Podcast appearances and mentions of west seattle bridge

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 9, 2024 27:04

David Fahrenthold on the latest push from President Biden to forgive student loan debt and former President Trump's views on abortion // Chris Sullivan with a Chokepoint: The lower West Seattle Bridge will be shut down for over a week // Daily Dose of Kindness: the recent eclipse has reunited a teacher with his students when they all decided to make seeing the event a tradition even after graduation // Gee Scott on why he was so much more invested in Women's College Basketball than Men's // Micki Gamez on how our pets react to allergy season

women donald trump men joe biden kindness college basketball daily dose student debt relief chris sullivan david fahrenthold gee scott west seattle bridge

Maren Costa, Candidate for Seattle City Council District 1

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 13, 2023 39:46

On this Wednesday topical show, Crystal chats with Maren Costa about her campaign for Seattle City Council District 1. Listen and learn more about Maren and her thoughts on: [01:08] - Why she is running [04:15] - Lightning round! [14:34] - What is an accomplishment of hers that impacts District 1 [15:46] - City budget shortfall: Raise revenue or cut services? [17:45] - Climate change [20:54] - Transit reliability [22:20] - Bike and pedestrian safety [23:24] - Public Safety: Alternative response [26:00] - Victim support [29:43] - Housing and homelessness: Frontline worker wages [31:39] - Small business support [33:45] - Childcare: Affordability and accessibility [36:37] - Difference between her and opponent As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Follow us on Twitter at @HacksWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Twitter at @finchfrii and find Maren Costa at @marencosta. Maren Costa Maren Costa is 21 year resident of West Seattle, Seattle Public Schools mom, tech leader, and climate justice organizer. While at Amazon, Maren guided big teams and big budgets to successful results. She rallied her colleagues and co-founded Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, which used first-in-the-industry collective organizing tactics to bring international scrutiny to Amazon's climate negligence -- and resulted in multi-billion dollar climate commitments. Now, Maren is running to represent Seattle's District 1 to help lead a housed, healthy, and safer Seattle. Resources Campaign Website - Maren Costa 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. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get the full versions of our Friday week-in-review show and our Tuesday topical show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, the most helpful thing you can do is leave a review wherever you listen to Hacks & Wonks. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. I am thrilled to be welcoming a candidate for Seattle City Council District 1 to the show today. Welcome, Maren Costa. [00:01:03] Maren Costa: Thank you, Crystal. It's a pleasure to be here, and I have to say I'm a big fan. [00:01:08] Crystal Fincher: Well, I appreciate it. I just wanted to start out by hearing - what made you decide to run? [00:01:18] Maren Costa: Yeah, that's a great question, and there's several facets to that answer, but the first one is I'm a mom and I have kids. And I think about their future, and I think about wanting to leave a better future for them than I currently see - the path that we're on - so that's a big one. And then another one is that I was in Big Tech and managing big teams and big budgets and solving big problems, but I started to get really concerned about the climate crisis, and I believe when you wanna make change, you start where you are. And I was at Amazon at the time - one of the largest carbon footprints, and also a company that was getting like an F on every rating scale for climate, this was before The Climate Pledge - so I thought - Hey, I'm gonna start where I am. I started trying to make change from within and talking to all the SVPs and VPs and that I'd met in my 15 years at the time being there, but I couldn't make any progress, and so - people just didn't wanna talk about climate. It had worked for me before where I would say like - Here's a great idea, here's why it's great for customers, here's why it's great for the business. And it would be like - Great, here's the team, here's money, go do it. But when it came to climate, it was nobody wanted to move. And so I found another way to make change. I started organizing with my coworkers and organizing around climate justice and getting thousands of tech workers to stand up and walk out. We walked out for the Global Climate Strike. I did end up getting illegally fired right at the start of the pandemic when we were also standing up for warehouse workers' safety, but the National Labor Relations Board stepped in - took Amazon to court and we won, in addition to winning all of The Climate Pledge and those other things. So just really seeing the power of collective action, the powers that workers have when we come together, and how important that is in bringing balance to the powers that be - that's a big reason. And then the third reason is I love Seattle - I've lived here for 33 years. I love District 1 - I've lived in District 1, in West Seattle, for 21 years. And I see the challenges facing our city. And I think a lot of us are frustrated with some of the seemingly intractable problems that we're facing. And I wanna take all of my skill set and my energy and put it towards trying to solve big problems for our communities. [00:04:15] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. Well, I decided to switch things up a little bit in our candidate interview series this year, and we're implementing a lightning round in the interview. So just a series of yes or no, or either-or questions. But we'll start off with - This year, did you vote yes on the King County Crisis Care Centers levy? [00:04:39] Maren Costa: Yes. [00:04:41] Crystal Fincher: Did you vote yes on the Veterans, Seniors, and Human Services levy? [00:04:47] Maren Costa: Yes. [00:04:49] Crystal Fincher: Did you vote in favor of Seattle's Social Housing Initiative 135? [00:04:54] Maren Costa: Yes. [00:04:56] Crystal Fincher: In 2021, did you vote for Bruce Harrell or Lorena González for Mayor? [00:05:02] Maren Costa: Lorena González. [00:05:05] Crystal Fincher: In 2021, did you vote for Nicole Thomas Kennedy or Ann Davison for Seattle City Attorney? [00:05:12] Maren Costa: Nicole Thomas Kennedy. [00:05:15] Crystal Fincher: Did you vote in 2022 for Leesa Manion or Jim Ferrell for King County Prosecutor? [00:05:25] Maren Costa: Gosh, I don't remember. 'Cause I know Leesa now, you know, roughly, through campaigning. I think I voted for Leesa? I don't remember. [00:05:36] Crystal Fincher: In 2022, did you vote for Patty Murray or Tiffany Smiley for US Senate? [00:05:41] Maren Costa: Patty Murray. [00:05:42] Crystal Fincher: Do you own or rent your residence? [00:05:46] Maren Costa: I own. [00:05:48] Crystal Fincher: Are you a landlord? [00:05:50] Maren Costa: No. [00:05:52] Crystal Fincher: Would you vote to require landlords to report metrics, including how much rent they're charging, to help better plan housing and development needs in the district? [00:06:04] Maren Costa: I think so. Sounds like a good idea. I don't actually know much about that. [00:06:10] Crystal Fincher: Are there instances where you would support sweeps of homeless encampments? [00:06:21] Maren Costa: Only if people are already provided with where they're going to be safely housed. [00:06:30] Crystal Fincher: Will you vote-- [00:06:31] Maren Costa: I'm not in favor of sweeps. [00:06:33] Crystal Fincher: Got it. Will you vote to provide additional funding for Seattle's Social Housing Public Development Authority? [00:06:40] Maren Costa: Yes. [00:06:42] Crystal Fincher: Do you agree with King County Executive Constantine's statement that the King County Jail should be closed? [00:06:49] Maren Costa: Yes. [00:06:50] Crystal Fincher: Should parking enforcement be housed within SPD? [00:06:57] Maren Costa: No, but we know how complicated that turned out to be. [00:07:01] Crystal Fincher: Would you vote to allow police in schools? [00:07:08] Maren Costa: I think that's a no. I want to hear more from the schools and the people - what they want, but - [00:07:17] Crystal Fincher: Do you support allocation in the City budget for a civilian-led mental health crisis response? [00:07:24] Maren Costa: Yes. [00:07:26] Crystal Fincher: Do you support allocation in the City budget to increase the pay of human service workers? [00:07:32] Maren Costa: Absolutely. [00:07:34] Crystal Fincher: Do you support removing funds in the City budget for forced encampment removals and instead allocating funds towards a Housing First approach? [00:07:43] Maren Costa: Absolutely. [00:07:45] Crystal Fincher: Do you support abrogating or removing the funds from unfilled SPD positions and putting them toward meaningful public safety measures? [00:07:55] Maren Costa: I think that makes sense. [00:07:57] Crystal Fincher: Do you support allocating-- [00:07:59] Maren Costa: That's a yes. [00:07:59] Crystal Fincher: Okay. Do you support allocating money in the City budget for supervised consumption sites? [00:08:11] Maren Costa: That's - I'm - yes. I think I'm a yes on that one. I want to do a bit more research on that as well, but - [00:08:19] Crystal Fincher: Do you support increasing funding in the City budget for violence intervention programs? [00:08:25] Maren Costa: Yes. [00:08:27] Crystal Fincher: Do you oppose a SPOG contract that doesn't give the Office of Police Accountability and the Office of Inspector General subpoena power? [00:08:36] Maren Costa: I don't know. I don't know what that is. [00:08:46] Crystal Fincher: The ability for them to subpoena people involved in their investigations. So with the Office of Police Accountability and Office of Inspector General - people involved in doing police investigations. Would you approve a contract where they did not have subpoena power? [00:09:04] Maren Costa: I'm sorry, I still don't quite understand. Like that we would be able to subpoena police officers to testify in cases against police officers - is that? [00:09:18] Crystal Fincher: If there was a complaint made and throughout that investigation - yes, they could compel information from police officers or other people involved. [00:09:28] Maren Costa: Okay, and then so would I support a contract that didn't-- [00:09:33] Crystal Fincher: That didn't have - where those offices did not have the ability to subpoena? [00:09:40] Maren Costa: No. [00:09:42] Crystal Fincher: Okay. [00:09:43] Maren Costa: I would want to be able to subpoena officers to testify. [00:09:48] Crystal Fincher: Do you oppose a SPOG contract that doesn't remove limitations as to how many of OPA's investigators must be sworn versus civilian? Right now there are limitations - there must be, there's a cap on the number of civilians. Should that number of civilians be capped? Would you oppose a contract that didn't remove that limitation? [00:10:17] Maren Costa: No. I would not oppose a contract that didn't remove. This is the double negative that's getting me. [00:10:23] Crystal Fincher: You would only support a contract that eliminated-- [00:10:28] Maren Costa: Yes. [00:10:30] Crystal Fincher: Okay, so the limitation would need to be removed and then you would like it. Is that a correct characterization? [00:10:36] Maren Costa: Yes. [00:10:36] Crystal Fincher: Okay, I just wanted to make sure. [00:10:38] Maren Costa: Yes. [00:10:38] Crystal Fincher: Okay. Not trying to have these be gotcha questions - want to make sure that you actually understand, that we get an actual real answer. [00:10:47] Maren Costa: No, these are great questions and it makes me know how much I need to know, how much more I need to know. [00:10:53] Crystal Fincher: Do you oppose a SPOG contract that impedes the ability of the City to move police funding to public safety alternatives? [00:11:04] Maren Costa: Yes. [00:11:07] Crystal Fincher: Do you support eliminating in-uniform off-duty work by SPD officers? [00:11:14] Maren Costa: Yes. I think that's - is that like traffic enforcement and stuff? [00:11:20] Crystal Fincher: Yep. [00:11:20] Maren Costa: Yeah. [00:11:22] Crystal Fincher: Will you vote to ensure that trans and non-binary students are allowed to play on the sports teams that fit with their gender identities? [00:11:31] Maren Costa: Yes. [00:11:32] Crystal Fincher: Will you vote to ensure that trans people can use bathrooms or public facilities that match their gender? [00:11:39] Maren Costa: Yes. [00:11:41] Crystal Fincher: Do you agree with the Seattle City Council's decision to implement the JumpStart Tax? [00:11:48] Maren Costa: Yes. [00:11:50] Crystal Fincher: Will you vote to reduce or divert the JumpStart Tax in any way? [00:11:55] Maren Costa: No. [00:11:56] Crystal Fincher: Are you happy with Seattle's newly built waterfront? [00:12:03] Maren Costa: Yes. [00:12:05] Crystal Fincher: Do you believe return to work-- [00:12:07] Maren Costa: I have some complaints, but overall, yes. [00:12:11] Crystal Fincher: Do you believe return to work mandates, like the one issued by Amazon, are necessary to boost Seattle's economy? [00:12:21] Maren Costa: Probably in the interim. [00:12:24] Crystal Fincher: Have you taken transit in the past week? [00:12:28] Maren Costa: Yes. [00:12:29] Crystal Fincher: Have you ridden a bike in the past week? [00:12:34] Maren Costa: No. [00:12:36] Crystal Fincher: Have you ridden a bike in the past month? [00:12:40] Maren Costa: No. Not a bike rider. [00:12:44] Crystal Fincher: Should Pike Place Market allow non-commercial car traffic? [00:12:54] Maren Costa: I would say no. But I don't know. I don't know all the pros and cons there. [00:13:01] Crystal Fincher: Should significant investments be made to speed up the opening of scheduled Sound Transit light rail lines? [00:13:11] Maren Costa: Say again - sorry. [00:13:13] Crystal Fincher: Should significant investments be made to speed up the opening of scheduled Sound Transit light rail lines? [00:13:23] Maren Costa: Yes. [00:13:24] Crystal Fincher: Should we accelerate the elimination of the ability to turn right on red lights to improve pedestrian safety? [00:13:33] Maren Costa: Yes. [00:13:35] Crystal Fincher: Have you ever been a member of a union? [00:13:39] Maren Costa: No. [00:13:40] Crystal Fincher: Will you vote to increase funding and staffing for investigations into labor violations like wage theft and illegal union busting? [00:13:49] Maren Costa: Yes. [00:13:51] Crystal Fincher: Have you ever walked on a picket line? [00:13:54] Maren Costa: Yes. [00:13:56] Crystal Fincher: Have you ever crossed a picket line? [00:13:58] Maren Costa: No. [00:14:00] Crystal Fincher: Is your campaign staff unionized? [00:14:04] Maren Costa: No, it's just Kyler. [00:14:10] Crystal Fincher: If your campaign staff wants to unionize, will you voluntarily recognize their effort? [00:14:16] Maren Costa: Absolutely. [00:14:18] Crystal Fincher: Well, and that's the end of the lightning round - pretty painless, I hope. [00:14:24] Maren Costa: It was - that was good. That was intense - I love it. It was wonky. [00:14:30] Crystal Fincher: It was wonky - true to name. Lots of people look to work you've done to get a feel for what you prioritize and how qualified you are to lead. Can you describe something you've accomplished or changed in your district and what impact that has on residents? [00:14:50] Maren Costa: Yeah, I think that the work that I did at Amazon to bring Amazon as, both a city and a global company, into better alignment with climate justice has a direct impact in my community, particularly in the - one of the things that came out of that was their bid to buy 100,000 Rivian vans. And now I daily see those vans out in my neighborhood driving around and I'm so happy every time I see that 'cause it's like - wow, that's less pollution that's driving through my neighborhood right now. I mean, we can't, maybe, you know, there's, maybe we wish there was just fewer vans and that we were buying less in general, but when, you know, if we're gonna have those vans, it's so much better to see them being electric and I feel really proud of that. [00:15:46] Crystal Fincher: Excellent, appreciate that. I wanna ask you about the City budget. City's projected to have a revenue shortfall of $224 million beginning in 2025. Because we're mandated by the state to pass a balanced budget, the options to address the upcoming deficit are either raise revenue or cut services. Which one of those is your approach or what combination of those will be your approach? [00:16:18] Maren Costa: We should always be looking at how we can be more frugal with the resources that we have - that's a given. However, we need to raise more progressive revenue. I'm in favor of the recommendations that came out of the recent work task force assigned to progressive revenue. So things like an additional capital gains tax on top of the state tax, you know, a vacancy tax. As a climate justice advocate, I will always be interested in progressive ways that we could tax carbon. You know, anything like that where we can make doing the right thing the desirable thing, sort of like the sugar tax is, you know - that could have good benefits for climate. So we definitely need to raise more progressive revenue. It's always a challenge. There's money in our city, we can see it - but it's just hard to bring it actually into the workings of the City and turning it into things that benefit everyone here. You know, we have an upside down tax code. And so it's just - the chips are sort of stacked against us. And so we need to be more creative with the way that we generate progressive revenue. And I think that those recommendations, some of those recommendations that came out of the task force are good places to start. [00:17:44] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. Now on almost every measure, we're behind on our 2030 climate goals, while experiencing the devastating impacts from extreme heat and cold, wildfires, floods, toxic air, you name it. What are your highest priority plans to get us on track to meet 2030 goals? [00:18:05] Maren Costa: Thank you, Crystal. That was a great question and something I'm very passionate about. You know, one of the things that I say is, you know, all of these things that we care about if we don't have a planet to live on, you know, they don't matter. And then I also say that housing is climate justice, transit is climate justice - you know, it's all connected. And so there's so much work we need to do. One of the things that I would love to do - you know, out of the gate - would be to get climate resiliency centers in every neighborhood. So making sure that maybe all 27 branches of the public library, schools, community centers, you know, churches even - that have backup power, air filtration, heat pump air conditioning - safe places for people to go in extreme weather events. So that's like the first line of defense, but we need to also go heavily on offense because as we know, and as you say, we're behind - as a city, as a nation, as a planet. And so we know that the building emissions performance standards are going to be on the table for the next council. It sounds like they won't be coming through this, you know, before the end of the year. I will want to make sure that those have teeth, that we make sure that, again, doing the right thing is the desirable thing so that you can't, you know, too easily avoid them or buy out of them. Because it's time for us to start facing the facts that we need to do this tough work to make the transition that is inevitable and that we're already behind on. We know that climate will affect the most vulnerable among us, worst and first. And this is why our unhoused neighbors, low-income communities - we need to start there with our climate work so for example, you know, fixing the flooding problem in South Park, that was a king tide combined with an atmospheric river in December and it displaced about 20 families, many of whom have still not been able to move back into their houses. And so I would want to take a look at making sure that we're starting with the historically under-invested communities first. [00:20:52] Crystal Fincher: Thanks for that. I wanna talk about transit a bit, starting off with - residents in the city are experiencing a lot of disruption and interruption in transit service and reviews are not all stellar. It seems like we really need some intervention. Recognizing that Sound Transit is a regional entity and King County Metro is a county entity, what can you do as a City councilmember to stabilize transit service? [00:21:23] Maren Costa: You know, a lot of the closures are based on, you know, maintenance and drivers - a shortage of drivers. And so doing everything we can to make sure that drivers feel safe and supported and paid well and - so that we keep as many drivers as we can and hire more - the ones that we need. And then, you know, the maintenance, I'm not sure how we could do that better, but looking into any ways that we could improve - keeping buses on the roads. I'm trying to think if there's anything else at the City level - I'd say those are the two big ones. [00:22:20] Crystal Fincher: How would you go about improving pedestrian and bicycle safety in your district? [00:22:29] Maren Costa: We have some significant like problems, you know, for pedestrian safety and bike safety in District 1. We've seen a lot of road racing on Alki, up and down California Avenue and 35th Avenue. So bringing in some of the speed bumps have been helpful and we can continue to do more of that. We've built in some, you know, traffic controls around Alki that have really improved and we just need to keep doing that. Bike lanes need to be safe, protected, connected. We are missing almost entirely a safe east-west bike connection across District 1, so that would be something I would want to prioritize. [00:23:22] Crystal Fincher: Gotcha, makes sense. Now, when it comes to public safety, other jurisdictions around the country and in our own region have rolled out alternative response programs to better support those having behavioral health crises. But Seattle is stalled in implementing what is a widely-supported idea. Where do you stand on non-police solutions to public safety issues? And what are your thoughts on civilian-led versus co-response models? [00:23:50] Maren Costa: Crystal, this is so important. When I talk to voters in my district, public safety comes up, you know, top of the list for many people. And we know that we have a shortage of officers, a sort of a nationwide problem - hiring is hard. So now more than ever, we need to stand up these police alternatives. We are feeling the pain of the fact that we haven't invested in these areas as we should have. We had one tool in our tool belt and now we're really feeling the pain of that short-sightedness. I'm in favor of bringing in civilian response. We see programs like Health One and the firefighters making good strides in that area. What was the question again? [00:24:53] Crystal Fincher: What are your thoughts on civilian-led versus co-response models? [00:24:59] Maren Costa: Okay, I don't know that I know that nuance. Civilian-led? [00:25:06] Crystal Fincher: Or responses where the person is accompanied by an armed policeman versus ones where they aren't. [00:25:12] Maren Costa: Right, I see. Yeah, I think we need more. I think we actually need more nuance there. I think we need a few tiers. You know, there are certain calls that need to be responded to with, you know, an officer with a gun. Then maybe there's officer-led civilian-back. And then maybe civilian-led officer-back. And then civilian only. And we need to make sure that we're using all types of combinations there for the appropriate call - keeping our civilian responders safe, making sure that we're not putting them in danger. But leading with civilian as often as we can, because the more we can minimize, you know, contact between armed officers and community - you know, we can keep our community safe that way as well. [00:26:00] Crystal Fincher: I wanna talk about victims. A lot of times we hear victims talked about in political conversations a lot and their concerns mischaracterized. But when talking to victims and data coming from studies involving them, two things come to the top as priorities. One, to make sure what happened to them never happens to them or anyone else again. And two, that they receive more support to help recover from what happened, to help restore what had been damaged or lost, or, you know, to help rehabilitate. And we do a really poor job of that - as a community, as a government - when it comes to assistance and support for victims. In your role as a councilmember, what would you do to better support victims of crime? [00:26:56] Maren Costa: That's a great question. I think a lot of times, as victims, people can feel very isolated and alone. And so I think like community support - community support groups, community support networks - if there are other people with that same lived experience could be incredibly helpful. And I don't know if that exists or if that's something that the City could help promote. And then I think, you know, having a channel to express that frustration - what broke in the system that made you feel, you know, victimized, where did the system, how was the system not there to support you? And being able to be heard, to make sure that the City or whatever, you know, department understands what went wrong. And then seeing that be taken seriously and seeing change and results - that is what is restorative to, I think, to victims - is knowing that you've been heard and that change happened. And so in any way that we can make sure that victims are heard, and then that we take the problem seriously and make the changes necessary to make sure that it doesn't happen again is really important. [00:28:39] Crystal Fincher: We've heard from certainly victims across the spectrum and some businesses - there's actually a business owner who wrote a column talking about wanting better support for businesses that have been victims of break-ins and theft - things like victims' assistance funds, business assistance funds, you know, to repair storefronts that are damaged or anything like that. Would that be something that you think would be helpful and that you would support? [00:29:06] Maren Costa: I do. I've heard that from a lot of businesses. I know that, you know, in some cases, there's, you know, small business insurance and you can have some of that paid for, but it's a lot of times - it's not. It's every single time that window is broken, you're paying $10,000 to have it replaced. And it doesn't - there is no support. A lot of these businesses are on, you know, shoestring budgets already. And we want to keep our small businesses alive and vibrant and they need support. [00:29:43] Crystal Fincher: I want to talk about housing and homelessness. One thing called out by experts as a barrier to the effectiveness of the homelessness response on the ground is that frontline worker wages don't cover the cost of living, especially in a city like Seattle. Do you believe our local nonprofits have a responsibility to pay living wages for our area? And how can we make that more likely with how we bid for and contract for services at the City? [00:30:11] Maren Costa: I do think we need to pay a living wage. I have met directly with people on the frontlines. They are being, as I've heard described, criminally underpaid - and I think that's accurate. The work that these people are doing on the frontlines for our city has such a massive value for our city, for our society. And, you know, not only are they undervalued almost everywhere, they're even more undervalued in some of these City positions where they could go do the same function somewhere else - you know, outside of a nonprofit or - you know, and be paid more. And I've had people say, you know, I could go work at Dick's Drive-In and make more money, you know. And the work that they're doing is highly skilled - it takes time and it's so important to build the trust. We cannot have this low-paid, high-turnover staff and expect the results that we all wanna see. And so I'm not sure how the contracts - not being a City insider, I don't know how the contracts are made or what control we have, but I would definitely be an advocate for making sure that those frontline workers are getting paid a living wage. [00:31:39] Crystal Fincher: Now, Seattle and District 1 have a really vibrant business community. Some of the largest corporations in the world are here, and so many small businesses that run the gamut of products and services are here - but they face a number of challenges. What are the top challenges that you see small businesses facing in your district and what are your top priorities for addressing those needs? [00:32:07] Maren Costa: I think that, you know, during COVID, we saw some subsidies that really helped keep small businesses alive, but I think we're still seeing the challenges. People are still kind of coming out of the shadow of COVID. In any ways that we could - and I know that a lot of that was federal money, but - you know, in any ways that we can continue subsidies that keep businesses afloat. I have a good friend who's a small business owner - my twin sister is a small business owner in District 1 - but a good friend who's just constantly bobbing, just barely bobbing above the line of staying afloat. And so we need to support these things. We need to make sure that there's different sizes of spaces for small businesses - making it really flexible - if you need 400 square feet, you can find 400 square feet. So, you know, having these shared business spaces or dividing these into smaller spaces, making retail units available on the first level of multi, you know, four-floors-and-a-corner-store, opening up zoning where we can have more small businesses throughout our communities. Just - what I usually say, like, what's good for small businesses is good for the community. Like when we know that it's working well for small businesses, we know we're doing something right. So they bring such, as you say, vibrancy to our communities and we wanna do what we can to support them. [00:33:45] Crystal Fincher: Childcare is another humongous concern for, really, the entire community. For parents of kids, childcare is often a cost - their number two, sometimes with a number of kids, number one cost. We just saw reporting that childcare is now more expensive than college on an annual basis, which is just staggering. And the availability of childcare is also a challenge. What can you do in your role as a City councilmember to help parents with this? [00:34:19] Maren Costa: We do need - I've heard that there's only about 50% of parents with kids, or the number of kids - only about 50% of the needs are met by the childcare centers that we have. So people are being forced to reach to, you know, relatives or nannies or, you know - but there's just not the space in childcare centers that we need in District 1. There's a large childcare center at the, you know, Delridge - you know, right by the Delridge on the West Seattle Bridge and Fauntleroy, I guess - that is under eminent domain for the - to the transit. And it's, you know, it's gonna be really hard to lose that center - they take care of a lot of families. And the money that is being offered for them to relocate is not anywhere near what they need to relocate. So making sure that that center gets to stay afloat, if in fact they are displaced by Sound Transit, would be incredibly important. And making sure that they're given the subsidies needed to actually rebuild their business. And then I would love to see more and, you know, smaller childcare centers distributed throughout neighborhoods so that people can, not only - you know, we would love to see people be able to live where they work, near where they work. So we're seeing a lot of displacement out, you know, into Federal Way and further out, people keep getting pushed out. But so to be able to live where you, near where you work and to be able to have childcare where you work. So making sure that some of the big businesses that go in put childcare centers in the buildings that they're in so that, you know, that's something that can work for working parents - to have childcare at your work site. And then just making sure that we're supporting the small childcare centers that are open and making a reasonable, viable business to open new ones. [00:36:36] Crystal Fincher: Now, as we close today, there are a number of voters, residents living in Seattle who are trying to make a decision between you and your opponent and who they should vote for, who most aligns with their values. What do you say to voters when they ask - what's the difference or why should I choose you? [00:36:58] Maren Costa: I think that the skill set that I bring and - the skill set, the values, and the focuses that I bring are going to be really, I think, valuable for the City going forward. So I come out of big business and big tech - I've managed big teams and big budgets, I've brought competing teams together to actually work together to get more stuff done at both Amazon and Microsoft. I think we need someone on council who actually really understands big tech. And then obviously I have a focus on climate. I think we need someone on council who has the depth of the climate justice focus that I have. And I think that my former opponents who endorsed me - the six primary opponents who came together to endorse me - speak to the level of trust that they have in me to authentically and thoughtfully lead our, and represent our district on council. They've seen me learn and listen and follow through. And I think my past experience and how I've shown up on the campaign trail speak to that. [00:38:48] Crystal Fincher: Well, thank you so much for joining us today - Seattle City Council candidate in District 1, Maren Costa. Thank you so much. [00:38:57] Maren Costa: Thank you so much. It was a pleasure to be here. [00:39:00] Crystal Fincher: Thank you for listening to Hacks & Wonks, which is produced by Shannon Cheng. You can follow Hacks & Wonks on Twitter @HacksWonks. You can catch Hacks & Wonks on every podcast service and app - just type "Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to get the full versions of our Friday week-in-review shows and our Tuesday topical show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave a review wherever you listen. 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 podcast episode notes. Thanks for tuning in - talk to you next time.

