Podcasts about washington state office

A new GOP-led bill seeks to dismantle the Washington State Office of Equity, established to ensure equitable access to state services and promote racial justice. Proponents argue it would reduce taxpayer expenditure, while opponents view it as a direct assault on communities of color. Paula Sardinhas, President and CEO of FMS Global Strategies and a prominent critic of the bill, discusses the potential consequences. Interview by Chris B. Bennett.

Thursday, January 30 on Urban Forum Northwest :*Attorney Jesse Wineberry, Co Founder Washington Equity Now Alliance (WENA) comments on his organizations continuing efforts to get a prepared Reparations bill a sponsor. Governor Inslee's Office was told that the Legislative Black Members Caucus would take the lead in advancing Reparations legislation this session.*Clarence Gunn, president, Democrats for Diversity & Inclusion (DDI) is committed to increasing the number of people of color, minorities, and others from historically disenfranchised communities to pursue elected and appointed public office. As an advocacy organization DDI is committed to holding elected and appointed accountable to meeting the needs of diverse communities.*Megan Matthews, Director,Washington State Office of Equity will be joined by Jordan Feyerherm of her staff to invite you to their Digital Equity Forum as they continue to advance digital connectivity across Washington State on Tuesday, February, 4 3:00-4:30 pm (PST).*Dr. James Gore, Executive Director of the Jackson Street Music Program will be joined by multi talented musician and vocalist Butch Harrison as they invite you to Jazz in The City's First Thursday's at King Street Station on February 6 5:30 -7:30 pm (PST).Urban Forum Northwest streams live at www.1150kknw.com. Visit us at www.urbanforumnw.com for archived programs and relevant information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Thursday, January 30 on Urban Forum Northwest : *Attorney Jesse Wineberry, Co Founder Washington Equity Now Alliance (WENA) comments on his organizations continuing efforts to get a prepared Reparations bill a sponsor. Governor Inslee's Office was told that the Legislative Black Members Caucus would take the lead in advancing Reparations legislation this session. *Clarence Gunn, president, Democrats for Diversity & Inclusion (DDI) is committed to increasing the number of people of color, minorities, and others from historically disenfranchised communities to pursue elected and appointed public office. As an advocacy organization DDI is committed to holding elected and appointed accountable to meeting the needs of diverse communities. *Megan Matthews, Director,Washington State Office of Equity will be joined by Jordan Feyerherm of her staff to invite you to their Digital Equity Forum as they continue to advance digital connectivity across Washington State on Tuesday, February, 4 3:00-4:30 pm (PST). *Dr. James Gore, Executive Director of the Jackson Street Music Program will be joined by multi talented musician and vocalist Butch Harrison as they invite you to Jazz in The City's First Thursday's at King Street Station on February 6 5:30 -7:30 pm (PST). Urban Forum Northwest streams live at www.1150kknw.com. Visit us at www.urbanforumnw.com for archived programs and relevant information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thursday, January 30 on Urban Forum Northwest : *Attorney Jesse Wineberry, Co Founder Washington Equity Now Alliance (WENA) comments on his organizations continuing efforts to get a prepared Reparations bill a sponsor. Governor Inslee's Office was told that the Legislative Black Members Caucus would take the lead in advancing Reparations legislation this session. *Clarence Gunn, president, Democrats for Diversity & Inclusion (DDI) is committed to increasing the number of people of color, minorities, and others from historically disenfranchised communities to pursue elected and appointed public office. As an advocacy organization DDI is committed to holding elected and appointed accountable to meeting the needs of diverse communities. *Megan Matthews, Director,Washington State Office of Equity will be joined by Jordan Feyerherm of her staff to invite you to their Digital Equity Forum as they continue to advance digital connectivity across Washington State on Tuesday, February, 4 3:00-4:30 pm (PST). *Dr. James Gore, Executive Director of the Jackson Street Music Program will be joined by multi talented musician and vocalist Butch Harrison as they invite you to Jazz in The City's First Thursday's at King Street Station on February 6 5:30 -7:30 pm (PST). Urban Forum Northwest streams live at www.1150kknw.com. Visit us at www.urbanforumnw.com for archived programs and relevant information.

In this episode we return to our ongoing series on Termination of Parental Rights. This is part one of a two-part conversation with Shrounda Selivanoff. Shrounda is the Chief of Parent Representation Initiatives with the Washington State Office of Public Defense. She has a long history as an effective policy director and respected advocate for parental rights. She also brings her own personal experience of CPS, child welfare, and TPR as a mother and a grandmother. In part on of our conversation, Shrounda shares her story of fighting for her son's rights as a parent and for her grandson's right to know and be connected to his family. In part two of our conversation we'll dive into the policy she worked in WA and the implications it has in the ongoing conversation about a world without TPR.  Here are links to the article that Shrounda referenced about safety, permanency, and well-being as well as HB 1747. Oregon Child Welfare Review Assessment Findings Report, 2023Washington State LegislatureYou are invited to join the Proximity Podcast Club, a community of people supporting one another through their process of becoming who they want to be in this work. We have two options to make this community accessible. We meet every Monday at 9am ET and 9am PT (12pm ET). You can join the club by filling out this form and we'll send you the meeting invite. Proximity Podcast Club - Google FormsPlease connect with me, Matt Anderson, on LinkedIn - Matt Anderson | LinkedIn

Aaron VanTuyl and Matt Baide, podcast hosts, Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner, discuss the "OIC Answers" podcast that seeks to inform Evergreen State consumers on a wide range of insurance topics.

It's been a tumultuous few years for rental laws in Washington state.  When the pandemic caused widespread job and income losses, state, county, and city governments passed a series of protections to keep tenants housed. That included funds for back-paying rent and moratoriums on evictions.  But many of those protections have ended, and over the last year, eviction cases have spiked in the state. In King County's court system specifically, that massive demand is leading to delays ranging from six months to a year.  Some see this bottleneck as a frustrating bureaucratic mess; but others see it as growing pains in a system that's shifting from favoring landlords to more equally representing tenants.  Soundside host Libby Denkmann spoke with Philippe Knab from the Office of Civil Legal Aid and Sean Flynn of the Rental Housing Association of Washington. Guests: Philippe Knab, eviction defense and re-entry program manager at the Washington State Office of Civil Legal Aid Sean Flynn, executive director of the Rental Housing Association of Washington Related links: Seattle Times: King County aims to speed up some eviction cases See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on April 18. It dropped for free subscribers on April 25. To receive future pods as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe to the free tier below:WhoPete Korfiatis, General Manager of Bluewood, WashingtonRecorded onApril 4, 2024About BluewoodClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Local investorsLocated in: Dayton, WashingtonYear founded: 1980Pass affiliations:* Indy Pass and Indy+ Pass: 2 days, no blackoutsClosest neighboring ski areas: Cottonwood Butte, Idaho, 3 hours eastBase elevation: 4,545 feetSummit elevation: 5,670 feetVertical drop: 1,125 feetSkiable Acres: 355Average annual snowfall: 300 inchesTrail count: 24 (30% difficult, 45% intermediate, 25% easy)Lift count: 4 (2 triples, 2 carpets – view Lift Blog's inventory of Bluewood's lift fleet)Why I interviewed himSomeday, if it's not too late, I'm going to track down the old-timers who snowshoed into the wilderness and figured this all out. The American West is filled with crazy little snow pockets, lesser-known mountain ranges spiraling off the vast plateaus. Much of this land falls under the purview of the United States Forest Service. In the decades immediately before and after World War II, the agency established most of our large western ski areas within its 193 million-acre kingdom. That's a lot of land – approximately the size of Texas – and it's not all snowy. Where there is snow, there's not always roads, nor even the realistic possibility of plowing one through. Where there are roads, there aren't always good exposures or fall lines for skiing.So our ski areas ended up where they are because, mostly, those are the best places nature gave us for skiing. Obviously it snows like hell in the Wasatch and the Tetons and the Sierra Nevadas. Anyone with a covered wagon could have told you that. But the Forest Service's map of its leased ski areas is dotted with strange little outposts popping out of what most of us assume to be The Flats:What to make of Brian Head, floating alone in southern Utah? Or Mt. Lemmon, rising over Tucson? Or Ski Apache and Cloudcroft, sunk near the bottom of New Mexico? Or the ski areas bunched and floating over Los Angeles? Or Antelope Butte, hanging out in the Wyoming Bighorns?Somewhere, in some government filing cabinet 34 floors deep in a Washington, D.C. bunker, are hand-annotated topo maps and notebooks left behind by the bureaucrat-explorers who determined that these map dots were the very best for snowsportskiing. And somewhere, buried where I'll probably never find it, is the story of Bluewood.It's one of our more improbable ski centers. Not because it shouldn't be there, but because most of us can't imagine how it could be. Most Washington and Oregon ski areas line up along the Cascades, stacked south to north along the states' western thirds. The snow smashes into these peaks and then stops. Anyone who's driven east over the passes has encountered the Big Brown Endless on the other side. It's surreal, how fast the high alpine falls away.But as Interstate 90 arcs northeast through this rolling country and toward Spokane, it routes most travelers away from the fecund Umatilla National Forest, one of those unexpected islands of peaks and green floating above our American deserts. Here, in this wilderness just to the west of Walla Walla but far from just about everything else, 300 inches of snow stack up in an average winter. And this is where you will find Bluewood.The Umatilla sprawls over two states and 1.4 million acres, and is home to three ski areas (Anthony Lakes and inactive Spouts Springs, both in Oregon, are the other two). Three map dots in the wilderness, random-looking from above, all the final product of years in the field, of hardy folks pushing ever-deeper into the woods to find The Spot. This is the story of one of them.What we talked aboutGrowing up Wenatchee; “the mountains are an addiction”; THE MACHINE at Mammoth; Back-In-The-Day Syndrome; Mammoth's outsized influence on Alterra Mountain Company; how the Ikon Pass strangely benefited Mammoth; the accidental GM; off the grid; Bluewood and southeast Washington's unique little weather pattern; “everybody that knows Bluewood comes for the trees”; why the Forest Service is selling a bunch of Bluewood's trees; massive expansion potential; when your snowline is 50 feet above your base area and you have no snowmaking; the winter with no snow; Skyline Basin and dreams that never happened; ambitious lift-upgrade plans; summer and “trying to eliminate the six-month revenue drought”; “if you take the North American lifts right now, they're only coming out because they're pieces of crap”; potential future chairlifts; Bluewood's owners and their long-term vision; mountaintop lodging potential; whether night skiing could ever happen; power by biomass; the Indy Pass; Southeast Washington ski culture; free buddy tickets with your season pass; Bluewood's season pass reciprocal program; why Bluewood's lift ticket prices are so low; and the absolute killer expense for small ski areas.Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewOne of the more useful habits I've developed is attending offseason media events and consumer ski shows, where ski area managers and marketers tend to congregate. The regional gatherings, where mountain booths are stacked side by side like boxes in a cereal aisle, are particularly useful, allowing me to connect with reps from a dozen or more resorts in an hour. Such was the setup at the Snowvana “stoke event” in Portland, Oregon last November, which I attended both to host a panel of ski area general managers and to lay deeper roots in the rabid Pacific Northwest.Two podcasts emerged directly from connections I made that day: my February conversation with Red Mountain CEO Howard Katkov, and this one, with Korfiatis.So that's the easy answer: a lot of these podcasts happen simply because I was finally able to connect with whomever runs the mountain. But there's a certain amount of serendipity at work as well: Bluewood, right now, is on the move.This is a ski area that is slowly emerging from the obscurity I caged it into above. It has big-picture owners, an energetic general manager, a growing nearby population, and megapass membership. True, it also has no snowmaking and outdated, slow chairlifts. But the big, established ski centers to its west are overwhelmed, exhausted, and, with a few exceptions, probably un-expandable. Bluewood could be a big-deal alternative to this mess if they can do what Korfiatis says they want to do.There are a lot of millions standing between vision and reality here. But sometimes crazy s**t happens. And if it goes down at Bluewood, I want to make sure we're sitting right there watching it happen.What I got wrongI said that Mammoth was an independent mountain when Korfiatis arrived there in 2000. This is incorrect. Intrawest owned a majority stake in Mammoth from 1997 to 2006.Why you should ski BluewoodUsually, when casual skiers ask me where they ought to vacation, their wishlist includes someplace that's relatively easy to get to, where they can stay slopeside, where the snow will probably be good [whenever their kids' spring break is], and that is a member of [whatever version of the Epic or Ikon pass they purchased]. I give them a list of places that would not be a surprising list of places to anyone reading this newsletter, always with this qualifier: expect company.I like big destination ski areas. Obviously. I can navigate or navigate around the crowds. And I understand that 24-chairlifts-and-a-sushi-bar is exactly what your contemporary megapass patron is seeking. But if someone were to flip the question around and ask me which ski area characteristics were likely to give them the best ski experience, I'd have a very different answer for them.I'd tell them to seek out a place that's hard to get to, where you find a motel 40 miles away and drive up in the morning. Make it a weekday morning, as far from school breaks as possible. And the further you get from Epkon branding, the farther you'll be from anything resembling a liftline. That's the idea with Bluewood.“Yeah but it's only 1,100 vertical feet.”Yeah but trust me that's plenty when most of your runs are off-piste and you can ski all day without stopping except to ride the lift.“But no one's ever heard of it and they won't be impressed with my Instastory.”You'll live.“But it's not on my Ultimo-Plus Pass.”Lift tickets are like $50. Or $66 on weekends. And it's on the Indy Pass.“But it's such a long drive.”No it isn't. It's just a little bit farther than the busier places that you usually go to. But it's not exactly in Kazakhstan.“Now you're just making things up.”Often, but not that.Podcast NotesOn Bluewood's masterplanHere's the basic map:And the lift inventory wishlist:On Mission Ridge and WenatcheeKorfiatis grew up in Wenatchee, which sits below Mission Ridge. That mountain, coincidentally, is the subject of an already-recorded and soon-to-be-released podcast, but here's the trailmap for this surprisingly large mountain in case you're not familiar with it:On Mission Ridge's expansionAgain, I go deep on this with Mission CEO Josh Jorgensen on our upcoming pod, but here's a look at the ski area's big proposed expansion, which Korfiatis and I discuss a bit on the show:And here's an overhead view:On “The Legend of Dave McCoy”The Dave McCoy that Korfiatis refers to in the pod is the founder of Mammoth Mountain, who passed away in 2020 at the age of 104. Here's a primer/tribute video:Rusty Gregory, who ran Mammoth for decades, talked us through McCoy's legacy in a 2021 Storm Skiing Podcast appearance (18:08):On Kim Clark, Bluewood's last GMIn September 2021, Bluewood GM Kim Clark died suddenly on the mountain of a heart attack. From SAM:Longtime industry leader and Bluewood, Wash., general manager Kim Clark died of an apparent heart attack while working on the mountain Tuesday. He was 65. Clark had been the Bluewood GM since 2014.In a statement sharing the news of Clark's death, Bluewood said, “significant rescue efforts were unsuccessful. Kim passed away doing what he loved, with people he loved, on the mountain he loved.”Clark was an influential leader during his career in the mountain resort industry, much of which was spent at resorts in the Pacific Northwest. He is remembered by his peers as a mentor, a teacher, and a leader with a passion for the industry who cared deeply for the teams he led and the resorts he helped to improve.Prior to becoming GM at Bluewood, Clark led Mt. Ashland, Ore., as its general manager from 2005 to 2014.On the Tri-Cities of WashingtonImagine this: I'm 18 years old and some dude on the lift at Copper Mountain asks me where I'm from. I say “Michigan” and he says “where” and I say, “the Tri-Cities area” and he says “what on earth is that?” And I say “Oh you've never heard of the Tri-Cities?” as though he'd just told me he'd never heard of Paris. And he's like “no, have you ever heard of the Quad Cities?” Which apparently are four cities bunched along the Iowa-Illinois border around Interstate 80 and the Mississippi River.It was my first real-time lesson in hyper-regionalism and how oft-repeated information becomes so ingrained that we assume everyone must share it, like the moon or the wind. The Tri-Cities of Michigan are Bay City, Saginaw, and Midland. But no one who doesn't live there knows this or cares, and so after that chairlift conversation, I started saying that I was from “two hours north of Detroit,” which pretty much every American understands.Anyway imagine my surprise to learn that America had room for a second Tri-Cities, this one in Washington. I asked the robots to tell me about it and this is what they said:The Tri-Cities are three closely linked cities (Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland)[2][3] at the confluence of the Yakima, Snake, and Columbia Rivers in the Columbia Basin of Eastern Washington. The cities border one another, making the Tri-Cities seem like one uninterrupted mid-sized city. The three cities function as the center of the Tri-Cities metropolitan area, which consists of Benton and Franklin counties.[4] The Tri-Cities urban area consists of the city of West Richland, the census-designated places (CDP) of West Pasco, Washington and Finley, as well as the CDP of Burbank, despite the latter being located in Walla Walla County.The official 2016 estimate of the Tri-Cities MSA population is 283,869, a more than 12% increase from 2010. 2016 U.S. MSA estimates show the Tri-Cities population as over 300,000. The combined population of the three principal cities themselves was 220,959 at the 2020 census. As of April 1, 2021, the Washington State Office of Financial Management, Forecasting Division estimates the cities as having a combined population of 224,640.[5]And actually, it turns out that there are tri-cities all over the country. So what the hell do I know? When I moved east to New York in 2002, it took me about five years to figure out what the “Tri-State Area” was. For a long time I thought it must be New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. But it is New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, from which many people commute into NYC daily to work.On Scot Schmidt For those of you who don't know who “that guy” Scot Schmidt is:On the Greyhawk lift at Sun ValleyKorfiatis refers to the “Greyhawk lift” at Sun Valley as an example of a retiring high-speed quad that is unlikely to have a useful second life. He was referring to this lift, which from 1988 until last year ran parallel to the monster Challenger lift:Last summer, Sun Valley replaced both lifts with one Challenger six-pack with a mid-station, and built a new high-speed quad called Flying Squirrel (which replaced a shorter double chair of the same name that met death-by-fire in 2014):On the number of Washington ski areasWashington, while home to several legendary ski areas, does not have nearly as many as its growing, active population needs. Of the state's 17 active ski areas, five operate only surface lifts, and I'm not even certain whether one of them – Badger Mountain – operated this past ski season. Sitzmark also failed to spin its lift. There are really only nine volume-capable ski areas in the state: 49 Degrees North, Crystal, Mission Ridge, Baker, Mt. Spokane, Stevens Pass, Summit, Alpental, and White Pass. Here's an inventory:The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing all year long. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 32/100 in 2024, and number 532 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

