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 seventh post in the series.
I’m running for mayor because I’ve seen what can happen when people come together around common goals. Here’s my story:
After graduating from UW law school, I joined a Seattle law firm and made partner. My wife and I loved our Greenwood neighborhood, but we worried about our children’s safety because we had no sidewalks. City officials didn’t seem to care about our concerns, so I worked with my neighbors to organize our community and get sidewalks built. Buoyed by our success, we worked to revitalize our local business district.
Talking to people in other neighborhoods, I realized we weren’t alone in our frustration with the lack of progress. I decided to leave the law firm to form a non-profit – the Seattle Great City Initiative – to bring people together, find common ground, and get results.
We’ve had success. We delivered neighborhood improvements and passed the 2008 Parks Levy.
I want to bring this cooperative approach to the mayor’s office.
Here are my priorities:
Transportation – As a Sierra Club leader, I worked for great transit. Now we need to connect Seattle neighborhoods to the new light rail line – with new mass transit on dedicated rights of way that won’t get stuck in traffic. You vote for it. We’ll build it.
Education – Schools need our help. As mayor, city government will become a partner with the school system – sharing resources and reducing overhead.
Jobs and Economy – President Roosevelt created the CCC. Seattle can learn from history. We need a jobs program to put people to work on things like weatherizing homes, building sidewalks, and improving parks. We need to take care of our local streets and bridges and invest in the next generation of infrastructure – fiber optic Internet to make us competitive and reduce the digital divide.
Finally, I am against the $4.2 billion waterfront tunnel. It’s a bad deal and threatens all our other priorities:
1) It’s the largest tax increase in city history – putting Seattle under mountains of debt for decades.
2) State law holds Seattle taxpayers responsible for ALL cost overruns.
3) It has no on-ramps or off-ramps downtown and no dedicated transit component.
4) Includes $400 million in new tolls – about $6.00 each way.
Go to my website for additional policy proposals and to share your ideas and feedback.
If we work together, Seattle wins. I’d appreciate your vote.
