City lobbyists could get more public airing

Jobs, Journalism, Justice

Editorial Intern

Change Agent: K.L. Shannon

By Patrick Reis | October 31, 2007

K.L. Shannon got into so many fights as a kid that her folks called her "Rooster." Today, she's still landing blows -- as a community organizer who brings issues to the people.

Shannon, 38, grew up in Seattle's Central District and was co-chair of Jobs With Justice when she started helping Mothers for Police Accountability call down the 1993 killing of Antonio Jackson, a Black man choked to death at a Safeway store for supposedly stealing a pack of cigarettes. ...

Bugs a Threat at Hospitals, Shelters

By Patrick Reis | October 24, 2007

Staying healthy a problem for those who “live in public places”

When Donald Morehead first came to Seattle in February, he needed a safe place to spend the night. He found one at a bed in a local homeless shelter, but he got more than he bargained for. During his stay, he contracted a flu-like illness that made him sick for more than two weeks and sent him to the hospital twice.

The next time, Morehead says, he’ll think twice before staying in a shelter.

“You hear people coughing all night,” he says. “I don’t think I’ll go back.” ...

Change Agent

By Patrick Reis | October 17, 2007

Many 24 year-olds would have misgivings about saying goodbye to everything in their lives and moving to India, but for Anna Wilson, the opportunity to work closely with impoverished people is motivation enough. Wilson works for Unitus, a Seattle area non-profit that is dedicated to furthering microfinance development work around the world. Microfinance is the practice of giving small loans, as little as $95, to entrepreneurs in developing countries in order to allow them to create self-sustaining businesses. ...

Burmese Anti-Democracy Crackdown Hits Home

By Patrick Reis | October 17, 2007

Families still in danger from military junta, they say

"I hear reports of soldiers in the streets and helicopters flying over the city. The police are everywhere. There is a curfew from 10 p.m. to four in the morning. Dissenters are immediately and brutally beaten. Very few people now have the courage to go into the streets." This is the scene is Yangon, Myanmar as described by Nathaniel, a college-aged Burmese expatriate who insists on a pseudonym to protect his family. ...

Academic assault

By Cydney Gillis and Patrick Reis | October 17, 2007

Those damn leftist professors: The things they teach are helping defeat the war on terror, says David Horowitz. So, next week, he’s hosting a public humiliation party at the University of Washington to try to shut them up. ...

Enviros Split on Roads and Transit Vote.

By Patrick Reis | October 10, 2007

Climate change, compromise, and taxation at issue over $37 billion Proposition 1

Jack Hunter is torn over Proposition 1. He is excited by the idea of 50 miles of light rail, but he's not keen on voting for 1,500 new highway lane miles. Yet if Jack Hunter is conflicted, he is hardly alone.

The Sierra Club and the Transportation Choices Coalition, two organizations of which Jack is a member, find themselves on opposite sides of the table.

The Sierra Club vehemently opposes the multi-billion dollar proposal, which is to be funded by an increased sales and car-tab tax, while the TCC strongly supports it. ...

Still in Bondage

By Patrick Reis | September 26, 2007

Slavery is by no means a thing of the past; it's very much alive in the present, and it may be an even bigger part of the future. That's the view of John Bowe, a journalist who has spent the better part of the last decade studying the bonds, visible and invisible, that keep workers exploited. The result is Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy (Random House). ...

A Public Safety Budget

By Patrick Reis | September 19, 2007

Mayor Nickels made big promises of behalf of the city government while proposing his 2008 budget to Seattle City Council on Monday, saying that it would "create a more open and responsive government and... leave Seattle and our planet a better place to live for our children." The public, however, will have to wait and see if the numbers match the rhetoric; the complete budget isn't released until sometime next week. ...

Making Music: Out Loud and In Public

By Patrick Reis | September 19, 2007

Street musicians maintain an urban tradition of informal performance

When she got the call, Sunshine Hahn was sitting in the bottom floor of Pike Place Market's indoor mall, strumming her guitar and hoping for the occasional tip from passersby. Then came her break. She had a chance to perform onstage at the market's center. ...