Search Results for 'Sl'

[redblack]

you have to stop for a school bus on an undivided street when the red lights on the bus are flashing. period. opposing traffic on undivided streets has to stop, too; even if it’s a 4-lane street like 35th avenue SW.

and i am assuming “undivided” includes roadways like fauntleroy. i’m uncertain about roadways divided by a center turn lane instead of a physical median, but i would stop for a bus on fauntleroy.

yellow lights – just like traffic signals – mean slow down and watch for kiddies. there probably aren’t any in danger if the driver has the yellow lights on, but slowing down is never the wrong answer.

metrognome: that’s actually my biggest rant about SUV’s. i drive a small car, and if i’m behind a suburban, i have to back off at least 3 car lengths or ride the fog line to see traffic beyond the car in front of me. which is kind of an obsession with me. e.g. if the driver in front of me isn’t paying attention and rear-ends someone, my choices become limited really quickly. i want to know what’s happening at least 3 cars ahead, and preferably a half-mile ahead.

[metrognome]

WSB: I for one am shocked at your behavior — I assumed award-winning journalists such as yourselves had minions to perform those mundane tasks for you!!! And, if you are taking the time to eat, not to mention to shop, you clearly aren’t working as hard as you imply in some of your posts.

Seriously, it doesn’t surprise me that you take the time to put something back on the shelf before you flee the store for a story; that pretty much exemplifies the care and standards that are reflected in the way you run the blog. A small thing, no doubt, but the small things truly reflect the larger values at work.

[metrognome]

new speed limit on the West Seattle Bridge?? Man, that’s really gonna slow some people down!! We’ll be crawling over the high rise at that rate.

[Carson]

Have you ever wanted a vintage 1950’s Cedar Cabinet? Well I have one and the price is perfect, its free!!! Made in Albany NY. It is super well made and super duper heavy. It has 2 locks that work most of the time and a key that works most of the time.

Contact owner via Craigslist ad and as a bonus, maybe you can pet a really cute dog.

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/fuo/2025626035.html

[DP]

It would be cool if we ran our elections like one of those TeeVee reality shows.

First, corporate donations and attack ads would be banned. Then, instead of the usual mudslinging contest, we’d just hand each contender a small wad of public money (say $1 million for Senate races) and give them a year to “invest” it however they wanted.

At the end of the year, the media could help us all review what each candidate had accomplished with the money, and we could all decide who was the better person for the job based on that.

So, if Dino Rossi wanted to show what a good money manager he was, maybe he could start a company with the $1 million. At the end of the year, if his company was making money, employing people, and producing something socially useful, we could evaluate his character and ability on that basis.

And if Patty Murray wanted to show how compassionate she was, maybe she could do some research and donate her time and the $1 million to some non-profit organization. Then the non-profit would go do great things with the money, and Patty could bask in the glow.

Or maybe they’d each do the opposite thing we expected of them, with Patty starting a business and Dino building houses for poor folks.

Or maybe they’d each do a little of both.

Or maybe they’d pool their efforts, and pull a fast one on the rest of us by working together to build a successful real estate business that donates a portion of its profits to Boys & Girls Clubs.

8>)

As I see it, my proposal would accomplish three things:

1. It would limit the influence of corporate money in campaigns.
2. It would allow us to judge a candidates fitness to lead others based on his or her deeds, rather than words.
3. It would spare us all the negative campaign rhetoric and make elections shorter, nicer, and more interesting.

The only problem I foresee is that the Supreme Court might not go for it, because they think corporations are people, too, and in their eyes it wouldn’t be fair to keep the corpo-people out of the process.

Weird, huh? When I was a kid it was a lot harder to be people. Now they’re letting everyone in . . .

It’s simply mad!

[redblack]

vrbal: smokers?

you mean like the addicted people; or like the slow-cooking thingies?

[redblack]

get a lot of 911 calls to the SPL, do you? :)

seriously, though, when i was a kid i loved going to the library because they actually had beanbag chairs in which i could lounge while mulling my selections.

also, i find that libraries induce peace and calm, are usually carpeted and quiet, and are devoid of thugs.

also, too, funny stuff at hyberbole + 1/2. “clean ALL the things.” indeed.

