Morning Fizz
It's Unclear What the Plans Are for the Banned Beverages
1) City, state, and federal offices were all closed yesterday for Veteran's Day, so you may have noticed a bit of a lull on the site. Not to worry, though: Things pick up again this morning, when the city council will vote through its annual budget (a budget that will have to close an estimated $69 million shortfall). The council will likely tear through most of the agenda (including higher meter rates
, restored neighborhood programs, and higher fees for just about every service for which the city charges) in an hour or two.
City Council member Tim Burgess said yesterday that he still felt "very conflicted" on Mayor McGinn's proposal to raise City Light rates 4.2 percent each year for the next two years. Look for the mayor to release a statement tomorrow expressing disappointment in the budget, which does not include his proposed commercial-parking tax increase, although it does restore funding for some of the biking and pedestrian programs that tax increase would have funded.
2) While the city council adopts its budget, right across the street at the county courthouse, the King County Council will be closing a budget gap (in the county's case, $60 million). While the county didn't get revenues it had hoped for to fund public safety through a 0.2-percent sales tax increase on this year's ballot, the budget County Executive Dow Constantine submitted to the council didn't assume they would, so the council is left to mostly make changes around the edges to things like funding for the last remain human-services programs paid for by the county---services for domestic violence assault victims and survivors of sexual assault, which Constantine's budget completely eliminates.
3) Speaking of the county council, council member Reagan Dunn more or less announced plans to vote against the purchase of the Maury Island gravel mine and its conversion into park land in yesterday's Seattle Times. (Rumor is he may vote against the budget too.) Dunn told the Times he had consulted with members of his "caucus," and that the purchase "has the potential to be a party-line vote if ... questions aren't answered"---an interesting statement coming from someone who was a vocal supporter of the 2008 measure that made all King County elected offices, including county council seats, "nonpartisan."
4) Washington State's ban on caffeinated malt-liquor drinks won't go into effect for a week, but beer wholesalers say they're already moving quickly to get the products off store shelves (and, presumably, onto shelves in states where the products aren't banned). According to a press release, the wholesalers are "moving as rapidly as possible to implement the ban on alcohol energy drinks because we understand and concur with the public health and safety concerns that have been raised by community leaders in the wake of the Roslyn incident," in which several Central Washington University students got sick after drinking the candy-flavored malt liquor drink Four Loko. We have a call out to the wholesalers' association to find out what the plans are for the banned beverages.
5) Giggles comedy club to become Jiggles strip club? Seattlecrime.com investigates.
City Council member Tim Burgess said yesterday that he still felt "very conflicted" on Mayor McGinn's proposal to raise City Light rates 4.2 percent each year for the next two years. Look for the mayor to release a statement tomorrow expressing disappointment in the budget, which does not include his proposed commercial-parking tax increase, although it does restore funding for some of the biking and pedestrian programs that tax increase would have funded.
2) While the city council adopts its budget, right across the street at the county courthouse, the King County Council will be closing a budget gap (in the county's case, $60 million). While the county didn't get revenues it had hoped for to fund public safety through a 0.2-percent sales tax increase on this year's ballot, the budget County Executive Dow Constantine submitted to the council didn't assume they would, so the council is left to mostly make changes around the edges to things like funding for the last remain human-services programs paid for by the county---services for domestic violence assault victims and survivors of sexual assault, which Constantine's budget completely eliminates.
3) Speaking of the county council, council member Reagan Dunn more or less announced plans to vote against the purchase of the Maury Island gravel mine and its conversion into park land in yesterday's Seattle Times. (Rumor is he may vote against the budget too.) Dunn told the Times he had consulted with members of his "caucus," and that the purchase "has the potential to be a party-line vote if ... questions aren't answered"---an interesting statement coming from someone who was a vocal supporter of the 2008 measure that made all King County elected offices, including county council seats, "nonpartisan."
4) Washington State's ban on caffeinated malt-liquor drinks won't go into effect for a week, but beer wholesalers say they're already moving quickly to get the products off store shelves (and, presumably, onto shelves in states where the products aren't banned). According to a press release, the wholesalers are "moving as rapidly as possible to implement the ban on alcohol energy drinks because we understand and concur with the public health and safety concerns that have been raised by community leaders in the wake of the Roslyn incident," in which several Central Washington University students got sick after drinking the candy-flavored malt liquor drink Four Loko. We have a call out to the wholesalers' association to find out what the plans are for the banned beverages.
5) Giggles comedy club to become Jiggles strip club? Seattlecrime.com investigates.
