Despite a $250,000 infusion from the city council, the fate of the highfalutin center remains far from clear, thanks to a lack of support from Schell's successor, Greg Nickels. In a letter to The Stranger last week, former Public Art program director Barbara Goldstein accused current Arts and Cultural Affairs Office head Michael Killoren, a Nickels appointee, of "actively lobb[ying]" against the center, "stating that [the arts commission's] advocacy for this project could further erode funding" for the agency. While Killoren says Goldstein's allegations are "not the way I would characterize" his conversations with the commission, he did acknowledge that Schell's highbrow cultural center was not a major funding priority for blue-collar Democrat Nickels.
The council did find money to pay for some of its other priorities Monday, adopting a $2.5 million budget supplement that will augment private funding for a rowing center in Mount Baker ($300,000), restore a lifeguard position at Pritchard Beach ($40,000), and pay to install cameras at four intersections, catching red-light-running scofflaws in the act. One thing the supplement didn't pay for was a gargantuan wish list proposed almost literally at the last minute by David Della. The nearly $13 million proposal (which included $6 million to extend the downtown streetcar; $5 million to mitigate the impact of light rail on Beacon Hill; and $500,000 for a new P-Patch in West Seattle) prompted snickers among some observers on the second floor, who pointed out that Della's proposal exceeded the city's estimated budget surplus by nearly $8 million.
The City Light Advisory Board--an appointed body that advises the mayor and council on City Light policies--is, according to its mission statement, not supposed to "serve as an advocate on particular issues." So what business did board members have showing up at editorial board meetings for both daily papers, representatives of the mayor's office in tow, to advocate for the mayor's proposed financial policies? (The mayor's proposal, which would have required a much larger financial reserve than most council members wanted, was eventually defeated.) In a letter to City Light Committee Chair Jean Godden, all six advisory board members declared the board "an advocate for the long-term interest of the utility"--exactly the opposite, some argue, of what the board's authorizing legislation describes as the board's "mission."
Not that it matters, but the city's 16-year-old "temporary" strip-club moratorium passed 7-0 Monday, with Peter Steinbrueck, the only member who said he would "probably" vote against the moratorium, on vacation in Europe--where, incidentally, they have no shortage of strip clubs.
