Here’s what you want to learn about King County Council’s man, Girmay Zahilay.
Very first thing, whenever you say that sentence aloud, it rhymes.
Second, on Monday, he formally introduced his candidacy for King County Government, operating on a platform devoted to serving King County’s working class households. Zahilay is the third candidate to enter the race to interchange King County Government Dow Constantine, following Constantine’s mid-November announcement that he wouldn’t search a fifth time period. At present, Zahilay’s opponents embody his council colleague, King County Council Member Claudia Balducci, and King County Assessor John Wilson.
Whereas all three candidates have anchored their campaigns on problems with inexpensive housing and public security, every has their very own pet problem: Wilson emphasizes decrease taxes, Balducci prioritizes transit, and Zahilay focuses on his dedication to supporting staff and labor rights in Seattle. Each Balducci and Zahilay assist progressive tax income, with Zahilay saying he’d assist a payroll tax in King County if the state Legislature ever grants the county the authority to impose one.
Out of the gate, Zahilay has secured the endorsements of not solely Governor-Elect Bob Ferguson and Legal professional Basic-Elect Nick Brown, but additionally Washington’s largest labor union—native United Meals and Industrial Staff 3000. He credit their assist to his accomplishments on the King County Council, together with introducing laws to extend the minimal wage in unincorporated King County, launching a assured primary earnings pilot program, and proposing laws to tackle $1 billion in county debt to create workforce housing, although that concept remains to be in its preliminary planning part.
In an interview with The Stranger, Zahilay pointed to his upbringing to spotlight his understanding of the challenges that face King County’s working class. Zahilay’s dad and mom fled to Sudan from Ethiopia earlier than Zahilay was born and later moved to the U.S. via a refugee resettlement program. Zahilay describes their early years in America as extremely unstable. They lived in homeless shelters, with sponsors, however ultimately discovered a house in Rainier Vista. Later, they moved to unincorporated King County, the place Zahilay and his siblings skilled the struggles of dwelling in an space that lacked the companies usually offered by a metropolis. With this expertise in thoughts, he desires to make sure that individuals dwelling on the outskirts of King County have entry to the companies they should succeed and thrive.
A Journey Down MLK Approach Reminiscence Lane
On the Friday earlier than his marketing campaign announcement, Zahilay took The Stranger to the placement of the primary home his household moved into after years of instability in South Seattle. Though the home now not stays, he shared a photograph of himself as a toddler, wearing a Males in Black costume (swimsuit, tie, sun shades), standing in entrance of a wire fence lined with roses. Behind him was a single story blue home, with an impeccable inexperienced garden. Zahilay mirrored on how inexpensive public housing gave his household the inspiration to rebuild their lives, however he holds combined reminiscences and emotions concerning the place.
His mom struggled to pay for even the backed housing, and needed to work two jobs to remain afloat. After many years of exhausting work, Zahilay’s mom ultimately busted her knees and have become disabled, he stated. Zahilay described the driving power behind his marketing campaign as attempting to assist the individuals in King County who proceed to be “stretched to their financial limits.”
Zahilay continued on his tour alongside Martin Luther King Jr. Approach, mentioning the Rainier Vista Boys and Women Membership, which he says taking part in a pivotal position in his early upbringing. The membership offered him with academic programming and construction he lacked at dwelling. Mentors there supplied him and his siblings meals, taught them learn how to play pool and basketball, and supplied steerage. With out the membership’s assist, Zahilay says his life might need taken a vastly completely different path. Loads of individuals who grew up in the identical neighborhoods as him now cope with dependancy or reside on the streets, he says. Zahilay sees early investments in children as an enormous a part of how we tackle public security.
When individuals speak to Zahilay about public questions of safety, they typically query his stance on investing extra in diversion packages, he says, and focus extra on prosecution. Whereas he acknowledges that accountability ought to be the main focus in some circumstances, he tries to elucidate that for youths who grew up in circumstances just like his, legal authorized penalties typically have few deterrent results—they’re nearly an anticipated actuality. Children must have an alternate, optimistic imaginative and prescient for his or her lives to flee a cycle of poverty and incarceration.
