Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels announced this morning that the city will reverse its decade-old policy and use road salt to melt ice in future storms.Good. But the fact that it took this long after the situation for Nickels to catch up with common sense does not leave me with much confidence that he has the right judgment and perspective to handle other emergencies that will arise. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at December 31, 2008 03:17 PM | Email This
Meanwhile, I do recall how most of what we read here later turns out not to be true, so I do still have that hope.
Posted by: tensor on December 31, 2008 04:00 PM'Twas the night before Christmas, and next to the Sound
The streets were still frozen, with snow on the ground
The Greyhounds quit running, no matter what fare
And the garbage men said they couldn't be there;
The children were driving Queen Anne in their sleds
While roofs were collapsing on old people's heads
And mamma in her boots and I in my cap,
Were stuck in the snow it was such a trap,
When at the Home Depot there arose such a clatter,
I left my car there to see what was the matter.
A group of sad souls was waving their cash
They couldn't buy shovels they were gone in a flash.
The tires were spinning and just couldn't go
And chains lay broken in old dirty snow
Then what did my eyes look over and see?
Eight representatives of WDOT
With a politician so lively and quick
I knew in a moment it was Mayor Nick.
More rapid than gun bans his excuses came,
To save our environment the roads stay the same,
On Broadway! On Boren! On Yesler and Denny!
To clear off these roads would cost such a penny!
Sliding down Thomas and over the wall!
The busses hung over and ready to fall!
He still insisted it wasn't his fault
As the world's greenest mayor he couldn't use salt
So snowy Seattle continued to stew
And Mayor St. Nick did not have a clue.
Then later that morning, I heard on the set
That people got sick while de-icing a jet
And that others couldn't get on the ferry
And the city had decided to close down Cherry.
And an accident closed the I-90 bridge,
And that people couldn't drive up on Phinney Ridge.
That shovels, and salt had just flown off the shelf,
And I laughed when I heard it in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
He tried to convey we had nothing to dread;
He spoke many words, but did little work,
I knew that I never would vote for this jerk.
And thumbing his nose at his citizens' woes,
He arrogantly walked on the path that he chose.
He went to his limo and refused to yield,
And left to get solar panels placed on Qwest Field.
But I heard him exclaim, as he skidded past me,
"Happy Christmas to all, and I'd give it a "B"."
Nickels hasn't had the greatest year. Very amusing considering he is the personification of Seattle liberalism. I'm quite certain he isn't pleased about the Seattle media's fondness for the name of that travelling homeless camp, "Nicklesville". If he was in their good graces they would have backed off but they seem to take great joy in using the term.
He didn't endear himself to the population when he decided to float the idea of banning beach bonfires.
Of course we should be careful what we wish for. In all probability an even more liberal politician could defeat Nickels next fall. It's the Seattle way.
Posted by: Bill Cruchon on December 31, 2008 04:56 PMOf course you don't. And no doubt the rest of that thought was 'screw the rest of you that do need to drive'.
We had distant relatives in from Florida for the last week. They could have stayed ANYWHERE in the Puget Sound ... but chose NOT to stay in the city of Seattle because it was "too expensive to park there". Little did the those Obama voting liberals know that they warmed this conservative heart by boycotting Seattle for a very good reason: Seattle hates humans.
Actions have consequensces and this past week the consequences were that THREE tourists did not rent hotel rooms in Seattle, did not pay parking in Seattle and did not eat meals in Seattle.
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on December 31, 2008 06:29 PMI agree that Nickels' poor leadership during this storm doesn't lend any confidence to Seattle residents who expect a satisfactory response to other emergencies.
It's time for a real world mayor in Seattle. If the economic crisis continues to permeate even the Puget Sound region, Seattle may elect someone who cares about and is capable of solving problems instead of exhibiting the environmentalist and liberal posturing that we all too often see from Mayor Nickels.
Posted by: Chad on December 31, 2008 06:47 PMDo you know how to drive a car?
Posted by: Holodeck on December 31, 2008 10:05 PMAh a true public showing of the liberal mindset. And I suppose the jews will be next in your holocaust dream eh lib?
Posted by: Anti Lib on December 31, 2008 11:28 PMBecause the voting majority are loons themselves.
Posted by: LooneyLeftiesareLame on January 1, 2009 09:14 AMNice ring to it. LOL
Posted by: Medic/Vet on January 1, 2009 09:15 AMActually, there is no charge for humans in the city of Seattle. It's cars that have to pay.
Seriously, this is Econ 101, supply and demand. Lots of people want to live, work, shop, play, drive, and park in Seattle, so the free market rations the scarce resource of space by charging for it. (OK, the market isn't entirely free, but in this respect it basically is.) Are you saying you'd like the Big Evil Nanny State to force taxpayers to provide free space for your distant relatives to leave their car? Or should government force the majority of hotel guests, who don't want parking, to subsidize the minority who do?
Posted by: Bruce on January 1, 2009 10:57 AM
Structured parking costs are considerable - I'm unaware of any developer that would prefer to build more spaces so that they can sell them for less. Maybe you're operating in a different economic environment. "Free parking" is a cost borne by developers to entice customers in lower value locations.
High parking prices (define low) and scarcity (define abundance) are the reality of apportioning resources in the market place.
Prices are higher in downtown Seattle because the demand is greater than the outskirts (something about location, location, location).
Posted by: BA on January 1, 2009 12:01 PMStructured parking costs are considerable - I'm unaware of any developer that would prefer to build more spaces so that they can sell them for less. Maybe you're operating in a different economic environment. "Free parking" is a cost borne by developers to entice customers in lower value locations.
