1. The city council will take up legislation today making it easier for the city to shut down "chronic nuisance properties" by revoking their business licenses. The legislation, sponsored by Tim Burgess, targets motels on Aurora Ave. N., where prostitution and drug dealing are rampant.

2. Seattle attorney Bill Marler, best known for winning a multimillion-dollar settlement from Jack in the Box after E. coli in the restaurant chain's burgers sickened hundreds of people back in 1993, is quoted in yesterday's exhaustive above-the-fold New York Times story about the gaps in the US food safety system. Also yesterday, Obama Foodorama scored a long exclusive interview with the food-safety crusader, who called food safety not just an economic concern but a "moral issue.

"You have people dying from eating bad food, mothers and fathers, grandparents, little kids---and it's completely avoidable with better regulation. ... How is food safety still not the number one issue?"



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3. Although Port Commissioner John Creighton has won the support of numerous local liberal and Democratic groups—including the King County Democrats and several Democratic districts, as well as Reform the Port—a PubliCola tipster points out that he hasn't exactly returned the favor. In addition to donating $2,000 to George W. Bush's reelection effort in 2004, Creighton gave generously last year to John McCain, donating $2,050 to the Republican presidential candidate.

4. As PubliCola reported previously, Burgess wrote a letter last week expressing support for three city-council-established groups—Communities United Rainier Beach (CURB), Get Off the Streets (GOTS), and Court Specialized Treatment and Access to
Recovery Services (CO-STARS)—that provide services for people at risk for low-level street crime.

However, some advocates for defendants, including The Defender Association (which provides court-appointed attorneys for Seattle clients) are worried that Burgess' proposal, which would preserve funding for all three programs through 2010, is actually paving the way to eliminate CURB's funding and distribute it among the other two programs.

They note that although Burgess' press release says jail bookings among CURB clients have increased 11 percent (compared to declines of 26 percent and 30 percent, respectively, among GOTS and CO-STARS clients), the number of jail days served by CURB clients declined more than either of the other groups': a 29 percent decrease, compared to a 13 percent decline among GOTS clients and a 7 percent increase among GOTS clients.

5. Seattle Channel anchor C.R. Douglas will moderate a forum featuring the candidates for city council and mayor tonight at Ballard High School, 1418 NW 65th St., starting at 6:00 pm.

This morning's Morning Fizz is brought to you by Washington Conservation Voters.