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Warning About Cindy Smith Cleaning Services

Cindy-Smith-Cleaning-Services-Seattle

I never dreamed that if I hired a cleaning service they would try to take me to the cleaners instead. I am elderly and do my own cooking, light cleaning etc but can no longer clean behind the toilet, under the bathtub so I hire someone to that. I had a regular lady that had helped me before several years but she got sick and could no longer do that. I was leery about Seattle.Craigslist.org so I went through an employment agency. I chose Thumb Tack. they send you the resumes of 4 and you can choose one by what they wrote. At least this agency would know that this stranger was to be at my house at a certain time if something happened. I chose Cindy Smith. She came right on time and was as nice as could be. I wanted my windows done on the inside and the paper changed under my kitchen cabinet and behind the toilet and under the tub cleaned. She started in the bathroom. She has two big green garbage bags. No mops or brooms. She says she does everything on her hands and knees. One bag is for her clean rags, one for the dirty ones. I never thought anything about that, but over two hours went by and I never heard a sound of water running or toilet lids closing and I thought OMG maybe she fainted or something, but she had everything out of my medicine cabinet and was washing the cough syrup bottles, etc. I said geez I did not want you to even open those doors. I can do that kind of cleaning if I want it done. It was noon then. She put it back in and did finally clean the toilet etc She said her job is to clean top to bottom and that included inside cabinets. I said no not at my house. I think looking back she was looking for drugs. Well she did not find any. I don’t take tranquilizers, sleeping pills, pain pills or a thing. but man with big garbage bags it would sure be easy to slip in some of a guys pills and you would never know. She finally got to the kitchen and it was 6 o clock and I told her to just go and we would finish another day. She did good where she cleaned, I have no complaint with that. I didn’t get the windows washed or stuff I wanted done but sure have clean shampoo and hand lotion bottles. lol Anyway, the gist of my story is this. She came one time and it was a Saturday. I made an appointment for the next month on the 19th Less than a week later I get this e mail (see below).

Good evening Lilly,

How are you holding up in this heat? 🙂 I got you message about the 19th, I will also email you a day ahead for reminding 🙂 I shall tackle more for you on the 19th too 🙂

Do you know of ANYBODY that can help me with a personal loan and I pay them back with agreement. My Ex Husband stole a lot of money from me and my house payment was in it 🙁 If I don’t make my house payment by this weekend, I am going to Lose my home 🙁

I have a $ 3500 contract check that I am waiting for, I don’t receive it until the end of the month. I will pay back the payment as soon as I receive my check.

My Ex Husband Really messed me over!!

I am so Desperate, I am trying anywhere. I don’t know what else to do.

Do you know of anybody?? I am Reliable.

Thanks Lilly 🙂

She really tried to manufacture a tear jerker on an old lady knowing we are from an era that we would help anyone asked. Or I would feel sorry for her and help. She must have thought I had STUPID written on my forehead because my house and furniture sure does not look like I am someone that would have an extra thousand or two to hand out to a stranger. I have children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and a great great grandchild to give any excess money I might ever have to give to. She did not specify how much the house payment was. But lets guess it’s around $2,000. This was a Friday night I got her email, and wouldn’t you think that was cutting the time pretty short if she would lose her house the next day? First real red flag. She wanted  a personal loan to be paid back with agreement. What the heck that means I don’t know. Said she had a $3500 contract check. I don’t believe that either but she could sure take it to Money Tree if she had it and SAVE HER HOUSE.

She told me when she was working she raised her children alone and they were grown and she was a grandma so it’s funny the Ex-Husband suddenly appeared and she just happened to have the house payment in plain sight. She simply wanted a handout. She would have taken any amount I might have said I could spare and I would never see her again.   I decided not to get into a conversation with her at all and simply wrote

CANCEL MY SEPTEMBER 19TH APPOINTMENT. But she emailed again. see below.

Are you okay?

