Category: Public Planning

Posted inEconomic Security, Policy Topics, Public Planning

Tim Eyman gets an earful in Seattle after stepping to the mic to recite his talking points

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

Ini­tia­tive prof­i­teer Tim Eyman got a taste of what it’s like to be inter­rupt­ed and heck­led tonight when he showed up in Seat­tle to speak at the sec­ond to last stop on Rod­ney Tom and Cur­tis King’s trans­porta­tion autumn “lis­ten­ing tour”, which has been trav­el­ing around the state since mid-Sep­tem­ber. Eyman, who was also at […]

Posted inEconomic Security, Policy Topics, Public Planning

LIVE from Seattle: Transportation “listening tour” comes to the Emerald City

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

Good evening from Seat­tle. I’m here at the First Pres­by­ter­ian Church on First Hill, where a dozen mem­bers of the state House and Sen­ate are hold­ing a pub­lic meet­ing to talk about Wash­ing­ton State’s trans­porta­tion needs. This is the lat­est stop on what’s been called a “lis­ten­ing tour” insti­gat­ed by Rod­ney Tom and Sen­ate Republicans […]

Posted inPolicy Topics, Public Planning

Curtis King and Rodney Tom’s transportation “listening tour” adds more stops

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

A few weeks ago, when Sen­ate Repub­li­cans announced the dates and loca­tions for their autumn trans­porta­tion lis­ten­ing tour, we crit­i­cized them for not sched­ul­ing stops in places like Seat­tle (the state’s largest city) or Bre­mer­ton (one of the state’s fer­ry depen­dent com­mu­ni­ties). At the time, I wrote: Trans­porta­tion is a major issue for Wash­ing­to­ni­ans who live […]

Posted inPolicy Topics, Public Planning

Dissecting conservative Justice Jim Johnson’s dissenting opinion in Freeman v. State

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

Yes­ter­day’s sev­en-to-two deci­sion in Free­man et al. v. State of Wash­ing­ton et al. was a pret­ty resound­ing vic­to­ry for the peo­ple of Wash­ing­ton and two pub­lic agen­cies that build and main­tain trans­porta­tion infra­struc­ture on the peo­ple’s behalf (Sound Tran­sit and the Wash­ing­ton State Depart­ment of Trans­porta­tion). But it was­n’t a unan­i­mous deci­sion. The court’s two […]

Posted inPolicy Topics, Public Planning

Rodney Tom and Curtis King’s transportation “listening tour” doesn’t have a Seattle stop

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

The Wash­ing­ton State Sen­ate Repub­li­can cau­cus today unveiled a list of dates and loca­tions for the trans­porta­tion “lis­ten­ing tour” they’ve been promis­ing to hold since the end of the con­tentious leg­isla­tive ses­sion back at the begin­ning of the sum­mer. The “tour” will con­sist of sev­en pub­lic meet­ings — one each in Belle­vue, Van­cou­ver, Taco­ma, Spokane, […]

Posted inPolicy Topics, Public Planning

Initiative filed to officially name I‑5 Skagit River span the “Tim Eyman Memorial Bridge”

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

Yes­ter­day, the Tim Eyman Memo­r­i­al Bridge meme — which we had some fun pro­mot­ing back in May — got a new lease on life when Nico­las San­tos of Both­ell filed an ini­tia­tive to the Leg­is­la­ture to offi­cial­ly rename the now-repaired Inter­state 5 Skag­it Riv­er span after the relent­less Muk­il­teo ini­tia­tive prof­i­teer. The fil­ing has already […]

Posted inCivil Liberties, Economic Security, Education, Healthcare, Live Coverage, Open Government, Our Environment, Policy Topics, Public Planning, Technology, World Commmunity

LIVE from San Jose: Ask the Leader!

