Earlier this week, we learned of the impending closure of the Wallingford Senior Center. The center provides social and health services, meals, classes, and much more for 1,500 seniors. For many of them it is a lifeline—a source for social interaction, connection, support, and friendship, and a place to go for a game of cards, a conversation, and a hot meal. On November 1 it will close its doors, leaving just seven senior centers to meet the needs of the city’s population of about 70,000 citizens over the age of 65.

The reason for the closure? A lack of support from a city that budgets just $450,000 each year to meet the needs of seniors through facilities like the Wallingford Senior Center.

Meanwhile, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels is preparing to release his 2010 budget. Included will be a finance plan for the city’s $900 million share of the $4.2 billion deep bore downtown tunnel.

This is exactly why I’m running for Seattle City Council and it’s a perfect example of our current political leaders’ misplaced priorities.

Do we really want to live in a city where for every dollar we invest in senior centers to meet the needs of our senior citizens, we will spend $2,000 to dig a tunnel under the streets of Seattle that fails to address our long-term transportation needs?

This is fundamentally wrong. At a time of economic difficulty, our priority should be to find ways to meet the needs of the city’s most vulnerable citizens. Instead, politicians are looking for creative ways to finance the most expensive public works project in Seattle history.

It’s amazing to me what they can find money to pay for—an experimental project that will take years to complete, will never be a part of a larger plan to provide the kind of comprehensive public transportation system this city needs, and will almost certainly cost hundreds of millions more than current estimates.

What they won’t do is work to find money for things like libraries, school teachers, and senior centers.

The choice in this election couldn’t be more clear. The tunnel is not the answer. Closing our senior centers is wrong. It’s time to work together to build a Seattle that cares about all of its citizens and takes a smart, pragmatic, and sustainable approach to addressing long-term issues including providing critical services to our citizens and addressing our transportation challenges.