The Sable Verity

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Posts Tagged ‘Seattle’

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SPD Murder: There Is NO Justification

Posted by Sable on November 2, 2009

For Seattle, Halloween night brought the city’s 17th homicide of the year- the 11th by gun violence. 

Only this one was different. 

A Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton was shot multiple times and killed as he sat in his patrol car with a student officer.

Witnesses heard about 10 shots from the assailant’s gun.  The rookie officer stumbled from the car and returned fire- while the officer that had taken so much care to train her sat dead just a few feet away.

Over the past two years Seattle has seen an uptick in brazen shootings, some gang related, some not.  Most have gone without arrest or prosecution. 

We all know though- this one is different.  It just is. 

People were trying to figure out urgently if it was someone they knew.  I was on the phone, texts, emails, websites for hours, sifting through the reports and trying to piece together what was going.  It took about 3 hours to determine the victim was not a Black woman, but a male, race unknown (at the time).

Speculation was broad- mostly because people (like me) couldn’t believe that this had happened.  Think about it.  10:00 on a Saturday night, Halloween night at that- and someone just rolls up on a police car and opens fire?  Who does that?  Who does that in Seattle?!  Just wrapping my brain around that has been a lot to contend with.

Whoever carried out this crime was seemingly meticulous in doing so- it was planned- and police were the target, there’s no doubt.  The killers drove up along side the car and fired in, but they didn’t continue in the direction their car was facing.  instead they turned around and went in the other direction.  Why?  Likely because they didn’t want to be seen on the police dash mounted camera.  That points to premeditation in my mind.

For now- they’ve gotten away with murder.  I for one, am outraged this has happened. 

It seems a select few in the community just can’t resist making their shitteous comments and pushing their fringe beliefs- as if this the time for it.  For that, I am disgusted.

The morning after the shooting I woke up to seeing facebook statuses and tweets on twitter posted by people who seem to think that it’s okay to gun down police, or that the officers deserve what happened to them simply because they’re police.

Well I have a message for those people: you’re idiots.  STFU and sit down.

Yes, it is a fact that all police departments across the entire country, have issues.  Yes, there are police officers who are jerks, who use their position to intimidate and harass those in the community.  Yes, racial profiling is an issue, yes, we have situations of excessive force more often than is ever proved in the administrative process, and yes, we’ve seen law enforcement shoot and kill people in the community and “get away with it”.

What does that have to do with the father of two who was brutally murdered sitting in his squad car and talking to another officer?  What does that have to do with anything?

Are we saying that all police officers are bad?  Is that really what we’re saying here?  Because they’re a cop, they’re bad and they deserve harm to come to them- right?  A Seattle police officer has never done anything good, ever- right? 

We don’t like it when people reduce our murdered youth to “gang members” who “should expect that to happen to them”- so we shouldn’t do that to the police either.

Don’t lecture me about police being a gang of their own.  Don’t lecture me about the problems between officers on the street and the community.  It has nothing to do with a man being murdered.

There are community members that have valid concerns about the immediate aftermath and how it’s playing out in the streets.  Police are in the CD (and so. end) in force, and they are taking every opportunity to talk to people they can get.  There is obvious tension in the air.  If I had a son over the age of 13 he wouldn’t be out without me at his side right now, because everyone is a potential suspect and everyone is a potential witness- even if only after the fact.    I understand why people have concern about police conduct right now, and worrying that someone else might get hurt in the scramble to find who did this- people are saying the police need to step back and work with cooler heads.  I couldn’t agree more.

Is that a luxury they have?  *shrug*  We don’t have enough cops on the force now, so those who responded Saturday night and saw what had been done to their colleague- yeah they’re on the streets now- and there’s no one there to relieve them.  So yeah, we hope a cop doesn’t snap and snatch someone the hell up- or worse- while they work to pinpoint suspects.

Should that really worry us more than the fact that there is a killer out there somewhere?  Someone brazen enough to attempt let alone pull off such an attack?  We can’t just be worried about the police in this aftermath, we need to worry just as much about everyone else.  Am I standing in line at the grocery store next to a murderer?  And not just someone who killed a police officer, what about all the other unsolved murders?  Where are those killers?  People are more concerned about watching how the police act, but show no concern over who did this- and the fact that they haven’t been caught.  Why don’t we push for that?  We do when one of our own get’s killed, so why not now?

Seattle, we have a serious problem!

The cops are on edge right.  But we got some snarky folks in the community who use their teaspoon of influence just to dig the knife and talk about a murder as if it could be justified or explained away. That’s not helping. 

One thing is for sure, if this case goes unsolved, things are only going to get worse. 

By the way, if you haven’t been over to www.seattlecrime.com yet, they’ve posted a short transcript of the initial radio call for help.  I suggest you read it a few times, and think about what you would have done if you would have been sitting in that car.

(0:00) Sweeney: Shots fired, 29th and Yesler!

(0:06) Dispatcher: Is there a unit calling radio?

(0:15) Officer 1: I believe she said I-5 north of yesler

(0:19) Operator: 3 george 13?

(0:22) Sweeney: [sobs]

(0:24) Operator: 3 George 13? I map George 13, I show her at 29 and E yesler way, if units could [surge?] that way

(0:37) Sweeney: Help. Shots fired [sobs]

(0:42) Sweeney: My partner’s dead.

(0:44) Dispatcher: I need units to 29 and East Yesler

(0:47) Officer 2: Edward 32’s on his way [Siren]

(1:00) Officer 1: 3 George en route

(1:08) Sweeney: Help me.

(1:13) Dispatcher: Help the officer 29 and E Yesler

(1:24) Sweeney: I need medical

(1:38) Officer 1: George 31 arriving

(2:01) Officer 1: George 33, we’ve got officer down. We need more, uh, we need fire here now.

(2:08) Dispatcher: Fire’s on the way.

end

The memorial service for Officer Timothy Brenton is scheduled for Friday, November 6th at 1:00 p.m. at the Key Arena.
The Seattle Police Department is in the process of establishing a bank account for Officer Brenton’s family.  More information about that will be available soon.

Tips can be made anonymously to Crime Stoppers at (206) 343-2020, or through a text message by texting TIP486 with a message, then sending that to 274637 (CRIMES).  I should mention that tips can be made about any of the unsolved murders, not just this one. 

See something, say something.  Stop the violence.

Posted in African American, Issues, Lest We Forget, News | Tagged: , , | 2 Comments »

Meet Mike McGinn- The Anti-Tunnel Dude

Posted by Sable on September 29, 2009

It’s safe to say hell hath frozen over- Mike McGinn sat down with me last week for a 1 on 1 interview.  Known for being the guy against the tunnel (to replace the AWV) McGinn is neck and neck with his opponent Joe Mallahan as they race to the election finish line- hoping to grab your vote along the way.  McGinn asked to meet at a downtown coffee shop, which at times makes the interview more challenging to hear, so, apologies for that.  Here we go…

Who is Mike McGinn?

Change, “new politics” and the decision to run for Mayor (and not city council)

Future Seattle- and a look back at the Welfare Queen (hey gurl!)… and Van Jones, too

That darn tunnel option- and all the semantics that come along with it

Seattle Schools- Mike has been running with Education as one of his main pillars- so what is he really prepared to do?

I also asked him about the same levy program scenario that I asked Mallahan in his interview.

pt1

Pt 2

Pt 3

McGinn discusses the pros and cons of the current Youth Violence Prevention Initiative

McGinn on his [former] non-profit “Great City”

Pt. 1

Pt. 2

McGinn on Equity

There you have it.  Mike McGinn [finally] in his own words.

