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Monday, February 8, 2010

Questionland Some of the Questions You Have Asked the Mayor So Far

Posted by Dominic Holden on Mon, Feb 8, 2010 at 10:50 AM

In Questionland, the Holodeck of civic inquisition, folks have already begun asking Mayor Mike McGinn their questions. McGinn will answer on Thursday. A few of the questions so far:

roche asked:
What are we going to do about all the 'pits' around the city?

West Seattle's "Hole Foods", Stone Way's Phantom QFC, Green Lake's "Second Lake", Denny's in Ballard, and several less prominent stalled development projects are making our city less fun and crippling housing prices and associated development. What are you going to do to get people working on this?

JB asked:
How can a person portrayed as someone with the right experience to be mayor be so lame in his 45 days in office by trying to do an end-run around the Council (sorry naive card won't work) and then not have a good plan for executing layoffs before announcing them?

Daniel Johnson of the Seattle Permaculture Guild asked:
I see that the City has declared 2010 as the Year of Urban Farming ... would you support the idea of a Department of Permaculture in Seattle so we could have more interdepartmental cooperation on issues relating to urban farming and appropriate technology?

Explorer asked:
Could rebuilding the seawall include an opportunity to improve Pier 66 or create a new waterfront events space?

The mayor will answer on Thursday from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. You still have time to ask a question. Sign in using your Facebook account or make a Questionland account. Once you're signed in, you can also vote "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" on each question, increasing or decreasing pressure on the mayor to answer. Have at it.

Comments (13) RSS

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The questions asked so far appear a little uninspiring. They are all along the same line of thinking of "my pet project X needs attention, fix it for me please" which I understand is a lot of the point of asking questions directly but none of this stuff is going to get done. The mayor can't really do a whole lot to deal with closed down business when the economy is so poor.

The first great depression was resolved through deficit spending but this time around we are starting with too great of a deficit. The spending required is not palatable to uneducated voters.

I personally would like the see the Mayer move on issues like urban farming and empty buildings but right now there is bigger fish to fry. I just hope his time isn't fractured too much trying to respond to everyone's idea of what he needs to do.

Posted by Packeteer on February 8, 2010 at 11:02 AM

@1, I doubt an hour spent typing during what is more or less another in his series of 5 jillion town halls will bog the mayor down from what he would have been doing anyway.

Posted by gloomy gus on February 8, 2010 at 11:26 AM

Wait...what's wrong with Pier 66?

Posted by Hernandez

on February 8, 2010 at 11:31 AM

@3, needs more cowbell.

Posted by gloomy gus on February 8, 2010 at 11:47 AM

and another 6.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on February 8, 2010 at 11:50 AM

I dunno what's wrong with Pier 66, except the fact that they allow cruise ships to dock there. I wonder if the writer is referring to the empty, barren Pier 62, where they used to have concerts. I saw Johnny Cash there once. Now it's nothing.

Posted by Fnarf

on February 8, 2010 at 12:03 PM

I just tossed up two, one of which if he answers could be one hell of a hot potato with black people, one with police.

Black potato -> http://questionland.thestranger.com/ques…

Police potato -> http://questionland.thestranger.com/ques…

Posted by Joe Szilagyi

on February 8, 2010 at 12:08 PM

It's not nothing, it still exists in memory.

I enjoyed listening to blues acts there.

Not surprisingly, maybe half of the "questions" are really disguised attacks by people still upset that they aren't the majority of voters, but just stakeholders now removed from power.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on February 8, 2010 at 12:09 PM

Pier 62 - that's what I meant. It's not a pet project of mine (clearly, by my mistake), just something I'm curious about and would like to see happen if possible.

Posted by Explorer on February 8, 2010 at 1:25 PM

You know what would really be nifty? Another half-dozen "gotcha!" questions about Chris Bushnell. The more worser the grammar and spelling the better.

Posted by capicola on February 8, 2010 at 1:50 PM

@10, you're right. In the race for the Tedium Cup it's neck and neck between his blindest critics and his deafest supporters.

Posted by gloomy gus on February 8, 2010 at 1:59 PM

@9, in that case, I'm with you. I don't think it's a huge priority, but it really seems like a waste to have such a huge, prominently located section of this supposedly priceless waterfront -- which we're all so hot to tear down the viaduct to "reconnect with" -- stand vacant for decades. Concerts draw crowds. Crowds are what the waterfront needs.

Posted by Fnarf

on February 8, 2010 at 2:01 PM