News
Debate Kicks Off Council General Election Campaigns
In the first campaign forum for the November city council elections, nine of ten council candidates showed up to the Haller Lake Community Club in far North Seattle to talk about the economy, public safety, housing, and, of course, bikes.
Because neither Bruce Harrell (Position 3) nor Jean Godden (Position 1) showed up until well after the discussion was underway (first Harrell, then Godden), the panel started at the right side of the table (council position 9, held by Sally Clark) and moved down the list.
Ferguson made the John Fox left wing/right wing populist case for people who drive cars, arguing that bicyclists should have to pay for licenses and that parking rates should not have been increased downtown. "We have people who come in to our city to work in the evenings that are primarily communities of color, and they are now spending 20 percent of the income they have going to parking," Ferguson said. Regarding bike registration, Fersuson said, "The people riding the bikes [should help pay] the taxes that it takes to maintain the roads that they travel on."
Clark responded swiftly and decisively. "The reality is that you don't generate much revenue, because the mode share for bicyclists is actually relatively low in Seattle." Plus, she added, most cyclists already own cars and are already paying car tab fees. "Some have said, 'Let's license them so we can take away their licenses when they breeze through the stop signs. Well, we don't actually do that for drivers. We fine them, and we would do that for bicycles the same as we do for drivers."
Ferguson also argued that the proposed $60 car tab fee would hurt low-income drivers (Clark acknowledged that the fee is regressive, but noted that the city is trying to offset the fee by waiving other fees for low-income residents) and suggested that for people who own more than one car, all but the first car should be exempt from the fee.
The rest of the debate was mostly free from fireworks: Burgess gave an opening statement followed immediately by a closing statement because no one in the audience had questions (his opponent, architect David Schraer, was out of town); Tom Rasmussen responded to opponent Dale Pusey's accusation that the car-tab fee wouldn't fix roads or sidewalks by saying that, actually, it would; and Harrell and challenger Brad Meacham sniped back and forth about whether Harrell had raised electric rates (shades of "Rate Hike Heidi") or stabilized them. "Be leery of people who mislead you with [inaccurate] facts" about rate increases, Harrell said.
The only other heated exchange of the night came when it was Godden's and challenger Bobby Forch's time to speak. After Godden gave a rambling account of her accomplishments on the council (chairing the budget committee, bringing jobs to Seattle, saving parks and libraries, and making City Light carbon neutral), Forch went on the attack: "With all due respect, she has missed 20 percent of the meetings of the committee she chairs."
But Forch appears to have had his facts wrong. Godden said all the meetings he was saying she "missed" were actually meetings that were canceled---a common practice for every council committee. "Every committee meeting that I have ever scheduled, I have chaired." We're checking to see if Godden's claim is accurate.
Because neither Bruce Harrell (Position 3) nor Jean Godden (Position 1) showed up until well after the discussion was underway (first Harrell, then Godden), the panel started at the right side of the table (council position 9, held by Sally Clark) and moved down the list.
Ferguson made the John Fox left wing/right wing populist case for people who drive cars, arguing that bicyclists should have to pay for licenses and that parking rates should not have been increased downtown. "We have people who come in to our city to work in the evenings that are primarily communities of color, and they are now spending 20 percent of the income they have going to parking," Ferguson said. Regarding bike registration, Fersuson said, "The people riding the bikes [should help pay] the taxes that it takes to maintain the roads that they travel on."
Clark responded swiftly and decisively. "The reality is that you don't generate much revenue, because the mode share for bicyclists is actually relatively low in Seattle." Plus, she added, most cyclists already own cars and are already paying car tab fees. "Some have said, 'Let's license them so we can take away their licenses when they breeze through the stop signs. Well, we don't actually do that for drivers. We fine them, and we would do that for bicycles the same as we do for drivers."
Ferguson also argued that the proposed $60 car tab fee would hurt low-income drivers (Clark acknowledged that the fee is regressive, but noted that the city is trying to offset the fee by waiving other fees for low-income residents) and suggested that for people who own more than one car, all but the first car should be exempt from the fee.
The rest of the debate was mostly free from fireworks: Burgess gave an opening statement followed immediately by a closing statement because no one in the audience had questions (his opponent, architect David Schraer, was out of town); Tom Rasmussen responded to opponent Dale Pusey's accusation that the car-tab fee wouldn't fix roads or sidewalks by saying that, actually, it would; and Harrell and challenger Brad Meacham sniped back and forth about whether Harrell had raised electric rates (shades of "Rate Hike Heidi") or stabilized them. "Be leery of people who mislead you with [inaccurate] facts" about rate increases, Harrell said.
The only other heated exchange of the night came when it was Godden's and challenger Bobby Forch's time to speak. After Godden gave a rambling account of her accomplishments on the council (chairing the budget committee, bringing jobs to Seattle, saving parks and libraries, and making City Light carbon neutral), Forch went on the attack: "With all due respect, she has missed 20 percent of the meetings of the committee she chairs."
But Forch appears to have had his facts wrong. Godden said all the meetings he was saying she "missed" were actually meetings that were canceled---a common practice for every council committee. "Every committee meeting that I have ever scheduled, I have chaired." We're checking to see if Godden's claim is accurate.
