City of Seattle

City of Seattle
Category: Public Services & Government
Neighborhood: Pioneer Square
Update - 8/18/2009
Two words:

DUMP NICKELS.
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4/9/2009
If it had been you or me, we wouldn't have fared much better than Tuba Man.

The three teen-age killers of Tuba Man received sentences of between SEVEN (7) and EIGHTEEN (18) months for the savage murder of this beloved city icon.

As Dennis Wilken has recently stated,

"...why it took so long to charge with murder, the callous, brutal teen "thugs who literally gang-stomped Tuba Man to death. Then ask why their sentences were so light.

It's my belief that officials were waiting for the furor to die down and then slap these murderers on the wrist. Let's recap. Late last year, cops chased and arrested at least two of the gang of killers they spotted at the scene in the midst of the beatings. These were murderers who were on a robbing spree and then a beating rampage of Queen Anne residents before they came upon the unfortunate Tuba Man."

http://queenannen...

At the time of the incident, King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg has stated that "police and the King County Prosecutors Office were frustrated in their attempts to arrest those responsible. It was a crime committed on a public street, near a crowded bus stop, but no witnesses came forward...

That was despite 10 to 15 other people who ran away from the bus stop as police moved in..."

http://queenannen...

Again, quoting Wilkens, "..Ask why it took so long [for City Hall] to charge with murder, the callous, brutal teen thugs who literally gang-stomped Tuba Man to death. Then ask why their sentences were so light.

* * * * *

And just a few days ago, the police refused to accept the testimony of a a Belltown man beaten unconscious by four men who jumped out of a car and stomped on his head. The cops did not want the license plate number nor the description of the thugs.

This sounds like what happened to Tuba Man, James Paroline, Kevin Kime, etc. A vicious beating that could easily have led to death.

http://seattletim...

How many crimes go unreported, anyway--either the victims do not come forward or the Police Department/news outlets drop in the wastepaper basket?

How many violent crimes, of those actually investigated, go unsolved?

* * * * *

Citizens ultimately get the government they deserve."

And we're the second most livable city in the country.

Dream on, Seattle.

(There aren't just ostriches in Australia. Now I understand the meaning of "passive-aggressive" --as it applies to Seattleites).

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11/11/2008
As one who was born and raised here in Seattle--on North Capitol Hill, to be exact, my opinions of my hometown may be, frankly, biased.

What is there to say of a city with exceptional natural surroundings--the hills, streams, forests, lakes--that hasn't already been said before?

I salute the city for its superb library system. And for finally, 37 years after its voters rejected mass transit, voting for a system of light rail which will save much of the charm of its neighborhoods from being clogged with cars, as population density explodes as the result of condominium-ization.

Supposedly Seattle is at the top of metropolitan centers in terms of book-reading habits, as well, although may not be evident on the street (at least it's not Newark).

The city that over the past few decades, on the strength of Boeing, its port, Weyerhauser, Microsoft (technically, Redmond, I know), Amazon, Starbucks, Amgen, etc. has catapulted to the stratosphere of celebrated American cities?

Actually, the tolerance of Seattle may be due to its Scandinavian (Lutheran) roots. That presence may seem more historical than actual (with a few exceptions, such as IKEA).

My kindergarten and fourth-grade teachers were both African-American.
Rarely did one see (or hear) a Hispanic.

Broadway was a semi-somnolent, but in any case, very safe Main Street, Any City, U.S.A. Downtown had five department stores and several grand movie palaces, most of them demolished--to make room for either parking lots or nondescript office buildings.

The 1962 World's Fair was a cause for local proud. All that remains are the Center House ("Food Circus"), the Intiman, Seattle Rep, Pacific Northwest Ballet, the International Fountain, and the creaking hulk of the tacky Monorail.

Over the long haul, too, Seattle has also bred a genre of reflex political correctness, confused with self-avowed individualism and a lack of critical self-awareness..

Strange that no one mentions, for instance, that the day after Martin Luther King was assassinated, at Meany Middle School, where the ratio of whites - blacks - Asians was 1/3 - 1/3 - 1/3. the black students went on a rampage, attacking indiscriminately non-blacks in the restrooms, hallways, and outside--kicking, punching, beating. They were armed with umbrellas, as well, and on the march.

