Nobody can live in a dashboard. Housing advocates have weighed in on Bruce Harrell's housing dashboard, which presents a ton of data related to people in need of shelter. They are ... not impressed. The data's nice, but it doesn't capture some of the most relevant details, such as how many people need services. What the City needs more than data visualizations, they say, is more money for housing.
Wait, is that how laws work? Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who is launching a re-election campaign, said today that people who are accused of crimes are as good as guilty and shouldn't have an option to be released on bail. "Given the exacting standards that the stateâs attorney has for charging a case, which is proof beyond a reasonable doubt, when those charges are brought, these people are guilty,â she said. Last month, Chicago had to pay $14.25 million to a man who spent over two decades in prison for a crime he didn't commit.
Time's running out. There are only two weeks left for the social housing initiative to gather signatures. They're currently at around 15,000, and they need 35,000. If you think publicly-owned affordable housing seems like maybe a good thing, you can volunteer or donate.
House Our Neighbors! has been incredibly dedicated to centering equity, inclusion, and impacted voices through the drafting of the initiative, utilizing a community feedback process to ensure #Initiative135 was truly representative of the people (1/5) pic.twitter.com/Jn8oPn6Mxq
â Sign I-135 đď¸đ˛ (@houseRneighbors) June 6, 2022
Sweeps and strikes. Reports are coming out of Santa Cruz and Minneapolis that some unknown group of people set fire to the trucks used to sweep encampments from place to place. The worst thatâs happened in Seattle so far is some broken windows at a Parks & Rec building. Those windows were broken after the agency helped coordinate sweeps in April.
They wonât even let us paint a crosswalk, but you expect SDOT to approve this? Queen Anne Greenways has been vacationing in Europe (well, the person who runs the Twitter account has, at any rate), and theyâve been sharing some of the nice urban environments they encounter. Hereâs one of my favorites â a garden street with water cisterns buried underneath:
THE GARDEN STREET. An idea co-created with neighbors in Antwerp. Shouldnât this spread to every city? pic.twitter.com/rJBF9Y7van
â Queen Anne Greenways (@QAGreenways) June 5, 2022
Ready for smoke season? Tomorrow the USDA and Forest Service will hold an online seminar with updates on preparations for combating wildfires this summer. Register in advance if you have any questions youâd like to submit. Of note: This year, the state has new rules about prescribed burns that will hopefully make it easier to manage wild areas and prevent catastrophic fires. Also, nowâs a good time to make sure youâre stocked up on respirator masks (3Mâs model 8511 is a good N95 choice) and an air filter for your home (I have a Coway Mighty that does a fine job).Â
Congratulations, Jill Biden, on the worst Pride celebration in history. Today, for completely indecipherable reasons, Jill Biden unveiled a new Nancy Reagan stamp. The stamp is sticker-backed â no need to use your tongue â and I must say the timing of this is absolutely jaw-dropping.
First Lady Jill Biden participates in the unveiling of a new postage stamp honoring former First Lady Nancy Reagan. pic.twitter.com/H3jc2nNcuV
â The Recount (@therecount) June 6, 2022
Whatâs the deal with that closed Starbucks? Starbucks says it closed a location near the Cornell campus in Ithaca because of âtime and attendanceâ and maintenance issues, and that the closure has NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with the fact that employees just unionized. What an unbelievable coincidence!
So long, Howard. Starbucks announced today that by this time next year, Howard Schultz will no longer be the CEO of Starbucks. If he wants to do any union busting, it'll have to be on his own time.
This is how you ride an escalator. You know, on the rare occasion when you find one that works.
Never seen before escalator etiquette. pic.twitter.com/kmT5IOpAfs
â Daniel Heppner (@Danielhep) June 4, 2022
Get on the bus. King County Metro is hiring part-time bus drivers! Seems like an okay gig â itâs $26.05 per hour with full benefits, vacation, retirement plan, and union membership. Also, you get to drive a bus!!!
England is stuck with Boris for a little while longer. He made it through the no-confidence vote today, but ironically there's less confidence than ever in his ability to govern. It's clear that he lacks sufficient support within his own party to get much done, and I wonder if his party's just keeping him around so he can be a convenient scapegoat to sacrifice when the economy craters over the next year.
There's still lots of questions lingering around this Bremerton murder. Five years ago, someone murdered four people in a Bremerton house that subsequently burned down. Today, Kitsap County announced they've arrested three people in connection to the killings â possibly with connections to a motorcycle club, though that particularly theory hasn't been substantiated. Why were these people killed? What's the motorcycle connection? It's a super weird story with more gaps than details.Â
Itâs rabbit season. Hereâs a tense interaction between two local lagomorphs.
Sunday afternoon drama unfolds at NWS Seattle. A bunny standoff ensues followed by some jousting. Or is it just competitive eating? pic.twitter.com/szGKGEeAKV
â NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) June 5, 2022