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Last week, we had all the candidates for city council and city attorney in to the Cola offices for an endorsement interview. We're publishing edited and condensed transcripts of those interview in the runup to our endorsements on Monday.

Editor's Note: This interview with Position 2 incumbent Richard Conlin and challenger David Ginsberg was originally published last Wednesday.

PubliCola: David, we're still confused about why, exactly, you're running against Richard. You seem to agree with him on most issues. Can you tell us why you feel it's time for him to go, and what specific policies you would support that Richard has failed to implement?

David Ginsberg: Richard and I do agree philosophically on most major issues. The differences I have with Richard are over the pace at which we need to be making changes. I don’t think we’ve been doing it fast enough, particularly with regard to land use and transportation. I think we’re worse off than we were a decade ago.

I’m not anti-process. I want to make sure our processes are leading to results in terms of sustainability. We’ve been eclipsed by Portland, Vancouver, and San Francisco.

PubliCola: Richard, a big criticism about you is that you're addicted to process—that in the interest of "bringing all the stakeholders to the table, "you take forever to make decisions. How do you respond to that? Is that a fair criticism?

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Richard Conlin: I have totally the right concept of process. I think Seattle often gets a bad rap because the state of Washington does a bad job with process. I think we’re very competitive. But it’s not a loss if another city does something better. We should take it and learn from it.

I moved 38 neighborhood plans at the council. ... Back in the 1990s, the neighborhoods were in chaos, and they said ,"we are not going to accept any more density." And ultimately, they all ended up signing off on additional density. I led the effort on that.

PubliCola: On the specific questions of cottage housing and revisions to the multifamily land use code: Richard, do you feel the council is moving too slowly?

Conlin: I think yes, they are moving too slowly. ... Because of [Growth Management Act] requirements, we have a very specific process that we’re required to go through. ... Land use is very difficult.

PubliCola: David, do you think the council has fallen short on moving forward with increasing density in the neighborhoods and amending the land-use code?

Ginsberg: I went to some presentations on the multifamily [code] updates and I was pretty hopeful. But since then, the changes, frankly, have turned out to be rather minor. ...

We all agree that transit oriented development is what we really want to be focusing on. Medium density, like the "six-pack" townhouses that were once going up all over Capitol Hill, where I used to live – that isn’t enough density to make transit really work. We aren’t going to get any more land, so we just have to get smarter about how we use the land we have.

PubliCola: Richard, you've talked on the campaign trail about your work to secure funding for Bridging the Gap and the bike and pedestrian levies. Yet bike advocates have complained that we've backed off from building real bike lanes and bike boulevards in favor of sharrows. And you want to repeal the so-called "head tax," which pays for transportation improvements. How do you respond to those criticisms, and how do you justify your position on the head tax?

Conlin: Well, first, bike boulevards were taken out of the Bike Master Plan [before it came to the council]. I really like the idea, but that wasn't my decision.

Second, the head tax has nothing to do with bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. It could be spent on that, but so could anything. Money is money.

And it’s a really irrational tax. It’s very little money, it’s perceived as a psychological disincentive to employment, it’s the third [business and occupation] tax in the city, and it’s administratively really a pain for businesses.

PubliCola: If Initiative 1033 passes, the city is essentially going to be in a permanent recession. What specific policy changes would you propose to deal with that?

Conlin: We’re going to defeat it. People tend to vote against initiatives when they’re not sure about them. ... I’m not making any contingency plans. If it isn't defeated, we’ve got a year to prepare a plan.

PubliCola: What is your position on the tunnel? If Mike McGinn [who opposes the tunnel] gets elected, will you push back against his efforts to stop it? And if you support the tunnel, how do you plan to pay for it?

Conlin: I was the one who stood up with Cary [Moon, the most vocal supporter of the surface/transit viaduct replacement option] in 2004 at that news conference to support surface/transit. No one else did. But the decision has been made, so I definitely will [oppose McGinn if he tries to stop the tunnel.]

On Friday, we will be talking about the viaduct funding plan [in the council's budget committee meeting.] The mayor is suggesting that a transportation benefits district should be part of the viaduct funding. I am against that. ... A [local improvement district] is a possibility. That's a more fair way to pay for it.

Ginsberg: I would have preferred surface/transit, but that horse is out of the gate. If we open this up to discussion for the next eight years, we’ll never get anything done.

Conlin: Do you support council member Tim Burgess’ proposed new restrictions on panhandling, and why or why not?

Ginsberg: I want to make sure we ‘re not criminalizing homelessness for people who have nowhere to go. On the other hand, it’s important for the people who live here and come to visit our city to make sure we don’t have aggressive panhandling.

The more important thing is making sure people have homes and jobs.

Conlin: [The Downtown Seattle Association] did a study of downtown Seattle panhandling, and they concluded that there are about 30 individuals who are 40-hour-a-week panhandlers who are and they make pretty decent money.

I don’t think panhandling and homelessness are necessarily connected. The idea being to do some time and location controls. ATMs seem reasonable others are time and manner restrictions.

The other issue is police enforcement of aggressive panhandling ordinance is hard to enforce because it requires a complainant [to stick around after calling police. Burgess' proposal] would give the police the authority to enforce.

PubliCola: Several city council candidates in other races [such as Sally Bagshaw in Position 4] have said they support longer-term encampments, like Nickelsville and Tent City, as an interim solution to deal with the problem of homelessness. Where do you stand on the question of long-term encampments?

Conlin: Tent cities are temporary and they don’t get people out of homelessness. Shelter is important, but we’ve got shelter space to spare.

Ginsberg: It’s important that we have tent cities as an interim solution. We shouldn’t be forcing them to move. … But the most important thing we can do is to make sure people have real housing so that they can get a job and improve their station in life, and a tent in a field somewhere is not real housing.

PubliCola: Do you think Mayor Nickels' youth violence initiative, which focuses on intervention with middle-school kids, is the right approach? Is it working, and if not, what would you do different?

Ginsberg: It is clearly not working. It’s a little too enforcement-focused, and we’re not spending enough on the carrot side of the equation. We should say we will help you find the opportunities if you will make the right choices.

I proposed a green technology corridor in the Rainier Valley so kids down there can see that there is another opportunity other than joining the gang.

Conlin: It’s a good initiative as far as it goes, but I’m concerned that it’s not focusing on kids who are currently involved in violence.

I think we should put in a strong mentoring program to divert the youth from seeing the gangs as their mentors and their peers.

PubliCola: Whoever's elected as mayor, they'll come into power with no experience holding office, giving the next council the opportunity to be a stronger council than any in at least 8 years. How will you take advantage of that opportunity?

Conlin: We are looking to have a partnership with the newly elected mayor. We have been very impressed that both of the candidates have said they would get rid of political appointees, and we think there is an opportunity to help them.