I wasn’t asking for you to help me, maybe you or somebody knew of a loan officer or a really good resource that can direct me in the right direction for a home loan? 🙂

If she wasn’t asking me to help her, why did she ever send me the first e mail. This e mail was sent to me on Saturday right after noon and she is looking for a loan officer or good resource (what does this mean) for a home loan. Remember this was the weekend she had to make the payment or lose her home and its Saturday noon already. lol  How many good loan officers does any old woman know? She should have walked into a bank and asked for a loan officer. Of course she was not looking for a loan, she may not even own a house, don’t know don’t care but anyone that desperate to scam an old 90 year old woman should not be turned loose in anyone’s house with two big garbage bags.

Her cleaning was fine, she was nice, and I don’t think she stole a thing and for sure I did not loan/give her any money but the fact that she would ask makes me branded her as not someone I would recommend.

Just wanted to share.

Lilly

Seattle Taxi Drivers Losing Business

Seattle Taxi Drivers
Local Seattle taxi drivers are angry. The complaint comes from the new rideshare type companies in Seattle. Taxi owners feel they are stuck because their prices are controlled by the City of Seattle while these other type of transportation services are not. Mike Judd, the owner of Yellow Taxi, has a good point in my opinion and he says, “These guys don’t have business licenses, the drivers, they don’t have proper insurance, they’re doing a tremendous bite into our business and undercutting our rates that are regulated by the city and undercutting the safety of the public…” I do agree with that for the most part. I don’t agree with the public safety. Taxi’s are no safer than any of the other newer transportation options available. Common Mike Judd we all know how these Taxi drivers drive around town lets be real.

The Seattle Council has a meeting scheduled tonight with the committee on taxi for-hire and limousines. Who knew there was a committee to handle Taxi’s! Sounds like more wasted money to me. None the less, that is the situation for now. What I find most interesting is that in public, TV, and in ads they push and encourage more options for riders. They want the public to use the other public transportation options available. They want people to rideshare to work. Leave your car at home and ride to work or ride the bus – we have all seen this type of propaganda. EXCEPT – when they start to lose money because they are overpriced and new companies/solutions are readily available. That is NOT ok with the City and they must be shut down or highly regulated quickly.

What happened to capitalism and entrepreneurship? These companies have found a solution that a lot of Seattle residents are embracing. The demand is high and this is what American is about. It’s about being creative, finding a new solution, and that includes competitiveness for businesses. They are considerably less and easier to work with. You can order a ride from you mobile phone! Some of these newer solutions just ask for a donation for the driver. Another named UberX charges similar rates as the taxi’s but doesn’t require tips. These are just creative options and in my opinion the more options and competitiveness the better.

It’s a shame I feel the City is going to side with the taxi drivers on this one due to the money and regulations involved for the City. I feel, however, if the taxi drivers would actually clean up their acts, lower their fees, and COMPETE they actually may do quite well. With the monopoly in place there are no reason to do anything. They can continue to be rude, blow off pickup times, keep their cars filthy, and continue to only shower once a week. Why change anything when you’re the only option available? Time for a change and time to allow entrepreneurship to grow. This is supposed to be America after all.

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USPS Wants More Money Now

USPS Raising Rates Mailings

The black hole of a business, USPS, has requested to raise the rates again. Sure, it’s not much (3 cents) but it seems every few months now they are asking for another nickel or dime. It’s a sound strategy asking for a little at time. Obviously if they just asked for a .50 cents per piece of mail they would be denied, however, small increases get approved. This increase will put us as .49 to mail one piece of mail. I have talked about the United States Postal Service before and how they basically are killing themselves by not changing with the times. The reality is this will most likely get approved. However, they are going to learn quickly that physical mail is a black hole. It may help in the short term but people are just about done with them raising the rates and playing these games. More and more each day are giving up on the mail service and moving entirely digital. Almost every company offers paperless services now (except your sewer bill which is another topic). If they really want to alienate people, they are going down the right path with these constant raises. Time will tell I guess.

I sure find it interesting that they have the money for paying all the executives 200K to 500K per year. I see them advertising at the Tour De France and NASCAR. Their top executives make more than the Vice President of the United States. Last Summer they got busted for spending $400K on sporting tickets, booze, and fancy meals. Where do we draw the line and say make it work or even bring in a new company? I sure there are a lot of companies who would be more than happy to make this work for much less. It’s time for a change that is for sure.

