We’ve Bolded the Ironic Parts

Josh, don't you think it would be appropriate to list what else was contained in the 2007 roads and transit measure? Your reporting here suggests that McGinn was primarily opposed to the South Park Bridge when he fought that measure. I doubt you believe that's the case. So, while it might diminish your “irony” to do so, seems good journalistic practice would require better analysis. No?

As much as you might want it to be, this is not an example of a politician saying one thing and doing another. You cite the ironic parts of that email as if the Roads and Transit measure was the only possible way to get funding for that bridge. I think McGinn points out in the non-ironic parts of the email how ridiculous that supposition would be.

His point in 2007 is that Roads and Transit was the wrong priority. His point today is that unnecessary mega-projects like the Deep Bore Tunnel are the wrong priority. Then, as now, he is correct.

FWIW: In 2007, as news editor at the Stranger, I helped push the paper to go with the McGinn position and come out against the initiative.

You're right that McGinn was against the 182 miles of roads projects (not just the S. Park bridge.)

That doesn't diminish the irony, though, now that he's mayor.

The point is that the Mayor didn't think of the bridge as being more important than driving the point home that roads and transit shouldn't be in the same package. And now he has the gall to come back to South Park and say: “Sorry I had to sacrifice you. It's not fair that it happens to poor communities. But, now I am here for you.”

The tunnel is a non-issue here. That money would have never gone to the South Park Bridge. The bridge's best, and likely last, opportunity for funding was the very bill that Mike McGinn so proudly killed. Sadly, South Park residents voted for him thinking that he was the good guy. There's irony.

Do you have any evidence that McGinn specifically opposed replacing the South Park bridge? I don't think I have ever heard anybody who opposed that portion of roads and transit.

You might have forgotten the irony of communicating by e-mail to a community that is largely low-income and english-as-a-second-language speakers. I suspect most of them don't use e-mail as their primary form of communication.
This compounds the fact that neither the Mayor nor anyone from his office attended the recent public meeting, where he might have been able to communicate his concern in a way that people could have heard it.

Unfortunately, voters didn't have the option of picking and choosing. You had to make a calculated call. McGinn made his.

This analysis of the Roads and Transit ballot measure is quite inadequate. The roads and transit measure included funding for (amongst other things) transit. Tomorrow when McGinn announces walk bike ride, will publicola talk about how it's “ironic” that McGinn supports transit yet worked to kill Roads and Transit? Of course you wouldn't run such a piece because you KNOW that McGinn opposed roads and transit because it funded a massive expansion of NEW roads. Why then are you feigning ignorance of this now?

Well said!

We only fund bridges for people coming over from Bellevue, and Redmond.

And, I mean the more northern part of Bellevue.

Also, Medina, Yarrow point, etc.

That South Park Bridge is for poorer people, and some of them are not even white.

But thank god we've eliminated racism and we have no class wars to fight in this nation.

Look, we let chix from NYC get on the supreme court even if they're not WASPS — as long as they show they won't rock the boat too much. This pretty much satisfies the “left” in this nation.

Repeat after me:
Harvard; Yale. Harvard; Yale. Harvard, Yale.

And Harvard.

See how diverse we can be?

Josh: I see that in the comments you acknowledge this. You also say “Unfortunately, voters didn't have the option of picking and choosing. You had to make a calculated call. McGinn made his.” I don't see why the blame for the South Park bridge closure falls on McGinn or even the voters since you say “voters didn't have the option of picking and choosing”. Well, the backers of roads and transit DID have the option of picking and choosing what was and wasn't on the ballot measure. Why is it not the fault of the drafters and backers of roads and transit that they included so many objectionable items along with the South Park Bridge? It seems like you're really reaching.

The City of Seattle actively worked against the County's Tiger stimulus application to save the South Park Bridge. They pushed Mercer instead and did everything they could to hurt King County's application. That was the former administartion but McGinn has supported Mercer.

