Comment from David Sucher
Time November 17, 2009 at 7:08 pm

The City of Seattle is a collection of individuals organized to do the work of the people of Seattle.

The success of the organization turns on the way individuals relate to each other i.e. how well (or poorly) they are organized.

Posted on my blog:

Many, if not most, of the City’s meta-policies have emerged out of consensus. Even though the elected officials of Seattle are nominally non-partisan, the political reality is that this is a Democratic city with the sort of liberal Democratic policies one would expect. That is to say, there is no huge ideological divide within the electorate of Seattle. By and large, with some notable exceptions, the City’s policies — and whether one agrees with them or not — are a fairly accurate reflection of the will of the people.

Thus Mayor-elect McGinn’s administration well be judged on how well the City government does its job, how competent it is. That means how well the City staff are organized and motivated to do the work of the people as articulated by the City Council and executed by the Mayor.

But the Mayor can’t do everything. In fact he can’t do anything without an efficient and on-purpose City bureaucracy.

Therefore, I believe that the City’s “personnel policy,” understood broadly, is the key to implementing whatever policies he and the Council determine is appropriate.

In future posts I will offer some specific examples of what I believe an enlightened personnel policy would look like.

Comment from Kelly
Time November 17, 2009 at 10:37 pm

To build a team, first figure out what you want to achieve. Want to build mass transit, improve the schools, or strengthen the neighborhood? Great! Pick one or two things, then hire outsiders (people who are either outside of the Seattle power structure or non-Seattleites) and empower them completely to go achieve one or two things. You can balance your team for gender, sexual orientation, or anything else you want. But at the end of the day you will be judged on what you accomplish. Set no more than two goals, then hire the best possible experts you can find to get things done.

Comment from Kelly
Time November 17, 2009 at 10:40 pm

If you want us to trust government, then tell the truth about our financial position. I think you were off to a good start with your discussion of the tunnel over-runs. Keep it up by publishing the details of where our tax dollars go. Also, and this may be the most important thing, don’t go into the office. The answers to the city’s issues won’t be found at City Hall. Pick a neighborhood coffee bar and, twice a week, show up and start talking. Delegate the minor stuff to your team so you can get out of the office.

Comment from Katherine
Time November 18, 2009 at 8:45 am

There are a lot of people very excited about the opportunities created by a change in leadership. Some of these people have not previously been involved in municipal affairs. I think this is a wonderful time to bring them in. Some may be appropriate candidates for the transition team. Others could get involved through service on boards and commissions. Let’s encourage new faces to join in. Is there a board or a commission with an open spot you (new face) could apply for?

Comment from AprilThomas
Time November 18, 2009 at 2:15 pm

We are strongly encouraging anyone who is interested to submit a resume to me at april.thomas@seattle.gov. Please also include a letter of interest.

Thanks for commenting!

Comment from Terry Vogel
Time November 19, 2009 at 2:51 pm

Value the strength and life of the neighborhoods; empower the office of neighborhoods and fund/staff well. Drop out rates at Seattle schools should be on the front burner. Corporate interests should be secondary; the life and health of schools and neighborhoods will drive economic development. Corporate interests have had an unbalanced influence in recent past (IMO) and their interests should support and enhance neighborhood health and high quality education. With increased density, more effort and resources is required. Lastly, mayoral engagement in support of the homeless and housing issues is CRITICAL. Top down is not what has worked in the past. The unique approach in the campaign can be successfully implemented in your first term.

Comment from Javier
Time November 19, 2009 at 4:25 pm

We need to make sure citizens concerns and needs are heard and will be addressed by the next administration.
The dream team should be inclusive and exercise real power.
Transparency? Eliminate at once the so called “bonus” to already well paid high city officials. The recession and bad economy everywhere, make those gross practices unacceptable.

Comment from monica
Time November 19, 2009 at 5:17 pm

Job Number 1: manage growth with good urban/green planning efforts, Co-ordinate all efforts or city functions of this aspect of Seattle (deptartment of neighborhoods, city council committees like clark’s neighborhood planning efforts, PDA’s, DPD, Parks,…) to aim to meet one or two general over-riding principals/policies of your administration with no more than three specific goals for the first term…ex: the greening of Seattle; then, stregthening neighborhoods to begin this work in their own backyards literally, new strong requirements for urban planning/strong architectural concepts (no more 4,6,8 pack townhouse projects!) in all future building projects that creates green space, green industry and green jobs, and really work on the sustainability of our parks (WPA,CCC style programs)…have all players working with the same objectives and goals!

