Maybe the mayor deserves a little credit here? He made some pretty tasty sausage with this bill.

And this is exactly the way our democratic legislative process is supposed to work: both sides push to get the law to favor their side, but in the end they both compromise to get some, but not all of what they want. As is often said after these kinds of negotiations, "if nobody's happy with the end result because they didn't get everything they wanted, it's probably a good bill".

Congratulations, $15Now, Seattle City Council & Mayor Murray - now, let's move forward. As for Meinert, he can go cry himself silly in a corner, where he belongs.

I'm so proud of our city!!

"special certificates" for disabled workers? Good lord, they voted for that?

Anyone who continues to condemn Sawant as a strident socialist who never compromises is a complete idiot. If she can say this is an unambiguous victory, she's probably the most collegial realist on the Council.

This will make the Metro budget cuts even more damaging. I don't see a lot of businesses closing or firing a lot of employess, however, I do see the pool of applicants willing to travel in to Seattle for 30% higher wages increasing. Frequently, this pool of applicants will be more dependent on transit services, which we've left to wither.

I can't believe they voted to discriminate against disabled people.

@14:

I thought this was a session of the Minimum Wage Committee, which I believe is a committee-of-the-whole, but not the Council per se, so I wonder if there's any possibility of making further amendments once it goes up for a final vote next week?

Wonks?

Yes they could strike stupid amendments like Tip Stealing or Slave Wages For Teens Who Can Die In Needless Wars But Get Underpaid So CEOs Get Yachts

@18, @14 - I think that the request for the Disability Commission to weigh in made sense. The issue isn't "discriminat[ion] against disabled people" per se. My understanding and experience has been that disabled persons will be hired for positions that do not provide equal (or near to) productivity to non-disabled counter-parts.

For example - long ago when I worked in the fast food industry, we had a disabled person who had some significant intellectual disability that made it near impossible for him to complete tasks that he was given, but we had enough staff that it wasn't a big deal. He was hired not necessarily to do a job, but to make him feel more part of his community, and because it looked good for the employer.

I believe that it would be instances like these where an employer would be able to get the credit - where someone is hired, but isn't necessarily filling an open position.

Assuming the enforcement is adequate, someone with mild intellectual disability who can, in fact, complete tasks, and is filling a position in its entirety, should not be subject to this different wage.

@7 "Anyone who continues to condemn Sawant as a strident socialist who never compromises is a complete idiot."

Who never compromises? She was on the losing side of every vote up until passing it out of committee, and we have yet to see if 15Now will continue to seek signatures for a charter amendment.

As for being a strident socialist, I have no problem saying that she is - but it's not a condemnation :D

The big loss in the motion to water this down was taking away the private right of action. This means that workers can't go to court if they are ripped off. If we aren't planning on creating a massive city wage and hour department this law will be effectively unenforceable. Workers should have both the ability to go to a government office or get their own lawyer if they are ripped off.

Licata and Rasmussen both missed the committee meeting. everyone should contact them and ask to remove that provision when the bill is taken up for adoption on Monday June 2nd. Otherwise the city will get bogged down in trying to enforce this law alone.

Actually, @22, nine of the amendments were passed unanimously. On three other votes, Kshama was on the short end of 4-3 votes: moving the start date for the minimum wage to kick in back from January 1, 2015 to April 1, 2015, which she opposed; removing the authority to have sub-minimum wages for new workers ("learners and apprentices"), for the young and the old, and for workers who are sick, injured or disabled (she supported removing this odious provision); and permitting a sub-minimum wage for 14-15 year olds (she opposed). She voted with the majority on her own proposal to allow complaints to be filed within 3 years, rather than 180 days, consistent with State and federal standards (passed 6-0 with Harrell abstaining); and Mike O'Brien's proposal for very modest increases in penalties for violations of the law (passed 5-2). There were four other proposals for which she was in a 6-1 minority, including getting rid of tip penalties, putting real teeth in the penalties for violations, shortening the phase-in and providing triple-back pay plus attorney's fees (as is common for back pay claims) rather than a no-penalty provision of back pay with interest. All in all, she showed integrity and leadership, as well as a willingness to work with the other Councilmembers.

