Mayor Murry was a UW employee before being elected. His position in community outreach became a campaign issue because some accused him of serving as a UW lobbyist while also being a State Senator.
Unfortunately, while Murry s now our Mayor, it seems like we have little else to do with our city.
What I find striking is that Josh Fiet, the author of a piece published by the Seattle Met describes “The Fifteen People Who Should be Running Seattle” . In other words, this astute reporter sees the 15 as the next generation of influences behind the scenes. I am not sure anyone on the list even graduated from here. Certainiy none of the activists are identified with the UW faculty.
How can this be explained? The issue is not administrative ties. I am sure that there are good ties between the UW administration and the city at a quiet level. My question is whether administrative ties are the only way the UW faculty relates to Seattle? Is it really possible that the UW faculty is completely irrelevant to issues like urban planning, the arts, fair housing, and education?
This is especially bizarre given that the UW is probably second only to Amazon as the city’s largest employer. Obvious issues for the UW include the need for redevelopment of the Eastlake corridor, parking and transit issue associated with the Husky Stadium/light rail complex, the need for housing for students, the parlous condition of the city’s investment in biotech in South Lake Union, and educational opportunities arising from the influx of about 100,000 techie citizens.
In regard to the last matter, is the Seattle Met unaware of the huge issues surrounding the abandonment of the AMGEN property along Elliott Avenue? Amgen was the largest offshoot of UW research not only in the city but in the state. Who is influencing the city as to the future of technology? While the proposal that the UW buy the property was naïve, there are many other ways that property will impact the UW and its faculty.
However, my concern is not so much administrative as community leadership by faculty. The author of this piece, Josh Fiet, is a very astute reporter. For those of you in despair over the lack of decent reporting in the Seattle Times, I recommend Josh’s blog Publicola, His piece is not just about bureaucrats who plan bicycle highways, it includes activists interested in a wide range of issues and representing segments of the city.
Are members of the UW faculty active in issues like affordable housing (for facuoty as well as students) , city wide broadband, K-12 education. the arts, ?????? In many ways we represent the strongest effort at cultural diversity in an increasingly white city, yet plans for the new waterfront include no representation of our role or the role of Seattle divers ethnic origins in this city?
Is the UW part of Seattle?
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Stephen M. Schwartz
Pathology
Pathology