MAIL

ACTUAL LETTERS
FROM
ACTUAL READERS




Chemically Abused by Big Business

I read an article in "Our Toxic Times" newsletter about Eric Nelson and Mark Worth winning an award for an article they wrote on workers' exposure to chemicals at Boeing (WFP Issue #8). I too have been poisoned by chemicals while working for Boeing Aerospace and Defense Group (Boeing Military) in Seattle. I've been off work since March 2, 1993 and it's been a battle ever since.
It's bad enough that your health and way of living is ruined, but then you have to hire lawyers to try to get Social Security and L&I benefits so you can survive.
All along Boeing sits back and is still allowed to poison its employees. I have so much more to say but I don't want to take up your time. I would really appreciate it if you would let me know how I can get a copy of the article I mentioned above.
Thank you so much,
Joan Taylor

Editor's note: Back issues of the WFP are available for $4 each at the following address:

Wasington Free Press
1463 E. Republican #178
Seattle, WA 98112, USA

Our Commons Headache

I've got a few additions to that article on the Seattle Commons (WFP Issue #15). Thank God someone finally spoke up. Seattle is at a point in its history where the right financial choices need to be made if we are to expect a dynamic evolving future as a world-class city. The Commons project doesn't fit the bill.
With several city and municipal buildings upon which the delivery of basic services not seismically sound, and with the cost or renovation of the buildings being even more expensive than replacement, it's crystal clear what expenditures need to be made first. The downtown library building is one of those buildings. The library bond was just 2 points short of the 60% needed for passage.
The planning for the Seattle Commons and the Seattle comprehensive plan were done concurrently, with the Commons plan released a month before the Comprehensive plan. Both plans are similar in that both were planned essentially in secret, with opinions solicited from the affected neighborhoods only after the "vision" was completed. Originally the "affordable" housing was to be built only after the tax revenues came in. It's as if the planners forgot about the needs of anyone whose income was lower than lower middle-income.
Seattle has a pretty good bond rating now. What do you think it will be like after they spend all our money on a project that didn't produce the anticipated tax revenues, and the city went bankrupt? I get the feeling that they don't care. You know how it works. The developers run laughing to the bank; the people go without basic services.
Oversize parks and overblown fantasies should be undertaken only after the investments essential for a secure future for this and the next generation have been made. Such a shame laypeople have to be the ones to bring the "experts" to their senses. What do we pay these people for anyway?
Yours Truly,
Lyle Courtsal

Please see Another reader response to the Commons article.

Support the Junk Mail Act

On Earth Day, I had the opportunity to talk to Senator Patty Murray. I shared a proposal with her for a Junk Mail Act which would prohibit the sale of addresses (ie. mailing lists) without the consent of the addressees. The bill would not only protect our privacy, it would reduce paper waste by a staggering volume.
Senator Murray promised to "look into the issue," but to really get her attention, many more people need to write her about this issue. It is a simple idea whose time has come; please help.
Dylan Clark
The Campaign to Stop Junk Mail
5550 Woodlawn Ave. N
Seattle, WA 98103-5938
e-mail: jargon@u.washington.edu

Editor's note: If the sale of addresses cannot be outlawed for some reason, the next best bet would be for us average folk to be paid royalties for the sale of our names and addresses in the name of Junk Mail Capitalism. Of course, the elimination of junk mail is much better for the environment, but wouldn't it be neat to force the capitalists to cut us all an annual check?



[Home] [This Issue's Directory] [WFP Index] [WFP Back Issues] [E-Mail WFP]

Contents on this page were published in the June/July, 1995 edition of the Washington Free Press.
WFP, 1463 E. Republican #178, Seattle, WA -USA, 98112. -- WAfreepress@gmail.com
Copyright © 1995 WFP Collective, Inc.