Sweetheart Deals and Scher Wars

Re: "Taxi-Jacked" by Nina Shapiro (March 26)

The leader of the county, Mr. Sims, stated: "I don't tell the bureaucracy what to do." Huh? Run that by me again, Ron. Apparently Mr. Sims couldn't be bought by campaign contributions in this case because it seems he didn't know what was going on. Confidence-building, that thought. So Sims aside, we have Mr. Tekeba and Mr. Buck making this deal, with the Teamsters somewhere in the middle (what did the Teamsters contribute to whom?). This story seems to have just started. These "appearances of impropriety" have forced many others to resign—how about Mr. Buck? And if Mr. Sims doesn't tell his bureaucracy what to do, why do we even need him? Many questions; keep on it, Ms. Shapiro.—Theodore M. Wight

Someone would have to be a fool not to see this for what this is. I tend to give a little bit of doubt to some things, but it's clear there's a sweetheart deal going on here. I don't know about you, but I would never leverage my home or personal finances for a fleet of cars that somehow seem ready for work unless I had a sure thing going on. Mr. Tekeba and Mr. Sims clearly thought they could get this done without any oversight or repercussions.—Rashaan Leex

As a cabdriver working 12/7, I felt so discouraged. I have lived in this country since I was 15 years old, and I have never in my life seen this kind of irregularity in a government or state. I myself dream of one day getting a chance of owning my own, but I know that it is next to impossible for me, since I am one of the few Asian drivers and most of the associations are somewhat limited. So I am just on the sideline, watching, a squirrel trying to get a nut, a stepchild, disfranchised in this lonely road to the airport.—Thomas G. Praxedes

Re: "Ask an Uptight Seattleite" (March 26)

As a 30-year Seattleite (not quite native, but still...), I'd sign on to the "fire Scher" movement. Worst of all are his intros in which virtually every sentence ends with a rising inflection (though they are statements, not questions!) and with an overall tone and cadence of someone extremely bored with what he's reading. (I would be, too, given the content!) Both the questioner and Uptight nail it here. Thank god for KPLU (and KBCS) to switch to! But let's face it—since CPB lost federal funding and now is beholden to big corporate funders, it's not exactly progressive news radio anyway.—Eric M.

Hey, Steve Scher is the best talk show on radio after Diane Rehm. His shows are full of interesting and worthwhile topics not covered anywhere else, UNLIKE the Uptight Seattleite, which is such a vacuous waste of words I rarely read it. The ONE time I heard anything worthwhile out of the Uptight's mouth was when he was on Scher's show.

And yes, I like Scher's hypnotic voice. And I've lived in Seattle since I was 6. Maybe it comes with the territory. So what?—Mike O

I adore Uptight. I adore Scher. I hope the two continue to coexist in this town.—BLH

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