Ladenburg, Kessler buddies again

June 29th, 2008

Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg responded to my blog post yesterday about the attorney general's race.

Based on an earlier item from the TNT's Political Buzz blog, I had noted that House Majority Leader Rep. Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, had said she wouldn't endorse Ladenburg for AG – because Ladenburg had opposed her bill requiring local governments to record their executive sessions.

Ladenburg says that it it was all a misunderstanding.

Dave, I did not oppose the Kessler bill. In fact, I never took a position on the bill. The article in the Vancouver paper was wrong.

I ...

Tacoma voters could decide this fall whether to eliminate term limits

June 27th, 2008

The City Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a resolution that would put the question to voters in November.

Currently, the City Charter says no one can serve more than 10 consecutive years as mayor or council member, or any combination thereof. That usually limits council members to two four-year terms, but it's possible for someone to serve longer if they are appointed to an unfinished term.

The resolution proposed by Councilwoman Connie Ladenburg would ask voters if they want to repeal that section of the charter and remove term limits ...

Doug McDonald’s Crosscut Articles on the “Transit Train Wreck”

June 27th, 2008

More on the new Viaduct “scenarios,” and what’s not among them

June 26th, 2008
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It’s drawn the most support at West Seattle public meetings about what will replace the “central waterfront” section of The Viaduct, which the state vows to take down 2012 no matter what — but the possible option shown above, a retrofit, is one of three options now totally out of the running, according to a state/city/county briefing this afternoon, presented by these three government representatives (left to right, Bob Powers from the city, Ron Paananen from the state, and Ron Posthuma from the county/Metro).
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We liveblogged the briefing in detail here; ...

Eight Viaduct replacement ideas on the table - KING5.com

June 26th, 2008
Eight Viaduct replacement ideas on the table KING5.com, WA - 7 hours ago ... but another calls for using deep tunnel boring technology under downtown, like that used by Sound Transit building the new light rail line.

Driving no longer fun and getting increasingly expensive - Seattle Post Intelligencer

June 26th, 2008
Driving no longer fun and getting increasingly expensive Seattle Post Intelligencer - 9 hours ago He'll get a vociferous argument from mass transit advocates, and Sound Transit will offer the kind of tenacious resistance of a bureaucracy defending itself ...

Viaduct update: New “scenario” renderings now available online

June 26th, 2008
We’re still working on our summary of the briefing we liveblogged earlier - where state/city/county reps presented the 8 “scenarios” now under consideration to replace the “central waterfront” section of the Alaskan Way Viaduct - but in the meantime, we wanted to let you know the meeting materials including artist renderings have just been posted online; find them here (look for Scenario A through Scenario H). Share This

Viaduct briefing: Live updates on 8 options just unveiled

June 26th, 2008
(3:13 pm note, the briefing is now over - all notes below - we will write into a summary later.)
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We’re downtown, 24th floor of the Wells Fargo Building (view above is from the briefing room), headquarters of the Alaskan Way Viaduct and Seawall Replacement Program, for the briefing on the Alaskan Way Viaduct progress so far - will post notes here as it goes. NOTES: 8 possible scenarios identified so far … A-C surface, D-E above ground solutions, F-H are below ground “SR 99 components.” No longer any 6 lane replacements in the solutions ...

Light Rail in Jerusalem, controversial there, too

June 26th, 2008
The new light rail line under construction in Jerusalem has a unique bridge at the entrance to Jerusalem. It is also known as the Bridge of Strings. Untitled_3 2 Like with all light rail lines, the project has been controversial and charged with being over budget, late and making traffic congestion worse. Heat over troubled bridge:
Nevertheless, the full picture is much less rosy than the PR. While it is true that Jaffa Road will turn into a pedestrian mall once the ...

Washington Policy Center Study on Light Rail

June 26th, 2008
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