More than most, this election season has been dreadful. The ballot measures are bad enough, highlighted by another draconian Eyman eyesore and the shotgun wedding of a good transit package and an awful roads one. But city voters this season also must consider the future composition of the Seattle City Council.
Can we, like, abolish it and start over?
Recent weeks have seen a rash of headlines featuring council members and candidates and their inappropriate behavior. Even when the behavior had nothing to do with the person’s job performance (or prospective performance), the poor judgment shown, time after time, and this year’s seriously weak crop of council candidates, leaves one wondering: is this really the best we can do?
* Before the primary, Councilwoman Jean Godden’s campaign shopped to her old colleagues at the daily papers a “scandalous” story about her main challenger, Joe Szwaja, and a minor 17-year-old domestic violence incident. And then Szwaja obligingly stumbled all over himself responding to the reports.
* In a remark widely trumpeted as “racist” by supporters of opponent Bruce Harrell, candidate Venus Velazquez told a largely non-white crowd at a Hate Free Zone forum to “vote for people who look like you.” It was a dumb remark–especially since Harrell is also non-white–but in this case she’s gotten a bum rap. Velázquez was only reflecting the grim reality of Seattle politics, in which David Della was elected because he was Asian Pacific Islander and Richard McIver would long ago have been retired were he not African-American. Why? Because non-whites perceive, accurately, that in our at-large system the white council majority could not care less about minority interests. Velázquez would be the city’s first Latina councilmember, and she was speaking, however clumsily, to that. But it was still a really stupid thing to say.
* Harrell himself is a disaster, a developer-backed lawyer who–“when I starred for the Huskies in the Rose Bowl…”–trots out more–“back when my grandfather settled in Seattle…”–irrelevant cliches per second than any other–“growing up in a working class Seattle household…” politician I’ve ever met. Ever. (All guaranteed actual quotes. Frequent quotes).
* Sally Clark, who was appointed to the Council last year and still hasn’t had a serious challenger in two elections since, drew as her general election opponent one Judy Fenton, who ran for office because she wants the nude male sculpture at Olympic Sculpture Park covered up to protect our children. I can’t make this shit up. I’m tempted to endorse Fenton for the sheer entertainment value. I think I’ll go lie down instead.
* McIver made headlines this month–and spent two nights in jail–for a drunken brawl in which he allegedly tried to choke his wife. (Okay, okay, “choke” is a harsh word. He allegedly put his hands around her throat and squeezed. How’s that?)
Mind you, McIver is only on the council in the first place because he was appointed in 1995 to replace John Manning, who resigned after his third domestic violence incident. Manning ran for city council this year, too.
* Councilmember David Della, facing a stiff re-election challenge from a guy (Tim Burgess) who spent years advising the far-Christian-right group Concerned Women of America, embarrassed himself twice in the same week. First, Della pulled a Velazquez, injecting race where race need not be, by lashing out at environmental groups like the Sierra Club and Washington Conservation Voters for endorsing his (white) opponent as “someone who looked like them.” Then leaders of the police and firefighters unions reported that they, too, got flack from Della when they endorsed Burgess. Della should’ve expected those endorsements, Burgess being an ex-cop, but allegedly he warned the union leaders that there would be retribution for their choice, since Della sits on the Finance Committee and the police union is in negotiations with the city and has been without a contract for months. Ugly.
* And then Velazquez gets pulled over for DUI, refuses a breath test and generally doesn’t cooperate well with police, then does an about-face and apologizes to her supporters for all the fuss, and then pleads not guilty anyway.
I’ll ask again. Is this the best we can do?
Being on Seattle City Council is a big deal. It’s an over $100,000 a year job, with staff, that controls an annual city budget of well over $2 billion, oversees more than 10,000 city employees, and makes decisions that will affect every city resident for decades to come. One would hope that the position would attract intelligent, articulate, responsible visionaries, with proven records of accomplishment in their fields.
Instead, we have this sorry lot, the survivors of a process dependent mostly on fundraising and name recognition. More and more, we’re coming to recognize their names–for all the wrong reasons. Surely we can do better.
Well put, Geov. After this election at least the bottom of the barrel will be scraped clean. Well, half clean.
Hello.
Geov, while I may not always agree with you, I do respect you, especially when you are willing to go against the grain and call it like it is, not like they want it to be. A lot of what is going on in our city is a result of too much complacency for the party in power. Maybe starting from scratch is the answer. (And possibly voting for some candidates based on the issues, NOT party affiliation.)
