Hiring still open for Election Day jobs
The November general election is only eight days away - Nov. 6 - and the King County Elections office is still recruiting civic-minded people to help staff polling places around the county.
Vance Julien, the poll-worker coordinator, says up to 500 more workers are needed, especially on the Eastside, in Bothell, Kenmore, Kirkland, Redmond, Woodinville, North Bend, Duvall, Carnation, Snoqualmie, Issaquah and Sammamish.
The county operates 407 polling places, with more than 4,000 poll workers needed to assist in setting up and closing polling places on Election Day and instructing voters on proper voting procedures.
Bilingual poll workers are needed, too, to provide language assistance to Chinese voters with limited English skills.
Workers receive paid training and pay for working on Election Day, from about 6 a.m. to about 9 p.m., an hour after the polls close. If you’re interested or want more information, call the poll-worker coordination office at 206-296-1606.
Civic calendar
County budget process
This week: Two more public hearings are scheduled this week to allow King County residents the opportunity to share their ideas on county budget priorities with members of the Metropolitan King County Council. Hearings will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Bellevue City Hall, 450 110th Ave. N.E. in Bellevue, and at 7 p.m. Thursday in the County Council chambers at 516 Third Ave., in downtown Seattle.
Getting around
The computer system that controls the state Department of Transportation’s traffic Web site for traveler information is being upgraded. Over the next few months, engineers will be testing a new server-based system. During testing, some traffic data - including travel times between Bellevue and Federal Way, and between Bellevue and Tukwila along Interstate 405 - will not be available on the Web site. But cameras still will display views of the route. Testing will take place intermittently weekdays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and during some weekends. But testing will not be done in times of significant traffic delays, weather events or major collisions. Testing should be completed and the site switched to the new system by the first of the year.
Traffic watch
This week: The left inside lanes of South Royal Brougham Way near Seattle’s Pioneer Square district will be closed in both directions between Third Avenue South and Occidental Avenue South from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Friday while workers drill holes to take soil samples. The two right outside lanes will remain open to traffic.
To submit an item to Here & Now, e-mail herenow@seattletimes.com or call 206-464-2226.
Oct. 29, 1929: In a day that became known as Black Tuesday, investors rushed to sell their stocks, which were falling in price. Stock prices plummeted to record lows. The New York Stock Exchange was overwhelmed, and fortunes were lost. In the early-morning hours, anxious men and women jammed into the two local stock clearinghouses, the Seattle Stock Exchange and Seattle Curb Exchange, both located in the downtown Exchange Building on Second Avenue. Throughout the day, Seattle stock exchanges and local stockbrokers’ offices were packed with tense stockholders witnessing the crash. The Seattle Daily Times reported that day: “A veritable bedlam of activity reigned in leading stock brokerage houses in Seattle.” But reports also said the collapse of the stock market didn’t seem to affect King County’s retail trade. The free fall in stock prices continued for the next two weeks.
Source: Historylink.org