DEAR STRANGER: I worked on strategy with Judy Nicastro during her 1999 campaign and support her on every one of her issues but one, and that one is why I will be voting for her opponent. This time around Judy has been enthusiastically trumpeting her new initiative to build low-income housing on top of multi-story parking garages. She says that this plan has the support of small businesses hurt by how hard it is to find parking in our commercial districts. Last year Judy declined to support a low tax on commercial parking being floated on the city council, to fund (transit) mobility in neighborhoods, which could have addressed some of the small businesses' concerns.

All Judy's good work for renters (thanks to her, landlords now cannot keep the interest on your security deposit--enjoy that $40!--or evict you as easily) will be forgotten in 10 years' time, especially now that the boom has crashed and landlords have to compete for tenants. What people WILL remember in 10 years are these proposed garages. They will ask, as we do about so much of our infrastructure, "Why were they so stupid?"

Judy: Global warming is real and dangerous. Car-polluted runoff destroys native salmon runs and kills sea life. The sprawl of this region over the last 20 years has dramatically diminished our quality of life. Any step we take that does not in some way move toward remedying these problems is going in the wrong direction.

Now, everybody else: Vote for Jean Godden.

Grant Cogswell

PASSING FOR GODDEN

EDITOR: Regarding your October 23 cover: Some rocker dude, my ass. We all can recognize Jean Godden when we see her.

Paul Gibson

PRAISE FOR FORNEY

TO THE EDITOR: "How to Kick at Home" [Oct 23] is another first-rate example of Ellen Forney's ability to inform and entertain. I learned a lot (do dealers really hook users up with doctors to help them kick?) and enjoyed the content-rich presentation. The cartoon was also a good accompaniment to the article about Capitol Hill's recent misfortunes.

Erik Schwab

ADVICE FOR ADDICTS

EDITOR: Ellen Forney's "How to Kick at Home" gave up a lot of good information, but I'd like to add something: If you use sedatives to get through those first awful days of withdrawal and then decide to go back to dope, you really need to be careful with your dose. The risk of an OD is much, much higher when you've got sedatives in your system--and they can linger for more than a day.

Rodent Leg

SLAP FOR SANDERS

TO ELI SANDERS: I am responding to your deliberate misrepresentation of my protest at the Ron Sims press conference ["No Defense," Oct 23].

I find it ironic that you should call me "ill-informed," since there was only one journalist at the task force meetings to create the [gay health] manifesto, and it wasn't you--it was me. I was there when the task force voted down talking about more organizational accountability, instead opting to put in this fluffy language that all but absolves organizations of making any real changes and pushes all the blame onto individuals.

Second, I find it ironic that in the fight to demand that Gay City and Lifelong AIDS Alliance show that their programs are working, only one journalist has bothered to stand up to voice ideas during the community forums for discussion and debate, and it wasn't you--it was me. Instead, you seem to think that staying behind the safe lines of your whining articles is preferable to allowing discourse and debate on the topics you whine about. Maybe you should tell your readers why you refused to stand up for the ideas you've been bitching about when the time came to discuss them at the forums?

Third, I find it ironic that you left out of your article the most important part of the poster I unfurled. The poster said, "STOP PREACHING--Instead Provide Better HIV Education in Schools." If we are to really stop HIV, leaders like Ron Sims need to take REAL action to demand change, and should be signing new laws giving us monitored HIV education in high schools and organizational oversight, instead of just telling us how we need to behave.

Finally, I find it insulting that you even bothered to call to ask why I protested the press conference when all you intended to print was that I am "misguided," "ill-informed," and "confused." I have worked very hard on my own unpaid time to learn about and protest this process because I believe the community's voice was left out, while you have done nothing but criticize leaders, organizations, and now me. That you would sign on to the manifesto knowing that it demands no real accountability from organizations makes you far more "ill-informed" and "misguided" than I.

Beau Burriola

ELI SANDERS RESPONDS: The manifesto (www.homohealth.org) calls on gay health organizations to provide "up-to-date, relevant infor- mation about HIV and STD prevention"; "loud, clear messages of health"; and "diverse, specific, and crucial HIV and STD prevention statements." I don't see how this "all but absolves" gay health organizations. As I have been documenting for five months now, Gay City and Lifelong AIDS Alliance have been failing in the "relevant information" category ["The Immoral Minority," June 5], the "clear" category ["We're Not Getting Serious," July 10], and the "messages of health" category ["Basic Values vs. Basic Plumbing," Oct 9; "No Defense," Oct 23]. Does the manifesto itemize every way in which I would like these agencies to be held accountable? No. But imagine how much easier it would be for journalists such as myself and Beau Burriola to hold these agencies accountable if the agency's leaders all signed this manifesto.

Regarding my participation at the Gay City forums: Gay City did not invite me to be among the panelists and presenters at its first forum (though much of the first forum was a response to my work). By the second forum, I felt I had made my views pretty clear by publishing them for hundreds of thousands of readers (which I don't think constitutes hiding behind "safe lines"). Still, if Gay City ever invites me to discuss my work at one of its forums and allows for meaningful, spirited debate (which was not allowed at the second forum), I'd be happy to participate.

JUSTICE FOR JACKET

DEAR SIRS/MADAMS: I am a longtime reader of your newsweekly and am generally satisfied. However, this week's issue is so far off base, so far afield, that I find myself questioning that long-held general satisfaction.

On page 17 of Volume 13, Number 5, first paragraph, second sentence, your reporter refers to Mr. Savage's "borrowed jacket the color of a baked potato" ["Night of the Big Brains," Emily Hall, Oct 16]. As I type this letter I am looking directly at the jacket in question, as I am, yes, the owner and loaner of said jacket. The jacket is a single-breasted three-button Brooks Brothers olive-tan multi-check pattern, hand-stitched in Israel of Italian wool. It pairs perfectly with a variety of dress shirts and slacks. It does not, however, resemble a baked potato of any variety, in any way.

I respectfully submit that your reporter might not have the keenest sense of color, and perhaps in the future she should be limited to reporting on subjects that do not require this particular talent. I also would respectfully request that you immediately print a retraction to avoid libel litigation.

Matthew Richter
Consolidated Works

PRAISE FOR US

DEAR STRANGER: I want to congratulate you on the premiere of your Stranger Genius Awards. Seattle is chock-full of talented emerging artists, who, as you know, all too often have to struggle to do their work without the notice, much less the support, of traditional funding institutions. Remedying that situation is what we were trying to do with the Fuse Foundation a couple of years back. We couldn't get the funding to get our effort off the ground. I'm glad you did.

Your selections include folks I'd pick (Susan Robb, Greg Lundgren, KT Niehoff) as well as folks I wouldn't have thought of, which seems to me a testament to a solid selection process and real roots in the arts community. The attention (not to mention the dinero) that comes with your recognition should help all the recipients along their way.

So, bravo, Stranger Genius selectors!

Alex Steffen