We voted for artwork at public facilities. Bus drivers EARN the money, and this is cheaper than more or part time drivers. The small numbers for these things PALE in comparison to the BILLIONS that are legitimately spent. I APPLAUD all the hardworking DOT workers who are doing a hell of a job this week, I hope they get paid double.

How much do you earn, generating this crap?
Yours are all petty, pointless, overused complaints from those who have no real story to push, and just want to generate anger in search of ratings. How sad, that you have to act like a Fox station just to keep this dead show alive.
I had hoped you would go somewhere after Mak, I can see I wait in vain. Unsubscribing now, good luck, you will need it.

Working a lot of hours to make more money is something I thought we respected in America. I am sure there will be a bunch of DOT employees making extra money this year with the storms. For many employers, with the cost of benefits, overtime isn't much more expensive than hiring new employees. When you add in the flexiblity of scheduling workers on overtime in a big complex system like Metro, overtime is often a good value. Should Ron Sims and King County Council be requiring premium share on benefits for County employees and freeze wage increases, YES! Should we jump to the conclusion that bus drivers working a lot of overtime is a bad decision by Metro, No; because its probably not.

My husband and I ride Seattle buses daily to get to work. Bus drivers have, in our opinion, one of the toughest jobs in the county. They constantly must juggle traffic, weather, and (at times) unruly passengers. They are hard-working, just like the rest of us, and trying to make ends meet. They are simply using every opportunity they can to make an extra dollar. From our experience, veteran drivers are the best, safest, and most reliable drivers on the roads. They are ABSOLUTELY not overpaid and are worth EVERY PENNY.

Sweet. Bus drivers should get paid like that. The more you work, the more you get paid. Makes sense to me. People don't want to be bus drivers, now maybe they will. The bus driver is often over looked but a very important part of our community. Freeze wage increases? That is a strange thing to add into this.

Great reporting! Someone needs to reming public officials that it is our money that they are spending and they should treat it like it is their own.

I wish that you would have pointed out better that the older bus drivers (ant others)are just running up their retirement pay (forever) by working excessive overtime in their last few years.

Thanks

I liked your story on who is watching the tax payers dollars. however bus drivers work hard and I do not envy their pay.
Areas i see wasteful are at the king county conservation district, renton, they are funded by tax payers in a $10/parcel assessment. They have over a 1 million dollar budget but what do they do ? they bought a new truck last year and it was driven maybe twice in the year, why would not a second hand truck not do. they pay over $8,500 per month for one consultant to help with outreach for over the past 3 years meanwhile they have a staff of 17. there are other consultants on the pay roll for other ridiculuous services for years, its worth checking it our given that king co employees are forced into furloughs. call the manager jeffrey possinger.

Am I the only one frustrated on how the state hires incompetent people that make unintelligent choices? When I heard about how the state spent $17.5 million dollars to pay overtime for metro drivers, I was shocked. I would like to see a list that ranks job pays for Washington State Employees from the highest tot he lowest. Because I am curious where our teachers, police officers, fir fighters fall in. The fact is, we have unintelligent people working for the state of Washington making dumb decisions, much like the $126,000 truck thats just sitting in a parking lot. WE HAVE HOMELESS PEOPLE LIVING IN THE STREETS! yet we buy trucks that are worth $126,000 just to sit in a parking lot.

When I saw the amount of OT someone is making at Metro as a driver, some OT is ok, but to double or triple your salary with OT is working quite a bit of hours over the normal 2,080 ST hrs a year (52 wks x 40).

When I hear they are doing it to make their pension the biggest they can based on last 3 years? I would probably do the same. Perhaps the pension system needs to be reformed on how their pension is paid out.

I drive for a living for a company and they won't let us drive more than 60 hours a week TOTAL! This includes any commute time from home/work/home. I don't drive a total of 40 hrs but with the time deducted that I'm out of the vehicle doing pickups/deliveries reduces it. The company has 4,000 drivers, 35,000 employees total. They have done studies and found more accidents occur when you drive too much.

I am glad the County is looking at the OT issue. Yes, a few hours OT may be cheaper than hiring more employees when you take Total Compensation for the driver. But when a driver works 1,650 of OT, I think a part-time driver should be utilized to keep costs down.

The City of Seattle got caught and broke the law/guidelines building that new training center and IMHO they knew it.

I disagree that 1% for artwork should be the norm.

In Tacoma, the I-5 widening project between T Dome and Hwy 16 had concrete panels with designs on them (1/4 circles).

On part of the project they covered up to half of the wall with dirt. So why spend money for designs on concrete when it's covered up? Instead of 1% of the project cost, set a maximum limit of say $50,000 for any project.

The truck fiasco in Snohomish County reminds me of a similar truck purchased by Sound Transit for $250,000 this year. It is used for Maintenance of Right of Way (MOW).

Sound Transit admitted the first truck they purchased wouldn't work in the Beacon Hill Tunnel. So they bought another one! They said "we only need one truck", but since the first one wouldn't work in tunnel, they bought a second one. WASTE OF TAXPAYER MONIES.

I hope Linda Byron and Suzanne would do a story on that.

People who work for these agencies that don't think this is a big deal should be fired.

WHEN DOES IT STOP???

Just heard that Seattle streets are not clear of snow yet. Could it be that too much was spent clearing streets for access to the stupid football game? Where are the city's priorities?

