omg
I Love
pix of Decay
and such, specially
juxtaposed against the
Glossiest of Glossy, minimalist adverts

thanks, Viv, for that decrepit
derelict Bus, glimpsing us our 'future'
under the fascist Cadet Bonespurs regime.

abandoned, neglected, rundown, remiss, and forsaken.

Yep. that is US

Y'know, I would have been fine with Katie Porter. I would have been fine with Ann Wilson or Nancy Wilson or even Russell Wilson (he wasn't the one who called the passing play on the one-yard line), but Katie Wilson? Are you kidding me?!

OK, in all seriousness, there seems to be an absolute meltdown over on the one Seattle Times comment thread about the latest ballot drop, and surely the ones melting down the most are not moderates who live in Seattle and who voted for Bruce Harrell but rather the MAGAs who don't live in town or even if the metropolitan area and who you'd think should be celebrating if Katie Wilson is the catastrophe they're making her out to be.

I voted for Bruce, but I will confess Katie's the one who has the serious upside. As commenters DOUG. and jmath pointed out in yesterday's ballot drop story, she is pro-transit like nobody's business. If she can avoid killing the golden goose that is our local private sector and cut through the red tape and fast-track Sound Transit 3 in town, then she has the potential to do great things. Sure, you can wonder if this is feasible considering her lack of experience, but let's face it, the people who are having the biggest conniption aren't doing so over the experience thing.

Headline I'm seeing on NBC News Now now: "ITALIAN PASTA BRANDS COULD DISAPPEAR GROM GROCERY SHELVES IN THE U.S. AMID TRUMP'S TARIFFS." Them's fightin' words. Now that's when I know the tariffs are really hitting home. Don't you dare touch my De Cecco and Rustichella d'Abruzzo. How will I make cacio e pepe?!

@3 How exactly do you envision her doing anything for transit? She doesn't run King County Metro nor Sound Transit. There is a property tax levy in Seattle that boosts Metro's budget to ensure service in Seattle but she doesn't have any say in their actual operations. As I've mentioned in the past she will take office looking at a $100M budget deficit, stagnatiing city revenues as new construction continues to slow due to high interest rates and city/state policies and a massive reset in the tech sector that will impact the jumpstart tax. Given her rhetoric on the campaign trail I don't know why any business leader would take her seriously or want to partner with her to grow in Seattle. But sure other than that she has the biggest upside.

@4

no,
bipps
that's tS's
Trolls, reading
every word, praying
for some Leftist propaganda
they can ponce pounce and prey upon

but keep trying
yur odds Improve
with Every posting!

@1. Don't poke fun at Charle's home Kristo! But do pester him to get that ivy over his roof before it creates water leaks.

District13refugee @5, I try to avoid presenting a one-sided view of the world, but it's hard to take you seriously when you assiduously fail to do the same. You write: "stagnating city revenues as new construction continues to slow due to high interest rates and city/state policies and a massive reset in the tech sector that will impact the jumpstart tax." It's interesting that you refer to city/state policies and not city/state/FEDERAL policies when we all know that Washington is a pretty darn business-friendly state and that the biggest headwinds against our economy are coming from the other Washington. (Caveat: the Magnificent Seven have never had it so good as they do under Trump. Kinda like the oligarchs in Putin's early days.)

You write: "Given her rhetoric on the campaign trail I don't know why any business leader would take her seriously or want to partner with her to grow in Seattle." And her openness to new Seattle business taxes is the chief reason I didn't vote for her. But I'm happy to be proven wrong. I'm open-minded to her being open-minded and taking in legitimate pushback from stakeholders.

As for her not running King County Metro or Sound Transit, no kidding. But she does run SDOT, and the mayor and the city have a huge role in Sound Transit's projects.

Obvious correction @9: "But she (Wilson) WILL run SDOT, and the mayor and the city have a huge role in Sound Transit's projects."

@5 "How exactly do you envision her doing anything for transit?"

Uh, let's see, the boards that coordinate projects paid for by the Seattle Transit Measure and Move Seattle Levy are both accountable to the Mayor. To say that "she doesn't have any say in their actual operations" is complete bullshit.

@5 she " doesn't run King County Metro nor Sound Transit."

The mayor of Seattle, it being the largest city in King County, is a Sound Transit board member. So actually yes, she will "run" ST, as well as SDOT, which you may not be aware has a huge influence on Metro's decisions for service in the city.

https://www.soundtransit.org/get-to-know-us/board-directors/board-members

@4: It was corrected with "in" added to the text. Plenty to take issue with editorially, but don't get unglued over typos as it makes one look silly doing so.

Biped hates two things more than anything else in the world. Typos and black people.

