Seattle Times Newspaper's Danny Westneat: Digging into Seattle's century-old debate

Seattle, vote Yes on Referendum 1.

In 1904, the Great Northern Tunnel, although not the longest, was the highest, 28 feet, and widest, 30 feet, in the United States. The finished tunnel was lighted by electricity, well ventilated and large enough to accommodate a double line of tracks. In constructing the tunnel, $1,000,000 was spent on labor alone and $500,000 was spent for materials and other costs. The tunnel was intended for use by both the Great Northern and the Northern Pacific Railroads, who split the cost of construction.
Historylink.org

Today, in the Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat points out that we have a tunnel already, it is 100 years old, and was constructed to reduce traffic congestion.
I think it is odd that a journalist has to point something out to the anti-tunnel folks, including the mayor.

In part, here is Danny Wesrtneat:

Mayor Mike McGinn mostly opposes digging a tunnel for financial and environmental reasons, but he has also called the project "unacceptably risky." He cited how it will be dug through "extreme soil conditions" beneath a major American city.

But nobody ever seems to mention that we already have a tunnel down there. It was dug through these same soils. It's no minor tube, either. It's a mile long and 30 feet in diameter (enough room for two train ways). In places, it is 140 feet below the surface.

And here's the thing that gets me: They dug it by hand.

In April 1903, "an army of 350 workers with pickaxes, shovels and wheelbarrows began digging into the hillside" at the foot of Virginia Street, according to theSeattle history website historylink.org.

The Great Northern Tunnel is smaller — it's 60 percent of the length of today's proposed 1.7 mile-long tunnel, and only about half as wide. Still, at the time it was the largest train tunnel ever attempted (again — sound familiar?). Yet it took two work crews digging from opposite ends only 17 months to chisel the entire thing out by hand.

That's about the time it takes us to convene an advisory commission.

According to newspaper reports at the time, incessant water seepage hampered work, as did soil cave-ins, boulders and the discovery of a prehistoric forest. Yet the entire project cost only $1.5 million. Plus it's still in heavy use 108 years later. The last earthquake, in 2001, didn't crack it or move it an inch.

In today's dollars, the old train tunnel cost about $40 million — fifty times less than what we're projected to pay for the new tunnel.

"I don't think that train tunnel has ever missed a day of service," says Ron Paananen, manager of the state's team planning the current tunnel. "It changed the face of Seattle, and it doesn't get a lot of notice."

How can we be so freaked out by something when we did a version of the same thing more than a hundred years ago?

Danny Westneat | Digging into Seattle's century-old debate | Seattle Times Newspaper

I have mentioned it, many times, and so the joke goes like this:
1 hundred years ago, hundreds of pickaxes, hundreds of men, 10's of jackasses, were used to build the tunnel we already have.
Now we have 1 machine, hundreds of men and women, and 1 jackass - Mike McGinn, will be used to build this tunnel.

McGinn, 1 hour and 23 minutes, never said "tunnel"

Tonight I was at Seattle's Bitter Lake Community Center. It was, more or less, retail politics. The Q & A with the Mayor Mike McGinn was literally and figuratively pedestrian. Northeast Seattle is where the sidewalks end, and open rainwater ditched are more common than sidewalks, and we've noticed.

After 1 hour and 23 minutes of Q & A the mayor was not asked about the Alaskan Way Viaduct, the Tunnel Option, the impending vote on the city council's mechanics of expressing approval, and McGinn did not offer any. It might have helped that media people were not asking the questions, and we are in the "other" Seattle, far, far away from downtown.

At one point I could see how somebody could actually vote for him, but it was a fleeting moment, temporary, like the temporary break from Tunnel talk for much more simple topics, actual needs.

On July 1st the city will start putting a mechanical boot on vehicles that have 4 or more outstanding parking tickets. That is a great idea, unless you live in your car, with your kids, and that is your home. When staffers that leave to work on campaigns against the tunnel i am convinced that their time and your energy could have your efforts better spent on things your are actually responsible for, that you have some direct control over.

No public official can come to northeast Seattle without getting asked about sidewalks.
Well?

Mike McGinn keeps getting asked about licenses on bicycles. He says that implementing a licensing scheme would actually cost more than the revenue it would actually collect. I have tried to explain this to my cat, she must have a license, and bicyclists must not. But finally, the mayor quipped that he might consider a bicycle license of some kind just so people would stop asking about it.
Well, meow?

A fleeting moment, I am sure.

Dow Constantine had the Best Year of Any Local Politician

There have been a few "Year in Review", or "2011 Predictions" made in the local media that curiously show Dow Constantine's picture and then their story runs off to the Seattle mayor and other local issues (yes, the mayor is treated as an issue).

I suppose it is implied that the King County Executive had a good year while some of the stories rehash the City of Seattle Executive's public conflicts. I know that it is not an exciting story, having to ask all of your county employees to give up pay to help balance the county budget.
It isn't as exciting as, say, having the new mayor grilled by the city council (so, no follow-up meeting?)

Well, the list of accomplishments is worth repeating linked here, listed below.