My impression?  As I said after the Mallahan interview, you don’t need me to tell you who to vote for, so I’m not going to do that here.

I’m planning on comparing/contrasting my experiences is a later post, so I’m not going to get into too much detail here, but I will say that I was very surprised at McGinn’s reaction and answer to my question of what his personal working definition of “equity” is.  As you no doubt notice throughout the interview, we were discussing topics where equity is an issue in Seattle.

The first thing he said was “whoa”.  What I asked for was a definition but his answer was more of a vision of a perfect society, and not a personal belief system or one that he can extend to the management and leadership of a city.  Equity is an issue.  Yes, everyone should have a nice car, yes, everyone should have a great school to go to- but they don’t.

Mallahan’s answer wasn’t perfect by any stretch, but it has substance- he too thought about it when in the moment and gave an answer that had to do with how to ensure equity.

I mean, if you can’t define equity can you define inequities?

It’s clear that McGinn has a lot of pride in what he has accomplished personally and professionally, and in his community, which is north Seattle.  It’s why I asked him about the organization he started, “Great City”, and he mentioned it more than once in our discussion.

What has great cities done in south Seattle?  It sounded to me as if he was saying that they wanted to outreach south and they wanted to be utilized by neighborhoods with great needs…but I never got a list or an example of one, which is just more of an observation and not a condemnation.

Posted in Election | Tagged: , , , | 19 Comments »

Mallahan Upsets the Dust on Youth Violence

Posted by Sable on September 14, 2009

Yet another “Joe Mallahan said” controversy has sprung up since last week’s Cinerama Mayoral Candidate forum, after this question was posed by James Donaldson, himself a former candidate for mayor:

“Rising crime violence in Seattle, escalating rate not just due to the bad economy or kids are out of school for the summer. What can we do about it? What are some of your ideas?”

Mallhan responded, in part:

“I think the outreach model we had before that was focused on adult males in particular. Although these days actually female gang..membership is rising. Adult role models who can be effective and credible in attacking the culture of self hatred that leads to the illogical behavior that you see with a young person joining a gang.”

(For his full answer, click here and fast forward to 1:09:00)

As word spread about what Mallahan had said, the emails and phone calls began.

One acquaintance asked if I thought the Mayoral candidate was “talking down to people of color”.  He mentioned behavior, not race- though the behavior he spoke of does disproportionately impact youths of color.

The bigger question is, does a lack of self worth, positive role models and consistent, positive reinforcement lead some (if not all) to join gangs?  It certainly is a very real factor.

Is there a culture of self hatred amongst young people?  Do we really even need to ask that question?  The answer is emphatically, hell yes.

I give Mallahan credit.  With that one sentence he stepped beyond the simple reasoning of “more cops will fix everything”- the fact is, by the time the police are involved, 99.9% of the time it’s too late.  The cycle and culture of “gang” life has most likely already taken hold.

We have to identify youths who are in gangs and give them incentives to get out, while also identifying those youths at risk and keep them from making the choice to join a gang- self esteem and positive role models play a part.

What a novel idea; to address and attempt to root out those factors which would make a youth turn down a troubled path to begin with.  It’s not one or the other, people, it’s both at the same time.

It’s easy to say “let’s hire 200 more cops” or “let’s stiffen criminal penalties for youths that break the law”- neither of those will fix the problem, neither of those will eradicate gangs or prevent a youth from being shot as he minds his own business walking down the street.  We’ve got to get much more in-depth about what is going on before we can begin to fix it.

Remember when we learned that drug addiction was best viewed as a disease that required treatment, rather than a crime for which the abuser should be punished?  That’s when society began to understand that treatment was a more effective (and cheaper, btw) method for addressing drug addiction (and the crime that comes from it).

The same needs to happen for youth violence.  Yes, youth violence should be examined and treated as a disease in our young people, and a disease in our communities.  Such a prognosis is not without precedent.  In 2001 the Surgeon General recognized the work of Dr. Joseph Mashall’s around youth violence as a disease.  From his website:

“…violence is a social disease with an explicit treatment process. The disease is transmitted by the germs of bad information, bad instruction, bad advice, and bad examples that to young people appear to be good. Youth are exposed to these germs via their families, peers and neighborhoods; and through music, television, video games, and movies. The disease appears as techniques for survival when, in fact, the opposite is true. Infected youth do not survive, they only learn how to die or go to prison.”

And folks want to debate whether or not there is a culture of self hatred spread amongst the youth?  Get real.

“But why is[Mallahan]talking about these things?” A blog reader asked me in an email, “it doesn’t sound right”.

Why?  Because he’s White?  White men aren’t allowed to care?  White men aren’t allowed to try and make a difference?  Now that’s just silly.

Mallahan has at least a 50/50 chance of being the Mayor of this city- of the entire city, which means he is responsible to everyone in it, even if it’s a challenge, and even if it requires things to be said that haven’t been said before, or that make people uncomfortable.

Overall, Seattle has gotten complacent in dealing with these kinds of issues.  We tend to think “that’s them, not us”, when a young person is gunned down, or a young girl gets pregnant, or kids drop out of school, and that’s not true.  We have to shake ourselves out of the delusion that somehow we’re walking around with individual force fields that prevent bad things from touching our lives or our kids or our neighborhoods.

We should encourage- no- we should demand that our elected officials, whoever they wind up being, take bold and comprehensive steps to address the issues plaguing our youth, and yes, at times that’s going to mean saying things that will make poeple squirm.

It’s a false argument to try and call Mallahan out for what he said simply because it raised eyebrows.  It’s also BS to think what he said was meant as an insult or an attack (or pointing blame) on a certain group of people based on race; take a breath and get over yourselves.

If our elected officials acted on issues only in such a way as to make people comfortable nothing of substance would ever get done.

Posted in African American | Tagged: , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Meet Joe M-a-l-l-a-h-a-n

Posted by Sable on September 4, 2009

Joe Mallahan has emerged as a top contender for Mayor of Seattle after entering the race some 15joe weeks ago as an unknown with a last name no one could remember.  Seattle-ites relish familiarity- sometimes to a nauseating degree- yet overwhelmingly voted for Mallahan or his opponent Mike McGinn* (who is ahead in the results) because they were fed up with the policies, ignorance and management style of soon-to-be-outgoing Mayor Nickels.

With about 9 weeks to go until election night, Mallahan makes the case for why he is best qualified to lead Seattle in a direction that is progressive, responsible and equitable.  Here is my discussion with him.

Mallahan describes his personal, professional background and his desire to serve:


3 Ways Nickels went wrong: I asked Joe to give me his top three concerns around policies and practices enacted by the outgoing administration, which moved into 3 issues that he feels are important for the city (which is fine, Nickels “bashing”  (my words) is an easy out).  In this segment he discusses his view of social justice:

What did Nickels do right? What policies and practices is Joe committed to continuing from the current administration- this took us into a conversation about seamless communication from government to communities and vice versa- we discussed how the Metro route 42 was nearly cut to save money, with no regard for those who utilize it every day- how do we prevent ignorant decisions like that from happening in the future?  Our exchange:

The infamous Department of Neighborhoods: One of the most polarizing departments in the City, the DoN has a reputation for supporting certain neighborhoods and ignoring others.  Where is the equity, and what is Mallahan’s vision for the DoN?