@ 6 Cmon she is going forward with a ballot measure now.

@24 I overstated, and stand corrected.

Ah yes. The Children's Hour that is Seattle city governance strikes another blow at the middle class.

Once again, if you have so little interest in your own welfare that you make minimum wage, you deserve poverty.

In other news, I welcome sane businessmen to where they're welcome- anywhere but Seattle.

@28
and when those businesses stay in seattle, clearly it is they, the Bezos of the world, the Allens of the world, who are insane or bad at running a business, not you. There is literally no better place in the West for an internet companies HQ than where Amazon is putting it down.

All the big corporate factories and warehouses in Seattle are in for a big surprise now eh? You know those employers that the city is built around...Oh wait, they aren't in seattle proper, at least their low paid employees aren't... but restaurants, coffee shops, theater, non profit arts organizations, small innovative retailers.

I support $15 an hour, but with tips counted as wages in the least, which ask any server, are the wages they truly count on. You will gradually notice, (or maybe not, till you look back), small shops, theaters and restaurants starting to disappear.
Extremely dissapointed.

This may or may not spark a National debate, I truly hope it does. But do know, you wanted to get at the major fast food chains so bad, with no "loopholes", your going to lose a bit of soul and neighborhood spark in this city, and nary a one of those fast food outlets will close, but your local BBQ and/or hip shoe store just may.
--

According to the fascist Fuckstick whose nomme de guerre is Seattleblues, if you're working your way through college, you're a despicable waste of human skin who "deserves" poverty. If your an immigrant, fleeing economic or political oppression, you are a waste of human skin who "deserves" poverty. If you perform any sort of manual labor, you're a waste of human skin who "deserves" poverty. If you're employed in any service industry, you're a vile waste of human skin who "deserves" poverty. If you're working part time to help your family, you're a waste of human skin who "deserves" poverty. If you grew up in a poor neighborhood lacking in opportunity, you're a waste of human skin who "deserves" poverty. If you're not Seattleblues, if you have not lived your life exactly according to his wishes and expectations, you are a waste of human skin who "deserves" poverty.
Ah, the face of "compassionate conservatism".

I see that seattleblues' head exploded. What about Meinert's?

@2, the only side that gave anything in this compromise were employers. Labor and city government didn't give one cent to balancing income inequality. Nor did they offer or add any additional ideas or policy to help remedy a very complicated issue.
As for Meinert, he has steadfastly agreed that wages should rise. His positions may vary from most of those on the far left but his intentions are more pure than many of those who pretend to care more. The only reason he is "crying" is that he believes there was a better route to reaching a balanced and collaborative result. I'm with him on this.

@34- labor didnt give one cent to balancing income equality? Oh, please, do elaborate. What, exactly, would you have them give away? Which compromise that they didnt accept do you think they should have?
They didnt offer or add additional ideas or policy? Oh, please, do elaborate. You do realize that this entire conversation is happening because... They offered and fought for additional ideas and policies, don't you?
Please, elaborate. We could all use a good, hearty laugh.

@6 - didn't know this existed. I had someone try to place a disabled person at my business. They would place a companion with them the whole time. So now, I've got two people trying to do the job of one and getting in the way of my employees who are trying really hard to get their jobs done.

They said it was minimum wage. While I'd love to help, it is too costly for me to do so. They are trying to get these people trained to work, not to support themselves from the get-go.

Are you going to hire a disabled person to clean your house and pay them the same amount as a non-disabled person?

That is charity, not business. Some businesses have jobs that work, but still it is much bigger cost to the business to do so. The goal is to get them work experience and they just got completely priced out of the market.

#32...Who are YOU to say who's "worthless"? Why should anyone assume you're so cosmically superior that you're actually entitled to deny the worth of other members of the human race? I'm pretty sure that yours stinks as much as everyone else's, buddy.