While Kathy (or Ridgey as she was called) had older sisters, she grew up playing with the boys, and doing so in what SHE wanted to wear. Just as Kathy started public elementary school, the rules changed to allow girls to wear pants (Kathy's older sisters had been required to wear dresses or skirts). As Kathy shares, Mom "tried to get me in dresses on picture day, and I would sneak out my brother's hand me downs." Michelle can relate... By fourth grade, Kathy was faster than all of the kids in her school. She "always had speed on her side." She cites the "old man on the bicycle" as one of the most influential people on her game sharing, "He was just this old soccer guy and because there was no soccer anywhere, and the kids were playing, he gave me a couple of pointers on how to do one on ones." And that changed everything. To the "old man," wherever you are, thank you for coaching and inspiring one of the legends of the first USWNT. We hear from soccer teammate Diana Inch, who played with Kathy for years and against Michelle, so was along for the "rollercoaster of soccer." Flash forward to today, and Kathy is the Assistant Director, Innovation and Performance in the Washington State Office of the Governor. She explains what that means but essentially, she holds state agencies accountable for "moving towards equitable solutions." Takeaway: Kathy hasn't only broken barriers in soccer, but also in the statehouse. Media used in this production: -38 years after making history, first USWNT to be honored at Asheville City regular season finale, Chris Womack, June 29th 2023, -The Forgotten Early History of Women's Soccer, Laurent Dubois, January 22, 2016 -ESPN YouTube Channel, 'USWNT win the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage | 2023 ESPYS (

Dr. Karen Johnson, the first-ever Director of the Washington State Office of Equity, was abruptly terminated by Governor Jay Inslee on May 17, 2023. This decision caused a significant fallout, leaving huge numbers of individuals...

Cindy Spodek Dickey is the Principal Navigator and Founder of 47 Degrees North Marketing, an agency offering entrepreneurial consulting services and integrated marketing expertise. In addition to being certified as a woman-owned business by the Washington State Office of Minority and Women's Business Enterprises (OMWBE), 47North Marketing is recognized by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). Cindy is proficient in executive-level marketing, communications, and creative ideation for businesses. Her experience spans more than 20 years, working with Disney, Microsoft, Roambee, Radarworks, Zumobi, and numerous others. In this episode… It sometimes seems the one element keeping your business from success is luck. While good fortune can feel entirely up to chance, there are ways to prepare for and secure opportunities. Hard work, when combined with transparency, networking, and a reliable team, can create openings where none existed before. Cindy Spodek Dickey navigates her long and fruitful career with this mindset — from her long stints with Fortune 500 companies to leading a team of expert marketers. She took those lessons and applied them to new ventures, creating a successful marketing agency in the process. Now Cindy opens up about some of her greatest insights. In this episode of Lead Like a Woman Show, Andrea Heuston speaks with Cindy Spodek Dickey, the Principal Navigator and Founder of 47 Degrees North Marketing, about creating opportunities and finding success. Cindy provides insights on her extensive experience in the marketing and media space and some of the best lessons she learned along the way. They also touch on starting a side gig, supporting other women, the beginnings of the agency, and learning from successful teams.

Host Austin Jenkins interviews Dr. Karen Johnson, the director of the Washington State Office of Equity, who is leading state government's efforts to work equity into all its programs and operations.

Thursday, November 17 on Urban Forum Northwest:   *Lehke Fernandes is the new Director of the Washington State Office of Minority and Women Business Enterprise (OMWBE) comments on the her vision for the office and provide an update on how Governor Inslee's Executive Order will create opportunities for her clients.   *Bob Armstead, President, Washington State Chapter-National Association of Minority Contractors (NAMC) comments on the recently passed Infrastructure funding legislation and talk about the possibility of a goal for Minority Businesses in every aspect of the funding.   *Jon Bersche, Job and Training Advisor for the City of Seattle has been a member of the Seattle Martin Luther King Jr. Organizing Coalition and in the past has Co Chaired the Seattle MLK Opportunity Fair that will be held on the MLK Holiday on January 16, 2023. Information at www.seattlemlkcoalition.org.   *Sarah Sense Wilson, Founding member, Urban Native Education Alliance (UNEA) comments on the challenges and success of UNEA. She will also comment on the UNEA representatives and students trip to Washington DC.   *Reginald Robinson, Owner Altha's Louisiana Cajun Seasoning and Spices of Kent WA talks about the Thanksgiving and holiday treats that you can order like turkey stuffed with shrimp or wild rice from Louisiana.   Urban Forum Northwest streams live at www.1150kknw.com. Visit us at www.urbanforumnw.ccom for archived programs and relevant information. Like us on facebook. Twitter@Eddie_Rye. 

Thursday, November 17 on Urban Forum Northwest:   *Lehke Fernandes is the new Director of the Washington State Office of Minority and Women Business Enterprise (OMWBE) comments on the her vision for the office and provide an update on how Governor Inslee's Executive Order will create opportunities for her clients.   *Bob Armstead, President, Washington State Chapter-National Association of Minority Contractors (NAMC) comments on the recently passed Infrastructure funding legislation and talk about the possibility of a goal for Minority Businesses in every aspect of the funding.   *Jon Bersche, Job and Training Advisor for the City of Seattle has been a member of the Seattle Martin Luther King Jr. Organizing Coalition and in the past has Co Chaired the Seattle MLK Opportunity Fair that will be held on the MLK Holiday on January 16, 2023. Information at www.seattlemlkcoalition.org.   *Sarah Sense Wilson, Founding member, Urban Native Education Alliance (UNEA) comments on the challenges and success of UNEA. She will also comment on the UNEA representatives and students trip to Washington DC.   *Reginald Robinson, Owner Altha's Louisiana Cajun Seasoning and Spices of Kent WA talks about the Thanksgiving and holiday treats that you can order like turkey stuffed with shrimp or wild rice from Louisiana.   Urban Forum Northwest streams live at www.1150kknw.com. Visit us at www.urbanforumnw.ccom for archived programs and relevant information. Like us on facebook. Twitter@Eddie_Rye.

