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The first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol and Seattle city hall, PubliCola has been called a “must-read” by the Seattle Post Intelligencer and a hot “New Media Mover and Shaker” by Seattle Magazine—which also cited our own Erica C. Barnett as the city's No. 1 news nerd.

McGinn: Nickels 2.0

News   December 18, 2009 at 12:55 pm Josh Feit

Correction: Morning Fizz had the dates wrong. The KING 5 year-in-review segment that I’m on is running on Sunday, January 3.

The Seattle Channel  segment, however, does air tonight. Lots of fun. I say the P-I, on the brink of extinction just a year ago, is a 2010 winner. They’re up and running as  viable online news site, the first daily in a major American city to go for it as an online-only publication, which has energized their political coverage. (Their politics blog blows away The Seattle Times’ politics blog.)

I also say Mayor Greg Nickels’ agenda won the mayor’s race. Mike McGinn is Nickels’ Frankenstein’s monster.

As a neighborhood activist who took Nickels’ green urbanism seriously, (and redefined the neighborhood movement for greens, wresting it away from NIMBYs), McGinn and his Seattle Great City Initiative took up Nickels’ efforts to build density, decrease parking requirements, and raise heights in the neighborhoods.

library

Candidate McGinn at the downtown library/photo by ECB.

Shortly after McGinn started  Great City, Nickels moderated his own green vision, backing off a transit oriented development bill, supporting a “transit” initiative that came with 182 miles of roads, softening LEED standards for private development, and of course, advocating for the car-centric tunnel.

It turns out Nickels had originally been moving in the direction Seattle wanted—green-development, green-density, and putting an end to the old “Lesser Seattle” neighborhood movement.

Nickels’ catch phrase for all this was “A World Class City,” messaging he dropped.

But McGinn got it, and found new messaging (“Great City”), while Nickels got cold feet.

This explains the McGinn-Vulcan connection that many find surprising given McGinn’s reputation as an anti-establishment guy. It also explains why McGinn hired Nickels’ former righthand man, Marco Lowe, as director of the city’s lobbying efforts.

Anyway, that’s some of what I say on The Seattle Channel tonight and on KING 5 in two weeks.


  • spink

    “Mike McGinn is Nickels’ Frankenstein monster”

    Josh I think you deserve to give yourself the quote of the week for that one. Spot on. We’ll see how Franky does once he takes office, but I suspect it will be much like the Mary Shelley version, as much as I was hoping for some Marty Feldman comedy going into the new year.

  • West Seattle Waiter

    People don’t realize how good a politician he was. Knowledge, tact, personable and did it for many years. One of the reasons he was head of US Conf of Mayors and elected by his peers.

    McGinn is really really over his head. Thats why you never see someone elected to an Executive role like this who never did anything before.

  • West Seattle Waiter

    People don’t realize how good a politician he was. Knowledge, tact, personable and did it for many years. One of the reasons he was head of US Conf of Mayors and elected by his peers.

    McGinn is really really over his head. Thats why you never see someone elected to an Executive role like this who never did anything before.

  • Alex Broner

    Suddenly publicola discovers that McGinn and (the original) Nickels have a lot in common! Time for a blog post! Most of this stuff is not new (that McGinn is a pro-density green) or not surprising (that McGinn would hire some people who have experience from the previous administration). Moreover, the policy aspects of this proposal suggest that McGinn is much closer to what Nickels started as, which I guess would make him Nickels 1.0 and Nickel’s himself “Nickel’s 2.0″. Not content with this metaphor, you haphazardly throw out “Mike McGinn is Nickels’ Frankenstein monster”, implying A. that McGinn is pieced together or somehow “unnatural” and the B. that Nickels created him somehow. Overall, a very poorly done piece that goes for drama over thoughtful analysis or new information.

  • Alex Broner

    Suddenly publicola discovers that McGinn and (the original) Nickels have a lot in common! Time for a blog post! Most of this stuff is not new (that McGinn is a pro-density green) or not surprising (that McGinn would hire some people who have experience from the previous administration). Moreover, the policy aspects of this proposal suggest that McGinn is much closer to what Nickels started as, which I guess would make him Nickels 1.0 and Nickel’s himself “Nickel’s 2.0″. Not content with this metaphor, you haphazardly throw out “Mike McGinn is Nickels’ Frankenstein monster”, implying A. that McGinn is pieced together or somehow “unnatural” and the B. that Nickels created him somehow. Overall, a very poorly done piece that goes for drama over thoughtful analysis or new information.

  • http://seattletransitblog.com/ Martin H. Duke

    Nickels had a really big governing coalition: greens, DSA types, developers, unions, really everyone but lesser Seattle people, NIMBYs, and a certain flavor of poverty activist.

    Of course McGinn’s going to represent at least part of that coalition: namely, greens and developers, since those go pretty well together to someone concerned about global warming and sprawl. We’ll see who else he can bring in to the tent, and that’ll decide how successful he is at enacting his agenda.

