Welp, the Seattle Metropolis Council voted 5-3 on Monday to nominate Mark Solomon, a Seattle Police Division crime prevention coordinator and long-time metropolis council hopeful, to fill the open District 2 seat.
The appointment course of, which began after Councilmember Tammy Morales’ final official day on Jan. 6, was fast. The morning’s particular council assembly to fill the spot was lengthy and tedious, mired in technical difficulties and council members who love to listen to themselves converse.
In the end, the council went with Solomon who stated he’ll view the function as a “caretaker” and never search election when the seat’s time period is up in November.
Solomon now assumes the function he is needed for years. He misplaced the 2019 race for the seat towards Councilmember Tammy Morales, solely garnering 39% of the vote to Morales’ 60%. This marks the second time inside a yr that town council has appointed somebody to a council seat who had beforehand been defeated by Morales in a normal election. In doing so, they’ve as soon as once more used a legislative loophole to nominate an official whom District 2 voters particularly rejected.
Solomon utilized—and failed—to fill Teresa Mosqueda’s seat final yr, too. A seat that in the end went to Tanya Woo, one other unsuccessful Morales challenger who discovered her approach to the dais regardless of public disapproval.
The third time was the allure for ol’ Solomon, it appears.
As quickly because the council assembly began—virtually half-hour late as a result of technical difficulties—I ought to’ve clocked Solomon’s impending win. Of the ten preliminary in-person public commenters, 4 spoke in favor of him.
“Mark is only a actually good particular person,” Carl Haglund, who owns the true property growth and property administration agency Columbia Trendy Residing, stated. “He’s voter-approved, too. Seven folks ran for District 2 [in 2019] and he got here in second.”
To be clear, within the August 2019 main election, Solomon solely earned 23% of the vote in that crowded seven-person race. Morales earned greater than 50%. After the sector was solely the 2 of them, he solely received 16% extra votes. I would not precisely name that voter-approved.
Lisa Nitze, who works at the true property growth and property administration agency Nitze-Stagen, referred to as Solomon “fully dedicated to serving the general public good,” in her public remark.
That public good for supporters of Solomon, who’s outspoken in regards to the want for extra police, is all about public security. Regulation and order. His huge priorities listed in his utility for the function had been to deliver the Complete Plan throughout the end line, regulate late-night hours for venues, and “handle crime, dysfunction, and human struggling within the Little Saigon Neighborhood.”
Solomon higher be enthusiastic about that Complete Plan since, on this function, he’ll be chair of the land use committee. Sadly, the one even barely related land use expertise listed on his utility is when he served on a committee to rename the Jefferson Park Golf Course to the Invoice Wright Golf Course.
It took 5 rounds of votes for the council to resolve on Solomon, who wanted to earn at the least 5 votes for the appointment. Within the course of, candidates Chukundi Salisbury, Eddie Lin, and Adonis Ducksworth all acquired votes. Councilmembers Rob Saka, Pleasure Hollingsworth, Cathy Moore, Maritza Rivera, and Council President Sara Nelson all voted for Solomon within the remaining spherical.
“I’m right here and I’m right here to be of service to you,” Solomon stated after he took his oath of workplace, directing his feedback to District 2. “I am about serving this neighborhood, getting issues executed, and dealing with this council to make life higher for this metropolis and for District 2.”
Morales, the final council member District 2 truly selected, resigned late final yr citing bullying and a poisonous work surroundings from her council colleagues, all of whom had been extra to the appropriate politically than she was.
“Anybody having any doubts or questions of the poisonous work surroundings that Morales accused [the council] of, it is a sterling instance that reaches unforetold ranges of pettiness,” Brett Hamil, native comic and District 2 resident stated.
In an earlier piece polling District 2 residents about their preferences, Hamil advised me he particularly did not need to see Solomon appointed as a result of District 2 had already voted towards Solomon.
“That is really a rebuke of what District 2 needs,” Hamil stated. “It is a huge ‘fuck you’ to District 2.”