When City Attorney Tom Carr needed to convince wavering Seattle City Council member Jean Godden to vote against legislation that would have overturned the city's controversial car-impound ordinance, he called in the undisputed expert: former city attorney and civil-rights bad guy Mark Sidran. (The Sidran-era impound law allows cops to tow away cars whose drivers have had their licenses suspended for minor infractions like unpaid traffic tickets.)

Until last week, Godden didn't just support the legislation, she cosponsored it. But by Monday, March 29, after Sidran placed a well-timed call to her office at Carr's behest, Godden had turned. That afternoon, the council voted 6-3 to indefinitely postpone council member Nick Licata's long-sought ordinance.

Carr's office acknowledges that the city attorney asked his predecessor to place the call. Carr ran for office as the anti-Sidran. But to look at how he's running the office these days, you'd think it was 1999 all over again. ERICA C. BARNETT

Library High Rollers

Want to get a sneak peek at the new downtown library before it opens? No problem: Pony up $10,000 and you'll snag an invite to the May 21 Seattle Public Library Foundation (SPLF) Tribute Celebration for big donors. The foundation is honoring 200 people (200!) who have donated $10K or more for the new glass-walled structure at Fourth Avenue and Madison Street. The event will be held at the library two days before its official opening, according to Terry Collings of the SPLF, which has raised a whopping $81.5 million in private donations for the Rem Koolhaas-designed library. BRIAN WALTON

McDermott Swings Right?

Could it be that Seattle's ultra-liberal firebrand in Congress, Representative Jim McDermott, has found common cause with the right wing? It could. A photo provided by McDermott's press staff shows him shaking hands with combative California Republican and Committee on Ways and Means chair Bill Thomas, who notoriously called Capitol police to break up a meeting of Democrats in July 2003. The two men, oil and vinegar in their political views, are indeed working together, at least on the issue of extending and expanding the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which promotes economic development in sub-Saharan Africa by allowing those countries to export products to the United States duty-free. Still, if you look closely at the photo, neither McDermott nor Thomas appears to be smiling. SANDEEP KAUSHIK

Farmers' Market Spoiled

Thanks to the citywide Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance (NFMA), a Capitol Hill farmers' market was set to open on Harvard Avenue behind the Broadway Market in May. However, as opening day approached, the just-off-Broadway location fell through due to concerns from the fire department and neighboring businesses (though not the Broadway Market, which was "very supportive," according to the NFMA). It seems parking and privacy for nearby apartment dwellers topped the list of concerns.

Ann Donovan, president of the Capitol Hill Community Council, is "very frustrated at this point," and hopes to make a last-ditch effort to open the market this year, although the outlook is grim. The NFMA is currently scouting 2005 Capitol Hill locations. BRIAN WALTON

Protest Phelps

The notorious gay-hater Fred Phelps, and his Westboro Baptist Church, are planning to "picket [the] Homo-Fascist People's Republic of Seattle & King County and the sodomite whorehouses masquerading as churches" next week, according to a flyer plastered on telephone poles around town. Phelps, you'll recall, created the website godhatesfags.com in 1998. after 21-year-old gay student Matthew Shepard was beaten to death in Wyoming, and he's made a career out of gay-bashing ever since.

Phelps' Seattle protests, on April 11 and 12, are aimed at Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, who signed an executive order recognizing homosexual marriage last month. Gay-friendly forces plan to meet at All Pilgrims Church on Broadway Avenue and Republican Street at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 11 to counter Phelps' protest.

If history is any guide, the counterprotest will easily squash Phelps' brigade. During Westboro Baptist's last Seattle visit, six Phelps supporters encountered more than 50 counterprotesters at Capitol Hill's St. Mark's Cathedral. Previous Phelps visits have brought out hundreds in opposition. BRIAN WALTON

Skate Update

Ballard Skate Park supporters are fine-tuning their three-minute "Save the Ballard Bowl" speeches before they testify in front of the Board of Park Commissioners on Thursday night, April 8. The board, expecting a full house, is holding the public meeting at the spacious South Lake Union Armory Building (860 Terry Ave. N.) at 6:00 p.m. AMY JENNIGES