Full funding for the long-awaited replacement of the South Park Bridge, in collaboration with federal, state and local leaders.
Federal funding for long-term interim repair of the ailing Howard Hanson Dam to reduce the flood risk in the Green River Valley, in collaboration with federal, state and local leaders.
A regional partnership with cities on a new model for animal services.
A regional partnership with cities on jail planning, to avoid unnecessary construction of new city jails.
A consensus with regional leaders on reforms in theprovision of Metro bus service.
The purchase of 250 acres of Maury Island, including a mile of shoreline, that completes the Executive's 12-year effort to preserve the longest remaining undeveloped Puget Sound shoreline in King County.
Completion and adoption of the first-ever countywide strategic plan.
Completion of the first phase of an upgrade to the County's human resources business processes, replacing manual practices from the 1970's with more efficient automated workflows that provide critical access to real-time data.
Creation of a new County energy policy to achieve even greater energy efficiency, reduce operational costs, and curtail greenhouse gas emissions.
Reform of DDES permitting to a fixed fee model rather than hourly rates, and creation of a customer service unit for rural owners.
Adoption of a new King County budget, one week ahead of schedule, achieved several of the Executive's goals by:
Consolidating his effort to put County government back on sound financial footing by creating annual efficiencies of three percent, leading to budgets that will be sustainable over time,
Sticking to his principle of maintaining reserves without resorting to one-time gimmicks,
Working with more than 90-percent of the County's employees to preserve services to the public by forgoing a cost-of-living adjustment for next year, and
Preserving the principle of restoring services, to the extent possible, in those areas where employees have sacrificed their COLA.

The county is bleeding money, fact.
Without major changes in local tax structure the county, including Metro bus service, will see major cuts in every budget going foreword, fact.
The state legislature has resisted action to help the county because of the many budget problems the county has failed to begin to address in the past, fact.
This year the county pulled together to seriously begin to address major budget issues, including demonstrating leadership by example (except the King County Sheriff Deputies, and their shameless County Council weasel Reagan Dunn), fact.

So, with that I will state, Dow Constantine had the Best Year of Any Local Politician

Is Mike McGinn one-and-done, no matter what he does?

Is Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn in a no-win situation? Is he the man who replaced the man, Greg Nickels, and that's it?

He has only been mayor for 6 months and 10 days (but who is counting), but he is having to make cuts. Next year it will be even more cuts, the year after that his claim to fence straddling fame, the deep bore tunnel replacement for the Alaskan Way Viaduct, will begin construction. And we will be thankful at the time for the jobs and promise of a viaduct-free Seattle wasterfront.

Then he has to run for re-election.

Sure, a lot can happen between today and 3 years from now, but almost none of it in the control of the mayor.
Every promise he made during his campaign that has a dollar sign attached to it is either dead on arrival, conveniently forgotten, one an up hill battle.

West Side light rail levy vote while chopping parts of the budget by 14.5% next year just looks like a break in logic.

This is going to hurt us a lot more than it is going to hurt him, and Seattle will resent it. They will resent the iPhones for his staff, and $200,000 to paint stripes on Nickerson Avenue to may bike riders happy.
Let them eat sharrows!

About next year:

McGinn said he may increase fees or ask voters to increase their property taxes to pay for next year's budget. Without new revenue, some departments will be asked to cut as much as 14.5 percent from their budgets.

Those cuts are "probably deeper than I think the residents of this city want us to go," McGinn said.

Local News | Mayor to cut wading-pool hours, delay hiring 21 police officers in midyear budget cuts | Seattle Times Newspaper

McGinn, he may be one-and-done, no matter what.

Seattle Times: McGinn could veto tunnel agreement if overrun issue unresolved

It does not really matter what the subject is, just read the quote to really understand who Mike McGinn really is.
Emphasis mine:

"I think the mayor saying now that he's going to veto it before we've even completed our work affects the atmosphere of the negotations in a negative way," Rasmussen said.

Seattle Times, McGinn could veto tunnel agreement if overrun issue unresolved.

Now you know why he will get less done as mayor than the believers think he can. He builds an opposition to him as a person and not to subjects he is fighting, making his arguments weak.

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

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Predictions for 2010

Happy New Year!

[Ed. Note, see my 2011 Predictions, too]

2010, an even numbered year, can not hide how odd it will be.

Yesterday, one of Seattle Mayor-elect Mike McGinn's media advocacy groups, Publicola.net, posted its ten predictions for 2010.

In light of what passed for predictions, I will make some of my own for Mike McGinn, Seattle City Council, King County Executive Dow Constantine, the Washington State Legislative "short session", and color trends in Seattle (why not),

Mike McGinn set expectations high among his supporters during his mayoral campaign with open access becaming a backstory for someone that was generally unknown a year ago. Here, first, are the McGinn predictable let-downs for 2010.

1. The accessable candidate will substitute a blizzard of press releases as a substitute for actual connectivity (there are way too many citizens). Get used to this:

The new mayor is inviting the public to a "City Hall Open House" between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., that day. According to a news release from McGinn spokesman Aaron Pickus, the event will celebrate "the city's commitment to openness, transparency and the spirit of service in Seattle."
From the Seattle Times, McGinn inaugural week includes concerts, City Hall tours, Posted by Jim Brunner

There the "openess" was communicated by a press release, from a staffer. I'll let his fans forgive him for this, and they will, because they love him.