High parking prices (define low) and scarcity (define abundance) are the reality of apportioning resources in the market place.
Prices are higher in downtown Seattle because the demand is greater than the outskirts (something about location, location, location).
Posted by: BA on January 1, 2009 12:01 PMSeattle is simply not a welcoming town. The people are indifferent (if not rude), the roads are a zoo, the parking is scarce, the costs are outrageous and they've made it public knowledge that they have fees and taxes that specifically target visitors. Yep it's a beautiful place... but Seattle is so damned full of itself that beauty is all it has going for it all ... and that's marred by the city enabled bums.
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on January 1, 2009 12:53 PMWe found parking a block away on the street for free. A couple of restaurant choices within a block at different price points. After the show, drove right out of downtown without any traffic problem.
Ragnar, your opinions are at best urban legends and not reality. Folks in Seattle are no different than anywhere else when it comes to being thoughtful (i.e. there is a wide range...), the roads and streets are hardly a zoo, parking is available everywhere, and yep - paying for the stadiums is based in part on taxing hotel rooms and rental cars - just like most other cities.
Welcoming town?
Compared to where - Bellevue, Renton, Woodinville? Are the folks in the Alderwood Mall parking lot friendlier than those folks on the sidewalk in Seattle?
Posted by: BA on January 1, 2009 03:07 PMReally Bruce? So the car gets itself up at 4 AM goes to work everyday and earns the money while the human lies in bed all day?
Self animated cars. Well libs talk of self animated guns as well. Perhaps you ought layoff the bong and doritos Bruce.
Posted by: Facts on January 1, 2009 03:14 PMIn a word: YES!
I have never witnessed anyone at Alderwood Mall urinate on a pole or any other object. However the bums in Seattle whip it out in broad daylight marking ther territory like dogs.
And the aggressive beggers in Seattle are the worst.
Posted by: Pedestrian on January 1, 2009 03:21 PMYou asked: "Given the intensity of development in downtown Seattle (built by the private sector...) are you saying that "Government" has constrained the creation of parking spaces so much that development has been dampened?"
No. I'm saying the city has constrained the creation of parking spaces, in the face of intense development, which creates parking scarcity what wouldn't otherwise exist.
You apply for a permit to construct a building with 50 condominium units, retail on the ground floor, and 100 parking spaces in the space around and in the building foundation, and the city issues a permit allowing only 40 spaces. Sure it can be built more cheaply with only 40 spaces, but each condo unit is worth less when there is a lack of parking BY DESIGN. The overflow goes onto the streets, if parking can be found.
If the permit instead required 150 spaces, there would be no overflow, and perhaps, if this were an overall, long-term policy, street parking could eventually be eliminated. That would mean less congestion for cars, buses, and pedestrians, and fewer pedestrians killed or injured by cars and buses. But it would also mean a loss of revenue for the nanny state, so there is little or no political will for such a vision.
And please, give me an example of any downtown business owner that doesn't want as many parking spaces as possible available for his or her customers. So much so, that many who do have a garage nearby will validate their parking (i.e., pay for their customers to use it).
Posted by: srogers on January 1, 2009 04:11 PMI have never seen a community in such a hurry to get them up (the MOMENT that turkey is digested) then in an equal hurry to turn them off ((the 26th). THAT has been a puzzle to me since we came here (and came back). I realize you are non-church goers and certainly a different kind of Catholic than those of us from the east... but really... enjoy the SEASON, which you may not realize extends to January 6th (the Epiphany)... you know that whole 12 days of Christmaas thing! It's not the 12 days before Christmas, it begins in the 25th and ends January 5.
The Boy Scouts in our area pick up Christmas trees as one of their annual fund-raisers... I've repeatedly told them they schedule pickup way too early (the 3rd this year)... but this population is in such a hurry to get it all over and move on... I've wasted my breath...
We live in a community of about 100 homes...guess who has the only lights still on? This annoys me every year.
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on January 1, 2009 05:10 PMThe would-be commissar who wrote that one would be a central character of a new George Orwell story.
The slogan is a testimonial to the hatred which Seattle residents, afflicted with urban 'intellectual' pretensions, direct toward the class of their fellow citizens which recognizes and participates in the immense value of automobile mobility.
Said 'intellectuals' have simply erased the part of their brains which stored the positive economic value of citizen mobility, the better to make economic warfare against drivers. The demonization of SUVs is just a tactic in this overall war.
Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on January 1, 2009 06:47 PMOveruse of salt will corrode cars. I would look for other alternative de-icers. Salt is not really the answer, it has more to do with snow removal equipment. Why does Portland have almost twice as much snow removal equipment as Seattle ?
Watch out for the carbon tax in the name of the global warming scam that Nickels and leftist elites buy into, coming up for a vote soon.
Posted by: KS on January 1, 2009 07:52 PMYou'll rue the day that happens. It's the tax money from those "republican vermin" that supports you.
Posted by: RBW on January 2, 2009 07:19 PMGovernment increases the supply of parking spaces by mandating that developers provide parking spaces along with newly constructed residences, so actually if we had a free market parking would be more expensive in Seattle.
And resources would be allocated more efficiently.
Thanks all,
New Left Conservative #1
Posted by: new left conservative #1 on January 2, 2009 09:09 PMMandated parking for folks that LIVE there does not do one single thing to help COMMERCE and business owners.
I hate going into Seattle and the parking nuisance is but one reason. I refuse to pay dearly for a spot I have to fight for, therefore my discretionary dollars go elsewhere. Even during the height of the gas crunch, they went to Portland.