Author: Jean Godden (Jean Godden)

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd thinks the players in the Petraeus scandal are like Shakespeare’s MacBeth and Othello. A better analogy would be to another Shakespearean general: Coriolanus.

Shakespearean tragedies are defined by fatal character faults. MacBeth’s was envy; Othello’s was jealousy. Coriolanus, on the other hand, was driven by ambition. And that certainly seems to loom large in the Tragedy of Gen. David Petraeus: a man motivated, from the beginning, by ambition. He wowed them at West Point and climbed the social ladder by wedding the West Point Superintendent’s daughter. He climbed the ranks to earn his fourth star and embraced fame as a military idol.

He didn’t travel alone. He once arrived at a … Continue Reading »

Little heralded, but certainly worthy of notice: Proposition One, the measure to rebuild Seattle’s badly deteriorated seawall, overwhelmingly passed on Nov. 6.

That means that Seattle has been saved from millions of Gribbles, those tiny marine isopods that have been eating on our seawall, slowly turning the nearly 100-year-old barrier that holds back the waters of Elliott Bay into sawdust.

Initial returns showed a 77% “yes” vote citywide. This is extraordinary support for a bond issue, particularly in challenging economic times. In other words, voters agreed to tax themselves to pay for reconstruction of the vital structure over a 30 year period. Approval means that the owner of a median-priced home will pay approximately $59 a year to retire … Continue Reading »

No, I am not planning to cancel my subscription to the Seattle Times. As a former Times employee who is now an elected official (on the other side of the notebook, if you will), I have been asked countless times what I think of the Times’ decision to fund political ads.

I confess; I did think about it. “Why not cancel?” was my initial knee-jerk reaction to the Times’ corporate decision to run free ads for Rob McKenna and Referendum 74.

The Times’ editorial board endorsement of candidates and initiatives are time-honored practices. So are the editorials that the Times publishes on behalf of its endorsements. (I cheered the one backing R-74; groaned when I saw the McKenna editorial.) Most readers understand … Continue Reading »

On Sunday, many of y0u may have seen Danny Westneat’s column about the Pay-by-Phone program (the mayor’s proposal to allow the use of a cell phone application to pay for parking). While I am glad that Danny listens to the City Council’s budget deliberations, I am sorry that he did not have space to supply all the facts and that, nowhere else, did the Times run a story with some very pertinent details.

This left readers to decide the issue with incomplete facts and some cherry-picked quotes.

Under the mayor’s proposal, if a driver had not paid for the maximum time allowed (for example, only 90 minutes in a 2 hour zone), it would be possible to add up to the … Continue Reading »

In recent days, we’ve been reading some pessimistic reports about the future of KeyArena. It’s dismaying indeed to read these pieces, as it is far too early to fear for Seattle Center’s future. To paraphrase the late, great Mark Twain, accounts of KeyArena’s death are premature.

In recent years, KeyArena has turned a profit – not a large one – but a profit. And the facility is helping with Seattle Center’s finances. In fact, as the Center is presently structured, the facility’s health is vital to keeping Seattle Center, often referred to as “Seattle’s living room,” closer to the bottom line.

The Center’s annual budget ($34.5 million in 2012) is partly financed by the city’s general fund. In recent years, the Center … Continue Reading »

The first Patches Pals began queuing at midnight for Saturday’s 11 a.m. tribute to the late Chris Wedes, the man they knew as J. P. (Julius Pierpont) Patches, one of the Northwest’s most beloved and enduring characters. Wedes, who succumbed to cancer in July, was host of KIRO-TV’s long-running (1958-81) children’s television show.

Although he had been off the air for decades, J. P. remained a Northwest icon. He continued to make personal appearances throughout the region and to donate time to such causes as Seattle Children’s Hospital. It was not unusual to see grown men blink back tears when they had an opportunity to shake hands with their childhood hero. Nor was it surprising to see thousands filling McCaw Hall on Saturday to remember the beloved clown they loved dearly … Continue Reading »

I said goodbye to Lake City more than a dozen years ago. I had raised my sons there and originally expected that it would always be my home. It was a difficult decision to move and Lake City is still near to my heart.

It’s the kind of leafy, compact neighborhood that sports a walkable business district, a handsome public library and a colonial office building that once was the neighborhood school. When I lived there, Lake City was a populist neighborhood. You could have a janitor living on one side and a university professor on the other. You’d meet your neighbors at places like Bakers, the local bakery where they served the best weekend breakfasts and where, … Continue Reading »

If you’re looking for Seattle’s soul – and that word has been bounced around a lot lately – you need look no farther than the Seattle Library. This city and its citizens have invested in soul, expending finite resources to create one of the most magnificent library systems in the country.

At the heart of the system is the Central Library, an architectural masterpiece that attracts visitors from all over the world. The Central Library connects to 26 branches located throughout our city’s unique neighborhoods. Each branch has its own character, defined by varying cultures and needs.

But the Seattle Library is not composed of buildings and equipment alone. Seattle soul lies in the services that the library delivers. It rests … Continue Reading »