Give neighborhoods through the district councils/neighborhood councils good direction and use them as valuable leaders. problem solvers, and idea generation.

Work in tandem with the city council…use them as a resource, to streamline, expedite and make city government more efficient…incentivize your departments, reward for merit, Have a renewal and re-committment retreat for all city employees and city activists.

Lastly, deliberation is a wonderful thing, create “Seattle’s Think Tank” (develop this group with the best of the old guard, the greatest of new blood, and the best practical creatives you can dig up…make it official and voluntary – no cost to the city!); but, extremely high on your list of who you consult-(empower them in a concrete way) so you can activily work on organization and implementation without losing time, momentum and energy “transitioning” and “learning the ropes”.
.

(Schools are not under the pervue of the City and to undertake that would be too much to soon…but, build positive working relationships with the superintendent and school board from the get go…)

Comment from Kim R. Turner
Time November 19, 2009 at 5:33 pm

You need to look to the local history societies and “activist” citizens, both those who live in Seattle itself and those who choose to work in Seattle, including all city employees. Many of us have been doing our work quietly, behind the scenes, but we know what we both want and expect from our city. Thanks. kim

Comment from Kim R. Turner
Time November 19, 2009 at 5:55 pm

1. You have a strong city council whose collective intellect should make it relatively easy to focus on what is needed. We need to find some way of restoring monies to the various city departments for them to be able to operate at maximum capacity. During the period of economic depression, the public library remains the last free university. That is an asset the city needs to utilize. Look also to why jobs aren’t available for those who have the talent but due to age are passed over for jobs for which they are better qualified than many of the younger applicants. This inequity is crucial when one’s income is insufficient to cover basic costs (rent, food, clothing, etc.) Perhaps a rent freeze on prices of units could make a difference in surviving the down time. Utilize all age groups in both studying issues and deciding how best to implement them. Retail businesses cannot survive if no one can afford to shop for their products.
2. Trust has to come with time. Make certain that all the bases have been covered before actions are taken: know what is needed, what ways exist to handle the situation, where the item rests in prioritization, and who best is able to carry it out.
3. Look to how the weather affects each facet of city administration and individual need. Is there enough water control (rain runoff, for example) or staff to keep up with requests when there is trouble in a neighborhood? We made the mistake in 1968 of not approving the rapid transit initiative (part of the Forward Thrust ballot) and our traffic conditions have not improved during the ensuing years. The viaduct situation may be high on your list of things needing attention, but the job situation (rather, lack thereof) is of primary importance, perhaps even more now with Boeing outsourcing work elsewhere in the nation. It is sad that unions have a bad rep, after having brought America into the 20th century, but their work has saved many families from being used as slaves. There are still those who see ordinary workers as “slaves,” and who would like to keep them that way. But if America stands for equality, then everyone should receive the same wages. (I often wonder what the members of Congress would do if they had to live on the average salary of an American worker, and to exist with social;security as their senior income). Thank you for taking time to allow citizens to give input into the future of Seattle.

Comment from Lisa A. Wood
Time November 20, 2009 at 10:28 am

The strongest possible team will happen ONLY with the recognition that although not all are politicians; there are people who have been involved in issues ( ie. homelessness, health care etc) for many, many years whose voice needs and ought to be heard and listened too just as readily as the politician. Pull us all together. Have more town hall meetings were we can all voice our opinions. We all ought to be involved in the decision-making process at some level.

Comment from Angela Williams
Time November 20, 2009 at 1:15 pm

Please have small business owners fro the community participate and have a voice.
The associations and large companies don’t have a clue of what is needed.
Small business is the backbone of the country and is being crushed.

Comment from Angela Williams
Time November 20, 2009 at 1:18 pm

Say what your going to do and then do what you say.Just as we as business owners have to do in order to pay our employees ,serve the community.

Comment from Guy Godefroy
Time November 20, 2009 at 1:29 pm

I think that utilizing existing assets to gently re-focus toward the administrations priorities would be an effective means to the end. There is no need for a radical departure from existing policy and procedures. Work with those that have been working toward these goals for decades. Consult experts in areas of focus to be quickly brought up to speed on realities and facts regarding issues. If the goal is neighborhood building, work with the department of neighborhoods. Governing effectively, conservatively and steering with a consistent, even hand will be the best method for success.

