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Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Christmas Trees Return to Sea-Tac

posted by on December 12 at 7:20 AM

Did you know all this fuss—yes, including the fuss I made over it—was about just 14 fake Christmas trees?

Pat Davis, president of the Port of Seattle commission, which directs airport operations, said late Monday that maintenance staff would restore the 14 plastic holiday trees, festooned with red ribbons and bows, that were removed over the weekend because of a rabbi’s complaint that holiday decor did not include a menorah.

Airport managers believed that if they allowed the addition of an 8-foot-tall menorah to the display, as Seattle Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky had requested, they would also have to display symbols of other religions and cultures, which was not something airport workers had time for during the busiest travel season of the year, Airport Director Mark Reis said earlier Monday.

Port officials received word Monday afternoon that Bogomilsky’s organization would not file a lawsuit at this time over the placement of a menorah, Davis said in a statement.

“Given that, the holiday trees will be replaced as quickly as possible,” he said.

Davis added that the rabbi “never asked us to remove the trees; it was the port’s decision based on what we knew at the time.”

There were no immediate plans to display a menorah, airport spokesman Bob Parker said, saying restoration of the trees was expected to take place overnight Monday.

“A key element in moving forward will be to work with the rabbi and other members of the community to develop a plan for next year’s holiday decorations at the airport,” the port statement said.

Oh, goody. We’re going to attack this problem with a little Seattle-style process—working with the community to develop a plan for next year’s decorations. Sounds like fun—actually, what it sounds like is a good way to keep requests from other “religions and cultures” to a minimum. Christmas? You’re in. The menorah has a leg up, of course. But you say you want some other religious or religion’s symbols displayed at the airport? Okay, well, you need to fill out these forms, attend a sensitivity training seminar and an orientation session, and then come to roughly 257 planning meetings, during which the community will work to come to consensus about the steps involved in developing a plan for addressing the display issue in a timely matter.

Which means your pentagram will be on display at Sea-Tac by December of 2043.

RSS icon Comments

1

Hey Dan,

Please do a report of some kind on "Diversity Days" for Nordstrom's Santa. A few of my friends and I wanna know more about it. And I have a feeling most people dont even know it exists.

Posted by rouge | December 12, 2006 7:52 AM
2

If you can find some sort of shrill woman to read her bad angry poetry at the Port of Seattle's Permanent Ad Hoc Community council on Winter Holiday Decor, it would be just perfect.

Posted by Non-specific December Greetings to you and yours. | December 12, 2006 8:15 AM
3

Josef K? The committee will see you now.

Posted by Charles | December 12, 2006 8:23 AM
4

Dan... The Supreme Court says that a menorah and a tree are not "religious symbols". I'm sure you know this, so why are you perpetuating this mischaracterization?

Posted by DOUG. | December 12, 2006 8:43 AM
5

Hey Dan? Andy Rooney wants his whiny shtick back. And his upper arms--you apparently have those, too...

Posted by SheShe | December 12, 2006 8:50 AM
6

I have my doubts that pentagrams will ever make their way to holiday displays in public places. Teenage boys would rather play D&D in their parent's basement than fill out forms and stand in lines at City Hall.

Posted by gillsans | December 12, 2006 8:52 AM
7

So this whole mess reminds me of my one beef with "holiday" decorations.


-They cost money. It costs money to put them up. It takes time to put them up. Then you have to take them down (more time and money).


These seem like simple things to the average person, you know, when you decorate your tree, put up stockings, lights, etc. The difference is, that The Port of Seattle (or any other corporation, tax-funded entity, etc) has to PAY someone to do all of it (either some poor employee, or outside person). I dont know how many of you travel, but think of all the money that the Port WASTES every year on holiday decorations. Think of where that money could go...1 more baggage handler, one more janitor, etc. WHY the hell do they spend money and time on this crap? EVER? Does anyone really fucking care? HONESTLY? Does not seeing stupid decorations for every damn holiday matter? I am more annoyed with the utter waste of money from a place that is always "cutting costs".

"Oh I am sorry holiday traveller, but we are short staffed today. We had to cut the security budget. Please enjoy our waste of decorations while you wait an extra hour to get through security!"


Posted by Monique | December 12, 2006 8:55 AM
8

Good thing they're spending time on this rather than less important things like speeding up security screenings, getting bags to baggage claim in under and hour and making sure flights get out on time.

There are a lot of priorities out of whack here.

Posted by PA Native | December 12, 2006 9:03 AM
9

Sheshe? All by herself Dan got this on all the cable news channels, into all the national newspapers, and all over talk radio. Dan is powerful, dude. Don't cross Dan or he'll come after you too.