We do not need to pay people poverty wages in a country as wealthy as this....and doing so while ceo's get massive bonuses for things like laying workers off and cutting the wages and benefits they DON'T lay off is, in a word, immoral.

We've had thirty-four years of uninterrupted wealth theft by the 1% from the 99%. $15 an hour is a small step towards returning what those on top have stolen from the economic majority for almost three-and-a-half decades.

For once, the people win.

But the fight's not over.

The fight to change who has the say comes next.

The days of letting "the market" (i.e., the self-interested collusion of the 1%)decide who is a "winner" and who is a "loser" have to come to an end. Now, we need to organize the nation and the world in a way that includes and values all of us, that rewards and treasures all of us, that gives all of us a chance to realize our true dreams...and that recognizes, once and for all, that dreams of spending your life doing nothing but acquiring wealth for the sake of acquiring wealth are not the ONLY valid dreams for people to have.

The tide is turning. The bad days may be beginning to come to an end. Work for the future that honors all of us, Seattle.

And thank you, Kshama Sawant, for making the impossible happen.

#39: none, actually. Nobody is entitled to declare another person "worthless".

You don't know how hard everybody else works, or why they believe what they believe(I think for myself, thank you, and so does pretty much everybody else I know. And we all work just as hard as you do.

Take a moral laxative already. Your soul is clogged with dried, impacted Objectivism.

@31
I grew up in a poor household in the ghetto, and I can say with absolute honesty that some people DESERVE TO BE POOR. If they can't lift themselves up in a place as opportunity reach as Seattle once was (before Sawant) they deserve to live in squalor.

Honesty, the whole "bleeding heart" shit was one of the things that made me stop being a liberal and become a libertarian. Yeah, people need help and yes, community should help them, but there has to be a point when you say enough is enough.

A bitch with five kids by five different men who works at McDonald's to give her a few extra dollars on top of her welfare check doesn't need more minimum wage, she needs more minimum sense.

@43: Your statements proves that your resistance to the minimum wage being raised is because you just hate certain people and therefore want them to be poorer than you.

You are just going to hate that you can not deem yourself better then them because you make a few more dollars per hour than they do. Why don't you just move away? Stop making excuses and just grab those bootstraps like you tell everyone else to do.

But hey, stupid bitches with their stupid bitch kids, right? Stupid bitches.

It isn't over until it's over...and even when it's over it can always start again.

State Republicans are planning on pushing a ban on municipal minimum wages on a statewide initiative. Sure, it will fail in Seattle...but will it fail big enough to offset all the votes in the east? Seattle couldn't even get enough votes to offset the East Side to get the car tabs tax for the buses to pass. How will Seattle get enough votes to counter those from Spokane, Yakima, the Peninsula etc?

But for now, the Red Shirts have won. I give the fascists credit for being effective in Seattle, but these racist, white trust fund hipster pricks only won Seattle. They can have their cross burning victory dance and toast to Pabst Blue Ribbon all day, but they only won one city. How the hell will they ever win...

Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Arizona, Nebraska, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alaska and New Hampshire?...let alone TEXAS

And Oklahoma already stopped this fascists stupidity in its tracks: http://money.cnn.com/2014/04/15/news/eco…

You won one racist, Marxist city...and we won an entire state.

And you know who else loved a high minimum wage? White supremacists in South Africa and the US: http://nypost.com/2013/09/17/why-racists…

But the good news is I can easily leave for Texas. Honestly, I have yet to have one of the fascist answer this simple question: how would a 15Now push fair in Texas and how would Sawant be received if she tried to run for office in the Lone Star State? Why can't these assholes answer that question?

@44
Yes, I hate certain kinds of people: lazy welfare cases and hoodrats who make hardworking, civil and proud Americans of African descent look bad. That, and lazy lowlifes in general. If one is stuck in minimum wage, it is most likely ones own fault.

