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