Seattle Mayor Election, Reponse to Homelessness
April 18, 2021
by William P. Meyers

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Building Sports Palaces

There is a lot of excitement in Seattle, or at least there is supposed to be. We are supposed to believe that the city that is a technology and business leader is mad about sports. We have a bunch of professional sports teams. The usual ones, I guess. That game where a bunch of grown men stand around waiting to see if a man with a stick can hit a ball pitched at him, they are letting fans back into the stadium, the pandemic being treated as over. Outside the stadium, within a few blocks, are thousands of homeless people living in tents or derelict vehicles. Seattle (we, I live in Seattle) have men and women's kick-the-ball, and throw the ball in the hoop. We are gearing up for a professional skate on the ice and slam into other morons games. We can't do all this in just one sports palace, we need many. Oh, I almost forgot, the one sport that is like rugby, only for sissies.

We also are having local elections this year, with the main feature being the mayor's race. If anyone comes out against professional sports, I would be impressed. The last 4 years has been difficult for the political class. Fortunately, the voters of Seattle appear to remain asleep at the wheel. The Progressives, including most Democratic Party candidates, will shout slogans. This slogan shouting does not seem to solve the real problems like homelessness, but it does not interfere with the basic operations of the city. Office buildings get built, satisfying the construction and real estate industry, and the all-important construction unions. Sports palaces get built. Apartment buildings for the $150K and over set get built. Some businesses complain, because the shoplifting and assaults on customers and employees, and even the pandemic, are making it hard to break even and keep on going, but they are not the important businesses here.

We are a Progressive City. We even have a Socialist on the City Council, though I am not sure Socialist is the correct term for a bloodthirsty, manipulative, devoted follower of Leon Trotsky. For some reason she has never run for Mayor. Other socialists, mostly Democratic Socialists, not Leninists, have run for the council, but so far no one has made it. Anarchists, of course, don't run for city council, but they do provide a lot of business for the window pane makers and spray paint manufacturers.

The construction unions and construction capitalists love progressive candidates, for the most part. They get the best of both worlds: capitalism and socialism. I am sure they would love to build affordable apartments for non-construction workers, if someone else is paying. But the government of Seattle would rather house the teams of billionaires, and the construction capitalists get better margins adding to the Amazon or Google houses of mirth.

I don't want just a new mayor, I want a new government. I want no more office building permits to be issued until there is enough housing for all.

We will here many different pitches from candidates, over a dozen have already declared. Many will will admit to the bad outcomes of past policies, but will anyone take on the billionaire/construction industry/technology complex? I doubt it.