I will definitely be watching this thread to see how quickly someone will try to spin this to keep their party blameless. (I personally give it 30 more minutes, when Roger sees this…)
Try electing from districts instead of at-large…
Try injecting some intellectual diversity instead of the usual assortment of Tweedledum and Tweedlestupid nonentities who always seem to clutter the ballot…
Try being honest about how genuinely un-special Seattle is…
Try not reading and believing your own press clippings…
Try understanding that the role of government is to protect the people, not pander to special interests like night club owners…
Try remembering that avoiding hurting people’s feelings (except conservatives and Christians) isn’t a political virtue…
Try remembering guys like Charlie Chong who cared that fixing the pothole in front of your house was more important than engaging in banal debate over removing dams on the Snake River…
Try understanding that the so-called “Seattle process” is nothing more than a political merry-go-round that never goes anywhere useful in time to really matter…
Try comprehending that sometimes it is a good idea to kick ass and take names…
Try saying no to campaign contributions from strip clubs or anyone named Colacurcio…
Try telling the truth that strip clubs and a lot of the so-called night life in Seattle is simply cultural pollution and filth and anyone who owns or operates such dens of iniquity ought to be run out of town on a rail, then volunteer to provide the rail…
Try abstaining from booze from the moment you file for office until you retire from office…
Try not thinking that what happens at 43rd District Democratic meetings is the be all and end all of poltical wisdom…
Try showing leadership on the Viaduct by calling absolute B.S. on the surface street option by calling its proponents the morons they are…
Try getting your arms around the notion that Bill Speidel would have a field day with the lot of you by writing a book exposing you for the boobs you are…
Would be a start…
The Piper
Judging from how I see the rest of Seattle drive on Aurora Avenue and Greenlake Way (where my mommy was run over by an SUV) [sniffle], these ARE Seattle’s best (relatively speaking) and you DON’T want to know what your alternatives are.
The BEST alternative is human extinction! Then we rabbits will fill your niche, and run this place! And I’ll be the Rabbit King! Let me assure you, when rabbits are running this place, your lawns and parks will be full of holes and no blade of grass will be left uneaten.
@1 What bottom? The bottom has dropped out. This barrel has no bottom.
I haven’t yet mailed back my ballot, because I can’t decide on City Council 1, City Council 3, City Council 7, or School Board 2. What’s really, really sad is that among the eight candidates in those races, there are only three who I might want to vote for.
Geov-
Pleading not guilty is a common procedural thing with DUIs.
But I’d love to see the adoption of districts in Seattle. At least 5 of them, that way every Seattle voter gets to vote on a majority of the council (4 at large members and their district person).
For 100k, these guys don’t do a lot of work. I’d like to see council members who are more proactive instead of reactive.
Thanks Geov for calling attention to the unclothed nature of our empereror’s council.
There are a LOT of issues here:
1. The lack of meaningful news media in Seattle means that election are mostly won by dollars. You raise nuff, you get the job,
2. Salary inflation means that 100k is not much for the sorts of folks who one traditonally attracted to the council. The credentials of the current crop would not get them jobs in most companies.
3. The obsession with scandal over content has its toll too. Not a lot of successful bus people or lawyers could survive the tee totaler test.
4. The huge need to beg funds means that a successful person would either need to use her own dollars or spend an absurd time raising dollars fro often questionable sources. Petty graft DID have its purposes!
These issue afflict a lot more than just our local councils. Soes anyone think Rossi or G’oire are the best folks kin the state for that job? Aside for those affiliated with wealth by inheritance or marriage or success in one of the remunerative professions, no university professor, engineer, civil rights attorney, etc. can run for much of anything.
The only hopeful thing I have seen is DL and its support for Burner. This suggests that a new world of political clubs may be able to urt forth ordinary folks for office.
4 years ago there was a Charter Amendment on the ballot to go to districts. It barely failed, compared to the previous attempt where it was rejected near 2-1. During the signature gathering phase of the amendment, the PI did a good collection of OP-Eds on the debate. The District Promoter, Councilmember Drago defending the status quo, and the Center for Voting and Democracy(Fairvote.org) pushing their third way, Proportional Representation. Unfortunately the amendment pushing Choice Voting failed to qualify. It might be better to try that then districts. Drawing districts can be a heated battle, even at the County Council level, even in Washington State with our supposed Independent Commission method.
Geov
Your divine political insight is simply amazing.
You know more than the millions of votes cast, year after year, the years of political experience and progressive political work.
Amazing. I think you have become old and cynical and most of what you write is professional nay sayer stuff. You and Rush have a lot in common, except the theory is you are a lefty.
By the way how has the City been harmed by having the Black community represented by one real Black guy/voice on the Council? From the past, I bet Sam Smith and Sherry Harris didn’t meet your standards as well. What is with that?
Sally Clark beat out 100 other folks to get appointed, looks like she will do very well in TWO elections in her first two years, and still, you think there is a better candidate? I think she is tops and can now build a strong resume. Oh forget, she must FIRST impress you in a short 24 months.
Nothing worse than an old lefty who becomes just an old nay sayer.
But has been a bit of soap opera…. drunks and wife beaters (your friends?) abound. Lets start by voting against them, something tangible and repulsive, both Venus, Joe, beware. And, Richard McIver, retire at the end of your term.
And Geov, you forgot to mention Godden is old and wrinkly which certainly makes her more unfit for public office. Watch Ms. Godden take out her wife beating opponent, Joe, by 16 points or more.
Geov
You are dazzled by the Council salary – not really so great.
Close to pay scales in many city jobs, state jobs, professional slots, corporate slots, upper staff in police and fire, on and on.
I am a salesman and I make about 70,000. My lover is a great bartender, works very hard at it, and you won’t believe it, he makes a bit more than I do. Tips, folks, generous tips in a classy joint.
Geov, you must be job hunting.