And yes, I do hate those kinds of people. This classic sketch sums it up perfectly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3PJF0YE…

@46: Ah, it is the lazy Africans who are the problem, especially the stupid bitch Africans with their stupid bitch kids.

Racist and sexist, with a heaping helping of the Just World fallacy. Nice.

So why haven't you firmly grabbed those bootstraps and moved? If one is stuck in a city the hate, it is most likely one's own fault. You must just be too lazy or stupid to save up enough to move. Right?

Theodore Gorath I love how you took collectivism-sucks's ingredients,made that pie and continuously smack him/her in their figuratively ugly face.

@46- I thought you were going to move your fucking fascist, hate filled ass to Houston. What's stopping your lazy, African ass? Need me to come over and pack your Ayn rand books for you? It'll cost you $15.00... Per hour.

Also @ 46- I think this sketch sums you up perfectly:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SW7ts5G7pCY
You must be the inspiration for the uncle Ruckus character.

@35, the word "cent" should have given you a clue. Employers offered just as many ideas, maybe more, than labor during this process. Yet employers are the only ones actually paying to help solve the admitted inequality. Labor didn't offer lower there dues. Why, because their only interested in organizing and collecting dues. They could give a shit about small business and human services. They're just road kill on the way to labors mission of blowing up the franchise model and organizing bigger businesses.

@51- There, their, they're. Each has it's own distinct meaning. Learn them, then get back to us, mmmmmmmmmkay?
"...yet employers are the only ones actually paying"... wow, you're a real intellectual giant, aren't you?
"Their (sic) only interested in organizing and collecting dues"... yes, the primary purpose of organized labor is to organize labor collectively. Again, you are a real intellectual giant to have figured that out. Also, the primary purpose of Walmart is to sell cheap shit for a profit. Shocking revelations, all.

Collectivism Sucks just went full retard. Perhaps he should qualify for lower wages.

@47
I know you are probably a white, privileged trust fund socialist, so I'll forgive you for not understanding how the real world works. It takes money to start over somewhere and hence one would be well advised to save up a nice sum before picking up and starting over. And saving said fund takes time.

Granted, I'm sure your parents send you checks to pay for your Capitol Hill apartment and copious supply of Pabst Blue Ribbon, but I am not from a wealthy household and hence don't have that option.

And few Africans are lazy...that other word, that starts with an "n" and ends in an "r"? They're lazy, as any proud African American like myself will tell you.

@49 & 50
LOL! So saying lazy thugs and welfare queens make proud African Americans look bad makes me look like Uncle Ruckus. Okay.

And I guess Chris Rock is also an "Uncle Ruckus"...and for that matter, Aaron McGruder, the Boondocks creator himself must be an "Uncle Ruckus" for creating this, perhaps the best three minutes in television history: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5FR1LGs…
(and yes, I know MLK supported a MW. He was a great man, but wrong on economics)

And you're the one pushing a policy that has its roots in racism, i.e., the minimum wage. MW has been used throughout history as a tool of state-sanctioned white supremacy: http://www.thecommentator.com/article/27…

So thank you for showing your true racist, fascist colors by supporting this madness.

And you STILL DIDN'T ANSWER THE QUESTION: How on Earth will you ever make 15Now happen in Texas and how would Sawant fair if she ran for office in Texas? How will you export this idea across the country when a huge chunk of this country wants nothing to do with it?

Oh, and Ayn Rand sucks.

@53
So you use a slur directed against people with disabilities to attack me. What a fucking bigot!

@54:

Weren't you the one proclaiming you were going to give away whatever portion of the raise you would earn from this to the GOP? So, why exactly are you complaining about not being able to save enough to move out of this "privileged trust fund socialist" hellhole for greener pastures again?

Maybe you're just lazy, or morally inferior, or too stupid to do the whole bootstrappy thing you insist everyone ELSE in your situation should be doing. Because, I'll bet that's what the people keeping YOU under their thumb must think, otherwise, why would you be in the circumstances you are right now?

