Everyone in the mayor’s race supports and opposes the same things,
more or less. Except for one guy. Mike McGinn, an environmentalist with
bona fides that include heading up last year’s park levy and chairing
the local Sierra Club chapter, isn’t just being contrary for contrary’s
sake. Quite the opposite. His positions are unexpected, smart, and
progressive.
At a mid-July mayor’s-race forum organized by Friends of Seattle at
the Spitfire, red-bearded McGinn filled out a giant flash card for a
lightning round of questions. Does he support repealing the so-called
head tax? Passed in 2006, it requires businesses to pay $25 for each
employee who drives solo to work more than once a week. The revenue
goes to neighborhood street improvements, such as building new
sidewalks in the 30 percent of Seattle that currently lacks them. The
head tax is something no one cared about—it’s only $4.5 million
in the city’s annual budget of $3.6 billion—until the mayor’s
race heated up. Soon after mayoral challenger Joe Mallahan mentioned
that we should repeal it, Mayor Greg Nickels said he planned to repeal
it. (Nickels proposed the tax in the first place, but now that
he’s seeking reelection he’s against it.) Former SuperSonic James
Donaldson also indicated that the tax should be repealed, as did city
council member Jan Drago (who voted to approve the head tax three years
ago).
But McGinn is for keeping it. Most candidates can’t resist the
campaign staple of promising to repeal taxes, but he argues this is a
tax that makes sense. The argument for repealing it is, essentially,
that in this economic climate, businesses can’t shoulder any more
costs—and that a tax on businesses, even a very small one, might
cost jobs. “It’s hard for me to see how eliminating this tax will
create a single job, but I do know how eliminating this funding source
will take away jobs in the community,” says McGinn, a member of
the city’s Pedestrian Master Plan advisory committee. Since the head
tax pays for things like street improvements, the revenue the tax
generates is keeping people employed. “People who build sidewalks or
repair streets, those people have real jobs,” McGinn says. (Drago
insists that she can keep those workers employed using revenue from
parking fees, which have exceeded forecasts. However, McGinn points out
that the city’s finances are tighter than they have been in years,
largely due to the recession, and that street improvements will be on
the chopping block if the head tax is removed.)
And anyway, McGinn has a bigger bone to pick—in terms of
dollars, more than 200 times bigger. While his competitors bray about
this token tax, McGinn points out the other candidates for mayor are
“simultaneously backing billions of dollars for a deep bore tunnel on
the waterfront to replace the viaduct.” The city would have to shell
out $930 million of that money, primarily by hiking taxes and utility
rates, in support of an infrastructure that only benefits cars, which
might not be the wisest investment for transportation or the planet. He
prefers the surface/transit option. When you talk to him, McGinn
answers virtually every question by talking about the city and state’s
current plans for a tunnel under downtown, which every mayoral
competitor but McGinn supports (except no-chance candidate Elizabeth
Campbell, who wants to rebuild the godforsaken viaduct). “If I
am mayor, I guarantee you, they are not going to build that tunnel
through town,” he told the Spitfire crowd.
It’s a wise tack, considering polling conducted by his campaign in
late May shows that McGinn jumps from fourth place to a commanding lead
when voters are told the tunnel’s cost overruns could fall on the city
and that McGinn is the only mayoral candidate who opposes it. “I could
be like the other candidates and claim that I am for walking and biking
and transit and public safety and social services and for spending
billions on a tunnel,” says McGinn. “But they are not being realistic
with the people. You cannot be for all of those things simultaneously,
because we don’t have the resources to pour $930 million into a tunnel
and work on our other priorities.”
To earn favor with voters in the next four weeks, McGinn must
capitalize on his contrasts with the other candidates for mayor, or
he’s out of the race. He is consistently polling behind Nickels, Drago,
and Donaldson. Ballots for the primary will be mailed July 30 to all
King County voters, who have until August 18 to mail them back. Only
the top two candidates for mayor will advance into the general
election. 
On January 13, 2009, the state, county, and city signed a letter of agreement for the bored tunnel currently planned. They commmitted to the following funding:
State of Washington
$2.81 billion
City of Seattle
$930 million
County
$190 million
In addition, the Port of Seattle said that they would come up with $300 million.
True, they still need to officially fund the plan. But that’s how multi-jurisdiction projects have to work. Make a plan, fund it, build it. It’s moving forward.
Love the plan, hate the plan, it took years to work out. And McGinn, a guy with no electoral experience, says he can somehow do better. While he’s also declaring war on the school district, which is exactly what a mayoral takeover would suggest. And at the same time he’s building some kind of bizarre system of ramps for all of Metro’s bus stops, or buying a fleet of new buses, or something. Nuts.
The only good news is that he has no chance of winning. He’s a “shape the debate” candidate.
He seems a weak candidate to me. I got a flyer from him yesterday in the mail. All it said was, NO on the tunnel option and then everything else I can fix with platitudes.
Well, he’ll get the white, bike riding, green, save the planet, hobby horse liberal vote that loves living in the Great White North but adopts 3rd world kids to relieve their guilt at living in an all white enclave.
he’s a viable candidate. if there’s a major city in the US that could have someone so progressive, shouldn’t it be seattle? stop hum-bugging, regress a bit and vote for the ideals.
p.s. go ephs!
@13 you fail at Stranger Commenting AND faux-experiential marketing. I’m not sure what’s more sad, your attempt or the hourly wage you got while writing it.
@28 are you trying to out-whore @13?
@42 so who are you voting for that is pro-education?
I’d like more info on this guy.
Stranger, are you thinking of actually endorsing anyone?
I’d love to see Drago vs. McGinn come voting day.
To throw a curve into this discussion, I think it’s time we had a City Council that actually stood up to the mayor instead of rolling over for every developer-subsidizing (tunnel included) idea the mayor has. You get that by either voting in better Council members, or, in absence of that, electing a mayor who is an outsider. McGinn is that. He’s got my vote.
Mcginn is the only candidate who supports issues beyond what to do about the tunnel. He actually lays out his plan. Forget everything else, he’s honest. Mcginn O9!
@56 has a good point. We need more people like Dorsal Plants, Nick Licata, and other strong council members too.
Does anyone know where McGinn stands on the nightlife/club ordinances issue?
Yea, i want to hear more about the nightlife restrictions too. Seattle is the no fun capital of the USA… People have to smoke next to dumpsters, wth?! It’s a state law, but an ordinance can be established by now to allow balcony or patio smoking like any other civilized city has.
Anyways, McGinn seems like a total granola! Same old stale ideas for the rich hippies, i.e. bicycling, walking, no vehicles, unicorns, etc… Sorry, no one has time and money for this anymore. None of these green ideas can get people out of poverty. He talks about transit ridership going up but nothing about the quality of the ride, most people who ride these filthy slow routes are doing it not by choice! Who wants to spend all day changing buses with mental cases and gang members?!
…and who needs sidewalks if they are not safe. Some of these new sidewalks are right next to traffic without any barriers, plus walking is just not safe in Seattle. People get mugged, killed. We need to get around the region and need safe public space. Not just new public space or just more slow dysfunctional bus.
MCginn is the same as Nickels to me. Check out NORMAN SIGLER and ELIZABETH CAMPBELL, they have a number of very constructive ideas. The rest of the candidates are the same old special interest granola.