  • http://seattletransitblog.com Martin H. Duke

    Nickels had a really big governing coalition: greens, DSA types, developers, unions, really everyone but lesser Seattle people, NIMBYs, and a certain flavor of poverty activist.

    Of course McGinn’s going to represent at least part of that coalition: namely, greens and developers, since those go pretty well together to someone concerned about global warming and sprawl. We’ll see who else he can bring in to the tent, and that’ll decide how successful he is at enacting his agenda.

  • hmmmmm

    Quelle Surprise!

  • hmmmmm

    Quelle Surprise!

  • sarah68

    McGinn’s nickname shouldn’t be Franky, unless you mean he’s the creator of the monster instead of the monster.

  • sarah68

    McGinn’s nickname shouldn’t be Franky, unless you mean he’s the creator of the monster instead of the monster.

  • Mr. X

    @4,

    You forgot 75% of Seattle voters in your list of folks who didn’t support Nickels.

  • Mr. X

    @4,

    You forgot 75% of Seattle voters in your list of folks who didn’t support Nickels.

  • spink

    The Monster: For as long as I can remember people have hated me. They looked at my face and my body and they ran away in horror. In my loneliness I decided that if I could not inspire love, which is my deepest hope, I would instead cause fear. I live because this poor half-crazed genius, has given me life. He alone held an image of me as something beautiful and then, when it would have been easy enough to stay out of danger, he used his own body as a guinea pig to give me a calmer brain and a somewhat more sophisticated way of expressing myself.

    Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: This is a nice boy. This is a good boy. This is a mother’s angel. And I want the world to know once and for all, and without any shame, that we love him. I’m going to teach you. I’m going to show you how to walk, how to speak, how to move, how to think. Together, you and I are going to make the greatest single contribution to science since the creation of fire.

  • spink

    The Monster: For as long as I can remember people have hated me. They looked at my face and my body and they ran away in horror. In my loneliness I decided that if I could not inspire love, which is my deepest hope, I would instead cause fear. I live because this poor half-crazed genius, has given me life. He alone held an image of me as something beautiful and then, when it would have been easy enough to stay out of danger, he used his own body as a guinea pig to give me a calmer brain and a somewhat more sophisticated way of expressing myself.

    Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: This is a nice boy. This is a good boy. This is a mother’s angel. And I want the world to know once and for all, and without any shame, that we love him. I’m going to teach you. I’m going to show you how to walk, how to speak, how to move, how to think. Together, you and I are going to make the greatest single contribution to science since the creation of fire.

  • RyanP

    except McGinn won’t hire women.

  • RyanP

    except McGinn won’t hire women.

  • Raskin Flackers

    Jesus, heard McGinn on KUOW this afternoon- he’s switched his style from didactic to smug. He sure’s learned the politician’s art of verbosity w/o substance. Suppose now he’ll start combing his hair…

  • Raskin Flackers

    Jesus, heard McGinn on KUOW this afternoon- he’s switched his style from didactic to smug. He sure’s learned the politician’s art of verbosity w/o substance. Suppose now he’ll start combing his hair…

  • West Seattle Waiter

    make the bet now, McGinn will suffer the fate of the last two mayors and not make it out of the primary. he just doesn’t have it what it takes. and the media is waiting for that first and big gaffe that will put in the box for his entire term. the public has no idea who he is.

  • West Seattle Waiter

    make the bet now, McGinn will suffer the fate of the last two mayors and not make it out of the primary. he just doesn’t have it what it takes. and the media is waiting for that first and big gaffe that will put in the box for his entire term. the public has no idea who he is.

  • spink

    The voters removed Nickels from office, McGinn is just the little turd that was left over from the meal.

  • spink

    The voters removed Nickels from office, McGinn is just the little turd that was left over from the meal.

  • sarah68

    Remember who stood for the primary election? Nickels who people either (a) were tired of or (b) thought he had ruined the City. Jan Drago who obviously needed another job (didn’t matter what) in her retirement from the Council and wasn’t hired by the Chamber. A former basketball star. A T-Mobile guy whose employer wouldn’t say a thing about what he did there and hadn’t done anything else in Seattle. McGinn who had actually done some stuff in Seattle that people remembered, whether they liked it or not. I can’t remember the other candidates, if any. Final choice: Mallahan and McGinn. McGinn won by an underwhelming margin. Deal with it.

  • sarah68

    Remember who stood for the primary election? Nickels who people either (a) were tired of or (b) thought he had ruined the City. Jan Drago who obviously needed another job (didn’t matter what) in her retirement from the Council and wasn’t hired by the Chamber. A former basketball star. A T-Mobile guy whose employer wouldn’t say a thing about what he did there and hadn’t done anything else in Seattle. McGinn who had actually done some stuff in Seattle that people remembered, whether they liked it or not. I can’t remember the other candidates, if any. Final choice: Mallahan and McGinn. McGinn won by an underwhelming margin. Deal with it.