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The lesson for West Seattle with bridge off-ramp gigantic pothole problem

Play Episode Listen Later May 9, 2023 5:33

KVI morning show producer, Mark Christopher, is one of the first commuters today to drive over the newly repaired gigantic 4-foot pothole on the West Seattle Bridge off-ramp to Highway 99. KVI colleague, Phil Vandervort, reminds West Seattle residents why they should do more to hold Seattle politicians and bureaucrats accountable for infrastructure systems.

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May 9, 2023 show

Play Episode Listen Later May 9, 2023 93:02

6am hour-- KVI 's Mark Christopher is one of the first to drive over newly repaired West Seattle Bridge off-ramp gigantic pothole, what the gigantic pothole should signify for West Seattle residents, the Allen TX mass murderer was praising WWII German Nazis and "Latino Nazis" on social media, chilling comments by the Allen TX mass murderer about his personality and the news media's coverage of mass shootings, a reminder that the Nashville school shooter's manifesto still hasn't been released and national news media are silent about urging authorities to release it, KVI's Lars Larson equates the Biden/McCarthy debt ceiling talks today to parents with adult children asking for more money. 7am hour -- the sad and selective outrage in NYC protesting the death of 30 yr old Jordan Neely killed after an outburst or confrontation on a subway train, why Neely's death could have been avoidable regarding NYC's turnstile justice system, GUEST: Federal Way mayor and former KC deputy prosecutor, Jim Ferrell, per KC Prosecutor's office juvenile division problems, the embarrassing failures of 'restorative community pathways' and the diversion program within the KC Prosecutor's office juvenile division, "deeply troubling" because these restorative justice cases revolve around violent crime i.e. armed robbery, 8am hour -- more discussion on the 'restorative justice' failures within the King Co. Prosecutor's office juvenile division, the social media evidence depicting Allen TX outlet mall mass shooter/murderer as a "Nazi", GUEST: Change Washington's Jim Keough points out the KCRHA doubling down financially on the homeless strategies that have backfired and brought more homeless into the region, KCRHA continues to waste money by pouring it down the same drain holes of previous failed efforts.

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Casual Friday with Hannah Weinberger and Tan Vinh

Play Episode Listen Later May 5, 2023 16:53

This week…Governor Jay Inslee says he's ready to pass the torch. The national park service is considering timed reservations at Mount Rainier. And is the West Seattle Bridge cursed?Crosscut science reporter Hannah Weinberger and Seattle Times Food Writer Tan Vinh are here to break down the week.We can only make Seattle Now because listeners support us. Make the show happen by making a gift to KUOW: https://www.kuow.org/donate/seattlenow And we want to hear from you! Follow us on Instagram @SeattleNowPod, or leave us feedback online: https://www.kuow.org/feedbackTickets for May 19th's Casual Friday Live taping: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/casual-friday-live-seattle-love-tickets-514549319867?aff=podshownotes

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Hour 1: Cruz says Biden's mind is "too diminished" for debt ceiling talks

The Bryan Suits Show

Play Episode Listen Later May 4, 2023 41:31

Thunder around the northwest this morning. Bryan corrects actor Kiefer Sutherland on some history about the Vietnam war and Nixon. Damaged ramp from West Seattle Bridge may stay closed for more than a week. Ted Cruz says Biden's mind is “too diminished” for debt ceiling talks. // Kamala Harris previously decried the deployment of troops to the border under the Trump administration. Polling shows Robert Kennedy Jr. has moderate support amongst democrats when it comes to the 2024 presidential race. // Soccer star Lionel Messi might get a huge pay day from Saudi Arabia. Seattle councilmember Tammy Morales hosts the first gathering of the Seattle Social Housing Developer Board. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Onramp from West Seattle Bridge to Highway 99 could be closed for 10 days

Play Episode Listen Later May 4, 2023 0:45

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West Seattle Bridge ramp connecting Hwy 99 closed after hole snarls traffic

Play Episode Listen Later May 3, 2023 0:45

Wednesday morning traffic out of West Seattle was snarled after a large hole was discovered in a busy onramp.

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4-foot pothole closes ramp off West Seattle Bridge

Play Episode Listen Later May 3, 2023 2:52

The KVI morning team riffs on the new jaw dropping images of the 4-foot pothole/crater that has closed the West Seattle Bridge off-ramp to NB Highway 99 after at least 5 cars were damaged by the gaping chasm. The massive gap in the roadway is only being held together by rebar. Its located on the West Seattle Bridge off-ramp to northbound Highway 99 in the SoDo/Georgetown area of Seattle.

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May 3, 2023 show

America's Work Force Union Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later May 3, 2023 94:42

6am hour -- Kraken continue their playoff dramatics with OT win, Gov. Jay Inslee calls special session for the far too lenient drug possession law but other lawmakers are uncertain a legal fix is attainable, a brutal pot hole closes part of the W.Seattle Bridge, GUEST: KVI's Lone Star State correspondent Kirby Wilbur talks about the capture of the Texas mass murderer suspect (and 5-times deported illegal alien, Francisco Oropesa) Oregon Sec. of State resigns after being exposed in racketeering style side job consulting for a cannabis pot shop. 7am hour -- Nordstrom announces closure of two stores in San Francisco due to public safety/shoplifting/crime problems, this is another perfect example from SF of how to wreck a city, something new that Republicans can use as they campaign against WA AG in 2024 governor's election, new poll says 70% of SF residents support revoking sanctuary status for any illegal alien convicted of (fentanyl) drug dealing, homeless tents are popping up in Seattle's U-District just a few weeks after I-5 Ship Canal Bridge express lanes camps were cleared, 8am hour -- the new jaw dropping images of the 4-foot pothole/crater that has closed a West Seattle Bridge off-ramp, at least 5 cars were damaged by the gigantic pothole on the off-ramp, TX Sen. Ted Cruz lambastes Democrats trying to strip security funding for SCOTUS justices, GUEST: St. Sen. Mark Mullet (D-Issaquah) tells KVI about the Gov. Inslee special session called for May 16th, why the (current) diversion policy "sucks", Mullet says "this is impacting everybody everywhere no matter where you live in Washington", why gross-misdemeanor makes for a more effective incentive to complete drug treatment rehab.

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Hour 1: Good Morning China

The Bryan Suits Show

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 23, 2023 40:48

McConnell mocks Biden judicial nominee for not knowing Article II of the Constitution. Snohomish High School students killed in crash with wrong-way driver on West Seattle Bridge. Tik Tok CEO set to testify before Congress. // Population of Canada grows by 1 million. Sen. John Kennedy embarrasses a Biden judicial nominee during confirmation hearing. // Everett police officer shot after robbery. 50% of men think they could land a plane safely.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Hour 2: Desantis says he could beat Biden in an election

The Bryan Suits Show

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 22, 2023 40:35

Supreme Court hearing arguments about a dog toy that the Jack Daniel's company says violated its federal trademark. Person who was served eviction notice and shot at police is identified. Members of the Democratic Socialists of America issue statement on shooting victim. KNOW IT ALL: 1) Fire near Ship Canal Bridge. 2) Shooting at Gas Works park. 3) Another Fed rate hike possible. 4) U.S. says it will send tanks to Ukraine sooner than expected. 5) Deadly Candida auris fungus spreading quickly. 6) Japan beats the U.S. in the World Baseball Classic final. // Sailboat crew rescued in Pacific after abandoning ship that was capsized by a whale. // Crash on West Seattle Bridge kills two 18-year-olds. 2015 death of Murdaugh-linked teen Stephen Smith now considered a homicide. Desantis says he could ‘beat Biden' in a general election. Biden attempts to read a poem at a White House event but it all goes wrong.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Ep. 201 - The HP Reality TV Show Gauntlet w/ Brandon Grugle & Lauren Shippen (LIVE in Seattle!)

Potterless

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 27, 2022 101:38

Live from Seattle on 4/21/22, it's Potterless! Schubes was joined by Brandon Grugle and Lauren Shippen in his old stomping grounds of Seattle to take 11 Harry Potter characters and have them compete in a slew of competition reality tv shows. See who comes out on top! Topics include: West Seattle Bridge, Macklemore, The Amazing Dogs, Great Pottery Throwdown, Project Runway, Alaska Airlines, Starbucks unionization, The Toadies, sea shanties, Tyra Banks, modeling, Dragon's Den, The Dallas Mavericks, Raya, Jungle Speed, Canada, donut pudding, GBBO, Taskmaster, Paul Hollywood, D&D, the Fear Factor experience, Marimoto, pull ups, Stumbledore, Top Chef, Tim Gunn, Archie, Season 2 of Project Runway, FroZone, dress codes, BTS, The Seattle Storm, Missy Elliot, Kirby, jet lag, Poo Poo Point, and more!Potterless Live shows: www.potterlesspodcast.comPotterless YouTube: www.youtube.com/@Potterless Mike's D&D Steam: www.20tomidnight.com Thanks for listening to this episode of Potterless! Don't want the journey to stop? Check out the links below and as always, Wizard On! WEBSITE: www.potterlesspodcast.com (LEARN ABOUT THE SHOW!)PATREON: www.patreon.com/potterless (SUPPORT THE SHOW!)TWITTER: www.twitter.com/potterlesspod (TWEET THE SHOW!)INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/potterlesspodcast (PICTURES OF THE SHOW!)FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/potterless (HOME OF THE FANCY PRIVATE GROUP!)MERCH: www.potterlesspodcast.com/merch (REP THE SHOW!)MIKE'S OTHER SHOWS: www.schub.es Created/Hosted/Edited/Produced by Mike Schubert, Music by Bettina Campomanes, Web Design/Art by Kelly Schubert

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Monty Anderson (Seattle Building and Construction Trades Council) / Kevin Mapp (USW)

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 25, 2022 54:40

United Steelworkers (USW) International Vice President of Human Affairs Kevin Mapp appeared on the AWF Union Podcast and spoke about the jobs created by the Biden Administration through legislation. He also gave an overview on midterm elections results and the AFL-CIO Martin Luther King Jr Civil and Human Rights Conference. Seattle Building and Construction Trades Council Executive Secretary Monty Anderson joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast and discussed the work to repair structural issues found on the West Seattle Bridge and a potential high-speed rail project.

