Avery again on the mark
This is the first letter to an editor I've ever written. The Right Side compelled me. You are appreciated. Thank you. I'm quite positive he can really run a nonprofit well. Too bad most of us trying to operate a business here are hopefully for profit. Bad fit. Sadly Mayor Mc Schiwinn IS totally out of touch with the small businesses. Glenn Avery well done doing your research (perhaps a little too polite and gentle on Mayor Mike but you still nailed it).
There's no "may;" they will further damage us. He's already done it. Not just downtown. Notice the empty spaces and storefronts along our beautiful (I'm NOT being sarcastic) Aurora Avenue. I've always considered myself lucky to have grown up (so to speak) around there on our family's used car lot. By the way rumor has it McGinn lives just blocks away. Sales tax collected on auto sales was once one of the bigger sources of tax dollars to waste. The city of Seattle is taxing us TO DEATH. Really. Along with 29-percent increases in utilities and reduced parking, there are increases in business licenses/renewal fees plus new fees and taxes and permits and on and on and on. Not to mention it really is his plan to gridlock us to death.
His words "maybe it's not what we all want but it's what we all need." What the ? The road diet does not assist commerce or reduce the carbon footprint. Well known in surrounding areas and among the many small business people I know it's unanimous: Seattle is NOT "business friendly." A little side note reflecting firsts. Come to think of it, my first "real job" was a carrier for Murray Publishing. We were untaxed little independent businesses. Long live the Magnolia News. Again, thank you.
- Ross Fraser
Keep the community center
The Queen Anne Community Council urges the City Council and the mayor to include funding for the Queen Anne Community Center in the 2011-12 budget.
Community centers are meant to be local places where residents of all ages, backgrounds and economic levels come together for social, recreational, educational and organizational purposes. The Queen Anne Community Center is just such a facility, and serves this purpose well.
It is unacceptable to be told that Magnolia, Montlake and Miller community centers will be viable alternatives. All are inconvenient to access by bus; all are formidable to access by foot or by bicycle; none is available to a child after school, to those without cars, to anyone who wants an evening pick-up game of basketball, to the 22 basketball teams for whom the gym is home, to those attending night meetings.
And of paramount importance: the Queen Anne Community Center has been designated as the emergency shelter and communications center for the community, with SNAP planning being done with this in mind.
The concept of the Urban Center is a place where essential services are located close at hand, easily accessible by all. The Queen Anne Community Center is an essential part of our community. We ask that it, with programs intact, remain open, there for all.
- Ellen Monrad, chair Queen Anne Community Council[[In-content Ad]]