Comment from Rene T. Murryr
Time November 20, 2009 at 2:12 pm

I think building your team from community leadership along with people experienced in city government would be wise. Seattle is looking for competency and a sense that we are all listened to in this process. Your town hall ideas are fine, but there are many grass roots groups that have been established where people have been working on their community issues for years. Greenwood Aurora Involved Neighbors (GAIN) is a great example of people building community AND working with city government. Don’t recreate the wheel….look at what has been working.

Comment from Rene T. Murry
Time November 20, 2009 at 2:16 pm

Government is trusted when it is responsive. Recognizing that you will never please everyone, if you take action to solve problems that have the majority of citizens at heart, I think you will be trusted. Keeping citizens in the loop, calling different groups to the table on a regular basis will go far.

Comment from Jennifer
Time November 20, 2009 at 3:03 pm

Thanks for asking! Neighborhood focus is critical and can be maintained by strengthening and encouraging the use and budget of the OED and Dept. of Neighborhoods- no need to pull out a great team already in place. The BIA program is vital and with your energy and focus, will only grow. Please keep these departments focused on small business and keep the teams who are functioning well in place.

Comment from Bill
Time November 20, 2009 at 3:46 pm

1.Ask the city employees( not the department heads) what needs attention in their departments. Most of the dept. heads have not worked in the depts that they head. (2) To gain the public trust make the depts answer their phones. (3)Cost over runs on the tunnel will break the city. Look at Bothell-Puget Sound sewer line problems. 2 years behind schedule now.

Comment from Andrew
Time November 20, 2009 at 3:47 pm

I think you should look at your policy objectives and values and determine where you think the past administration did not live up to those goals and objective. Don’t fix it if it is not broken. When you have identified the shortcomings look for the people who can be part of the fix. Find people who spoke passionately and competently about solutions to those area’s shortcomings. Don’t just pick people who spoke the loudest, pick people who spoke and also retained the respect of even the people who may oppose their point of view. That should be a pretty narrow and influential list of people.

Comment from grassRoot
Time November 20, 2009 at 5:15 pm

Start with a clean slate. Consolidate your directors. The US President only has 12 cabinets. Get smarter people at better price. Companies are cutting wages and working longer hours. The city should take note.

Comment from grassRoot
Time November 20, 2009 at 5:17 pm

Do more for less. We are all doing it. So should the City. Thats how you got elected.

Comment from Marlen
Time November 21, 2009 at 11:15 am

Pick two to three things and get them working. Ideally, a short run, mid-run and longer project. This can build momentum by seeing results quickly while making forward movement on the other two. Focus on leadership, communication and negotiation. Not everyone had the same views but staying informed and seeing that all sides are providing solution will bring more unity to the whole. Getting communities mobillized using exising action groups can shorten the timeframe.

Comment from Anne
Time November 21, 2009 at 2:50 pm

Public trust is built with respect, input that is listened to, transparency, and accessibility to the Mayor and getting things done with some consensus.

Comment from Anne
Time November 21, 2009 at 2:58 pm

Take input from a variety of sources on who would be great in certain positions. You need visionaries/idea people, people who can get something done, communication people, from all walks of life and people who can work together and respect differences. Look at what is going on at the grassroots and community level and tap into their energy. Remember elders have good advice too, besides all the new young things on computers.

Comment from Ann
Time November 21, 2009 at 6:02 pm

Communication is critical. Identify a representative for each neighborhood and make sure an open dialogue exists. Use technology to facilitate communication, it’s difficult for people to attend meetings, but much easier to respond to emails.

Comment from jane couchman
Time November 21, 2009 at 6:22 pm

The mayor should rely on his election campaign aides to initiate the ripple effect for prospective team members presently in and out of city gov’t: Some city employees may want to move over to the mayor’s office; 100,000 job seekers in Seattle are a big pool of talent. After that, his announced agendas will produce responses from individuals and groups. There are, already in place, e-mail, snail mail, and phone connections, so the mayor’s constituents will have ready access for their opinions. The public will not want to see a lot of money spent on this or any other consideration during the mayor’s term of office.

