Happy Fourth of July from Seattlest
Seattlest Pix: 09Jul04
Seattlest Pix: 09Jul05
Seattle Int'l Beer Festival Ends at 7 p.m.
Seattlest James isn't the only one with car trubs this week. Doug McDonald failed his eye exam thrice in a row and the State Department of Transportation says it just can't license drivers who can't see. This is fitting or ironic or hilarious because Doug McDonald is the Washington State Secretary of Transportation. Doug suffers from a diabetic condition that has been degrading his eyesight over the course of the last few years.
From the Everett Daily Herald:
"The rules are the rules. If my degree of visual acuity lands me on one side of the line, it's pretty important for me to respect that."Without a car, he's changing how he gets around. He's bought new lights for his bicycle, has lined up carpools, catches the bus and rides to the grocery store.
Not to belittle Mr. McDonald's condition, but a Secretary of Transportation who can't drive? How great is that?
Still, "I expect spending more time on transit will give me lots of ideas about what transit is doing well and what it can do better," he said."My parents live in Seattle, and I'm very interested in how to get from Olympia to Seattle on public transportation. I'm seeing a program which isn't as good as it should be, but we already knew that."
In a sane world we would require people like transportation secretaries to go carless for months at a time, but instead we're stuck with the world that we've got. Gas prices are crazy and getting crazier, we're about to rebuild downtown Seattle around the automobile like it was 1962, and we let our monorail die a death it didn't deserve, but now our state's got a transportation secretary who can't drive. Where are we headed now?
We first spotted this item, btw, via the new Seattle Traffic blog which hasn't been half bad so far.
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What the hell kind of boring state do we live in where even the Secretary of Transportation can't pull a few strings to pass one stupid eye test?
In the old days he'd have some bespectacled underling standing beside him whispering the answers while he regaled the crowd with stories of his hardscrabble youth and accused the Republicans of carpetbagging.
I mean, I'm all for honest government, but this is ridiculous.
I met Doug McDonald last year at a Washington State Democratic Party meeting. He is a very nice old man and it is sad that his eyes are failing him.
In my home state this guy would have a license to drive and he'd be the head of a whole eye exam skirting scam involving hundreds of state employees BUT his blind third cousin's contracting business would be busy building monorails up and down the state. Ah, Illinois...
I agree with you, Dan. Seattle's got plenty of Democrats---now it needs a well-oiled, corrupt but high-functioning Machine. Oh how I long for a City That Works.
What about that old guy that can't drive the governor for the Daffodil parade in Puyallup for the first time in a million years? That's a sad little story. I mean, parade driving isn't exactly I-5.
Thanks for the link and the kind words!
WTF?! this guy has an illness and your making fun of it? yeah, how bout cripples? it's funny watching them walk!
you guys are just rude.