Friday afternoon is a jumpy time for banks. Regulators shut down Everett’s undercapitalized Frontier Bank and sold it to Union Bank. That’s the fifth Washington bank closed this year, says the PSBJ, which also has a bummer of a story on King County’s worsening foreclosure crisis. (Can we give a hand to the Puget Sound Business Journal? They’re reporting the hell out of stories.) Speaking of real estate, did you hear the one about the Bravern?

The state has returned bearing gift baskets of 520 replacement tweaks: less traffic for the Arboretum, “perhaps” a 45-mph speed limit over Portage Bay, a second drawbridge across the Cut. After 13 years of design, there’s been a positive flurry of redesigning, prompting Seattle Transit Blog’s Adam Parast to comment:

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This is all great to see but the fact that so much can easily be “improved” or “changed” at the last minute to make it better for transit and non-motorized transportation to me shows how little the state has thought about them in the first place. These changes are low hanging fruit. And I still don’t see any guarantees. I don’t think it is unreasonable to be skeptical until I see it past 60% design.

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The City Council declared itself pleased, as did the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, but Mayor McGinn held the line on “too many cars” being dumped into Seattle neighborhoods. The Coalition for a Sustainable 520, to my knowledge, is still tossing chunks of raw meat to a pen full of lawyers. It’s worth noting that the $4.68 billion project is just 57 percent funded.

The Seattle Times editorial board thinks coming up with $2 billion is “fairly simple.” Along with, of course, $2.8 billion for the deep-bore tunnel. (February 2010 editorial board proclamation: “But the bulk of the state’s financial problem has to be met by cutting what it spends.”) 

King County Executive Dow Constantine announced he’d like to raise the sales tax by two-tenths of a percent. Publicola has the story on the tax increase effects, and Constantine’s cost-cutting measures. Saying that resigning Parks chief Tim Gallagher‘s travel expenses were the motivation, Mayor McGinn instituted out-of-state travel restrictions (even though, as I understand it, Gallagher paid for his airfare to Australia out of his own pocket). 

I checked with City Light and we’re still screwed vis-à-vis the snowpack. Strip clubs are having a hard time, whether they supplement with extralegal income or not. For a kid-friendly peep show, check out the new meerkat exhibit at the zoo. 

Capitol Hill was aflame with pet partisanship, after Café Ladro bowed to city regulations against dogs in eating or drinking establishments. Central District News crunched the Seattle Crime numbers and discovered burglaries cost the CD over $18,000 in April. Surprising no one, Wallingford nightlife turns out not to be of interest to Wallingfordians. Ha ha! Wallingford is sleepy.

Ballard is readying for Sweden Week. The Greenwood arson guy admitted he’s guilty, guilty, guilty. The U-District broke out in a rash…of bike thefts. ZING! Magnolia was worrying about cuts to the visitors center at Discovery Park. Light rail and parking are still trying to coexist in the Rainier Valley. West Seattle has an insane amount of yard sales planned.

On The SunBreak, Seth gathered up a bouquet of farewells for Walter Jones. Josh pointed you to the Sasquatch poster show at Vermillion and looked ahead to Marymoor summer concerts, Audrey previewed SIFF, Clint found video of the Soundgarden/Nudedragons show, and I went to the Symphony to hear Rachmaninov like a hurricane. Jeremy is still “on assignment” in NYC, but tells me he’s very close to some key sources.