Comments on Municipal Election Notes

Joe Szwaja can dunk? Josh can you please confirm that. And what's his post game like?

I take the bus to the zoo. I even bring the kids. They think the bus ride is one of the best parts of the trip.

David Della thinks no one in their right mind would? Does he ride the 5 at all?

Why wouldn't you take the bus to the zoo? The #5 is a perfectly respectable route. You don't even have to go through a ghetto, so there shouldn't be many scary brown people frightening the tourists (or council members).

Kill me.

I took the 44 to the zoo last year with a 5-year-old. He loved the bus ride as much as the monkeys. Fuck Della.

"Tim Burgess left the SPD in 1978 because he had a mind blowing experience when a friend gave him a religious pamphlet."

Oh goody! If it was a Chick Track I'm donating money to Della.

Tim Burgess left the SPD in 1978 because he had a mind blowing experience when a friend gave him a religious pamphlet with a sheet of acid hidden inside.

"David Della says no one in their right mind would take the bus to the zoo."

No one in their right mind would vote for David Della.

So let's try this out - Burgess read a religious pamphlet and decided being a cop was not aligned with faith, goodness, and honesty?

Thence, he quit the force to work for the worst, yes, the worst of the worst, hate mongers in America.

Anyone got suggestions for the pamphlet this guy really needs to read?

And of course the above makes him a really strong leader for all of us to follow. Sorta the Rove/Cheney mold descended from Queen Anne Hill.

Re: Godden -- where there are real rainstorms, everyone knows what a gullywasher is.

Re: Szwaja -- he's, what, maybe 6-2? Is he immune to White Man's Disease?

Re: Della -- is he kidding? This Fremonter, who rides the 5 daily, laughs...

Too bad Jean's going to dunk on poor Joe come election day.

Joe's a big fella, I'd guess 6'3" or 6'4". Last time I saw him was at the zoo, coincidentally.

All you Fremont bus Nazis -- yeah, the 5 is nice, as is the neighborhood. But If folks are coming from some other parts of town, it just ain't so. There is no way in HELL I'd take my niece to the zoo on the bus. First of all, it would take 1 hour and 42 minutes, and that's the best case scenario via metro's trip calculator. The WEEKEND would require 2 hours and 8 minutes. So, that is a good start on why Della is right. Let's not forget that Della is one of the only guys looking out for the little guys here in the dark part of town. While I don't particularly mind riding the #42 bus during the work day, you couldn't pay me enough to get me on that thing other times of the day. Then there is the #7, which can be much worse.

Riding a bus to the zoo might make sense if one is a neighbor popping over, but try going long haul with kids and strollers. The hostile riders don't want strollers, and they sure don't like crying kids.

So, this auntie will keep driving her little relatives to the Zoo and leave the nice, peaceful bus snobs alone with their right wing whacko Tim Burgess.

I'll take the school board candidate advocating bong hits over the puritanical father any day. She'd probably be less inclined to fuck over the poor student who assumes they have some semblance of civil liberties during school (especially while off-campus?).

Sundquist is the wrong guy for schools. First of all, his kids went to private schools until he decided to run for office. Second, he hasn't been involved in public schools because he was too busy hugging trees. Not that there's anything wrong with hugging trees, mind you, it's just that we have a candidate who's actually made a difference by keeping minority kids IN school and ensuring that EVERYONE has access to great educational programs, whether they are white, black, Latino or Asian.

What kind of wacky questions were you asking, for crying out loud? We have major problems in our public schools and you drug-and-alcohol affected Stranger writers are obsessed with bong hits and freak dancing?

Show some journalistic credibility on these issues or quit wasting candidates' time with bullshit like this.

@13 - oh, just take the 358 and stop whining.

I hope Szwaja is a better basketball player than candidate. Guy creeps the hell out of me. He seriously needs to lose the mustache.

And yes, Jean Godden is going to dunk hard on him come election day.

Will, you sniveling, self-important frog dick, the 358 doesn't serve my 'hood. And if it did, it would be mighty hard to get the stroller in there. Tried it once, got major grief not only from the riders, but from the driver. No one complained about the drunk guy passed out in his own puke, though.

