Begin the McGinn. The Garfield High School marching band gives it up for the Mayor-Elect.
I have been covering Seattle politics for a long time, and I have to say: Mayor-Elect Mike McGinn’s victory party tonight was an unprecedented scene.
It was held at the New Holly Gathering Hall in Seattle’s Holly Park mixed-income development (seven blocks from the Othello light rail stop in the minority Southeast Seattle turf that probably made the difference for McGinn in the election). And none of the leaders from the consultant/political class that has been running this town for years showed. None of them.
Lefty state Sen. Adam Kline (D-37, South Seattle) was about as establishment as it got.
Who else was there? Well, for starters, Roberto Maestas, the longtime Latino community/social justice leader of El Centro De La Raza introduced McGinn with a gleeful speech. Otherwise, it was everyday people: White, black, Hispanic, and African immigrant taxi drivers (and longtime, fringe-ish activists from the Sierra Club, the Cascade Bicycle Club, past monorail campaigns, past anti-monorail campaigns, and North Seattle blond moms who took back their neighborhoods with McGinn from lesser-Seattle cranks to fight for density) noshing on fried chicken or veggie stir-fry with tofu, drinking beer and wine out of plastic cups.
Roberto Maestas after introducing McGinn
If that wasn’t enough to make it plain this wasn’t a Mayor Greg Nickels victory party or a Ron Sims victory party or a Dow Constantine (sorry) victory party, how about this? Rahwa Habte, co-owner of the Central District’s Hidmo Eritrean Cuisine, the ground zero of Seattle’s renaissance hip hop scene, was also there.
(If Habte was at Constantine’s establishment-heavy party at Kell’s in the Pike Place Market on Wednesday night along with Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis, Governor Gregoire staff, and downtown consultants, I apologize for not noticing. But I couldn’t miss Habte at McGinn’s where she was giving high fives.)
The Garfield High marching band upset the place (in a Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers way) with a few raucous numbers (see top), and McGinn himself held court in the hall by the beer and wine table, marveling along with his well wishers at the energy and the possibility of his pending administration.
McGinn
But McGinn’s speech—the highlight of the night—put the possibility for change in check by laying out the political lines. It was an unprecedented, rabble-rousey call from a soon-to-be-mayor of Seattle:
“The people who still think we have to do things the same old way, they’re still here. And they still have the money.” (Those are the people I mentioned earlier. The people who didn’t show tonight.)
To get things done McGinn said it would take more than just a new mayor. He said he needed all the people in the room (the community center was packed like a subway car out to the glass doors in the hallway) to stay active and talk to their neighbors, talk to people they don’t know: “I’m a mayor who respects the power of people who organize,” he said to big cheers, noting that the “secret” to his surprise (ahem) win was standard Cesar Chavez organizing. There’s a Chavez quote on the wall of the Sierra Club offices where McGinn has run many of his recent initiative campaigns, he said. “There’s no secret,” McGinn explained, referencing Chavez’s apparent wisdom: “You talk to people. You talk to one person. And then you talk to another.”
Indeed, despite his earlier warning about the entrenched power structure, McGinn couldn’t contain his optimism. After Maestas introduced the Mayor-Elect, McGinn recounted the history of El Centro De La Raza and how Maestas simply got the keys to an abandoned school 37 years ago and invited the community inside to start the now landmark Beacon Hill Latino/Chicano(!) center.
“They gave us the keys in this election,” McGinn marveled, comparing the story to his own campaign victory.
Top photo by me. Maestas and McGinn photos be Erica C. Barnett.
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Yeah Josh, you have “been covering Seattle politics for a long time,” but it appears you haven’t leaned jack shit, and you’re still just a credulous fanboy twerp.
You have no clue if those “North Seattle blond moms” — wow, talk about stereotyping — were fighting for your precious density. Can it be that they were there for SIDEWALKS?
I’m not posting this to rain on McGinn’s party, but rather on your shallow, gee-whiz brand of “reporting” and anal-ysis. McGinn is the mayor of the entire city now, and not just the mayor of the urbanist cult.
