alki_2008
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This was a disheartening read: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009456950_streets12m.html?syndication=rss
It's about Seattle in general, but with some West Seattle mentions. I was shocked to read that a "wheelchair ramp on California Ave SW...runs straight into the corner of a telephone booth".
Seriously though...how is Crunican still employed by our tax dollars? :-(
Magpie
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I liked the part "no employees will be disciplined"..so, you totally screw up with our tax dollars, don't ask any questions (like, is there something not right here with a wheelchair ramp going in to the side of a telephone pole or directly out in to the busy street?.) This sounds to me like the culture of the entire department. It seems like no one from the top down gives a damn. The total lack of accountability is astonishing. Grace Crunican needs to go..
Hmm...seems more indicative of the Culture at large. Accountability only happens to those that lack connections and capital. I'm curious: does it feel good to blame someone?
As an aside, I was surprised that there's still a phone booth in West Seattle...one of the erroneous wheelchair ramps supposedly ran into one....
I read this article and shook my head..promoting a truck driver to head a crew, etc. If this was the private sector, would the same things be happening? and would those responsible retain their jobs? or at least get demoted?
gregorywade..you ask if it feels good to blame someone? actually, not all that much. But blame...and responsibility...has to go somewhere. This is our tax dollars we're talking about, in a time of recession. We should be looking at shoddy work from people who make plenty money doing it and ask why it's happening. Are you suggesting that we just accept that this is how it is now in our world and keep our mouths shut?
EmmyJane
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It seems like our city/county/state/country could stop raising taxes if they'd just fix the inefficiencies in the system. But if we keep giving them more and more money to burn, they'll never have incentive to fix things.
alki_2008
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gregorywade...it doesn't feel good to "blame" someone, but it's always necessary to assign responsibility. People shouldn't retain their jobs if they cannot perform them effectively.
emmyjane...so true. The school system is another area where funding is sadly mismanaged. So much more could be getting done with the money that's allocated to public schools.
MrJT
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This all stems from an organization where Grace Crunican is referred to as "She Who Shall Not Be Named". Who is surprised at this? But let’s not say too much, because it will cost us half a million dollars to find out that Grace and her Clown Posse are doing a top notch job. How many trips to Brazil does Grace need to figure out how to do her job. I think it’s about time to start marketing myself as a lazy incompetent that is worth 200 K a year to the Mayor’s office again. They really don’t like those phone calls..
EmmyJane and Alki_2008..
just curious.. but i don't understand the reasoning behind your comments...
if someone is inefficient with the dollars at their disposal.. how is reducing the dollars at their disposal supposed to make them more efficient?
the two really are two separate issues...
how much we pay and what they do with our dollars...
charlabob
Member Profile
I am not defending the department, the director, the mayor or anyone else. But I strongly suggest someone do a little research on these cases to make sure they exist. Ever since I read the indictment of the major for "keeping his street plowed" (which I know he didn't do, because I live on the same street, four blocks away), I've been a little leery of conventional wisdom.
We're now a one NEWSpaper town, not counting all the blogs, which means sloppy research and sloppy resporting can go unnoticed.
It would be helpful if someone posted a few addresses of the defective WC ramps; I'd especially like to see the one that runs into a phone booth, because I'd like a picture of one of the last remaining phone booths in the world :-)
SarahScoot
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charlabob - I was wondering the same thing about the phone booth, but they did show a picture of it on the KONG 10:00 p.m. news last night. Turns out it's actually just a few blocks from where I live - the new curb cut put in on the west side of California between Beveridge Place and Graham (same block as the Short Stop convenience store). I'm going to have to check it out in person, but it was a fairly ridiculous looking photo on the news.
And I've seen the crooked curb. I've also definitely seen curb cuts that would appear to funnel wheelchair users/stroller pushers right out into the street, rather than the crosswalk.
You are certainly right that we, the citizens of Seattle, should really scrutinize our news and question the questionable; however, I see a lot of truth in this story, and little motivation for the reporter to embellish.
EmmyJane
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JoB- Reducing the amount of money that departments have forces them to be more efficient because they still need to get the job done. They have to find a way to get the same job done with less money, which means examining inefficiences (not having a newpaper be the one to inform you of them) and taking steps to reduce them. If we keep giving these departments endless amounts of cash, they never run out so there is no incentive to find the inefficiencies and fix them.
Most of the wheelchair ramp work mentioned in the Times story was along Fauntleroy Way, before the paving began. Regarding whether the reporting is sound - Susan Kelleher is the person who broke the "no salt policy" story which certainly turned out to be true - no reporter is perfect (raising hand here) but there are some good ones in town. There are some stories we don't make a point of calling out on the home page if we haven't verified them ourselves, however, because either we can see inaccuracies before getting out of the first paragraph (oh, say, confusing South Park and West Seattle) or else they are stories with nothing new, in which a citywide outlet decides to jump into something in a neighborhood that's been going on for a long time (as in the Junction parking review story last week).
