EFFin' Unsound

Post by Carl Ballard

Maybe it’s because McGinn’s stated position on the tunnel is more or less the same as my position on the tunnel (it sucks hard. Still, our asshole city council hemmed us in to it, so we might as well figure out how to not get screwed as much as the state wants to screw us on it — although he probably would say it more politely) but I hate these sorts of assertions in the press.

This editorial page has one more bit of advice for McGinn: He should come out and say honestly he is trying to block the tunnel and wants to use his time in office to make it go away. That campaign line about not standing in the way of the tunnel was just something he said to get elected.

He isn’t trying to block the tunnel. If the city is a co-lead or not won’t change the schedule or make it more or less likely to be built. It’s almost certainly going to be built. From the time the City Council voted to screw its citizens a month or so before the election to the present, his position has been the same: the state can build their bullshit 6 story tunnel, taking away exits and on ramps from downtown, but they have to pay for it.

Now don’t get me wrong, if McGinn has a plan to monorail the tunnel to death, I support it. If McGinn is playing some game of 12 dimensional chess, and at the end we get surface, transit, and a pony, he can have my vote for everything he ever runs for. I just don’t see any evidence he’s actually moving in that direction. And I’d appreciate the Seattle Times and everyone else who is making that argument to provide some actual proof he’s doing it, or at least a roadmap of what they think his actual strategy is.

The mayor’s day-to-day actions speak much louder than those silly campaign words.

Oh, you must mean proposing a budget that pays for the utilities portion of the project that we’re on the hook for. Or moving forward to figure out what’s going to go on top of the tunnel when its built. No, wait, those are things that imply he’s moving forward with the tunnel. Look, all I’m asking for is a little more proof of your thesis than he asked for some more time to review a draft EIS when he said his budget was more pressing, or he was against the tunnel at some point in the campaign before the facts changed.

Post by Carl Ballard

I do not understand why this article by Chris Grygiel exists. I understand why you would put a couple paragraphs from this piece in an article about the wrangling over the budget. I don’t understand why this whole piece got written. And maybe I missed it, but I don’t see the PI repeating the social justice community’s concerns about the budget. Some excerpts.

A day after Mayor Mike McGinn unveiled his proposed 2011 budget, the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce held a news conference at Process Heating Company in SoDo to offer some praise for the spending plan but to mostly decry other aspects.

To follow: a super important important story that the business community generally prefers lower taxes, and doesn’t want spending on social justice or parks. WHO WILL WRITE THAT STORY IF THE PI DOESN’T?!!!!!!!!!!????

George Allen, Chamber spokesman, described the budget as “the good, the bad and the ugly.”

“It’s good, because there is no employee head tax. It’s a sustainable budget…it looks at employee costs, it also looks a consolidating services and it has renegotiated some of the vendor contracts for savings – that’s good. What is bad … is that every single utility rate is being increased,” Allen said. “The ugly part will be the discussion that takes place at City Hall. The City Council is going to have to make very difficult decisions.”

The good is how we’re screwing city employees. The bad is that we still have to pay for some things, and the ugly is that there’s a process. Business interests from Bellevue should come down to the Rainier Club, have a couple drinks, and write a budget for the City. That would be much less ugly than democracy.

Faced with a $67 million deficit, McGinn presented an $888 million general fund budget – $17 million less than this year’s adopted spending plan. McGinn proposed a combination of cuts to things like libraries and public services and $23 million in higher fees and other revenue-generating proposals. There are also plans to raise money to help patch non-general fund budgets.

Cutting libraries, and parks is the “good.” Somehow I don’t feel like these business folks have my best interest at heart. Anyway, skipping ahead to complaints that their socialist parking schemes will be a little closer to market rates:

“Bellevue’s greatest competitive advantage to Seattle is cheap, if not free, parking…We need to recognize we’re not the only game in town,” Rosenthal said. “It seems our mayor has a strong disgust for cars and a strong love for bikes, and I respect that. But unfortunately…cars bring my restaurants guests. Cars also bring Nordstrom’s shoppers, cars bring tourists and most Seattle residents in surrounding neighbors drive cars….look at Seattle city streets. I cannot see thousands of bikes on the roads right now. I do not see light rail, a monorail or a streetcar on my commute. Let’s not punish drivers who want to spend money in our city. It seems to be at times that Mayor McGinn ought to be referred to as Mayor McSchwinn.”