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Week in Review: October 7, 2022 - with Evelyn Chow

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 7, 2022 56:21

On this week's Hacks & Wonks week-in-review, Crystal Fincher is joined by transformative justice advocate, community organizer, writer, and sociologist Evelyn Chow. We start off the show with a reminder that Crystal will be hosting a candidate forum for the Seattle Municipal Court Judge Positions 3 and 7 races, featuring Position 3 candidates Adam Eisenberg and Pooja Vaddadi, and Position 7 candidates Nyjat Rose-Akins and Damon Shadid. The forum will be streaming live on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube on Wednesday, October 12th at 7:00pm. See our blog for more details: https://www.officialhacksandwonks.com/blog/municipal-judge-forum-october-12-2022 Also, starting this week, applications for the Institute for a Democratic Future (IDF)'s 2023 program are now live! You can find more information at IDF's website at https://democraticfuture.org/. In national news, President Biden has announced his administration is pardoning people who have received federal simple possession charges for marajuana. In the announcement, Biden asked state governors to do the same for state charges, and requested the secretary of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Attorney General to review how marijuana is scheduled under federal law. This is a big step that will help many people, and will hopefully be emulated by the states, but it has its limits - pardoning doesn't equate to ending prison sentences and doesn't include expungement, which has logistical and financial hurdles for people to climb. In county news, while we've heard stories from other parts of the country facing issues with clean water access, King County is facing its own water crisis. For the past week, the King County Jail in Downtown Seattle has been without clean water. People in the jail have been forced to use water bottles, and the schedule at which they can refill them is unclear. This is another terrible example of how our jails do not provide rehabilitation, and instead subject people to inhumane and dehumanizing treatment. This story also follows many other instances of horribly under-resourced and under-staffed King County jails leading to outrageous conditions for people staying in the jails. We have to do better. This is inexcusable. This week saw some very informative reporting following up on Harrell's proposed budget putting $1M into the controversial ShotSpotter program. Amy Sundberg from Notes from the Emerald City and Melissa Santos from Axios both put out stories, linked below, covering the program's history - which shows it's not only ineffective in its purpose of catching gunfire as it happens, it's also incredibly wasteful of police resources. ShotSpotter has no positive impact on gun crime or public safety, and none of its alternative surveillance programs are any more effective. It's budget season! Evelyn gives us an in-depth explanation of the City of Seattle's participatory budgeting process, and encourages folks to get involved and make their voices heard! If you want to speak your mind about the city's budget, you can send written emails to the City Council at this email: council@seattle.gov. You can also attend Budget Committee meetings in-person and remote on October 11th and October 25th at 9:30am. In addition, there will be public hearings on the budget, also remote and in-person, on October 11th at 5:00pm, November 8th at 9:30am, and November 15th at 5:00pm. See here for more info: https://www.seattle.gov/council/committees/select-budget-committee In local homelessness news, we look at the on-going story of King County's planned expanded enhanced shelter and behavioral health services hub in the SoDo neighborhood, which has seen a lot of pushback from local residents. This is a complicated story about providing care to those who need it, while at the same time making sure that the county works with local communities about what happens in their neighborhoods. The CID has faced heavy burden during the pandemic, and has dealt with a number of government projects that have been pushed through with little community engagement. If a community is telling us there wasn't enough engagement, there wasn't enough engagement, and we need to remember not to dismiss these grassroots community voices just because there are bad faith actors trying to take advantage of them. 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, Evelyn T Chow, at @evelyntchow. More info is available at officialhacksandwonks.com. Resources Hacks & Wonks is hosting a Seattle Municipal Judge Candidate forum on October 12th at 7:00pm! Please see the link here for more details: https://www.officialhacksandwonks.com/blog/municipal-judge-forum-october-12-2022 The Institute for a Democratic Future is now accepting applications for its 2023 program! The Early Application Deadline is November 2nd, with an application fee of $35, and the Final Application Deadline is November 13, with a fee of $75. See their site for more details: https://democraticfuture.org/ “Biden Pardons Thousands Convicted of Marijuana Possession Under Federal Law” by Michael D. Shear & Zolan Kanno-Youngs from New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/06/us/politics/biden-marijuana-pardon.html?auth=login-email&login=email “In a Sign of Worsening Conditions, Understaffed King County Jail Has Lacked Water for a Week” by Erica C. Barentt from Publicola: https://publicola.com/2022/10/06/in-a-sign-of-worsening-conditions-understaffed-king-county-jail-has-lacked-water-for-a-week/ “Proposed Surveillance Tech Can Lead to Biased Policing” by Amy Sundberg from News From the Emerald City: https://www.getrevue.co/profile/amysundberg/issues/proposed-surveillance-tech-can-lead-to-biased-policing-1383779 “Seattle mayor budgets $1M for controversial gunfire detection tech” by Melissa Santos from Axios: https://www.axios.com/local/seattle/2022/10/07/mayor-million-shotspotter-gunfire-detection “$30M Seattle participatory budgeting effort gears up with staff, workgroups, and a steering committee” by CHS from Capitol Hill Seattle Blog: https://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2022/10/30m-seattle-participatory-budgeting-effort-gears-up-with-staff-workgroups-and-a-steering-committee/ Learn more about how you can get involved in the Participatory Budget process here: https://www.seattle.gov/council/committees/select-budget-committee Seattle Solidarity Budget: https://www.seattlesolidaritybudget.com/ “Chinatown International District pushes back at expanded homeless shelter. Officials ask where else?” by Greg Kim from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/chinatown-international-district-pushes-back-at-expanded-homeless-shelter-officials-ask-where-else/ “OPINION | Hooverville Then and Now: Who Is Worthy of Space?” by Caedmon Magboo Cahill from The South Seattle Emerald: https://southseattleemerald.com/2022/10/03/opinion-hooverville-then-and-now-who-is-worthy-of-space/ “King County planning expanded enhanced shelter and behavioral health services hub in SoDo with new lease“ from King County's Press Office: https://kingcounty.gov/elected/executive/constantine/news/release/2022/March/23-SoDo-Enhanced-Shelter-Transmittal.aspx 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. Today, we are continuing our Friday almost-live shows where we review the news of the week with a co-host. Welcome to the program for the first time today, our co-host, Evelyn Chow. Hello! [00:00:51] Evelyn Chow: Hi, thanks for having me. [00:00:53] Crystal Fincher: Hey, I am excited. Just so people understand who you are - you're a transformative justice advocate, community organizer, writer, and sociologist. You were born and raised in Hawai'i, moved to Seattle 7 years ago where you received your degree in Sociology from Seattle University. Currently work as the District Director to Councilmember Tammy Morales, representing Seattle City Council District 2. Previously, they worked for non-profits Real Change and Ingersoll Gender Center, and did communications work for several local and state political campaigns. You are a force to be reckoned with. [00:01:34] Evelyn Chow: I appreciate that praise. I don't feel like such, but - [00:01:41] Crystal Fincher: I am so thrilled that you are here on the show today 'cause I have appreciated and admired your work for a bit here. So I'm excited. [00:01:51] Evelyn Chow: Thank you, Crystal, for having me. [00:01:53] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. Before we get into all of the stuff, there are two reminders, or upcoming things that are coming up. One is the Municipal Judge Forum that we are putting on next week - it's a live candidate forum that will be streamed via Twitter and Facebook - and it will be a Municipal Court judicial forum. So the two contested seats are Position 3 and Position 7 - Adam Eisenberg vs Pooja Vaddadi and Nyjat Rose-Akins vs Damon Shadid. So we will be hashing it out, talking about what they believe in, want to do on Wednesday, October 12th - that's this coming Wednesday - at 7:00 PM, which will be live streamed online. So pay attention to that. Also want to remind you about something we've talked about before on the program. The Institute for a Democratic Future, or IDF, is opening its application period. This is a six-month program, with about 10 weekends over those six months across the state of Washington and in Washington DC, covering politics and policy from all vantage points throughout the state - how policy passed is actually implemented and impacts the people on the ground. Great network, great education - it's responsible for my career in politics. Just a great preparation, whether you want to work in the political sphere as a candidate or staff, policy - wide variety of options there, even in the nonprofit or advocacy space. Just great preparation - helps you get a great understanding and connections to people in a great network. So if you're interested in that and - you don't have to want to work in politics, but maybe you just want to advocate for policy or explore what options may be - I highly recommend the Institute for a Democratic Future. We'll include the information in our show notes. Feel free to @ me, email me if you have any questions, but just wanted to make sure that is on everybody's radar and the application deadline is in November, so you have a little bit of time. But now is the time to get started on that if you're interested. Now we'll get to the news of the week. So there's a lot that has happened in a lot of different areas. We had a couple chaos days with news this week of every kind, but looking at politics and policy in the state - want to start talking about some big news that broke yesterday with Joe Biden pardoning federal simple possession of marijuana. What did you see as the most important takeaways from this settlement? [00:04:33] Evelyn Chow: What we saw yesterday - huge news, in terms of Joe Biden setting his agenda by making the statement that, on a federal level, simple possession convictions of marijuana will be pardoned. And I think across the board we've seen a lot of different parties, people, interests react. On my end, while I'm really hopeful that states will follow suit across the US and do the same thing, which will impact more people, I also want to. acknowledge also that pardons don't mean, necessarily, released from prison. Nor are they expungements of criminal records. And the administration does say that about 6,000 people will be pardoned. And which is really again, huge - it means you're forgiven - but it's still on paper. I would love to see the expungement of it from records, though we also know, just from doing work in community, that expungements are costly. Lawyers have to file the expungement, on top of cost of filing, and they know that this is a cost that a lot of working class people might not be able to afford. And the method becomes like a fiscal generator for municipalities. Sorry, now we're going down the rabbit hole of the negative or maybe the under-the-surface, but I think on the surface this is really huge. I do hope to see more states follow suit in that - this is not nothing. For a lot of, I think, abolitionists and criminal legal system reform advocates, I've seen a lot of this just kind of brush through. And I understand where that sentiment comes from and at the same time, this is not nothing. This just - it's a something that will hopefully evolve. [00:06:31] Crystal Fincher: It is, absolutely - I think that's exactly right. It's something that is positive, that hopefully continues to evolve here in Washington State - we've been more fortunate than a lot of other states in the country. There are states where you can go to jail for possessing a joint, where there is no legalization at all. We're used to the ability to go to the store here and pick out our selection of weed - that is not the case in a lot of the country. And there have been recent - pretty pointed - efforts on behalf of the Republican Party in several states to roll back marijuana legalization. So it is not even like legalization, in one form or another, is even safe in places where it has been implemented. So I think this is important - one, as you said, in setting the agenda and really urging states to move down the path of decriminalization, which I think is important, and just puts a little bit of external pressure on different states. I was surprised to hear about this just because of the news, previously, that Biden didn't have the friendliest marijuana policy for his own administration and looking at issues with that. But I do think that this moves the conversation forward across the entire country. We're ahead of the conversation a little bit in Washington State, but a lot of people are not there and this is meaningful for a lot of people in states where the population - the people there - want this change, but they have leaders who are very, very resistant. Also, looking at the rescheduling of this - to keep it from being classified similarly as heroin or fentanyl - it clearly is not. All the public health data shows that, and it's a barrier to research and a bunch of other things. So this is a step in the right direction, I think. Still have a lot more to go, but it's a fight that Biden is willing to take on even before we get to these elections. It's a winning issue and it's the right thing to do. So if you can - absolutely, if you can win on an issue and it's the right thing to do, should be moving forward with it. And I'm glad to see that this happened. So in other news this week, we saw that the King County Jail is lacking water. They've lacked water for a week. This is a story that PubliCola broke on Thursday, I believe. And we've seen news and lots of people have made their opinions known about the water crisis in Jackson - sometimes it's just, Oh my goodness, that's horrible there, it could never happen here. It's happening here. It's happening in a place where people have literally no other choice, no other option about what to do. They're being given bottled water instead of being able to access the water, because there are currently health issues. And there are questions about whether people are even getting enough water - it looks like they're having to choose between hydration and hygiene. What do you see with this? [00:09:52] Evelyn Chow: I have a status as a volunteer at the women's prison down in Purdy, in Tacoma. And was a volunteer for a few years until COVID, in which - none of us have been able to get back in for programming, except for a few of the churches - which is a discussion for another time. But, I think often the way that we see punishment in this country is, in a way, a just sweeping things under the rug - putting people in prisons and jails is this. And when you put people there, there's that perception of - all of the stigmatization of what you put on a population that has often done things that maybe you have also, but maybe I've had the privilege of not being caught for. And what happens to those people is they get forgotten, or they get put into conditions that we would never ourselves want to be in, regardless of any of the harm that we have caused as individuals. I think in this issue - sorry to get philosophical with it, I just needed to set that context of - [00:10:59] Crystal Fincher: No apologies necessary. [00:11:01] Evelyn Chow: This is not, obviously, the first time in the US or even across the world where prisons, people who are getting placed into prison, are experiencing extremely degrading and violent circumstances, right? From the article, we hear that there are women in the jail who are getting their period and they're unable to get a change of underwear for the week. And this is also something that is across the board even pre-COVID, pre-pandemic times, of people needing to spend the very limited resources they have on hygiene products - things that should be guaranteed rights for people. It's inhumane, it's also just a clear liability for the county. [00:11:47] Crystal Fincher: It's infuriating. It's infuriating because - one, this could have, this started and went on for a week before it even caught notice. And thankfully for PubliCola's reporting, it did - otherwise it would've gone on longer - that inmates often have no voice in our community. We make it so hard for people who are incarcerated to communicate, to advocate for anything. They frequently face punishment for just bringing up issues of clear illegality, or challenges just in terms of health, violations of policy - and too many people in the community who just feel like we can discard rights of people who are incarcerated or that somehow they're deserving of it. And if someone is incarcerated, the sentence is the incarceration. That does not in any way absolve all of us because they are being held, on behalf of our society with our tax dollars - this is a community responsibility to make sure they are treated as humans. One, because it's the right thing to do. They should not be subjected to harsh, inhumane, insufficient - facilities, supplies, regulations, any of that. We should be treating them and making sure they have all of the provisions they need. And it's wrong morally not to do so, it's also highly ineffective and increases the chances that they're going to come out when they get released - because everybody's, just about everybody's getting released - and are not going to be able to successfully integrate into our society and contribute to the problems that so many people then complain about on the other side. We have to invest in people, treat people, make sure they have resources - access to education, access to therapeutic programming, arts, lots of different things. We need to make sure that they come out more whole than they go in, if they are going in. That is what's best for our community, that's what's best for the safety of everyone, that's what's best for legal liability resources. And so this is just infuriating. And on top of this, the jails are understaffed. And so there's a big question about - are people dehydrated right now? They don't have a way to tell us most of the time. They are limited to receiving one bottle of water at a time - I'm assuming these are small, 20-ounce bottles of water that we normally see - because they're afraid of affiliated, associated safety concerns. They can exchange an empty bottle for a full bottle. How frequently is that opportunity to exchange? Why are we rationing water to people? It just doesn't make sense, we have to do better - this is - we have to do better. And so this is on Dow Constantine, this is on all the employees there, this is on every elected official - the King County Council. We have to do better - this is inexcusable. [00:15:22] Evelyn Chow: And I'd also, if I could Crystal, just point out - this recent, this ongoing water shutoff is only the most recent example of the different types of problems that they've been experiencing at the jail over the past few years, if not since the jail has been there. We've been hearing from folks there that they are getting limited access to medical care, to their attorneys, to even spend time calling people like family members and loved ones. All of this has been exacerbated by COVID, but is a statement of the existing conditions at a lot of these jails and prisons. So I agree - there has to be a better way of - people need to do better, our electeds need to do better. [00:16:04] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, and these are public resources that are being spent or misspent in these ways. We need to demand better. They must do better. And to your point, this is the latest in a litany - and as a reminder, both public defenders and the corrections officers in our King County jails came together earlier this year to ask King County to release more prisoners 'cause they're woefully understaffed. This is a safety issue for the corrections officers, it's a safety and health issue for the people who are incarcerated there. It is working for nobody and ignoring this is only allowing those conditions to get worse. Someone is going to end up injured, ill, or worse. And this is entirely preventable. In other news, more discussion this week about Mayor Harrell's budget proposal, including part of the proposal that he has to address gun violence with the ShotSpotter surveillance program. What is this program and what is your perspective on this? [00:17:12] Evelyn Chow: Shotspotter is a private program and it's - over the past years - been marketed to dozens of cities across the US. However, they've proven to have little investment on their return. So the description of what they are proposing that this technology does is - it's a microphone system and it triangulates the location of where they would hear supposed, or alleged, gunshots. And that would allow first responders, specifically the police, to show up to that scene quickly and supposedly de-escalate the situation or apprehend whoever had fired a gun. I think the system, as we've seen in cities across the US like in Charlotte and in others that have actually used this technology - we've seen that the system generates a lot of notifications when the sensors are triggered. But there's very little evidence that that data leads to any arrests, convictions, or even - most importantly - victim assistance. Cities across the US have already been canceling their contracts with ShotSpotter for the past few years, citing the poor results. And I think even in New York City, the system had triggered enough false positives that the NYPD Deputy Commissioner a few years ago was like - this is an unsuccessful system and it just logs noise. It was logging things like an exploding volleyball - like a popped volleyball - or a car backfiring. And so I think, before we choose to invest a million dollars in this upcoming budget cycle in a technology that is proven time and again and again that it doesn't work - perhaps that million dollars could be better spent in other places that will actually promote community and public safety. And I just also want to make the point that there is already increased surveillance technology equipment in SPD, especially around South Seattle communities, but citywide. And the data that it collects is not transparent in any way. With existing technologies and this new proposed, or not necessarily new, but proposed technology - we need to, at least - the public deserves to know how that data will be used and who will have access to it. I know a few years ago, when the ShotSpotter was being proposed, they talked about how it, as a private entity company, owns that data. And so there's a lot of repercussions that I can see coming up with - if the city decides to move forward with implementing ShotSpotter. And I also hear a lot of people who have very fair questions, candidly, about whether this is going to be effective at all. And, my answer is no. [00:20:17] Crystal Fincher: Your answer is no. And so many different entities' answers are no. An AP investigation earlier this year found serious flaws with prosecutors using ShotSpotter for evidence - noting, as you said - it can miss live gunfire next to its microphone, but misclassify the sounds of fireworks or cars backfiring as gunshots. A study published last year in the peer-reviewed Journal of Urban Health found that ShotSpotter appeared to have no significant impact on firearm-related homicides or arrest outcomes in 68 large metropolitan counties from 1999 to 2016. It has no impact on gun crime, it has no impact on public safety. A separate study on Philadelphia's use of SENTRI, a ShotSpotter alternative - and it's important to note that there are different alternatives - they all experience these problems, so if they substitute another one with ShotSpotter, these surveillance programs that are essentially trying to hack public safety and hack a solution to gun violence are just not effective - that found that the technology increased police workload. At a time where they keep complaining that they're overworked, that they don't have enough police to address public safety concerns - it increased police workload by sending officers to incidents where no evidence of a shooting was found. So once again, we're in a situation where Bruce Harrell has the opportunity to define what his plan for public safety is going to be and we're hearing things, that not only have no evidence that they're going to work, they have evidence to the contrary. While lots of people are suggesting things that are backed by data, backed by evidence - when he came in office, he said, Look, I'm going to be evidence-based, data-driven. People are like, So here's that evidence that you said you wanted, and here's this data that you had said you wanted - let's do this. And it's, No, let's go to this thing that has been demonstrated not to work. And we do need public safety solutions. We do need to make our streets safer. We do need to reduce the amount of people who are being victimized urgently. And we can't afford to waste this time and money on solutions that have proven not to make people anymore safe. We just can't afford this. And I am asking, I'm begging public officials to - yes, follow the data. There is so much available that shows what is helpful and useful to do. And I will note that some programs - Bruce has defunded, that have been effective in doing this this year, so it's just frustrating to see. And I wonder - this is me wondering, obviously - a lot of people have moved here over the last 10 years and may not remember Bruce Harrell being on the City Council. He was for quite some time. And I think that we are hearing a number of proposals that were talked about 10 years ago when he was on the council. And he was on the council for several years - for a decade, basically. [00:23:39] Evelyn Chow: I think three terms - yeah. [00:23:41] Crystal Fincher: Yes, and so it's like we're bringing back the hits from 2010, 2012 - and sometimes, there was even some promise for some of those things at that time. Wow - they've been implemented in so many cities across the US, we've had the opportunity to gather data and figure out what has evidence of effectiveness and what doesn't. And that just doesn't seem to enter into what they're proposing. It's really confusing and we're waiting - we're waiting