Saturday, July 19, marked the demise of Georgetown's Industrial Coffee, leaving only one original symbol of the neighborhood's once-vaunted renaissance standing, Stella's Pizza. ALEXIS LAINOFF

Bail Bond

A five-vote council majority for a 20-year bond to fix up fire stations--a proposal that could have cost half as much per household as the recommended $167 million fire levy--fell apart when Council Member Heidi Wills bailed. Wills had signed a June 5 letter calling for a bond, and as recently as a July 7 council meeting said a bond was "the most prudent way to go." What happened?

The mayor, pushing the levy, made the case that a bond--which needs 60 percent voter approval, as opposed to a levy's 50 percent--wouldn't pass.

Richard McIver, who helped organize the five votes for the cheaper bond option, fumed: "Wills was the staunchest bond supporter. But when we walked into the vote, Heidi all of a sudden became a levy supporter. Heidi disappeared."

As for the difficult hurdle a bond faces, McIver says: "If you can't get 60 percent for fire stations after 9/11, then you probably shouldn't tax voters anyway."

On July 21, the council voted to send the $73-a-year levy to voters this November. JOSH FEIT

Monorail Board

Seattle Monorail Project board members Cindi Laws and Kristina Hill placed two issues on the monorail agency's August 6 agenda over the objections of chair Tom Weeks: creating an ad hoc committee to discuss board transparency, and allowing public comment on any issue at the beginning of monorail board meetings. "Tom Weeks has made it very clear that he wants public comment at the meetings limited to items on the agenda, which I have strongly opposed," Laws says. As for transparency, Laws says the board needs an explicit policy "so that the staff doesn't fuck up like they did last week with the secret brainstorm meetings." Two weeks ago, monorail staffer Stephen Brown invited a select group to a series of closed meetings to come up with revenue-generating ideas for the monorail; the meetings were later opened to the public. ERICA C. BARNETT

Dept. of Dopes

Cleveland Congressman Dennis Kucinich brought his lu-lu long-shot bid for the Democratic presidential nomination to Seattle on Saturday, July 19. Kucinich, best known for advocating a Department of Peace, drew a Seattle Weekly crowd of aging hippie peaceniks and baby-boom New Agers to a U-District church. The audience eagerly chanted "The market has failed" at Kucinich's behest. In a terrible setback for Seattle, some 700 people attended. SANDEEP KAUSHIK