This is a follow-up story to Mayor tours Ballard Avenue; business owners complain about lack of parking.

Also read: Ballard to benefit from Mayor's $1.1 million investment in neighborhood business districts.

Mayor Mike McGinn stopped by the Ballard Landmark last week hear from the Ballard community and address some of their concerns.

McGinn opened the Town Hall meeting by reiterating some of the main points addressed in his state of the city address last week, focussing on economic recovery, transit, and public safety.

"We lost 35,000 jobs in the recession but some industry hang in there like the maritime industry here in Ballard," McGinn said. "And 18.000 jobs have returned to the city...but the job we're going to get are not the same as the jobs we lost and we need train people for those jobs."

McGinn said that as the city is rebuilding the economy they acknowledge the deep concerns about the inequality about who was getting the gains when the economy grew.

"We need to widen the circle of prosperity, focus on environmental sustainability, and quality of life," McGinn said, adding that the city is focus on innovation and supporting people who want to create new things while invest in education and job training.

"Ballard is a place that is seeing a lot of growth. We're seeing new construction, new economic activity, which is good," McGinn said.

Yet not everyone is happy with all the growth happening in Ballard.

"Yes, Ballard grew a lot and did see some great things but we also torn down a lot of Ballard in the process. I think the notion of growing and growing more is getting us in trouble. It's not sutsainable," said a concerned citizen.

McGinn acknowledged the problem saying, "I think [sustainability] is one of the biggest problems we're facing. We can't just keep gathering stuff and push the problems off to the future. We can't deplete resources.'

Another resident commented on the many condo projects going up.

"The buck stops where? How does Seattle resolve the economic quality? When Seattle bangs the drums for a new sports stadium, and builds condo projects only for the wealthy. Meanwhile the cost of transit has tripled and food has nearly doubled in a year," the resident said.

McGinn acknowledged the housing problem and said the city is working on ways to get the private market to build low-income housing with the help of subsidies and incentives.

And with more condo projects come more traffic and parking issues.

Transportation:
Transportation and transit in particular remain critical topics, said McGinn.

"It's a simple matter of physics. There is not enough room for all the cars if everyone chooses to drive," he said, adding that studies have shown that while Metro and Sound Transit are doing OK in connecting cities in the area, the problems lie in connecting the various neighborhoods.

"RapidRide could better be called FrequentRide," McGinn joked. "But Ballard to downtown will be well-served by RapidRide."

With that said, McGinn stated that rail has the highest potential for effectively connecting Ballard with downtown.

Bikes:
"Traffic accidents are a problem. They are the leading cause of death and injury in people under 45," stated McGinn, and added that the Road Safety Summit he convened earlier this year was intended to look at the issues of concern and how to make Seattle's roads safer for all users. The city will soon release the proposals on how to move forward.

McGinn said the bullet points include engineering, enforcement of the rules of the road, education, and empathy.

"Yes, empathy. We have to work on the attitude," McGinn said. "We're better than being at war at eachother based on how we get around.

Public Safety:
The total police force in Seattle is around 1300, said McGinn, and the department saw some heavy cuts during the economic recession.

"We maintained our patrol levels and our response levels are on par," McGinn said. "But we're seeing more gun fire, stabbing, and murders. We are reassigning officers to these "hotspots". We don't have the number of officers we once had but we're trying to use them as effectively as we can."

"But we can't prevent crime without the help from the community. If [people] know anything, see anything, make the phone call," urged McGinn. "It helps us determine where the issues are.