Georgetown has long been a neighborhood constrained by its proximity to stuff you wouldn't want to live near. Industrial waste, airports, a planned citywide trash dump, sex-offender housing, strip clubs—all are located or planned in or around the neighborhood. Two South Seattle state legislators, Zack Hudgins and Bob Hasegawa, are trying to limit the amount of junk that can be dumped on neighborhoods like Georgetown by restricting to 25 the number of "environmentally hazardous" uses in a five-mile radius. The bill got a hearing February 27, but its prospects appeared dim at press time. Although classifying strip clubs as "environmental hazards" is a little dubious, Georgetown will probably soon get a reprieve from its designation as the city's red-light district anyway; City Council Member Peter Steinbrueck says he'll introduce legislation to regulate clubs citywide "very soon." Anti-strip-club hysterics have been mighty quiet in the 16 months since a federal judge overturned the city's strip-club moratorium, and with good reason: Although strip clubs are now allowed virtually everywhere, not one person has filed a permit to build one.

David Yeaworth, assistant to Council Member Sally Clark and former president of (pro-waterfront-tunnel) Allied Arts, has temporarily left his position at Clark's office to campaign full-time for Allied Arts against the viaduct rebuild. Taking his place until the March 13 election is ex–Music for America director Molly Neitzel, who arrives just in time to take on the mayor's nightlife-license legislation, which Clark's neighborhoods committee will discuss March 1. At some point after that meeting, Clark will decide whether to modify the mayor's legislation (which clubs hate) or scrap it entirely and start from scratch.

Massive overruns in the cost of renovating and replacing Seattle's fire stations—$67 million, or nearly 40 percent of the $167 million fire levy adopted in 2004—can't be made up by cutting costs, a consultant told the council's public-safety committee Friday. Consultant Les Townzen explained that any cuts to the seismic and construction projects in the levy would lead to higher costs later and could jeopardize safety and response times. "I thought there would be some places we could do some trimming," said committee chair Nick Licata. "They said no." The city will pay for the overruns with excess real-estate excise tax (REET) money, which has been growing steadily for a decade (to about $45 million last year); if REET dollars start to decline, other programs that rely on that money could be cut.

Remember those pay raises for top executives quietly approved by the council's budget committee last week? Council staffers say the executives who will enjoy a substantial boost—to as much as $213,262 a year—are Seattle Public Utilities Director Chuck Clarke, Fire Chief Gregory Dean, Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, and Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis. Not on the list: Finance Director Dwight Dively (the biggest loser in a recent mayoral reorganization) and City Light Chief Jorge Carrasco, who makes $210,000 a year. recommended