About 300 people are at the Northgate Community Center, where mayor-elect Mike McGinn is announcing staffers for the incoming administration at the first of three town halls, reports news intern Sarah Lloyd.

McGinn's deputy mayors will be Phil Fujii, the community relations manager at Vulcan, and Darryl Smith, a Windermere realtor and former city council candidate. Julie McCoy (no, not this Julie McCoy), the managing director of the Mercury Group, which conducted strategy for McGinn's campaign, will be McGinn's chief of staff.

• Sarah Lloyd
• Mike McGinn and Darryl Smith

Smith moderated most of the discussion, which centered around the three questions that 70 mayoral transition ambassadors asked communities and neighborhoods over the past several weeks. The questions were (1) How do we build the strongest possible team, (2) how do we build public trust in the new administration, and (3) what do you see as the greatest challenge for the incoming administration? To summarize the answers, Smith projected word clouds onto a screen (the words that came up more often by the people interviewed were larger; those that came up less often were smaller).

The largest words were: (question 1) diversity, people, and experience; (question 2) accessibility, transparency, and listening; and (question 3) jobs, transportaiton, housing, budget, and public safety. And then the Grateful Dead sung Kumbaya.

When the crowd—a mix of folks, but mostly middle aged—discussed their concerns, they focused on Nickelsville, youth outreach, and transportation. And they talked about the tunnel (they hated the tunnel).

McGinn will also host town halls tomorrow and Wednesday for tunnel-lovers and tunnel-haters alike:

Tuesday, December 1
7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center
104 17th Ave South (17th Ave. & E. Yesler Way)

Wednesday, December 2
7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Paul Robeson Performing Arts Center at Rainier Beach High School
8815 Seward Park Ave S. (Located at the S. end of the Building near the gym off S. Henderson St.)