mass transit ARRA announcement. A couple of clarifications about PT’s portion.

We are actually not planning to procure Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses with ARRA funds. In fact, we are making an effort to diversify our fleet with nine diesel-electric hybrid buses (approx $5.4 million). As with CNG, diesel-electric hybrid buses also are considerable carbon emission reducers.

Approximately $1.6 million is for a CNG compressor and an emergency power generator for our operations base.

Finally, $4.4 million is for preventative maintenance.

Let me know if you have any questions about PT’s portion.

Thanks,
Lars

Here is Murray's news release:

=> Read more!

Yesterday I posted a copy of a new report on Pierce County Sheriff’s Department workload and staffing prepared by the County Council’s performance audit staff. Using budget, crime rate and other data, the report concluded the department’s staffing and workload weren’t out of line with other departments in Western Washington and in Pierce County. The report also recommended a more detailed analysis and said better performance measures are needed to determine if the sheriff’s department is using its resources efficiently.

I spoke with Sheriff Paul Pastor about it yesterday. He doesn’t

think much of the report.

“I’m really disappointed by the analysis,” Pastor said. “It seemed to me to be more focused on making a political point.”

When I asked the sheriff what political point he thought the report was trying to make, he backed away from that assertion. But he complained he didn’t get a copy of the report until the day it was released at a May 28 council committee hearing.

For years Pastor has said his department is understaffed and overworked. He cites a 2001 performance audit by an independent analyst that recommended the department hire 58 deputies to boost its patrol operations.

The new report found that staffing more than kept pace with the most serious crimes and calls for service from 2004 to 2008. But Pastor’s thinking goes like this: If you started with a 58-deputy “deficit” in 2001 and you’ve just been keeping up with demand since then, you still have a big deficit in the number of sheriff’s deputies needed to patrol the county and respond to calls.

Pastor said he wants to work with the council and performance auditors to ensure the department runs efficiently. He said he’s already devising new performance measures as he prepares his 2010 budget.

“I believe we are not as well resourced as we need to be,” the sheriff said. “That still means we should work very hard to do everything we can with every increment of resources we’re given.”

The King County Council notified us reporters a few minutes ago that chairman Dow Constantine's office, at close of business today, was notified by King County Assessor Scott Noble that he has resigned.

Here's the letter of resignation.

Noble pleaded guilty to drunk driving last month and is scheduled for sentencing tomorrow.

This is a follow-up to my earlier post-story on the state revenue forecast. Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget office sent out the actual text of the letter she sent to state agency directors and college presidents, etc.

I'm still wondering why the Legislature imposed a hiring and out-of-state travel freeze back in February, but set it to expire on June 30. Why would they do that?

Anyway, The Guv is asking her agencies to voluntarily continue that.

June 18, 2009

TO: Statewide Elected Officials
Agency Directors
Presidents of Higher Education Institutions
State Boards and Commissions

FROM: Christine O. Gregoire, Governor
SUBJECT: Additional Budget Savings

On June 18th, the Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council announced an additional reduction to the General Fund State revenue forecast. Although there are encouraging signs in the national and state economy, the size of the revenue reduction necessitates quick action to curb spending in the 2009-11 biennial budget.

Therefore, I am imposing a hiring cap on executive agencies equal to a 2 percent reduction in their 2009-11 General Fund, budgeted, full time equivalent (FTE) levels and I ask agencies to take additional spending reductions. Implementation instructions will be communicated by the Office of Financial Management before July 1.

=> Read more!

This may not make anyone forget U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott's office manager and her "Don't call me, Liz" e-mail tirade, but maybe it will take some of the heat off her.

Here's another Politico blog posting that will entertain you.

(Sorry, you'll have to listen to a 15-second Applebee's commerical, but it's worth the wait.)

From time to time, I have encountered a legislative committee chairwoman who prefers to be called "chairman." Our journalistic style rule is, if you know the gender, use it. It's more specific. And we hate, "chair person."

--Joseph (Don't Call me 'Joey') Turner

A couple days ago I posted an item that said there was a bill working its way through Congress that would let public transit agencies spend some of their federal stimulus money on bus driver salaries instead of just buses.

This news release from U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington provides a bit more detail. They could use as much as 10 percent of their federal stimulus on operating expenses.

Many transit agencies across the country have been planning lay-offs, staff furloughs, and significant service cuts because of the strain on their budgets. Senator Murray’s language, will allow these agencies to use up to 10% of the $6.9 billion in formula grant funding received under the Recovery Act for operating costs.

Senator Murray has heard from transit agencies across the country who need support to cover costs and protect against cuts, including Pierce County Transit whose CEO reacted to today’s news:

“The inclusion of this amendment will allow Pierce Transit to keep valuable service on the street and jobs in our community, while addressing a 15 percent (nearly $10 million) decline in revenue,” said Lynne Griffith, CEO of Pierce Transit.

Here's the full news release from Murray:

=> Read more!

Here's the story I wrote for Friday's paper. Here is the revenue report.

Also, here is a follow-up posting that shows the letter the governor wrote to her cabinet and others, telling them to cut their payrolls by the equivalent of 2 percent.

And below my story are news releases from Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget office, and from Sen. Joe Zarelli, top Republican on the forecast council. I'll post other viewpoints below them as they come in.

BY Joseph Turner
The News Tribune

Gov. Chris Gregoire plans to order another round of state government spending cuts after Thursday’s revenue forecast showed the state will almost run out of money by mid-2011 unless those cuts are made.

Arun Raha, Washington’s chief economist and chairman of the state Economic and Revenue Forecast Council, said he now expects tax collections over the next 25 months will be $487 million lower than what Raha predicted back in March.

The bottom line: Without any changes to state spending, the state’s main checking account will have negative balance of $194.5 million). There still would be $247 million in an emergency savings account, so overall the state budget would be a positive $53 million.

That’s not much considering the state expects to collect $29.83 billion in taxes for its general fund between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2011.

=> Read more!

For years Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor has been saying his department is understaffed and overworked (see, for example, this story, where the sheriff says his department is “staffed on a razor’s edge”).

But a new report by the County Council’s performance audit staff suggests the sheriff’s department’s staffing and workload aren’t out of line when compared to other agencies and given crime rates in recent years.

I’m writing about the report for an article this weekend. But you can download a PDF copy here.

Some key findings:

• Staffing more than kept pace with workload increases from 2004 to 2008. The number of deputies has grown at a faster rate than the number of the most serious crimes and calls for service, the report found. Response times to the most serious calls for service have remained relatively steady. The sheriff’s department has received a growing proportion of the county’s general fund budget.

• Pierce County sheriff’s staffing and workload are similar to those in other county and city law enforcement agencies. The number of commissioned officers per 1,000 residents in the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department is consistent with other Western Washington counties, the report found. The county has fewer sworn officers per 1,000 residents than the cities of Tacoma, Lakewood and Puyallup; however, the county has a much lower rate of the most serious crimes than those jurisdictions.

• More detailed performance measures are needed to better assess department staffing, workload and efficiency.

• The report recommends a detailed workload analysis of sheriff’s department next year. It recommends the county contract with a firm with expertise in law enforcement issues.

The report comes with plenty of caveats. But it seems to support the suspicions of some on the County Council that the sheriff’s department could make better use of available resources. A key point of contention: the council wants the sheriff to staff a popular neighborhood patrol deputies program, but the sheriff has reassigned some of those deputies to regular patrol jobs.

I’ve got a call in to the sheriff to get his take on the report. He recently told the council’s performance audit committee that he hadn’t had a chance to read it.

Update: You can read the sheriff's response to the report here.

There goes the cop-versus-cop race in the 8th Congressional District, where the incumbent is former King County Sheriff Dave Reichert. He now goes by "U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert."

Anyway, Rep. Chris Hurst, D-Enumclaw (or Greenwater), former commander of the Black Diamond Police Department, called to say he won't be running for Congress this next time around. Apparently, others have tried to recruit him to take on Reichert.

Hurst said he's got a chairmanship in the state House of Representatives, so he's happy as a clam. He and his wife are off to Africa in two weeks to climb mountains.

So, breathe easy, Sheriff.

On the other hand, after state Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Mercer Island, realizes he doesn't really want to be King County executive, (losing is one path to reality) he may jump back into the congressional race. Methinks he might just be name-building right now, anyway.

Carol Moser is a Richland City Councilwoman who ran for the Legislature in District 8 in Benton County this past fall as a Democrat, but lost to Rep. Brad Klippert, who is a sheriff's deputy.

Carol Moser elected as State Transportation Commission Chair

OLYMPIA – Richland’s Carol Moser has been elected to serve as Chair of the Washington State Transportation Commission. Member Bob Distler, who is from the San Juan Islands, will serve as Vice-chair. Commission members elect new officers every year; their terms become effective on July 1.

Moser has been a member of the Transportation Commission since 2006. She brings a local government perspective to the Commission having served for 10 years on the Richland City Council. She has also served on a variety of transportation boards including the Freight Mobility Strategic Investment Board, Board of Directors for the Association of Washington Cities, Ben-Franklin Transit Board of Directors, Benton-Franklin Council of Governments, and is currently Chair of the Governor’s State Aviation Planning Council.

Distler came to the Commission in 2005 with an economics background and a career spanning several areas of transportation management – marketing, planning, operations, and government and industry affairs. Since moving to Orcas Island in 1972, Distler’s volunteer efforts have focused on transportation and growth management issues involving Washington State Ferries and San Juan County.

The Washington State Transportation Commission is an independent state agency that provides a public forum for transportation policy development. It reviews and evaluates how the entire transportation system works across the state and issues the state’s 20-year Transportation Plan. As the State Tolling Authority, the Commission sets tolls for state highways and bridges and fares for Washington State Ferries. The seven-member board is comprised of private citizens who are appointed by the Governor for six-year terms.

I'm sure my Olympian colleagues will have more on this later, but this is the breaking news. Maybe I can come up with some examples of non-monetary gains by the union.

If you'll recall, the unions lost out on their 2 percent pay raises for each of the next 2 years after the governor's office said the state couldn't afford to pay for the contracts. So the union (after first suing, then dropping their lawsuit) went back to the bargaining table, essentially to say "Then what can you give us instead of money?"

This new deal gives them something else, but I don't know yet.

FROM: WASHINGTON FEDERATION OF STATE EMPLOYEES
CONTRACT COVERING 30,000 STATE EMPLOYEES RATIFIED

The re-negotiated contract covering 30,000 state employees has been ratified by General Government members of the Washington Federation of State Employees.

The vote was 3,884 to ratify and 369 to reject.

The contract takes effect July 1. It runs until June 30, 2011.

The WFSE/AFSCME General Government contract covers the largest single group of state employees. Contracts at several higher education campuses have also been ratified: Eastern Washington University, Everett Community College, Western Washington Univesity and UW Police Management. Mail-in ballots for 11 other community colleges, The Evergreen State College and Washington State University will be counted next. The University of Washington contract is in mediation.

=> Read more!

Our former political reporter Ken Vogel sends this along from his new employer, Politico.

It relates how an aide to U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott dealt with someone who inadvertently addressed her as Liz instead of the required Elizabeth.

I could go on but I don't want to spoil the full effect of the item here.

It looks like Centro Latino won’t get money from Pierce County any time soon.

On Tuesday the County Council narrowly rejected a measure that would have released nearly $20,000 to the nonprofit group, which provides job training and other services to the local Latino community.