[redblack]

pbgirl: a two-person conversation is an activity that requires the participation and attention of two people. yes, when the conversation is loud, it’s annoying.

one person talking on a phone while trying to do other things – like get through a checkout line – or drive – is annoying to the point of being dangerous, because that person is distracted from the things he is expected to be doing normally, and he may do things unexpectedly, seem rude, or consciously act rudely because he is paying more attention to his conversation than his physical surroundings.

no, the problem with phones isn’t a hands-free argument: it’s a head-free argument. even people with the goofy blue star trek thingy hanging off of their heads are distracted by their phone conversations and cannot concentrate on their physical surroundings.

i heard recently that illinois has a law that states that you cannot have a cellular conversation while driving. period.

i like it. i like it a lot. so how soon can we amend washington’s new law?

[JoB]

i confess..

hubby’s is filled out

mine is still not ready to drop off :(

but it is on my list before i leave the house today…

the rain appears to have slowed down..

which is a good thing

because i am heater shopping today

cold trumps procrastination every time:)

[Julie]

All those who came to our door were very polite; quite a few had excellent manners–commenting graciously on the decor and the treats… their parents are doing a great job!

[yikes]

Actually, JoB, I am of the age to make these decisions… both as an individual and as the child of parents… I plowed my way through the system this year as both my parents died at age 94. And what I know to be true is that they wanted to be home, surrounded by family in the last year of their lives. It was horrendously expensive, because our system tends to prefer to support them in group settings but they stayed with family in a home setting and had a good passing.

I don’t think that anything can substitute for the presence and love of family, no matter how great the assisted living situations can be… and many are very good in Seattle. My dad died in his favorite barco lounger, surrounded by us, and, of course nurses.

That is the spirit that I saw in Germany… that family took care of family and all members were a part of that.

[JoB]

It’s the day before the election and your ballot has taken a runner.

It is hiding in that stack of mail you will get to later.. or tossed in your recycle bin by mistake .. or slipped behind the couch or under the ottoman… or simply set aside in that place you put things you don’t want to lose.

It’s time to track it down. Finding it the day after tomorrow will be too late:(

You may think it doesn’t matter much if you vote… but it really does.

This is going to be a very tight political race… Despite all of the huffing and puffing of major news media… the fate of the House and Senate has not been decided.

Money can buy advertising..

but every vote still counts.

Besides..

there are a lot of initiatives whose backers are counting on you not voting for passage…

You might want to take a second look at what changes big business would like to make on your behalf…

they aren’t necessarily in your best interests.

A ton of money has been spent this election cycle to inflame those who care passionately..

and to overwhelm those who don’t.

Turn off the media.. open your voter’s guide.. and work your way through your ballot.

Don’t let someone else determine your future.

The one thing that the media will never tell you is that the votes of people who do just that are the deciding votes.

Your vote counts.

now.. where did that pesky ballot go?

[JoB]

maplesyrup…

i will agree that i am not so happy with the standards in those textbooks from texas… and i don’t know if our district is using them…

ut there is something to be said for books.. 1980’s or not… when mom or dad is supervising homework.

i suppose it would be 21st century to send kids home with a notebook computer or an Ipad… or even a nook:)

I can’t see a district that isn’t buying books buying electronics…

and i am not entirely sure i want to. Too much of our world now exists in soundbites…

there is something to be said for the slowly and carefully developed argument.

[singularname]

JanS … To answer your questions:

1. I don’t keep my child at home to teach him myself because (a) I have a full-time job and am a single parent, (b) I’m a “dabbler in many subjects” in addition to my core profession but education is not something I claim to be *hah* educated about, and (c) my son is not social (that does not mean he is “antisocial”) so it’s important for him to be out and dealing in the world.

