Hillman City neighbor Pramila Jayapal has co-written an op-ed with Gloria Steinem: Surprise! Immigration Is a Woman's Issue!

Thanks to Erica Barnett (also a neighbor) who posted about the piece on Publicola.

Pramila has pointed to another must-read by a Columbia Citizen, Naomi Ishisaka's Head First, about her experience with a brain tumor. It appears in this month's Seattle Magazine.

Hi guys:

Your listings this year are fun. I love the interface.

I always take these with some salt. This year I'll need to have my sodium checked. Please see attached.

In "diversity" (A really crummy way to measure this, btw. I'm white, and I'd like to have some part in diversity. Try something like Simpson's index instead) Columbia City comes in below "New Holly"-Othello and… everywhere else. This week my co-worker joked that our deputy mayor is the sole representative of Columbia City's diversity. More grist here for that mill…

Columbia Citizens would certainly benefit from an academic degree or two, and whoa — no kids! You know, I've been suspicious about that Pied Piper children's series in Mt. Baker.

Seems like this list is due for an update, and hopefully a prominently stated correction. Would you let Stefan know please?

Thanks.

S.

Vote YES to protect our most vulnerable neighbors!

The Seattle Housing Levy creates and preserves housing for our most vulnerable neighbors: seniors, people with disabilities, domestic violence victims, veterans, and formerly homeless individuals and families.

Vote YES for working families!

The Seattle Housing Levy helps hard-working families afford housing and still have enough money for the basics like groceries, gas and child care.

Vote YES for proven success!

Your investment in the Seattle Housing Levy has helped local families for 28 years. Renewing the seven-year levy would replace the expiring levy and cost the typical Seattle homeowner $65 per year.

Vote YES! on Prop 1 to RENEW the Housing Levy!

For 28 years, the Seattle voters have provided a critical housing safety net for thousands of our city's most vulnerable through the Housing Levy. Your vote to renew the Housing Levy will:

• Provide 1,850 affordable homes serving thousands of families and individuals over the next 50 years.
• Continue to help our most vulnerable neighbors including seniors, people with disabilities, victims of domestic violence and working families.
• Prevent over 3,000 families and individuals from becoming homeless and get them back on their feet for the long term.
• Build on a successful investment that creates over 4,000 jobs and brings in additional funds to our community.

Want to spread the word? Download and share these documents:

Seattle Housing Levy Handout
Seattle Housing Levy Fact Sheet
Seattle Housing Levy Handout (home printer-friendly; no pics)
Yes For Homes Sign
Housing Levy Newsletter Content
Housing Levy Logo

You can find out more information on the campaign's website: yesforhomes.org.

A random neighbor — whose name I learned and then promptly forgot — drove by, rolled down her window, and offered us a ride the remaining four blocks. We gratefully accepted! (Thank you again!)

What a great idea! Never mind the possible ideas my toddler son is forming about the wisdom of hopping into cars with strangers — I can explain this one.

Tonight I had the unexpected chance to pay it forward. Two people walking down my block, steering what had to have been a couple of hundred pounds of suitcases. Once they got clear on my offer ("You're going to drive us to the airport?" "No, just the train station.") they took me up on it quickly.

So here's my challenge/exhortation to the CC faithful: see someone with suitcases headed to or from the train? Offer them a ride!

http://www.freedomadvocates.org/documents/featured_free_documents/ (downloadable brochures for quick reading, printing and handing out)

http://www.crossroad.to/text/articles/la21_198.html

http://nord.twu.net/acl/research/agenda21.html

The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide —
http://www.idrc.ca/openebooks/448-2/

178 nations were signatories to the 288 page Agenda 21. President George H. W. Bush signed on behalf of the United States. Since Agenda 21 was “soft law” and not a treaty, Congress had no role to perform. Instead, the cabinet agencies of the Executive branch of government were charged with implementing this ‘global to local’ program.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton established, by executive order, the President’s Council on Sustainable Development. Since Clinton’s order, every cabinet agency has undertaken its role in advancing Agenda 21/Sustainable Development policy in the US.

In summary, Sustainable Development seeks:
• The step by step abolition of private property, primarily through the
implementation of the Wildlands Project and Smart Growth (important since private property is historically closely associated with protected individual rights and freedoms)
• Education of youth to prepare them for global citizenship.
• Control and ultimate reduction of human population.

Not to be confused with the Freedom 21 movement, which seeks to counter the growing Agenda 21 movement…

Before signing up to promote this legislation, please educate yourself on what this health care "reform" is about. You've likely heard only good things through the "objective" mainstream media — please hear the other side of the story (from someone who has been a doctor for 30 years, a Congressman for more than 30 years, and a recent presidential candidate).

http://www.ronpaul.com/2009-06-15/ron-paul-obamas-healthcare-plan-will-make-things-much-worse/

http://www.ronpaul.com/2009-06-01/healthcare-big-government-a-marriage-made-in-hell/

Thanks for reading!

~ a good neighbor

Now look how far they've come…

Hat tip to Monica at the Big Blog.

