City Council Debuts '08 Priorities to Unemployed, Elderly

One of the oldest jokes in the book is at the expense of the Sixth Amendment: how can twelve people who couldn't get out of jury duty be counted as your peers? Juries, after all, are populated by the unemployed and retirees--people who don't have to actually work for a living.

But alas, should you find yourself accused of knocking over a liquor store, defrauding a bank, or killing your significant other, retirees and the unemployed may well decide your fate. And now we discover that the old and unemployed have another power: Playing a role in what the Seattle City Council does with itself.

Late yesterday, an email from Councilman Nick Licata popped into our inbox. "I am writing to let you know about a special meeting you may want to attend," the message excitedly begins. The meeting--the 2008 Action Plan for Seattle--is the day the council members debut their priorities for the year. Whether the public gets to share their opinions, we don't know. And we never will. Because this meeting takes place at 2 pm on Monday afternoon.

So chock it up to a fringe benefit of being old or unemployed. While the rest of us are busy doing back-breaking labor (or, in this Seattlester's case, straining our eyes at a computer screen), you have the option of finding out what the city council plans to do with itself on such crucial issues as the Alaskan Way Viaduct, mass transit, bike lanes, affordable housing, and so on. We, on the other hand, will have to just wait for Seattlest MvB to write it up Tuesday (apparently his work schedule is flexible enough to accommodate civic duty). So go on, enjoy your ability to take part in participatory democracy, all ye jobless and old.

"Seattle City Hall" courtesy of Seattlest Flickr group superstar Grundlepuck.