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Friday, May 21, 2010

City Council Won't Overturn Mayor's Veto

Posted by Dominic Holden on Fri, May 21, 2010 at 8:39 AM

The Seattle City Council will take a second vote on a controversial aggressive-solicitation bill on Monday—a bill that the mayor vetoed last month—but bill sponsor Tim Burgess says, "The mayor's veto won't be overridden."

This veto by Mayor Mike McGinn was one of only eight in the past two decades, Burgess notes in a blog post published this morning. The other seven vetoes by previous mayors were relating to the teen dance ordinance, retirement policies, parking rules, public restrooms, transitional housing, additional development rights, and nightlife regulations.

Six votes are required to override McGinn's objection. Only five council members voted for the bill in April, and Council President Richard Conlin, who supported the measure to ticket aggressive solicitors, is out of the country until June 1 and will miss Monday's vote.

The measure became a lightning rod, not only in the debate over how the $50 tickets it would be issued to suspects, but also as a symbol of a political fight between moneyed downtown interests that seek a more presentable downtown and progressive groups concerned about nebulous benefits of a policy with probable ramifications for the poor.

Burgess writes of the past vetoes, "twice the Council overrode the Mayor's veto, four times the Council sustained the Mayor's veto, one time the Council did not reconsider, and the eighth reconsideration will be Monday."

Comments (2) RSS

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Boo ya!

It's great to live in Seattle!

Posted by Will in Seattle

on May 21, 2010 at 10:12 AM

The Seattle City Council will take a second vote on a controversial aggressive-solicitation bill on Monday—a bill that the mayor vetoed last month—but bill sponsor Tim Burgess says, "The mayor's veto won't be overridden."

So, Mr. Burgess, why waste everyone's time with the second dog and pony show? Don't you have more pressing things like figuring out how to get Seattle taxpayers off the illegal hook for the tunnel cost overruns?

Are you hoping for re-election at all, at this point?

Posted by Joe Szilagyi