I've got an important favor to ask of all of you! I'd really appreciate it if you could fill out Metro's questionnaire about the latest proposed bus service revisions in Southeast Seattle that attempt to reduce redundancies with the upcoming Link Light Rail service. This questionnaire is
due tomorrow Feb 6th. It can be filled out online at:

http://metro.kingcounty.gov/up/sc/plans/2009/012009-sesea-quest.html

And more info about the proposed service revisions can be found here:

http://metro.kingcounty.gov/up/sc/plans/2009/012009-sesea.html

I'm very concerned about how these revisions will effect our neighborhood — especially those of us that live along MLK but not fortunate enough to be within walking distance of a light rail station. The plan is to take out the two current bus routes that run along MLK —eliminating the 42 completely, and stopping the 48 at Mt Baker Station. These routes are being replaced by the 8 which would extended up MLK, however this will only run every 30 minutes and up to 15 minutes on the peak hours. I have a couple concerns about this:

1) MLK will not being effectively served by Metro. It doesn't matter if the Light Rail will run every 6 minutes if you need to wait up to 30 minutes for a bus connection to and from a station. This is especially a shame for all of the business owners who have persisted through seemingly endless construction and now will have to watch the trains pass by without seeing an increase business because the transit connection is not efficient.

2) Metro will be less effective for myself and other riders like me when Link Light Rail opens. By eliminating the 48 I will now need to take 3 busses to get to work, and myself and others that commute frequently to the University from South Seattle no longer have a direct bus to do so.

I see two potential revisions Metro could make to correct for this oversight:

1) Improve the frequency of the 8 so that it truly serves as a reliable connection for light rail.

2) Extend the 48 to Rainier Beach, rather then terminating them at Mount Baker or Columbia City (as most 48s are now). The 48 is not a redundant route with the Light Rail since it does not go downtown. It connects multiple communities, and keeping it running down all the way down MLK will provide another connection option for Light Rail riders in the Rainier Valley.

Please take a couple minutes to read through Metro's plans and fill out the questionnaire. I sincerely feel that their current plan is not in the best interest of our community, and the only way to get them to change it is with all of our feedback.

Some people don't get it.

It's not just about us queers getting married! It's about the animosity, judgement, and discrimination of homophobic people and the complicity of don't-rock-the-boaters that deprives us of our civil rights, full equality, and, sometimes, our lives.

In 1972 I started one of the first gay lib groups in Illinois, Springfield Gay Liberation, and we had three purposes: to educate, change laws, and provide social activities outside the bars. As a result, I lost my family, job, and lifelong friends. People spit on me and threw things at me, I had death threats and hate mail. In the name of change and freedom, we pressed on. I spoke in front of college classes and groups like the Young Democrats to change people's minds and let them see a real, living, breathing, gay person. They asked tragic and nearly unbelievable questions: "Do lesbians have periods?", "Do gay people wear clothes in their house?" Once we were interviewed for a radio show in southern Illinois (we followed Rajah, the talking Mynah bird) and were bombarded with calls from screaming evangelicals who wanted to set us straight. Really straight. We left fearing for our lives. Later, when I considered adopting a child I was told that, as a gay person, I could only adopt a group of delinquent siblings or a severely disabled child. My partner was thrown into jail for a day during a custody case, where the sole basis for taking her children away was that she was a lesbian. The only gay role model I had when growing up was my great aunt, Norma, who, even as an adult, was kept locked inside her parent's home because she was a lesbian (her father was a police officer). Back then Springfield, Illinois was a small town, planets away from the nearest social revolution and definitely not a launch pad for unlikely Black guys on their way to the White House. We pressed on.

1972: that was the year Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman elected to U.S. Congress, announced her candidacy for president as a Democrat, Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment, DNC offices at the Watergate were burglarized by Nixon operatives, George Wallace was shot, the song "I Am Woman" was released, light fell on the Tuskegee Experiment, DDT was banned by the EPA, "The Joy of Sex" was published, KKK rioted in Central Park, Nixon went to China, Irish protestors were shot dead on Bloody Sunday, Israeli athletes were taken hostage by PLO at the Munich Olympics and killed, and peace attempts in Vietnam failed. A lot was going on.

There's a lot going on today and some responders to the thread have pointed that out, suggesting we put the gay thing into perspective and not spoil the party. I worked harder for Obama than just about any other cause in my life. He is the first Presidential figure who, when talking about the American family, always includes "our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters". He said it in cornfields in front of farmers, where he had nothing to gain and everything to lose. As part of his speech at Ebenezer Baptist Church on Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, Obama directly addressed homophobia in the African American community. I believe in Barack Obama not just because he is gay-friendly, but for the totality of what he represents and the dream of a Reasonably United States of America.

Many young gays are living on the streets today, their families having disowned or abused them. They're committing suicide because the essence of their souls is too heavy to carry and other LGBT Americans are being beaten, killed, drummed out of the military, and denied jobs, housing, and the benefits others take for granted. Rick Warren's church has a program to "cure" homosexuals and he compares gay marriage to incest and pedophilia. Through his ministry Warren perpetuates destructive stereotypes and fears that keep us apart. I not only have the right to disagree with the choice of Warren, it is my responsibility.

