Sunday, October 19, 2008

Nickels Follies, An Update


Increasingly globular Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels tells us he's not trying to make life inconvenient for Seattleites...a hint that it just comes naturally to him. A partial list of his more spectacularly foolish moments includes:
  • In November of 2008, Nickels (in the face of a formal legal opinion from WA Attorney General Rob McKenna stating in painful detail that mayoral temper tantrums were not exempt from state law) claimed he would go ahead with his shiny new gun ban, as he needed "clarification" of the AG opinion.
  • In the midst of "challenging financial times" Nickels is ram-rodding through the City Council a plan to ban foam containers at restaurants and grocery stores, and impose a 20-cent fee for each disposable paper and plastic bag used in the checkout line at all grocery, convenience and drugstores - with plastic containers/implements/etc banned in July of 2010. In a display of solidarity with less well-off residents that use grocery bags as garbage can liners rather than paying for "extra special" designated baggage, Nickels in an interview said "If you use grocery bags to line your trash can, Nickels says, "that's great, 20-cents."
  • Nickels cronies in the Parks Department, in a triumph of symbolism over sanity decided to take down a long time Seattle tradition, in a sop thrown to "global warming" - beach fires at Alki Beach and Golden Gardens city parks while a factory burns tires for fuel a short distance away. At least until public outcry forced a Parks Department climb down...
  • And then there's that loony notion, "car-free" days on local roads - trapping local residents or barring them from their homes if they have the temerity to make an appointment or try to come home during the "forbidden hours".
  • Under Nickels, a group of bicycle riding hooligans once a month magically ride above the law, engaging in random property damage and - most recently - assault.
  • Nickels, frustrated that the rest of the state won't buy into his delusions, suggested on 4/18 that the Seattle/TriCounty (King/Pierce/Snohomish County) area secede from the rest of the state.
Greg Nickels is running for a third term as Mayor/Petty Tyrant in November 2009 - the next likely opportunity for sane folks to get shed of this nutjob.

1 comment:

Drang said...

Many of us welcome Seattle seceding from the state, it's the idea that he wants to take me along, as a resident of South King County, that I object to...