West Seattle Blog…

19 Comments

1. why can’t everyone leave WS commuters alone???? If it is not the governments it is someone else….I hate trying to get out of WS anymore to go east or northbound…no matter what day or time….at least, thanks WSBlog for the update…

   Comment by deb — 1:26 pm February 12, 2012 #

2. dead link on the King 5 here.

   Comment by SA — 2:39 pm February 12, 2012 #

3. will check and fix, thanks.

   edit: Try again – it works for me and I didn’t do anything to do it. Maybe they were having a momentary site flutter when you tried. – TR

   Comment by WSB — 2:59 pm February 12, 2012 #

4. King 5 link worked for me at 3:23pm. Google Chrome browser.

   .

   Mike

   Comment by miws — 3:26 pm February 12, 2012 #

5. Hey Deb you would care if you knew the condition of those trucks they have to drive or the working conditions they have to work in. I do and I wish I could be there to join them.

   Comment by Pete A. — 3:29 pm February 12, 2012 #

6. I think this might help traffic. If the truckers aren’t driving, and instead protesting, they wont be taking the bridge, no? Less giant vehicles means maybe I wont have to wait 30 minutes to cross the bridge tomorrow.

   Comment by Chris — 3:52 pm February 12, 2012 #

7. If you’re commuting in a car by yourself you have no right to complain about traffic, regardless of its cause.

   Comment by on call — 4:41 pm February 12, 2012 #

8. Before complaining too much about the impact of one morning’s protest on a commute that regularly goes pear-shaped on its own, it’s worth reflecting on the conditions these driver face: unsafe loads, retaliation for speaking out about working conditions, no rights as employees, and on an on. It takes a lot to walk of the job in this economy, so you know these issues have to be serious if a few hundred immigrant truck drivers are willing to sacrifice their pay for going on 3 weeks now.
   .
   And it’s not as if West Seattle is being randomly targeted. The drivers are rallying with community supporters (including me and more than a few other West Seattleites) on Harbor Island because those terminals are their workplace.

   Comment by Sage — 5:31 pm February 12, 2012 #

9. This story is also a good explanation of what this is all about:

   http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/truck-drivers-protest-unsafe-conditions-port-seatt/nHbL6/

   Comment by Sage — 5:33 pm February 12, 2012 #

10. Thanks for the link, Sage.
    .
    According to the article, one of the things these short-haul truckers are protesting is being forced to carry dangerously (and illegally) overweight loads. As West Seattleites, we share the roads with these trucks. Do we really want to be driving around trucks that are dangerously overloaded? I don’t.
    .
    You go, truckers!!
    .

    Comment by DBP — 6:14 pm February 12, 2012 #

11. It’s too much to ask that someone really sort this out and get at the bottom of it…and for those who want to get the government out of WS traffic, let’s stop the retrofitting to keep the WS bridge up in case of a major earthquake…STOP GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE IN OUR LIVES…especially after major damage in a future earthquake…just leave us alone and let us find our way into and out of WS if something devastating happens…and don’t worry about getting badly injured people to hospitals…take the Ron Paul approach…let ‘em die! They didn’t plan very well.

    Comment by Roxbury Ron — 7:10 pm February 12, 2012 #

12. Why is it that every time one of these activist organized confusions screw up our lives…the blog is suddenly full of supporters telling us it is for our good. It is not for our good..it is for the good of the self interested groups. Are they so organized they notify each other to quickly defend on the blog?
    No one thinks the work on the bridge should not be done. The problem is the amateur handling of the traffic and notifications we are seeing that dramatically affect those of us who actually work.

    Comment by Orca — 9:10 pm February 12, 2012 #

13. Let’s really look at whats being protested. These drivers aren’t protesting the unsafe loads they could care less I imagine. They are protesting the fact that they have to pay fines for overweight loads and not the shipping company. I can’t blame them, but how can we control what china puts in a load.

    Buy locally folks and we wouldn’t have as many loads coming out of the port.

    I wish someone would protest the way they drive. I’ve seen many an accident caused by drivers of these loads.

    Comment by haha — 5:58 am February 13, 2012 #

14. the problem is container chassis. most are in disrepair because the shipping companies or chassis co-ops who own them don’t want to spend the amount of money it cost to up keep the maintenance. over weight loads are common too. shippers stuff as much product in a box as possible. the tires on these steamship line chassis are second rate dry rotted recaps never intended to haul today’s heavy loads at current highway speeds. any other form of trucking quit using these type rims & these type tires back in the sixties but the chassis owners continue to buy or refurbish junk because no one would steal this crap they use on the roadways.

    truckers need to organize together not only to force low container rates up but stop the stealing going on by motor carriers violating federal truth-n-leasing regulations. these federal regulations were put in place to protect the right of the owner-operator trucker in business but no government agency enforces them. sad fact here is no one wants to help the owner operator straighten out the real problems. the unions along with their labor backed environmentalist groups want to take away the right to truck ownership in this country making everyone an employee so they can unionize the entire driver workforce. that’s the real goal behind the clean truck campaign,not the environment nor clean air, older trucks with proper maintenance don’t pollute but it’s a good political strategy to insure public backing of their backdoor unionization plan. owner-operators can’t join unions according to union officials so the next step is to put us out of business by legislating new laws. we don’t need socialism taking away our American choice of independence.

    Comment by overload — 6:25 am February 13, 2012 #

15. You are as bad as the government you are supposedly occupying. Stop trying to tellme what you think is good for me. Instead of protesting during my commute, go to work and stop taking money out of my paycheck for your unemployment. I saw at least 3 now hiring signs at various locations over the weekend. You are all just self righteous.

    Comment by cr — 6:49 am February 13, 2012 #

16. Self righteous? You tell ‘em, cr (but you might want to look the term up first)

    Are protests a drag? sure! But so is working in unsafe conditions with limited protections. Protests get our attention. Nobody cared much about the spotted owl until 50 logging truckers turned downtown Seattle into a parking lot. We’re all in such a hurry to get to OUR jobs without concern for the jobs of others, and we’re all in such a hurry to get home to watch American Idol without concern for larger economic or human welfare issues.

    Thanks to the WSB, we’re all on notice now. If you don’t want to be inconvenienced time your drive (or bike ride or bus ride) accordingly.

    Comment by JAT — 9:32 am February 13, 2012 #

17. Yes, let’s inconvenience the people you want to support your cause, not the ones who have control over the situation. Nice strategy.

    Comment by cr — 1:25 pm February 13, 2012 #

18. I wonder what they are proving by doing this protest….Pretty soon all the companys will just stop using Seattle as a port and we will all have to pay more for our goods. What about the rest of the people that dont make the kind of money they deserve….

    Comment by Mark — 8:53 am February 14, 2012 #

19. i’m an owner/operator trucker too. i don’t trust this group who wants us to unionize to look after my welfare. they have a very different agenda which is crafted to force us out of our trucks. listen carefully to what they are talking about. giving up the right of ownership is un-American!

    Comment by overload — 9:18 am February 14, 2012 #

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