On this midweek show, Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell joins Crystal for an extensive conversation about public safety in Seattle. Their discussion ranges from how to handle an officer shortage with a long hiring pipeline, the Harrell administration's approach to encampment sweeps, how safety involves more than just policing, and the thought process on creating a third department (beyond Fire and Police). The importance of negotiating the SPOG contract in removing obstacles to progress is covered, as well as the thinking behind hotspot policing and strategic use of limited public safety resources. The show wraps up with what steps we can all take to help create positive change and make our streets safer. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Find the host, Crystal, on Twitter at @finchfrii and find Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell at @RuleSeven.   Resources “Seattle clears Woodland Park homeless encampment after months of trying to place people into shelter” by Greg Kim from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/seattle-clears-woodland-park-homeless-encampment-after-months-of-trying-to-place-people-into-shelter/   “Harrell Outlines Public Safety Strategies: Expanding Policing, ‘Hot Spots' Focus, Police Response Alternatives” by Elizabeth Turnbull from the South Seattle Emerald: https://southseattleemerald.com/2022/02/04/harrell-outlines-public-safety-strategies-expanding-policing-hot-spots-focus-police-response-alternatives/   Community Police Commission (CPC) - Police Accountability Recommendations Tracker (PART): https://www.seattle.gov/community-police-commission/our-work/recommendations-tracker   Community Police Commission (CPC) - Accountability Ordinance Tracker: https://www.seattle.gov/community-police-commission/our-work/accountability-ordinance-tracker   Washington State Office of Independent Investigations - Final Bill Report for ESHB 1267: https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2021-22/Pdf/Bill%20Reports/House/1267-S.E%20HBR%20FBR%2021.pdf?q=20220517001510   “Harrell Touts Arrests at Longtime Downtown Hot Spot in ‘Operation New Day' Announcement” by Paul Kiefer from PubliCola: https://publicola.com/2022/03/04/harrell-touts-arrests-at-longtime-downtown-hot-spot-in-operation-new-day-announcement/   “Harrell says he ‘inherited a mess,' will solve crime issues by putting arrests first, social services second” by Sarah Grace Taylor from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/harrell-says-he-inherited-a-mess-will-solve-crime-issues-by-putting-arrests-first-social-services-second/   One Seattle Day of Service - May 21: https://www.seattle.gov/mayor/one-seattle-initiatives/day-of-service   Transcript [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington State through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. Well today, I'm pleased to welcome Senior Deputy Mayor of Seattle, Monisha Harrell, back to the program. Welcome back. [00:00:47] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Thanks for having me. [00:00:48] Crystal Fincher: Thanks for coming. Well, I suppose this is your first time as the Senior Deputy Mayor - your many, many previous roles and titles and accolades from before this proceeded you - but now you're in the role of Senior Deputy Mayor of Seattle in the Bruce Harrell administration. And how's it going? [00:01:12] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: It's been a fast four and a half months - I think it's a little bit like dog years - each week feels like a year, and there's nothing like on-the-job learning. [00:01:27] Crystal Fincher: Nothing like on-the-job learning. Now, what are you doing? What are you responsible for? [00:01:33] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: So my portfolio includes Fire, Police, Office of Emergency Management, Office of Intergovernmental Relations, Budget, and HR. [00:01:51] Crystal Fincher: And nothing else - that's it? [00:01:55] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I have a few things. I have a few things in the - I say anything that'll wake you up in the middle of the night is in my portfolio. It's helpful to have all those things in one place, and we're trying to envision the future of the City. There's a lot of work that has followed me from my previous experiences that I now have an opportunity to be able to put some of that visioning into practice in helping to lead the City, so it's exciting. I like it. It's a new take on some work that I've been doing for a long time. [00:02:32] Crystal Fincher: Well and you've certainly worked in several areas of the public safety spectrum in several different roles. Now this is part of your portfolio in this role. So I do want to talk about just the - a number of things - starting in terms of public safety and the conversations that we're having - that are lively and starting off conversations, just this week, with regard to staffing in SPD and moving forward. And I think, as we're looking about it, certainly we've talked on the program before about it - whether or not people agree with the need for more SPD officers, the City is moving forward with hiring more SPD officers and talking about that being part of the solution, or your plan for helping to make people safer. But with that, even if we were to hire 50 people today, that is actually a really long pipeline and those folks aren't going to be making it onto the streets for a while. So if we're talking about public safety, that might be a solution for the fall or next year, but what - short of adding more officers, which can't happen - can be done right now to help intervene in the rising crime levels. [00:03:58] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Yeah, that's a good question. We have to prepare for the short-, mid-, and long-term. And so one of the things that we've been doing in the short-term is civilianizing some positions that were previously certified positions. And so that helps us to be able to spread out our resources a little bit more - taking some internal positions, be they administrative or other, where we've asked - does this position need to be a law enforcement officer, a certified law enforcement officer, or can this be a civilian or a civilianized position and moving those to civilianized positions? So that is a short term solution - we are currently working on that, the chief has currently been working on that for the last several months. And so we're working through extending our resources through that. And that's a great long-term solution as well - analyzing what has to be a certified position and what can be a civilianized position. In the midterm, we do have to recruit folks to be willing to go into the academy. And policing across the country - there's a shortage of officers across the country. I don't know one department right now that is fully subscribed, that has all of the officers that it needs. We have seen a lot of people, especially officers, leaving the workforce over the course of the last couple of years. It's been a toll. It's been a toll on absolutely everybody. And in particular, as we've been having discussions - deep, deep discussions - around policing and the future of policing, some people in the profession have taken a look at whether or not they want to continue in that line of service. Some have been retirement age and some have decided that they want to take different paths - but those are all culminating in this moment. We have people - good people - who have reached an inflection point in their life and want to do something different. Some of them may turn towards policing, many of them have turned to other ways to support and help the community. So we have to talk to - and on the long end of the pipeline, it's talking to a lot of our young folks and seeing if there are people who want to be part of the future of what policing will be. And not looking at what it is now, but looking at what it could be for the future - and being a part of that, and being willing to step into something that is wholly uncertain at this moment. What policing is today is different than it was 10, 20 years ago, will be different than what it will be 10, 20 years from now. And so there has to be a willingness to embrace some of the uncertainty and wanting to be - and be willing to be - a part of what it could be in the future and shaping that. [00:07:15] Crystal Fincher: So is it possible to make people safer in the existing staffing footprint that we're going to be dealing with for the near term? [00:07:25] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Safer is - I think safer involves more than just policing. Safer involves getting more mental health support, safer involves better conflict resolution solutions beyond guns, safer is never going to be a police-only solution - and so we have to, candidly, be able to walk and chew gum in terms of yes, working on our policing shortages and working on shoring up our mental health systems, our physical health systems. Acknowledging that even if we have community members who had food on their table, a roof over their heads, jobs to attend to, their financial needs - the last couple of years haven't left many people in better mental and physical health than they were prior to 2020. And so even those who have had all of the means are still going to be unstable in some way and need help and need support. So safety really looks like - how do we build a larger support system and safety net to even catch those who wouldn't otherwise be considered vulnerable? [00:09:12] Crystal Fincher: Well, you know I agree with that. And I guess that's why it has been confounding in some of the actions that have been taken, whether it's some of the hotspot policing or the sweeps of encampments, where there certainly has been a lot of talk about having those kinds of supports and interventions and people reaching out to be there, but that being absent in so many of those situations where we are seeing predominantly public safety-led, and some of those situations only law enforcement-led, sweep or intervention. And looking at whether that can effectively address the problem and whether that's really delivering on the vision that you laid out. How do you explain that? [00:10:06] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Absolutely. So I think that people only see a portion and it's really hard. People only see a portion of what we're doing - of what any administration or any government agency is doing. Some of the things that are not as readily accessible is how much transitional housing we have actually opened up and made available over the course of the last few months - we have done an amazing job in terms of making transitional housing available and getting people into that transitional housing. In terms of some of the encampment removals, we've made a tremendous number of referrals and we've gotten people help and support that have been on the streets for years. Some of these stories of people being living on the streets for five years - that is never going to be a success. It's not a success that somebody lives in the street in the same spot for five years. That is an absolute dead end, and we should never be satisfied with somebody having that as an outcome and that as an option. And we have done quite a bit, this administration has done quite a bit, in terms of getting resources to many of those folks. [00:11:27] Crystal Fincher: So are you disputing that some of those have taken place without that outreach taken, done at first? Are you saying that that has occurred with all of them? [00:11:39] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Every person has been given the opportunity for support services - they're offered that. They don't always take it, and some people might not be in a place to be able to take it at that time period. I will talk a little bit about the Woodland Park encampment removal. There were, I think, 85 referrals made from the Woodland Park encampment. And those are real offers of help that we're getting out to folks in that we're making spaces available for them to be able to come indoors. Not everybody is ready for that, and certainly there were - there have been more people who have come on site who have needed help and support, and we're still working on getting supports for those folks. But when we have something open, we're trying to get people in it. [00:12:41] Crystal Fincher: So would it then be a fair characterization to say, in the case of an encampment sweep or a hotspot enforcement, if - or I guess that's a different situation - looking at encampment sweep. If a person there hasn't had contact with a, whether it's a caseworker or service provider - someone with a connection to services available to them if they are ready to go, that meet their circumstances, that they meet the qualifications to go into. If that doesn't happen, that is not your policy, that would be something going wrong in the process and not what you had ordered to be carried out? [00:13:32] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: So we don't have as many resources to allow people to pick their exact type of transitional housing. There have been times where we've said, there is a tiny home available and people might decline that because they would rather have a hotel, or there might be a tiny home available within a particular village and they don't want to go to that area of town. We don't have control over all of the inventory available, but we make something available. [00:14:09] Crystal Fincher: So something is always available for someone? [00:14:13] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: When we are doing - when we are doing removals, we make offers of support. There is a crew that goes out in advance that makes an offer of support prior to the removal. [00:14:26] Crystal Fincher: And so one of the issues, and it's been covered - in looking at offers of support. There seem to be some disconnects in what is available and what people need. And some really understandable and justifiable reasons why people may not be able to go to a shelter. Sometimes the situation may be - hey, shelter requires people be in by 7:00 or 8:00 PM, I have a job that requires me to be there later or to leave earlier. And so I can't keep my job and both go into the shelter. Obviously, keeping the job is something that preserves a pathway into housing. In those situations, does the City have a responsibility to find something more suitable, or to wait on sweeping them until there is something more suitable available? [00:15:25] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: So the removals are based on a number of different criteria and we'll be sharing more about that criteria in the coming weeks. There are some occasions where there is a safety reason to need to engage in a removal. And some of those safety reasons might be if there is a lot of - if there are some gun violence in that area or if there has been - and I'm just going off of specific instances that have increased the need for removals - if there was a sexual harassment, sexual assault incident within an encampment. There are any number of reasons - a number of fires that have been occurring in an encampment - those might be public safety reasons where we would prioritize dispersement in those cases. And so we use all of the resources that we have available - doesn't mean that we're going to have exactly what they need at that moment. We do our absolute best. Some people will be able to tell us what they are hoping for and if there's a match, we will try to match it. But this is also where the Regional Homelessness Authority comes in. This is part of taking the regional solution - we have 84 square miles in the City of Seattle to be able to accommodate folks. There is more housing available outside the region, and we want to make sure that there are options available for folks all over. That's part of why, when I refer to something like the Woodland Park encampment - we had services for everybody that was at Woodland Park during the time that we took the inventory of the area. Those people received housing and new people came in because they knew that the people at that encampment were able to access housing. And so we're trying to get to as many places and as many people as we possibly can, and we need the support and the help of the regional authority to be able to bring their resources to bear, to be able to get more transitional housing faster. [00:18:05] Crystal Fincher: Gotcha. In terms of just community-based interventions overall, certainly some of those are useful in and addressing some of the issues that the unhoused population is dealing with, others are direct interventions to help prevent crime and people from being victimized - with lots of evidence to show that they're very effective interventions. And the Harrell administration - you have talked about the intention to establish that - it looks like the last place where that left off was Mayor Harrell saying that there was an evaluation of some of the partners and service providers that you would potentially be working with. Where does that stand and what is that evaluation based on? [00:18:58] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Yeah, we're asking a lot of our providers to share with us what they've been doing with the resources that they are being provided by the City. And we're looking at the effectiveness rate - the rates with which people are able to support the community based on the resources provided. We had two - I don't want to call them necessarily summits, they weren't really summits - but they were information fact-gathering sessions with the providers who are doing that work - to be able to let them tell us how they're able to use their resources, and what else we could do to support them in their work. [00:19:53] Crystal Fincher: So what are you hearing from that? [00:19:56] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: We are hearing a lot of need, quite candidly. There is a lot of need, particularly in and around as we spoke about earlier, mental health supports, emotional supports. Some folks are meeting communities' need to just be connected with one another in order to better manage their challenges. And we're really trying to assess who has set up systems to be able to make greater advances with more resources if they were provided to them. There are certainly some services that I think people have heard quite a bit about that have had pretty good levels of success, and we're trying to figure out how to get some of those organizations more resources. And there are some organizations candidly that didn't fare as well through the pandemic, where their organizations might not be as strong as they were before and they may be in a position where they have to regroup before they're ready to receive more supports from the City. So we're evaluating all of those things, but we've seen a lot of really good things out there. Organizations like JustCare, for example, they've been able to remain pretty steady and and do some great work across the City. And certainly they've been resourced to do some great work, but we're looking at all of the, all of our providers out there who have a part of the puzzle piece that we need in this moment. [00:21:51] Crystal Fincher: So in short - taking a look at, hey, you've had resources. Have you demonstrated that you have used the tax dollars that you've received to further the mission and deliver results, when it comes to tangible increases in prevention of crime, interventions, reduction of recidivism - metrics like that. [00:22:18] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Absolutely. And then also looking at whether or not we've got the right mix. Do we have enough across the spectrum of the needs that are required? Do we have enough in the healthcare arena, both mental and physical? Do we have enough in the internship and apprenticeship arena to ensure that particularly folks have access to being able to set up their futures for themselves? Those are all of the things that we have to look at because we have a finite number of resources - as a city, we have to manage and take care of all of our basic functions. And then what we have, we have to be really - we have to really pay attention to - are we using these dollars effectively because we don't have the endless pot that we would want. [00:23:11] Crystal Fincher: Right. So basically, are you getting a bang for your buck, is the money that you're spending resulting in safer streets? [00:23:20] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Exactly. And not just safer streets, but prosperity for those who have access. Part of safer streets is - there are components of economic justice that are related to that. I don't think people - if they have to resort to any sort of stealing, I don't think they do it because they want to do it. I think they do it because there is a need that's not being met, so how else can we meet that need? Is it through additional education? Is it through apprenticeships? So stronger work opportunities, better paying jobs, access to education - we have to look at that whole ecosystem because it's not one lever. If it was one lever, somebody would've pulled it a long time ago. [00:24:13] Crystal Fincher: That makes sense. And as I look at it, especially with - looking at the money that we're putting into community-based interventions, it is not an unlimited budget, need to make sure that that money is delivering a result. It makes sense to do the same thing with the police department, doesn't it? Are you using that same kind of evaluation to determine if the police department should receive more funding, if we should pull back and redirect to other areas? [00:24:42] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: And that's exactly what we were doing when I mentioned earlier - looking at positions and seeing which positions can be civilianized, looking at the job functions and trying to evaluate whether or not those job functions need to be certified in order to be effective. And so we're looking at the whole ecosystem of that. One of the things that I think we talked about before was the third department that would be on par with Police and Fire. What does that third department look like? What services still need to be met in an emergency situation that we need to dispatch, where Police or Fire are not the solution in that instance? We've talked about the history of EMTs and EMS, where you would no longer send police to a heart attack, but there was a time period where that's exactly what you did. And so we're looking at what are the calls that don't need a a law enforcement response or a fire response? What are the needs that are not being met and how do we put that department together? We're working on that - our goal, our hope is to have a white paper and structure for that third department by the end of this year, that we would then begin to structure in 2023 for a 2024 deployment. [00:26:16] Crystal Fincher: So then am I hearing that it's a possibility that some of those community-based interventions, non-law enforcement-based interventions may be made functions of the City within a public safety department that doesn't have a sworn officer. So you're looking to build up that infrastructure. So that actually may not occur from service providers that you're partnering with today? That may be an internal thing? [00:26:45] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Absolutely. It's also part of - what I will say is - we are looking at the functions that are provided and of course, if that's the case, the third department will be just, will be a professional entity, just like fire and law enforcement - where there will be a curriculum and a program and the proper certifications for whatever is needed within that body of work. It will be a professionalized entity that is able to respond to 911 calls that meet their unique skillset. [00:27:20] Crystal Fincher: Okay. Have you received - which makes sense - have you received pushback from SPD on civilianizing parts of it? There were some - there was a recent report about responses to 911 calls potentially being handled by alternate responders that they recently pushed back on. Are you hearing that, and how are you working through that? [00:27:44] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I think that's natural and I think that's to be expected. It is part of - would I want that? No, I want everybody to work together and I think by and large people are working together. But it's the job of their police union to push and try to negotiate and try to get as much for their members as they possibly can. We know that some of it is founded, and some of it is just part of what they have to do in trying to negotiate for their next upcoming contracts. What they see is - they might see - well, that used to be a body of work that pertained to us, and we don't want to lose that body of work. But the truth of the matter is policing is many different professions rolled under one title. They're not all the same. Somebody who is on a beat isn't necessarily trained to be an effective detective. Somebody who might be doing homicide might not be right for a domestic assault. There are different skillsets, there are different trainings - and depending upon the line that an officer wants to go into, they might need a different career development path. So we really have to look at the body of work and whether or not it fits in with solving some of those crimes and getting justice in that way and if not, there might be instances where the presence of a uniform could escalate a situation. And there's somebody who has not got a weapon on the other side - then we don't want to send a certified officer into that particular situation - that might not be a best fit for them. We know that labor will want to negotiate that and those are some things that we'll have to address. And there are some where labor might want to negotiate that and we say - but that's not, that's not within the purview of your scope anyway. So it's a conversation. [00:30:18] Crystal Fincher: It's a conversation. And as