Mayor Mike McGinn and representatives from several City Departments were all ears yesterday evening during a Town Hall meeting at Ballard High School.

The Ballard community came out in decent numbers and were not shy to tell the mayor what was on their minds.

This was one of many Q&A sessions the city is organizing around Seattle.

"We're doing this because we have a commitment to directly answer your questions," Mayor McGinn said. "We live in an unprecedented challenging time. We're looking to get twofers and threefers with our money. We're facing really hard choices and we need you. We need to hear your voices to help us make these decisions."

Despite the grim outlook of a tight budget, McGinn quoting President Obama, said Seattle has the potential to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build other cities to win the future.

With little over 60 minutes of question time, the Ballard community asked questions on a variety of topics including cuts to library funding and hours, homelessness, developers "cheating" their way through the design review system, solar power, urban loneliness, pot holes and of course, transportation.

Transportation was expected to be a big topic and the Mayor was prepared to tackle it.

"This is Ballard. I know what it means to travel to Ballard, through Ballard and hangout in Ballard," McGinn said who lives just blocks away in Greenwood.

"Ballard is a neighborhood where we can be more innovative and improve transportation to Ballard."

McGinn reiterated his anti-tunnel position and mentioned that the deep-bored tunnel will be tolled to raise $400 million.

"People are going to take other roads to avoid the tolls," he warned. McGinn added that only 40,000 people will travel through the tunnel on a daily basis, according to WSDOT numbers, while the Ballard Bridge sees 56,000 cars every day.

While one community member did accuse the mayor of having "tunnel vision, literally", by the time question time ran out, few questions actually dealt with the topic of transportation.

The loudest attendees were the neighbors of two new multi-story developments in Ballard, which they feel not only disrupt the neighborhood, the developers also "cheated" their way through the design approval system.

"We have some of the most restrictive or permissive --depending on from which side you look at them -- vesting laws in the state. The City can't say no to designs that meet the Supreme Court of Washington's legal requirements. It's a conflict we see in lots of places," McGinn responded with a promise to talk to the Department of Planning and Development to look into the proposed developments.

Answering a question regarding potholes, in which the community member explained that "doging potholes has become almost an artform", the mayor said he's very much in favor of spending money on existing infrastructure instead of investing in new ones.

"We need to say 'no, we can't invest in this and that and work on deferred maintenance," he said. He mentioned retrofitting old buildings, returning salmon to Salmon Bay, potholes and bridge maintenance among the list of many deferred maintenance items.

One new investment the city is looking into is solar power. A Sunset Hill community member mentioned her interest to invest in solar power and the city's lack of resources. In response, a City representative mentioned the city is actively looking for solar opportunities after receiving a $2 million grant for innovative energy-saving technology.

The evening's final question concerned safety and emergency readiness in case of an earth quake or tsunami.

"Are we prepared? That's a question I asked walking into the office the morning after Japan," McGinn said.
"As a city we can't prevent a disaster from happening but we can take steps to prevent loss of life and ensure everything is in place for first response."

McGinn said provisions are stored at community centers around the city and city departments have clean water on hand. But even so, McGinn said communities have to prepare among themselves to be able to survive on their own for three or more days.

The Office of Emergency Management is holding various emergency readiness informational meetings throughout Seattle. Next week, Sustainable Ballard will host an emergency preparedness workshop in Ballard with guest speaker Debbie Goetz from the Seattle Office of Emergency Management.
The workshop will take place at the Sunset Hill Community Club at 3003 NW 66th St on April 13th starting at 7p.m.

The mayor welcomed further questions via email, facebook or mail with a promise to respond in two weeks. Letters can be send to the Mayor's Office
. P.O. Box 94749. 
Seattle, WA 98124-4749.