News Jan 7, 2010 at 4:00 am

Marching Orders: Priorities for Seattle and Olympia

Comments

1
Nifty.

Fairly good.

I like how you didn't waste time on the Billionaire's Tunnel, which everyone knows is already dead.

See you at the dance party Saturday!
2
you said: who's used her three terms in the U.S. Senate to become a quietly indispensable deal-maker and advocate for liberal causes, most recently on health-insurance reform

You're talking about Patty, right? That description almost fits Maria, but last I heard, Patty was still a complete lightweight who depends on her staff for what little she accomplishes. When did her rep change? (This is a serious question from a liberal Dem.)
3
@2 - got fed dollars? then she's effective.

now go back to sleep in the turnip truck.
4
As per the state treasury the state will be broke in September and Seattle is 35 million short right now?

If your ideas don't create jobs or make the state and city some "hard cold cash" you are poking pickles at a meat grinder.
5
Get rid of the city and county and state sales taxes.Replace 'em with a PROGRESSIVE income tax.How 'bout a livable wage for Seattle workers?At least San Fran upped has its own minimum wage!
6
Murray has always been great on Veteran's issues and taking care of the military bases here in Washington.
7
Patty Murray: "...advocate for liberal causes, most recently on health-insurance reform..."

So far, there is NO healthcare reform; only a House Bill and a Senate Bill separated by a Columbia Gorge-sized philisophical abyss. When the House eventually rolls over for the pharma-friendly Senate template, it will indeed "reform" healthcare, but without slowing the meteoric rise of costs and without a fucking public option, and sure as hell without the one true vehicle of reform: a single payer system.
8
Movin' to the U.K.?
9
She is but a figure head for her staffers as @2 stated.

Patty Murray is nothing but a patsy for the DNC and has sold the State of Washington and her nation out in favor of her own career.

Where was Patty when Chris Dodd was screwing the nation over for his own personal gain? Shall we chat about ACORN, SEIU, and sub par healthcare reform????

The DNC right now smells to most Americans like a rotting gangrenous puss infused jackass; as bad as they have in over 100 years.
3 term Patty was there and SAID NOTHING.

Patty needs to go
10
Democrats have to understand that this will not be a good year. The worse since 1994. The Stranger wants purity -- the vast majority of VOTERS are not ideologically pure leftists -- not even in Seattle.

Purity is a one track run to losing.
11
I live in Capitol Hill on 12th and I like the Broadway alignment with the south end on Boren Ave to eliminate the two right angles and extend it to Roy.
12
See the Seattle Transit Blog for a very clear illustration of why the 12th Ave streetcar alignment would be a bad move in terms of actually getting people to use transit. Whatever it might do for "development", its first aim should be to move people and get them out of their cars. (And even from a development perspective it's hard to argue how good that option would be if by design it encourages fewer people to use the streetcar.)

http://seattletransitblog.com/2009/12/09…
13
I guess I'll try HTML this time. Click here for that STB link.
14
The 12th Ave Couplet idea is a bad idea. It breaks with what voters chose in 2008 (the alignment was for First Hill, not 12th Ave), creates an alignment that doesn't work for everyday users (too much spacing between the lines), and doesn't adequately serve the many employees that work in the employment centers of First Hill. Disappointing to hear this coming from The Stranger.
15
I voted for Patty Murray, and will do so again (h/t to 10, party purity is the strategy for failure) but calling her "sharp" is one of the most ill-informed statements I've read in the Stranger in a while. And that's saying a lot.

PM is on the duller end of the knife collection, a backup 6-10 ppg guard, a solid .240 hitter w/ acceptable glove. But seniority counts for a lot in the useless & decrepit House of Lords, uh, Senate, and she's been surrounded w/ good people. Enough to get some good progressive legislation passed in the future owing to her longevity.
16
Save Historic Architecture - You are missing the point about requiring Board members to attend each meeting - hard to do with volunteers; and it is rather rare that Board actions are disrupted by the lack of a quorum. The process is not "broken", though it is imperfect. Citizen involvement (e.g., speaking out, on point; attending public meetings) in support of individual properties, and those that are contributing to historic districts, is important to the process.
17
You contend that the "hospitals" want the streetcar alignment for their own benefit. The First Hill streetcar alignment is not for the benefit of the "hospitals", but rather for the benefit of their "patients", many of whom are on fixed-incomes, elderly and/or bound to wheelchairs or other personal assistance devices.

You advocate breaking a deal that was made over a decade ago when the First Hill Station was dropped. If the 12th Avenue or Broadway-only alignments are chosen rather than a Broadway/Boren option then these "patients", (obviously people whom you have left out of your analysis), will be required to hail Metro Axxess or a taxi to get from the 12th Avenue station to ANY of the hospitals. Are you willing to pay their cab fares out of your own pocket?

Those "hospitals" (Swedish, Harborview, Polyclinic, Virginia Mason) collectively employ over 20,000 people and see over a million "patients" a year.

The 12th Avenue alignment would only benefit developers and those interested in gentrification.

Makes one think you are closet Nichols supporters for your stand on this position.
18
Too bad the Stranger never lists the poor condition of Seattle Public Schools as something that needs addressing. Classrooms are overcrowded, kids can't drink out of water fountains because of the lead, there is mold all over the ceilings at some shools, the teachers need better pay, what is taught is substandard compared to other states and nations, etc. Please pay attention the most vulnerable population in Seattle and help fix this problem. Thank you.
19
Agreed with *almost* everything. But the streetcar on 12th is a bad idea. There's already loads of density on the Boren-to-Broadway route, and more people could get to appointments, work, school etc. TOMORROW if we linked up the streetcar with those places. I live in the Rainier Valley and bus service to Cap Hill sucks. I would light rail to Streetcar in a heartbeat. But 12th isn't where my doctor is, where the CC is, nor where the majority of businesses, etc. are.

And if you put it on 12th, I give you 5 years before you're writing an article about the new development attracting people, and pushing out the very under-served people you want to help.
20
Street cars are silly...we need transport that rises above or goes below the already clogged streets. Isn't a street car just a bus on fixed rails?
21
Doesn't the city council have more power than McGinn?Besides,I'd REALLY like to see him(and the so-called progressives/liberals of the council)repeal the city sales tax and replace it with a MUNICIPAL PROGRESSIVE INCOME TAX.....Is anybody hear a member of the Green Party of Seattle?Seattle needs to divide the council into districts(like the county council).THAT would be true progress!
22
The city council should be divided into districts(like the county),and the so-called progs in city gov't should do whatever it takes to repeal the city's regressive sales tax and replace it with a progressive city income tax.
23
Street Cars on 12th!!! NOOOO!!! This is a BICYCLE CORRIDOR!!! Did you not see what street cars did to WESTLAKE! Don't you people ride your bicycles?

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