Category Archives: General

Everything that’s not something else

Whose park?

March 28, 2016 A homeless person sleeps on equipment at Othello Playground, half a block from Seattle’s newest city-sanctioned homeless camp, Othello Village. One of the questions surrounding homeless camps – sanctioned or otherwise – is whether they attract homeless people to … Continue reading

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It takes a trash-heap to make a Village

March 25, 2016 A homeless man rummages through trash in an alley behind Seattle’s newest “sanctioned” homeless camp, Othello Village. The camp is run jointly by Seattle’s Human Services Department and the Low Income Housing Institute, a local non-profit group that oversees two … Continue reading

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Outrage for Hire

March 13, 2016 Since Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign pulled ahead of the GOP pack last month, critics to his left and right have been increasingly calling him a fascist. As evidence of this claim they cite footage of protesters – usually minorities … Continue reading

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Othello Village: How a homeless camp came to one Seattle neighborhood

March 7, 2016 Seattle officials recently hosted two community meetings in the city’s Othello neighborhood to discuss their plans for citing e a homeless encampment in neighborhood. The camp has been dubbed “Othello Village” and will be located in 7500 block … Continue reading

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The Real Slim Shady: How Troy Kelley gamed the law, the media and the voters

Being shady needn’t be a handicap in politics. It can even be an asset. Just ask Washington state auditor Troy Kelley: The Real Slim Shady. Kelley won the 2012 auditor’s race despite having two years earlier paid a million dollars to settle a lawsuit … Continue reading

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Jungle Boogie

February 26, 2016 The Jungle is the unofficial name for a greenbelt that runs spottily for a few miles along Interstate 5 as it exits downtown Seattle headed south. The area has hosted scattered settlements of homeless people for decades. … Continue reading

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Gun Control, Seattle Style (Part 1)

February 12, 2016 The gun debate evokes strong feelings, but regardless of which side you fall on, I think we can all agree that any law or program designed to curb gun violence should be evidence-based. In other words, it … Continue reading

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More RV Gypsies

This scene is about a mile from my house as the crow flies.* Looks like a scene right outta Sunset Magazine, doesn’t it? How do you like the mountain of trash that’s piling up on the side? That’s a nice … Continue reading

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RV Gypsies

A strange new thing is happening in Seattle. All over the city, in every kind of neighborhood, RVs are turning up on the streets – or just off them – and staying there. For months or years at a time. In … Continue reading

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Protected: It Takes All Kinds

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Behind the Wheel at Uber: A Driver’s Eye View of Ride Sharing

Below is a written interview I did with my Facebook friend Mark Wandrey in September 2015. Mark and his wife recently started earning some extra cash as Uber drivers. The following biography was provided by him. Located in rural Tennessee, Mark Wandrey has … Continue reading

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Reducing Homelessness: Now you’re talking

Seattle Times (Around the Northwest) Friday, December 11, 2015 This story indicates a move in the right direction for Seattle and other large West Coast cities. Hopefully, demographics on homeless people who wind up in these cities now be collected to … Continue reading

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Victim Culture

This soundbite by comedian/social critic Louis C. K. demonstrates the fallacy upon which many claims of harm have foundered. The reason the fallacy persists is because the basic idea has some truth in it. When a person tells you you’ve … Continue reading

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The Friends of Kshama Sawant: Progressive politics and influence at City Hall

November 13, 2015 ~ Seattle A “People’s Budget Town Hall” Late last month, one week ahead of city council elections, Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant hosted her second “People’s Budget Town Hall” event at City Hall. Cleverly disguised as a public … Continue reading

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Outrage on Demand: How Seattle’s Kshama Sawant packs ’em in at the Seattle City Council

On October 6, I was treated to something I’d never seen in 27 years of following Seattle politics: Paid shills drumming for a councilmember during an official meeting. It was at a public hearing on budget priorities. Twenty minutes in … Continue reading

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Homeless Camps: Do they get people off the street?