you just brought up, that conversation is about to be codified into a new Seattle Police Officers Guild contract, and you will be at the negotiating table. And there there's been lots of discussions in the greater conversation about the role that police officers have and the larger public safety conversation and how and whether their interventions do result in people being less likely to be victimized. Lots of conversations about what is appropriate, what's not appropriate to be in a contract, what oversight should be more independent and not internal. So I guess starting out, are there, especially in light of the prior public safety ordinance that had a lot of reforms in there - some of them rolled back with the contract - are you looking to reimplement those? What approach are you taking in this negotiation? [00:31:27] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: So our prioritization is absolutely on accountability. We have to move forward aggressively on accountability for many different reasons, not not the least of which is we have a consent decree that - at this moment, it's not benefiting the City or the people of the City to still have this as an operating standard or practice for the City. It reminds me of - there's this old Thomas Jefferson quote that kind of refers to - if you wear the clothes, if you try to wear the clothes that fits you as a boy as a man, it doesn't work. And to me, that's where we are with the consent decree - we are 10 years into this and those clothes no longer fit - we have moved well beyond that. And if we want to get to what the future of policing is, we need to move past this past that is not even close to the picture of where we want to be. And so it has to be a prioritization on accountability - that has to be everything. And I know some people - going back to the other part of what we were talking about - some people will want to jump ahead and say, well, let's negotiate what the third department looks like and the trading off of those roles. The police contract is only three years and we're already one year into a three-year contract. We can negotiate the roles of that next contract in the next cycle. We're one year into a three-year contract, so we have to focus on accountability - that has to be our number one goal. And then once we get the right accountability measures in place, within the next contract we can start negotiating roles and responsibilities as pertains to what might be a third public safety department. [00:33:45] Crystal Fincher: There've been several recommendations related to collective bargaining from lots of entities, including the CPC. Some of those including fully implementing the reforms in the accountability law, removing limits on civilianization of OPA and ensuring civilian investigators have the same powers as their sworn counterparts, removing clauses in the contract that take precedence over local laws including that accountability ordinance, the police being empowered to place an employee on leave without pay, and ensuring OPA has authority to investigate allegations of criminal misconduct. Do you agree that those should be implemented in this new contract? [00:34:37] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: You named so many that I just want to say that the answer is yes. But let me - that's bad radio to be like, the answer is just yes - but the answer is yes. And I'll just pull out a couple of them that are of particular interest - civilianization of investigators at OPA - I think that is something that we need to seriously explore for many different reasons, but let me just go on a couple. One of which is - the statewide Office of Independent Investigations that we'll eventually move to - it was envisioned to eventually be a civilianized body so that there were no conflicts of interest in those investigations. And we have to look at the same thing for SPD - that these are officers that are being forced to investigate their fellow officers. That can't be a good place to be. It can't be a good place to be to - you're working in one department and you're working alongside your team, and then you move and have a rotation to the next department. And in that next rotation, you're having to investigate the people that you were just working alongside of. And I use this example because - no matter how many firewalls you put up, there is always going to be the potential - and a strong potential - for conflict of interest. Crystal, you and I have known each other for a really long time and - we're not that old, we've known each other for a little while - and we would both do our jobs if we had to do an investigation. And yet I think that the way that we've crossed paths over the years, it would be really hard to be an absolutely unbiased independent investigator if something were to come up, because I know you're a good person. And I wouldn't believe that you would do anything terrible, so it would be hard for me to say and now I want to investigate you. And then when my rotation in this department is over, now I just want to go back to working alongside you. That's a tough place to be. And I think that exploring the civilianization of investigators at OPA - it protects us from some of those potential conflicts of interest, and we really have to take a hard look at that. [00:37:04] Crystal Fincher: And not just civilianization, but giving them - removing the limits to make sure that they have the same power and authority in all instances of investigation. Because I think that's been a frustrating part - to be like, well, I'm not part of the police department - even the elements that are civilians just being kneecapped and not having the authority to fully investigate or to make any recommendations that hold any weight. Is that part of your vision, and what you plan to negotiate is also providing them with that authority? [00:37:47] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Absolutely. And again, following the statewide model of the Office of Independent Investigations that will follow the same path. We'll see who races each other first to that finish line, but very much following the same model. And the one thing I want to just clarify for folks - sometimes people hear the term "civilianization" and they think sloppy or not as professional - we are talking about professional investigators that just may not be certified officers. And there are a ton of highly trained professional investigators in a lot of different professions that could have skillsets that apply to the work that would be needed for these types of investigations. I'll give you an example is - there's always forensic auditors for things like financial accounting crimes - they may not be law enforcement officers, but they are trained professionals in forensic accounting who can help with some of this criminal problem solving. There could be people who are forensic anthropologists or other such things, who know how to contain a crime scene and who know how to collect the evidence. When we say civilianized, we're not talking about anything less than the highest level of professionalism. It just means that they are not trained officers in the way that they would respond to an immediate and imminent crisis. [00:39:28] Crystal Fincher: That makes sense and is certainly valid. We've seen that operate very successfully in similar areas. And I think an even bigger deal - we're seeing the current system not working, so a change is in order. So is that a red line for you in this negotiation? Is that something that you're starting with as a foundational this is where we need to be? [00:39:54] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: It will probably take us, it will take us more than this contract to get to a fully civilianized team, investigative team at OPA, but we certainly want to begin to move in that direction where we have very professional civilian investigators available to us for that work. And I believe that there's going to be a bigger demand for that particular career going forward. I do believe that sometimes Seattle is on the frontline of a lot of this work, but where and how we make these things successful, we will see them roll out in other areas across the state and across the country. [00:40:44] Crystal Fincher: So it's possible that we walk out on the other side of this contract and there are still situations where the police are investigating themselves. [00:40:53] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: For certain things. So, as the Office of Independent Investigation gets set up, they will take all lethal use of force - that will go to the state regardless - that body of work will go to the state. As pertains to any accusations of sexual harassment or sexual assault, that will go to the state. So we are going to, we absolutely will honor state law. And quite honestly, I think folks should be grateful that the state is doing that work. I think that what they're setting up will be revolutionary in order to ensuring that we have unbiased, less-biased investigations. And do I believe you can eliminate bias 100% entirely? I would love to say yes, I don't know if that's ever completely possible, but I think we can get to a system that is more accountable and more transparent for everybody involved. [00:42:02] Crystal Fincher: As we look forward in the short-term and some of the interventions that are going, do you expect a continuation or more deployments of the hotspot policing strategy? [00:42:18] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I think that while we have limited resources, we have to be really strategic about where and how we deploy them. And so, I wouldn't call it hotspot policing because it's a little more nuanced than that, but what I would say is when you have limited resources, you have to be really, really strategic about where and how you deploy them. And that's what we're having to do - we're having to look at the areas that are in the greatest need and providing resources to those areas in those moments. And so we look at things like - what are the big events coming up in and around the City and how do we deploy in order to make sure that yes, we can cover the Mariners game, the Sounders game, a concert at Climate Pledge, because we are short-staffed and that there's no quick way to make up for that. This has been a while in the making and even if we had all of the body signed up right now, we still only have one Criminal Justice Training Center to run all of the state's recruits through. So we're going to have to be strategic for a little while - we can't, we don't have the staffing at every precinct and in every neighborhood that we would want to have. And so that means looking at what is on our social calendars, trying to get people back to normal, right? This is - it has been many years since we've had a full cadre of parades and outdoor events, and we want people to be able to get back into life again and get back into life safely. So how do we have the Torchlight Parade with such a limited number of officers available to staff? How do we have one of my favorites, the Pride Parade, with a limited number of officers to staff? So we really have to be a lot more strategic and it means that we really have to look at the chess board. I think what people see are hotspots and it's not as much hotspots as we have to be more predictive about where we go and strategically plan for that. [00:45:01] Crystal Fincher: And I can see that - I guess the challenge, as you articulate that, the mayor certainly articulated certain spots that were spots of emphasis that were going to be receiving increased patrols and resources and have folks stationed basically there full-time to, I think as he talks about, calm the area. So it seems like there have been point - that kind of thing has been referred to by lots of different terms, whether it's a hotspot or an emphasis patrol or however we want to characterize it, we are focusing our admittedly limited number of resources in a concentrated area. And are we expecting, are you expecting to deploy resources in concentrated areas, not talking about surrounding events that may happen, but on day-to-day, as we saw before - Tuesday through Friday in a place - is that part of an ongoing strategy, or have we seen the last of that? [00:46:16] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: It has to be a little bit of both. And so I'll give you an example - some of where people have seen us focus have been in areas where there have been increases in gun violence - and so Third Avenue is an example. So what people saw is they saw us move the mobile precinct to the Third Avenue area right after we had two incidents - two pretty painful incidents - of gun violence deaths in that area. And what that additional patrol allowed us to do was to be able to add more investigative resources to both of those cases. And we've made - we have two suspects that have been arrested for both of those shootings on Third Avenue where - it was an area that there was an increased amount of gun violence. And two, all murders are painful. It is particularly challenging when one of them is really just a child, a 15-year old. And because of the police work that we - the police and the officers were able to put in that area - to be able to canvass and collect the camera information from in and around the area, we were able to bring forth two suspects in both of those murders. And so, that is part of the job. It's not just about patrolling for what is happening in the moment. It's also patrolling and doing the detective work to solve crimes that we know have been happening in that area, that families will want answers for. [00:48:14] Crystal Fincher: Well, I think that's an excellent point. I actually think there's a very strong case to be made for increasing the deployment of resources in investigative roles. It seems like that's actually an area of unique specialty and opportunity, and results that come from that can yield long-lasting results. So it feels like people in the City see that, it seems like that's been widely acknowledged. However, when we have these conversations about - hey, we're short staffing, the conversations are - we have to move people out of these investigative roles, these victim liaison and services roles - a lot of things that get at preventing behavior from people who are currently doing it. So does it make sense to continue to move people away from those investigative roles onto patrol, especially in these conversations as we continue to identify areas where patrol doesn't seem like the most effective intervention? [00:49:29] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Yeah, we need both. It's - this is the Catch-22. We need both. We have to find ways to be able to, in some ways, tamp down ongoing incidents. And sometimes the presence of a mobile precinct can do that, can be a little bit of what just helps take some of the fire out of the air. There's some things that we've done over the course of the last few years - back in the olden times when people used to go out, for example, and they talked about - well, instead of everything closing at the same time every night, what if we were to stagger release hours from some of the different clubs and bars? For the young people listening, who don't remember what clubs and bars are, and that was a way to not push everybody who might have a little bit of alcohol in their system out into the street at the same time. So we are having to do a little bit of column A a little bit of column B because we have imperfect resources. [00:50:40] Crystal Fincher: Well, and seem to be saying - we need to do all we can to meet patrol numbers, and we will take from other areas to deploy on patrol - that's what the chief was saying. Should we continue taking, or should we rebalance, because both are going to happen. Should we be deploying back in the detective arena and investing more in actually trying to solve some of these crimes and find some of the people who are doing them? [00:51:16] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: For those people who are trained to be detectives, we are doing everything we can to get them back to their primary functions. And in the meantime, taking a try to do-no-harm approach, which is in not letting people continue to get victimized as we're trying to do that. And that's why I said it's gotta be a little from column A and a little from column B, because we have to solve crimes that have occurred and we have to do what we can to prevent additional crimes from occurring. Not everybody is trained to be a detective, but for those who have those trainings and have those skills, we want to be able to give them all of the resources we can to get them back on those jobs. [00:52:05] Crystal Fincher: And you've been very generous with your time - we are just about to wrap up. I think the last question - we could cover a ton - but appreciate getting through the chunk that we did today. You talk about some of those emphasis patrols or areas where more resources are being deployed - whatever name it's going by. With those, there was a press conference that even Chief Diaz seemed to acknowledge that those increased patrols and having the mobile unit nearby does have an effect on that area during that time. But he brought up instances in this current iteration, and certainly we've seen in prior iterations, where the result isn't that the crime stops, it moves to other neighborhoods. And it sets up a situation where it looks like - for moneyed interests, for downtown interests, they're getting super special police deployments in the name of safety. And sure it may improve things on that block while those police are there, but it actually is moving that activity elsewhere in the City. And he said they were working on trying to track that. And are we succeeding? Is that the best expenditure of resources if that's the result that we're getting, which is seemingly - hey sure, maybe a win for those businesses on that block, but a loss for the neighborhood and the residents that are receiving that activity. Should we - is that the most effective way to address that? Is that the most equitable way to address that for everybody in the City? [00:54:03] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I would say that there is still a benefit to having those resources visible and available. And think about when somebody - there might be an area where people are used to speeding and then they put up the electronic board that says you're going this fast, and it reminds people to slow down. Sometimes the visual cues that we use for some of the public safety is just - you're in this area and you might have something that might pop off, but just calm down. It's a visual reminder to calm down, a visual reminder. And that doesn't necessarily always move someplace else, but it can be a reminder to - this is not your time and this is not your moment. We can't stop every single incident from occurring, but we certainly want to be able to give people pause before they might do something that would be regrettable later. So, it's not the perfect system. It's certainly not the perfect system, but there are benefits across the board if we can get people to think about how they might seek help, or how maybe just the presence can calm people down, or how we can even regain a sense of normalcy to an area that might draw in more foot traffic - and where there is more foot traffic and more positive activity than in the absence of nothing which can create some negative activity. We're bringing people back to an area that would allow us to get some good activity back on the streets. One of the best approaches for public safety, quite candidly, is for people to start going out again - filling up those spaces with positive activity, filling up those spaces with positive engagement - because where you have more eyes and positive activity, you actually need less policing. [00:56:24] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely true. And I guess my question is, even in a situation where - okay, you do that, you intimidate someone away and they aren't doing that there. In the instance that they're then moving somewhere else, we have not necessarily successfully intervened in their activity, but have moved it. [00:56:49] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I don't think it's a hundred percent though. I do think that there are places where you can put in positive activity and attract positive activity response. So I think about some of our young folks where the hours where they would get in the most trouble would be those immediate hours after school. If they are in a space that is filled with positive activity, then perhaps they will adopt and take on that positive activity. If they're in a space where there is negative activity, then they can take on that negative activity. That's the case where it's not just it would move to a different place. It's - you're giving idle hands an opportunity to do something more productive. And that's what I'm talking about filling that positive activity space - not everybody would necessarily fill that space with the sort of activity that we wouldn't care for if we get more more positive engagement in those areas. [00:57:47] Crystal Fincher: I certainly agree about the benefit of positive engagement. I am certainly hoping that maybe we can envision a time where we actually deploy resources surrounding positive activities and positive connection to opportunities - in that kind of emphasis patrol and intervention that we have. But I appreciate the time that you've taken to speak with us and help us understand better what's going on in the City and what you're up to, and certainly look forward to following as we continue to go along. [00:58:27] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Well, this is a conversation, it's a dialogue. We've got a lot of work to do. There's no one group that has all of the answers, and so I appreciate the opportunity to come on and speak with you. And I know we get a lot of feedback and that's good, because we listened to the feedback and we'll make adjustments as we go along, but we're trying to do everything we can to make sure that we get the City back on track. [00:58:54] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. Okay, I'm going to sneak in one more question. You talk about you get a lot of feedback - is there something that people can do, or a way to engage that you think is a great opportunity to get involved in making a difference, helping to create positive change, helping to keep our streets safer? Is there one thing that you would recommend that they could do to be a part of that? [00:59:14] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I'm going to give you two things. So the first thing is I'm going to mention our One Seattle Day of Service on May 21st, and just say that it's more than about just cleaning up some aspects of our city and helping us put some positive activity out there. It's also about a sense of building community with one another - that we're really hoping that everybody who comes to the Day of Service will find somebody new that they haven't connected with, that they haven't built community with and be willing to reconnect with society in doing some positive work together. So I'll talk about that because I think that there are significant benefits to our mental health - to rebuild positive social skills and positive social relationships. So that's one thing that if people were like, I don't have a lot of time on my calendar, but I can commit to a couple hours on one day. And then the other thing that I would say is - we need to return to the old scripture - being our brother's keeper. And that may mean reaching out to nonprofit organizations that are doing this great work. We will help their dollar stretch farther when we provide them resources through serving on boards, through providing hands-on activity or volunteer opportunities to help them further their missions. And so anything that we can do to pitch in and to add - whether or not that is - maybe even it's reaching out and having lunch with a young person and providing them paths that they might not have otherwise thought of, letting them know young or old - quite candidly in this one - that somebody out there cares and will listen to them. We have a lot of - our older folks - and I know you are wrapping up, I'm sorry - but I'm just gonna make this one last pitch. We have a lot of older folks who've actually struggled through this pandemic. They have suffered from withdrawal because their social structures have been pulled from them, and older folks who withdraw from society have higher instances of high blood pressure and hypertension - all of those things that result from depression and not having a social network around you, can result in physical health loss as well as mental health loss. And so being a part of - I know it's a tough time period because COVID is still out there, but the ability to reconnect with one another as humans - social skills deteriorate a little bit when we're not with each other. And so just taking these moments to rebuild our social skills, having some patience with each other, but rebuilding them together. When our City gets healthier in all aspects, especially mentally healthier, we'll be able to help each other better. [01:02:26] Crystal Fincher: I agree with that. Thank you so much for your time, Monisha. [01:02:30] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Thank you. [01:02:31] Crystal Fincher: I thank you all for listening to Hacks & Wonks on KVRU 105.7 FM. The producer of Hacks & Wonks is Lisl Stadler with assistance from Shannon Cheng. You can find me on Twitter @finchfrii, spelled F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I. Now you can follow Hacks & Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts - just type "Hacks & Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to get our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave a review wherever you listen to Hacks & Wonks. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the episode notes. Thanks for tuning in - we'll talk to you next time.

