Who Will Be the Mayor of Seattle’s Reopening? – Slog

Do you remember being in public space? Charles Mudede

A couple of Saturdays ago, I strolled over to the Lumen Field Event Center for my second jab. After taking my mandatory #BestShotSeattle selfie, I stumbled into the glowing Saturday afternoon where Mariners fans were walking down Occidental Ave on their way to the ballpark. The baseball energy was extremely contagious: I couldn’t help but buy a hot dog.

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My wife and I celebrated with dinner at 84 Yesler. Wedged in a tiny brick building on Pioneer Square and committed to the open kitchen concept that flourished before the pandemic, this gem is the kind of place that calls out for indoor dining. Take-away, even a pastry shop, doesn’t fit a restaurant where you can see your hand-made pasta.

We crowned the meeting night with a film. While most of the local indies remain closed, we reluctantly turned over some cash to AMC Pacific Place. From Pioneer Square we strolled along the waterfront, the sun was high at 7 p.m. and the sound of the Alaska Way Viaduct was a distant memory.

Tourists filled the waterfront, coming from every pathetically boring place they came from. The Harbor Steps imitated Rome best. First Avenue near the market was buzzing. Even after dark, people were out downtown, and when we crossed the Eyesore on I-5, we weren’t the only ones climbing Party Mountain. At Unicorn, Belmont, and apparently every other pub on Pike, there were queues outside. I bet more Seattle Dogs have been sold that night since the CHOP merged than the rest of last year.

In short, Seattle survived the pandemic and has woken from hibernation with enthusiasm. (A major caveat is the city’s music and performing arts, which the small business administration needs to stop their colossal displays of incompetence and figure out how to shovel money out the damn door.)

Seattle may generally loathe Mayor Jenny these days, but she is right when she claims the city has the lowest COVID-19 infection rate and one of the highest vaccination rates of any major US city. I suspect history will kindly look at Seattle’s response to the pandemic. Mayorships are credited for what goes right and wrong, even when they don’t personally oversee every detail. For all of my free COVID-19 tests, which are within walking distance of both home and office while others had to cross state lines for basic diagnostics, and for my two seamless jabs, I will pay tribute to the Durkan administration.

She won’t be there to reap the rewards of keeping the coronavirus in check. But the next mayor will be. And which of them will reopen Seattle?

Yes, the undisputed first priority of the next mayor should be the humanitarian crisis that is unfolding daily on our streets and in our parks through a deadly combination of rampant homelessness, uncontrolled substance abuse and untreated mental health problems. But the next mayor’s ability to tackle this interlocking crisis is limited. A city has limited capacity to tackle a regional challenge, with the rest of King County’s cities largely free-riders outsourcing their responsibilities to Seattle, all trapped in a state and country that does not desperately need mental health facilities, drugs, Treatment centers or emergency shelters.

Even so, a mayor has to run and chew gum at the same time. Public health measures, however necessary, cut off urban life in the knees. Playing board games, getting a new high score on the pinball machine, making yourself comfortable with a drink in a dimly lit bar, flirting with the barista in the café, shaking on the dance floor – all gone for over a year. With the state fully reopening on June 30th, many of us who have patiently and painfully waited for our time, knowing that the city would wake from its artificially induced slumber, are ready to trade the virtual world for the real world.

I’m looking for a mayor willing to do the same. A mayor who enjoys living in Seattle and is not in the running just because of the Seattle idea. Where is our Andrew Yang candidate who shows up at every movie theater, restaurant, and bodega in New York that he can? Where is our Mayor Sadiq Khan who had an omelette and dumplings before dinner and then met a drag queen for vegetarian food to promote London restaurants? Where’s our Wes Uhlman, who kicked off bumbershoot to get Seattle out of its Boeing bust lull?

So far, nobody has jumped out of a sea of ​​virtual candidate forums. How does Capitol Hill resident Andrew Grant Houston plan to celebrate Pride? What is the favorite animal of Phinney Hill resident Casey Sixkiller at Woodland Park Zoo? Did transit candidate Jessyn Farrell satisfy her inner rail fan with a ride on the new Link trains? Where does Bruce Harrell from Beacon Hill like to eat? What is Colleen Echohawk’s favorite Pioneer Square building after running the Chief Seattle Club for years? What popular hangout in Old Seattle does Art Langlie visit to channel the spirit of his mayor and grandfather to governor? What is the small business that fainted former Office of Economic Development manager Lance Randall? (M. Lorena González receives a pass while she is dealing with a devastating house fire.)

When the next mayor says they are ready to roll up their sleeves and go to work, are they planning to do so from the town hall? (And they should, our town hall is a dream ship and the mayor’s office is a stunner. In addition, the city’s employees will be back in the office from September.)

Being mayor is fun. Snap on camera at Storm and Kraken games in the shiny new Climate Pledge Arena, then make silly bets with fellow mayors when your sports teams are both in the championship. You spend your summer performing at community events, from the Fremont Fair, reimagined as “Art Week” in 2021, to the Umoja Fest, which continued last year when Seafair couldn’t get going. Do you pull a Jill Biden and #BuyBlack to signal your priorities through your consumer choices, or pull a Mayor Jenny and hold cabinet meetings in Chinatown restaurants to show solidarity with the Asian-American community in the early days of the pandemic before the coronavirus wave crashed ashore here.

Ultimately, the candidate who will be mayor for the reopening of Seattle is not just a PR stunt. With the $ 128 million Seattle bailout plan dropped on Thursday, there is actually a need to allocate $ 22 million, including a whopping $ 22 million for restoring downtown and the neighborhood, and around $ 1 million for City parks, the Seattle Center, and other besieged public spaces. Remember the Before Times when you could waltz at Freeway Park or watch Whitney Mongé play a free concert in Westlake Park? This summer will finally look and feel like the city we are keeping under lock and key in March 2020. Which mayor will lead the indictment?