In November the council froze nearly $30,000 in funding for Centro Latino that was included in the county’s 2009 budget. The move came in the wake of a lawsuit filed by the nonprofit’s former director, who claimed she was wrongfully fired when she questioned improper behavior by a board member. The lawsuit is scheduled for trial in November.

In freezing the money, council members said they wanted to make sure it was spent wisely. Since then, county budget cuts have reduced the money set aside for Centro Latino to $19,259.

Last month it appeared the council was inclined to release the money. Centro Latino officials addressed the council’s rules committee and said the director’s accusations were unfounded. The committee approved a resolution releasing the money.

But yesterday a majority of the council voted against releasing the money.

=> Read more!

This afternoon the Pierce County Council voted to cut spending $2.8 million as it tries to balance the county’s budget. Here’s what you need to know.

The problem: The economic recession has adversely affected sales taxes, planning fees and other sources of county income. That’s left an $8 million shortfall in the county’s $281 million general fund.

Spending cuts: The council approved spending cuts of 1.25 percent for most county departments. The sheriff’s department and the prosecuting attorney’s office will take smaller hits. The planning department will take a bigger hit.

The measure approved today also boosts spending in some areas. For example, the council will spend an extra $694,130 to address several problems that have arisen during the construction of the Foothills Trail from Buckley to South Prairie.

Other savings: To balance the budget, the county also will rely on pension savings and reduced payments to internal funds that pay for self-insurance and other services.

Another hit: It’s the second time this year the council has had to cut spending and make other adjustments to balance the budget. In March it plugged another $8 million hole in the general fund, which helps pay for law enforcement and other basic county services.

More to come: County officials hope this will be the last round of spending reductions in 2009. But more cuts are expected as the county prepares its 2010 budget.

These cameras will help, but I sure wish they had another camera, just south of the Nisqually River Bridge, around the corner so it would show the northbound traffic up the hill to the plateau for the afternoon commute.

The frequency of traffic accidents along I-5 and miles-long backups is definitely on the rise.

UPDATE: Turns out DOT already has a camera at Nisqually. My bad.

New Olympia online traffic cameras go live

Thurston County Traffic News e-mail alerts now available

OLYMPIA – WSDOT turned on several new traffic cameras in the Olympia area this week, providing Thurston County drivers with new tools to plan their commutes.

Four of the new cameras are on I-5 at Custer Way, Eastside Street, Sleater-Kinney Road and Martin Way. The other three cameras are located on surface streets at the intersections of Union Avenue and Plum Street, Martin Way and Sleater-Kinney, and Martin Way and College Street.

The new cameras are available on WSDOT’s Olympia area traffic flow map: www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/olympia/.

Thurston County e-mail alerts

Motorists who would like to receive e-mail alerts about upcoming maintenance- and construction-related traffic impacts can sign up on WSDOT’s Web site at www.wsdot.wa.gov/. In the upper right-hand corner of the page, click on E-mail updates. Enter your e-mail address then find “Thurston County Traffic News” on the list of available e-mail alert services.

The ongoing legal battle between the Town of Ruston and the Point Defiance Café and Casino has taken an interesting turn in recent court filings.

In a case of dueling motions for summary judgment – asking a judge to settle the issue without a full trial – the town and casino are squaring off over whether the courts have the right to interfere in the town’s internal legislative process.

The two parties are battling over whether Ruston officials failed to follow their own procedures when they voted to raise gambling taxes on the casino, which was the only affected business and already paid the highest taxes of any business in town.

The facts of what happened aren’t being debated, only their interpretation.

“As regards Plaintiffs’ ‘failure to follow rules of procedure’ theory, the Town admits Plaintiffs’ factual allegations in support thereof...” reads the motion filed on June 5 by Ruston’s attorney, David Britton. However, based a recent state Supreme Court ruling, the town is arguing that the separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branches prevents the courts even taking up the matter.

Called for comment, Britton said, “The motions speak for themselves. My policy is not to comment on ongoing litigation.”

Joan Mell, the attorney representing casino owner Steve Fabre, argues in a counter motion that the Supreme Court case doesn’t really apply and asks Pierce County Superior Court Judge Vicki Hogan to rule against the town.

“What they’re basically saying is, ‘We can do whatever we want to do, whenever we want to do it,’” she said Monday.

=> Read more!

That's essentially what state Auditor Brian Sonntag, through an agency spokeswoman, said about his April 24 trip to Dallas, Texas to speak to the Association of Government Accountants.

He spent $1,273.45 of taxpayer money to do so. And he didn't ask for permission from Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget office.

Kara Klotz, who's filling in for Auditor's office chief spokeswoman Mindy Chambers, said Sonntag made the commitment to speak at the event back in 2008 and he felt obliged to follow through in 2009.

She said Sonntag contends that because he is a separately elected state official, he doesn't have to "get approval from the governor's office" for out-of-state travel.

The governor's budget office thinks otherwise.

"If the travel took place before the Legislature passed their freeze, then he would be correct, as the Gov's freeze was not mandatory for separately electeds," Glenn Kuper, spokesman for Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget office, said in an e-mail earlier today. "If it was after the law was passed and signed, then we believe he is covered by the provisions."

The law took effect Feb. 18. Sonntag's trip was April 24. Looks as if Sonntage should have asked for permission.

Here's what the law says: (Section 9 of SB 5460): "State agencies of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches shall not make expenditures for the cost or reimbursement of out-of-state travel or out-of-state training by state employees where the travel or training is not related to (1) an emergency or other catastrophic event that requires government action to protect life or public safety, or
(2) direct service delivery, and the travel or training occurs after the effective date of this section and before July 1, 2009."

Is the auditor's office a state agency? I think so.

Here's the item I posted back in April on Sonntag's trip to Dallas.

I'm reminded of the outrage Sonntag expressed when the Legislature passed a budget that took about $16 million of the $26 million he wanted to spend to conduct performance audits over the next couple years. (The Guv gave some of it back to him, with conditions, sorta. We'll see what the Legislature does in the supplemental budget next January.)

I wonder if the lawmakers who voted to impose the travel freeze on state workers will ask him about the $407 for the hotel room, the $192 per diem for meals, the $288 for the rental car, the $314 for airfare or the $72 for airport parking.

What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. And I'm thinkin' that particular expenditure would be disallowed if there were an audit of the Auditor.

That's the word out of Washington, D.C., where a group that represents a bunch of transportation unions sent out word that Congress might relax its initial set of rules for the economic stimulus funding in a supplemental budget.

As it stands now, they can buy more buses with the money, but they can't use it to pay salaries of bus drivers.

"New buses aren’t going to expand capacity if there are no employees to drive them." says Edward Wytkind, president of the union group. "The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act initially offered funds only for capital projects."

I don't know yet how this might affect local transit agencies -- Pierce, King County Metro, Inter-City.

Here's the rest of his news release.

Congress to Vote on Giving Transit Agencies Flexibility to Use Stimulus Funds for Operating Expenses in Supplemental Bill

=> Read more!

Tim Eyman alerted me and his "thousands of supporters" of this change, which gives initiative promoters one less day to gather signatures.

David Ammons, chief spokesman for Secretary of State Sam Reed, confirmed it.

Yes, they’ve sent out a memo to sponsors saying the deadline is July 2, because Friday, July 3, is a state holiday since the 4th falls on the Saturday this year. State offices will be closed that day, and the attorney general’s office told the Elections Division recently that the submission deadline is July 2.

Best,
David Ammons
Communications Director
Office of Secretary of State

Here's the word from Eyman...

=> Read more!

This was the $200,000 after-thought for the new bridge. DOT officials decided about a year after the bridge opened they should build barriers to keep cars from careening across the plazas into on-coming traffic.

Editor's note: The attached photo shows the crossover barrier located on the east end of the Tacoma Narrows Bridges.

Tacoma Narrows Bridge median-barrier installation complete

TACOMA - Sumner-based Petersen Brothers, Inc., completed installation today of State Route 16 median barriers on the Tacoma and Gig Harbor ends of the two Tacoma Narrows bridges.

"The new bridge continues to be an enormous success in terms of congestion relief and safety," said Kevin Dayton, WSDOT Olympic Region Administrator. "These median barriers enhance that level of safety for motorists approaching the bridges."

Installation of the barriers is one of the final work items of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge project. Since the second bridge opened two years ago, safety and travel times have improved significantly. These new barriers reduce the likelihood that vehicles approaching the bridge will cross into oncoming traffic, while still allowing a U-turn route for emergency vehicles.

The barriers, installed for about $199,000, can be moved to divert traffic from one bridge to another in the event of a major blocking collision or bridge closure.

This program doesn't get a lot of attention, so when I got the news release from the Higher Education Coordinating Board I figured I'd shine a light on it in the blog. Some 22,000 kids have signed up so far.

The College Bound program tries to get low-income students to take a pledge that they will work hard in school, stay out of trouble and after they graduate from high school they will enroll in a college, university or trade school. If they do all that and are still low-income, the state will give them what amounts to a free ride, kinda like what top athletes get.

June 30 is the deadline to sign up.

College Bound Scholarship signups surge as June 30 deadline nears

OLYMPIA – Low-income middle school students are signing up by the thousands to take advantage of the College Bound Scholarship program before a June 30 deadline passes for eighth and ninth graders to maintain eligibility for the program.

=> Read more!

Plus the cost of fuel. It will come out to about $3.6 million for the upcoming fiscal year, July 1 through June 30, 2010.

I'm reminded of the $59-an-hour that Narrows Bridge tollpayers were paying to have those tow trucks on standby at the new bridge just in case anyone got disabled anywhere along the Highway 16 corridor between Olympic Drive and the Nalley Valley Viaduct. (That practice eventually was discontinued.)

So too, the standby tug on Neah Bay will be paid for by someone else after this final contract, according to the state Department of Ecology.

The state-funded tug has been deployed 42 times since 1999 to prevent disabled ships and barges from drifting onto rocks and causing oil spills in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and outer coast.

On March 24, Gov. Chris Gregoire signed legislation shifting funding responsibility for the tug from the state to the maritime industry beginning July 1, 2010.

Here is the full news release from DOE:

Ecology awards final contract for publicly-funded Neah Bay tug

=> Read more!

It wasn't too long ago that I wrote about how Tacoma's general fund was $7.1 million under where the city had budgeted to be.

The latest report says the shortfall has grown to $11.1 million. (Thanks for birddogging that govwatcher.)

The city was already trimming its sails by not quite $12 million to make up for the shortfall -- but as you can see, the shortfall could soon eclipse the cuts... meaning Tacoma looks it might be heading for new cuts that could actually having significant impacts to city services.

Just a heads up -- I'm going to be following up with city officials about the state of things in the near future.

If you'll recall from previous posts, the state's chief economist, Arun Raha, has said he expects unemployment to peak at about 10 percent next year.

Washington’s unemployment rate up in May

OLYMPIA –Washington’s unemployment rate rose to 9.4 percent in May, tying the U.S. unemployment rate, according to the state Employment Security Department.

The state’s employers eliminated another 6,700 nonfarm jobs, which contributed to the increase in the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate from April’s revised rate of 9 percent.

“The economic numbers are volatile right now, and at times contradictory,” said Dr. Greg Weeks, who heads Employment Security’s labor-market information office. “The recession has been deep and wide, and we’re likely to see ups and downs for awhile.”

=> Read more!

