"As you may have heard, the Washington Court of Appeals issued a decision declaring the city's postering ordinance unconstitutional in part.... Therefore, please direct your department employees to suspend enforcement of this ordinance as it relates to the pole portion of... utility poles and lamp posts."
--August 9 e-mail from Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis. JOSH FEIT
Relevant Rock Lyric of the Week
"Tell me 'bout the city ordinance... tell me that we're insubordinate."
--The Replacements, 1981
Fake Monorail Plan of the Week
In an attempt to confuse voters and derail the real monorail campaign, anti-monorail activist Tim Hatley appears to be working with the city council to draft a decoy monorail plan. The Stranger has obtained an e-mail Hatley sent out proposing a substitute monorail ordinance. (Hatley says he hasn't "formally" sent his plan to the council yet.)
The faux monorail would serve Seahawks Stadium, Seattle Center/EMP, and South Lake Union. This Paul Allen-friendly plan would attempt to entice voters with a lower tax rate--a .5 percent car tax rather than the Elevated Transportation Company's 1.4 percent tax for the full-fledged monorail from Ballard to West Seattle via downtown. JOSH FEIT
Signature of the Week
In an "f-you" to the Seattle City Council, Mayor Greg Nickels added his John Hancock to an activist petition that would circumvent the reluctant council by sending the monorail plan directly to voters this fall. Nickels' excellent move indicates that he'd also veto any council shenanigans to send its own fake monorail initiative to the voters.
AMY JENNIGES
Headlines of the Week
On Saturday, August 10, the front page of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer announced, "Bush weakens medical privacy," as the Seattle Times' front blared, "Medical privacy rules get tightened." So what gives? As the Times saw it, on August 9, the Bushies finalized new rules that implement federal standards protecting medical privacy. As the P-I more accurately saw it, those rules are a major retreat from Clinton-era proposals, which had required written consent from patients before their records could be released--a key protection vehemently supported by privacy advocates and consumer groups, but left out of the Bush rules. SANDEEP KAUSHIK
