As J reported, Michael McGinn has announced his candidacy for mayor. Here is video of his announcement, and some of his Q&A. This video includes something new that I’m trying out… I’ve included a running commentary made up of twitter messages, and comments from around the ‘net.
McGinn lays out his three main priorities; Schools, Internet Infrastructure, and Transportation. He answers questions from reporters;
– Where has mayor Nickels gone wrong (McGinn has supported Nickels in previous elections)
– What is your position on the Mercer Project
– How will you work to empower neighborhoods?
– You think you can beat Dan Savage?
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I would be much happier if he’d drop the “fiber optic network” thing and put the social safety net front and center. Maybe not a winning issue in the suburbs, but it’s the right thing to do. The city should be dedicated to helping those in need, and willing to put money behind it.
Is he joking? What a waste of time and an odd priority to run on.
Your use of Tweets in the video is very clever…innovative, appropriate, and definitely made me overlook that McGinn should’ve shaved.
I’m stealing this idea now.
And unlikely. Internet means infrastructure. No one is going to pay for internet.
Heck, in my time Seattle I’ve seen the public as being regularly unwilling to pay for infrastructure projects. Let’s pay for roads and bridges, then we’ll worry about internet….
Latest TOP 10 most popular names for hizzoner so far:
1. MAYOR McCHEESE–by a huge margin
2. MAYOR McCONDO
3. MAYOR NOPLOW
4. MAYOR SNOWJOB
5. MAYOR 5-CENTS
6. MAJOR NOPLOW
7. MAYOR McSLEAZE
8. MAYOR FAILure
9. MAYOR GRIDLOCK
10. MAYOR QUIMBY
All the names that are just too mean to such a nice fellow, like MAYOR McFATTY, MAYOR PORK, MAJOR PORK, MAYOR BIGMAC, etc. will not be included in the Top 10 names for HIS HONOR. This is Seattle, a nice city, after all.
We are monitoring the TIMES, P-I, Weakly, Strangler, Crosscut, Publicola, and a few blogs for the most mentions in comments from the citizenry.
Newest contenders:
MAYOR DISASTER, MAJOR DISASTER, BOSS NICKELS, MAYOR NOSALT, MAYOR NICKELBAGS, MAYOR KNUCKLEHEAD, MAYOR FUDD, MAYOR FIVEPENNIES, MAYOR CHUMPCHANGE, MAYOR KNUCKLES
First of all, I thought David’s video/comment idea was great.
Second, upon viewing the video, I have to reconsider what I said (and was quoted as saying). Yes, at first the idea of Internet infrastructure seemed cool … but as so many have mentioned, it’s not as if Seattle has an Internet problem or anything.
The economy sucks right now and it seems like kids are getting shot in the CD and South Seattle on a weekly (if not more frequent) basis. I agree with Uncle Vinny: “I would be much happier if he’d drop the ‘fiber optic network’ thing and put the social safety net front and center.”
So anyway, consider “paulbalcerak’s” video comment redacted.
ha ha. on your permanent record. you’ll have to make your own video now!
I’m with you on that. At first the idea sounded like a good one, but the more I think about it the more it seems like a national issue rather than a local one. In the long term it would be great for the national economy to have faster and more widespread internet, but I don’t necessarily think it should be a top priority of our mayor.
If the video was on youtube I’d put one of those little pop-up boxes that says “comment redacted.” but it’s not… so TOO LATE!
@jseattle I know — one Tweet and I’m on the record for life. This totally screws up my own eventual mayoral run. (Side note: Can you add a button that I can click to get pinged via e-mail when someone adds a reply to a comment of mine?)
@cheesecake You pegged it there. If this were Capitol Hill Oklahoma City, it’d probably be a legit issue to run on, but I feel like there’s a wireless signal every 10 feet in this city (to go with a coffee shop every 10 feet). I think my ideal candidate would come out talking about:
• CD/South Seattle violence
• Economy/cost of living
And the last point would just be that he/she isn’t Greg Nickels.