By Marsha Kuykendall
Note: At last Wednesday’s Southeast Seattle Candidates Forum, mayoral candidates shared their proposed solutions for creating job opportunities, curbing neighborhood violence, and dealing with transit development challenges. This update will cover their positions on economic development. Additional updates will cover neighborhood crime and transit issues.
As mayor, James Donaldson promised to direct funds toward business training, business seminars, business cultivation and business incubators “to make sure we have the resources here in the central District 37 to train young entrepreneurs. To grow up and be business owners is the true sense of being free and independent. I want them to develop that mindset that they can own their own business. They can employee, buy and shop locally – and give back locally. This is the way to build strong vibrant communities.” Finding jobs for community youth, young mothers and family providers, and making sure they have living-wage jobs is a good starting point, he noted.
“The most important thing that the City’s Department of Economic Development (DOED) has done is called Seattle Jobs Initiative. It’s been very successful in placing people in jobs. One of the things we can do better at, is requiring that new development and new businesses hire from the community,” said Jan Drago. “Clean, green jobs also offer exciting new opportunities.”
“All the issues are interconnected – environment stewardship, transportation, public safety and economic development,” said Kwame WyKing Garrett, adding he would direct youth violence conviction funding toward teaching youth about business ownership. “We need to get our youth activated, doing something positive that gives them a sense of ownership and wanting to build and protect the community rather than destroy the community. Also, I would support cultural workers in developing a more vibrant environment for businesses that attract people to our neighborhoods. And I would invest in programs that include green jobs.”
To attract new business, Joe Mallahan stressed the need for DOED to offer real incentives to businesses that make thing rather than just sell things. “Ross for Less is not economic development,” stressed Mallahan, adding that delivering “equitable incentives for development in neighborhoods that haven’t seen development in the last decade,” would be a primary focus in his administration.
“Investing in local projects like home energy efficiency projects would help reduce energy bills for people living here and create jobs,” said Mike McGinn. He also proposed creating community-wide internet infrastructure and properly managing transit-oriented development to help “connect people to the tools they need to connect to jobs and opportunities.” Helping schools better prepare youth for good jobs was also key, he added.
“I’ll put forth jobs and green industries in the central and south part of Seattle,” promised Norman Sigler. “One of my main issues is to help communities that have been left out of economic success. I’ll put resources in every neighborhood to help people understand what it’s like to start and grow a business and diversify their income stream.”
See For Yourself: Find the entire Southeast Seattle Candidates Forum broadcast on Seattle Channel here.
Seattle mayoral candidates James Donaldson, Jan Drago, Kwame WyKing Garrett and Joe Mallahan. Mike McGinn and Norman Sigler are not pictured. Photo/do communications, inc.
Related:
- SE Seattle Candidates Forum Update #4: City Council and Mayoral Candidates Agree on Key Issues Facing Our Neighborhoods (7/24/09)
- SE Seattle Candidates Forum #3: Did Mayor Skip It to Pimp the Rails Instead? (7/23/09)
- SE Seattle Candidates Forum Update #2: Mock Election Results (7/23/09)
- SE Seattle Candidates Forum Update #1: Nickels a No-Show (7/23/09)
Who to know, where to eat & what to do in one of America’s most diverse zip codes!
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If Kwame Wyking Garret is elected, will his father hit him in the face with a megaphone? Enquiring minds want to know!
Thanks for your coverage of the candidates forum. For more on Jan Drago’s thoughts about green jobs and economic development, please checke out her Blueprint for Seattle’s Future.
Jan Drago talked about needing scooter storage space at light rail. McGinn talked about “hostile” walking environments and meant “ugly sidewalks”. Mallahan and Garrett were the only candidates who didn’t seem out of touch with the South end.
Yeah, I loved Jan’s scooter comment also. I’m surprised she didn’t mention Segways and skateboards also!
She is totally out of touch with just about everything she is asked about. Amazing that she has been a councilperson for so long. Blows my mind that she has as much support as it reported.
Agreed on Mallahan and Garrett. Glad to hear Garrett call out the ineffectiveness of the current youth initiatives and that he followed the money trail for the answers. Good interviews with both on KUOW.
Garrett impressed me but Mallahan is the only viable candidate to upset Nickels.
Tom A.
I’m scared by folks like Jan Drago who will use popular opinion as the base of her support, no matter how ill-informed that base is.
“Today, America would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order [referring to the 1991 LA Riot]. Tomorrow they will be grateful! This is especially true if they were told that there were an outside threat from beyond [i.e., global warming], whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will plead to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well-being granted to them by the World Government.”
Dr. Henry Kissinger, Bilderberger Conference, Evians, France, 1991
As it stands today, there is still no hard scientific evidence that the current global warming (which is historically cyclical) is caused by people. For politicians at the local level to readily embrace that which they do not understand as their political platform, in order to “do good,” is heartbreaking due to the extreme poverty of the intellect.
Majority mob opinion rules, no matter how ill-researched it is. So much for “civilization.”
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