From the Dec 11 – Dec 17, 2003 issue

Columns

Letters to the Editor

BUILD THE MONORAIL!
EDITOR: After reading (and laughing) over Dan Savage's astute critique of the monorail-authority critics and their whining objections to proposed monorail alignments and the like ["Get Tough," Nov 27], I just want to say "kudos" that someone in Seattle has finally slapped these folks down.

Having moved from Seattle to Philadelphia a year ago--from a city with no elevated mass transit and an extremely deficient bus tunnel to a city with a major elevated line AND an underground subway line--I find Seattle's quibbling over the "sacred spaces" of the Seattle Center and the (extremely useless) Second Avenue side of the Seattle Art Museum to be good cause for laughter. Philadelphia's elevated and subway transit [systems] may be filthy, loud, and (gasp!) involve stairs, but [they move] massive amounts of people across the city.

Saving anyone the wait for a Metro bus as it wends its way through a gridlocked city center is worth the cost of solutions like the monorail. Build the damn thing already!

Shea Michael Anderson

SEATTLE NEEDS

RAPID TRANSIT!
TO THE STRANGER: I love Seattle as much as life itself. Nevertheless, how it's been run the past several years makes me want to tear my hair out and stick my bleeding scalp in a bucket of iodine. Seattle could be such a great city, and it should have had a reasonably safe, dependable, timely, rapid public transportation system decades ago--if only we'd had politicians courageous enough to raise taxes to pay for a world-class system, a mayor with perhaps enough bravery to say, "Nope. Fuck all of you. Seattle needs this, and we're going to do it."

Here's my Christmas wish: five Dan Savages on the monorail board.

Edwin Roberts

JUST SAY NO TO MONORAIL NIMBYS!
TO THE READING PUBLIC: I could not agree more with Dan Savage's "Get Tough" (Nov 27), but it does not go far enough. He took issue with the whining NIMBYs like the warehouse owner who didn't want the monorail coming too close to his property. Gimme a break! A warehouse? The rest of that story is that the reason the monorail is going close to the warehouse is that the Seattle Public Schools administrators whined that they did not want the monorail too close to their plush new offices (they might have to wake up and actually read their budget!).

But let's not wait for the monorail agency to tell these NIMBYs where to go. We can do that ourselves. Give us the name of that warehouse owner, Dan, so we can tell him what we think of his complaints. As for Washington Mutual and their whining, everyone should send a letter to CEO Kerry Killinger, Washington Mutual Tower, 1201 Third Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101.

We monorail supporters cannot sit idly by and let the NIMBYs dominate our transportation future.

Janice Van Cleve

SEATTLE CENTER IS

NOT A PARK!
TO DAN SAVAGE: Right on, Dan! I moved here years ago from the Chicago area and I can't believe how a handful of NIMBYs stifle every good idea in this town. Rapid transit works, people. Ask anyone from Chicago, New York, London, or Paris, for chrissakes!

And of course the monorail has to go through Seattle Center. Repeat after me: "Seattle Center is NOT a park. Seattle Center is NOT a park." And enough from those whiners on Second Avenue. The monorail is for the majority of us folks who don't live in Madison Park or Broadmoor--and that's what really pisses off those rich developers. So Seattle, DON'T LET THESE RICHIE RICHES DERAIL OUR MONORAIL!

It's time for REAL people, the city, the state, and everyone else to hop aboard and BUILD THE MONORAIL NOW!!!!

P. E. Spillers

ROAD WARRIOR

DEAR EDITOR: Great article by Erica C. Barnett about the moral obligation to remove the viaduct ["Be Very Afraid," Nov 27]. While officials have for years been quietly alarmed about continually worsening reports of the integrity of the seawall, and thus the safety of the viaduct, Erica succeeds in blowing the lid off.
The tunnel option is insanely expensive, and our own Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is aware of that. In fact, SDOT has started talking about a series of measures that could add car and transit capacity to existing regional arterials and highways, in case the viaduct fails and Seattle needs to get by without it. Given the miserable condition of the seawall, given the possibility of an earthquake tipping the viaduct into occupied buildings, and given the reports that traffic can be effectively reorganized without the viaduct, we need to wake up to the only option that is both safe and affordable: 1. Finalize SDOT's proposal for fixing the larger transportation network, and implement it. 2. Tear down the viaduct before it falls on somebody. 3. Fix the seawall. The silver lining: Our waterfront freed of the death-grip of the highway planners.

Cary Moon

SCENE AND HERD
TO THE EDITOR: The article by Erin Thompson was refreshing ["Almost Famous," Nov 27]. She gave us a glimpse of the human side from the point of view of a dwarf. I agree with what she wrote about hip Seattle subcultures: "They can be as ignorant as anyone else."

Being a fairly recent transplant to Seattle after living in a rural setting my whole life, the big city had its appeals, but after the novelty wore off, I had the realization that "hipsters" are as boring, dull, and full of themselves as rednecks. When you choose to change yourself so you can fit in and belong, open-mindedness ends and the herd mentality begins. But without the cloaking devices and safety of the herd, you will stick out like a sore thumb.

Thanks, Erin, for giving us a glimpse of your life.

Jessie

THE UNTRUTH
DEAR EDITOR: I really don't know if "The Truth" is an accurate title for Sam Chesneau's hiphop column anymore. It's been cool seeing Noc on Wood Records get local press, but why the slant, the disdain, the blatant inaccuracies regarding Seattle's biggest rap music label? Is it because they operate out of their offices and studio in downtown Seattle and not a backpack? Is it because, for once, a very real team exists and it includes some of the best in the business? Or is it not in Sam's interest to see a Seattle rap-music record label blow onto the international scene as Noc on Wood has?

We invite readers of The Stranger not only to see and hear for themselves great music and a great time on Comedy Central's Premium Blend, but to judge each of the four projects Noc on Wood Records is releasing for 2004 on their own merits.

Noc on Wood Records could have opened their business anywhere in the world but chose to do so in Seattle. Considering Northwest hiphop's overall stature in the music industry, a little appreciation might be in order here.

Gene Dexter

CrazyPinoy.com

GAY CITY, GAY MARRIAGE
TO THE EDITOR: After reading Eli Sanders' insightful reports on the bumbling and pathetic attempts at HIV/AIDS awareness that have been made by Gay City, I was happy to hear about some of their major funding being withheld for the next two years. Maybe they will wake up and start taking their responsibilities seriously! Since you seem to actually tackle gay-related issues, how about looking into House Joint Resolution 56 and Senate Joint Resolution 26? I know it isn't directly local, but if these resolutions prohibiting governmental recognition of same-sex unions are successful, it would mark the first time in history that the Constitution was amended to restrict the rights of an entire class of people, which directly conflicts with its guiding principle to provide equal protection for all. Ouch!

Anthony Callaway

DIRTY MICK VS. KELLY O
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: I am writing in regards to "Drunk of the Week" [Nov 27], in which my client Mr. Farrell was slandered by one Ms. Kelly O, who published a slanderous picture of my client because Mr. Farrell refused to "get over here and into my pants, you dirty Mick," per Ms. O's request. Aside from all the "he said/she said," Mr. Farrell wishes to receive his 10 dollars and T-shirt, posthaste. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Nicholas Donahue, Esq.