THAN NOTHING
EDITOR: I would like to compliment you on your willingness to provide another side of the story with the piece written by Cary Moon ["Tunnel Vision," Dec 9]. However, I think that Ms. Moon, as well as anyone else who thinks we should just do completely away with the transportation corridor the viaduct provides, has been in Belltown smoking crack with the rest of the junkies.
I live in West Seattle, work in Ballard and, until I sold my car several months ago, used the viaduct on a daily basis. Sure, the view is nice, but one thing you definitely notice while driving it is the sheer volume of traffic that uses that corridor. There is no way in hell that all that traffic can be rerouted to surface streets and/or I-5; I challenge anyone who thinks otherwise to take a drive, say from West Seattle to Wallingford, the next time the viaduct is closed. Yeah, it sucks ass and takes about five times as long, doesn't it? Throw in a ball game by any professional Seattle team and the nightmare expands exponentially.
Now I've always been for mass transportation. Ms. Moon comments about eliminating the need to own a car. I got rid of mine and don't mind so much taking the bus wherever I need to go. However, I do miss the convenience a car provides. While Seattle has a very good and thorough bus system, it can be incredibly inconvenient at times. A "quick trip" to the grocery store typically takes between one and two hours (if I'm lucky) with at least two transfers, and I don't think I need to mention how much it sucks waiting in the rain for that bus that's running late.
I don't care which option is chosen for the viaduct as long as that major transportation corridor is maintained. I also don't care about paying whatever it takes to preserve and/or improve it. Personally, I think anyone who is for getting rid of it completely is only doing so because they own property along the waterfront.
Doug Sipes
REBUILD THAT fucker
TO THE STRANGER: I don't have a car and I'm usually pro-transit, but I have to defend the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Other cities like San Francisco have dismantled freeways and replaced them with nothing, but those were spur freeways that didn't go anywhere. Here, if you want to go from Kent to Lynnwood, or from Oregon to British Columbia, you have no choice but to go through the city, and that means either Interstate 5 or Highway 99. Replacing the viaduct with nothing is a great idea in theory, but it's a big gamble. Yet I don't support the mayor's tunnel either. Seattle has had too many "playground for the rich" projects recently (think: stadiums). Let's catch up on basic services--housing, health care, library hours--and then worry about more toys. Let's just replace the viaduct with a viaduct, and enjoy the stunning view from it.
If the city wants an expensive project to fund, here's a better one: Put a lid on I-5 from Stewart Street to Marion Street. That would open several whole blocks for urban housing, office space, and an expanded Freeway Park.
Mike Orr
THE VIABLE VIADUCT
TO THE EDITOR: As someone who depends on the Alaskan Way viaduct daily, I am dismayed at your support of the People's Waterfront Coalition's foolish and ill-conceived "no highway alternative" ["A Bad Case of Tunnel Vision," Cary Moon, Dec 9]. During a recent closure of the viaduct, I had ample time (about two hours) to consider the PWC's "visionary" alternative to a highway while trapped in gridlock north of the Ship Canal trying to get home. In a city of numerous transportation challenges and ever-increasing congestion, the much-maligned viaduct is the highway that works. I can get from my West Seattle home to my Pioneer Square office in 10 minutes.
Ms. Moon's argument that timing lights, connecting "underused" arterials, and "an improved I-5" will somehow absorb the 100,000-plus cars a day that use this vital highway is naive at best, disingenuous at worst. As for moving freight traffic onto existing arterials--are you ready for that, Seattle?
I write this as an avid Monorail supporter, and I plan to take the monorail whenever possible when it is finally built, but I can barely imagine this city without the one highway that I can count on when I do use my car.
Jerry Cohen
MORE ON THE PWC
STRANGER: Thank you for publicizing the outstanding plan by the People's Waterfront Coalition to create an alternative to the problem of the viaduct. All we hear about is rebuilding it or burying it in a tunnel. The vision and good sense clearly evident in the PWC plan is far superior to these other two options. Good start on getting it publicized. But why didn't you take the opportunity to list their website? Check out www.peopleswaterfront.org for more about this critical issue.
James L. Murphy, Jr
LONE NUT
HEY, BRADLEY: Leave it to a corporation to reinforce the establishment's lone-nut theory for the JFK assassination in a video game ["Back and to the Left," Bradley Steinbacher, Dec 2]. The educational value of the game would have been far better served by also placing shooters in the grassy knoll and the Dal-Tex Building.
Peter SEND US CHEESE,
PLEASE!
DEAR STRANGER: We were DEVASTATED to hear Richard Cheese's Lounge Against the Machine would not be visiting our fair city, Austin. THANK GOD your article of November 11 ["The Urban Archipelago," Stranger editors] prompted Mr. Davis to reconsider his policy of turning down gigs in red states. Thank you, Stranger. You're a lifesaver.
