The masochist known as Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has a 20-year tax proposal worth 1.8 billion, and he wants your input on what hole in the asphalt he should bury your money in. The top complaints compiled via this web form, will be called the "dirty dozen" (how original), and will receive "very high priority" come fix'n time.

It might not help the mayor for you to list "the whole damn city" or "everywhere that there isn't a monorail" but regardless vent your opinion like you know it will count- via a completely anonymous web form.

"The winners will be announced on July 13." Not sure if the winners are the holes in the road or the fools who tread them enough times to complain about them by name.

But hey. Web form.

Every good tried and true Seattle liberal has just the right amount of rage about global warming. It's a nice scab to pick at, a nice soapbox to stand on against Bush Inc. and the conservative movement which is failing America in countless ways.

We're outraged. We're outraged with claims that the jury's still out on global warming while the artic melts before our eyes. We're outraged that NASA's climate researchers have been censored by the Bush administration. And it's that wonderful righteous outrage.

After all, we've got a Democratic Governor and State Legislature. We're the only state with two female Democratic Senators. Old Bagdad Jim has our back and Sir Gregory of Kyoto waves his green flag proudly. Plus, we've got curbside recycling. Take that, Idaho!

Our country might be running Earth into the ground, but at least our state has got its act together, right?

Hopefully, the front page of today's PI will wake some of us up from our righteous rage. Our blue tinted backyard is a toxic stew and everyone is to blame.

Alright. So the last few years in Seattle we've had the tightest, saddest little budgets ever. Every year the Mayor would announce his budget and all the neighborhood people, all the human services people, all the public safety people would get into their little huddles and when the City Council had their hearing on budget priorities, BOOM the whole thing would blow up. If you weren't in Council chambers two hours before the meeting started to get your name on the list of speakers, you were totally screwed.

Well, the Mayor just announced his budget yesterday, and it is a completely different universe. Because there is money in it!! Thanks to people doing things like having jobs and shopping and buying houses and stuff (who are these people who can buy houses in this city? Seriously), the General Fund got some kind of huge windfall and now the Mayor's got money to burn.

Mayor Nickels withdraws his support for the monorail

Fifth vote on the monorail will happen this November

The Seattle Times reports:

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels withdrew his support for the financially troubled monorail yesterday, refusing street-use permits and calling for a fifth public vote on the project in November.

The ballot measure would ask voters whether they want to kill plans, three years in the making, for a 14-mile line to connect Ballard, Seattle Center, downtown and West Seattle.

"This is perhaps the most disappointing day for me since I became mayor nearly four years ago," Nickels said at a news conference. "... Put simply, the monorail does not have enough money to pay for the project."

The mayor's turnabout marks the biggest setback yet for a project that began as a grass-roots movement for a functional transit system that rises above traffic. By this summer, though, the public rebelled against a finance plan that would have required at least 50 years of taxes totaling $11.4 billion to pay for a $2.1 billion line.

Is this the end of the monorail? How do you feel about it? Which way will you vote? Why?

This November's off-cycle election is turning out to be the most important election in the last 20 years for residents of Seattle. The monorail and the gas-tax will effect your everyday life much more than George W. Bush ever could.

Once again, it's Happy Hour where you the loyal readers, bloggers and lurkers pipe up. This edition... The Monorail.

In a stunning move today, Mayor Nickels announced a September 15th deadline for the Seattle Monorail Project to make a decision about financing the line- or the city would do it for them.

So, what's your feelings about the SMP now? Take the poll below, then discuss in this thread!

Personally, after learning what the monorail would look like, how much it would cost, and the limited number of people it would get off the road, this former hardcore monorail supporter is now jumping off the line.

I've found a new love in the south end- Sound Transit Light Rail. It's cheaper, it's already being built (and showing progress) and it can be (and will be) elevated for a lot cheaper than the Monorail could ever be built.

Backers of the Statewide Road Safety and Repair Program who fear the idiotic I-912 have the monorail marked with a bulls eye.

Keep the dream alive? Jump ship? What's your call?

Susan Paynter put her finger on the reason the thought of this mayor's inevitable re-election has me drinking myself to sleep:

Greg Nickels... is too busy looking expansively up and out to really recognize and encourage grass-roots growth....

