Note: In the interest of helping Pinehurst neighbors to learn about the candidates who are running for local office in 2009, I invited all candidates to submit information about themselves and their campaigns to post on the Pinehurst Blog. This is the tenth post in the series.
It seems like a long time ago now, but this year’s campaign began last spring in Pinehurst. Some of you were probably there to see my first shot at public speaking. I’m happy to report back to you that my speaking skills have improved a great deal since then!
I decided to run for Seattle City Council out of a sense of frustration with a lack of progress on key issues facing the city, out of concern that this lack of progress was hampering our ability to meet the challenges we face, out of a deep and abiding faith that Seattle of all cities ought to be leading the way.
Over the past 7 months I’ve spoken to hundreds of community leaders, businesspeople, environmental advocates, builders, transportation specialists, social service providers, young people and retirees. Those conversations have helped my develop ideas for how we can deal with the challenges we face. Here’s a look at some of my ideas:
Economy & Opportunity: For a better economy I’m proposing the establishment of a local currency along the lines of BerkShares in Massachusetts, which I’m calling Emerald Dollars, to will help keep our money invested right here in the local business that are the engines of economic prosperity and innovation, and help them jumpstart a job-growing economy. Learn more.
Livability & Affordability: For better development, greater affordability and more livable neighborhoods I’m proposing we replace our overly complex and bureaucratic planning and land use code with “smartcode” that encourages walkability and includes design guidelines and greater flexibility that frees architects to design solutions that fit the specific neighborhood location rather than the one size fits all cookie cutter construction we’ve seen in the last decade. This has been adopted in other communities and Seattle in particular would benefit from it’s adoption here. It’s time we fix our broken land use system so we can start designing more beautiful and functional buildings that compliment the great natural beauty of this region, rather than just the next round of future tenements. Learn more.
Transportation & Mobility: For better transportation I’m proposing that we develop an actual transportation system that will serve Seattle for the next century or more, including a rail-based rapid transit system as the backbone to connect our urban villages and urban centers to each other, streetcar connectors along key business corridors to allow people to get back and forth easily without a car, and bus circulators to get people who don’t live within walking distance to a transit station. This whole system needs to work together if we’re going to make it easy for people to get around without cars, and mesh with the network of greenways I’ve proposed with bicycle paths separated from both moving traffic and parked cars to permit our families and elderly to also get around by bicycle safely. Learn more.
These are examples of the type of bold ideas I’ll champion on the Seattle City Council. You’ll find more in a document I’ve released entitled “Investing in Our Future: For an Ecologically, Economically and Socially Sustainable Seattle”. It contains more than 20 specific policy proposals, more detail than any other candidate for citywide office, and it is a roadmap to a brighter future for all of us who call Seattle home. This document is available for download in PDF form here. Please let me know what you think…I welcome your ideas!
Please visit www.davidginsberg.org to learn more.
I’d be honored to have your vote and I look forward to continuing this conversation we began 7 months ago in Pinehurst.
David
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