A buddy of legendary Seattle tech sleazball (Microsoft, Infospace, Intelius) Naveen Jain is in some trouble ...

Intelius co-founder accused of lying about sex acts
A co-founder of the Bellevue-based people-finder service Intelius has pleaded not guilty to a charge of lying to a grand jury about having sex with dancers at Rick's as part of the ongoing prosecution of strip-club owner Frank Colacurcio Sr. and the government's efforts to shut his clubs down.

By Mike Carter

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Also: Naveen Jain’s Latest Scam: Intelius

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Hilarious! Here's Jain's son - deluded Seattle rich kid Ankur Jain - defending his father's good name:

"Intelius has one of the strongest business models I have come across with one of the most passionate set of leaders in the online industry. More importantly, these directors have an unbelievably high level of integrity."

Ankur Jain: “I Would Like To Address My Dad’s Character”

Update 1-12-2010
I love all the traffic this post is getting - even though I wrote only a headline and linked to someone else's story. As lazy as a blog post gets.

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McGinn on marijuana: Legalize it
Seattle Mayor-elect Mike McGinn said during a radio interview Friday that he supports efforts to make it legal to use marijuana in Washington state.

-Seattlepi.com

Posted by Chris Grygiel at December 18, 2009 3:27 p.m.
Categories: Seattle politics, Washington State Legislature

Update 8-25-09:
Did I say $5 Million in June? I meant 25 million.
Seattle Times: "Family of Edmonds man injured by sheriff's deputy to file claim"

$25M claim filed over Wash. deputy's hard tackle
By TIM KLASS / ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

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Update 8-24-09:
Seattle Times: Family of Edmonds man injured by sheriff's deputy to file claim

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Publisher's Desk - by Alex R. Mayer
Cinerama Movie brings in $5 Million

From Belltown Messenger #68 - June 2009

I have many troubling connections to Seattle’s Cinerama, location of the May 10 Belltown head-bashing incident luridly video-captured by a security-cam. Saw the Seattle premiere of Godfather 3 there in 1990 and then hurled in front of Ralph’s Grocery and Deli across the street. Get this: a hapless witness to the bashing, standing just five feet away? A Belltown Messenger newsbox. Oh, and I made a crazy film about the Cinerama’s owner and billionaire savior, Paul Allen, called “Paul Alien,” in 2005. In which I playfully accuse him of plotting with space aliens to destroy the world...

May 22, 2009
SEATTLE (AP) — Authorities have released surveillance video showing a burly sheriff's deputy slamming a man head first into a wall earlier this month, leaving him in a coma.

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KIRO:
"The takedown in Belltown that left an Edmonds man critically injured was captured on a surveillance camera. WARNING: Video is graphic."

If it bleeds, it leads. Some more sleazy, exploitative trash from King-5:

Belltown residents join forces to take back their neighborhood

06:08 PM PDT on Sunday, April 26, 2009
By ERIC WILKINSON / KING 5 News

Seems like the age of Google Maps has backfired on the corporatocracy - it's real easy now to look up the homes of greedy CEOs and then go and smash up their black Mercedes S600, maybe break some windows in their house. You would not see this in civilized Seattle. We don't drive ostentatious cars like that. Well, maybe on the East Side.

Watch this "violent revolution" trend to continue in first-world countries through the Summer of 2009. A positive note - this vandalism trend might convince more of our moneyed elites to move to the relative anonymity of a Belltown condo, contributing to our downtown revival. It's real hard to damage a tenth floor condo, or to look up what it looks like on Google, for that matter.

Vandals Hit Home of Ex-Chief of Bank

On Sun, Mar 8, 2009 at 3:38 PM, wrote:

Hello Belltown folks, I am forwarding this to all of you. Sara has summed this up pretty well. We are ready to take ownership of our neighborhood and send the message that we are proud of where we live and work and we are not going to tolerate the undesirable criminal element any longer.

We have already done all the work putting this together. All we need now is for you guys to come take a walk with us. Pretty simple really, and you get some exercise. This has worked in other neighborhoods, not just in Seattle, but around the country. I think you will all be pleasantly surprised at the results of your efforts. Please distribute the flyer, if you can. I hope to see you all, if not at the info session, then on our first walk.

Thank you for your help and support.

Brett Paulson

----- Original Message -----

From: "Sara Wysocki"
Cc: BelltownNeighbors@gmail.com
Sent: Friday, March 6, 2009 2:36:41 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: Belltown Citizens on...