If you have strong feelings about what was reported there, PLEASE let the council and mayor know. Department heads report to the mayor but budgetary issues go through the council.
http://seattle.gov/mayor
http://seattle.gov/council
The Transportation Committee on the council, which meets tomorrow, is headed by Jan Drago, who happens to be running for mayor, and may also be paying particular attention to the mailbox at the moment.
EmmyJane...
if the need to get the job done was their primary concern.. that would make sense.
of course, if the need to get the job done was their priority, we wouldn't be having this discussion in the first place.. would we?
alki_2008
Member Profile
JoB - what is it about my comments that you don't understand? I didn't say anything about "reducing the dollars at their disposal...to make them more efficient". Not sure where you're getting that.
Personally, my point was that the money they're already allocated should be going a lot further than it does...and it would go a lot further if it wasn't so poorly mismanaged.
Also, getting the job "done"...and getting it "done well" are two different things.
alki_2008...
we can agree that there is poor management of taxpayer dollars...
but cutting the dollars they get doesn't lead to better management.. just fewer services...
we have a great example of how well that works out in California...
i wouldn't want to be holding one of their IOUs about now.
EmmyJane
Member Profile
It leads to fewer services because we as taxpayers allow it. I agree, its the reality of the situation, but it shouldn't be. And just because we've lived with the "reality" of government for so long, doesn't mean we should keep putting up with it.
Didn't meant to start a political discussion, but JoB, that's the way the business world works. Or should work...
The Seattle Taxpayer is a strange creature. They keep voting in the inefficient and then complain about it.
EmmyJane
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What about those that haven't voted for it but keep footing the bill? Can we complain? :-)
alki_2008
Member Profile
Did we get to vote for Crunican? I'm definitely looking forward to replacing Nickels with someone else. ;-)
we can agree that there is poor management of taxpayer dollars...
but cutting the dollars they get doesn't lead to better management..
JoB - once again, I never said that we should CUT funding. I've already re-stated my point. If you choose to misinterpret my comments so you can argue with me, then that's your choice...but this "homie don't play that".
MrJT
Member Profile
Why is it that we have not heard anything from Grace Cruican through this whole re-do fiasco ? Does Mayor McNothing have her stashed away so we forget about what an complete looser he has running SDOT ? Or is she taking some of her 30 days of vacation the City offers those that make nearly 200K/year?
Let's just face the fact that Grace Crunican isn't going anywhere. Oregon lucked out when Crunican left.. but I'm thinking she must have realized her days were numbered there and quit before the failure landed on her permanent record. Either she has something HUGE on the Mayor or the Mayor is pretty confident on his chances of getting re-elected because I can think of no other public figure that would continue to stand behind such incompetence.
alki_2008...
i apologize for taking your agreement with Emmy Jane to mean that you too thought that cutting the amount govt services have to spend would make them more efficient.
the only thing that will make them more efficient is exposing inefficiency and demanding better results.
heads rolling only distracts us from the real problem... a lack of pride in work that appears to exist from the bottom up... and that is only made worse by the s..t rolling downhill from the latest execution.
Magpie
Member Profile
I know someone who is on a city board and his take is that Crunican will be sacrificed by Nickels if he is behind in the polls so he's basically saving her as an ace in the hole or a trump card to show that he is capable of doing something. Whether that is true or not, I have no idea. I agree that the pride of workmanship or just pride in a job well done seems to be lacking in our city government. Of course, I don't think I have voted for an incumbant in city government in years....
I think he would show more stones replacing her now... but local politics being what they are she may well be a good sacrificial goat...
For many reasons.. i hope that doesn't save him.
But a mayor ditching the tunnel at this point wouldn't be such a good deal either.
i didn't particularly like the tunnel option but the viaduct is coming down and another phantom transportation project isn't going to do anything for Seattle's traffic gridlock...
poor planning compounded with poor planning compounded with inaction compounded with blatant pandering compounded... AARGH!
I didn't read the Time article but just wanted to comment on another SDOT observation in West Seattle. Why on earth is the southbound lane of California Ave from maybe Webster to Thistle getting a bike lane? The yellow dots on that street were moved about a yard to the east to accommodate a new bike lane. Now, I've seen some cyclists tackling that hill before, but I don't see that as being a heavily traveled bike route. So why the need for a bike lane on that side? It seemed quite fine the way it was before. I almost got hit by the 22 this morning b/c the bus was driving over the new yellow line into the southbound lane since the northbound lane is too narrow. All I can say is, brilliant. I'd be pissed if I lived in that area and had to park my car on the street...I'm sure there will be some missing side mirrors pretty soon!
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