Political Buzz

A team of experienced reporters keep you updated on what's happening in political arenas at the city, county, state and federal levels. From presidential campaign visits to who's running for city council, we've got it covered.

Contributors

Peter Callaghan is a local columnist. He’s covered the statehouse and state politics since 1981. Before joining The News Tribune in 1985, the Stadium High grad worked for newspapers in Everett and Lewiston, Idaho, and for The Associated Press in Olympia and Seattle. Email Peter

Joe Turner has covered state government and transportation issues since 1990. Since the Bellarmine grad’s arrival in the newsroom in 1978, he’s covered police, suburban cities, Tacoma City Hall, Federal Way City Hall and the Pierce and King county governments. Email Joe

David Wickert covers Pierce County government. Before coming to The News Tribune in 1998, he covered local government for newspapers in Illinois, Virginia and Tennessee. Email David

Ian Demsky is a general assignment reporter who specializes in database-driven reporting. He's been at the News Tribune since 2007 and has previously worked in Nashville, Tenn. and Portland, Ore. When he's not at work, he enjoys hiking and science fiction. Email Ian
Les Blumenthal has been covering Washington, D.C. for The News Tribune since 1990, focusing on issues and politicians involving the state. Before joining The News Tribune, he spent 13 years working for The Associated Press in Seattle, Illinois and Washington, D.C. Email Les

John Henrikson is a local news editor who oversees political coverage. He's worked as a journalist in the Northwest for 19 years, supervising coverage and reporting on local and state government, the environment and growth. Email John

Local politics links
Brad Shannon's The Politics Blog (The Olympian)
Adam Wilson (The Olympian)
Politics Northwest (Seattle Times)
Sound Politics
Horse's Ass
Richard Roesler's Eye on Olympia (Spokesman Review)
P-I's Strange Bedfellows (Seattle PI)
Crosscut
SoundInfo Databases
State Employee Pay
Statewide School Employee Pay
City of Tacoma Employee Pay
Pierce County Employee Pay
King County Employee Pay
Metro Parks Employee Pay
City of Lakewood Employee Pay
City of Puyallup Employee Pay
Pierce Transit Employee Pay
Other Resources
Washington Legislature Bill Lookup
How your lawmaker voted: WashingtonVotes.org

Calendar
June 2009
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
 << < Current> >>
  1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30        
Archives
XML Feeds
What is RSS?
Misc
Who's Online?
  • jamc379 Email
  • artman77 Email
  • Guest Users: 451
Let's talk politics.
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
Posted by Ian Demsky @ 04:32:43 pm

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.

Categories: Tacoma
Posted by Ian Demsky @ 09:44:33 am

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.

Categories: Tacoma