He will learn, even if you have not, that there are many, many grass-roots constituencies in a city this size, and that his job is to represent all them to some degree.
If he truly practices what Cesar Chavez preached, he’ll represent his entire constituency successfully, and I’ll have his back. But he’ll have to throw a lot of financial elites under the bus to accomplish that, and THIS is what people will be watching for.
We had two great field-dominated, volunteer-driven campaigns in this election: The McGinn campaign, and the Dow Constantine campaign, which — sorry, fanboys — dwarfed the McGinn campaign. The accomplishments of both campaigns are plenty to crow about without misrepresenting their meaning or their effect.
Yeah the Dow Constantine campaign.
it was really fueled by volunteers and field organizing. Don’t pay any attention to the $1 million in mostly special interest money. That had nothing to do with his victory.
@1,
The North Seattle blond mom I was talking to told me she met Mike McGinn back in the mid-2000s when she was organizing against the single-family zoning orthodoxy in North Seattle.
I was at both the Constantine and McGinn parties. How about that…
I have a good feeling I know who Josh’s blond North Seattle mom is, and if I’m right he’s right on and @1 is just pushing his own agenda, as usual.
So the “North Seattle blond moms” turns out to have been just one person I guess?
North Seattle blond moms who took back their neighborhoods with McGinn from lesser-Seattle cranks to fight for density
They took back their neighborhoods that had been dense but lesser Seattle cranks had torn down the apartments and replaced them with SF homes – is that what you are saying? Please name the neighborhood groups that have fought for more town-home zoning.
When you and the real Crank whined about losing a one story piece of crap building was that fighting for density?
Josh, maybe the “establishment” didn’t come because they weren’t invited.
Sometimes the simplest answer is the real one.
Wow thanks for the shout out Josh, it was good to finally meet you… and you’re right I wasn’t at Kell’s but I’m excited for Seattle and King County right now – HIGH FIVE!!!
@7,
I should have been clearer: They wrested the neighborhood movement away from the anti-density crowd. They haven’t won many policy battles re: SFZ, but the McGinn victory helps their cause, which blond mom said she’d been fighting for since around the time this article came out in 2004.
And re: losing the one-story building on Pine (which is what I think you’re talking about.) That neighborhood is already dense. The strip that got torn down had retail, bars, and shops that catered to the surrounding non-SFZ density. It was part of the equation for density. (Gotta serve all the residents.)
Arguing to save SFZ housing in Northgate is much different than arguing to save retail in a neighborhood that’s already dense.
Would taller buildings on that strip (condos) bring more density? Sure. And ultimately, that’s fine.
Funny though. They never built the condos. It’s an empty parking lot. I wish the retail was still there.
“None of the leaders from the consultant/political class that have been running this town for years showed.”
I got involved in Seattle politics because it became obvious that these political leaders have only one constituent group – the wealthy whose gains were gotten off the backs, sweat and labor of the less fortunate. I’m hoping Mike may show these well-dressed clowns just how poor they’ve actually made themselves in every way other than material crap. Let’s hope ugly Seattle Snootery becomes a mostly forgotten thing of the past.
Thanks so much for covering this!
none of the leaders from the consultant/political class that has been running this town for years showed
I can’t bring myself to blame them – most have been around long enough to have get burned in the internecine spats that have always ruled the voting blocs currently giving McGinn the benefit of the doubt. Yeah, McGinn united them as an electoral bloc for the purposes of winning his mayoralty, but don’t kid yourself about the difficulty he may have keeping it together.
Stitching, then keeping together a bloc like this for a full term of office has been the failed dream of every politico/consultant/whathaveya of the last thirty years. Identity-politics pandering constantly works to pit one against the other until it unravels. Too many grudges held tightly still. (Oh, look, Benny begins center stage again, that always turns out so well…)
Most everybody in the class you sneer at’s been around long enough, through enough cycles of hope and disillusionment, to have got burned trying more than once. Right now they’re on one of the six sides, and are keeping their heads down waiting to see what part of the new McGinn machine proves to have legs.
I don’t think they wish McGinn ill. They just doubt both his ability to pull it off and his sincerity in trying. In the meantime, it’s fun to watch another honeymoon for another hero.
