Morning Fizz
Gauge the Applause-o-Meter
1. City council member Tim Burgess
already has an opponent in his 2011 race for reelection: Darryl Carter-Metcalf, a former pro football player and, according to his Myspace page, "founder of Peacemakers, an organization dedicated to ending the cycle of urban violence."
Burgess, head of the council's public-safety committee, is widely seen as holding down the law-and-order wing of the council. Carter-Metcalf didn't return a phone call yesterday.
He hasn't reported any expenditures or contributions; as of the end of August, Burgess has about $57,000 on hand.
2. As they've been doing all week , city departments sat down in council chambers today to outline the impact Mayor Mike McGinn's proposed budget cuts would have on the programs and services they provide.
Up yesterday:
• The Office of Sustainability and the Environment , whose general-fund funding takes a 15.8 percent hit in 2011 under the mayor's budget. The hits, which are relatively minor, come mostly at the expense of the city's Climate Partnership and Climate Action NOW programs, both of which will lose some funding for programs and marketing.
• The Office of Economic Development , which would actually expand slightly next year thanks to new grant funding. General fund money, meanwhile, would go down 7.9 percent, most of that coming from reductions to the mayor's small business awards program, cuts to outside contracts, reduced spending on workforce development programs, and furloughs.
• The city's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs , which doesn't receive general fund money but would nonetheless reduce programming under McGinn's budget, including the elimination of on-hold music by Seattle artists on city phone lines; cutting City Hall art exhibitions from one a month to three or four a year; the elimination of funding to OneReel for the Mayor's Arts Awards; and a reduction in the number of concerts at city hall.
• City Light , which will cut about 17 positions and downgrade six more, freeze and reduce cost-of-living adjustment raises, cut discretionary training and travel, and reduce maintenance of City Light properties, among other cuts; it will also save about $75 million from "technical adjustments" (like reducing debt service).
• The Seattle Public Library , which will take a 3.9 general-fund hit next year, will reduce staff, buy fewer books, shut down the entire library system for one week, and reduce library employees' cost-of-living adjustment raise to 0.6 percent, among other cuts.
The city attorney's office was supposed to submit its proposed cuts---estimated at a little over 9 percent---yesterday afternoon, but that item was removed from the agenda.
3. The Stranger's Eli Sanders goes long in a New Yorker-style feature story about libertarian state Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders that slaps Justice Sanders for the hypocrisy between his private life—infidelity, divorce, non-monogamous romantic relationships—and his legal opinions on gay rights and gay marriage which say heterosexual couples are more stable than gay ones.
4. Yesterday, we noted that Democratic candidate Suzan DelBene , who's running against U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert (R-8) in the Eastside Seattle suburbs, was planning to attend the Washington Conservation Voters' annual breakfast fundraiser this morning.
Reichert got the group's endorsement—despite throwing them under the bus earlier this year; so it'll be interesting to gauge the applause-o-meter for each candidate at the event.
As you read this, the Fizz is at the event.
Internal DelBene polling shows the gap between Reichert and DelBene closing (Reichert now 48 to BelBene 44, with Reichert's unfavorable ratings on the rise.)
(The most recent Survey USA poll—from late September—had Reichert up 52 to 45.)
5. As long as we're citing partisan polling—a new poll by Fabrizio, McLaughlin and Associates for the conservative-aligned American Action Forum has Dino Rossi beating Patty Murray 48 to 42 . (In June, the same pollster had the race tied at 46.)
6. PubliCola is hosting a debate on the alcohol privatization initiatives (I-1100 and I-1105) at Town Hall on Sunday at 7:30. Here's a preview.
And speaking of this year's ballot—check out our list of 29 "No-Brainer" endorsements. We've got three more "No-Brainer" picks coming this week before we study up on the rest of the ballot.
Burgess, head of the council's public-safety committee, is widely seen as holding down the law-and-order wing of the council. Carter-Metcalf didn't return a phone call yesterday.
He hasn't reported any expenditures or contributions; as of the end of August, Burgess has about $57,000 on hand.
2. As they've been doing all week , city departments sat down in council chambers today to outline the impact Mayor Mike McGinn's proposed budget cuts would have on the programs and services they provide.
Up yesterday:
• The Office of Sustainability and the Environment , whose general-fund funding takes a 15.8 percent hit in 2011 under the mayor's budget. The hits, which are relatively minor, come mostly at the expense of the city's Climate Partnership and Climate Action NOW programs, both of which will lose some funding for programs and marketing.
• The Office of Economic Development , which would actually expand slightly next year thanks to new grant funding. General fund money, meanwhile, would go down 7.9 percent, most of that coming from reductions to the mayor's small business awards program, cuts to outside contracts, reduced spending on workforce development programs, and furloughs.
• The city's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs , which doesn't receive general fund money but would nonetheless reduce programming under McGinn's budget, including the elimination of on-hold music by Seattle artists on city phone lines; cutting City Hall art exhibitions from one a month to three or four a year; the elimination of funding to OneReel for the Mayor's Arts Awards; and a reduction in the number of concerts at city hall.
• City Light , which will cut about 17 positions and downgrade six more, freeze and reduce cost-of-living adjustment raises, cut discretionary training and travel, and reduce maintenance of City Light properties, among other cuts; it will also save about $75 million from "technical adjustments" (like reducing debt service).
• The Seattle Public Library , which will take a 3.9 general-fund hit next year, will reduce staff, buy fewer books, shut down the entire library system for one week, and reduce library employees' cost-of-living adjustment raise to 0.6 percent, among other cuts.
The city attorney's office was supposed to submit its proposed cuts---estimated at a little over 9 percent---yesterday afternoon, but that item was removed from the agenda.
3. The Stranger's Eli Sanders goes long in a New Yorker-style feature story about libertarian state Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders that slaps Justice Sanders for the hypocrisy between his private life—infidelity, divorce, non-monogamous romantic relationships—and his legal opinions on gay rights and gay marriage which say heterosexual couples are more stable than gay ones.
4. Yesterday, we noted that Democratic candidate Suzan DelBene , who's running against U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert (R-8) in the Eastside Seattle suburbs, was planning to attend the Washington Conservation Voters' annual breakfast fundraiser this morning.
Reichert got the group's endorsement—despite throwing them under the bus earlier this year; so it'll be interesting to gauge the applause-o-meter for each candidate at the event.
As you read this, the Fizz is at the event.
Internal DelBene polling shows the gap between Reichert and DelBene closing (Reichert now 48 to BelBene 44, with Reichert's unfavorable ratings on the rise.)
(The most recent Survey USA poll—from late September—had Reichert up 52 to 45.)
5. As long as we're citing partisan polling—a new poll by Fabrizio, McLaughlin and Associates for the conservative-aligned American Action Forum has Dino Rossi beating Patty Murray 48 to 42 . (In June, the same pollster had the race tied at 46.)
6. PubliCola is hosting a debate on the alcohol privatization initiatives (I-1100 and I-1105) at Town Hall on Sunday at 7:30. Here's a preview.
And speaking of this year's ballot—check out our list of 29 "No-Brainer" endorsements. We've got three more "No-Brainer" picks coming this week before we study up on the rest of the ballot.
