The Weekend Wrap is Eyeing the Gauges

The good news is that my phone expects the temperature to reach 78 degrees today. Let’s focus on that for a moment. On Monday, the clouds should be back, and the city will be announcing budget cuts.

Friday afternoon brought another bank seizure by government regulators: Washington First International Bank was sold to Pasadena’s East West Bank, reported the PSBJ. Commercial real estate gone bad. That would seem to make Jon Talton’s Friday morning post about the possibility of a Seattle commercial real estate crash required reading. Goldman Sachs thinks our residential real estate is about lose 20 percent in value, so maybe put the money back into the mattress.

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Lots of transportation news this week: a federal judge said “Oh hell no” to Patty Murray’s attempt restore King County Metro special service to Mariners games. Metro is also gearing up for union negotiations by releasing incomplete information on bus operator compensation (and ignoring media requests for a fuller picture). And the King County Ferry District would like you not to notice that Argosy Cruises ran the West Seattle Water Taxi for cheaper.

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One of our last three police chief candidates decided to walk away, bringing the choice down to interim chief John Diaz and East Palo Alto’s Ron Davis. I was going to write a post titled, “Is It Too Late to Ask Kirkpatrick Again?” but then rumors started circulating about the Spokane chief getting a second look. Fingers crossed, but this would really up the credibility of my handicapping skills.

On CHS, a post on Joule’s opening and 30,000 sq. ft. of retail space got tons of traffic, while CD News was gearing up for Juneteenth. Eastlake was talking about noise-reduction panels for the freeway. What? NOISE REDUCTION PANELS! The Amazon cranes came down in South Lake Union. Roosevelt mainstay Mamma Melina has reopened near the University Village.

MyBallard is covering the fire that killed five people this morning in Fremont. Upper Queen Anne had a small brush fire earlier in the week. Nothing happened in Wallingford. In Wedgwood, homes were selling for just above asking price. Maple Leaf might be losing its bicycle shop. Rainier Valley Post has a list of where to stash the kids for the summer. West Seattle has opened a community lending library for tools.

In sports, Seth covered a sticky-fingered Seahawk’s doughnut heist, and brought shame on his family to the nth generation by telling people not to root for the U.S. in the World Cup. On the A&E side, it’s the last weekend of SIFF, the last weekend of Northwest New Works at On the Boards, and time to laugh sardonically in the face of Cancer: The Musical. Also, Tony talked with the director of Marwencol, and Jeremy passed the e-hat for Implied Violence, and recommended 16 Wounded‘s take on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.