Jim

Bullshit! The overwhelming majority of state employees aren't cops or bus drivers. The terms of the deal they got are outrageous of course but taking it out on "public employees" or claiming that "our" taxes are going to go up for that reason is a lie (actually a few of them) I think the point is that folks are tired of seeing this kind of stuff. Similarly King County refused to negoiate with their employee's union to have them pay more of their share for medical benefits - which would have brought closer to what is paid by the private sector and would have saved taxpayers something like 10 million over 5 years. We are voting on taxes this November - the income tax and the potential repeal of the soda/junk food tax. Jayb has a valid point. Given that folks are hard pressed why would they vote for taxes when they see this stuff going on? It's taxpayer money.

meanwhile.. Danny Westneat Seattle Times staff columnist Last week there was a cop in the paper saying he was looking around for jobs elsewhere because the budget problems here are so bad. "We're crime fighters, we're police officers," a King County sheriff's detective told Seattle Times reporter Keith Ervin. "With all these cuts we would have to say we're not able to do our jobs. We can't protect the people we're paid to serve." That is a nice sentiment. You do the job mostly because you love it. The money is a side benefit. If only, when it comes to King County, there was evidence this was true. It turns out these same police officers are in the middle of getting a 27 percent pay boost, spanning five years. Their bosses at the county asked the police union to consider forgoing some of that massive raise in the final two years of the five-year contract, as part of an emergency, countywide pay freeze. So far, no go. "The indications are, they clearly are not interested in doing that," says Fred Jarrett, deputy county executive. "At all." Yet the county just announced plans to lay off 30 cops. There's pain like that across every department. This week the county said it would cut its core social-services funding all the way to zero. None of this is the workers' fault. But they are the largest expense, by far. So they were asked to take a one-year freeze in pay. It isn't even a complete pay freeze, because they could still get step raises by seniority. But so far, only 600 of the county's 10,000 unionized employees — 6 percent — have agreed to this modest step. The cops' contract is so rich, with guaranteed 5 percent raises every year, that if they went along with a one-year freeze the savings would erase the need to lay off any cops at all. "I would give up my 5 percent raise to save the job of another deputy," said Sgt. John Urquhart, the sheriff's spokesman, whose pay is covered under the contract. "But then again I live in King County because I can afford to, my kids are grown and out of college, and my wife works. Most deputies don't have those luxuries." Except that last year, 330 of the roughly 750 members of the King County police force made more than $100,000, including overtime. Twenty-five made more than $140,000. Some of those are chiefs and high-rankers. But most are police out on the county beat. The highest paid was Deputy Mike Miner. He made $228,000 — $128,000 in overtime pay alone. I get they have demanding jobs, way tougher than most of us. But 27 percent raises are the stuff of bubbles that popped long ago. Would it kill to freeze these whopping pay levels for a year — especially if it meant protecting the public at full force, as is said to be so important? I called the union to ask, but haven't heard back (yet!). Jarrett said he thinks many of the unions still don't get it. "I would say, with some exceptions, that most seem more interested in maintaining their compensation packages than in saving jobs," he said. This was confessed, bluntly, by the head of the union for Metro bus drivers, Paul Bachtel. He recently told Times reporter Mike Lindblom: "They [drivers] don't expect to give up wages, benefits, working conditions, when the transit agency could cut some of its services, and not take away pay." Got that? Cut services first. Services to you. I'm in a union, so I understand this is part bluster. You talk tough now to make a better deal later. It's also ultimately management's fault. It was the Metropolitan King County Council, in December 2008 — well after the financial system collapsed — that awarded the 27 percent police raises. But forget about them. There's a third party at this bargaining table: Us. And in six weeks we're being asked to raise our taxes. Supposedly to save the cops and courts and the rest of King County from what they're calling economic Armageddon. Twenty-seven percent raises? They can save themselves first. Then we'll talk. Danny Westneat's column appears Wednesday and Sunday. Reach him at 206-464-2086 or dwestneat@seattletimes.com.

On the flip side if you're arguing for such a change you could present a privately run Port that is pulling in a profit without proping up from public resources and is meeting it's environmental regulatory responsibilities - and is in the U.S. and is at least as big as, say, the Port of Vancouver.

That doesn't look like a tele boot to me.

From the WCC website. Seems reasonable to me.

