Chris Martin, president of the Seattle trash-collection company CleanScapes, says he was being a good corporate citizen when he offered to have his crews clean Westlake Park — free of charge — during the holidays. But union officials representing the city's parks-maintenance workers didn't see Martin's offer as a goodwill gesture. They considered it an attempt to privatize city services and eliminate the union jobs of laborers responsible for downtown parks.

I heard this story on the radio. I visit downtown Seattle a couple of times a year, and it has always bothered me how dirty it is. Needless to say, it is frustrating to hear that city workers feel threatened by a company that is trying to do the right thing and help out when hours have been cut.

First of all, these areas have been disgusting for several years (at least 5), so obviously the union employees have not been doing a great job for a good while, or have been grossly underfunded for a long time. Oddly, though, I haven't read any articles in the newspaper about the city employees responsible for these areas complaining about underfunding, or how the state of the area bothers them. So I am left to assume that they just don't care about the filth.

Secondly, this guy's company EXISTS because local businesses downtown agreed to pitch in and pay to have the alleys cleaned on their own dimes, because the city wasn't doing it.

Lastly, why does the city of Seattle feel like they have to justify the decision to accept VOLUNTEER labor to maintain areas during a time of budget stress? I don't see the unions VOLUNTEERING to clean up the areas on their own time. Why does it matter to them that a company is going to pay the workers for the clean-up? It's not coming out of the city's pocketbook. Tell you what, I'll give the unions credit if THEY offer to pay their members for their time to voluntarily clean up those areas on an ongoing basis.

Of course I don't expect that to ever happen, just like I don't expect the city of Seattle to revoke their absurd parking fee hikes which are driving customers away from downtown.

StB. (glad I don't live in Seattle, but just visit there when absolutely necessary)