It was an only-in-Seattle moment on display in the City Council chambers yesterday, when protestors took over the room and chanted, “This is what democracy looks like,” while complaining about the construction of a new police precinct building.
While some complained about the cost of the building, one activist was quoted in the Seattle Times as defining the true intent of the protestors: “We will not stop until the number on that project is zero.”
Of course, the timid council was only too willing to give into the angry mob, passing “a resolution directing the city to conduct a racial-equity analysis of the precinct’s design.”
That’s right, city buildings are now subject to “racial-equity analysis.” Whether or not a building suits the purpose for which it is being built – in this case, to provide a secure working environment and training areas for public safety officers – is not near as important as whether it satisfies whatever politically correct cause of the day the Council has on its collective mind.
As the Times wrote, “The equity analysis required by the resolution will cover the precinct’s ‘design and operations’ with an eye toward ‘the elimination of racial and social disparities’ and will involve officials soliciting the views of various demographic groups.”
The amendment didn’t please everyone, however, as “several more protesters spoke out against the station and the police, saying the money should be spent to house the homeless and used for social services like safe injection sites.”
After all, who needs public safety if the city instead provides public spaces for shooting up heroin?
Further showing the crazy that is the Seattle City Council, there was no such outcry last week when it continued down the road to trashing the local economy (by doing whatever labor bosses want) – this time in the form of releasing a new private-sector scheduling law, that puts city bureaucrats in charge of deciding who certain businesses can hire and when they can work.
As also reported in the Times: “‘The city is obviously trying to do away with part-time work,’ Jan Teague, president/CEO of the Washington Retail Association, wrote in a blog post Thursday. She called the proposal ‘clear as mud.’”
What was clear was that there was an exemption for unions in the proposed law. Just as with the minimum wage law passed two years ago, the exemption is to give organized labor a negotiating edge with city businesses, at the expense of our economy. After all, there is a lot of campaign cash available from local unions for compliant council members.
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