OK - wow, that is a knot of issues. Thanks again. And the rub......if the powers that be really wanted to make sure the birds are protected at all costs....they would close the trail. Plain and simple. But like you said....it might disrupt their landmark tourist sites. So it is also plain and simple that the birds and their welfare are not high on the list of firsts for the WSP. Just to extend my curiousity on the issue, and show my ignoranace of the history; have the birds been consistently successful fledging young from this site?

OK - wow, that is a knot of issues. Thanks again.

Thank you for the clarification and the photo. If the issues is joint pain for climbers and hikers alike there may be a point - but again I don't know the details. If it's let us climb closer because the hikers aren't restricted, one bad decision doesn't deserve another.

Didn't I say, like three times above, that this isn't the only considerations. Maybe folks have already, but you could just ask the biologist in charge for his reasoning. And then go hike or climb somewhere else already. Sheesh.

Ditto on Second Ascent. Feathered Friends also has a bunch of plastic rentals for sale.

This factor in isolation is what tortures Kevin, however. And at Beacon in the end it makes all the difference. For much of the entire distance to the top tourists are either on the West face or are in the trees as they approach the South face (where the scrape is). They only emerge from them at two spots where they get anywhere near the plane of the cliff. They are never within line-of-sight of the nest or common perches. I can't answer specifics as I'm not familar with the site or the issues. But if someone asked me to set a safe buffer distance I'd review the literature, consider the sight AND hearing distance issues and take a conservative approach. I'd rather piss off a handful of climbers than risk disturbing the birds. But like I said, I haven't viewed the site and don't know the issues - so I'm speaking in generalities.

Finally wore out the old T2s and looking for something new. God those new boots look beefy. I'm looking for something versatile; day tours at Rainer, long days in the spring in the Cascades with some hiking, and a 6 day Sierra traverse this spring. Suggestions? Thanks. Currently have BD Crossbows as my all-around but also looking for some phat boards for pow.

This is the one Kevin can't quite grasp, that hikers at Beacon never break the plane of the cliff and only get vaguely close to doing so at two points. You should consider elaborating on that remark. Regarding line-of-sight issues; note I said it was one of may issues to consider. I could send you a slew of citations on this type of work and what you would come away with is the variability of the susceptability to disturbance of raptors to various factors. If your agency's mandate is to protect the natural resources you may choose a conservative approach given all the variables. And that goes along with my second point. IMO the cliffs, and the critters and plants that use them, should be treated with a bit more diligence and not just viewed as a jungle gym by weekend warriors. Ya know, an outdoor esthetic kinda thing.

I doubt you'll find closures were 'carefully documented' except in areas where there was active monitoring resources which is likely a small percentage of closures. Given all the closures were of at least some minimum size (say 300m), I don't suspect you'd find much in the data other than overall closures work. From my experience it's more to do with site specific conditions. If a pair is nesting in the same spot year after year then a more focused approach can be taken to minimize the buffer distance. If a pair nests in different locations year to year then a more conservative approach is warranted. Other factors, such as line-of-site view, use of cliffs by other raptors, intensity of recreation use int he area often are considerations. My biased view is that the cliffs are more than an extesion of the climbing gym and restrictions can easily be accomodated.

Who climbs in plastic? Everyone I ran into in Bolivia. I was up high for a month and used Scarpa Invernos. Light and warm. Up high I had every piece of clothing on including a soft shell upper and my down jacket. Feet were comfortable, a little cold early morning near 20k ft.

Just for clarity - I not arguing that those unfortunate steps were not necessary, just that they illustrate that private enterprises can be as screwed up, if not more, than public run entities.

While I think there's a handful of items that government could hand over to private industry - liquor stores for one - I don't think the Port is a good example. If it were run by a private industry - yea THEY would make a profit of some sort and WE would end up paying for infrastructure upgrades that were "outside the scope of standard operating procedures". Shoot - from the abundant craters around us from private indurstry nosedives it doesn't appear that private companies can run automobile manufacturing, banking, insurance companies, risk analysis firms and a multitude of other endeavors. Boeing gets huge tax breaks, energy companies get subsidies of all sorts, and corporate farms get corn subsidies. The idea that there is some inherent market efficiency spread like jam over all human actions is a crock. Like anything else, it just depends on who is running the show.