Andy @ 11:
$100K for working your tail off is not a lot of money. Lots of people do that.
$100K for doing very little is a lot of money. Very few people I know can pull that off.
[Deleted — Darryl, see HA Comment Policy]
Cover up Mark, your misogyny is showing.
And why isn’t the Pope disaster on the list?
Isn’t that sorta the worst of all the disasters?
You forgot to mention that Venus Velazquez was out drinking the Tim Burgess + firefighters just before she got pulled over. Why didn’t these heroes stop her and her drunk campaign worker before they loaded into the Volvo.
omg, poor Seattle
Here’s another clue…
Seattle voters get exactly the government they deserve and want. To paraphrase Venus Velazquez’s now marginally famous phrase, the seattle city council, “…looks/acts/thinks like them.” Self-absorbed, self-impressed, and self-centered, there’s a narcissism among Seattlites that’s amusingly pathetic and pathetically amusing.
When was the last time a blue collar, lunch bucket type sat on the city council? Instead, what you have are a lot of insiders, urban elites, and charter members of the chattering class who seem to regard Joe and Jane Doakes and other members of the great unwashed as something quaint.
Take the silly proposal to zone portions of SoDo, Ballard, and other areas “industrial” in order to prevent development and retain a picturesque “factory” characteristic.
What? Like manufacturing facilities and people who work with machines and their hands ought to be preserved like the animals at Woodland Park? In a word: demeaning. Even the P-I thought that was a stupid proposal, which is saying a lot since the P-I is actually part of the problem.
Curious…how many in Seattle government have callouses on their hands from doing real work in the real world? And I’m not talking the odd summer job during college some 20-years ago where you worked in a green bean cannery in Eastern Washington. Or where’s there a George Benson-type? Small business owner, neighborhood guy, actually works for a living rather than claims a title of “public affairs consultant” (read: ancillary suckler upon the public teat).
There was a time in Seattle when councilmembers came out of neighborhoods and brought a neighborhood POV to the council. The Sam Smith’s and Ruby Chow’s weren’t elected because they were elites, but because they genuinely represented the people who elected them.
Yet these are the very people now sneared at and derided as lacking in sophistication and nuance. Small business owners, industrial workers, families with children…Average, ordinary, pretty much middle-of-the-road and non-ideological types who could give a flying fig about whether night club owners and patrons should be accorded their “rights;” if they can’t run their businesses as good citizens or patronize them responsibly, then bugger the lot, board them up, and send them home post-haste.
Seattle government reflects Seattle voters and Seattle attitudes, and since HA is so quintessentially Seattle, to hear its regulars complain is amusing.
Pogo had you pegged: “We have met the enemy, and he is us!”
The Piper
Given Velazquez’ record of traffic infractions, she shouldn’t be behind the wheel of a car anyway. She has demonstrated more than irresponsibility, she is not competant to be driving.
“Try understanding that the role of government is to protect the people, not pander to special interests like night club owners…” and on the national level, defense industry and large corporate interests.
“Try remembering that avoiding hurting people’s feelings (except conservatives and Christians) isn’t a political virtue…” The terms ‘conservatives and Christians’ are mutually exclusive. This is the ‘poor me/I’m a victim’ attitude that causes WingNutz™ to be so evil. Jesus died on the cross, not Piper Scott. You are just a selfish, old fartknocker.
Having run for office myself, I went into the race not liking politicians all that much. I came out the other side not liking the Press at all, and respecting politicians a whole lot more. After going through the process personally, and with several different candidates, I would say most sane people should think very hard as to whether or not admission is worth the price. Those that do put themselves out there deserve our respect. But they seldom, if ever, get that respect anymore.
And nowadays with the blogs, it’s just getting worse. You can write any type of slander you wish to in blog commentary, anonymously and without fear of reprisal for spreading lies and disinformation.
Ever run for office Geov? I think you should. Then you could maybe understand just a little of what you and other press folks dish out fairly regularly.
If we continue upon this path of always treating politicians like shit it will continue to be a self-fulfilling prophecy where only the shittiest politicians will have the tenacity to stick it out to the end. I personally like several of the people in the races this year. There’s some really high-quality people running for office, who care about this city and this county. But you’d never know it by reading the press reports, or blog commentary.
Just remember folks, if you choose to run for office, don’t trust the press, they will turn on you in the blink of an eye. Even those reporters you may have known for years.
Seattle voters have wisely rejected representation by district and Chicago style “ward district politics” on numerous occasions and likely will do so the next time it is offered up.
Amen.
@22…RCR…
Curious…why was it “wise” for Seattle voters to reject electing council members by district? We elect county council members and state legislators by district; why not do the same for a city the size of Seattle?
The Piper
@21…Gentry…
Harry Truman said, “If you want a friend in politics, buy a dog.”
It’s a rough and tumble business, the entry into which is totally voluntary. Any candidate for office or office holder who portrays him or herself as a “victim” because of knocks from the press or blogs is clearly unsuited to hold office.
Simply getting out of bed pisses off 49.9% of most politician’s constituents, let alone taking a principled position on an issue.
Isn’t that the problem? Too much whining and not enough leadership? From Prop 1 on down the line, where are leaders with guts to stick it out there without regard to what’s said about them in the press or on blogs.
