Mayor McGinn at Green Lake Elementary School (File photo from October 2010)
Green Lake Community Council Chairman and local Realtor Michael Cornell is at the forefront of a facebook group to ”Recall Mayor Mike McGinn.”
While on News Talk 97.3 KIRO FM’s Dori Monson Show, Cornell described McGinn’s transportation policy as a “war waged on people who drive cars,” and said that McGinn started breaking promises as soon as he won the election.
The connection between the Green Lake Community Council and the recall movement has caught the attention of some of the city’s political commentators.
“It’s … a bad sign for a Seattle dude like McGinn when Green Lake (not Pinehurst, mind you) is hating on your lefty agenda,” Erica C. Barnett of publicola writes. “In the 2009 election, McGinn won two out of three precincts in the Green Lake neighborhood.”
A lively debate about Green Lake’s role in recall movement followed in the comments to the publicola post.
Yesterday (Friday, May 27, 2011), Ben Schiendelman wrote a piece for The Stranger’s Slog titled There Is No “War On Cars”.
Schiendelman points out that last July, the Green Lake Community Council voted 25-5 in favor of endorsing the goal of Streets For All Seattle to make walking, bicycling, and transit the easiest ways to get around Seattle.
“So why is the chair of the GLCC, Michael Cornell, now spreading the myth that there’s a ‘war on cars,’” Schiendelman writes, “and attempting to advance an agenda that contradicts the organization he was elected to represent?”
The facebook group “Recall Mayor Mike McGinn” currently has 729 members. You can read more about the group here and more about the Green Lake Community Council here.
Disclosure note: Michael Cornell was a My Green Lake advertiser from Dec. 2009 to Sept. 2010.
The connection between the Green Lake Community Council and the recall movement has caught the attention of some of the city’s political commentators.
“It’s … a bad sign for a Seattle dude like McGinn when Green Lake (not Pinehurst, mind you) is hating on your lefty agenda,” Erica C. Barnett of publicola writes. “In the 2009 election, McGinn won two out of three precincts in the Green Lake neighborhood.”
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That’s quite a conclusion on Barnett’s part . . . this is Michael Cornell’s initiative, and he’s certainly not doing it at the behest of the GLCC, let alone the Green Lake community at large.
I agree that Mr. Cornell does not represent the Green lake community. I did not vote for McGinn but a lot of residents obviously did. I can only look forward to the next election where I can vote for whoever runs against McGinn.
Am I the only one who hopes there actually IS a “war on cars?”
A complete aside, but somehow connected:
I normally drive, but a few days ago decided to take the bus, for a short
journey between Roosevelt and the University district. Simple?
It turned into nightmare when I found myself struggling to haul into the bus a
stroller with a young baby and a diaper bag up the steps, with no help. I also
had my five-year old with me, who tried to help. It was not busy, there was a
fair amount of seating available. Once in the bus I was told I needed to fold
the stroller up. I lay the baby on the seat, ask my daughter to watch him and
make sure he does not roll over onto the floor, while I fold the stroller up
and stand it up.
After we are all finally settled, the bus
takes off and the stroller promptly falls on the floor. I try to pick it up
while holding the baby and myself, and while telling my daughter to keep holding
on tight rather than try to help me.
Finally, a homeless man on the bus kindly
offers to hold the stroller up for the remaining of the journey. I am very thankful.
Five minutes later, when we arrive at our
destination I quickly decide what to throw out the bus (the folded-up stroller),
so I can safely exit down the steps with baby and five-year old in tow.
When will I take the bus again? Never! Not
in the near future, not with the children at least.
So yes, I will keep on driving. There is little
choice, as even though I used to bike everywhere before finally getting a
driver’s license in my late twenties, I will not bike around the streets of Seattle
with the two children.
I took a 4-year-old to Folk Life today on the bus and it was easy, a lot easier than driving.
with my new-born in a a front pack, and my toddler walking along side, we made many wonderful bus trips around town. a stroller is so rarely required — and so often an inconvenience.
When it used to be just my daughter and I, it was fine. We used the bus quite often from when she was three years old onwards, particularly when going downtown, to avoid parking headaches. But with a small baby thrown in, I found it terrible.
I am with you Cal. It should not be so hard to take a stroller on a bus. Families with very young children (who don’t want to carry them in child carriers for hours at a time) are really screwed around here when trying to use public transportation. In Europe, buses usually have standing areas designed to park your stroller next to where the back door is. The bus doors also open much closer to curb height for easier entrance. Why not here?