Hunter S. Thompson was great at writing about politics (and most other topics). I really wish he was alive to write about everything that's transpired since 2016.

Actually there been quite a large number of thefts from boats and marinas. Assuming that you don’t think the rich bastards with boats should just give the tweakers whatever they want, the choice is that there is a police presence or the victims drown a few of the miscreants.

Great SLOG AM, Will! I really appreciate seeing Cory Doctorow getting a shoutout here. I think he's one of the sharpest minds of our generation and a I'm a huge fan of his work.

That number who has no confidence in our elections is alarming and antithetical to our democracy. What is even more scary for me - well, did you watch last night's Frontline on "The Holy War of Michael Flynn?" Not only do he and his minions want to instill doubt in election integrity, but they also want to be able to overturn elections where their candidate has lost. They will not rest until all of us are nasal-deep in theocracy.

Covid isn't over, but the pandemic is. When scientists make these determinations, we should oblige.

"the 8-lane eyesore"

The only way to count 8 lanes on Alaskan Way is to include transit-only lanes and bike lanes. I thought the Stranger liked those amenities, so the "eyesore" characterization is confusing.

@5 -- "Public health officials agree that the end of the pandemic is in sight but not here yet. " https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2022/10/is-pandemic-finally-over-we-asked-the-experts/

Kudos for mentioning the Westneat column, but you failed to mention his best suggestion: Shrink the waterfront roadway. There should be one general purpose lane each direction. At most that means adding a turn lane, but at the spot where it is worst, there already are turn lanes. That is how it gets so wide, as you've got the two left turn lanes for cars queuing up for the ferry, along with everything else (https://images.seattletimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/1b92f878-aba2-11e6-a4d1-710a6c632f01.jpg?d=2048x1365). You should have one general purpose lane each direction, while the median can be used for other turns (when they are needed). Then you can make the walkway even wider. Not only there, but along the entire roadway.

As far as getting rid of the tolls, I wouldn't bother. I would consider adding more tolls. I-5 should be tolled, along with some of the surface streets. If tolling the surface streets is too much of a pain, toll SR 99 and the West Seattle freeway, so that people can't avoid paying tolls unless they go way out of their way (and few will do that). Set the toll cost based on the amount of traffic (which is called congestion tolling, although it really should be called anti-congestion tolling). Put that money into alternatives (like improved bus service, bike lanes, etc.).

Obviously we, the taxpayers of Seattle, need to seize the method of production from our unwanted Tunnel overlords, and change it to 4 bike lanes and 2 transit lanes plus 2 freight lanes.

Cars can go back to the suburbs.

@6 not to mention the two lanes that are dedicated to ferry loading. if we reduce the roadway where do the cars waiting for the ferry queue up?

@10: "The primary criticism leveled against the price ceiling type of price controls is that by keeping prices artificially low, demand is increased to the point where supply cannot keep up, leading to shortages in the price-controlled product."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_controls

I can't recall any politician, D or R, advocating for price freezes since Nixon's painful lesson over it.

Far better to reduce taxes for consumer relief.

“When scientists make these determinations, we should oblige.”

God. The Slog Dumb Dumbs just cannot stop themselves.

Scientists didn’t make that determination. Corporations and their lobbies did. Why do you think Fauci quit?

In fact thousands of infectious diseases experts warned against lifting emergency declarations early. And you don’t have to go very far in searching public health experts declaring the pandemic is absolutely not over.

Anyway. Guess what regions of the country where American life expectancy saw the largest rates of contraction? The areas with the lowest rates of vaccination that implement the least robust pandemic responses.

This is what the MAGA Death cult and Anti-vaxxers have wrought. A total regression and reversal of a century of public health advances. I guess the good news is you won’t have save for retirement (even if you could) because the way things are going about 1/5th of you won’t live much past 65 anyway.

Mission accomplished dumbfucks.

@16 - It's not just increased deaths from Covid, but also deaths of despair from addiction, runaway obesity and suicide. A disproportionate number of those deaths are in areas of vaccine rejection also, tho.

That's one way to rid ourselves of Trump cultists, I suppose.

@16: No prof, Fauci didn't quit in a spat over policy.

Bloomberg: "Instead of retiring, he’s leaving his government posts to “pursue the next chapter of my career,” Fauci, 81, said in a statement released Monday by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a branch of the National Institutes of Health."

Of course, you can milk that into "quit" in your quest for credence. But far more plausible that he really wants to go onto something new.

But do carry on, as you do spice up Slog.

How do we know the Pandemic has ended and Covid is now an Endemic disease? Is there a threshold of daily cases/hospitalizations/deaths? We're almost at 1,000 days of Pandemic.

To echo @6's point, here's the 90% Main Corridor Design Doc: https://waterfrontseattle.blob.core.windows.net/media/Default/pdf/SeattleDesignCommission_90PercentMainCorridorDesign_Places.pdf

The only place there are 8 traffic lanes is S of the Colman Dock, and that includes 2 ferry queuing lanes. The remainder of the plan is 6 lanes, 2 of which are parking/loading. Yes, there are left turn lanes. There is nowhere that is an "eyesore". It's going to have a "forest" strip that's >50' wide!

Do you even remember what the Viaduct looked like? IT WAS AN EYESORE.

@6: Embittered sore losers of the tunnel decision have been yelling “8-lane eyesore!” since the moment then-Mayor McGinn’s anti-tunnel referendum lost in a twenty-point landslide. They obtained that figure in exactly the way you described. That’s their story, and they are sticking with it, no matter how many times they are told what you just wrote. It’s Seattle’s local version of Trump supporters and the stolen election.

@18: Takes a cult-like mind to write that second paragraph after the first.

@Will - ICYMI: go read the comments underneath your original story on SPD Harbor Patrol. Regardless of the veracity of rampant thefts from houseboats, getting rid of SPD Harbor Patrol would either be a huge decrease in the level of service to the people of Seattle (ie significant increase in response times) or a significant budgetary increase for SFD to provide a concurrent presence on the fresh water side of the Ballard Locks. On the fresh water side, SPD response always beats SFD by a considerable margin. Moving the SFD fireboat staff from adjacent to the ferry terminal at Station 5 to somewhere near the fresh water side is a non-starter for a number of reasons. “Fire Station 3” at Fisherman’s Terminal is a 5th wheel trailer. There’s no room at the nearest fire station in Interbay to house additional permanent staff.

If wishing death upon people is not a cultist mindset, it's an amateurish barb that is orthogonal to any sober discussion of politics.

Wow - the Seattle Transfer Stations are closed for the rest of the day because of air quality.

Stay inside until Friday...life expectancy in the U.S. is plummeting...JEEZUS! I guess my recent Omicron booster, annual flu shot, and putting my beloved VW into seasonal fall & winter storage were well timed.

@18 Morty and @24 blip +2 for the WIN!!

@15, @19, @22, @26, @27, and @29: My, my. So much raw spewage for having so little to say as usual, Elmer.
Having a slow week? Batteries running low? Motorized wheelchair on the verge of nervous collapse?

@27: News flash Elmer: If you and your fellow brainless MAGAts get your shots, mask up, end your overuse of low mileage coal rollers, and stop playing with matches we'd all have better air quality, you MAGA trolling old fart.

@28 blip: BINGO. That far too many people in blood red communities, counties and states continue to vote RepubliKKKan from sheer brainwashing astounds me.