Connelly: In mayor's race, there's little mention of a big issue

Construction blocks two lanes of traffic on 2nd Ave, Tuesday, July 25, 2017. Construction blocks two lanes of traffic on 2nd Ave, Tuesday, July 25, 2017. Photo: GRANT HINDSLEY, SEATTLEPI.COM Photo: GRANT HINDSLEY, SEATTLEPI.COM Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Connelly: In mayor's race, there's little mention of a big issue 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

As Amazon revealed plans for a second headquarters last week, presumably in a second city, obscene graffiti directed at CEO Jeff Bezos all week decorated the entrance to Seattle's Battery Street Tunnel: It read, "(Bleep) Bezos."

Seattle city government would have been wise to remove it. But modest use of intelligence is often often lacking in how the Emerald City delivers basic services. Funny, in that Seattle voters generously approve every property tax levy or tax proposed by the political class.

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City services are the great unmentioned issue in the race for Seattle Mayor.

Candidate Cary Moon has begun this week pledging a wage equality plan keyed to women and people of color, including banning demands by employers for salary history. She ended last week pledging a "Bill of Rights" for freelancers in today's economy.

Rival Jenny Durkan used Monday morning to table a proposal on how to build a "progressive justice system" in Seattle.

Are these issues important? Hell yes. And candidates for office have a history of promising the moon.

But should not some attention be devoted to how, and at what speed, the city delivers? And doesn't.

My favorite anecdote of how Seattle is run comes from a recent Friday evening. I weaved left and right through the ceaseless construction mess on 2nd Avenue, trying not to hit pedestrians or fellow motorists. Several cars ahead were signaling to turn left on Virginia Street.

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City Hall, there's a problem: A back hoe was parked smack dab in the middle of the intersection. It made the turn difficult -- and dangerous. The back hoe blocked drivers' view of folks walking across the street to the Moore Theater.

No competently run American city would permit this. Neither should Seattle.

But ceaseless messes seem to be the pattern for governing, the sprawling 23rd Avenue disruption last year and this year's Belltown paralysis which has seen 2nd, 3rd and 6th Avenues simultaneously ripped up, lanes closed on 4th Avenue, and side streets like Clay and Cedar blocked.

Go to our elected officials? My favorite anecdote on City Hall response: A friend who works on First Hill -- recently acclaimed as America's trendiest neighborhood -- was worried about pedestrian safety at an intersection on James Street.

She called the office of socialist City Council member Kshama Sawant. A simple question: Who should I contact at the Seattle Department of Transportation who deals with this? They didn't know and showed no eagerness to find out.

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The Sawant office did make a suggestion: Why don't you hold a demonstration?

Resisting Trump is not only just, but popular. He received only about 8 percent of Seattle's vote last November. Seattle's embrace of immigrants and refugees is exemplary, and in our interest as an international city in an export-dependent state .

Nor do ceaseless, gloomy Republican warnings about the business climate hold water, not with Forbes magazine putting Washington at or near the top of states to do business. Not when 100,000 people have moved into Seattle during the past seven years.

But the new mayor needs to pay more attention to the basics.

Signs saying "Fix This Street" adorned bumpy Union Street 11 years ago when City Hall was selling the (record) $361 million Bridging the Gap property tax levy. Similar signs appeared in 2015 when voters were asked to approve the massive (record) $930 million Move Seattle levy.

You guessed it. The pavement on Union Street, between 15th and 18th, is still bumpy, broken and patched .... and felt by thousands of motorists, bus riders and bicyclists each day. Adding insult to injury, Move Seattle was unveiled nearby at the Bullitt Building.

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The two levies, together, total nearly $1.3 billion. Is it not reasonable to expect that money could be found to resurface three blocks on a major arterial used by thousands going to work. The yard signs promised it. A building contractor, who mess up westbound Union between 14th and 15th, fixed it instantly.

The national stage beckons, social justice initiatives are necessary, push back against Trump excess is the right thing to do, but ...

A new Seattle Mayor should sweat the details, and better deliver services that a very generous electorate is willing to pay for.