Mike OBrien for City Council

The Seattle Times has a soft spot in their heads for anybody that opposes the SoDo arena, and will do anything, and I mean anything, to stop it.

Here, they endorse Albert Shen, why, what is their big selling point?
"Shen opposes putting a publicly subsidized basketball arena in Sodo,"

And why does the Seattle Times endorse Richard Conlin?
"He wisely opposed the proposed basketball arena in Sodo."

And why does the Seattle Times endorse Nick Licata?
"Like Conlin, Licata voted against the Sodo location for the proposed arena. Expect him to be a strong critic of the deal."

Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.com/text/2022022499.html

It's all about hating on the arena for the Seattle Times.
I'll vote for socialists before I vote for Conlin and Licata. I hate those two.

Conlin is locked into a failed idea that the city should not participate in ventures with for-profit companies all the while the Seattle Center's non-profit companies failed to pay rent, causing the city to "loan" the Seattle Center $3.5 million dollars to pay its bills. Wake up Richard, the vast plazas filled with non-profit "programming" killed the Seattle Center, and is the future death of the waterfront park.
He needs to go.

Licata straddles every fence until the politically safe vote is available for him to take.

Have a great day,
Mike Baker
Seattle, Wa

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Seattle Times Newspaper; Guest: Vote yes on Charter Amendment 19 to elect City Council members by district

This, in it's entirety, is the argument for Charter Amendment 19

By Faye Garneau and Julius Caesar Robinson Special to The Times

GOVERNMENT works best when it is closest to the people.

A yes vote on Charter Amendment 19 in the Nov. 5 election means you would have a Seattle City Council member living in, elected by and responsible for representing your area of Seattle. Instead of representing 617,000 people, as each does now, seven council members would represent 88,000 residents each and share deep knowledge of your community to the council.

The amendment is a simple proposal; it requires no new taxes to implement.

Currently, nine members are elected at large to represent the entire city. If Charter Amendment 19 passes, Seattle residents would elect seven council members from specific geographic districts and two council members to serve at large. This 7-2 hybrid system offers the best of both worlds — citywide and community-specific views at the table every day inside Seattle City Hall.

A yes vote on Charter Amendment 19 also guarantees that you would have at least one member of the Council working hard to make sure your community gets its fair share of resources, such as parks, community centers, pedestrian improvements, street repairs and public-safety resources.

It creates a balanced approach to Seattle governance. You would still be able to talk to all nine council members — that won't change. But when you have a problem, Charter Amendment 19 means you would have a specific member to call to help solve your community's problems.

Each Seattle City Council member now serves at-large, representing a city with a larger population than the states of Wyoming and Vermont.

It's an impossible task for at-large council members to know what concerns each neighborhood. It shows.

Ask any resident of any community in Seattle. He or she will likely tell you important needs are going unmet. In a recent SurveyUSA poll commissioned by KING 5, fewer than half of Seattle voters said City Hall is on the right track. It is far too difficult to get the council to pay attention to specific public-safety issues, sidewalks, traffic, badly worn streets, parks and community centers.

That is the reason all but three of the 50 most populated cities in the U.S. have district-based city council elections.

Districts make it easier for qualified candidates to run and the winners pay closer attention to regular voters once they are elected.

More than 45,000 Seattle voters signed Charter Amendment 19, placing the measure on the ballot to modernize how Seattle elects its council.

The district boundaries were created by University of Washington Professor Emeritus of Geography Richard Morrill to conform to state and federal laws. Each of the seven districts is equal in population and the boundaries follow geography as closely as possible.

The first elections under this system would be held in 2015. Just like our state and federal boundaries, these boundaries would be examined every 10 years to ensure their populations remained equal.

Charter Amendment 19 is a good-government proposal. Even though Republicans and Democrats agree on little these days, they do agree on Charter Amendment 19. Both parties in King County have endorsed it.

A yes vote ensures council members and future candidates will be more closely engaged with you, your neighbors and your community.

Faye Garneau is co-founder of the Aurora Merchants Association. Julius Caesar Robinson is a campaign organizer for Seattle Districts Now. Website: seattledistrictsnow.org

Guest: Vote yes on Charter Amendment 19 to elect City Council members by district | Seattle Times Newspaper

http://seattletimes.com/text/2022022508.html

Have a great day,

Mike Baker

Seattle, Wa

Follow me here:

http://manywordsforrain.blogspot.com/

@TweetMrBaker

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This is the Seattle Times Editorial Board in a nutshell, ever the arena opponent

This is the Seattle Times Editorial Board in a nutshell. Dow Constantine done a good job, "even in the eyes of his opponents", but somehow failed the Seattle Times on the SoDo arena.

