Jean Godden

Jean Godden wrote columns first for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and late for the Seattle Times. In 2002, she quit to run for City Council where she served for 12 years. Since then she published a book of city stories titled “Citizen Jean.” She is now co-host of The Bridge aired on community station KMGP at 101.1 FM. You can email tips and comments to Jean at jgodden@blarg.net.

Former Chief Carmen Best’s Book: Why I Quit

Best asks, "l couldn't help thinking: Are they dismissing me because I am a Black woman or is the city council refusing to include me because they don't want to be seen as working with the police?" 

How Seattle has Led the Way on Paid Family Leave

While the nation has been disgracefully derelict at providing parental leave, Washington, along with six other states and a number of municipalities, does offer such a benefit. It was Seattle that first led the effort.

The “Year of Wise Fools”: Nick Licata and the Rise of Campus Activism

Licata argues that the student power movement, too often packaged along with civil rights and anti-Vietnam War actions, deserves to stand as a separate entity. The movement involved more than just gaining student rights at individual schools. It fostered social justice beyond the campus.

Goodbye to Dick Kelley, 71, Renaissance Man of Local Politics

Last week, Seattle laid to rest a true renaissance man, and one of the best local politicians we managed never to quite elect.

Seattle’s Ailing Downtown, and Some Suggestions

A friend, a student of urban planning, advised that downtown needs more businesses that work well for the city's captive participants: those living in downtown apartments and condos, residents of retirement communities as well as the office workers, many of them younger, who will return when their offices reopen.    

Masks: Fashion Statement or Reason to Protest?

Never before (not even during the 1919 flu outbreak) has a piece of flimsy fabric taken on such broad, far-reaching significance -- on one hand adopted as a fashion statement and on the other sparking such outrage. 

EPA Betrays the Duwamish River (Again)

In recent years – significantly during the Trump era of climate denial -- there has been pressure on the EPA to roll back cleanup requirements, allowing higher levels of PCBs and other chemicals in the Duwamish, the most polluted rifer in the nation.

On a Tour with a Cartooning Librarian

Equipped with her trusty pencil (maybe a pen now) she irreverently cartoons everything she spots during her strolls across the city: from vintage fire hydrants (would you believe we have 18,000?) to company logos stamped on the bricks that paved Seattle streets.

Once More, to the Barricades for Abortion Rights

For those with long memories, it is incredible to believe that we are still discussing women's reproductive rights nearly half a century after the U. S. Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade by a 7-2 majority.

The Good and Bad (So Far) Of Seattle’s Pioneering Democracy Voucher Program

One adverse consequence of democracy vouchers in Seattle elections has been the increasing clout of independent-expenditure PACs. So much for getting big wealth out of our elections.

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