Ballots are in the mail and the drop boxes are open. If you don’t receive your ballot or forgot to update your address, go the King County elections website to update your info or request a replacement. If you are new to town, you can register to vote online until October 25. After that, you can register in-person at an election center up until and including election day November 2. If you’re not sure about the status of your registration, you can check online. For more guidance on the election, see our compilation of 2021 general election endorsements from a number of transportation-focused groups.

Rollin' into budget season like 🚲😎#TeamLorena #BrownGirlsOnBikes #Ebikes #FallEquinox pic.twitter.com/zPPtJ5ka0x

— Council President M. Lorena González (Seattle) (@CMLGonzalez) September 22, 2021

The 2015 Move Seattle levy was sold as focusing mostly on walking, biking and transit improvements, and by a landslide 17-point margin voters said, “Hell yes!” Unfortunately, we have yet to have a mayor who has been committed to the voters’ mandate. The city front-loaded the very expensive cars-and-freight-centric Lander Street Bridge in Sodo, then cut the walking, biking and transit promises. The new mayor will have a very difficult task in front of them. They will need to find ways to win back voter trust in the Department of Transportation by delivering on promises in the final years of the Move Seattle Levy, they will need to demonstrate a bold and achievable vision for Seattle’s future, and they will need to package that vision into a measure voters will pass in 2024. That’s a lot of work, so Seattle will need to elect someone who has demonstrated they can get a lot of work done effectively and decisively.

M. Lorena González is the leader for this moment. There is no question about it, which is why Seattle Bike Blog endorsed her in the primary. Her Council office has successfully passed many ambitious pieces of legislation that many considered impossible in Seattle. González does not shy away from an idea just because the “conventional wisdom” in town says it can’t happen here. She asks pointed, often challenging questions to make sure the ideas are sound, then she takes decisive action. This is the leadership style Seattle needs right now.

We have had a half decade of rudderless, indecisive and dysfunctional mayoral leadership, and it has been very damaging to city departments and to the general population’s morale. The 35th Ave NE fight is a very instructive example of a pattern that has played out around many other issues and communities across the city in recent years. It took Mayor Jenny Durkan more than a year to make a decision that could have been made in a day, waiting until the last possible second before ultimately choosing to undermine SDOT staff. So throughout that whole year of indecision, neighbors argued fiercely with each other about it, concocted propaganda, organized roadside pickets and tried to get local businesses to pick a side. There are many community wounds that still haven’t healed and maybe won’t ever heal because of this completely avoidable year of fighting. The 35th Ave NE fight was simply about how to repaint the lines on a street. Her indecisiveness has been much more harmful when it concerned more complex issues that affect even more of the city.

González will make decisions, and Seattle Bike Blog believes she will stand by the many bold plans, policies and goals the people of Seattle and the City Council have approved. This includes the Bicycle, Pedestrian and Transit Master Plans as well as the Climate Action Plan and the Vision Zero Plan. She will also be a visionary leader in the city’s efforts to update these plans as needed early in her term to get them ready before the 2024 transportation measure. (more…)