YOU'RE ALL JUST FUCKING EVERYONE OVER.
People say they want a living wage... sure. Fair enough.
But what's going to stop complexes and landlords from just HIKING UP RENT PRICES to siphon away the extra cash? NOTHING.
Give everyone more money, and those setting the prices to LIVE, will just raise the price.
Why do people not understand this shit?!?!

@56:

But, it's perfectly okay for you to use disparaging epithets against others - got it.

Now, what's that word that describes a person who objects to others doing the very same things they themselves do as well? No, wait. It's right on the tip of my tongue...

@57
Ahh, last time I checked saving money takes time. In six months or so I should be able to leave Seattle forever (and I'll be in Texas or North Carolina in a time of year besides Summer)

And I would never mock someone who is trying. A poor person who is working their way towards a raise is doing something for themselves, just as someone who is working his way toward moving is also doing something. Granted, I'm talking to someone for who believes any and all personal ambition is evil.

@59
"Douche bag" is not slur against people with disabilities. Epithets are fine, as long as they aren't bigoted. The only time it's okay to use a bigoted epithet is if one is a member of the group that said slur is directed at. I.e., African Americans like myself using the "n" word.

So unless #53 actually has Downs Syndrome, he shouldn't use that term.

Bullshit @60. You know absolutely NOTHING about the personal circumstances of anyone on SLOG, other than what they've chosen to impart, and yet you continuously mock, disparage, ridicule and otherwise express utterly contemptible blanket generalizations about other commentors, just exactly like you did with your last sentence there.

You are now, and always shall be, a whiny hypocrite who can't practice what they preach, and the sooner you can achieve your personal dream of moving out of here, the better of everyone else you leave behind will be.

So hey, good luck with that, seriously, and I hope it happens soon. Nobody will miss you when you're gone.

And with @61, I rest my case.

It's fun watching Boswell's head explode! @53-Boswell's (collectivism sucks) biggest problem isn't necessarily that he's stupid, it's more that he is a lying, racist, misogynistic, AND stupid.

He's been hiding in shame from all the events he used to come to while screaming "I am John Galt", proving that his moral and intellectual compass come from a lazily written trashy romance novel. I like Paul Krugman's quote on the book: "There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."

Pretty much sums up Boswell.

@54: I keep telling you that I do not even live in Seattle, and do not have a rich background nor a trust fund. You could at least have the decency to think of new ad hominem attacks when you have no argument.

Oh, and weren't you the one who would always accuse other people of using ad hominem attacks against you? Hypocrisy as always.

Now they just need to pass a minimum wage for interns, amiright Stranger?

It's kind of an amazing victory for Sawant and the socialists.

Even though it's riddled with everything they said they were against, all the cutouts, it's still, compared with the rest of America, far, far ahead. So a huge win.

But because it is so riddled with cutouts, it adds momentum to passing Charter Amendment 20. Take away the training wage, or the tip penalty, or the long phase in, or, the biggest one of all, the impossibility of enforcing Murray's Rube Goldberg compromise, and lots of support for the Charter Amendment would evaporate. But instead, they just ladled on reasons to vote for 20.

The public wanted a straight $15/hr, and our representatives proved they can kind of half-assedly throw you a bone, but in the end they're not up to the job. Now we have to take it to the polls. I know conventional wisdom says business will out-spend us, but if it were that simple, true Richard Conlin would have won.

So 15Now can fan out across the country trumpeting a genuine victory, yet at the same time have the wind in their sails for their initiative campaign.

@64
Ignoring your half literate rant, I will simply say that this sums up you: http://www.quickmeme.com/img/fe/fe468be3…

@65
The word "probably" is in there. As in you are probably a white, privileged hipster. I never said you were nor did I actually say that was a bad thing or that it invalidated any argument. I simply said that I have to save money to start fresh and that I have a lease I can't back out of, hence I'm stuck in Seattle, surrounded by racist 15Now people.

