On Monday, Dionne Foster introduced her candidacy for Seattle’s citywide District 9 seat, difficult Metropolis Council President Sara Nelson. Foster is at present the manager director of the Washington Progress Alliance, an advocacy group that helped push by the state’s new capital beneficial properties tax to fund training. Whereas that’s an enormous, progressive win, it’s not her solely policymaking expertise. At one level in her lengthy and various profession, she was a Senior Coverage Advisor for the Metropolis of Seattle.
Earlier than making it to metropolis corridor, she labored her approach by college within the restaurant trade, earned a Grasp’s of Social Work on the College of Washington, and did a bunch of nuts and bolts coverage evaluation for locations like King County and Puget Sound Sage. She’s received a teenage son who does curler derby. In an interview, she listed her hobbies as doing customary PNW outdoorsy stuff (together with Trailhead Direct) and taking him to curler derby. Cute!
Given current polling, plus decisive wins in current elections for lefty progressive Alexis Mercedes Rinck and a proposal to fund social housing from the coffers of wealthy companies, Foster stands an excellent likelihood of unseating Nelson. In addition to the truth that the political pendulum is swinging again to the left (which is, relying on how onerous you squint, the place Foster sits), Nelson has not precisely made mates throughout her time in workplace.
“I might vote for a rock if it ran towards right-wing, drunkard millionaire Sara Nelson,” one Redditt person put it in response to Foster’s announcement. “As a result of even a rock would drag us down lower than her.”
Foster will not be a rock, fortunately. She is an individual with a pulse and has concepts about what to do with this lovely, backward metropolis of ours. So what are they and the way do they differ from her opponent’s? Will they create in regards to the large, transformative adjustments wanted to dig ourselves out of the housing and homelessness disaster we’re in?
We used the phrase “particular” or some variation of it twelve instances in our interview, however Foster artfully dodged any tangible coverage commitments. When pressed for extra particulars, she stated, “I really feel like as we proceed by the marketing campaign, I’d like to proceed to share extra specifics and say this precise factor or extra particulars.”
Equally, in response to a listing of sure/no lightning spherical questions despatched post-interview (which included a bonus spherical asking for favourite native spots), she responded, “Actually excited to get into these over the course of the marketing campaign! Present meals obsessions — Tailwind Cafe salted chocolate chip cookie & Ba Bar imperial rolls.”
Sadly, we don’t get any certainty on whether or not she agrees with the Mayor’s sweeps blitz or helps social housing. She’s proper in regards to the imperial rolls, no less than, however we get the purpose: it’s simply vibes for now.
That stated, her vibes on the problems of the second — housing and homelessness — are typically good.
On housing, she needs to “be sure that we’ve each plentiful housing and inexpensive housing.” Once more, no specifics, however she did say she thinks we are able to do greater than is remitted by HB 1110, the state legislation that legalized fourplexes in all places and 6 plexes on transit strains.
“We ought to be doing extra, and we ought to be ensuring that Seattle is a spot that leads on this,” she stated.
Foster has known as out displacement as a significant problem. She at present lives in South Seattle, which supplies you one thing of a entrance row seat to it. What would she do to fight it?
She cited down fee help and sponsored artist housing as conserving her and her co-parent, respectively, right here within the metropolis. Concerning housing, she stated we have to “execute our plan nicely” with regards to progress, and “take into consideration methods to guard our neighborhood facilities.” Sounds good!
Foster is happy to roll out a complete coverage as she strikes additional into her marketing campaign. “I believe proper now, actually eager to be sure that I am introducing folks to me, my values, and the way I take into consideration the problems that we’re going through.”
Okay, okay, we get it! However what about transportation?
She lives a brief stroll away from a lightweight rail station, and makes use of it when she doesn’t need to drive her child to curler derby observe over in White Heart. Because of that lateral commute, plus her co-parent’s outdated path to work, which concerned the #50, Foster is conscious about the dearth of east-west transit within the South Finish. And, once more due to the #50, simply how lengthy it may take to get locations on Seattle transit.
Breaking together with her no-specifics theme, she did name out some motion objects for pedestrian and bike security: higher lighting, extra crosswalks, and visitors calming. She’s additionally received lived expertise on this one, having been the sufferer of a really low-speed hit and run on Rainier Ave S. We don’t love that she needed to dwell that have, however we do love that she is aware of what it’s like for walkers out right here.
On cops, we’ve nothing extraordinary to report. We didn’t chat about it a lot, however like each politician on this metropolis, she’s in favor of hiring extra cops. She additionally has written the notorious “rent extra girls guards” meme into her platform. Oof. However she’s in favor of constructing out the CARE crew, our various response program, and addressing “root causes” of crime. That’s about one of the best we’re gonna get from anybody as of late.
We additionally briefly touched on local weather. She stated she was, “actually proud to get to be part of your entire Defend Washington crew final 12 months, which included ensuring that we might shield the state Local weather Dedication Act and the sources that move from the Local weather Dedication Act.”
In addition to that, she shouted out transit-oriented growth as an excellent technique to scale back automotive journeys and by extension decrease emissions, however didn’t supply anything by way of particular coverage proposals.
Total, Foster emphasised that she’s an individual who focuses on outcomes. As she instructed each Publicola and us, she needs to “get shit finished.” In a metropolis tormented by infinite, intractable processes, that’s music to our ears. We additionally love that she’s somebody who takes the prepare and has labored for an hourly wage someday within the final ten years. Can’t say that about a lot of the present council.
Nevertheless, she additionally already shows a politician’s pure affinity for well mannered vagaries and believable deniability. Whereas folks are very bummed about a lot of the shit the present council has finished, doing nothing additionally sucks.
