The Author Recalls Petticoats and Modesty, Too

[from 5/26/10]

Before I get to the main subject of the week, I want to thank the person who thought of "Draw Mohammed Day" for flushing out some truth that had previously eluded me.

Until now, I thought all Muslims objected to depictions of Mohammed entirely because they respect Mohammed so much. Now I'm being told by those blocking Facebook and YouTube in Pakistan that the objection is that drawing Mohammed could lead to idol worship. It's the slippery slope argument, like that marijuana is a gateway to hard drugs, that premarital sex leads to bestiality, or that exposure to Neapolitan ice cream will make you a social libertarian.

Well. Now I'M offended. I'm an idol worshipper. I am a confirmed member of the First Church of Idolatrianism, Lost and Found Department. Please, to all you Muslims out there, (and Christians too, I know you read the same books) remember that we idolaters are "in the room" when you put idol worship down. It's one thing when you say idolatry is wrong FOR YOU, and I respect that you shouldn't have to see Mohammed subjected to idolization, but that is no reason to be bad-mouthing idol worshippers in general, including those who make their own idols that have nothing to do with your Prophet. Thanks in advance for understanding. The period at the end of this sentence depicts no one you know.

Now, where were we? Ah yes, Real Change is moving to Pioneer Square this weekend, so I have to write this column a full four days sooner than usual. This means I've hardly had a moment to think about what to write since last column, so to paraphrase a person in our management, I must suck one out my thumb.

I already live in Pioneer Square.The biggest change to my life is that I'll be walking to the office instead of taking the bus.

So it's with much more apathy than usual that I greet the news of a report by King County Metro on fare evasion in the Metro bus system. They did a study last February and March on the subject. The main findings: Fare evasion happens. Bus drivers don't like it. Maybe we should do away with the Ride Free Area. Also more security would be nice, and simplify the fare structure. Peak what?

According to the study, the cost of fare evasion is perhaps 2.5% of total fares, depending on some guesswork. Since fares don't hardly pay even half Metro's costs, that loss in fare income is less than the loss of gross sales income that big national chain stores endure from shoplifting.

When I first walked downtown Seattle streets in 19-fifty-freaking-7, there were twice the pedestrians there are now. It was shoulder to shoulder and there weren't nearly the loiterers. The reason is clear in retrospect. Poor people had a reason to pay bus fares to go downtown. There were Woolworths, Kress, and Sears Store. There were other Five and Dimes. There were 10 cent coffees. Nobody objected to taking poor people's money, and relatively poor people were mainly the people who packed the sidewalks.

Then somebody came up with the idea, probably in a Business Administration Class while hungover, that you shouldn't waste time making nickels and dimes selling goods to poor people when you could make dollars selling goods to middle and upper classes. So the idea was born that we don't need poor people in our economy, and gentrification happened.

Like so many good ideas, that one was crap. When the poor people stopped coming, the higher classes stopped, too, because they had better smelling cars made by MBAs and could now shop at regional malls, designed by MBAs.

So the Ride Free Zone was born. The Ride Free Zone was paid for by Seattle to draw business and workers downtown.

I've said it before. Go ahead, get rid of the Ride Free Area, and see who it hurts more. The few 2.5% who abuse it, or the businesses downtown.