On Other Blogs
On Other Blogs Today: Naked Girls, Gay Scouts, and More
1. Potential arena investor Chris Hansen won't be at tonight's big arena public hearing, but he did give an interview
to KOMO News earlier today. In general, Hansen repeated his standard line: People in Seattle like to put big projects through as much process as possible, but he's "in it for the long run."
He also, once again, said that Seattle taxpayers simply don't understand that the "taxpayer dollars invested [in the arena] will not be at risk."
KOMO also picked up a story PubliCola broke yesterday that the owners of the DreamGirls strip club, located right in the middle of a block Hansen wants to turn into a retail and entertainment destination for arena patrons, asking him whether the presence of a strip club will harm his plans. Echoing the Mariners' original objection to the strip club---that it was incompatible with a "family-friendly" venue like Safeco Field---Hansen said, "As anyone can imagine, having an adult venue outside a sports arena would not be an ideal fan experience." DreamGirls' public affairs consultant Tim Killian disagrees; he told PubliCola yesterday that the club has been extremely popular with Mariners fans.
2. The day the Boy Scouts reaffirmed their policy of excluding gay members by kicking out a gay Eagle Scout, Republican gubernatorial candidate, AG, and Eagle Scout Rob McKenna said he didn't agree with the group's decision.
What McKenna's spokesman told the AP's Rachel La Corte wasn't quite as sweeping. McKenna spokesman, Charles McCray, said McKenna had had initial conversations with state scout leaders about how "at least locally, the leaders out here could encourage the national organization to reconsider the national policy."
3. Once again, My Ballard reports , a cyclist has been hit by a car on the "missing link" of the Burke-Gilman Trail. Opponents have spent years appealing and re-appealing the completion of the missing link, which stretches from Leary Way east of the Ballard Bridge to NW Market St. near the Ballard Locks.
4. Living buildings---buildings that consume about a quarter of the energy and water used by typical buildings---have always been controversial in Seattle, odd for a city that prides itself on being environmentally aware. This year's living building hysteria has centered on a proposal that would make it easier to put retail in the ground floors of living buildings, and slightly increase the height bonus (from 10 feet to 20) for living buildings in certain commercial areas. And if you think "hysteria" is too strong a word, check out Dan Bertolet's latest piece at CityTank, where he explores "the dysfunctional schism within the progressive community over sustainable development and land use policy."
The solution for council members under pressure from anti-development neighborhood activists, Bertolet suggests: Ignore them.
He also, once again, said that Seattle taxpayers simply don't understand that the "taxpayer dollars invested [in the arena] will not be at risk."
KOMO also picked up a story PubliCola broke yesterday that the owners of the DreamGirls strip club, located right in the middle of a block Hansen wants to turn into a retail and entertainment destination for arena patrons, asking him whether the presence of a strip club will harm his plans. Echoing the Mariners' original objection to the strip club---that it was incompatible with a "family-friendly" venue like Safeco Field---Hansen said, "As anyone can imagine, having an adult venue outside a sports arena would not be an ideal fan experience." DreamGirls' public affairs consultant Tim Killian disagrees; he told PubliCola yesterday that the club has been extremely popular with Mariners fans.
2. The day the Boy Scouts reaffirmed their policy of excluding gay members by kicking out a gay Eagle Scout, Republican gubernatorial candidate, AG, and Eagle Scout Rob McKenna said he didn't agree with the group's decision.
What McKenna's spokesman told the AP's Rachel La Corte wasn't quite as sweeping. McKenna spokesman, Charles McCray, said McKenna had had initial conversations with state scout leaders about how "at least locally, the leaders out here could encourage the national organization to reconsider the national policy."
3. Once again, My Ballard reports , a cyclist has been hit by a car on the "missing link" of the Burke-Gilman Trail. Opponents have spent years appealing and re-appealing the completion of the missing link, which stretches from Leary Way east of the Ballard Bridge to NW Market St. near the Ballard Locks.
4. Living buildings---buildings that consume about a quarter of the energy and water used by typical buildings---have always been controversial in Seattle, odd for a city that prides itself on being environmentally aware. This year's living building hysteria has centered on a proposal that would make it easier to put retail in the ground floors of living buildings, and slightly increase the height bonus (from 10 feet to 20) for living buildings in certain commercial areas. And if you think "hysteria" is too strong a word, check out Dan Bertolet's latest piece at CityTank, where he explores "the dysfunctional schism within the progressive community over sustainable development and land use policy."
The solution for council members under pressure from anti-development neighborhood activists, Bertolet suggests: Ignore them.
It’s perfectly okay—a good thing, actually—for Councilmembers to ignore progressives who habitually talk smack, or in the case at hand, those who howl about “monster buildings in my backyard,” or grouse that policy promoting a building that reduces energy use by 75 percent is just a greenwashed developer giveaway.
5. The AP has an interesting story about two minority, female King County Superior Court candidates who have been endorsed by former state Supreme Court justices, yet deemed "unfit" by the King County Bar Association to serve on the court. The first candidate, Elizabeth Berns, is gay; the second, Hong Tran, is a Vietnamese immigrant. The seeming discrepancy, the AP reports, is "raising questions about the process by which the weighty evaluations are made."
