Party Affiliation: Republican (kidding!)
May 18, 2017 8:34 AM Subscribe
While it once looked like a quiet race, drawing only a single challenger, the 2017 Seattle Mayoral election has become a free-for-all. Incumbent Ed Murray will not be running for re-election, following a series of allegations that he sexually abused teenagers in the 1980s. This has resulted in a flood of more than 15 declared candidates. Who are all these candidates for mayor? Is it possible that you are one of them? If so, be sure to complete the announcement form and select a good slogan. See you in the primary!
Notably, Seattle has not had a female mayor since mayor Bertha Landes left office in 1928. That may not hold for much longer, given that four of the six most significant candidates are women.
The instant frontrunner and establishment favorite seems to be Jenny Durkan, who quickly raised more money than any other candidate. She also did very well in a straw poll at a recent Democratic district meeting. Who is mayoral candidate Jenny Durkan?
Erica Barnett is interviewing candidates: activist and poet Nikkita Oliver, urban planner Cary Moon, former mayor and returning candidate Mike McGinn, and incumbent Ed Murray (shortly before he dropped out)
Meanwhile, the city ethics commission shot down Murrary's plan for a legal defense fund.
Notably, Seattle has not had a female mayor since mayor Bertha Landes left office in 1928. That may not hold for much longer, given that four of the six most significant candidates are women.
The instant frontrunner and establishment favorite seems to be Jenny Durkan, who quickly raised more money than any other candidate. She also did very well in a straw poll at a recent Democratic district meeting. Who is mayoral candidate Jenny Durkan?
Erica Barnett is interviewing candidates: activist and poet Nikkita Oliver, urban planner Cary Moon, former mayor and returning candidate Mike McGinn, and incumbent Ed Murray (shortly before he dropped out)
Meanwhile, the city ethics commission shot down Murrary's plan for a legal defense fund.
We had a mayoral contest in Richmond last year with 17 candidates at various times. It was fun.
posted by john m at 8:48 AM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by john m at 8:48 AM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
That's nothing. The mayoral election in 2013 in Minneapolis had 35 candidates. We had a Pirate Party candidate & a guy running as Captain Jack Sparrow, but he was not the Pirate Party candidate. Those two were still not the weirdest, that was the candidate (and sole member?) of the Lauraist Communist Party, a party dedicated to the proposition that the blueprint for utopian communism is in the Little House on the Prairie books of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
posted by jonp72 at 10:10 AM on May 18, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by jonp72 at 10:10 AM on May 18, 2017 [3 favorites]
Those two were still not the weirdest, that was the candidate (and sole member?) of the Lauraist Communist Party, a party dedicated to the proposition that the blueprint for utopian communism is in the Little House on the Prairie books of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
I dunno, this seems a lot more practicable and realistic than just cutting taxes on rich people and hoping for the best.
posted by Tomorrowful at 10:22 AM on May 18, 2017 [8 favorites]
I dunno, this seems a lot more practicable and realistic than just cutting taxes on rich people and hoping for the best.
posted by Tomorrowful at 10:22 AM on May 18, 2017 [8 favorites]
Durkan is the candidate of wealthy NIMBY "law and order" Seattle, and it's a minor disappointment that viable progressives like Hasegawa, Moon, and Oliver are going to be taking each other's votes.
Sorry to see Bob Hasegawa run so poorly in that 43rd district straw poll. My legislative district Dems endorsement meeting is Wednesday; I know Nikkita Oliver and she is my candidate of choice, but she isn't a Democrat and my understanding is that we therefore can't formally endorse her per our bylaws, and I'd hoped for a Hasegawa endorsement instead.
posted by Kwine at 11:29 AM on May 18, 2017
Sorry to see Bob Hasegawa run so poorly in that 43rd district straw poll. My legislative district Dems endorsement meeting is Wednesday; I know Nikkita Oliver and she is my candidate of choice, but she isn't a Democrat and my understanding is that we therefore can't formally endorse her per our bylaws, and I'd hoped for a Hasegawa endorsement instead.
