Everett Daily Herald, February 18, 2015

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Everett drivers’ tabs rise The additional $20 will show up on renewal notices and was enacted by the City Council to balance the budget. By Chris Winters Herald Writer

EVERETT — People living within city limits soon will start paying an additional $20 fee when they get their new car tabs.

The fee will start showing up on renewal notices in March, city communications director Meghan Pembroke said. The car tab fee ordinance was enacted by the Everett City Council in 2014 as part of a slate

of budget-balancing measures designed to bridge a growing deficit. The car tab fee is collected through a mechanism called a Transportation Benefit District, governed by the City Council, which has the authority to levy taxes to pay for road work. On Feb. 11, the council approved the year’s slate of street

overlay projects. This year’s road repair budget includes $600,000 that the city estimates it will bring in from the new car tab fees in 2014. In subsequent years, the city estimates it will bring in $1.2 million per year. The city has budgeted a total of See TABS, Page A2

Few options for car seats Recycling the various parts is labor-intensive and cost-prohibitive

KIMBERLY CHRISTENSEN / CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Millions of child car seats are sold each year. With a shelf life of six to 10 years, most of them will end up in landfills. Local advocates hope to reverse that trend. Shown here are a pile of unwanted car seats collected by CoolMom of Seattle as part of a recycling drive at the 2010 Sustainable Ballard Festival. Events like these are becoming fewer and further between as recycling companies shy away from the labor-intensive and costly process of dealing with the components of increasingly high-tech car seats.

to learn more and >> Resources ideas for how to repurpose

By Melissa Slager If you don’t want your expired child car seat to go to a landfill, a local retailer’s trade-in event is not your ticket to eco-friendly disposal. While trade-ins are offered, recycling child car seats in Snohomish County is not easy. “It’s long been an issue,” said Shawneri Guzman, who heads the Providence Regional Medical Center-sponsored Safe Kids Snohomish County program. “Some places will say, ‘Yeah, we’ll take them,’ and then they’ll get inundated and put the brakes on it.”

old car seats, A12

Toys R Us and Babies R Us stores through Saturday are holding a trade-in promotion. People are encouraged to drop off unwanted or expired child car seats, strollers and cribs to get a 25 percent off coupon for replacement gear at the store. It’s a hassle-free way to get rid of a seat, but recycling is not in that seat’s future. “They’re just taken off the market to make sure no one else uses them,” said Linda Connors, a spokesperson for Toys R Us’ parent company in New Jersey. “We

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consulted with product safety organizations, and they agreed that disposal of these items is necessary.” Recycling the disparate parts of a child car seat, especially the hard plastic shell, is a labor-intensive and expensive process. Guzman has been trying to find a recycler willing to take Snohomish County seats. “We’re trying to build a relationship and get some sort of understanding of where we can send people in the county,” she said. For now, though, unless you’re willing to travel to Spokane or Portland or shell out big bucks to ship your seat to Texas,

Baby on board It’s not easy to be green dept.: Parents, if you trade in your children’s car seats at retailers, chances are the seats will wind up in a landfill (above). And that’s a shame for the planet, since most of the crumbs, snack residue and miscellaneous gack that fill Dear Abby. . . .D5 Good Life . . . .D1

the garbage can remains the primary way to get rid of a child car seat.

Why do they expire? Car seats are stamped with an expiration date, typically six to 10 years after manufacture. Safety experts say it’s no gimmick to get you to buy another seat. “We use them every day, right?” said Guzman, who has taken extensive training to be a car seat technician for Safe Kids. “Think about it — if you wore the same pair of jeans every day,

the seats’ nooks and crannies are totally biodegradeable. Enshrined: The museum that houses the National Toy Hall of Fame is creating the World Video Game Hall of Fame (Business Briefly, Page A9). The Hall of Fame will honor classic games like “Pong,” “Super Mario

Horoscope . . . B4 Lottery . . . . . .A2

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See SEATS, back page, this section

World” and “Grand Theft Auto,” based on things like their icon status, longevity, and get-off-my-lawn factor, which measures the degree to which they mystified, irritated and alarmed old people. Don’t know much about history: On this day in 1885, Mark Twain’s “AdvenShort Takes . . .D6 Sports . . . . . . . C1

Paine Field plan panned Those who oppose commercial flights tell the County Council that it’s moving too fast in deciding if a new terminal can be built. By Noah Haglund Herald Writer

EVERETT — People who oppose commercial passenger flights at Paine Field turned out in force Tuesday at the Snohomish County Council’s first public discussion of a lease proposal that could make their fear a reality. If approved by county leaders, an option to lease would give New York-based Propeller Airports three years to design a two-gate passenger terminal and perform environmental studies. After that, Propeller could sign a 30-year lease, with two optional 10-year extensions. The company would pay for building and operating the facility. “This is an important decision that will affect us all for years,” said Victor Coupez, vice president of the Mukilteo-based opposition group Save Our Communities. “The taxpayers and voters deserve transparency and good governance. I urge you to perform due diligence and to find out just who you’re thinking about doing business with. There is no legal pressure to push this through. Slow down.” County Executive John Lovick’s office forwarded the proposed option to lease to the County Council on Friday with a recommendation for approval. Federal Aviation Administration rules require the county to negotiate in good faith or risk losing millions of dollars in grants the airport relies on to keep running. The County Council is scheduled to discuss the lease option again at its 10:30 a.m. meeting March 2. A vote also could take place then. Opponents who spoke to the council Tuesday said that’s too soon. They included Mukilteo Mayor Jennifer Gregerson. They’re asking for assurances that taxpayers won’t be held accountable if anything goes wrong with the project. They asked the County Council to make sure the public recoups all costs for the facility, keeping in mind that the number of daily flights could eventually grow from the five envisioned now. See FIELD, Page A2

tures of Huckleberry Finn” was published for the first time in the United States (Today in History, Page D6). Also on this day in 1885, Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was banned by a school board for the first time in the United States.

— Mark Carlson, Herald staff

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