There are lots of ways to ask your questions!

• Telephone: Call 206-684-8821 during the live show from 7-8 p.m. on Wednesday, November 30.
• Email: askthemayor@seattle.gov
• Online: seattlechannel.org/AskTheMayor
• Twitter: @SeattleChannel
• Facebook: facebook.com/SeattleChannel

Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of the community discussion!

Premieres Wed. Nov 30, 7:00 p.m.

There are lots of ways to ask your questions!

• Telephone: Call 206-684-8821 during the live show from 7-8 p.m. on Wednesday, November 30.
• Email: askthemayor@seattle.gov
• Online: seattlechannel.org/AskTheMayor
• Twitter: @SeattleChannel
• Facebook: facebook.com/SeattleChannel

Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of the community discussion!

Also watch past episodes now by visiting http://www.seattlechannel.org/AskTheMayor/

There are lots of ways to ask your questions!

During the live show on Wednesday, October 19 from 7-8 p.m., just  call 206-684-8821, email askthemayor@seattle.gov or tweet us @SeattleChannel.

Before the show, submit your questions at seattlechannel.org/AskTheMayor, email askthemayor@seattle.gov or facebook.com/SeattleChannel.

McGinn readily admitted that Third Avenue in Belltown remains a chronic crime area. Says the mayor, “Third Avenue is one of the real problem areas we have in the city.” He announced that plans are already underway to redeploy police officers to Belltown to help stop crime. “We are doing that,” McGinn said. This will not require additional expenditures, McGinn pledged.

The mayor continued, however. “You know it’s not just the police,” he said. “It’s a more complex set of factors.” Then he outlined his new approach. First, the City went to Seattle Police Department Belltown beat officers and asked them to identify the 50 most problematic individuals that they deal with. Then, the City ran an analysis on them. “Between them there have been 2,500 arrests. 50 individuals, 2,500 arrests. So this is not a problem of having sufficient officers down there to arrest people.” Next the City put together a team that includes the Seattle Police Department, the Human Services Department and the Office of Housing. The City also plans to ask Seattle Municipal Court to become involved. “We are going to collect more data on these folks to figure out what is broken,” said McGinn. “And then try to get to solutions.”

McGinn is clearly proud of this new initiative. “I want to give credit to our police department and our police officers for coming up with this new approach because it hasn’t been done before.”

Will it get results? We’ll be sure to ask on future editions of Ask the Mayor. The next show is Wednesday, October 26, 7 p.m., SEATTLE CHANNEL, Cable 21, http://www.seattlechannel.org/.

Watch this segment right now by visiting http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=3011109&start=19:28.

Watch the entire program by visiting http://www.seattlechannel.org/AskTheMayor/.

Embed the program on your website by using this code:

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Callanan is a 16-year veteran of broadcast journalism—all in the Pacific Northwest. For the past eleven years, Callanan has been a reporter and anchor for Q13 FOX News, owned by the (Chicago) Tribune Company. Over his career, Callanan has won an Emmy, has been nominated three other times for Emmys, and has earned several other awards from the Society for Professional Journalists and the National Press Photographer’s Association. His depth of local experience includes covering three mayors—Paul Schell, Greg Nickels and Mike McGinn—and numerous City Councils.  “I will continue SEATTLE CHANNEL’s tradition of fair, independent and in-depth coverage of the issues and public officials that matter to the people of Seattle,” says Callanan. “My family and I live in Seattle, and I care a lot about this city. I got into the field of journalism to serve and inform the public, and I think this host position fits that goal perfectly. It’s a platform to convey important, relevant information to the public about the government they’re paying for.” Callanan will regularly host and co-produce three programs for SEATTLE CHANNEL—City Inside/Out, a weekly public affairs program that airs Fridays at 7:00 p.m.; Ask the Mayor, a monthly call-in show with the City’s CEO; and City Inside/Out: Council Edition, a monthly program with the City’s lawmakers—as well as special event programming.

SEATTLE CHANNEL presents programs on cable television (channel 21 on Comcast and Broadstripe) and via the Internet to inform and connect citizens with their city. Programming includes series and special features highlighting the diverse civic and cultural landscape of the Pacific Northwest’s premier city. On June 11, for the second year in a row, SEATTLE CHANNEL won four Emmys. In 2010, the station was named Best of the Decade by Seattle magazine. SEATTLE CHANNEL’s web site, http://www.seattlechannel.org/, offers streaming video worldwide, and includes an archive featuring video on demand of nearly all programs. The station is a Government Access Channel granted to the City of Seattle per federal law for the purpose of cablecasting government television programs. It is administered by the Seattle Channel unit of the City of Seattle’s Department of Information Technology.

This month, Ask the Mayor will again be hosted by the award-winning veteran journalist Barry Mitzman. Currently Mitzman is Director of Seattle University’s Center for Strategic Communications. Previously Mitzman had an accomplished career as a newspaper and television journalist and is well-known to Seattle audiences for his on-air work at the regional PBS station, KCTS/9. His regional TV news programs and national PBS documentaries earned many honors including a Peabody award, broadcasting’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize.

This month, Ask the Mayor will be hosted by the award-winning veteran journalist Barry Mitzman. Currently Mitzman is Director of Seattle University’s Center for Strategic Communications. Previously Mitzman had an accomplished career as a newspaper and television journalist and is well-known to Seattle audiences for his on-air work at the regional PBS station, KCTS/9. His regional TV news programs and national PBS documentaries earned many honors including a Peabody award, broadcasting’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize.

Co-Producer/Host for:

• City Inside/Out, a weekly taped show that covers important local issues;
• Ask the Mayor, a monthly, live call-in show with the City’s top executive;
• City Inside/Out: Council Edition, a monthly program with Seattle City Councilmembers.

Desired Qualifications:

• 5 years television reporting and producing experience;
• Strong understanding of regional politics and public affairs;
• Ability to moderate live discussions with multiple guests;
• Ability to field produce feature segments.

This position is a one-year contract, subject to renewal.

Send application letter, production reel and resume to:

John Giamberso

SEATTLE CHANNEL

P.O. Box 94727

Seattle, WA 98124-4727

The City Council finds the upcoming referendum vote to be irrelevant to their decision to build the tunnel, but Mayor McGinn urges them to acknowledge the political weight of the election. “It is a referendum on the tunnel. Those people who went out to collect signatures want to protect Seattle. ‘Protect Seattle Now’ is the name of their campaign, and that’s why people signed the referendum and that’s why people put it up for vote.”

The Mayor continues to have strong concerns about cost overruns on the tunnel project. “I’m not going to put Seattle at the risk of cost overruns without permission from the voters,” he says. Additionally, McGinn expresses his concern over the benefits of a tunnel. He argues that the expense of the project is unjustifiable, given the amount of use a new tunnel would receive. “It’ll be used by 38,000 cars, less than the Ballard Bridge. There are no downtown exits…If we’re going to spend money; we should spend money on something that will actually deliver results.” McGinn also argues that while the state says it will fund the project, it does not mean that the state currently has the financial wherewithal to back up its promise.  He says, “The state doesn’t even have all the money; they don’t know that they can raise money for it.”

That’s only one of the exciting topics discussed on the latest episode of Ask the Mayor! Check out the whole episode http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=3011105.  And be sure to call 206-684-8821 with your question on Tuesday, June 28^th, 7 p.m. or email askthemayor@seattle.gov anytime.