2. McGinn will discover the double-edged sword that is Frank Chopp. They both do not like the deep bore tunnel replacement for the Alaska Way Viaduct. Hooray for McGinn. Sadly, that is where the agreement ends. McGinn wants a surface option, Chopp wanted a Choppaduct.

This is where we were a year ago. So, this is what passes as "Progressive", going backward into a quagmire, if McGinn is successful.
The built-in failure of McGinn's surface option will not slow him down.

3. There will be at least one policy item that I will actively support as much I oppose others.

4. McGinn will make the mistake of worrying way to much about Councilmember Tim Burgess potential run against him in 2013, while Council President Richard Conlin does the real work of moving the councils' agenda past McGinn.

The race to consume the city's bonding capacity began 6 months ago.

5. Councilmember Nick Licata does not want to relive the monorail. This will be an obstacle for Mike McGinn attempt to force an early public vote on his West Side light rail.
For fun, substitute "AWV Tunnel" for "Sound Transit", and "West Side Light Rail" for "Monorail" here: Urban Politics #89.

6, and 7. The Washington State Legislature's "short session" begins January 12, and runs for 60 days. Urbanized counties will "horse trade" levy equalization in "tax poor" rural school distrcts for broader taxing authority in the "tax rich" districts. A lot hangs in the balance for Dow Constantine here, and he will show leadership here.

8. The color is red, though some will claim it is for Seattle University, some for Washington State University, creating a purple backlash from the University of Washington. Lots of red and purple this year.

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

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Mayor McPipedream Hold Focus Group, Calls it a "Town Hall"

Hey, J-School kids, it's called a focus group.

As much as I like the idea of the mayor-elect having "Town Halls" I can not quite get over the fact that this was not really a Town Hall.

Dominic Holden got right to the point on who Mike McGinn announced as his first three staff members.
(emphasis mine)

McGinn's deputy mayors will be Phil Fujii, the community relations manager at Vulcan, and Darryl Smith, a Windermere realtor and former city council candidate. Julie McCoy (no, not this Julie McCoy), the managing director of the Mercury Group, which conducted strategy for McGinn's campaign, will be McGinn's chief of staff.
The Stranger

After the 1 hour, 45 minute, thing I think McGinn owes me a free sleeping bag for living through the mayoral version of a timeshare pitch. Here's larger message being given tonight, He needs our help, here are the questions, remember these words, say them back to me, I need your help.

Word to the guy in the red tie, Town Hall means you get your ass out there and we pepper YOU with questions and you try to answer them. For real, this bullshit should have been done 4 months ago. Here is an idea, know what the answers to those three questions are BEFORE you run for office. WTF are you asking these kinds of questions know for, other than to test your word cloud Vulcan/Windermere/Mercury marketing on those think tank subjects in the gym in North Seattle.

Is this Q&A, or push-polling?
Here is a tip, the crowd provided the "answers".

Tell me what you think of when you read these three questions:

How do we build the strongest possible team to achieve the policy objectives and values set forth by the campaign?
How do we build public trust in the new administration?
What do you view as the incoming administration and the city’s greatest challenge — what should the new administration do first out of the gate?
new.seattle.gov/input

Good, now that you are thinking these things, here are the words we have collected from other people in connection with these same questions (insert "word cloud", that's #7 of 9 tips here at www.FocusGroupTips.com).
Now, start talking to the questions, let's see if our "word cloud" words are part of your statements.

Note to the folks in the South end of Seattle, McGinn spoke for about 14 minutes (8 minutes opening, 3 minutes telling everybody that we have a $40 million dollar deficit next year, 3 minutes to close). I hope you are not expecting answers to your questions. I do not think they are ready to market answers yet.

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

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The Stranger, Reading Today: A Nickname for Mike McGinn?

This question has been posed at the SeattleWeekly, as well as today in the Stranger; what should the be the nickname for the new mayor?

At Seattle Mystery Bookshop, it's time for Derek Haas. Columbus is about an international assassin who is nicknamed "The Silver Bear." I think "The Silver Bear" would be a great nickname for our new mayor.

posted by PAUL CONSTANT on SAT, NOV 21, 2009 at 10:04 AM
Reading Today: A Nickname for Mike McGinn? , The Stranger [Slog].

First, barf, second, I have selected my own nickname for McGinn.

I will be calling Seattle Mayor-elect Mike McGinn Mayor McTaft. This name is for his neighborhood "Dollar Diplomacy" that he is chasing, as well as serving as his own Secretary of War with the Washington State Legislature.

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

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[Urban Legends] Urban Politics #282 - MAYOR ELECT MIKE McGINN REACHES OUT

In a year we will all look back and remember that these days were happening while Greg Nickels was still Mayor of Seattle, and Mike McGinn is Mayor-Elect of Seattle.

Urban Politics #282, November 16, 2009

By City Councilmember Nick Licata

I've used Urban Politics primarily to discuss pending and passed legislation, but this year I will also be providing more commentary on City Hall's workings and politics and how I see them helping shape legislation.

MAYOR ELECT MIKE McGINN REACHES OUT

Friday afternoon Councilmember Jan Drago stuck her head into my office and said in a jovial manner, "Hey if you want to see the new Mayor, come next door." That would be Councilmember Sally Clark's office. Drago and I found Mayor-Elect Mike McGinn in the middle of Clark's office, smiling broadly (his seemingly ever present smile may become his trademark) and talking in a casual style to both staff and Clark. Councilmember Tim Burgess soon walked over and joined us.