posted by Kwine at 11:29 AM on May 18, 2017
Hasegawa keeps crapping on Sound Transit—and I wouldn't be surprised to see him line up with Rossi and O'Ban to "investigate" Sound Transit—so he has permanently lost my vote. Basic support for high capacity transit and not hiding behind "I was duped by those wily transit activists" as an excuse for...whatever he is going on about are both requirements for me. If he thinks Sound Transit can rig a vote (ST can barely get permission to put a light rail station on the state's largest university in the face of entrenched state interests), I have no desire to see him go into negotiations with the Port or police department.
posted by fireoyster at 11:39 AM on May 18, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by fireoyster at 11:39 AM on May 18, 2017 [7 favorites]
Yeah, if you're a single issue transit voter, Bob's not your guy. It's kind of weird, honestly. But he's good on basically everything else.
posted by Kwine at 12:11 PM on May 18, 2017
posted by Kwine at 12:11 PM on May 18, 2017
I don't mean to complain but I don't think it's any kind of weird, honestly. Yes, I'm ardently pro-transit (and pro-building-housing-everywhere) and, yes, that informs my views. I look at his bashing on Sound Transit as endemic of a few things: First, he's willing to completely disregard the outcome of a popular vote (and one that was extremely well-supported by the people he wants to represent as Mayor).
Second, he's gone on record saying that the vote was "rigged" and that he felt "duped." No, Senator, it was not rigged and you were not duped because you had the entire staff of the Legislature at your disposal to understand exactly what the bill you voted to pass meant. I also point out my last sentence: if Sen. Hasegawa feels duped by Sound Transit—arguably one of the most scrutinized state agencies—than I have zero faith that he'll be able to successfully negotiate with the Port of Seattle or the union that covers the police department.
Third, he's not said anything regarding how to deal with the skyrocketing cost of housing in the city other than to advocate for a "public-housing-first" platform, which, combined with his bagging on Sound Transit against the MVET (which, I repeat, he voted to put into law), signals to me that he's going to come out firmly in the "old Seattle" camp.
If it gives you any kind of idea, my preference is McGinn but even he is edging too close to the "housing only where people don't really care" side of the line. Housing, transportation, cost of living, city services: those are the things I'd like to see at the forefront of a campaign for mayor.
posted by fireoyster at 1:11 PM on May 18, 2017 [4 favorites]
Second, he's gone on record saying that the vote was "rigged" and that he felt "duped." No, Senator, it was not rigged and you were not duped because you had the entire staff of the Legislature at your disposal to understand exactly what the bill you voted to pass meant. I also point out my last sentence: if Sen. Hasegawa feels duped by Sound Transit—arguably one of the most scrutinized state agencies—than I have zero faith that he'll be able to successfully negotiate with the Port of Seattle or the union that covers the police department.
Third, he's not said anything regarding how to deal with the skyrocketing cost of housing in the city other than to advocate for a "public-housing-first" platform, which, combined with his bagging on Sound Transit against the MVET (which, I repeat, he voted to put into law), signals to me that he's going to come out firmly in the "old Seattle" camp.
If it gives you any kind of idea, my preference is McGinn but even he is edging too close to the "housing only where people don't really care" side of the line. Housing, transportation, cost of living, city services: those are the things I'd like to see at the forefront of a campaign for mayor.
posted by fireoyster at 1:11 PM on May 18, 2017 [4 favorites]
John Richards for mayor and all funding goes to KEXP.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:16 PM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:16 PM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
What's people's read on Farrell? She's hitting a lot of good points from what I've seen, but I haven't seen that much yet.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 1:58 PM on May 18, 2017
posted by vibratory manner of working at 1:58 PM on May 18, 2017
I'm a housing/transit voter, because everything in Seattle except perhaps the police union is a housing issue. From homelessness to minority issues to regional economics to environmentalism, if you can't help with housing you can't help Seattle.
So yeah, Hasegawa hasn't passed the most basic litmus test. For that matter, McGinn also has some 'splaining to do for his questionable slogan. A female candidate looks very likely.
