On Friday evening, November 2, Ron Carnell and Mary Keils returned to their Beacon Hill home after grocery shopping at Whole Foods to find a "Sidran for Mayor" sign in their front yard. No other yard on their block had sprouted a Sidran sign, so the pair--both Nickels supporters--concluded they were targeted by one of Sidran's henchmen. Carnell and Keils have contributed $50 to the Nickels campaign.

"We are shocked that a mayoral candidate who once led a ban on postering in public areas would have supporters who sneak around at night and hammer campaign signs onto private properties," the pissed-off couple wrote in an e-mail communiqué. "The next time Sidran runs for office, we would suggest that [his supporters] try to act consistently with Sidran's pure ideas of civility. Please start by staying the fuck off our yard." NANCY DREW

Bad Ethics

In a stand-off between the two toughest broads in city hall last week--stern City Council President Margaret Pageler and meticulous Ethics and Elections Commission Executive Director Carol Van Noy--Pageler blinked.

Searching for budget cuts, Pageler made a play to scale back Van Noy's commission, the commission that, among other cool things, calls bullshit on campaign funding shenanigans and provides the public with fine-tuned details of exactly who's funding which candidates. For example, did you know that in Pageler's 1999 reelection bid, nearly 20 percent of her donor base was richy-rich $400 folks, while just 12 percent gave at the Joe Average rate of $25 or less? By contrast, 45 percent of her opponent's donor base were regular folks chipping in at $25.

If Pageler had gotten her way, voters may never have learned such handy tidbits. Thankfully, Van Noy, in her inimitable fashion, provided council inquisitors with an indomitable defense, forcing Pageler to drop the issue. JOSH FEIT

Drop-In Center Dropped

On Saturday, October 27, Capitol Hill Youth Center, a drop-in emergency services center for homeless youth housed at Pilgrim Congregational Church (509 10th Avenue East), closed its doors. Kris Nyrop, executive director of Street Outreach Services (which ran the youth center), says the center closed because it lost a $30,000-a-year grant from the Lifelong AIDS Alliance.

Unrelated to the funding hit, the center had also lost its space at Pilgrim. The church decided it needed the space for its congregation.

Started in 1995, the center served as many as 70 youths a day. KEVIN JONES