McGinn explained that rather than making courtesy calls to all the Councilmembers, he thought it better to just walk over and meet face to face on a casual basis. This is a departure from Mayor Nickel's style, which was to rely more on his deputy mayor Tim Ceis to walk the Council hallway.

In another way McGinn is making a more dramatic departure from not only the Nickels' transition but others that have gone before him as well. Rather than appoint a distinguished list of civic leaders and activists to head up his transition team, he is relying on a more diffuse collection of community people. As one of them explained to me, "He wanted to avoid a sense of who was in and who was out in this effort."  And there still seems to be a lot of campaign volunteers willing to continue with their assistance. McGinn shared with us that up to six volunteers a day were currently working in the transition office in the Municipal Tower across from City Hall.

McGinn is also asking a number of community leaders to solicit opinions from their contacts in the general public by answering several questions. I received such a request from Sharon Lee, the Executive Director of the Low Income Housing Institute. And with her encouragement I'm passing on these questions to UP readers. For those who wish to answer the following questions, send your comments directly to Sharon at sharonl@lihi.org by this Friday. She will compile them and submit them to a smaller group working directly with Mayor Elect McGinn.

Mayor Elect McGinn's Three Questions:

How do we build the strongest possible team to achieve the policy objectives and values set forth during Mike's campaign?

How do we build public trust in the new administration?

What do you view as the incoming administration and the city's greatest challenge - what should we do first out of the gate?

I applaud this effort and wish him well in his administration's first challenge: figuring out how to best use this flood of information. I hope he also shares the compiled responses he receives with the Council and the public. This could be the start of an open and vigorous conversation on where Seattle should be headed

This "reaching out" is not limited to just council members, oh no. You too can run in place with Mayor-Elect Mike McGinn is inviting YOU to participate in the post-election campaign.
Read the vision, give your input to a web page, and read the list of people that have filled our resumes, uh, drones, er, Outreach Meeting people.
new.seattle.gov

What flavor is your kool-aid?

Seattle Times Newspaper: Mallahan concedes Seattle mayor's race to McGinn

Best of luck to Mayor-elect Seattle Mike McGinn. Today his opponent, Joe Mallahan conceded the race to McGinn.
Read the newspaper report, here.

See Mike McGinn's campaign stump speech here:


My reasons for voting for Mallahan left with him, but not my reasons for voting against McGinn.
To quote myself:

The knock I have on Mike McGinn is that he has promised all kinds of things, with many of them requiring cooperation from the state government. Asking for help keeping some of his promises while Mike McGinn battles the state for two years trying to stop the current plan to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a deep bore tunnel, sounds absurd. He has ideas, not really a plan. Much of his leadership experience appears to be pitting one group against another and fighting.

How would he be viewed at the state level, by the rest of the state? Is he the scruffy lawyer finding every hair to split in his battle with the State of Washington on one hand, while on the other claiming that the state will just fall in line to support his "surface" proposal. That is laughable.
Me, on 10/10/2009

It is up to me to stay engaged in the things that are important to me, even when opposed by Mike's way, or the highway attempts to run me over.

Word to the mayor, I have no fear.

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

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KING5/SurveyUSA Election Poll #16015: Mallahan 45, McGinn 43

I predict: Mallahan 51%, McGinn 48%, 1% other.

Here is the current KING5/surveyusa.com poll. Joe Mallahan 45, Mike McGinn 43, 12 undecided.

Can Joe Mallahan get 5 of the 12% that is left? Yes, that is possible.
Can Mike McGinn get 7 of the 12% that is left? Yes, that is possible.
Margin of error was 4.1%

McGinn has closed ground on Mallahan, but the question is if McGinn can get over 49.9% while opposing the tunnel.
It is possible, though I do not think so. I think the ceiling for the anti-tunnel candidate is 48%.

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

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Will McGinn now vote for Mallahan?

On September 15th McGinn insisted, "it's not a done deal."
McGinn has ran on this, leading thousands to support him in his bid to be Mayor of Seattle.

Much of McGinn's battle with Joe Mallahan has centered on this issue. Mallahan has been saying that the issue has been decided, and he would use his project management skills to ensure that the project would complete on time and under budget. Now it appears Mike McGinn is taking Joe Mallahan's position.

I guess the question I have for McGinn is: Will he be voting for Mallahan?
It does appear, by McGinn's change of positions, that Mallahan is right.

How many anti-tunnel folks will keep supporting McGinn?
How many undecided voters will view this announcement as an endorsement of Joe Mallahan?
How many people that would otherwise support McGinn, if not for his opposition to the tunnel?

Joe Mallahan released this statement this afternoon:

I am pleased the City Council reaffirmed its commitment to move forward on the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement project. The worst thing we could do for our economy is undo a decision that took eight years to make. If we don't move forward on replacing the viaduct, our economy and our traffic will come to a screeching halt.

"My opponent has spent the last eight months campaigning on one issue - stopping the tunnel and our economy from moving forward.

