Nix New City Hall, Go Monorail

By Dick Falkenbury

Seattle needs a new City Hall. The current building at Fifth and James won't survive the next big earthquake. (I know a couple of people there that won't survive the next election, but we don't just tear them down.) The building is old and doesn't work. (I'm older and I don't work...)

Okay, so we have to tear it down.

But we have a perfectly good building for offices kitty-corner from Fifth and Cherry, the fifty-seven story Key Tower. We recently bought it, and it can provide all of the offices that we need. If you have an ego-tower-building complex that can't be solved with fifty-seven stories, there's no helping you.

We don't need another six floors where the present City Hall stands. It's a grandiose project for a bunch whose performance would be more appropriately housed in a Shurgard Storage shed.

But we do need a major meeting place and hearing room. There isn't one in the Key Tower, and we need one. We, the people of Seattle, need one. Something that no one can claim as "theirs" as in "there is my office on the top floor-the one with the view." Ours, where we can meet to discuss issues, where we can go and tell the council that we knew exactly what we were voting for. (Now, where's our monorail?)

Build a good sensible meeting hall. Devote two-thirds of the block to open space. And maybe a small child care center in back. Never mind "maybe;" definitely a child care center.

Oh, and now that I brought up the monorail, thanks for the calls, emails and letters to the city council. Another wouldn't hurt. They don't dare repeal the initiative, and they shouldn't amend it either-but that's just my opinion.

Talk to Dick: falkenbury@aol.com.

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