Madison Valley flooding and a lame-duck mayor
What strange coincidental fate that Nicole Brodeur’s column “Mayor takes a few last questions” [NWTuesday, Dec. 15] on the exit of Mayor Greg Nickels was next to the story on the Madison Valley flooding lawsuit [“Suit: City allowed flooding,” NWTuesday, Dec. 15].
In the flooding story, one can find all the rotten underbelly of incompetence, waste and political management found throughout Seattle because, in my opinion, Mayor Nickels was far more interested in his personal federal and national audience, than he was in the efficient operation of Seattle.
The city’s response to the flooding in Madison Valley was to remove the most vulnerable homes, dig a big expensive hole where those homes once stood, and next year waste taxpayer money installing a large drainage pipeline that will not be able to alleviate flooding.
Was this solution engineered or politically engineered by spin and legal wrangling over the drowning of a Madison Valley resident in her basement due to flooding?
The present city attorney was also thankfully replaced by voters, so Mike McGinn, here is your first opportunity to save all the city residents and taxpayers substantial amounts of money, prevent significant and needless project disruption and solve several other legal problems at the same time, all while demonstrating you are true to your election campaign statements and promises.
— Geoffrey K. Willson, Seattle
Nickels’ lasting gun ban
It is a fine thing to have a watchdog monitoring our constitutional rights. Bob Warden is to be commended for ensuring that our right to carry our concealed weapons everywhere is protected [“Pistol-packing attorney files challenge to Nickels’ gun ban,” NWSaturday, Nov. 28].
The audacity of Mayor Greg Nickels in trying to keep guns out of city parks and recreational areas has to be condemned and overturned. How can our children and grandchildren’s safety be guaranteed on the playfields and in the swimming areas in the city unless anyone who chooses to carry a gun there has that right?
No one should have their Second Amendment rights infringed at any time. It would be like limiting someone’s freedom of speech to yell “fire” in a crowded theater as a joke — Oh, right. You can limit the right of free speech in cases like that.
Well, thank goodness the state doesn’t allow such limitations on guns. Way to go Bob.
— Bruce Colwell, Burien