Seattle Press on Line - City Council Position 8

Seattle Press Election Coverage

City Council Position 8

By Patricia Stambor

Oct 25, 2001 -- Grant Cogswell

Do not be misled by Grant Cogswell's youthful appearance. At the age of 34, he is an experienced and effective activist in city and regional politics. Although careful not to take all the credit, Cogswell says his activism has primarily focused on running successful and popular initiative campaigns, including both monorail initiatives and the successful (but legally undermined) countywide initiative to stop the stadium funding.

Cogswell admits that it is unfortunate when citizens have to use the initiative process to force elected officials to take action. "The fact that people are using initiatives sends a clear message that we need folks in there who are listening to the people. If elected, I will look closely at every issue but always represent the will of the people."

For a candidate not affiliated with a political party, and given that he entered the race relatively late, Cogswell has managed to garner an impressive list of financial supporters and a considerable campaign treasure chest. His style of grassroots activism has inspired intense loyalty among his friends and supporters. He admits, however, that the necessary corporate donations for a well-funded citywide council campaign are hard to come by. For this reason, Cogswell, as well as a growing number of citizens, thinks that neighborhood district elections mixed with a few "at large" seats is a much more democratic way to elect a city council in Seattle.

Often marginalized by critics as single-issue candidate who wants to ride into city hall on a monorail, Cogswell defends his support for the monorail because he is convinced that "transportation is the key to what is going to happen to this region." We need to lay the foundation for a regional transit system but before we proceed, it is important to set our funding priorities straight so we have the money to do it right." If elected, his goals are to get the monorail rolling, stop the expansion the SR 520 bridge across Lake Washington, and put the brakes on Sound Transit.

With Seattle facing major budget cuts, Cogswell also says that now is the time to put big ticket, non-essential projects like a new Aquarium (at $40 million) on hold, at least until other, more urgent needs like housing and transportation are taken care of. "It's unfortunate that we squandered funds in the good times. Our elected officials decided to build a new, expensive city hall without a vote, yet we forced citizens to vote on more taxes to pay for basic services like schools and parks. Unfortunately, it is too late stop the new city hall-- which is complete pork."

Cogswell says he is not as interested in a political career as he is in getting things moving at City Hall. Although transportation is obviously his passion, Cogswell provided thoughtful responses on a number of issues facing the City. He thinks its more important that City Council pay attention to salmon recovery in local streams by supporting projects like daylighting Thorton Creek rather than indulging in empty gestures like coming out in support of removing dams in Eastern Washington. On the subject of race relations, he says, "we need to go beyond honoring racial diversity. In order to get along, people also need to honor and respect economic diversity."

Richard McIver

As the incumbent for City Council Position 8, Richard McIver says he has the maturity, experience, and leadership skills needed to provide balance and perspective on City Council. "We have a mix of councilmembers with a broad spectrum of issues and associated budget demands. I sometimes find myself playing the role of a fiscal conservative having to remind everyone that we have to be prepared for the economic downturn." Appointed five years ago to fill a vacated council seat, McIver then decided to run for reelection to City Council because his wife and friends encouraged him to do so. Before serving as an elected official, McIver had an extensive career in public service and has worked in various city departments.

When we asked what he thought his major accomplishments were on City Council, McIver said that since he has been in office he has worked primarily on issues that have to do with transportation. He takes credit for tripling the general fund support for transportation during his term in office. One particular traffic problem McIver prides himself on solving was getting median barriers on the Spokane Street bridge. "The lanes were too narrow and it had the highest traffic incident rate in the city."

On regional transportation issues, McIver says, "congestion will continue to be a problem and we must be able to provide choices for mass transit." He is a loyal supporter of Sound Transit's light rail system and defends his support because, he says, "the majority of people voted for it." He expects that Sound Transit will break ground with actual construction next summer.

On the monorail, McIver praises the Elevated Transit Company (the organization responsible for designing a monorail system in Seattle), for doing an excellent job in putting a plan together. He also thinks it will cost too much (he estimates the cost at approximately $72 billion). "How they finance it is another issue. I am holding my breath on whether there is a public-private partnership funding solution. It's important to remember that the monorail is a Seattle-based transportation system that will require only Seattle-based funding."

In addition to transportation issues, McIver says that if re-elected to office he will continue working on a number of social justice issues he deeply cares about. He plans to establish funding for the Office of Professional Accountability, "because it is one way to compel testimony of out of police officers." McIver also thinks it is "absolutely necessary" to put video cameras in police cars. Given the Aaron Roberts controversy, he questions the wisdom of his fellow councilmembers' decision to spend millions on public toilets instead of first funding cameras in police cars.

Housing is another issue McIver intends to tackle. "We need to create a division of funds so we can provide assistance to a wide range of people with housing needs rather then just concentrate on those at the extreme ends of the spectrum. We need to use public dollars to create more mixed--income developments so working families can afford to live in the city."

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