That’s Mayor Mike McGinn at last night’s 34th District Democrats meeting, warning again that the city budget picture remains ugly. He also said the much-awaited (albeit nervously awaited, by many) midyear cuts are soon to be “rolled out” – and this afternoon, we’ve learned the “rollout” is set for Monday morning — city budget boss Beth Goldberg is scheduled to brief the City Council Budget Committee on the midyear cuts at 10:30 am Monday, according to the agenda just sent out. McGinn was at the 34th DDs’ meeting at The Hall at Fauntleroy along with Council President Richard Conlin and Councilmember Bruce Harrell – read on for notes on what else they said, including their answers to audience questions (besides the Admiral crosswalk Q/A we reported separately this morning):

The mayor reiterated his stand against having Seattleites be responsible for cost overruns on the tunnel planned to replace the central part of The Viaduct. Anyone expecting a showdown between him and Conlin – Harrell even joked that he wasn’t sure it was that great to be seated between the two – would have been disappointed, though, as there were no major barbs. Conlin said he’s most concerned about the overall transit picture, including eventual light rail to West Seattle (and Ballard).

Conlin also noted that the City Council has 17 priorities this year, starting with “economic recovery,” but he thinks that’s doable because they’ve spread around the accountability and “there are nine of us … we’ve got each other’s back.” But wait – he said – there’s another list of priorities coming out this summer. And from his standpoint, “human services and public safety” will be the main budget priorities.

Harrell talked about energy – the focus of the committee he leads – and brought up both the reduction in the number of burned-out street lights (down to 13,000 now, he said) and the West Seattle tests of LED street lights, as reported here in mid-April (here’s a photo from that story):

(WSB photo from April 2010 by Cliff DesPeaux)
He’s also technology-focused, and gave a big shoutout to 34th District Democrats webmaster Bill Schrier, who is the city’s Chief Tech Officer, and leading the city through a lot of tech trailblazing, including the Open Data initiative. (Schrier of course got whoops and cheers for the shoutout.)

In Q/A, Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association‘s Derek Birnie led off with a question about revitalizing Delridge. The mayor admitted he wasn’t deeply familiar with the area’s challenges and said a tour – which apparently is already set for August 4th – might help; otherwise, he mentioned some generalities regarding economic revitalization, such as New Market Tax Credits (which have been used in some West Seattle/White Center projects already). Conlin talked about fully implementing neighborhood plans, and also neighborhood policing (that came up next, and only Harrell committed to staying on track to hire new officers as the NP plan originally called for).

Next up, besides asking about the officer-hiring plans, Pigeon Point’s Pete Spalding asked about solutions for graffiti vandalism – mentioning other cities with laws as strict as banning spray paint. None of the three wanted to commit to anything specific, suggesting it remains a problem with no easy solution. (The Weekly took a closer look today at what Spalding brought up last night – here’s their story.)

Highland Park’s Dorsol Plants asked about a “living wage ordinance,” which McGinn apparently had mentioned during the campaign. No concrete movement toward it so far, the mayor said, though he’s still interested – while pointing out that “we do at this point have the highest minimum wage in the country.”

Perhaps the biggest “win” in a question all night came when White Center Food Bank‘s Rick Jump asked why the city still hasn’t committed funding to his agency though a third of its business comes from within the city limits (its service area starts at SW Myrtle). Conlin said flat-out that they should fund WC Food Bank – also saying he favors longterm strategies to make sure people are not reliant on food banks as the only solution to hunger.

McGinn said, “We’ll see what we can do in the budget – if it’s serving Seattle residents, then we should see what kind of support we can provide.” The 100-plus on hand cheered in a big way, as the WC Food Bank is one of the nonprofits for which many members provide regular support.

Those were the major toplines from the city trio’s appearance – which lasted more than an hour. We’ve got one more report ahead with a few other notes.

The 34th District Democrats meet on the 2nd Wednesday of the month, 7 pm, The Hall at Fauntleroy (the old schoolhouse).