Morning Fizz
"Let's be Honest—People Would be at Risk of Dying."
1. As we reported Monday
, five members of the city council headed down to Olympia this week on a mission to lobby state legislators on the city's behalf. What did they ask for? Council member Jean Godden, writing on her blog, reports that the council's top three priorities
were preserving the state's Disability Lifeline, saving community health centers and protecting children’s health care.
"Without state assistance in providing these three basics, hospital emergency rooms would be overflowing," Godden, a longtime newspaper columnist before she was elected to the council in 2003, wrote. "We’d all be paying in one way or another to provide the bare essentials and – yes, let’s be honest – people would be at risk of dying. "
The council is also asking legislators to give King County Metro (and other transit agencies) more taxing authority to help offset budget shortfalls that could result in a 16 percent reduction in service.
Mayor Mike McGinn has not been to Olympia yet this year, but his spokesman Mark Matassa says "I imagine that he will" later in the session.
2. Yesterday, the ACLU of Washington and the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign announced that they're suing King County over its refusal to allow anti-Israel ads on King County Metro buses. As the PI.com reported yesterday afternoon, SMAC's lawsuit alleges that King County's buses are "a designated public forum."
King County Executive Dow Constantine decided last month to prohibit non-commercial ads after both anti- and pro-Israel groups proposed running inflammatory bus ads on Metro buses.
At that time, Josh editorialized against the county decision.
3. So far, new Seattle-area state Rep. David Frockt (D-46, N. Seattle) is only listed as sponsoring one bill—a non-controversial technical bill about the department of information services.
However, Fizz hears Frockt may be sponsoring a domestic violence bill that will challenge former state supreme court justice Richard Sanders' ruling that gave the power of terminating domestic violence restraining orders to the respondent rather than to the victim. The proposed legislation, being pushed by Legal Voice, would change the equation and give the power to the victim.
4. Last night, the Seattle Department of Transportation presented the options for replacing the waterfront seawall at a public forum at the downtown Seattle Aquarium.
Although Fizz was unable to attend, the five "concepts"---including "Urban Waterfront" as well as the alliterative "Context Connections" and "Evolving Experiences" ---are available for review here, and you can comment on the project here.
"Without state assistance in providing these three basics, hospital emergency rooms would be overflowing," Godden, a longtime newspaper columnist before she was elected to the council in 2003, wrote. "We’d all be paying in one way or another to provide the bare essentials and – yes, let’s be honest – people would be at risk of dying. "
The council is also asking legislators to give King County Metro (and other transit agencies) more taxing authority to help offset budget shortfalls that could result in a 16 percent reduction in service.
Mayor Mike McGinn has not been to Olympia yet this year, but his spokesman Mark Matassa says "I imagine that he will" later in the session.
2. Yesterday, the ACLU of Washington and the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign announced that they're suing King County over its refusal to allow anti-Israel ads on King County Metro buses. As the PI.com reported yesterday afternoon, SMAC's lawsuit alleges that King County's buses are "a designated public forum."
King County Executive Dow Constantine decided last month to prohibit non-commercial ads after both anti- and pro-Israel groups proposed running inflammatory bus ads on Metro buses.
At that time, Josh editorialized against the county decision.
3. So far, new Seattle-area state Rep. David Frockt (D-46, N. Seattle) is only listed as sponsoring one bill—a non-controversial technical bill about the department of information services.
However, Fizz hears Frockt may be sponsoring a domestic violence bill that will challenge former state supreme court justice Richard Sanders' ruling that gave the power of terminating domestic violence restraining orders to the respondent rather than to the victim. The proposed legislation, being pushed by Legal Voice, would change the equation and give the power to the victim.
4. Last night, the Seattle Department of Transportation presented the options for replacing the waterfront seawall at a public forum at the downtown Seattle Aquarium.
Although Fizz was unable to attend, the five "concepts"---including "Urban Waterfront" as well as the alliterative "Context Connections" and "Evolving Experiences" ---are available for review here, and you can comment on the project here.
