RETHINK, PLEASE

JOSH FEIT: Please think through some of the alleged facts you state in your article criticizing the housing levy on the upcoming ballot [Five to Four, Sept 5].

Saying that the homeownership piece is a goodie for the black middle class and not the white middle class is silly. Even if more recipients of that part of the levy are people of color (not just black), plenty aren't. There is no color test; the test is income. You must know that a disproportionate number of the lower-income people in Seattle are not white.

And how did you come up with the idea that better mass transit is going to open up housing opportunities for poor people in low-rent areas? There aren't large numbers of vacancies in low-rent housing in any part of Seattle. Poor people already live in Georgetown, Delridge, and Lake City, in part because these areas are out of the way. The minute these neighborhoods become more convenient, they will become more desirable, and landlords will be able to raise rents and renovate accordingly. Improved mass transit, which I support, is nonetheless a conduit for gentrification.

Seattle's private housing market left low-income people in the dust in the '80s. Not one unsubsidized developer is building anything for people making 30 percent of median income. Very few, if any, are building for 60 percent. The rents these people can pay are far too low to cover the costs of constructing and operating new housing. Not much housing is dilapidating into lower-rent [units], either. Crummy buildings are fixed up and then rented to tenants in higher income brackets. It's a simple matter of supply, demand, and the cost of doing business.

Subsidized housing is the only hope for poor people in Seattle. The federal government and the state of Washington aren't providing enough of it, so the city of Seattle needs to pitch in. Don't pick the levy apart; vote for it. It will help thousands of poor people have a decent place to live!

Flo Beaumon, Aloha Inn Transitional Housing Program, Archdiocesan Housing Authority


VINTAGE POLITICAL WHINE

STRANGER: I was rather dismayed to read the August 29 article that was nominally about the Soviet submarine exhibit ["That Sinking Feeling," Matthew Richter]. How nice of Mr. Richter to spend a third of the page on the attraction, and the remaining two-thirds on the political state of the world--not the political ramifications of the submarine itself, but just vague rambling on the nature of the post-Cold War, second-Bush-administration world. What's next? A review of the Space Needle coupled with a diatribe against the patriarchy? A sports story that evolves from a mention of a "David-and-Goliath confrontation" to the geopolitical ramifications of a theological ideal? One reason why I continue to read the daily paper is because the sports stay on the sports page, and the editorials stay on the editorial page.

Maybe it is because of my four years in the U.S. Navy; maybe it is because I was an English major in college--but I can tell when someone is bullshitting. This article, my friends, is bullshit. A good paragraph is spent on the fact that the officers' mess table has no graffiti carved in it. Consider: This is the officers' dinner table in a military vessel, not the counter at McDonald's. For someone accustomed to military service in even the most peripheral way, it would have been noteworthy had the table actually been etched. Through this and several other egregious errors, conflations, and leaps of logic, it is clear that either Mr. Richter did not understand the subject at hand, or he was upset at the assignment and decided to write the article he originally wanted instead.

Insert standard liberal caveat: I am appalled at the resident Bush administration, and object to their attacks on personal freedom. I object to the general public's willingness to trade their freedom for a sense of security, and their willingness to spy on their neighbors in the name of "The Homeland." I protest the War on Terrorism, just as I protest the War on Drugs. However, none of these facts negate my disappointment with Mr. Richter's article. For Americans (myself included) to be able to walk aboard this boat is a monumental experience; it should not be a springboard for yet another vintage of political whine.

DWC, via e-mail


UM...YOU DO REALIZE JEWEL DIDN'T REALLY WRITE OUR BUMBERSHOOT GUIDE, RIGHT?

STRANGER: What the fuck is that ridiculous Bumbershoot "GUIDE" all about ["The Stranger's 2002 Bumbershoot Guide by Jewel," Aug 29]? Is it a joke you're playing on us? Do you really think anyone who reads The Stranger--or anyone in Seattle, for that matter--likes Jewel enough to read a page of her ignorant ranting, much less an entire guide? There is a line, and it has been crossed. Jewel? Jewel?!? How dare you bow down to the snaggletoothed temptress of wussy, Warm 106.9 shitty shit! The fact that she takes herself seriously as a "writer" boggles the mind, but for you to play along with it is completely pathetic.

We are officially on a break, Stranger. I may even read the Weekly, AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!!!

Anonymous, via e-mail


LAZY OMBUDSMAN

STRANGER: A. Birch Steen is a lazy ombudsman for your paper. Half the time it seems he doesn't even read most of the sections in The Stranger. "Didn't read" is his meaningless, dull refrain. How can I respect him as a critic if he's not reading the paper?

Stef Hoji, via e-mail