PubliCola Archives | February 2010

February 28, 2010

Police Taser, Seriously Injure Man At Aurora Motel

News Update 9:30 a.m.: Here’s the official word from SPD on this incident: On February 28th at approximately 9:14 p.m. officers responded to 911 calls of a woman being physically and sexually assaulted in the hallway of a hotel located in the 8200 block of Aurora Avenue North.  Officers arrived on scene and contacted the 49-year-old male [...] read more →


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Opinion Last November marked the opening of High Point Center (rendering above), a new community center building in West Seattle’s High Point neighborhood. On the Center’s roof is what is touted to be Washington State’s largest installation of photovoltaic solar panels on any single building. Photovoltaic (PV) systems convert incident sunlight to standard household AC electrical [...] read more →


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February 27, 2010

Uncategorized Recommended viewing for the weekend:  The Seattle premiere of the Red Riding trilogy over at Northwest Film Forum.  Released as a television miniseries in England, this three-part adaptation of novels about the Yorkshire Ripper—a serial killer who ravaged northern England for ten years in the ’70s and ’80s—has been well-received for its performances and its [...] read more →


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Health Care Advocates Win Partial Budget Victory in Olympia

Politics, This Washington Health care and senior care advocates, including sign waving SEIU troops in their signature purple shirts, have been vocal and present in Olympia since the state House and Senate released their budgets earlier this week. In particular, they’ve been making noise about the Senate’s budget which, they complained, fell short in comparison to the House [...] read more →


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Arts & Culture [audio:http://www.publicola.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/01-Freedom-Song.mp3] It’s not everyday that Atlantic records label star Jason Mraz calls and asks for permission to borrow a song. The Grammy-nominated and chart topping singer who often draws comparison to John Mayer should have a bevy of upper echelon music companions to collaborate with.  But for local singer-songwriter Luc Reynaud, that’s exactly what happened [...] read more →


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February 26, 2010

City Hall, News, Politics Earlier this year, 20-year city veteran Dwight Dively, who had managed the city’s budget office for 16  years, told colleagues he was leaving the city to take over the King County Office of Management and Budget. Back in December, then-mayor-elect Mike McGinn relieved Dively of his duties overseeing the city’s annual budget, putting him in [...] read more →


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Arts & Culture, PubliCalendar Tonight 1. It’s actually surprising to me that Joseph Stiglitz is speaking at Town Hall. For a student of economics, hearing Joe Stiglitz is scheduled to speak at Town Hall is like hearing the Rolling Stones are booked at Neumos. That’s no diss on Town Hall, of course. It’s just that Stiglitz is as close [...] read more →


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Shooting At Northgate

News Police are looking for a suspect in a shooting near Northgate. SPD spokesman Jeff Kappel says officers are looking for a 24 year-old black male in a black car, who fired one shot at another vehicle at about 4:00pm, and then fled. Kappel was unaware of any injuries. We’ll update when we get more info. [...] read more →


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Extra Fizz: Former Nickels Staffer Starts Consulting Firm

City Hall, Politics Speaking of refugess from new mayoral administration (ie, Erica’s thoughtful interview with former city budget director with Dwight Dively), former Team Nickels sustainability director Michael Mann announced today—his last day at city hall—that he’s starting his own consulting firm, Cyan Strategies. The company will work on public-private partnerships to facilitate sustainability projects. His firm’s first [...] read more →


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News [Editor's Note: Commenter Insideago wanted to hear LawNerd's take on Erica's story about public disclosure law and text messages. And so, here's LawNerd.] The Public Records Act (PRA) was originally enacted by public initiative in 1973, long before personal computers were a twinkle in our eyes. Now, almost all public records are created and kept [...] read more →


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Cartoons of a Madman?

News Is this comic strip the work of the 30-year-old gunman who fatally shot a Tacoma elementary school teacher early this morning? From KIRO: A gunman with an infatuation with a Tacoma special education teacher lay in wait and fatally shot the woman as she arrived for school Friday morning, authorities told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News. [...] read more →


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It’s Come to This: Bake Sales for Transit

Opinion [Editor's Note: Today’s Op-Ed from Rob Johnson, Executive Director of Transportation Choices Coalition, is the latest  installment of PubliCola guest editorials by prominent local leaders. We debuted our guest Op-Ed series with a piece by GOP Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna earlier this month. Earlier this week we published a piece co-written by Kate Joncas, [...] read more →


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