True, some of Falkenbury's ideas border on the cockamamie: Concrete cubicles under bridges for the homeless? But Falkenbury isn't a kook. His true gift is pointing out the solution that's so obvious no one has bothered to notice it before: like adding left-turn signals to Mercer Street (before spending millions on "improvements" that may actually worsen the Mercer Mess), putting the Lake Washington Ship Canal drawbridges on a schedule, and warning drivers via electronic billboards about traffic conditions miles down the road.
On the council, Falkenbury's main weakness will be that he doesn't play well with others: He resigned from the monorail board in 2003, citing frustration with the agency's lockstep consensus politics. But Falkenbury's refusal to pander to Seattle's passive-aggressive political conventions may be just the antidote to the council's current malaise; and his brain full of ideas is badly needed on a body that complains the mayor, not the council, is driving the city's agenda.
A vote for Falkenbury is also a slam against tired incumbent Margaret Pageler, head cheerleader for Mark Sidran's draconian, punitive, and ultimately unconstitutional "civility" laws. Pageler supported the poster ban, the parks exclusion ordinance (which enables cops to permanently ban, without due process, any individual from any city park), and the teen dance ordinance. And as head of the council's energy committee, Pageler was largely to blame for the devastating rate spikes at City Light, which happened under her watch, not current energy chair Heidi Wills'.
Falkenbury's other main opponent, Tom Rasmussen, is a meek, soft-spoken human-services advocate and longtime city employee who's picked up astonishing momentum (mostly by funding his own campaign--nearly half of the campaign's $115,000 is his own money) and endorsements from Democratic organizations, labor, and environmental groups. Unlike those groups, the Stranger Election Bowling League isn't convinced that Rasmussen's the only alternative to bad-guy Pageler: Rasmussen might vote the right way on human-services cuts, but his call for "consensus" shows he lacks Falkenbury's doggedness and determination. The politically untested Rasmussen might be a notch up from Pageler, but that's no reason to support a candidate who seems more likely to flip-flop on tough issues than stand his ground. Whatever else he is, Falkenbury's no pushover. And he may be just what the council needs.
There are some other folks in this race but we forgot their names--one is a socialist (the one with the shy friends), another is a nice guy with a mustache and good bowling form. Don't vote for them.