The Dispatch got this email today from bartender and community organizer Brett Paulson. In my opinion a racially charged issue like "CRACK OUT OF BELLTOWN" is not appropriate on a special day like today. Brett, we'll get back to you on Wednesday.

Hello Belltown folks,

Now that the holidays are over and we have had our fill of snow, the next big meeting from the Belltown Community Council will be on WEDNESDAY, JAN. 21ST @ 6:00 PM IN THE BELL TOWER @ 2215 1st Ave. in the COMMUNITY ROOM.

This is a crucial meeting, guys. I have to tell you that after my
"ride along" with SPD last month, you really do realize that we have no Police Officers to spare and how terribly understaffed they really are. I recommend to every person who was as angry as I was @ the last huge turnout, to sign up for one of these. That being said, some of us have been working with the City of Seattle, SPD, King County Prosecutors Office, and The City Attorneys Office for a few weeks now, to come up with viable solutions for Belltown.I'm going to...

Update January 9, 2009

New York Times: Hearst Looks to Sell, or Close, Seattle Paper

Update January 6, 2009

There is almost no advertising in today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Macy's Clearance Sale, Sex For Life™, Tulalip Casino, A four inch Landmark Theatre ad, barely a page of classifieds and some public service announcements. And that's it. This is a disaster.

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Snowed in
by Geov, 12/24/2008, 9:28 AM - horsesass.org

(Happy Holidays - here's a post from HorsesAss.org to help you through these joyous times.)

I love snow. I always have. And it’s snowing. Again. It’s beautiful. I should be thrilled.

Instead, I’m just pissed off. We live on a hill, in Fremont, that’s been a skating rink for nearly a week now. I understand when side streets don’t get plowed during an emergency. But impassable for a week?

And it’s not just side streets. The nearest arterial is less than three blocks away. It’s flat. It connects to other streets that are flat (or, in one case, gently sloping). By all appearances, that street hasn’t been...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Matthew Beck (202) 225-8933
McDermott Contact: Mike DeCesare (202) 225-3106

December 5, 2008

Staggering Job Losses Highlight Need For

Improvements to Unemployment Insurance

House Legislation would modernize UI system

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced today that the U.S. economy lost 533,000 jobs last month, the largest one-month loss since 1974. Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-NY) and Income Security and Family Support Subcommittee Chairman McDermott (D-WA) responded by calling for the swift passage of the Unemployment Insurance Modernization Act (HR 2233) . This legislation would provide up to $7 billion for States to improve unemployment insurance coverage for many jobless workers who are now denied those benefits.

“Whether you care about fairness for workers or about stimulating the economy, ensuring that workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own have access to unemployment benefits is the right thing...

Update 12-09-2008

"Fire at Tilikum Place Cafe"- Actually it was a minor thing at Taco Del Mar next door (see comment below). My apologies for not correcting this information sooner. And hey - who posted this story? -Gern

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Massive fire response early this Saturday morning at the new Tilikum Place Cafe at 407 Cedar according to the 911 logs. First call out at 6:10a. Incident was closed by 6:30a so hopefully damage was limited.

View Larger Map

Again and again the Seattle P-I'sRobert L. Jamieson Jr.calls young black men "thugs,"a term the Downtown Dispatch has determined is racist and in poor taste for a general interest family style daily newspaper. Today he's talking about the Southcenter mall shootings and blaming Seattle Mayor Nickels for not stopping the violence somehow.

This man can not get through the week without using the "T" word to describe African Americans - odd, because he himself is a black man.

Daiquan Jones, a young black man, died after the Southcenter Mall shootings. According to the P-I, police suspect he claimed allegiance to the South End 74 Hoovers gang - an African-American criminal organization.

As gangs feud, we're all in the line of fire - By ROBERT L. JAMIESON JR. - P-I COLUMNIST

Also today The Los Angeles Times mentions The Tuba Man, Crosscut and the Belltown Peeper - that lady who filmed people smoking crack from her apartment window. Wow - all of our favorite downtown subjects!

Seattle's mayor is up in arms about guns
Mayor...

Seattle's alley-free alleyway program, or "Regrade Round Up" as some in the SPD are calling it, will begin closing alleys downtown in an attempt to disperse defecation, drug use and other illegal activity. Also coming soon - dumpster free alleys in Belltown, where trash will be picked up continuously.

