Viva La Cola!

Founded in January 2009, PubliCola is a blog about Seattle written by journalists who are dedicated to non-partisan, original daily reporting that prioritizes a balanced approach to news. Started by longtime local editor and award-winning reporter Josh Feit, PubliCola is the first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol.

PubliCola was off and running. In June 2009, PubliCola hired another award-winning journalist, super-sourced Seattle city hall reporter Erica C. Barnett.

People were afraid that blogging would change journalism. Instead, we believe journalism can change blogging. Twenty-first century journalism may look and feel different, and yes Erica isn't afraid to get cranky, but we're committed to making sure online news still delivers independent, reliable, even-keeled coverage. And most of all, we're committed to making sure the coverage sparks honest civic debate.

Bringing you cola for the people, PubliCola is named after Publius Valerius PubliCola, the alias for the authors of the Federalist Papers—the original bloggers.

x close
The first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol and Seattle city hall, PubliCola has been called a “must-read” by the Seattle Post Intelligencer and a hot “New Media Mover and Shaker” by Seattle Magazine—which also cited our own Erica C. Barnett as the city's No. 1 news nerd.

Potential Conflicts Between McGinn and the Council

PubliCalendar   March 18, 2010 at 3:39 pm Chris Kissel

Tonight:

The Seattle Municipal League, an entirely non-partisan group of open-government advocates who rate candidates based on their “capacity to serve effectively” rather than their politics (Joe Mallahan got an “outstanding” and Mike McGinn got a “good”), is turning 100 this year, and they’re celebrating tonight with a dinner and awards ceremony.

One award winner we’re completely psyched about? Futurewise for “Organization of the Year.” Founded as 1000 Friends of Washington in 1990 to defend the Growth Management Act, Futurewise fights sprawl in courtrooms across the state and in legislators’ offices in Olympia.

The Muni League will be auctioning off a lunch with King County Executive Dow Constantine (also a GMA stalwart) and one with City Council Member Tim Burgess (a stalwart on, um, panhandling). The best prize? A chance to go jogging with Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna, which I guess could be fun.

Tickets are available, but are close to selling out. You can get ‘em here.

Tonight at 5:30, at Showbox SODO, 1700 1st Avenue S.

Tomorrow:

You can look at Seattle’s BirthDIYfest, taking place at the Vera Project tonight, in a couple of different ways.

If you’re an artist, particularly someone obsessed with making your own beats, or pressing vinyl records out of your friend’s band’s mp3s, or trying to start your own weirdo arts collective, it’s like a networking event where people from a few different uber-indie record labels are going to have tables set up.

Or you can just go to peek your head into Seattle’s hippie DIY scene, in all its homemade-t-shirt glory.

Either way, it’s a sweet excuse to support awesome indie music projects around town, like the All Ages Movement Project and the Seattle DIY Movement. And Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground and Feral Children, two of Seattle’s flagship indie bands, are performing.

Tomorrow at 9:30 at the Vera Project (Warren Avenue N & Republican Street). Tickets are $10.

Also on Tomorrow’s Calendar:

Youth Speaks, a group of astounding talented youth poets, are having their annual poetry grand slam tomorrow—the winner’s go to the national poetry slam in Los Angeles. Friday at 7 pm at the Moore Theater (1932 2nd Avenue). Tickets are $15/youth, $20/21+.

There’s a special meeting of the City Council’s Regional Development and Sustainability committee, for a public interview and comment session on the appointment of Marco Lowe as Director of the Office Intergovernmental Relations—a job that’s at the center of potential conflicts between McGinn and the Council because it’s the city’s lobbying office. What, for example, is the city’s position on 520. Friday at City Hall Council Chambers, Floor 2 (600 4th Avenue), at 2 pm.

The Hugo House presents “The Laws of Attraction,” an artistic summit of nationally-renowned essayist Philip Lopate, lauded local actress Marya Sea Kaminski, and the band Happy Hour Hero. Friday at 7:30 the University of Washington’s Kane Hall (Room 120). Tickets are $15 to $35.




  • notafiree

    Maybe i've missed something but i see only a single potential conflict (not “Conflicts”) between mcginn and council detailed in this article. some slight disconnect between editor and headline writer, perhaps?

  • Josh Feit

    520 was the 1 “for example.”
    I'd add the tunnel to the list.

  • seadog

    “The Seattle Municipal League, an entirely non-partisan group of open-government advocates who rate candidates based on their “capacity to serve effectively” rather than their politics…”

    opens this article as the lead sentence. Obviously the reporter doesn't know a thing about the Muni League or the board that ranks the candidates. It is dominated by executives from central puget sound corporations, there are few citizens who members. Additionally, there are no background checks or fact-finders to check any claims on the candidate applications. In the City of Shoreline they had to retract their highly recommended endorsement for Ron Hansen because his CPA license had been revoked by the State Board of Accountancy (ethics is one of their bugaboos) after being suspended for years.

    There are other candidates with other misstatements of facts in their applications, but only so many citizens with the time and inclination to run down the documentation and send it to the Muni League. You can make bald face lies on your application and get a pass from them.