And if you think THIS is bad, dig a little in the history of American political vituperation; people in Seattle are pikers compared to what was said in the “press” of the 18th and 19th-Centuries.
Again…Truman…”If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” Now there was a guy who wasn’t afraid to put it on the line and risk getting it cut off.
With respect…sounds like Harry wouldn’t be your kind of guy…
The Piper
A hybrid council with some members elected at large and some members elected by district could work very well.
Guys like Harrell or Compton could still get elected based largely upon name recognition and with the backing of business. And presumably their “global” outlook could dampen the parochial nature of big city “borough” style politics.
But giving neighborhoods a chance to be represented on the council makes a lot more sense than some are willing to grant. I suspect this is because how it would promise to upset the established order of politics in Seattle – exactly what Geov is calling for. And maybe if at least one of the council members made the drive in from West Seattle every day, transportation within the city might get a little more serious attention from the council.
@24 PS
You may be correct. Eliminating County Districts probably would have saved us from Hague, Dunn, and other assorted detritus.
Rather than posting here, shouldn’t you be over at UW helping the racist Medved indoctrinate the wee ones with bigotry.
@27…RCR…
Trust me…I see more than enough bigotry among HA true believers in a day than I’ll see hanging with Medved in a lifetime.
Look in the mirror some time…
The Piper
@ 28 PS
You are so clever, now run along.
@7 But I’d love to see the adoption of districts in Seattle.
I disagree. Instead of being represented by one elected official, I am now, potentially, represented by all of them. Earlier this year, when I had an issue I reached out to Godden who lives in my general area (and by the district logic would be my representative) and got nowhere. I then reached out to Sally Clark, who was exceptionally responsive and helpful. She even made an appointment to meet with me, at my location. When she arrived, it was by herself (Snark: If elected, VV will have to have an employee in tow to chauffeur her around, since she’s about to lose her license for a year). Sally gave me her time, her full attention and she followed up later. IMO, the at large nature of the council works. That being said, I agree with Geov…this is one sorry lot!
I see more than enough bigotry among HA true believers
Bigoted against what? Right wing morons?
I plead guilty!
Only Geov “I’ve endorsed Jean Godden’s opponent but never disclose this because I have no idea what conflict of interest means” Parrish could turn:
“According to reports in Madison’s newspapers, The Capital Times and the Wisconsin State Journal, a police report quoted Szwaja as saying he threw the plate at his girlfriend in front of their 7-year-old son… Quoting court records, the newspapers said his girlfriend needed numerous stitches to three cuts on her face, including a large gash across the bridge of her nose”
into
“a minor 17-year-old domestic violence incident.”
There was nothing minor about putting the mother of his child in the hospital. And there is nothing minor about the lengths Geov will go to spin reality in order to suit his political agenda. Trying to get a job with Fox News? Pathetic.
Try telling the truth that strip clubs and a lot of the so-called night life in Seattle is simply cultural pollution and filth and anyone who owns or operates such dens of iniquity ought to be run out of town on a rail, then volunteer to provide the rail…
How many clients have you entertained at these places Piper?
Show me a salesman who hasn’t had a couch dance!
LMAO!
@ 26
FYI – both the Mayor and Tom Rasmussen live in West Seattle.
there’s a narcissism among Seattlites that’s amusingly pathetic and pathetically amusing.
Stop projecting yourself onto others Piper. You’re embarrassing yourself.
“we have this sorry lot, the survivors of a process dependent mostly on fundraising and name recognition”
Sorry, indeed. Can one get elected without raising funds?
Piper can’t embarrass himself; he’s so convinced that we all hang on his every utterance that he doesn’t bother to read the contemptuous comments that follow his every dribbling. We know he’s a failure (if his business were successful he’d have no time for the copious diarrhea he leaves not only here but in several other places. His wife pays the bills)but he either won’t admit it or is in denial. He just uses his kids and a bunch of literary reference books to try to appear well-educated. He’s not nearly as bright as he thinks he is, AND WE ALL KNOW THAT, but he just keeps trolling away.
His fetish about bagpipes and plaid skirts is ultimately self-defeating; some day the wind will lift his kilt and EVERYBODY will see that he has no balls.
erratum: Read”… kids, and ….”, to set off the subordinate clause.
Ward Style Politics
I have mixed feelings about this. For all the denigration, the ward system I grew up in seemed to me to be a lot more democratic then Seattle’s system.
In Boston each neighborhood (except the Blacks) had a “pol” .. and elected official endorsed by the machine, and a mafia type. Neither was “elected” in an democratic sense but both worked hard for the interests of the local folks. Gry calling a Seattle Councilman for advice on how to get the cops to do something! In Boston, such a clal had immediate responses.
The real advantage was that even fairly normal folks actually had a real voice in government.
In theory the Seattle system could work because it should attract the best people. In practice the great job schism of the US has made city council jobs unattractive to the kinds of folks who used to run for office. As a result we get apparatchniks lookinf for a small promotion.
The Boston system depended on graft, something that is eschewed here in Seattle, and on the coexistence of ethnic power groups (Mafia, Irish, Jews, Portuguese) that are difficult to imagine here. Instead we have a homogenized downtown crew of second besters with little incentive to serve anyone.