Comment from Long Time Belltown Resident
Time November 22, 2009 at 12:45 pm

Appointing key advisors who know the current city government, city charter, and rules with the willingness and openness to look at new approaches rather than status quo but do not support change just for change sake. It is expensive to reorganize
Get to know current department directors and their visions before determining new leadership in the departments (some need to go)

Comment from Long Time Belltown Resident
Time November 22, 2009 at 12:46 pm

Deterermine if you are going to do a national search for a new police chief or appoint the current interim chief. If national search, use citizen input.
Continue town hall meetings
Competent reliable communications person
Develop mechanism to hold viaduct replacement costs under budget
Reach out to Olympia and King County
Maintain good web presence

Comment from Andrew Cencini
Time November 22, 2009 at 1:54 pm

-Create a citywide program to organize and utilize volunteer service wherever possible in order to accomplish the “million little things” that would be needed to help achieve the policy objectives. This also helps bypass “the process” surrounding details that stymies many projects – send / organize volunteers to execute on projects in neighborhoods: bike lane sweeping, traffic circle maintenance, bus stop beautification. Allow some latitude in how neighborhoods/volunteers execute on projects. Enable, don’t obstruct.

-Blend the smartest, best-intentioned people from the past with new blood. Listen to both sides, ensure they listen to each other.

-Hire people who WANT to serve the city, not people who want to get PAID to serve the city.

-Young people/unemployed are a massive talent pool now. Develop a set of core screening criteria, and then dive in. This is an unprecedented opportunity to bring in the next wave of talented city employees who otherwise would be grabbed by higher-paid jobs in industry.

-Stay true to promises, campaign themes. Hire/appoint around the themes of making Seattle a great place to live, work and walk. If the administration shows consistency with campaign objectives, this will keep the most effective parts of the talent pool activated and interested in working for the City. Nobody wants to work for an employer that does not show strength of principles (this translates subconsciously to the type of work environment the employer provides).

Comment from Kathy Price
Time November 22, 2009 at 2:36 pm

The mayor needs sit down with all candidates he has in mind to be a part of his administration to discuss what their goals are to see if they share the same vision has he does for the city. He needs to may sure that the selection he chooses will have God/Christ in the picture and not play the Devil’s advocate card.

Comment from Kathy Price
Time November 22, 2009 at 2:42 pm

How do you build public trust in your administration? First, of all I do not believe that the problem always lies at the Government door steps that the public plays an important role in the solution to make the city a better place let alone the world. The public is just as untrustworthy as they say the administration can be. If you think that the administration can be shady where all the polices come from to aide the public you are sadly mistaken. The public can be just as shady and will take advantage of all the aide that the administration administer out. But, they do not want to do anything to give themselves a helping hand and a lift up.

Comment from tina bueche
Time November 22, 2009 at 4:44 pm

1. Build the strongest possible team – individuals with knowledge, energy, the ability to listen and assimilate and the willingness to go outside themselves to gather input; balance perspectives so the boundaries can be pushed without huge collateral damage; create a dynamic dialogue that reaches far beyond the traditional lines and confers power to the many not the few; focus on building collaborative relationships between city, county and state elected and administrative bodies; work to have a healthy professional relationship with the city council – find a few common wins and focus on accomplishing them.

2- build the public trust – be open, accessible, and do what you say you will do. work hard to make certain you are creating the expectations you mean to create and communicating the outcomes and process to everyone. Be honest, and do avoid succumbing to the path of least resistance, especially where the neighborhoods are concerned.

3- the first three things on my mind: public safety/civility , economic triage and development/ jobs in all areas with a special nod to small independent businesses and neighborhoods and finally the whole transportation/parking conversation.

4- other thoughts:

use technology but don’t forget not everyone is technically connected;

lots of good stuff happening in this city – be nice to nurture the good along..

thanks for asking the questions…

Comment from Georgetown Cyclist
Time November 22, 2009 at 8:20 pm

Don’t be afraid to appoint strong leaders. The previous administration was terrified of any threat to its power structure. Successful leaders such as Jim Diers should be rewarded not fired.

Comment from Georgetown Cyclist
Time November 22, 2009 at 8:26 pm

Trust is reciprocal. The government has to trust the opinions of its constituents. Too often, citizens encounter disinterest from bureaucrats. The government at all levels needs to engage with and learn from its constituents.

Comment from DanielBretzke
Time November 22, 2009 at 9:22 pm

To build a strong team, the members need the following:
have knowledge in their specialty area, and to be able to apply it to the city as a whole
value open communication in government
be honest
have a strong work ethic
be able to work together and with diverse groups of people
work to make government efficient in delivery of services
be committed to public service
be competent.
be visionaries.

