In lower than every week, the Seattle Metropolis Council will select one among six finalists to fill Councilmember Tammy Morales’ seat and characterize District 2, which spans from the Chinatown-Worldwide District to Rainier Seaside. With such a brief timeline, there’s little time to get accustomed to the D2 hopefuls.
Sadly for all concerned, final night time’s solely scheduled candidate discussion board, which befell on the Columbia Metropolis Theater, was a confused, biased catastrophe.
Final Friday, the council narrowed the listing of 20 candidates down by permitting every councilmember to appoint one particular person. Councilmember Bob Kettle selected to not nominate anybody, and Councilmember Cathy Moore was absent from the assembly. Thus, we have been left with six: King Donuts proprietor Hong Chhuor (nominated by Council President Sara Nelson), Bruce Harrell’s senior transportation coverage and operations supervisor Adonis Ducksworth (nominated by Councilmember Dan Strauss), land use lawyer Thaddeus Gregory (nominated by Councilmember Pleasure Hollingsworth), long-time lawyer within the Metropolis Legal professional’s Workplace Eddie Lin (nominated by Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck), Parks and Recreation worker and neighborhood organizer Chukundi Salisbury (nominated by Councilmember Rob Saka), and Seattle Police Division neighborhood crime prevention coordinator and failed District 2 candidate Mark Solomon (nominated by Councilmember Maritza Rivera).
All these males (sure, they’re all males) gathered for Tuesday’s occasion, hosted by Seattle CityClub and moderated by Tony Benton, Rainier Avenue Radio’s studio supervisor.
The primary query Benton posed was about which of Morales’ insurance policies the candidates agreed or disagreed with.
Chhuor said that he did not want to call any particular insurance policies as a result of he plans to lean on council employees who really know coverage, however his objective was for Seattleites to have the ability to be pleased with Seattle. Ducksworth mentioned he would “present up” since, in accordance with him, Morales by no means did. As somebody whose house was damaged into twice, he had a powerful emphasis on public security. Gregory desires to pursue coverage that unites the district. Lin was the one one that really cited precise laws Morales supported in her time on the dais. He mentioned he was an enormous supporter of the Jumpstart payroll tax and her equitable growth initiative (EDI) to offer extra space for neighborhood organizations in mixed-use developments. Salisbury plugged his web site, the place he talked about all of us might discover photos of him and Morales. He supported EDI, however claimed he’d differ from Morales by being extra current. Solomon famous that he had working relationship with Morales, however could be stronger on public security.
Are you sensing a theme?
The following query is the place issues began to get a bit…wacky.
Studying off his cellphone, Benton posed two variations of the identical query to the candidates. First:
“The pedestrianization of Lake Washington Blvd has been a protracted operating debate. Provided that South Seattle has much less entry to park area than the North finish, do you suppose the road must be closed to automobiles?”
After which:
“Making Lake Washington Blvd solely accessible to pedestrians and bikes just isn’t one thing individuals in D2 need. Bike lanes have been put in in D2 with out widespread neighborhood enter or warning. Will you decide to maintaining Lake Washington Boulevard open to automobiles?”
Given these prompts, the candidates responded. Unsurprisingly, all of them mentioned they might not shut the road right down to automobiles.
Ducksworth, who’s a transportation man, praised the “superb” new waterfront “the place you’ll be able to have automobiles, you’ll be able to have bikes, you’ll be able to individuals strolling, and you’ll have entry to the water.” Whereas the waterfront undertaking is an enchancment over the Alaskan Means Viaduct, the bustling multiple-lane freeway nearly undermines the people-centered design of the remainder of the undertaking.
“Why can’t we get collectively and do this on Lake Washington Blvd?” Ducksworth mentioned.
Lin identified that not everybody can get round with out a automobile, citing his half-paralyzed father-in-law—who doesn’t even reside in Seattle—for instance. Salisbury inspired everybody to go to his web site earlier than stating his agency dedication to maintaining automobiles on Lake Washington Boulevard, noting that the town had already pedestrianized the realm by banning automobiles in Seward Park. Solomon mentioned if the individuals who reside there do not need to shut the road to automobiles, then that is all that issues. Chhuor agreed. Gregory did, too, however then added he knew the road might be unsafe and that Seattle ought to pursue Imaginative and prescient Zero targets of lowering pedestrian deaths.
