I know that local “elections” are mythical. I still make marks on ballots to register a survey response, though I know decent people will never be allowed to take office. Manweller’s Rule.
One candidate for council in this part of town got my “vote” and a donation. Chris Savage is working class. Currently a truck driver, formerly a warehouse manager. He’s saying all the right things about crime and homelessness. Best of all, Steve Corker endorses him. Corker was the only Spokane politician I ever respected. He said the right things and did the right things in office, despite the futility of success against the entrenched forces.
The current occupant of the seat, Zappone, is an Urbanist who devotes most of his attention to some weird Urbanist shit about reducing the square feet of parking space. Nuff said.
No, not nuff said. I’m FUCKING TIRED of Urbanists. They specifically reject real solutions and stick with their idiot theories. Urbanist theory says that “traffic calming” curb bumpouts make life easier for pedestrians, thus encouraging more walking. The Urbanists here installed bumpouts a few years ago, and they make life HARDER for walkers. In places where there’s no sidewalk, or in winter when sidewalks are iced up, walkers have to use the street. The bumpout forces walkers into the traffic lane.
More complex zoning laws (Gaian lunacy and parking restrictions) make it HARDER to build affordable housing or maintain existing houses. Complexity ALWAYS favors billionaires, who can buy exemptions.
Urbanists are SPECIFICALLY helping cars and Blackrock, and SPECIFICALLY degrading life for the “sustainable” types they pretend to favor.
Controlling crime helps everyone except the rich. When you can live securely and walk safely and maintain old houses in any neighborhood, not just the gated private-security bunkers where Urbanists live, non-Urbanists have a better life.
Polistra's Mill 