Kitsap Transit said it got a better deal from a local dealer than it would have if the agency had piggy-backed onto the state vehicle-buying contract.

Still, one wonders why there was only 1 bid after 7 dealers inquired, given the state of the automobile industry.

Kitsap Transit Press Release
For more information, contact Cathie Knox-Browning at ktexecutive@kitsaptransit.com

NEW VANPOOL VANS A WIN ON FOUR FRONTS
Kitsap Transit has engineered a win-win for both the local economy and its battered budget by using federal stimulus funds to buy a large group of vans from a local dealer.

In April, the Transit Board approved the purchase of 31 vans from Bay Ford of Port Orchard for $844,263 after giving agency staff the go-ahead to try and best the prices found on the state list for vanpools. Traditionally, the state list boasts the best price for public-agency equipment purchases.

The vans will be used to replace worn-out vans in the agency's Rideshare or vanpool program and for new vanpools.

Earlier this year, KT was awarded $1,890,493 in federal stimulus funds for the replacement of the agency's older, high-mileage Rideshare vans. After looking at van prices on the state list, KT staff asked the Board for permission to conduct a competitive bid, suspecting that they could do better given the changing automotive sales scene.

=> Read more!

Washington state Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Des Moines, is flying to Washington, D.C. Tuesday for a Capitol Hill press conference and a White House meeting with U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius on Wednesday. Keiser's folks said today.

Keiser, chairwoman of the Senate Health and Long-term Care Commitee, is the majority Senate Democrats' lead on all thing health care.

From Keiser's people:

The press conference is scheduled to be hosted by (U.S. Sen.) Tom Harkin of Iowa and attended by a delegation of lawmakers, including Sen. Keiser. A letter from more than 500 state legislators from 45 states — including 27 from Washington — will be read urging the Obama Administration and Congress to enact comprehensive health care reform within the year. Lawmakers want a public plan option, affordability protections, and shared responsibility for health care costs included in the final bill.

Earlier today, I listened to most of President Barack Obama's address to a bunch of doctors about his ideas for health care reform. He was live on CNBC, the channel that keeps track of my 401K for me. Anyway, so I have an idea of what Keiser, et. al. will be doing on Wednesday.

Gov. Chris Gregoire announced today how more than $65 million in federal stimulus funds for clean water project.

Here's what Tacoma's getting:

· Tacoma’s stormwater treatment retrofit project will receive more than $1.8 million. The “green” infrastructure project aims to reduce pollution from stormwater runoff.

The full press release is after the jump.

=> Read more!

And it's only a hop, skip and a jump across the Columbia River for an Oregon law to start working its way into the Revised Code of Washington.

(On the other hand, House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, may be Tim Eyman's best friend when it comes to initiative law. They share a grassroots background. Of course, that was before each of them -- in his own way -- turned pro.)

I'm not trying to suggest that Eyman's paid signature-gatherers are crooks. In fact, Roy, one of Eyman's main men, is a former Alaska cop, as I recall. But every session of the Washington Legislature there are more and more proposals to somehow make it difficult for the public to put things onto the ballot. Many of them die in the House Rules Committee. (I suspect Chopp has a hand it their deaths.)

I have to note one more thing about the news release from the Oregon Secretary of State's office. The main flack is Don Hamilton, a former Oregonian reporter. Just like Dave Ammons at the Washington SecState office. Hamilton used to cover the Washington Legislature, too. (Thanks to Ammons for forwarding Hamilton's news release.)

June 15, 2009
Contact: Don Hamilton

Initiative Reform Plan Wins Final OK
Secretary of State Kate Brown says new laws will improve the system

SALEM -- Oregon’s initiative system will be more fair, more effective and will regain public confidence under a package of reforms on its way to the governor’s desk, Secretary of State Kate Brown said Friday.

=> Read more!

Admittedly, this is a lopsided story. But I couldn't get a return phone call from the Powerball folks.

Here's a link to Powerball. I left a couple voice mail messages for Doug Orr, the Multi State Lottery Association marketing director, and a third message with the MUSL CFO. But no word back yet from either of them.

UPDATE (4:12 p.m.) (That's 6:12 p.m. Central Time) Still no return call from the Powerball folks.

Here's the story that will run in Tuesday's print edition of The News Tribune. And below that are a news release from the Washington Lottery and a column written by The News Tribune columnist Peter Callaghan on the topic. It ran about a month ago. Peter took issue with the lottery's seat-of-the-pants estimates.

BY Joseph Turner
The News Tribune

Washington has been blackballed by Powerball.

The 30-state consortium that runs Powerball, the nation’s largest lottery game, notified Washington State Lottery officials late last month that Powerball tickets cannot be sold in any of the states that are part of the rival Mega Millions lottery game.

=> Read more!

This week's oral arguments in Federal Way School District v. State of Washington were about one issue – whether the fact that some districts get more state money than other districts is constitutional.

But just below the surface was a bigger issue – whether the state is meeting its constitutional duty to make "ample provision for the education of all children." Lower courts said this case isn't about adequacy, just fair distribution. But the lawyers last week kept coming back to whether districts get enough to do the job.

Here are the briefs in the case. (Put case number 80943-7 in the search window)

TVW has video of the arguments here.

I take a look at the oral arguments and the underlying issues – both legal and political – in my column Sunday.

Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy chatted with

Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday about the federal government’s efforts to stimulate the economy.

McCarthy was one of six local officials who spoke with the vice president during a conference call (here’s the list of the participants). McCarthy said it was part of Biden’s ongoing efforts to monitor how the economic stimulus effort is working and whether it needs a tweak.

“Biden said this is on his watch,” McCarthy said. “He feels strongly that he is accountable to the public and the president that we do the right thing with these stimulus dollars.”

Earlier this year Congress approved $787 billion in spending on public works projects and other priorities to create and save jobs. Among other things, the package includes $18.6 million for road work and $17.3 million for transit projects in Pierce County.

Biden asked McCarthy and the other local officials whether the federal effort has been effective. McCarthy delivered a mostly positive assessment.

She said the spending plan for transportation projects has been “really well done” in Washington state. Though local agencies haven’t received the money yet, McCarthy said there’s a project list and a timeline for the work. She said using an existing agency – in this case, the Puget Sound Regional Council – to divvy up the money helped speed the process.

=> Read more!

A Tacoma City Council subcommittee moved forward Thursday afternoon with updates to the municipal code that pave the way for the city to conduct a pilot project to test a speed camera.

The effort, which is also happening in Seattle, would give the state legislature data to make decisions about wider implementation of speed cameras, officials said.

The city had the option of selecting a single fixed camera or a roving one, but opted for the fixed camera for logistical simplicity, Tacoma Police Lt. Pete Cribbin told the Public Safety, Human Services and Education Committee.

If the council approves the changes, the camera would be placed in an area near the Emerald Queen Casino known as the "Bay Street Curve." The spot is very difficult to enforce with motorcycle officers, Cribbin said, and saw about 125 crashes over the course of a year.

=> Read more!

Thursday afternoon's Tacoma City Council public safety subcommittee meeting offered a perfect example of how efforts to regulate bad behavior on the part of some can, at least on paper, turn otherwise law-abiding citizens into criminals.

Councilman Mike Lonergan was quick to seize on this and recommended changes to a proposed ordinance to remove that effect.

The ordinance in question deals with the "human habitation of vehicles."

As Assistant Police Chief Bob Sheehan and other officers told the committee, it was an attempt to deal with squatters, drifters, drug users and other riffraff who pull into neighborhoods, often in RVs, and create trouble, malodor and crime.

"(Heretofore) we used notice of violation letters and did a lot of bluffing," Sheehan said.

The new ordinance would require RV owners parking for more than four hours to obtain a $10 permit from the city. The permit would last seven days and only one could be obtained in any given year. Nor would one be allowed to get a second permit for a different location.

Enter Mike Lonergan.

=> Read more!

Looks like Minneapolis voters will become the next to give ranked choice voting a try.

The Minnesota Supreme Court today cleared the way for the new voting system in Minneapolis. You can read about it here.

The move comes eight months after Pierce County voters got their first taste of ranked choice voting – and about five months before county voters decide whether they want to keep the new system.

In case you missed it, a new University of Washington study of last fall's Pierce County election found that ranked choice voting "does an effective job of simulating both a primary and general in one election."

Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy chatted with Vice President Joe Biden Wednesday, giving Biden her take on how the federal government’s economic stimulus efforts are working.

McCarthy was one of half a dozen local officials from across the country who spoke with Biden for about an hour during a conference call. (You can see the list of participants here).

I’m playing phone tag with McCarthy and expect to have more details later. In a phone message, she said the vice president was looking for straight talk, not platitudes. Check back for more on this later.

Update: Still haven't talked to McCarthy. Here's an account of the conference call in the Abilene, Texas, newspaper.

Yesterday was a long day, so I didn't immediately blog about the Tacoma City Council Environment and Public Works subcommittee meeting I attended.

The committee decided to move forward with a public hearing before the full council on handicapped parking in the International Financial Services Area (near Russell).

Basically, in order to encourage increased use of alternative transportation, the city would do away with off-street parking requirements for new construction by employers in that zone. But if employers aren't adding spaces, they aren't adding the 2-4 percent of dedicated handicapped parking.

So the new proposal would be to require handicapped spaces as if they were providing parking for everyone.

The committee also looked at various "green" projects that might be funded by a federal block grant. Of note would be funds to help bring the city up to the bronze standard for bike friendliness -- on our way to the gold, of course. And also HVAC upgrades, wood-burning stove upgrades, LED streetlights, etc.

The list of potential projects, totaling nearly $2 million, was presented by Kristi Lynette, the city's new sustainability czar, and members of the Sustainable Tacoma Commission.

Council member Lauren Walker said she know HVAC upgrades are important, but she wanted to make sure some of the projects would be visible to the public.

An alert reader (OK it was our own Sean Robinson) spotted a funny entry on the Washington Secretary of State's blog, "From Our Corner":

We’ve had lots of questions about the R-71 petitions, which by law are required to include 114-pages of Senate Bill 5688 text with the petition on just one sheet of paper. Just how did sponsors manage that one?

To see the photographic answer, click here.

Two of the state's top political scientists and a doctoral candidate took a look at Pierce County's ranked choice voting experiment and found it to be a pretty fair system.

Loren Collingwood, working on his doctoral degree at the University of Washington, said he wanted to study Pierce County's 2008 election because it is one of the biggest jurisdictions in the country to use RCV. With the help of Todd Donovan at Western and Matt Barreto at the UW, Collingwood wanted to see if the results were fair and accurate and whether the system produced aberrations compared to traditional elections.

The conclusion: "Overall, RCV has similar voting patterns as exhibited in traditional primary-general election contests. "That is, RCV does an effective job of simulating both a primary and general in one election."

In other words, RCV isn't as weird as opponents claim it is. Confusion – and a failure of some voters to vote in county races – will fall off as voters become more familiar with it, the trio concluded.

I try to analyze the analysis in my column Thursday. You can read the entire report here.

Board of Building Appeals seeks two members
The Board of Building Appeals currently needs to fill two positions. The board strives for diverse expertise among its members to help the Public Works Building and Land Use Division with the adoption of new codes, providing advice and hearing appeals. The board members serve 5-year terms and members remain on the board until they are replaced.

At this time, there are seven members on the board including an architect, a structural engineer, a mechanical engineer, a general contractor, a plumbing contractor, a fire protection engineer and a member who represents the Building Owners and Manager’s Association.