Benton then ad-libbed a “wild card” query.
“That is only for me and my fellow neighborhood members who reside very close to Lake Washington,” Benton mentioned. “When Lake Washington is shut down for automobiles… that’s cool, besides all these automobiles park in our neighborhood and take our parking areas and don’t respect the property.”
He waited a beat after which turned to Chhuor.
“Hong, what do you consider that, man?”
The candidates responded as anticipated. It felt like improv, everybody “sure and-ing” off of one another. Yay automobiles, boo outsiders taking curb-side parking that residents should not have a divine proper to. Whereas a lot of them most likely did consider what they have been saying, it was arduous to inform what was real about what they mentioned as a result of the moderator’s preferences influenced their responses.
Don’t be concerned, it received worse.
Benton then requested, “What’s your place on the specter of Sound Transit to companies and neighborhood members to Chinatown?”
Behind the coded language (um, menace??), Benton is referring to the controversy about the place to put a brand new station for the required second tunnel to increase mild rail all through the town and make good on Sound Transit 3 guarantees.
The general consensus was that the long run council member would want to “have interaction with neighborhood” on the problem.
On questions on methods to “rehabilitate” drug customers, the candidates recycled the outdated canned responses about main with compassion and wrap-around providers. None said how they might fund any of those lofty targets. Lin no less than cited a particular county levy aimed toward serving to present rehabilitation.
When requested how they might be conscious of constituents, everyone assured the room they’d be accessible at voters’ beck and name. Salisbury mentioned he would give individuals who known as into his workplace a “monitoring quantity” and guarantee he talked to them in 48 hours or much less.
Everybody talked about public security as their high precedence for the district. Chhuor mentioned he needed to guard small companies as a result of in any other case a spot just like the CID would simply be stuffed with “Paneras.” Lin mentioned the One Seattle Complete Plan as a driver for him since D2 is “at-risk of displacement.” He continued, “We’d like to ensure to proper the wrongs of the previous, the redlining that has robbed our communities of wealth constructing alternatives, we have to change that,” he mentioned.
Benton then requested a query from three companies within the space: “What’s going to you do to assist small companies like these in Columbia Metropolis which might be scuffling with points similar to crime, police response time—
He interjected, “That’s an actual factor, we don’t even name the police.”
Then continued, “—and elevated value associated to the brand new minimal wage? On Friday, [the businesses] mentioned they could have to shut.”
Lin was the one candidate to problem the assertion that the “new minimal wage” is main companies to shut, saying, “I help our staff, [they’re] struggling as properly.” He mentioned reasonably priced housing was the important thing. He additionally mentioned he’d help cuts to taxes and laws to assist small companies.
Ducksworth, Gregory, and Chhuor mentioned they might direct police to “stroll a beat” in these areas so individuals really feel safer. Fast truth test: The town council doesn’t have the facility to try this.
Following this, Benton opened up the discussion board to impromptu viewers questions, one thing the discussion board hadn’t deliberate to do.
The primary query got here from his godmother, former state Rep. Daybreak Mason.
“I would like to know this: How do you actually perceive being a council member? A lot of the solutions you’re giving sound such as you’re operating to steer a non revenue group,” she mentioned.
Nice query. Duckworth, Lin, and Salisbury defined that their work with the Metropolis has given them perception into the position. Gregory mentioned his expertise working with the council on land-use points means he understands the job. Chhuor said he would depend on council employees for steerage however sees himself as “the bridge” between the general public and the council. Solomon mentioned he believes the position is all about “listening.”
After listening to their solutions all through the discussion board, it is nonetheless unclear what, if something, any of them really stand for. Maybe the most effective indicator comes from who on the council nominated them—or, in Salisbury’s case, from his web site.