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Senator Maria Cantwell

Senator Maria Cantwell

I recently wrote to our Senator Maria Cantwell regarding raising the debt ceiling and the nations over spending habits.  Here is

Wikipedia – You’re Fired!!

Wikipedia is a rip off

After several attempts to be included into the Seattle media section on Wikipedia, it’s time to throw in that towel. Wikipedia a “non profit” website which is visitor edited and claims to be the source for much of the World’s information, has failed us here at the Emerald City Journal. No only have they failed us but they have failed you our readers. It is true we are smaller publication. True we are the one and only Seattle newspaper which is open to all opinions and topics. Whether you agree with the topics or not on our paper, you surely understand that this paper is by and for he people. There is no other news source like ours and that should honestly be respected. Sure, we are no Seattle Times or Tacoma New Tribune. Our content, reader, and news is very different. With that being said, we certainly deserve to be recognized in the community and in the Seattle media group acknowledged by Wikipedia.com. We are unique and can’t be compared to the others “media” news sites listed. Lets go over a few of those “media companies” listed on Wikipedia and really not going to spend to much of my time on this.

Here is the page in question if you would like to take a look:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_in_Seattle

First lets take a look at the community websites listed. They are all the same company and look the same! Unlike the Emerald City Journal, all most all their content/news is syndicated. Copy and pasted from other sources. They display content from the Times and many other newspapers. These group of newspapers are all the same.. nothing original and the same old garage. To lazy to create their own news and topics. To scared to share the truth and the reality of World. It’s all about scraping news from other sources and capitalizing the ad revenue they generate by the volume of pages they display. Honestly, this deserves to be listed and we don’t Wikipedia?

Let’s look at another – how about “Seattle Gay News”. This media company doesn’t even have news, stories, topics on their website. Their website is 3 pages and looks like it was put together by a 3 year old. Seriously, what is this garbage. Take it off Wikipedia and put up quality news websites who produce real content that is unique. We have 100’s of topics on the Emerald City Journal! Yes, every article and post is original also.

Here is another one called the “Seattle Press” another horrible looking website. It provides no value to anyone in Seattle or the rest of the country. The news content and stories are not unique at all. If you actually try to read one of their news or topics I think their biggest article is 3 or 4 sentences in total. Does this deserve to be called “media”? Is that what people want to read and think about? Seriously, this is a joke.

After discussing with Wikipedia and their gatekeeper (who is ego driven to say the least). We are done with them. We don’t need them and we’ll be just fine without them. Share you thoughts and tell the World.

Peace and Love.

Kevyn Orr, Emergency Manager of Detroit

Kevyn Orr Detroit Emergency Manager

Some things we read are so over the top that they have to be true. No one is smart enough to make them up. I won’t go into detail about the financial mess Detroit is in. It is a city of 706,600 people on the brink of bankruptcy. It ran up a deficit of 327 million last year and has $14 billion long term obligations. Seattle Sunday’s Times says Kevyn Orr will draw a salary of $275,000 as Detroit’s emergency manager. Wow that is a whopping salary for a broke city for sure. OK what I have said so far is probably true, and the Detroit Mayor needed help. How many people applied for that job and what sort of background did they have? We will never know.

Now, what I call over the top was when I was reading more personal things about Kevyn Orr. I don’t mean gossip, like Keep Reading

Seattle Waste Management Is Fined A Little

Today Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn announced the fine for uncollected waste during the strike for Seattle Waste Management. For the 8 days of the strike, Seattle Waste Management is going to pay 1.24 million dollars in a settlement. I’m disappointed we didn’t really nail them hard on this one. We should of made a point and showed an example that if you’re going to play games they you’re going to pay the full amount. There shouldn’t have been a settlement for 1/3 of the amount for breaching the contract amount which is what this amount comes to. We shouldn’t of even sat down and talked about it. Just send the penalty per the contract and that is it. Seattle Waste Management got a slap on the wrist with this decision and more importantly we wasted an opportunity to make a point so this won’t happen again next year or the following years (and it will for sure).

So for the 8 days of the strike you can expect to get about $8 dollars back. Wow Big Deal!