The City’s Office of Education, levies and the relationship between Seattle and SPS:

On the city side we have levies which support building maintenance and construction, as well as special programs.  The costs of new buildings and proper maintenance for older buildings increases at a level that isn’t easily explained, and funding for programs via the Families and Education Levy managed out of the Office for Education within the city’s DoN has increased it’s practice of funding to the standardized test while decreasing services and programs which increase family involvement in childrens’ education and also help provide stability for the children themselves.  Here is an example; the Families and Edu levy pays for family support workers (or what used to be) in the schools.  It used to be that nearly every school had one- they were the social workers in the building and they served based on need- obviously they are a valuable part of the age old pedagogy of “teaching the whole child”.  Now however, Family Support workers are tasked with proving their services help a set amount of kids pass the standardized test- their caseload is limited and is not based on need, but rather on test results.  Said all of that to say, the city has a pretty big stake in the district, and takes a role as far as levies are concerned- should the Mayor’s office and/or the city council assert greater oversight or have a stronger hand in decision making where Seattle Schools is concerned?

Gangs, guns and SPD: As you know, in the past 2 years countless young Black men have lost their lives to gun violence at rates that are disproportionate to any other group.  The media, law enforcement, elected officials and Seattle-ites at large have basically chalked these deaths up to “gang-related”.  This stereotype often suggests that those who have been murdered in fact did something to bring it on, or did something to deserve it.  The gang member stereotype also suggests that the victims’ lives are somehow less important than the store clerk who is murdered while on the job and in the end, the city is desensitized to the fact that young people have access to guns and are murdering each other with them.

The truth is that none of these young men were hardened criminals, and many were not gang members- certainly none of them deserved to have their lives snuffed out.  Aaron Sullivan for example, who was murdered in July was not a gang member, yet that was the assumption everyone jumped to because he was young and Black.

Families and communities are frustrated that they are not being included in defining the problem and working towards solutions.

Additionally, Mallahan has been endorsed by the SPD and Fire unions- for some this is a comfort, while others question if such an endorsement means “he’s one of them”. His comments on the issues:

On stolen guns in the community:


Empowering and supporting Seattle’s youth: This one speaks for itself:

Campaign controversy: Probably the most “controversial” part of the interview centered around comments Joe made about Nickels decision to fire the former head of the Department of Neighborhoods, Jim Diers.  Mallahan was quoted as saying Nickels terminated Diers in order to ‘pursue a “racial agenda”‘.  These comments of course raised eyebrows and ruffled feathers, and cause the head of One America to suggest in a scathing article that Mallahan’s words suggested that he was talking in “code aimed at the same conservative voters who are afraid of immigrants overrunning our town.”

In my social/political circle it was the article written by Pramila Jayapal of One America and the concerns therein that caught people’s attention- particularly when the author mentioned the “code” talk- I am familiar with it, as I know you are because many of you asked me what I thought about this situation based on that article.

I asked Mallahan straight up if he was in fact speaking in conservative-self-preservation-White-man-code, and to clarify what exactly he felt he was trying to say.    Here is his response:

Why Mallahan? There wasn’t a lot of talk about opponent Mike McGinn or McGinn’s campaign platform, but I did ask Mallahan what makes him the better man for the job:

Conclusion: I’m not going to tell you what to think or who to vote for- you’re smart enough to figure that out on your own.  But my impression?  Mallahan comes across as comfortable with where he is in the race for Mayor, but not cocky, or as if he doesn’t have a lot of work left to do.  I felt like he was informed on the issues we discussed, but he certainly didn’t pretend to have all the answers.  Did I agree with everything he said- no.  But I also know that he heard me.  He’s an active listener.  We look for many different qualities when we are choosing our leaders.  Two of those qualities for me are, one who listens, and one who has a conscience.  Any politician or candidate can give the company line on any given issue.  But only a person with a conscience is going to actually do something about it.    It was clear to me that he wants to know the issues- the good, the bad and the ugly- he wants to know how City government is impacting the quality of life and community in Seattle- the most affluent and the most underprivileged.

The sense that I get from him is that he is looking at the issues, taking all of the variables into consideration and then using that information to formulate equations that result in measurable, progressive success.  When was the last time a Seattle Mayor did that?

It’s very easy for a political candidate to bash his or her opponents in an election.  “My opponent” this and “my opponent” that- give me a break.  99% of the time it’s all rhetoric and irrelevant.  Tell me what you are going to do!  Let your opponent tell me about himself.

Until a few weeks ago Joe Mallahan was running against Nickels and many have wondered how he would adjust his messages and strategies now that it’s just him and Mike McGinn.  In my discussion with him, I got the sense that he is more focused on the challenges ahead and how to fix them- moving Seattle over the hurdle it seems to have been stuck at for a few years now.  Mallahan is running on the issues (plural!), which one could argue means he is running against himself.  Sure, as the weeks tick by, messages (and attacks) will sharpen, but Mallahan’s eyes are on the issues.

Refreshing.

##

*For the record, I’ve sent multiple requests to Mike McGinn for an interview- his camp has not responded, and I hear he thinks I’m a big ‘ol meanie.  Awww…

Posted in African American | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments »

Who Gets YOUR Vote?

Posted by Sable on June 17, 2009

We recently asked readers of the SV to submit questions for our online Seattle City Council Candidates Forum, and you didn’t disappoint- in comments and emails ya’ll expressed curiosity, concern, and even outrage at the state of the 206, it’s residents and most important, its future.

30 questions made it into the draft version; we’ve since taken it down to less than 10 questions that capture the commonalities in the questions you initially proposed:

  • 1. In your opinion, what are the top 3 issues facing the City Council, and why?  2. How would you address these issues?
  • What involvement do you think the City should have in Seattle Schools, and why?
  • 1. What is your opinion of the Youth Violence Initiative?  2. Would you continue with the Initiative, why or why not?  3. What solutions do you have for violent crime in the city?
  • What is your plan to make city government more accessible and inclusive for those who are often left out of the political process but are impacted by the decisions city electeds hand down?
  • 1. Do you support the new jail, why or why not?  2.  What, if any, alternatives to prison incarceration will you support as a City Councilmember?
  • Do you think that City Councilmembers should be elected by “district”, tasked to represent the interests of certain parts of the city, much like school board members, or King County Councilmembers are?  Why or Why not?
  • To the point: “Why should I vote for you and not the other candidate(s)?”
  • Anything you wish to add that hasn’t been asked?

Candidates have been asked to submit their answers by noon, Friday June 26th- plenty of time if you ask me.  We will post their full, unedited answers as they come in, so stay tuned.

Posted in News | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

US Dept of EDU Tackles Seattle School Closures

Posted by Sable on June 16, 2009

A few weeks ago, a local college student contacted me to ask me about the media, blogging and school closures for a research project she is working on.  Much of the conversation centered around what bloggers like yours truly reported re: closures, and what the daily papers reported- or didn’t.  The Sundquist/Cooper/Arbor Heights debacle obviously was a hot topic.

In case you forgot, the dalies basically failed to report on the issue, which allowed said board member to offer Cooper kids- and their building- as sacrificial lambs in place of Arbor Heights kids and their building.  It still makes my blood boil just thinking about it.

And here we are again, with yet another bombshell the “mainstream” media is aware of, but seemingly ignoring- why, I don’t know.

