Spokane ranks 25th in population density

Quick: Guess the most densely populated city in the state?

Yup, Seattle. Some 586,000 people are crammed into the Emerald City’s 84 square miles.

Now for the bonus round: What city comes in No. 2?

Mattawa, believe it or not. Grant County may not be the image of urban density, but it turns out that the little city’s 3,340 residents are packed in nearly as tightly as they would be if they lived in $650,000 condos with a view of the Space Needle. Places like little Mabton and Wenatchee are also surprisingly densely populated. Tacoma comes in 11th; Spokane is 25th.

How do we know this? Because the state Office of Financial Management has just published its 2007 state data book.

Other bits of trivia from it, in no particular order:

•There are more than 1,200 beds in state mental health facilities, at a cost averaging $468 a day.

•Washington is the nation’s top producer of hops, spearmint oil, peppermint oil and “wrinkled seed peas.” But we are only seventh, it seems, in mink pelts.

•In 2006, there were 190 people killed in Washington, with 185 murder arrests.

•There were only 13,000 off-road vehicles in the state in 1980. Today, that number has risen to 105,000.

Legislative candidate’s UFO work back in spotlight

7th Legislative District candidate Peter Davenport, one of several people running for Rep. Bob Sump’s seat, is yet again the subject of an interesting profile. The latest one, by the L.A. Times’ Tomas Alex Tizon, takes readers on a stroll through Davenport’s missile silo, where he stores a vast array of UFO reports he’s compiled.

From Tizon’s story: Davenport – a highly educated, successful retired businessman, believes that most UFO sightings, up to 90 percent, are explainable: weather balloons, military aircraft, satellites and hoaxes. But in a tiny percentage, maybe only a handful each year, something was definitely seen – often by multiple reliable sources – and defies explanation. He believes that clues lie buried in the hill-sized mounds of paper he has meticulously cataloged, if only the government or a well-funded university would do the research.

Builders again defeat ‘Homeowners’ Bill of Rights’

The March edition of the Building Industry Association of Washington’s newsletter is dedicated largely to Sen. Brian Weinstein, D-Mercer Island, and the builders’ two-year battle to defeat Weinstein’s push to make it easier to sue builders and contractors over shoddy – or dangerous – construction.

The newsletter mentions Weinstein no less than 33 times, and even includes a photo of his home. Among the references:

“Vitriolic assault … builder-hating bill … disastrous legislation … a campaign of lies … wild claims … untruthful claim …”

By comparison, the Earth Liberation Front – which recently burned down several brand-new homes – got 26 mentions (“terrorists” also got 13).

Also meriting some love from the builders was “the media,” which drew 13 mentions for coverage of Weinstein’s bill. Again, the condensed version: “busy cozying up to … fawning over … enabling … his mouthpiece … idolized … woefully misinformed … intent on ignoring the facts.”

The group’s president, Spokane’s Brad Spears, called the defeat of Weinstein’s Senate Bill 6385 “one of BIAWs biggest successes of all time.”

Sunshine’s hard to find in Olympia

After months of work, the state’s “Sunshine Committee” has recommended that government agencies release more information about finalists for key government jobs and investigations into child deaths.

But it’s been slow going for the committee a mix of attorneys, lawmakers, journalists and community members. (Among them: Spokane’s Candy Jackson.) They’re supposed to be looking at the more than 300 exemptions that have been created to the state’s public records act, which says that citizens have a right to see what government is doing.

But even the silly-seeming exemptions (secrecy for growers of American ginseng?) have proven unexpectedly nuanced and complex. For example, the committee debated whether releasing information on public job finalists would drive good people away.

Committee chairman Thomas Carr seems to be chafing at the slow progress, particularly when lawmakers keep adding more exemptions every year.

“I just wonder whether we’re dealing with a boat that’s being filled quicker than we can empty it,” he said. The committee will come to Spokane for its June meeting.

Left on the cutting-room floor: the gregarious marmot …

Among the hundreds of bills that died when lawmakers went home earlier this month was a last-minute one introduced as a courtesy to a class of Seattle fourth-graders.

Sen. Ken Jacobsen’s Senate Bill 6957 would have declared the Olympic marmot “the state indigenous mammal.”

The marmot would have joined a long and growing list of honored things, including the state onion, tartan, frog, dance, etc. From the bill:

“Olympic marmots hibernate from September to May. During the morning and afternoon on summer days they feed and spend time sunbathing on rocks … Gregarious bonds are made between individuals in a family. Olympic marmots identify each other by touching noses and smelling cheeks.”

Don’t be surprised if this bill returns next year for a possible victory, much like the frog and orca ones did. Want to get a jumpstart on the festivities? The Web site www.olympicmarmot.com is still available.