on proposals that will make people more safe - and more than just hiring more police, which can't even happen until next year. What is going to happen now to make people more safe? It's frustrating, as I am sure you deal with in a very immediate and present way on a daily basis. [00:24:35] Evelyn Chow: Yeah, absolutely. Everything you said - public safety, community safety is an urgent issue and they keep trying these tried techniques, right? Tough on crime didn't work in the nineties, it's not going to work now. And investing in all of these things that are scientifically, with data and evidence, proven not to work is just not the way we need to move forward. And I think similar to King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay's op-ed in the Times, I think a few weeks ago now, talking about how public safety is not about scoring political points. I think the executive put out this proposal with a very specific - I guess, his specific base in mind. And that does not encompass the lived realities of a lot of people across, especially South Seattle, but across the City as well. [00:25:26] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, absolutely. So we'll continue to keep our eye on that. Also, it's budget season in the City, in the County - which you are in the middle of and steeped in. And so, there was an article in Capitol Hill Seattle this week covering the $30 million Seattle participatory budgeting effort that is now gearing up. What is happening with this, and what is happening just in the budget process overall? [00:25:53] Evelyn Chow: The mayor gets eight months to put together his proposed budget and then it comes to Council - it came on September 27th, a few weeks ago now - and we get about eight weeks in the council to splice and dice that budget. And you brought up participatory budgeting - I am glad to see that - I think the context, to just set a little bit of groundwork for participatory budgeting - this was money that was allocated in September of 2020, following the protests that sparked nationwide after the police murders of George Floyd, of Brianna Taylor, of too many others. And it really came as a demand from community to the council to direct money into community-led safety initiatives. And this is an opportunity for the community that's most impacted, that's usually furthest away from being able to make decisions about how their money is spent, to be engaged in that process. And the Seattle City Council allocated $30 million into this participatory budgeting process, and this is going to be the largest undertaking in, I believe, North America with a similar initiative. And so just a little bit more of groundwork before I get to where we're at - King County Council did the same allocation on a smaller scale of $11 million. And they've already executed their contracts and that money has gone out into community. I believe it was about $11 million to 45 different community-based organizations. And where we are now - it's been a couple of years since the money has been allocated, and I know that some people are starting to ask - what's the status update? And I know in the Neighborhoods, Education, and Civil Rights Committee on the Seattle City Council - we recently held presentations to get that status update from the King County Council and the Seattle Office of Civil Rights, where that contract is now housed. And so - I believe they're in the design process and that they are working to make sure that community engagement is really steeped in this step and every step along the way to direct this funding. I think at this point, it sounds like the group that got contracted from the City is called the Participatory Budgeting Project. They're a national organization and they are currently working to hire local staff to help on their steering and working group committees, which will in turn shape and launch this effort. So I'm excited to see - I think at a time when we're talking about the budget season in Seattle, on the county level - and a lot of folks are feeling particularly enraged at several of the proposed line items in the mayor's budget around these new technologies, around the caps for service workers on their raises. This is an opportunity - participatory budgeting - to put funds towards, quite frankly, where the executive is not going to invest right now - in these types of solutions that we know community has already been working on, for years, to address violence on an interpersonal and on a state level. So I'm excited to see this continue to be underway. [00:29:42] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, I'm excited too and I'm broadly in favor of the community being actively engaged, actively involved in allocations that impact them and that they should have a voice. All neighborhoods in Seattle should have a voice. Traditionally, some have had much more of a voice than others. And there are some that have had many more resources, that have had close relationships, the time and ability, and frankly privilege, to get familiar with budget processes, engagement processes - which can be very exclusionary and hard to figure out how to even become a part of it. And they're not necessarily friendly to someone just walking up trying to figure out what's happening. Making sure that we reach out to every single community in the City and that they have a voice in shaping the investments is really important. I'm also excited to see this, excited for this money to get distributed and for this process to actually get started. And then for the budget process overall - so we've talked about this participatory budgeting, but this is in the context of the larger budget process overall, which is a big process - lots of resources there. I guess we'll talk about specific hearings and stuff in a moment, but what would your personal advice be, if people are looking to become more involved in budget decisions in the City, and how money is invested and where it's involved? [00:31:26] Evelyn Chow: That's a great question because it's - I don't see it enough, especially in communities where there's intentional, whether implicit or explicit, ways to de-incentivize people from being civically engaged. Where I've seen the people build the most power - and we saw this in 2020, as well as when people with their specific values and interests come together - and really work on contacting their elected representatives, setting up meetings throughout the year, making sure they're being held accountable to the votes they're taking in committees, in Full Councils and being like - here are the updates that I see on the ground, as people who are doing work as - at community-based organizations and non-profits, etc. And here's the needs that we see emerging in our communities, and here's what you can do about it in the budget season. [00:32:16] Crystal Fincher: So I'm glad that participatory budgeting is hopefully going to be getting underway. At least they're hiring - hopefully the money actually gets distributed soon. Engaging in budget processes is always complicated overall. I'm sitting here - I've worked in politics for a while, I've worked with tons of people who've worked with budgets - and budgets are so opaque and so complicated, and so - these are documents over, that are thousands of pages long, oftentimes. You have to have a deep and intimate familiarity with everything to even understand what they are. You can see the numbers on the paper, but is that more than I spent before? Is that less? What does that mean? Where did this money come from? Is this continuing? It's a complicated and convoluted thing. And we have this budget process, which is at a certain period of time during the year. One, I always just want to reiterate and reinforce with people, 'cause we don't talk about this enough, I don't think - is that a lot of the groundwork, whether it's budget, whether it's legislation, or anything - there's a period of time where there are hearings and everything to discuss it and that's valuable. But a lot of the groundwork, a lot of what actually shapes that - happens long before that process. And so the importance of engaging within community, within organizations that are familiar with the budget and advocating there, being familiar with your County Council person, City Council person, mayor and keeping that line of communication open - and anyone can call your elected representatives. They are your elected representatives. If you are a resident - you don't have to be documented, you don't have to be anything else. If you live in whatever jurisdiction, they represent you and they should be responsive to you. But you can ask questions, you can do all that kind of stuff and start there. That's always helpful to do and sometimes that helps to get an understanding of things so that when these processes do officially ramp up, that you know where everything stands and can be prepared to advocate for what you want - hopefully already getting that and how it's shaped in there. But if you don't, you're prepared to advocate. For people who are getting engaged in this process now - now that this process has spun up - what are ways that people can get involved, whether it's hearings or anything else? [00:34:43] Evelyn Chow: Couldn't have said it more eloquently - thank you, Crystal. I can give a vague overview, or I can give a timeline of the budget process. Anyone in the public gets to provide feedback on the budget. You can call your representatives, you can send emails into their offices. I will say that mail form responses don't receive as many individual responses as just a personal - Hey, I'm concerned about this - you know what's going on. The Seattle City Council does have public hearings. There will be three in the next few weeks. The next one is coming up next week on October 11th, which is a Tuesday, at 5:00 PM. And then in November there will be two public hearings on November 7th and November 15th. The Select Budget Committee will be meeting throughout these weeks. And on the first meetings of the Select Budget Committee, I believe there will also be public comment allowed. Now this is a shift from, I think previous years where, people could give public comment at each committee hearing, and so I've definitely heard some pushbacks on there. I think a lot of the reasoning is just that - we are still in COVID but - yes, there will be those public hearings. And folks are able to give feedback in public comment during the Budget Committee hearings. And the first one had already happened on September 28th. There will be another one coming up on October 11th, similarly, but in the morning. And those Select Budget Committee meetings are happening all week. And next week is when the Council is going into, going to deep dive into basically every issue area with the Central Staff. And so it starts next Tuesday - I believe Tuesday is just going to be a general overview of the General Fund and Capital Investments. And then each day throughout the week - Wednesday, Thursday and Friday - they'll be covering several different issue areas, whether it's SPD, homelessness, Office of Planning and Community Development. And so - folks are really encouraged to stay on top of the Budget Committee meetings as well - there is a link on the City of Seattle's website to stay on top of when these committee meetings are happening throughout the weeks. So just to summarize, there will be Budget Committee meetings that folks can give either remote or in-person public comment to - for the Select Budget Committee, which is just made up of members of the Seattle City Council. And there will be public hearings on the budget specifically. The first one is set for next Tuesday, and then there will also be on - November 8th and November 15th. And at any time throughout the budget process, folks are encouraged to reach out to their elected officials, to stay on top of their representatives - either social media, newsletters, mail - all of the different forms to get information. And partnering up and joining up with these organizations that you specified, Crystal, that have been doing this type of advocacy work and have dedicated staff people to dissect those year-round. Just a number of ways - [00:37:56] Crystal Fincher: There are - number of ways - not the simplest process to follow, but there are ways to get engaged. One of those groups with the Seattle Solidarity Budget - we'll include all of this information and all of the dates that Evelyn just talked about in our show notes - Solidarity Budget is another effort involved in this budget process, a more community-focused budget that they're advocating for. The website will also link to - has information, ways to advocate, you can look through that - also, ways to help - social media stuff - with alt text provided for the social media graphics that they provided, which I appreciate. But just a lot of different things. So I encourage people to get involved because we all talk about the impacts and effects of there's not enough funding here, and we need to do this, and why aren't we doing this? And this is how these decisions are made, this is where those funding decisions are solidified, and this is the time to engage if you have an opinion about what is happening within your city. That's a lot there. It's a lot to go through, but definitely worth it. I also want to cover news - it's been making news throughout the past several weeks. Just talking about the SoDo shelter expansion and some pushback from within the CID. Starting off - what is happening, Evelyn? And then we can talk about some thoughts about what's happening. [00:39:32] Evelyn Chow: Yes, I'm happy to give a quick overview of that. King County is planning to expand their - this enhanced shelter, that is currently housed in SoDo. It's right along the bottom edge of the CID, under where the Uwajimaya is on the south end. And the proposal is to expand the shelter - it currently has 269 beds, they want to add an additional 150 beds - mind you, these are congregate shelter. And they want to expand into having a behavioral health services center, as well as support for RV residents and Pallet shelters, which are essentially tiny homes. So that expansion of 150 that has been talked about by the executive - King County Executive - is going to bring the total number of people at that site to approximately 419 people. So that's just a high-level of what's happening. [00:40:36] Crystal Fincher: And it's also known as the Megaplex, correct? [00:40:39] Evelyn Chow: Yeah, I guess a lot of folks have been trying to call it the Megaplex. Yes. [00:40:44] Crystal Fincher: But just for people's familiarity, if they happen to hear that term - this is what that's in reference to. [00:40:49] Evelyn Chow: Yes. Yeah. I didn't really like that term because I feel like it dehumanizes the people who live there. [00:40:54] Crystal Fincher: It does. [00:40:55] Evelyn Chow: So I just call it the SoDO shelter. [00:40:56] Crystal Fincher: Yes. [00:40:57] Evelyn Chow: But you are correct that that is what it's being called by a lot of more clickbait media. The Seattle City Council allotted funding from their federal ARPA - the emergency, the American Rescue Plan Act - funding towards this. And last year, I believe that Councilmember Tammy Morales did propose an amendment to divert that funding from where it currently is to the Salvation Army Shelter, to instead Chief Seattle Club for them to build a unit or several units of non-congregate shelter. But that amendment did not pass. And towards the late summer of this year, I think around September, is when we heard of the plans for expansion. That is when the county had announced, more fully to the public at the CID Public Safety Forum, and there are claims of doing community engagement before these plans started moving forward. The county claims to have done community engagement prior to the implementation of these plans. And I think a lot of community folks have pushed back being like - No, we actually didn't hear about this at all. They have their list of people that they've reached out to and we've heard some critiques be - Yes, we did hear about a plan to expand a shelter, but I think if we had known the size of this project, we would've had more engagement. And so I think, just on the government side, there hasn't been a lot of authentic community engagement with folks in the CID. And there are other players in this situation, namely some right-wing think tanks of the Discovery Institute that have been trying to co-opt what is happening in the CID for their political agendas. And so it's created this extremely tense environment to be able to talk about the dynamics of - yes, everyone deserves housing, everyone deserves shelter - I think there's no doubt there. There are indeed some people who don't believe that, who are part of the pushback. And the CID is a really small neighborhood, it's also the third CID that the City of Seattle has seen, right? They've already relocated two times. And throughout the pandemic, a lot of folks in the CID have burdened a lot of the the impacts of the pandemic. And businesses have been slow to open back up if they have it all. There's boarded up windows everywhere and people generally have really valid concerns around public safety in the neighborhood. There are a lot of other government projects that are taking place in the neighborhood that have been plowed through without also similar meaningful community engagement. Most recently, the Sound Transit expansion of the West Seattle Ballard Link extension, where their proposed Fifth Ave or Fourth Ave options still do propose closing businesses - and all of this to say, and I'm sure there's more to say - there's a lot of moving factors around what's happening in the CID right now. I think some of the bottom lines are that the community there does not feel like engaged in these decisions that are being made. Going back to our conversation earlier around participatory budgeting, it's really important to have dedicated forces of people who will meaningfully take what people have to say and propose solutions, have meaningful dialogue. And people also need to be housed and it's an urgent crisis. So this is where we're at. I will say, just in the blog put out by the King County on this project, they stated that the lease renewal for that site in SoDo, which currently encompasses the Salvation Army Center as well as the surrounding block - it is supposed to be a one-time lease for five years. If they did not use the funds they secured to renew this lease, they would've had to close this already-existing 270-bed shelter which seems like a terrible ultimatum to give in a lease - it's like they had to renew the lease and take that additional property. And so now they're trying to find uses for that property - and so that's where I've seen the county's messaging come through. [00:46:03] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for that overview - it's good kind of level setting for the conversation. I guess thinking about this - one, I've seen a lot of reactions to this. I've seen a lot of commentary. And a lot of it has just been dismissive in one way or another. And looking at the situation and - Oh, these are people, this shouldn't be anywhere and this isn't the solution. Or these are NIMBYs just not wanting this there. And I think we have to be real. And sometimes, oftentimes, these conversations aren't simple. One, as you said, engagement is so important. You just talked about the West Seattle Bridge extension - even with the deep bore tunnel and that issue was hard on that community - that community homes so many services and service centers overall there - just so many different things involved there. And we keep asking a small percentage of the communities in Seattle and in King County to bear the majority of the brunt of infrastructure challenges, infrastructure disruptions - public safety concerns aren't being held, or being heard, or being dismissed. And yes, there are challenges everywhere in the City, including there, with people who need housing. Yes, there are challenges there and so many places in the City with people feeling unsafe in their neighborhood. But there seems to be a divergence between how those concerns are heard and what is done in response. And what I continue to hear from people in the CID, people in the Rainier Valley, people in other places are - Hey, people in Magnolia are saying this and we are saying this. And they keep getting listened to over there and somehow projects always get diverted away from there and then land here. Projects always get picketed somewhere else and then land here. And we have been doing our fair share and other people have not. And so once again, you're asking us to bear the brunt of this without even having a conversation with us first. And kind of news flash - if the community is saying you haven't done adequate engagement, you haven't done adequate engagement. That is the community that wants you to engage with them. You gotta go deeper than the organizations that you have - like that's a flag and a signal to the organization - you have to go wider and deeper than you have before, clearly. At the same time, there are also people with bad faith criticisms. There have been some King County GOP efforts - they showed up with picket signs and basically astroturfed some stuff and are joining onto this effort to try and get publicity to try and characterize it in their own way. And so certainly, that's a bad faith effort and they're not coming with the same concerns. They're not rooted or invested in that community and they're exploiting that community. But that does not give us the right, or I guess the moral authority, to then ignore the concerns that are genuinely rooted in that community. And so there should have been better engagement, there needs to be more engagement clearly. There need to be more alternatives cited. There need to be invest - we have to look into how we determine where potential sites for this are. We talk after the fact - well, these requirements or specifications for a desirable location say it can't be near this, and it has to be that, and it can't be near this. Well, yeah - they're written that way to exclude certain communities. How do we make this impact more equitable? How do we make sure that we don't unduly burden individual communities and ask people to continue to bear the brunt of what other neighborhoods say that they don't want. And how do we make it work all over the place? So I do think this is not a simple solution. We do have a crisis of people on the street and they do need to get housed. We need to take action on that quickly. We can't do that without listening to community, and we can't shortcut this process by just saying, Okay, we'll just put it over here again. We can do it over here and maybe they won't yell as loud as some people in other neighborhoods, or maybe because they may not have enough financial resources, that they won't be, they won't have enough time to engage and they won't be as much of a "headache" to us as other people will consistently - it's just not good enough. And we have to engage with that reality. We have to talk within communities. And that doesn't mean that those communities are automatically NIMBYs for that, right? They have valid concerns that we have to listen to and work through. [00:51:34] Evelyn Chow: Yeah, and something else on this issue that I just, I really wish I was seeing more of - from both the county and other local partners on this - is engagement with the actual people who are living unhoused by that shelter. I think in terms of the the people who are involved in these decisions, that's one entity. The people who are housed in the neighborhood, or provide services, or have businesses in the neighborhood - that's another one. Also, I want to hear also directly from the people who are living outside - what their thoughts of - a lot of, and I won't say this is either in good or bad faith, but we've been seeing protests outside of the existing Salvation Army shelter for the past few weeks now, since the news broke. And the shelter is right next to a large, I guess, unsanctioned encampment of folks who have to listen to these protests day in, day out about just the circumstances that they're under in life. And I can't imagine what the relationship would continue to look like or evolve between those who are living there because they seemingly have no other options currently - and that site is also close to other services that they are receiving - and the residents and business owners of the neighborhood, many of whom have developed extremely tense relationships and antagonistic relationships with each other over the past years, especially since COVID when just socioeconomic conditions across the nation have worsened. And I just think, in moving forward with these conversations, the engagement has to be inclusive of the whole CID community. I think a lot of the folks who are very vocal now are the ones who are also historically vocal in a lot of decisions. And that's not to say it's a good or bad thing, it's just there's a lot more to folks in the CID than the three dozen people who show up to protest because they have that time every week. [00:53:54] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely - well said. So I hope that engagement does happen with this - continued and for all the future stuff. And we have to look at why we keep having to have these conversations in the exact same communities and they're telling us that, repeatedly - Hey, there hasn't been enough engagement and now you are just implementing something, ramming it through, and we're paying the price. We're happy to do our fair share but why are we doing the majority of it when the rest of the City exists? And that's with this issue, that's with so many issues. It's with issues surrounding public safety, around environmental and climate change, impacts around education, around so many things. And the reasons why are related and share the same root cause. So I hope there are better conversations about this while also - no need to entertain the bad faith conversations, but engage with community. [00:54:57] Evelyn Chow: Unfortunately, the bad faith conversations are really good at co-opting narratives right now. So I think it's on - [00:55:02] Crystal Fincher: Yes, they are. [00:55:03] Evelyn Chow: - people with, it's on people to, if they don't already have existing relationships, build those and continue to show up, especially our elected leaders. To make sure that everyone is being served in the best possible way. [00:55:17] Crystal Fincher: And with that, I want to thank you for listening to Hacks & Wonks on this Friday, October 7th, 2022. The producer of Hacks & Wonks is Lisl Stadler. Our assistant producer is Shannon Cheng, and our Production Coordinator is Bryce Cannatelli. Our insightful co-host today is Evelyn Chow. You can find them on Twitter @EvelynTChow, E-V-E-L-Y-N-T-C-H-O-W. You can follow Hacks & Wonks on Twitter @HacksWonks. You can find me on Twitter @finchfrii. You can catch Hacks & Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts - just search "Hacks and Wonks." Be sure to subscribe to get the full versions of our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave a review wherever you listen. 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. Thank you for tuning in - and we'll talk to you next time.