@62
First, a hypocrite is actually someone on a smart phone, eating at Chipotle going on and on about how evil capitalism is. That is hypocrisy. Nothing is stopping them from moving to North Korea or Cuba to experience the joys of socialism. At the very leas they can get off the internet and stop posting on board sponsored by businesses.

Second, I actually do practice what I preach: people should work for their goals and not expect government to give them everything to make them happen. I'm working towards a goal of leaving Seattle and moving to a red state, like North Carolina or Texas. Where is the hypocrisy?

And yes, I make disparaging remarks against asshole, racist, socialist, douche monkeys. And?

...and on top of this, none of them have answered the question: what are the chances 15Now would be successful in Texas, Kentucky or North Carolina? And how exactly would Sawant be received in Texas?

They call me everything you can imagine, but never answer that question. I'll admit the left is in control in Seattle, and hence I'm working to leave. I also admit Ted Cruz or Gary Johnson wouldn't stand a chance in Seattle. But why can't they just admit what 15Now's chances are in red states?

@67
A socialist had a victory in Seattle...in other news nearly unbelievable news, Asian people are found living in China.

15Now will never be a force nationally. Honestly, how would Tennessee or Texas receive 15Now or socialists?

Don't bother answering that question: you people never do.

Dear @70:

Here's the answer to your so-important-question: We don't really give a fuck about how $15Now would go over in Tejas, or the Carolinas, or whatever backwoods southern paradise you imagine, because - NEWS FLASH - we aren't making policy for those places. Those places are irrelevant to this issue, and it doesn't matter how they would address it. We're in Seattle - the policy being discussed, the legislation being ground out affects us. If they want to ignore it or embrace it, that's totally up to them; we're just showing them it CAN be done, if they CHOOSE to do it.

And see, here's why I call you a hypocrite: you go on and on (and on) about how much you HATE everything about Seattle, and that you just can't WAIT to leave - but you DON'T leave. You STAY. You do nothing but complain about how you can't save enough money - because apparently, you can't find an employer here who recognizes your impeccable work-ethic - and you constantly berate others because they don't acknowledge your obvious genius in the realm of socio-economic policy.

I'll let you in on a little secret: you don't NEED to cache away thousands of dollars. A one-way ticket on Greyhound from Seattle to Dallas is only a couple hundred bucks. If you haven't got that, Hell I'll bet we could pass a hat around SLOG and come up with a good portion of the ticket price, just to see how serious you actually are about this. So stop making excuses - just go - we'll help. Sell your stuff (the computer you're using would probably fetch enough for the ticket alone), pack some clothes in a duffel bag, throw it into the luggage compartment of the next bus heading east, and get the fuck out of here.

And when you DO get there, be sure to let us all know how wonderful and marvelous and full of unicorns and endless pots of gold your life has become; I'm sure we'll be very curious to see how it all turns out.

Otherwise, you can just keep sitting there railing against the horrible, awful, really-no-good liberal gulag in which you're trapped, because YOU CAN'T MAKE ENOUGH FUCKING MONEY (which you might actually be able to do with a bit a raise, thanks to $15Now) and we'll keep calling you what you are - a craven, self-absorbed, whiny hypocrite.

First, "I don't care" is not an answer. You liberals do everything but answer the question. And the answer is: 15Now will NEVER pass in most of the country. Why is that so hard to admit?

As for the rest of what you've written, you seem to have a severe reading comprehension problem. One needs money to start over in a new place and hence, money must be saved. I make about 38,000/year but I don't have a lot of cash on hand. Hence, I need to save up more to start fresh. I make MORE than the equivalent of 15/hour and I'm not poor (sure as hell not rich though)

That, and there is the little detail of a LEASE! I know you people aren't fans of private agreements between individuals, but I signed one and agreed to live in my apartment through December. Hence, I can't leave even if I wanted to. And this minimum wage increase won't even go into effect before then, so who cares.

And the real hypocrite is you. Why? Want socialism? Why aren't you packing your Pabst Blue Ribbon, your Iphone and your skinny jeans and getting on a plane for North Korea? Or how about Cuba?

