Interview with the mayor, report #3: Why re-elect him?

Mayor Greg Nickels makes his re-election campaign official Monday. During our interview with him at Admiral Starbucks on Saturday morning, we asked some of the questions we solicited from WSBers, starting with the one you see answered in the top clip: Why should he get a third term? Meantime, if you’re just catching up after the weekend – we’ve already published three excerpts:
First: The park-trash-can phase out
Second: Getting hassled on Alki – can police do anything about it?
Third: (published on White Center Now) Will Seattle annex White Center (assuming the rest of North Highline goes with Burien)?

We had 25 minutes to talk with him, a blink of an eye in political interview time, but we squeezed in as many questions as we could, most of them from those offered by WSBers after we asked on Friday for suggestions. The very first one posted here on WSB also speaks to his campaign overall: Lillian suggested he and other politicians have a problem with inauthenticity, and asked how he would get people to believe in him and what he wants to do – in his answer, you will hear him acknowledge that he doesn’t always come off authentically and warmly in the media:

We’ve still got several answers to roll out, and we’re not going to jam them all into this third report, but we did ask about one West Seattle sore spot, the “Whole Foods hole” – can the city do anything to try to stop this sort of “big dig, followed by big stall” situation from happening? Go forward to see/hear his answer:

More on Monday. We were only able to get in a fraction of the questions people kindly sent, but we asked if we could get a chance to take up more questions with him later in the summer, and he said yes, so we will press that point. By the end of this week, by the way, we will have the full picture of who is challenging him in the August primary, since the official filing period is Monday-Friday – candidates who’ve declared so far include City Councilmember Jan Drago, former basketball player James Donaldson, community activist Michael McGinn, wireless executive Joe Mallahan, entrepreneur Norman Sigler, Mary Juanita Martin.

3 Replies to "Interview with the mayor, report #3: Why re-elect him?"

  • wseye June 1, 2009 (7:40 am)

    Almost eight years into his administration, Nickels discovers that there are neighborhoods in Seattle! That wouldn’t have anything to do with his polling results, of course. This is a man dedicated to serving his constituents ;-)

  • KT June 1, 2009 (7:57 am)

    If they aren’t going forward the city should at least reclaim the street and sidewalk blocked off by construction equipment.

  • Near Alki June 2, 2009 (9:05 am)

    I’m sure there is more they can do. Some examples would be…KC needs to make sure property taxes are paid, I’m sure this “hole” could be what is considered (in legal terms)as an “attractive nuisance” and a danger to public safety. How about zoning laws (I’m sure a 50+ foot hole in the ground does not fall within the guidelines) Maybe a long shot…but are there any covenants attached to the property? We “The People” of West Seattle just need the right lawyer to step forward and rattle a few chains.

Sorry, comment time is over.