Erica C. Barnett

Rivera says "fiscal responsibility" is important for households, so it should be for cities too. (Ooh, it's one of my favorite inept analogies—cities are not houses that need repair!) She says "my family lives paycheck to paycheck." 🤔 apollo.pdc.wa.gov/financial-af...

Dan Strauss says the JumpStart conversation "is an important one" because we actually haven't built enough housing to meet the need.

A staffer is explaining inflation to the council—a primary reason the city's spending has increased faster than, for example, population numbers.

He continues that "good governance" means looking at cuts to spending. It's interesting how little the talking points some of the newest council members have changed since they ran on "audit the budget" in 2023.

Bob Kettle is complaining that the "chattering classes" still talk about the fact that JumpStart was a tax passed explicitly to pay for housing, Green New Deal, and other progressive new spending. The council turned it into an all-purpose slush fund, which Kettle calls "[Jumpstart] of today."

Rivera is now saying the budget has grown much faster than population. This is basically never a linear relationship.

There are of course levy oversight bodies for all these levies that meet throughout the year, so it's unclear if she's insinuating the city's existence due diligence is inadequate, if she's just vaguely suggesting that taxes are too high, or if she disagrees with elements of some existing levies.

"If we're collecting all this money and we're not actually meeting the need, we just need to make sure that, is it that we need more money, or is it that the money that the choices we're making are not actually getting to meet the need we're trying to solve for?"

Maritza Rivera (who didn't know Seattle doesn't pay King County's library levy) concludes with an "audit the budget"-style warning:

It's a bond, but it isn't "the city paying ourselves back" so much as taxpayers paying back money the city got through up-front financing. IDK, I just don't get why so much of our City Council meetings is still taken up by staff explaining basic stuff.

Now he's talking about the "bond on the Alaska Seawall," which is actually also a levy.

The thing he is double-clicking on is that Tim Eyman is bad and the city should be able to raise property taxes more than 1 percent without going to voters.

Now Rob Saka is "double-clicking" on something.

Bob Kettle, speaking about how "desirability" of Seattle neighborhoods impacts property values (and thus revenues), says he knows of "countless" businesses that have left downtown, Belltown, and South Lake Union because of "the public safety challenges."

she was talking about how local taxpayers are feeling "sticker shock" because of all the taxes we pay, but apparently just learned today that those taxes don't include the King County library levy

call me crazy but I think the head of the Seattle City Council's library committee probably should be aware that Seattle taxpayers, who fund local libraries through a levy, don't pay an unrelated levy for libraries in other King County cities

Council president Joy Hollingsworth said they're looking into security measures to keep council members safer, and approvingly mentioned an LA law that banned the public from coming near council members' homes. This prompted a barrage of council comments about how they're under constant threat.

This Week on PubliCola: March 1, 2026 - PubliCola Staff call for civil rights office shakeup, CARE chief says police contract hobbles her team’s ability to respond to crises,…

This Week on PubliCola: March 1, 2026

Staff call for civil rights office shakeup, CARE chief says police contract hobbles her team's ability to respond to crises, state elevator reform bill advances, and much more.

publicola.com/2026/03/01/t...

Bill Gates gets caught in Epstein's wicked web The remarkable thing revealed about Jeffrey Epstein over the past year is his huge talent for making connections with rich and powerful people.

oh, PLEASE.

(in his writeup, Horsey refers to Gates' cheating on his wife with at least two women, both Russians, as "love affairs.")

www.seattletimes.com/opinion/bill...

I don’t think libraries can keep people from dying on their properties, by happenstance, from their addictions. That’s not how addictions (or overdoses) work. But libraries do provide a safe, warm, and monitored space where people can feel safe, and that’s immensely important.

Seattle Nice: Are These Three Local Controversies All About Union Power? - PubliCola By Erica C. Barnett This week’s podcast, as I promised last week, featured just me, Sandeep, and David, and guys:…

Seattle Nice: Are These Three Controversies All About Union Power?
We discuss backlash over the mayor's new pick at City Light, the police guild's stranglehold on alternative first response, and city workers' effort to remove their boss for what they call discriminatory behavior.

In Rare Tragedy, Man Dies Inside Rainier Beach Library Branch - PubliCola By Erica C. Barnett A 41-year-old man died at the Rainier Beach library just after 3pm February 13 after library…

In Rare Tragedy, Man Dies Inside Rainier Beach Library Branch

The man, who staffers initially thought had overdosed, died of chronic alcohol use, according to the county.

publicola.com/2026/02/27/i...

Opinion | America, We Have a Math Problem

Did I ever mention how much I love a pedantic math correction? Shit like "300 percent reduction" drives me nuts

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/o...

Former City Department Director Broke Election Law; City IT Director Resigns; LGBTQ Advocates Call for Removal of Civil Rights Director - PubliCola 1. Seattle’s IT director since September 2024, Rob Lloyd, step down on March 27. “Leading IT and our dedicated teams…

Former City Department Director Broke Election Law; City IT Director Resigns; LGBTQ Advocates Call for Removal of Civil Rights Director

Three stories in today's Afternoon Fizz.

publicola.com/2026/02/27/f...

Jonathan Choe, a chud in sunglasses with a "verified"tag, tweets: "Watch this Pharisee curse truth teller Tyler Oliveira. Tyler is living rent free in his head. 🤣" He is retweeting a post from Tyler Oliveira, another chud in sunglasses, of a video showing a young, bearded rabbi in a hat reading prayers and saying he hopes Oliveira doesn't succeed. Oliveira's tweet reads: "Jewish Rabbi literally CURSED me bro 😭"

Jonathan Choe, a Trump sycophant influencer from Seattle, is now slinging obscure anti-Jewish slurs.

Rabbis don't "curse" people, but I can see how a rank antisemite who believes Jews practice witchcraft would casually make such a remark.

Elevator Followup: Reform Bill Watered Down - PubliCola By Josh Feit The state legislature got stuck on the second provision of the elevator reform bill we reported on…

Elevator Followup: Reform Bill Watered Down

The bill would still allow smaller elevators in many new buildings, reducing costs and making missing-middle housing more viable.

New from @joshfeit.bsky.social
publicola.com/2026/02/27/e...

Elevator Followup: Reform Bill Watered Down - PubliCola By Josh Feit The state legislature got stuck on the second provision of the elevator reform bill we reported on…

Elevator Followup: Reform Bill Watered Down

The bill would still allow smaller elevators in many new buildings, reducing costs and making missing-middle housing more viable.

New from @joshfeit.bsky.social
publicola.com/2026/02/27/e...

I'm not even kidding, I relaxed immediately and was like "ah, okay, NOW things are going to get done"

but that is a literal quote from a ridiculous thing they kept saying, not scare quotes around a neutral phrase!

The Pitt going all-manual (whiteboards! carbon copies) is the nonsexual fetish I didn't know I had