I admit I want free markets and I'm going to someplace that has a freer market. You want socialism but don't want to go to a real socialist country. Who sounds more like a hypocrite, me or you?

^@72
Oh, and I NEVER complained about needing time to save money. And I never said I hate everything about Seattle. I love the mountains, the legal weed, the weather, the clean air, the shops etc. It's just the politics that suck.

Compare Seattle to the rest of Washington even and you'll see a difference in politics. 15Now would NEVER pass in Bellevue even, as that's where most conservatives and libertarians have left Seattle for, leaving this place for the liberals. I may find a job on the East Side and live there when my lease runs out and just try to avoid spending any money in this city.

And Boswell, what do the authoritarian regimes in Cuba and especially N Korea have to do with democratic socialism? Just as we are "spreading freedom and democracy" via our campaigns to bomb the shit out of poor brown people, the Soviet Union was "socialist". A soviet is a democratic workers' council. The Stalinist system in the USSR was not in any way a union of soviets.

And I have organized in Eastern Washington. Not as right-wing as you might think.

@71

You considered a socialist victory in Seattle unbelievable. Remember how many times you came here and said Sawant was going to lose to Richard Conlin? Remember how many times you came here and said even if she wins she will be ineffective and irrelevant? Shall we have a roll of how many times you were utterly, utterly wrong?

And yet you roll your eyes and say "Of course socialists win in Seattle!" Now you say that.

But instead of learning anything from your errors, you think you can sound smart by insisting that it ends in Seattle? No chance in the Deep South, you say? Maybe. It's uphill in Dixie, am I right? And you have to walk before you can run. Maybe Portland first, Houston a little later.

But the smart money says if JW Boswell predicts it will never happen, it's probably going to happen. You've been wrong more times than most mortal fuckups can ever dream of. They should probably name some kind of "Oops!" award after you. A statue with your name spelled wrong in honor of your supreme got-it-wrong-ed-ness. Kudos to you for that achievement.

Of course, the socialists prefer their achievements to yours, no offense, JW.

o If you think people who disagree with you DON'T FUCKING MATTER, why do you bother insulting them?

And why, might I ask, should everyone else simply assume you are worth more than the rest of us? Care to tell us what your singular, incomparable, unquestioningly universe-changing personal
achievements might happen to be, so that we who are, in your view, "worthless" may do proper homage to your immense cosmic majesty, unworthy though we may be to lick the soil upon which you tread, O Great Master of Universal Perfection and Flawlessness?

We who are but bugs on the speeding windshield of Your Onrushing Windshield Of Personal Advancement Beyond Earthly Measure humbly await your reply, Ye Who Does Not Possess An Anus!

Excuses, excuses, and more excuses - that seems to be the ONLY thing you have any proficiency in making @73.

Or as your new neighbors in Texas would say, "all hat, no cattle." Remember this phrase, as I expect you'll be hearing it a lot from folks down there - assuming you ever actualize on your ineffectual daydreaming.

@77
I never said Conlin would win...I don't even think I was reading the Stranger at that time. I was actually not surprised considering Goldy turned the Stranger into Sawant's propaganda tool. And who the fuck is JW Boswell?

And yes, a compromise deal passed. That's what I've been saying this whole time would probably happen. This is the People's Republic of Seattle, after all. Which is why the East Side beckons or maybe just leaving the state.

But I was wrong about one thing: Proposition 1 I was sure was gonna pass. I'm shocked that all it took were some voters on the East Side to override the voters in Seattle. So, if the authoritarian left is SO powerful in Seattle, how could they not get enough votes to override the East side of the county, let alone the East Side of the state?

No need to answer...

@75 &76
First, who the fuck is Boswell? I googled and couldn't find shit. Second, Ayn Rand sucked as a writer and a human being. I prefer Alan Moore.