When schools shut down at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Congress put aside just over $13 billion in grant money for state educational agencies. New rounds of funding were approved in December 2020 and March 2021. But more than half of the $2.6 billion allocated for schools here in Washington hasn't been claimed yet, data published by the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction earlier this month shows.

Today, Karla Weng, Senior Program Manager for Stratis Health, and Pat Justis, Director of the Washington State Office of Rural Health, share their work on an initiative to expand access to palliative care in rural communities in Washington State, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. The transcript and a list of resources and organizations mentioned in the episode can be found at www.ruralhealthinfo.org/podcast/palliative-care-jun-2022.   Exploring Rural Health is an RHIhub podcast.

On this midweek show, Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell joins Crystal for an extensive conversation about public safety in Seattle. Their discussion ranges from how to handle an officer shortage with a long hiring pipeline, the Harrell administration's approach to encampment sweeps, how safety involves more than just policing, and the thought process on creating a third department (beyond Fire and Police). The importance of negotiating the SPOG contract in removing obstacles to progress is covered, as well as the thinking behind hotspot policing and strategic use of limited public safety resources. The show wraps up with what steps we can all take to help create positive change and make our streets safer. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Find the host, Crystal, on Twitter at @finchfrii and find Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell at @RuleSeven.   Resources “Seattle clears Woodland Park homeless encampment after months of trying to place people into shelter” by Greg Kim from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/seattle-clears-woodland-park-homeless-encampment-after-months-of-trying-to-place-people-into-shelter/   “Harrell Outlines Public Safety Strategies: Expanding Policing, ‘Hot Spots' Focus, Police Response Alternatives” by Elizabeth Turnbull from the South Seattle Emerald: https://southseattleemerald.com/2022/02/04/harrell-outlines-public-safety-strategies-expanding-policing-hot-spots-focus-police-response-alternatives/   Community Police Commission (CPC) - Police Accountability Recommendations Tracker (PART): https://www.seattle.gov/community-police-commission/our-work/recommendations-tracker   Community Police Commission (CPC) - Accountability Ordinance Tracker: https://www.seattle.gov/community-police-commission/our-work/accountability-ordinance-tracker   Washington State Office of Independent Investigations - Final Bill Report for ESHB 1267: https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2021-22/Pdf/Bill%20Reports/House/1267-S.E%20HBR%20FBR%2021.pdf?q=20220517001510   “Harrell Touts Arrests at Longtime Downtown Hot Spot in ‘Operation New Day' Announcement” by Paul Kiefer from PubliCola: https://publicola.com/2022/03/04/harrell-touts-arrests-at-longtime-downtown-hot-spot-in-operation-new-day-announcement/   “Harrell says he ‘inherited a mess,' will solve crime issues by putting arrests first, social services second” by Sarah Grace Taylor from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/harrell-says-he-inherited-a-mess-will-solve-crime-issues-by-putting-arrests-first-social-services-second/   One Seattle Day of Service - May 21: https://www.seattle.gov/mayor/one-seattle-initiatives/day-of-service Transcript [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington State through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. Well today, I'm pleased to welcome Senior Deputy Mayor of Seattle, Monisha Harrell, back to the program. Welcome back. [00:00:47] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Thanks for having me. [00:00:48] Crystal Fincher: Thanks for coming. Well, I suppose this is your first time as the Senior Deputy Mayor - your many, many previous roles and titles and accolades from before this proceeded you - but now you're in the role of Senior Deputy Mayor of Seattle in the Bruce Harrell administration. And how's it going? [00:01:12] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: It's been a fast four and a half months - I think it's a little bit like dog years - each week feels like a year, and there's nothing like on-the-job learning. [00:01:27] Crystal Fincher: Nothing like on-the-job learning. Now, what are you doing? What are you responsible for? [00:01:33] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: So my portfolio includes Fire, Police, Office of Emergency Management, Office of Intergovernmental Relations, Budget, and HR. [00:01:51] Crystal Fincher: And nothing else - that's it? [00:01:55] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I have a few things. I have a few things in the - I say anything that'll wake you up in the middle of the night is in my portfolio. It's helpful to have all those things in one place, and we're trying to envision the future of the City. There's a lot of work that has followed me from my previous experiences that I now have an opportunity to be able to put some of that visioning into practice in helping to lead the City, so it's exciting. I like it. It's a new take on some work that I've been doing for a long time. [00:02:32] Crystal Fincher: Well and you've certainly worked in several areas of the public safety spectrum in several different roles. Now this is part of your portfolio in this role. So I do want to talk about just the - a number of things - starting in terms of public safety and the conversations that we're having - that are lively and starting off conversations, just this week, with regard to staffing in SPD and moving forward. And I think, as we're looking about it, certainly we've talked on the program before about it - whether or not people agree with the need for more SPD officers, the City is moving forward with hiring more SPD officers and talking about that being part of the solution, or your plan for helping to make people safer. But with that, even if we were to hire 50 people today, that is actually a really long pipeline and those folks aren't going to be making it onto the streets for a while. So if we're talking about public safety, that might be a solution for the fall or next year, but what - short of adding more officers, which can't happen - can be done right now to help intervene in the rising crime levels. [00:03:58] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Yeah, that's a good question. We have to prepare for the short-, mid-, and long-term. And so one of the things that we've been doing in the short-term is civilianizing some positions that were previously certified positions. And so that helps us to be able to spread out our resources a little bit more - taking some internal positions, be they administrative or other, where we've asked - does this position need to be a law enforcement officer, a certified law enforcement officer, or can this be a civilian or a civilianized position and moving those to civilianized positions? So that is a short term solution - we are currently working on that, the chief has currently been working on that for the last several months. And so we're working through extending our resources through that. And that's a great long-term solution as well - analyzing what has to be a certified position and what can be a civilianized position. In the midterm, we do have to recruit folks to be willing to go into the academy. And policing across the country - there's a shortage of officers across the country. I don't know one department right now that is fully subscribed, that has all of the officers that it needs. We have seen a lot of people, especially officers, leaving the workforce over the course of the last couple of years. It's been a toll. It's been a toll on absolutely everybody. And in particular, as we've been having discussions - deep, deep discussions - around policing and the future of policing, some people in the profession have taken a look at whether or not they want to continue in that line of service. Some have been retirement age and some have decided that they want to take different paths - but those are all culminating in this moment. We have people - good people - who have reached an inflection point in their life and want to do something different. Some of them may turn towards policing, many of them have turned to other ways to support and help the community. So we have to talk to - and on the long end of the pipeline, it's talking to a lot of our young folks and seeing if there are people who want to be part of the future of what policing will be. And not looking at what it is now, but looking at what it could be for the future - and being a part of that, and being willing to step into something that is wholly uncertain at this moment. What policing is today is different than it was 10, 20 years ago, will be different than what it will be 10, 20 years from now. And so there has to be a willingness to embrace some of the uncertainty and wanting to be - and be willing to be - a part of what it could be in the future and shaping that. [00:07:15] Crystal Fincher: So is it possible to make people safer in the existing staffing footprint that we're going to be dealing with for the near term? [00:07:25] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Safer is - I think safer involves more than just policing. Safer involves getting more mental health support, safer involves better conflict resolution solutions beyond guns, safer is never going to be a police-only solution - and so we have to, candidly, be able to walk and chew gum in terms of yes, working on our policing shortages and working on shoring up our mental health systems, our physical health systems. Acknowledging that even if we have community members who had food on their table, a roof over their heads, jobs to attend to, their financial needs - the last couple of years haven't left many people in better mental and physical health than they were prior to 2020. And so even those who have had all of the means are still going to be unstable in some way and need help and need support. So safety really looks like - how do we build a larger support system and safety net to even catch those who wouldn't otherwise be considered vulnerable? [00:09:12] Crystal Fincher: Well, you know I agree with that. And I guess that's why it has been confounding in some of the actions that have been taken, whether it's some of the hotspot policing or the sweeps of encampments, where there certainly has been a lot of talk about having those kinds of supports and interventions and people reaching out to be there, but that being absent in so many of those situations where we are seeing predominantly public safety-led, and some of those situations only law enforcement-led, sweep or intervention. And looking at whether that can effectively address the problem and whether that's really delivering on the vision that you laid out. How do you explain that? [00:10:06] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Absolutely. So I think that people only see a portion and it's really hard. People only see a portion of what we're doing - of what any administration or any government agency is doing. Some of the things that are not as readily accessible is how much transitional housing we have actually opened up and made available over the course of the last few months - we have done an amazing job in terms of making transitional housing available and getting people into that transitional housing. In terms of some of the encampment removals, we've made a tremendous number of referrals and we've gotten people help and support that have been on the streets for years. Some of these stories of people being living on the streets for five years - that is never going to be a success. It's not a success that somebody lives in the street in the same spot for five years. That is an absolute dead end, and we should never be satisfied with somebody having that as an outcome and that as an option. And we have done quite a bit, this administration has done quite a bit, in terms of getting resources to many of those folks. [00:11:27] Crystal Fincher: So are you disputing that some of those have taken place without that outreach taken, done at first? Are you saying that that has occurred with all of them? [00:11:39] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Every person has been given the opportunity for support services - they're offered that. They don't always take it, and some people might not be in a place to be able to take it at that time period. I will talk a little bit about the Woodland Park encampment removal. There were, I think, 85 referrals made from the Woodland Park encampment. And those are real offers of help that we're getting out to folks in that we're making spaces available for them to be able to come indoors. Not everybody is ready for that, and certainly there were - there have been more people who have come on site who have needed help and support, and we're still working on getting supports for those folks. But when we have something open, we're trying to get people in it. [00:12:41] Crystal Fincher: So would it then be a fair characterization to say, in the case of an encampment sweep or a hotspot enforcement, if - or I guess that's a different situation - looking at encampment sweep. If a person there hasn't had contact with a, whether it's a caseworker or service provider - someone with a connection to services available to them if they are ready to go, that meet their circumstances, that they meet the qualifications to go into. If that doesn't happen, that is not your policy, that would be something going wrong in the process and not what you had ordered to be carried out? [00:13:32] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: So we don't have as many resources to allow people to pick their exact type of transitional housing. There have been times where we've said, there is a tiny home available and people might decline that because they would rather have a hotel, or there might be a tiny home available within a particular village and they don't want to go to that area of town. We don't have control over all of the inventory available, but we make something available. [00:14:09] Crystal Fincher: So something is always available for someone? [00:14:13] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: When we are doing - when we are doing removals, we make offers of support. There is a crew that goes out in advance that makes an offer of support prior to the removal. [00:14:26] Crystal Fincher: And so one of the issues, and it's been covered - in looking at offers of support. There seem to be some disconnects in what is available and what people need. And some really understandable and justifiable reasons why people may not be able to go to a shelter. Sometimes the situation may be - hey, shelter requires people be in by 7:00 or 8:00 PM, I have a job that requires me to be there later or to leave earlier. And so I can't keep my job and both go into the shelter. Obviously, keeping the job is something that preserves a pathway into housing. In those situations, does the City have a responsibility to find something more suitable, or to wait on sweeping them until there is something more suitable available? [00:15:25] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: So the removals are based on a number of different criteria and we'll be sharing more about that criteria in the coming weeks. There are some occasions where there is a safety reason to need to engage in a removal. And some of those safety reasons might be if there is a lot of - if there are some gun violence in that area or if there has been - and I'm just going off of specific instances that have increased the need for removals - if there was a sexual harassment, sexual assault incident within an encampment. There are any number of reasons - a number of fires that have been occurring in an encampment - those might be public safety reasons where we would prioritize dispersement in those cases. And so we use all of the resources that we have available - doesn't mean that we're going to have exactly what they need at that moment. We do our absolute best. Some people will be able to tell us what they are hoping for and if there's a match, we will try to match it. But this is also where the Regional Homelessness Authority comes in. This is part of taking the regional solution - we have 84 square miles in the City of Seattle to be able to accommodate folks. There is more housing available outside the region, and we want to make sure that there are options available for folks all over. That's part of why, when I refer to something like the Woodland Park encampment - we had services for everybody that was at Woodland Park during the time that we took the inventory of the area. Those people received housing and new people came in because they knew that the people at that encampment were able to access housing. And so we're trying to get to as many places and as many people as we possibly can, and we need the support and the help of the regional authority to be able to bring their resources to bear, to be able to get more transitional housing faster. [00:18:05] Crystal Fincher: Gotcha. In terms of just community-based interventions overall, certainly some of those are useful in and addressing some of the issues that the unhoused population is dealing with, others are direct interventions to help prevent crime and people from being victimized - with lots of evidence to show that they're very effective interventions. And the Harrell administration - you have talked about the intention to establish that - it looks like the last place where that left off was Mayor Harrell saying that there was an evaluation of some of the partners and service providers that you would potentially be working with. Where does that stand and what is that evaluation based on? [00:18:58] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Yeah, we're asking a lot of our providers to share with us what they've been doing with the resources that they are being provided by the City. And we're looking at the effectiveness rate - the rates with which people are able to support the community based on the resources provided. We had two - I don't want to call them necessarily summits, they weren't really summits - but they were information fact-gathering sessions with the providers who are doing that work - to be able to let them tell us how they're able to use their resources, and what else we could do to support them in their work. [00:19:53] Crystal Fincher: So what are you hearing from that? [00:19:56] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: We are hearing a lot of need, quite candidly. There is a lot of need, particularly in and around as we spoke about earlier, mental health supports, emotional supports. Some folks are meeting communities' need to just be connected with one another in order to better manage their challenges. And we're really trying to assess who has set up systems to be able to make greater advances with more resources if they were provided to them. There are certainly some services that I think people have heard quite a bit about that have had pretty good levels of success, and we're trying to figure out how to get some of those organizations more resources. And there are some organizations candidly that didn't fare as well through the pandemic, where their organizations might not be as strong as they were before and they may be in a position where they have to regroup before they're ready to receive more supports from the City. So we're evaluating all of those things, but we've seen a lot of really good things out there. Organizations like JustCare, for example, they've been able to remain pretty steady and and do some great work across the City. And certainly they've been resourced to do some great work, but we're looking at all of the, all of our providers out there who have a part of the puzzle piece that we need in this moment. [00:21:51] Crystal Fincher: So in short - taking a look at, hey, you've had resources. Have you demonstrated that you have used the tax dollars that you've received to further the mission and deliver results, when it comes to tangible increases in prevention of crime, interventions, reduction of recidivism - metrics like that. [00:22:18] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Absolutely. And then also looking at whether or not we've got the right mix. Do we have enough across the spectrum of the needs that are required? Do we have enough in the healthcare arena, both mental and physical? Do we have enough in the internship and apprenticeship arena to ensure that particularly folks have access to being able to set up their futures for themselves? Those are all of the things that we have to look at because we have a finite number of resources - as a city, we have to manage and take care of all of our basic functions. And then what we have, we have to be really - we have to really pay attention to - are we using these dollars effectively because we don't have the endless pot that we would want. [00:23:11] Crystal Fincher: Right. So basically, are you getting a bang for your buck, is the money that you're spending resulting in safer streets? [00:23:20] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Exactly. And not just safer streets, but prosperity for those who have access. Part of safer streets is - there are components of economic justice that are related to that. I don't think people - if they have to resort to any sort of stealing, I don't think they do it because they want to do it. I think they do it because there is a need that's not being met, so how else can we meet that need? Is it through additional education? Is it through apprenticeships? So stronger work opportunities, better paying jobs, access to education - we have to look at that whole ecosystem because it's not one lever. If it was one lever, somebody would've pulled it a long time ago. [00:24:13] Crystal Fincher: That makes sense. And as I look at it, especially with - looking at the money that we're putting into community-based interventions, it is not an unlimited budget, need to make sure that that money is delivering a result. It makes sense to do the same thing with the police department, doesn't it? Are you using that same kind of evaluation to determine if the police department should receive more funding, if we should pull back and redirect to other areas? [00:24:42] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: And that's exactly what we were doing when I mentioned earlier - looking at positions and seeing which positions can be civilianized, looking at the job functions and trying to evaluate whether or not those job functions need to be certified in order to be effective. And so we're looking at the whole ecosystem of that. One of the things that I think we talked about before was the third department that would be on par with Police and Fire. What does that third department look like? What services still need to be met in an emergency situation that we need to dispatch, where Police or Fire are not the solution in that instance? We've talked about the history of EMTs and EMS, where you would no longer send police to a heart attack, but there was a time period where that's exactly what you did. And so we're looking at what are the calls that don't need a a law enforcement response or a fire response? What are the needs that are not being met and how do we put that department together? We're working on that - our goal, our hope is to have a white paper and structure for that third department by the end of this year, that we would then begin to structure in 2023 for a 2024 deployment. [00:26:16] Crystal Fincher: So then am I hearing that it's a possibility that some of those community-based interventions, non-law enforcement-based interventions may be made functions of the City within a public safety department that doesn't have a sworn officer. So you're looking to build up that infrastructure. So that actually may not occur from service providers that you're partnering with today? That may be an internal thing? [00:26:45] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Absolutely. It's also part of - what I will say is - we are looking at the functions that are provided and of course, if that's the case, the third department will be just, will be a professional entity, just like fire and law enforcement - where there will be a curriculum and a program and the proper certifications for whatever is needed within that body of work. It will be a professionalized entity that is able to respond to 911 calls that meet their unique skillset. [00:27:20] Crystal Fincher: Okay. Have you received - which makes sense - have you received pushback from SPD on civilianizing parts of it? There were some - there was a recent report about responses to 911 calls potentially being handled by alternate responders that they recently pushed back on. Are you hearing that, and how are you working through that? [00:27:44] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I think that's natural and I think that's to be expected. It is part of - would I want that? No, I want everybody to work together and I think by and large people are working together. But it's the job of their police union to push and try to negotiate and try to get as much for their members as they possibly can. We know that some of it is founded, and some of it is just part of what they have to do in trying to negotiate for their next upcoming contracts. What they see is - they might see - well, that used to be a body of work that pertained to us, and we don't want to lose that body of work. But the truth of the matter is policing is many different professions rolled under one title. They're not all the same. Somebody who is on a beat isn't necessarily trained to be an effective detective. Somebody who might be doing homicide might not be right for a domestic assault. There are different skillsets, there are different trainings - and depending upon the line that an officer wants to go into, they might need a different career development path. So we really have to look at the body of work and whether or not it fits in with solving some of those crimes and getting justice in that way and if not, there might be instances where the presence of a uniform could escalate a situation. And there's somebody who has not got a