Tuesday, March 24, 2009
City Mike McGinn's Pizza Party
Posted by Jonah Spangenthal-Lee on Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 1:34 PM
As Erica mentioned, Seattle Great City Initiative founder Mike McGinn announced his bid for mayor this morning at Piecora’s on Capitol Hill.
The back room at Piecora's was packed with reporters and neighborhood activists like Kathy Nyland and Mike O’Brien.
Before the press conference, McGinn seemed nervous, pacing back and forth while he glad-handed reporters in the room. After invoking the great Wayne Gretzky in an unwieldy hockey metaphor, McGinn got down to business and seemed a lot more comfortable as he laid out his big three talking points: education, technology and transportation.
McGinn wants to create a broadband utility department, expand bus programs—although they're run by the county, something McGinn seems to believe is merely a formality—and spend two years working with Seattle School District administrators to try to improve Seattle’s schools. If that doesn't work, McGinn said, he would ask the city to take over the district. "If there isn't demonstrable progress after four years, fire me," he said. It's worth noting that several cities have taken over their respective school districts in recent years, few of which have had tremendous success.
While McGinn tried to focus on his own plan for the city, he couldn't help but take a few shots at Nickels, rhetorically asking “is the definition of leadership just to fill potholes?" and knocking the mayor's current push for a tunnel to replace the viaduct. McGinn, for the record, supports a surface/transit option.
Although McGinn seemed well rehearsed on his three big talking points, he seemed a bit caught off guard by a question about how he'd handle growing neighborhood concerns about youth and gang violence. "That's a really complex problem," he said, before dodging the question.
McGinn, who could now be heading into the race alongside Nickels, former Seattle Supersonic James Donaldson and noted local pervert Dan Savage, said he entered the race because "nobody was stepping up.” McGinn also added that he spoke with Peter Steinbrueck—who’s still being wishy-washy about his possible run for mayor—before declaring. McGinn (disappointingly) couldn’t be goaded into saying anything nasty about Savage when asked whether he could beat him. "I'm not going to taunt Dan Savage. That would be a mistake,” he said.
Nickels has a fairly sizeable war chest heading into election season, but McGinn seems to believe he can raise money through a "people power campaign" a la Obama—although he added, "I'm not as good looking or charismatic" as Obama.
Share via
http://www.facebook.com/pages/McGinn-for…
and campaign website:
http://www.mcginnformayor.com/
Great just what I need, incompetent Govt. bureaucrats running the backbone of my local internet.
Speakeasy does a great job of providing my internet service, why should the Govt. compete with them and possibly run at a loss?
sure turn the fate of my perfect Q West DSL over to them, to - 1. botch it 2. no 24 hr excellent customer service 3. raise the price for $$$ into the general fund
no thanks, no no no thanks
think water, sewer and garbage and how they have screwed us all in the last decade
think phone costs which have decreased a lot in the same period
Pissed of Ballard and West Seattle with surface option, Check!
Pissed off parents of children in Seattle Public Schools, Check!
Off to a good start Mr. McGinn. Can we PLEASE get a non-idiot to run for Mayor? ANYONE?
Dan Savage has quite a few too.
you really think parents of kids in the Seattle Public Schools are fans of the system and the school board?
McGinn is the real deal.
I have lived in King County most of my life, and I seem to get around pretty well, and I never heard of this guy. Yay for those who have. Let them, and let Mike McGinn, tell me what he knows about governing a city this size.
"He's not Nickels" doesn't cut it. Nickels is far from perfect, but he's better by miles than the sorry lot who would seek to oust him. Nickels will beat them like a toy drum -- don't even dream it might be different. Not you, Dan. You're cool.
that said, running for mayor and being totally ill prepared for a question on violence is an insult. come to the south end or the CD and you won't be "caught off guard"
I believe the Peter hates dialing for dollars. That is a good quality. Time away from the family is an important consideration. However, most people I know remember most of their parents working - a lot. Lastly, I suspect that Peter would prefer doing urban planning than teaching it. That is just my guess, I offer it less as insight and more to make team Nickels uncomfortable. I am sure they are all eager to apply for those non-existent biotech jobs they promised with all of our money.
Cool.
Nickels is a fine mayor and that's why no one is stepping up.
1. MAYOR McCHEESE
2. MAYOR McCONDO
3. MAYOR NOPLOW
4. MAYOR SNOWJOB
5. MAYOR 5-CENTS
6. MAJOR NOPLOW
7. MAYOR McSLEAZE
8. MAYOR FAILure
9. MAYOR GRIDLOCK
10. MAYOR QUIMBY
All the names that are just too mean to such a nice fellow, like MAYOR McFATTY, MAYOR PORK, MAJOR PORK, MAYOR BIGMAC, etc. will not be included in the Top 10 names for HIS HONOR. This is Seattle, a nice city, after all.
We are monitoring the TIMES, P-I, Weakly, Strangler, Crosscut, Publicola, and a few blogs for the most mentions in comments from the citizenry.
Newest contenders:
MAYOR DISASTER, MAJOR DISASTER, BOSS NICKELS, MAYOR NOSALT, MAYOR NICKELBAGS, MAYOR KNUCKLEHEAD, MAYOR FUDD, MAYOR FIVEPENNIES, MAYOR CHUMPCHANGE, MAYOR KNUCKLES
Do you have to be so damn dumb about such a wide array of issues?
The 40-40-20 formula you refer to is King County's policy for NEW service added. Thanks to Timmy Eyman and George Bush, we haven't really added any new service since it was adopted almost ten years ago.
The reason the policy was adopted by the suburban majority--yes, we are only a third of the county--is because they pay the same proportion of tax dollars for the Metro system as Seattle--but we have 62% of the service--62%!!! It would gall you too if you lived in Kent. Increasingly jobs are all over the county in different urban centers, not all in downtown Seattle. I think the policy and the idea of subareas at all are horrible ways to run a logical bus system.
The policy that is of far more concern is that service cuts go by service allocation--that means, my simple friend, that Seattle gets 62% of the cuts. With Metro facing a 20% shortfall in sales taxes this is the real issue.
And by the way--a few bus lines in Seattle come close to paying for themselves--the 7, 39, 358, 43--but most don't even come close. All transit is subsidized just like our roads.
If Mike McGinn is serious about providing some bus utopia, he had better come up with a real plan to fund the service we have and then get all of that new service he promises. I wish him luck.
Question: How does Will hold down a job at UW while posting non-stop to Slog, the Times, the P-I, etc.? We're talking hundreds of posts a week, most during working hours. Are we taxpayers paying his salary? Should someone be looking into this?
Must I report my expenditures to your campaign if we don't collude on the message?
this guy looks like very high test body odor, NOTHING of substance, a teen staff person could have written this
bogus accent, wow, if this is it, Nickels can stop raising money and coast
NOT IMPRESSED VOTER
Most Commented on Slog
-
Stephen Fry v. the Catholic Church by Dan Savage
-
Neologism Needed by Dan Savage
-
Palin's Cheat Sheet by Dan Savage
-
Straight Up by Dan Savage
-
SL Letter of the Day: The Toilet Brush Off by Dan Savage
-
Every Child Deserves a Mother and a Father by Dan Savage
-
Tea Party Crowd Believes That Only Good Spellers Should Vote by Dan Savage
-
Every Child Deserves a Mother and a Father by Dan Savage
-
The Green Police Super Bowl Commercial by Charles Mudede
-
Was This On Slog Yesterday? by Dan Savage
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (28) RSS