WHAT'S YOUR FUTURE gonna look like, Seattle? The Pike Place Market or the Pacific Place Mall? This election offers voters the rare opportunity to fight City Hall and win. Sick of paying for politicians' trophy projects? Want to protect neighborhoods and tenants? Tired of bashing the homeless? Want some nightlife? Then vote for our City Council slate!
Sure, if our candidates win, maybe Seattle will be a little messier and noisier—it will definitely be less generous with Aid to Dependent Corporations—but what we will gain in urban vitality, basic services, civil liberties, and compassion for the poor will more than make up for the grit. Seattle can usher in a new era simply by going to the polls. Don't blow it—opportunities like this don't come along too often.
Outside of City Hall, over at the Port and the School District, and in state government, we are reminding voters that the fundamental Hippocratic oath, "Do no harm," has a place in politics as well as medicine. While in some cases there's an exciting candidate, in other races you face the evils of two lessers, and sometimes voting defensively is the best you can do.
SEATTLE RACES
SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL, POSITION 1
Judy, Judy, Judy! Renters have long been evicted from meaningful representation at City Hall. The cruel irony of this circumstance becomes especially pointed when you consider they make up a majority—52 percent—of Seattle's population. Whatever decent tenant protections existed at one time are gone since landlords have used their deep pockets to successfully sue the pants off the city. Apartment owners are no slouch at lobbying either. The resulting hammer lock is so tight that something as milquetoast as the right to a lease is now interpreted as rent control. Judy Nicastro to the rescue!
Nicastro proved smart, tough, and articulate as hell in her fight for renters' rights last year. She promises to convene a renters' summit if elected, the single best idea of this campaign. She has already laid out a plan for mild yet very useful tenants' reforms, including a mobile credit check and the right to a lease, which the limousine liberals on the council will be shamed into supporting. OK, so she's a little sketchy on other city issues. But so is her opponent Cheryl Chow, who has already served eight years on council. The best thing you can do this year to promote affordable housing is vote for Judy.
SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL, POSITION 3
Peter Steinbrueck is essentially unopposed, even though there is a name opposite his on the ballot. If joined by Nicastro, Chong, Firestone, and Mason, he's gonna rock this town.
SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL, POSITION 5
Curt Firestone ain't giving up, so don't you dare think of giving up on him. Sure, his primary showing sucked, but did the man fold up and hang his head? Hell, no. He kept clawing and scratching and fighting to find a toehold, a wedge issue, some way to remind voters that Margaret Pageler, his incumbent opponent, is one of the most ardent supporters of the downtown gravy train and the crackdown on the homeless.
Firestone has hit it dead on when it comes to social justice. He has used every opportunity—from a candidate op-ed in the P-I to his mailings to his speeches—to redefine the issue of civility. "Instead of punishing and saying no to people who are struggling to cope with life, we must say yes"—to building cheap housing, expanding social services, siting public bathrooms, and instituting police accountability. By stoking this public debate, Firestone does a fine public service by the very act of campaigning itself.
Cast a ballot for true civility: Vote for Firestone.
SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL, POSITION 7
As a fire-breathing, plain-speaking populist who ain't afraid to call bullshit, Charlie Chong would change a whole bunch of things for the better just by walking in the door everyday at City Hall. Take growth management, for instance. Currently we are being told by our betters in the Chamber and in government that Seattle must save the Puget Sound region from sprawl by adding more and more people. Missing from this debate is a strong voice for protecting our neighborhoods and our quality of life. Chong brings that perspective to the table forcefully and will not allow it to be ignored.
Joining a City Council which already includes serious reformers Nick Licata and Peter Steinbrueck, Chong would immediately find allies. In fact, he makes them more effective, because everybody will be running to Nick and Peter saying, "Save us from the Chong! Stop him from saying all those terrible things about us!" Chong expands the terms of the debate and redefines the middle ground of the City Council.
Despite his penchant for one-liners and ding-y remarks, sit Charlie in a room, give the facts, and he will vote the right way. Playing against type, he performed an early solo in favor of the preservation of the Cedar River watershed, he stood up for hygiene services and shelter for the homeless, and he resisted efforts to hurt the city's youth culture.
