Kent Kammerer, a longtime local gadfly who hosted a breakfast meeting of the Seattle Neighborhood Coalition every month to discuss local political and policy issues and was a neighborhood activist who---like his contemporaries John Fox and Charlie Chong---mourned the loss of old, affordable, single-family Seattle, has died.

Crosscut's Joe Copeland writes that Kammerer's writing, much of it in recent years for Crosscut, "showed a deep streak of compassion for others, especially those simply trying to get by in a city that was becoming increasingly affluent."

Kammerer wrote and spoke out about a huge range of issues, from the downtown tunnel (he opposed it , believing the money could be better spent elsewhere), to the "Seattle Way" (he defended it, saying debate was important even if it delayed projects), to density (he disliked it, even around transit stations), district elections (he supported them , calling them the only way neighborhoods could truly get representation on the city council), and much more.

I interviewed Kammerer numerous times over the years, and while we rarely agreed on local issues (his last piece for Crosscut, for example, excoriated the proposed $60 car-tab fee, questioning its cost, regressivity, and priorities), I always found to be him a thoughtful, knowledgeable representative of a point of view that is increasingly rare in Seattle: That of the longtime neighborhood activist who responding to changes in Seattle with the perspective of decades, not just years.

Copeland concludes:

Kammerer's first story for Crosscut in April 2007 mourned the death of former City Councilmember and mayor candidate Charlie Chong. In it, Kammerer struck what became familiar themes: the need to ask questions at City Hall, even if it made people uncomfortable. He wrote candidly and admiringly:

Charlie, a civil servant much of his career, knew that unless the hard questions were asked, sensible, affordable, and practical decisions wouldn't be made.

Charlie cared deeply about Seattle neighborhoods and was our knight, our champion, our Sir Lancelot on some days and Don Quixote on others. Charlie was a warrior in what was often a battle between the establishment and the public. Because Charlie said what others were afraid to say, he was often the single voice of reason in a bureaucratic web.

Kammerer concluded the article, "Damn it Charlie, we still need you." At Crosscut, we're feeling that all too sharply, as we think about the loss of our friend Kent.

Kammerer was 78.