@39 SJ
But didn’t that system, and the one in NY, grow from the ethnic/geographic divisions resultant from the massive immigration of the 19th century?
We had no such mechanism out west, although the history of Tacoma politics is morbidly fascinating.
“Good” transit? Good transit is the ability to go portal to portal as fast as possible via the latest technology.
Trains being 200 years old are anything but new.
Especially “good” is living in Tukwila and either walking 4 miles to the 518 “light rail” Chihuly House of Glass or 4 miles over to Skyway to catch the nearest next stop.
Yeah, that light rail sure is user-friendly.
NOT!!
Only a leftist idiot thinks that a 4 mile walk is acceptable for the efficient movement of goods and services (especially for the elderly). And if any leftist idiot says take the bus to that train station then they as intellectually simple-minded as the trains themselves: Narrow and fixed.
@30…D in W…
Fair question…
I live in KC Council District #1. Three years ago, my council member, Carolyn Edmonds, turned her back on constituents in favor of a special interest activist group not based in the district. We reached out to another member of the KC Council who accorded us the same level of respect and consideration she would those living in her district.
For that and other perfidies, Ms. Edmonds was forced BY MEMBERS OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IN A PRIMARY ELECTION to seek other employment.
It’s not the geography of the elected official, it’s his or her character that matters.
Electing by district means that instead of candidates pandering to the same monied or vested interests, which always seem to be concentrated geographically, they’ll dispersed and spend time in your neighborhood, getting to know you and your neighbors, and focusing on neighborhood issues.
Right now, it’s hard to slip a piece of paper between any on the seattle city council, they’re so stuck together.
It’s so typical of Seattle…Bitch, moan and groan about how the process sucks, but perpetuate the process by engaging in it to block meaningful reform.
A little revolution is a good thing now and then…
The Piper
Piper @ 18:
Take the silly proposal to zone portions of SoDo, Ballard, and other areas “industrial” in order to prevent development and retain a picturesque “factory” characteristic.
What? Like manufacturing facilities and people who work with machines and their hands ought to be preserved like the animals at Woodland Park?
The way you present it makes it sound silly, but there’s nothing silly about it at all.
First off, remember that most businesses don’t own the land they do their work in. Some do, but modern business theory is that property management is a core competence in and of itself, and a company should not be spending time developing their business and acting as their own property manager at the same time.
Absent zoning, property will tend towards the use which commands the highest value add (i.e. more rents). This is that “market forces” thing at work again.
Residential space and office space will generally produce higher income to the landlord per square foot than industrial or warehouse space. Again, this is market forces. The only way that manufacturing space can compete in an unfettered market is if manufacturing can provide the same level of value add as information workers. Information workers add more value per work unit. This is why we all go to college.
For a number of reasons, I don’t want Seattle to turn into a city of boutiques and cubicles. If I wanted to live in an affluent professional monoculture, I’d pick up and move to Bellevue.
I’m sorry if running a city requires more intervention than your ideological bent likes, but that’s how it goes.
To contrast, Houston is a Republican dream. Housing prices are are some of the lowest of a major metropolitan area, wages are high, zoning is minimal. The market rules. There’s just one problem. If your aspirations for quality of life run past having a quarter-acre of lawn and a shopping mall nearby, it completely sucks.
@43…JSA on BH…
You haven’t been to Bellevue in a while, have you?
The referenced P-I editorial noted that no definition of “industrial” was in the proposed ordinance it criticized. If you can’t even say what it is, how can you tell people you need to keep it?
Is it like Potter Stewart’s definition of pornography? “I know it when I see it?” Please…
You want manufacturing and “industrial” business in Seattle? The encourage them to move here by, again noted in the P-I’s editorial, fast-tracking permitting and doing other pro-business things.
Cut their taxes, don’t tie them up with red-tape, tell them you respect their contribution by supporting infrastructure necessities like a new or retrofitted Viaduct. Don’t insult them with a lot of anti-business rhetoric and policies. And quit electing anti-business candidates to public office.
Markets should define highest and best use and dictate where business go and operate. Government can help by staying out of the way.
You’re highly critical of Houston, yet some of the very things you attribute to it are what people in Seattle want: high wages, low housing costs, expansive living spaces (not everyone wants to live in a high density cubicle), and proximity to amenities.
“Industrial” Seattle shouldn’t be treated like a candidate for preservation by the Historical Preservation and Landmards Board, or whatever they call it. These aren’t museum relics we’re talking about, they’re people and jobs.
The Piper
Geov: I’d support implementing a mixed system of district and at-large Council members. But, I have to add a word of caution–most of the existing officeholders could probably find a place in the new system, so it wouldn’t cause a major shift at City Hall.
You have written several columns about your unhappiness with the choices available to Seattle voters, but you never seem able to name any good candidates you’d like to see run. Is this because the local left seems lacking in election-worthy challengers (Joe Szwaja’s pitiful campaign being exhibit #1)? Who would you like to see run for Council and why?
41 “Good transit is the ability to go portal to portal as fast as possible via the latest technology.”
