Morning Fizz
What That Means is 1500 Teachers Will be Laid Off
1. In yesterday's Afternoon Jolt
, we flagged a rare winner in the budget. The house Democrats saved the Disability Lifeline (a program for disabled and unemployable adults) from being eliminated in the supplemental budget (the budget for the remaining to quarters of the current biennium). Gov. Chris Gregoire and the house Republicans had proposed cutting the Disability Lifeline program.
Fizz notes the big loser: K-4 education. The budget retroactively axes $42 million from schools that had already been spent on teachers for this school year. What that means is 1500 teachers will be laid off next year.
"Washington’s average class sizes already rank 48th in the country," says Rich Wood, spokesman for the Washington Education Association, the teachers' union. "The loss of K-4 class-size funding means classrooms will become even more overcrowded next year."
As for saving the Disability Lifeline and cutting K-4, Republican house budget guru, Rep. Gary Alexander (R-20, Olympia) said:
2. Political busy body, music entrepreneur, bar owner (and sometimes Cola contributor) David Meinert got the green light from the city in December for a permit to have outdoor seating in the little park in front of his Five Point Cafe. It would seat about 20 people. Great idea. (That's the little park space off Denny by Zeek's Pizza across the street from Seattle Center where the monorail goes by.)
However, the permit is being held up now because neighbors—a nearby business and some condo owners—are complaining .
Oh, Seattle.
3. Erica went on an undercover operation the other day with city officials who enforce the city's sign code. In order to have a billboard-style sign on the outside of a building—the business that's being advertised has to sell something there.
Erica will have a full report on the undercover op later, but she showed Fizz some photos from her mission, and this one was pretty funny. Inside a SoDo building with a giant lottery sign outside, Erica and crew found a locked door for a "convenience store"—only available by buzzer.
It was 4 pm, and no one was answering.
4. A follow-up from yesterday's Fizz. We noted that American Medical Response, the long time emergency vehicle contractor with the city wasn't a shoo-in this year because the city council had some questions about AMR.
It turns out, one of AMR's competitors, Rural/Metro, has hired former Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis' consulting firm to help them out.
Fizz notes the big loser: K-4 education. The budget retroactively axes $42 million from schools that had already been spent on teachers for this school year. What that means is 1500 teachers will be laid off next year.
"Washington’s average class sizes already rank 48th in the country," says Rich Wood, spokesman for the Washington Education Association, the teachers' union. "The loss of K-4 class-size funding means classrooms will become even more overcrowded next year."
As for saving the Disability Lifeline and cutting K-4, Republican house budget guru, Rep. Gary Alexander (R-20, Olympia) said:
“[The Disability Lifeline] is a state-only program that is supposed to be temporary as those who are truly disabled are phased into social security. There is already a federal program called General Assistance Expedited that does this. One of the things taxpayers want state government to do is to streamline and end programs that are redundant in nature. I see no possible way to solve the state’s larger hole for the 2011-13 operating budget without eliminating GAU and the Basic Health Plan. If we’re going to have to eliminate these programs in a few months, we should be willing to do it now and capture those additional savings.”
2. Political busy body, music entrepreneur, bar owner (and sometimes Cola contributor) David Meinert got the green light from the city in December for a permit to have outdoor seating in the little park in front of his Five Point Cafe. It would seat about 20 people. Great idea. (That's the little park space off Denny by Zeek's Pizza across the street from Seattle Center where the monorail goes by.)
However, the permit is being held up now because neighbors—a nearby business and some condo owners—are complaining .
Oh, Seattle.
3. Erica went on an undercover operation the other day with city officials who enforce the city's sign code. In order to have a billboard-style sign on the outside of a building—the business that's being advertised has to sell something there.
Erica will have a full report on the undercover op later, but she showed Fizz some photos from her mission, and this one was pretty funny. Inside a SoDo building with a giant lottery sign outside, Erica and crew found a locked door for a "convenience store"—only available by buzzer.
It was 4 pm, and no one was answering.
4. A follow-up from yesterday's Fizz. We noted that American Medical Response, the long time emergency vehicle contractor with the city wasn't a shoo-in this year because the city council had some questions about AMR.
It turns out, one of AMR's competitors, Rural/Metro, has hired former Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis' consulting firm to help them out.