Do homeless camps really get people off the street? Or do they merely concentrate them in one place? One thing is for certain: The camps do attract homeless people. And not all of those people are actually in the camp. … Continue reading

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Getting High With A Little Help From His Friends: The Scott Morrow Story

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, the name Scott Morrow will be a familiar one. If you’re not a reader, Morrow is the Seattle man who founded and controls two Seattle-area homeless shelter organizations. His Rotund Eminence can regularly … Continue reading

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Weed Wars: Medical vs. Retail Pot in Seattle

Here’s an at-a-glance look at medical marijuana (MMJ) dispensaries in one neighborhood of Seattle. All these pictures were taken in a four-block radius around the main drag of White Center, a poor and working-class suburb to the immediate south of Seattle. (See … Continue reading

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The Ecology of Failure

So one of my hot tippers calls me today and tells me I gotta get down to the bottom of Highland Park Hill, where the state DOT is cutting brush and clearing out some homeless people. So I rush down … Continue reading

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Homeless Camps: My Testimony to the King County Council (Part 2)

Mary Bourguignon Principal Legislative Analyst Lead, Government Accountability & Oversight Committee October 23, 2014 Dear Mary: Here’s another set of comments and information for the Council to review. Note: SHARE is an acronym for the Seattle Housing and Resource Effort, … Continue reading

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Cleaning Up Puget Sound, One Rainstorm at a Time

Dedicated to Quannah Santiago . . . The Murray CSO Storage Tank project will protect sea life in Puget Sound by containing sewage overflows that happen after large rainstorms. Seattle’s sewer system was built over a hundred years ago. Under … Continue reading

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Take Our Tunnel . . . PLEASE!

“The world’s biggest tunnel-boring machine, nicknamed Bertha — which hit a pipe and was damaged in mid-December after only 1,000 feet of excavation — is down there in the dark, awaiting what may well be the world’s biggest industrial rescue … Continue reading

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Where to now, Robin Hood?

Here’s an interesting segment from today’s Dori Monson’s show on KVI radio in Seattle. In this bit, the host is talking about how Seattle’s class divisions are paradoxically widening as a result of the city’s Robin Hood-like efforts to help … Continue reading

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Will a $15/hour minimum wage hurt Seattle business?

I recently asked the Seattle City Council to share with me any data they were looking at in their deliberations on the proposed minimum wage hike for Seattle. They sent me two studies, which I have linked for you below. … Continue reading

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Kshama Sawant: Super Genius

Here’s a genuine quote from Ms. Sawant. I know it’s authentic because I got it from the Facebook page of one of her fans. Besides that, it just sounds like her: “You know that your poverty is not a result … Continue reading

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New Minimum Wage for Seattle: Where’s the Data?

Let me start this post by saying that I have no official opinion on Seattle City Council Member (and self-proclaimed socialist) Kshama Sawant’s proposed $15/hr minimum wage for Seattle workers. Of course, I’d like to have an opinion on it, … Continue reading

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Health Insurance: Why is this so damn hard? (Part 2)

March 6, 2014 Here’s the latest on my Obamacare travail . . . Back Story If you recall, in early February 2014, I received a nasty-gram from the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS). I had just … Continue reading

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Rats! ~ How the Health Department threw their work (and your money) down a hole.

The documents below tell the story of how one government agency in Washington State, the Seattle King County Department of Public Health, failed to do its job and serve the public interest. Of course, government failures happen all the time. … Continue reading

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Health insurance: Why is this so damn hard?

Don’t answer that. I already know why it’s hard. In a word: Bureaucracy. Mindless, wasteful bureaucracy. See the insurance card below? It’s the third one the government-mandated insurance provider has sent me in the forty days since I signed up … Continue reading

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Nickelsville Glassyard Site Clean-up Costs: $37,500 and Counting

Below is an itemized list of the City of Seattle’s estimated clean up costs at Nickelsville Highland Park (aka the “Glassyard Site”). If you recall, Nickelsville was evicted by the Seattle City Council after being on that spot illegally for … Continue reading

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