Seattle streets... UGH

I live in Tacoma but drive a route in Seattle and for the first time the Seattle streets were WORSE than TACOMA!!! Tacoma focuses on the hill going into from Tacoma so buses and workers can get downtown, then they start to work the same streets westward. Usually just do the intersections first. They never hit any residential streets either.

Seattle says they won't use salt... the W Seattle bridge was totally clean which was great for safety of drivers. Fauntleroy at 35th SW wasgood too, then 35th SW going South was TERRIBLE!

I bet there will cars getting front end alignments after this fiasco.

Probably shouldn't ask, but I wonder how the streets were around the Mayor's residence in W Seattle??

thehill.com

www.politico.com

My peeve is this whole entire stinking worthless and most Godless society in the existence of the US that I live in today!

I hate everything about the US that is possible to the same extent I love money. To start, it is too bad I don't have much money. Why? Because the lazy US citizens, and they are outnumbered by the noncitizens, I feel, do nothing but let business and government run all over them. Nobody is going to prison and none of the three worthless want-to-be presidents said one word about enacting laws through Congress to keep this from happening again. I don't have to say it will happen again because it has not stopped.

Enron taught this country nothing and Sarbeans Oxley is a joke like Mr. Cox, the head of the SEC.

After 9/11, I attended Embry-Riddle, number one in the world for aviation, as an engineer. To see the name-blame game being played as to why the towers fell, I worked there before, was disgusting! Everyone should have hit their knees and thanked God it was a miracle they went straight down.

Nobody rallied against the president for not going after the Saudi's. 18 out of 19 were from where?

We have a new president that cannot speak properly without a teleprompter, he admitted, and the other admitted he knows nothing about Economics. And you let the media have the audacity to compare the first to Bobby Kennedy?

Wake up, America! There are no more statesmen in this country anymore. Bobby was the brains of the Kennedy Administration. And Reagan knew nothing except to deregulate everything and that is one of the many reasons we are where we are. He left it open for a field-day for banks and other financial institutions to start ruining this country.

Papa Bush helps Hussein in giving him chemicals so we knew they were there and junior Bush said we had to go see if he had any. He royally screwed up the attack and war; and it is a war.

Clinton sold secrets to the Chinese military as well as equipment and the stupid Americans know nothing about China and more over, the relationship between China and Russia. Gore and Clinton should have been shot and tried for treason, and in that order.

You say it is okay for him to commit adultery? He is the president of the US. He is supposed to set an example your morons.

This country has been spiraling downhill for almost 25 years, slowly, and picking up speed. The greatest country with the greatest economy spread worldwide destruction last year and this year and it cost me $84K in 6 months in supposedly safe annuities.

I will bring one particular lawsuit on this to try to recoup some. I also am making plans to move from my own country. Pitiful after my family came here 500 years ago on my father's side and 260 on my mothers.

I have no tolerance anymore for outsourcing 23 million jobs to third-world countries all for higher dividends and there are none now, for businessmen to pocket hundreds of millions of dollars a year, for CEO's to steal and get away with it, for no accountability, no responsibility, no morals, no sense of right and wrong, no decency, no civility, no nothing.

I have predicted already that we will be a third-world country within 25 years. We have no manufacturing here, we have a new president who sleeps in church and if he attended even 40% of services in the 20 years he went he would have had to hear some of the racial slanders by his Pastor so he must have been sleeping and that is not what church is for.

The NY governor is to appoint a new Senator. It is supposed to be a person from the state legislature or someone who has held some kind of high office. Why the hell would anyone want Caroline Kennedy? It shows how stupid people are here and do not know the rules, laws, what is expected, whatever.

What do you want when we take in so many from other countries who are uneducated or do not speak English. I work for such a place right now just to feed my family, and the VP thinks it is ok that workers do not speak English or read and write it. Brilliant thinking Jorge Perilli!!

This country will be destroyed by China through information warfare. I lived there and I am going back. I made great contacts and I see where they are going and one place is to the top. The US will not be in the top 10 10-14 years from now and we will eventually lose our worth to Asia.

It is funny to see Bush demand the RMB change value or Hillary tell Bush to avoid the opening ceremony of the Olympics. She'll be a great president dealing with China.

When people get their heads on straight and wake up and realize we are losing it in education, health care, industry, etc., then we can start rebuilding. The way we are going we will never be what we were ever again. Yes, we will have good moments but long-term you can forget. No good jobs, no jobs at all. You can mark it on your calendar today; the next four years will be a lot of turmoil.

In closing the last statistic tried to tell me 80% are Christians. By numbers alone that is impossible because of the number of Jews, Muslims, etc. Forgetting that, do you think we would have a $13 billion porno industry? Do you think crime rates would be double digit? Even if 45% were Bible believing Christians? Catholic means those who believe in Christ. Roman Catholic refers to the RC church. I say this because many do not understand this.

The RC church will fall in the end due to hard times of persecution. This country has fallen to the belief of godless men and women who run it and tell you this is how it is going to be. Try rotating senators, mayors, congressmen, city council, and presidents like a revolving door. Get them out immediately until we get those who will really do what is right for you and your children.

If you care.

Ted Kennedy killed a woman while drunk and committing adultery and never went to jail. Tells you something about the people of MA.

Wake up before it is too late. Read, learn to analyze, look 15 years into the future like the Japanese or we will lose our place.