Again, thanks for covering it.
@8…the party was open to the public…no one was invited
The reason why you didn’t see any of the usual suspects is that they see a sinking ship when they see it. He has unfavorable numbers north of 60% and is an accidental mayor.
And the nickname of “Mayor Moonbeam” is the phrase that most of the public is starting to call him. The IPhone debacle is something real people talk about.
Do you really think Patty Murray running for re-election or any other person on the ballot in 2010 would want to be pictured next to him?
Watching from the other side of the state, I can only say, “Wish I’d been at the party, best of luck Mr. McGinn, and unity, people, unity”.
Ivan @1,
On thing that complicates your “urbanist cult” read on McGinn is this: That movement is supposed to be a white bourgeois movement that alienates minority blocs like the ones that came out in force last night at New Holly.
Last night’s crowd shows that—at least in his campaign—McGinn has done a good job connecting and inspiring groups that have traditionally had trouble getting a footing in Seattle politics.
And @13. Right you are. Or, another way to say it, everyone was invited.
@16 For the record, most urbanists – real urbanists (not silly futurists) – see McGinn as a naive dilettante with little understanding of what that word really means.
@14: “Most of the public” — do you know most of the public? The term moonbeam is stolen from former CA Gov. Jerry Brown’s nickname — I doubt if most of the public remember that. McGinn will be an accidental mayor due to the same reason that Nickels and Mallahan will be accidental nonmayors: a very non-accidental public vote. McGinn’s going to be mayor for the next 4 years but he hasn’t even taken office yet. Why don’t you wait to complain until you have something actual to complain about?
And why would Patty Murray come to a mayor’s victory party anyway? I think she’s busy in DC.
@18 Did city council members come? Current Mayor?
@13 Who besides McGinn pals would know?
@19,
I did not see any current City Council Members, nor Mayor Nickels.
It could be viewed as a celebration for McGinn supporters, not something the whole city was expected to be interested in, and not an example of a boycott by the establishment. They’ll come in later and probably already have outside public view.
As someone who sometimes is part of that “class” of people, I actually had tickets to Taj Mahal last night.
I would have loved to enjoy the party. It sounds like a good time. As a product of the Seattle public schools, I wish Mayor McGinn the best – his success will only make us a better place. And, if I can help in any small way, I’d love to do it.
Before any of you strain a shoulder patting yourselves on the back for subverting any dominant paradigms, here’s a novel idea as to why:
They probably weren’t invited!
People aren’t psychic and politicians don’t crash parties they’re not invited to.
@23,
No invites. It was open to the public. There were 500 people there, at least.
And even if it had been limited to just McGinn supporters… I’d be making the same conclusion: McGinn doesn’t seem to have any supporters among the insider class.
Compare the McGinn event (open to the public) and the Constantine event (open to the public) and look who showed.
Yesterday’s Publicola
“Profound and Accessible by Chris K., 11/20/2009, 3:07 PM
“1. The Mike McGinn victory party is tonight in Southeast Seattle. I went to McGinn’s election night party at the War Room, and it was surprisingly fun. My conclusion: Team McGinn knows how to party.
“The McGinn campaign would also like you to know that meeting is easily accessible by light rail (Othello station) and bus (the 106).
“7 pm at the New Holly Gathering Hall, 7054 32nd Ave South.”
From the Rainier Valley Post November 17, 2009
“McGinn’s Having a Party & We’re All Invited!
“November 17, 2009
“From the McGinn for Mayor campaign:
“Thank you for your support! This victory wouldn’t have been possible without the energy and spirit that you brought to the campaign.
“As our way of saying thanks, please join the McGinn for Mayor campaign at our victory party this Friday, November 20th at 7:00pm at the New Holly Gathering Hall. The address is 7054 32nd Ave South, and it’s easily accessible by light rail and bus (you can use King County’s excellent Trip Planner to get door-to-door directions). The Gathering Hall is located in the Family Building at New Holly.
“We’ll look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible–here’s to celebrating each other and the future of our city!”
