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News & ArtsThursday, September 10, 2009
City McGinn Wins First Mayoral Debate, Calls for Vote on Tunnel
Posted by Dominic Holden on Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 3:59 PM
Everything seemed geared toward mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan trouncing challenger Mike McGinn in their first head-to-head debate this afternoon. Sponsored by the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, the questions were written primarily by their members and anchored on topics of business and jobs, which mesh well with Mallahan’s experience as a T-Mobile executive.
For instance, moderator Steve Scher, host of KUOW’s Weekday, asked about a program to give developers more height for buildings in exchange for constructing some affordable housing. Where is it failing? Mallahan said he dislikes the program, and that it should be replaced with “fees and taxes on developers.” McGinn responded by explaining that it may work downtown but hinder construction in less desirable neighborhoods, including Northgate. But he noted that neighborhoods can be improved, thanks to libraries and greener streets, to make them more desirable. And obstacles like on-site parking requirements could be cut to make construction profitable. Schrer asked Mallahan, “What would you do?”
“About the same. I think we have talked about it enough,” Mallahan said, clearly out of his league on an issue important to people in the audience. At several points Mallahan interrupted, requiring Scher to make him back off.
“McGinn demonstrated a high level of affability,” said Gary Strannigan, regional director of public affairs for Safeco Insurance who gave the welcoming address, walking down Fourth Avenue afterward. Although Strannigan doesn’t live in Seattle, he says, “Before today, I would have voted for Mallahan because of his business experience. But I have to say I was impressed with McGinn’s skill. He did a nice job from a public standpoint, and he was more knowledgeable.”
Some at Cinerama Theater clearly couldn’t be swayed. In the row behind me, a three-person crew in blue and white “Firefighters for Mallahan” t-shirts held up Mallahan signs for the duration. But most of the 400-person crowd in business attire looked inquisitive (including city council members Tom Rasmussen and Tim Burgess), munching on tuna sandwiches handed out at the door. The topics covered annexing unincorporated land, handling city budget shortfalls, and working with the city council. Several people leaving the theater commented that many of McGinn's and Mallahan's policy differences were indistinguishable.
But Mallahan played his cards well on a couple of questions. When asked about "community benefit agreements"—neighborhood contracts with developers to support a project if certain demands are met—Mallahan noted that he supports neighborhood requests for union labor (which hold huge sway in local elections) but only if developers agree to the terms. This pleases unions and development interest in one answer.
McGinn, however, framed answers around making a desirable city that people want to live in and stake businesses. He also leaned heavily on the right of due process about huge spending decisions—such as levies for schools, housing, parks—and particularly on the tunnel.
“Putting it to a vote, absolutely,” McGinn said. He argues that the public overwhelmingly shot down a tunnel option in 2007, and that the decision to raise taxes for a tunnel has only been vetted by a handful of stakeholders. “If you are going to overturn the vote of the people, you have to make the case.”
McGinn said he supports the head tax, but noted that Mallahan supports the biggest tax hike in the city’s history. “If we want to have an efficient government, we have to keep taxes down and make wise investments.”
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Bahahahahahaha, go Mayor Daddybear!
Why not give us the facts and let us decide?
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Tell you what, I'll put my vote behind Mallahan and call it good. Whoever the Mayor ends up being, as a citizen I expect him to put his balls out there and lead. This is making me nostalgic for the days when the political operators in this town could get shit done rather than dither endlessly.
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They've got it all figured out...as always...
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It's a borderline Republican way of doing things. Might as well institute traffic panels that could decide to kill your car and force you onto the bus.
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Moreover, the final EIS won't be done until 2011, so they really did sell something with no way to backup the real cost or timeline.
Enjoy :)
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McGinn's platform seems to be a) no new taxes and b) put every big project to a vote, or multiple votes if need be, until it get's shot down. Now that's leadership!
And Mallahan doesn't seem to have a platform at all, which I suppose you could argue is better than a very stupid platform.
Anyway you look at this election, the outcome is guaranteed to be lame.
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FWIW, Mallahan so far acts like a big fish stunned to find himself outside his small pond for the first time in years, and it's not appealing. And then McGinn's got down pat the lawyer's ability to highlight his case's strengths in a way that suggests the weaknesses don't matter a bit, and that you must be a little dumb for asking after them. That's effectve in a campaign, but annoying in a mayor.
Shrug.
and your geigh man crush on McGinn is seriously pathetic. You guys aren't journalists.
Density would definitively make Northgate better while it's impact on Wallingford and Greenwood would be ambiguous at best
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If McGinn is seriously conjuring the non-binding non-vote that didn't have this tunnel on the ballot and where all presented options lost pretty much equally - as saying the elected leaders of the city and state negotiating and coming up with a new solution is "overturning the vote of the people" then that is misleading at best, and a demagogic lie at worst.
On another matter, we DO NOT need to vote on everything. That is why we have elected representatives.
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We can.
We have.
And we will.
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This program is working. It's the main reason all the development in Capitol Hill hasn't turned it into Belltown.
"obstacles like on-site parking requirements could be cut to make construction profitable."
Fuck. That.
It's hard enough to park in this city because too many developers have been allowed to weasel out of providing adequate underground parking. Construction is obviously plenty profitable--there are more tower cranes in this city than trees!
The tunnel allows us to retain at least 80% of present capacity on a *state highway* while also allowing Alaskan Way to become a regular road again, just as those proponents have asked for from the start. Everyone wins!
Mike McGinn has put in the time. He's started a non-profit focused on making Seattle more livable, he got the park's levy passed, he help kill a big fat roads package even though conventional wisdom said we had to eat it because if come attached to a light-rail expansion, then he fought to get light rail on the ballot and it passed.
He spent a tenth of the money the mayor did on the primary and a fifth of Mallahan's largely self-financed campaign--and got more votes than both.
That is called getting shit done.
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