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Mike McGinn

Mike McGinn News

This is our hot topics page regarding the Seattle, Washington Mayor Mike McGinn.  Below you’ll find are hottest news articles

Priceline.com Seattle Postive Review

I enjoy the Seattle nightlife scene.  Particularly I enjoy Belltown.  Some of my favorite hot spots are Ambers, Belltown Pub, Tia Lous, and some of the areas sport bars.  It’s a fun friendly vibe mostly.  Of course the Seattle liquor board failed us should have passed the curfew and expanding the nightlife hours, however, it is what is at this point.  I recently had a friend get a DUI and what a mess it was for him.  I rarely drink myself and never drive when I do, however, with the hours if you are going to drink it’s hard to make it work logistically.  The clubs/bars throw you out at about 1:50am with no where to go.  Thousands of drunks hit the streets and drive home. Even if the clubs would just stay open to serve just food (liquor board giving them that opportunity) with no alcohol – it would clean up the city and drunk driving.  It would have a bigger effect then any drunk driving ads they could produce or pay for.

After his DUI issue and random pullover & check by the office who pulled him over (with a .09). He challenged the ruling paying over 10k in fees and got it dropped to a reckless driving which I guess is the normal protocol for a first time offender.  So we have been just staying in Seattle using Priceline.com.  You can get last minute rooms for a fairly good price.  There is uncertainty with the service by not knowing which hotel they are going to give you (your stuck with their choice) but overall the experience has been good and affordable for two people splitting the costs.

If you’re planning on going to Seattle and going to drink even a little I highly recommend that you try out Seattle Priceline.com.  My experience and review has been postive using them.

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SeattleMoving.org Best In Seattle

Nothing I hate more than moving especially living in Seattle.  From the amount of stuff I have collected over the years, to the traffic, or parking it is a complete mess.  I have found it much easier to just use a moving company like SeattleMovers.org.  For the weeks it would take me to get my stuff in order and hauled over to my new place, I could hire them for a couple hours and get it all done in a day.  They come with everything also.  They have a staff who can lift all my heavy things.  They also have boxes and shipping material ready to use if needed.  That alone is almost worth the hassle of moving.

So if you’re planning on moving around Seattle or anywhere in the Pacific Northwest I would highly recommend the staff at SeattleMoving.org. 

Seattle Trash Collection Strike

The drivers sure knew when to strike and causing the most problems for “us people who are working, paying taxes to pay their wages” didn’t they? We are told to put table scraps in our yard waste bin and it would be picked up weekly. It already stinks pretty bad by then. Containers are full so now the raccoons and possums can really have a field day with the bags. If it were in the winter it wouldn’t be quite so bad and there would not be much yard waste but right now with weather in the 70’s and 80’s its actually cruel. We are told to put it out on our regular day and if it’s not picked up bring it back in and put it out the next week on our pick up day. Well I don’t think so. What if you are elderly or handicapped in some way. All the above is bad enough but it gets worse.

No one is ever going to say a garbage man’s job is easy or clean. But no one makes him stay on the job. If he does not like the conditions or pay, I am sure there are at least 10 men who can do the job as good as him and would do it at half the price. Greed of the public workers is bound to backfire one of these days. If we had anyone representing “we the people” none of these obscene contracts would be signed. They would not let the union run the city. Of course the unions take a big chunk of the workers pay check to elect Mayors, executives, City council members etc to see to it the City hires Union help. Union help is no better than non union help, they just are able to demand more. The Union top dogs make a lot of money and take union funds to buy the elections to get leaders who demand Union help. It makes no sense and soon will be so top heavy it will not work anymore. This strike might wake up a few. We are not allowed NOT TO SUBSCRIBE to your service and haul our own.

