West Seattle speaks; the Mayor listens at town hall meeting
Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn met with a packed house at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center in Delridge on March 13 to answer questions from the community and discuss the future of jobs and education in the city.
Before he took the stage, the Vicious Puppies Dance Crew – part of the non-profit educator Arts Corps at Youngstown – upped the tempo of the evening with a vibrant dance set.
Possibly pre-planned, possibly off-the-cuff response, McGinn opened his statements with a promise to find funding for Arts Corps - an educational program serving 800 kids that does not qualify for funding from the Families and Education Levy due to a lack of measurable academic outcomes defined in the guidelines.
“We are just coming out of the longest, deepest depression since the Great Depression,” McGinn said, adding 35,000 jobs were lost in the city. With signs of improvement now showing, he said 18,000 jobs have been added since the big hit and Seattle has a slightly lower unemployment rate than the rest of the state and nation.
In the push to continue improvement, McGinn talked jobs and education.