Shift has long highlighted poor transportation choices made by city of Seattle elected leaders (and the bureaucrats who run the city), unfortunately, because there are so many of them to highlight. Now Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat is wading into the deep pool of transportation waste, pointing out the South Lake Union “streetcar costs $12,000 per day on average to operate and maintain — more than $20 per rider at the current pace.”

Westneat took the time to take a solo ride on the streetcar and then highlighted that the streetcar’s “ridership peaked in 2013, at about 2,000 riders a day. It dropped by a third prior to the pandemic, then cratered and hasn’t much recovered.” You can read on to see how 500 riders over a 15-hour transit day make for a lot of lonely times on the “ghost cars, circling pointlessly through a faded development dream.”… Shift, Seattle Times.

Washington State House Democrats showed just how far out of touch with reality they are, according to Center Square, with the passage of House Bill 1589, “banning Puget Sound Energy from providing natural gas in new residential or commercial construction.” The House Democrats are committing this act of silliness because, as the sponsor says, “this bill isn’t perfect, but we have spent hours and hours stakeholdering the bill.”

In addition to inventing a new word, Rep. Beth Doglio also invented the novel reason to support HB 1589 that people voting for it today should expect “a very different bill in the Senate as we move forward.” Despite such promises of not knowing what will be in the final bill, former House Republican leader JT Wilcox pointed out that “it’s still one of the most poorly thought out bills I’ve seen here.”

You can read on for another Rep. Doglio argument that the state has environmental goals (which it never meets) and “all those goals and policies require complementary policies to help us be successful, and that’s what this bill does” here… Center Square.

It’s hardly news anymore, but the fourth Let’s Go Washington initiative has made it to the legislature, with KIRO radio reporting that “Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs’ office confirmed in a press statement Tuesday that it delivered ‘official notification to the legislature that signature verification has been completed and certified for’ Initiative 2109”. Now the initiative can join the three others which have qualified in being ignored by the Democrats in the majority in Olympia.

It has already been pointed out that Democrats refuse to do their constitutional duty and act on the initiatives because “Democratic House Speaker Laurie Jinkins (D-Tacoma) said she is disappointed the six initiatives are being pushed through by people” that disagree with her. Read on to see how Democrats are really upset the public may learn their intent for the state income tax is “to expand the tax and target more small business owners, family farms, entrepreneurs and restaurant owners” here… KIRO radio.

The Seattle City Council is back to full strength reports KUOW, now that “Tanya Woo will step in to fill the vacant seat” left open when Teresa Mosqueda defected to the King County Council earlier this month. You might recognize the name, as Councilwoman Woo ran for the District 2 position just last fall, coming up just short of upsetting incumbent Tammy Morales.

Despite Woo’s stating her desire “to build more collaboration, especially on the council, a sense of unity, collaboration, and communication,” she was stiff-armed by Councilwoman Morales, who finds herself on the Far Left of a Council that’s only Not as Far Left. She rejected collaboration with her seven new council colleague, and instead called on her fellow revolutionaries remaining from Kshama Sawant’s rallies to “let this council vote (to appoint Woo) be the catalyst for your entry into public engagement, and public action, and public service,” as she prepares to lose many more public votes this year.

Read on for the gossipy story behind Woo’s appointment, and how one consultant suggested to some donors that betting on the winning candidates “earned you the right to let the Council know not to offer the left the consolation prize of this Council seat” here… KUOW.

Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer has inflicted on himself some rough times over the past few years, capped off by an unfortunate dispute with a newspaper carrier which resulted in gubernatorial candidate Bob Ferguson using his Attorney General’s office to go after his badge. Since Sheriff Troyer survived, he is now resorting to the truth to get back at the headline-hunting AG and other Democrats who avoided him for years, writing in a Tacoma News Tribune op-ed that “It is time for Washington’s destructive social experiment to end. Lawmakers have prioritized criminals over victims and loosened laws and punishments” for too long.

The sheriff attributed the growing crime problem to his fellow Democrats, noting that in “a state largely under one-party control, lawmakers have gone too far… Our elected leaders must address what they’ve created: a criminal population who can re-offend and flee at will without fear.” Read on for more truth about how voters must “elect state leaders with the conviction to reset the criminal justice system, creating one that enforces accountability and consequences” here… Seattle Times, (Tacoma) News Tribune.

One of the unique features about Washington state politics is that legislators and other state officials are not allowed to raise money during legislative sessions, while non-office holding opponents have no such restrictions. That must have led first-time candidate Nick Brown, whose problems as a newbie Shift has noted, to assume he could attack with impunity his main opponent in the Attorney General’s race by claiming in his latest fundraising email that he needs funds “to ensure we have the resources we need to take on our conservative opponent’s big-money GOP donors.”

Of course, the only big-money opponent he has is a fellow far-Left Democrat, State Senator Manka Dhingra, who would not take kindly to being called “conservative” or her out-of-state funders being called “big-money GOP donors”, were she not limited by the session’s fundraising freeze. The one conservative in the AG race just joined the field this month, and has reported raising no money. Read on to see Mr. Brown’s misinformation begginghere… Nick Brown campaign email.

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