@10-12 lol, you guys make it sound like she is a kingmaker. She has one seat at a very large table. She will be able to influence policy and projects but she has no ability to unilaterally push anything through without cooperation from others at the table who will have their own ideas and agendas. You are putting way too much stock in the ability of the mayor to set the agenda for either of these agencies. @12 Do you honestly think she is going to have more pull than the Pierce/King county executives on the board or the mayors from the other cities? Is she amazingly going to make the West Seattle extension come in on time and under budget? @11 is she going to magically make the 8 run on time? I'm sure she'll be a great advocate for transit as that is her niche but I don't see how she is going to have this impact you are all pushing.

@9 ok, federal policies are also impacting new construction in WA state. That doesn't change the outcome which is less activity and lower revenues for the city. How is she going to fix that? You grow revenue one of two ways. You take a bigger slice of the pie or you grow the overall pie. All of Wilson's policies are aimed at taking a bigger slice of a shrinking pie. It's not going to come close to getting what she needs to fulfill her promises. She will need to grow the overall pie and given the economic conditions (of which she has no control over) and her stated disdain for the business community I again don't see how that is going to happen.

@15 Some impact on transit improvements is better than none, which is what Harrell has brought for the past four, oh wait, eighteen years.

@14

bipps
Needn't
Worry -- thedjt'll
soon enough come* for Him, too.

*he's gonna Love it there!
at the Work Kamps
Surrounded by
his Betters:
Blacks &
'others.'

maybe
he'll get a Job,
Proofreading all my com-
ments @the Kampfzeitungbruizer

it's gonna be Fun,
the Apocalypse
I can't barely
Hardly
wait.

District13refugee @15, I share your thinking about pies--whether one visualizes pizza pies or apple pies--but you've blown your credibility from the start by starting your discussion by pointing your finger at our state government (which has always been pretty cognizant of thinking about how the pie works) and leaving out the federal government where our current executive branch (with the passive consent of the legislative branch) has been more hostile to the thinking you claim to champion than any administration in American history. At least McKinley and Hoover could plead ignorance.

Actually, we have a federal administration now that is deliberately committed to shrinking the pie and then gaslighting us that the pie is growing like never before.

@16 We don't discuss his long list of failures. We only care about what she MIGHT POSSIBLY do wrong in the future.

@19 Yeah, and I shouldn't have said that Harrell had no impact on transit over the past 18 years. The deleted bus routes and disappearing bus shelters are proof that he has.

@19 the peak of status quo preservation. Please see criticisms of hypothetical police alternatives for more information.

Business in Bellevue looking pretty sweet right now.

@22 Oh, cool, another Panera.

The problem with Katie is that she has no zest for life. It’s a common failing among trustafarians: the same cushion of parental money that protects them also stifles them. 😆

Now, Bruce over there will get zooted and stick a mothersucker up at a casino for no reason. 😄 I’m not here to say what’s right and wrong, I’m just saying: this is a man who lives. 😁

@23 The chicken sandwich is delicious!

@16 fair enough. optimism is fine but let's hold the champagne corks until something actually happens.

@18 uh huh. I agreed the federal government has an impact on both the state and the city. That doesn't change the fact the policies of the state and the city also have impacts on economic activity. It also doesn't change the fact that Wilson's policy positions are not designed to grow business activity in the city.

Viv, why did you group the rape trial of Walter Jones, ending with “Jones’ lawyer said Jones was falsely accused” and the story of Evaristo Salas Jr., a man who was falsely convicted. Are you trying to make some statement or was this purely coincidence?

District13refugee @26, I don't quite understand the need to twist yourself into logical knots to defend your initial misrepresentation of things rather than just owning up to it and moving on. "I agreed the federal government has an impact on both the state and the city. That doesn't change the fact the policies of the state and the city also have impacts on economic activity."

I mean, congratulations on making the making the insightful observation that city and state policies impact economic activity. What's next--that sunlight and rain impact agricultural productivity?

@28 you're the one dwelling on a point I corrected to not address the fundamental issue which is Wilson's policies are going to make it harder for the city to generate the revenue needed to close the deficit gap much less fund her grand visions. Since you declared she has more upside than Bruce feel free to share with the rest of the class how what that upside is and how she is going to implement it.

@22 Bellevue wouldn't be shit without Seattle and everybody knows it. Congrats on a lower office vacancy rate or whatever though.

96 votes? Well, one thing is for certain, whoever wins this election will not be able to claim a mandate.

And no one dives 25 in Seattle, no matter what The Urbanist says.

With all due respect Ms. Vel-DuRay, the bicyclists almost always do... unless heading down James from City Hall's garage to the ferry dock. Mea culpa...

@30 Tweakers and shoplifters are arrested here. Your kids can walk to school. Plenty of free parking. Don't move here.

@33 Ha! Nobody walks in Bellevue.