Of course I will celebrate on January 20th and it will be heartfelt. I will also regret that someone who so vigorously opposes change will be given prominence and validation. And, I will press on.

-pam keeley 12/21/08

Note: 12/22/08: it's now being reported that Warren has removed the egregious language about gays from his website and had a friendly conversation with Melissa Etheridge. That hardly atones for Warren's spearheading work to rewrite the California Constitution with Prop 8, but, in the best possible scenario, it may herald a shift. Overnight conversions are hard for me to trust; we'll see.

The instrument you can use is the U.S. Gasoline Fund (UGA), which is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the price of gasoline futures.

You can purchase any ETF just like you buy a stock. Do this in your regular borkerage trading account. You can even do this in a self-directed IRA or Roth IRA, and some of the better 401(k)s out there that actually let you buy individual stocks. You can also set stop orders on ETFs, to minimize investment risk (just like a stock).

An ETF is the same as a mutual fund, but without all the fees and expenses. Plus, like I said, you can minimize risk with an ETF (unlike with a mutual fund) in that you can set a stop order so that you don't lose more than X% value if it drops in value.

Airlines use similar investment strategies to hedge against the price of gas. Read the article link for details.

(with help from Gather)

Let me throw a bone out there and mention that credit unions are a likely safe haven, going forward — find a local one at http://www.findacreditunion.com/search.cfm . Chances are good that many reading this post will soon be moving money to prevent savings from being frozen or lost due to a bank collapse.

Credit unions are not-for-profit, locally controlled and member-owned.

The majority of credit unions were formed around main industries. Over the years, they expanded to accept family members and others. About 10 years ago, Congress changed things and liberalized the membership rules. Credit unions were allowed to move to community charters, which allowed them to accept anyone who lived in a pre-defined geographic territory.

The National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund insures deposits at least up to $100,000, just like the FDIC insures deposits in banks. Consumers can get more protection if they structure their accounts properly. (The federal bailout bill approved by Congress last week raises that insurance to $250,000 per account.)

If there's any interest, I'll write a bit about what you can do to protect your US dollar-based assets from the dilution (inflation) of our currency (the end result of corporate bailouts, and the coming $100 trillion debt associated with social security and Medicare). Keep in mind your tax-deferred 401(k) and IRA savings are stuck in US dollars for eternity, unless you cash them out and take a tax hit. Post your questions here.

http://hooleintelligence.vox.com/library/post/the-nimbys-of-the-fighting-southeast.html?_c=feed-atom

I hadn't really thought of it as NIMBYism before, but much of this resonates with my experience of local politics/community work. I've been sad to see energy drain away from good projects & useful organizations because of the kind of rancor John describes… And I have often felt uncomfortable with the positions some of our most vocal community activists have taken in public forums & the press… but have not felt like I had the energy or capacity to enter into the fray, so to speak.

Anyway, I'd be curious to know what other people think.

Mikala

There's some hang-time involved waiting for the mp3 to load, but it's worth the short wait.

much appreciated.

When i lived on beacon hill, we had a 4-Xs a year trash pickup program. the type supported by the city. (i.e. "official" trash bags, i think they even supplied gloves, and we would pile the bags up every four blocks or so and the city came by in a day or two to take them all away.)

it was a fun way to meet/re-connect with neighbors, and obviously helped to keep things tidy.

this is all my long-winded way of asking… were the two women i saw today part of a neighborhhood trash pick-up group? (i suspect not, as they had thier own bags).

hoping to hear about the group if we have one… or perhaps get one started.

— cheers

According to Seattle.gov, "A BIA provides a source to fund improvements in neighborhood business districts by assessing property and/or business owners who benefit from the improvements."

The proposed CCBIA would have a $50,000 annual budget:

• $30k for "Keeping District clean and well maintained"
• $15k for "Keeping District safe"
• $5k for "BIA administration"

If enough businesses sign on to meet 60% of the total budget, the city council will officially set up the BIA. Based on square footage and property value, a monthly fee will be assessed for each business and collected by the city.

From my perspective as a Columbia Citizen, the most interesting question about this is the $15,000 allocated for keeping the district safe. No details at all are given in the CCBIA brochure about how this money would be used. I would guess that CC businesses would be similarly curious.

Here's what the ID's BIA website has to say about their public safety initiatives:

"Our public safety program works in conjunction with other key organizations to promote awareness among neighborhood businesses, property owners, residents, employees and patrons. Lighting projects, CCTV security cameras, daily security patrols, and consistent communication with the Seattle Police Department are key elements to the success of the program."

So what the dilly? Are we talking cameras, security guards, wolverines loosed upon the streets by night?

The aims of the proposed CCBIA sound appealing to me, but the lack of detail about public safety initiatives is making me squirm some. Anybody have experience with BIAs or opinions about them? Have they been unmitigated successes in other neighborhoods?