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Feb 2, 2012 More Pie commented on Where's the Money Going to Come From to Fix Higher Education? "It's Above My Pay Grade," Answers UW President Michael Young.

The state community & technical college system, however, has come out in support of a revenue package. They won't specify what kind of revenue, but at least they have the cojones to say it's needed. Note that community colleges have neither the salaries nor the administrative structure the four years have and their budgets, which have also been severely cut, have an even bigger impact on their students, who are most likely working adults. No community or technical colleges were represented last night. You would have heard a different story.

Sep 22, 2010 More Pie commented on Bar and Driver.

Ignore the CJE & look at the qualifications of Charles & Hurtado. Hurtado is increasingly unpredictable in the courtroom. Attorneys hate appearing before him. Charles is a classic "lemon", having been shuffled from position to position within the city. The Municipal Court is about to get a fresh infusion of new blood with Steve Rosen & Willie Gregory (both unopposed). Let's elect McKenna & Donohue, as well.

Aug 31, 2010 More Pie commented on Mayor’s Office Angry Over $40 Million Given to History Museum.

@28: you are missing out. MOHAI is fantastic. It's on my "Must See" list for out of town visitors. One of these days I'm going to make it to their extremely fun trivia nights, too.

This is a bullshit move from the ever-increasingly mind-blowingly incompetent Mayor's office. The only good thing about him being in for three more years is that we have time to find & groom a COMPETENT replacement. (Anybody? Anybody? PLEASE!!!! And not a sitting Councilmember. Boring.)

Oct 30, 2009 More Pie commented on Real-Live Business Folks Talk about the Mayoral Candidates.

Will the Stranger be reporting this ad... I mean "article" as an in-kind donation to the McGinn campaign?

Oct 29, 2009 More Pie commented on New Column!.

Does this mean that The Stranger has officially conceded the election?

Oct 28, 2009 More Pie commented on Mayor's Race by the Numbers.

Why is McG so proud of those town halls? I think the biggest turn out he had was around 20 people. At least one didn't have anyone attend. Between this & the number of policy papers he's churned out, it's clear that McG values quantity over quality. He sounds like that guy in "Singles" who brags about how many phone numbers he's scored-- "But you never actually CALL any of them!" his friend says. And just because you make a big show of "listening" doesn't mean you actually hear people. It's remarkable how many people who have had close working relationships with Mike are publicly supporting Joe.

John Fox (I know I know) in today's Post Globe reported on his meeting with Mallahan:

"Mallahan readily and refreshingly acknowledges he has more to learn including from us, the neighborhoods and across a range of issues. McGinn I see as darn inflexible and not just on this key issue of growth. I sure saw that when he blindly supported the recent TOD bill sponsored by Futurewise and openly criticized our efforts to restrict the runaway growth that bill aimed to promote. McGinn seems very closed minded here and less likely to support mitigation to protect trees, open space, streams, and our existing low income housing stock. I think that will cross over to other issues too. He's a know-it-all and not in a good way. I also can't help getting the feeling that McGinn just is not competent enough to do the job nor are the people he would hire as his staff, whereas with Mallahan for better or worse that simply is not the issue -he is very competent."
(http://www.seattlepostglobe.org/2009/10/…)

Now love Fox or hate him, he's a force that the next mayor will need to deal with. And Mallahan has shown that, while he doesn't buy Fox's agenda, at least he'll let Fox feel like he's been heard, which is all any of us really want, right?

From what I've seen, it takes a big ole 2x4 (like a 9-0 vote by the city council and tanking poll numbers) to get Mike to "hear".

More...

Oct 25, 2009 More Pie commented on McGinn vs. Mallahan, Debate #600.

My McGinn drinking game went like this:
"sidewalks"-- DRINK!
"I quit my job as a [well paid corporate shill] lawyer to found a nonprofit..."-- DRINK!
putting a weird "that" as a modifier before any transportation project-- DRINK!
"I held 18 town halls all around this city..."--DRINK!
numbers! dollar amounts! scary statistics!-- DRINK!
"deep bore tunnel"-- Put the bottle down because alcohol poisoning is not funny

So glad these debates are over. My bullshit meter screams red with McGinn. Mallahan is far from being an impressive or even articulate debater but I think he's genuine and I'll take that over the prospect of four years of listening and sitting on our (substantial) asses.

Oct 23, 2009 More Pie commented on The Idiot! Africans are People Too!.

Thank GOD Mallahan is going to win. The Stranger would be lost for the next four years without a schtick and it looks like you've found one that fits you comfortably. How would you ever pivot from worshiping at the altar of St. McGinn to your preferred position of snarky somewhat-loyal opposition? I look forward to four (or eight!) years of The Idiot! (which, by the way, totally cops from Publicola's OMG! Obama)!

Oct 22, 2009 More Pie commented on The Case for Mike McGinn: Part 3.

Mike McGinn seems to have LOTS of ideas. Lots and lots of ideas. He has a white paper for every damn issue out there. 9 times out of 10, his response to a question is "If you go to my website..." McGinn is a community activist, one of those idealistic dreamers who talks and talks and talks (and listens and listens and listens) but whose only real accomplishment is putting in a few sidewalks in his own neighborhood. (Great Cities accomplished what now?) He is the apotheosis of "Seattle process" and I have no doubt that, were he elected Mayor, he would choke our city in ideas and useless town halls.

Seattle is a city full of really smart people with many great ideas. Our Mayor's job is not to be first among those but rather to convene groups of experts and then get things done. Mallahan gets things done.

Oh, and The Stranger? All I hear when you talk politics is "Blah blah blah oh oh oh McGinn... mmm...ohhh yeaaaaah... baby, you like it like that, don't you.. just like that..."

Oct 20, 2009 More Pie commented on Headline of the Day.

For those who are just tuning into the race now, what they know so far is
1) McGinn opposes the tunnel
2) Mallahan is a business guy with experience running big projects and managing people
3) McGinn has been annoying people with robocalls for weeks
4) McGinn's most recent robocall was straight out of Karl Rove's playbook-- and just as believable as the WMD claims
5) McGinn has now backed off his staunch opposition of "that tunnel", thus leaving him without an issue or stance beyond "I'll listen" and "I'll look into that".

"Nuanced"? FUCK THAT. Seattle needs a leader. Someone more inclusive than Ceis' kneecapping. Someone more locally focused than Nickels' "America's Mayor". Someone more balanced and realistic than McGinn's anti-car position. 30% of people in this election are undecided. Not "leaning toward Mallahan because of his tunnel position"-- undecided. Ordinary voters are going to take one look at this chump and vote for Mallahan.