Last night, the city hosted a public forum at the Highland Park Improvement Club on Holden to discuss proposed jail sites in West Seattle (the West Seattle Blog has a nice summary of the meeting here). One potential site would be situated on the southeastern outskirts of the neighborhood, while the other would be situated in the industrial no-man’s-land that is West Marginal Way.Predictably and understandably, those present wanted nothing to do with the city’s new misdemeanor jail, preferring that it be built anywhere but there (naturally, this will be the response that any jail site proposed by the city will get). I live in West Seattle, about two blocks north of the Highland Park neighborhood boundaries, so I have a personal stake in all this as well. And you know what? Given what options the city has at its disposal short of invoking eminent domain, that West Marginal site is an extremely viable proposal. But you know what else? I don’t think the jail will end up getting built anywhere near West Seattle, as West Seattleite Greg Nickels may face his stiffest electoral competition yet in 2009, and shoring up his base with an “over my dead body” approach to either of these sites is a no-brainer move politically. So rest easy, comrades.