Photo by Erica C. Barnett
Newly announced Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith is displaying a word cloud representing the responses to McGinn’s “three questions” (How do we build the strongest possibleteam?; How do we build trust in the new administration?; and What is the new administration’s greatest challenge and what should we do first?) The major themes are: Transparency, listen, diversity, accessibility, people, jobs, transportation, public safety, budget, housing, transportation, relationships, and human services.
A Linden Ave. resident makes a great point: Rental housing residents make up 52 percent of Seattle citizens, yet represent only a tiny slice (evidenced by a show of hands) of those in the room. What will McGinn do to reach out to non-homeowning residents?
An older man says he supported McGinn because of his policy to implement citywide broadband service and because he wants an age-integrated city.
Questions: Will McGinn work to create a new, permanent location for Nickelsville? Will he support all-day express bus service from Roosevelt to downtown? Why is McGinn no longer directly accessible to the entire public, instantly, by email? (McGinn’s response to that last one: “Mike.McGinn@seattle.gov. I do need help looking at it, but I do look at it.”)
A lot of people are talking about how they want (and, seemingly, expect) an “open-door policy” at the mayor’s office. That’s a nice idea, but it’s a city of 650,000 people—and ultimately, the mayor’s job is to govern, not to give complete, personal access to every citizen. But clearly, this is going to be a major minefield for McGinn—whose campaign was one of the most accessible in memory—to navigate.
A lot of folks are expressing opposition to the Alaskan Way tunnel. (E.g., “I voted for you because I was opposed to the tunnel and I think a lot of people did.”) Obviously, despite the tunnel supposedly being a “done deal,” there’s still plenty of opposition to the $4.2 billion project.
George Allen with the Seattle Chamber (and a resident of the neighborhood): While we should support new technology like biotech, “I don’t want to forget those who brought us to the dance. The older businesses, the manufacturers … those who probably employ most of us in this room.”
McGinn is responding to the multiple requests for an “open-door policy”: “I actually have to do some work as well as listen to everybody. So there are going to be some challenges here. We have to build a system of government… where people don’t actually have to speak to me to feel like they are speaking to their government.”
“The day will come where we have agreement on values but we have disagreement on the policy to reach those values.”
At 8:30, the meeting is winding down. My (preliminary) takeaway: These town halls are going to be a lot like neighborhood district council meetings—a fair number of excessively optimistic ideas, a lot of rambling comments (case in point: The guy right now who’s talking about the Duwamish Tribe, Nucor Steel, the Port of Seattle, and the need for a single regional transit agency), and a few smart proposals that might actually be doable. Is it worth the mayor-elect’s time? Probably, now. Once he’s actually mayor? Probably not. As an exercise in semi-direct democracy, however, it’s been fascinating to watch.