I don't get it. I look at a satellite image of the area and the 1st avenue bridge is a really good subsititute for getting across the Duwamish from the South Park neighborhood. If you believe Google Maps and their trip calculator, it looks like the time difference between the two would be negligible in free-flowing traffic and perhaps an extra 15 minutes at the heaviest of traffic. That would only be a problem for the sort of business that has to cross the bridge multiple times a day. Most residents don't have to do that. I don't see why this bridge is necessary and if the County can't afford to replace it so be it. The City can't and shouldn't interefere.

The irony is that McGinn before he was Mayor hated spending money on roads and vehemently contested those who tried to do so. Now he's in the position of looking for money for a road that isn't the City's responsibility and by the looks of it isn't that vital to our transportation network.

Dear Mayor McGinn. You're right. You're so right. The tunnel is bad. Cars are bad. Bikes are good. Transit is good. And if you weren't such an arrogant ass, electeds might listen to you. However, the best you can hope for now is an “I told you so” twenty or thirty years down the road.

This is no more ironic than McGinn pushing for light rail expansion after helping kill roads and transit. But you would never write a piece that suggested he opposed light rail. Your article (and your first comment) strongly suggest that he opposed replacing the South Park bridge.

This is ridiculous. He sent an email to people who have email. Should he NOT send email to people who have email?

Stay tuned for Stupor McGinn's out of the box solution: inflatable rubber duckies for ever citizen of South Park so they can swim across the Duwamish.

Rejecting Roads and Transit wasn't about making some sort of abstract point, it was about stopping a massive expansion of new roads. New roads that would exacerbate sprawl and global warming. New roads that would compete with existing roads for maintenance and repair. Why not blame the roads and transit backers for cynically including the south park bridge replacement in the package in order to push their real agenda of road expansion?

This is very clearly an environmental justice issue. Most voters in Seattle who speak up, live north of I-90 and see Mercer as a project that helps something they see on a daily basis. Most of these people have likely never been to South Park unless they were lost. The people who live South of I-90 tend to speak English less, vote less, and will otherwise be more likely to be unplugged from the process.

What units are irony measured in these days? It remains ironic that McGinn actively campaigned against a bill *however flawed* that killed a sub-project which he later laments a lack of funding for. Josh is right in pointing out this irony. If you-all want to quibble over the foul political sausage of funding transportation over the large and rancorous king county region, then I humbly suggest that you write and submit an guest editorial. (which I suppose is effectively what the comment section has become)

The real irony is that every one of those “objectionable” roads will be built eventually, and that you are powerless to stop them.

In the meantime, McGinn is not immune, nor should he be, to any political fallout from the effects of his political actions. It's called the Law of Unintended Consequences, and it applies to McGinn, to Obama, to me, to you, and to the man in the moon.

The problem of road maintenance vs “new and bigger” roads is not specific to South Park or Seattle or Washington State. USPIRG just released a detailed report “Road Work Ahead” on this national problem:
http://www.uspirg.org/fix-it-first-2010

Basically the game is rigged due to funding sources. Unless something changes we'll be soon be talking about the poor condition of the Aurora Bridge, Ship Canal Bridge, etc and the only option will be full replacement with new bridges instead of maintaining what we have.

“will be built eventually” uses the passive voice to obscure that if they are built it will be because people (specifically politicians) CHOOSE to build them. If this happens it won't be ironic, it will be tragic.

Hi all,

RTID was the wrong direction since it funded roads with a non-user fee. The solution is simple: the DoT should adopt a new policy of maintenance-first, with big new projects second if the money is available.

McGinn may or may not be “arrogant,” I have no idea. Most of us regular folk don't meet and talk to these people personally. What matters to me is his positions, and here again he's on the money.

Thanks,

jazzerciser

I'd say Kemper Freeman and friends led the fight against the Roads and Transit measure.

Please substantiate your claim that the City “actively worked against” the County's application to save the South Park Bridge. In fact, in response to a request from the South Park neighborhood, the City Council sent a letter advocating for the SP Bridge replacement with Tiger stimulus funds, much to Vulcan's consternation which was concerned that doing so would send mixed messages about the City's/County's priorities.

Good point, but we must understand that 520 is a state highway and I-90 is funded by the state and federal government; very different from a county or city bridge.

The 2007 initiative was a regional transit initiative, which I guess makes me question, why should I in Everett be paying for a city bridge in Seattle when our own bridges are in dire need for repair?