The board is seeking candidates with construction-related credentials, specifically someone who is a general contractor, and someone to represent a building management association or construction association. 

Board of Building Appeals members are appointed by the Tacoma City Council and meet depending on whether there is a need. To apply, contact Cindy Leingang, Mayor’s Office, (253) 594-7848, or visit www.cityoftacoma.org. To ensure consideration, applications are due by August 12, 2009.

Pierce County officials haven’t finished a second round of 2009 budget cuts. But already the County Council is thinking about 2010’s budget.

The council has drafted a list of 20 “principles” that will guide development of next year’s budget. The list is still in draft form, but here are some highlights:

1. Job creation and economic development are the County Council’s highest priorities.

3. Polling sites will remain open.

4. There will be no additional use of the unreserved general fund balance in 2010.

6. No miscellaneous current expense items to outside groups other than those that are essential to public health and safety (i.e., domestic violence and senior centers).

19. Eliminate or drastically reduce expenditures on recreational programming.

You can download a PDF copy of all 20 principles here.

Last week I wrote about how two little words – “up to” – helped undermine sign code enforcement

in Pierce County. Those words appear in budget ordinances authorizing the county’s public works department to spend up to $168,000 last year and 100,000 this year to collect commercial signs illegally placed in public rights of way.

Despite that direction from the council, public works halted most sign code enforcement last fall, citing questions about how the law should be enforced. Now public works officials say full-time sign code enforcement isn’t a top priority, given recent budget cuts. And public works director Brian Ziegler contends the “up to” language gives the department wiggle room to spend less (or none) of the money on sign enforcement.

Now it looks like the County Council has come up with two magic words that might help revive sign code enforcement.

A budget ordinance pending before the council rewrites the budget provision to require public works to spend “at least $50,000, but no more than $100,000” on sign code enforcement (italics are mine). That will require public works to spend a minimum amount on sign enforcement.

The council approved a budget amendment including the new language yesterday. It’s scheduled to take final action on the budget ordinance next Tuesday.

At today's City Council study session, members were also given an update on projections for the Parking System and Convention Center funds through 2016.

The spreadsheet that was handed out shows a $1.13 million deficit by 2012, which rebounds to a $1.73 million surplus by 2016.

The projection notes this does not include $1 million in yearly income from the creation of a parking utility -- which would make up for that deficit.

The chart makes my head swim a bit, but one number jumped out at me -- and I've got a call into the city finance director trying to understand a little bit more about it and what it's based on.

In 2009, the net operating income for the convention center is $2.9 million. By 2016, it is projected to double to $6 million.

I was curious whether this is a projected doubling of business or some other calculation.

Update: Finance Director Bob Biles just sent me this further explanation:

The increase comes from a roughly 40% increase in hotel/motel tax revenue and 50 percent increase in Public Facility District revenue -- minus ongoing operating expenses of about $2.5 million per year.

Doesn't look like I'm going to be able to make it to the Tacoma City Council study session today. For those who are interested, stormwater seems to be the big topic.

Comprehensive Plan amendments focus of study session
At study session on June 9, members of City Council are scheduled to receive an overview from City staff on the six proposed amendments to the Comprehensive Plan which would modify stormwater management policies, the level of service standard for public stormwater facilities and will add projects to the unfunded project list in the Comprehensive Plan. The proposed amendments will also revise sections of the Land Use Regulatory Code.

Update: I ended up going to the meeting after all. Stormwater was just one piece of it. Basically, the city is making several, largely technical updates to its comprehensive plan.

The most salient one is that the schedule for the updates is shifting from December, when there's also a lot of budget stuff going on to June. This means this update is coming six months after the last one and the next one will come in a year.

First comes the economic forecast - the mixing and matching of numbers to see where the national and state economies are heading. Then comes the more-anticipated revenue forecast that tells the governor and legislators whether they have to cut spending again and whether it can wait until January.

But you can't get one without the other. Take a look at the report issued last week to the six-member state forecast council by chief state economist Arun Raha.

It is interesting – if disturbing – reading. Test your inherent optimism by deciding whether the economic glass is half full or half empty.

I take a run at the numbers in my column Tuesday.

Pierce County may borrow $46 million over two years to improve some of the county’s most congested roads.

The County Council is considering a plan to borrow $24 million this year and $22 million next year for construction, design or right of way acquisition for 16 road projects. Among them:

• Widening 176th Street East from two lanes to five lanes from Canyon Road to Gem Heights Drive. The county will bid the project this summer, with construction finished in 2011.

• Widening 94th Avenue East from two lanes to five lanes from 116th Street E to 136th Street E. The project already is under construction and will be finished this fall.

• Widening Wollochet Drive NW from two lanes to up to five lanes from 40th Street NW to East Bay Drive NW. Construction would begin in 2011.

• Widening 176th from two lanes to five lanes from Waller Road to 51st Avenue East. Construction would begin in 2011.

The bond issues this year and next would not require voter approval. But the council must agree to borrow the money and pledge real estate excise taxes to repay the debt.

Borrowing money against real estate excise tax receipts is something of a gamble for the county.

As recently as 2006 Pierce County collected more than $7 million annually in real estate taxes as the market boomed. But as the real estate market cooled, receipts have plummeted. Last year the county collected just $3.5 million in real estate excise taxes, and it’s on a pace to collect only $2 million this year.

By borrowing only about half the money this year, the county can make sure its getting enough real estate tax revenue to cover debt payments before borrowing the other half, according to budget director Pat Kenney. The county also would pledge road fund and general fund revenue to cover the payments, if needed.

For years the growth in real estate taxes allowed the county to spend cash to keep road projects on track. With several major projects ready for construction, that’s not longer the case.

County officials say borrowing the money to finish key projects makes sense for several reasons.

Interest rates are low. So is the cost of building roads. Councilman Dick Muri, R-Steilacoom, said the county would be “building (roads) when you can get them on sale.”

County officials say the road projects also are a form of economic stimulus.

“It’s a great way to put people to work right now,” said County Engineer Brian Stacy.

=> Read more!

Neighborhood activist John Miles is now in the race to succeed Connie Landenburg representing Dist. 5 on the Tacoma City Council.

Miles filed his candidacy on Friday, joining previously announced candidates Joe Lonergan and Beckie Summers-Kirby, and setting up a three-way primary. The district represents the far southern swath of the city, including parts of South Tacoma, the South End and East Side.

Miles, 39, is vice chairman of the South Tacoma Neighborhood Council and chairman of the Edison Community Based Services Action Team. Edison is one of the areas targeted in the city's CBS program, which is aimed at enlisting neighbors to help reduce crime and blight.

“The Edison neighborhood realized tremendous improvements in the past three years due to the leadership of the Edison Team," Miles said in a press release. "My campaign to build such partnerships in other South Tacoma, South End and Eastside neighborhoods has already begun."

“My candidacy is about improving communities right now, not just getting elected,” he said.

County Executive Pat McCarthy isn’t happy with

the way public works director Brian Ziegler was treated at a County Council committee meeting last week.

Ziegler endured the wrath of council Chairman Roger Bush, R-Graham, while reporting on the status of the county’s sign code enforcement. Citing questions about how to enforce the law, public works ended a crackdown on illegal signs last fall even though the council had set aside money in the budget for the effort. Now Ziegler says full-time sign enforcement isn’t a high priority in light of recent budget cuts.

Bush laid into Ziegler at last Tuesday’s committee meeting, labeling Ziegler’s explanation “hogwash” and accusing him of mismanaging the public works department.

McCarthy told me last week that Bush’s behavior amounted to “political pandering at its worst” and said disagreements over budget priorities shouldn’t be turned into “public opera.”

“I don’t believe you should publicly berate a public worker,” McCarthy said. “If the council has a performance issue with one of my employees those issues should be directed to me.

“Prior to this week council member Bush has never approached me about his concerns about the sign removal program,” McCarthy added. “Now that I am aware of his concerns we can begin to work to address them.”

I spoke with Bush this morning. He said he has no regrets about taking Ziegler to task. He called the director’s take on the sign issue misleading “spin.” And Bush reiterated his displeasure that the public works department had overridden a council decision to enforce the county’s illegal sign rules.

“It’s not my style,” Bush said of last week’s meeting. “But you can’t let that kind of nonsense go on.”

Are Tacoma's exploratory efforts to put in a street car system a move to woo Rice-a-Roni in case Russell departs? Find out at an informational meeting June 18!

"The South Puget Sound treat!" has a nice ring to it, dontcha think?

Tacoma light rail/streetcar public information meeting, June 18
On June 18 from 6 p.m. until 7 p.m., the City of Tacoma, in partnership with Sound Transit and Pierce Transit, will host a light rail/streetcar public information meeting. Anyone interested in learning more about the history and planning for these modes of transportation is encouraged to attend.

The meeting will begin with a brief introduction and followed by an informal open house where participants can speak with agency staff about:

· Development of light rail/streetcar concepts for Tacoma
· Comparisons between light rail and streetcars
· Potential funding
· Potential benefits and impacts
· Next steps

The meeting will be held at the Tacoma Municipal Building, 747 Market St., Room 708. For more information, contact City of Tacoma staff, Karrie Spitzer at (253) 591-5790 or Christian Clegg at (253) 591-5125.

(Photo: Seattle Municpal Archives)

This story is likely to run in Sunday's June 7 print edition of The News Tribune. I'm posting it here, too, for you on-line only readers. Also, I have more room to put more information. Scroll down below the story for some e-mail correspondence I had with the Department of Revenue. They shed more light on the issue.

Also, here are some links that will come in handy for businesses, especially contractors and others in the resale business. This one will take you to the Washington Department of Revenue, so you can get the right forms.

BY Joseph Turner
The News Tribune
Washington tax collectors figure state and local governments are missing out on more than $100 million a year in unpaid sales taxes, so they’ve begun to overhaul the way merchants, builders, wholesalers and retail customers handle items that are purchased for resale at a later date.

Basically, it’s changing from “an honor system with audits” to a permit that must be obtained from the state Department of Revenue. It’s a huge change that will affect about 56,000 retailers and 19,000 wholesalers in Washington. Overall, some 190,000 businesses are going to be notified of the upcoming changes. And it’s all supposed to happen over the next seven months.

The new rules take effect Jan. 1, but “reseller permits” will be mailed out in September to most businesses that buy items for resale.

The problem is this: State law requires sales tax be paid only by the final customers. Some businesses don’t have to pay sales tax on their purchases if they plan to re-sell the items themselves at a later date and collect sales taxes from their own customers. But some businesses are not reselling the items. They’re using the items themselves. They’re not paying the sales tax, and they’re not collecting it.

=> Read more!

The race for Connie Rickman’s seat on the Tacoma School Board is shaping up to be the most competitive race in Pierce County this year.

Five people are challenging Rickman for her position on the board.

They include East Tacoma activist Catherine Ushka-Hall, former Port of Tacoma Commissioner Jerry Thorpe and Chris Van Vechten, a former state legislative aide who co-founded the online magazine “The Melon.”

A fourth candidate for Rickman’s seat, Deb Blakeslee, is a former administrative assistant who has also worked in financial analysis.

Still another candidate, Amy Bates, would like to oust Rickman.

Rickman, a former Tacoma Schools administrator, was president of the school board in 2007, the year a state audit found that the board twice violated open public meetings laws by making decisions in executive session.