  • Wells

    I learned just how ‘impersonable’ Greg Nickels truly is in December of 2001, after winning the race, before taking office. That year and the year before, had given a few 2-minute testimonies at Sound Transit board meetings on which he sat, to voice support for building Link LRT to Seatac instead of the tunnel to UW which had busted its budget. Sound Transit took my advice but did my support earn appreciation from Nickels? Hardly.

    I happened to sit a few empty seats away from him that December at a Rail-volution Conference plenary in San Francisco. In the question period afterward, Greg raised his hand and asked the speaker, something like “How did you San Franciscans ‘get’ citizens to support taking down the Embarcadero Viaduct?” The two viaducts are nothing alike, so the question was more about public manipulation than any engineering aspect.

    Anyhow, by that time, WSDOT had submitted early AWV replacement tunnel proposals that were much too expensive to be taken seriously, and I had my own drawings of a cut-n-cover that is nearly the same as WSDOT’s 2008 Scenario ‘G’ cut/cover. After Nickels asked his question, I pulled out an 8×11 drawing and handed it to him saying “Here’s some AWV drawings you could look at.” He looked down his nose at me like I was a leper, squeemishly took the drawing between the dainty tip of his thumb and first finger, dropped it on the seat beside him like it was poisonous, and turned away without the least reply like I was a peon beneath his dignity. A few minutes later as the meeting broke up, I told him “I see you’re not interested in my work, so I’d like it back.” He handed the drawing back and said “Great” like he was glad to be done with me. What I’d done to deserve that sh*t, I don’t know. He’s a pig.

  • Wells

    I learned just how ‘impersonable’ Greg Nickels truly is in December of 2001, after winning the race, before taking office. That year and the year before, had given a few 2-minute testimonies at Sound Transit board meetings on which he sat, to voice support for building Link LRT to Seatac instead of the tunnel to UW which had busted its budget. Sound Transit took my advice but did my support earn appreciation from Nickels? Hardly.

    I happened to sit a few empty seats away from him that December at a Rail-volution Conference plenary in San Francisco. In the question period afterward, Greg raised his hand and asked the speaker, something like “How did you San Franciscans ‘get’ citizens to support taking down the Embarcadero Viaduct?” The two viaducts are nothing alike, so the question was more about public manipulation than any engineering aspect.

    Anyhow, by that time, WSDOT had submitted early AWV replacement tunnel proposals that were much too expensive to be taken seriously, and I had my own drawings of a cut-n-cover that is nearly the same as WSDOT’s 2008 Scenario ‘G’ cut/cover. After Nickels asked his question, I pulled out an 8×11 drawing and handed it to him saying “Here’s some AWV drawings you could look at.” He looked down his nose at me like I was a leper, squeemishly took the drawing between the dainty tip of his thumb and first finger, dropped it on the seat beside him like it was poisonous, and turned away without the least reply like I was a peon beneath his dignity. A few minutes later as the meeting broke up, I told him “I see you’re not interested in my work, so I’d like it back.” He handed the drawing back and said “Great” like he was glad to be done with me. What I’d done to deserve that sh*t, I don’t know. He’s a pig.

  • http://publicola.net/ Josh Feit

    @3,

    We’re not “just discovering” this, Alex.

    If you click on the links—especially the “McGinn-Vulcan connection” link—you’ll see that they’re all previous articles written by me or Erica.

    However, the public perception is that Nickels was tossed. And he was. But there’s a point to make here, that I don’t think people have fully considered, that McGinn is in sync with the Nickels agenda.

    In many ways, the movement that Nickels started in ’01—taking on the “Lesser Seattle” movement— has been formalized with the McGinn victory.

  • http://publicola.net/ Josh Feit

    @3,

    We’re not “just discovering” this, Alex.

    If you click on the links—especially the “McGinn-Vulcan connection” link—you’ll see that they’re all previous articles written by me or Erica.

    However, the public perception is that Nickels was tossed. And he was. But there’s a point to make here, that I don’t think people have fully considered, that McGinn is in sync with the Nickels agenda.

    In many ways, the movement that Nickels started in ’01—taking on the “Lesser Seattle” movement— has been formalized with the McGinn victory.

  • http://gomezticator.livejournal.com/tag/2009+election Gomez

    McGinn is really really over his head. Thats why you never see someone elected to an Executive role like this who never did anything before.

    Absolutely.

    Never happens.

    Not at all.

    As Thad Beyle noted in 2004, 14 percent of governors between 1981 and 2002 never actually existed!

  • http://gomezticator.livejournal.com/tag/2009+election Gomez

    McGinn is really really over his head. Thats why you never see someone elected to an Executive role like this who never did anything before.

    Absolutely.

    Never happens.

    Not at all.

    As Thad Beyle noted in 2004, 14 percent of governors between 1981 and 2002 never actually existed!

  • spink

    “Mike McGinn is Nickels’ Frankenstein monster”

    Josh I think you deserve to give yourself the quote of the week for that one. Spot on. We'll see how Franky does once he takes office, but I suspect it will be much like the Mary Shelley version, as much as I was hoping for some Marty Feldman comedy going into the new year.