There's state statues protecting the bird as well. The Migratory Bird Act pertains to all migrating birds but is selectively enforced. Let's just say the chickadees are not as high on the list as peregines. Raptors, as top-end predators can be susceptible to any number of factors, but human disturbance can make them abandon their nest at critical times or affect the well-being of the nestlings. After not having peregrines around for so long in suitable habitat the resource agencies are making efforts to place adequate human-use controls on disruptive activities - such as climbing near nests - to aid in their continued occupancy. Think about it - what other critter do they have to worry about getting near their nest?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-03-04-federal-pay_N.htm Federal employees earn higher average salaries than private-sector workers in more than eight out of 10 occupations, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data finds. Accountants, nurses, chemists, surveyors, cooks, clerks and janitors are among the wide range of jobs that get paid more on average in the federal government than in the private sector. Overall, federal workers earned an average salary of $67,691 in 2008 for occupations that exist both in government and the private sector, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The average pay for the same mix of jobs in the private sector was $60,046 in 2008, the most recent data available. These salary figures do not include the value of health, pension and other benefits, which averaged $40,785 per federal employee in 2008 vs. $9,882 per private worker, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. But National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley says the comparison is faulty because it "compares apples and oranges." Federal accountants, for example, perform work that has more complexity and requires more skill than accounting work in the private sector, she says. "When you look at the actual duties, you see that very few federal jobs align with those in the private sector," she says. She says federal employees are paid an average of 26% less than non-federal workers doing comparable work. Office of Personnel Management spokeswoman Sedelta Verble, says higher pay also reflects the longevity and older age of federal workers. USA TODAY used Bureau of Labor Statistics data to compare salaries in every federal job that had a private-sector equivalent. For example, the federal government's 57,000 registered nurses — working for the Veterans Administration and elsewhere — were paid an average of $74,460 a year, $10,680 more than the average for private-sector nurses. The BLS reports that 216 occupations covering 1.1 million federal workers exist in both the federal government and the private sector. An additional 124 federal occupations covering 750,000 employees — air-traffic controllers, tax collectors and others — did not have direct equivalents, according to the BLS. What? Federal jobs have more limited salary ranges than private-sector jobs, some of which have million-dollar payouts. Key findings: • Federal. The federal pay premium cut across all job categories — white-collar, blue-collar, management, professional, technical and low-skill. In all, 180 jobs paid better average salaries in the federal government; 36 paid better in the private sector. •Private. The private sector paid more on average in a select group of high-skill occupations, including lawyers, veterinarians and airline pilots. The government's 5,200 computer research scientists made an average of $95,190, about $10,000 less than the average in the corporate world. Not considering benefits •State and local. State government employees had an average salary of $47,231 in 2008, about 5% less than comparable jobs in the private sector. City and county workers earned an average of $43,589, about 2% more than private workers in similar jobs. State and local workers have higher total compensation than private workers when the value of benefits is included.

Go Storm!

Yea. They got discounted loans and tax credits. Anything different (a lot less) than you think the oil industry and natural gas is getting? Don't see your point. About your larger point of this not being a viable industry, well that's by the wayside.

Seems that the financial experiment of the last 10 years is a pretty good indicator of trying Plan B - some regulation is needed. Duh.

Join us on Sept. 23 at Patagonia Seattle and on Sept. 24 at the Northwest Film Forum for the Wild and Scenic Film Festival on tour – a selection of environmentally themed films produced by small, independent filmmakers from around the world. From the impassioned to the whimsical, festival films cover a wide range of subject matter from climbing expeditions in Africa, to sustainable farming in the United States, to surfing the Snake River. Friends of the Cedar River Watershed is hosting the festival and will share with you their Watershed Report – a survey of the Cedar River Watershed reported and produced by area high school students. They’re also holding an amateur photo contest. Tickets are $8 in advance; $10 at the door. Advance tickets and contest information are available at cedarriver.org, Brown Paper Tickets and at the Patagonia Seattle store. The festival is sponsored by Patagonia, Osprey Packs, Clif Bar, Sierra Nevada Brewing, Magnolia Audio Visual, and Tom’s of Maine. Thursday, September 23, 7-9 pm At Patagonia Seattle, 2100 First Ave., Seattle, 206-622-9700 Films: Lady Bug Swarm, A Story of STRAW, The Watershed Report, Get Up Stand Up, Peter and Ben, Way Point Namibia Directions to the store Friday, September 24, 6:30-8:30 pm At Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, Seattle Films: The Fun Theory, Ascending Giants, Flathead Wild, The Watershed Report, Planting Hope, Nature Propelled Directions to the Northwest Film Forum Friends of the Cedar River Watershed is a non-profit organization inspiring conservation and protection of local watersheds through restoration, education, and stewardship. The Friends focus on working with community volunteers to improve fish and wildlife habitat, educate river visitors and community members, and engage community groups and governments in water quality improvements.