I agree with Chris G. that the top two primary limits the Tea Party's chances in Washington State. Certainly, we're not as likely to get an Ellen Craswell in the general election. The reason is that with the top 2 system, you get lots of cross over votes, and that favors candidates that are positioned close to the middle of the political spectrum over those on the fringes (like Craswell). But in primaries, like this year's for US Senate, where one candidate is a solid Democratic incumbant, Dems, and plenty of independents, will be solidly behind and will cast their ballots for Murray. This leaves Republicans to fuck themselves by nominating a Benton or Didier, either of whom may 'excite' Tea Partiers and ride the wave to the general election (where they'll get blown away).

How many of those other funding attempts did McGinn use in his campaign ads?

Did he lead the killing the RT vote, or not?
Did he then champion a rail measure, or a rails and bridges measure?

Lookout hair, here comes some more splitting!

Should he communicate to all of the people, do all of the people utilize that mode, did he make the best choice of coomincative modes?

There is this thing called the Digital Divide. The haves and haven'ts.

Maybe he should have sent out a Tweet, or updated his Facebook status.

Maybe Publicola will do a rags to riches story of onetime McGinn staff hopeful Craig Benjamin. How he went from working in the budget to working on the budget.

Meanwhile Lobbyist for Gentrification proposes a footbridge, for walkers only, making David Hiller angry.

Wah, wah, wahhhhhhh

Mr. Baker, it doesn't appear that you are addressing my point. Perhaps I was not clear. McGinn sending email to people who have email does not harm people who do not have email any more than King County posting information on its website harms people without web access. Public officials should certainly make a strong effort to communicate via non-digital means but this does not mean they should abstain from all digital technology. Politicians failing to communicate non-digitally is a problem that won't be solved by failing to communicate digitally as well.

That story can not be done without a complete public disclosure of the finances and managing parties behind the Streets for All Seattle campaign, which exists in a strange regulatory place the City's laws don't address.

Actually, it DOES diminish the irony. In fact, by its very nature, it diminishes the irony to non-existance. Voting 'no' on 182 miles of roads projects and killing a funding source for 2 miles of roads and then expressing regret that the county and federal funding sources didn't come through is not ironic, just unfortunate that an important bridge project can't go through. Sad, not ironic.

Has any Seattle politician in recent memory communicated in a more grass-roots way than McGinn? He's been out among the people more than anyone I've ever seen.

Right?

I don't understand why McGinn either doesn't understand, or deliberately misuses this event to take feeble jab at WSDOT.
This is a failure of King County to not allocate, or program funds to manage their inventory of public infrastructure.

Sure, now Mercer gets a TIGER grant, and the State has allocated funds towards the facilities it is responsible for, but all McGinn can do is use this unfortunate situation as a platform to advance his own agenda.

The party that deserves the greatest criticism is King County, for not adequately addressing their own brige. Was it possible that additional, prudent maintanance could have extended the lifespan of this structure? I can't say. But I can say that the condition of this bridge should be no surprise to anybody, and if its a County bridge, then they should have had financial plans in place to replace it.

The County knew this bridge needed to be replaced long before the State even got to a decision on the waterfront, or SR 520.

McGinn should be ashamed to advance his agenda via a phony public sympathy letter to our neighbor to the south.

The County dropped the ball on this. Period.

I just listened to the mayor on kuow increase by 50% the cost overruns for the tunnel. He, again, included the 415 million in Risk and Inflation in his political guess.

Risk is consumed or not. It is not doubled.
I guess he is “telling the truth, as I see it”, McGinn, the last thing he said on kuow Weekday today.

It is not an either/or proposition. It is an “and” proposition. Did he reach the people with email AND those without?
People that do not have email might want communication as well.
It is not a question of harm, but of effective communication with the masses.

You do know he has proposed a broadband effort for some strange reason.

Hopefully he was out among the people that do not have email, giving his message in a different mode.

Right?

agreed

Oh, the tragedy! ROADS will be built! Spare me your drama queen shit. The state's population is supposed to grow by what, 25 percent? Maybe YOU expect all those people to ride bicycles everywhere. Responsible people don't.

