1. Morning Fizz hears that KOMO-TV is set to roll out a new website. It will come with neighborhood blogs for every Seattle neighborhood. KOMO has reportedly doubled their online and blogging staff and armed their camera crew and reporters with iphones and flips so they can immediately upload photos and news to the blogs.
They do not have a politics blog yet, but are considering it. It all debuts soon.
2. Morning Fizz sees that there’s already a private park and ride opening up along the light rail line. The line—from downtown to Tukwila— has been open for two weeks.
This photo was taken from the Safeway parking lot at Othello and MLK:
3. A labor coalition, including the Washington Education Association, SEIU 775, UFCW Local 21, and the Washington Sate Labor Council, began an independent expenditure campaign today against King County Executive candidate state Rep. Ross Hunter (D-48, Medina). The group, calling themselves the Working Families Coalition, is running anti-Hunter ads on local web sites (including PubliCola.)
Hunter recieved poor marks from the Washington State Labor Council this year —he voted no on unemployment insurance reform—and he took the lead on the education reform bill, legislation that was hotly contested by the WEA .
According to the Public Disclosure Commission, the anti-Hunter group has raised $30,000. A statement released this morning says "more communication with voters is planned before the conclusion of the Primary Election."
4. Governor Chris Gregoire’s chief of staff, Cindy Zehnder, announced yesterday that she’s stepping down.
iT LOOKS THAT THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY SPECIAL INTEREST
GROUPS ARE AT IT AGAIN. I AM A DEMOCRAT IT’S TIME
FOR A CHANGE.
It’s a shame the publicola editorial staff doesn’t value the same things as the WEA.
Well at least Ross 2.0 and their competitors’ monies will make it into the Cola’s coffers.
Yale gave us President Bush and now this poor excuse for a democrat.
One of these days, labor needs to come up with a different phrase than “working families.” It’s become one of those empty labels that doesn’t actually draw distinctions.
A shame, because some class politics would really be nice. But god forbid a political effort would think longer-term than what polls well between now and the next election day.
Adam Glickman from SEIU 775 worked for the Working Families Party in NY before coming to Seattle.
@4,
Yes… and …. ?
If you say “working family” to most people, they’re not going to think of wealthy people living in condos downtown, or single people living in Capitol Hill apartments, or double-high-income people living in tasteful Craftsman bungalows in Madison Valley. They think of families who are working but on the margin, families that are in danger of falling out of the economy.
Class politics has been practiced for all the millenia of human existence. Mayor Nickels has practiced class politics. President Bush practiced class politics. Why is it inappropriate for unions to do so, and why is it only inappropriate when the class being advocated for is the lower economic class?
Love the parking lot. Acres of unused asphalt sucks, and it’s ugly. People parking in that lots means more people. People who want a soda, coffee, some food maybe some carryout or diapers or whatever people buy on the way home. So this helps that location grow businesses and they attract more people, including pedestrians. Land values rise as the land produces more revenue; one day the lot will be developed maybe there will be someone building a multistory garage — showing you don’t need parking required in the condos or row houses.
Too bad ST didn’t grab all that monthly parking revenue; our tax dollars created this benefit yet our reflexive anticar moods deprive us of the benefit.
That $30 a month fee will soon be $100 a month and that’s real money we have just given up by not planning on holding onto some land for a nice garage with condos and aprtments on top and a few transit related businesses….
I’m not a fan of promoting park & rides within the city, but I figured that private enterprise would take advantage of the opportunity sooner or later.
The parking lot in question separates the world’s ugliest Safeway from the Othello Station. During the really hot afternoons of last week, walking across it (to pick up some groceries on my way home) felt like crossing a mile-long lava pit.
Safeway recently announced that they’ll spend $3 million on renovating this store. A lot of neighbors had mixed emotions about that announcement–they’re happy that there will continue to be a major grocery store in the Othello Station area, but some had hoped that Safeway would spend more and invest in a rebuild. Many would like to see them bring the store closer to the sidewak, and put parking behind the building or underground. Safeway could help finance a bigger rebuild by putting parking underground, and devoting a large % of it to a private park & ride. I’d bet they’d also see a big increase in business from light rail customers (picking up coffee/bagel on the way to work, or dinner on the way home) if customers didn’t have to trek across that awful lot.
@6 Don’t get me wrong, I’m *for* class politics… I just think “working families” evokes less and less with each usage. And I think it comes from a fear of saying “workers” or “working class”.
That said, the anti-Hunter stuff is good stuff, spot on IMO, and does in fact take a “working-families” perspective. Which is quite rare from what I’ve seen in other working families branded materials.
Note, however, that the State Labor Council *endorsed* Hunter & Jarrett in their most recent runs for office:
http://www.wslc.org/cope/08endorse.htm
And branded their materials chock full of “working families” rhetoric then too. When you use the term whether it’s true (now) or not (then), the phrase begins to lose meaning.
But maybe things are changing with labor & class & endorsements. As a union member, I sure hope so.
Huh? “Too bad ST didn’t grab all that monthly parking revenue; our tax dollars created this benefit yet our reflexive anticar moods deprive us of the benefit.”
Sorry but if Sound Transit paid market price to buy that property for parking, there’s no way that parking fees would cover its costs, let alone make a profit.
@5: not making any real point, just respondin’ to the question about why “working families.” It’s not just poll tested. It’s got a long history in the labor movement’s work in electoral politics.
Thanks for the heads up about KOMO. Not feeling too threatened over here in Green Lake.
My ‘working family’ pays about $750 per year to belong to UFCW Local 21, and we are not in any way ‘happy’ about our dues being used to bash any Democratic candidate…especially so, when the education reforms he (Hunter) is being bashed over are sorely needed.
Much closer consideration needs to be paid to the views of the people who pay — and pay proudly — union dues….sure as hell, nobody asked this ‘working family’….