Andrew Taylor

McGinn's lead has dropped from 910 to 462 (less than the # of write-in ballots counted). Your vote really is going to count this time. King County lets you follow the path of your ballot through the system, which you might care to do.

See a problem? Contact the elections office:  http://www.kingcounty.gov/elections/aboutus/contactus.aspx (many ways to contact them)

While you're there you can check the number of votes still to be counted (King County 129,000 on 11/4). Seattle Times estimates that about half the mayoral votes have been counted.

This just in from the Slog:

Although some election watchers think R-71's approval has good odds, Friedes is concerned that it could fail if young urban voters don't mail their ballots. But whether it’s rejected or approved, the campaign has accelerated gay-rights organizing more than if the bigots hadn’t put the referendum on the ballot.

Here's how.

The other 15 might want to come and gloat??

Your ballot's around the house somewhere.  Remember that it has to be postmarked by next TUESDAY (good luck finding a pickup after 6 PM). A stamp (remember stamps?) is 44 cents. Safeway has 'em.

Voters' pamphlets, locations of 24 hour drop boxes, etc is all right here.

Nearest drop box: Central Area Neighborhood Service Center, 2301 S. Jackson

For the November 3 general, ballot drop boxes will open on Friday, October 16 and close at 8 p.m. on Election Day, November 3.

You all did so well last November. Please get out those ballots and make us all proud.

Thank you.

I've know Erin since she was about 6: she's the daughter of a former colleague at the Hutch, and she was (rather more recently) a graduate student in a lab down the hall. They really did walk and paddle all the way from Seattle to the end of the Aleutian peninsula, blogging as they went! You can read their adventures on the blog, or you can read the book and/or come to the slide show.

We also go to the same dentist. At one point their inflatable raft was ripped apart by a bear. The thing that impressed our dentist most was that they were carrying enough dental floss to sew raft (and tent) back together again.

It's a great story. See you there.

They'll be at the City Neighborhood Council meeting at the West Precinct meeting room (810 Virginia St) on Monday 10/26/09:

DRAFT AGENDA:

6:30    Introductions, review/approval of agenda and of September minutes

 

• Introductions
• Approve agenda
• Approve minutes 

6:40    Mayoral Candidates- Opening statements (3 minutes each)

• Joe Mallahan
• Mike Mcginn

6:50                   Question and Answers

• Pre-submitted to kenyland@comcast.net

7:40          City Neighborhood Council  Elections

• 2010 Nominees
• Slate of candidates

8:00                   Committee reports: each committee is allotted five minutes, unless they requested more time.

• Budget Committee—Ron Boddie, Chair 
• Neighborhood Matching Fund Committee--Laine Ross, Chair
• Neighborhood Planning Committee—Irene Wall, Chair
• Transportation Committee—Ref Lindmark, Chair             
• Youth, School & Education Committee--Mike Warren, Chair
• CNC executive committee

My (sadly) former next door neighbor Mark is having a show. If it's >= 10% as good as it sounds, it will be stunning.

See you there.

Prescriptions for Awe and Wonder

October 23rd, 9pm - 1am

1506 11th Ave

[map]

Seattle, WA 98122

Suggested Dress

Incognito: Wigs & Shades

The new Graypants mural

The most important piece to all of this is: I am very excited about this show. This all started off as a launch party for my mural I just finished over at Graypants (you can read a post about it on their blog here), but has sort of meandered about, as ideas tend to do, and in my excitement to make others grin and click their tongue on the roof of their mouth like I do when I see new things, the show has expanded to include some other projects I've been working on.

These additional works include an updated digital video filter piece that uses pattern formation algorithms (original here), an updated/revamped peep show (original here), some concrete sculptures, a video short and some plaster animals. I may or may not get some output from a wall drawing machine I've been dinking around with over the months, but if it's not there and you ask me about it, I will be very excited to tell you about it and perhaps give you a hug.

One small idea waiting on an ocean bluff as the sky turns three shades of blue and waves sigh and murmur about the past. This idea, though, will only look to the future.

Fortune cookies may be available. Beer and infused vodkas/gins/whiskeys made by my dear dear (and newly wed) friend David Howard. All welcome.

Browsing Redfin listings and took them up on their offer to show me local grocery stores.

They were using BING which gave rather idiosyncratic results:

• Rainbow Market still there (it's LONG gone)
• NO QFC's
• NO Safeways
• NO Trader Joe's
• NO Madison Market
• Lots of obscure little markets
• Biggest stores it found were the M Street Market and the Grocery Outlet on MLK

Thanks BING, but you're not quite there yet........

Update: look further down the list and you do find a main-stream grocery store: the Albertson's on Mercer Island.

(You couldn't make this stuff up).

See the attached brochure for all the details, or pick up a paper copy at the Center (330 - 19th Ave. E.)

