Beginning in 2007, Pierce County started cracking down on illegal signs in public rights of way. The result: the county collected 16,149 signs in 2007-08.

Fed up with roadside clutter, many residents of unincorporated Pierce County loved it. But the crackdown ended last August amid questions about how to enforce the law and complaints that the crackdown was hurting an already slumping real estate industry.

But I was curious: where were the worst spots in Pierce County for illegal signs? So I recently requested data from the county public works department on the signs it collected during the

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These are the first signs of the 0.5 percent sales tax increase that was approved in November by voters in King and Snohomish counties. (It barely failed in Pierce County, but we’re part of the Sound Transit taxing district.)

Light rail from downtown Seattle almost to Sea-Tac Airport starts July 18.

Here are the changes most pertinent to Pierce County:

Starting June 1, the brand new ST Express Route 578 will provide early evening express bus service from downtown Seattle to Federal Way Transit Center, Auburn Station, Sumner Station and Puyallup Station, supplementing Sounder southline service and the ST Express Route 577 Federal Way-Seattle.

Also on June 1, Sounder commuter rail service will expand on the southline with the addition of one new round-trip train to the schedule. Adding these new peak-direction train trips will also introduce major schedule adjustments to southline Sounder service.

Taxes went up April 1.

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It is a special pot of money from federal stimulus appropriations intended to encourage states to break from the status quo on public education. Termed the Race to The Top Fund, the money will be sent to states that prove they are embracing change.

Among the changes President Obama is encouraging are improvements in teacher effectiveness and ensuring that all classrooms have qualified teachers, increasing college and career standards and having tough assessments, increasing performance of low-achieving schools and having good data to know what works and what doesn’t.

Some feel the late breakthrough of the education reform

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The state Department of Revenue just released this bit of news:

Plumbing Contractor Pleads Guilty to Stealing Sales Tax, Operating Business After License Revoked

Tacoma, Wash., May 28, 2009 — A Tacoma plumbing contractor plead guilty today to stealing sales tax he collected from customers and continuing to operate a business after his license was revoked.

Pierce County Superior Court Judge Susan K. Serko sentenced James. O. Beni Jr to one year in jail on each count but suspended the sentence after Beni paid more than $23,000 in restitution, penalties, and court costs.

Beni was charged in March after continuing to operate Pacific Plumbing and Heating, Inc., 5039 S. Washington St., despite repeated warnings by the Department of Revenue that such post-revocation activity was illegal.

Beni was accused of collecting and keeping at least $16,319 in state and local sales tax from customers after the Department closed his business in 2006 for nonpayment of taxes.

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Brian Zylstra, spokesman for Secretary of State Sam Reed, gave us a heads-up about Tim Eyman filing another proposed initiative to the people.

As Zylstra notes, Eyman & Co. would have only 5 weeks to collect almost 250,000 signatures on the measure if they’re shooting for the November 2009 ballot. Not even Eyman cuts it that close. In truth, he would have fewer than 5 weeks. And what if someone challenges the ballot title?

Methinks he’s doing his usual warmup for next year, getting the state Code Reviser to show him what his ballot measure would look like. Then he’ll file another version, and perhaps another, until he gets it right (for him.) I sent him an e-mail, asking him to clarify his intentions.

UPDATE(3:23 p.m.): Eyman replied via e-mail: “It’s research and development — one of several ideas for initiatives that we have for the future. It’s your call on its newsworthiness, but to me, it’s not even worth a blog posting.”

So, here’s a glimpse at the future, hispetition. And Zylstra’s e-mail to the press.

FYI, Tim Eyman today filed another initiative to the people that deals with car tabs. (Attached is a PDF of his affidavit and the initiative text.) The title he gave it is "Car Tabs: $30 plus whatever amount voters approve." Mike and Leo Fagan are co-sponsoring the initiative.

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Local politicos will join a long list of supporters at a rally for affordable health care in Tacoma Saturday. It’s part of a national network of events to build support for a health care overhaul.

Here’s more from event organizers:

A rally and march calling for accessible, affordable health care for all Americans will take place on Saturday, May 30, at First United Methodist Church, 619 Tacoma Ave. Refreshments will be served at 9 a.m. followed by the 9:30 a.m. rally. The short march to People’s Park will be at 10:15 a.m.

Speakers at the rally include U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, state Reps. Larry Seaquist and Dawn Morrell (25th LD), Tacoma City Councilwoman Marilyn Strickland, Patty Rose from the Pierce County Central Labor Council, Rev. David Alger, retired executive director Associated Ministries, and spoken word artist Zeek Green.

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Supporters of public transit are none too happy with Gov. Chris Gregoire after she decided earlier this month to veto a provision to make it easier for transit agencies to collect more taxes from the public.

That includes the sponsor of the transit-funding proposal, Rep. Geoff Simpson, D-Covington.

“Gregoire is such a major disappointment,” Simpson said in an e-mail last week, right after the governor vetoed a portion of Senate Bill 5433. “While she is chauffered around in her black limo and on her private airplane, people who can’t afford a car will be struggling to find a ride on a bus. No problem for her though. Sad.”

The provision that Gregoire vetoed would have allowed transit boards to ask voters to raise their vehicle registration fees by as much as $20 a year to pay for bus service. The governor said local governments already have that authority. Besides, she added, she didn’t want the Legislature to get ahead of itself. The budget provides money to conduct a study on alternative sources of transportation funding, she noted.

Transit advocates say those reasons are pretty lame.

Although it’s true local governments can create transportation benefit districts and raise up to $100 per vehicle (with a public vote) those are for mostly for cities and counties, and the process is cumbersome.

“It is nearly useless for transit,” Simpson said.

Andrew Austin, policy associate for Transportation Choices Coalition, said transit agencies are seeing their sales tax collections decline just as the demand for bus service is rising.

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I was on vacation the past week, but e-mail never stops. I got this one from an unidentified staffer. It says, “Deposit Taxpayer Dollars,” and it appears the artist used a stencil. (I didn’t know until today that “graffiti” is plural. “Graffito” is singular.) The use of a stencil suggests the artist might be planning to pluralize his or her work.

Joe:

An anonymous member of the (deleted) staff took this picture (attached) of a trash can adjacent to the Capitol Campus Visitor Center (a few feet from your office).

I

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