Under such a system, pay differentials almost always represented favoritism on the part of management. Seniority was a way of protecting workers from arbitrary favoritism. One the the key things that would make a worker a “favorite” of management would be opposing the union, thus tying pay, perks and job security to tenure also protected the union itself. Unions are also based on the idea that workers rise or fall together. Merit pay puts workers in competition with each other and undermines the union concept.

The central factor that makes all of this possible is UNSKILLED labor. Within the context of unskilled labor, seniority makes all sorts of sense. Within the context of skilled labor, management, knowledge work, sales, etc. Seniority makes no sense. When skill is necessary, the individual determines their own productivity. In such a system, a company that can promote and reward its most productive workers, that company would have a competitive advantage. Seniority keeps unproductive workers / leaders in positions far longer than the should be and prevents more qualified, more productive workers / leaders from ever having the chance. The seniority system is a vestige of the past that has no place in the 21st century knowledge economy and it certainly has no place in elected leadership.

While I am hesitant about term limits, frankly, if you can’t achieve significant results in 10 years, you’re a lousy politician.

However this is beside the point. Via any number of real-world examples as well as a number of studies it has been shown choice riders prefer rail. You can tart up the bus all you want but at the end of the day it is nothing more than a fancy bus.

Similarly rail attracts development in ways bus lines don’t. Even electric trolleybuses don’t spur development in the same way as rail does. The Ballard to Fremont corridor is prime for some Pearl District like TOD.

It’s also useful to keep in mind that most transit opponents around here seem to embrace buses. So, there is usually little to fight about when a bus plan comes up for a vote…

Please, multimodal man. Get serious.

Unfair comparison, as the waterfront streetcar was a tourist attraction and destination all its own. I support bringing it back, but as just that, and a way to get down the waterfront to other tourist attractiongs. If you want to import a few century old Aussie streetcars to go from Ballard to Fremont in a simliar vein I’ll listen, but I can’t buy the argument that having a streetcar line to replace the 46 or other flexible road-based bus or trolley bus lines makes good economic or practical sense.

At any rate, I think the “buses don’t run on Saturday but streetcars do” argument is pretty well toast.

There are other ways of organizing a legislature but they come with their own flaws. For example without experienced hands in the elected seats the legislative staff ends up running things since they are the only ones who understand the system.

As for unions, seniority rules exist for a reason. They may not be appropriate to all job classifications or all industries. Even then any union contract was agreed to by the union membership and the management of the unionized workplace in question.

Only looking back do I now realize what a flawed project the monorail was.

Also this is a safety issue; with each extra year we leave the viaduct up, we have more of a chance of it collapsing in a catastrophic earthquake.

So do what should have been done in 2001 and close the viaduct and start tearing it down. The thing is unsafe and nobody should be allowed on or near the thing. Politics is the only reason the road is still open.

We’re dealing with an unsafe structure, there is no need to have a replacement plan in place before closing and removing it.

It ain’t a done deal, not by a longshot.

While he ultimately decided to retire, Patty Murray launched a primary challenge to Sen. Brock Adams at least in part over the sex scandals he was involved in. At the time she was seen as a huge long-shot, but as they say the rest is history. BTW expect her to either end up as Majority Leader or Chair of the Appropriations Committee.

Are streetcars made of magic?

Actually they are in at least two key factors:
1. Choice riders strongly prefer rail. Any number of studies have shown this again and again. We have an example here in Seattle where the free 99 bus gets hardly any riders but the pay waterfront streetcar was full during daylight hours in the summer.
2. Rail spurs development in ways bus lines, even BRT and trolley buses, don’t.

There is also the ability of rail to carry more passengers per operator. Generally rail also tends to “bunch” less when operating on short headways. Rail vehicles last 3 to 4 times as long as buses (yes even trolley buses).