Think back a few months to the school closure process.  The Seattle King County NAACP urged parents to file complaints with the US Department of Education about school closures and the disproportionate impact it is having on children of color.  Key parents in the community did much of the leg work to get those complaints filed, and now, at least one parent has received a response from the Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, henceforth referred to as OCR:

OCR has initiated a compliance review of Seattle School District No. 1 under title VI of the Civil RIghts Act of 1964.  The review will focus on whether the process followed by the Seattle School District, and the resulting decision announced on January 29, 2009, to close five school programs, complied with Title VI.  OCR has responsibility for enforcing Title VI, a federal statute that prohibits discrimination on the bases of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities that receive federal funds from the US Department of Education.  THe selection of the district for a compliance review does not reflect an opinion by OCR regarding the compliance status of the district.

Look closely at the first sentence there.  What’s the key action word?  Initiated.  That means that by their own accord, independent of the complaints sent to them, they are reviewing the actions of SPS during the closure process.

And I ask myself this- where the hell are the dailies?  Did I somehow miss the reporting on this?  I’ve only heard that one television news outlet “briefly referred” to the letter- but that’s it.  That’s it?  That’s it?!

As an aside- there are a few lawsuits pending against the district re: closures, one of which had a summary judgment hearing last Friday.  This particular lawsuit focuses on Cooper.  The judge heard oral arguments for both sides, but did not hand down a ruling at that time, expressing a need to read both parties filings and the supporting documents that go along with them.  The District is basically arguing two points. 1. It didn’t have enough time. money or resources to follow federal law to the “T” in the closure process, so they just followed their own special policy.  2.  That Cooper should not be considered “closed” it should be considered as “repurposed.”

Let’s shred that idiocracy right now.  First, as of the end of this school year, Cooper Elementary will cease to exist, because Pathfinder will be moving in.  Pathfinder isn’t changing its name to Cooper- Cooper no longer exists.  Second, the students who attend Cooper today will not be allowed to attend Pathfinder next year- again, Cooper no longer exists for the kids who attend now and those siblings and new students who planned to attend in the future.  So not only is their school gone, but they can’t even have access to the new program and the building where it is housed- Cooper is closed.

But then there is this.  Look again at the excerpt from the DOE OCR letter above, specifically the second sentence there.  Do you see what I see?  The word “closed” is there in black and white in reference to Cooper and 4 other schools.  The United States Department of Education and its Office of Civil Rights considers Cooper to be closed. So what the hell is taking the Judge so long to hand down a ruling?  Yeah, I dunno…

Posted in News | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Tribute: The LOVE Movement

Posted by Sable on June 13, 2009

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“Did you ever touch him or have him smile at you? Did you ever really listen to him? Did he ever do a mean thing? Was he ever himself associated with violence or any public disturbance? For if you did, you would know him. And if you knew him, you would know why we must honor him…” Ozzie Davis, Eulogy of Malcolm X

The early hours of February 16th a man lay dying on a Seattle sidewalk, shot as he walked through his beloved neighborhood home to his family after work.

Raised in the Central District, Tyrone Love was unique. At 26 years old he provided for his mother and sisters Gwen and Christyna, and girlfriend Margarita Quevedo-Walker.

Tyrone ran a successful business, Vibrant Entertainment 206, with partners Jamar Jones and Bruce Williams.

Talk to those who knew him best and the description is consistent: Tyrone focused every day on giving back and making a positive difference in his community. He was the peace keeper, the idealist, the one to turn to when you needed a non-judgmental ear or honest advice. He was the big brother, the best friend, the one who always had something positive to contribute. He was never concerned with himself and always put others first.

For the Love of the City

Chukunde Salisbury (aka DJ Kun Luv), CEO of The SeaSpot, first met Tyrone when he was a student at Garfield High School, and Kun worked at the community center. He DJ’d most of Garfield’s student events, and a mutual respect grew easily despite the more than 10 year age difference.

Kun Luv started promoting his own DJ events online in 1997, well before the internet was the information super highway that it is now- when all you had was a dial-up modem, a scanner and AOL email. Seeing Seattle Urban culture on a computer screen created a spark.

The need grew and the SeaSpot.com was born. “I started it because there was a need. This traditionally a flier town, and during that time, more and more people were moving out [of the city limits] if you didn’t get the flier for next week, you didn’t know what was going on. It just seemed like a lot of the people (local talent and DJ’s) that matter to me and to us, it wasn’t in the Weekly, it wasn’t in the Stranger, it wasn’t in the Seattle Times- they have some band that doesn’t even have an album out [on the cover]. Nothing against those papers, there was no one doing articles on our people, and especially the scene I was in, so it was a niche. We wanted to be the gateway to the Northwest urban culture. We did that.”

Tyrone joined SeaSpot in ‘03/’04. “He had a sense of organization. He was a natural, really personable. He was the leader of the Street Team crew. He had a lot of charisma, he was a people person, you gotta have that when you’re trying to convince people to come to events. People aren’t buying the product, they’re buying the person. Once you get off the mainstream, people start looking at ‘who handed me this’, so that’s important in promotion.”

The site receives 3 million hits a month, with 50,000 registered users all eager for the information- and the connection to urban and hip hop culture that it provides.

SeaSpot is 11 year old, and Kun Luv recognizes the importance of expansion and now includes a site focused on gospel, one for the urban professional network, and a site targeting high school students. “How can we be the gateway to urban culture if we don’t capture that whole scene? It’s not just about the party scene.”

Tyrone relished the work, and eventually wanted to start his own business, something Kun Luv and the rest of SeaSpot fully supported. Vibrant Entertainment 206 was born, headed by Tyrone, Jamar Jones and Bruce Williams.

The Next Level

Jamar met Tyrone in 2003 through the SeaSpot. After a few years they came together with Bruce and decided to combine their efforts in Vibrant.

“He was unique; he was different,” recalls Jamar. “He made me humble, and mellowed me out a lot. Just being around him, he was a really cool person. I don’t know how to explain it.”

Vibrant set out to run a legitimate business that provided opportunities for people to kick it and have a good time, while also quietly promoting west coast hip hop- and music in general- through the DJ’s they worked with. It’s a venture often underestimated.

“People think we just throw parties,” he says, “we have a business license, we have insurance, it’s not just some guys hanging out kickin’ it, this is how we support our families. People think we can just walk into any venue and say ‘we want to throw a party here’; it’s not like that with hip hop, you have to come with a resume.” Jamar explains that mainstream promoters who may not turn out as many people have an easier time locking down venues- mostly because of stereotypes and misperceptions about urban culture.

In ‘07/’08 a rash of club related shootings caused Seattle’s Mayor Greg Nickel’s to go after venues for the purpose of shutting them down; and used the state liquor board to do it. Jamar- and others, say that urban culture and its music got caught up in the situation and pointed to as a cause for violence- a concern many share.

Now when they propose a venue, Vibrant is presented with contracts that ban West Coast hip hop- Top 40 hits only. “We have some local hip hop and R&B that’s really great. What are we supposed to play? Hip hop is a way of life, it’s a culture, and it’s not just some gang members [who] listen to it. Rap is society now, you have to face it. Everyone listens to it.”

The misconceptions of urban culture bothered Tyrone. “Tyrone is a hip hop head. He always used to say ‘hip hop lives’.

The Mayor never reached out to the urban community in his efforts to make the point that violence would not be tolerated, but the promoters reached out to him. “We invited him. He was nowhere to be found.”

True Love Remembered

When you talk to Margarita Quevedo-Walker it is easy to understand why Tyrone loved her so much. Intelligent, grounded, funny and real; her character is without pretense.

