Friday, November 21, 2008
City Unsubstantiated Rumor of the Day
Posted by Erica C. Barnett on Fri, Nov 21, 2008 at 10:11 AM
UPDATE: Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis denies the rumors, saying that although the mayor "has been in contact with the transition team about the Office of Urban Policy," he isn't up for a position. "We have some very specific ideas about the role cities can play in the economic recovery," Ceis says. However, he adds, "The mayor's very happy being mayor of the city of Seattle and is not seeking any appointment."
Several sources have alerted me over the last few days to the rumor that Mayor Greg Nickels is up for a new position in Obama's (also new) Office of Urban Policy, which would work to coordinate efforts to help the nation's cities. I haven't gotten a confirmation or denial yet from anyone in the mayor's office itself, but Nickels's intense efforts to establish himself on the national stage—by, for example, pushing the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, which the mayors of more than 900 cities have signed—makes this rumor at least plausible. If the mayor were to take a position in the Obama administration, it would open up a position coveted by several current and former city council members and prominent Seattleites hesitant to run against a mayor who's already amassed a $240,000 war chest.
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3
ooo - i know! frank chopp! then we could be sure to pick the most retarded option for the waterfront - his mile-long wall!
4
A reshuffling all-around - Condeleeza Rice for Stranger City Hall correspondent, Ken Jr. Griffey as Mayor, and ECB as special envoy W.W.W.W.W. (Wonkette's Wanking Wonder W. Woman)
5
Oh hells no. How the hell can he even be considered? He has done abso-fucking-lutely nothing that great for the city. What accomplishment other than a plastic bag tax does this moron have?
6
Nickels would be the fattest, lyingest appointee yet. If he got the job he could get homeless encampments declared a threat to national security and force troops to help with the sweeps.
7
@5: If he's a moron, I hate to think what that would make you.
VP of National Conference of Democratic Mayors
Board of Directors of Sound Transit
Chair of Transportation and Communications committees, Board of Trustees of the U.S. Council of Mayors
First major city to announce a move to compliance with the Kyoto Protocol
Awards from the Sierra Club, EPA and NWF
Co-chair of Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition with Mayors Bloomberg (NYC) and Menino (Boston)
VP of National Conference of Democratic Mayors
Board of Directors of Sound Transit
Chair of Transportation and Communications committees, Board of Trustees of the U.S. Council of Mayors
First major city to announce a move to compliance with the Kyoto Protocol
Awards from the Sierra Club, EPA and NWF
Co-chair of Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition with Mayors Bloomberg (NYC) and Menino (Boston)
8
He'd be perfect-- and it gets him out of Seattle a year earlier. That's change I can believe in. Who would be next in line? Or would there be a special election? Peter Steinbrueck, call me!
9
Is Mayor McCheese's son still in prison? I think his conviction should preclude his father from serving in an Obama administration.
10
@7, it's not hard for people who hold pursestrings to THEN get awards. It's called kissing ass. But you know that.
12
You know what? I'm getting tired of all the slathering anti-Nickels rants. Over the course of two decades he has been the person most responsible for creating and expanding our light rail system. It literally would not have happened without him. Do you not know this? And he is the main force against a new elevated freeway (or elevated tunnel) through our city. And it was Chopp, with Gregoire's complicity, who screwed up the Sonics deal. Nickels brought them responsible local buyers with $150 million in private investment for our public arena, Chopp turned up his nose at it, and the Sonics left. And he really did create and lead the nationwide rebellion by cities against the national government's official policy of climate change denial. So you don't like his waistline? Fine. But at least recognize that he has successfully advanced a progressive agenda in a lot of areas where others have failed.
13
*Viaduct
*Five-year monorail fiasco
*Public rapid transit (lack of)
*Townhouse blight
*Rents beyond reach of many
*Condo conversion disease (thankfully the econo crisis all but put a stop to that)
*Increased youth violence and spike in gang activity
*Homeless and substance users/dealers taking over downtown, Belltown, Capitol Hill, First Hill, Pioneer Square, and the ID
*Nightlife/club raid fiasco
*Five-year monorail fiasco
*Public rapid transit (lack of)
*Townhouse blight
*Rents beyond reach of many
*Condo conversion disease (thankfully the econo crisis all but put a stop to that)
*Increased youth violence and spike in gang activity
*Homeless and substance users/dealers taking over downtown, Belltown, Capitol Hill, First Hill, Pioneer Square, and the ID
*Nightlife/club raid fiasco
14
If Nickels would be good at the job, I'd be all for it. But he has built up Northgate while ignoring Capital Hill (Which I haven't lived in for 10 years). I would move back if it was as vibrant as it was when I moved there in 1990.
15
@12:
word. the dude has lives and breathes for Sound Transit. You could tell by his (admittedly totally out of context) reference to Prop 1's passing at the Anti-Prop 8 rally last weekend. So he deserves a bunch of credit for that.
I'm personally thankful we have a powerful politicial in this town to go up against the Frank Chopps and Tim Eyemans of the world.
