Absentee Transit Lords

A new report shows that the politicos charged with overseeing the $3.9 billion Sound Transit Project canceled one third of their meetings in the first half of 1999, due to poor attendance. The 18-member Sound Transit Board, in charge of making sure that our tax money actually builds some worthwhile public transportation, cancels meetings if fewer than 10 members show up. The worst culprit is hard-working King County Executive Ron Sims, who managed to drag his butt to just 40 percent of the board meetings in 1999, and just 29 percent of the meetings in 1998. -- BEN JACKLET


But Where Do I Set My Ass, Teacher?

A bunch of Garfield High School teachers were at a meeting last week, preparing for the new school year, when somebody noticed a major inventory gaffe. There are 200 more students signed up for Garfield than there are chairs! -- NANCY DREW


Cops Target Gays

Seattle cops are way tougher on "adult entertainment" businesses that cater to gays than they are on similar businesses that cater to straights. Seattle's Commission for Sexual Minorities found that over the past three years, two gay-themed adult businesses, the Love Boutique in Lake City and the Adult Entertainment Center near the Pike Place Market, were subject to surprise "inspections" a whopping 120 times. In the same period, three businesses catering to straights -- Champs Arcade, Fantasy Video, and the Lusty Lady -- were inspected just 47 times. -- BEN JACKLET


I-200 Still Sucks

The National Medical Association -- an organization of black physicians -- canceled plans to hold its 2001 convention in Seattle. The reason the NMA steered clear of Seattle: I-200. In a recent Puget Sound Business Journal story titled "Passage of I-200 makes state's sales job tougher," NMA president Walter W. Shervington M.D. told the Journal, "The impact of our convention can be anywhere from $5 million to $10 million." -- JOSH FEIT


Interactive Theater

Mayor Paul Schell had some surprise visitors while taking in a night of theater late last month. Schell and his wife were at the Intiman Theater's August 26 performance of Skylight (for a "pay what you can" performance), when a mysterious bike messenger and a "man in a suit" served Schell with legal papers. No word from the mayor's office as to the nature of the suit. -- NANCY DREW