Comment from Henry Gales
Time November 23, 2009 at 12:31 am

To build the strongest possible team, you need to make sure to have memers who are committed to listening to the people of Seattle, and forming policies that reflect the voices of the citizens. If you’re new team does these things, than your admistration will reflect what your campaign did. As for dealing with the political and business establishment, the voices of their membership should be treated the same as the voices of any other citizens. For decades their wishes have governed this city, and it is time they get equal treatment. If they want their policies passed, then thay should have to win popular support for them, and not receive any kind of special treatment.

Comment from M. Anderson
Time November 23, 2009 at 10:11 am

Share information (frequently) with all people in ways that are relevant and engaging. Develop teams of trusted advocates for cultural groups (immigrants, minorities, young people, etc).
-Also, I agree with the previous comment about hiring folks like Jim Diers. We should be so lucky!

Comment from Lisa Quinn
Time November 23, 2009 at 11:06 am

Provide clear communication and expectations of the policy objectives to the transition team. Give space for staff to feel empowered, but a strong framework to hold staff accountable for achieving clear objectives. Make sure the team has the proper tools and check in frequently to make sure you are going the proper direction…be ready to make adjustments along the way. Gather a team that not only gets process, but knows how equally important it is to have content. And make sure to have fun!

Comment from Kris
Time November 23, 2009 at 4:46 pm

Listen to folks who are knowledgeable on subjects even if you disagree with them. This represents the biggest failure of the Nickels regime. Right out of the gate (their first week in office) they sought to marginalize people that either disagreed with them or who had alternative solutions to problems.

In no area was this tactic more evident and harmful than when it came to public health and safety. There are many people in Seattle who have worked long and hard to come up with innovative approaches (or to adopt approaches implemented elsewhere). And almost uniformly these folks were ignored or worse by Team Nickels.

There is wealth of expertise locally that could help turn Seattle into a model for how to address vexing public health/safety issues. This expertise is available in the academic community from drug policy researchers, the legal community (the ACLU and the King County Bar Association’s Drug Policy Reform Project), and front-line service providers who are nationally known for their advocacy of harm reduction.

Ten years ago Seattle was widely regarded for adopting and implementing harm reduction efforts addressing public health and safety (even Paul Schell was highly regarded). Today virtually no one looks to Seattle as a model because we’ve stopped doing anything new.

Comment from Charlie Cunniff
Time November 23, 2009 at 6:54 pm

There are several elements to building the best team.

One is best utilization of the existing employees – almost 11,000 of them.

Two is building the internal staff of the Mayor’s Office, The Deputy Mayor and staff, Office of Intergovernmental Relations, the successor to the Office of Policy & Management (OPM), and the appointment of the 36 or 37 department heads.

Three is the best utilization of the citizens of Seattle that are not city employees. Some will work as advisors on committees, others through exiting non-profit organization partners.

I will address each of these in order:

(ONE) As a current City of Seattle employee, I appreciate that Michael did not echo Joe Mallahan’s constant refrain that the City was “fundamentally broken,” since that is just not so. There are certainly changes that can be made and need to be made. But we have a highly functioning government that needs some change and we are not “broken.”

There are many elements already in place to build th–*e strong team. There are almost 11,000 employees at the City. Many, if not most are dedicated to their jobs and want to help the City be successful. The new administration will be able to fill some new positions, and bring in some new people, but not many, especially in the departments, where there has been essentially a hiring freeze. So there is a need to review the goals and Accountability Agreements that already exist and see how they align with the new policy objectives or where they can be changed. I spoke with Michael about this during the campaign. There is a system in place that the Transition Team may do well to continue and/or emulate. Each City of Seattle employee has an “Accountability Agreement” with their supervisor and they with their supervisor, all the way up through what is now OPM and the Deputy Mayor’s Office. These Accountability Agreements are reviewed and updated quarterly to make sure one is on track and make any adjustments. Moreover, we are required make write WEEKLY reports that get to our supervisor on Friday mornings. The Department Directors develop the Department’s Weekly report and they are delivered to the Mayor’s Office by 12:00 Friday. For department directors that wish, they are made available in a packet to review over the weekend. This seems like a lot of work, but it is effective in that each employee needs to take weekly stock of what they have accomplished (or not, as they case may be) and they do the same quarterly and annually. Many people hate doing this, as may be expected. But, I find it to be effective on a number of levels. In the transition, the new administration should reach out to what is left of OPM and ask about the system. In the transition, they should direct the department heads to continue the system as it is until notified differently. This will give a sense of continuity to the employees, which is very important to the sense of place and mission.

