Washington Companies Make Fortune’s List of Top 100 Workplaces, Bullpen Strategy Works Well for Mariners: SeattleIAM

This is a selection of recent popular blog articles from SeattleIAM where you will find the best blogs from Seattle, Washington as well as video uploads, social networking, rumors, and blog authoring

Tacoma’s Russell Investments Still One of the Best Companies to Work for

C.R. Roberts of Biz Buzz reports that “for the seventh time in the seven years” Tacoma’s Russell Investments “has been named to Fortune Magazine’s list of 100 Best Companies to Work For.” The list is compiled annually, primarily using “randomly offered employee surveys.” About 33% of the survey measures other criteria “including benefit packages, hiring practices, diversity and training opportunities.” Craig Leland, Russell President and CEO said, “We take pride in being a great place to work both because it is the right way to treat our associates and because it helps us achieve continued success.”

Roberts writes in his post that Russell Investments placed 65th this year. The company was one of only 21 others on the list “that pay 100 percent of associates’ healthcare premiums, and it is one of only 18 companies that offers paid sabbaticals.” There were several other Washington companies who made the list, including “Starbucks, 7th; REI, 34th; Nordstrom, 36th; Seattle law firm Perkins Coie, 55th; and Microsoft, 86th.”

State Wants “Off the Hook” for Roads and Transit Bills

Over at Seattle Transit Blog, Daimajin recently reported that Mary Margaret Haugen (D-Camano Island) is bringing forward a bill that “would disolve RTID and wrap Sound Transit into a bigger ‘roads and transit’ organization,” a move that could spell disaster. “A partially elected board is more likely to cause problems than an appointed board (Haugen's plan includes 7 elected officials and three appointed officials).” Another blogger on STB asked earlier “why reform when nothing really seems wrong?”

Daimajin writes in his post that the state does not want to pay roads, “they want the local voters to have to tax themselves for the fixes, and let the state off the hook.” Haugen doesn't care whether we build roads or rail, “as long as the state doesn't have to pay for fixing the Alaskan Way Viaduct or the Evergreen Point floating bridge.” Daimajin argues that you can't “let the state off the hook for its own roads, while we build roads with our gas tax for the rest of the state.” If the region's legislators really care about their districts, “they would fight for to force the state to repair and improve the roads that the state owns.”

Mariner’s Have Ability to Build Cost-Effective Bullpens

Over on U.S.S. Mariner, our blogger gives kudos to the Mariner’s ability to acquire “cheap, effective bullpens.” In the past they have “tried to spend on veterans, or put Rick White into a role, but most of the work’s been done by Putz and a collection of farm system products for little money.” This is a good tactic, as it’s “one of the places smart teams can save money and still be productive, allowing them to spend money elsewhere.”

The post notes that the Padres are good at this, scouting “for relief pitchers harder than everyone, and then [picking] up a collection of rebound candidates, post-injury comebacks, and pitchers with good stuff who got unlucky.” The White Sox signed Octavio Dotel in a two year, $11m deal. In comparison, the “M’s have a host of guys who are good bets to outperform Dotel this year for under a million dollars.” Even though we may disagree about how to “spend the savings,” it’s a “good position” for them.

Debate Continues around Skateboard Park at Myrtle Reservoir

A recent post on West Seattle Blog looks at the current debate around whether the new Myrtle Reservoir Park development should include a skate park. The community meeting at High Point Community Center last night address the park’s design, and the skate park was of major concern.  The meeting was the second of four to be held before the park is built. At the first one last March, “the majority of park neighbors who attended… were there to voice strong opposition to the idea of a skatepark on the site.” However, that was “before any sort of design-concept options were prepared — and while some strong opposition was voiced again last night (as well as some strong support), seeing a more concrete proposal seemed to soften some of it.”

The post notes that the potential skatepark is “relatively small,” less than a tenth of the entire size of the park. It would cost around $35/square foot to build, which adds to the concern, as this would be half of the $700,000 park construction budget. More than half a dozen kids and teens, attended the meeting “to support the skatepark concept.” They even asked if they could “help raise the money it would take to build.” There were parents to support them as well, “including a woman who declared, ‘I’m a skateboard mom. The kids who are going to use it are here. They’re good kids.’” Many supporters “took exception to concerns that a skatepark could attract criminal activity.”

About SeattleIAM

SeattleIAM is part of a groundbreaking network of city-focused blog aggregation, user generated media and social networking websites currently rolling out across North America. Each IAM website filters and organizes blog content as well as offering video upload capabilities, social networking, blog authoring, favourites lists and rumours. The IAM Network is a division of SoMedia Networks Inc which also operates Inveslogic.com, Greenedia.com, Healthedia.com and Blabaloo.com. For more information or to register an account, visit SeattleIAM.com.