Dow Constantine spoke also spoke at last nights Admiral Neighborhood Association meeting about several local issues. He is running against fellow King County council member Larry Phillips for the county executive position that will be vacated by Ron Sims.

"Regarding the jail, the fact that relations between the county and its 39 cities have deteriorated so much and this bizarre (process) taking place with all these jail sites and proposals says something," he said last night. "We need to have a conversation between the 39 cities in the county, the city, port and state. There's never a rational discussion between these (communities) on how to most effectively plan the 21st Century."

"King County employees can see inefficiencies. We have to...allow them to know they have job security, and won't get fired, while they tell us what we can do better. If it's dependent on the guy at the top, you can't do it. To keep the engine moving smoothly you need (the other) employees which requires a change in culture."

"In the era of limited resources we simply have to be willing to take on structures that are no longer serving their original purpose if we are to liver on the underlying mission which is to serve the people."

"We have people in Olympia talking about property tax to pay for transportation service, which is generally not done. Fundamentally the state will have to come up with taxes that are more related to transportation, whether it is vehicle license fees, road tolling, or something else."

"We're broke. We have a $100 million deficit in the general fund, another $100 million deficit in Metro because of downturn in sales tax."

Someone at the meeting thanked Constantine for his role in saving the First United Methodist Church downtown. "I was outside the other day and the details emerging are just fantastic," said Constantine. "It turns 100 years old next year. And to think it was going to be dumped."