weapon on the other side - then we don't want to send a certified officer into that particular situation - that might not be a best fit for them. We know that labor will want to negotiate that and those are some things that we'll have to address. And there are some where labor might want to negotiate that and we say - but that's not, that's not within the purview of your scope anyway. So it's a conversation. [00:30:18] Crystal Fincher: It's a conversation. And as you just brought up, that conversation is about to be codified into a new Seattle Police Officers Guild contract, and you will be at the negotiating table. And there there's been lots of discussions in the greater conversation about the role that police officers have and the larger public safety conversation and how and whether their interventions do result in people being less likely to be victimized. Lots of conversations about what is appropriate, what's not appropriate to be in a contract, what oversight should be more independent and not internal. So I guess starting out, are there, especially in light of the prior public safety ordinance that had a lot of reforms in there - some of them rolled back with the contract - are you looking to reimplement those? What approach are you taking in this negotiation? [00:31:27] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: So our prioritization is absolutely on accountability. We have to move forward aggressively on accountability for many different reasons, not not the least of which is we have a consent decree that - at this moment, it's not benefiting the City or the people of the City to still have this as an operating standard or practice for the City. It reminds me of - there's this old Thomas Jefferson quote that kind of refers to - if you wear the clothes, if you try to wear the clothes that fits you as a boy as a man, it doesn't work. And to me, that's where we are with the consent decree - we are 10 years into this and those clothes no longer fit - we have moved well beyond that. And if we want to get to what the future of policing is, we need to move past this past that is not even close to the picture of where we want to be. And so it has to be a prioritization on accountability - that has to be everything. And I know some people - going back to the other part of what we were talking about - some people will want to jump ahead and say, well, let's negotiate what the third department looks like and the trading off of those roles. The police contract is only three years and we're already one year into a three-year contract. We can negotiate the roles of that next contract in the next cycle. We're one year into a three-year contract, so we have to focus on accountability - that has to be our number one goal. And then once we get the right accountability measures in place, within the next contract we can start negotiating roles and responsibilities as pertains to what might be a third public safety department. [00:33:45] Crystal Fincher: There've been several recommendations related to collective bargaining from lots of entities, including the CPC. Some of those including fully implementing the reforms in the accountability law, removing limits on civilianization of OPA and ensuring civilian investigators have the same powers as their sworn counterparts, removing clauses in the contract that take precedence over local laws including that accountability ordinance, the police being empowered to place an employee on leave without pay, and ensuring OPA has authority to investigate allegations of criminal misconduct. Do you agree that those should be implemented in this new contract? [00:34:37] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: You named so many that I just want to say that the answer is yes. But let me - that's bad radio to be like, the answer is just yes - but the answer is yes. And I'll just pull out a couple of them that are of particular interest - civilianization of investigators at OPA - I think that is something that we need to seriously explore for many different reasons, but let me just go on a couple. One of which is - the statewide Office of Independent Investigations that we'll eventually move to - it was envisioned to eventually be a civilianized body so that there were no conflicts of interest in those investigations. And we have to look at the same thing for SPD - that these are officers that are being forced to investigate their fellow officers. That can't be a good place to be. It can't be a good place to be to - you're working in one department and you're working alongside your team, and then you move and have a rotation to the next department. And in that next rotation, you're having to investigate the people that you were just working alongside of. And I use this example because - no matter how many firewalls you put up, there is always going to be the potential - and a strong potential - for conflict of interest. Crystal, you and I have known each other for a really long time and - we're not that old, we've known each other for a little while - and we would both do our jobs if we had to do an investigation. And yet I think that the way that we've crossed paths over the years, it would be really hard to be an absolutely unbiased independent investigator if something were to come up, because I know you're a good person. And I wouldn't believe that you would do anything terrible, so it would be hard for me to say and now I want to investigate you. And then when my rotation in this department is over, now I just want to go back to working alongside you. That's a tough place to be. And I think that exploring the civilianization of investigators at OPA - it protects us from some of those potential conflicts of interest, and we really have to take a hard look at that. [00:37:04] Crystal Fincher: And not just civilianization, but giving them - removing the limits to make sure that they have the same power and authority in all instances of investigation. Because I think that's been a frustrating part - to be like, well, I'm not part of the police department - even the elements that are civilians just being kneecapped and not having the authority to fully investigate or to make any recommendations that hold any weight. Is that part of your vision, and what you plan to negotiate is also providing them with that authority? [00:37:47] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Absolutely. And again, following the statewide model of the Office of Independent Investigations that will follow the same path. We'll see who races each other first to that finish line, but very much following the same model. And the one thing I want to just clarify for folks - sometimes people hear the term "civilianization" and they think sloppy or not as professional - we are talking about professional investigators that just may not be certified officers. And there are a ton of highly trained professional investigators in a lot of different professions that could have skillsets that apply to the work that would be needed for these types of investigations. I'll give you an example is - there's always forensic auditors for things like financial accounting crimes - they may not be law enforcement officers, but they are trained professionals in forensic accounting who can help with some of this criminal problem solving. There could be people who are forensic anthropologists or other such things, who know how to contain a crime scene and who know how to collect the evidence. When we say civilianized, we're not talking about anything less than the highest level of professionalism. It just means that they are not trained officers in the way that they would respond to an immediate and imminent crisis. [00:39:28] Crystal Fincher: That makes sense and is certainly valid. We've seen that operate very successfully in similar areas. And I think an even bigger deal - we're seeing the current system not working, so a change is in order. So is that a red line for you in this negotiation? Is that something that you're starting with as a foundational this is where we need to be? [00:39:54] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: It will probably take us, it will take us more than this contract to get to a fully civilianized team, investigative team at OPA, but we certainly want to begin to move in that direction where we have very professional civilian investigators available to us for that work. And I believe that there's going to be a bigger demand for that particular career going forward. I do believe that sometimes Seattle is on the frontline of a lot of this work, but where and how we make these things successful, we will see them roll out in other areas across the state and across the country. [00:40:44] Crystal Fincher: So it's possible that we walk out on the other side of this contract and there are still situations where the police are investigating themselves. [00:40:53] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: For certain things. So, as the Office of Independent Investigation gets set up, they will take all lethal use of force - that will go to the state regardless - that body of work will go to the state. As pertains to any accusations of sexual harassment or sexual assault, that will go to the state. So we are going to, we absolutely will honor state law. And quite honestly, I think folks should be grateful that the state is doing that work. I think that what they're setting up will be revolutionary in order to ensuring that we have unbiased, less-biased investigations. And do I believe you can eliminate bias 100% entirely? I would love to say yes, I don't know if that's ever completely possible, but I think we can get to a system that is more accountable and more transparent for everybody involved. [00:42:02] Crystal Fincher: As we look forward in the short-term and some of the interventions that are going, do you expect a continuation or more deployments of the hotspot policing strategy? [00:42:18] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I think that while we have limited resources, we have to be really strategic about where and how we deploy them. And so, I wouldn't call it hotspot policing because it's a little more nuanced than that, but what I would say is when you have limited resources, you have to be really, really strategic about where and how you deploy them. And that's what we're having to do - we're having to look at the areas that are in the greatest need and providing resources to those areas in those moments. And so we look at things like - what are the big events coming up in and around the City and how do we deploy in order to make sure that yes, we can cover the Mariners game, the Sounders game, a concert at Climate Pledge, because we are short-staffed and that there's no quick way to make up for that. This has been a while in the making and even if we had all of the body signed up right now, we still only have one Criminal Justice Training Center to run all of the state's recruits through. So we're going to have to be strategic for a little while - we can't, we don't have the staffing at every precinct and in every neighborhood that we would want to have. And so that means looking at what is on our social calendars, trying to get people back to normal, right? This is - it has been many years since we've had a full cadre of parades and outdoor events, and we want people to be able to get back into life again and get back into life safely. So how do we have the Torchlight Parade with such a limited number of officers available to staff? How do we have one of my favorites, the Pride Parade, with a limited number of officers to staff? So we really have to be a lot more strategic and it means that we really have to look at the chess board. I think what people see are hotspots and it's not as much hotspots as we have to be more predictive about where we go and strategically plan for that. [00:45:01] Crystal Fincher: And I can see that - I guess the challenge, as you articulate that, the mayor certainly articulated certain spots that were spots of emphasis that were going to be receiving increased patrols and resources and have folks stationed basically there full-time to, I think as he talks about, calm the area. So it seems like there have been point - that kind of thing has been referred to by lots of different terms, whether it's a hotspot or an emphasis patrol or however we want to characterize it, we are focusing our admittedly limited number of resources in a concentrated area. And are we expecting, are you expecting to deploy resources in concentrated areas, not talking about surrounding events that may happen, but on day-to-day, as we saw before - Tuesday through Friday in a place - is that part of an ongoing strategy, or have we seen the last of that? [00:46:16] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: It has to be a little bit of both. And so I'll give you an example - some of where people have seen us focus have been in areas where there have been increases in gun violence - and so Third Avenue is an example. So what people saw is they saw us move the mobile precinct to the Third Avenue area right after we had two incidents - two pretty painful incidents - of gun violence deaths in that area. And what that additional patrol allowed us to do was to be able to add more investigative resources to both of those cases. And we've made - we have two suspects that have been arrested for both of those shootings on Third Avenue where - it was an area that there was an increased amount of gun violence. And two, all murders are painful. It is particularly challenging when one of them is really just a child, a 15-year old. And because of the police work that we - the police and the officers were able to put in that area - to be able to canvass and collect the camera information from in and around the area, we were able to bring forth two suspects in both of those murders. And so, that is part of the job. It's not just about patrolling for what is happening in the moment. It's also patrolling and doing the detective work to solve crimes that we know have been happening in that area, that families will want answers for. [00:48:14] Crystal Fincher: Well, I think that's an excellent point. I actually think there's a very strong case to be made for increasing the deployment of resources in investigative roles. It seems like that's actually an area of unique specialty and opportunity, and results that come from that can yield long-lasting results. So it feels like people in the City see that, it seems like that's been widely acknowledged. However, when we have these conversations about - hey, we're short staffing, the conversations are - we have to move people out of these investigative roles, these victim liaison and services roles - a lot of things that get at preventing behavior from people who are currently doing it. So does it make sense to continue to move people away from those investigative roles onto patrol, especially in these conversations as we continue to identify areas where patrol doesn't seem like the most effective intervention? [00:49:29] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Yeah, we need both. It's - this is the Catch-22. We need both. We have to find ways to be able to, in some ways, tamp down ongoing incidents. And sometimes the presence of a mobile precinct can do that, can be a little bit of what just helps take some of the fire out of the air. There's some things that we've done over the course of the last few years - back in the olden times when people used to go out, for example, and they talked about - well, instead of everything closing at the same time every night, what if we were to stagger release hours from some of the different clubs and bars? For the young people listening, who don't remember what clubs and bars are, and that was a way to not push everybody who might have a little bit of alcohol in their system out into the street at the same time. So we are having to do a little bit of column A a little bit of column B because we have imperfect resources. [00:50:40] Crystal Fincher: Well, and seem to be saying - we need to do all we can to meet patrol numbers, and we will take from other areas to deploy on patrol - that's what the chief was saying. Should we continue taking, or should we rebalance, because both are going to happen. Should we be deploying back in the detective arena and investing more in actually trying to solve some of these crimes and find some of the people who are doing them? [00:51:16] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: For those people who are trained to be detectives, we are doing everything we can to get them back to their primary functions. And in the meantime, taking a try to do-no-harm approach, which is in not letting people continue to get victimized as we're trying to do that. And that's why I said it's gotta be a little from column A and a little from column B, because we have to solve crimes that have occurred and we have to do what we can to prevent additional crimes from occurring. Not everybody is trained to be a detective, but for those who have those trainings and have those skills, we want to be able to give them all of the resources we can to get them back on those jobs. [00:52:05] Crystal Fincher: And you've been very generous with your time - we are just about to wrap up. I think the last question - we could cover a ton - but appreciate getting through the chunk that we did today. You talk about some of those emphasis patrols or areas where more resources are being deployed - whatever name it's going by. With those, there was a press conference that even Chief Diaz seemed to acknowledge that those increased patrols and having the mobile unit nearby does have an effect on that area during that time. But he brought up instances in this current iteration, and certainly we've seen in prior iterations, where the result isn't that the crime stops, it moves to other neighborhoods. And it sets up a situation where it looks like - for moneyed interests, for downtown interests, they're getting super special police deployments in the name of safety. And sure it may improve things on that block while those police are there, but it actually is moving that activity elsewhere in the City. And he said they were working on trying to track that. And are we succeeding? Is that the best expenditure of resources if that's the result that we're getting, which is seemingly - hey sure, maybe a win for those businesses on that block, but a loss for the neighborhood and the residents that are receiving that activity. Should we - is that the most effective way to address that? Is that the most equitable way to address that for everybody in the City? [00:54:03] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I would say that there is still a benefit to having those resources visible and available. And think about when somebody - there might be an area where people are used to speeding and then they put up the electronic board that says you're going this fast, and it reminds people to slow down. Sometimes the visual cues that we use for some of the public safety is just - you're in this area and you might have something that might pop off, but just calm down. It's a visual reminder to calm down, a visual reminder. And that doesn't necessarily always move someplace else, but it can be a reminder to - this is not your time and this is not your moment. We can't stop every single incident from occurring, but we certainly want to be able to give people pause before they might do something that would be regrettable later. So, it's not the perfect system. It's certainly not the perfect system, but there are benefits across the board if we can get people to think about how they might seek help, or how maybe just the presence can calm people down, or how we can even regain a sense of normalcy to an area that might draw in more foot traffic - and where there is more foot traffic and more positive activity than in the absence of nothing which can create some negative activity. We're bringing people back to an area that would allow us to get some good activity back on the streets. One of the best approaches for public safety, quite candidly, is for people to start going out again - filling up those spaces with positive activity, filling up those spaces with positive engagement - because where you have more eyes and positive activity, you actually need less policing. [00:56:24] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely true. And I guess my question is, even in a situation where - okay, you do that, you intimidate someone away and they aren't doing that there. In the instance that they're then moving somewhere else, we have not necessarily successfully intervened in their activity, but have moved it. [00:56:49] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I don't think it's a hundred percent though. I do think that there are places where you can put in positive activity and attract positive activity response. So I think about some of our young folks where the hours where they would get in the most trouble would be those immediate hours after school. If they are in a space that is filled with positive activity, then perhaps they will adopt and take on that positive activity. If they're in a space where there is negative activity, then they can take on that negative activity. That's the case where it's not just it would move to a different place. It's - you're giving idle hands an opportunity to do something more productive. And that's what I'm talking about filling that positive activity space - not everybody would necessarily fill that space with the sort of activity that we wouldn't care for if we get more more positive engagement in those areas. [00:57:47] Crystal Fincher: I certainly agree about the benefit of positive engagement. I am certainly hoping that maybe we can envision a time where we actually deploy resources surrounding positive activities and positive connection to opportunities - in that kind of emphasis patrol and intervention that we have. But I appreciate the time that you've taken to speak with us and help us understand better what's going on in the City and what you're up to, and certainly look forward to following as we continue to go along. [00:58:27] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Well, this is a conversation, it's a dialogue. We've got a lot of work to do. There's no one group that has all of the answers, and so I appreciate the opportunity to come on and speak with you. And I know we get a lot of feedback and that's good, because we listened to the feedback and we'll make adjustments as we go along, but we're trying to do everything we can to make sure that we get the City back on track. [00:58:54] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. Okay, I'm going to sneak in one more question. You talk about you get a lot of feedback - is there something that people can do, or a way to engage that you think is a great opportunity to get involved in making a difference, helping to create positive change, helping to keep our streets safer? Is there one thing that you would recommend that they could do to be a part of that? [00:59:14] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: I'm going to give you two things. So the first thing is I'm going to mention our One Seattle Day of Service on May 21st, and just say that it's more than about just cleaning up some aspects of our city and helping us put some positive activity out there. It's also about a sense of building community with one another - that we're really hoping that everybody who comes to the Day of Service will find somebody new that they haven't connected with, that they haven't built community with and be willing to reconnect with society in doing some positive work together. So I'll talk about that because I think that there are significant benefits to our mental health - to rebuild positive social skills and positive social relationships. So that's one thing that if people were like, I don't have a lot of time on my calendar, but I can commit to a couple hours on one day. And then the other thing that I would say is - we need to return to the old scripture - being our brother's keeper. And that may mean reaching out to nonprofit organizations that are doing this great work. We will help their dollar stretch farther when we provide them resources through serving on boards, through providing hands-on activity or volunteer opportunities to help them further their missions. And so anything that we can do to pitch in and to add - whether or not that is - maybe even it's reaching out and having lunch with a young person and providing them paths that they might not have otherwise thought of, letting them know young or old - quite candidly in this one - that somebody out there cares and will listen to them. We have a lot of - our older folks - and I know you are wrapping up, I'm sorry - but I'm just gonna make this one last pitch. We have a lot of older folks who've actually struggled through this pandemic. They have suffered from withdrawal because their social structures have been pulled from them, and older folks who withdraw from society have higher instances of high blood pressure and hypertension - all of those things that result from depression and not having a social network around you, can result in physical health loss as well as mental health loss. And so being a part of - I know it's a tough time period because COVID is still out there, but the ability to reconnect with one another as humans - social skills deteriorate a little bit when we're not with each other. And so just taking these moments to rebuild our social skills, having some patience with each other, but rebuilding them together. When our City gets healthier in all aspects, especially mentally healthier, we'll be able to help each other better. [01:02:26] Crystal Fincher: I agree with that. Thank you so much for your time, Monisha. [01:02:30] Senior Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell: Thank you. [01:02:31] Crystal Fincher: I thank you all for listening to Hacks & Wonks on KVRU 105.7 FM. The producer of Hacks & Wonks is Lisl Stadler with assistance from Shannon Cheng. You can find me on Twitter @finchfrii, spelled F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I. Now you can follow Hacks & Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts - just type "Hacks & Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to get our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave a review wherever you listen to Hacks & Wonks. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the episode notes. Thanks for tuning in - we'll talk to you next time.