Zahilay hopes a brand new Youth Achievement Middle (YAC) he helped coordinate and launch will help with that. The middle is meant to be a housing first and programming middle for South Seattle youth, prioritizing those that are housing unstable and affected by the legal authorized system—whether or not it is as a result of their dad and mom coping with incarceration, or their very own involvement with the system. Lots of the children who find yourself in youth jail typically battle with trauma, face poverty, and concern returning to their neighborhoods because of potential gun violence. They want a spot to go, Zahilay says. He partnered with Inventive Justice, Africatown Group Land Belief, and Group Passageways to assist first persuade Sound Transit to donate the land for the middle, after which for different donations and companions to assist fund the middle. Ultimately, the YAC would offer housing for 100 children.
Zahilay acknowledged that his vote earlier this to maintain the King County youth jail open might have disillusioned those that consider he’d backtracked on his 2019 promise to dismantle the jail. Nevertheless, Zahilay stated he’s responding to the wants of the individuals he represents. In 2019, individuals advised him they suffered from overpolicing and over incarceration, which left their communities damaged. Now, 5 years later, he says individuals inform him they need extra police as a result of they’re afraid of the gun violence of their neighborhoods. Previously, Zahilay argued that extra police hardly ever stop random acts of gun violence, although they might assist in responding to gun violence.
Zahilay’s place appears to be this: He desires diversion, he desires higher circumstances for youths within the youth jail, he desires community-led interventions for youth wrapped up within the legal authorized system, and he desires a diversified emergency response that features police, social staff, psychological well being professionals, firefighters, and medics when wanted. He additionally nonetheless desires upstream options. Nevertheless, regardless of an early flirtation with abolition, he’s by no means totally embraced it. At this level, he views it as an untenable place to take along with his constituents.
Hopping on the practice
Subsequent on his tour, Zahilay guided us to the Columbia Metropolis Station. Whereas Zahilay hasn’t made transit a particular plank of his platform, he talked about his frustration with the practice design in South Seattle. Alongside Martin Luther King Jr Approach, the practice runs at grade in the midst of a 4 lane avenue. The 4 mile stretch of line makes up 70% of all Sound Transit associated collisions and greater than 70% of the pedestrian deaths which have occurred in reference to Sound Transit. And past the transit system, MLK Approach and Rainier Avenue South stay two of probably the most harmful roads within the metropolis.
Earlier this 12 months, Zahilay proposed a bit of laws to have Sound Transit examine options of learn how to make these stations, and roads safer for individuals. He stated whereas they got here up with some quick time period fixes, equivalent to portray the crossroads brighter, they did not give you long run concepts to attempt to make these streets extra crossable. When he pushed them for long run options, they stated they’d examine the feasibility of grade separation—that means both elevating the practice up, placing it underground—or probably decreasing the variety of lanes on MLK Approach.
No matter what concepts Sound Transit ultimately comes up with, they’ll price King County a fairly penny. Finally, the results of the examine might require some powerful questions from individuals in King County: Do you make a system longer and attain farther out, or do you ensure the core of the system is extra dependable? He admitted to having no clear reply to this query, however he’ll argue {that a} extra dependable, safer line in Rainier Valley is healthier for everybody.
Unincorporated King County
After Columbia Metropolis Station, Zahilay took us to New Holly, the place he confirmed us a Safeway, which he referred to as, “only a Safeway,” however he took a second to level out all of the completely different races within the pretty empty retailer. Whereas it was largely only a gaggle of older Asian ladies testing their groceries, he rightly famous that the neighborhood stays some of the numerous in Seattle.
From there, we hopped on the 106 bus, and Zahilay shared a narrative of his mother lastly scraping collectively sufficient funds to purchase a house in unincorporated Skyway. Our experience ended on the department of the King County Library. Throughout the road, he pointed to an area that can quickly maintain a group middle that he helped to get funded, one thing he stated he wished he’d had as a child in that neighborhood. (Zahilay talked about that the county satisfied US Financial institution to donate the land to them for the brand new constructing.)
Zahilay stated within the communities he grew up in, he noticed few individuals who actively participated in county authorities. Widening the scope of who participates in our political dialog is a giant focus of his marketing campaign, he stated. People who find themselves undocumented, low earnings, unhoused, or dwelling in public housing initiatives, politicians typically go away them out of the conversations. He expressed his dedication to reaching out to those teams, retaining them concerned, and on the forefront of policymaking.
“I wish to make individuals who had been initially skeptical of me, for no matter cause, as a result of I’m youthful, or not born on this nation, or as a result of I took a vote they didn’t like, or they arrive from a unique political get together, really feel like, you understand what, Girmay, his administration and his crew did one thing for me,” Zahilay stated.
