Always balancing the teeter-totter of political correctness, we cross the street to give equal time to the other "alternative" weekly for this excerpt: "City Council Position 8--Vote for Dwight Pelz--
Dwight Pelz, a Democratic partisan brawler on the King County Council, deserves your vote over two-term City Council incumbent Richard McIver. Pelz, a recent Deaniac who's been active in progressive Seattle politics since the 1970s (when he worked to kill a regressive sales tax on food) has long been liberals' most loudmouthed representative at the county. He spoke up for the county's controversial Critical Areas Ordinance which seeks to curb sprawl by limiting suburban development in rural King County, over the objections of pitchfork-wielding (literally) rural residents; torpedoed Republican efforts to ax the county's domestic-partner benefits; and was a vocal supporter of proposals to elect the city council by district. As head of the county council's transportation committee, he successfully restored Metro bus service after Tim Eyman's license-tab-slashing Initiative 695 led to massive transportation budget cuts; fought to get transit included in a regional transportation funding package; and spearheaded efforts to move Sound Transit's light rail station in the Roosevelt neighborhood from Eighth Avenue, where it would have served mostly suburban park-and-riders, to 12th Avenue, where it will serve neighborhood residents. He also led the council's fight for the controversial East Lake Sammamish Trail, which will extend the Burke-Gilman Trail to Issaquah.
Some have criticized Pelz, who is white, for running against the council's only black incumbent. We think Pelz's record representing South Seattle at the county proves he'll stand up for Seattle's communities of color. (When the state put a sex-offender city in South Seattle, Pelz loudly called it a "racist" decision.) It's condescending and dumb to set aside council seats for members of a particular race. Progressive voters should elect the person who will be the most effective advocate, regardless of his or her skin color.
McIver has done some good work at the council, pushing to focus the city's planning efforts on South Seattle and working to secure fair compensation for businesses displaced by light rail in the Rainier Valley. But the SECB believes the council needs a fighter, not a conciliator, to serve as a counterbalance during four more years of Nickels. Vote Pelz."
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