2. I interact with the front desk (that’s as far as I can get) and/or individual teachers on a monthly basis (either via email or by dropping in on them). I make appointments with his counselors approximately twice a year (yes, “appointments” are required, and every meeting has been like talking to a wall with a wan smile painted on it). I have a disasterous yearly email and/or phone interaction with “the school psychologist” regarding “learning disabilities” (more on that below).

3. Yes, I care that my child is our future and is responsible for his own, with my parenting until such time he is mature and confident enough to “make his own calls.” More importantly, he cares about this himself. But … based on what I’ve shared down below, the Seattle School District and many peripheral entities have demonstrated to him that they care not a wit about his future. So … I am currently having to monitor myself to not “let out” to him to let the world be damned.

4. I leave work everyday at 3 to be home by 4 to monitor and assist with homework–I’ve done this since he entered 9th grade. Part of this “homework” is helping him understand how to deal with the buearacracy of the school system and the “often-instability” of one or two teachers every semester and the “indifference” of one or two other teachers every semester. ****I have also spent $140,000 for private school for his 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades (Spruce Street School and Morningside Academy).****

Some background (okay, this is a heckuva lotta background–consider this “testimony”):

ADMINISTRATIVE (let’s just start with the petty stuff)

(a) When he entered kindergarten they refused to enroll him because our residential address was “not on *their* map.” This took months to sort through and only by my basically gritting my teeth and being nasty with a sweet elderly woman (a volunteer) to “just do it,” with of course utility bills in hand to prove our address was a “real” address. They also were (and to this day) unable to input a mailing address in their “system” to send mail to.

(b) Every year during the first week of school I must fill out a packet of forms, each one from 1 to 3 pages, each one requiring the same information for different departments and different teachers. This year, I filled out 23 separate forms!

(c) In the Source last year, I found two computational errors regarding his grades, both of which dropped him a whole letter grade. It took 3 weeks to sort through this and the grades were only changed because we had the proof (the homework and tests with the grades on them) and I was forced to be confrontational about it–the proof wasn’t good enough.

(d) One teacher has him on record as having an unexcused absence from his freshman year. I have an email from this teacher that he (the teacher) was wrong and would correct it. I’ve inquired about this three times in email and two times in person, and it has not been corrected to date.

(e) An IEP form I was asked to sign had three pieces of wrong information on it. I told them I would not sign it until this information is corrected. They have not corrected it to date, thus my son is currently in limbo at the moment re. an IEP, and “the psychologist has not returned my emails or phone calls since the second week of September.

(f, g, h, …) Add half a dozen more petties here, but overall … Is it any wonder the district manages to lose tens of millions of dollars, whether it be due to broken computer programs, staff who can’t do math, absolute apathy, or actual criminality?

SAFETY

(a) In kindergarten, on the second day of school, his bus driver got lost. Three of us did not get our children back until past 7 PM that night, with no explanation and a very aggressive and “unstable” bus driver. The school district was notified throughout this ordeal and did nothing during or after.

(b) In kindergarten, the day after the shootings that occurred down on Lake Union (yes, my son had to go to a Wallingford-based elementary school because of the address issue noted earlier), my son and another child were confused and thought their “parents would be there to pick them up.” They were confused following the previous day of chaos. With that explanation, the teacher allowed the 5- and 6-year-old to wander off into the ether of the Wallingford neighborhood. Cutting through the chase, we were reunited with our children at about 6:30 PM, with no explanation or action on the part of the school. (Oh, yes, the principal did say, and I quote, “*They* made the decision to wander off and not follow school transportation protocol.”)

(c) In kindergarten, I picked up my son and observed his shirt sleeves were literally ripped off at the seams at the shoulders, hanging on by threads. His story: He was in the bathroom and a third-grader came in and grabbed his sleeves and said he couldn’t leave the bathroom. This went on for a “long time” (I determined it was probably about 5 minutes) until my son got an arm loose, punched the child in the nose, and escaped. Into the principal’s office we went: Other child’s/principal’s story? The same. And because my child had punched the other child he was expelled for 3 days; the other child was not. This expulsion came about only after I told the principal if someone cornered me in the bathroom at work and ripped the sleeves off my shirt I would absolutely do the same.

