Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 8, Issue 5, May 2004
Copyright 2004 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article below in your research. Be sure to cite the Seattle Sun as your source.
Seattle Sun Letters to the Editor
Park denizens are no 'friends'
Your article on "friends at the park" ("Mini-park is a home to many 'friends'," Seattle Sun, April 2004) was a large discredit to your paper, an embarrassment to yourself as a would-be journalist and a slap in the face to the people who live and/or work in Lake City.
I doubt that it would have taken more than 20 minutes verify any of the CRAP you printed about the lovely intelligent hardworking ex-vets you spoke with that day.
The woman you spoke with has been arrested for forgery, passing homemade 20-dollar bills to the local businesses. I have never known her to have a job, or a home. Unless she finds a man to take her home. She lost custody of her children because of her drug "situation."
I made the mistake of going to the park with my grand-baby one afternoon after picking up sundaes at Dick's Restaurant. I thought that it would be a nice place to eat ice cream. The foul-mouthed junkies caused me to leave quickly; a 2-year-old baby girl should never have to listen to that.
NO one should have to listen to that.
The money (for renovating the Lake City Mini-Park) is being spent to make it harder for drug deals to take place. Harder for junkies to USE. And harder for overnight campers to say.
I have no idea what motivated this waste of paper, everyone who has read your "fluff piece" has laughed at your naivete.
Me I'm mad I live here.
MIKE McCAULEY,
The Breakfast Club
Build monorail, but do it right
The monorail is the most expensive project in Seattle's history. We cannot afford to build it twice. If the Green Line ends in failure, the rest of the system will never be built.
For this reason, if the project is to succeed, it absolutely has to be done right the first time.
Despite a 30 percent budget shortfall, the Seattle Monorail Project (SMP) is rushing ahead. Rather than admit to significant financial problems, they are changing the product that was promised to voters and wasting literally millions of taxpayer dollars on a slick ad campaign to try to convince us that we aren't being duped.
The SMP is proposing many unsatisfactory designs, such as:
· Single-beam sections. Simply put, the dual-beam design promised in the campaign is better, resulting in speedier commutes and a safer system. Furthermore, it would eliminate the need for huge overhead concrete switches, the smallest of which are 30-foot by 90-foot concrete slabs. This is twice as large as the footprint of an average house!
· Station elevators. The campaign promised escalators. They are more efficient at moving large numbers of people just look at what the airport uses. Since the monorail stations are going to be three or four stories above ground, moving people to the platform is an important concern.
· No parking solution. Although many people would drive to the monorail stations, the SMP is providing no parking. Their "solution" is to make local residents pay for zoned parking permits. Won't this lack of parking discourage monorail use for downtown events?
· No agreement with Metro. There is no agreement between Metro and the SMP to integrate the systems. A person riding the bus will apparently have to pay additional fares when transferring to the monorail.
The City Council has a duty and obligation to ensure that the monorail will work effectively and integrate well with existing public transportation systems. The City Council should demand that the SMP slow down, think, and provide workable solutions to the problems it faces. The City Council has the power to make these demands because it is authorized to grant the building permits that the SMP needs to continue the project.
PLEASE urge your City Council members to demand solutions BEFORE granting building permits to the SMP!
JEFF BELL, Ballard
Students get support to reach new standards
Sometimes, reading about the ongoing public education reforms can seem like someone spilled Scrabble tiles all over the board without bothering to form any actual words.
WASL. IEP. SBE. OSPI. EALRs.
Abbreviations abound in regard to the state's new high school graduation requirements. It can be hard to figure out just what is required of students and what parents and educators can do to prepare students for colleges and careers.
It shouldn't have to be that way.
A decade after a bill to create the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL), I'm pleased to let you know that 2004 was a watershed year for public education because even if we didn't eliminate all of the alphabet soup we made big steps to bring clarity to the process.
The vehicle to clarify the new graduation requirements, House Bill 2195, has been years in the making. It's probably the single biggest piece of education legislation in the last decade. The final version passed virtually unanimously in both houses. The bill was signed by the governor and is backed by teachers, school administrators, the PTA and other education groups.
So why do we need HB 2195? How will it help our children? The objective: to make sure students have the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful in the 21st century. This reform effort is rooted in student learning goals that establish what all students need to know and be able to do.
HB 2195 establishes a set of principles for state academic standards involving the Essential Academic Learning Requirements, grade level content expectations, high school graduation requirements, and the WASL. The bill also describes the process for assessing special education students who cannot pass the high school WASL in agreement with their IEP and indicates they will receive a Certificate of Individual Achievement.
Most educators are aware that many bright students do not do well in standardized tests, so we are developing alternative methods to assess their abilities. Under provisions of the bill we will be providing retake opportunities and alternative assessments; students will be allowed to retake the WASL when they have not been successful the first time. It also provides for a continuing education program for English Language Learner (EALR) students who do not achieve the certificate; and assessment options and strategies to assure continued support to the EALRs in social studies, the arts and health and fitness.
Another important component of this bill is an "academic growth chart" for every student. With this tool, teachers students and parents will be able to evaluate their progress beginning in elementary school.
Simply put, this legislation will help meet our goal of a quality education for every child in Washington. The foundation of education reform is the notion that a high school diploma can ensure every student wearing the cap and gown has met the highly demanding standards in reading, writing and math that we have set. ...
As we made these fixes, fairness to students and teachers was kept front-of-mind because we want every child to be able to learn and effectively prepare for college, a career, and a world of new challenges. Some students may falter. Some teachers may need time to adjust. But throwing out the condition of a standardized test as critics suggest would actually hurl our kids into an uncertain future.
There's no way we could ever afford that.
PHYLLIS GUITIERREZ KENNEY
State Rep. Phyllis Kenney (D-46th) is chair of the House Higher Education Committee. She represents North Seattle, including the neighborhoods of Lake City, Wedgwood, Laurelhurst, Greenwood and Maple Leaf.