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Summer Stinson from the Economic Opportunity Institute on Why Washington Needs Progressive Revenue

Seattle News, Views, and Brews

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 20, 2022 43:31

This week on the show, Summer Stinson, Executive Director of the Economic Opportunity Institute (EOI), stops by to talk about the amazing work EOI has been doing and the benefits that progressive revenue presents across the state. Our tax system affects all aspects of life. How we tax income equitably in inequitably, what programs we invest in, have significant impacts on whether individuals and families will struggle or have access to necessary resources. Because of our lack of an income tax and reliance on sales tax, it's the poorest Washingtonians' who spend the most of their income on taxes, rather than the richest. Plans for progressive revenue would fix this by creating a tax system that taxes people closest in proportion to their income, instead of levying the same taxes on everyone regardless of their wealth. For EOI, one of their top priorities for the next legislative session is a wealth tax, a bill for which was introduced by Representative Noel Frame, which would start 1% tax on an individual's accumulated wealth beyond a certain amount - discussed amounts range from $15 million to $1 billion as amount you can own before having to pay the tax. This 1% tax would only impact a portion of the wealth of a handful, 4,000 to less than a hundred, of Washingtonians, but could fund programs that benefit everyone. Money earned through a wealth tax could fully fund special education across the state, provide adequate mental health staff for schools, let Washington start to develop guaranteed basic income programs, support people with developmental disabilities, and so much more. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Follow us on Twitter at @HacksWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Twitter at @finchfrii and find today's co-host, Summer Stinson, at @Summer_Stinson. More info is available at officialhacksandwonks.com. Summer Stinson Summer Stinson is a product of public schools from kindergarten to law school. After graduating law school, she clerked for the Honorable Johnnie B. Rawlinson, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Summer has over 25 years of experience in human resources and labor, employment, and disability law. Most recently, Summer worked for the Social Security Administration for over a decade where she developed and led national trainings on the Americans with Disabilities Act. She worked pro bono on immigration cases, defended people facing eviction, and wrote numerous pro bono amicus briefs arguing for Washington to amply fund public schools. In 2015, Summer co-founded Washington's Paramount Duty (WPD), a non-partisan, grassroots group of over 10,000 parents and allies across Washington advocating to provide every child equitable access to amply funded public schools with new progressive revenue. In 2021, Summer became the Executive Director of the Economic Opportunity Institute, a nonprofit public policy think tank that uses research, education, and advocacy to advance policies to build an economy that works for everyone. As EOI Executive Director, Summer is co-leading the Share the Wealth campaign to the legislature for a wealth tax. For too long, Indigineous, Black, and Brown Washingtonians have been paying their share of taxes but not seeing the investments and funding in their communities. It's time for the very wealthiest Washingtonians — who are primarily white — to pay what they owe so that we can ensure all of our communities have an equal opportunity to send their kids to excellent and well-funded public schools, to put food on the table, and to build a home where their families can live in dignity. Summer has published in the University of Oregon Labor Education Research Center Monograph and the University of Washington Education Law and Policy Review. Her most treasured accomplishment is being a mom to a Seattle Public Schools high schooler. Summer and her son adopted a rescue black lab from Texas and love taking him for urban and rural hikes in Washington. Summer is also a huge fan of progressive t-shirts, which she wears to walk or lift kettlebells and then sews t-shirt quilts with her favorite t-shirts. Resources Economic Opportunity Institute: https://www.opportunityinstitute.org/ Keep Our Care Act from ACLU Washington: https://www.aclu-wa.org/KOCA Washington State's Paid Medical Leave program from Economic Opportunity Institute: https://www.opportunityinstitute.org/research/paidleave/ “Washington state's tax system is worsening income inequality” by Melissa Hellmann, Ashley Clarke, & Joe Yerardi from Crosscut: https://crosscut.com/equity/2022/09/washington-states-tax-system-worsening-income-inequality “Share the Wealth, Washington! A state wealth tax on extreme wealth is the missing link in Washington's tax code” by Carolyn Brotherton from Economic Opportunity Institute: https://www.opportunityinstitute.org/research/post/share-the-wealth-washington/ “Reykdal calls for WA Legislature to fund free school meals for all” by Jeanie Lindsay from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/reykdal-calls-for-wa-legislature-to-fund-free-school-meals-for-all/ “Funding Progressive Services through Progressive Tax Reform” by Economic Opportunity Institute: https://www.opportunityinstitute.org/research/tax-reform/ Transcript [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On the 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. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show were always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes. Today on the program, I'm thrilled to be joined by Summer Stinson. How are you . Doing? [00:00:45] Summer Stinson: I'm great. How are you Crystal? [00:00:47] Crystal Fincher: I'm doing great. And I'm excited to have you on, and I want to tell people who you are, what you've been up to. I'm just gonna read your bio so people understand why I'm excited that you're on. Summer Stinson is a product of public schools from kindergarten to law school. After graduating from law school, she clerked for the honorable Johnnie Rawlinson U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Summer has over 25 years of experience in human resources and labor employment and disability law. Most recently summer worked for the Social Security Administration for over a decade where she developed and led national trainings on the Americans With Disabilities Act. She worked pro bono on immigration cases, defended people facing eviction, and wrote numerous pro bono amicus briefs, arguing for Washington to amply fund public schools. In 2015, summer co-founded Washington's Paramount Duty, a nonpartisan grassroots group of over 10,000 parents and allies across Washington advocating to provide every child equitable access to amply-funded public schools with new progressive revenue. In 2021, Summer became the Executive Director of the Economic Opportunity Institute, a nonprofit public policy think tank that uses research, education, and advocacy to advance policies to build an economy that works for everyone. As EOI Executive Director, Summer's, co-leading the Share The Wealth campaign to the legislature for a wealth tax. For too long, Indigenous, Black, and Brown Washingtonians have been paying their share of taxes, but not seeing the investment in funding in their communities. It's time for the wealthiest Washingtonians, who are primarily white, to pay what they owe so that we can all ensure our communities have an equal opportunity to send their kids to excellent and well-funded public schools to put food on the table and to build a home where their families can live in dignity. Summer's Published in the University of Oregon Labor Education and Research Center Monograph, and the University of Washington Education Law and Policy Review. Her most treasured accomplishment is being a mom to a Seattle public school's high schooler. Summer and her son adopted a rescue black lab from Texas and love taking him for urban and rural hikes in Washington. Summer's also a huge fan of progressive t-shirts, which she wears to walk or lift kettlebells, and then sews, t-shirts quilts with her favorite t-shirts. That's a lot. You have done a lot, Summer. [00:03:13] Summer Stinson: I feel like I still haven't done enough. I'm always trying to do more. [00:03:17] Crystal Fincher: You certainly are working more. Lots of people are familiar with Washington's Paramount Duty. You're one of the co-founders and then served on the board for quite some time. Built such a huge movement that resulted really in the McCleary decision, which is a pretty landmark decision by our Supreme court that finally required our legislature to adequately fund public schools. Forced them to make dramatic improvements from where they were at. Still more improvements necessary. But you have been doing this work for so long, in so many different ways and advocating for a lot of people in a lot of different ways. So one, I was just thrilled when you became the Executive Director of EOI and I'm thrilled at the work that you're doing right now. So I guess, starting out, what got you into this work, what drives you and how did you land at EOI? [00:04:13] Summer Stinson: Great questions. And actually like what got me into this work was, back in 1990, I was a sophomore at Oregon State University. And we had what was called measure number five down in Oregon, that would completely change our property tax system. And it was pushed by big landlords, especially corporations with lots of land, and it ended up gutting our public school system as well as our university programs. And I helped lead a lot of rallies. We even took over the president's office at Oregon State University. We slept there for the whole evening and had quite a rally in March just to say, "look divesting from the public good so that certain individuals can get tax breaks is or certain corporations, is not what Oregon is about." and unfortunately it passed and Oregon is still facing the ramifications of that decision, of that passage. What happened was that overnight after it passed, tuition doubled at many of the universities. Gonna date myself here, but when I started at Oregon State University, it was, I think, $494 for tuition for a quarter. Not including all the student fees and things like that, but then it doubled. Which still, I think many people today would gladly take a thousand dollars a quarter for tuition. But has just continued to escalate from there. Other things that happened from that were that friends who were in programs such as journalism, or programs such as teaching, all of a sudden the state board of higher education decided that we didn't have the money anymore, oregon didn't have the money anymore, to support degrees at different schools. So that if the University of Oregon already had journalism, there was no way that Oregon State should also have journalism, et cetera. So the degrees were slashed. Like entire degrees and programs were just slashed overnight. And so seeing how that affected people who were at school and the fact that a lot of people had to drop out or take a second job to be able to stay in school, or had to figure out whether to transfer, either to a different school or to a different program, was really my first awakening that taxes matter and actually affect our lives every day. And I think I was 19 years old at the time and it's still true today. We are so affected by our tax system, by the fairness or inequities in our tax system. And it truly does affect us, our children, our neighbors, coworkers, et cetera, every single day. And that is just such a touchpoint for whether we can live happy and healthy lives, is whether we are collecting re revenue equitably and whether we are investing in programs and communities equitably as well. [00:07:06] Crystal Fincher: And so that's really important work. It does have to do with everything. How does EOI go about advocating for that? And what is everything that the economic opportunity Institute works on? [00:07:19] Summer Stinson: We work on quite a bit of different things, not just progressive revenue. We also work on healthcare, major things that we have been working on, and this is through - we have this amazing policy team. So when I say we, it truly is we. We have just a tremendous staff, which we are almost gonna be nine here very soon. We have another person joining us at the beginning of October - and so for healthcare, some of the big pushes have been to address the consolidation of hospitals and the consolidation of our healthcare, which is critically important, not just when you look at the cost of healthcare, but also when you look at the healthcare available at certain hospitals. Because not all hospitals, unfortunately, have the same commitment to a woman's health and women's reproductive health, and also a woman's right to choose and to provide abortions whether chosen or whether they're required for the health of the mother. And so that's a very big issue that we have worked on that we have not been able to fully move forward in Washington state, I'm sure it'll be on our agenda again, and has never been more important than since after the Dobbs decision. Also, we are working with many other organizations, including unions and many other nonprofit organizations on capping costs and reducing costs for both pharmaceuticals and also for the medical procedures. Because, as we know, the costs are just continue to escalate and yet we don't see nurses getting paid more. We would think that we'd have a very robust system rather than just profits by hospitals or by providers at this point, but that's unfortunately what we're seeing. For paid family medical leave, which is another one of AOIs huge wins, and that was so important in the state where we were able to get, with many other organizations, paid leave for Washingtonians to care for themselves or their families. And then a very progressive program where it's not just family, that the U.S. government considers you related to, but it's also chosen family, which is very nice and broad, and also really matters to so many people, especially to communities, queer communities, that we can take time off for our chosen family. And we've done a lot of work to make sure that those programs are really accessible right now. Unfortunately, the application is only in English online, which makes no sense in a state like Washington. So that's another thing we're working on, making sure that there's more language accessibility for people who do not speak or write English to be able to apply for these programs that are very important for them to be able to access as well. And then of course, we've worked for a long time now on progressive revenue, which I know we're gonna talk more about as well. [00:10:09] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. And so I do wanna talk about that a little bit more. Progressive revenue is a term that is frequently used among insiders among people doing policy work and political work, but that a lot of people, who aren't super paying attention to things may be real familiar with what that actually is. So what is progressive revenue and why does it matter? [00:10:33] Summer Stinson: So we are currently, Washington, the most regressive state when it comes to our revenue collection. And again, that sounds, maybe, like a little bit of word salad, but what that means is that we rely on taxes as a percentage of income. We rely on taxes and we more heavily tax the people at the bottom of the earning spectrum. People who are poor, people who are barely making it, working families pay a much higher rate of their earnings than do the really wealthy among us. And in a state like Washington state, where we have almost a hundred billionaires and yet one quarter of our Washingtonians live in poverty, we have just this enormous gap already between the haves and the have nots. But then when you layer our inequitable tax system, regressive tax system, on top of that, where we're taxing the people who are the have nots at the highest rate, it means that we are really unfair in how we're doing this. And let me remind you, we're more unfair than Mississippi, we're more unfair than Texas. We are the most regressive of all 50 states. And this is even after capital gains tax was enacted. We're still the most regressive. It has not changed that. We have not even moved up one number yet. We are still 50th when you look at states in terms of who has the least regressive tax system. We are still number 50. We just have an incredibly unfair tax system. [00:12:12] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. And that's such a tremendous challenge. And our state, we don't have an income tax. And sometimes people look at that and they think, "oh, so taxes must be really low. There's no income tax. It's a cake walk." It is not a cake walk. And what that means is that instead of people paying proportionally according to what they earn and their ability to pay and a percentage of that, we have sales taxes and use taxes and BNO taxes and fees for everything. And so all of these other taxes are jacked up, but they're not taxes that are in any way correlated with people's income or ability to pay. So we have people at the bottom paying as much. Or more in some cases than people at the top. And it just doesn't make sense. And in an area where the public investments and the public infrastructure that have been provided and, businesses and individuals have been able to reap the benefit of that great public investment, of our great infrastructure, of our educational investments, enrich themselves, and then not continue that cycle of paying back into the system through taxes is just really not working is the bottom line. And we have seen, in many ways, how it doesn't work what are some of the impacts of having such a regressive tax? [00:13:44] Summer Stinson: And I thank you for laying it out that way, because one of the impacts, if you're gonna take it on a really personal level, is that, if you have, say, a millionaire parent who goes into buy some diapers for their child and they're paying the sales tax and they grab whatever brand of diapers off the shelf, they're paying the same tax for those diapers as a parent who is every single diaper counts, every single dollar counts, and they really need those diapers for their children and they may be working two jobs. And so the fact that the sales tax is not any way an equalizer because yes, you have these two parents who are paying the same amount, no matter what they bring to the table, no matter how much they're counting those dollars for those diapers, trying to make them last. So that's on a personal level, the impact. The impact for our students and for all Washingtonians, especially when you look at our Washingtonians most in need, like our disabled Washingtonians, is that we have cut and cut so many programs that are absolutely needed. We are not even back to most of the spending rates that we had for people very much in need. And for our basics, we are not even back to the spending rates that we had before the recession from 2008 to 2011, which I think was called the Great Recession, which just feels awkward now since we've, had a pandemic since then. But yeah, even in a pandemic, we have not gotten back to those levels because we've also had some infusions from the federal government and also our state government that are not- The investments while they're amazing, just yesterday, Biden had a bill signing, amazing investments, but many of them will tap out. They are investments for a year or two. Examples are the child tax credit that was very popular. Lifted millions of families out of poverty across the entire U.S, and yet, was discontinued at the beginning of this year. Another example is the federal government and state government making sure that all meals at public schools were free, universally free, was another thing that ceased, though Washington state is trying to figure out how to continue to make universal meals at schools still of reality. So even just like where the rubber meets the road, and actually, roads. Let's talk about how many bridges do we talk about need to be fixed? I saw that they're finally doing some testing on the West Seattle Bridge. But then we talk about the Magnolia Bridge and the Ballard Bridge. And just our simple infrastructure, we have not been keeping up with the investments we need and the testing and the reinforcing that we need to be able to continue the society that we already have. [00:16:37] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, absolutely. It's so important and so critical. And so, in the state, we've had a lot of conversations about, "okay, so what kind of revenue does that mean?" we just talked about an income tax, but we hear an income tax in our state is unconstitutional. We also hear people trying to characterize lots of different types of wealth taxes as an income tax. So what is actually permissible and what is possible? [00:17:05] Summer Stinson: So what the Washington state constitution has a ban on is any sort of graduated property tax. So that would mean the more expensive the house, taxing that at a higher rate. Which. I think we should not be having to deal with that constraint of not being able to have a progressive property tax, but unfortunately that would require change from the legislature as well as from our Washingtonians. But what the Supreme Court did in the 1930s cases was say that, income was akin to property, and that because income was property, or so they ruled, and this was a pretty conservative court at the time, they overturned a Washington voter initiative to have a progressive income tax. And so, there's this interpretation from the 1930s Supreme Court, which is now almost a hundred years old, that interpretation that income is property. First of all, there's no prohibition on an income tax anywhere. The only rulings we have are that income is property and therefore it can't be, we couldn't have, a progressive income tax. I do think that it is a great time to challenge that at the Supreme Court level and see if this current Supreme Court would reexamine that, because income is very different than property, as we know. Wealth, property, income, those are all different types of terms. And we could talk about that. So there's no prohibition, but it is also just considered that third rail that a lot of people don't wanna touch in Washington state. And in my thinking, and many others' thinking, is that, "okay, income actually, isn't as progressive." People who are relying on income to work, where they're not making money in their sleep, they're putting their work, their thought, they're writing briefs, working out at a construction site, where they're somehow doing something to be able to earn money that is that is still an exchange. [00:19:15] Crystal Fincher: So you bring up a good issue here. That's good to talk about. The idea of income versus wealth. [00:19:22] Summer Stinson: Yes. [00:19:22] Crystal Fincher: And talking about this, a lot of people are like, "wealth? Does that mean that Ms. Tech executive who is making well into the six figures? Is that who we're talking about? Are we talking about billionaire? Are we talking about that?" And it really has to do with how are you making your income? What income are you living off of? If you are working and earning a wage, that wage could be minimum wage, that wage could be a really healthy salary. But if you are earning money from working, exchanging your labor, exchanging a service, exchanging your intellect and providing expertise, that's work. That's an income. And that's a completely different conversation than someone who is earning money passively on interest from an investment, on gains from an investment, on other people's work, or collecting wealth from other people. And some people talk about landlords or different things where it's not- you actually aren't working for the money, your money is earning money at that point in time. And you're making money from investments, not necessarily from work that you're doing or expertise that you are providing. Those are two very different things. And really when we're talking about, in Washington, this wealth tax, the number is so large and the amount of people that it covers is such a tiny minuscule percentage, that it's a different thing. How do you view this income versus wealth conversation? [00:20:58] Summer Stinson: I think, thank you very much for that framing, because I would also add, if you are able to make money in your sleep, if you can collect rent, or if your stocks are continuing to go up, or if you own a business and others are working for you but you are not having to lead that business but you have that investment, you're able to nap or sleep or do other things with your time and you don't have that exchange there. And that is where, when we look at the gap between those haves and have nots, it's not just income, though income is very important, but the wealth gap. The wealth gap is immoral in Washington state. The wealth gap that some people do not have a roof over their heads at all, do not have secure food, are not able to buy their children clothes for school, and yet we have almost a hundred billionaires in our state. Many of them that are on the dared names are on the tip of our tongue. And we could even just start naming them here. And that we have that in Washington state, which is amazing prosperity, but we also have people who, one quarter, who are not sure where their next meal is gonna come from, do not have secure housing are basically living very moment to moment without the support they need and without the programs they need, and without being able to earn the wage that they deserve. [00:22:28] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. And really just fundamental fairness. Someone who is worth a billion dollars, our a hundred or so billionaires in the state, paying the same amount of tax, basically, same rate as someone who is struggling making a minimum wage at a full time job, trying to support a family, doing the best that they can just is not fair and is illogical. And is counter to the way that we have traditionally done things in the United States and this state also, which I feel like we should talk about more. Right now we're out of balance and people talking about, "hey, let's make our tax system more progressive" are really talking about let's return to the way that it used to be and get closer to that instead of where we have landed where tax rates are so much lower than they have historically been. And we see, societally, the impact of that. [00:23:29] Summer Stinson: Absolutely. We had two things that we had huge investments in our public infrastructure. We really funded the public good. We had library systems, we've had much stronger transit systems, public transit systems, we have had public schools with many more options. And this is in sometimes just our recent past, not even, in long ago, days, but very recent past. And yet smaller class sizes, et cetera. And yet what we also have is this nonstop chipping away at all the different revenue sources that we used to have. Very über wealthy people used to pay taxes at a much higher rate and still engage in philanthropy on top of that. Philanthropy does not equal taxes. Philanthropy is directed giving. Often it comes with tax breaks. It often comes with lots of strings attached. It often comes with, "hey, think about how I'm thinking," says the rich person, "about class sizes, whether they're important or not. Or school sizes. Or how important types of curriculum are." And yes, I may be thinking of a couple examples here, but, those strings and that investment from philanthropy is not the same as funding our communities. It's not the same as funding our children's future. We should be doing that based on taxes. It should be stable year to year. It should grow year to year. We have seen 10% increase in the CPI, in the inflation, here in Washington state. And yet I bet most workers have not seen a 10% increase in their wages. Schools have not seen a 10% increase in their budgets. We're being asked, essentially, whether it's our family, or our schools, or our transit systems, to do more with less. Which we have also been asked to do that for at least the last 50 years, if not more. And there just comes a point where you cannot do anything with less. There comes a point where you're barely scraping by. I think that the IRS as a institution is a perfect example of that. Where the IRS, people realize now, had been so chronically underfunded and Social Security, those two programs had been so underfunded that we have to take some time and a lot of money to bulk them back up again, just to do the mission that they were asked to do and that we expect them to do. [00:25:58] Crystal Fincher: Just to maintain a level of service that we're used to from so many of our public institutions. We are just on the heels of the end of a Seattle Public School strikes, the end of strikes in a number of different cities, and things like class sizes we're such a huge issue. They're so much bigger than they used to be. That's an effect of not having adequately funded schools. The size of the supply list that you have to get for your kid when you're sending them to school is now so much longer than it used to be. That's an example of things that used to be publicly funded now being the private responsibility or forced that burden onto private residents, when that used to be something that we all acknowledged was needed by our students. And so clearly schools would provide. Even looking at different programs available in school, different curriculum, different options and electives, that used to help provide a well rounded education, and frankly do a better job, I think, of preparing people for living in the world that they were gonna land in after graduation. Those things are not automatic anymore. And we have to pass a school levy locally or do something else to make up for the funding that used to be provided through taxing people who were very wealthy. Now we stop doing that. We're still taxing people at the bottom of the ladder and in the middle, but we took very high income earners out of the equation. Things like, just seeing the bridge closures that we've had, the kinds of potholes that we've had, managing these wildfires and forest, so many different things that our parents, that even it doesn't even have to be that long ago, just 10 years ago, were normal and standard are now no longer. And then more things are being forced onto private citizens to pay instead of everybody in this community and society. And so it's so important. There are lots of things that have been talked about. An income tax is one thing and one element that's a little bit trickier. But there are other things, like the capital gains tax, that has passed. There are several other types of taxes, a wealth tax proposed by representative Noel Frame, that politically now are more achievable than they have been in decades, really. There's such an increasing acknowledgement by more people in the public, that looking around and saying things are broken, whether it's the inability to address our housing crisis and our affordability crisis, or just provide clean water to all of our communities and our schools, so many different things. What are the options that you're working to, and that look possible in the coming legislative session? [00:28:56] Summer Stinson: Thank you. That's a great question. We are most focused, our biggest priority is, the wealth tax. And working with Representative Frame and also with Representative My-Linh Thai and Representative April Berg on the wealth tax. So, it was introduced two years ago at a billion dollar threshold, meaning Crystal, your first billion that you have in wealth and my first billion that I have in wealth would be not taxed. Which means- [00:29:22] Crystal Fincher: Wait, you're not a business hater, an economy hater who wants to take all of my wealth? You don't want my entire- But like, I can have my first billion free is what you're saying? [00:29:35] Summer Stinson: That we are suggesting to lower that to probably about 50 million, but yes. 50 million or 15 million. Those are pretty high numbers still. And then, even after that, it would only be a 1% tax because it would not be graduated because of the current constitutional prohibition on any sort of progressive property tax. So this would just be a straight 1% on intangible property. So much of our financial system is really now about stocks and bonds and all of these other types of assets, which often if there are stocks and bonds that are traded on wall street, then they're already going to have a worth attached to them. Some types of businesses that are not public might not have a worth and so that they would need to be assessed. But we already all have our houses assessed. We all get that little postcard, for people who are homeowners, get a postcard of how much our house is worth. And people who our homeowners often check out Redfin and Zillow. So the whole assessment of a certain type of wealth is already a really common standard practice, especially when we talk about real property. So when we're talking about intangible property, we would be applying that same appraisal system. That same assessment system. And that the difference between this, a wealth tax, also, and a capital gains tax, is the difference between a real estate tax and a tax when you sell your. So you pay real estate, property tax every single year, whatever you do with that property, but then anytime you sell it, then there's the tax for the exchange of that property. And so the wealth tax would be akin to the yearly property tax. So that would be for people who have intangible property of over 15 million or 50 million, wherever the threshold ends up being in the bill, then for that amount and over, there would be a 1% tax every year annually, that's very similar to our property taxes. Then capital gains tax is for the exchange. When somebody sells a stock or realizes gains, that's when then capital gains tax comes in. So they're different, just as we have different taxes in the real estate world. [00:31:59] Crystal Fincher: Okay. So we know how to assess this. We know what kind of system this is. We are not recreating the wheel. Many other states do this and taxing wealth is a normal, traditional American thing. As far as how many people this is going to impact, is this really a small percentage of people or are you trying to tax everybody in the state, Summer Stinson? Is this just coming for everybody? What is the deal with who this does impact? [00:32:29] Summer Stinson: That's a great question who this impacts is just less than a hundred taxpayers if we're at a billion dollar threshold. If we're at a hundred million threshold, it reaches a whole 2,000 taxpayers. And at a 50 million threshold, we are reaching 4,400 taxpayers. And these numbers did come from the Washington Department of Revenue Modeling that they have done this year. So these are very up to date numbers. These come from our Department of Revenue and from the modeling that they've done. And so we are also working on trying to make sure that we set a threshold where we do not get individuals who have most of their wealth held up in a family business, people who are very entrepreneurial and have a family business that maybe doesn't have the same cash flow to be able to pay this. We're not trying to catch up everybody or every type of wealth. We are really trying to get to the absolutely most über wealthy. Which again, even if out of 50 million wealth exemption amount, is 4,400 Washingtonians. [00:33:33] Crystal Fincher: So out of almost 8 million Washingtonian, 7.8 million residents in the state, we are talking about 2000 people that this impacts. And 2000 of the richest Washingtonians who control just an outsized percentage of the wealth in this state. What is made possible when we do tax the we of the über wealthy? What kinds of things does that buy and enable? [00:34:05] Summer Stinson: One of the big things, and this was something that we've been pushing a lot already, is actually fully funding special education. And this was something that I've been writing about and talking about and working on with representative Frank Chopp and others before the most recent school strikes that we've seen in different school districts, seattle's as well as others. Because this state does not amply fund education at public schools, but they really do not pay the actual cost of special education even today. They have a very low cap on the number of students, the percentage of students, in each district who can be identified as in need of special education. And they have very outdated, insufficient formulas for figuring out how much each student should receive or how much each district should receive for different students. And especially when we have the mental health issues that we see from the pandemic across the entire country. And as in recently reported, especially depression and anxiety in kids here in Washington state where it's been a larger issue than even in the rest of the country where those rates are increasing really rapidly. We need to have more counselors, nurses, special education supports, social workers, librarians in our schools. We absolutely need that. If we have a true commitment to having culturally responsive and support for students in need, rather than going to heavy discipline measures and wrap around supports, then what we really need is to be able to invest in those. It's hard to tell teachers or administrators that they have to do something with nothing. We really need to be able to support our teachers, our administrators, and also have the proper number of bodies, which is a nurse in every school. The fact that is something that we, that is no longer a given is, really it's bananas. It's unthinkable, truly. There are some schools that only I see a nurse once a week and the state legislature did just invest more in nurses, but it's gonna be over a three year period. And it's a very slow, the investment in nurses and counselors is still, also very slow to build. And we really need to be able to have one in each school. Other things that we need to be able to support is cash for families. There was a great article in the New York times on GBI programs, Guaranteed Basic Income programs and how they, there have been various different pilots around the entire country. We've also had a pilot here in Washington state and the Department of DHS-. [00:36:45] Crystal Fincher: DSHS. [00:36:46] Summer Stinson: DSHS, thank you - did a great report on how uplifting that pilot program was. And we need to be able to have the money in Washington state, have the investment to take these pilot programs or trials to scale them up, to make them actually real programs that can help everybody in Washington. GBI is an amazing opportunity for helping Washingtonians most in need and Representative Liz Berry has been sponsoring that bill. Another thing that I think many people don't know is that in Washington state, we do not support people with developmental disabilities nearly as much as we need to. Any sort of support for developmental disabilities means that individuals have to be on a waiting list. Our waiting list. 15,000 people right now in Washington state who are on a waiting list for needed support, just to be able to live their lives and for their families to be able to live their lives with a disabled person in their family. This would be akin to say, going into social security administration and saying, "hey, here's I, I'm trying to get my disability or trying to get my retirement benefits" and somebody basically telling you that somebody else has to go off the list, possibly even die, before you can get your benefits. It is morally reprehensible that we have such a long waiting list for people who need help with their basic daily living. So that's the type of thing that we could fund. All the programs and services needed for those 15,000 people on that waiting list. We could also provide homes for people with disabilities, including mental disabilities. Because many of the people who are most homeless and need a stable roof over their head have disabilities, including mental disabilities. We could also do a lot more recruiting training and retention of our needed workforce, right now, the counselors and the therapists and the public access to the support that they need. Those therapists themselves are often could qualify for housing support because they make so little themselves. Think about that. These are crucial jobs, and yet, just as crucial as safe firefighters, and yet we do not pay these people, a living wage. So there's so many things we can invest in that we absolutely should be investing in because right now, by not taxing, the most wealthy among us, we are leaving severe deficits in places that most need it in our communities that most need it in Washington state. [00:39:18] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, absolutely. Things from childcare, to the transition to clean and sustainable energy, to managing wildfires. There's so much. If you just think of what is publicly funded, this is what is impacted by the amount of taxes that we collect and then how we distribute them. So it, it is so impactful and so important. If people wanna learn more about the Economic Opportunity Institute or getting involved in movements for progressive revenue, how can they learn more information and get involved? [00:39:53] Summer Stinson: Thank you. That's a great question. The Economic Opportunity Institute has an entire website with information, including Dr. Carolyn Brotherton, who is our Policy Associate for Progressive Revenue, just wrote an amazing article on Share the Wealth Washington talking about how a Washington state wealth tax on extreme wealth. It's the missing link for Washington's tax code. And there's even interactive charts where you can see who's gonna pay and at what levels and where they reside and whether or not they reside in your legislative district. So you can play around with lots of different things. I will give you a hint about that in that 41st legislative district, which includes Medina and Bellevue and Mercer Island, it does have the most, the highest number of, payers of any legislative district in the state of Washington. So you can go there to our website. Also, people can email me at summer@opportunityinstitute.org. And we always have lots of opportunities for people to learn either about wealth tax, we're gonna be having some sessions coming up about that, we're gonna be putting out some videos that we're working with Fuse on. And we will have a legislative session preview in early January. The first week of January. Because session starts January 9th. [00:41:11] Crystal Fincher: Excellent. So we will include all of these links in there in our episode notes so you can refer to those, just, wherever you get the show. We will also be paying attention to what candidates on the campaign trail are saying about this issue, all of these issues, and making sure that if this is something that you care about, that the people up for election in your legislative districts are supportive of this. And you should ask them about this and engage with them about this and let them know that it's a priority to you. That's another way that you can help ensure that this winds up on their priority list to tackle in this upcoming legislative session. And for, even people in the County Prosecutors races and County Council races, that they know that progressive revenue is needed in all of our jurisdictions to make sure that we can take care of our entire community in the way that we deserve. And that people in the middle and at the bottom, aren't paying more than their fair share, like that needs to stop. Thank you so much Summer for joining us today. Sincerely appreciate it. [00:42:24] Summer Stinson: Thank you, Crystal. It's been delightful to spend time with you as always. And thank you so much for inviting me on. [00:42:32] Crystal Fincher: Excellent. And thank you for everyone for listening. Talk to you soon. Thank you all for listening to Hacks & Wonks. The producer of Hacks and Wonks is Lisl Stadler, our assistant producer is Shannon Cheng and our post-production assistant is Bryce Cannatelli you can find Hacks and Wonks on Twitter at @HacksWonks, and you can follow me at @finchfrii spelled F I N C H F R I I. You can catch 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 right to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave us a review wherever you listen. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacks&wonks.com and in the episode notes. Thanks for tuning in. Talk to you next time.

