“The suspect is still on the loose. He is only described as a male in his 30’s with no facial hair and no glasses.”

Oooh!

So far reports are a bomb threat (so says my bus driver), four bank robberies (according to miscellaneous crazy woman), and just now I have been informed only one bank has been robbed (now being discussed in CyberDogs).

Stay tuned for more details!

“Murray and Pedersen, two of the Legislature’s five openly gay lawmakers, said they had the support of Democratic leadership for the measure. And while Gov. Christine Gregoire hasn’t yet seen the bill, she is supportive of expanding the domestic-partnership law, spokesman Aaron Toso said.”

A related story on the Times site summarizes the rights bestowed by current domestic partnership legislature, passed in 2007 and also sponsored by Senator Ed Murray, as well as what would be gained by the proposed bill including “property and guardianship rights”.

“The overriding theme for this package is the financial security of domestic partners and their families,” Pedersen said. “A lot of this is tied to letting people organize their affairs so they are secure financially.”

Equal Rights Washington will be hosting an Equality Day on March 12th in Olympia advocating “anti-discrimination legislature and marriage equality”. Visit their website for more details. Click here to send a message to your district representative.

After a little bit of Googling, I came up with this article from the News Tribune blog.

“The governor’s budget office says the state can save nearly $415 million over the next two years by making such a move, although Gregoire would boost spending on homeless shelters by $20 million and for community health clinics by $40 million to offset some of the impacts of ending the two assistance programs.”

Gregoire has everything mixed up. Cutting GAU and ADATSA and moving funding to shelters and health clinics does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to address the problem of chemical dependency rates and homelessness within our city. Without these two programs or Drug Court (which has the potential to be cut in June), hundreds of addicts will remain active on the streets committing crimes, in shelters taking up space, in hospitals racking up bills, in jails costing state money, and unfortuantely, dying a drug or alchohol induced death. Contrast that with the success rate of ADATSA and drug court of transitioning addicts to healthy members of society who then get jobs, buy houses, start businesses, and spend money. Not only is enabling the recovery of addicts good for economy, it’s also saving the lives of countless of otherwise hopeless individuals whose only chance to escape from their disease is to be forced by our legal system

House Speaker Frank Chopp (despite his lack of rational viaduct planning) still has the ability to empathize.

“We’re looking to make some changes (to GAU) in a logical way . . . otherwise some people could die.”

Budget cuts leading to death may seem slightly dramatic, but it is in no way unrealistic. Chemical dependency is a life-threatening disease, leading to death and undoubtedly the destruction of one’s livelihood.

It’s even more frustrating that I could barely find an article on the topic.

Courtesy: Comptroller File 244098. Comptroller Files, 1802-01. Seattle Municipal Archives

After a series of examples of public protest such as a sit-in and marches through the years 1961 to 1963, the city council finally sent the opening housing ordinance to voters on March 10^th, 1964 where it was defeated by a landslide. The next for years, the civil rights movement fought the battle at a national level, with the words of Dr. Martin Luther King’s and other leaders spreading hope through out the country.

“Finally, on April 19, 1968, three weeks after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., an open housing ordinance was passed unanimously by the City Council, with an emergency clause to make it effective immediately. It was signed by the Mayor the same day.” (Seattle Municipal Archives)

Today, when we remember Martin Luther King, Jr., we can reflect on the effects his work produced in our own community.

Before I went yesterday, I had sent a few emails to the Seattle area hosts (there were several of these rally’s set up by MoveOn through out the country) asking for information on how, we, of the Pacific Northwest, could expect to benefit from the recovery plan. The response I received told me that they had not received that kind of specific information. I didn’t exactly arrive at the event with very high expectations.

Nevertheless, this kind of impersonal activism seems to be the downfall of… this kind of impersonal activism. Each region of this country tends to be suitable for a different industry therefore affected by the economic crisis in it’s own unique way. When the passing of Obama’s economic recovery package promises the creation of “green” jobs through the promotion and development of sustainable energy, I have to wonder, where will those jobs be created? Here in Seattle? How will our economy benefit?

Sign from MoveOn rally at Seattle Federal Building; taken by Madeline on Jan 14, 2009

There were maybe 30 people milling around, several of them spoke through a muffled megaphone held by a older gentleman with very shaky hands. I stood in front of the Federal Building yesterday and listened to four different individuals share their muffled, shaky stories. The purpose of their speeches: to be something we hear and relate to. “I could be you.” “You’re just like me.” These individuals are suffering as is the rest of the country. We share a similar problem. However, when being asked to blindly support a national economic recovery plan, are we certain we share a similar solution?

(FYI: City elections are coming up. Get informed of the campaigns and what can be done, right here in Seattle!)

Well, I’m all about it and am planning to run down there for bit on my lunch break to hear some first person accounts of the economic crisis from fellow Seattle residents and support the event by showing up.

Economic Recovery Congressional Action
When: Wednesday, January 14, 12:00 PM
Where: Federal Building, Seattle
915 2nd Ave
Seattle, WA

Today, Capitol Hill is synonymous with diversity and acceptance. On
November 4th, 2008, we banded together in celebration of the election
of our first African American president. A drag queen sang God Bless
America from the Neighbours rooftop as people of all colors, creeds,
and sexual orientations wept with joy in the streets below. Many had
become one, our community unified by a “change you can believe in”.
This is the Capitol Hill and the Seattle we are familiar with.

Unfortunately, the history of Seattle’s Capitol Hill is not quite as
uplifting. On the website Segregated Seattle, one finds a deeper look
into our city’s sordid past of racially restrictive property and
neighborhood covenants, real estate and job lockouts for African and
Asian Americans, as well acts of violence on their homes.

The Capitol Hill Times briefly courts the subject of race in their article “Barack Obama: from Capitol Hill to Capitol Hill”by commenting on the likelihood Ann Dunham “came across many social
prejudices in the predominantly all-white campus” when in reality,
just three years previous to her move to Seattle, a mixed-race couple
Ray and Marion West, found a cross burning outside their house U-
District home. CHT continues “[p]erhaps Ann Obama felt more at ease in
the diverse neighborhood of Capitol Hill”. It’s doubtful she had much
of a choice.

Map of residential patterns for African Americans in 1960 from Segregated Seattle.