Don Gibbons
Austin, TX
DOGGING CHRISTINE
DEAR EDITOR: In "Black Out" [Dec 9], Sandeep Kaushik and Carl Mack sell the African-American voters short. While Gregoire received over 65 percent of the African-American vote, which is a landslide any other time, the pair come up with several reasons why Rossi picked up the other 35 percent. And every reason starts with the premise that blacks have to vote as a herd. Why would they use that as a starting point? Rather than give Mack, who appears consumed with racism, the spotlight, Kaushik should have interviewed some voters. As a Kerry/Murray voter, going for Rossi was an easy decision for me. Let's face it, most of what Gregoire offered was the D after her name. She is a ladder-climbing politician. Rossi was fresh and has made things work in the legislature. And he has a personality. Gregoire comes across like a junkyard dog, which is great in an attorney but not in a governor.
Jeff Wright
'bama to SEATTLE
TO ERICA C. BARNETT: As a fellow red-state refugee, I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your "Hell for the Holidays" [Dec 2]. I'm an Alabama native who made the move to Seattle to work on a book. There are a lot of us out here who can relate.
David Hill
THE SOUTH RISES
TO THE EDITORS: you have the dirtyest [sic] mouth of anyone i have ever heard. kiss my ass you northern basterd [sic] ..................you suck you self rightous [sic] dickhead...... we are 10 times better thaan [sic] you northern assholes......dam [sic] sure friendlier. fuck off okay????????? who do you think you are talking about the southern people like this....
Bob & Bennie
DAN SAVAGE RESPONDS: The next time you're going to write an e-mail to someone bitching about Southerners being described as dumb-ass rubes, you might not want to litter your e-mail with misspellings. You also might want to familiarize yourselves with commas, periods, and other mysteries of English punctuation. Unless, of course, you seek to confirm, not refute, the accusation that you, in fact, are a bunch of dumb-ass rubes down there.
THEO DESERVED IT
TO DAVID SCHMADER: By paraphrasing Pat Sajak's hilarious rant about Theo van Gogh's murder, you perpetuate the fallacy that it was van Gogh's film alone that earned him the hatred of Holland's Muslims. In fact, van Gogh had a history of publicly insulting Dutch Muslims, including this gem from his 2001 book, Allah Knows Best: "There is a Fifth Column of goatfuckers in this country, who despise and spit at its native people. They hate our freedom... Soon, the Fifth Column of goatfuckers will hurl poison gas, diseases, and atomic bombs at your children and my children."
Adam Luedtke
WHY DON'T YOU
FUCK OFF?
DEAR STRANGER: Your paper is disappointing and sad. My major issue is with your reviews: You consistently bash new and emerging Seattle talent.
Take for example the gallery debut of Seattle artist Mike Leavitt. This guy is born and raised in Seattle, dedicated to his art, and produces amazing small sculptures of people who have inspired or otherwise had an effect on his life. How do I know this? Because I went to his opening and TALKED to him! Now, let's look at your short review: "Leavitt takes hilarious swipes at commercial artists he views as sellouts in totemic sculptures. His targets include R. Crumb and Jean-Michel Basquiat."
This two-sentence review indicates that not only have you never spoken with the artist, you haven't even seen his work! You get his motivation completely wrong and insult his many hours of incredibly detailed work.
This kind of shoddy reporting is not just bad, it is damaging to the Seattle arts scene. It seems Mike Leavitt, like many before him, would have to leave Seattle for you to actually notice him. Why don't you leave instead?
Max Kashner
NATE LIPPENS RESPONDS: The lines Max Kashner quotes are from a calendar listing, not a review, a listing that was written BEFORE the opening--an opening I attended--and was based on a press release about his work generated by Roq la Rue. Here is what the press release said: "Early on in his career Michael Leavitt developed a distaste for popular artists who pander to the lower common denominators in order to make a buck, and started to appreciate the efforts of artists who, commercially successful or not, kept true to their individual vision to create purer forms of art. Creating figures of these artists allowed Leavitt to create purer forms of art, a sort of 'Art Army.' He also includes figures of artists he feels... have sold out, in his estimation, to the allure of mass commercialism and money."
If Leavitt is unhappy about my characterization of his work, perhaps he should take a more active role in generating his publicity materials. I actually like what I have seen of Mike Leavitt's work, which is why I chose to highlight it in the limited space I have for listings. Leavitt's show is also in Stranger Suggests this week. If this is ill treatment, more artists and galleries would like to be on the receiving end of it.
FOLLOWING ORDERS
TO THE STRANGER: This is for the stupid asshole that called the troops cowards [I Anonymous, Dec 9]: you are so fucking stupid, asshole. They signed up for reserves; they have no control over going over there, dipshit. George W. Bush is the bastard that sent them over there. They are fucking sitting ducks, but should we hate them? Call them cowards? No! They are only following orders! Should they be over there? Fuck no! But God dammit, we should fucking support every last one of them; they are just babes in the woods, and you, you stupid asshole, shouldn't be directing your hate toward them.
Bunny Corona
PROFILE IN COURAGE: In her column In the Hall two weeks ago, Erica C. Barnett described city council member Richard Conlin as a "vocal support[er]" of the anti-monorail initiative, I-83. Conlin did not take a formal position on the anti-monorail initiative. He is, however, a frequent and vocal critic of the monorail agency.