(d) In 9th grade, my son came home with food dried up all over his shirt. His story: One of the “football players” (apparently, this has become more of a “gang-type group” compared to just the “cool jock clique” of my school days) decided a nonathlete freshman was a great victim for some verbal expletives while shoving him around with their bodies in the lunch room. My son mouthed back at “the jock,” who then dumped his lunch on my son’s shirt. We didn’t report it because my son implored me not to. By now, I’m starting to understand the idea of him needing to learn how to handle this kind of nonsense on his own.

(e) In 10th grade, my son mentioned to me casually in the car that the week before he had “passed out” in drum class. I was horrified. The “punchline” to all this is that chokeholds are a common practical joke in school, and apparently none of these kids “get” that *chokeholds until you pass out* are life-threatening. I blame my son for this stupidity as much as I do the other child who did it. My son refused to report it or divulge the name of the child for fear of retaliation. (And yes, last week on the news, if you caught it, chokeholds came up in another local school as a significant problem, in band class no less.) My son had a pediatrician appointment a couple of weeks after that, and the doctor was very responsive to my request that he talk to my son about the seriousness of this.

(f) About 3 weeks ago I was told by one student at WSHS, “F*** you b****,” twice, in the parking lot. I went into the school to report this, and upon running into him there in the hall he called me a “b****” twice. I reported this to the office, Security listened to the incident, and they just more or less shrugged.

That is the sum total of “safety” incidents, at least those I know about, but my take is that those are six extremely severe incidents, five of which threatened the life of my son, either in a major (5-/6-year-olds wandering for 4 hours in the Wallingford neighborhood) or minor (shoving and food tossing) way and one of which was most definitely hostile toward me. In the four cases the school was made aware of, nothing was done about it (oh, except my child’s expulsion).

ACADEMICS

In preschool, I was told by a teaching assistant that my child had learning disabilities. I met with the teachers and administrator there and “got the run-down” on what this meant. I didn’t actually “do” anything about it until in kindergarten it became evident that (a) my son was not learning at the same pace as the other kids and (b) he was disruptive in class by being the “class clown.” I spoke with his teacher and the principal about the academic and disruptive issues and they offered absolutely nothing in return (no mention of special education, IEPs, or even a sliver of an *idea* about what action to take). I was literally floating alone on this; I did have some bizarre idea that educators were specialists in the field of education and might have some ideas.

(There are some huge jaw-droppers about what went on in that kindergarten classroom but I’ll spare you in this thesis this is turning into.)

So … given the safety issues experienced in kindergarten and beginning to understand I had to do something about this “learning disability,” I enrolled him for 2 years at Spruce Street School. During those 2 years, I also had him tested by a speech pathologist, a learning disability-focused MD, a neurologist, an eye doctor, an ear doctor, and a second MD specializing in ADD and ADHD. All more or less listed my son as having ADD “or” ADHD, dyslexia, and/or dysgraphia. Three MDs all recommended … Ritalin … and all three MDs had the point of their pens on their prescription pads when they told me this (actually, if I remember correctly, I believe one of them even went ahead and wrote it out).

I’m looking at my son, who is more or less happy except *at* school, is not physically or verbally assaulting anyone or anything, is incredibly sharp in numerous areas, and additional mental issues such as autism, ausbergers(sp??), brain tumor, and the like have all been ruled out. In the end, he’s not drowning kittens, so I’m not going to put him on medication. (Yes, I did have my child fully vaccinated. ;->)

Spruce Street turned out to be a fantastic school for the attention they could focus on individuals, a lot of curriculum that is of unique interest to the kids, and a very positive social environment, but here’s the catch–and this applies to both Spruce Street and the Seattle School system overall: ****They are great dealing with the high-performing kids in academics (no-brainer) and they are great dealing with the kids that are completely or partially out of their minds with serious behavioral issues (and I am of the opinion this is largely because they are in fear of accusations of discrimination), but if you’re a kid with just the academic problems but don’t go around screaming at people and/or assaulting them, the schools don’t have a clue about how to educate you.****

