PI

Yesterday Jordan laid out how Washington State’s regressive tax system is damaging our schools, leading to the teacher strike we are now going through. Not only that, but property taxes and sales taxes focus the burden of taxes on middle and lower income individuals, amplifying housing affordability problems in the process. Back in 2010, 68% of people in Seattle voted for the income tax proposed by initiative 1098. Unfortunately, the initiative lost on the East side and in rural Washington, with 54%…

The teachers' strike continues: no school for your (public school) kiddos today, Monday Sept 14th. My sense is that there is near universal support for the teachers amongst the parents and citizens of Wallingford, and you can count me amongst the supporters as well. That said, I don't think the district is the main villain here: the citizens of Washington State are partly to blame. The root of the problem is that there just isn't enough tax money to pay enough teachers…

The Harvest Breakfast scheduled for this morning by the WCSC is cancelled because their fridge broke. In other cancellation news, the teacher strike is resulting in the postponement of the the JSIS Playground meeting this Monday. The Tilth Harvest Festival is not reliant on a fridge or teachers so it's still on from 10 to 4 today. Check out chickens, goats, honeybees, and a rooster. If you're interested in waterways or other Community Council doings, they'll have a booth at the festival as well.…

If you're feeling burnt over the teacher's strike, bitter over the Art of Confections debacle, and just plain gobsmacked by the entire Republican presidential field, perhaps you could take some solace in nice, creamy slice of cheesecake. Kara Burfiend of The SweetSide (254 NE 45th St) writes: I want to invite you to pop into The SweetSide this Saturday to help us celebrate the bakery's 1st Birthday! We will be giving away slices of our signature cakes and cheesecakes all day as well as some…

This strike is just sad. Both the SEA union president, Jonathon Knapp, and the SPS superintendent, Larry Nyland, seem like level headed people that deescalate situations. Larry Nyland graduated from Seattle Public Schools and has a track record of staying put in superintendent jobs without causing trouble. Jonathon Knapp is a moderate in the union who was elected over the firebrand Jesse Hagopian. Why couldn't they just split the difference in negotiations? It seems like this strike is the result of pent…

As this past weekend's weather will attest, autumn is on the horizon. Goodbye long, hot and dry, hello long, dark and wet. But there's still some cheer left to be had before we zip summer up and stow it in the garage for the next nine months: Seattle Tilth will be celebrating its annual Harvest Fair this Saturday, September 12th at Meridian Park in Wallingford. Liza Burke tells us that in addition to the fact that it is co-produced by Tilth Producers…