1. BEST MAYORAL CANDIDATEOur first category and already a repeat winner from last year: Greg Nickels. The West Seattle native and King County Council member easily outpaced the competition with his nice-guy persona and the lucky accident that he was born as neither Paul Schell nor Mark Sidran. Expect this honor to boost his challenge to incumbent Mayor Schell, who, despite another year of bad luck (the guy must have busted a mirror or something), at least managed to finish in second place this year (he got third in 2000). Finishing a weak third is City Attorney Mark Sidran, who couldn’t give Schell much of a run for his money among Seattle Weekly readers. Whatever happened to Charlie Chong?2. BEST PUBLIC OFFICIALWell, at least this explains why everyone’s afraid to run against King County Executive Ron Sims—it’s his popularity with Seattle Weekly readers. After Republican powerhouses like Sheriff Dave Reichert and County Council member Rob McKenna demurred from a Sims challenge, the popular one-term incumbent is now being challenged for re-election by Kirkland City Councilman Sants Contreras, a yellow dog, and a stalk of celery. Polls show the celery in second place behind Sims. Maybe someone should have recruited Seattle City Council member Judy Nicastro, who trailed Sims narrowly as the readers’ favorite. Was it Judy’s shoot-from-the-hip podium style or her close friendship with the Peace Panda that charmed Seattleites? We’ll never tell. Gov. Gary Locke may be lost in Olympia’s special-session twilight zone, but readers remembered the guy with a third-place finish.3. BEST SCANDAL OF THE PAST YEARFlashing, violence in the streets, and the threat of a future boring Pioneer Square Family Festival: Seattle’s Mardi Gras celebration had it all. Dozens of arrests and the tragic beating death of reveler Kris Kime (not to mention hours of appalling video footage) gave the Mardi Gras violence national prominence as another sign that Seattle is falling to pieces. Don’t believe the hype, folks. Surprisingly, last fall’s presidential election could only manage a weak second place, despite dangling chads, a politically divided Supreme Court, and the result of a dimwitted frat boy in the White House for four years. Maybe we’re just trying to forget the whole thing. Last, but hardly least, was the continuing effort by city officials to derail the Seattle monorail project, a move that was turned back at the polls last year when voters mandated a two-year, $6 million study.4. BEST POLITICAL CAUSEDidn’t we just say monorail? Transportation in general and the monorail in particular topped this category in traffic-plagued Pugetopolis. Seattle voters want to see the second-most recognizable relic of the 1962 World’s Fair expanded into a new elevated transit system serving city neighborhoods. In the land of water, mountains, and green trees, even a movement as popular as the monorail barely beat out the environment as the favorite political cause among our readers. Showing off the diversity of the political spectrum was an amazing four-way tie for third among affordable housing, animal rights, equality, and opposition to the World Trade Organization. Get those protest signs ready.5. BEST PLACE TO FLY A KITEThe windy city this ain’t, but those of you who must be kite aficionados profess that Gas Works Park, that mound with a view, is where you do your flying. And we can’t really blame you; after all, it’s where we used to pretend we ourselves were kites, at those kiddie birthday parties when we climbed all over the brightly painted machinery and didn’t mind the toxic soil. Golden Gardens, where the wind might blow a bit more strongly from the open Sound, sidled into second place in this category, while Magnuson Park came in third.6. BEST LOCAL COMPANYMonopoly? What monopoly? Smart-alecky federal judges and snooty D.C. pundits be damned—we love our Microsoft! Proving conclusively that we’re not holding grudges over all those MS Word bugs, readers gave Emperor Bill Gates and his computer empire the thumbs up in this category. In second place is the much-protested but ever popular coffee kings at Starbucks. Apparently our desire for a double short skinny hazelnut latte before work overrules anti-corporate rubric every time. In third place is the venerable outdoor goods co-op REI, which every year comes closer to implementing its master plan—draping the entire Northwest with Gore-Tex.7. BEST VIEWLucky us! We get more than our fair share of mountains, water, scenic overlooks, and evergreen panoramas every time we get up in the morning. They’re almost getting tiresome—almost. And there’s no denying the consummate view in our immediate area, according to our view-finder readers. They’re all perched on the Admiral Way overlook in West Seattle, gazing with goofy love toward downtown in all its urban majesty. And really, they’re right: On a nice day you could park there forever—a postcard in action, those red cranes against the skyline, the scuttling ferries, the strange absence of cars on the Viaduct, the little waterfront streetcar, the gulls. But if you want to stare at microscopic Seattle, its grids laid out before you like a quilt, then pay the piper and take that terrifying elevator to the top of the Space Needle, you