If your primary source of news is the Seattle Times you probably didn’t know about this party, but many of us did, even folks with no connection to the McGinn campaign. Don’t confuse your being uninformed with being uninvited.
John @ 5:
And that makes me different from everybody else who posts here? What’s my agenda, Mr. Smart Guy?
@14: Joni, it’s the weekend. Take a nap, you need it.
The McGinn event last night was the best political event I’ve been to in Seattle. Authentic, fun, good beer (free), lots of food and interesting people to talk with. Plenty of politicos there, just not the usual handful of suspects.
Well, the blond North Seattle mom was the “Renee” that made the recording for the robo-lies about guns I’m sure. Safe Walks and all are cool but lies? No thanks. And that robo-lie was very typical McPrick. Whatever it takes to win. Lies and all. I’ve even seen him do it to win in a community council council election. Hell, I’ve seen him do it just to control the chair position for the Pedestrian Master Plan Advisory Group.
Please don’t for a moment think that all ped activists, all bike activists or all environmentalists support McPrick. Many of us has suffered his BS for years and years. He’s not new to us and we’re sick to death of his crap.
And on top of it all we get Mike and Miker. Beer buddies like most of the supporters. Wonderful, huh?
Mike is a prick. And an ineffective one at that.
He’s real good at gimicks though and viral campaigns are his thing. He has no second act. Never has.
@28: Rich, I’m not Joni–I assume you mean Balter. You must not have listened to/read Joni too much.
Do we get moderated? I guess that’s a good idea. I wish #30 had been. Reading the “P” word is not pleasant.
Well, McGinn has done the right thing by coming to South-End. He is smart and has alot of support from the progressive and the people of color.He will not be one time mayor but three times mayor. You establishment and Down Town Business Association– give credit to this guy and line behind him, becaues he is our new mayor. from peopl’s point of view– the days of abuse and bullying by the few is over. This is not about McGinn,it is about the people of seattle reclaiming their freedom. And do not understimate the grass-root.
I agree with @30. I hope we don’t have to put up with four years of this really distasteful commentary. There are other blogs where this style is tolerated, let’s keep Publicola a little more “pleasant.”
Accidental Candidate is right.
If McGinn had not been at the top of the ballot in the primary, according to “top of the ballot advantage” statistics, he would not have made it through the primary. If he had not been at the top of the ballot in the general election, he would not be Mayor-elect.
That’s a double accidental mayor. How unfortunate.
Here’s the RCW…
Order of candidates on the ballot
(RCW 29A.36.131)
After the close of business on the last day for candidates to file for office, the filing officer shall, from among those filings made in person and by mail, determine by lot the order in which the names of those candidates will appear on the primary ballot. The determination shall be done publicly and may be witnessed by the media and by any candidate.
If no primary is required for any nonpartisan office under RCW 29A.52.011 or 29A.52.220, or if any independent or minor party candidate files a declaration of candidacy, the names shall appear on the general election ballot in the order determined by lot.
@30 & 32,
We do moderate. We like that PubliCola has grown up—raucous and smart—but still grown up comments threads.
It’s a tricky task. While there’s some stuff (and trolls) that we send right to the trash, sometimes it’s a harder call.
I delete the trash talk that borders on libel, and I try to jump in and remind people to keep it civil when I see stuff that’s over the line (and it helps when others chime in and back me up on that), but sometimes stuff gets by and sometimes I’m more lenient than other times.
It’s a case by case thing without a hard and fast policy. (Sorry if that’s confusing.) Often, it depends on my mood or the overall conversation in the thread. A little random, I know.
I agree that Kate’s comment (#29) is pushing it. I’m not even sure that’s really Kate Martin. I know she and McGinn have bad history from the Greenwood Community Council days, but I always thought she was a stand up advocate without relying on this “McPrick” stuff.
Kate?
There are few people I reserve the P word for, but Mike, absolutely. I don’t know what you mean by stand up advocate, Josh I call it like it is. I don’t lie.
I emailed you about Mikes disastrous environmental record in Greenwood and I got no retraction even though some of your writing has errors which I attempted to alert you to retract.