As far as the Departments are concerned, there is great work going on, especially in the environmental arena, with which I am most familiar. I am also quite familiar with the Office of Economic Development and Neighborhoods.

There can be some aligning of the mission’s of DoN, OED, SPU, DPD, City Light and the Office of Sustainability & Environment, where I currently am employed. A traditional problem with Seattle government and particularly with environmental services has been the “silos” where knowledge, personnel and services reside. There are problems of communication on the inside and certainly from the outside, it is hard for people to know whom to call for what. This is an issue for residents and especially so for businesses. We have great employees, as mentioned earlier, but we do not necessarily communicate across the silos nor are we familiar with the resources and issues of other departments.

For the business community, two attempts to remedy this in recent times has been the “Executive Pulse” program of OED and the Seattle Climate Partnership of OSE (Full disclosure, I am the Director of the Seattle Climate Partnership (SCP)). Through a series of questions, the Executive Pulse attempts to find out what the business needs and then connects then with resources to help. Through the SCP process, we help businesses discover what steps they can take to reduce their carbon footprint across a wide range of business activities (Energy use, Transportation, Materials Use and Waste). Programs, activities or personnel are then recommended to help them.

I believe that “Carbon Neutrality for Seattle by 2030″ will be an abiding goal for the McGinn Administration. To do this, we will need to be very organized and offer services in a coordinated fashion. A “mash-up”, if you will, of the SCP, Executive Pulse, what they are doing in Portland with the Businesses for an Environmentally Sensitive Tomorrow (BEST) Center, the NYC version of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and the Neighborhood Development Manager (NDM) program from the Schell Administration could address this. What might that look like? Since we are challenged by budgets, we may not be able to hire many, if any, new employees. So we need to utilize the existing employees and programs as best as we can. Again, we are not a “broken city”, but we need some work.
There is a large room on the 1st Floor of City Hall that has never been finished or utilized. It is behind both the Citizen’s Service Bureau and the City Grinds Coffee stand. That could be the place for a new “Environmental and Neighborhoods Service Team.” As in the old NDM program, divide the City into 6 sections, (East/West of I-5, north of Ship Canal, north of I-90, south of I-90) Have 12 employees – 6 with concentration on area neighborhood issues and 6 with concentration on business and business environmental issues. These 12 would act as “Account Executives” or “Concierges”. They would be the face of the government in their sectors and would recommend and refer issues to the specialists in the departments. They would not supplant the 13 Neighborhood Service Managers, but enhance them.

In particular, the 6 business Account Executives would come from 6 different disciplines, but be people who are open, willing and excited about being cross-trained in other disciplines. The expectation is not that they would be experts in all fields, but conversant enough to help discover issues and problems and refer to the right people. I can think 3 or 4 existing City employees who may be great in this position.

One other program that should be given a lot of thought is the Seattle Climate Action NOW program. This was originally conceived as a deeply rooted community action program that would encourage residents and neighborhoods to make the necessary changes and take the necessary actions to reduce our individual and collective carbon footprint(s). As we know, this program has worked well in some respects and not so well in others. However, it is a well-branded program and it would not make budgetary or environmental sense to scuttle it. Moreover, with the the program has been revived and strengthened with the addition of the Carbon Coach program and the new residential carbon calculator that focuses on a “One-Ton Challenge”, where each user is encouraged to reduce their footprint by 1 ton. To meet the 2030 goal, this program will need to be both continued and enhanced. One focus of each department that works with residents or residents could be to have them first develop their carbon footprint so tat we can best serve them with city services.

I have obviously thought about this a lot and could write a lot more, but time does not permit me.

There are some limitations as to what we can do with different stream of City money, particularly City Light. But that a subject for another discussion.

(TWO) The City Council has eliminated the often maligned Office of Policy & Management. Though offered as a cost saving measure, on balance I do not believe this is good for the new administration. In response to this move, Mayor McGinn did the right thing to say that in bad budget times even the Mayor’s Office has to take cuts and that they will be okay. But this does remove 10 positions or so that the Mayor had the option to fill. So, what are the ramifications for the Mayor’s Office? Mimic OPM by having personnel in the Mayors Office that oversee the Department heads and managers. Some Departmern heads should stay, some should go, some may want to stay, some may want to go. These conversations should happen soon.