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2022 Episode 38: Pre-Budget Planning, Parks District Questions, Employer Transit Program Changes

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 20, 2022 30:13

Learn about the latest in local public affairs in about the time it takes for a coffee break! Brian Callanan of Seattle Channel and David Kroman of the Seattle Times discuss the flurry of activity happening before the Mayor's budget proposal, changes coming to the Families, Education, Preschool and Promise levy, concerns about the Parks District "rangers," new costs for the city's employer transit program, and the impact of opening the West Seattle Bridge. If you like this podcast, please support it on Patreon!

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September 19, 2022 show

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 19, 2022 103:30

Hour 1 -- West Seattle Bridge re-opens a day early, "soft ball" interview with Pres. Biden and 60 Minutes' Scott Pelley, I-90 drivers be warned: only one lane of freeway opened all this week due to big construction project, Burien Police instincts turn into sizeable drug bust of fentanyl, meth and heroin, Pres. Biden should tell Gov. Jay Inslee "the pandemic is over", perfect rebuttal by FL Gov. Ron DeSantis to the Martha's Vineyard critics, DeSantis asks rhetorically "has the world gone totally mad?" after documentarian Ken Burns compares the charter flights to Martha's Vineyard to the Jewish Holocaust, Hour 2 -- policy versus politics , the new woke standard of "Presentism", HBO's Bill Maher underscores the lack of context regarding the long and varied history of slavery, another archived example of Speaker Nancy Pelosi "election denier" from May of 2017 (6 months after Trump won the presidency), US Senator Patty Murray finally agrees to two debates with Republican challenger Tiffany Smiley, a repeat offender in Bellingham WA is arrested after throwing a 25lb railroad tier into a cop car windshield. Hour 3 -- West Seattle Bridge reopens but no discussion about how carbon emissions will be reduced with the return to previous freeway capacity instead of surface street commuting congestion, new polling on university students show an alarming disregard for even modest academic achievement, students polled complain about academics hurting their work-life balance, a Bernie Sanders lieutenant rebukes Pres. Biden who just told 60 Minutes "the pandemic is over", HBO's Bill Maher inadvertently contributes to the argument against Critical Race Theory being lopsided in educational curriculum.

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Hour One: West Seattle Bridge Opening Weekend!

KIRO Nights

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 17, 2022 29:16

West Seattle Bridge reopens Sunday//Music education for disadvantaged Seattle students//SNL enters its 48th season with a diverse cast.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Casual Friday with Mike Davis and Chase Burns

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 16, 2022 17:09

The long-anticipated West Seattle Bridge reopening is finally (almost) here.Russell Wilson had a dramatic and disappointing return to Seattle, and Washington state has a long way to go to improve traffic safety.We unpack it all with The Seattle Times's Chase Burns and KUOW's Mike Davis.Join KUOW Friday, September 30th for our first-ever live-taping of the Seattle Now podcast: Casual Friday Live in Seattle!https://www.eventbrite.com/e/seattle-now-presents-casual-friday-live-tickets-410184652337?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

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Week in Review: Wildfire, teacher strikes, and the West Seattle Bridge

Week In Review

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 16, 2022 50:30

Bill Radke discusses the week's news with Seattle Times Amanda Zhou, KUOW's Mike Davis and Geekwire's Mike Lewis.

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The Re-Opening of the West Seattle Bridge

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 16, 2022 35:51

Mark Bergen, author of Like Comment Subscribe // Feliks Banel, All Over the Map -- what's emerging from the ash at Mt St Helens? // Chris Sullivan on the re-opening of the WSeattle Bridge/ weekend traffic closures // Margaret Brennan on busing migrants out of state/ the railway labor deal // Dose of Kindness -- WNBA embraces 11-year-old reporter // Gee Scott previewing Sunday's Seahawks-49ers game // Rachel Belle on endlessly working from home/ the importance of asking for helpSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The West Seattle Bridge is (Finally) (Almost) Fixed

Alternative Talk- 1150AM KKNW

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 15, 2022 11:29

On Sunday, the West Seattle Bridge will be open to the public for the first time since March of 2020.After two and a half years of construction and delays, the bridge is finally repaired, and our neighbors in West Seattle are ready and waiting.We'll hear from West Seattle Blog editor Tracy Record about how things will change on the “Accidental Island.”

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Voices of Experience - 09 - 14 - 22 - Quarterbacking, Local Podcasting and Reopening...

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 15, 2022 56:00

Rise of the Black Quarterback, Pat Cashman & Lisa Foster Visits via their podcast and Celebrating the Opening of the West Seattle Bridge!

local podcasting voices reopening west seattle bridge

Quarterbacking, Local Podcasting and Reopening...

Voices of Experience®

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 14, 2022 55:52

Rise of the Black Quarterback, Pat Cashman & Lisa Foster Visits via their podcast and Celebrating the Opening of the West Seattle Bridge!

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West Seattle Bridge scheduled to reopen this Sunday

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 13, 2022 0:54

The bridge was closed over 2 years ago after cracks were discovered that indicated the structure was unsafe, leading to long commutes for West Seattle residents.

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King County's Efforts to Reduce Gun Violence

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 18, 2022 30:41

Chris Sullivan's Chokepoint -- don't expect re-opening the West Seattle Bridge to solve everything // Hanna Scott on King County's efforts to reduce gun violence // Dose of Kindness -- Raising money via mullets // Gee Scott previewing the Seahawks-Bears game // Don Desantis, tax whisperer, on hiring IRS more workers // Rachel Belle with some fresh airport travel tipsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Week in Review: Jaime Herrera Beutler, West Seattle Bridge, and Ferries

Week In Review

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 12, 2022 51:33

Bill Radke discusses the week's news with Seattle Channel's Brian Callanan, Seattle Times' David Kroman, and Puget Sound Business Journal's Alex Halverson

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SDOT says the West Seattle Bridge will re-open on September 18

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 12, 2022 0:41

The major arterial was abruptly closed about two and a half years ago,

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After a long wait, the West Seattle Bridge is scheduled to reopen on September 18

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 12, 2022 0:50

KUOW's Paige Browning reports

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Last Night's January 6th Hearing

DriveTime Radio with New York Vinnie

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 10, 2022 33:01

Chris Sullivan's Chokepoint -- new West Seattle Bridge timeline // Feliks Banel, All Over the Map -- generations of family maps // Dalton Day on options for expanding light rail to Ballard // John Dickerson on last night's Jan 6th hearing // Dose of Kindness -- the "walking school bus" // Mike Salk on the Saudi golf league controversy // Rachel Belle on the volunteers who rescue lost/hurt hikers See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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From Wheel to Yoke | Chevrolet Tahoe

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 9, 2022 52:18

In this Saturday morning's edition of DriveTime Radio, New York Vinnie talks about the West Seattle Bridge...what is coming up at The New York Auto Show..."Yo Vinnie" with what I am driving this week...is the steering wheel going away?...and you are huge so what car should you buy to hit the road comfortably? You have a huge family? You want a car that is so big it comes with it's own weather system as an option. This week, Vinnie drives the Genesis G70 and reviews the Chevrolet Tahoe Z71 on the DriveTime Radio Road Test. Listen to this week's Car Tune "Shotgun" by Rick Astley here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDrPbuOhKDM

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DriveTime Radio w/ NY Vinnie 04 - 09 - 22 From Wheel to Yoke | Chevrolet Tahoe

Alternative Talk- 1150AM KKNW

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 9, 2022 52:25

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The Far Reaching Impacts of the Concrete Worker Strike

The Urbanist

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 26, 2022 27:31

In this episode, reporter Ray Dubicki and I were joined by Doug Trumm, Executive Director of The Urbanist, to discuss the concrete mixer driver strike that's upended the construction sector throughout the fast growing Puget Sound region. The strike kicked off back in December when workers employed by the region's six largest concrete companies voted unanimously in favor of the strike in order to push the companies to agree to a new contract. According to Teamsters Local 174, the labor union representing the workers, their previous contract had lapsed back in July of 2021, and workers had been working without a contract for months as negotiations between the union and employers stalled. Since then progress in negotiations remains illusive as the strike enters its fifth month. Without concrete pouring into projects, major efforts like the repair of the West Seattle Bridge or the construction of Link light rail expansion into the Eastside have slowed down and may soon grind to a halt. The absence of concrete for construction projects is being keenly felt across many different sectors, and workers in other construction trades are being increasingly impacted. We'll dive into further detail about developments related to the strike, plus discuss the potential impacts of an out-of-the-box solution recently approved by the King County Council. Thanks for listening! If you'd like to learn more about this topic check out the following articles published by The Urbanist. Concrete Companies Stonewall Striking Truck Drivers, Threatening Cascading Construction Delays'Slap in the Face' Offer from Concrete Companies Riles Striking TeamstersCounty Proposes Concrete Co-Op as Private Companies Continue to Throttle Supply and Lock Out Workers

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Two Years Since the West Seattle Bridge Closure

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 24, 2022 36:34

Chris Sullivan marks two years since the West Seattle Bridge closed // Hanna Scott on legislation to support WA tribes through the MMIW crisis // Pam Falk live on NATO/EU/G7 summits on the Russian invasion of Ukraine // Dose of Kindness -- eight-year-old on a mission to feed the hungry // Gee Scott on the Senate hearings for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson // Hanna Scott on the resumption of police inquests for fatal shootings // Dr. Rick Arnold on waiting another year for a free arena health clinic // Chris Sullivan's Chokepoint -- widening I-5 into downtown Seattle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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A new idea: King County Public Concrete

City Inside/Out Seattle: Council Edition

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 23, 2022 0:56

A concrete strike has delayed many projects, from the West Seattle Bridge to light rail for months now. There are four big concrete companies that do most of the work in King County. Now, the county wants to look at creating a fifth company owned by the government.

