THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK (AND ONE THAT HAPPENS LATER TODAY) >>>

Parking lots

Today at 3:45 p.m. Tacoma City Councilmen Ryan Mello and David Boe tell me they'll  protest the decision to build a parking garage on a vacant lot at the corner Pacific Avenue and 12^th  -- once the site of Sauro Cleanarama. The protest comes today, as a construction crew breaks ground on the filling of hole. Boe and Mello are the loudest council dissenters of the parking lot - which is being built at the request of DaVita Inc. with the help of state grants from Governor Gregoire originally intended to help keep Russell Investments in Tacoma. Boe and Mello believe the property should be developed into business or community space, and in protest will be watching from lawn chairs across the street today as construction begins, marveling at what they perceive as a poor decision and blown opportunity by Anderson and the City of Tacoma. The Volcano will run a feature with interviews of Mello and Boe Saturday.  Until then, find some good background on the protested parking lot with this story in the Trib by Lewis Kamb.

Bus service

Due to what the Save our Buses organization describes as "the out-dated way the state funds bus service," Pierce Transit (PT) has a 35% deficit it must balance. In February's special election Pierce County voters had a chance to approve a small increase in sales tax to nullify PT's budget deficit but overwhelmingly rejected it. Now PT is considering 30-39 percent cuts to its top three bus routes, the #1, #2, and #3, which collectively carry 60 percent of PT's ridership. Monday (April, 11) Pierce Transit will hold hearings all over the county on the possible cuts. The most notable, and perhaps the only one worth the time of attending (as it's the only one PT's Board of Directors will attend), is at PT's Lakewood headquarters from 4-6 p.m. 

Poll voting

This week Pierce County became less unique, and in the eyes of many local voters took an "L" at the hands of state government. A couple months ago the Volcano asked a few local politicos what they thought about poll voting, and all were in favor of keeping the polls open in Pierce County. Up until Tuesday Pierce County had been the only county in the state to still offer poll voting, but with the Gov's singing of the recently-passed Senate Bill 5124 Washington will move to an exclusive vote-by-mail system - meaning Pierce County will be forced to vote only by mail like everyone else.

Lindquist money

"Man, imagine making Lindquist money!" mused Tacoma political cartoonist RR Anderson this week on Twitter after reading the News Tribune's report on the top 25 highest paid Pierce County employees.

Miguel Balderrama, Medical director at Pierce County Jail, clocked in first, collecting a solid $184,406 per year. County Executive Pat McCarthy was second, making a decent $173,579. Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist came in seventh, making $148,425.

In response to Anderson's tweet: no, I really can't.