West Seattle Herald: Letters To The Editor

To avoid cynicism in this time of hope, I wanted to wait until after the election/holidays to respond to a recent story about a class at South Seattle Community College on the U.S. electoral process. A SSCC administrator decided to offer the course after seeing a young Russian student, a newly sworn-in citizen, roll her eyes at congratulations that she could now vote. Our local representative, State Senator Joe McDermott, volunteered to teach the class, to teach how democracy works better in our country than in others. Do you mean, Joe, how 538 privileged people in the Electoral College elect our president (whereas the Russian president is elected by a majority of the popular vote), or how sometimes nine people in the Supreme Court elect the president, or how "October Surprises" manipulate voters, or how elections are bought with political money and negative ads, or how competing parties are excluded from the presidential debates, or how electronic voting machines outright steal elections, as in Ohio in 2004 (http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/10432334/was_the_2004_election_stolen)? Sixteen years ago, after renewing my driver's license, I asked a black man in front of me why he didn't at the same time take the opportunity to register to vote. "The system is rigged," he said and walked away. That we so often disregard the experience of people of other genders, ages, or ethnicities, or from other countries, is unfortunate. Our narrow perspective enables cynics to be right.

More dirty tricks. Not only have Friends and Neighbors of North Admiral wanted to construct a natural playscape in California Place Park when it is proven that kids do not like these types of play areas. The natural playscape put in Holly Park during it's redevelopment was replaced with a full-scale playground within 2 years. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008309107_playground25m.html Within Seattle Parks & Recreation Dept. the phrases playscape, playground, play area, play structure and playfield are all used interchangably. A Friends and Neighbors of North Admiral member was overheard at a meeting stating that the Parks Dept. had told them to use the verbage Playscape or Beautification as these words did not incite public fear. Do we know what is happening with Califor nia Place Park? No. Can we believe Friends and Neighbors of North Admiral and the City Officials? No. That is why it is important to attend the public Design Workshops. Playground supporters have found it acceptable to harass project opponents by placing them on mailing lists for Commercial Playground Developers and Playground Equipment Manufacturers. Again, what is going to be proposed for California Place Park? After much discussion and poll taking it was decided that grass was the #1 desire for the redevelopment of the Lafeyette School Playfield. Grass is what we have in California Place Park. Grass, Open Green Space, that Friends and Neighbors of North Admiral want to remove.