In the newspaper business, negative attention is better than no attention at all.

So I was not upset to hear that a Burien resident had publicly scolded me at last Monday's city council meeting for a story and headline about affordable housing in Highline.

He was worried that the "ominous" headline, "Highline is haven for housing," would bring hordes of cheap housing seekers flooding into his community.

I am not making this stuff up.

The Seattle Times, which has the staff and resources to carefully research these things, reported that nearly half of the remaining affordable housing areas in King County are located in Highline.

The Seattle daily came up with another fact that may damage the ego of Burien residents.

White Center, which is closer than Burien to the red hot Seattle housing market, has slipped off the affordability index along with West Seattle east of 35th Avenue Southwest.

According to the Seattle Times, the 2005 median price for a house in White Center was $17,000 more than in Burien.

Also, because thieves go where the money is, Burien's larger business district has meant that Burien's major crime rate per capita has been marginally worse than White Center in some years.

Of course, statistics can be tricky.

Burien is really a tale of two cities.

So, although my detractor lives within Burien's city limits for the purposes of the Seattle Times, his address is in "Shorewood/Normandy Park."

The 2005 median house price in his area was $467,250. So he is safe from the hordes, except for new Microsoft millionaires.

The other charge is that I live outside Burien so I don't really care about the city or the Highline community.

Former SeaTac City Manager Cal Hoggard told me that living outside the city makes you less likely to be accused of favoring your own neighborhood over others.

The Highline School District requires its chief executive to live in the district. In the school boundary discussion, that left former superintendent Joe McGeehan open to unfounded charges that he was favoring Normandy Park.

While I don't live in Burien now, my roots are still deep here.

My mother was a tireless volunteer in this community as an active leader in the PTA for 40 years and one of the founders of the Burien Arts Gallery and Highline-West Seattle Mental Health Center.

In fact the Burien campus of the center was named after my mother for many years.

My Dad's volunteer work at Lake Burien Presbyterian Church and other places was quieter, but also greatly appreciated by the community.

And it seems wherever I go, I run into people who were coached by my brother Phil or took a chemistry class from him at Highline or Glacier.

Sister-in-law Leona at Sunnydale or Seahurst also taught many students.

Ironically, the questioning of my ties to Burien came in the same week that my four siblings and I had the honor of participating in the dedication of Mathison Park.

Mathison Park is a neighborhood park in east Burien. The five acres was my boyhood home that Dad donated to the city.

Some people lately are making a big deal about how much they love Burien. The implication is that those who don't agree with them lack their ardor for the city.

Big decisions are being made about the future of Burien. As we go forward with the contentious debates, we should all remember that there is good intentions on all sides of the issues.

Eric Mathison can be reached at hteditor@robinsonnews.com or 206-388-1855.