This post has been updated with a clarification on McGinn’s push for green jobs.
Earlier today I linked a PI story about yesterday’s labor rally at Westlake Center where Mayor Mike McGinn was booed by building trades union members for his positions on 520 and the waterfront tunnel (re-work the 520 plan for rapid tranist, ie light rail, and Nope on the tunnel, respectively.)
Mayor Mike McGinn, Photo by Josh Feit
I called McGinn this morning to get his reaction to the less-than-friendly reception, and he called back this afternoon to have his say.
“We know from the campaign that the building trades are critical of my positions on the viaduct and 520,” McGinn said. “And despite the potential for cost overruns, they’re going to push hard for those projects. There was nothing surprising about that. Look, I’ve got a position about cost overruns on the viaduct, and I’m going to stick to that position. And I want to see a plan for light rail on 520, and I’m going to stick to that.”
McGinn reiterated that his “most important” priority is jobs, and he’s pushing several projects that he thinks the unions should be psyched about:
The $250 million seawall; the $125 million First Hill Street Car project; the $400 million broadband build out; and the $200 million Mercer fix.
On the green jobs front, “creating jobs for plumbers, pipe fitters, and HVAC workers,” McGinn noted an energy efficiency disclosure ordinance for commercial buildings that he recently signed and an internal effort at the city to find retrofit opportunities in municipal buildings (to be funded by the savings from energy savings.)
And there’s the McGinn plan to put light rail on the ballot next year.
“These will get people working a lot faster than the 520 project will,” McGinn said. “We need to make investments in infrastructure that we can pay for.”
