The Stranger Election Control Board Endorsements for the November Election: Read 'em all. Things we mentioned: Splooge, pangolins, ball hairs, Dan Savage's cocaine drawer—plus, Bruce Harrell's "spineless pandering" and a switch from the August primary endorsement to his underdog challenger, Tammy Morales.
So Go Vote, Drink, and Be Merry: ...at The Stranger Voting Party, next Tuesday, where you can join Dan Savage, a bunch of the candidates, and the SECB in filling out your mail-in ballot! It's at the Comet Tavern on Capitol Hill from 6-9 p.m..
Miss Last Night's Democratic Debate? It was surprisingly non-gimmicky and substantive. Bernie Sanders did great, Hillary did her thing (including making shit up about Edward Snowden), Martin O'Malley did okay, and everyone couldn't wait for Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee to shut the fuck up whenever they opened their mouths. Relive the glory with our live-blog.
Parents Are Upset With the Seattle School District Over Teacher Staffing Changes: Per usual, the district handled the changes in the most bone-headed way—without clearly explaining its reasons, and enacting them a month into the school year (surprise!). The district plans to shuffle around 25 teachers due to losses in revenue, Paige Cornwell reports, which means some schools are losing teachers that they treasure. "Parents were already unhappy (from the strike)," Alki Elementary parent Amy King said. "This pushed us over the edge. This made us angry."
Seattle's House Delegation Is Concerned, Too: They asked the district in a letter: "We ask that the District give us time to work with staff, Seattle Public School parents, and other outside stakeholders to implement a plan to mitigate the impacts of the proposed staff reassignments."
And the School Board Was Like, "Fuck You, Do Your Jobs and Fund Public Schools": "Our budget, like other school districts across the state, is constrained by inadequate funding from the Legislature," the school board president and vice-president countered. "We appreciate your good intent, yet asking our district or any other to suspend operations and decisions without the funding required to remedy the problems is financially irresponsible... We ask that you focus your efforts on complying with the McCleary court ruling to fully fund, and communicate to the public that we as a District are doing the very best we can with inadequate funds and underfunded state mandates." Oh, snap. Jen Graves broke down how the state should fund the schools right here.
Is the Seattle School District Really Spending Its Limited Dollars in the Right Way, Though? Administrative budgets are only growing, Danny Westneat notes. "The superintendent’s office: up 16.4 percent. The public-information office: up 25 percent. Meanwhile the budget for teachers is up 8.4 percent, while enrollment—the number of actual customers—is up only 1 percent."
Ana Mari Cauce Picked As University of Washington's President: The UW regents spent $100,000 on a search for outside candidates for the job, but they picked Cauce, who rose the ranks internally at UW. She's the first woman, first Latina, and first openly gay person to hold the position. More details from her bio: She's the daughter of Cuban exiles, her brother was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan when he was 25, and she has a clinical psychology doctorate from Yale University. "During her seven months as interim president, she supported a legislative decision to lower university tuition, adopted Seattle's $15 minimum wage initiative even though some felt UW should be immune to the Seattle ordinance [Ed. note: not without some waffling first], announced a plan to expand childcare on campus, finalized a new innovation exchange with Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, and has spoken eloquently about diversity, racism and homophobia," the AP reports.
Reduced Lifespans Because of Industrial Pollution, Right Here in Seattle: "A study by the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition and Just Health Action concluded that residents of South Park have a 13-year shorter lifespan than residents of Seattle’s tony Laurelhurst neighborhood," KUOW reports. "Maria Cardenas, who lives in South Park, is concerned by those findings. 'I can’t let my children go outside, because of the pollution. I’m scared,' she says." Why isn't this an election issue?
"Grand Bargain" Between Developers and Affordability Advocates Advances in Council: Progress! A council committee approved new commercial linkage fees and a mandatory inclusionary housing policy that requires "all new multifamily buildings to make 5-8% of their units affordable to those making 60% of the area median income or require developers to pay into an affordable housing fund. In 2013, Seattle households at 60% AMI took in $40,487," Capitol Hill Seattle reports.
Restaurant Chain in NYC Eliminates Tips: It seems to have worked for Ivar's in Seattle, so why not for Union Square Hospitality Group's thirteen restaurants?
Did You Read This Wide-Ranging, Exclusive Interview that Black Lives Matter Activists Marissa Johnson and Mara Willaford Did With Real Change? No? Then you can read the interview online, or you could do the good thing and pay your neighborhood Real Change vendor two bucks for a hard copy. Totally worth it.