Ivan…we have 175,000 lane miles of Road in Washington, and we have unbuilt capacity along much of that roadway that can be used before there's a need to build out additional roads infrastructure.

We struggle to maintain the roads we have, and those very roads dry up most additional resources to build out alternate forms of transportation.

Your quip about riding bikes is ridiculous. It is time we actually put a priority on building out transit in this region; it will only happen if we prioritize it over roads at some point.

Responsible people realize that somewhere, at some point, you can't continue to induce single-occupancy vehicle growth without overtaxing our ability to accommodate those vehicles. At some point, whether now or in the future, we'll need solid mass transit systems to relieve congestion on the roads.

Well, I would point out this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_global_…
and this:
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/planning/wtp/datalibrar…
and this:
http://www.completestreets.org/news/transportat…

I would also like to pointed out that “build more roads” and “everyone rides bicycle” is a false duality and that dense walkable communities with efficient mass transit are much more responsible than endless sprawl.

It seems to me like McGinn isn't helping to solve any problems with this e-mail. He deserves to be dinged for his selective descriptions of the road and transit ballot, which was the last best chance to replace the South Park Bridge. He even bashes the PSRC for including road projects voters rejected in 2008, not the transit projects that were also rejected. You can't have things both ways.

How much money is McGinn going to come up with for a new South Park Bridge? Where does he propose to find the money?

The smart money is on Dow. He'll work well with others to find the money and get something. Meanwhile McGinn will still be fighting a long ago campaign.

Or maybe he just has a really dumb or really inexperienced staff writing this stuff.

It would be a good piece of reporting to find out from people in the know whether McGinn is helping or hurting when it comes to fixing the South Park problem. Looks to me like he grandstanding and wasting time starting fights when what's needed is working together.

How dumb is that?

I don't understand why Mayor McGinn only sees the parts of truth that he agrees with. He doesn't seem to see the big picture or face facts he doesn't agree with.

That's a fatally flawed way to be. Why doesn't the news media call him on the carpet for these repeat instances of the Mayor only seeing parts of the truth?

Mayor McGinn's relationship with the truth reminds me of the tactics used by Soviet Communist operatives behind the Iron Curtain. The problem seems to be more serious than anyone in the news media is treating it.

The county asked for way too much money for that Tiger grant. It was never going to get the money. The county wanted $99 million for South Park – the whole state got something like $60 million, which was a lot considering our size.

There's no evidence the City worked against South Park. It wasn't as ready and it took too much.

Is that why Ron Sims didn't do anything about this during his entire time at King County? It is a County bridge. Ron Sims obviously didn't make it a priority.

Thank goodness Dow has.

Would you say this if the bridge connected Wallingford to the U District? Or Belltown to South Lake Union?

The reality that can't be seen from satellite photos is that the bridge is the lifeline of the community. All of South Park's businesses are on that arterial.

I agree. I think they would too.

But I also recall the campaign against it from the left, including McGinn, who opposed light rail to Tacoma and weren't thrilled with light rail to the East side.

There were bascially three reasons for people to vote against roads and transit: no more roads, no more light rail, or no more sales taxes.

“Soviet Communist operatives behind the Iron Curtain?” Really? Really? I know the publicola comment threads are the home of anti-McGinn hyperbole, but this one might actually just go to far.

If you want to find a politician with a tenuous relationship to the truth, take a look at Gregoire on cost overruns: “We intend to bring the project in on time and on budget.” (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews…)

If you want to find a politician without a real view of the big picture, check out Richard Conlin: spearheading two major freeway projects while holding meetings about carbon neutrality.

I support all mass transit measures, and I always have. But not everybody wants to live in a dense walkable community. They're not going to do it because you wish it so. They will have their space around them, and they will have their roads, and you can't stop it.

I think Timothy was talking about him being out in person, which is indeed a different mode than email.

Two major safety projects. One decreases current capacity, the other adds HOV and bike/ped capacity. It's not like we're adding a new I-5 — we're simply being responsible.

Like 100 comments and nobody calls out the bigass error in McGinn's email?