Essentially, Spruce Street kicked him out (my phrasing–it was the most passive-aggressive “kicking out” you could imagine), because they were unable to teach him to read, write, and do math. This is the first time I saw my son’s “self-esteem,” something I’m not prone to be sensitive to, because I don’t really have the problem myself, *plummet*. It was humiliating for him how they went about this and, more shockingly, when I went to a meeting with them to talk about what course of action I should take (all of my research on every school, literally, public and private, in all of Western Washington and a few in Oregon, printed out to share with them) they said, “We don’t have any idea what you should do.” (It was particularly grating to me, as their 1-page newsletter that month had the word “community” in it nine times.)

Okay, so now I learn about special education in the Seattle School District, the IEP system, and all that, and I enroll my child at Schmitz Park for 3rd grade. That year turned out to be a disaster. The first day of school I approach the teacher for a brief smile and introduction to my son, and the stare-back was *ice*. Here we go. I do everything for the IEP–not a small feat–and we follow it to the letter but I’m the one who has to be proactive to schedule the required meetings, point out the steps we need to take while it’s “in progress,” and so on. I realize my son is not learning during this year, but the principal is not willing to confirm this with me. We last until the bitter end of the year, go over the paperwork and testing scores, which show extremely minimal progress, and then the principal looks at me and asks, verbatim, “So, do you want us to pass him to fourth grade or hold him back in third grade another year?” Shock! I didn’t have a clue how to respond–I’d never heard that a parent gets to make “the call” on whether or not his or her son passes or fails a grade. (Again, didn’t they get degrees in … education?!) I told him I’d think about it and left.

Next! Morningside Academy. My son enters this school with a below-kindergarten level in reading, math, and writing. Five years later with Morningside, he has a 12th-grade level in reading, a 9th-grade level in math, and a 5th-grade level in writing. This is indeed excellent, with of course much worry about the writing, but now I am flat broke and Morningside highly encourages their kids to go back into school environments where they are with kids their own age, for the social environment, broader-subject instruction, and extracurricular activities. (At Morningside, all ages are mixed in classrooms based on academic level, not on age.)

My son is excited but nervous, but a leaf is turned and he is going to high school now. WSHS! The first and second weeks in school his freshman year I observe. Homework is coming in hot and heavy. New and strict rules (followed to this day) are implemented, and he accepts them without complaint: Zero TV and video games during the week, TV and video games on the weekend *only* if all homework and studying for tests are caught up, and a stinky attitude will go up against a stinky me (so stinky attitudes are quickly overcome). From then until now, he has sat at the dining room table every single school night from 4 PM to 9 to 10 PM with a 30- to 60-minute break for dinner, with perhaps 10 exceptions in the past 2.25 years.

Results? Well, freshman year I could tell he was slowly slipping pretty early on. I made appointments with his counselor and all of his teachers to discuss his learning problems. The English teacher appreciated the issue and aside from the science teacher being simply … I’m sorry, an idiot really, as I witnessed on the Parent’s Night when you go to all of your child’s classes for 15-minute periods … and the technology teacher being incredibly arrogant, all the other teachers were just blank-faced. My son finished the year with 2 As, 3 or 4 Bs, and the rest Cs and Ds. He flunked one class. Ready for this? CERAMICS! Why? The big assignment of the semester was a teapot–specifically, an “English-style teapot.” My son finished his teapot, not English but more the Dr. Seuss style that I personally am drawn to, and the teacher threw it in the trash in front of him and said he failed. Wow!

I’m now pretty sure we’re in this alone, just him and me at this point. I was so furious I could not go talk to that teacher. I would have lost it. It’s now I begin his “education” on the reality that adults can be as immature and juvenile as children. That that notion you have that once you’re an adult with other adults everyone acts like an adult? Well, that’s just a myth. It has nothing to do with reality.

His sophmore year goes pretty much the same way, with a few additions. The classes are getting harder but the core issue is really about the writing. A secondary issue is keeping up with math. He goes all year to 7:15 AM math tutoring and after-school homework club for writing assistance. For a year this goes on, but it’s not working. The math tutor was pretty helpful, but the homework club is a joke, particularly when your child really needs some one-on-one to work through the writing.

