Morning Fizz
Could Lead to Confusion
1. At yesterday's
viaduct replacement committee meeting, state officials and a state consultant had ready answers to all the council's questions---except one.
When Seattle City Council member Mike O'Brien, the council's lone tunnel opponent, asked what potential cost overruns would count toward the contractor's $500 million maximum liability (essentially, the contractor can't be held responsible for anything that goes wrong over the $500 million mark), the state's consultant, John Newby, paused for a long time and responded, "I'm not sure how the contract works in that regard."
After the meeting, O'Brien told PubliCola that he's "concerned about the scenario" in which "at some point, the contractor says, 'We're done,' and WSDOT has limited their liability.
2. Yesterday, we reported that environmentalists are pushing a bill to make TransAlta's Centralia coal plant go coal free by 2015. Well, TransAlta is pushing back.
TransAlta has already been negotiating behind closed doors with Gov. Chris Gregoire's office for the last several years and finally signed a memorandum of understanding last year to work toward a 2025 coal free date.
TransAlta's new lobbyist in Olympia working against the 2015 deadline? Strategies 360 consultant Matt Steuerwalt, Gov. Chris Gregoire's former executive policy advisor on energy and climate issues from 2005 to 2009.
3. On the agenda for tomorrow's meeting of the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission: The odd case of Joseph Benavides, a Seattle Department of Transportation supervisor who apparently placed a large Seattle Police Department decal on the back of his personal SUV, potentially giving the impression that his car was an official Seattle police car.
"Benavides should have known that the SPD decal in the rear window of his blue Chevy Suburban could lead to confusion over whether his car was an official police vehicle," the commission says in its report finding Benavides guilty of misusing city property. He has agreed to pay the city a fine of $300 for the violation.
4. Seattle state legislator Scott White (D-46, N. Seattle) says he doesn't expect legislation he proposed that would allow 14-year-olds to vote in school district elections to go anywhere this year; he proposed it, he tells the Fizz, at the behest of a group of high school students from around the state who want to have a say in school-board elections, and he's not seeking any co-sponsors.
"I was glad [the students] were so interested in getting involved," White said, but "this would be a difficult bill to pass because of the cost of administering a special ballot" and certifying that students were eligible to vote.
When Seattle City Council member Mike O'Brien, the council's lone tunnel opponent, asked what potential cost overruns would count toward the contractor's $500 million maximum liability (essentially, the contractor can't be held responsible for anything that goes wrong over the $500 million mark), the state's consultant, John Newby, paused for a long time and responded, "I'm not sure how the contract works in that regard."
After the meeting, O'Brien told PubliCola that he's "concerned about the scenario" in which "at some point, the contractor says, 'We're done,' and WSDOT has limited their liability.
2. Yesterday, we reported that environmentalists are pushing a bill to make TransAlta's Centralia coal plant go coal free by 2015. Well, TransAlta is pushing back.
TransAlta has already been negotiating behind closed doors with Gov. Chris Gregoire's office for the last several years and finally signed a memorandum of understanding last year to work toward a 2025 coal free date.
TransAlta's new lobbyist in Olympia working against the 2015 deadline? Strategies 360 consultant Matt Steuerwalt, Gov. Chris Gregoire's former executive policy advisor on energy and climate issues from 2005 to 2009.
3. On the agenda for tomorrow's meeting of the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission: The odd case of Joseph Benavides, a Seattle Department of Transportation supervisor who apparently placed a large Seattle Police Department decal on the back of his personal SUV, potentially giving the impression that his car was an official Seattle police car.
"Benavides should have known that the SPD decal in the rear window of his blue Chevy Suburban could lead to confusion over whether his car was an official police vehicle," the commission says in its report finding Benavides guilty of misusing city property. He has agreed to pay the city a fine of $300 for the violation.
4. Seattle state legislator Scott White (D-46, N. Seattle) says he doesn't expect legislation he proposed that would allow 14-year-olds to vote in school district elections to go anywhere this year; he proposed it, he tells the Fizz, at the behest of a group of high school students from around the state who want to have a say in school-board elections, and he's not seeking any co-sponsors.
"I was glad [the students] were so interested in getting involved," White said, but "this would be a difficult bill to pass because of the cost of administering a special ballot" and certifying that students were eligible to vote.
