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In Other News...

On Thursday, December 5, several hundred students--most from area high schools--walked out of class and met up at Seattle Central Community College on Capitol Hill to protest war on Iraq. At noon, the scene at SCCC could have been mistaken for a high school pep rally--except for the signs decrying President Bush and his impending war. Students from Garfield High School and Nova Alternative High School were the first to show up; kids from Hazel Wolf High School in the U-District took the #7 bus to SCCC, and Center School students walked all the way up from the Seattle Center. Students from SCCC, the University of Washington, and Seattle University also joined in.

Chanting, "Students say no more, walk out against the war," the kids marched to the downtown federal building without a permit. The reaction downtown was mixed--most shoppers and business folks stared, many shouted encouragement, and a few even joined the parade. AMY JENNIGES

City INS Legislation

On Tuesday, December 10, Seattle City Council Member Nick Licata introduced legislation that would define the extent to which Seattle police (and other city employees) have to work with Immigration and Naturalization Service agents. Licata's amendment prevents cops or city employees from inquiring about a person's immigration status except as required by law--or unless a police officer has a reasonable suspicion that the person was previously deported, and is back in the U.S. and committing a felony.

If the new law passes the full council, immigrants can call the police for help without fear of being reported to the INS, Licata explains. "This would not make Seattle's streets any less safe," he said. Immigrants' rights activists, who packed the meeting, cheered when the committee passed the amendment. AMY JENNIGES

Bidding War

In recent weeks we promised to keep an eye on Joel Horn, the wily political insider who cloaked himself as a populist monorail maestro during the campaign and was appointed (after the monorail victory) as executive director of the new Seattle Popular Monorail Authority. Well, according to the carping we've been hearing recently from the monorail faithful, Horn has hit the ground running; he's already brought on both Foster Pepper & Shefelman and Preston, Gates & Ellis (the powerhouse Seattle law firm Horn's been pals with for ages) to represent the agency, and he's picked Goldman Sachs and Salomon Smith Barney as the authority's bond issuers. Trouble is, some monorail-Taliban members whisper, Horn didn't go through a bidding process before making the hires. Horn could not be reached for comment. JOSH FEIT

Poster Rules Come to Vote

Seattle is moving forward with its proposed rules for postering on public poles. On December 10, the city council's neighborhood, arts, and civil rights committee passed an ordinance that outlines poster guidelines in a Seattle Department of Transportation "director's rule." The rule includes many regulations: Posters can't be bigger than 24" x 18", can't be hung higher than 7', and can't face the same direction as city traffic signs. Citizens posting signs will also be responsible for removing them after 30 days (or face a removal fee from the city). However, the city dropped its requirement that signs include a name and telephone number.

While he's pleased with most aspects of the director's rule, local music promoter Dave Meinert thinks one regulation is a bit unreasonable--poles are only allowed one layer of signs. "Either posting will happen very little, or people will just break [the rule]," he said. SEAN REID

Rainier Vista Demolition Stalled

The Seattle Displacement Coalition (SDC) struck a victory on December 3, getting an injunction to halt housing demolition in Rainier Vista, a sprawling 481-unit low-income apartment community on Martin Luther King Way South. A U.S. district judge stopped the area's redevelopment project--which would replace the units with 1,010 new mixed-income homes--until February, when the Ninth U.S. District Court of Appeals will rule on the merits of SDC's lawsuit (which seeks to stop the project entirely) against the Seattle Housing Authority (SHA). (SDC claims the project will retain only 310 low-income units and end up costing millions of dollars more than it should.)

When SHA received the December 3 order, workers continued demolition, SDC leader John Fox said. Two days later, SDC came back with a second court order and threatened to call the cops. SHA finally halted work.

"We regret the work stoppage and hope to restart as soon as possible," SHA spokesperson Virginia Felton says, adding that SHA expects to lose $18,000 for each day the work remains on hold. SEAN REID