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City Inside/Out: Council Edition - March 2022

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 22, 2022 28:34

How's the Seattle City Council reacting to Mayor Bruce Harrell's work to increase sweeps of unauthorized homeless encampments? Will the Council add more hiring bonuses for the Seattle Police Department? And, will recent headlines about the concrete workers' strike mean some better news about the reopening of the West Seattle Bridge? Councilmembers Lisa Herbold and Tammy Morales answer these questions and the ones you're sending in, too, with host Brian Callanan, on Council Edition!

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Week In Review: February 25, 2022

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 26, 2022 52:26

For the last week-in-review of February, Crystal is joined by Executive Director of America Walks and former mayor of Seattle, Mike McGinn. They discuss why the plan to hire more officers to address public safety is impossible in the short term and Plan B is needed to keep people safe now, how local officials can impact a Union strike, the disappointing new legislative staff unionization bill, the high cost sprawl and impact of not allowing people to live close to where they work, and how cities can raise more revenue from increased density. 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, Mike McGinn, at @mayormcginn. More info is available at officialhacksandwonks.com. Resources “Police Sweep Troubled Little Saigon Intersection, Retirement Incentives Could Thwart SPD Hiring Plans, City Still Plans Sidewalk Sweep” by Paul Kiefer and Erica C. Barnett from Publicola: https://publicola.com/2022/02/22/police-sweep-troubled-little-saigon-intersection-retirement-incentives-could-thwart-spd-hiring-plans-city-still-plans-sidewalk-sweep/ “Cold-Weather Shelter Plan Illustrates Challenges With Proposals to Eliminate Encampments Downtown” by Erica C. Barnett from Publicola: https://publicola.com/2022/02/22/cold-weather-shelter-plan-illustrates-challenges-with-proposals-to-eliminate-encampments-downtown/ “Concrete Companies Stonewall Negotiations with Striking Truck Drivers, Threatening Cascading Construction Delays” by Doug Trumm from The Urbanist: https://www.theurbanist.org/2022/02/24/concrete-companies-stonewall-negotiations-with-striking-truck-drivers-threatening-cascading-construction-delays/ “King County Announces Request for Qualifications for Contract at Same Time Teamsters Bargaining Committee Shows Up At Companies' Doorsteps To Negotiate” from The International Brotherhood of Teamsters: https://teamster.org/2022/02/king-county-announces-request-for-qualifications-for-concrete-contracts-at-same-time-teamsters-bargaining-committee-shows-up-at-companies-doorstep-to-negotiate/ Twitter Thread on Staff Unionization Bill by Nikkole Hughes: https://twitter.com/NikkoleHughes/status/1496232372605710336 “Nobody Knows the Number of Seattle Small Businesses at Risk of Eviction Starting Next Week” by Hannah Krieg from The Stranger: https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2022/02/24/67269130/nobody-knows-the-number-of-seattle-small-businesses-at-risk-of-eviction-starting-next-week The Seattle City Council Let the Eviction Moratorium End by Hannah Krieg from The Stranger: https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2022/02/22/67197191/the-seattle-city-council-let-the-eviction-moratorium-end Transcript [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, 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. Today, we're continuing with our almost-live shows where we review the news of the week with a co-host. Welcome back to the program, friend of the show and today's co-host: activist, community leader, former mayor of Seattle, and Executive Director of America Walks, the excellent Mike McGinn. [00:00:57] Mike McGinn: Thank you, Crystal. Glad to be here as always. [00:01:00] Crystal Fincher: Glad you are here. Now, there's a lot going on in the world. [00:01:05] Mike McGinn: Yes. [00:01:05] Crystal Fincher: We tend to focus on local politics and policy - there are a lot of people talking about stuff at the federal level. Certainly right now, there's so much going on throughout the country and internationally with Russia invading Ukraine, trans rights under attack viciously in Texas and beyond - just a lot of news all over the place. I just want to acknowledge that as we start out. And there's lots of information, and coverage, and punditry that can be found about all of that. Our little slice of experience is here in the state of Washington and King County, so we're going to focus on that, but I certainly do want to acknowledge that that is weighing heavily on the minds of a lot of us here and hopefully better news will come soon. With that, I guess I will start out this conversation talking about policing in Seattle. There's a lot of news that came out this week - talking about the plans for the staffing levels, there have been a number of encampment sweeps, and also a police precinct put in the CID [Chinatown International District] and more of a hotspot policing focus that they have there. So as you look at what's happened over this week, what are your thoughts, Mike? [00:02:34] Mike McGinn: Well, I think one of the things that we knew, but I don't see that the media has really picked up on this yet - the response of the last two mayors and now Mayor Harrell as well, and it predates them as well. When I took office in 2009, Greg Nickels had shepherded through the neighborhood policing plan and - that's what it was called - and all of these had the central thing of hire more officers, right? And it's very appealing - it feels quite logical to the public. Okay, we have crime - what we need is more police officers. And what we've seen over the last number of years is that the police department is losing officers much faster than it can replace them. So this week in City Council, the report showed that they hope to hire 125 new officers, and hiring takes time - they have to go through a state training academy. There's a special class being set up for Seattle recruits, or rather recruits to the Seattle Police Department, that might come from all over the state or beyond. And even so, even with this new emphasis, they are predicting that they will add 125 officers in the coming year, but they're also predicting that they will lose 125 officers in the coming year. So this is my thing - this is what I think the media should be focusing on, which is if you're going to report that somebody's solution is more officers, you have to include that that's not going to happen anytime soon, right? We're not going to increase the size of the police force in the next year, perhaps two years. Who knows when they can actually reverse that attrition that's occurring? So if your solution to crime is we're going to get more officers and more officers will deter crime - if that's your plan, you don't have a plan because you can't hire that many officers. So you have to have a Plan B. And the Plan B has to be an emphasis on other ways to fight crime rather than more officers. And when Bruce Harrell stood up and did a press conference in response to the very serious public concerns and the media concerns about increases in violent crime, increases in shots fired - basically, what we heard was hotspot policing and more officers. We didn't hear any of the other ways in which City government can put - I mean, I shouldn't say we didn't hear any - of course, he spoke about the need for that, but I didn't hear announced the programs or the new investments or the initiatives to look at what are the sources of the crime and how can you intervene? And this is not - it doesn't have to be long-term stuff. I mean, what the data is showing - that the victims of murders are mostly young Black men, right? We have had youth violence prevention initiatives in this City - they can be expanded, they can be made more effective. We have had partners with community groups on the formerly incarcerated returning to the community. We've done these things. We have ways of getting at this that requires reaching out to all of the skills and talents and abilities of the community as a whole and not immediately going towards a punitive approach. I'm talking now about the mayor not really announcing a new plan, but I'm also not hearing the City Council go here. I think too many folks - we've kind of gotten in the habit from the progressive side of when people talk about crime saying, "Well, it's not as bad as it was 20 years ago." And it isn't. It is not as bad. But it is a real concern, it is increasing. There are people who are literally in the crosshairs of this crisis of public safety, and I don't think that's an answer. So I really think that the more progressive politicians should be coming in and saying, "We've tried making the size of the police department almost half the City budget, and it really hasn't worked." How about we put that same level of emphasis and approach on the programs that we know work - there's national studies, there's plenty of data. There's studies out there that show the number of community groups in a neighborhood is related to reductions in crime. These programs work. There's tons of data that these programs can work. [00:07:38] Crystal Fincher: Tons of data. [00:07:38] Mike McGinn: But we've never resourced them. We've never resourced them the way we resource police officers, and we have to do that. So this issue of crime is serious, the violence is serious, the shots fired is serious - and we need a serious response. And honestly, saying more police officers right now - that's not a serious response. That's just pandering because their own predictions say they were not going to be able to increase the size of the force in the coming year. Sorry, I'm kind of passionate about this, but this is a real thing. And communities and people are suffering - and just pandering to more police officers as a solution is not a solution. [00:08:23] Crystal Fincher: Well, yeah - it's not a solution. We have to get beyond rhetoric to actually what are the policy differences? What procedures are going to change? What staffing levels are going to change? What is the substance that is changing? And we do hear so much about staffing and it seems like a number of both elected folks and folks in the media just kind of focus on that one metric. Kind of like with COVID, people only talk about deaths - and wow, there's long COVID, there's chronic illness and disability. There's so much more to consider besides just if someone's dying. There's so much more to consider than just the staffing level, whether it's more or less. And with that, even if the, "Hey, everybody's on board. Let's hire more officers," - to your point, we can't do that. There cannot be more on the street for quite some time - even if they're in the pipeline, it takes a while for them to get through that pipeline. So it is absolutely true that crime is both lower and too high. We don't want - people are justifiably concerned. This pandemic has taken such a toll on so many people in so many ways - from road rage to some of the random nonsensical violence - that we've seen are wild. [00:09:56] Mike McGinn: Domestic violence. [00:09:57] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. Domestic violence has skyrocketed. [00:09:58] Mike McGinn: Absolutely. We look at these things and there's not going to be a police officer in place to prevent that. There are things that are beyond the reach of the police as well. It's the community-level interventions and the non-police responses that we need to be focusing on as well. And I want to be clear - from my experience as mayor, good policing can make a difference, right? If there's catalytic converter thefts, then let's try to figure out how that's happening and how to thwart that. And that's a combination of detective work, maybe some undercover work, detecting patterns, doing what's necessary. I saw this during my term - if there was burglary issue in a place, the police could use their resources to try to deal with that. So effective policing can make a difference. I also think an officer walking a beat in a place where people feel unsafe can make a difference in making people feel safer and maybe preventing some things. But let's not make believe that that alone can solve it. And certainly the punitive approach, the longterm punitive approach that we have tried, it just hasn't worked. It just hasn't worked. We had more people in jail. People get arrested multiple times and recycle through the system, come out again. And it breeds, as we know with places that have followed stop and frisk tactics and the like - it leads to violence in its own right, and escalation and lack of safety for individuals subject to that treatment, as well as building horrible distrust between the community and the police. So there's bad policing and there's good policing. But I do think that good policing obviously can help with fighting crime. But it can't do it alone and never has. It requires partnership with the community to get at root sources. I want to say this isn't long-term stuff either - it isn't like, "Oh, if we have a better educational system, we have fewer criminals." Yeah, that's true. But we can identify right now - I'm sure there are people in the community, I'm sure there are people working in the community right now who, if we said, "If we give you some more money to target some programs to the people who are most at risk, can you do that?" And we could, and it would make a difference within months. It could make a difference immediately. It could make a difference in a day if that person is reached and is put in a different position than they are in now. So it can be done. And it can be done a hell a lot quicker than trying to increase the size of the police force, which is going to continue to see attrition and continue to have hiring difficulties. [00:12:56] Crystal Fincher: Absolutely. And it can be done more effectively than it looks like the iteration of this hotspot policing effort, which has been covered in a number of outlets - PubliCola wrote a story, KING 5 also wrote a story just about encampment sweeps not getting people off the street. Some of those sweeps are happening without any offer of services - if they declare it to be an emergency or a particular health hazard, no attempt at making any connection to services is necessary and that has happened with some of these - these are just sweeps, nothing additional. In other cases, they're offering shelter for the night as part of the sweeps. When they say they're offering services, that was the service offered. That does nothing to get someone off the street. All it does is put them further back and that now they have no belongings, no stability. And they just move elsewhere in the City. So what in fact ends up happening, and PubliCola also got at this in their article, was the folks who were on the block that the police are - there's six policemen in this area, a mobile unit. So yeah, they moved off of that block, but they just went into adjoining neighborhoods. So PubliCola talked to some of the folks in the adjoining neighborhoods and they said, "Yes, they came over here. We're seeing them over here. It's just musical chairs." And unless if we're talking about homelessness, we include permanent housing that people can get into. And in the case of trying to address crime, is that actually making a difference in violent crime? It was just close to one of these hotspot places - there was just a shooting the other day. So are we really doing the smartest intervention, to your point? Would these resources be better used in more detective capacities and trying to get to the origin and the root cause of the crime or who are the people really behind this? We seem to be moving further away from that. SPD moved resources out of specialized units, senior abuse units, domestic violence units to patrols on the street. [00:15:24] Mike McGinn: I mean, it's a very difficult situation when you are faced with a declining number of resources and you have to start making choices about what to do with that. I think that then requires - you've got to start looking, "Well, what other resources do we have in the City beyond the police department? Who else is out there that can help? What roles can they pick up?" These aren't flip of the switch type of things, right? These are management level decisions about aligning people towards programs. There are good people in city government who want to get rolling. And I don't want to be - I critiqued Mayor Harrell for, in my opinion, not announcing new initiatives on this, but I have hope for Mayor Harrell in this regard. I mean, my memory - his strategic advisor or strategic initiative advisor or whatever his title is - is the guy who brought forward the anti-panhandling statute. But Mayor Harrell cast the deciding vote against it that enabled me to veto that statute and prevent it from becoming law. And he did so because he read the Human Rights Commission report on that and what it would mean for that type of enforcement to be brought against homeless people or people panhandling on the street. So I feel that Mayor Harrell - I had a sense of where his feelings are, and I think he now has a very significant management job to realign City resources towards a more humane approach and not respond to the demands of the business community which is very much a believer - there are portions of the business community that are supportive of various human services and social services. They're engaged in that. But the overwhelming demand from that sector right now is, "Well, we need to move the homeless out of the core. We need to have more police officers on the street." And it's just not a plan that's going to lead to much success. What Mayor Harrell should be asking himself is - a year from now, does he want to be standing up at a press conference saying, "The solution is more police officers. And in the meantime, what have I done?" Or does he want to stand up and say, "Well, these are the programs we've lifted up. These are the people we're serving. These are the outcomes we're seeing"? So I guess I'd appeal to both Mayor Harrell's sense of compassion and sense of concern for the community in this - I've seen it. And to his own political wellbeing, that this is a place for leadership, this is a place for leadership - and a very hard issue. But sitting tight, it's not going to be a good press conference a year from now with sitting tight with just more officers is going to be the answer one day. [00:18:31] Crystal Fincher: I completely agree. I also want to talk about a couple of occurrences this week in union strikes that we've seen. [00:18:41] Mike McGinn: Yeah. [00:18:42] Crystal Fincher: Or unionization - one including a strike. One is with the concrete workers. Concrete companies are negotiating with striking truck drivers - that has been going on for quite some time. And the companies have actually been stalling somewhat - they've been slow and hesitant to come back to the table, they're now asking for a new mediator - they seem to be using a number of stalling tactics and not being in a rush. Meanwhile, local elected officials Mayor Harrell, Executive Constantine, have been vocal in talking about needing to get back to work, this potentially delaying a number of projects including the West Seattle Bridge, other projects downtown, continually reinforcing the need to get to work. And it's interesting how this plays out and that if concrete companies are stalling, workers have a proposal that they feel like they're trying to work through and negotiate and the company just isn't participating in those conversations, then you have elected officials putting pressure on just to get this done with and get back to work and it's going to be late. That actually has the result of pressuring the union, pressuring workers, to just make concessions and settle for things that may not be fair, that are certainly less than they're asking for that are kind of falling by the wayside - because if the concrete companies can just run the clock out with no penalty and rely on others to do the pressuring, and try to get public opinion to just get this over with so we can get moving, that really is putting the workers in potentially a really unfair and unpleasant spot. If the company isn't coming back to the table and making any differences in their proposals, the only way that can happen is if the union workers just decide to give up. That doesn't seem like that is where a lot of people in this community are aligned, it doesn't seem like that might be the healthiest thing for supporting the autonomy and authority of unions to negotiate in good faith with companies. This is a situation where we had a previous co-host, Julie McCoy, refer to you handling this when you were mayor and faced with a strike. How did you decide to approach this kind of situation when you were in office? [00:21:27] Mike McGinn: Well, just first to comment, you're referring to a press conference. And one of the things that stood out to me about that press conference was that the person who's building the Convention Center downtown was one of the people at the press conference urging action. Yeah, and as you may remember the Convention Center - I think it's up to $1.7 Billion project, paid for with taxes. The County had to come forward in an unusual move and guarantee loans for it so that it could continue going. Harking back to the prior issue, it's clearly the County and the City were feeling the pressure from those interests to do something, so that's what you saw. So it is interesting that there are times when people are called upon to take sides. And it's challenging to take sides in a union dispute. But if you can, if you can come in and lean in a good way, you should. We had a garbage lockout that was occurring. So we had contracts with companies to collect our garbage and recycling. I have to say, I can't quite remember which contract it was now - I think it was garbage. And they were going to fly in people to drive the trucks, because they were going to lock out the workers because they didn't have a contract. It turned out that our public utilities had wisely put a clause into their agreement, which said that if there was any failure to collect the garbage, there would be fines depending on how much garbage they failed to collect - a strike wasn't an excuse, or a lockout wasn't an excuse, to not pay the fines. So we held a press conference and said we were going to - we announced this, said how it worked, said that we were going to fine the companies if they didn't collect the garbage. I remember we asked people to tweet their uncollected garbage with some type of clever hashtag - I wish I could remember it now - but we had the clever hashtag. I think it was pretty darn quickly the garbage company settled because we had leverage and we used it. So that would be one of my questions, and I'm not smart enough or knowledgeable enough about the situation to know what leverage the County or City might have to help get the companies to the bargaining table, or lean in a little more on the side of workers. But that would be the first question is - what leverage do they have? And we were fortunate. We were fortunate that we had a contract that had really good leverage and we chose to use it. By the way, when they settled, they called me up and they asked if - actually, I heard from the head of the utility - they contacted me and he said, "This is great. They've settled. They're going to get back to work. And as a sign of good faith they've asked you to cancel the fines for all the garbage that went uncollected while they were bringing in the scabs." And I was like, "No, they need to pay the fines, man. They were holding the whole City hostage with the idea that there'd be stinky garbage. They need to pay the fines." So they did, they paid a fine too. And again, we had the leverage, we used it, and we made it clear that we would use it. So hopefully that'd be a deterrent in the future as well. [00:25:02] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, I hope so. And just the awareness that the actions that they take do impact the process and that they can either help or hurt workers, applying this leverage does have an impact for the concrete companies or the union, and understanding that the actions that they take have come consequences. [00:25:28] Mike McGinn: I had another example where I leaned in on that. It was during the 2013 re-election campaign - it became quite controversial, but there was a company - there was a developer that was redeveloping a site and they were asking the City to turn over the alley. [00:25:44] Crystal Fincher: That's right. That street - [00:25:46] Mike McGinn: Right. It's called a street vacation. [00:25:49] Crystal Fincher: Vacation. [00:25:49] Mike McGinn: In essence, they're asking the City to sell them property so that they can develop the whole block and not have to keep the alley in place. And we recommended to the City Council that they not do that. And that was at the urging of the grocery store workers, because they're like they're going to bring - they plan to bring in a Whole Foods, which was a non-union grocery. And I went and listened to the workers and there - the point they made was when you facilitate a non-union grocery, that puts downward pressure on our wages and makes it more likely that our grocery store will suffer. So there were lots of grocery stores in this neighborhood that were unionized, and here was going to come a non-union grocery. And I was like, "Yeah, we don't need to sell more property." It was kind of interesting because the business community was like, "You can't use land use laws to favor unions." And my response to them was, "This isn't a land use law. This is our property. This is City property. We get to sell it to whoever we want to, for whatever reason we want to. And I don't want to sell it to a company that's non-union and that's going to hurt our union workers. So you guys are conservatives, you believe in property rights, right? Well, there's the City using its property rights. We don't want to sell it to you. We don't have to." So it was interesting - it wasn't portrayed that way. They thought it was a slippery slope to me using land use laws in some way, but it was actually a deeply conservative action we were taking. We get to choose who we sell it to, and that was that. Now, it turned out I lost that re-election campaign, a relatively close campaign, and Ed Murray pushed that one through with the support of the Council and that property was sold. [00:27:35] Crystal Fincher: It's such a good lesson to so many of us in this area watching that and understanding that the City has so much power that goes unused. The City has so much leverage that routinely goes unused. The way that was framed was so interesting because it was - well, you're just trying to help workers, you're trying to create an unfair advantage. And with completely not acknowledging that we do that for companies, corporations daily. [00:28:06] Mike McGinn: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. We did too, we did too. If you are crossing the West Seattle Bridge, if you look down, you'll see a really beautiful office building right next to the Duwamish waterway. Well, under the industrial rules - and it's the office building which is the headquarters for a tugboat company - well, under the land use laws at the time, you couldn't have an office of that size in the industrial area because the industrial interests didn't want industrial land taken over by offices. But tugboat company is different - we changed the law. We did that for that company. And that was the right thing to do to make it easy for the tugboat company to have its offices next to its tugboats in the industrial area. We did stuff like that all the time - we would look at what rules we have in place to try to facilitate business. I think it's appropriate to see where you can use that to help workers as well in that process. You don't have as many as you think though sometimes - like there are - if the development rules say you can build a hotel, and this is I think always a big challenge for the hotel workers, it can be very hard to stop a hotel because they can go to court and say, "Look, we're following the rules. We're allowed to build a hotel and there's nothing there." And that's why you tended to see the purchase of City property - the alley vacations become a tool because that was a leverage point that the City had. But there are other leverage points as well, there are other leverage points, and sometimes it's just soft power as well as showing up and standing with workers somewhere can make a difference too. [00:29:53] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. Absolutely. [00:29:55] Mike McGinn: Yeah. [00:29:55] Crystal Fincher: So we'll see how that turns out. There's also - was a new development in an issue we talked about last week in the legislature, with the bill that had originally died that allowed legislative staff to unionize, which had a lot of support from Democratic lawmakers. Unfortunately, it didn't go through - there was rhetoric saying that it wasn't quite ready, even though evidently there has been some iteration of this since 2012. They were saying there just wasn't time, it's going to take one more year. A few legislators had been pinpointed as specifically opposing it and being problematic and preventing it from reaching the floor for a vote from the full legislative, the full House. But it turns out this week, they weren't actually bound by a deadline that they couldn't get past and a new bill was introduced. Who'd have thunk? Maybe the deadlines don't mean as much as people initially thought - that's one of, actually, my big lessons that I've learned over the years with the legislatures - the rules are flexible. [00:31:13] Mike McGinn: They make the rules. They're allowed to change the rules. [00:31:15] Crystal Fincher: Yes. And do routinely. And then at other times they're like, "Well, these are the rules we have, we have no power." The rules say this and that's just that, which it seemed like that was Plan A, and then there was a lot of pushback from - just kind of broadly across the political, policy, nonprofit labor and worker spectrum. And gaining a lot of attention even outside of Washington State. So a new bill was introduced to allow - new bill was introduced, it was dropped initially without language at first. So it's like, "Oh, hey. Maybe this is going to be a good thing, maybe they're going for it after all." When the full text of the bill did drop, it was revealed to be a massive problem. This bill actually doesn't reflect the prior bill in that it would basically enable staff to unionize in the traditional manner on their terms. This basically established a committee or a commission that would study this, and charter a study to take a look at all the special circumstances of the legislature and the work, and talk about who should be able to unionize and who shouldn't, and what should be able to be collectively bargained and what can't, and also prevented any employees from being covered by a union until mid 2025. That's a long time. And certainly not consistent with the next year rhetoric that we were hearing. And also just seems to put a lot of limitations and set this process up to say, "Well, we might create a grievance process for you and that should take care of a lot of your concerns. But wow, there are so many problems with the idea of a union that we just would have to figure out and get around." That's going to continue to be really hard and just continue to kick the can down the road. So I don't know if this is going to go much of anywhere - it certainly should not - kind of fell really flat with a thud. And it just actually made the situation look worse, and that there actually seems to be some real significant anti-union sentiment from some of these legislators working on these bills. I think one of the co-sponsors, Representative Riccelli, wanted to do something helpful and he was working with some people to craft this bill that did not have the same kind of motivation or pure intentions, purity of intentions. And this was the result of it. But certainly just another disappointment in this whole process. And really goes to the issue of trust - is this something that you actually do want to get done, looking at the text of this? Is this a priority for people? And it just seems to be a big question mark. [00:34:26] Mike McGinn: It's not surprising - when I was but a young man, I went to work for a congressman and this was 1983. One of the things you learned was that Congress had exempted itself from pretty much every workplace law. It'd be really interesting to see - now at the time, members of Congress could retire and convert their campaign funds to personal use at that point. It became their money. So there were all sorts of laws and that one changed. I don't know the degree to which other laws have changed, but it is just not surprising that the body that makes the rules may not want it to apply to them either. So we just see that - I don't think FOIA applies to Congress, I don't think OSHA applied to Congress, there was all sorts of things that just didn't apply. So that's challenging. Now, of course, the flip side of that is that the unions and it goes back to our prior discussion - with the loss of decline in the union membership across the number of workers covered by unions, the public sector and government sector has become an extremely important place for unions as well as the people that do business with government, as we were discussing earlier. Again, in 1983, the Speaker of the House was Tip O'Neill and it had been a Democratic Congress for a hell of a long time - these are the people that are most ideologically aligned, but it's a wholly different thing to apply it to their own offices. [00:36:13] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, and that's what matters most actually. That's where you actually see what someone's values are - is how they handle those situations when it does impact them and affect them. I hope they do better. I also want to talk about - back to Seattle and the Seattle area news this week - that housing prices have, continue to skyrocket. And also that the eviction moratorium is ending. [00:36:43] Mike McGinn: Yeah. [00:36:44] Crystal Fincher: What did you read on that this week? [00:36:49] Mike McGinn: There's so many reasons why we are where we are on housing, right? One is an inequality question - just with the rise in unequal incomes and further distributions on wealth, there's a real haves and have not situation with regards to housing and getting into housing gets harder. There's a racial aspect to it as well because of the way the laws have really prevented Black people in particular from accumulating generational wealth - the discrimination, the red lining, the lending practices, et cetera. And then it all just really gets turned up a whole lot of notches when you lock into place a zoning regime that prioritizes single family homes, which has its roots in the same race and class issues I was just discussing. So you have this situation where, not just in Seattle, but there's a New York Times article about being able to afford a house in Spokane, right? It's one of those cities that, "Oh, that's not a hot coastal tech hub with lots of high price people." Well, it's happening there too. And it's happening there because of these issues where we've just locked down the supply of housing for people. Obviously, there's a need for really big investments for those who need some level of subsidy - who need subsidized housing, whether it's shelter, whether it's transitional housing, or whether it's public housing, or social housing as they call it in Europe. There's a need for that. But there's also a huge need to, I believe, to allow the private sector to build housing too. I mean, the need is so big that just literally after decades of zoning laws that lock up most of your land in single family zoning, there's just not going to be enough housing out there. It's just not going to be there. And that's exactly what's happened. It's exactly what's happened. And what we see is the public gets it. The public gets that we need to change the rules. Now, they may be a little more hesitant. That's also what the public shows, right? They may be a little more hesitant about changing it in their own neighborhood, but they certainly believe it should change in the system overall - like they're getting that. Housing laws that once only locked out a segment of the population are now locking out such a big segment of the population, including the sons and daughters of those who once could afford homes when they were that age, that the public demand is growing for that to change. But it's not moving close to fast enough. [00:39:57] Crystal Fincher: It's not moving close to fast enough. There was a bill in the legislature this year, the middle housing bill, to address exactly that. Market rate housing, which doesn't dictate any particular price, but just private development - it's not public or social housing - and allowing just a modest amount of more zoning, of more density overall in neighborhoods, which is absolutely what's needed. That bill died. [00:40:26] Mike McGinn: Yeah, that bill died, the backyard cottage expansion died - we put so much restrictions on it because we're concerned about the impacts of the people who already live in a place. And oftentimes those impacts are where will all the cars go? But if we look at some of our most desirable neighborhoods in the City - take a look at Capitol Hill - you can walk down a street and you can see a brick apartment building, you can see a courtyard apartment. You can go a little further - you can see a big house - maybe once upon a time that house was subdivided into multiple units, and now maybe it's just owned by one person. And they're all jumbled up together because Capitol Hill, when it was being built out, it was being built out the way all cities are built out historically which is they just get thicker. If you're a growing city and you have more jobs, places that are closer to the jobs get more intensely developed. Pioneer Square was a collection of wooden shacks at one point, right? And then there were probably nice houses. And then now you've got six or eight story brick buildings. That's what cities do. And what we did was we stopped them doing that when we brought in all of the zoning and the single family zoning restrictions. We just said, "No, you can't do that." We've had this limited thing of, "Well, they can build on arterials." Well, guess who's breathing the most pollution then? Again, the equity things. Again, I'll go back to Capitol Hill. If you walk around Capitol Hill, it's not just on the arterials, right? It's mixed in and it means that you can absorb a lot of housing and still have a leafy green street. And more than that, you'll have a nice business district because there's enough people there to support the coffee shops and restaurants that everyone says they love. So we have this bizarre dichotomy where people are like, "I want a single family neighborhood, I don't want anybody else's car on my street. But I also want a thriving business district and highly frequent transit to my neighborhood, right? Oh, and I'm going to take my vacation to some European or South American -" [00:42:38] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, to a community that looks exactly like what I'm fighting against. [00:42:42] Mike McGinn: Yeah. Because isn't it so great to be in this place that has all of this activity and life and wonderful architecture? I know, it's nuts. And the biggest opponent of the state bills was the Association of Washington Cities. And what you find is that they say it's about local control, but I personally believe that the real issue is that so many local elected officials just share the values of the single family homeowners. They may do that themselves, they just share those values. From a financial perspective, if you are the mayor of a city trying to figure out how to pay for all your services, infill housing is great. You get the sales taxes on the construction, you get the real estate taxes on every time it changes hands, you get the sales taxes from the residents of the place, you get the B&O taxes from the new local businesses that serve those people. And you don't have to build another - you barely have to build anything, right? [00:43:45] Crystal Fincher: You don't have to run a sewer line way out - yeah. [00:43:49] Mike McGinn: Right. The road already exists, there may be a bus line nearby already, which now is more people dropping money into the fare box, right? This is a money maker. Now, sprawl on the edge of town is a money loser, right? You're not going to collect enough money from those single family houses to pay for all those new roads and pipes and wires to service a sprawling development. But you already have all the roads and pipes and wires to serve infill development - it's there - there you go. You also get utility taxes - every one of them hooks up to utility, you're going to pay utility taxes, 6% to the City. It's a major source of revenue for a city. I don't know if anybody from the Association of Washington Cities listens to this, but if you want to balance your budget, support infill housing. If you want better libraries and schools and roads for your community, support infill housing. If you want more business for your local small businesses, support infill housing. Really, it's not a bad thing. People really enjoy it. They'll spend good money for it. So I don't get it. [00:44:59] Crystal Fincher: That became so apparent to me - I served on the City of Kent's land use and planning board a long, long time ago. And that was so immediately apparent in a way that is shocking that it's not something that we talk about more openly in municipal conversations. It is really expensive. Sprawl is really expensive. Building out the city's infrastructure and then maintaining that infrastructure is really expensive. We don't capture that cost from developers, we put that on the residents of every single city. And that's really expensive. So then we have these conversations about, "Man, these roads are horrible. They're torn up. My goodness, this service is terrible." And it's because cities don't have the money to maintain the infrastructure that they continue to build when they allow sprawl and thinks just to, "Yeah, we're going to build new houses way out on the edge of town instead of allowing more density where it currently is." [00:46:04] Mike McGinn: It's a sugar buzz, right? You get a short term hit. You get a short term hit of revenue from that construction. It feels good. And the developer says, "Hey, I'll build the road for you and give it to you." [00:46:14] Crystal Fincher: "And we might even put in a sidewalk." [00:46:17] Mike McGinn: "You got a free road," they'll say. Except it's not free, right? 20 or 30 years from now, you're going to have to repave that road or something and do that for a few decades. And all of a sudden, you've got more roads than you can take care of. By the way, I'm not making this up. The County is talking about turning roads to gravel to reduce their costs. The City of Seattle has no way to pay for all of its local street repairs. They keep arterials in good repair, but they can't afford to take care of residential streets. And here we are talking about the housing issues and everything else. It's so straightforward, it's such a good thing, but at bottom. Oh, by the way, Kent's got a nice little street grid, right? Kent's got a street grid in downtown, they've got the good bones as they say for a good walkable community. But what's really at the heart of it is if we allow apartment buildings, who are the people that will move in and do we want those people here - the things that people say about renters, which is kind of code for maybe the person is - [00:47:25] Crystal Fincher: One of "those people." Maybe people with lower income. [00:47:27] Mike McGinn: One of "those people," right - they don't really have ties to the community. [00:47:31] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. They don't look like us. They don't have the same - [00:47:34] Mike McGinn: They're different. They might be immigrants. They might be Black people. They might not have as much money as us. All of that feels vaguely threatening to me. Can't we just keep this neighborhood single family with the people that are here? And next thing you know, you can't afford a house in Spokane even. [00:47:51] Crystal Fincher: Yes. [00:47:52] Mike McGinn: Which is a great town. It's a great city. I know why people are moving there. It's a great city, but it's crazy that we're not allowing people to build housing. [00:47:59] Crystal Fincher: And Pierce County Council Chair, Derek Young, brought up in response to the local control desire that was brought up for many cities, is that not allowing density in larger cities, major metropolitan areas, directly impacts the affordability of housing in other areas. We've talked about how suburbs - the housing prices are rapidly increasing. And other areas in the state - in Spokane, the cost of housing is rapidly increasing because we can't absorb that in the areas where we should be able to, where there is existing infrastructure and jobs to support it. And the local tax revenue to support all of the infrastructure necessary from schools to roads, to social services, to support the population. So then that vicious cycle starts again where housing prices skyrocket. It displaces people from those communities who can't afford it. It puts people who need to be closer to services and to jobs and to schools in order to be able to afford to live, live in a healthy way - it puts them out of the perimeter where they can do that. And we start to see the consequences that we've seen in so many other areas with increasing rates of people not being able to afford their homes and falling into homelessness. Increasing people needing to commute to work and creating the traffic that everybody says that they hate. All of that is a direct result of not allowing people to live close to where they work, to live in proximity to other people and services. It is so obvious and known in most planning departments in the state. This is not a partisan issue - you can go to Wahkiakum County, you can go to anywhere - and planners there will tell you the same thing. This is not a right versus left thing. This is just kind of a basic city planning, economics conversation. This is the way that cities run, and are built, and operate. And we just need to do something before there are too few people left in the cities to keep them accessible to anyone else. [00:50:19] Mike McGinn: For the local elected officials too, you kind of like - this is a great place to Take the L, right? "Oh, we tried, but we couldn't stop them from changing the rules. Sorry, we have no choice but to allow that multifamily unit now." Right? The State Legislature is taking the political pressure off them if they pass this. So that the local elected official would not have to face the angry constituent on the new building and be like, "No, that's the state law. Go talk to your State Legislature." And then they could go reap the benefits in the community from that. So their hostility to it is - the hostility from the Association of Washington Cities is - it's just not well calculated either for the health of their city or for their local politics either. It's just not well calculated. [00:51:17] Crystal Fincher: Just not well calculated. And with that, we will probably just conclude this conversation. It can go on for a long time. There are lots of other things that we could discuss. [00:51:25] Mike McGinn: Of course. [00:51:25] Crystal Fincher: But we'll call it a day with that. And I certainly thank you for listening to Hacks & Wonks on this Friday, February 25th, 2022 - February just evaporated for me. The producer of Hacks & Wonks is Lisl Stadler and assistant producer Shannon Cheng. Our insightful co-host today was activist, community leader, former mayor of Seattle, and Executive Director of America Walks, and one of my mentors, Mike McGinn. You can find Mike on Twitter @mayormcginn. You can find me on Twitter @finchfrii. And now you can follow Hacks & Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcast. Just type "Hacks & Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to get full versions of our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. 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 podcast episode notes. Thanks for tuning in. Talk to you next time.

