We’re making progress toward our goal of 3000 likes, but we need to keep pushing. Two more reasons to Like Mike are below.

Click here to share the page with your friends.

This is a people-powered campaign, and we need your help. We’re going to win this race the same way we did in 2009 — with person to person contact in meetings, on the phone, and on social media. To help us spread the word, this week we are having a drive to get to 3000 “likes” on the McGinn for Mayor Facebook page.

Will you help us meet the goal? Click below to “like” our page.

Then click here to share the page with your friends.

Every day this week we’re sharing reasons to “like” McGinn for Mayor. Here are the first two:

Seattle-City of Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn announced today he will run for re-election as Seattle Mayor in 2013.

“We are going to focus every day on creating jobs and supporting public safety. We are working on a long-term plan to invest in early learning, expanding our rail transit system and building out high-speed broadband internet infrastructure for the future. This is how Seattle will compete with other cities now and in the future.”

The campaign co-chairs are Estela Ortega, Kip Tokuda, Tony Lee, Robby Stern and Kathleen Ridihalgh.

Here’s Mike McGinn’s accomplishments and plans for moving these priorities forward:

STRENGTHENING OUR SCHOOLS

Education is number one.

* Mayor McGinn significantly expanded our Families and Education levy, which means deeper investments in early learning, more school based health centers, academic interventions for at risk youth, more out of school programs, and mentoring programs.

*Expanded the youth violence prevention initiative by 400 kids – the ones most at risk for falling into crime and violence.

* Partnered with other education leaders and our community college system to develop new job programs for those in the job market who need skills.

* Launched our successful attendance campaign encouraging kids to stay in school.

Our schools are doing better. Attendance is up, graduation rates are up, enrollment is up. The Seattle School District is opening schools, not closing them.

We have so much more to do to have our children receive the education we need, and to close the achievement gap. The most important time in a child’s development is his or her earliest years. We will be announcing more education initiatives this year.

KEEPING OUR NEIGHBORHOODS SAFE

* Launched our Safe Communities outreach, where police officers and community members meet to plan how to make our communities safer.

* Started our Community Police Commission – The Department of Justice praised the Community Police Commission as an innovative approach to building public trust in our police force. It will be a partnership between the Police Department, its officers, community members, and public officials. The broad role of Commission is to support the development of reforms, the establishment of police priorities, and mechanisms to promote community confidence in the Seattle Police Department.

* Launched our directed patrols in hot spots in downtown, and we’ve now expanded them to every precinct in the city.

We are going to continue to analyze crime data to get police officers out of their cars and on the beat in the places where they are most needed. In the coming year and beyond you will see implementation of the recommendations coming from our partnership with the community.

ENSURING MORE TRANSPORTATION CHOICES

We need better transit. As our city grows, as we engage in major road projects, that need only becomes greater.

We are working to expand rail transit in seattle by planning, funding and building out high capacity transit in the corridors identified in Seattle’s Transit Master Plan. That means:

* Continue work to design Ballard line, downtown streetcar connector, Broadway street car extension, and Madison BRT line.

* In Q1 of 2013 Renew request to City Council to fund planning for Eastlake to U-District rapid streetcar, and a new transit crossing of the Ship Canal, so that Seattle can be ready for Federal funding..

* Continue acceleration of Sound Transit corridor planning, including plan for Ballard to Redmond line across 520, and a West Seattle line, and work to get the legislature to give Sound Transit the revenue authority it needs to go to the ballot in 2016.

* Because Sound Transit alone cannot meet transit demand in Seattle, work with Seattle rail advocates to enact a Seattle funding source to complete Transit Master Plan to connect our neighborhoods to each other and to our regional light rail system.

PROVIDING HIGH SPEED BROADBAND IN SEATTLE

We need to do a better job providing the kind of 21st century digital infrastructure that our residents and businesses need to be globally competitive.

* Working to bring next-generation high-speed broadband infrastructure to Seattle by leveraging public resources creatively and making new partnerships in the public and private sectors.

One of those partnerships is with Gigabit Squared. We’re leasing our dark fiber to them so they have an opportunity to implement their plan to lay fiber to the home, beginning in 12 demonstration neighborhoods. Through wireless technology they plan to bring service to multifamily buildings and offices across Seattle. We will continue working with Gigabit Squared and other partners to bring better choices and better Internet service to Seattle.

“We can be that city of the future that Seattle dreams it can be. That’s why I got involved in my community. That’s why I volunteered for the Sierra Club and started a non-profit. That’s why I ran for Mayor 4 years ago, and that’s why I am running for Mayor today,” added McGinn.

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Check out my friend Macklemore’s latest video, Same Love – and don’t forget to vote APPROVE on Ref 74 this November!

As Mayor, I’ve seen first hand why Barack Obama deserves to be reelected.

In the depths of the Great Recession, when the banks stopped lending and state, county and city budgets were being cut, stimulus grants were about the only bright spots for investment.

That meant we were building roads, expanding transit, investing in building retrofits, promoting healthy lifestyles, and spurring economic development.

And it’s not just the dollars were desperately needed (and appreciated), but that the investments make a difference in people’s lives.

I saw it firsthand. Construction workers were facing 30% unemployment – so it was good to see hardhats rebuilding Mercer, and building light rail. I’ve spoken to graduates of our community college weatherization program, and small businesspeople, who are getting paydays from our energy efficiency work. And I’ve met with our immigrant entrepreneurs who received training and assistance on starting businesses, and stocking healthy foods in their local markets.

It’s also the President’s policies that matter. The Affordable Care Act has already helped Seattle residents get affordable health care, whether it’s providing women with birth control, helping people with pre-existing conditions get insurance, or allowing young people to get coverage by staying on their parents’ insurance.

He gave young people who were facing deportation – the Dreamers – a chance to stay in the country they call home as they pursue education and a career. These are bright American kids, who are going to help this country.

The president’s change of position on marriage equality, and his work in bringing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell to an end, sets the stage for Washington state to fully approve marriage equality.

These things aren’t just good for individuals, or the city of Seattle. It is about how we build a country in which everyone has a stake. It’s how we drive an economy based on shared prosperity and a strong middle class. Based on his record alone the President deserves a second term. But it also matters that his opponent does not share our values of equality, inclusion, and building for the future. Mitt Romney opposes everything I described above. He and his party would take America over the fiscal cliff, bringing Seattle’s economic recovery to a screeching halt. Romney would slash the federal budget by going after the very programs that help us protect the most vulnerable among us, help people get jobs and start businesses, and would undermine our ability to connect our neighborhoods with rail.

President Obama is Seattle’s ally in our work to build the city of the future. I’m proud to cast my vote for him so we can continue that work over the next four years.