Seattle really sparks on those occasions when communities pull together to make things better in small ways.... Ways in which government is too darned clumsy to do more than offer an assist...

The idea has been ignored if not trampled as the current administration keeps its eye on the high-bouncing ball of big deal-making.

Yep. Pretty much. I'm the last person to say no to more transportation choices, more density, more smart growth, more economic strength. But but but!!! Mayor Nickels is doing all of this at the expense of neighborhood autonomy (ignoring major parts of the South Lake Union Neighborhood Plan in favor of Paul Allen's biotech plan), at the expense of culture (stay tuned for some knee-knocking updates on what's going to happen to your favorite music venues if Sir Gregory has his way), at the expense of 'hoods that are vital to the character and strength of the city (checked out Broadway lately?).

Hi everyone (Hi Riisa. See- I'm doing it, I really am; I'm finally posting).

I've been invited to blog on betterdonkey about environmental shenanigans, so here I am... blogging about environmental news, tidbits and random thoughts.

Grist Magazine just interviewed Nickels about his initiative to get mayors across the country to "meet or beat Kyoto Protocol targets." This is a big (and cool) deal. While the Bush administration is failing us on climate change (among other things), local governments are coming to the rescue. Here are a few snippets:

A couple of months ago I got way super duper excited because Mayor Nickels decided that Seattle was going to board the Good Ship Kyoto, and he was gonna take America's other cities with him.

"Little boy, this giant scissors is for cutting through Red State Red Tape."

What rocks? Is that while the big plan was to get this up and rolling during the annual meeting of the US Conference of Mayors, Mayor Nickels already has 131 other mayors marching lockstep with him on the road to environmental responsibility.

Now, I am not in the habit of making wholesale endorsements of anything Seattle's mayor does. However. As Mayor Jerry Ryan of Bellevue, Nebraska put it, You've got to ask, 'Is it remotely possible that there is a threat?' If the answer is yes, you've got to act now".

If our Greg can get this big Red from little Nebraska to follow his lead, he's obviously doing something right.

Ever wonder what Mayor Nickels’ lips look like, wrapped around Paul Allen’s throbbing manhood? They look a little like this:

Mayor Greg Nickels and the Seattle Parks Foundation yesterday announced a record $10 million donation from billionaire Paul Allen's Vulcan Inc.

The contribution is the largest single private contribution to a public park in Seattle history. However, it will be made in two parts and comes with some serious strings attached.

The agreement makes the money contingent on the city completing roadwork in the area and extending a deadline for Vulcan to start work on nearby property.

Maybe it’s the gin, but hot damn, babies! I mean, sure, I am all about creating beautiful pedestrian environments and inviting open spaces that promote a sense of community and enhance connections to waterfront areas in the Emerald City but HELLO.

Policy and planning should not be undertaken at the behest of wealthy developers. A “conditional donation” is when a rich person gives a bunch of money and says, “Use it for a park, and nothing else.” A bribe, on the other hand, is when something, such as money… [is] offered or given to a person in a position of trust to influence that person's views or conduct.

I know you’re up for re-election this fall and all, Gregory, but please. Try not to sell the soul of the city until at least mid-summer, mkay?

Mad props go out to artist, composer and writer, Christal Wood for being the first (and perhaps only) person to stand up and run for Seattle Mayor against Greg Nickels. While I don’t know how far her campaign will get, at least there will be more than one name on the ballot.

Thanks Christal!

People wonder why the poop we need a group like Better Donkey in Seattle, when everyone here is so liberal they bleed blue. I say, whatever! This town is ripe for a challenge. We are so focused on our big liberal circle-jerk that we never bother to question how progressive our leaders really are.

This is why I've been so bummed by all the talk that Mayor Nickels probably won't have a challenger in the election this fall. I haven't totally made up my mind about him, but that's not the point-- the point is, when the debate dies, democracy dies.

So I was thrilled when I finally got a look at The Stranger today and saw that Nickels may have a challenger! (second item.) Ann Donovan, president of the Capitol Hill Community Council, is considering running. I think that rocks. I have no idea what kind of a job she'd do as mayor, but I think she would do an awesome job of bringing a little accountability to this contest.

If you want Ann to spice up this one-horse race, email her at donovann at yahoo dot com.