Over Looking Lake Sammamish

A mixed bag of a day today! Had a few moments to catch this view while the weather was holding...you can see the Cascade range behind fresh water Lake Sammamish. The clouds were magnificent today as well!

It's the WEEKEND!!! Brought to you by the unions;) This is the anniversary of the awful Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire that took place in NY 100 years ago. Unions have since played a very major role in gaining better worker conditions--here's a write up on this:

"Thousands gathered near Washington Square Park today for a somber ceremony to mark 100 years since the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.

On March 25th, 1911, 146 workers ? mostly immigrant women and teenagers ? were killed in the fire that started on the eighth floor of what was then known as the Asch Building on Washington Place and Greene Street.

The building didn't have enough exits and, at the time, doors letting workers in and out were bolted shut ? trapping everyone inside. Some of the workers who got out of the building and onto a fire escape also perished when the fire escape collapsed.

The names of each of the victims were read and a bell rang in their honor. A fire truck ladder was raised to the sixth floor, representing the highest story firefighters could reach during the tragedy.
The fire gave birth to the labor movement, from workplace protections to fire safety regulations, including marked exit doors that open outward and mandatory fire drills.

"New Yorkers were outraged by the unsafe, inhumane conditions that took the lives of 146 people here,? said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. ?They say that these problems were all too common in workshops throughout the city, and they said, that's not America; we can do better."

"Before the Triangle fire, workers had no right to a safe workplace,? said Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano. ?After the Triangle fire, America woke up and realized that some rules were necessary to prevent terrible loss of life."

Prior to the ceremony, activists marched from Union Square to Washington Square, holding t-shirts with victims' names and expressing support for unions."

Peace and Justice, Clare