Dry

The city's ongoing crusade against alcohol continues this Thursday, July 27, when the Washington State Liquor Control Board will hear a request by the city to formally recognize two new "alcohol impact areas." This would extend the area in which residents can't buy inexpensive, high-alcohol booze to encompass all or part of the International District, Pioneer Square, downtown, Queen Anne, Capitol Hill, and the University District. The liquor board may also give the city more time to comment on liquor-license applications or renewals in the area. Why doesn't Seattle just go dry, already? ERICA C. BARNETT

Comparable

The city council is preparing to transfer the right to provide cable in Seattle's south end from longtime provider Millennium Cable to a larger company called Wave. For years, the south end languished without a cable provider while other, more affluent parts of the city were served by a series of companies: Seacom, Viacom, TCI, and eventually Comcast. When Millennium brought cable to South Seattle in 1999, it was an inferior facsimile: fewer channels, fewer programming options, but more expensive. Comcast didn't bother to compete, according to Tony Perez, director of Seattle's Office of Broadband Communications, because "there's a lot of expense that goes into running cable up and down every street." The result was that the people least able to afford cable pay the most. Now, some on the council see the renegotiation of the franchise agreement as an opportunity to make amends. Among other changes council members asked for at a hearing on the negotiations last week: a basic cable package comparable to Comcast's; greater discounts for low-income people and seniors; and more features, such as extra channels and cable on demand. ERICA C. BARNETT