Yesterday, the big mayoral race news was the McGinn for Mayor camp’s long-awaited release of a public safety plan, which matches our era of diminished expectations nicely.

Both candidates made it through the primary without addressing the issue in much detail. (Today, over at Joe Mallahan’s site, there’s video of police and firefighters endorsing Mallahan, which is…not a plan. But Mallahan does sound like Callahan, so he has that going for him.)

Still, it counts as a response to my post last week, asking a candidate to step forward and take on public safety. (The McGinn camp has not responded to my request for an interview on the “voter’s remorse” topic, now that we don’t have an experienced pol like Nickels as an election “safety.”)

McGinn’s plan is built on “enforcement, engagement, and prevention.” He’s identified as top priorities gangs and crimes involving guns.

He’d bring back the gang unit–“Too often in the past, we have seen programs work–and work so well–that we assume they aren’t needed any more”–and push for bringing gun crimes to federal court, as well as for stiffer prosecution of minors who use guns. And though there are indeed people who strenuously argue for the right to enjoy public parks with guns, he joins Mayor Nickels in seeking a ban.

He wants better crime reporting and statistics. He supports drug and mental health courts. He would continue the Drug Market Initiative (DMI), and try to deal with the so-called “root causes” of crime through transition programs for newly released offenders, and working to find them jobs.

He would not prioritize stings like “Operation Sobering Thought,” which, after 17 arrests at local bars and nightclubs, resulted in no convictions. (We have to agree, belatedly, with City Attorney Tom Carr, who called the 17 arrests “shocking”–making 17 arrests that don’t stick is really remarkable.)

As Publicola points out, the plan is long on good and other people’s ideas, and short on how to pay for them. More police officers in communities? Terrific. Now, about that $72-million-dollar city deficit? Not spending money the city doesn’t have on a deep-bore tunnel doesn’t actually increase city revenue.

I’d also like to hear more from McGinn on the petty crimes that make your blood boil–the smash-and-grab car break-in that costs you more in window replacement than whatever is taken, the rash of pedestrian and jogger muggings where a phone or iPod is snatched, and more disturbingly, the home intrusion robberies. These are all up in a down economy, and the level of police response has not always reassured victims that theft is a priority.