“This is an ongoing issue – cities and counties have aging infrastructure and have not been given the means to keep up with basic maintenance. “

Yes, they have. It is called an IMPACT FEE and almost every other jurisdiction in the greater Puget Sound area uses them but Seattle. IMPACT FEES pay for new construction to deal with Growth Management concurrency.

Then things like Bridging the Gap can be used (as it was originally promised) for repairs and sidewalks.

This all ignores the fact this bridge has been falling down for a decade and Sims blew it off figuring Seattle would pick up the tab in the end. Hooray for Drago and McIver who consistently refused to allow Seattle taxpayers to be stuck with the bill.

Embarassing to have this guy as Mayor.

Have we yet figured out the difference between McGinn and Mallahan?

Joe knew what he didn't know, and as an experienced manager would have found the right people to fill that knowledge gap.

Mike thinks he and his little new urbanist crew knows everything. No need to hire experts, just hire friends with the same world view and Town Meeting your way to the rest of it. Mike has no managerial experience that matters — the Great City Sycophant's Club doesn't count.

What. A. Joke.

According to WSDOT's road signs their projects' goals are to “reduce congestion and improve safety”. Building more roads to cure congestion is like loosening your belt to cure obesity. It is not responsible by any stretch of the imagination.

And Conlin's carbon neutrality dreams are the definition of grandstanding. When is he going to lay out his “thousand points of light” plan to make Seattle carbon neutral?

Maybe they can “Walk, Bike or Ride” around the closed bridge… Oh, that's Tuesday's announcement.

What really speaks volumes about the priorities of the people chosen to represent us is SDOT's pursuit of a $300,000,000 beautification project for just six blocks of Mercer Street in SLU, the neighborhood that is Paul Allen's tinker toy set. I realize this project got rolling under Mayor Jowly, but in this time of severe budget problems it speaks volumes that we recently built the SLUT and now we are putting lipstick on the pig that is Mercer Street to make it pretty for one of the wealthiest men in the world.

Seattle has held annexation of White Center and South Park because these areas have zero potential to become tax base cash cows for Seattle. For McGinn to chide people in unincorporated King County because of shortcomings in THEIR elected officials, and the fact that King County's grant application for federal stimulus funding to repair the South Park Bridge was outcompeted by SDOT's grant app for Mercer Street is the height of hypocrisy.

The Mayor's office had a one pager talking about how the South Park Bridge project was not shovel ready and did not compare to Mercer. It was a last desperate push for Mercer funding. 3 council members signed on the the County project but did so against the wishes of the Mayor's office.

RunnyBunny, Would it surprise you to hear that a majority of South Parkers voted against the New Roads & Transit bond package? Maybe people realized it was not a sustainable plan, in that it didn't provide for long-term maintenance of all these new roads.

Does that mean most South Parkers oppose replacing the bridge?

A better example of irony is when Executive Constantine sent word to a South Park Bridge Closure Plan hearing that, now that he is Executive, replacing the bridge is now a priority for him. (as opposed to when he was the county councilmember representing the district that includes the bridge?)

Now that's an ironic statement. He sure made it a priority when he was the county council member representing South Park. Not.

Those who express an entitlement to government-provided jobs in their first choice of career (I'm talking about the Building and Trades Council) sure are ironic when labeling someone whose policies they disagree with as “arrogant”. The ugliness and foul-mouthedness of McGinn's haters, and inability to make coherent points as to why his policies don't make sense sure make the mayor like he is doing an excellent job.

It may be unpopular, but the county needs to consider the option of tolling the new South Park Bridge. More specifically, make the inner lanes SOV/toll and the outer lanes (where the buses need to be) HOV/freight.

Right now, there are no plans for HOV lanes on the bridge. That should change, and would be a necessary component to enabling tolling.

In the meantime, could we please have a foot ferry, paddleboats, kayaks, or something? For those of us South Parkers who don't drive, the closure of the bridge is a much larger impact to our access to surrounding neighborhoods than it is to drivers.

