DAN SAVAGE: INSENSITIVE ASS

DAN SAVAGE: Hey! YOU don't get to say what Seattle is like, Bucko! I've been here my whole life, 36 years. I have six brothers and sisters who grew up here, too. Our family has been living in Seattle proper for four generations. WE will say what the temperament of this city is, NOT you!!

I have written you many times before, always with praise for your column's level-headed and witty advice. You are a true cynic and a realist, and for that you are to be applauded. But this article in today's Stranger--"We Said 'Jump!'" [Sept 6]--I'm not having it!! Not here!

As for the jumper, human life is human life. We say we cherish it, whether it's our own or someone else's. Funny how things don't always pan out that way. Put a creep in a creepy situation and you get behavior like we saw on the bridge that day. Don't encourage them, Dan. They're stupid monkeys, imitating something they saw on their BOOB TOOBS. They thought it was funny. They're just shallow little morons with driver's licenses.

Ken Barrett, Ballard

DAN SAVAGE: Do you have ANY experience with mental illness? Have you known even one person with depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia? Have you ever been despondent yourself? A woman who pulls her car over on a bridge and then jumps off that bridge is not seeking attention. How do I know this? Because I have bipolar disorder, and it is a terrible and insidious disease that makes you do really stupid things like jumping off bridges, but I assure you--nothing done during a suicidal episode is done strictly for attention. Get educated, Dan! If you spent as much time learning about mental illness as you do learning about sex and especially the terrible tragedy of AIDS, you would never write such an article.

Julie Fast, via e-mail


DAVID SCHMADER: INCONSISTENT ASS

DEAR MR. SCHMADER: Consistency is a wonderful thing! Whether it pertains to pancake mix, bowel movements, or news tidbits is of no consequence. Here's my beef: In your column [Last Days, Sept 6], you made reference to the taunting commuters in last week's bridge drama as "traffic-jam sickos," for their verbal display in the midst of a "deeply disturbed" woman's suicidal crisis. In the same column you call for the King of Facial Reconstructive Surgery [Michael Jackson] to "Get back to music, or kill yourself now." Yes, he is a worn-out celebrity who has worn out his welcome, but isn't a call for a self-imposed death sentence a little harsh, in light of your previous comments? Frankly, I could not care less about your opinion of the jumper or the child humper. I even think that your column is a shining star amongst the nebulaic drivel that exists in much of the weekly press. However, in a world of increasing contradictions, it is nice to know that I can derive a shred of solidity from a simple news column.

John Skierski, West Seattle


JOSH FEIT: MISGUIDED ASS

EDITORS: After reading Josh Feit's bullet points for an anti-Sidran attack ad [Five to Four, Sept 6], I wondered if Seattle voters would interpret the ad as an attack on Sidran or an attack on the effete liberal judges who stand up for vehicular scofflaws, Frat Tuesday rioters, and street urinators, thereby undermining the city attorney's program for a "Civil Seattle." In light of recent events, maybe Greg [Nickels] would do better by threatening to jump into the Ship Canal unless we elect him mayor.

A. Malakoff, Seattle

JOSH FEIT: I have to disagree with you on Darth Sidran's chances. My feeling is, if Sidran survives the primary, his chances are about 60-40 to win. I was counting on you to get Judy [Nicastro] to run. By the way, Seattle has had a female mayor, back in the 1920s. I am afraid I forget her name; but she was a one-term mayor. If Judy ran, I think she could pull at least two terms out of the deal.

Terry Parkhurst, via e-mail

Ed. note: Bertha Knight Landes was elected mayor by a landslide in 1926, and lost her reelection bid in 1928.

EDITORS: If Josh Feit wants to advise Nickels on how to attack Sidran in TV ads, can we assume that he has checked to make sure Nickels actually disagrees with Sidran on drug abatement, drug testing, the impound ordinance, and closed-door meetings? A case in point would be the executive meetings of the Sound Transit Board, which are not only closed, but the board members are prohibited from revealing anything that goes on in them. Even if Nickels were to agree with you on these issues, he won't take them on because they won't win him votes, just as he saw nothing to gain 1987 by denouncing his campaign staff's outing of his opponent.

Neither Nickels or Schell disagree with Sidran on anything of substance other than light rail, and Nickels has been its most devoted advocate. I asked Greg Nickels two years ago to do something about a Sound Transit Q & A mailing to Rainier Valley that said, "Light rail at street-level will provide a raised, curbed median with the trackway pave flush with the top of rail. This creates a safe island refuge area halfway across the street...." Nickels didn't see any problem with it. Never mind that this is exactly how many people get killed by trains and light rail, thinking they're safe on one track while the train goes by on another. The guy has about as much imagination as a loaf of bread.

So if early advocacy of the monorail is the only issue you care about in this race, don't blame me for deciding opposition to light rail in the street in Rainier Valley is the only issue I care about. If Chong becomes viable or Schell flip-flops again, so much the better. And I will not only vote for, but contribute to and volunteer in the Firestone, Preston, and Cogswell campaigns.

Ruth Korkowski, Seattle


JOSH FEIT: ASS REDUX

DEAR STRANGER: I'm writing in response to "Meeting McIver" [In Other News, Sept 6]. I believe that it's disingenuous to tell your readers that [the Seattle Housing Authority] is trying to "weasel out of replacing the 481 on-site units" for very-low-income people at Rainier Vista. The truth is that every current resident of the Rainier Vista development has the choice to return after rehab is completed. The mixed-use development will have more than double the units of the current development, and will include home-ownership programs for low-income families as well as housing for the general public. These changes will introduce a variety of household types and income levels to the neighborhood, an improvement on the homogeneous housing project that currently exists. Housing Authorities take the relocation or displacement of residents very seriously, but they can't put off needed upgrades forever (have you seen the units at Rainier Vista?). The fact is that after the fear of change has died down, the residents will be living in nice new units in the same neighborhood.

Check out the following site for direct responses from SHA to the issues you've raised: www.seapha.org/ development/Hope_vi/RainierVista/ rvqa1.htm. I want to emphasize that I do not work for the SHA, nor do I speak for them in any way, nor do I claim perfect knowledge of the Rainier Vista project. These are my personal opinions based on my time at a different housing agency.

Brendan Buckley, Everett Housing Authority


JEFF DeROCHE: IGNORANT ASS

JEFF DeROCHE: Calling Peter Parker's new release, Semiautobiographical, "watered-down punk" and "hyperactive radio rock" is one of the most ignorant, abrasive comments I've ever heard, as it gives the readers a completely jaded view of what the record actually is [Up & Coming, Sept 6]. Granted, Semiautobiographical is a difficult record at first listen, and even more difficult to describe.

Semiautobiographical is a complex but BRILLIANT record, from how it is crafted to how it recorded. Attempting to describe it much further than that could only be done by a pretentious writer who should learn to admit when they don't know what the fuck it is they're talking about.

Eric Holl, DJ, 89.3 KUGS-FM Bellingham

DEPT. OF CORRECTIONS

Due to a copy error, several paragraphs in last week's interview with filmmaker Jim McKay ["Subtle Activism," Sean Nelson, Sept 6] were not printed in boldface type, thus attributing many of the author's observations to McKay, and rendering the article both inaccurate and long-winded. A properly formatted version of the interview can be found at www.thestranger.com/2001-09-06/film.html. We apologize for this embarrassing error, and encourage you to check out the real version--and McKay's film, Our Song--with all due haste.