Cary Moon is my default, simply because of her background. At this point I'm waiting to hear more about how people are at running organizations though. You could be the most ideologically pure candidate in the world, but if you can't run an office you're basically a liability. #McGinns1st3yrs
posted by tychotesla at 4:03 PM on May 18, 2017 [2 favorites]
So yeah, Hasegawa hasn't passed the most basic litmus test. For that matter, McGinn also has some 'splaining to do for his questionable slogan. A female candidate looks very likely.
Cary Moon is my default, simply because of her background. At this point I'm waiting to hear more about how people are at running organizations though. You could be the most ideologically pure candidate in the world, but if you can't run an office you're basically a liability. #McGinns1st3yrs
posted by tychotesla at 4:03 PM on May 18, 2017 [2 favorites]
Neither resident nor voter, but I'm in Seattle a few months a year, lately. Everyone linked herein seems to be set to campaign on property tax-type issues, which I suppose is typical in US cities, but at least there's some mention of transit.
IME, for readers from elsewhere: in addition to a very visible homelessness problem, Seattle has the worst traffic, city planning and public transit I've yet seen in any similar-sized city in America. There's no subway, no rapid access to the airport(s), a crippled light rail "system" that goes to about two useful places and five useless ones (to the point it's quite easy to never even notice it exists) and the very famous monorail that has exactly two stops and provides, like, zero usefulness whatsoever.
Which makes it mini-LA, basically, though even LA has a useful subway. But LA has some sense of traffic management. Everytime I am in Seattle I note there seem to be only two (?) tiny traffic bottlenecks into the entirety of downtown Seattle, and the whole grid can be brought to a standstill by, like, a baseball game or a work commute.
I know, I know. I'm too hard on the planners. How often could a baseball game happen? How could they anticipate commuters? They couldn't possibly know that stuff in advance.
And what's with that tunnel they've been digging for, like, five years now? Will that help?
posted by rokusan at 7:58 PM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
IME, for readers from elsewhere: in addition to a very visible homelessness problem, Seattle has the worst traffic, city planning and public transit I've yet seen in any similar-sized city in America. There's no subway, no rapid access to the airport(s), a crippled light rail "system" that goes to about two useful places and five useless ones (to the point it's quite easy to never even notice it exists) and the very famous monorail that has exactly two stops and provides, like, zero usefulness whatsoever.
Which makes it mini-LA, basically, though even LA has a useful subway. But LA has some sense of traffic management. Everytime I am in Seattle I note there seem to be only two (?) tiny traffic bottlenecks into the entirety of downtown Seattle, and the whole grid can be brought to a standstill by, like, a baseball game or a work commute.
I know, I know. I'm too hard on the planners. How often could a baseball game happen? How could they anticipate commuters? They couldn't possibly know that stuff in advance.
And what's with that tunnel they've been digging for, like, five years now? Will that help?
posted by rokusan at 7:58 PM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
rokusan, I'm with you on the traffic but I think our transit is better than "worst." Light rail does go to the passenger airport; I've taken it there a number of times myself. Whether or not the other stops are "useful" or not depends on if you live around them. Link has been wildly popular, even moreso after it opened to Capitol Hill (an ultra-dense-for-Seattle neighborhood) and the University.
As for the rest of traffic, geography is a huge concern. There are only a handful of places to put a freeway. Also, back in the 1960s and 1970s, Seattle residents staged a freeway revolt that would have carved freeways through the Central District (east of I-5 and, more specifically, east of 15th Ave, between highway 520 and I-90), the arboretum, the eastern University area, Lake City, and elsewhere.
Whether or not that is a good idea I suppose depends on a person's view of what a city is for. I, as a current resident, am thrilled that the people alive at the time did so, though I'd also like to have a word with them about also not voting 60% in favor of Forward Thrust... (The Monorail is its own ball of wax but, at least if the legislature manages to avoid killing Sound Transit 3, its dreams should be realized in about 16 years.)