I certainly deserve to tell anyone and everyone what my experience has been for over 10 years with this guy. I speak first hand and I speak for myself.
However, Greenwood was not gaga for Mike in this election by any stretch. No Town Halls in his own backyard. He said nothing to Greenwood in his viral campaign because he didn’t want to hear anything back. Especially in front of a crowd.
I hope the guy sharpens his pencil and goes into SDOT and clears it out. Take a zero out of their budget for starters. He hasn’t said a damn thing about them. He coddles them. I’ve watched it.
Love the way he isn’t talking about the problems we already have and is creating new material for us in open source. Just like him.
Get to work, Mike.
Last night was a great event to celebrate the success of a new coalition and reflected the diversity of all of Seattle, but especially the 37th Legislative District, the first Democratic organization to endorse McGinn (and Mallahan). The venue was the scene of most of the forums for New Americans in the primary and the general election campaigns. It was there that Mike won the soul of the new majority of South Seattle.
What’s worse, being a little prick or a big prick?
Seriously, I don’t think that word is particularily offensive. Merriam Webster definition #5: “a spiteful or contemptible man often having some authority”. I think that is exactly what Kate meant, even if it is a little harsh, it wasn’t used strictly as an insult with no meaning – which would be crossing the line.
Some people have right to disagree, but the reality is that he will be our mayor for the coming 4 years and hopefully beyond. Either cry like little baby and shut yourself in a room, or join the crowd. Joining the crowd my be better option.
The GaMe is OvEr.– if you can beat them–join them—…
Josh, it seems the posts aren’t matching up with the comments, number-wise. People are consistently saying “@3″ when it’s @4 — you have to track back and mentally adjust.
Having known #29 Kate Martin for years, I know that she’s scared. She has a heart for this city that is just enormous, but a bitterness about losing that matches her often terrible collaboration skills.
Despite all of her [misguided] contempt, Mike McGinn is now the very mayor she’s always actually wanted. When he starts doing things as mayor that make plain sense, it’s going to be painful for his detractors.
For some people, its the hardest thing in the world to say “I was wrong.” They sooner become nasty than to smile, laugh at themselves, and adjust their outlook to reality. Note to all of you: It’s not about McGinn, it’s about this city!
You know what? During the McGinn campaign, over and over I’ve been meeting the most wonderful people who like to laugh, drop their egos, and roll up their sleeves for the hard work. Friday was no exception. Thank you McGinn volunteers!!!
sarah68: you misread the number on my post re Joni. It referred to west seattle waiter’s comment@14, not yours @18.
@40 – I’ll drop my ego when McGinn drops his. A bunch of my friends are his volunteers, and they’re not really the hope-infused worker drones you describe. They know full well how much he’s asked them to take on faith. Working for the agenda doesn’t mean they’re turning a blind eye to his personal ambition. They’re watching for problems as much as any of us.
But some of us will always be the loyal opposition. Less respectful of high office, etc. Woulda been the same if the suit guy had won.
And also please revise your strategy for bolding and italicizing. Thank you.
OK, Rich, but the numbers are still weird — I didn’t post at #18.
About moderating forums…
Clay Shirky’s Group As User: Flaming and the Design of Social Software is the long and short of it.
In brief, flaming is performance art and “who watches the watchers” is hard to resolve.
Lacking a moderation system (e.g. slashdot, reddit, stackoverflow), I prefer a strong hand keeping the comments clean. Publicola has been pretty good that way.
sarah68, the comment numbers likely change when Josh deletes a comment. Bad software. No cookie.
It’s sad that a hard-working activist like Ms. Martin has chosen name-calling as a way to express her anger at Mayor-Elect McGinn. Dumb. It ensures that her effectiveness as an advocate will suffer. (Then again, is she really reprsenting Greenwood or just herself?)
However, McGinn’s enthusiasm for the South End, which is currently receiving the kind of political attention usually reserved for the North End, we have not heard the last of the name-calling. If this continues, I suspect we’ll see some serious ugly coming out of the mouths of neighbors who have been used to a level of access comiserate with their class status.