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

Good after­noon from San Jose! Our morn­ing ses­sions are now over, and it’s on to our lunchtime keynote: Ask the Leader with House Demo­c­ra­t­ic Leader Nan­cy Pelosi. This is for­mer (and hope­ful­ly future) Speak­er Pelosi’s third appear­ance at Net­roots Nation. She pre­vi­ous­ly took ques­tions at NN ’08 in Austin and NN ’10 in Las Vegas. I’m […]

Posted inEconomic Security, Elections, Humor & Satire, Legislative Advocacy, Policy Topics, Public Planning

The “Tim Eyman Memorial Bridge” meme: Why it got started, why it’s taken off

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

Last week, in the after­math of the col­lapse of a key span of the Inter­state 5 bridge over the Skag­it Riv­er, a friend of NPI’s (Wu Ming) sug­gest­ed in a diary on Dai­ly Kos that we begin refer­ring to the out-of-ser­vice cross­ing as the “Tim Eyman Memo­r­i­al Bridge”. We ran with the meme, cre­at­ing a […]

Posted inNational Defense, Policy Topics, Public Planning

Inslee: We have a plan for making I‑5’s Skagit River Bridge driveable again by mid-June

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

The Wash­ing­ton State Depart­ment of Trans­porta­tion (WSDOT) has devised a plan to make Inter­state 5 between Mount Ver­non and Burling­ton pass­able again by mid-June, Gov­er­nor Jay Inslee announced this after­noon. State bridge engi­neers have been work­ing fever­ish­ly to fig­ure out how the bridge that car­ries Inter­state 5 over the Skag­it Riv­er might be repaired. The […]

Posted inPolicy Topics, Public Planning

Time to give the failed I‑5 Skagit River span a new name: The Tim Eyman Memorial Bridge

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

Yes­ter­day after­noon on Dai­ly Kos, pro­gres­sive activist Wu Ming sug­gest­ed that, in the wake of the fail­ure of Inter­state 5’s Skag­it Riv­er cross­ing, which car­ries more than sev­en­ty thou­sand vehi­cles a day, it would be appro­pri­ate to give the span a new name: The Tim Eyman Memo­r­i­al Bridge. Ming wrote: As I watched the coverage […]

Posted inNational Defense, Policy Topics, Public Planning

Hurray for Amtrak! Third daily Cascades train between Seattle and Bellingham is coming

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

A big kudos to WSDOT, Burling­ton North­ern San­ta Fe, and Sound Tran­sit for fig­ur­ing out how to pull this new ser­vice togeth­er on short notice: To assist trav­el­ers affect­ed by yesterday’s I‑5 high­way bridge col­lapse in Skag­it Coun­ty, Amtrak Cas­cades will add one round trip route between Seat­tle and Belling­ham, Wash., in the com­ing weeks. Amtrak, […]

Posted inNational Defense, Policy Topics, Public Planning

Governor Inslee: Repair of collapsed I‑5 Skagit River Bridge is estimated at $15 million

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

It’s only been six­teen hours since a sec­tion of the bridge that car­ries Inter­state 5 over the Skag­it Riv­er col­lapsed, but already the Wash­ing­ton State Depart­ment of Trans­porta­tion (WSDOT) is work­ing on a plan to put the span back togeth­er. Experts have esti­mat­ed the cost of a bridge repair at around $15 mil­lion, accord­ing to […]

Posted inBreaking News, National Defense, Policy Topics, Public Planning

Washington’s elected leaders respond to collapse of I‑5 bridge over Skagit River

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

As the evening goes on, more and more elect­ed lead­ers are react­ing to tonight’s break­ing news out of Skag­it Coun­ty. A sec­tion of the bridge that car­ries Inter­state 5 over the Skag­it Riv­er, just north of Mount Ver­non, has col­lapsed into the water. The cause of the dis­as­ter is believed to be an over­height truck […]

Posted inBreaking News, National Defense, Policy Topics, Public Planning

BREAKING: A section of the Interstate 5 bridge over Skagit River has collapsed

Andrew Villeneuveby Andrew Villeneuve

Break­ing, huge­ly con­se­quen­tial news out of Skag­it Coun­ty tonight: A sec­tion of the Inter­state 5 bridge over the Skag­it Riv­er near Mount Ver­non has col­lapsed, accord­ing to the State Patrol and eye­wit­ness reports on Twit­ter. The Seat­tle Times has an even more remark­able pho­to. The struc­tur­al fail­ure occurred just before 7 PM, the State Patrol […]