Bruce Harrell kicked off his campaign with an endorsement from K. Wyking Garrett. He's the CEO of Africatown who said that gays and lesbians are not welcome in the community. He backed that up with even more homophobic comments. And his father is one of the biggest homophobes and antisemites in Seattle. BUT NO! The Stranger, like most of Seattle Leftists, believes anti-racism excuses homophobia. So no, not surprised by his bigotry.

You buried the lead on the story, which is that the public rejected the plan, and the money/connections/croneyism didn't matter. The system - the "Seattle process" - worked.

naked
bodies're
Disgusting.

ever seen one
up Close?
well, I
Have.

The Stranger does a disservice to call Denny Blaine "a queer nude beach." It's a beach. End of story. Stop with the over-identifying. It crosses the line into appropriation and exclusion. And hurts the cred of acceptance and freedom.

As for Harrell, typical Bruce. Not a leader.

“… November 2022, when records show the mayor and Sloan met in Harrell’s office downtown to discuss, according to the mayor’s office, trash and graffiti.”

I too am concerned about trash and graffiti, but somehow cannot secure a private meeting with Mayor Harrell…

Oh, Brother.

Sloan might want to move.

DMing nudes to the mayor is wild!

People who are this repressed are the biggest freaks and they don’t even realize it. Just casually snapping pics of random strangers on a nude beach and then texting them to the mayor for uhhhh, you know, law enforcement purposes, I guess…?

Why are you texting nudes to the mayor???

Honestly I believe that Harrell had no idea Sloan was the donor. If this had been planned they would've handled it much better.

@1 I am happy to see somebody else has their eyes on the pandering done to some seriously sordid individuals and organizations whose attitudes are completely unaligned with anything that could even vaguely be considered progressive, but because of their demographics everybody ignores that.

A few points of contention though. Wyking also has a history of misogyny, antisemitism, anti-asian racism, and anti white racism. His statement after his father's anti-Semitic outburst said pretty much (paraphrase) "The Jewish man brought it on himself. Why are people so upset? They should be more upset that I want tons of taxpayer funds and not getting it".
He pulled the Keiro building away from the Japanese community who was fighting to make it theirs. And he turned it into a homeless shelter for black men that touts its magnificent views, secured parking, game room and barber shop. You have to email to get a spot.
His father also has a history of anti-Asian racism as seen in a video when he tells a Asian man that he's a China man and to go back to China.

I voted for Harrell and I was disappointed that he pandered to Garrett and Co too. But I couldn't hold it against him too much because he was just doing what every other politician has done. Not only did Mayor Murray to ander to Wyking he pandered to his father as can be seen in a video.
Mayor Durkin pandered to him. Kshama Sawant certainly did, as the rest of the city council did to some extent. Frank Chopp, Adam Smith and even Governor Inslee did. So hey, I can't single him out for criticism. I can only wonder what sort of dirt the Garretts have on everybody in Seattle to get such subservience despite such open hatred and distain for a huge chunk of the population.

Oh I forgot to mention why I said that Garrett was also sexist and anti-white. He booted out Mary's Place, a woman's homeless shelter, that have been leasing the Keiro building. His excuse was that it was mostly black and brown clients but those who ran it were white women. It was a well run social service organization. Now he made it ostensibly a homeless shelter for black men. Given the ratings it has been given online along with my own research and to how they function they clearly are not anywhere near as ethical or as helpful to the community as Mary's place was.

Mayor Harrell pretending he couldn't figure out that Sloan was the donor is pretty funny. I guess Harrell would rather look stupid than admit he was doing favors for a rich guy.

That said, Mayor Harrell's texts mention only "nudity" and "hazardous waste," nothing about sexuality. Obviously city parks should be free of hazardous waste, and while nudity is not illegal, citizens can have different ideas about how well it works at a public park, which should be a welcoming space for all. As @4 noted, the Stranger seems to have declared this space to be a "queer nude beach," without any consideration for other users of this shared public space. That is in itself a form of appropriation the Stranger implies Sloan was wrongly trying to do.

The elder Garrett was the one who slugged Mayor Schell with a bullhorn.

I know this goes against the narrative, but I'll say this: Stuart Sloan may be a prude, but he and his wife Molly recently donated 78 Million to Fred Hutch, so he's not all bad.

@8 “If this had been planned they would've handled it much better.”

Never underestimate the stupidity of corrupt politicians. They’re so full of themselves, they don’t even realize what their action look like and/or forget to cover their tracks.

Look at Sen. Menendez in NJ. He f’ing googled to find out how much his stash of gold bars were worth…

tensorna dear, it's an established fact that only queer people get nude. Everyone else is a NeverNude.

I wonder cancer patients and researchers in the cancer field feel a little different about this whole thing. I mean, Stuart Sloan comes off as pretty entitled about the nudity and trash at the beach. But on the other hand, he and his wife donated $80 million to Fred Hutch…that’s a pretty generous donation and will probably save lives. But white progressives gonna white progressive.

Rightwingtrollspreferthestranger dear, it's entirely possible to be grateful for an incredible act of generosity but also oppose the philanthropist's other actions. You must strive to not be so linear.

In any event, I really doubt that anyone who has cancer or the people who assist them in that fight, pause to consider Stuart or Molly Sloan or the "historically queer nude beach" when undergoing or administering treatment.

For Sloan and Harrell to try and blame the trash (including bio) and graffiti on the nudes is disingenuous. All Seattle public beaches and parks have the same issues. Correct those issues outside of people clutching their pearls about nudity. Harrell didn't know about this prior but close enough to an individual that has his personal #? Yeah he's a liar. I will remember this when I vote. Nice also to learn about the Garrert's, a business there just lost a client.

For those that don't like nudity it is legal as long as the individual is not being lewd or lascivious and no, just being nude is not being lewd or lascivious. For those that don't like it count your blessings that nudity is basically happening at two beaches. Plenty of beaches in Europe practice nudity. Bet some have even been to beaches with your children outside of your Mexican condos walking topless while peddling their wares. So what if your child sees someone nude, good teaching moment to indicate nudity is not always about sexuality.

Don't want others from outside neighborhood coming to the beach? Then don't go to beaches elsewhere like the Eastside. Actually Kemper Freeman doesn't want Seattle folks going to Bel Square.

Posted from a straight person with children who isn't scared to visit the beach.

"Kemper Freeman doesn't want Seattle folks going to Bel Square."

Kemper doesn't want poor people going to Bel Square. If you've got cash, he doesn't care where you're from. Much like Stuart Sloan and University Village (which, if you want to be angry with him about something, is a much more appropriate thing to be vexed about. That place gives me the itch, and I will die mad about University Lanes)