"Now he's changing his position because he's seen the poll numbers and is fighting for his political life. My opponent has shown he is willing to say whatever voters want to hear. His flip-flopping clearly demonstrates that voters have a choice between a political opportunist or a principled leader and effective manager, like myself, to lead this city and our economy forward."

So, the Washington State Governor and Legislature, the current Mayor and City Council of Seattle, have committed to the agreement to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a deep bore tunnel. For eight months Mike McGinn has said that he will fight the project, until today.

McGinn's entire statement:.

Today, the City Council authorized Mayor Greg Nickels to sign an intergovernmental agreement with the State of Washington committing Seattle to the tunnel plan.

I disagree with the decision. I disagree with the timing.
But the reality is Mayor Nickels and the Council have entered into an agreement, and the City is now committed to the tunnel plan.

If I'm elected Mayor, although I disagree with this decision, it will be my job to uphold and execute this agreement. It is not the Mayor's job to withhold the cooperation of city government in executing this agreement.

I will, however, continue to ask tough questions:

• We don't know how much it's actually going to cost.

• If it ends up costing more than the current budget allows, there is serious disagreement between Seattle and the State over who will pay the cost overruns.

• Where will the money come from, and who will bear the burden? Will we have to cut police, fire, library, or services for the poor?

I will not stop asking the tough questions nor will I ever stop standing up for Seattle's interests in this process.

I'm worried the people that want the tunnel have a champagne appetite and the City has a beer budget. The question is who will end up paying the tab.

There is a clear choice in this election.

My opponent has refused to ask any hard questions about the tunnel.

In fact, when asked about the Legislature passing the cost overrun amendment, he said:

"If I were mayor, rather than taking potshots at Democratic leadership who put that (amendment) on, I'd express disappointment and say, "OK, we can live with this."

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/406102_mallahan12.html

Seattle cannot live with paying the cost overruns on the tunnel.
Mike McGinn says he would uphold the plans for a tunnel if elected, despite opposition

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

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Crosscut's David Brewster: The tone test for the mayor's race

I agree with David Brewster in comparison of tone of the two candidates for Mayor of Seattle. One is snarky, the other is B-O-R-I-N-G.

First, the context, here is the McGinn light rail proposal as reported in the Seattle Times (Seattle's only daily metro newspaper):

Mike McGinn pledged this morning to bring a plan before voters within two years to expand light rail to more neighborhoods within Seattle.

Neighborhoods that could be connected, he said: West Seattle, Ballard, Fremont, Queen Anne and Belltown.

"Seattle's values on these things just couldn't be clearer," McGinn said, at a news conference at the Columbia City light-rail station.

McGinn mentioned the possibility of funding the light-rail extensions with car-tab taxes, sales taxes or other taxes.

Sound Transit has a plan to ask voters in 2016 for neighborhood extensions, and a build-out to Everett and Tacoma. McGinn, though, is proposing to hold a Seattle vote sooner on light-rail within the city.
Seattle Times: Mike McGinn wants more light rail in Seattle, vote within two years

I have no idea how Mike McGinn, an attorney, will kill the deep bore tunnel, a state highway, and then go back to the state to get car-tab taxing authority (details, details). The legislature already loves Seattle, I am sure killing the tunnel, and then demand tax authority to make the tunnel's death possible is exactly what the state really wants to have happen, or not.

Anyway, back to David Brewster's point on tone.

Today's [9/16/2009] example was a tiff over a proposal from Mike McGinn for hurry-up transit to the unserved neighborhoods. Joe Mallahan riposted quickly:
“Light rail is a critical service that not only gets people out of their cars and off the roads, moving more quickly, but also promotes economic development along its lines. We need more mass transit investments but light rail is a regional transportation system and all additions need to be integrated into our existing transit network.

“When someone proposes a plan of this size, the responsible thing to do is let voters know how much it will cost and how he’s going to pay for it. Mike McGinn won’t be honest with voters about how much his proposal will cost and suggests putting this haphazard measure on the ballot the same year Seattle’s Family and Education Levy is up for renewal. I think the last thing we should do is pit kids against mass transit solutions.

“Voters approved a Sound Transit package last year that included studies for expanding mass transit options in other parts of the city. I will advocate for expediting those plans and work with Sound Transit to move forward in a responsible manner.”
To which McGinn quickly returned fire:
"In his response criticizing my light rail expansion proposal, Joe Mallahan made the accusation that we would be pitting 'kids against transit.'

"Mr. Mallahan's comment is uninformed. Seattle voters routinely pass multiple measures on the same ballot. Two recent examples include:

"Nov. 2008 - Seattle voters passed the Parks Levy (59% Yes), the Pike Place Market Levy (61% Yes) and Sound Transit 2 (70% yes in Seattle) at the same time with large majorities.

"Nov. 2006 - Seattle voters passed the Bridging the Gap Levy (53% Yes) plus King County's Transit Now (69% Yes in Seattle).

"My question for Mr. Mallahan is would he vote for a good light rail package and an education measure if they were on the same ballot?

"I also find it somewhat ironic that Mr. Mallahan is trying to raise concern about the Families and Education Levy (passed with a 62% Yes vote) as an excuse to not move forward on light rail. County voting records indicate that Mr. Mallahan has missed ten important elections since he moved to Seattle nine years ago including the last Families and Education Levy in 2004."