An energy surrounds her; it is the evidence of what cannot be seen; the deep, soulful connection they still share to this day.

“We were friends first,” she explains as her face changes. When she recounts memories of their quiet courtship, the genuine happiness he brought to her life plays colorfully across her eyes and teases her mouth into a broad smile. After months, Tyrone professed his love in his own way, announcing to her one day that it was time for her best friend- whom she hung with daily- to share her- with him.

“I think from that day on, we were never apart,” she explained as her face warmed and she laughed in wonderment, shaking her head. “He always made a point every day to tell me “Did I tell how beautiful you are today?” We told each other we love one another millions of times in a day or more.”

There is no need to embellish the memories. “Everything he did, he did for the women in his life; his sisters, his mom and me. He worked so hard to take care of us, and he did…he really did. He was the man of the house.”

She cannot recount his life without moving to the details of his senseless murder. Margarita dropped Tyrone off in Pioneer Square that night, and she finds herself thinking about the last time she saw him; “why did he look at me that way? Why did he say ‘bye’ the way he did? All night long, something didn’t feel right.”

4:50am

It was Margarita that discovered Tyrone hadn’t made it home. She awoke to find his side of the bed empty; something was wrong.

Jamar received an early morning text. “It said that Tyrone didn’t come home and I knew something was up, he always goes home.” Jamar sent out word asking if anyone knew where Tyrone was.

Kun Luv: “I remember thinking that it was strange, that he hadn’t been home yet,” he recalls, “but I wasn’t worried.”

But then news came in; an unidentified 26 year old male had been shot to death just blocks away from Tyrone’s house.

The unthinkable was confirmed around 9:00am. Margarita recounts, “I was upstairs in his room, and the…I can’t really describe it, the scream…I heard his mom scream, and I ran, I almost fell down the stairs onto his mom.” A man, dressed in dark clothes stood in the front doorway. “He didn’t belong, you know? He wasn’t a friend of the family, he didn’t look like anybody…he wasn’t supposed to be there.”

Tattoos on a body in the King County morgue were described to the family- the 26 year old killed that morning was Tyrone, and the memory of Roberta Love’s scream- a wail of maternal agony- is something Margarita will never forget; “I have dreams about that scream.”

Jamar called Bruce who was in Portland hosting a Vibrant event. “He didn’t believe me.”

“It seemed surreal,” described Kun, who also received word from Jamar, “I just couldn’t believe it…oh my God.”

People were calling and texting; did you hear about Tyrone? Is it true? What can we do?

A makeshift memorial grew and Margarita went to see it for herself. Flowers, candles and pictures could not pull her attention from the 5 spray painted dots that marked where Tyrone’s head, arms and feet had been. A scratched button from his clothes, discarded in the horror of those fleeting seconds, lay on the cold cement. “I still have it, the button,” she says.

When asked what is hardest each day, she answers immediately, “waking up each morning.” Tyrone has visited her in dreams, as he has others. Sleep is when she can touch him again, when he shows her glimpses of paradise, and when she can tell him profusely just how much she loves him. As sleep fades in the morning she tries in vain to pull him out, and back to the life they shared, back to his sisters and mother, their puppy and weekly nacho nights with his best friend.

While she grapples with the brutal pain that comes with such a senseless experience, she is wise enough to also know the impact of Tyrone’s murder is something Seattle has never seen before and describes it in one word: “amazing”.

Community Love

DJ Kun Luv had a mission; $9,000 was needed for the funeral. He set up an account and put out the word- go to the bank right now and deposit $20. The plea was replicated in text messages emails and Facebook posts. Promoters from across the city gave profits from a nights work and donations came in from around the globe. A benefit concert brought in nearly $6,000 in a few hours.

The tone was set. Tyrone was not your average guy, he was special, he was important, he was cherished. His family would be taken care of. His name, reputation and legacy would be protected by those who knew and loved him.

As for the murderer, there were more rumors than facts.

It was the second point of action for the community and a press conference was held to highlight The Silent War Campaign which served to send two very clear messages; violence in the community must stop and the silence that has prevented justice from being served in numerous shootings of Black young men and boys must cease; no murders in our midst- if you know who did this, you must come forward.

Mayor Nickels spoke at a rally against violence, alerted by his Director of Community Outreach Pamela Banks, a long-time resident of the Central District who also works on the Youth Violence Initiative, a lofty yet severely underfunded City-led effort to break the cycle of violence for those at risk and those whose lives have been impacted. The Mayor since requested to meet with Kun Luv and others close to Tyrone to talk about violence prevention- a wise move considering the large urban audience they connect with and influence regularly.

The Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative will set a new direction by identifying and helping children who are at a vulnerable point in their lives. Specifically, the initiative will:

  • Help youth with repeat offenses re-enter society from state detention programs.
  • Provide alternatives for youth who are arrested for crimes, but released because they don’t meet the admission criteria for county detention.
  • Help middle-school truants and students at risk of suspension stay in school and succeed.
  • Prevent victims of violence and their friends and relatives from continuing the cycle of violence through retaliation.

Love Lives On

Tyrone’s funeral was standing room only. On speaker commented that babies, elders, friends and enemies had all come together to honor him.

To date, more than $20,000 has been raised to support the Love family in their greatest time of need as they struggle to carry the insufferable weight of loss and grief.

His friends work to find the good- and to keep Tyrone alive as they move forward. Margarita and others are working on a public mural; an idea Pamela Banks says the City can likely give funding to.

Jamar envisions a scholarship in Tyrone’s name, and stresses Vibrant isn’t going anywhere. “He loved music, especially hip hop and he wanted to make sure that hip hop continued and that people embraced it as a culture that is positive. He was all about keeping it in the city, and making sure everyone had fun, and was safe. We’re going to make sure that happens. Tyrone was someone who can’t be replaced; he was the heart and soul of what we created. We want to thank everyone for their support, it’s overwhelming.”

For Margarita, Tyrone’s impact is simple yet profound. He led a purpose-driven life. “All he wanted was to make a difference in people’s lives, and be remembered for that. He did that. He never knew that he really did accomplish that. He did make a difference in millions of lives, and people will always remember him for that. He was a good person who loved his family and wanted to make a difference. He gave one hundred percent in everything he did. He was perfect.”

Anyone with information about Tyrone’s murder should call Seattle Police Detective Russ Weklych 206-684-5550

Contribution to the Estate of Tyrone Love Benevolent Account are still being accepted at Bank of America; give to support his family and honor his life’s contribution.

Posted in African American, Family Tied, Issues, Lest We Forget | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

SV News Break 06.09.09 Monday Was Insaneness

Posted by Sable on June 9, 2009

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We had over 60,000 hits to the SV yesterday, which is totally and completely mind boggling.

What’s even more- interesting- is that most of those hits were for folks looking to find the pictures of David Carradine’s body- thos pics aren’t on this site, because we’re not trying to get hauled into court, AND because that is so far beyond unecessary.

Many of the readers are upset that the photo leaked and demand justice on that issue alone.  We’re not sure how Thai authorities deal with things like that, and they haven’t said much more than “yeah, that’s him”.  We know it doesn’t go down like that in THIS country- but we’re not talking about THIS country, right?  That said, the picture should have never seen the light of day- in fact the descriptions of the scene were more than enough details than any of us really needed to know.  At the same time, David Carradine holds a special place in a lot of hearts, and people really do want to know what happened to him.

