Candidates for Seattle City Council and representatives of the two Seattle mayoral candidates appeared at a forum sponsored by the Eastlake Community Council on Tuesday evening at Seward School.
In the congenial tradition of Seattle politics, there were few fireworks and some agreement among the candidates. A representative of the “Approve R71” campaign, which would retain domestic partner benefits enacted by the state legislature, spoke to a supportive room with no speakers from the opposite camp.
Neither candidate for mayor — Mike McGinn nor Joe Mallahan — was present. McGinn was represented by Craig Benjamin; Mallahan by Dean Willard.
Benjamin touted McGinn’s credentials as a neighborhood activist who helped defeat a pro-roads ballot initiative and helped pass last year’s parks levy. He noted that McGinn has run his campaign on a shoestring and suggested he would be equally tough with city finances.
Willard noted that he had worked with Mallahan at T-Mobile. Taking a swipe at McGinn’s stated intent of stopping the viaduct-replacement tunnel, Willard noted that we have the funds to build the tunnel and that Mallahan wants to replace the viaduct before it falls down. He also said that Mallahan wanted to make housing more affordable in the city.
Questions centered on how the candidates would interact with neighborhoods. Benjamin said that McGinn had worked on neighborhood plans and wanted to get citizens involved in the planning process. Willard said the outgoing administration of Mayor Greg Nickels was fearful it would hear things it didn’t like if it allowed neighborhoods to be involved too closely in city planning.
Both representatives said their candidates supported the housing initiative on the ballot and that housing would be a main interest in their administrations.
Would either candidate support extending the South Lake Union Streetcar up Eastlake? Benjamin or Willard both said they hadn’t heard their candidate discuss the issue.
City Council, Position 2: Richard Conlin (incumbent) vs. David Ginsberg
Conlin, president of the City Council in 2008-09, touted his accomplishments on the council and in working with neighborhoods. Ginsberg said that decisions in city government come at a “glacial pace” and he wanted to move things along faster.
Answering a question about how they would create incentives to get more Seattle police and firefighters to live in the city, Ginsberg noted that the city is “unaffordable” and that he would try to find ways to make it easier for city employees and others to afford to live here. Conlin agreed and talked about his efforts to achieve the same end.
Discussing plans to untangle the “Mercer Mess” in South Lake Union, both candidates talked about how the area is becoming more residential and that the goal is not just to move cars to the freeway but to create a Main Street for residents.
The tunnel: Conlin said that an advisory vote on the tunnel project is “a bad idea.” Although he favored a surface street option, he said the tunnel decision has been made and it was up to the city to work with the state to make it happen successfully.
City Council, Position 4: David Bloom vs Sally Bagshaw
Bagshaw mentioned her work for the late King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng on a variety of issues as one of her main qualifications. Bloom has been active as a community organizer for over 30 years, including working for the Church Council of Greater Seattle.
Bloom said Seattle is losing its ability to be a welcoming place, mainly because housing expenses are up and there is a lack of living wage jobs. He said that too much was being spent on downtown projects and not enough on the neighborhoods. Roads, bridges and arterial streets need repair, he said.
Bagshaw said she would promote rebuilding Seattle’s economy, providing affordable housing, having transit connections that work, making public schools that work, and building better working relationships between the state, city and county governments.
Would they support spending money on a Seattle Center upgrade? Bloom said that, in the abstract, “yes.” But he said there were other, more pressing, issues such as providing housing.
Bagshaw said she’d be willing to study it, but not do it this year.
How do they stand on allowing floating homes to expand? Bloom said the houseboat community was unique and owners needed to have the flexibility to expand or replace their homes. Bagshaw said she didn’t want to take away homeowners’ rights but also didn’t want to do anything to increase shoreline pollution.
City Council, Position 6: Nick Licata (incumbent) vs. Jesse Israel
Licata noted that he has worked issues important to neighborhoods (like fighting redlining by banks) for years. His goal is not to squander public dollars. He said his goal is open government and noted that he had pushed the City Council to be more responsive to citizens.
Israel said she is a “third or fourth generation Seattleite” and had served in the Peace Corps, had been a consultant on several neighborhood plans (including Eastlake’s), and serves on the board of directors for both the Ballard Food Bank and City Year. She urged yes votes on R71 and the housing levy and a “no” vote on Initiative 1033.
Question: How would the go about meeting the goals of protecting and restoring shorelines and maintaining maritime businesses?
Israel said it was a “delicate balance” but noted that the maritime industries are part of what makes Seattle Seattle. Licata recalled his role in stopping the Roanoke Reef high-rise in Eastlake and said he will work to keep marine industries.
Both candidates said they would support upgrading electronic infrastructure so city e-mails don’t have to be deleted after 45 days.
Licata is in favor of a less expensive fix to the Mercer Mess than that proposed while Israel wants to see changes that would disperse Mercer traffic more widely over the South Lake Union street grid.
City Council, Position 3: Mike O’Brien vs. Robert Rosencrantz
Both O’Brien and Rosencrantz have known each other for years and they said that they have enjoyed debating each other on the campaign trail.
Rosencrantz, who lives just over the hill from Eastlake on Delmar Drive, said he would return power to the neighborhoods. He would let neighborhood business districts have control over paid parking and would let them keep some of the revenue raised by such parking. He also said he would “stick with the basics and do them well” and would work to grow Seattle’s economy.
O’Brien said that the city is facing a huge budget deficit and that no one on the City Council has the financial background to meet the challenge, but that he does. He said that there are cheaper alternatives to the tunnel project. He said that tough times call for tough choices, but wondered if shuttering city libraries to save money was a good idea.
Question: Would they favor incentives to get city residents to remove≤ paving from planting strips and put in more greenery? Both said they would, and O’Brien noted that more greenery helped cut the cost of treating runoff.
