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Amazon stops HQ construction in protest of proposed Seattle tax
According to the Stranger, Amazon has temporarily halted construction on its headquarters in downtown Seattle until an upcoming vote on a per-employee business tax designed to generate $75 million for affordable housing. Council member Mike O’Brien apparently asked Amazon for input on a fairer tax system in the city. “They said they’d have to get back to me on that,” he told the Stranger. Meanwhile, Seattle Weekly reports that Sound Transit, the regional transit authority in Seattle and surrounding counties will dedicate all its surplus land near light rail stations to affordable housing. And Paul Constant, writing for Civic Skunk Works, has had it with well-to-do complainers about Seattle: “I live in Seattle because I believe we can solve these problems. In fact, I believe that only a city like Seattle—forward-facing, empathetic—can confront these challenges, and thereby lead the way for the rest of the nation.”
More First Nations join opposition to BC pipeline
National Observer reports that 133 new First Nations in Canada have formally voiced opposition to the proposed $7.4 billion expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline in British Columbia. Meanwhile, Clark Williams-Derry, writing for Sightline, notes a little-noticed reason for KinderMorgan to back out of the expansion: Canadian law sets no limits on the damages the company could be responsible for if a spill occurs.
Tribes advance plan to get salmon above Grand Coulee dam
The Spokesman-Review has the story of how Washington state tribes are pushing to use new techniques to capture and truck migrating salmon and steelhead to the Columbia River above Grand Coulee Dam. In related news, as the US and Canada negotiate a new treaty about the Columbia River, tribes have been left out of negotiations.
Eastern Oregon school districts upset about transgender book
According to the East Oregonian, the Hermiston school district is pulling out of a statewide “Battle of the Books” event because of the inclusion of George, the story of a boy who prefers to identify as a girl. Oregon Live has more on the controversy. The dust-up runs counter to the efforts of a queer summit in Portland in March: “I feel like if kids are growing up and learning these things are normal and are human, the culture can change.”
Portland art events for May + Best Seattle Music
Oregon Arts Watch has round-up of cool art events throughout Portland in May, including a “best of YouTube” event curated by local artists. Meanwhile, City Arts picks a sampling of rad new music from Seattle artists so far this year.
Indigenous People’s Day — a poem by Nikita Oliver
The super cool lit journal Moss has a great lineup in their new issue (you should buy a copy here) including, “Indigenous People’s Day 2017,” a poem that’s a perfect follow up to May Day by slam poet, activist and former mayoral candidate Nikita Oliver:
“Red and Black stand
on a shore of White expectation
fragile and salt-watered…”
Read the full poem here.
That’s your daily dose of news, arts, & culture and righteous indignation from across Cascadia. –Andrew Engelson
Photo credits: photo of Bezos’s balls at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters by Andrew Engelson