Riding

King County Metro, whose Access Transportation program provides door-to-door service for disabled Metro riders who can't use ordinary buses, has just finished renegotiating its Access contracts—and jettisoning one of three private companies that provide Access transit service. The company Metro is eliminating, MV Transportation, is a union shop; the company that will take over a portion of MV's contract, Veolia Transportation, is not. Approximately 150 workers, including 130 drivers, will either lose their jobs or find new ones with the winning companies.

According to Metro general manager Kevin Desmond, King County decided to end MV's contract "based on a number of factors, cost being one of them." Desmond adds that while King County Veolia drivers aren't currently unionized, there's no reason they couldn't be. "Any union has the right to attempt to organize Veolia's employees," Desmond says. "We have absolutely no problem with that." ERICA C. BARNETT

Raiding

The city's Human Services Department (HSD) is attempting to raid a $350,000 fund set aside by the city council to assist tenants displaced by condo conversions. HSD has requested $203,000 of the fund to offset budget gaps created by losses in federal funding.

The displaced-tenants fund has been in limbo since February, when Mayor Greg Nickels froze the fund in an attempt to shore up HSD's budget. After protests from council members and housing activists, the mayor released $50,000 to nonprofit Solid Ground to do outreach and get money to displaced tenants.

HSD has asked for the funds because Solid Ground has yet to actually get any of the money from the three-month-old program to tenants—not, they say, because no one needed assistance, but because, as a small nonprofit, they're just not equipped to do that level of outreach.

However, if Solid Ground were to be hit with 30 to 40 requests for assistance in the next few months, it could easily wipe out the nonprofit's $50,000 reserve.

The council is expected to vote on HSD's request in the next few weeks. JONAH SPANGENTHAL-LEE

Razing

The Department of Planning and Development (DPD) has given the conditional okay to plans for a 10-acre mixed-use development near South Dearborn Street and Rainier Avenue South. The mall-like development, which will include a Target, will replace the Goodwill building with 700,000 square feet of retail space and 565 new units of housing.

Neighbors involved in the Dearborn Street Coalition worry that big-box retailers will siphon away shoppers from small businesses on Jackson Street. However, some nearby residents have come out in support of the development because, if approved, it would bring increased density and low-income housing to the area.

Before the development is permitted, a city hearing examiner must approve the designs and the city council must agree to allow the developer to build up to 85 feet. The hearing examiner is accepting written comments until June 6 and will hold a public hearing on June 9. DOMINIC HOLDEN