GREEN CURIOUS, SEEKS ENDORSEMENT
Membership in the Green Party of Seattle is suddenly increasing. City council candidates Dawn Mason, Judy Nicastro, Charlie Chong, and Heidi Wills all seem to have had timely political awakenings, formally joining the resume-correct environmental party within the last month and a half. In some cases, the political hopefuls joined as recently as last week. (The 700-member Green Party of Seattle has been around since 1996.) Meanwhile, green-curious city council hopeful Alec Fisken has asked to look over the organization's materials to see if he should join as well.
Green party spokesman Robin Denburg says Mason and Nicastro, while previously not official members, have established sold track records with the Greens. Denburg was also comfortable with Chong's interest. He is, however, a bit wary about Wills. "We don't have a relationship with Heidi. She's coming out of the blue. We don't have a clear sense of how Green she is." Wills is a longtime Democrat, who joined the Greens last week.
Joining Seattle's Green party isn't as dramatic as, say, formally changing party affiliation; you simply have to sign off on the party's 10 "key values," which include everything from stopping logging in the Cedar River watershed to proportional representation to making offending businesses--rather than all taxpayers--cover the costs for environmental cleanups.
Joining the Greens does increase your chances of getting their endorsement, though--a nice thing to boast about to Seattle voters. Explaining her Green epiphany, Wills says, "When you call to ask about getting their endorsement, they say they require membership. I'm happy to join. I worked with the Green party at UW to create a recycling program." (Wills was student body president in 1990.)
Candidates who were already members of the party include Curt Firestone, one of its longtime leaders, and Peter Steinbrueck. "We want people to join because they support our values, not because they want our endorsement," says Denburg.--Josh Feit
BIG LEAGUE BAILOUT
After seven straight years of losing money, the Seattle Mariners are finally on their way to a profitable season, thanks to their new stadium and the deal that came with it.
The new ballpark--funded by taxpayers who voted against it, and named after some fucking insurance company--has enabled the Mariners to make more money than before, because King County, which used to run suite sales, corporate sponsorship, and advertising at the Kingdome, has turned those revenue sources over to the Mariners.
The Puget Sound Business Journal reports that over the past six months the Mariners have collected more than $4 million in corporate sponsorships from 73 companies, including Boeing, Seafirst, Microsoft, and Waste Management. They also pulled in $7.7 million by selling all 57 available luxury suites to people who would rather not mingle with the riff-raff, and $2.2 million for selling all 352 Diamond Club seats located behind home plate (with private entry and clubhouse).
"Sponsors should be happy," The Business Journal reported, "the Mariners have set a new record by selling about 21,000 season tickets this year." And they couldn't have done it without your help.--Ben Jacklet
DOCK WORKERS BLOCK WASTE TRAFFIC
On July 25, a company that had planned to import 10,000 tons of toxic waste from Taiwan to Idaho by way of the Port of Tacoma decided to cancel its plans. The decision came two days after Tacoma longshoremen announced they were unwilling to off-load 10 barge containers filled with the material, already loaded in Taiwan. A chain of phone calls from the dock workers in Tacoma to the bosses in Taiwan halted the shipment. Learning their lesson, Envirosafe Services of Idaho--the import company--canceled further shipments.
The waste had already been shipped back from one planned dumping site in Cambodia after local protests and a subsequent riot in the port of Sihanoukville. A more subtle opposition foiled the Pacific Northwest plan, when longshoremen in Tacoma used a health and safety clause in their contract, which states that they won't be forced to handle any material an independent mediator determines to be unsafe.
"This is a real basic issue," says Longshoreman Scott Mason, who made the initial phone call that led to the cargo being unpacked in Taiwan before it could be shipped. "Why are we shipping toxic, hazardous waste into this country? It should stay in the country of its origin."--Ben Jacklet