At the same turn, some of ya’ll are trying to decide if what he did (sexually) was “sick” or “devient” or just a bit beyond the norm.  We’re not here to judge either way.  What we can say for certain is that clearly the man didn’t mean to kill himself, and clearly he didn’t intend for all of YOU to see his dead body hanging from the closet.

And as a reminder, when it comes to stars and celebrities, we the pubLic don’t know who they are, and never truly will.

Finally, we got some pretty sick comments on the entire issue, most of which were insulting to a life lived- no matter how it ended.  We don’t clear those from moderation because they are unecessary and usually upset other readers, so if you have a shitty comment, a joke or a wise crack, don’t bother trying to post it because it won’t get through.

Onto the news:

King County’s Sheriff tries to make the best of a craptastic situation~ SeattlePI

Dual endorsement are all the rage~ Seattle Times

this will result in a multimillion dollar lawsuit against Star$$~ Seattle Times

Drago is….Drago~ SeattlePI

Hip Hop exploits chicken!  er, wait, chicken exploits hip hop!~  SV

Damn right he’ll stand trial!~ SV

The Fritzl case examined~ BBC

Posted in News | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

“Hot for Teacher” Club Event A Smashing Success

Posted by Sable on May 24, 2009

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Don’t worry, I didn’t go- I know, hard not to, right?  But the SeattlePI.com and other media outlets were allll over it.

In case you somehow missed it, Seattle’s very own convicted child rapist Mary Kay Letourneau and her husband and former victim, hosted “Hot for Teacher” night at an area club, and according to the PI, Miss Mary was the belle of the ball:

The outfit – a tight, low-cut minidress with silver sandals – was hardly classroom attire. But from the moment the former Mary Kay Letourneau arrived Saturday night at Fuel Sports Eats and Beats – the Pioneer Square nightclub that hosted the “Hot for Teacher” event Saturday with her victim-turned-husband as DJ – she was swarmed.

Posters and autographed t-shirts were up for grabs- for sale of course, no freebies.

Don’t get me wrong, I know we’re in hard economic times, and I am sure being a disgraced teacher (who can no longer teach) married to a twenty-something who only has a GED (we think) must be hard in terms of making a profitable living.

I’m sure that if people were willing to pay a cover charge to meet me, I’d at least consider it, but actually going through with it is a different matter altogether.  Particularly if people wanted to meet me for something that I did that was, well, bad.

Let’s face it.  Mary Kay Letourneau spent almost 8 years in prison for child rape.  She was a trusted member of society- a school teacher, and in her position as a trusted member of society she started having sex with one of her students when he was just twelve years old.

I’m not sure anyone could name a teacher-student sex scandal more scandelous than the Mary Kay incident.  Sure, we’ve had countless teacher-student sex scandals since, I’m sure we had them before, but can you name one, specifically?  Everyone remembers this incident because it was so over the top.  She was married with a few children, and while obviously pregnant, was arrested for suspicion of child rape.  It took everyone a few days to digest the fact that she was pregnant by a child.

Mary Kay also introduced America to Bi-Polar disorder.  This was the mental condition she used as her excuse for her behavior.  In a courtroom, with live cameras rolling, she tearfully begged a judge to not put her in jail, but give her treatment instead.

The judge fell for it.

Within 6 months Mary Kay was arrested, caught in a car (having just had sex) with her underaged victim.  Consiquently, she was tossed in jail for another 7 years.

It’s not really for me to say whether Mary Kay and Vili are “in love” or not, though the notion does make my stomach turn, and I’m sure I could argue that they are in love just as much as I could argue that they are not.

Their relationship aside.  I have to wonder how any parent of a 12 year old would feel if they found out their child was having sex with a teacher.  I have a 13 year old and I can tell you with no hesitation that I would go to jail; the school is only 6 blocks from my house.  Me and a few family members are going down there with intent to inflict bodily harm- period.

I don’t want to see these two in a loving embrace at “Hot for Teacher” night.  I don’t want my kids, or your kids, to see coverage of “Hot for Teacher” night on the news, or in the paper.  Teachers are not supposed to have sex with their students, so really, teacher’s shouldn’t be hot, and kids shouldn’t have the hots for them.

Most of us have had teachers that were hot- I had a high school teacher who was so fine I can’t remember what subject he taught, yet I was in his class on a daily.  He had high school girls scheming and potting his demise.  But he was smart.  He knew he was attractive and he worked overtime to maintain the professional relationship.  You couldn’t get Mr. C behind closed doors no matter how hard you tried.

We already live in world where teachers are having sex with their students- it’s a disgusting reality that we have to be aware of.  Some teachers slip up, some teachers have no judgement, and some teachers and predators disguised as educators.

We don’t want to live in a world where having inapropriate feelings for someone is encouraged, celebrated or rewarded.

Posted in Issues, NeedtoKnow, News | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Child rapist Mary Kay Letourneau to host “Hot for Teacher” night at Seattle club

Posted by Sable on May 21, 2009

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Student-teacher sex scandals are practically common place these days, but it wasn’t always that way.  It’s a sad claim to fame, but there is no, simply no adult-child relationship more jaw dropping than that of a sweet looking teacher and her underage pupil.

Being a Seattleite, no one remembers more the scandalous revelation that an area teacher, a woman, had been caught in a sexual relationship with a student.

That woman was of course Mary Kay Letourneau, who single-handedly brought inappropriate student-teacher relationships into our every day lives.  Mary Kay, who already had children of her own and was married, wound up divorced and in prison and pregnant by her victim, not once, but twice.  They’ve since gone on to marry each other.  And seem to be living a fine life in Creepyville- really, we don’t want details.

The convicted predator and her prey have gotten crafty in this ever shrinking economy and found an…interesting, albeit morally void way of making a little cash- club event promotion.  But not just any event…the “Hot for Teacher” night.

That’s right.  It may be against the law to have sex with your teacher (if you’re under-age, if not, it’s just gross) , but hey, having the hots for them is okay, right?  Do registered teacher’s get in free before 11:00?  What about free drinks if they bring their own student with them?

And how the hell are students going to get in to the club if they’re underage? So many questions, and sadly, somewhere, all the answers exist.  We’re going to do as little research on this as possible because honestly, this is just another example of a situation that makes us throw up in our mouths and swollow it back down.  Di-SGUST-ING!

Mary Kay’s victim husband, Vili, will be the DJ for the night- how exciting.  If you’ve ever wanted to get a convicted rapist’s signature, now’s your chance- Mary Kay plans to work the crowd, greeting guests and inkin’ underage boys her Jane Hancock for whoever asks.

BTW, Mary Kay is knockin’ on 50.  Her “husband” is 26

Learn more about the hip and happenin’ event here

You know, this gets us to thinking about that whole “marriage is sacred” battle going on across our country.  A rapist can marry her victim, but two men or two women in loving commited relationships can’t get married?  We’re confused…Really people, who poses a bigger “threat” to marriage?

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Ask the Candidates- Seattle City Council

Posted by Sable on May 12, 2009

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Hello SV Readers!

We are excited to announce our 1st ever online candidates forum for those running for City Council in Seattle! If you live OR work in Seattle or have a vested interest in the health and success of the city, we want to hear from you ASAP!

(Don’t worry, we’re planning a Mayoral forum and a KC Exec. forum too)

This is your chance to ask a question and (hopefully) get it answered.

This is how it works; with your help we’ll put together a list of dynamic questions for the candidates and will post their answers here on the SV.