Would I like to see him do more to address efficient, sustainable transit in this city? Yes. Fortunately, I think we're moving in that direction. But any transportation measure in this city that doesn't make everyone's daily single occupancy car commute easier is such a fucking political minefield that I can understand why it's so difficult.
And about all the development: is your neighborhood changing? Good, it SHOULD change. If your urban neighborhood is not becoming more dense, it means that surburban wastelands like the Issaquah highlands are pushing further and further into the Cascade foothills. We live in a big city. Get over it.
word. the dude has lives and breathes for Sound Transit. You could tell by his (admittedly totally out of context) reference to Prop 1's passing at the Anti-Prop 8 rally last weekend. So he deserves a bunch of credit for that.
I'm personally thankful we have a powerful politicial in this town to go up against the Frank Chopps and Tim Eyemans of the world.
Would I like to see him do more to address efficient, sustainable transit in this city? Yes. Fortunately, I think we're moving in that direction. But any transportation measure in this city that doesn't make everyone's daily single occupancy car commute easier is such a fucking political minefield that I can understand why it's so difficult.
And about all the development: is your neighborhood changing? Good, it SHOULD change. If your urban neighborhood is not becoming more dense, it means that surburban wastelands like the Issaquah highlands are pushing further and further into the Cascade foothills. We live in a big city. Get over it.
16
@11, EPA happily kudo-fies strongarm mayors in cities where they need the lid kept on local politicos and community organizers who try to raise a stink about residents of poorer neighborhoods suffering health problems from environmental conditions EPA's been dragging its feet to fix. Viz., Duwamish/South Park. But you knew that.
17
I love it!
Our Green Mayor going to DC!
Win-Win!
Now, who's gonna run for mayor in Seattle? - come on, so long as it ain't Ron Sims, this is PARTY TIME!
Our Green Mayor going to DC!
Win-Win!
Now, who's gonna run for mayor in Seattle? - come on, so long as it ain't Ron Sims, this is PARTY TIME!
19
@16: The EPA finished their report on the Lower Duwamish very recently in a very speedy 2 years, but you obviously don't know that. The city, county, boeing and the port are paying for it, which you clearly wouldn't know since fauxgressives refuse to read government websites.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Proto… -- read that. Tell me who is cited as the one responsible for getting so many cities signed on when even states are balking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Proto… -- read that. Tell me who is cited as the one responsible for getting so many cities signed on when even states are balking.
20
Good comments by DC @12 and cornelius q framinghamshire @15.
For me, Greg Nickels is someone whose spectacular achievements outweigh his disastrous decisions and meaningless publicity stunts. Seems with most elected officials, the only things you get are meaningless publicity stunts.
But if Nickels got a high-profile post at the Office of Urban Policy, can you just imagine the Greg Nickels/Ron Sims scoreboard?
1. Nickels pro-ST2, Sims anti-ST2. Win: Nickels.
2. Nickels endorses Obama, Sims endorses Hillary. Win: Nickels.
3. Nickels gets awesome federal job, Sims prepares to get his sorry ass handed to him when Larry Phillips runs against him as King County Executive. Win (and devastating win): Nickels.
Maybe Ron Sims's eventual consolation prize could be a sinecure at the Discovery Institute, where he can whip up all sorts of harebrained transportation schemes.
For me, Greg Nickels is someone whose spectacular achievements outweigh his disastrous decisions and meaningless publicity stunts. Seems with most elected officials, the only things you get are meaningless publicity stunts.
But if Nickels got a high-profile post at the Office of Urban Policy, can you just imagine the Greg Nickels/Ron Sims scoreboard?
1. Nickels pro-ST2, Sims anti-ST2. Win: Nickels.
2. Nickels endorses Obama, Sims endorses Hillary. Win: Nickels.
3. Nickels gets awesome federal job, Sims prepares to get his sorry ass handed to him when Larry Phillips runs against him as King County Executive. Win (and devastating win): Nickels.
Maybe Ron Sims's eventual consolation prize could be a sinecure at the Discovery Institute, where he can whip up all sorts of harebrained transportation schemes.
21
@8: If Nickels resigns, Council President Conlin serves as mayor until a new mayor is elected at a regular (Nov.) election.
Charter citation:
ARTICLE XIX. Officers; Terms and Vacancies
Sec. 6. VACANCIES
HOW FILLED: B. MAYOR AND OTHER ELECTIVE OFFICES: If the office of Mayor shall become vacant, the President of the City Council shall become Mayor; provided, that said President may within five days of such vacancy decline the office of Mayor, in which event the City Council shall select one of its members to be Mayor in the manner provided for filling vacancies in other elective offices.
Charter citation:
ARTICLE XIX. Officers; Terms and Vacancies
Sec. 6. VACANCIES
HOW FILLED: B. MAYOR AND OTHER ELECTIVE OFFICES: If the office of Mayor shall become vacant, the President of the City Council shall become Mayor; provided, that said President may within five days of such vacancy decline the office of Mayor, in which event the City Council shall select one of its members to be Mayor in the manner provided for filling vacancies in other elective offices.
22
Is this a good thing or a bad thing? If he enters the national arena, does that mean that he could potentially extend his awful nightlife legislation and policies to the entire country?
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