{"id":472282,"date":"2010-03-25T17:27:04","date_gmt":"2010-03-25T21:27:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2011443422_seattlemayormikemcginnsfirstweeks.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2010-03-25T17:27:04","modified_gmt":"2010-03-25T21:27:04","slug":"seattle-mayor-mike-mcginns-first-weeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/472282","title":{"rendered":"Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn’s first weeks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why we need him in office<\/strong><\/p>\n

Editor, The Times:<\/p>\n

Am I the only citizen in Seattle who does not think that two of un-columnist Joni Balter\u2019s examples [\u201cSeattle\u2019s stumbling \u2018un-mayor\u2019 needs to find firmer footing,\u201d Times, Opinion, March 25] of Mayor Mike McGinn\u2019s \u201cstumbling\u201d are actually examples of why we need him in office?<\/p>\n

For years, I have been stunned by the self-delusion of our local leaders, who have professed Seattle to be the \u201cgreenest city on the planet,\u201d \u201cstriving for carbon neutrality\u201d (and all the other platitudes) at the same time they have planned for the replacement of two of the major highway segments into and through the city (the Highway 520 bridge and the Highway 99 viaduct) with new shiny projects designed to carry far more cars and buses and zero rail mass transit.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t care if Balter and her big-business-and-politics-as-usual attitude calls McGinn the \u201cun-mayor.\u201d It just makes her look petty. When McGinn says these projects are sorely misguided, he is right on point and protocol be damned. If he can prevent us spending many billions of dollars on infrastructure that could have been dreamed up in the 1950s, more power to him.<\/p>\n

Yes it has taken interminable amounts of time and money to come up with these two awful design solutions, but that does not make them right. They are both disastrously wrong for the environment and the urban quality of our city.<\/p>\n

I have no regrets about the mayor I helped vote into office. Is he perfect? No, but it is human to err and I kind of like that we now have a mayor whose errors might lead to a better environment.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Nic Rossouw, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

My kind of mayor<\/strong><\/p>\n

I voted for Mike McGinn for many reasons, but I was attracted to his campaign because it was not slick, and much of the campaign financing was generated by local communities. His opponent touted having \u201cthe right contacts\u201d and his campaign was financed by himself as well as the well-connected. I care less about how the mayor dresses, or that he has irritated the City Council.<\/p>\n

Perhaps former Mayor Greg Nickels\u2019 initial transition went smoother by patching potholes. So what? There has been the biggest implosion of the U.S. economy as the new mayor entered office. Budgets are more than tight. Many projects may need to be \u201ctrimmed.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is clear The Seattle Times is not enchanted with the new mayor; that is the privilege of the only large-circulation newspaper in town. [Joni Balter\u2019s column] is nothing more than a long-winded chastising, and I know you can do better.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Roselee Warren, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why we need him in office Editor, The Times: Am I the only citizen in Seattle who does not think that two of un-columnist Joni Balter\u2019s examples [\u201cSeattle\u2019s stumbling \u2018un-mayor\u2019 needs to find firmer footing,\u201d Times, Opinion, March 25] of Mayor Mike McGinn\u2019s \u201cstumbling\u201d are actually examples of why we need him in office? For […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2861,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-472282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472282\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}