McGinn appears to be looking at Seattle as a whole, not a collection of individual neighborhoods, which is what we need. Not downtown vs. neighborhoods, but a 50-neighborhood strategy, if you will. Seems like a winner to me.
Of course McGinn has a large ego and a lot of ambition. How else could you be driven to run for an office this important in a city this screwed up? “Ambitious” shouldn’t be considered an insult. Those who seek the position of PCO in a political district have ego and ambition also, just on a smaller scale (sometimes). What you do with those attributes is what matters, and it matters after you get into office, not until. However many preliminary advisers McGinn has chosen to listen to and however many residents of Seattle he’s solicited opinions from, and what they’ve all said to him, we won’t see how that plays out until he sits in the chair. I’ve never seen such criticism for someone who isn’t even in office yet.
During the campaign Mike pulled out his Pinnochio card and resorted to lies. That’s a deal breaker for me and certainly something I’ve seen him do before.
In addition to that problem, his arrogant, dismissive, ineffective and polarizing habits block progress. His need to create viral campaigns for his cause du jour usurps the opportunities for perspective and progress.
And if you have no mission, vision, or goals well then you’re not accountable to any review process that would see how you did compared to what you said you’d do. That was his MO in Greenwood. During the time he was a community disorganizer in Greenwood, he refused to do any of the above. The Mike and Miker issue doesn’t surprise me because drinking beers with his cronies is his idea of committee work. I find his claims to open gov’t and transparency hard to believe since we couldn’t ever get him to do that in Greenwood. No plans, no notes, no committees, no problem.
His biggest interest was election time forums where he blew his hot air around for the issues he was related to either pro or con…Roads & Transit, Prop 1, BTG, etc. Hardly anything the LWV would approve of in terms of forum or debate process & protocol. He never disclosed his connection to those issues and felt perfectly at ease “moderating” the forum.
He’s the most power hungry politically motivated person I have ever met. I’m sure he’s working on his re-election campaign already. That ought to assure he basically gets nothing done.
I’ve never found him able to lift his head above the issues high enough to gain a perspective and I’ve never seen him follow a logical process ever. Planning Hell v4.
Call me whatever you want. I’m just calling it like it’s been for the last dozen or so years I’ve worked around him.
And I’m not shy to say that I think it would be nice to think he might consider attending to the existing systems in Seattle that need attention.
Particularly it would be good to think he could integrate his pet issues into a context that communicates a “hierarchy of needs” and a clear definition of the basic responsibilities of government which I sense he loses sight of on a regular basis.
Mike and from what I can see most of his people are very much oriented toward a few issues that don’t add up to comprehensive solutions or strategies.
I’ll certainly avoid the P word. I didn’t realize it was such an offensive term.
I’d appreciate it if dismissing the truth about his history and marginalizing me for saying it could be avoided.
I didn’t just wake up after the election and make a clean slate for this guy. Why would I?
If you’re going to attack the messenger here, why don’t you try disproving what I’m saying instead of skewering me. I’ve always called it like it is and I don’t lie. If that’s unpalatable, by all means rely on smoke and mirrors and “grassroots” which in this case may mean you’re either promised a job or have no idea who this guy is.
Ignore Kate. She divides us rather than unites. We have too much of that already.
I appreciate what Kate is saying and that she’s willing to stand up and say it instead of going with the flow. (Of course my admiration of what she says may have something to do with the fact that her Mike experience mirrors my Mike experience.)
I would love to be proven wrong about Mike’s capabilities over the next couple of years.
Kate, I don’t remember you posting during the campaign. I may be wrong and just missed your posts, although a post like the last one would be hard to miss. If you are only speaking up on Publicola now, why not before he was elected?
I posted here, seattlepi.com, postglobe, seattle times, sableverity.com, myballard, slog, crosscut, and more regularly. I never post anonymously. I always post as Kate Martin or Walkable Greenwood. It’s not hard to find out that Walkable Greenwood is a pen name I use.
On behalf of the democracy, I’d like to note that unity is not part of the picture. That’s a dictatorship you’re referring to. I’m not disagreeing to disagree. I have 12 years of personal experience with this guy. I’m speaking from first hand experience and it’s not limited to the Greenwood Community Council years.
