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

=> Read more!

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.

=> Read more!

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!