In May of 2004 12-year-old Rosa Sandoval missed the last day of elementary school and the class party that was to take place and was never seen again. San Antonio Police sprung to action fast, but by the time Rosa was found to be missing, at least 14 hours had passed. Or so everyone originally thought. The cops later found out that perhaps almost 24 hours had passed since Rosa Sandoval was last seen. Either way, not a trace of the missing girl could be found, and police activity reported in a careless way by local media led to baseless speculation against family. To this day, although one clue was eventually publicly released, police seem to be no closer to finding out what happened to Rosa.If you have any information about the murder of Rosa Sandoval, please contact Bexar County Crime Stoppers at 210-224-STOP, or 210-224-7868.You can help get #JusticeForBrittanyMcGlone by contributing to the reward fund by calling the Wood County Crime Stoppers at (903) 850-9060.Please donate to help get #JusticeForLeonLaureles at gofundme.com/f/leon-laureles-private-detective-and-memorialYou can support gone cold and listen ad-free at patreon.com/gonecoldpodcastFind us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram by using @gonecoldpodcast and on YouTube at: youtube.com/c/gonecoldpodcastThe Website of the Washington State Office of the Attorney General, The San Antonio Express-News, FoxSanAntonio.com, KSAT.com, Court TV, Kens5.com, and WOAI.com were used as sources for this episode.#JusticeForRosaSandoval #SanAntonio #SanAntonioTX #BexarCountyTX #Texas #TX #GoneCold #GoneColdPodcast #TexasTrueCrime #TrueCrime #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #ColdCase #UnsolvedMysteries #Missing #Murder