(THREE)
Maintain and expand relationships with the community and its organizations. Strengthen the Department of Neighborhoods and the City Neighborhood Council structure.

Comment from Charlie Cunniff
Time November 23, 2009 at 7:02 pm

Internal Trust: Mike McGinn must call Department heads soon and have the conversations that they are waiting to have. You may not even like the existing Department heads, there are certainly some that will not be offered jobs. But they are a repository of a lot of knowledge, information and institutional memory. They all would like to speak with Mike and the sooner the better. The conversation with Tim Ceis and Mary Jean Ryan should also happen soon. We all understand that there are political, social and philosophical differences between the outgoing and incoming administrations. However they know a lot and Mary Jean, in particular, is an amazing employee with vast knowledge of the workings of Seattle government. Whether you want her to remain or not, or whether she wants to remain or not, she should be reached out to. Ditto for Mike Mann. Whether you like or want him or not, he knows a lot and can be helpful in the transition, especially with all the funding that is currently in the pipeline for programs that have recently been developed and will need to be instituted soon.

External Trust: As much as we may be concerned with environmental services and development issues, many of the citizens of Seatle are concerned with public safety, police and fire, garbage collection and an orderly transfer of power. Reach out to the police and fire, make mutual announcements and make sure people know that they will be safe. After taking all this input, provide leadership, make decisions and make your decisions clear to the public. Take care of the public purse, which is a major concern for all of us.

Comment from Terry Parkhurst
Time November 23, 2009 at 9:49 pm

First, consider a city ordinance to ban leaf-blowers. It would follow up on the message, espoused during the campaign, of responsible environmentalism.

This is not said facetiously, nor is it something I take lightly.

As someone who has written about vehicles with internal combustion engines, I am in an odd position asking for such a ban. But at the same time, I can say, with some authority, that the two-cycle engines used by leaf blowers emit more emissions than the average dirt bike (off road motorcycle) being sold new. Moreover, they are noisy and destroy that oft-termed thing those living in Seattle reportedly value: liveability.

At this writing, I am surrounded by several leaf-blowers, going simultaneously. They are devices which Satan himself wouldn’t have been clever enough to inflict upon humanity; but humanity, in its typical short-sided mind set, has inflicted upon itself.

Yes, there are leaves-aplenty in Seattle. I favor a return to rakes and mulching. Leaf blowers generally do nothing more than ensure that there are leaves enough to clog the city’s drains. This I have seen – repeatedly – in the neighborhood where I live; having watched workers blow leaves into the streets, rather than put them in containers and take them somewhere to be turned into mulch.

Of course, those leaves in the street will clog up the drains and create havoc for anyone using city streets, after (or even during) a rain storm.

As for building a strong “team to achieve public policy objectives set during the campaign,” I would strongly suggest that the mayor-elect look to people not usually heard from, in the public arena. Many of us are those folks who leave comments on the newspaper websites or other places, or at blogs such as that run by my friend, Shaun Dale, a Vietnam combat vet: http://www.upper-left.blogspot.com

H.L. Mencken once said that the surest sign of a crank, is a man who writes letters-to-the-editor. That tradition, continues, to a degree, with websites. But those of us who do not prove the truth of Mencken’s maxim are, nothing more or less, than those who find ourselves with no other avenues for our complaints and suggestions – many of which do indeed have merit.

As to the question of how to build trust in the new administration, I’d suggest one small technical change: let’s have an e-mail for the Office of the Mayor of Seattle. Make access through the portal which most people use, the Internet, more of a slam dunk, rather than the maze it currently is. Yes, one can leave messages at the website for the mayor; but my hunch is not many people know that.

Furthermore, I would suggest another technical step backward: have the phone number for the mayor’s office available with people staffing it who might take a complaint tendered over the phone, and write it down; to either give to the (new) mayor, or pass it on, with some alacrity, to someone who can answer the complaint, or more importantly, take action upon it.

Finally, the biggest challenge for the city of Seattle, is the same as it is, everywhere across the country: how to ensure its citizens survive this economy. Frankly, at this writing, I’m so busy trying to figure the answer out to that, for myself and my feline companion Sunny, I don’t have any ready answer.

Maybe it will come with time.