@31 "no one drives 25 in Seattle"

This is actually true. The majority drive 26+, and some odd ducks cruise around at 18-22, stopping at every intersection just in case a pedestrian materializes from the ether and wants to cross. But nobody drives 25.

Hydronerd dear, I am referring to motorists, not hobbyists. They’re a whole different class.

Ohhhh, "hobbyists". So clever and edgy and condescending. Keep on driving, it's bad for your health.

In today's ballot drop, Wilson leads by 1346 votes, 50.08%-49.59%. There isn't even going to be a recount.

Wilson got 60% of the latest drop. She's going to win by 2112 votes.

@31: That's right, because they're already married.

Update to @38: A machine recount is required if the vote tally is within 0.5% or 2000 votes. Wilson will clear the first but maybe not the second depending on how many ballots are outstanding. But let's also be real that a machine recount changes absolutely nothing in a 1500-2000-vote race. When they did a recount in the Commissioner of Public Lands race last year, it changed the vote margin by like 3 votes.

Looks like the mythical late-voting homeowners aren't riding to Bruce's rescue. I guess they spent Election Night Bruceing instead of voting. Alas.

So much ignorance regarding transit. I get it. The Stranger has no fucking idea. Who the fuck wants to read The Urbanist and Seattle Transit Blog to figure out all this shit.

First, of all, red tape is not killing ST3. Cost overruns are. Basically shit costs way more than they estimated. See: https://www.theurbanist.org/2025/10/10/how-ballard-and-west-seattle-light-rail-became-a-30-billion-undertaking/. She can't fix Sound Transit.

But the trains only carry a small portion of the transit population. Yes, we are planning on spending billions on them, but even if we do built what we want, they won't carry that many riders. The buses will. Can she make the buses better?

Fuck Yes! She can make them a lot better. Rinck has started a "Better Bus Lanes" campaign. This can make a huge difference. The Metro 8 is one of our most cost effective buses despite being stuck in traffic. Add bus lanes (which people are fighting for) and things get a lot better. Those on the bus get to their destination a lot faster. Metro can run the buses more often (because they finish a route faster). Suddenly you have a much better transit line. Spread this type of thing out across the city and it can make a huge difference.

@29 -- Bullshit. You are ignoring the biggest issue in the race. You are ignoring why Wilson was even competitive in the first place. Holy shit, she came out of nowhere to beat one of the more popular mayors we have ever had. Harrell was actually pretty good on transit, on bike lanes, on controlling the police -- all that shit. But he was fucking terrible on housing. All he had to do was copy Spokane. Fucking Spokane! Just change the zoning to allow a lot more row houses, multi-plexes, short apartments and small lots. Instead he went with the same fucked-up policies that even Norm Rice said were a mistake (years after he helped implement them). To be fair to Rice, they were OK back in the day. But there is no fucking reason to be more conservative than Spokane when it comes to building new housing if you are the mayor of Seattle in 2025. Just let builders build! Stop fighting the developers and start giving them what they want. Let them build all that shit and guess what? We get more tax revenue. Housing prices go down. It is much easier to build public housing.

We are driving with the fucking parking break on and wondering why the car is so fucking slow. Release the fucking break and just build.

@43 “It is much easier to build public housing.”

You were doing ok until that part. It is not easier nor is it cheaper to build public housing. It would also take much more than zoning changes. You would also need to repeal policies that drive up costs and increase risk which will then run afoul of progressives. Good luck with all that!

@31: "96 votes? Well, one thing is for certain, whoever wins this election will not be able to claim a mandate."

Dear, have you not read the any of Stranger's political writings from the past dozen years? Every last one of the Stranger's candidates have not merely an unquestionable mandate, but the very Mandate of Heaven itself. This is because they are Progressives, and Progressivism -- as a result of being the most perfect ideology in the entire history of ever -- cannot fail. It can only be failed, by not applying it with absolutely unrelenting extremism, and concomitant total disregard for all external reality.

If Wilson wins by a single ballot -- or, better yet, it's a tie and she wins a coin toss -- the Stranger would simply take that as further proof of Wilson's divinely unquestionable role in a divinely unquestionable plan.

Doug dear, there’s no need to be so touchy and defensive. Cyclists are welcome to do what they do. That’s why they have their own lanes. If you recall, the discussion was about motorists and the speed limit.

As for health, just remember this: whatever you do, you’re going to die, just like everybody else. None of us get out of here alive.

@44: All true, but Ross (sadly) is far further gone than that. Not only does he believe that one Mayor can wave a wand and cause well-built-yet-inexpensive housing units to spawn like mushrooms in Seattle after a Spring rain, he actually believes all of the addicts dying in tents would, as one, get up, dust themselves off, and march straight into those new residences, full rental deposits in held high in hand.

It's gonna be a looooooooooong four years for you. I have sympathy. (And popcorn.)