Results tagged “nickels”

The US Conference of Mayors will hold their fall leadership meeting this weekend in downtown Seattle.

A man was assaulted in the U District when he refused to give a group of assailants his pizza.

Publicola got their hands on a UW research poll that shows leftward-leaning Mike McGinn "leading" in the mayor's race among Republican voters. McGinn's got 15 percent to Nickels' 10 percent. McGinn says the appeal is due to his "fiscal conservatism" in being against the deep-bore tunnel. That said, the poll's 600 people surveyed left Nickels in the lead, with Mallahan, Donaldson, Drago, and McGinn each divvying up about 10 percent.

The city faces a $43 million budget shortfall. An unprecedented number of eyes (many of which belong to Seattle journalists and political watchdogs) are trained on the city's every budgetary move. We're just beginning what already smells like a contentious mayoral race towards elections later this year. What better time for Nickels and the city council to start meeting behind closed doors to work out the "very dull" budget-balancing process? Let media report on whatever they see fit, so the public can decide what's boring and irrelevant. That model works for hyperlocal blogs and it will work just as well for government.

Seattlest's father now knows who Dan Savage is, thanks to the Stranger editorial director's short-lived publicity stunt of a mayoral campaign. We suspect that was kind of the point. Savage isn't running anymore, thanks to the burdensome piles of paperwork associated with a real campaign, and we're grateful that whole shenanigan is done with. Piles of paperwork, we salute you.

Not everybody agrees graffiti has social value. One "artist's" urban enhancement is another man’s vandalism. We’re of the opinion that when left to the talented it’s generally a colorful and unique improvement to the city landscape. We understand those who disagree, but suspect they naturally hate anything to the left of the standard Belltown earth tone, which this city and its developer overlords keep insisting jibe with the character of the area.

Sounds like the city is listening, after all. At a press conference this afternoon, Nickels announced changes to the official no-salt policy: in some, limited circumstances, salt will be used on the streets of Seattle to make life easier in the snow. We thought this day would never come. In addition, the city is looking into giving rebates to residents whose trash pick-up was skipped two weeks in a row. When more information is available, we'll post it!

We thought it was a little optimistic of Sims, Gregoire and Nickels to say they would come up with a viaduct replacement recommendation by January 1st. Maybe that was just Seattlest projecting our own annual holiday brain-death, but it also had to do with the refusal of tunnel proponents to back down even though the bored-tunnel option was ostensibly removed from the negotiation table. At any rate, the trifecta of leaders issued a joint statement last night announcing that they aren't ready to recommend an option by their deadline:

As a result of the continued overwhelming response and input on replacement options from stakeholders, we have asked our respective transportation teams to continue their review. Once this information is in hand, and working closely together, a final recommendation will be made to the state Legislature in January. [...] We only have one chance to do this right.

One chance, stakeholders. The unsettling part of the statement isn't the delay, which was expected; it's the "stakeholder" terminology. Seattle became one giant corporation while we were sleeping, apparently. Guess the signs were there all along.

Because we couldn't make it to the gun ban public hearing, we've been trying to catch up via online accounts of the meeting. "I personally view carrying a gun as kind of like wearing a seatbelt," one of the opponents of the ban said, caught on tape by King5. "You'll probably never need it but I still buckle up." (Of course, in a car crash the seatbelt would probably be a net positive, while a gun would just rattle around in your glove box.) Other opponents argued that the ban would prevent law-abiding citizens from being able to protect themselves against gun-toting criminals. Proponents of Nickels' questionably legal executive order were, of course, concerned about accidental firings. Still no conversation, at least not recorded in the accounts we've read, about addressing gun violence from the angle of making guns and/or bullets (and/or seatbelts, which are just like guns) more difficult to obtain--our favorite angle.

Mayor Nickels's mysterious two-pronged plan to "grow" the city's live music scene was unveiled at a press conference at Neumos this morning: first, the 2009-2010 city budget includes an admissions tax exemption clause for live music venues such as Nectar Lounge, Neumos and--if it ever opens up again--the Crocodile. And second, according to their press release, the Mayor's Office has compiled a "comprehensive nightlife establishment guidebook" (available online here) as a resource for business owners who are looking to open and run a successful music venue.

Breaking news! Mayor Nickels has changed his mind about noisy nightlife. Now, he loves it and wants to not only nurture but encourage it. HA-HA! We are not holding our breath. But the Mayor has announced a gathering at Neumos tomorrow at the ungodly hour of 10 a.m. to discuss his "new steps to grow Seattle's live music scene," which sounds--if not hopeful--at least potentially of interest to those who really do care about live music in this town. If you go, please, please, please do send your notes/thoughts/photos on the announcement to our tips inbox.