DEAR STRANGER: Thanks for the summary of what is going on with our local energy crisis in "Who Turned out the Lights?" [Pat Kearney, Jan 18]. I appreciate the efforts made by Governor Locke to secure our piece of the pie from Bonneville Power Administration and tell those sun-drenched Californians to take a hike (as in "rate hike"). However, what we really need is a local energy hero. Candidates include:
Mayor Paul Schell--maybe. He is well connected. And he needs something other than the city parks levy to get elected this fall. Fortunately, high electricity bills aren't causing people to riot in the streets... yet.
Heidi Wills--no way. Her perky smile doesn't erase the fact that she is one of the dimmest bulbs in city hall. Just because she is chair of the City Council Utilities Committee, drives an electric car, and got her picture in The Seattle Times wearing a City Light hard hat doesn't mean she is an energy expert.
Greg Nickels--doubtful. This lifelong politician is chair of the Sound Transit Finance Committee. If Nickels has been managing the money at Sound Transit, then what can we expect if he is calling the shots at City Light?
Judy Nicastro--good idea. She has demonstrated herself as one of the few local leaders who actually works for the majority of the voters. This is a really important point, because the energy companies are cutthroat operators. If this rising star puts the same effort into this issue as she has for housing, then maybe she could make a difference.
My point is that we need someone to be a leader on this critical issue. Not just anyone, but a smart advocate who will work for the people.
Anonymous, via e-mail
EDITORS: Glad to read the story about SouthEast Effective Development (SEED) going awry ["Bad SEED," Allie Holly-Gottlieb, Jan 25], which the community has known for quite a while. Rather than a mission to make "South Seattle a more attractive site for business investors and keeping housing cheap and in good shape," SEED decided to make South Seattle more attractive by tearing down cheap housing [units] and erecting shopping malls in their place. Rather than [improving] existing business districts--the Genesee business district and Hill-man City come to mind--they want to tear down the housing north of their current sprawling shopping mall and nudge an extension right up next to the "nice" part of Mount Baker. They were also the motivators behind the screwy Sound Transit idea of inventing new right-of-way for light rail by mowing down everything within half a block west of Rainier Avenue. They also remain strong supporters of light rail's plan to remove pretty much everything and everyone it can get its hands on along MLK, and replacing them with some Fremont-type development.
Colleen Browne, via e-mail
EDITORS: I sure am glad I read your article on Judy Nicastro's first year in office ["Seattle's Pragmatic Populist," Josh Feit, Jan 25], because I liked her, and considered her a representative of me... until I read about her personality. A feeling of revulsion entered my stomach as I read of her days as a University of Washington "feminist," which is just code for saying that she blames men for her skewed perception of women's so-called subjugation in the past, and that she is here to make damn sure the men of today aren't "on top" socially. It is wasted anger directed toward nothing more than a phantom, and this philosophy conveniently overlooks the ways males have been oppressed to the same degree of severity. Ask Nicastro if she is happy now that there is a Women's Studies department on every campus in America, funded by our tax dollars. As a result of her feminist bullshit efforts, the playing field is more unbalanced than ever. Every male is treated as a gender-offender who has been privileged by society, and people like Judy have perpetuated the myth that females are being shortchanged by the system. And her misconceived philosophy of feminism goes well with her "Lesbian Until Graduation, I'm bisexual" scheme to manipulate and torment the men around her, immaturely taking advantage of the now fadlike [idea] of fashionable lesbianism. It's a new perversion within which to live, and I am now disgusted by her and can't wait to cast my vote for her opponent.
J. Kaufman, Seattle
EDITORS: When asked about the response from Council Member Nick Licata's office to Council Member Judy Nicastro's inquiry about rent control, she said, "Hysteria hit," and characterized the conversation as unpleasant--perhaps leading your readers to believe that we were less than supportive. I was disappointed that Nicastro didn't remember (1) the meeting I set up for her with the city's chief lobbyist; (2) that I canvassed the city council about adding the passage of HB 2155 to the city's 1999 legislative agenda [the proposed legislation would have repealed state law prohibiting local rent regulation]; (3) that my boss, Council Member Licata, was the only city council member to attend and speak at her Local Housing Needs Local Laws forum; (4) that I consulted with other veteran housing activists on her behalf; and (5) that we actively promoted her legislative campaign to citizens who contacted our office. The Licata office never scoffed at the idea of a rent-control campaign. Instead, we tried to give Nicastro a reality check and a lay of the land while simultaneously lending our support and political capital to her efforts. Despite the fact that HB 2155 didn't get a hearing before the 1999 state legislature, Nicastro did a bang-up job of pushing the issue, politicizing renters, and catapulting herself to the city council. I am glad she's around, promoting issues on the council that are important to working people in Seattle.
Lisa Herbold, Legislative Aide to Seattle City Council Member Nick Licata
MR. SAVAGE: Kudos to you for a humorous but quite truthful essay ["The Pergola Precedent," Dan Savage, Jan 25]. Thanks for filling Eric Fredericksen's shoes regarding architecture and urban design; his presence is sorely missed in your paper. The spirit of Pioneer Square has been dampened by the temporary loss of its main historical icon while one of the main vistas and streetscapes of downtown has been obliterated by an oppressive and over-scaled obstacle. That arched structure is an abysmal travesty on Seattle's already bland cityscape. Adding injustice to injustice, you will read no architectural criticism of this horrendous edifice in any other paper in town. It is truly sad that so many are focused on disparaging the new Main Public Library, the EMP, or other new projects of intellect and interest, when much more insidious buildings like the convention center, the Stadium Exhibition Hall, and the entire master plan for the light rail project are attempting and succeeding to scoot quietly under the radar.
Scott Ogden, architect
STRANGER: You're dead. It's official. Someone said it last week [Letters to the Editor, Feb 1], and I'm reiterating it this week. And you're printing it. Joke's on you! Ha ha. You guys suck so much ass!!! I don't understand why, for God's sake, I would ever read your publication. I don't understand why I would not only read it, but take the time to tell you how much you suck. I bet you never, not once, consider your readership and how much we all hate you. What did you ever do for us? How dare you try to publish something in my city? And what about that haircut, for chrissakes?
Annabelle Winters, Seattle
EDITORS: Every week, Charles Mudede reads [a lot of] crime reports [Police Beat]. So I propose an experiment [for him]: For every crime report where a citizen (NOT a police officer) describes the suspect, make note of the race of the suspect.
About 10 years ago, I conducted this experiment for a month when I was a police officer in the West Precinct. My results were that 35 percent of the crime victims described the suspect as black (or some variation), and 15 percent described their suspect as Hispanic. As I recall, less than five percent described their suspects as Asian, and the rest as white.
My point being that this "racial profiling" garbage IS garbage. In truth, blacks are statistically under-ticketed and under-arrested. When I hired on with the Seattle Police Department in 1965, patrol officers were required to write one "mover" every day. I hated writing tickets and soon concluded that almost all black traffic stops resulted in me taking a bunch of lip--while white drivers were mostly polite. So I, the official department racist, never made a traffic stop on a black person unless it was [absolutely] unavoidable. When I got my 20 years in, I quit chasing traffic tickets and averaged less than one a month. There were more important things to do.
Bill Wald, Seattle Police Department, retired
