SOCIAL-SERVICE BULLIES
DEAR NINA SHAPIRO: I'm a homeowner in Hillman City and saw your article on the last Southeast District Council meeting ("F-Bombs Away," Oct. 24). I appreciate you covering the matter but feel you missed several key issues. The SEDC bylaws specifically state(d) members must be democratic, open organizations with regular elections. None of the social service agencies are organized that way.
The social service agencies now outweigh all other interests on the council. They have a near majority. It seems very reasonable to me to ask that they organize under an umbrella group and have a single vote at the council like all the rest of the interests at the table.
The social service agencies claim moral high ground in that they represent ethnic minorities and the poor. I would dispute this claim. These agencies are private organizations; their first interest is THEMSELVES. In addition, they are funded by the city, thus, when our community interests conflict with city interests, their voting becomes somewhat suspect.Bassim Dowidar
Seattle
PROPERTY-OWNER BULLIES
DEAR NINA SHAPIRO: Your article on the travails of the Southeast District Council once again demonstrates the rude, raw, ignorant NIMBYism of certain homeowners in Rainier Valley. It seems to erupt whenever anything comes along that could give a helping hand to low-income folks.
Not that many years ago, they tried to kill the light rail. More recently it was Casa Latina. Now many of the same people want to take over the Southeast District Council to use it as a soapbox to rail against low-income housing.
Their tactics are classic right wing:bullying, disruption, and propagandizing to intimidate and wear down advocates for social justice. Plus raw power plays to try to exclude individuals or groups who stand in their way. But their driving forces—keeping up property values and keeping out "undesirables"—are kept out of sight.Dick Burkhart
Seattle
SIGN MY SHORTS
DEAR EDITOR: Concerning Brenda Cooke's "Writer Raises Hell, Again" (The Weekly Wire, Oct. 31) [in which Cooke said "please keep in mind that (Clive) Barker does not sign body parts"], I recall most vividly Mr. Barker gladly signing a young woman's neck at an event at the Queen Anne location of Tower Books. It seems she was to attend a masquerade as Simon McNeal, aka "The Book of Blood." Perhaps the demand for signing body parts just became too great for Mr. Barker.DJ Moran
Seattle
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