PubliCola Adds Life
On Other Blogs Today
1. From TVW's Capitol Record
comes news that state lawmakers are looking into efficiency systems that have been used in private-sector companies, such as General Electric, to find a way to make state government more efficient.
2. The Tacoma News Tribune's Political Buzz had a pretty damning piece about properties that turned out to be over- or undervalued in Pierce County for tax purposes. According to the TNT's report, the county assessor may have failed to assess many properties, as required by state law, for years.
3. Seattle Transit Blog reports on Sound Transit's latest ridership numbers. The good news: Overall ridership was up 36 percent in the first quarter of 2010, though that was entirely due to Central Link Light Rail. The bad news: Link was on time a mere (and abysmal) 71 percent during the quarter, compared to Sound Transit's goal of 90 percent. Most of that delay was due to track maintenance or traffic jams in the downtown bus tunnel.
4. David Goldstein at Horse's Ass reports on a story at the Hotline blog, which found that potential GOP Patty Murray opponent Dino Rossi bought a Ballard apartment complex out of foreclosure. The news is a big deal because GOP spokeswoman Mary Lane Strow insisted that although Rossi will headline at a real-estate conference focusing partly on investing in foreclosures, Rossi will not speak on that topic, and "has had no involvement with foreclosure investments throughout his real estate career."
2. The Tacoma News Tribune's Political Buzz had a pretty damning piece about properties that turned out to be over- or undervalued in Pierce County for tax purposes. According to the TNT's report, the county assessor may have failed to assess many properties, as required by state law, for years.
3. Seattle Transit Blog reports on Sound Transit's latest ridership numbers. The good news: Overall ridership was up 36 percent in the first quarter of 2010, though that was entirely due to Central Link Light Rail. The bad news: Link was on time a mere (and abysmal) 71 percent during the quarter, compared to Sound Transit's goal of 90 percent. Most of that delay was due to track maintenance or traffic jams in the downtown bus tunnel.
4. David Goldstein at Horse's Ass reports on a story at the Hotline blog, which found that potential GOP Patty Murray opponent Dino Rossi bought a Ballard apartment complex out of foreclosure. The news is a big deal because GOP spokeswoman Mary Lane Strow insisted that although Rossi will headline at a real-estate conference focusing partly on investing in foreclosures, Rossi will not speak on that topic, and "has had no involvement with foreclosure investments throughout his real estate career."