Comment from Theodore Lane
Time November 25, 2009 at 4:36 pm

The strongest possible team will be one that has sufficient diversity to reflect the make-up of Seattle’s population, including:
• Geographic diversity
• Life style diversity
• Racial, ethnic and gender diversity
• Economic diversity (consumers, small neighborhood businesses, CBD businesses, property owners and renters)
• Diversity of visions about preferred urban designs
• Environmental diversity
Often, diversity is defined in terms of projects and issues such as transportation, land use, housing, or economic development — which conform to the missions of different city departments. In the case of transportation, for example, this can result in supporters/opponents of bus, light rail, automobile, truck delivery, bicycle, and pedestrian movement being represented on a team but all can be white, male, center city, businesses people. Yet transportation projects impact more than the people and vehicles that travel over transportation corridors. They impact the tenor and soul of our city.
I guess what I’m trying to express is that programmatic teams should operate with a balanced vision of the urban environment – not a balanced array of special user interests. Technical persons who understand the requirements of different user groups are needed to design programs that can be implemented in a balanced manner, but their efforts are tactical. The members of a team charged with evolving a strategy for carrying out the new mayor’s objectives and values should reflect the essence of the city not its technically or bureaucratically defined component parts.
Practically, what this means is that the mayor needs a strategy team that focuses on generic problems not specific projects. Carrying the transportation example forward, transportation corridors have arguably been the largest single factor influencing Seattle’s growth. The ship canal and federal government locks divided north Seattle from the rest of the city. I-5 divided east and west Seattle. SR-520 separated the communities of Capitol Hill, Roanoke Park, Eastlake and Montlake and scared the Arboretum. Yet we continue to view transportation projects through the lens of engineers while ignoring their urban design impacts.
In summary, (a) tactical and strategic decision making should be differentiated, (b) the members of the strategic team should reflect the diversity of the population, (c) the members of the tactical team should reflect the diversity of user groups, (d) the strategic team should be charged with defining policies that reflect the new mayor’s goals and values, and (e) the members of the tactical team should be charged with identifying implementation techniques that that will carry out the new mayor’s policy strategies.

Comment from Luigi Fulk
Time December 1, 2009 at 2:36 pm

Helath care reform will still mean people need to get long term care insurance.

Comment from Andrew Pelt
Time December 1, 2009 at 5:05 pm

Does health care reform cover long term care insurance?

Comment from Jon Doe
Time December 2, 2009 at 1:42 pm

I would not start by hiring people who are friends of the mayor elect who do not have experience in the field they are given.

Transition Program Manager, Liz Birkholz is a perfect example.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/lizbirkholz‘
Although a great resume, none of which has extensive Change Management or Transition Management.

Comment from Charlette
Time December 3, 2009 at 4:45 pm

I would like to see all the City’s Neighborhood Resource Centers with a website so they can at least post information and community announcments.

Currently, alot of them are invisible to citizens, businesses and residents.

Comment from Mary Ann Kae
Time December 4, 2009 at 8:44 pm

One specific suggestion would be to re-instate the position of “Neighborhoods Director”, last held by Jim Diers. This position was eliminated when Greg Nickels became Mayor, and I think it was emblematic of his lack of care for the needs of residents.

Comment from Richard Thurston
Time December 11, 2009 at 4:05 pm

Lat month Mayor Nickles th lame-duck mayor and council memeber Conln came up with the bright idea of kicking off a program nder the auspices of the City DDepartment of eonomic development.

To that end various business owners, property owners and social services administrators meet for yet another in an umpteenth series of brain storming sessions led by a hight power facilitator ames to the teeth with colored shapies and easels.

And the results aleady speak for themselves!
Elliott Bay Books is gone.

But its a little harsh to speak ill if of our alleged municipal government, they only had eight years to accoplishment somethng

Good luck Mike?

And if you’e interested inhe pas three months First Thursday Gallery Walks when the streets lights on Occidental Avenue were shut off.
I beg of yuo.

N more Charlie Roye. No Norm Rice. In pafticular no Paul Schell and don’t give Greg Nickles a job.

Best.

Richard Thurston

Comment from Richard Thurston
Time December 11, 2009 at 4:09 pm

Sorry abut the selling. My phone keyboard is a bit teeny.

Comment from Syah
Time September 5, 2012 at 6:56 am

What we need to build the best team is all member in this team need to give co-operation, can share anything problem, do not selfish and can obey your chief order.