That same year, former Tacoma Schools Superintendent Charlie Milligan negotiated a $418,000 severance package when he left the district after one year on the job.

This outcome was pretty much expected when the Legislature passed its supplemental transportation budget, a budget that included the federal stimulus funds.

Transportation chairwoman Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, and Rep. Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, included a list of alternates at the news conference they held.

Hungry contractors are coming in about 20 percent below estimates. Part of the reason for the low bids is that materials aren't nearly as expensive as they were after the "China" factor drove up costs.

Most of the stimulus projects, alternates, too, are highway paving projects. Those were the kinds of projects that can be started right away because they don't require elaborate and time-consuming environmental impact statements. But most of them are in Eastern Washington. I'll check to see if any local projects are on that list.

Gov. Gregoire, Secretary Hammond announce that lower construction bids result in more transportation projects in the state

OLYMPIA -- Gov. Chris Gregoire and Washington Department of Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond announced today that Washington state will deliver more highway projects with federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds than first envisioned, thanks to the recent trend toward lower construction bids.

=> Read more!

It looked like Don Meyer, a former port manager and the director of the Foss Waterway Development Authority was going to walk into office. But a late filing by former Pierce County Auditor Cathy Pearsall-Stipek means that all three Port of Tacoma positions will be contested.

Pearsall-Stipek, who also has been a Tacoma School Board members, a state legislators and a Pierce County Councilwoman, filed for position 3. One of them will replace Ted Bottiger who is not running for reelection.

In port position one, incumbent Connie Bacon will have to wage both a primary and a general election campaign. Bernardo Tuma and Bill Casper, both former port candidates, filed against her.

And in port position two, Charles Kelly Creso filed against incumbent Dick Marzano.

Another late filing means Pierce County will get to use Ranked Choice Voting at least one more time. Will Baker filed for the county auditor race, a special election needed to replace Pat McCarthy who was elected county executive.

Appointed incumbent Jan Shabro and Tacoma City Councilwoman Julie Anderson have also filed. The non-partisan race moves directly to the November election where voters will be allowed to rank the three candidates.

Go here for a complete list of Pierce County filings.

On Sunday I take a look at one of Tacoma's first public relations efforts to entice people and business from Seattle.

It happened in and around the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition that opened 100 years ago this week on what is now the University of Washington's main campus. Tacoma boosters used the fair to make a pitch for Tacoma - even though the fair itself was a celebration of Seattle's dominance in the battle to dominate the Puget Sound economy.

Even though it happened 100 years ago, the competition exists today from the rivalry between the ports of Tacoma and Seattle and the attempts by Seattle to entice Russell Investments to move its headquarters.

The centerpiece was a huge illuminated sign mounted on the lakeshore in such a place that it could be seen from the fairgrounds. That's the story I try to tell in my next column.

In the meantime, here are some great links about the exposition.

A performance of the song "You'll Like Tacoma" as performed by the Cecile Farmer of the UW's Collegium Musicum.
http://uwnews.org/uweek/article.aspx?id=47677

An interactive map that compares the fairgrounds to the current UW campus, compliments of University Libraries.
http://content.lib.washington.edu/aypweb/

Another University Libraries map of the grounds. The lifesaving station would be in the lower left-hand corner.
http://content.lib.washington.edu/extras/images/Viewer/viewer.html

HistoryLink's suite on the exposition
http://historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=results.cfm&keyword=ALYuPaEx

Tacoma Library's Northwest Room postcard collection. (search for Alaska Yukon Pacific)
http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/postcard/

The Museum of History And Industry in Seattle. Search for Alaska Yukon Pacific).
http://www.seattlehistory.org

There is $212,000 in the state budget for 2009-11 to pay for a 23rd Superior Court judgeship in Pierce County. That's $106,000 a year for each of two years to pay the state's half of salary and benefits for the new judge.

It's up to the Pierce County Council to decide whether it wants to pony up it half of salary and benefits, but if they don't make a decision sometime soon the state money will go away.

I'm assuming the County Council at some point wanted the option to create a position. Otherwise, the money wouldn't be in the state budget. But all levels of government are having money problems, and the County Council may have had second thoughts.

UPDATE: (2:32 p.m.) Pierce County lobbyist George Walk called me back to say he's not sure how the money for another judge got into the 2009-11 state budget. It might be a carryover from the 2007-09 budget because back then the county did want the option of adding another judge.
On the other hand, it could just be a mistake. In the Agency Detail budget notes (another document that seeks to elaborate on stuff in the actual state budget document) there is no money for Pierce, but there is a $212,000 appropriation to the state Administrative Office of the Courts for King County to add a 53rd Superior Court judgeship.
Sounds like it's just a mix-up.
King County is having its own budget problems. At any rate, if push comes to shove, the money belongs to Pierce County because it was the budget bill that was signed into law, not the budget footnotes.

If Pierce County were to create the position, Gov. Chris Gregoire would be making the initial appointment. Perhaps another woman to break up the still predominantly good ol' white boys on the Pierce County bench.

Here are links to check up on candidate filings ...

Pierce County

Secretary of State

King County

Thurston County

I'd almost forgotten this is candidate filing week until I got this news release from Susan Hutchison's campaign.

King County Executive theoretically is a nonpartisan job, but there are 4 Democrats, (plus, whatever Hutchison is) in the race. Or 4 boys and a girl in the race. Hmmm. Ya think she might be one of the survivors in a Top Two primary?

Fred Jarrett, Ross Hunter, Dow Constantine and Larry Phillips are the boys and the Democrats.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:
Jordan McCarren
Friends of Susan Hutchison
www.susanhutchison.com

WORKING TOGETHER,
A NEW KIND OF LEADERSHIP FOR KING COUNTY
SUSAN HUTCHISON FILES CANDIDACY FOR KING COUNTY EXECUTIVE

SEATTLE: Susan Hutchison today filed the necessary paperwork to place her name on the August ballot as a candidate for the office of King County Executive, her campaign announced this morning. Documents were submitted to King County Elections in advance of Fridays filing deadline.

=> Read more!

"The Labor Department’s most comprehensive alternative unemployment rate measure — which includes people who want to work but are discouraged from looking and people working part time because they can’t find full-time jobs — stood at 16.4 percent in May, up 7.7 percentage points since the recession began and the highest level on record in data that go back to 1994."

Those remarks come from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, an organization whose e-mails I signed up to get late last year when Congress was putting together what eventually became a $787 billion economic stimulus package.

The "official" national unemployment rate for May came out today. It's 9.4 percent. I just wanted to point out something that most of us (including me) either forgot or don't realize: The jobless rate that gets most of the attention does count people who are out of work, but who no longer are looking for a job. That 16.4 percent figure does include that.

Congress approved some extra unemployment benefits ($25 a week and other stuff) but those extras run out at the end of the year.

Statement: Chad Stone, Chief Economist, on the May Employment Report
Today’s jobs report shows a labor market that is still deteriorating but that offers signs that the worst of the current recession may be over.

Job losses in May, while still high at 345,000, were less than half of January’s level. The unemployment rate jumped to 9.4 percent but, for the second month in a row, the labor force grew as more people entered it to look for work than left it.

=> Read more!

And by the way, we're talking about "a" Gregoire, not "the" Gregoire when it comes to any association with King County Councilman Dow Constantine's campaign to move into the county executive's office.

One of Gov. Chris Gregoire's daughters, Michelle, is pictured with Constantine wearing a "Dow Now!" T-shirt during NARAL's 6th annual Run For Your Rights on May 9. The picture is on Constantine's campaign Web site.

(By the way, Dow is not claiming any endorsement. The description of the photo simply says it is "Team Dow," with no names.)

Michelle was working for state Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, during the just completed legislative session, and I met her only once in the wings of the Senate. I gotta think she was out for the abortion rights event, and probably just wanted a T-shirt.

(I'm holding out for a "Dow: How Now Brown Cow?" T-shirt.)

Here's a link to Constantine's election site, the one with the NARAL run pix.

If you've been dying to join an advisory board, but just haven't found the right one, here's a new opportunity.

The Department of Social Services has selected OptumHealth as the new RSN for Pierce County, effective July 1, 2009. We are seeking residents of Pierce County, and persons currently or previously served by the public mental health program, who are interested in serving on the Mental Health Advisory Board (MHAB). The MHAB is a 15 member citizen's advisory board which focuses on efficiency and effectiveness of community mental health services in Pierce County. They review and provide comments on plans and policies, reviews and approves recommendations from subcommittees, and promotes issues of importance in prevention, treatment and recovery. The MHAB also recommends the allocation of funding for the Federal Block Grant.

We are seeking representation from minority interests, persons with experience or expertise in mental health, persons representing consumers, including youth and foster parents, law enforcement and the community at large.

You may visit our website at: www.optumhealthpiercersn.com

For an application or further information you may call:
Kathryn Lippincott, Office Administrator - Pierce RSN at 253-292-4184 or email: kathryn.lippincott@optumhealth.com

That's what the British magazine The Economist recommends in this article in the current issue.

After pointing out that Washington resolved its budget problems quickly and that California is still struggling with them, it suggests two Washington political traits – a primary system that tends to elect moderates and a bipartisan redistricting process that resists gerrymandering.

(It actually calls our redistricting commission neutral. But a commission made up of two appointed Democrats and two appointed Republicans isn't neutral, it's compromised partisanship).

I just got a call from the Washington Lottery, giving me a heads up that the winner is going to pick up his check at the Federal Way regional office in about 45 minutes.

Donald Pierce, 57, who lives in Tacoma, is a caregiver at a veteran's hospital. There are 2 Fred Meyer stores on South 19th Street. I'm assuming he got the ticket at the one at Stevens Street. Or maybe James Center.

UPDATE(4:14 p.m.) Here's the official news release sent out by the lottery folks. And we got of picture of the happy winner, too.

“I FELT EVERY EMOTION YOU COULD FEEL”
Emotional Caregiver for Veterans Wins $2.7 Million

TACOMA – Donald Pierce of Tacoma is a working single parent and commutes to Seattle every day to work at Seattle’s Veteran Affairs Hospital where he takes care of our nation’s war veterans. A nurse by profession, Donald is passionate about what he does and has been taking care of veterans for more than 32 years. The caregiver is in shock and is frequently emotional after winning $2.7 million playing Washington’s Lottery.

Donald checked his ticket at the Fred Meyer in Tacoma and saw the check a ticket machine read, ‘Jackpot.’ Thinking it was probably a $1,000 winner, he handed it to the customer service representative--who told him he won Lotto. Standing in a customer service line surrounded but other customers, he broke down in tears of joy and disbelief. “I felt every emotion you could feel!” recalled Donald through tears the next morning at the Lottery office. He went on to say that he just couldn’t believe it and had to check several times to make sure. “It was fantastic!” he said. Donald’s son Brandon was with him at the time and said people around them were cheering and congratulating them.

=> Read more!

This should be required viewing in Pierce County, considering how much of a presence DOC has in our county. I'm sure county Prosecutor Gerry Horne will be watching. He's a big fan of the state Department of Corrections. No, really. He is!

The show is on at 7 p.m. tonight, and again at 10 p.m.

TVW is on Channel 18 for Click customers in Tacoma. (Sorry, Comcast. I don't know where Television Washington is on your digital dial.) I'd check the TV log in the paper, but, well....nevermind.

Jim King says it's Channel 23 on Comcast.

