On September 10th, the Seattle Chamber of Commerce hosted a debate between the two candidates for Mayor of Seattle, Joe Mallahan and Mike McGinn. There were about 375 people in attendance and it was streamed on the net and shown on the Seattle Channel but beyond that, I suspect very few voters took the opportunity to watch it. Fortunately, it is still on the web. The whole debate lasts one hour and seventeen minutes including much too long introductory comments by the host and the moderator, which you can skip with no loss. Click here to view the debate.
On a question about jobs, both candidates seemed to say jobs are created by business but Seattle government should provide a competitive advantage that both supports current business and attracts new companies. McGinn talked about a city that works by fostering affordable housing, great (mass) transportation, great schools and investing in the future (fiber optic cable). Mallahan wants to move Seattle forward by creating an effective transportation system, good quality of life (public safety), efficient and effective management so we'd have the funds to pursue Seattle's "progressive values" of "social justice and environmental stewardship." They both supported developer-community agreements prior to launching a project to avoid contentious disputes but both also hinted that they favored a requirement for developers to use union labor as part of such agreements. McGinn favored a city takeover of schools. Mallahan felt the city had enough to do without adding responsibility for the school system They spared over the tunnel replacement for the Alaskan Way Viaduct with McGinn calling it a $930 billion dollar "tax increase" with the city being responsible for the inevitable cost overrun. Mallahan called McGinn's opposition to the tunnel "disingenuous" saying we have spent eight years coming to stakeholder agreement on the tunnel solution and we need to get started for safety reasons as well as transportation improvement.
If all I had to go on was this debate, I'd say be prepared for His Honor Michael McGinn. If Joe Mallahan wants the "His Honor" title, he needs to quickly hone and sharpen his talking points, clearly define his differences with McGinn and demonstrate he understands the issues in depth.
Posted by warrenpeterson at September 14, 2009 03:46 PM | Email ThisNo, I really don't trust Mallahan to be in charge. Frankly, I don't trust either of them. But, Mallahan seems to embrace more runaway spending and taxing than McGinn. Wanting to go forward with the Tunnel, would be an example. These are declining economic times with less revenue returns for government and Mallahan wants to increase spending and debt. The Viaduct is stable and will be for a good many years and is handling the traffic adequately and along with the declining employment, the traffic is going to be even less. Yet, Mallahan wants to quickly push forward with the tunnel with all its debt and increase taxes which we, at this time, can ill afford.
When Seattle farts, all of Puget Sound smells it.
This election pits a practical man vs. a Sierra Club environmental attorney for the next mayor of Puget Sound.
The Sierra Club has succeeded in creating land management policy and preventing access on all public lands.
Now they are poised to control the land management in your BACK YARDS if McGinn is elected mayor of Puget Sound.
I don't think I'm being silly to suggest that McGinn City will decide that property owners must:
Remove non-native ground covers at their own expense.
Lose more street surface to our 9,000 bicycle commuters.
Be prevented from removing a tree that could crush your house, or be required to hire an arborist to maintain the health of your "legacy tree or rhododendron" should one be on your property.
Pay for the salaries of the Legacy Botany Committee.
Pay a higher tax for purchase of a gas powered lawn mower.
Pay a salmon restoration tax for gasoline vehicles and yard nutrients.
I haven't even imagined the policy that McGinn's minions will create that will drive me out of my skull.
I say vote for a guy like Mallahan who creates rather than prevents.
I think you have Mallahan mixed up with McGinn other than on the tunnel.
The tunnel is moot. It's not going to get built.
Keep McGinn out of a city job and let him go back to Earth First and work on that issue via the Sierra Club. That would be the best use of McGinn in the future.
The earthquake that will pancake the viaduct will bring the Mayor's Office right down to street level.
I'd rather be on the viaduct that day than on a downtown sidewalk.
If we are too queezy about the potential loss of life during pancake day, then lets do a retro-fit to pre-assuage our future guilt.
Thank God I don't live there...
Posted by: KDS on September 15, 2009 08:07 PMWhat does it mean to be a conservative if conservatives keep exempting certain types of bureaucratic projects from the normal conservative critique?
Current-day conservativism is sweet on certain types of bureaucratic mega projects: those that involve guns & invading foreign countries, and anything that lays concrete down for somebody to drive an SUV on.
I hate the tree ordinance also and don't like my own dear env. movement's love of command-and-control methods, but that stuff is mostly penny ante compared to the BIG DIG that will get rammed down our throats and then we in Seattle will have to pay for under Mallahan.
Go McGinn, I'm getting out the checkbook.
Thanks all,
new left conservative 1
Posted by: new left conservative 1 on September 15, 2009 09:11 PM