Today's winner: Kids and anyone who wants to walk safely on city streets and sidewalks. 

As Seattle Bike Blog reports, the Neighborhood Safe Streets Bill, which would make it easier for cities to lower speed limits on non-arterial roads, passed unanimously out of the state senate transportation committee on Tuesday, making it the rare Democratically-sponsored bill to make it through a committee in the Republican-dominated senate without controversy. 

In 2011 and 2012, the exact same bill died in the senate, where then-transportation committee chair Mary Margaret Haugen (D-10), who was defeated by Republican Barbara Bailey last year, opposed it. 

As we wrote back in 2011, the neighborhood safe streets bill makes sense from both a public-health spending and safety perspective: 

Beyond the local-control argument for letting cities set their own speed limits, there's simple physics: Hit a pedestrian or cyclist with your car at 20 mph, and they're likely to survive. Hit someone at 30 mph, and they stand about a 55 percent chance of staying alive. Hit them at 40 mph, and their survival odds shrink to 15 percent. Speed limits aren't about making your life as a driver less fun; they're about protecting you and the people---including, yes, vulnerable street users like cyclists, pedestrians, and people in wheelchairs---from death and injury. 

And a Jolt for anyone who's ever been frustrated on the job: Fancy Frenchwood, a former recruiter at Pioneer Human Services, penned what Forbes called "the perfect resignation letter," and we agree.

Forbes says Frenchwood's letter prompted one of Frenchwood's associates in the company to immediately call her up and say, "It needed to be said." 

In an email, Frenchwood (who sounds like a kick) called the letter one of the proudest moments of her life, and added that she wanted to be "the voice of those who cannot for whatever reason express how they really feel."

"She played her cards perfectly," Forbes writes.

Here it is, in part: 

After careful thought and consideration I have concluded that my core values are not aligned with the dysfunctional organizational culture at Pioneer Human Services. It is time to move on to maintain my health, sanity, and overall happiness. [...]

Originally, I believed the biggest challenge at Pioneer would stem from a lack of systems. However, I quickly realized that inflated egos, office politics and administrative incompetence would prove to be bigger obstacles. These dynamics are not conducive to innovation and productivity.

Due to ambiguous policies and procedures and the inconsistent application and enforcement of both, I was deprived of fair and equitable treatment. I did not receive fair pay for the work I was held accountable for, even after three requests for reevaluation of the job title and description against what was actually required out of the position. Additionally, I have been reprimanded for fabricated, unsubstantiated claims regarding my performance and behavior. I hardly think that a statement from one person constitutes a fair and thorough investigation.

Fortunately for me, I know my worth and I am very well aware of the value I bring to a team. I refuse to settle for any form of disrespect or maltreatment, particularly from individuals whose only credibility resides in their job title as opposed to demonstrated excellence and leadership.

I’m positive my experience isn’t an isolated one. The turnover rates and lack of employee engagement and satisfaction are further evidence of Pioneer’s inability to attract, develop and retain talent.

I had a goal to brand Pioneer as an employer of choice in our community. Unfortunately, it became abundantly clear to me that I would be out of integrity to attempt to attract employees to such a toxic and dysfunctional work place. I refuse to convince professionals to work for a 50 year old company that operates like a start-up “mom-n-pop shop” rampant with nepotism and cronyism.

Ouch.

We contacted TK ... a little color...