Secretary Vail to Discuss Budget Cuts, New Laws in TVW Interview

OLYMPIA – Secretary Eldon Vail will discuss how budget cuts and new laws will impact the Department of Corrections during an extensive interview on this week’s edition of “Inside Olympia” on TVW.

The interview with host Austin Jenkins will cover a wide range of topics, including staff layoffs, prison unit closures, a reduction in the number of offenders under community supervision and ways in which staff members are helping the agency find ways to reduce spending.

“Inside Olympia” airs at 7 and 10 p.m. Thursdays, 11 a.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Sundays on TVW, Washington state’s public policy network.

You probably know this if you're out there looking for a job, but there aren't nearly as many job openings this spring as there were a year ago.

The state Employment Security Department reported that companies were trying to fill nearly 51,000 vacant positions last April. This April, it was only 32,635.

Your best shot at landing a job is in health care, retail, hotels. And even though demand for nurses has been cut in half, there are still in relative high demand.

Washington job openings continue to decline

OLYMPIA – Job vacancies in Washington in April were 35 percent fewer than six months earlier, according to the latest job-vacancy report from the Employment Security Department.

=> Read more!

Meetings will be held once a month on a rotating basis in Wichita, Kansas, Texas and South Carolina. (Just kidding, David.)

Gov. Gregoire announces aerospace council members

OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire today announced the names of the members of the Washington Council on Aerospace, which she formed through an executive order signed in May. The council will oversee state efforts to ensure that Washington remains the leading location in the world in which airplanes are designed and built.

Gregoire created the council after the release of the Aerospace Industry Competitiveness Study conducted by Deloitte Consulting. The governor asked for the report to give her a clearer picture of what needs to be done to keep Washington’s edge as the state where the best airplanes in the world are built.

The members of the council are:

=> Read more!

King County Councilman Dow Constantine is one of five candidates in the running for the job to replace Ron Sims. His official kickoff is tonight.

The others are state Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, state Sen. Fred Jarrett, D-Mercer Island, County Councilman Larry Phillips and former TV news anchor Susan Hutchison.

Media Advisory:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Sandeep Kaushik

Dow Constantine Campaign Kick Off Tonight;

Event Will Be Held at Historic Seattle Church Building Constantine Saved from Demolition.

Seattle (June 4) – King County Executive candidate Dow Constantine will officially kick off his campaign this evening with a major campaign event at the First United Methodist Church Building in downtown Seattle. The historic, century-old building was saved from demolition through Constantine’s efforts, and is now known as the Daniels Recital Hall.

All are welcome and there is no charge to attend. The event is open to the press.

The “Go to Church with Dow” Campaign Kickoff will take place:
Thursday, June 4 5 pm – 6:30 pm
(Dow will speak around 6 pm)
First United Methodist Church Building
811 5th Ave, Seattle

On the Crosscut blog this morning, David Brewster weighs in with a regional perspective on the Tacoma vs. Seattle bidding war over the Russell Investments headquarters. He makes an interesting point.

An old code of honor stipulates that Puget Sound cities don't bid against each other this way, since the goal is to keep the company here (as opposed to Tennessee, say), not to let local companies play one city off against the other. That code didn't survive the Great Recession, leaving all those vacancies in downtown Seattle.

No one seems to object, so I will. Not just on the obvious grounds of discouraging these kind of stick-ups, but also on regional planning grounds. The regional growth strategy, duly adopted and worshiped (at least verbally), is supposed to foster growth in metropolitan centers, particularly Seattle, Bellevue, Everett, and Tacoma. The point is to have several such centers, with residential growth alongside, so as to improve the job-housing balance — not to make everyone commute for 75 minutes to Seattle.

Read the whole post here.

Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy is seeking more spending cuts as the county struggles to balance its budget in the face of declining revenue.

In a memo sent yesterday to department heads and elected officials, budget director Pat Kenney directed general fund departments to cut another 1.25 percent from their 2009 budgets. That follows cuts of up to 3 percent for departments earlier this year.

Despite the earlier cuts, Pierce County still faces a projected shortfall of $13 million in its $281 million general fund as sales taxes, planning fees and other revenues continue to slump.

Kenney’s letter indicates two departments – corrections and human resources – will be exempt from the 1.25 percent cut.

“We realize that departments will have difficulty in meeting this objective, and that staffing and service reductions will likely result from these cutbacks,” Kenney wrote. “However, the current economic situation and projections for next year require that these reductions be made now. We thank all of you for cooperating in this very unpleasant endeavor.”

You can download a PDF copy of Kenney’s memo here.

Update: I just spoke with Pat Kenney. He said the spending cuts will save about $2.8 million. To help close the budget gap, he said the county also will rely on pension savings and lower department contributions to internal funds like facilities management and self-insurance. Meeting with Pat McCarthy shortly and hope to hear more.

Update2: I met with McCarthy this morning. She said she hopes this latest round of cuts will be the last for 2009. But more cuts are expected as the county prepares its 2010 budget this summer and fall.

McCarthy also explained why two departments – corrections and human resources – won't take cuts in this round. She said the corrections department is already over budget because of overtime needed to staff the jail, so it’s unrealistic to impose another cut. She said human resources took a huge cut – about 38 percent – in the last round.

Update3: McCarthy’s proposal may not be the final word on this round of cuts. There is a budget ordinance pending before the County Council that has no detail but which the council could use to place its own stamp on spending cuts.

The measure is on the agenda for next Tuesday’s council meeting. Chairman Roger Bush, R-Graham, said he isn’t sure whether the council will be prepared to approve a budget ordinance Tuesday.

He said council members want more detail on McCarthy’s proposal before passing judgment.

“Our responsibility ultimately is to balance the budget,” Bush said. “The executive’s responsibility is to give us recommendations on how to do that.”

I don't generally follow Wahkiakum County politics, but this came to me via e-mail. Krist Novoselic appears from time to time at legislative hearings, and, of course, he used to be a bass player for Nirvana.

Here's a link to Kelly Haughton's blog. That's where the big advocate of Ranked Choice Voting posted the announcement.

From Wednesday's Tacoma City Council Government Performance and Finance subcommittee meeting:

"Work release is a really great thing, isn't it?"

"Pardon my appearance, I just climbed out of a truck."

"It's not being made clear to me, it's being made less clear."

The proposed expansion of Tacoma's "Small Works Roster" has caught the eye and the ire of organized labor interests.

The program tries to steer smaller city public works improvements and contracts to local small and minority-owner businesses (as provided for under state law). The type of work is supposed to be that which falls outside work done by employees under collective bargaining agreements -- but gray areas surrounding that dividing line are raising union hackles.

The proposal changes to the program that came before the City Council's Government Performance and Finance subcommittee on Wednesday greatly expand the program and insert new mandates.

=> Read more!

This just in: Tacoma City Councilwoman Julie Anderson will seek election as Pierce County auditor in November. Incumbent Jan Shabro – appointed to the post in January – also is running.

Here's Anderson's press release:

Contact: Julie Anderson
(253) 761-3602
Info@JulieAnderson.org
http://www.julieanderson.org

June 3, 2009

Anderson seeks election as Pierce County Auditor

Julie Anderson announced today that she is seeking election as Pierce County Auditor.

Anderson, serving her second term as a citywide member and currently as Deputy Mayor of the nonpartisan Tacoma City Council, has earned a strong reputation for listening and working with constituents and staff to solve problems. Anderson’s leadership has created a more citizen-friendly and transparent government with the formation of council committees, the hiring of a professional city manager and the establishment of the city’s first ethics review board.

“I am excited for the opportunity to serve the citizens of Pierce County as their next Auditor,” Anderson said. “The voters of Pierce County spoke loud and clear when they made the Auditor a nonpartisan position. Pierce County deserves fair and practical leadership that is directly accountable to the voters – not political parties.”

“I have the necessary blend of professional administration, nonpartisan approach and executive management experience required to be Auditor,” Anderson said.

Raised in a military family, Anderson’s passion for public service began at an early age. After she settled here to attend The Evergreen State College, Anderson currently works as a Senior Policy Advisor with the State of Washington Department of Commerce. Her focus there includes workforce and economic development, clean technology and innovation, green economy jobs and clean technology.

=> Read more!

In April Pierce County Superior Court launched an effort to address the persistent backlog of cases that has contributed to overcrowding – and, according to some County Council members – overspending at the jail.

The effort – conceived by the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office – involves assigning four judges and eight deputy prosecutors to the most serious “special assault” cases, including first-degree rapes and first-degree child assaults. Less serious special assault cases are funneled through another team of prosecutors who try to resolve them short of trial.

It’s only been six weeks, but early results look promising. Deputy Prosecutor Mark Lindquist informed council representatives yesterday that the backlog has been reduced from 2,146 pending cases to 2,011 as of the end of May.

You can read more about the effort to reduce the backlog here. Below is Lindquist’s e-mail summarizing the progress to date.

Gentlemen,

Here are the numbers from the first six weeks of our plan to reduce the backlog with the SAU pilot project. This is only the beginning, of course, and I don't want to put too much emphasis on the first few weeks, but it is a strong start that supports our basic premise: make courtrooms available and we can resolve cases.

The SAU project officially started on April 20th, when the backlog was at 2,146 pending cases. At the end of May we were at 2,011, down 130+ cases since we started.

=> Read more!

This just in from the Referendum 71 campaign to put Washington's new domestic partners law to a public vote:

Faith & Freedom PAC
June 3, 2009

Dear Joe,

PETITIONS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK!

Our petition draft & design team encountered a couple of unforeseen difficulties in laying the R-71 petition out, all of which they have overcome. Unfortunately, the problems did set us back a few hours and we will now go to print Wednesday afternoon, June 3.

We will begin our distribution as soon as the ink is dry.

=> Read more!

It’s there on the proverbial Double Doppler, the storm of the economy blowing toward Tacoma. Forecasters know it’s getting worse, but aren’t sure if its going to come ashore as a gale or a hurricane.

The latest report from the city’s finance department says the tax-supported general fund, which pays for things like police, firefighters and libraries, was down $7.1 million at the end of April from what was initially budgeted. That’s a growth of 50 percent from the $4.7 million shortfall seen at the end of the first quarter.

“We’re trying to stay ahead of it,” City Manager Eric Anderson said in an interview Tuesday. “We’re making careful adjustments based on quarterly financial reports. I don’t want to be Polyanna-ish or Chicken Little.”

Anderson previously recommended battening down the hatches with $11.7 million in spending cuts, realized throughout 2009 and 2010. They include things like not filling vacant staff positions, reducing travel and training, postponing purchases and cutting back on subscriptions.

These cuts would be made under a four-tiered plan that ranges from quick, easy items to Level 4 – a “Katie-bar-the-door Great Depression.”

For now, Anderson is implementing Level 1 and Level 2 cuts to minimize impacts to city services.

Are we headed for Level 3? Anderson said he didn’t know:

“We’ll go to Level 3 when we’re forced to. We’re not there yet.”

After waiting to see how the second quarter bears out, Anderson will be making another report to the City Council in July with recommendations on how to proceed.

“What we don’t want is to overreact in any direction,” he said. “We need to do this in a way that does not reduce the capacity of city governments to deliver city services and reach strategic goals.”

The shortfall in the $440 million two-year budget for the general fund includes $5.5 million in decreased revenue and $1.6 million in unanticipated spending.

One bright spot is that about 1 million of that spending includes items that were budgeted to be purchased last year, so money from the previous budget can be appropriated to cover them, Anderson said.