Wrong-ola. The “latest” technology isn’t necessarily the most appropriate. If someone lives four blocks from the Safeway, the most appropriate means to go there to buy a quart of milk isn’t a Suburban. It’s feet.
Speaking of prejudices (and “Seattle cache’-ism”), I’m surprised nobody’s taken particular note that Velasquez got busted for conspicuously bad driving in Ballard.
@47…AF…
Given that “bad driving” and Ballard are synonymous, maybe she went there thinking she wouldn’t be noticed?
The Piper
Piper @ 42, etc. I agree with moving away from at-large election of the Seattle City Council. It eliminates diversity of any sort, including conservatives, neighborhood activists, and more. But I would adovcate for a proportional voting system– there are several different models to choose from, but the bottom line of each is to ensure that interest groups that command even a significant minority of support are represented– proportionally– on the council. It also sidesteps the complexities that arise around district boundaries and the gerrymandering that can take place.
@49…KM…
The difficulty I have with PR voting is implicit in what you describe as its advantage: it focuses on groups, not individuals.
I’m not as interested in conservatives having a place at the table simply because they’re conservatives. Nor, for that matter, any other “group” whether it be ideologically, racially, economically, or what not…
My interest is in local government representing local citizens and their interests, which isn’t happening on the seattle city council, the King County Council and a few other councils I can name.
Nor do I much care for the 1/2 by district, 1/2 at-large idea. Again, that’s using the Seattle process to create the illusion of progress without its reality. Akin to Prop 1, which is a pander sop to all interersts in the community save Yak-based commuters, it tries to be all things to all people yet ends up being nothing to nobody.
Elect by district. Sure, a district may well be majority black and tend to elect a black man or woman. Let the voters in the district decide. Another might be more conservative in nature. Let those voters decide who should represent them. And so on down the line.
If we continue to regard ourselves first and foremost with a group identification, we’ll never be able to make genuine progress toward real diversity. I’d love to see the day when a candidate’s position on issues – in a city meaning things like streets, garbage pick-up, and, in Seattle, utility repairs after a big storm – matter to voters more than how many of this or that group who “look like us” are seated on a council dais.
When something is as seriously disfunctional as local politics is around here, edge-dinking machinations won’t cut it. It’s Cabrini-Green time: raze the damn thing and start all over!
The Piper
We generally get what we pay for.
Why anyone would want these jobs is beyond me.
The original post here contains enough reductionist bashing to make any decent person shy away from a job on the council – you slip up and some smarty pants is publishing articles about “can’t we do better?”
All of the people mentioned above are a whole lot better than the selective examples of who they are and what they’ve done that Geov listed.
Been offline all day, there’s a lot here. But briefly:
@7 I supported the mixed district/at large measure when it was on the ballot a few years ago, and still think it’s a good idea. I hope we look at it again some day.
@10 I’m not strictly a naysayer; there are people on the council I think have done a good job. I would put both Licata and Steinbrueck in that category, along with (even tho I disagree with her much of the time) Jan Drago for the interests she champions. Sam Smith was an institution for a reason; he was very effective. Sherry Harris, on the other hand, was a disaster on council by just about every standard; that’s why she only lasted a short while. I’ not a naysayer by nature; it’s just that so many in the current crop have shown poor judgment – and lack of leadership – that it’s appalling.
I have nothing against Sally Clark; I think she’s been mixed in her time on council so far. But I don’t think anyone should ever be unopposed in a democratic system, and she was appointed and then re”elected” twice now with no serious opposition.
@11 I’m not “dazzled” by the 100k salary; obviously it’s not competitive for some of the types of people you’d like to see run. But it’s enough money that the campaigns for these seats shouldn’t be amateur hour.
@21 I’m sorry, Gentry, but none of the incidents I’ve mentioned are trivial examples of poor politicians being hounded by evil media or bloggers. They’re all either serious lapses in judgment or reflect poorly on job performance, or both. I have a lot of respect for anyone (you included) who’d put themselves through the meat grinder of running for political office, but frankly, you can’t succeed in politics without a thick skin, and in the process of running for office I’d find the media potshots a lot less wearing than the constant fundraising, need to be “on” in public, etc. It’s hard work. But that doesn’t give anyone a free pass to act like an idiot.
@45 This is a whole ‘nother rant (which I’ll avoid), on how much of the rather large progressive community in Seattle eschews local and electoral politics, often preferring to focus on things on the other side of the world rather than in their own neighborhoods. A elected position representing 560,000 people really shouldn’t be a place for beginners, but the “bench” of progressives having had other elected offices is fairly small. I thought Brita Butler-Wall did a good job on the School Board, but she’s an educator by profession, not a politician. The only progs with much experience in the mechanics of elections are the Greens – who don’t seem very good at it and have a lot of baggage at this point. I do know a number of activist small business owners who are competent and who’d probably be great on council, but (not surprisingly) they’d rather run their businesses. An ad hoc group spent months this year looking for a suitable candidate to run against Godden, and the cupboard’s pretty bare. The same thing happened with John Fox’s effort to recruit an opponent to Greg Nickels in 2005. It’s a problem.
Lastly, I rather agree with a lot of Piper’s comments in this thread. I wish HA readers would look less at a commenter’s political or ideological affiliation and more at whether what (s)he says make sense.