Kate, I for one appreciate your comments, thank you for providing us with some insight on McGinn in Greenwood. I’ve been heavily involved in community issues for a decade, and never met or heard of him before the election.
I’m assuming this is the same Kate Martin that approached the PTA at Greenwood Elementary a year ago and tried to get us to support kicking three classrooms of special needs kindergarten students out of the school.
Of course we didn’t.
The “funny” thing is that her kids don’t even go to the school.
Wow. Just wow.
Kate, what exactly are you trying to accomplish with these nasty personal attacks? Other than losing the respect of pretty much everyone who reads Publicola, you’re not helping improve the lives of anyone in this City. This is very sad, you should be ashamed of yourself.
Do you want people to start speaking about their experiences working with you (because I don’t think you’d like what you’d hear if people were as crude as you)?
Alright, I’m not a deflector. @ Greenwood Parent I only say that you might not know me very well.
I have been an advocate for Greenwood Elementary for a long, long time. The school has had a disastrous history with principals each at $125K or more with lackluster performance. Joanna Hill – disaster and transferred how many times? Dr. Radford? That’s when McGinn did his failed coup to get Radford out of there when his kids were there and emptied the school while he was at it. Six or seven years ago?
Then they had excess capacity. But why? Instead of asking why and holding SPS responsible for poor leadership, programs, and the fact that they had white flight. They had and have a disproportionate number of students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds with horrible achievement statistics coming from The Cate Apartments, Denise Hunt, and scattered Section 8 and in part due to inadequate intervention on the SPS part by de facto enrollment by families who don’t advocate for which school, but who take whatever comes. Bagley and Whittier are not taking their fair load.
I questioned closing Viewlands (because data said we wouldn’t have capacity and we don’t) when their enrollment was on the upswing, their achievement was on the upswing, and they had a great inclusion autism program.
Instead of asking questions, they quickly filled Greenwood with a special ed program. SPS considers programs something you move whenever the whim suits them. Remember you don’t want your kid in a Seattle program or something like Summit at Jane Addams because the @ means your days are numbered.
Anyway, they finally got rid of Radford and replaced him with Walter Trotter. I confronted Walter about what the heck he was going to do to help these disadvantaged kids who were being spit out of Greenwood, flunking at Whitman & Hamilton, and dropping out of Ingraham, Roosevelt, Hale, and Ballard.
He sent me some email that he recalled. Thanks, Walter. Meanwhile he hadn’t heard of 826 Seattle (a free writing workshop 6 blocks from the school).
I am used to being accused of a lot and I reiterate that this accusation is no different than the others.
Why wouldn’t you just ask instead of harboring unfounded accusations?
Greenwood Elementary? I’m happy to go toe to toe with anyone who defends how SPS manages Greenwood Elementary.
Stacy -
Why on earth do you think these are nasty personal attacks?
Other than a person being what I’m talking about, these are not personal attacks they are performance reviews and we have quite a bit to worry about.
If these things are not your concern, by all means avoid me and Mike’s record, but if you’re going to attack me, disprove something I say.
Dr. Trotter not knowing about 826? That’s simply not true Kate. Greenwood does a ton of cooperative programs with 826.
White flight? Oh please, Kate. It’s a very diverse school and a lot of us parents like that about Greenwood. And a lot of us parents are working our butts off to make it as good a school as possible. For everyone. Even those kids from the Cate Apartments and Section 8 housing.
You don’t send your kids to Greenwood. Fine. Your decision. But for the love of god please stop inflicting yourself on those of us that are working to make it a better school.
24. That’s not exactly what I meant. Were any “establishment” directly notified that there was an event? These people don’t exactly scour calendars for parties to squeeze into their busy schedules.
Gomez @ 59 -
Yes, many establishment folks were personally invited and declined to attend for various reasons.
Concern Troll @60 You wish.
@59 Why would the “establishment” be invited to a community party. No reason to invite them.
@ 61 – I know they were invited because I invited them.
But, you can say whatever you like.