The difference in tone is apparent, with McGinn heavier on the sarcasm and the gratuitous insults, as well as the punchy data. This lawyer knows how to address a jury and score points. Mallahan, meanwhile, is trying (aided by his grave tone) to plant in voters' minds that McGinn is flaky, a sound-bite politician versus the stay-with-the-program manner of Steady Joe. If McGinn risks getting whistled for low blows, Mallahan flirts with B-O-R-I-N-G.

Underlying this positioning is the question whether voters, stunned by the Town Hell events and "You lie!" taunts, will find McGinn's snarky manner off-putting or refreshing.
Crosscut's David Brewster: The tone test for the mayor's race

Mr. Brewster is right, message intent projects a tone. That tone is a product of the person, and how they express their ideas.

McGinn put the light rail idea out there as if we have to go it alone, like the monorail, and streetcars (not that we have to, but his message form could imply it).
McGinn compares the publics willingness to vote for $149 million for parks with a new light rail vote of 10x the tax cost is a bit of a reach. Comparing people voting for parks or even the the Seattle Library vote ten years ago, that spreads the pain and gain all over the city, is simply not the same as a multi-jurisdiction vote for Sound Transit light rail (ST). The project's larger scale spreads the pain and gain broader. Many hands make light (rail) work.

What I think most people in Seattle want to avoid are mass transit projects that can be compared with the failed monorail, $130 car tabs for nothing is still in living memory for the vast majority of citizens. While I am at here, the monorail mode of transportation is tainted with civic failure, and will take more time to pass before revisiting more monorail as anything more than an aspiration.

There is a point where too much tax is just that, concentrating too much gain, or pain, is unacceptable on its face. Proposing to vote on a formless and expensive proposal in two years is a socially dumb proposal, no matter how good the idea is behind it.

McGinn's proposal does look a little flaky, flacky, or simplistic. He put the idea out there as a proposal (to have a vote in two years). Proposal messages demand a finer level of information than aspirations. It has been my experience that proposals that demand money are expected by the person getting the message to have finite facts with which to agree to a reasonable solution with.

You can see the lack of specitivity in how people, in general, react (such as Mr. Brewster's story referenced above). 10% unemployment will have that effect on the masses. Call it mass transit consumer confidence, if you like.

This messaging failure could also say that McGinn is out of touch with the maturity of his broader message, or with the depth of understanding of the transportation issues with the masses. This is not a transportation wonktocracy.

My simple advice for Mike McGinn is to propose things that happen in the future in more open terms; civic aspiration, and an alternative idea to stopping the tunnel, should have been that message.

Joe Mallahan's response was spot-on, but uninspiring. In Mallahan's transportation messaging, and his direct response to McGinn's proposal, he has to express the broader ST transportation message, couched in perspective that would directly benefit McGinn's proposal. More simply, reduce McGinn to a subject matter expert voicing a poorly formed proposal. Mallahan should have taken the proposal's positive attributes and placed them into broader policy, being the policy maker. That's what a mayor does do, after all.

Mr. Mallahan's response was to fight the rough edges of McGinn's slightly ham-handed proposal, it should have been aspirational, placed into the ST context of win-win pain-gain spreading. Place the idea in the appropriate broader scale. For a guy espousing project management skills he, quite frankly, choked on that answer. Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives.. The resources are tax payers that need meaningful transportation solutions. The project scope is big, and pitting it against resources for children, as Mallahan did, failed to provide a right-sized policy solution.

The more inspiring massage both missed was that by working with ST the western parts of Seattle could, and should, start thinking about light rail in ways that Bellevue and Redmond currently are. In Two years we should know where we want to have light rail progress in Seattle, and what it will take to make that happen for the citizens of Seattle.

There, a little ST, mention the broader ST idea, how do we fit in and play along, and an aspiration for Seattle.
Realistic and inclusive aspirations are what this election, and many others, are about.
Honestly, it is not that hard to express the direction you want to go in open terms that are inclusive and realistic to the broadest number of voters.

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

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Tunnel, or Surface option? Eventually it could be both

In today's Seattle Times Mike Lindblom has written a story on mayoral candidate Mike McGinn's proposal to shelve the tunnel as the replacement for the aged Alaska Way Viaduct and go with a less expensive surface and transit option. The surface option would include increasing throughput on Interstate 5, a boulevard to replace the viaduct, and an increase in mass transit.

The good news is that McGinn's alterative would be cheaper, the bad news is that it will not be enough capacity.
The tunnel is a more expensive idea, it includes having vehicle traffic that is passing through Seattle not mixing with the local surface traffic. The good news is that seperating that traffic will help that some, the bad news is that it will not be enough capacity, either.

Skim through Washington State Office of Financial Management data here and it becomes pretty clear that Seattle is not absorbing as much population as the rest of King County, and King County is growing.
The facts are that people keep moving to King County, and to Seattle. King County increased by about 13% over the past 9 years, Seattle about 6.8%.

Over the lifespan of either option, surface, or tunnel, more capacity will be required, the question is moot.

McGinn scenario

MIKE McGINN would seek to move $2.4 billion in state highway funds to a "surface transit" plan instead of a tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Alaskan Way/waterfront: Demolish viaduct, rebuild surface road similar to present width, mostly four lanes, $825 million.