Try walking out of South Park. If you dare. The foot portion of the 1st Ave Bridge can't be found from the north end, because it starts in the middle of a junk yard. Crossing the 14th Ave Bridge to Boulevard Park requires daylight and the agility to jump into a ditch when there is oncoming traffic. Climbing the hill to Roxbury should only be attempted in broad daylight on a dry day, and only by the fleet of foot. Ditto with climbing the hill to Highland Park. As for getting to Boeing, that will either be a swim or a long bus ride.

Kindergarten taunts of Mayor McGinn, with no in-depth policy analysis. What. A. Joke.

Perhaps it goes too far. But the observation is not original. It comes from a Polish friend in Ballard who lived through distortions communist Poland. Half truths and distortions were one hallmark of Soviet regimes. We get a lot of the same from McGinn.

On Gregoire: do you think she's not telling the truth in stating the state's intent to bring the project in on budget? On Conlin: is he spearheading two major freeway projects? Come on. You must have bought into the McGinn-think.

Would someone please answer this question: How does McGinn help fix the South Park Bridge by dragging it through the mud pit he's made on 520 and the Viaduct? Whomever wrote this e-mail for him is doing more harm than good for South Park and making more enemies for the Mayor, which is drop dead dumb.

Dow got the South Park Bridge in to the Roads & Transit proposal. He made it a priority. What has McGinn done for South Park? Nothing.

It would surprise me if you could substantiate your claim. Produce facts, not your opinion.

McGinn's apologists will jump through any hoop to absolve him of any responsibility for any of his actions. Isn't that clear by now?

I don't know whether or not South Park approved RTID, but the precinct level results are here:
http://your.kingcounty.gov/elections/canvass/20…

However, from this precinct map it looks like less just than 50% for the 2008 ST2:
http://seattletransitblog.com/2008/12/08/prop-1…

Woah, what? The 520 doesn't start and stop in SEATTLE? Wow, from all the reporting on it, and what McG thinks, and what McG wants and what the SEATTLE City Council thinks and what the SEATTLE City Council wants I was positive that that bridge only served SEATTLEites, since their opinions are the only ones that apparently matter…

Guess its too far of a drive though, to get to the “other side.”

Maybe he has.

But what's he saying.

He used this e-mail to drag the South Park Bridge through the mud of the Viaduct and 520 he's made. People in South Park ought to be outraged about that.

Looks to me like King County is finally treating the bridge as a priority. It has had the money to fix the bridge, but the county decided to spend it on other things for a decade.

If McGinn were really working with other governments on a solution, he wouldn't be bashing all of them needlessly. He's becoming a skunk at a picnic. Smells, drives people away from his causes, and generally gets nothing done.

McGinn's obstructionist position on the 2007 roads measure was the first piece of evidence that he was unqualified to run for mayor. As for the Stranger, I read it for entertainment not election endorsements or public policy.

The majority of the “roads” portion of the 2007 “roads + transit” measure was for hugely expensive and unneeded road projects. There were some good projects like the South Park Bridge, but there were plenty of bad projects like the cross-base highway or I-405 widening.

If you don't have a car, 1st Ave is too far away to serve you

Impact fees in the urban areas where you want people to live only encourage sprawl development and increase long-term infrastructure costs. Irrational.

Why the hell would Seattle annex only to be responsible for the bridge? If you think that makes any sense, I have one in Brooklyn to sell you.

There's a marina there that will be affected – I wonder if they can start a foot ferry service?

Um, maybe because some of us in Seattle understand that fixing SR2 from I-5 to Sultan (and doing the necessary interchange work on city-owned property in Everett, Monroe, etc) matters too?

Fuck Google Maps – try driving down there on a number of different days during the AM and PM commutes like the people who rely on it (preferably to places you actually need to get to in a timely manner) and then you can pontificate about how easily they can do without it.

You do know that South Park – the community that most relies on this bridge – is in Seattle, don't you?

And you wouldn't want to make David Hillier angry – mild mannered activist types who disagree with elements of the bike agenda get pushed at campaign events in bars when David Hillier gets angry.

And I'm sure the usual suspects will be trying to argue how easily the rest of us can get by without those “new roads” too.

Nonsense. If urban areas are so desirable to develop in, developers ought to pay the freight for the impact they have pn existing infrastructure just like they do in other cities. Since when do GMA principles (including concurrency) not apply in Seattle?