As for "Eastern Washington not being that conservative", here's a map of the last presidential election: http://seattletimes.com/flatpages/politi…

And I might add this guy was elected in Eastern Washington over and over again: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doc_Hasting…

How can anyone back up a claim like "Eastern Washington isn't that right wing"?

As for Cuba and North Korea, they are not democratic socialist countries. But Sawant and Socialist Alternative are not democratic socialist, they are Troskyites. It's the same kind of Marxist-Leninism. And so-called "Democratic socialism" isn't that great either. And if it is, why aren't you moving to Venezuela?

And NOTHING is stopping workers from forming a collectively owned business in America...except maybe government regulations. But what if someone in a socialist society wanted to break away and start a for-profit business?

It has often been said that the difference between a libertarian society and a socialist one is that libertarians would tolerate a socialist community but socialist would never allow a libertarian society to exist in their territory.

And what are you doing on the internet anyway if you hate free markets so much? And why read the Stranger? Don't you know the Stranger is sponsored by adds for for-profit businesses? Don't you know the internet domain .com stands for COMMERCIAL?

At least those grungy, dirty anarchists practice what they preach. Socialism had always been synonymous with hypocrisy, which may be why so many workers reject it all over the country and the world.

@81
You still haven't answered the question: why aren't you moving to North Korea or Cuba? Why make lame excuses?

And why haven't you learned to read properly? I said maybe Texas or maybe the East Side. I'll see what happens when my lease runs out...you know, a "lease"? That thing your rich parents paid for you when you broke it because you moved out of your apartment because Capitol Hill was "too mainstream" and decided your PBR and Vegan brownie habit would be better served on First Hill? You know, that piece of paper those lame old people who are "oppressing you" signed when you went to art school and first started wearing skinny jeans and listening to obscure dubstep/indie rock/folk fusion bands while wearing a Che t-shirt because you're so "anti-establishment"?

And I moved from New York to Seattle, and it took me a year and a half to save the 8,000 necessary for the move. You don't understand why people need money to move or have to honor leases because you're a trust fund socialist who hasn't lived ten minutes in the real world. You've made that clear for all to see.

But on the bright side, you did very well at your little sporting event, and I have the video to prove it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAO4EVMl…

Do we have any good studies done on how the $15 MW is working out in SeaTac? I've seen some news articles referencing a massive increase in applications received for affected jobs there, as well as some layoffs that have happened, but no real numbers driven analysis yet.

I really expected to see more Seattle 15Now fingers pointed at the massive success story of the SeaTac minimum wage ordinance by this point, and I'm wondering if the fact that I don't see that happening means it hasn't been that big of a success story after all.

@85
The Seatac measure was very limited, so it doesn't really apply to what's happening in Seattle. But already we're seeing big negative impacts in Seatac. The Clarion Hotel, for example, closed its restaurant and a few dozen people lost their jobs. Maybe the 15Now apologists can explain how those people are better off making $0/hour then they were making between $9.32-$14.00/hour?
And businesses are ALREADY MOVING OUT OF SEATTLE and this thing hasn't even passed yet! Northwest Caster and Equipment, for example, is moving to Lynnwood because of the 15/hour MW. This is a great article on this issue that cites other papers and reports as sources. Repeat, IT CITES ITS SOURCES, so no "that's just right-wing propaganda" excuse.

http://www.unitedliberty.org/articles/17…

In the end, I'm kind of happy this is happening. I hope Seattle raises taxes, increases regulations and does everything in its power to destroy itself. In ten years, when Seattle is in the grips of a massive recession while the East Side is thriving, it will serve as an example to the rest of the country of how not to run a city.

#84....dude, It's not as if the only options are Juche Thought or Galt's Gulch.

People cam crate humane, positive, viable alternatives to both.
and you don't have to treat the rest of the hunan race as your enemies to be free.

And where did you get the idea that it's racist and elitist to say people should get a living wage for the work they do? Or that only "trustafarians" would want such a thing? You are not the official Voice Of All Who Put In A Good Day's Work, y'know. Why do you even think that you are?