The City Council's response to the eviction of 192 residents of Lock Vista, as reported in the News Tribune, is a cynical joke.

This is an emergency crisis for 192 tenants who have eviction hanging over their heads. Tenants constitute baristas, librarians, artisans and the elderly. What has a $100 a day fine for developers/landlords (who don't notify tenants of their rights) to do with saving these 192 citizens their homes?

Aren't there restraining orders, lawsuits and other legal actions the City Council can take to save these people? Is there no teeth or will or moral indignation amongst those who govern? Teeth that protect tenants rather than landlords and developers? What rouses the City Council to action? Goats and nightclubs?

Even if one person is to be evicted from her home, not having committed a crime, shouldn't she be protected? Unless being too poor to buy the apartment she already lives in, is a crime?

Tenants don't have the power of the building, construction and developer lobby. Where is the government or non-government voice to save these people their homes?

Isn't there a single lawyer or government official in this city that can put herself in the shoes of the Lock Vista citizens and move to save their homes?

When and where does the buck stop here to protect and support the poor and powerless of Seattle, such as the victims of the Cascade Community Center shutdown?

Governments have police to protect the citizens and themselves. Governments also have legal departments to protect the citizens and themselves. Why aren't government lawyers stepping in to prevent this act of eviction for no cause? For whom is Seattle sometimes considered a liberal, progressive city?

Either the citizens of Lock Vista are evicted or their homes are saved. Councilman Tom Rasmussen must be living in a parallel universe where he treads softly to avoid bothering the condo developers.

Where has the builder/developer money gone that the city collects for abolishing downtown building-height limits? Why isn't it being used as a down payment to buy Lock Vista to save the people who live there, and others seeking to rent an apartment?

I'd appeal to the mayor and the governor to step in if I thought they sometimes lunch with the poor and the powerless. They can come up with a solution if they wanted to. I'd be delighted - though shocked - if they did. And so would the tenants of Lock Vista.

Bob Miller

Ballard