The hit to the general fund also comes at a time when the city is spending an additional $2.2 million from the fund on salaries following a compensation adjustment to bring non-union employees onto a market-based pay scale. A previous set-aside will reduce the actual impact to $365,000, officials have said.

(Photo: CoreBurn)

Is is just me, or does it sound odd that our governor is leading a "trade mission" to Washington, D.C.? What do they have that we want (except money, of course)?

I mean, it's like a headline that says, "Washington state establishes diplomatic relations with the nation's capital, a city that mistakenly gets much of our mail."

Gov. Gregoire, Agriculture Director Newhouse lead trade mission to D.C.

Meetings with federal leaders to discuss farm bill, water expansion and climate change

OLYMPIA – Gov. Chris Gregoire and Washington Department of Agriculture Director Dan Newhouse are traveling to Washington, D.C., today to meet with federal policy and decision makers to discuss issues surrounding the state’s agriculture industry.

“Agriculture is a vital part of our state’s economy, and I am committed to making sure we do all we can to help this industry thrive,” said Gregoire. “Our meetings with federal leaders will help us develop comprehensive strategies to ensure Washington’s agriculture industry remains profitable and productive.”

=> Read more!

Yesterday’s dust-up over sign code enforcement demonstrated the simmering tension between the Pierce County Council and the executive branch. It also showed how two little words made a different between enforcing and not enforcing the sign law.

When it approved this year’s budget, the council included a provision that set aside $100,000 in the county road fund for removing illegal signs out of the public rights of way. The provision is worded this way: “Provided up to $100,000 of this appropriation shall be used by the Public Works and Utilities Department to operate a countywide sign enforcement and abatement project…” (italics are mine).

Those two words – “up to” – constitute one front in the ongoing tussle between the county’s legislative and executive branches over control of the budget. They permit the public works department to spend up to $100,000 on sign code enforcement. But public works director Brian Ziegler contends nothing in the language requires the department to spend that amount on sign enforcement. The way Ziegler sees it, the department can spend less (or nothing) on sign enforcement. It just can’t spend more.

County departments have used that wiggle room with other budget line items as revenue dries up and they need to hoard cash. But the council may be getting wise, at least when it comes to the illegal signs provision.

At yesterday’s committee meeting, Councilman Shawn Bunney, R-Lake Tapps, asked Ziegler how the council might word the provision differently to ensure the money is spent on sign enforcement.

Ziegler said the council might use the words “at least” instead of “up to” to strengthen the provision. That would require the department to spend a minimum amount on sign enforcement.

“It’s a small nuance,” Ziegler said.

Council Chairman Roger Bush, R-Graham, indicated the council might change the budget language.

“We will revisit our procedures in the future,” Bush said.

Those are the Assembly Days, when lawmkers get together between sessions to hold committee meetings, hold fundraisers with lobbyists a full 30 days before the next session and to meet whoever won a regular or special election in November.

House Chief Clerk Barbara Baker and Secretary of the Senate Tom Hoemann sent this notice out to members yesterday.

The Legislature’s Assembly days during the 2009 interim will be held in Olympia on the following dates:

October 1-2 (Thursday and Friday)
December 3-4 (Thursday and Friday)

In addition, the Senate and House Leadership is requesting that Chairs and others responsible for the scheduling of committees, task forces and other entities not schedule meetings during the month of August. This will ensure that members and staff have some time they know can be scheduled for non-legislative activities during the summer. Scheduling the fall Assembly a little later than usual will also ensure that there is enough time to prepare for those meetings. The schedule also allows time for development of a legislative response to the September 17 revenue forecast, if necessary.

Thanks.

Barbara and Tom

While January is still half a year away, the Tacoma City Council is starting to plan for The Transition.

If I'm counting right, up to five City Council seats may be changing hands. Due to new term limits in Pierce County and the failure to repeal them in the city, that could have a ripple effect across the various boards, multi-jurisdictional bodies and standing committees the members serve on.

The scale of these various oversight bodies is actually fairly mind blowing.

"How do we make sure it's a seamless transition?" Councilwoman Lauren Walker asked at the Committee of the Whole meeting Tuesday afternoon.

The Council members talked about pre-appointing some positions or naming members as alternates to ensure they got up to speed quickly and important business doesn't grind to a halt because of some noob.

Mayor Bill Baarsma cautioned that they also had to be careful about obligating future councils, which isn't kosher.

Tradition holds that vacancies are filled by seniority, allowing veteran members to have first dibs, he said.

And while I'll grant this seems like inside baseball, this may be one area where the incoming council members run into a real, although fairly mild, power differential.

(Photo: yeowatzup)

These come from Tuesday's Tacoma City Council Committee of the Whole meeting:

"It's like running with a bucket."

"Is there any water in the fridge? Is they any whiskey?"

I got a call yesterday from Tim Schmidt of Bonney Lake who lives in the 98391 ZIP code and was wondering where his refund check from Sound Transit was.

Bad news, Tim. Not everyone in the 98391 ZIP code gets a refund. Only those who live outside the boundaries of the Sound Transit taxing district. And, I afraid, you don't.

My colleague Ian Demsky wrote a story last December about how Sound Transit owed about $3 million to some vehicle owners because they were mistakenly listed on the tax rolls as people who have to pay an excise tax when they get their license tabs. The money goes to Sound Transit for the regional bus and rail system in most of Pierce, King and Snohomish counties.

Anyway, I figured it was time for an update on that issue, so I put in a call to Geoff Patrick at Sound Transit. The agency has paid out almost $3.7 million so far. Patrick's e-mail response is below.

Hi Joe. Got your voicemail. Here is an overview of where we are at with the refunds. There are a total of about 115,000 transactions identified for refunds. Of those, we have issued checks for all but approximately 8,000. With these 8,000 we are in the process of manually handling each individual record.

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Elective politics. Not initiatives. It's a whole 'nother game.

Mike and Jack Fagan are the father-son team that make up two-thirds of Voters Want More Choices, the organization that has brought you about a dozen initiatives over the last decade. Tim Eyman is the other third.

Mike Fagan is running for Spokane City Council. That's something you'll never see Tim Eyman do, or so Eyman has said many times. Run for office, that is. He'd much rather rail against the establishment than become part of it.

Then again, it's always possible he would be state Rep. Tim Eyman, R-Mukilteo, some day.

My colleague, Rich Roesler at The Spokesman Review, has much more detail about the story he broke.

Got a story coming on this, but the city of Tacoma today revealed it sweetened its deal with Russell Investments to include up to $4.3 million in free parking. Final offers from Seattle and Tacoma were delivered Friday.

Here's a .pdf with all the nitty gritty details of both a short-term (2018) and long-term (2028) offer.

Here's a story I wrote for the print edition, but apparently there isn't room in the paper to run it Wednesday. It might appear later in the week. In the meantime....

BY Joseph Turner
The News Tribune

Washington prison officials are closing half of the women’s prison near Spokane and delaying the opening of a unit at a men’s prison north of Tri-Cities because of a smaller budget and fewer inmates.

The state Department of Corrections announced Tuesday that part of the Pine Lodge Corrections Center will close July 1, reducing capacity of the women’s prison to 187 from 359. A unit at the newly opened Coyote Ridge men’s prison which was scheduled to open in June now won’t open until September.

Both moves are in response to a declining state prison population, said DOC spokeswoman Maria Peterson. The prison system also is moving to live within the 2009-11 budget that was passed by the Legislature in late April, she said.

Lawmakers cut about $125 million from the $1.7 billion prison two-year prison budget.

Peterson said these two moves already were in the works. The Legislature still expects the prison system to close even more facilities following a study that is supposed to be done by the end of the year.

The prison on McNeil Island in Pierce County is one of the candidates for full or partial closure by the state because being on an island makes it so much more expensive to operate than mainland prisons. Legislative budget-writers assume the state will save an additional $12 million by closing some facilities.

=> Read more!

This is a tricky one. And it could get ugly.

By signing Referendum 71, you're basically saying that the issue of expanding gay rights to include "everything but marriage" (the new domestic partnership law) should be put to a public vote, and not decided by the Legislature.

Signing also could indicate you oppose gay rights. Otherwise, you'd just let the law stay on the books. Right? (Well, theoretically, anyway). That's not necessarily the case. That's what makes it so tricky.

Supporters of the new domestic partnership law want to point a spot light at everyone who signs the Referendum 71 petitions. They're planning to post the names on line, in front of God and everyone.

The folks circulating the petitions say it's meant to "bully" people who might want to sign it, but don't want the scrutiny.

Here's part of the problem with referenda: The folks who support gay rights will be campaigning AGAINST the signature drive for Referendum 71, but if Referendum 71 actually gets on the ballot, then they will be campaigning FOR its passage. (A referendum puts the original bill on the ballot. The original bill expanded gay rights.)

Curt Woodward of The Associated Press wrote a story that ran in The News Tribune today.

And then we got this, a blog post from David Ammons, chief spokesman for the Secretary of State's office.

State elections folks say they want a "civil debate." Good luck with that.

Be careful out there.

Frustration over sign code enforcement and ongoing tension between the Pierce County Council and the executive branch spilled over at a council meeting this morning.

The result: a blistering condemnation of the county’s public works director.

In a report to the council’s economic and infrastructure development committee, public works director Brian Ziegler said his department has scaled back collecting signs illegally placed in public rights of way as it cuts costs to balance its budget.

That prompted council Chairman Roger Bush, R-Graham,

to label Ziegler’s explanation “a bunch of hogwash” designed to cover up what Bush called Ziegler’s mismanagement of the department.

“You have made mistake after mistake after mistake,” Bush lectured Ziegler.

In recent years the council has been keenly interested in sign code enforcement. Though it didn’t provide new funding, it set aside $40,000 in the 2007 public works budget for a pilot enforcement project in East Pierce County.

The crackdown proved to be popular with county residents, so the council set aside $168,000 for enforcement in 2008 and $100,000 this year. (For more details on the crackdown, read this story published in Sunday’s newspaper).

The department collected more than 16,000 illegal signs during the crackdown. But public works suspended countywide sign sweeps last fall amid questions over how to enforce the law.

Now the department says sign code enforcement isn’t a top priority as it trims the county’s $70 million road fund by $8 million in response to declining tax and fee revenues and the lost proceeds from failed property sales.

This morning Ziegler told the committee the department has been forced to cut spending on road maintenance, commercial vehicle inspection, road sweeping and other programs.

He said the department will continue to collect illegal signs – mostly when bad weather prohibits road maintenance work. And it will remove signs that pose a hazard to drivers and pedestrians. But it won’t conduct the countywide sweeps.

That plan didn’t square with council members.

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The city of Tacoma reached a settlement Monday with retirement director Patricia Pabst, allowing her to retire after 26 years with the city rather than be ousted by the Retirement Board and City Council, Mayor Bill Baarsma said Tuesday.

The settlement will allow her to spend the rest of the year on a combination of paid sick and personal leave and includes a $10,000 payout in exchange for her agreeing not to sue, said Baarsma, who is also chairman of the board.

Despite serious managerial concerns raised by the board at a meeting last month at which members voted 6-2 with one abstention to remove her, Baarsma said she would also be given letters of recommendation if she asked for them.

“There were many, many areas in which she had excelled,” he said. “She had published and won awards.”

Pabst did not return a call seeking comment.

Before voting on a recommendation to the City Council to remove her, the board raised serious concerns about Pabst’s abilities as a manager and her interactions with the board, a recording of the meeting reveals.