And the IEP. By sophmore year, my son finally agreed with me that we should start the IEP process because that’s the only way he’s going to *learn*. I begin the discussion with the school “psychologist” but we get stuck in making it happen because, silly me, I’m coming from the third-grade experience and I’m trying to help design it to make it actually beneficial to my son and his education. The IEP–in our situation, at least–turns out to be a farce. The only thing the “psychologist” tells me over and over again (and the sophmore counselor) is that “he can get extra time to do his homework.” I ask him over and over, “But how is it that he’s going to actually learn?!” There is no answer for this. I come out and say it finally, “This is a lot of year-long paperwork acrobatics to meet some quota and numbers, which I don’t know the formula of, to meet some statistic, to check some “the SSD tried” checkbox, to abide by some Section VI.B.2.d.iv of the Know Child Left Behind Act, isn’t it?” Of course, I’m completely persona non grata at this point, and the discussion is over for him. So for this junior year, I decided to just bite my tongue, go through with the IEP now regardless, to “feel it out and see what happens.” As I mentioned earlier, the paperwork he sent me to sign has three pieces of wrong information in it, so I corrected that and initialed it, and asked that he meet with me so we can get it moving, but he has not responded.

My son wants to go to college. He’s talked about being a business man, owning a business; about electronics; about physics; about game development. But he is fully aware that his chances for a high school-to-university route are essentially nil due to the grades. I’m also suspecting that one counselor has approached him about “cooking school”–what I take to probably mean the fast-food industry. I’ve told my son, as recently as last week, whatever he wants to do or be he is going to do or be, that I’m going to help him make it happen, and yeah–I’m lost myself most of the way, but I’m committed as long as he is.

SOCIAL

Since entering high school, my son has not been out with friends, had any friends come over, nor gone to any friends’ houses. It was spring of his sophmore year when he actually opened up to me about why this is. He does have a few kids he hangs out with *at* school, but he doesn’t want to hang out with them outside of school because … everyone “drinks and smokes pot and a lot of kids do other drugs and [he] doesn’t want to be around that.” Sheesh, being a farm girl from Louisianna of the ’70s, how did I manage to end up with such a morally conscientious son. Yes, I’m grateful, but what does this tell me about the kids his age and, more importantly, the school.

I talked to the counselor about this one very soon after my son told me this. She was nonchalant: “Yeah, a lot of the kids smoke and drink, but not all of them, so he should be able to find someone to be friends with.” I told her he felt a bit depressed about this, that he could use some encouragement, or how about perhaps he be given a bit of positive reinforcement by just being called out in some way for “achieving a sort of moral excellence at school”? Nothing. In the meantime, my son told me when I asked that, “Yeah, kids smoke and do drugs all the time during lunch.” What’s a school to do, eh.

So here’s where we’re at. This is just one story out of whatever it is the population of kids there are in Seattle. But it’s the full reason as to why I’m adament the school district *is broken* and cannot be fixed without breaking it apart and doing something drastic. And from what I gather, this is a nationwide story. I’ve focused very densely here on my son’s “learning disability” here–namely, writing and the ability to keep pace with a massive amount of homework. He’s essentially a normal kid, with a personality of being shy, not a risk-taker, and more and more (due to me, rightly or wrongly) a realist and cynic.

Hey, anyone wanna vote on a “bond” that gives me $140,000? ;->

[angelescrest]

Thanks!

I’m at angelescrestk at gmail dot com.

You can’t imagine how a piece of candy adds a nice zing to a middle-schooler’s day. The kids often seem to be sleep-deprived.

[JustSarah]

No, the other thread was not a joke. I think Halloween’s lots of fun; it was my favorite holiday when I was a kid. That’s why it seriously bums me out to see so much overanalysis and sanitization of what should be a fun, somewhat spontaneous night. Go out sometime after dusk with your kids, stay out until they’re tuckered out and cold (the under-9 set generally is done by 7:30, if memory of my own childhood serves), and knock on doors of houses with porch lights on or Halloween decorations. That’s all there is to it! No need for lists, schedules, and all that crap. I don’t understand the need to plan every last detail of such an easy holiday.

