McGinn: Promise and peril of 'Great Reset' mayor

Forgive me for not phrasing this Seattle Nice, but Mayor Mike McGinn scares the bejezus out of many in business, and not just among the traditional elites.

His obsession against the deep-bore tunnel, favoring higher parking prices downtown and increased utility rates, his perceived lack of vision for a big city, his caricature as "Mayor McSchwinn" — all have made for considerable anxiety.

But McGinn is actually a charming fellow, whip smart. In his mellow, reasonable way, he disagrees with that image.

"I'm pro-business, but not business as usual," he told me this past week, adding that as a lawyer he represented businesses for 13 years.

He admits he has a cool relationship with some business leaders, but, "The coolness goes in both directions. They're concerned about what my priorities will be. But everybody's welcome at the table. ... They're just used to having a greater degree of influence over decision-making."

McGinn's outlook can be better understood in three recent instances:

Installing broadband in Pioneer Square and ensuring up-to-date networks elsewhere in the city are important to Hizzoner, who speaks knowledgeably about the needs of such important Seattle technology players as F5 Networks. He also wants to remove business regulations "that don't make sense anymore." McGinn unveiled a package of such proposals Friday.

Another initiative is Seattle's recent win to be one of three cities nationwide to lead President Obama's Better Buildings Challenge; the goal is to increase energy efficiency in commercial buildings 20 percent by 2020.

McGinn says this helps position Seattle to become a leader in creating an energy-efficiency economy. Working with architects, engineers, developers, designers and unions, he sees the city establishing a cluster of talent, skill sets, new companies and knowledge that can be — dare I say it, world class. This would also create employment in construction to build new green buildings and retrofit older ones, as well as ongoing jobs.

At 30,000 feet, the mayor's vision looks like this: The city enjoys an educated, diverse population from all over the world, natural beauty that lures tourists and talent, high quality of life and powerful economic assets in sectors such as health care, global health, software, creative content and the port. Moreover, "We still have a manufacturing base in the city, which is good."

Our weaknesses: K-8 education, not enough transit and not enough other 21st century infrastructure such as broadband.

But leaving it at that would be to fundamentally misunderstand McGinn, an insurgent candidate who nobody but his supporters thought would become mayor, who has faced a steep learning curve in a time of economic tribulation.

Mayor McGinn thinks about the economy in sophisticated, holistic terms. He understands that discontinuity is our future — the next 25 years are not going to be a replay of the past quarter century. And, most of all, he understands that two of the greatest challenges ahead are a high-cost energy future and either addressing climate change or paying the price for inaction.

Thus, the notion of strong, walkable neighborhoods with good schools, connected by transit to a vibrant downtown, is not a throwaway line or a luxury — it's key to economic health. This dovetails with the green-building challenge and retrofitting charming districts with broadband and other advanced infrastructure.

"It's high road versus low road," he said. In other words, low cost and low quality vs. projects that are environmentally sustainable and "widen the circle of prosperity" to more citizens. "We're building the infrastructure for a high-oil-cost future."

A new boom is unlikely by McGinn's reckoning. That means readjusting to a new baseline and some old methods won't work. The challenge for a mayor, he said, is to spend wisely to hit a "triple bottom line:" shared prosperity, environmental sustainability and economic vitality."

McGinn and I spoke for more than 30 minutes and the tunnel never came up. The closest we came was when he worried about transit cutbacks while most places continue to spend heavily on roads.

"We're at one of these really significant transition points economically," he said, musing about the rise of canals, then steam railroads and finally freeways. He included the latter in "the infrastructure of the past."

In general, I think he's right. I'm just not sure that America or even Seattle is ready for a real Great Reset mayor — particularly if he can't gain more allies among the business leaders who can write checks and knock heads, or if the tunnel paralysis does economic damage. I also believe most people have to be lured out of their cars with abundant transit and trains, rather than feeling forced out. Tricky balances all around.

McGinn isn't worried about Seattle losing out because it lacks wider streets or expressways. The city population is up, housing values have held up better in most of the city compared with much of the suburbs and exurbia, and vehicle use has fallen in favor of walking, biking and transit.

But he admits the change for many will be challenging. "We're figuring out how to navigate the transition," he said. "Can we work together to do it?"

jtalton@seattletimes.com