Mayor Mike McGinn addressed the 36th District Democrats on August 17, following the voters approval of Referendum 1 in the primary elections the previous night.

Among the audience were politicians Bobby Forch, Tim Burgess, Larry Philllips, Mary Lou Dickerson, and Reuven Carlyle.

After a long campaign against the tunnel, Mayor McGinn said that topic is now closed.

"I've won some improbable campaigns and last night wasn't going to be one of them," he said.

"I did my best to keep my promise to voters, that I gave during my campaign, to ask the hard questions. I thought it was important to let the public vote on it. Not just have it be a deal made elsewhere but really let the public measure the decision before we spend three billion dollars...I asked the voters and the voters want to move ahead and thats what we're going to do."

McGinn said his other main issues - education and innovation - are still there but his focus on transit and transportation didn't end with the tunnel.

The mayor commended King County Council for rescuing transit and spoke about his campaign for rail opportunities.

"We shouldn't be rescuing transit, we should be enhancing it," he said.

McGinn said the recently released Transit Master Plan showed that Seattle lacks in neighborhood-to-neighborhoods transportation.

"Rail is going to be the most effective option for those corridors," McGinn said.

The mayor supported the idea of an $80 vehicle licensing fee to serve as a permanent transit fund.

"The council didn't want to go as far but made some significant steps [by putting a $60 car-tab fee to the November ballot]," McGinn said.

Earlier that evening, King County Councilmember Larry Phillips addressed the audience to "celebrate as democrats" the victory of a 7 to 2 vote on the car tab fee to save Metro.

"The victory was sweet," he said. "It will keep Metro rolling a couple more years."

Philips thanked the enormous turnout of transit supporters at public hearings.

"It really showed how much people in this county care about their public transit," he said.