@52 including whether at the moment Piper is making sense.
@53 Of course. :)
Geov, you make the claim that Bruce Harrell is “backed by developers”, but you might want to check some SEEC/PDC filings and then take your feet off the keyboard and put them back on the floor. Ahem. At a second forum (Yelser Terrace in July — it was on Seattle Channel but not You Tube) where Venus-the-racist claimed to be the only one who spoke for the overwhelmingly non-white audience, she said “We need to take a growth time out. A big time out.” The comment got, of course, huge applause, despite the fact that Bruce Harrell had just said we needed to “build a lot more affordable housing.” So, Bruce got money from developers of — take note, Geov — affordable housing! Venus, however, ever the liar, didn’t disclose that a mere 9 days earlier she was the beneficiary of a fundraiser by (non-affordable housing/million dollar condo developer) Gregory Broderick Smith and $11,000 worth of his friends. Venus has scores of thousands in contributions from developers; Bruce has a few K.
Fast forward a couple of months, and you will find that Venus has been purchased outright by Forward Seattle, a group of developers that include Al Clise, Vulcan, and many others. Forward Seattle already spent more than $50,000 campaigning for Venus; it’s up in the air whether they’ll spend the remaining $50,000 they pledged.
Facts are a good thing, especially when mixed with well-thought out reason and good writing. If all I wanted was random acts of crap, I’d just read SLOG, but I expect more over here.
@52 & 53…SJ & Geov…
Less a question of me, and more a question of thee…
The Piper
Couldn’t help noticing that both of the ads at the top of Horse’s Ass, when I logged on, were for DUI lawyers. Now I know why so many comments are pro- V V!
Goldy you’re just mad because you thought you could nix Bruce Harrell. Well, the cream always rises to the top and he’s going to win this race.
Bruce is a great guy and he’ll be a fine Council member. VV on the other hand has shown us her true colors and its great to see her get stuck in her own flytrap.
Get a life Goldy–its going to be a new day in town and you won’t be able to control Bruce like you would VV.
I wish I could stick my tongue out at you because I sure would.
@56 Lighten up, dude. I was giving you props!
@59…Geov…
I know…much obliged…Must be a Pavlovian-conditioned response induced by other posters…
Please do keep in mind that the Ol’ Piper routinely has his tongue firmly in cheek…
The Piper
@60
Actually, we all know you have your tongue up some Republican’s ass, which is quite a feat, considering how far your head is up your own.
Piper @ 44:
I just came back from Bellevue, actually. It’s not as ethnically whitebread as the old days, but it’s still a deadly dull bedroom community, full of cul-de-sacs and offices, just with more choices in food than 20 years ago. If you’ve checked recently, property there is none too cheap in spite of a relentlessly pro-business and pro-development municipal government.
You mention a raft of good, pro-business things to do, which I don’t disagree with, but I also don’t think are huge problems. My (limited) experience with the permitting process has found the city to be responsive, and the only tax I know of which applies to businesses here which is administered by the city is the B&O tax. Seattle’s is neither particularly high or low by regional standards.
The city council is a circus (the point of the thread), but offices still get set up, buildings still get built, and big developments still get the go-ahead on Lake Union.
The twin costs which most affect the ability to place businesses here are wages and real estate costs. There’s only so much than can be done about wages. This is not rural Tennessee or Nevada where people will be glad to take $8/hour jobs. The cost of living does not allow it.
There is a limited quantity of legislative fiddling that will control the real estate market. Putting John Galt Hisself as Lord Emperor of Seattle and Greater Pugetopolis will not cause a price drop to Houston levels because we are constrained by geography. We have a very finite supply of land which is pinched by water on one side, mountains on another and is hilly and hard to build on in between.
Now, back to the original point, it’s not impossible to zone land. We do it now. If I want to put a 40-story office building a block from my house, the city won’t let me. I am in a single-family residential neighborhood. Max height, 4 stories. This is a great source of sorrow to me, because those pesky zoning laws are the only thing preventing me from becoming a real-estate multimillionaire. However, I will reluctantly forgo membership into the club of the ultra-wealthy so I don’t have to live with a skyscraper as a neighbor.
If you wanted to be relentlessly ideological and say that nobody can use SODO or Georgetown space for anything but industry, and you’ll yell if the goths set up a club in a warehouse, yes. That is a lost cause.
That’s not necessary. You say a specific area will be allowed for manufacturing. Offices? No construction permit will be issued. Condos? Ixnay. Warehouse space or light industrial? Fine. Does it subsequently get repurposed for a club or do a bunch of artists move in? C’est la vie.
Zoning is a legitimate function of a municipal government. You wouldn’t want me exercising property rights to set up a metalworking shop next to your house.
Now, let me bring up a larger point. It’s pretty obvious from your messages that you don’t like Seattle. You dis our schools, you trash how we live, and your distaste for local politics is pretty clear.
I don’t want to live in suburban King County. I’m sure it’s perfectly nice, and you’re happy there, but the charm is lost on me. I don’t sit around trash-talking Auburn and calling the people there rubes. I just don’t go.
You don’t live here. You don’t work here. You’re not obliged to ever set foot in this town for the rest of your natural life if you don’t want to.
