To Fund or Not to Fund?

Geov,

I liked the Stanford article (printed in The Stranger). Someone has to stand up to this shakedown for more money. Stanford is also jeopardizing the school levies with this. I know I will reconsider my support as I cast my vote. Why not have Stanford threaten to leave unless Boeing pays the 21 million for the schools in cash?

--Greg Dewar, Seattle

MT replies: John Stanford is an authoritarian buffoon. While he and the school board brags about his "achievements," the current school levies tell a different story--one about aging buildings burdened with asbestos and leaky roofs, a lack of basic textbooks and school supplies, and the need for basic infrastructure upgrades. Of the two upcoming school levies, one is a continuation of an expiring levy to cover a 21% budget shortfall in basic school operations that the state legislature is unwilling to pay (even though our state constitution requires the state to pay 100% of public education costs). The second is a an additional property tax levy that includes $40 million for athletic fields and gyms, $25.5 million for roof repairs, and $33.5 million for electrical rewiring, seismic upgrades, disabled student access, and asbestos removal--amounts necessary for upgrading buildings that have been allowed to deteriorate for years. Critics argue that past capital improvement levies have been spent inappropriately and inefficiently, and that the school district has not supplied adequate financial disclosure. Without a doubt, Stanford's antics and his relentless personal PR campaign have not helped things one bit, nor has he brought public attention to the real reasons why our local schools have been allowed to deteriorate so badly. Certainly efforts by concerned parents to assure that tax money is spent for education and basic building improvements (and not to enrich developers) have labored under a media blackout. It'll be interesting to see how voters respond next week at the polls.

Eaten and Recycled?

Dear Eat the State!rs,Readers may be interested to know how the 50-strong collected volume of Eat The State! is doing in our anti-militarist office toilet (OK, OK, let's call it a bathroom for the sake of argument) here in little old post-imperial England.

Well, even though it's production week and I really should have my head encased in Quark Express and other such modern- day wonders, I just, as it happens, happened to go to the toilet/bathroom and had time to count. There are only 37 left! This includes two print-outs of recently-received email versions. So, taking that into account statistically, that means of the original 50, only 35 remain. I will not insult your readers by concluding that 15 have gone missing. Hypotheses run riot around my head, and I must exorcise them, or else I'll never be able to get back to work:

Have people been doing unspeakable things with them?
Have people been taking them home?
Have people been engaging in selective censorship?
Have people been doing unspeakable things with them?
Have the secret services been engaging in selective burglary?

I really don't have enough data to be able to conclude that this socio-political experiment is going in your favor. Maybe I could do an inventory of which specific issues are missing, and then we could see if there's a common link--but we'd really need an intern for such a job. Any volunteers?

I hope this doesn't worry you unduly.

Politely, --Stephen Hancock, Peace News, London

Reverse Workfare?

ETS!,

You listed the stadium election finance scandal first among 1997's underrated stories, in issue 16. A subtext to this story would be the media's passivity--or complicity--in Allen's media blitz to sway the vote. Based on reactions from my co-workers, Allen's public relations stooges were successful in giving many voters the impression that the stadium would be financed solely by actual facility users, and that money spent on the stadium would not detract from other state spending needs such as roads, education, housing, etc.In fact, the stadium plan taps King County tax revenues, and diverts gambling revenues (using "sports-themed" games to distract from the fact that such revenue is not expandable, but in fact has been shrinking). My main point: the diversion of King County tax revenues was NOT listed as a source of stadium financing in a number of daily newspaper articles-- usually the short, quick reads. Of course, the comprehensive articles listed all the sources. But a number of articles listed every financing source BUT this one.Not a surprise, then, that it is the least known of the financing mechanisms. Does the Allen PR flunky team get "credit" for this? I'd have to say yes, that they identified their main weakness and neutralized it. Too bad the dailies weren't called out on this.Thanks for your continuing coverage of reverse welfare in Seattle!

--Dave Yao, Seattle

Forty Hour Work Days?

Hi ETS!,

(We edited out the part about the Culinary Institute of America.)

Brian Dellert refers in his letter to a 40-hour work week. Do you remember those? Those were the "9 to 5" days. Nowadays people work 8 to 5, or 8:30 to 5:30, or like that. Why was there no funeral for the 40-hour work week? R.I.P., right next to that old-fashioned word "customer," now replaced by "consumer."Bon appetit!

Sue Scharff, Seattle

Victims of Theft

Dear ETS!,

Please reprint the following, which I submitted to an excellent publication called Agitprop News (lamp@igc.org), put out by the Labor Art and Mural Project:The Stolen Lives Project is searching for information to compile list of names of people killed by the police and the border patrol, and to issue a report on police brutality. Send along the following information: name of victim, age, race, date/place of birth, date/place of death, details of the victim's life, lawyer's name/number/address, circumstances of victim's death, description of legal proceeding & outcome (if any) including names/locations of agencies involved, photo of victim, other available documentation--photos/witness statements/police reports, description of the history of the incident. Also send: your name/address/phone number, and your last contact with the agency handling the case, if applicable.Send this information to: Stolen Lives Project, c/o Oct 22nd Committee, 2940 16th St. #216, SF, CA 94103. This is a joint project of the National Lawyers Guild and the Oct. 22nd Committee to stop Police Brutality, Repression, and Criminalization of a generation.--John Ruhland, via email