The tunnel you mentioned, Bertha, might help but not at the level the tunnel proponents hope. There are no exits to downtown from the tunnel so West Seattle -> downtown will still take surface streets. WSea -> South Lake Union should improve because the tunnel portal is near there. But, hey, snazzy waterfront park!
posted by fireoyster at 8:15 PM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
As for the rest of traffic, geography is a huge concern. There are only a handful of places to put a freeway. Also, back in the 1960s and 1970s, Seattle residents staged a freeway revolt that would have carved freeways through the Central District (east of I-5 and, more specifically, east of 15th Ave, between highway 520 and I-90), the arboretum, the eastern University area, Lake City, and elsewhere.
Whether or not that is a good idea I suppose depends on a person's view of what a city is for. I, as a current resident, am thrilled that the people alive at the time did so, though I'd also like to have a word with them about also not voting 60% in favor of Forward Thrust... (The Monorail is its own ball of wax but, at least if the legislature manages to avoid killing Sound Transit 3, its dreams should be realized in about 16 years.)
The tunnel you mentioned, Bertha, might help but not at the level the tunnel proponents hope. There are no exits to downtown from the tunnel so West Seattle -> downtown will still take surface streets. WSea -> South Lake Union should improve because the tunnel portal is near there. But, hey, snazzy waterfront park!
posted by fireoyster at 8:15 PM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
Hilariously, this has come up on an anon forum I frequent, where someone who had bad experiences with one of the candidates (Nikkita Oliver) is venting. If the complaints have a grain of truth in them, I wouldn't want that candidate as mayor of my city either. She sounds like a hypocrite who is incapable of organizing effective meetings or recognizing complex issues.
posted by Ahniya at 8:45 PM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Ahniya at 8:45 PM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
jonp72: "the Lauraist Communist Party, a party dedicated to the proposition that the blueprint for utopian communism is in the Little House on the Prairie books of Laura Ingalls Wilder."
Ironic, given Wilder's later political leanings.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:14 PM on May 18, 2017
Ironic, given Wilder's later political leanings.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:14 PM on May 18, 2017
Total random aside, but I just realized (after seeing kwine's comment) that we must have a fairly large contingent of politically active Seattle mefites. We should ... like have a meetup or something. I hear we do that sometimes.
Anyway, I've gotten a lot more politically active the last year or so. And of course national politics is a tire fire. The mayor's race, aside from the utter sadness of the whole Murray thing (no one needed that), has been giving me joy. It's just such a normal, absurd, political circus. Not Spicer in the bushes stupid and omg what will he say next and why won't anyone do anything? Just run-of-the-mill stuff like too many candidates aligned in certain political wings splitting their votes. And completely absurd and not viable candidates (like Alex Tsimerman who shows up to lots of city council meetings an angrily comments).
But as for my actual leanings ... it's pretty hard since of the candidates I know a bit more about they have all put their foots pretty strongly in the mouth about some issue I care about. Apparently Durkan came out in favor of sweeps tonight which sigh it's complicated but it sounded bad. But I won't be voting for McGinn, not when I could vote for a good candidate (there are many good candidates!) and long-term increase the representation of women or non-white people in political power.
posted by R343L at 10:23 PM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
Anyway, I've gotten a lot more politically active the last year or so. And of course national politics is a tire fire. The mayor's race, aside from the utter sadness of the whole Murray thing (no one needed that), has been giving me joy. It's just such a normal, absurd, political circus. Not Spicer in the bushes stupid and omg what will he say next and why won't anyone do anything? Just run-of-the-mill stuff like too many candidates aligned in certain political wings splitting their votes. And completely absurd and not viable candidates (like Alex Tsimerman who shows up to lots of city council meetings an angrily comments).
But as for my actual leanings ... it's pretty hard since of the candidates I know a bit more about they have all put their foots pretty strongly in the mouth about some issue I care about. Apparently Durkan came out in favor of sweeps tonight which sigh it's complicated but it sounded bad. But I won't be voting for McGinn, not when I could vote for a good candidate (there are many good candidates!) and long-term increase the representation of women or non-white people in political power.
posted by R343L at 10:23 PM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
rokusan: Have you lived in many cities this size in the US? Because my experience in cities this size and smaller is they have practically no transit. If they have any rail it doesn't go anywhere but the airport. Admittedly if you live on the north side of Seattle, the rail is useless but I use light rail practically every day as do many many people on the south of downtown. Seattle Transit Blog regularly posts Link ridership numbers and it's grown hugely every single year. Tons of people use it all the time and not just for the seemingly couple useful destinations (downtown, airport and now UW).