[GenHillOne]

Nope, Jo :) Guess the other thread ranting about people asking so many Halloween questions was a joke too. I just want to cut folks some slack for honest questions. Bring on the candy!

[tk]

Actually, there still is a dedicated left turn onto Olga at the top of the hill, thankfully. It is painted with a set of solid yellow lanes which widen and form the left turn space which is a full 10′ wide. If you look at the diagram (see link above), it shows the turn lane to be only 5 ft. wide, so I called the lead engineer before the painting and was assured that 5 ft. was a mistake, and there would still be a full 10′ wide left turn lane- which there is.

What does look different is that the left turn lane doesn’t seem to extend as far downhill/in advance, so not as many cars can be safely in the left turn lane waiting to cross as before (many times in the pm I see 3-4 cars there). This will create a problem, as all the uphill 30mpg+ traffic in the left lane will suddenly have to merge just before the light, at the top of the hill before a curve, with the uphill bike lane ending, AND a turn-out for the view parking section, all at once!

One other interesting note:

SDOT/Metro finally came up with the info. that approx 8 (yes, only eight) bus riders each day cross Admiral Way to get on (or off) a bus headed down the hill. Most City View residents choose to take the bus to/from town on the Harbor Ave. side. Actually, the small painted island will help vehicles turning in/out of City View Street. I used to live on City View, and it was very scary to try to turn left sometimes, when returning from the Admiral district & trying to turn left without being rear-ended.

I wonder how many bike riders will actually use the new uphill lane? From a biking point of view, I think the new “improvements” aren’t worth losing the nice wide downhill lanes that gave a whole lot more room before.

[waterworld]

Yikes: The way I read the law, the State or City could not issue a blanket order to keep all sex offenders out. The people most likely to be prohibited from living there are child sex offenders who are still on probation and any kind of high-risk (Level III) sex offenders. Sex offenders who are getting released from prison will very likely not be allowed to live in any kind of encampment like this. The decisions about who can live there would be made on a case-by-case basis by people in the department of corrections, with input from local law enforcement.

The strengths of this approach are just that — there’s no blanket order of exclusion and there are individualized determinations. There are weaknesses, too. A sex offender, just like a person with no criminal history, can fall on hard times and end up homeless, even if he or she had a good residential plan and a job and all that. If the offender is no longer on probation, then the only ongoing requirement is registration. An offender who’s registering as homeless or living in an encampment is going to prompt more monitoring by law enforcement, but the sheriff can’t force the offender to move. So there are few options for the state or city government to prevent sex offenders from living in an encampment.

Also, most offenders don’t have to register for their entire lives, so there comes a time when the offender is just not being monitored anymore.

However, and it’s a big however, nothing prevents the government of the encampment from adopting rules that prevent convicted sex offenders from living in the encampment. Most tent cities have some kind of governing body, and I have read that they often exclude offenders with records of child molestation and rape. I think it is appropriate to raise the issue with city and county officials and to ensure that there’s some coordination between the encampment governing body and the surrounding community to adopt rules that are appropriate for the community situation.

Given that not all offenders would necessarily be excluded, I think nearby residents have to decide for themselves whether the risk associated with some, but not all, kinds of sex offenders living nearby is more than they are comfortable with. I think it’s critical to communicate with local police and city and county legislators about long-term community protection. The Sheriff’s website for searching in your community for any sex offenders, including the homeless and transients, is very handy. It allows you to sign up for e-mail alerts concerning certain individuals and concerning any offender in the area who has become non-compliant with registration requirements.

Finally, if you are concerned about these issues, you probably already know that most child sex offenses occur in one of two places: the offender’s home or the victim’s home. So one approach is to work with law enforcement and the encampment government to also keep children who don’t live in the encampment out. People like you who live nearby may want to do more to keep strangers off your property and out of your home, too. Or even show your kids the photos of the individuals on the sheriff’s site.

