Fortunately, there's Fox
Are your endorsements ["Death Race 2000," 11/2] a copy of the local union endorsements or what? To which union does your newspaper pay dues? Fortunately, there is Fox News to get real election information.
MARK NAULTY
VIA E-MAIL
The Reed guy
I am a liberal gay Democrat. I tend to vote party ticket and have even thought about Ralph Nader. I am doing something unethical: I am voting for a—arrrgh—Republican! I read your endorsement of the Reed guy for Secretary of State and then looked at his propaganda—he is Real. You guys weren't just smoking stuff. Even some of my friends on SEAMAC think he is a good guy—and he hires GLTP persons on his staff! I can't believe I'm doing this. I know Bonker has been a good-old-boy Democrat—but in the P-I he said he was a lobbyist living in Washington, DC, with a company called APCO. When I was involved in the WTO demonstrations, APCO, I was told, was a major sponsor of the conference—and Bonker was part of it! I wish you guys would say something about that—that really irritates me, especially since I've heard a couple of Bonker's commercials touting foreign hegemony— I mean trade. Thanks for the guidance.
THOMAS CARR-WILLS,
SEATTLE
Hitting the wall
As a music "critic," it must be so nice to sit up in your comfy throne and render judgement from on high. Would it kill you to consider that your opinion is purely subjective, and there may, in fact, be . . . say, 10 or 12 people out there who may be genuinely moved by Radiohead's latest opus [see The Culture Bunker, 11/2]? (Notice I didn't say "sober people.") I can't even muster up the energy to continue my wry retort. Kid A would have sapped my very will to consume had I left it in my stereo.
In all fairness, I am not a rock critic, nor even much of a connoisseur—all I knew was that I loved OK Computer and was perfectly willing to give them another shot. I listened to the whole thing once, uninterrupted . . . and lived to tell about it. If anyone out there compares it to The Wall within earshot of me . . . judgement shall be swiftly rendered.
MATTHEW SLINGER
SEATTLE
Vulgarity
Re: "Gored and bushwhacked" by Mark Driver [11/2]: "Assuming you're not a cunt who bought an SUV. . . ."? How did the author slip this one past you? I know the word has become fashionable for male would-be hipsters striving to show their free-thinking contempt for standards of verbal political correctness, and I look forward to seeing "nigger," "kike," and "jap" employed the next time your daring author feels like unleashing an insulting vulgarity.
K. COLLINGRIDGE
SEATTLE
Lovable losers
Are there really writers and editors at the Seattle Weekly so ignorant they think the Mariners had a bad season? I refer to the opening sentence of the introduction of the article "The Top 50 Haunts" ("Baseball, politics, and hosting major international events clearly aren't Seattle's strengths, but when it comes to drinking, we rock!") The Mariners had a spectacular season in 2000! They won 91 games, earned a spot in the play-offs, and came close to winning the pennant. Over 20 other professional baseball teams, many of them better established and with higher payrolls, would have been delighted to have accomplished what the Mariners accomplished this year. Seattleites should be bursting with pride for the Mariners. And, in fact, true fans are proud of the M's success this year. Your snide, off-hand remark is an insult not just to the players who worked so hard but to the millions of fans who supported their triumphs.
Or maybe it was a typo and was meant to read "football"?
HELEN L. NICOLOPOULOS
WEST SEATTLE
Get used to it
I'm writing in response to James Bush's article "Attack of the 150-foot planners" [4th & James, 10/26]. I wonder what's so bad about Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) and putting small houses on small lots? These are actually fairly progressive ideas. What lies behind the "negligible" desire of citizens for these options in the neighborhood plans? Is it fear of higher density or having more single renters of lower income in certain neighborhoods?
ADUs provide affordable housing options and integrate renters into the surrounding communities, which is healthy for a city. I'm not arguing they'll solve our low-income housing shortage (they might not be affordable enough for the lowest income levels), but they could help provide housing for single lower- to middle-income earners. Also, the person offering the ADU has the benefit of extra income.
On a side note, Seattle is a city, and cities mean density! The more we center growth here, the less pressure there is for sprawling development further into the hinterlands. To make the city attractive for living (vs. the suburbs) it would help to have lots of different home sizes available to buy. There are plenty of people who would buy a small house on a small lot. When did this become such an anathema? You wouldn't have so much land and space to care for, and it would bring ownership within reach of more people. By the way, if you don't like living near lots of people (some of us actually do) you might want to try getting used to it: We're growing whether you like it or not!
