Last Tuesday evening, April 23, at the Seattle Center, the Elevated Transportation Company (ETC)--the group set up by voters to deliver a monorail plan--held a public forum about the effects monorail might have on neighborhoods. Residents of one neighborhood in particular, Belltown, were out at the meeting in full force. "If you go down Second, I think you'll see a lot of lawsuits," said Zander Batchelder, president of the Belltown Community Council, "and I would hate to see that. We like the monorail."

Many Belltown residents would rather have the monorail run down Fifth, Batchelder says. ETC spokesperson Ed Stone admits that Second Avenue is contentious, but says no final route decisions have been made.

With challenges like these, it's a good thing the monorail folks got off their butts on April 25 and registered a new political action committee, Monorail NOW! Committee, to raise dough for this fall's initiative campaign. The committee, which features such political veterans as Joel Horn and Tom Weeks, plans to start by raising $30,000 for a poll. PAT KEARNEY

OPA Review Board

Three civilians were appointed this week to the Office of Professional Accountability (OPA) Review Board, after a lengthy selection process and approval by the Police Officers Guild. The OPA--which reports to Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske--investigates complaints against officers.

The review board must include a community activist, a member of the Washington State Bar Association, and someone with significant law-enforcement experience. The inaugural members fit the bill: Lynne Iglitzen, a mediator from the Dispute Resolution Center and recently retired chair of the Seattle Human Rights Commission; Peter Holmes, a member of the King County, Washington State, and American Bar Associations; and John Ross, regional security manager of Metromedia Fiber Network. AMY JENNIGES

A20 Follow-up

A week after the April 20 protests at Westlake and Broadway, which resulted several complaints filed against the police, including one from the Seattle Human Rights Commission, Seattle Police Captain Mike Sanford and Seattle Central Community College activist Brady McGarry met face-to-face to discuss the "A20" events. McGarry brought up several instances in which he says people were mistreated by the police, and decried officer arrest and crowd-control tactics, like pushing people to the ground and using mountain bikes to push people back (which he says left several people with bloody faces). AMY JENNIGES