Local leaders need to start prioritizing

Taken from Monday’s edition of The Dori Monson Show.

“In 2011, our current chief Jim Pugel and assistant chief went to Olympia to testify in support of funding more mental health services by repealing the non-resident sales tax exemption.” Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, Sept. 16, 2013

He’s going to have the audacity to blame the state for a lack of funding? A mayor who has prioritized tens of millions of dollars on ripping up roads and turning it over to his little buddies in the bicycle community.

You know how much mental health funding you could have provided Mr. Mayor if you had your priorities straight in this city? If you cared about something just beyond tearing up roads so the bicycle community that got you elected could have their precious little bike lanes?

And you’re going to stand there in a press conference and tell us that we went to the legislature and asked for more mental health funding?

Start prioritizing Mayor McGinn. Start being a leader. If you believe that mental health funding is a critical step, and I would agree that it is, if you believe that mental health funding is a critical step to make the streets of downtown Seattle (safe), that it becomes so riddled with violent crime, that decent people are afraid to go into your city anymore … if you believe that’s critical, start being a leader and start prioritizing.

Get money moved from your bicycle lanes that you’ve been building feverishly for the last three and a half years to things that are actually critical to keeping the people of this city safe.

I’m not pretending for a second that we can just throw money at a problem and all of a sudden the streets are going to become safe. But I do get a little bit frustrated and a little bit sick and tired of our so-called leaders who refuse to prioritize the things that they claim to believe are important, who will stand there and say Olympia didn’t do it, Olympia didn’t give us what we asked for, we went and asked for it.

You have the money. You just decided bike lanes are more important.

I’m not pinning this attack on the mayor. You could spend all the money in the world and you’re still going to have random crazies.

Whatever mental health funding you were seeking from the state … it didn’t happen.

But again, why didn’t it happen? When we have tens of millions of dollars to spend on bicycle riders in this city?

I’m not pinning this on Mike McGinn, but I will pin the lack of leadership and the audacity of him to say in the wake of this horrible tragedy, the state didn’t give us enough money when he’s still feverishly ripping up roads and doing everything he can for the people who got him elected.

That’s absolutely shameful. Start prioritizing. Start being leaders.

Taken from Monday’s edition of The Dori Monson Show.

Related:

Prosecutor: Random Seattle stabbing is fault of decreased mental health funding

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