These numbers are from the Seattle Times story, so I feel safe in repeating them. It said drivers were offered $98,000 wage and benefit package which included a 4% raise in the second year til the contract expired in 6 years. We are talking big money here. That’s way more than school teachers make and twice as much as “we the people” make working in private jobs. The city cannot keep raising taxes to meet the unions demands. The tail is wagging the dog it seems. It appears the big dispute is that the recycle drivers make $9.00 an hour less than the garbage drivers. Drive the same sized truck, same route, same hours but stuff they pick up is not as heavy. Geez you don’t need a rocket scientist to know that really isn’t fair but you don’t have to give everyone a fat raise with taxpayers money. My first thought would be to tell the Union that we can’t afford their workers. Hire non union, for about half price and rotate the drivers. One week you drive a recycle truck, the next week a garbage truck. That’s the only fair and sensible thing to do but the Mayor, City, and County will have to have meeting after meeting, probably appoint a fact finding group and on and on. Our so called leaders are too busy trying to build an arena most of us don’t want, and a tunnel that most don’t want but they can’t seem to keep our garbage picked up on time. Think we better clean out City Hall and start over with a different crew and hire all new waste management drivers. Remember when President Regan fired all the controllers and never let them back? The sun still came up and the World is still turning. Put the word out you need truck drivers and there would be a traffic jam to sign up. This is just my opinion and as far as I know we are still entitled to that. LLL

UPDATE 7/29/12 – I emailed the Mayor waiting for a reply:

Now is your chance to show the people of Seattle you are “their mayor” not in the pocket of the union. Time to tell the Waste Management to “take their job and shove it”. President Regan did that when the controllers got out of hand when he was president. Don’t let the city bargain for a contract that pays garbage men $98,000 a year. Are you completely nuts? With all the pensions and perks and crap, what are you leaders thinking. I know this single handedly is not your problem but even you have to know thats way out of line. Sure its hard dirty work, and if they wont work for about half that tell them to go home. Don’t hire them back. College degree people don’t make half that. You are being bossed by the unions that demand obscene wages.

Think of the sea wall you could build with the money saved, but guess you are too busy trying to get a tunnel (you promised you would not allow) and now an arena that we need like a hole in the head. I am really dissapointed in you. I voted for you but would not again. And no I can’t ride a bike to shop. I am almost 89, and a gallon of milk in one hand, a jug of kitty litter in the other would be just a bit much. Plus the South Park bridge is closed, the Airport way bridge is closed and the city could even think of a contract like Waste Management wants. Put out a call for truck drivers and you would have a line a mile long for half the price.

Thank you for listening.

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Regional Animal Services of King County

Yee haw, git along little doggie, we’re headin’ for a Guinea Pig roundup. This is not going to be cheap either. It seems cities have contracted Animal Services of King County to save money. Instead of each city doing their own its all done from one central service. Sounds like a good idea but evidently the fees were not negotiated when the contracts were signed or there were some really STUPID  people doing the negotiating. The bills are coming to the cities now and with the bills are some details of the dangerous animals they have had to contend with. (tongue in cheek) here. The city of Kirkland found out that it cost them $2,496 to have two guinea pigs captured and put in the Kent Shelter. They also, found that it cost them $1,248 to have a bunny captured and housed.  Not sure what the daily board bill will be if any. But the numbers stated above do not include the $379 fee each time an animal control officer had to respond to each of those calls. When you talk about tightening the belt and saving money then you read this kind of stuff.

I didn’t know Animal Control would even “capture” a guinea pig. My goodness they are the size of your hand. Even if one bit you it would not amount to much (I have had several for pets through the years). If I remember right they can’t even hop and their little legs are about an inch long. A gold fish net would do it. Even holding out a carrot would probably entice it to you. Now for the rouge bunny. He could be a little more elusive but with all the pit bulls loose, raccoons all over the place(animal control won’t touch) surely Peter Cottontail would not be that hard of a job to round up.

Anytime you have a service that has a monopoly you will not get a good deal. They make it sound good but with no competition they can charge anything they happen to feel like it. Cities say they are broke but I bet for $100 they could have a bunch of little boy scouts rounding up lost guinea pigs or bunnies. You call the animal control people officers and all sorts of titles that sound like they are experts in their field but if this doesn’t shoot that down nothing will. How they have the guts to even admit to charging such a thing is almost unbelievable. I think people with pet guinea pigs or bunnies should be sure to keep them in. Animal control officers could make a fortune plucking them out of your yard and charging this kings ransom to get them back. A real money maker.

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