Mayor Nichols & The Sisters
Originally uploaded by faust0matic
Don’t make up your mind on these turkeys just yet. We’re happy to be part of bringing you a unique opportunity to quiz Seattle’s candidates about your Capitol Hill concerns.
The joint Capitol Hill-Central District Election Forum will be held Monday night, July 27 at the Mount Zion Baptist Church at the corner of Madison and 19th Ave E. On the docket are candidates for the school board, city council and the mayor’s office. Format will be based on your submitted questions. Every attendee will be given a card for each of the three races. On that card, you are encouraged to write a brief, 12-word or less question (like Twitter!). The cards will be placed in a box and drawn by the moderator at random. Three questions will be asked for each race.
Sound fun? Mark your calendars for July 27.
Being the community minded type, I’m willing to give up my three cards to CHS. What should our three questions be? Here’s one I’m thinking about asking the want-to-be mayors: How will you help Broadway survive 7 years of light rail construction? I also might like to ask how they plan to support neighborhood bloggers, an issue near and dear to my heart. But if you’ve got a zinger, please share.
potential Mayors: Do you favor continued funding of installation and operation of surveillance cameras in our public parks?
Mayor Nickels pushed the $800,000 park surveillance camera program through without the opportunity for public input that his staff promised, going so far as to find alternative funding after City Council placed a budget proviso calling for evaluation of procedures for accounting for use of the cameras before approval. Parks & Recreation Department Superintendent Tim Gallagher announced last month that the police have not once used the cameras that were installed in Cal Anderson Park. I’ve read a draft copy of the City Auditor’s report on the 18-month pilot program. They were unable to determine if the cameras had any effect on crime, safety, or perceived safety of the park. Other cities have found that public surveillance cameras are not effective. It would be interesting to find out if any of the mayoral candidates are familiar with the situation and ready to throw more money at it.
Pare that down to 12 words and submit it at the forum, please.
Andrew Taylor
Forum details: http://tinyurl.com/cap-cd-forum
Neither the mayor or the council seem to comprhend just how bad the economy is … the mayor gave a pay cut of 1.5 per cent to those making 120,000. or more per yer.
WOW, how can those folks buy bread? Such a sham of fiscal policy.
The boom is over and it will never return with the same magnitude … the city will have a Calif. style melt down if they don’t get frugal and spend like the families they tax are spending – pinching dollars.
I am disgusted with the mayor and the council – little guts or leadership – big on PR at every turn – and on every issue.
What will you do to reduce urban noise to keep our mixed-use neighborhoods livable?
I’m referring to nuisance noises such as loud trash trucks at odd hours of the mornings, back-up beepers on delivery trucks, buskers, car alarms, and leaf blowers.
Will do. Present contenders are (critique encouraged):
1. Would you continue funding installation and operation of surveillance cameras in parks?
2. Do you consider the parks surveillance camera pilot program to be successful?
3. What did the parks surveillance camera pilot program indicate about surveillance effectiveness?
4. How effective have park surveillance cameras been in deterring and investigating crime?
#1 and #2 are yes/no questions, so it will be easy to determine if they are answered (assuming moderators wait for a yes or a no), but without followup questions, may not reveal much. #1 gets wasted funding on peoples’ minds. #2 could elicit an ambiguous response (e.g., yes, it was successful in evaluating the effectiveness of the cameras). #3 is nearly impossible to answer accurately, because (as the City Auditor found) the pilot program didn’t result in much information. Answering #4 requires knowledge of crime levels before & after installation as well as speculation about the degree to which other factors affected those levels.