1. Deputy Mayor Phil Fujii, who resigned his post effective this Friday, does not appear to be headed back to the Vulcan development company, where he worked as a community relations manager before McGinn recruited him last year. Vulcan spokesman David Postman tells PubliCola there are “no plans or discussions right now about Phil coming back to Vulcan. His job here was not held open when he went to city hall.”
However, Postman adds, “Personally, I hope he does come back at some point because there are few people who work as hard or care as much about the community as he does.”
2. Charla Neuman, best known in Seattle as the campaign manager for mayoral runner-up Joe Mallahan, is reportedly working on the as-yet-un-filed initiative to privatize liquor sales in Washington State. (The initiative is separate from another proposal drafted, at least in part, by conservative blogger Stefan Sharkansky, known as the Modernize Washington campaign.) We have calls in to Neuman and the consulting firm behind the initiative, Strategies 360, seeking more details.
3. During the legislative session we kept noting that the soda industry was doing some serious lobbying to kill the soda tax idea the governor put forward in February. It seemed to work for a while—the House and the Senate stayed away from the idea all session.
However, during the special session, the governor resurrected the idea—and despite another reported lobbying blitz from the industry (threatening swing district Democrats that money was going to pour into GOP coffers)—the tax—two cents per 12 ounce can of soda—passed.
The federal reports—which also track state lobbying—are in, and Democrats were not kidding about the lobbying barrage—”quadrupled spending” we’d heard. The soda industry reported the highest increase in spending—a 3700 percent increase from the first quarter last year—spending $5.4 million on lobbying this time. They were sixth in overall spending, coming in behind the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, General Electric, the pharmaceutical industry, ConcoPhillips, and AT&T.
4. There’s an interesting (if depressing) post over at Seattle Transit Blog outlining the obstacles to implementing a bike-sharing system in Seattle, something BikeNerd Josh Cohen wrote about here. Among other barriers, STB points to King County’s mandatory helmet law.
Helmet laws are “very troublesome for bike-share systems because the whole structure of bike-share systems goes against the idea of needing anything, i.e. a helmet, to use it.”
According to STB, as far as they know, no bike-sharing system in the world provides helmets on demand. “This puts advocates in an interesting position, forcing them to either advocate against mandatory helmet use laws or settle for the status quo, knowing fully well that this forces some users to choose between using the system illegally or not using the system” at all.
5. Teamster garbage truck drivers went on strike yesterday after contract negotiations with Waste Managment broke down. (The strike does not affect recycling, which is under a separate Waste Managment contract.)
Here’s a map of the affected areas. We’ve included a statement from the city (which is not part of the negotiations between the Teamsters and Waste Management) detailing the situation, below. And The Seattle Times story is here.
Statement from Seattle Public Utilities:
No Seattle Garbage Collection Today in Waste Management Areas
Other Thursday customers asked to put out all garbage, yard waste and recycling
SEATTLE — Due to the strike by Teamsters Local 174 garbage and yard waste drivers, there will be no residential garbage or yard waste collection today in Seattle areas served by Waste Management.
Customers whose collections are missed today — Thursday — may set out up to twice their garbage, yard waste and recycling out on their next regular collection day, at no additional cost.
Waste Management’s collection contract with Seattle covers only about half of the city’s solid waste customers, in portions of northwest and south Seattle. Drivers in other areas of Seattle are covered by separate labor agreements and are not part of the current negotiations. Customers in those areas should continue to put out all of their garbage, yard waste and recycling on their regular collection day.
Recycling by Waste Management’s is covered by a separate contract; however some recycling collections may still be disrupted today. If your recycling is missed today, set it out on your next collection day (two weeks from today).
Waste Management services approximately 18,000 residential customers on Thursdays in the following approximate areas:
— W. of I-5 to the Sound, between N. 145th St. and N. 105th St.
— Between I-5 and SR99 from N. 85th St to Northgate Way
— S. of I-90 to S. Orcas St; from Beacon Ave. S. to Lake Washington.
View a detailed map of the affected area.
Members of Teamsters Local 174 went on strike after contract negotiations with Waste Management reached a deadlock.
“The City of Seattle is not part of the negotiations between Waste Management and the Teamsters; however, we are disappointed that the two parties were not able to reach an agreement and hope they continue good faith negotiations toward a speedy and successful outcome,” Tim Croll, Seattle Public Utilities, Director of Solid Waste said.
“We intend to hold Waste Management accountable for the provisions of their contract and we expect Waste Management to honor its collection contract, regardless of its dispute with the Teamsters,” Croll said.
SPU will provide updates as needed. Customers with solid waste service problems may call the Call Center at (206) 684-3000.
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