And Dan's upper arms? Also powerful. Dan works out at my gym sometimes. He's very dedicated to his triceps. He could crush you with them.

Posted by TKS | December 12, 2006 9:10 AM
10

Oh kkkrap! I can't believe that the Amerikkkan religious nazis allowed this! I'm so outraged! I'm going to tell my other squatter punk wimmin friends about this during our vegyn potluck/mandatory-abortion-gay-marriage outreach meeting tomorrow at the Food Not Bombs office.

Those plastic trees are probably genetically engineered by Mansanto and tested on bunnies!

This is all George Bush and Karl Rove's fault!

Posted by angry jew lesbo pinky lefty commie vegan | December 12, 2006 9:32 AM
11

Dan:
A little more "process" and we might not have rushed into Iraq. Sometimes, process "gridlock" forces a time out to think things through.

Posted by mirror | December 12, 2006 9:38 AM
12

re#7
Leaving aside the question of whether public facilities should ever put up ANY decorations at all, I think having holiday decorations up during the winter season probably helps significantly with keeping customer’s attitudes positive during a time when the larger number of travelers means there are likely to be a lot more hassles and inconveniences while traveling. Plus, more tickets can be sold for higher prices, over the short and long term, if people see the travel experience as part of the holiday experience rather than as a dreary time-out from the (artificial?) good cheer of the season.

Holiday decorations just make life more interesting.

Some of those BIG New York-style menorahs would add a lot to the fun. Can't wait til next year.

On the subject of fun holiday decorations, some large Chinese New Year exhibits with dragons and fat babies would be entertaining too if it wasn’t two months further out.

Posted by mirror | December 12, 2006 9:42 AM
13

A true believer understands Truth is hard and the road to bringing Truth to the unknowing is wrought with obstacles. Thankfully in the USA there is at least a process of obstacles in which a pentagram could be displayed in a public facility, and the request to do it is not simply summarily dismissed.


If not, I have a 40 ft. Festivus pole which simply must be displayed in that glass atrium and I simple could not imagine it being placed in a less prominent, ehrr… conspicuous, location in the airport. Why should some damn committee, a committee of possible nonbelievers who might think a Festivus goes against the Spirit of the Season, determine which concourse it is placed in? And by damn, why should I have to bring this up in February, it is not like I will be thinking of Festivus poles in February, now will I?

silly, silly people over at the airport there is.

Posted by Phenics | December 12, 2006 9:58 AM
14

The Port of Seattle is the most incompetent government body in the Western half of the US.

Posted by Fnarf | December 12, 2006 10:15 AM
15

I wonder if the mgmt decision to take down
the trees rather than put up the menorah
was motivated by worries that a menorah would make SeaTac a more attractive target for Muslim extremists (BTW: I'm not endorsing this viewpoint). I haven't seen
any mention of this possible rationale in the coverage so far.

Posted by butterw | December 12, 2006 10:43 AM
16

"Silent Night, Regular Night..."
Christmas is pagan to its very core, the joke is on the christians.
Tickle me Elmo.

Posted by whyus | December 12, 2006 11:14 AM
17

Hm... you may be right, Butterw. It's not like Muslim extremists thought to target our airline industry before this, huh?

Posted by Dan Savage | December 12, 2006 11:18 AM
18

Why would you say that Fnarf? I think it was a brilliant move on their part.

Posted by him | December 12, 2006 11:21 AM
19

Competent or not, I kind of feel bad for them. I get the sense they wanted to make this problem go away in the most expedient way possible, and instead got an international media shitstorm.

Posted by Noink | December 12, 2006 1:02 PM
20

The decorations are there to remind everyone why they're at the airport.


Otherwise, any right-minded person would start wondering why the hell they're wasting hours standing in an unmoving line to get on a crowded-ass plane and visit the great-aunt that everyone thought was dead.

Posted by laterite | December 12, 2006 2:04 PM
21

I'm not quite sure what the diversity fuss is about. Surely the only religions that would want decorations up at winter solstice are those that celebrate winter solstice? So put up a Christmas tree, a menorah (a chanukiah would be better if people didn't mind adding one more bulb every day. Hey, cheaper than running 7 at once!) and something for Beltane maybe on behalf of the neo-pagans. Oh, and Kwansa or whatever it's called. That's 4 and you're done.

Posted by Antiquated Tory | December 13, 2006 3:42 AM
22

There is a great article from Chabad regarding this at http://www.chabad.org/455712

Posted by hanukkah | December 13, 2006 6:57 AM

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