Kshama Sawant now siding with capitalism, conservatives
Aug 1, 2018, 6:52 AM
(File photo)
It took her quite a while to get here, but Socialist City Councilmember Kshama Sawant has finally decided to side with a big business run by a conservative.
This week, Sawant drafted a resolution to help save The Showbox from demolition.
“I have heard from many of you who are outraged to learn that a real estate developer intends to replace Seattle’s historic Showbox theater with a high-rise apartment building,” Sawant said in a statement. “This is yet another example of how development and construction decisions in Seattle are being driven primarily by whatever will make the quickest dollar for the largest for-profit developers, with little regard for the needs and desires of the rest of us.”
Her position is, of course, ironic on a number of levels.
More apartments on the market means, in the long term, lower rent prices citywide. Sawant decries the cost of living in Seattle but gets in the way of a move that lowers rents. She’s doing this because she seems to only believe government subsidized housing can do the trick. She is wrong. All while endorsing taxes and policies that continue to make living in Seattle more expensive.
But Sawant’s position is even more ironic: she’s siding with The Showbox, which is promoted by AEG Presents. Who owns AEG? Conservative Philip Anschutz.
Anschutz is tied to a number of conservative organizations and has donated a ton of money to conservative causes and candidates. Per Billboard:
However, there has been greater hue and cry over recent stories identifying his financial support of organizations with aggressive anti-LGBT agendas, such as the Alliance Defending Freedom, the National Christian Foundation, and the Family Research Council.
Remember, Sawant says she stands with the LGBTQ community — even helping to host a virulently anti-semitic event in support of the Seattle LGBTQ Commission.
Beyond this, The Showbox represents exactly what Sawant claims to stand against — capitalism. Want to see Strung Out in October? Tickets are reasonably priced at $20 each, but then you get hit with an $18.76 convenience fee for the pair. Sawant, champion of convenience fees?
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