"Working with local residents and business owners, the city will soon close several downtown alleys to anyone other than residents, property owners, or employees or customers of businesses adjacent to the alleyways."
City View by Tim Burgess - November 19, 2008

http://timothyburgess.typepad.com/tim_burgess_city_view_/2008/11/interesting-trivia.html

OBAMA WINS!... by all the top cartoonists!

Final Tuba Man Update - November 13, 2008

Oh the sanctimony. King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg never did jack squat for The Tuba Man while he was alive, but was more than happy to praise him in death, in front of 1,500 potential voters. That's according to Casey McNerthney of the Seattle P-I. Like the P-I's Jamieson, McNerthney uses right wing racist terminology favored by Fox TV personality John Walsh in his piece, describing The Tuba Man's attackers as "street thugs."

How many of those 1,500 mourners ever did jack squat for the Tuba Man, other than chuck him some chump change?

And how holier than thou am I? Well, I adopted a street musician in 1996 and he's been my friend ever since. I even made Three Finger Jack the star of my Seattle Trilogy of underground movies back in the old days. I've had dinner with Jack, drove him around alot of places, bought him alot of beer. Nobody ever did that for the Tuba Man.

I'd like to respectfully drop this story now and bid farewell to The Tuba Man. I'll leave you with...

At democracynow.org, of course!
Live Election Night Coverage
Democracy Now! will broadcast & video livestream a five-hour election night special on November 4th from 07:00PM–12:00AM ET to report the results as they come in.

On November 5th, Democracy Now! expands to a two-hour, “The Morning After” broadcast & video livestream from 08:00AM–10:00AM ET to provide complete coverage of the election outcome.

Ask your local TV & radio broadcasters to run this special programming and watch here.

http://www.democracynow.org/pages/election2008

Friday, October 31 1:39 pm EDT

By Anthony Faiola
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 10, 2008; Page A01
The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression is claiming another casualty: American-style capitalism.

DemocracyNow.org - October 6, 2008

Naomi Klein: Wall St. Crisis Should Be for Neoliberalism What Fall of Berlin Wall Was for Communism
"As the world reels from the financial crisis on Wall Street and the taxpayer-funded $700 billion bailout, we spend the hour with Naomi Klein on the economy, politics and “disaster capitalism.” The Shock Doctrine author recently spoke at the University of Chicago to oppose the creation of an economic research center named after the University’s most famous economist, Milton Friedman. Klein says Friedman’s economic philosophy championed the kind of deregulation that led to the current crisis." [includes rush transcript–partial]

Update: 10-08-2008
Taking Hard New Look at a Greenspan Legacy

“Not only have individual financial institutions become less vulnerable to shocks from underlying risk factors, but also the financial system as a whole has become more resilient.” — Alan Greenspan, former Federal Reserve chairman, 2004

West Precinct Emergency Airwaves - beta

Here's a Saturday version of our weekend police scanner test! We can not vouch for the accuracy of this information.

If you have a police scanner and would like to volunteer to do some liveblogging, once a week or even once a month, let us know.

downtowndispatch@gmail.com

Here is our first weekend "emergency airwaves" test. Special thanks to "Anonymous" for manning the scanners. "Anonymous" said it was a slow night for a Friday. We will begin regular police scanner reports in October, with follow-ups from police reports and other entertaining downtown crime information.

DISCLAIMER: Downtown Dispatch is a very small operation and we can by no means offer full 24 hour scanner reports, only an occasional taste. We are not legally responsible for the accuracy of this information.

The Seattle neighborhood blog that is doing a great job with scanner reports (for Seattle's East Precinct) is the Central District News.

KOMO.com - Passengers evacuated from stalled Seattle monorail
Story Published: Aug 23, 2008 at 4:37 PM PDT / Story Updated: Aug 23, 2008 at 6:14 PM PDT

Seattle Times - Saturday, August 23, 2008 - Page updated at 04:41 PM
Seattle Monorail stalls; passengers evacuated

Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Firefighters rescue stranded passengers after monorail malfunction

Thanks to our emergency Airwaves lady, who sent this to us at 4:10PM:

Monorail down - rescue in progress
The monorail is broken at 5 and Lenora. The fire dispatch site says "rescue rope."

Please note: we will soon be posting police scanner reports and other goodies to our Emergency Airwaves section, much like the centraldistrictnews.com does. Stay tuned!