suggest, as your second-place lookout spot. Highland Park, wherever that is, surely must have some lovely vistas to come in third.8. BEST PLACE TO JOGIf this doesn’t settle the argument, it’s hard to know what would. By more than a 3-to-1 margin, our readers’ favorite running course is along the shores of North Seattle’s Green Lake. Guess that expensive city renovation of the running path did the trick, although the unpaved upper path seems equally popular with the spandex set. Speaking of expensive city renovations, the much-improved running, walking, and skating courses at Alki Beach are second in the hearts of Seattle runners. Third place goes to the Burke-Gilman Trail, which, although better known as a bicycle facility, is still home to groups of panting on-foot exercise-seekers.9. BEST BIKE PATHThe mighty Burke-Gilman Trail spans the globe (at least the portion of the globe between Lake Forest Park and Ballard), giving bicycle riders and pedestrians a safe, grade-separated route to work, play, or just exercise. And our readers love it, selecting it over second-place Green Lake by an astounding 10-to-1 margin. Third place went to Alki Beach, giving this trio a sweep of the jogging and biking categories.10. BEST PLAYGROUNDWe probably should have granted the franchise to the 11-and-unders, as the vote totals in this category were fairly low for what should have been a contentious rumble between various teeter-totter and swing-set enclaves. Getting the top nod from monkey bar connoisseurs was the playground at Green Lake. Second place went to the lake’s across-the-street neighbor, Woodland Park. And, hey, it may have been closed to allow the cleanup of industrial waste from the former gas plant, but we still love the kids area at Gas Works Park, which nabbed the prize for third.11. BEST PLACE FOR AN OUTDOOR DATEOooh—a close contest! Nature-loving Seattleites are almost evenly divided between three favored haunts for flirting, cavorting, and perhaps even shagging alfresco. The Arboretum just ekes ahead of Discovery Park for romantic strolls and inspiring scenery. It’s easy to understand why loyalties are so divided. Certainly the Arb boasts many secluded trails and the broad Azalea Way for hand-in-hand perambulating—along with Lake Washington access for canoeing (and canoodling) amid the lily pads. Yet the sublime sunsets at Discovery Park are capable of forcing those three little words out of even the most tongue-tied beau (possibly with an engagement ring in the offing). In a close third-place finish, redoubtable Alki Beach has those inviting sands that beg barefooted walks during all four seasons of the year. It may no longer be possible to pick up green glass Japanese fishing floats or messages-in-bottles on the strand, but it might just be the best place to find true love with your fellow beachcomber.12. BEST PUBLIC PLACE TO PICK UP SOMEONEWe are, of course, reluctant to pick up anyone anywhere, public or private. But if Seattle Weekly readers can do it, so can we! Seems like that 2.8-mile stretch of a meat market is where you folks like to do your picking; after all, if you are intrigued by that distance runner the first time around, chances are you’ll get another shot on the next lap (after you’ve had plenty of time to prepare your killer pickup line). Green Lake edged out the competition in this category, followed by the tourist-populated Pike Place Market. Which, hey, could be at least good for finding a one-night stand, right? Volunteer Park, that not-so-surreptitious men-seeking-men park ‘n’ ride, came oh!-so-close to runner-up, but fell into third. No problem. It’s not going anywhere.13. BEST PLACE TO “PARK”We’ve done our share of, um, turning the car engine off and leaving the radio on, if you know what we mean. Rain or moonshine, warm beer from the trunk or an easily concealed flask of something warmer—whatever. Clothing optional or, at the very least, temporary. We’ve been there. Done that. We’ve even had the pleasure of pulling up at the readers’ choice “parking” strip, the venerable Golden Gardens. Gardens of Eden they are, especially on a moonlit night with the windows down and nary a copper in sight. Listen to the waves lap the shore as you have yourself a little lap dance in the backseat. Readers voted Volunteer Park as the runner-up parking zone, which, as we know, is notorious for its drive-in service. Alki came in third, mostly because it’s all about The Cruise. We know. We tried. We had to keep on driving.14. BEST PLACE TO PEOPLE-WATCHYou don’t even have to stand still on Capitol Hill’s strip of constantly changing eye candy, Broadway. From one end to the other, there are characters galore. Old, young, gay, straight, rich, poor, pierced, tattooed, renters, tenters, pets, musicians, smokers, philosophers, puppeteers, panhandlers, clerks, patrons, strutters, strollers, and the rest of the caffeinated hordes. What a mix! What a novel about to be written! Ah, the humanity! Seems you like to see what the rest of the world looks like, too, so you head down the hill to the second-place Pike Place Market for your otherness quotient. And that bastion of health, wealth, and keeping things real simple, Green Lake, appeals to the jogger/stalker in all of you for third.15. BEST