FRIDAY LIKES & DON'T LIKES

1. About that poison pill in the Republican senate transportation proposal—a provision that would automatically convert the $750 million of multimodal project money in the $15 billion, 11.7 cent gas tax plan into $750 million in roads money if governor Jay Inslee dares to enact a low-carbon fuel standard, I DON'T LIKE the numbers, PubliCola's intern found:

The oil and gas industry contributed $4,050 to Republican transportation committee chair senator Curtis King (R-14, Yakima), $4,600 to Republican vice chair senator Don Benton (R-17, Vancouver), and $8,000 to Republican vice chair senator Joe Fain (R-47, Auburn).

In all—with donations in the last election cycle from contributors including the Washington Oil Marketers Association; BP North America; Tesoro Companies Inc.; Chevron, and Phillips 66 Company—the Republicans on the transportation committee received $66,800. (This total counts Democratic state senator Tim Sheldon, D-35, Potlatch, who caucuses with the GOP. It does not include "clean" energy companies.)

In contrast, the Democrats on the committee $13,550 from the industry.

Ranking minority member senator Steve Hobbs (D-44, Lake Stevens) got the most, $8,050, including $1,900 from Chevron. And assistant ranking member senator Marko Liias (D-21, Mukilteo) got $900.

2. While the GOP proposal shortchanges transit overall (the $750 million in total multimodal project money makes up just five percent of the package) and shortchanges Sound Transit (with only $11 billion in potential taxing authority vs. the $15 billion ST asked for, an inadequate light rail measure would likely divide transit fans and lose at the polls), there is something I LIKE about the proposal: It includes $10 million for the Northgate Transit Center pedestrian bridge.

The project, which would connect the surrounding neighborhood around North Seattle College to the coming Northgate light rail station (2021), is a premiere piece of transit-oriented-development infrastructure. The community has rallied around the project,  but it got derailed late last fall when the city couldn't get federal funding for it.

Another important Seattle line item that made it onto the multimodal project list—$900,000 for MLK/Rainier Ave. improvements—another project that prioritizes people who walk, bike, or take the bus.

3. I DON'T LIKE that the Community Police Commission issued a statement yesterday asking the city to "push pause" on implementing a police body cam program.

The CPC, a diverse community oversight group created in the DOJ/SPD consent decree agreement to help address police misconduct, is the go-to group on police accountability that carries well-earned sway.

But the main issue they cite in their letter—the tension between privacy and public disclosure—while complex, is already front-and-center in both current legislative deliberations in Olympia, starring the ACLU, and at the city as it collects data on it current pilot project.

This is not time arrest the momentum on an important accountability tool with more Seattle process.

Here's my reporting on the body cam debate in Olympia and a feature I wrote in Seattle Met mag this month on the city's pending body cam program.