Interstate-5 widening: Eliminate left-side offramps to fit an additional lane through downtown, make other improvements, $553 million.

Utility relocation: Paid by the state instead of the city, $250 million.

Sea-wall replacement: Paid by the state instead of the city, $255 million.

Transit: Cost savings applied to buy new buses and increase service in waterfront and other areas, $500 million.

Source: McGinn campaign

Read about the strawman debate here, in the Seattle Times Newspaper: McGinn's no-tunnel campaign counts on fewer cars

Build the Tunnel, and make all of the surface improvements, and the increase in mass transit, and the bike lanes, and the sidewalks, and a million people will come to King County and Seattle, no matter what.

Do it all, start with the throughput tunnel first.

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

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Is Publicola.net having endorsers remorse?

Publicola.net, the online mostly political newsy web site, back on August 3, 2008, endorsed Mike McGinn for Mayor of Seattle in the Primary Election.

Why did they like Mike a month ago?

In order, McGinn’s follow-up acts included: 1) Starting an urbanist nonprofit called the Seattle Great City Initiative, which, among other things, helped nudge the city council to pass the legislation requiring the city to add bike and pedestrian facilities whenever it tears up city streets. . .
Publicola.net Endorses, Mike McGinn

There was more, feel free to follow the link, but the #1 was getting taxpayers to pay for improvements in and around private investments. How green of him.

Today, Erica Barnett has written a story to inform the Mike McGinn Kool-aid drinkers where Mike McGinn got support for Publicola's #1 reason for endorsing him.

So it may come as a surprise to some of his idealistic supporters that the group that financed McGinn’s Great City—in addition to environmental groups like the Cascade Bicycle Club and the Bullitt Foundation—includes many of the city’s biggest developers, law firms, and builders.
. . .
the group has posted a list of the companies and organizations themselves that funded the group’s creation.
. . .
The most prominent company on the list  is Vulcan, Paul Allen’s South Lake Union development firm. Although McGinn wouldn’t say specifically how much Vulcan had contributed to Great City, he does concede that the developer is among the organization’s top two or three contributors, along with Bullitt and the Land Conservancy.

McGinn Group Funded by Seattle’s Biz Establishment
BY ERICA C. BARNETT, 09/11/2009, 3:11 PM

The story got a shout-out from SeattleWeekly's Mark Fefer:

Where exactly is the surprise in the fact that real estate developers like Vulcan and Harbor Properties, and the architects they employ, are supportive of a group like Great City that's all about creating amenities for more density? Why wouldn't they like a group that led the charge in 2008 to get Seattle voters to put up $145 million in taxpayer money to fix up parks near the developers' condos and apartments?
News Flash From Publicola: Developers Like Density and Taxpayer-Funded Parks".

So, do not ask how and why Mike McGinn can oppose a tunnel replacement for the Alaska Way Viaduct, but be for the $290 million dollar reworking of the "Mercer mess" that does next to nothing to improve traffic (that IS the mess). It sure does look good in the middle of Paul Allen's Vulcan investment and development in the South Lake Union area (this for that?).

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

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Seattle Times: Mayor candidates oppose 1st Avenue streetcar

I selected both Joe Mallahan and Mike McGinn for Mayor of Seattle in the Primary (that is the function of the Primary). Both candidates projected ideas and ideals centering on the citizens that actually live here, and work here.
The Nickels administration, as well as prior administrations, focused on downtown investments. That preoccupation can only go on for so long before the people that actually live here notice.
Every mass transit idea thought of by city government has gone into downtown. If you place the maps of the streetcar, metro transit, trolley, light rail, mono rail, sidewalk and street improvement, on the same map the consentration of lines is downtown and vanish as you leave downtown to the residential neighborhoods. We've noticed, and so have the mayoral candidates.

We have something in common:

Seattle mayoral candidates Joe Mallahan and Mike McGinn both said in recent interviews that they oppose a streetcar on First Avenue -- a 2.5-mile line that outgoing Mayor Greg Nickels included in last winter's agreement to build a highway tunnel, Sodo interchange, seawall, promenade and related items for $4.2 billion.

$130 for a streetcar to placed on an existing street (that has sidewalks) where a bus runs. Adding a bus might be a little less expensive.

McGinn said the first priority is to protect Metro bus service from recession-related service cuts, not build a streetcar.

He is seeking to halt the state's tunnel plan, and subsitute "surface-transit improvements," including work on Interstate 5, within the $2.4 billion state lawmakers already earmarked for viaduct replacement -- so there would be no city tax increases, he says. (One problem: the state Constitution requires state gas taxes to go toward highways.)

Streetcars are simply inefficient, Mallahan argued. "It is redundant to Metro bus service. Third Avenue [limited to buses and bicycles at peak times] is only two blocks away," he said.

On this matter I am not able to choose one candidate over another, but both candidates over Nickels and Drago in the Primary.

Mallahan added that he would study and maybe oppose Sound Transit's future streetcar across First Hill and Capitol Hill -- even though it's funded by last fall's voter-approved Proposition 1. The line is Sound Transit's consolation prize to one of the state's most populated neighborhoods, after rising costs forced the transit board to cancel a First Hill light-rail station promised to voters back in 1996.