PLACE TO GET STUCK IN TRAFFICPerhaps it’s just the higher quality of cars, smiles, hair, and bodies inching their way towards downtown each morning (and home each evening), but the perpetual traffic snarls and gridlock of 520 (a.k.a. the Evergreen Point Bridge) make it a prime spot for people-watching. Flanked by Lake Washington views, Rainier to the south and Baker to the north, the obsolete, ever-clogged four-lane highway is full of SUVs, BMWs, and VW Cabriolets brimming with healthy, wealthy, cell phone-wielding potential mates. Smile, wave, make eye contact, and try for a phone number. Who knows—you might find yourself co-commuting with that hottie in the Lexus some day. In second place, although less of a singles’ scene, the I-5 Ship Canal Bridge offers sweeping east-west vistas to the Cascades and Olympics (always particularly breathtaking on a clear winter day with new snow in the mountains). Third, our readers joke, is “nowhere,” clearly a vote of denial.16. BEST DOWNTOWN BUILDINGSince it first came to dominate Seattle’s skyline in 1914, the Smith Tower has never changed its name, its decor, or its status as first in the hearts of city residents. Built for a then-pricey $1.5 million by rich guy L.C. Smith (of the Smith-Corona typewriter Smiths), the 42-story landmark structure has long since been usurped as Seattle’s tallest building, but it’s still the city’s classiest skyscraper. Second place goes to the ornate (relatively) newcomer, the Washington Mutual Tower, a full-block behemoth with nice detailing along its streetscape. Third place goes to the Bank of America Center, which used to be known as the Columbia Center (or the Darth Vader building, depending on your point of view). Hey, anybody ever heard of the Space Needle?17. BEST NEIGHBORHOOD TO ADD A MONORAIL TOIt’s no surprise that congested, parking-space-less Capitol Hill should be the preferred site for a monorail extension, although readers and residents might balk at sky-blocking tracks and car-crushing concrete pylons running down Broadway. Fashion-forward Cap Hill dwellers could don Jetsons-era attire for their futuristic mode of transport, but where does Jane get her hair done? The prospect of being whisked swiftly down to Westlake Station is attractive, however, especially when you can use your morning commute to peep in the windows of unsuspecting second-story residents just stepping out the shower about that time. Second, for some reason, is Ballard, just nosing ahead of the U-District in our tally. We can understand why Ballard’s nine-to-fivers would want a nonstop link to downtown, but are the rest of us so eager to visit the Locks during off-hours? Meanwhile, U-Dub students could conveniently shoot from the Ave to the downtown core—but how many of them can afford to shop at Pacific Place?18. BEST SEATTLE PRO ATHLETEWell, no surprise here. The Mariners’ super overseas import Ichiro Suzuki wiped the floor with the competition, and deservedly so. The top American League vote-getter in All-Star Game balloting, he’s amazed all with his hitting prowess, his speed on the base paths, and his deadly throwing arm. Long considered the Michael Jordan of Japan, Ichiro hasn’t merely eclipsed former Mariner star Alex Rodriguez, he’s damn near made everyone forget he ever played here. Showing our loyalty to the stalwart of the Mariner organization, readers gave second place to designated hitter Edgar Martinez, the star who didn’t leave town. Third place goes to another athlete people hope will stick around Seattle—the honorable “Glove,” Sonic Gary Payton.19. BEST LOCAL RADIO TALK SHOWWell, well, if it isn’t last year’s ballot-stuffer extraordinaire, rising to the top of this category like a phoenix from the ashes. Pat Cashman emerges victorious, the hardened gladiator returned to avenge his hard luck from last year. Running at the mouth with his adenoidal cracks and mile-a-minute wit, Cashman has cashed in at his latest gig, at KOMO AM 1000, and you love him. You really, really love him. Landing in second place was KIRO 710 AM’s formidable talking head, Dave Ross. In third, another Ross, Mr. Ross Reynolds et al. from KUOW raced into third with the often penetrating “Weekday” program, which provides a little more mental heft for those of us who require more chewy goodness than just right-wing (Rush) and right-breast (Howard) conspiracies.20. BEST LOCAL TV ANCHORPERSONShe’s ageless, she’s timeless, and she’s still doing her thing. Yes, the intrepid Jean Enersen garners top honors for her stint at KING and shows no signs of slipping. Jean is the way most of us see ourselves: reserved, polite, and attractive in a nonthreatening way. She’s done it all, from Health Watch to investigative reporting, and she gets to go to all the exciting newsy things that aren’t even here. (It’s called seniority, baby.) And we’re all the more jealous because she has a nice wardrobe on top of it all. Creeping into second was KOMO’s Kathi Goertzen, another smart blonde who has won devoted followers over the years for her cool, calm, collected delivery. Sorry, Steve; sorry, Dennis—UPN 11’s Christine Chen slid into third place. Seems you newshounds out there like those horrific murders and unfathomable tragedies to be broken to you by the ladies.