Anyway, Seattle and the region's transit planning doesn't seem particularly bad for the United States. Hasegawa's statements are definitely in the why would you even go there if you're running for Seattle mayor? Everyone like's to bag on transit failures but "rigged" is going pretty far and is kind of careless language, especially given the overall political environment.
posted by R343L at 10:33 PM on May 18, 2017
Anyway, Seattle and the region's transit planning doesn't seem particularly bad for the United States. Hasegawa's statements are definitely in the why would you even go there if you're running for Seattle mayor? Everyone like's to bag on transit failures but "rigged" is going pretty far and is kind of careless language, especially given the overall political environment.
posted by R343L at 10:33 PM on May 18, 2017
Yes, Phoenix and Detroit are the only other two that I can think of without decent mass transit, but both of those at least manage auto traffic better.
Maybe I have Bosnywashian biases, but I guess it's that the light rail in Seattle seems to have grown so little, when it seems so necessary in a sprawling metro area that has no subway system to hook it together. Whenever I look at a map of Seattle's rail system, I think "okay, great, what about the other 90% of Seattle?"
(Vancouver, Canada also had this problem about 20 years ago but has come a long way to expanding their rail system quite quickly.)
I admit being underinformed re Seattle's particular quirks of history, but it's always struck me as a contradiction: a lefty, enviro-conscious city that seems purpose-built to remain dependent on the automobile. Even bike lanes seem quite rare.
posted by rokusan at 11:40 PM on May 18, 2017
Maybe I have Bosnywashian biases, but I guess it's that the light rail in Seattle seems to have grown so little, when it seems so necessary in a sprawling metro area that has no subway system to hook it together. Whenever I look at a map of Seattle's rail system, I think "okay, great, what about the other 90% of Seattle?"
(Vancouver, Canada also had this problem about 20 years ago but has come a long way to expanding their rail system quite quickly.)
I admit being underinformed re Seattle's particular quirks of history, but it's always struck me as a contradiction: a lefty, enviro-conscious city that seems purpose-built to remain dependent on the automobile. Even bike lanes seem quite rare.
posted by rokusan at 11:40 PM on May 18, 2017
I'm running and throwing my brain-sucking tree octopus hat into the ring. My major platform planks are mainly transportation and infrastructure issues that direly need to be addressed in Seattle.
I propose to install ziplines from Capitol Hill, First Hill and Queen Anne that terminate in many useful locations around SLU, Downtown, the waterfront and Pioneer Square. Service to the top of the hills will be supported by bike lift, chair lift and gondola. However, I also intend to expand Metro service as a whole, so if that's too exciting for you, you can always take the bus.
I also have plans to aggressively address the issue of urban joblessness and homelessness and the trash it generates by creating a program that replaces much of the public landscaping with public cannabis gardens. This will not only create jobs and a cash crop industry where none previously existed, but will also prevent camping and littering issues in select places through encouraging personal investment and effort in said gardens.
To fund and expand Metro's budget I propose to repurpose and expand the viaduct replacement tunnel, which will be leased to Amazon as its new headquarters and campus. Said underground campus will be safely and securely walled off and insulated from the rest of Seattle with nearly all Amazon traffic sequestered underground or within it's own private burbclave dome. Studies have shown that this will eliminate 90-99% of Seattle's current congestion and traffic issues by completely eliminating blue-badged zombies from shambling down every sidewalk in downtown 4-5 abreast while staring at their phones and freeing up the majority of car-sharing programs from the dreaded "Amazon suck" that sees mass migrations of these hire-cars to and away from the Amazon campus every day.
