[nfbwatlk] FW: [Urban Politics] Urban Politics #282 - MAYOR ELECT MIKE McGINN REACHES OUT

[Jacob Struiksma]

Urban Politics #282, November 16, 2009



By City Councilmember Nick Licata



I've used Urban Politics primarily to discuss pending and passed
legislation, but this year I will also be providing more commentary on City
Hall's workings and politics and how I see them helping shape legislation.



MAYOR ELECT MIKE McGINN REACHES OUT



Friday afternoon Councilmember Jan Drago stuck her head into my office and
said in a jovial manner, "Hey if you want to see the new Mayor, come next
door." That would be Councilmember Sally Clark's office. Drago and I found
Mayor-Elect Mike McGinn in the middle of Clark's office, smiling broadly
(his seemingly ever present smile may become his trademark) and talking in a
casual style to both staff and Clark. Councilmember Tim Burgess soon walked
over and joined us.



McGinn explained that rather than making courtesy calls to all the
Councilmembers, he thought it better to just walk over and meet face to face
on a casual basis. This is a departure from Mayor Nickel's style, which was
to rely more on his deputy mayor Tim Ceis to walk the Council hallway.



In another way McGinn is making a more dramatic departure from not only the
Nickels' transition but others that have gone before him as well. Rather
than appoint a distinguished list of civic leaders and activists to head up
his transition team, he is relying on a more diffuse collection of community
people. As one of them explained to me, "He wanted to avoid a sense of who
was in and who was out in this effort."  And there still seems to be a lot
of campaign volunteers willing to continue with their assistance. McGinn
shared with us that up to six volunteers a day were currently working in the
transition office in the Municipal Tower across from City Hall.



McGinn is also asking a number of community leaders to solicit opinions from
their contacts in the general public by answering several questions. I
received such a request from Sharon Lee, the Executive Director of the Low
Income Housing Institute. And with her encouragement I'm passing on these
questions to UP readers. For those who wish to answer the following
questions, send your comments directly to Sharon at sharonl at lihi.org by this
Friday. She will compile them and submit them to a smaller group working
directly with Mayor Elect McGinn.



Mayor Elect McGinn's Three Questions:



How do we build the strongest possible team to achieve the policy objectives
and values set forth during Mike's campaign?



How do we build public trust in the new administration?



What do you view as the incoming administration and the city's greatest
challenge - what should we do first out of the gate?





I applaud this effort and wish him well in his administration's first
challenge: figuring out how to best use this flood of information. I hope he
also shares the compiled responses he receives with the Council and the
public. This could be the start of an open and vigorous conversation on
where Seattle should be headed.







COUNCIL MEMBERS & MAYOR'S EMAIL ADDRESSES



Tim.Burgess at seattle.gov

Sally.Clark at seattle.gov

Richard.Conlin at seattle.gov

Jan.Drago at seattle.gov

Jean.Godden at seattle.gov

Bruce.Harrell at seattle.gov

Nick.Licata at seattle.gov

Richard.McIver at seattle.gov

Tom.Rasmussen at seattle.gov





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