[JoB]

timeslid…

defeating this levy won’t create change.

if change is what we really want.. we need to do something truly newsworthy that embarrasses the school district nationally.

one idea…

building a wall of textbook donations in front of their admin bldg…

no chanting.. no anger..

just one textbook placed on the wall after another.

yes.. that would take some coordination..

but i would be first in line to buy a book

and first in line to help build that wall.

and i am betting i wouldn’t be alone.

[JoB]

DP…

This plain speaking woman finds herselfself weary tonight… and perhaps just a touch short tempered.

I honestly don’t believe you are stupid enough to consistently misunderstand what I write..

or conversely that I am that unclear…

yet.. you leap to preposterous conclusion after preposterous conclusion…

in what appears to be some vain attempt to twist my words and paint me inconstant.

or perhaps just to create drama.

I’m not buying it.

And i doubt anyone else is either.

There is plenty of drama here without manufacturing it.

Yes i am still heartbroken over what was passed as health-care reform…

I worked tirelessly till the very last minute to convince our not so fearless leaders to put some real teeth in the reform bill.

I am crushed that we didn’t end up with single payer for everyone as base insurance.

I believe it was doable.

But I wasn’t there.

I expect politicians to cut the best deal they can.

That’s what we send them there to do.

Since McDermott was adamant about the public option…

i assume it wasn’t in any deal he could cut.

The most anyone can hope for is the best deal available.

To be perfectly honest..

if something or nothing is my only choice..

i will choose something every time.

[JoB]

maplesyrup…

it’s funny how everyone expects the same government that just dumped people off of the state medical insurance because they didn’t have enough money to come up with a way to replace the income from hard liquor…

i don’t think that is going to be much comfort to the next group of people who are slashed from the program because the funds just plain aren’t there.

You are sure there is a better way to do things… and you think you will benefit from the change.. so to h..l with the people who depend upon state and local services to survive.

Changing the way the state handles liquor sales in the middle of one of the biggest budget crunches the state has known is just plain stupid.

I think this is one of the most stupid self serving initiatives i have encountered since i moved to Seattle…

and frankly.. it amazes me how otherwise left leaning people make a sudden right turn when it comes to personal inconvenience.

You have been sold a bill of goods my friend. This isn’t about a monopoly.. it’s about profit.. for the retail industry.

Better buy up that cheap booze while it lasts… because the same “monopoly” that sold only through liquor stores also put a cap on prices. You can kiss that goodbye.

Is that plain speaking enough for you?

[maplesyrup]

“Stepping away from the tube helps.”

Care to elaborate on that?

Anyway, spare me the condescending lecture. I am not an anti-tax nutter and I recognize that there are many legitimate functions that the government performs. (Running a retail business is not one of them, by the way.)

In fact I am pretty confident and hopeful that the legislature will come up with ways to replace some of that lost revenue, as well as find ways to cut the budget as a result. And in the long run we’ll all be better off because I’m sure there’s a more efficient way to collect additional money from constituents than by having the government spend $100+ million dollars annually on overhead to maintain the monopoly.

[flowerpetal]

Yikes, you have concerns for the children at Mt. St Vincent, and for the elders too. I don’t find that disagreeable, in fact it is to me, a genuine concern. Still, I think it is misguided. The homeless encampments have been hosted by several churches and organizations which have daycares and programs for the elderly. This has happened in Woodinville, Mercer Island, and here in Seattle (and just across the hill from us on Beacon Hill) El Centro de la Raza has a childcare program that is top rated and well respected in the community. Their playground abutted with the tent city they hosted for multiple weeks.

I’m all for you writing the Mayor and I bet you will get a reply albeit not as quickly as you wish. You will also get a response from Tom Rasmussen’s office; although it might not be the answer you will want, they will respond.

[Smitty]

“Smitty…

and exactly what is your solution to classrooms that don’t have textbooks for students?”

Simple. More money. It’s worked fabulously so far…….