The Port of Seattle and Bellevue developers dug a hole, and the Seattle Times jumped in with both feet. They keep falling because that's the only direction they know when it comes to the SoDo arena, and that's down.

Seattle Times Newspaper Editorial: Dow Constantine for King County Executive

Editorial: Dow Constantine for King County executive 

Tuesday, October 8, 2013 - Page updated at 05:30 p.m.

Dow Constantine deserves to be re-elected — and no doubt will be re-elected — as King County executive.

He has done a good job even in the eyes of many who voted for his opponent. He has been an able administrator of county government during a time of prolonged economic weakness.

Because of his success, nobody of stature has run against him. His opponent, Alan Lobdell, is a man who has never held political office and has raised almost no money.

Voters should stick with Constantine. He should realize, though, that the political system is letting him off easy. He needs to continue to push for more reforms and be careful with the county's expenses, particularly for personnel, even as the economy grows. He should also take a more skeptical view of proposals to build sports stadiums in places where they don't belong.

Seattle Times Newspaper Editorial: Dow Constantine for King County Executive

http://seattletimes.com/text/2021993866.html

Have a great day,

Mike Baker

Seattle, Wa

Follow me here:

http://manywordsforrain.blogspot.com/

@TweetMrBaker

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Publicola: Neumos Founder Says Meinert "Does Not Speak for" Nightlife Community (on Murray Endorsement)

Here is Dave Meinert's statement from Publicola's comments section. I underlined a broader complaint that some people have with Mike McGinn. The response from McGinn supporters usually is that McGinn's opponents lack specifics. I think Dave Meinert outlined his issues pretty well.

My issue is underlined. He is not an executive, he is an activist.

He could be both, as could any other person running for mayor of Seattle. But, he just can's deal with opposing views in an effective way, like an executive that deals with the entire city should do.

Meinert:

"A few things I want to respond to: 

1. I have never represented that I speak for the music community. No one does, as like every community, it exists of a multitude of individual voices. In this and the last Mayoral race, there are people on both sides (some nightlife leaders supported Mallahan last time around) However, 19 nightlife/ music community leaders came together and did a joint endorsement for Ed Murray. I speak only for myself, and I think, if you look at that list, you'll see 18 other very successful, intelligent, very independent people who would not want me speaking for them. Nor do they need me to. 

2. The folks endorsing Murray stated clearly that we appreciate the good work that McGinn did for the music community. We are not attempting to trash McGinn. We simply believe we should support the best candidate for all of Seattle, and that candidate is Ed Murray. 

3. I owned the Mirabeau Room with Jeff Steichen during the Nickels administration, and have booked and run venues, and worked with city and state government since 1992. 

4. I never 'attacked' my good friend John Roderick, nor have even commented on him to anyone. John and I speak regularly and spoke just after we both did interviews on this topic. Jerry's statement is purely 100% false. I would never attack anyone for supporting a position or candidate different that mine. We should all be able to express our opinions, and still be friends. I certainly hope this campaign doesn't change that. 

5. At least two liquor board members stated they did not pass the extended hours pilot because they did not believe the city was run well enough, especially the SPD. This was a direct critique of Mayor McGinn's inability to manage the city, and is a perfect example of why I feel we need a new Mayor. 

6. While Mayor McGinn has done some good, in fact, great, things for the music community, he failed to support our efforts to change or get rid of the Opportunity to Dance tax. He also botched an historic chance to reform the SPD, and has failed to come out with a plan for the waterfront redevelopment, the largest capital project this city has ever taken on, and one that is important the long term future of Seattle. The Mayor and his staff knew I was concerned about these issues when he announced his bid for re-election. Nothing he has done since changes my opinion on them. Ed Murray is better on these issues. The Mayor's response to a large number of high profile, active, music community leaders coming out to endorse his opponent is to try to make the music community look divided, and attack the people who endorsed his opponent. This in a nutshell is one of the the problems I have with the Mayor. His is truly divisive, and his campaign is mean spirited and dishonest. These tactics might make for a good activist, but they make for an ineffective government executive. 

End of the day, Jerry and I are friends, and I respect the hell out of him. He even helped me purchase my home. His statement here attacking me personally is bullshit though. And full of factual errors. But hey, we all have to shit sometime. PS - I love Kerri too, even if a year ago she did yell at me how she thought I was 'McGinn's boy" and that he was "ruining the city" because of his increasing the parking rates. But I guess we all have a right to change our minds!

Posted by Meinert about 1 hour Ago"

http://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-profiles/publicola/articles/mini-jolt-neumos-founder-says-october-2013

Yes,Mr. Meinert, we all have the right to change our minds. Good for you, and your reasons.

Some of us never changed our minds from 2009 that McGinn would not be a good executive.

Have a great day,

Mike Baker

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