•  Half-day preschool, Mon/Wed/Fri 8:30 - 12. Starts November 2nd. Follows Seattle School Calendar
• You must be 4 years old (by Dec. 15th) and potty-trained to join. You (or your parents) will need $220/month.
• 1:7 teacher to student ratio
• E-mail miller.preschool@seattle.gov with your questions, or call the Center at (206) 684-4753

Below, via a speedy E-mail from S-DOT's Ethan Melone, are the rules for the recently funded First Hill Streetcar project, issued on October 5th.

Note especially the requirement for double-tracking:

The Project will be double-tracked, although termini or exclusive-lane segments may feature a short segment of single track if this will not impede service objectives.

Wikipedia:

A double track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single track railway where trains in both directions share the same track.

Will the double-tracking requirement make the plans for a loop route impossible? A single-track system obviously just has one set of rails and the trains shuttle back and forth. If the two sets of tracks are on separate streets, does that count as a double-track system? The wikipedia article mentions some "non-parallel" double-track systems, but those were constrained by geography.  My thanks to Jim Erickson of First Hill for pointing out this issue.

Updates:

Andrew: is the double-tracking requirement compatible with the desires of  some neighborhoods to have  a loop route?

Ethan Melone: Yes, this just means we won't have a single track arrangement, like the Waterfront Streetcar.

Jim Erickson: Another factor in this discussion is the water pipeline under the northbound lanes of 12th Avenue. See FHIA's July notes:  http://www.firsthill.org/meetinghighlights.html  The Cedar River water pipeline runs under the northbound lanes of 12^th Avenue, thus precluding any streetcar construction over those lanes. Any streetcar routing on 12^th would have to go in the southbound lanes, or have a dedicated lane in the middle of the street. 

Exhibit A: Minimum Scope of Work for First Hill Streetcar Connector Project

 The purpose of the First Hill Streetcar Connector Project (the Project) is to replace the connection to the regional Link light rail system lost when the First Hill light rail station was deleted from the regional system. The streetcar connector will directly connect First Hill employment centers to the regional Link light rail system at the International District/Chinatown Station at 5th Avenue S and the Capitol Hill Station at Broadway between E. Denny Way and John Street.  If operations begin prior to July 1, 2016, the Project may feature an interim terminus in the vicinity of Pike and Pine streets.

 The Project fleet (inclusive of at least one spare vehicle) and facilities will accommodate the service plan:

1. Service Plan

   1. Service Plan: Span of Service 

   Monday-Saturday 5AM to 1AM

    

   2. Service Plan: Peak/Off Peak Headways

   Peak Periods: Trains Arrive Every 10 Minutes

   Off Peak: Trains Arrive Every 15 Minutes

    

   3. Service Plan: Peak Service Periods

   Peak Periods: 6AM-9AM M-F, 4PM-7PM M-F

The service plan may be adjusted with the written concurrence of Sound Transit.

 The Project will provide local and inter-neighborhood transit service using modern low-floor light rail vehicles, similar to the streetcar vehicles operating in Portland, Seattle and Tacoma.  The streetcars operate in single trainsets.  The streetcars will generally operate in a mixed flow of traffic on urban arterial streets, typically with transit signal priority at intersections, and  occasionally operating in restricted (transit-only) lanes or exclusive right-of-way.  The Project will be double-tracked, although termini or exclusive-lane segments may feature a short segment of single track if this will not impede service objectives.

The Project will meet or exceed all accessibility requirements and includes a variety of passenger amenities on board, at passenger platforms and on the internet, including transit shelters, real-time arrival information, automated passenger information, and wayside and on-board ticketing.  Use of the ORCA regional smart card will be accommodated either on-board, wayside, or with both of these methods of fare payment.

Passenger platforms will typically be spaced at distances of 1,250 to 2,000 feet and will be sited to best balance proximity of service to major activity areas with speed and reliability objectives.

 The Project will include all construction, right-of-way and equipment necessary to meet the service objectives, including but not limited to:

 

• paved track and special track;
•  traction power system and overhead contact system;
• train control system and train signaling;
• passenger platforms and amenities including miscellaneous electrical service to   amenities;
• a light maintenance and vehicle storage facility and vehicle maintenance equipment;
•  roadway and drainage modifications;
• traffic signal modifications;
• street lighting modifications;
• utility relocation, protection and bridging necessitated by the Project;
• relocation of overhead trolley bus wires where necessary;
• mitigation measures; and
•  an Art Program.

 

The Art Program will be administered by the City and is budgeted at $750,000 in 2011 dollars to represent approximately 1% of estimated construction expenditure.

 The Project will be designed to allow for connections to other segments of the City's planned streetcar network and may include extensions beyond the minimum scope of work.