Car Tab Fee Foes Call for Investigations Into McGinn Friend Transpo Groups

The Cascade Bicycle Club and the Transportation Choices Coalition--two close allies of Mayor Mike McGinn--are being accused by a familiar face of illegally using city money to fund a political campaign.

Gene Hoglund of Citizens Against Raising Car Tabs filed a complaint with the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, which in turn opened an investigation.

According to KOMO, both TCC and CBC get city money--$190,000 apiece this year--to do outreach activities, and former CBC member David Hiller was hired recently by McGinn as a policy adviser.

Hoglund says that some, if not all, of that money has gone toward promoting the Prop 1 car-tab fee ordinance that's being pushed by McGinn and others.

Hoglund, you may recall, accused TCC of the same thing back in 2008, only then it was a replacement elevated highway for the Alaskan Way Viaduct on the table and an expansion of bus and light rail being argued by TCC as an alternative.

That complaint was eventually dismissed.

In this case, it's unclear what evidence besides a hunch that Hoglund has, though the thorough combing that the Ethics Commission's auditors will be giving the two pro-tab groups is likely something they'd rather do without.

By way of reaction, KOMO quotes CBS member Craig Benjamin saying "The CBC did not use any money from the city for any political work," and the TCC's Rob Johnson calling it a "frivolous waste of taxpayer money."

Hoglund, meanwhile, says "it doesn't smell right."

We'll reserve judgment for when the ethics commissioners finish their work. Whatever the case, a bit more detail as to where taxpayer money goes never hurt anyone who didn't deserve hurting.

Canandaigua center upgrades production

At the time that deal was announced, Tolley and CNSE head Alain Kaloyeros said that the Canandaigua facility had the infrastructure and the skill to bring to manufacturing fruition many of the projects developed at the Albany center by affiliated companies, including IBM, Sematech, Toshiba and Samsung.

Kaloyeros said last week that his intent is to make the Rochester and Canandaigua area the "center of the universe in high-tech sensors."

"We have now about 3,500 jobs at the CNSE center in Albany, and I very definitely see that same thing happening in Canandaigua," Kaloyeros said.

He and Tolley have predicted that having a manufacturing entity attached to a high-level university research and development center will bring in private and government customers.

Tolley said there are many practical uses for sensors of this kind. "If the engineers for that bridge over the Ohio River had a sensor of this kind, they might have been able to detect tiny cracks long before this."

The Sherman Minton highway span, a major link between Indiana and Kentucky, was closed recently after a large crack was found.

Tolley said such devices will be important in the advancement of "green" energy.

Sensors and signals can help reduce company costs by turning off or dimming lights and activating other energy-saving elements.

Tolley said the potential uses in the military, where roadside bombs are a daily threat, are far-reaching. "The Department of Defense is an important customer, and having a capacity at a center like this keeps the government from going overseas to find a contractor," Tolley said.

The former Infotonics Center was one of five Centers of Excellence created by former Gov. George Pataki and the state Legislature in 2001.

It was envisioned as a public-private venture utilizing the regional university system and such corporate leaders as Eastman Kodak Co., Xerox Corp. and Corning Inc.. But the partnership never took off.

The center has blossomed since the merger with the Albany Nanotech center. Carestream Health has a partnership with the STC Center, and Mosher Baer Technologies Inc. has a multimillion-dollar contract to build LED lighting panels at the center.

"More is coming," Tolley said.

"There is room here to expand, and indeed that was the idea when this site was chosen."

Titanic wreck tours offered to mark disaster's centenary

Passengers will also spend time exploring the iconic bridge and promenade areas.

On the way from bow to stern, the Mir will move out into Titanic's debris field, where divers will see numerous artefacts strewn across the ocean floor, undisturbed for a century. (The dive is for observation only - there will be no attempts to salvage items.)

Passengers will also view one of the ship's giant boilers as well as one of its enormous propellers.

Around the wreck there is much deep-sea life, including rat-tail fishes, anemones and squat lobsters.

There'll be plenty of time for photography and passengers are encouraged to bring a camera and/or a compact video camera.

Passengers will board the submersibles by ladder from the support vessel - where they are stored in special hangars - with the assistance of a crew.

The inside of the submersible is compact; while there are no official limitations as to a diver's size, if your height exceeds two metres and/or your weight is over 126kg, DOE needs be told so it can determine if there are any serious impediments to your taking part.

And in case you're wondering about toilets on the Mir, in the absence of installed bathroom facilities, portable "man/woman-hour extender bottles" are provided like those used by people in sky lanterns aircraft, helicopters and tents in inclement conditions.

DOE adds: As for "serious" toiletry matters, a suitable device will be carried for absolute emergencies; there's also an eating plan that minimises the amount of food and drink that you should consume for about 12 to 18 hours prior to the dive.

When possible, the Mir's two submersibles dive closely together, enabling those aboard to photograph each other at the wreck site.

The crew aboard the ship will be led by Russian Professor Anatoly Sagalevitch, who played a major role in the Mirs' design and implementation, and has been the chief scientist and expedition leader on all expedition dive projects since the submersibles were built in 1987.