October 31, 2002 · VOL. 12, NO. 07

On behalf of what I assume to be Stranger readers everywhere (what few there are), I would like to express my profound relief at the fact that this paper's long (not to mention long-winded) and hysterically one-sided pro-monorail campaign is finally coming to an end. Never before in my two decades as an ombudsman (for papers ranging from the Village Voice to the International Herald Tribune) have I seen such rampant cheerleading from a newspaper, even one as ineptly assembled as The Stranger. And though The Stranger has always been a decidedly non-impartial "news source," their two-year campaign for the proposed monorail line has certainly sunk the paper to new depths--a surprise when you consider just how far down this paper resides on a weekly basis. Whether it has been character assassination, lashing out at competitors who dare to question the monorail, or week-after-week ranting in Josh Feit's spectacularly inane Five to Four column, The Stranger's overblown coverage has most certainly managed to alienate a number of readers. To those readers I offer my complete support, for this paper is unworthy of little more than a quick flip-through, and then an equally quick discarding. And to Josh Feit, Dan Savage, et al.: You should be ashamed of yourselves!