[Guest post by DRJ]

Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood has a new SLUT:

“There’s a story going around [Seattle’s] South Lake Union, but a spokeswoman for Vulcan, Paul Allen’s development company, says it’s just an urban legend. That aside, the story that the neighborhood’s streetcar line now under construction was called the South Lake Union Trolley until the powers that be realized the unfortunate acronym — SLUT — seems here to stay.

Officially, it’s now the South Lake Union Streetcar. But the trolley name already has caught on, and in the old Cascade neighborhood in South Lake Union, they’re waiting for the SLUT.“

They even have SLUT T-shirts:

“At the Kapow! Coffee house on Harrison Street, they’re selling T-shirts that read “Ride the SLUT.” “We’re welcoming the SLUT into the neighborhood,” said Jerry Johnson, 29, a part-time barista. Johnson said the T-shirts were done just for fun, but they seem to have tapped into something: The first 100 sold out in days and now orders for the next 100 are under way.”

There’s more to this story:

“Behind the ribbing is a little resentment about the changes some residents feel have been pushed on them.

“There was a meeting with representatives from the city several years ago,” Johnson recalled. “They asked us what we could do for you. Most people raised their hands and said ‘affordable housing,’ ” he said. “Then the people from the city huddled together — ‘whisper, whisper, whisper,’ — and they said, ‘How about a trolley?'”

I like this story, especially Jerry Johnson’s “whisper, whisper, whisper — How about a trolley?” quote. At some point, I know we’ve all been frustrated by the way our local, state, and federal governments make choices.

In addition, I like the willingness of these citizens to respond to their government with humor. One reason we may be polarized is that we tend to get angry in every situation. Sometimes things work out better when we see the humor in our problems and there can be a lot of humor in local government.

Finally, I like this story because it’s one of the few times I’ve felt a kinship to people who live in Seattle. Seattle seems like the polar opposite of my community in politics and even in weather. We may not have any part-time baristas in my town but it’s nice to know we aren’t that different after all.

— DRJ