I was there. The memory is etched permanently in my consciousness.

With Kristopher Kine, James Paroline, Tuba Man etc., all similarly assaulted (punched, kicked, stomped)*, I have to say that the lack of long-term memory among Seattleities is not exactly a cause for celebration.

* As were the young man and woman dragged off a Metro bus in the Rainier Valley and then severely beaten right outside the bus--and two other teenagers, in the restrooms at Golden Gardens--all in the space of a year.
http://seattletim...

http://www.ojp.us...
http://www.ojp.us...

It it's important to ask "Why do the police kill young black men in Seattle?," then why is it wrong to ask "Why are there so many incidents of young African-Americans beating the living daylights out of strangers?"

It would be nice if the local chapters of the NAACP and Urban League would--instead of portraying African-Americans as ALWAYS victims--especially in the aftermath of egregious crimes committed by those of their community--stepped up to the plate and took responsibility for the inculcation (or lack thereof) of values of young black people.

http://blog.seatt...

Though the election of Obama appears to have been inevitable and a way to correct the terrible mistakes of the Bush administration...

Why, on the other hand, do so many Seattleities revel in easy, self-congratulatory bashing of the same old targets (stupid white old men, or white people, in general, etc.)?

Why hasn't there been a native American elected as president? They have been here longer than anyone, even if they are only 1% of the population (Hispanics, 14.8% blacks 12.8%, Asians, 4.4%, Jews 3%).

We are, lest anyone forget, named after Chief Seattle.

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11/5/2008
Add "Tuba Man" to the list of homegrown "politically incorrect" crimes.

http://seattlepi....
http://seattletim...

* * * * *

And, NO, the young perpetrators were not the victims (of social injustice, gangs, Hollywood violence, etc). Why isn't this a HATE crime, anyway?

According to Seattle PC, we are supposed to be on guard 24/7 against our own intuitive sense of personal safety ( = racist thoughts).

So much misplaced guilt...rationalizat ion...cowardice.

http://blog.seatt...
http://seattletim...

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7/17/2008
To the memory of James Paroline, the 60-year-old Bronze Medal Vietnam veteran; Kristopher Kime, the 20-year-old; and all the others who had the courage to act on behalf of others, with only Seattle's 24/7 political correctness to protect them.*

An injustice is not corrected by another injustice.

Nothing to worry about, everyone, the city's PC's are NEVER turned off.

* * * * *

"How could this happen, here in Seattle? How could this happen, at this symbol of nurturing and care? How could this happen at all?"

http://seattletim...

* * * * *

Who is racist?

(The most opprobrium falls on those deemed racist).

Whites: Definitely racist.
Asians: Definitely possible.
Hispanics? Unlikely. They are officially an oppressed group.
Muslims: ? ? ?
American Indians: Almost as unlikely as blacks.
Blacks: Impossible.

* * * * *

If it's not the whites that are doing it to us,
it must be the cops.

If it isn't the cops,
it's the government,

If it's not the government,
then it's them Asians.

If not them Asians,
then it must be the Jews.

If not the Jews,
then it's gotta be Chicano (immigrants).

If it's not those Chicanos,
it's those gays.

And if it's not the gays,
it could be Arabs.

And if it's not Arabs,
it's gotta be someone else.

Hold on a moment...I just haven't figured out yet. Come back next week and I'll let you know who it is.

* * * * *

Being critical of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors prevalent within a certain group does not make one a racist, except where:

Political correctness run riot.

And I AM a liberal, just not a self-deluded one. I used to a proud one.

* * * * *

The measures enacted from the '60s onward were meant to remedy past injustices. "Racism" as a term of opprobrium was not meant to bludgeon dissent or excuse "bad" behavior.

* * * * *

Three stars only because the new building, with its wonderful plaza, on 4th Avenue and Columbia is truly praiseworthy.

* * * * *

Special membership in the Hall of Shame awarded to: the Urban League of Seattle and the local chapter of NAACP for their either muted and/or perfunctory, inadequate responses.

http://seattletim...

Similar kudos to the purveyors of "liberal white guilt," their accomplices-in-waiti ng and enablers.

* http://www.seanet...

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