This will also address the affordable housing issue by encouraging Amazon to get into the business of providing hosing directly to the employees it hasn't yet burnt out. I've been working directly with Jeff Bezos and he's excited about the income opportunities and increased productivity of on-site hot racking his employees in a fun, fast paced summer camp environment.
Further public infrastructure programs include replacing the water at the Cal Anderson volcano and reflecting pond with free beer piped in from several breweries around town, installing hot and cold whiskey fountains at Steinbrueck Park and initiating a direly needed program to import some Mexican food that doesn't suck by using heavy lift dirigibles to fly to San Francisco and Los Angeles tostealing borrowing Taqueria Cancun and an assortment of LA street taco trucks.
I also have an innovative funding proposal that involves building a paywall at the iconic Kerry park overlook. Locals know that there are better views, proposal sites and photo opportunities in parks even in the same neighborhoods. but the income opportunity represented by charging tourists and photographers a premium price for the opportunity to see or photograph that precisely unique view that about ten million other people have uniquely photographed simply cannot be left on the table.
My most controversial platform plank is likely the so-called fish-throwing tax. It's not actually a tax, it's just a user fee. If tourists want to see someone beat up a perfectly edible fish by throwing it back and forth over a fishmonger's counter, they'll simply have to pay for it.
posted by loquacious at 6:53 AM on May 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
I propose to install ziplines from Capitol Hill, First Hill and Queen Anne that terminate in many useful locations around SLU, Downtown, the waterfront and Pioneer Square. Service to the top of the hills will be supported by bike lift, chair lift and gondola. However, I also intend to expand Metro service as a whole, so if that's too exciting for you, you can always take the bus.
I also have plans to aggressively address the issue of urban joblessness and homelessness and the trash it generates by creating a program that replaces much of the public landscaping with public cannabis gardens. This will not only create jobs and a cash crop industry where none previously existed, but will also prevent camping and littering issues in select places through encouraging personal investment and effort in said gardens.
To fund and expand Metro's budget I propose to repurpose and expand the viaduct replacement tunnel, which will be leased to Amazon as its new headquarters and campus. Said underground campus will be safely and securely walled off and insulated from the rest of Seattle with nearly all Amazon traffic sequestered underground or within it's own private burbclave dome. Studies have shown that this will eliminate 90-99% of Seattle's current congestion and traffic issues by completely eliminating blue-badged zombies from shambling down every sidewalk in downtown 4-5 abreast while staring at their phones and freeing up the majority of car-sharing programs from the dreaded "Amazon suck" that sees mass migrations of these hire-cars to and away from the Amazon campus every day.
This will also address the affordable housing issue by encouraging Amazon to get into the business of providing hosing directly to the employees it hasn't yet burnt out. I've been working directly with Jeff Bezos and he's excited about the income opportunities and increased productivity of on-site hot racking his employees in a fun, fast paced summer camp environment.
Further public infrastructure programs include replacing the water at the Cal Anderson volcano and reflecting pond with free beer piped in from several breweries around town, installing hot and cold whiskey fountains at Steinbrueck Park and initiating a direly needed program to import some Mexican food that doesn't suck by using heavy lift dirigibles to fly to San Francisco and Los Angeles to
I also have an innovative funding proposal that involves building a paywall at the iconic Kerry park overlook. Locals know that there are better views, proposal sites and photo opportunities in parks even in the same neighborhoods. but the income opportunity represented by charging tourists and photographers a premium price for the opportunity to see or photograph that precisely unique view that about ten million other people have uniquely photographed simply cannot be left on the table.
My most controversial platform plank is likely the so-called fish-throwing tax. It's not actually a tax, it's just a user fee. If tourists want to see someone beat up a perfectly edible fish by throwing it back and forth over a fishmonger's counter, they'll simply have to pay for it.
posted by loquacious at 6:53 AM on May 19, 2017 [4 favorites]
Seattle Weekly made a quiz: Which Mayoral Candidate Are You?
posted by vibratory manner of working at 9:48 PM on May 23, 2017
posted by vibratory manner of working at 9:48 PM on May 23, 2017
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posted by SansPoint at 8:38 AM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]