Adumbration

It could not be any more clear that this. more »

Heidi Groover at The Stranger lays in to what looks like increasingly expensive real estate in Seattle ("To afford a one-bedroom apartment in Seattle ..."), sourced largely from a new report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, making the… more »

If the unions who oppose this tax want some arguments in opposition, I suggest they refer to coverage of exeprience with such taxes in other communities (Philidelphia, for example) more »

There were three votes of interrelated note, but first a word about tedium. There must be many reasons why most people don't care to participate in politics, but among them is likely to be the mind-numbing tedium that goes along with most business meetings beyond the precinct level. more »

The Chicago Tribune alerts me to news in Illinois to improve the situation surrounding a topic I alluded to a few months ago - gerrymandering. Gerrymandering allows back room political deals to control political borders that protect special interests and their politician tools. The Tribune's John Chase writes: "Advocates trying to change the way Illinois political maps are drawn began the arduous process today of trying to prove they have enough signatures to get a constitutional amendment placed on the ballot this November." ---- Evidently there is some controversy regarding how much time has been allowed for the initiative sponsor to correct what the elections committee has provisionally declared to be invalid signatures. Maybe not surprising that agents of the state would try to roadblock the reform of one of the tools politicos use to remain in power, so I became interested in the organization sponsoring the amendment - "Yes! for independent Maps." more »

I-1358 would revert the local initiatives to the prior condition of State control of minimum wage. The expectation is that since such a high minimum wage as passed the Seattle City Council has not become state legislation, the new $15 mandate would essentially by voided here. [However], Imagine the far greater damage to people's lives if a $15/hour limit kept unemployed hundreds of thousands of people across all of Washington, rather than the fewer people affected by more concentrated damage done to workers in the I-5 corridor around Seattle and Sea-Tac. So while I am on record in opposition to increasing the minimum wage, I have reservations about supporting Initiative 1358. more »

This was a question I started the evening asking myself - what might the city do to track the actual effects of this wage mandate. How might they seek to understand the wreckage imposed on people's lives, people who are first thrown out of work, and then forbidden from future employment within the city. The answer is an audit, details to be determined. Who knows, the localized nature of the measure may make a good case study to add to the broad existing understanding of the detrimental effects of minimum wage legislation. more »

As with all other aspects of internet security, this is one step among many. more »

The Seattle City Council appears predisposed to attempt raising the minimum wage to as high as $15 per hour (currently at $9.19 in Washington). The agenda planned for a council meeting on Tuesday (3/18) has an hour dedicated to presentations by supporters, and 20 minutes reserved for comments; no time allowed for opponents of such a measure. ... I am not hopeful for the fate of unskilled labor in Seattle - the local pols are stacking the deck for making a large increase to the minimum wage, and naysayers don't have much of a voice. As one member states - “If I were against $15, I wouldn’t be on the mayor’s committee” more »

Politicos of various stripes squander the public purse on buildings, statues, and other fabrications that they hope will outlast their time in office more »