1. New King County Executive Dow Constantine was sworn in at Daniels Recital Hall in downtown Seattle yesterday (the former First United Methodist Church on 5th, a historic landmark that Constantine helped save from demolition in 2005).

Similar to his campaign kick-off speech back in early June , Constantine's speech focused inwardly on reforming King County government itself—changing the way the County does budgeting, letting employees rather than management lead the way for innovation, and providing better customer service—rather than announcing any sweeping public policy changes.

The notable exception was on transportation policy, where he said he would end “wasteful allocation based on historical accident and arbitrary political divisions,” indicating (as he and all the candidates did on the campaign trail) that he would change the 40-40-20 metro bus equation that shortchanges bus service in Seattle by currently giving 80 percent (that's the 40-40 part) of all new bus hours to suburban transit districts.

Speaking of other candidates, Constantine's internal reform speech hit a theme that his former campaign trail opponent, state Sen. Fred Jarrett (D-41, Mercer Island) (now Constantine's Deputy County Executive)—hit during the campaign: Judging government based on outcomes or performance rather than on how much we spend on programs.

Constantine said: "Our blueprint for reform will take shape under the umbrella of the countywide strategic plan ... as part of my focus on performance-based governance," noting that Jarrett "will lead our overall effort to create a culture of performance at King County."

(The employee-led push for innovation was also a theme Jarrett stressed on the trail.)



Constantine's full speech is here .

2. Seattle Displacement Coalition leader John Fox and activist Carolee Colter have re-published an editorial in the North Seattle Herald Outlook condemning City Council Member Tim Burgess' plans to propose an anti-panhandling measure with this update:

"We are hearing from several sources that Councilmember Burgess has altered his approach to this issue. Instead of an outright ban on panhandling at certain times or locations, he may propose giving police broader authority to cite or arrest people engaged in specific types of aggressive and/or assaultive behaviors whether they are panhandling or not."

They do applaud Burgess for slowing down on his proposal to allow more time for community input. Fox met with Burgess to discuss Burgess' pending proposal in late October.

3. To mark the 10th anniversary of the historic WTO protests in Seattle, KCTs will be broadcasting a locally-made docmumenatary, The Whole World is Watching, featuring exclusive interviews with key participants from that tumultous set of days—including former Mayor Paul Schell and former Police Chief (now born again hippie) Norm Stamper.

It airs Monday at 8pm.

PubliCola's must-read 4000-word feature story by UW PhD history student Trevor Griffey (who participated in the protests 10 years ago) is here.

Today's Morning Fizz brought to you by the Sierra Club: