There has been a lot of talk recently about our Seattle Mayor Mike Mcginn and Seattle’s continued advertising with the Seattle Weekly newspaper. Seattle currently has a Contract with the Seattle Weekly newspaper and are spending $158,000 for this “great deal”. However, Mayor Mike Mcginn has put a pause on it due to a concern of “underage sex trafficking”. They are negotiating at this time and may continue or not depending on those talks. Here is the problem, however, first why are we spending tax money for this type of advertising? The paper is poor at best and has limited distribution. Everywhere you go in Seattle you see a stack of them and nobody even reads them. They just sit there collecting dust every month. Their distribution area and readers is completely shady and over-rated. The magazine has been filled with adult ads forever. This is not something new and you can pick one up anywhere and see for yourself. Just flip to the back pages and you noticed pages and pages of adult prostitution, massage parlors, and other garbage. Did anyone actually pick up the magazine and flip through it before signing this $158,000 advertising deal for the city?
Here is the other problem – The Stranger newspaper. It’s very similar to the Seattle Weekly they both are filled with the same type of the adult advertising in the back pages, however, he has no problems with them. He obviously knows about this paper since he got a $1,000 dollar contribution from the paper for the anti tunnel initiative. Yes, he received contributions for the anti tunnel initiatives. Perhaps that is why he is turning the other check when it comes to the The Stranger.
In the end, I am not sure what we do with this mess except we shouldn’t be spending tax money in this shady newspapers in the first place and perhaps an investigation is in order. It’s all just a little shady and has a lot of double talk.