=> Read more!

I don't routinely look at out-of-state travel by state workers, but there are some government watchdogs who do. And from time to time they bring said travels to my attention. (Theoretically, there is a ban on out-of-state travel by state workers unless exemptions are granted for special circumstances. Something about a budget crisis.)

"Until July 1, 2009, state agencies are prohibited from making expenditures for state employee out-of-state travel or training not related to an emergency or direct service delivery," according to the bill report for the so-called "belt-tightening" bill passed by the Legislature a few months back.

So I'm looking at this request from the state Department of Early Learning to spend $1,000 to send one of its workers to North Carolina on June 13 to "discuss plans around professional system development integration."

I guess professional system development integration is something that must be done in person. And it must be done in North Carolina later this month. Besides, more than 30 other states will be represented at this planning thing. Moreover, since the Department of Early Learning is the lead on the "Professional Development Consortium" it only makes sense to send on DEL staff person "to attend along with other members of the state team who are also Professional Development Consortium members," the request says.

(Sounds as if some other state workers already got permission to go to Tarheel country and DEL "leader" was going to get left behind. I don't know how many others are going, but I have a call in.)

UPDATE:(11:48 a.m.) DEL spokeswoman called to say the Legislature is requiring DEL to develop standards for day-care center workers, early childhood educators like preschool teachers, or someone who wants to become a child care center director, let them know what they need to do to help them meet those standards. Also, the state school superintendent's office is sending someone.

The person who forwarded this request, which was, indeed, approved by Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget director, Victor Moore, was wondering just how many requests Moore has turned down. So I asked him in an e-mail if he wanted to respond. I'm sure Victor will get back to me.

UPDATE NO. 2 (2:13 p.m.) Got an answer back from Victor Moore.

Joe, there have been 104 travel requests approved, 37 denied, and 26 withdrawn. Requests are sometimes withdrawn after we contact requesters to ask for clarification or further explanation and they figure out that their request is really not appropriate.

It is important to look past just these numbers, though, and realize that agencies are being selective in deciding which travel opportunities to submit for approval. Agencies recognize that many travel opportunities that were appropriate in the past are simply not feasible during these tough economic times. In other words, we only see the borderline cases, and the situations where the travel is clearly not appropriate never make it out of the agency.

Hope this helps.
Victor

I posted a couple others last week, the Paris Air Show, etc.

After all the hue and cry over the devastating cuts to education and health care programs to plug a $9 billion budget hole, one wonders why the freeze on hiring, out-of-state travel and purchases over $5,000 apparently has thawed out so much. Why does travel appear to be business as usual?

City of SeaTac firefighter Keven Rojecki, who is running for a seat on the Tacoma City Council, sent me some interesting stats after reading my recent article on (admittedly a sliver of) the woes of LESA, Pierce County's major 911 communications center.

First a little background:

LESA (the Law Enforcement Support Agency) admits it has a problem answering the phone quickly. It doesn't live up to the national standard of 90 percent of calls answered within 10 seconds. This is due to understaffing, which caused by funding constraints, officials say.

But unlike other nearby jurisdictions, LESA only dispatches law enforcement calls. If someone calls 911 needing medical aid or the fire department, LESA transfers the call. (This adds extra time and expense and is a thorny political issue given the various unions and municipal jurisdictions involved.)

Anyhow, Rojecki sent me this breakdown, which says it takes one minute to transfer 69 percent of the calls going to Tacoma Fire's dispatch center and at least two minutes for 25 percent of them. (In the document, LESA gives reasons for this: getting enough information from the caller, caller indecision about needing medical aid, reports of non-injury fight or accident later turn out to have injuries.)

Update: LESA's director, Tom Orr, sent me some stats that countervails that contention; he wrote:

In the case of Fire Calls, a one month sampling of all Fire Transfer calls (100 total calls) showed that LESA took 18 seconds (three rings) to first answer and then transfer a Fire/EMS call, and that it took Fire (13 seconds) to receive the transfer through phone equipment and to answer their telephone. Indeed, Fire’s average speed of answer was 7 seconds to answer Fire Transfers which compares to LESA’s average speed of answer of 6 seconds for all calls that it answered in 2008.

=> Read more!

Last Wednesday, four men and women who participated in anti-war demonstrations at the Port of Tacoma in March 2007 filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Tacoma and Pierce County claiming their civil liberties were violated.

According to the suit:

The four gathered with other protesters in the "designated protest zone" near the intersection of Thorne and East 11th Street. The four (along with others) at one point in the afternoon crossed beyond the designated area onto another part of the street that was not part of that zone.

"Shortly after crossing the fence, Plaintiffs were arrested by Tacoma Police Department agents, and handcuffed."

=> Read more!

The local emergency dispatch agency has asked the Pierce County Council for more authority over its own expenses.

In response, the council’s rules committee approved changes to the agency’s operating agreement this morning that would save the Law Enforcement Support Agency about $300,000.

The agency – LESA, for short – was founded in 1974 by the City of Tacoma and Pierce County. It handles 911 calls and emergency dispatch services for nearly 90 percent of the county.

Under its current operating agreement, LESA uses Tacoma’s computer system and other city services. The proposed changes to its operating agreement would allow the agency to contract out some of the support services it buys from the city.

LESA faces a budget shortfall of up to $1.8 million and is trying to cut costs. Contracting for services would help, director Tom Orr told the rules committee.

“We’re trying to save money,” Orr said. “It’s no secret, we’re facing budget constraints.”

The committee voted 3-0 to recommend the contracting authority LESA is seeking. But it did not approve language that would allow LESA’s board of director’s to expand its voting membership.

The agency believes expanding the board to include representatives of other cities might encourage other agencies to join LESA. That would spread the cost of providing services among more jurisdictions.

The rules committee instead approved language establishing a work group to recommend changes in the composition of the LESA board. The group would make recommendations to the county and city by Oct. 1.

The City of Tacoma also is considering changes to the LESA operating agreement.

Today is the first day of filing for the 2009 elections. This is mostly for local government – municipal and county offices (except in Pierce County). That includes cities, school districts and special purpose districts.

There are mayor's elections in Seattle and Tacoma, county executive in King County and a special election for auditor in Pierce County. Filing ends Friday at 4:30 p.m. at county auditors offices, 4 p.m. for offices that must file with the secretary of state.

The primary is August 18 and the general is November 3.

Here are links to check up on filings ...

Pierce County

Secretary of State

King County

For those who are interested, LESA, Pierce County's major 911 communications center, has made available electronically the 234-page performance audit that I've been harping on about.

The Regional Access Mobility Project (RAMP) will meet at 8 a.m. Wednesday to hear from some DOT folks about transportation projects that either are in the works in Pierce County or are of interest to local officials and other groups.

The Legislature approved a study on the possibility of tolling Highway 167 to help pay for the extension from Port of Tacoma to Puyallup, and also passed a law to impose tolls on the 520 bridge, probably in October 2010. Plus, there will be an update on the HOT lanes on 167 in South King County.

And there will be a quick update on the carpool lane project on I-5 through Tacoma and something about the Cross-Base Highway. The Legislature approved only about $500,000 to finish work on an intersection at the east end of that "maybe someday" cross-base project.

And they claim all that ground will be covered in only 1 hour.

DRAFT AGENDA - June 3, 2009
8:00 Welcome & Self-Introductions
Tim Farrell, Co-Chair
8:05 Update: Pierce County Priority Projects
SR 167
• Tacoma to Puyallup Extension- Troy Cowan, WSDOT
• Tolling Study- Chris Picard, WSDOT
• HOT Lanes Pilot Project- Chris Picard, WSDOT

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We have not yet discussed the spiritual dimension of the lowly pothole. It is not something, but a lack of something, a void, an absence, an emptiness.

They certainly seem also to be kenotic, from the Greek, kenosis (κένωσις), meaning self-emptying, as in the theological choice to become entirely receptive, a vessel waiting to be filled with perfection. Hot, black, gooey perfection.

Is the homophonic coincidence between 'holy' and 'holey' merely that? Or can we read something more into 'holy's' Old English origins meaning that "which must be preserved whole or intact" and related to the word for health and happiness.

Oh holy pothole jellyroll slop bowl snap roll red coal south pole hole in my soul...

Which brings us to Tacoma City Councilman Rick Talbert (left).

Last week's report by City Manager Eric Anderson included an update of pothole repairs by Council district. Talbert's District 4, comprising East Tacoma and environs, fared the worst. Only 25 percent of repairs had been completed.

District 1 – mostly North Tacoma, from South 19th Street north to Point Defiance – was 84 percent done. That's Spiro Manthou's district.

How is your district doing? I'm including the full document here.

In his report to the Tacoma City Council last Friday, City Manager Eric Anderson provided a time line of legislation approved by the Council related to the LeMay Museum.

It starts with Oct. 27, 1998 -- the day the City proclaimed as LeMay Day -- and goes up through the April 28, 2009 application for $3.5 million in federal Housing and Urban Development loans.

You can download a .pdf of it here.

Here's what's on tap for the Tacoma City Council this week.

A Tuesday's study session, Council members will get an update form State Sen. Mike Carrell on the 2009 legislative session and homelessness.

On the agenda for Tuesday's regular Council meeting:

*A resolution setting a hearing for June 16 on proposed amendments to the Comprehensive Plan and Land Use Regulatory Code.

*A resolution accepting $321,221 in grant money to enhance preparedness for mass casualty events.

*Some purchasing resolutions including $1.9 million to rehab the East 34th Street Bridge; $118,000 for computer software licensing; $85,000 for car batteries; and $1 million to renew (and increase) the city contract (good through July 2012) for the rental and laundering of uniforms and linens. The garments are mainly for Public Works solid waste and wastewater management employees, and Public Utilities workers, which are provided under labor agreements.

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Gerry Collen took hundreds of pictures Saturday afternoon at The Swiss Pub, where a wake was held for Gayl Bertagni, the co-owner who died in an accident over the Memorial Day weekend.

I covered the wake and wrote a story for Sunday's paper.

Collen graciously provided some of the pictures. He posted 15 of them on our Web site, and provide a link to many more.

Here's a link to The News Tribune photo gallery.

And if I did this right, here is a link to Gerry's Gallery, where you'll find 155 more photos from the wake.

Here's the story that appeared in Sunday's paper.

Family, friends raise glasses to Swiss co-owner
Memorial: About 500 turn out to honor chef, mother who had ability 'to connect with anybody and everybody'

By Joseph Turner

Sunday,May 31, 2009
Edition: SOUTH SOUND, Section: Front Page, Page A01
Gayl Ann Bertagni, the Swiss Pub co-owner who died during Memorial Day weekend, still can hush a boisterous crowd of several hundred tavern patrons - at least, the mention of her name still can.

About 500 members of "The Swiss Family" gathered Saturday afternoon to celebrate Bertagni's life at a wake that filled the downtown Tacoma watering hole to capacity and spilled outside onto the sidewalks.

The crowd became instantly quiet when a priest asked for God to "bless the soul of Gayl Bertagni." And that was followed by a "Raise your glasses!" call from a patron-friend and they resumed their boisterous celebration.

"There's someone from every walk of life here," said Lillian Hunter, principal of Oakland Alternative High School in Tacoma. "The entire spectrum of the social strata is here, which shows the ability of Gayl to connect with anybody and everybody, regardless of where you came from."

=> Read more!