"Meet Mike McGinn- The Anti-Tunnel Dude" (with audio)

The Sable Verity, with audio:

It’s safe to say hell hath frozen over- Mike McGinn sat down with me last week for a 1 on 1 interview. Known for being the guy against the tunnel (to replace the AWV) McGinn is neck and neck with his opponent Joe Mallahan as they race to the election finish line- hoping to grab your vote along the way. McGinn asked to meet at a downtown coffee shop, which at times makes the interview more challenging to hear, so, apologies for that.

Here we go…

Who is Mike McGinn?

Change, “new politics” and the decision to run for Mayor (and not city council)

Future Seattle- and a look back at the Welfare Queen (hey gurl!)… and Van Jones, too

That darn tunnel option- and all the semantics that come along with it

Seattle Schools- Mike has been running with Education as one of his main pillars- so what is he really prepared to do?

I also asked him about the same levy program scenario that I asked Mallahan in his interview.

pt1

Pt 2

Pt 3

McGinn discusses the pros and cons of the current Youth Violence Prevention Initiative

McGinn on his [former] non-profit “Great City”

Pt. 1

Pt. 2

McGinn on Equity

There you have it. Mike McGinn [finally] in his own words.

My impression? As I said after the Mallahan interview, you don’t need me to tell you who to vote for, so I’m not going to do that here.

I’m planning on comparing/contrasting my experiences is a later post, so I’m not going to get into too much detail here, but I will say that I was very surprised at McGinn’s reaction and answer to my question of what his personal working definition of “equity” is. As you no doubt notice throughout the interview, we were discussing topics where equity is an issue in Seattle.

The first thing he said was “whoa”. What I asked for was a definition but his answer was more of a vision of a perfect society, and not a personal belief system or one that he can extend to the management and leadership of a city. Equity is an issue. Yes, everyone should have a nice car, yes, everyone should have a great school to go to- but they don’t.

Mallahan’s answer wasn’t perfect by any stretch, but it has substance- he too thought about it when in the moment and gave an answer that had to do with how to ensure equity.

I mean, if you can’t define equity can you define inequities?

It’s clear that McGinn has a lot of pride in what he has accomplished personally and professionally, and in his community, which is north Seattle. It’s why I asked him about the organization he started, “Great City”, and he mentioned it more than once in our discussion.

What has great cities done in south Seattle?

It sounded to me as if he was saying that they wanted to outreach south and they wanted to be utilized by neighborhoods with great needs…but I never got a list or an example of one, which is just more of an observation and not a condemnation.