I agree that bus drivers can be way too overzealous about strollers. My wife has a harder time folding up ours than I do when we take the kids to the zoo on the 5 together, but when she does it without me, she's held up the bus for as much as a couple minutes because the driver insisted, and she only has so many hands, and some of them are in use keeping the kids close. They do love the bus.

Awkward scene all around, I heard.

@15: Sundquist told us his younger daughter went to a private school (Seattle Girls' School) for exactly three years. Got some better information or are you just smearing?

Of course we asked more important questions. You'll read about those in the endorsements. Until then, lighten up a little, mmm-kay?

CLARIFICATION:
Listening back to the tape, Della's anti-bus comment had to do with herding the whole family on the bus.

With kids in tow "you just ain't gonna do it."

@20:

I actually remembered reading that it was Explorer West (see one of his comments on this post). This was a turn-off for me not simply because he sent his daughter to a private school (doesn't every parent wish they could afford that?) but because of how lame the reason he gave was: he said the transportation options weren't good for the public school, but couldn't he send his daughter in a chauffeured limousine to any public school for less than private tuition? It seemed like the issue was less sending his daughter to a private school outside the city limits (something I find offensive personally anyway) but the attempt to spin it in a way that doesn't make sense. I'm sure there are more important issues, but it didn't seem to reflect well on him when I read it.

@18 - more likely you got tossed off the bus for spewing.

We always have excuses.

Transportation is a lame lame reason to send your kid to private school. Buck the fuck up and get your kid signed up for one of those yellow buses that will take your child to and from your block, for free, every day. Maybe the ride's a little long? Teach your kid to read, and tell her to do her homework on the bus so she can play as soon as she gets home. Not that I know if this was the issue or not, but it just seems like a weak excuse.

I would like to hear more about the school board candidates, myself. What happened to that crazy guy who wouldn't talk to the press but who actually would? Is he running for real?

so xiu xiu, just what is your position in the godden campaign?

Example #54 of Della's fucking idiocy...maybe he thought you were talking about the Zoo in Issaquah?

Yeah, but Joe couldn't carve a pumpkin with a chainsaw if his life depended on it.

@13 Good point. Not sure I really want to give authority to a man who is swayed from his career by a fucking pamphlet. The more I learn about Burgess the more he sounds like a week willed tool who will do anything for a buck.

As for the bus. I would be reluctant to take kids on most city buses as I try to keep kids away from the diseased, stinky, and down right crazy. I barely tolerant it myself. Buses are not homeless shelters or mental institutions.

Della's an even dumber fuck than I thought. I can't believe anyone who's pro-transit would think of voting for that piece of shit. I spent nine years taking the bus in this city, including to the zoo. What the fuck has he been doing for the past four years? Does he just spend his days spanking it in his office, and then show up for Council meetings? No, really, does he ever actually go out into Seattle?

Josh Feit, your clarification makes Della-on-transit sound even worse to me. I take Metro to and from work; I regularly see mothers, and occasionally fathers, wrangling two or more small children on the bus to get them to school or daycare. It's not easy, but plenty of people do it every day. Sounds like he hasn't taken the bus in a while.

"Talking-to" as a noun needs a hyphen.

David Della's rising fast on my 'People that need to be bitchslapped for being so ignorant' list.

13. Move to portland, bitch.

@30,
that's cool.

@30 nails it. It ain't easy, but people do it every day.

It does get easier as they get older and you don't need the stroller anymore. Strollers are a pain in the ass.

Della's an idiot, anyway. Anyone who thinks he's "looking out for the little guy" is just drinking the Kool-Aid. What has the man *done* in his time on Council? Can you actually point to a single thing?

@ #15
"Show some journalistic credibility on these issues or quit wasting candidates' time with bullshit like this."

Why start now?
The Stranger has been nothing but an adolescent attempt at acting like a grownup since it's inception,

Read stuff for the grins.
Lower your expectations.
Less disappointment that way.

Of course I would take my kids to the zoo on the bus, why the hell not? I take them on public transport when we travel, and it's best if they know how to behave. London lets all kids under 18 ride free, because it familiarizes them with transport and makes them more likely to use it when they are older. The UPASS program in seattle does much the same thing for UW students... how much would it cost to just eliminate youth fares altogether? The high schools are moving to using Metro anyway.