A conversation with Seattle
The biggest question remains unanswered: If the NBA cancels Hansen’s purchase agreement, by what mechanism would the league force the current owners to sell to the Sacramento group? As I have written here before, this fact—that a purchase agreement has been signed, that the Kings are not a beef cattle up for auction—is the single strongest factor in the Seattle group’s favor. Continue reading Seattle to NBA: Do We Get Our Sonics Back or Not?
The first gun buyback is scheduled for Saturday, January 26, 2013, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, in a parking lot between Cherry and James Streets, beneath I-5. At present, the buyback program’s coffers contain about $70,000 but $100,000 is the goal, said Mayor Mike McGinn Continue reading Seattle Brings Back its Gun Buyback Program
From South Dearborn to Denny Way, Seattle’s Third Avenue marks the spine of an area that could be papered over with the police reports used to track the crime within it. During the past year, it’s been the setting for more than 3,800 incidents, everything from shoplifting and narcotics use to car theft, robbery, and shootings. 33 times, someone threatened to kill someone else. Continue reading Seattle Plans Third Avenue Clean-Out Redux
Yesterday a buzz started building that something new was afoot in the attempt to bring the NBA back to Seattle. Insiders were whispering about a game-changer. This morning, it’s clear what that is: Hedge-fund manager Chris Hansen revealed three big investor names on KJR Sports Radio: Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, and Erik and Peter Nordstrom. Continue reading Ballmer and Nordstrom Brothers’ New Triangle Offense May Get NBA’s Attention
It doesn’t get much more high-stakes–Constantine put the county’s credit on the line, but the proof as they say, is in the sludgy pudding about 300 feet below Lake Forest Park. On the other hand, what can’t Constantine do? He’s juggled $60 million deficits, kept Brightwater from boondoggle status, and most recently talked not one but two Republicans into raising car tab fees to pay for transit. Perhaps later he’ll leap Snake River on a rocket cycle. Continue reading Brightwater Tunnel Breakthrough, Courtesy Dow “Kick-Ass” Constantine
It’s an unsettling sign of the times that the King County Council needed to think as hard as it did about approving a $20, two-year, car-licensing fee to forestall a 17 percent cut in Metro bus service. As mentioned earlier, that’s a nickel a day to keep bus service going that carries over 340,000 people every day. People who can’t afford that have other, more significant financial problems that have little to do with Metro funding and car tabs. Continue reading King County Council to Okay $20 Congestion Reduction Charge
King County’s Wastewater Transfer Division has some terrific news for you about Brightwater: “mining on the remaining 1.9-mile segment of tunnel is essentially complete – 16 months earlier than the original contractor’s estimate and tens of millions of dollars less.”
This is a welcome reminder that not all tunnel megaprojects end in tragedy, and it has to be the best thing to happen to King County Executive Dow Constantine all month. Continue reading Dig Dug! Brightwater Tunnel Almost Completely Bored