Cars are a lot more expensive than bikes (both on an individual and a societal level). People are always telling me we need user fees, but increase the user fees, and oh the complaints. And McSchwinn? That’s an awesome nickname. I’m totally using using it as a complement.

Post by Carl Ballard

Seriously, shouldn’t some Seattle Times Editorial Board member be ready to go with some nonsense position about how they hate the mayor, and they hate Seattle after either the budget or the showdown on the tunnel? This would seem like the perfect thing for Ed Cetera to cover: we all knew more or less what would happen, but the actual events took place past the deadline. If the Times ed board members can’t cover breaking news of that sort online, they should probably just give up the pretense and not do online only content.

Post by Carl Ballard

I think Patty Murray is probably going to win her Senate race. But I’m not taking anything for granted. I’ve been making calls twice a week to make sure that happens. Still, for the moment the polls look good. Or as Glenn Bestebreur of Red County puts it Rossi will have big coattails.

Rossi had coattails in 2004 and 2008. How big will Rossi’s coattails be in 2010?

Not very, probably. There, I’ve saved you from writing a silly piece about polling. Go outside while the weather is still nice.

When you look at the recent polling of two congressional districts that show houses republicans knocking on the door of one long term democrat incumbent and in the lead in an open seat that was held by a long term democrat makes me wonder the about the recent polling that shows Dino Rossi behind Patty Murray.

The lesson isn’t Washington State voters split their ticket? Or might. And there’s the brilliance of you can’t trust the Senate polls because you can totally trust the Congressional District polls.

Here is recent summary of the two congressional district races from King 5

Smith(D) vs Muir (R)

http://www.king5.com/community/blogs/politiking/KING-5-poll-Smith-may-face-stiff-challenge-from-Muri-in-9th-district-103183534.html

“Just one month ago, Washington State Congressman Adam Smith was sitting comfortably, winning the August primary by 25 points. But a new KING 5 poll finds the race may be closer than the primary suggested, with Smith’s Republican challenger just three points behind.

In our new KING 5 poll, 49% tell SurveyUSA they support Smith; 46% support Muri. That’s within the poll’s 4.1% margin of error.”

I hope Smith wins, but if he loses by a few thousand votes, it’s still possible that Murray could win in his district. And not everyone in the state lives in just that district.

Herrera (R) vs Heck (D)

http://www.king5.com/community/blogs/politiking/KING-5-poll-finds-Herrera-leading-in-3rd-district-Heck-up-slightly-103014409.html

“In the last KING 5 Survey USA poll; Herrera was leading with 54%, Heck with 41%. Our new tracking poll finds Herrera is down slightly, by two points; Heck is up by two points. It’s now 52% to 43%, with Herrera still in the lead.”

Again, there’s plenty of campaign left, but it certainly isn’t great. Still, this doesn’t mean anything for a different, statewide, race.

So what do these two polls mean in light of the recent polling for Rossi? If both Herrera and Muir win, it should mean that Rossi would win, since these are both long term democratic seats on the west side of the State.

And how could Patty Murray have won 6 years ago, despite the fact that Dave Reichert also won a Western Washington seat? It buggers the mind.

It will be interesting to see when the next set of polls comes out and what they show.

Polls are the most overrated thing for public consumption. Of course, I understand why campaigns poll. And it’s a relatively easy story for the media. But there is still a lot of campaign left, and if you want to give money, or you want to make phone calls, or you want to knock on doors, or you want to wave signs, if a candidate polls well is a crazy metric. Do it based on issues, and on their campaigns.

Post by Carl Ballard

I’m generally in favor of more debate in Congressional elections. So I agree with Jim Miller, Jay Inslee should debate-what’s his-face. But somehow the fact that Inslee hasn’t agreed to a debate is cowardice, but the fact that Reichert hasn’t agreed to a debate is not noteworthy. This is especially odd since Reichert has a history of not debating when people hurt his fee fees.