Welcome to Seattle
At a press conference on December 1, 1999--the day after protesters stopped the WTO conference in its tracks by trapping trade ministers in their hotels and smashing store windows--Mayor Paul Schell told reporters: "That was not Seattle."
About a year later, at a press conference following the Mardi Gras riots, Schell sounded a similar theme, blaming the disturbances on outsiders. Again: That wasn't Seattle.
However, judging from the police reports about the Mardi Gras melee and the roster of local labor and student protest groups participating in the WTO protest, it's plain that February's Mardi Gras mayhem and 1999's WTO demonstrations were brought to you by Seattleites.
Schell's denial pathology is acting up again. After getting clocked in the face with a megaphone by black activist Omari Tahir-Garrett on Saturday, July 7, Schell held a Monday afternoon press conference. "We are a civil society," said the mayor. "A single act of violence does not reflect how we deal with issues in Seattle." And in case you missed his message, here's what Schell said as he left Harborview the day before: "This is not Seattle."
No matter how many times Schell repeats it, though, he's wrong. This is Seattle. Garrett is a longtime Seattleite. The assault took place at 23rd and East Union, by all accounts a Seattle address. And the attack is linked to the recent shooting death of a black Seattle man, Aaron Roberts, at the hands of the Seattle police. More to the point, Seattle is no stranger to assaults. According to SPD records, there were 2,463 aggravated assaults in Seattle last year--nearly a 10 percent jump from the previous year.
Schell's knee-jerk reaction to violence and civic conflict is to deny that it happens here. Schell's mantra is not only old and unconvincing, it's troubling. The leader of our city has to stop pretending that events which are, in fact, taking place in Seattle aren't taking place in his Seattle.
Fixed Up
City hall is hammering out legislation that would ease building height restrictions on downtown developers in exchange for public benefits like low-income housing. Five to Four has devoted two columns pleading the case for critical pieces of legislation that would improve the resolution. One fix, written by Council Member Judy Nicastro, directs the city to consider extending the program to neighborhoods adjacent to downtown, like First Hill, Lower Queen Anne, and parts of Capitol Hill ["Five to Four," May 17]. This is a wise first step toward encouraging density, and we're psyched to report that it passed on Monday, July 9 in a 9-0 vote.
Another crucial adjustment, written by Council Member Heidi Wills, would mandate that somewhere between 75 and 87.5 percent of the housing units built under the program qualify as low-income ["Five to Four," June 28]. Wills' resolution was postponed.
