Early April 2014: 3 Down, 9 To Go

(PHOTO: Scott Terrell/Skagit Valley Herald)

We’re a fourth of the way through the year and the short list of things I said I’d be looking for in 2014 has gotten shorter, while the verdict’s still out on a few:

I think it’s pretty clear that nobody rose to govern in the Legislature or in the Governor’s office this past session but maybe that’s the strategy of divided government: make sure nothing happens so you can say the fault is divided government then go raise money for another election— so we don’t have divided government. The best we can say about this legislative session is that nothing bad happened to the environment. We’ll still have to wait to see who will rise to govern next year.

It’s a shame the session wrapped up before the 25th memorial anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill on March 24 and the Galveston oil spill coming at the same time. It may have prompted more serious consideration of the oil spill prevention measures and fees proposed. There’s always the opportunity to remember the BP Gulf disaster this month, saying so inspiring words around Earth Day and hope there is no major spill here.

Still haven’t heard whether anyone’s figured out what caused our starfish to die. Haven’t heard much about whether they’re still dying. Still worrisome.

As we wrote earlier, the Puget Sound Partnership’s new executive director is fully on board and the Leadership Council has the blood of new members. We may not know for awhile whether it’s a new game or game over but an early measure would whether the draft 2014 Action Agenda creates some excitement. I’ve been told discussions have been scheduled for April 8 in Edmonds and April 15 in Tacoma. As always, we stay tuned. [4/10 edit: The Partnership cancelled the 4/8 Edmonds meeting and announced in a 4/9 news release  the Edmonds meeting would be on 4/16. The 4/15 Tacoma date remains unchanged. Go here to read about the updates.


No Seahawks for a few more months but there’s Mariner baseball to strut and fret over. 10th Man, anyone?

--Mike Sato