We will also use this info to determine who the SV will give the nod to once election day is closer.  It’s too early to endorse- someone could get arrested for a drunken brawl with their spouse, or driving under the influence- who knows.

We don’t want to ask the same, boring questions that all the other forums are asking- sure, we plan to cover the significant points, but we also want to help you ask your candidates real, down to earth questions, so don’t be shy.  Of course, SV has the right to refuse to include your question if we don’t feel it serves any purpose, and candidates have the right to not answer questions if they don’t want to…which will be noted, of course.

So, ask away!  What’s your question?

Leave a comment or email us at sableverity [at] gmail [dot] com

Posted in News | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 10 Comments »

Got Power?

Posted by Sable on May 10, 2009

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Fam of the greater Seattle area, we need to talk.

During the 8 years of the Bush administration, the power of the voter was weakened and fading.  People lost faith in democracy, and those coming of age saw no reason to register to vote, let alone exercise that right.  But when our country and our communities fell into crisis, you all acted, by registering, and by voting at the local and national level.

It’s going to take a lot for politics and democracy to get as exciting and fervent as it was with the election of Barack Obama- think of it, the first Black President.  Will we see this kind of mania over a woman, or a latino?  At this point we’d have to elect a martian species to once again have that once in a lifetime experience.

Because at all other times, politics is really boring.  It’s exclusive and distant and closed off.  It’s disappointing, frustrating and down-right insane-making.  It’s also critical to the lives of pretty much every one who lives in this country, no matter what state, city, county or neighborhood.  Politics determines quality of life (and quality of life determines politics) and we here in the greater Seattle area have major issues that need to be taken care of.  Election 2009 is just as important as Election 2008.

Gotta love Obama, but he’s robbing the Pacific Northwest of its political “leaders”, case in point, Ron Sims.  Sims has been the Executive of King County for a while now; he leaves at a time when the County is in crisis on the financial tip; not enough money to cover costs, and the added weight of the economic temperment euqals a burning Rome.  Kurt Triplet, Ron’s Chief of Staff has stepped into the role until the County Council appoints a temporary Exec. to stay until the election in November.  Given the fact the County is on life support due to multiple diseases, the COS is the way to go; he is the only one who knows the patient.  Who is a good candidate for County Exec?  Hard to say at this point- though 7 out of 9 County Council members plan to run for the job, thus transforming their jobs and councilmembers as platforms for campaigns.  Even the most simple decision are going to make complicated by political aspirations and ego.  So sad.

Another person running for County Exec is Susan Hutchison, you know, that chick who used to be on television.  Susuan Hutchison is a staunch Republican who talks a lot, but doesn’t really know what the hell she is talking about.  I liked her on television, but was turned off the very first time I heard her speak about the county and what it “needs to do” to get healthy.  Can you say, out the side of your neck?  She is skating on name recognition and must be taken as a serious contender.  She also must lose, period.

There is also a shakeup afoot in Seattle.  many, including yours truly, have had it with Mayor Nickels.  I have my reasons, I’m sure you have yours.

Competition has been slow to mount; we’ve got the former Sonic whose name I can’t remember, that one dude, whose name I can’t remember Michael McGinn and Joe Mallahan from T Mobile.

I don’t know enough about McGinn at this point, to make a call, but I think the fight is between Nickels and Mallahan.  I say that because the Nickel’s camp tilts off their axel everytime the Mallahan camp breathes. If they’re worried, it’s like for good reason.  I am still learning about Mallahan as well, but to his credit, he’s got brilliance on his staff.  One sign if a strong leader is who that leader surrounds himself with; Mallahan gets two thumbs up.

We are looking for a Mayor that believes in representing all of Seattle all the time, and not just the business community.  We are looking for a Mayor with dynamic yet reasonable new ideas for old, tired problems.

Seattle City Council is also facing elections, and great candidates have quickly risen to the surface- like David Miller.  This shouldn’t be considered an endoursement, but Dave strikes me as an intelligent, compassionate man who has the best interests of Seattle’s residents at heart.

More details will come through on all of these races as the elections near.  You just have to be prepared to do your part; wield your power and vote.

Posted in News | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Lady GaGa at the Showbox; H.O.T

Posted by Sable on March 20, 2009

 

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To confine Lady GaGa under the pop music umbrella is a crime- she defies classification.

 

 

Sure, she’s got some candy sweet cuts that find themselves on regular rotation, for which tweens and teens alike go crazy for, but listen to her entire album (The Fame, Interscope/2008) and the complexities of this performance artist are slowly revealed.

 

 

The music is layered thick but not too heavy, the lyrics simple yet witty and intelligent. Her music tells a story- her live performance takes you on a ride.

 

 

Monday night brought the Lady and her entire Haus of GaGa to Seattle’s Showbox Theater. The spot was packed, with a line stretching three quarters of a city block well before doors were scheduled to open.

 

 

The show began with Chester French, a band that cannot be forgotten simply because they said their name every 35 seconds. They sang an original or two, then covered a popular No Doubt song, which seemed like the easy way to get the crowd going.

 

 

French was followed by the more poised, entertaining and talented The White Tie Affair. The Seattle crowd loved these Chicago natives, chanting lyrics that drowned out lead singer Chris Wallace. They were a strong opening act that could have done even more with longer stage time.

 

 

As for Lady GaGa herself, what can be said? The packed house was for her and she didn’t fail to entertain. She was mesmerizing, confident; everything one wants in a live concert- she brought and then some, complete with backup dancers, props and 4 costume changes. Her show is ambitious and proves she is the real thing- she isn’t make-believe, or fake. Her voice is authentic- she can sing and highlighted her talent with a few songs of just her and the piano; her musicality is clever to say the least.

 

 

For an artist who just released her first album less than a year ago, GaGa is on fire- her show is brilliant, and promises to get better with time. The only detraction was the length. Doors opened at 8:00 and the show started at 9:00. GaGa went on at 10:40 and was off the stage by 11:30 though she did return for an encore. It is possible that the powers that be underestimated Lady’s Seattle debut, but tickets to the one night show were gone 10 minutes after they went on sale. Everyone in the theater knew every word to every song- these were die hard fans. While the intention may have been to leave them wanting more, it instead came dangerously close to making fans feel they didn’t get what they came for. The recipe for success is simple: More Lady GaGa.

 

 

 

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The Seattle Times- Still Smug Jerks After All This Time

Posted by Sable on March 18, 2009

By David Horsey, Seattle PI

By David Horsey, Seattle PI

Well the dreaded day has come to pass; the last printed edition of the Seattle PI has been sold.

Now, it’s on to a new, and pretty damn exciting venture; the world of online news and information. People said it would never happen- that once the printed paper was gone, it would all be gone.

But no. Hearst has opted to take a brave step into the unknown- no other mainstream daily in the country has even attempted it, let alone created a successful model. The PI will struggle, it will have failures and it will have its share of successes. Hopefully, when all is said and done, it is around for another 150 years.

Changes are already noticeable. New sections displayed on the front page now highlight new, and for many unknown or unexplored voices. Community and neighborhood blogs are relishing in the new online traffic that comes with being featured on a site that already boasts half a million hits a day- more, now that curiosity has been piqued.

The Seattle Times has chosen to respond in their own special way, declaring the PI dead, and openly welcoming PI readers to their newspaper.

Well, Seattle Times, I have news for you. The Seattle PI isn’t dead- it has been reincarnated. It has new breath and new life. The possibilities for its success are endless.

