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WE'RE already into that new millennium everyone was talking about, but Seattle seems stuck on the 20th century side of the bridge. Paul Schell, our would-be mayor for this century, couldn't plan for the future and kept being surprised by events like WTO and Mardi Gras that you didn't need to be Cassandra to see coming. The voters dumped him in September's primary.
Sound Transit's light-rail project, our transportation system of the future, gets smaller with each successive plan and is imperiled by a mayoral candidate who wants to take it back to the drawing board. And the Seattle monorail (a.k.a. George Jetson's second car), that imperative transit link between the Westlake Mall bus-tunnel station and the Fun Forest, now boasts a passel of supporters who want to replicate it on a larger scale as our own space-age version of Chicago's El.
Yes, this election is all about Seattle's future. Should we turn Schell's office over to snarly tough guy Mark Sidran or amiable career politician Greg Nickels? Should we stand pat with our current City Council lineup (Richard Conlin, Nick Licata, Jan Drago, and Richard McIver) or beam up new leaders?
This week, we make our endorsements for candidates to local offices and feature in-depth reporting on the Seattle mayor's race. Next week, we'll endorse initiatives and ballot measures.
So prepare for the ride of your life, readers, as Seattle Weekly takes you into the future. Please remain seated until the newspaper comes to a complete stop. . . .
Seattle Mayor
Back to the future with Greg Nickels? Perhaps. This is, after all, a guy who has devoted his life to bringing streetcars back to the Rainier Valley and keeping kids from taking up cigarette smoking. But Nickels is also the best choice between two candidates, neither of whom has excited the electorate.
Opponent Mark Sidran has run a relentlessly negative campaign around derailing Sound Transit and touting his "my way or the highway" approach to decision making. Mark, old boy, demagoguery is just so 1999. Sidran has energized the Rainier Club crowd, who enjoys his relentless legislative pounding of the city's unwanted poor people and his numerous efforts to overturn our constitutional rights. Sidran has no real platform, and nothing he has done as city attorney shows that he deserves higher office.
Unfortunately, Greg Nickels has not run a great campaign either. He has relied too heavily on his bland image instead of talking about substantive issues. Most importantly, his unwillingness to re-examine light rail has made him vulnerable to Sidran's attacks. But in these final weeks, Nickels is showing himself to be seriously grappling with how to reconnect city government to its citizens after four years of the distant Schell. His ideas focus quite rightly on neighborhood empowerment: Electing council members in neighborhood districts instead of citywide, holding regular neighborhood town-hall meetings, and getting the city's neighborhood service center to have evening and weekend hours are among his best ideas. In addition, with two decades of experience in government, Nickels would bring a deft touch to building relationships with the City Council and Seattle's regional partners. He has also pledged to provide a much-needed housecleaning for our sadly stagnant City Hall.
A few quick questions: Which mayoral candidate can better patch up racial relations within Seattle? Which candidate is more likely to address the issue of Seattle's income stratification as moderate-income people get priced out of the city? Who will more zealously protect services for Seattle's neediest residents as budgets shrink? Which candidate has any degree of experience on transportation issues? The answer to all these questions is Greg Nickels. This city's future is too important to risk on people's flavor-of-the-month desire for a tough guy. We need a smart guy, a caring guy, an experienced guy. We need Greg Nickels.
Seattle City Attorney
Now that we've gotten on board the monorail, there's no reason to stop. Tom Carr, already a Seattle political figure as the former chair of the monorail-studying Elevated Transportation Company, is the best choice to speed the city attorney's office into the new millennium.
The other candidate, Edsonya Charles, a prosecutor in the U.S. attorney's office, has an interesting r鳵m頷ith a successful career in social services. She also, however, has just six-years experience as a lawyer, making her a questionable pick for this key city post.
Carr, by contrast, has 17 years of legal experience and is a partner in an 80-member downtown law firm. A civil litigator specializing in commercial and environmental law, Carr's legal career includes a stint pursuing civil racketeering cases against organized crime figures. He has also been the most forthcoming candidate when it comes to criticizing predecessor Mark Sidran's agenda.
Carr has the experience, the stature in city government, and the engaging personality to smooth the transfer of power from Sidran's fiefdom to a more open, responsive city attorney's office. He's one Carr who will thrive in the monorail age.
Seattle City Council, Position 2
Richard Conlin has had a hit-and-miss first term but faces a weak opponent, Michael Preston.
School Board member Preston has been in hot water with the state's Gambling Commission and Public Disclosure Commission, which regulates campaigns, and he was chased out of his former job with the Central Area Youth Association. His listless performance in recent years on the School Board also doesn't recommend him for a promotion to the City Council.