@ 61 – I had to look up your jargon. I am not as you might like me to be a “concern troll.” Attack me as you like, though, it is your time an energy. The “establishment” was invited in the spirit of goodwill and inclusion and of working together.
As someone who may/may not fall into the “political establishment” category (depends on the day and who you are talking to), I did not attend because I had nothing to do with the victory. For the record, I was not much of a Mallahan or Nickels support either and probably would not have gone to their parties. My focus was elsewhere this cycle. For me or some others to show up would have been a sort of awkward “johnny come lately” moment looking like I was there trolling for a job or for the free booze (not that I have not attended events simply for free booze before). I do hear it was a great party and wish him the best. Just hope he learns to balance his great grass-roots campaign with the ability to hire people who play well with others – even those in the “political establishment.”
Re: Was “The Establishment” invited? Why would anyone go to a victory party for their opponent?
And I did get an actual invite from someone close to the campaign. Also, I think it is a little off to believe that all of “the political establishment” supported Mallahan and are in panic mode. Yes, maybe more leaned towards him, but they weren’t all excited and they are not all upset.
There is too much them versus us intrigue here. The crowd was full of folks who could be termed establishment, progressive, or both. I wish Publicola would call that out more and speak to the many in the room who cannot be pidgeonholed.
I applaud the Mayor-elect for having a victory party at Holly Park. Even if it’s only symbolic, he is creating expectations among communities of color that can only result in people feeling pissed off if his acts as Mayor contradicts his words.
Was the location a cynical act to continue positioning himself as an activist and as a coalition builder? Perhaps. But I believe that he has a genuine desire to serve the interests of communities of color. This is Seattle, after all. The challenge is that serving their interests is not just about creating programs or having dialogue, but about racial justice, immigrant rights and economic justice. Achieving progress in these has always required changing relationships of power – something Mayors are generally ill-equipped to do, particularly in a city where people of color are a relative small minority.
What I will be watching closely for is how he responds to communities of color on issues of social and racial justice when they are pitted against those with money and real power. It is not in the nature of most politicians to swim upstream, as going with the flow is a much clearer path to staying in office.
For now, we should be knocking (or beating down) his door to hold his feet to the fire. Give him a chance to make mistakes and say stupid things. But, by year three, see if the party at New Holly was cynical or serious.
@ Greenwood Elementary – Dr. Trotter – who by the way was the boss of both of the previous failed principals before he was demoted back to principal at Greenwood – and – who by the way is hauling in the aforesaid bucks of over $125K had not a single concrete concept he could articulate about how he was going to close the achievement gap when he arrived at Greenwood which I found pathetic. After he’d settled in, he asked me what community connections I thought he could cultivate since I had asked about this on account of watching the ties to the community weaken to the point where neighbors would not enroll their kids there. I suggested he start by getting kids to 826 after school. 826, he asked?
I’m all for diversity, but not inequity. Dumping kids in Greenwood Elem who were destined to fail with no lifelines is disgusting. Again, that was on his watch.
Greenwood Elem is on the upswing and that is a very good thing. I’m not criticizing you or the school. I’m saying that it was on Trotter’s watch that the school tanked as he was unable to hold the principals accountable and instead coddled them and moved them around. Management is not a game of moving problems around in my opinion. Someone, anyone, explain that to SPS. We suffered for many years his inept handling of principal problems there and elsewhere. He should never have been a supervisor of primary principals. He was a disaster. It lasted a long time. I have no patience for that.
You clearly need to re-read over your posts before publishing them – spelling and thoughts. The fact you are generalizing all African Immigrants as “taxi drivers” is pure ignorance. Just like you stated the “other” ethnic groups that were present, you could of left it as “African Immigrants.” Capitalize your “B” in “black.” As far as the comment regarding “North Seattle blond moms” clearly translates as a group of blond*e moms, which in your case is false. The single “blonde” haired mother whom you spoke to is NOT a representation of ALL the blonde hair mom’s whom may have attended the celebration.
@1,
The North Seattle blond mom I was talking to told me she met Mike McGinn back in the mid-2000s when she was organizing against the single-family zoning orthodoxy in North Seattle.