Not long ago, streetcar fever gripped the City Council, which voted 6-3 in December to endorse lines reaching Ballard, the University District, South Jackson Street and the Seattle Center-First Avenue corridor --- in addition to the existing South Lake Union and voter-approved First Hill lines.

. . .

She [Jan Drago] also said the First Avenue line still makes "immense sense" because it can connect the SLU streetcar (which could be extended to First and Stewart) and the First Hill streetcar (next to the International District/Chinatown light-rail stop).

This was Jan Drago's mass transit "contribution" for the deep bore tunnel replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
The "multi-modal" transportation mish-mash that just dumps cash downtown, and has people standing around transferring from one mode to the next is an expensive mess. Combining wait-transer times with the actual travel time and it is no big shock that many people outside of downtown still NEED cars, and yet, I am paying for all of those transportation "solutions".

Read the linked story.
Seattle Times: Mayor candidates oppose 1st Avenue streetcar

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

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The Secret Life of (Dorsol) Plants

The election numbers were released today, nothing really changed. Laura Onstot at the SeattleWeekly marveled at the distant but respectable showing of third place finisher in the Seattle City Council Position 8 race, Dorsol Plants. Placing third is not what is newsworthy, doing it with $7,000, and holding down a full-time day-job is.

Bloom won a trip to the general, but raised eyebrows when he only managed 18 percent of the vote (at last count) despite his long-standing local ties, a $69,000 fundraising effort, and cable television ads. Plants ran his campaign on a shoestring, raising less than $7,000. But he worked hard, attending every campaign forum and local political event he could while holding down a job at the Family and Adult Service Center trying to get homeless vets some kind of employment.
The Daily Weekly: The Other Incredibly Effective Low(er) Budget Candidate

Point taken, and well made.

The Bloom campaign is "The Reform Candidate".
Neighborhoods is the theme, and the reform goes like this:

City administration has focused on an expensive development plan for South Lake Union and Mercer Street designed to help big business without regard to the larger needs of our city.
Bloom: Issues & Ideas

Bloom is endorsed by Nick Licata. Both should be experiencing an identity crisis. The champions of downtown lost in one mayoral contest. So, are the reformers going to have anything to reform? If that is their raison d'être then should they exist?

They have to do more than oppose somebody that used to be mayor, they have to be for something with an actual plan for making it happen. Everybody is for "affordable housing". Dorsol plants came in third and that is his job.

Where does money come from, are the sorces of funding willing, or have they been overtaxed?
All you "reformers", your excuse for not making happen your asparations happen will be leaving. Not getting something done now is on you.

Lastly, it is unlikely Nickels and Drago supporters will support Mike McGinn, even if Joe Mallahan is going to kill the Mercer rebuild. If Mike McGinn gets 45% of the vote I will be shocked.

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

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The Stranger: Primary Endorsements for Mayor of Seattle - Mike McGinn

Publicola and the SeattleWeekly have not yet publish the names of people that fit their opinions (that is what it is).

So, Seattle Times - Nckels and Mallahan
The Stranger - McGinn
Muni League - Mallahan
Friends of Seattle (are they Astroturf?) - McGinn

Notice a pattern? How about the absense of Drago, Donaldson, Sigler, Garrett, and Campbell?

slog.thestranger.com/slog 2009 primary endorsements

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

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The Seattle Times recommends: Nickels, Mallahan top so-so field in Seattle mayor's race

The McGinn supporters are going to be as upset as they had anticipated they would be by the Seattle Times endorsement.

Seattle Times endorsement

Friends of Seattle endorsed Mike McGinn.
I then dropped out of the FoS Facebook group, not because of the endorsement, I endorsed McGinn and Mallahan. FoS has an AstroTurf feel to it. If they are, or not, is not the point.

I endorse Mallahan and McGinn for Mayoral Primary

I endorse Mallahan and McGinn as the top two for Mayor of Seattle.
There, I said it.

Rather than send individual emails out, here is why I endorse two candidates for a primary; that is the function of the primary, to pick the top two. It is also a nice trick of presenting readers with a false sense of choice. I could live with either candidate, and by limiting the list to two you may reject all the others and vote for either of the two people on my primary list.

In the case of Mallahan and McGinn (as well as Hunter and Jarrett) I am compelled to say that I think the top two candidates should do one of two impossible things:

Job Share - they switch off at lunch time, both working 20 hours a week (yes, impossible, AND a good idea).
or
Fusion the characters like in the video game (I have to trust my son here) Dragon Z

Namekian Fusion: This fusion is exclusively for Namek's. First, one Namek places his hand on the other, then ki is concentrated and the fusion begins to take place. The Namek's have the ability to choose which of the two bodies they want to use. The resulting warrior is much stronger than either warrior alone. If by chance the two warriors fusing were once one being and parted for whatever reasons, the Fusion becomes twice as powerful.

Since job sharing and Fusion are out, I will pick one candidate to endorse after the primary election is over.

Mallahan's Muni rating makes sense to Erica Barnett at Publicola. But that is not a rating of their policy choices.

So, read about them here:
See the City Club Mayoral "debate" here.

Joe Mallahan's voter pamphlet page.
Mike McGinn's voter pamphlet page.

Have a great day,
Mike Baker

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