Furthermore, there are two kinds of people in Seattle; those that read your paper, and those who would rather vomit in their mouths and swallow it back down.

Take your uppity, elitist, right-leaning paper and shove it where the pixels don’t shine.

We are standing by the PI. Sure they’ve made mistakes in the past; sure their coverage on some things could have been better. But they try. When their ear is pulled, they listen. They don’t seek to constantly cast certain Seattle residents and neighborhoods in an unfortunate light. There is a consciousness about the PI that you’ll never be able to touch because you have no desire to; it’s not in your line of sight at all, because you make the choice to turn the other way. There is no story you can cover that the PI can’t cover better.

News is bigger than 1 paper; in fact, it’s bigger than 2. It’s why we have sights like Publicola, Seattlest, or Crosscut, and neighborhood blogs like The Rainier Valley Post and the South Seattle Beacon.

Thus, consider this a refusal of your offer to cross over to the dark side.

Posted in News | Tagged: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Replacing Ron Sims: Here We Go Again!

Posted by Sable on March 6, 2009

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le SIGH… For those of you who don’t know, Seattle et al has a reputation. To the point, Seattle et al never makes decisions quickly or effectively.  Seattle et al likes to debate everything ad nauseum.  This is known as making decisions “The Seattle Way”, but it could just as easily be “The Washington State Way”, “The Bellevue Way”, “The Tacoma Way” or in this case “The King County Way”; you get the idea.

A few examples:

The 3rd runway at Sea-Tac Airport.  I’m 31 years old and they’ve been in process about the damn thing since I was a kid; it was JUST built.

Tearing down our disaster-waiting-to-happen-viaduct and replacing it with surface lanes a tunnel surface lanes a tunnel surface lanes a tunnel surface lanes a tunnel has also been going on about as long as the 3rd runway; just a few short weeks ago the tunnel option was given the green light.

We just don’t do things- even critical things- quickly.  We like to debate, and think, and write op-eds and rant on blogs.  We like commissions, panels and task forces are pratically orgasmic!  The longer we take, the more divided and convicted we become in our opinions, the more we seem to like it.  When we get to protests and law suits, we’ve mostdef hit our stride.  Many called the WTO riots “anarchy”; we call that Wednesday.

Then there is the great snow debacle of 2008/2009.  Seattle (et al) was completely burried in snow.  BURRIED.  Coldest temps in decades.  The Verity household nearly went insane we spent something stupid like 11 consecutive days in the house because the roads [in Seattle[ were impassible.  And why were the roads impassible?  Because the city opted to use sand instead of salt, and rubber bladed snow plows instead of real snow plows.  What followed?  $5 bullshit rebates for the 12 or so days o garbage and recycling that piled up everywhere [and then was subsiquently blown through your and your neighbor's yards thanks to the unexpected and unforcasted wind storm] and of course, special meetings sponsored by the city council.  A “review” of “what went wrong”.  Like we don’t know wtf went wrong.  They should have used SALT.  They should have used REAL snow plow blades.  They should have trucked snow out.  Case closed.  But everyone wants to chime in, drop their 2 cents, be heard, be validated…  we just don’t know how to do things any other way.

It seems that replacing Ron Sims, King County Executive for the past gazillion years, is no exception.  Sims has been tapped by the Obama administration to serve as Deputy Secretary for HUD.    Fine.  Bye.  We’re sure you’ll still be on Twitter, so really, it’ll be like you never left.

So now it’s time to name his replacement.  Yay!  Procedure says that the Executive’s Chief of Staff is to step in, in the interim, until a permanent replacement is selected.  That selection is made by the County Council.

Except for one teensy little snaffu.  It’s an election year!  Yay!  Things are never complication-free in an election  year.  And what a shock, members of the King County Council have already announced that they plan to run for county Executive.

When Ron held his press conference announcing his departure, he specifically called those councilmembers out by saying that the interim Exec. should NOT be someone who is planning to run, that would be an unfair advantage.  Rather, the interim person should be a seat warmer.  Okay perhaps ‘caretaker’ is a nicer word.  And hell, given the state of the county, ‘caretaker’ is appropriate!

King County has a deficit for 2009 that hovers right around the $100 million dollar mark, give or take $10 million (we kinda get the sense they stopped counting at some point).  This massive hemerage has caused the County to amputate critical county services; safety, community health, and human services, which will cause devestation in communities across the county.  The economy is not doing well.  King County itelf has imposed mandatory unpaid vacay days (no one likes unpaid vacation days).  Things aren’t pretty.  We need someone who “gets” it.  Typically the Chief of Staff is that person.

And unless there’s something we don’t know, that is the case here; the COS knows the ins and outs of County business, the players, the chips and the pawns.  He does NOT, from what we understand, want to run for the Exec’s seat.  Great.  He doesn’t want the job.  That’s perfect, no unfair advantage there, just a guy getting a temporary assignment at work- we all get those from time to time.  Usually it’s crap we don’t want to do, but hey, such is life.

So, given the state of the county.  Given the critical and delicate work being done with the state legislature to save critical services, health and public safety, one would reasonably expect that the county council would move swiflty to temporarily seat the COS in the Exec’s chair- after all, the condition of the county is also their responsibility.  Is that what they are doing?  Of course, what a stupid question. Of course not.

From the Seattle Times (who we still loath, btw)

“Candidates to replace departing King County Executive Ron Sims untilthe fall election would be screened by a blue-ribbon committee ofelected county officials, civic organizations and interest groupsunder a plan proposed Thursday by two council members.

Council Chairman Dow Constantine of Seattle and Councilmember Jane Hague of Bellevue introduced a motion Thursday that would make the Municipal League of King County responsible for the review process.

Sims has said he plans to resign as executive when his federal
nomination is confirmed. Under an executive order Sims issued, his chief of staff, Kurt Triplett, would act as executive until the
council makes an appointment

Under Constantine’s and Hague’s motion, each council member could nominate two candidates. The blue-ribbon panel would then consider only those candidates nominated by three or more council members, and would pare down the list for a vote by the council.

Oh for the love of tripple chocolate cake and vanilla bean ice cream are you kiddin’ me?!

So let me see if I got this right.  Kurt Triplett, the current COS to the Exec, by Exec order, will be the temporary Exec until the King County Council chooses an interim Exec which could be…Kurt Triplett?

<Rubbing temples>

We don’t have time for this, King County.  We really, really don’t.  Rome is burning…or sinking or whatever it is that Rome did, the point is, we’ve got a major problem o our hands and we NEED someone in the seat who doesn’t require the luxury of figuring it out.  We need someone who KNOWS it.  All due respect to anyone else under consideration, but this is ridiculous.  Are each of our elected officials on the council really going to submit 2 names each?  That’s 18 mofo candidates!  And then we’re going to go through a “process” to pare it down?!

<Rubbing temples harder>

The ONLY reason we can see for bringing in somene who does NOT know the ins and outs of the state of the County, is so that person can fall on the sword so those with future political aspirations don’t have to.  As we said, the condition of the County is critical.  Whomever is chosen to sit in that seat is not going along for a hayride.  This is a tretcherous course, to be certain.

For once, the answer to the question is really very simple.  The Exec’s COS should serve as interim Exec until the voters decide in November who they want overseeing the County.

It is possible that this is a process for the sake of process and that the members of the council will all write Triplett’s name on 18 separate scraps of paper, throw them all into a hat and draw to see who the interim luck bastard is…but we doubt it.

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