Today Hacks & Wonks Week in Review is back after a brief hiatus! Crystal is joined by Co-founder of the Mercury Group and previous Chief of Staff to Mike McGinn, Julie McCoy to discuss the charges filed against Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer by Attorney General Bob Ferguson for falsely accusing his Black newspaper carrier of threatening his life leading to an overwhelming police response, the case for the Attorney General conducting an investigation into Jenny Durkan's deleted text messages, and analysis of new polling out this week of the election coming up on November 2nd and what the campaigns should be doing to reach the voters they need to win.  As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Find the host, Crystal Fincher on Twitter at @finchfrii and find today's co-host, Julie McCoy, at @mcjulie87. More info is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.   Resources “Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer charged with false reporting in January confrontation with newspaper carrier” by Jim Brunner and Christine Clarridge from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/pierce-county-sheriff-ed-troyer-charged-with-false-statements-in-january-confrontation-with-newspaper-carrier/  “Criminal charges filed against Pierce County sheriff” from the Washington State Office of the Attorney General: https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/criminal-charges-filed-against-pierce-county-sheriff  “Durkan Destroys 10 Months of Text Messages in Apparent Coverup” by Doug Trumm from The Urbanist: https://www.theurbanist.org/2021/05/13/durkan-destroys-10-months-of-text-messages-in-apparent-coverup/  Polling results from the Northwest Progressive Institute, via The Cascadia Advocate: https://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/category/elections  Candidate Forums: Previously Recorded: Seattle Mayoral Public Safety Forum conducted by the ACLU of Washington: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=1228402674346629  Upcoming on Saturday, October 23rd: The Great Debate 2021 conducted by Urbvote, Rainier Arts Center, and The Emperors Group: https://www.facebook.com/events/529623018366265/   Transcript:  Transcript will be uploaded as soon as possible.

This is Season 1, Episode 8 of FocusED, and it features guest, Pete Hall. It was originally recorded live for a studio audience in Delaware, provided as a professional development experience for Delaware teachers and leaders. Don't miss what Pete has to say about building capacity within the teaching ranks. This is a must listen for all educators. ________________________________________ Pete Hall Brings Tons of Experience to FocusED Listeners After a teaching career that spanned preK-8 over three states, Pete served 12 years as a principal in three Title I schools, one of which was the only Title I school in the State of Nevada to earn a “High Achieving” designation; another earned accolades from the Washington State Office of the Superintendent for its growth and achievement; and the other earned a Career & Life Readiness Award from the State of Washington. For his tenacious and courageous leadership, Pete was honored with Nevada's Martin Luther King Jr Award (2005), was appointed to the Governor's Commission on Excellence in Education (in Nevada, 2005), and was selected to sit on the National Education Association's Great Public Schools Indicators Advisory Panel (2010-2011). He holds a National Principal Mentor Certificate from NAESP and supports leadership development from the organizational level to the individual level. He now works as a personal consultant/mentor/motivational coach for school leaders, teachers, professional athletes, weekend golfers, stand-up comedians, firefighters, business executives, custodians, and more. He is currently working on his 10th book, Strive: How ordinary people can live extraordinary lives. Don't forget to check out www.educationhall.com. Get your copy of Creating a Culture of Reflective Practice: Building Capacity for Schoolwide Success today. ------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for listening to FocusED, an educational leadership podcast brought to you by TheSchoolHouse302 @ theschoolhouse302.com. FocusED is your educational leadership podcast where our mission is to dissect a particular focus for teachers and school leaders so that you can learn to lead better and grow faster in your school or district with more knowledge, better understanding, and clear direction on what to do next. This episode was brought to you by GhostBed, a family-owned business of sleep experts with 20+ years of experience. With 30K+ 5-star reviews, you can't go wrong with GhostBed. Their mattresses are handcrafted, and they come with a 101-night-at-home-sleep trial. For a limited time, you can get 30% by using our code — SH302 — at checkout. And, even if you tell someone about GhostBed, you can earn a $100 referral reward. Go to Ghostbed.com today and use SH302 at checkout. Lastly, join us in the Principals' Club, designed to take your PLN to a PLC so that we can support one another in our growth as leaders. We hope to see you there.

Hosts Anzhane Slaughter and Carol Mitchell talk with Dr. Karen A. Johnson, the inaugural Director for the newly created Washington State Office of Equity. Dr. Johnson shares her current and future work with communities to develop the state's five-year equity plan.

Interview by Jimmy Jia (www.jimmyjia.com) Music by Sean Hart (www.seanhart.com)Website: www.leversforchangepodcast.com Our guest Jay Bruns, asked Benjamin Kott, the CEO of LightsourceBP Labs, · How does BP staff and internal people see its commitment to moving away from fossil fuels? Ben’s question was for Prachi Vakharia, Managing Director for Womanium, an organization promoting female leaders. He asked, · As a tech dad, how do I encourage STEM at home for my young daughter?Prachi, in turn, posed a question for Jay Bruns, Senior Climate Policy Advisor at Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner.· How does the Insurance Sector navigate the risks and responsibility of autonomous vehicles?Suzanne Singer, a former employee at Lawrence Livermore National Labs, had a question for Jud Virden, the current Associate Laboratory Director for the Pacific Northwest National Labs· How are technical organizations building more entrepreneurial capabilities?Jud, in turn, asked a question that Suzanne, now an entrepreneur who founded Native Renewables, a solar company operating in Navajo Nation,· What key policy / financing changes need to occur to accelerate the clean energy economy?Lasty, Suzanne posed a question for Stacy Flynn, the CEO and Co-Founder of Evernu· How do women entrepreneurs overcome the challenges of finding funding?Thanks for joining us and I hope you will subscribe to Season 2, or listen to some of our Series 1 episodes. Thanks for listening, and as always, when looking to make an impact, start by searching for your levers for change.

We are excited to announce that this month’s guest speaker is our very first Regulator Guest, Jeff Baughman from the Washington State Office of the…Continue readingEpisode 12 – Regulator, Jeff Baughman

It's certainly not a guarantee, but the Washington State Office of Public Instruction released 55 pages of guidance for reopening school districts in the fall, and is planning to move ahead. One catch: not everyone is on board. Coronavirus case counts rose in Yakima, Franklin and Benton counties after Memorial Day weekend. The peak for Eastern Washington is still ahead, the Institute for Disease Modeling predicts. And as we see some experimental treatments and miracle recoveries make headlines, including a double-lung transplant, what kind of medical bills are these families facing? Is a million dollar treatment ... worth it? Listen to KIRO Radio's Dave Ross and reporter Aaron Granillo discuss today's top headlines. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's equality . . . and then there's equity. State Rep. Mia Gregerson is one of many lawmakers with equity on their minds, and it's an important issue in the Washington Legislature this year. Today she talks to "Capitol Ideas" about her hopes for an Office of Equity, and why it would matter.

I'm super honored and grateful that you decided to join me and read this episode where we are talking about the evolution of integrative healthcare and its influence on pain care. As I was putting together the pieces of the podcast, I realized that the word integrative and integrative health is one that's thrown around with not on a very solid definition. Integrative healthcare is simply an individualized holistic and evidence-based approach to healthcare as well as pain care. A true integrative practitioner can help you improve not only your physical health but also your mental as well as your spiritual well-being. True integrative healthcare consists of a comprehensive physical examination, a review of your medical records and laboratory tests, a thorough discussion about education regarding lifestyle management behavioral modification, and if needed a referral or recommendation to services such acupuncture, massage therapy, nutrition, counseling, yoga, mindfulness. There are many types of practitioners and interventions that fall under the umbrella of integrative healthcare. Here to speak to us about the evolution and some of the politics behind integrative healthcare is John Weeks. John has worked in this field for more than 35 years as a writer, speaker, organizer and as a consultant. Since the mid-1990s, John has consulted on the integration with various parties including the NIH, the Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner, multiple insurance companies, hospitals and of course, professional associations and academic organization. Four institutions have granted him an honorary doctorate for his groundbreaking work and forward-thinking work in the field of integrative medicine. He's the Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine which covers the paradigm, practice and policy advances that are happening in integrative healthcare. John has been in this field for a long time. He is a wealth of information. I really enjoyed talking to him about the evolution of integrative healthcare and especially some of the politics with regard to how we insert an integrative health model within the existing biomedical model. I know you're going to enjoy this episode. Make sure you share it with your friends and family. Sit back, relax, and let's meet John Weeks. Sign up for the latest episode at www.integrativepainscienceinstitute.com/podcasts/. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Here’s How » Join the Healing Pain Podcast Community today: integrativepainsciencinstitute.com Healing Pain Podcast Facebook Healing Pain Podcast Twitter Healing Pain Podcast YouTube Healing Pain Podcast LinkedIn Healing Pain Podcast Instagram

Professional Development Agent Pete Hall, 12-year veteran school principal on sabbatical, proudly offers professional development experiences, workshops, mentoring support, keynote addresses, and other educational consulting services full-time. After a teaching career that spanned three states and included primary, intermediate, and middle-school positions, Mr. Hall served as principal of Anderson Elementary School in Reno, Nevada. When he took over Anderson Elementary in 2002, it was the only school in Nevada to have failed to make AYP for four consecutive years. Two short years later, it was the only Title I school in the state of Nevada to earn “High Achieving” designation. Subsequently, he served as the principal of Sheridan Elementary, a Title I school in Spokane, which earned accolades from the Washington State Office of the Superintendent for its growth and achievement, and as principal of Shaw Middle, another Title I school in Spokane, which earned recognition for its college & career readiness indicators and growth. Pete Hall Show Highlights His style of “building capacity” and how he does it ... What he learned from his 28 page School Improvement Plan Leave it to your team to create the plan for where your school is going How Pete builds trust with his people The 4 step reflective cycle Pete created Pete’s creative process for writing The question you must ask yourself as a leader, “What are you focused on?" We need something for trauma-informed instruction How to maintain relationships with people different than us What do we want our kids to be like when they leave? Read something non-professional to be more human Resources The principal influence Fostering resilient learners Teach, reflect, learn Building teachers’ capacity for success   Contact Pete   Contact Pete on Twitter   Email Pete     Do you need accountability? Text BETTERMASTERMIND to 33444 Daniel wants to work with you and help you accelerate your leadership development and increase your impact.      BECOME A PATRON OF THE SHOW FOR AS LITTLE AS $1/MONTH DID YOU LIKE THE SHOW?  iTunes SUBSCRIBE HERE! SHOW SOME LOVE: PLEASE LEAVE A 5-STAR RATING AND REVIEW Grab your FREE 15 Phrases of Effective School Leaders  Text PHRASES to 33444 or click the link above.   Website :: Facebook :: Insta :: Twitter :: LinkedIn

On this episode of the META Podcast, we discuss data quality in case management programs for resettled refugees. Hear common challenges and tips for improvement from Abigail Clarke-Sayer and Prospero Herrera of the IRC as well as Jennifer Malloy of the Washington State Office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance. To learn more about the META Project, and to download our upcoming resources, visit www.METASupport.org. Have feedback for us? Email META@Rescue.org

Competing community interests related to water access, use, and conservation sets the stage for the Edwards Aquifer Recovery Implementation Plan. Discover the practices used to support stakeholder collaboration. Learn more about how water law, hydrology, drought of record, threatened and endangered species and stakeholder analysis provided a context for community discussion with Kevin Connally, Fish and Wildlife Biologist, Washington State Office, USFWS.

Competing community interests related to water access, use, and conservation sets the stage for the Edwards Aquifer Recovery Implementation Plan. Discover the practices used to support stakeholder collaboration. Learn more about how water law, hydrology, drought of record, threatened and endangered species and stakeholder analysis provided a context for community discussion with Kevin Connally, Fish and Wildlife Biologist, Washington State Office, USFWS.

2009/05/27. Discuss the legislative and executive sides of what politics realistically looks like when making a budget. Victor Moore, Director of the Washington State Office of Financial Management and Marty Brown, Legislative Director of the Governor’s Office.

2009/05/27. Discuss the legislative and executive sides of what politics realistically looks like when making a budget. Victor Moore, Director of the Washington State Office of Financial Management and Marty Brown, Legislative Director of the Governor’s Office.