Republican pols trash talk this place because it’s a cheap shot. Nobody here votes for them anyhow, so it costs nothing and scores points. You’re not running for office last I checked. Resorting to cheap trash-talk makes you appear like a lesser human being than I think you are.
I should correct the above message to “you trash how you think we live” Something like 75-80% of the real estate in Seattle is still single-family homes or low-rise buildings. I live in a single-family home with a big front and back yard. So do my neighbors. In fact, in my immediate circle of friends, only 3 or 4 are condo dwellers, and it’s mostly because they hate mowing grass rather than a financial inability to buy real estate. If it makes you feel better to think everyone’s crammed into rabbit hutches, be my guest. The reality is different.
@62 & 63…JSA on BH…
If you want to start a club whose members are those who dis Seattle, don’t like Seattle schools or politics, and are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with living in Seattle proper, then rent the largest hall in town because club membership will encompass a Hell of a lot of people, including a lot who live there now.
On the Seattle ballot are several school board contests that have as underlying themes dissatisfaction and dislike for the current state of Seattle schools.
The new superintendant of the district was hired to fix a mess, not do a “steady as she goes.” If schools weren’t a mess, would enrollment decline? Would people like Danny Westneat write highly critical columns in the Times? And more?
It’s pretty obvious that the “great minds” who have the power to craft how Seattle will look in the future see an increasingly dense town less focused on detached single-family residences and more cubicle dwelling. Weaving throughout the debate on Prop 1 and transportation generally are themes along these lines. Cluster people adjacent to transit, promote increasing density, grow vertically rather than horizontally.
A year or so ago, the seattle city council (never caps…Mayor Quarters said so) approved a zoning change for one neighborhood allowing, essentially, mother-in-law units rather than restricting lots to one residence. At the time, I wrote and had published in the P-I a letter commending the council and advocating for the extension of such a change not only throughout Seattle, but also in all of King County.
An issue of concern to anyone who pays attention is housing for low income people and the homeless. The zoning change immediately opened a potential supply for that market. No Taj Mahal’s to be sure, but a few hundred square feet of safe, warm, dry living space above a garage or adjacent to the principle structure beats a flop house or tent city.
Yet I was criticized for advocating the destruction of neighborhoods by suggesting that “those people” be allowed to move in. Go figure!
Zoning isn’t the be all and end all. If anything, it’s a restrictive mechanism that by its very nature squeezes supply thus ratcheting up its price.
True, God isn’t making any additional land at the moment, but a lot of what land he has made still remains available for use. Additionally, creative minds unhampered by artifical rules will constantly develop innovative ideas to address these issues just as the creative local minds who work in technology who are themselves unhampered by artificial rules do the same such that today’s state of the art is tomorrow’s junk.
People should be allowed to live, work, and travel as they see fit. That some argue in favor of government regulating that not so much for the greater good of the greatest number of people, but, rather, in pusuance of an ideological vision of how people should live, work, and travel is offensive to me.
Freedom and liberty first, not zoning and government planning to enforce someone’s notion of how green I ought to live.
That you choose to live within the city limits is absolutely your choice. That I don’t is mine. Neither is inherently a superior choice for both of us. Each choice was made in our own individual best interest, which is as it should be.
Yet while you live in something more akin to what I live in rather than a high rise cubicle, I wonder whether you could replicate in today’s Seattle what you live in, or would you be “encouraged” by the powers that be to “think dense?” I genuinely don’t know the answer to that question, but I have my suspicions. When was the last time a residential development of, say 20 to 30 homes was built in Seattle? A development that increased housing supply, brought jobs at good wages, and increased property values (read more property tax revenue)?
I’ve lived in my house for over 26-years. So you’ll know, the odds are very much in favor of that residency coming to an end in the next year since a radical lifestyle change is in the offing. Life and stuff happen; what can I say?
Even though I don’t set live in Seattle, what happens in Seattle impacts me, so I pay attention, involve myself, and comment. And in the case of the latter, something Geov said bears repeating:
“I wish HA readers would look less at a commenter’s political or ideological affiliation and more at whether what (s)he says make sense.”
Just so he’ll know…The Piper is a he…
In the lead to this thread, he bemoans the pathetic nature of local politics. Amen to that; Geov is eligible to become a charter member of the club I referenced at the outset.
Part of the problem, though, is that we’ve gone from, “You can’t say that!” to “You can’t think that!” Witness the warm acceptance of contrarians at HA.
Because there’s almost a total lack of intellectual diversity, there’s a sameness, a stale nature, an increasingly boring and nonsensical civic state of mind. Talk about your bland!
When David Della campaigns not on the issues, but on how he’s the most liberal Democrat in a non-partisan race, I have to laugh! How does that get a stop light at an intersection any faster? Or improve police 9/11 response time? Lunacy!
JSA on BH, you’re absolutely entitled to live as you see fit, and more power to you for living true to self and your values. Please, then, consider that I do the same. That we may disagree on nearly everything save the impropriety of wearing white socks with a tux simply means that we come to different conclusions. Oh, well…such is life!
Politics shouldn’t be personal; life is too large and important to sweat such small stuff.
The Piper