Concrete strike slows the city's building boom

Seattle News, Views, and Brews

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 23, 2022 10:51

A concrete truckers strike is entering its third month and is slowing projects all around the city, including the reopening of the West Seattle Bridge. Seattle Times reporter Heidi Groover has details.Follow us on Instagram @seattlenowpod

boom strike concrete seattle times slows west seattle bridge

2022 Episode 8: Eviction Moratorium Extension?, West Seattle Bridge Concerns, New Homelessness Pledge

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 22, 2022 29:01

Learn about the latest in local public affairs in about the time it takes for a coffee break! Brian Callanan of Seattle Channel and David Kroman of the Seattle Times discuss a proposal by Councilmember Kshama Sawant to extend Seattle's eviction moratorium, the impacts of the concrete strike on the West Seattle Bridge project, a plan to drastically reduce the number of homeless people living in downtown Seattle, a state proposal on tiny home villages, and the repeal of King County's bike helmet law. If you like this podcast, please support it on Patreon!

seattle bridge concerns transportation homelessness extension pledge seattle times king county eviction moratorium west seattle seattle city council seattle channel west seattle bridge mayor harrell david kroman brian callanan

Week in Review: February 11, 2022

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 12, 2022 37:51

On today's week-in-review, Crystal is joined by political consultant and urban farmer, Heather Weiner. They discuss the lawsuit against the capital gains tax in Washington, the concrete workers strike, the Harrell administration's push for hotspot policing, safety at Pike Place Market and Inslee's legislation to deal with highway encampments, and the “Tacoma Shuffle” of people returning to encampments after they've been swept because they still have nowhere else to go. 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 Heather at @hlweiner. Resources “Superior Court Judge hears arguments in capital gains tax case” by Shauna Sowersby for The Olympian: https://www.theolympian.com/news/state/washington/article258066028.html “West Seattle Bridge reopening could be delayed if concrete union strike continues” by King 5 Staff for King 5: https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle/seattle-construction-projects-delayed-concrete-union-strike/281-2765b55a-c89d-4abd-999f-261fc711b106 “Hot Spot Policing” Twitter Thread by Erica C. Barnett: https://twitter.com/ericacbarnett/status/1490185898108936193?s=20&t=8beV9DyCMjunAtJNLMatYw “CID community group says they don't see an improvement” by Hannah Krieg for The Stranger: https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2022/02/07/66263977/cid-community-watch-not-impressed-by-mayor-harrells-hot-spot-policing-strategy-in-little-saigon/comments “Councilmember Pushes “Seattle Is Dying” Narrative, Data Confirms Stop-and-Frisk Disparities, Someone Is Posting Fake Sweep Signs, and More” by Publicola Staff for Publicola: https://publicola.com/2022/02/10/councilmember-pushes-seattle-is-dying-narrative-data-confirms-stop-and-frisk-disparities-someone-is-posting-fake-sweep-signs-and-more/ “Inslee Pushes Legislation Prioritizing Homeless Encampment Removal Near Highways” by Natalie Bicknell Argerious for The Urbanist: https://www.theurbanist.org/2022/02/10/inslee-pushes-legislation-prioritizing-homeless-encampment-removal-near-highways/ “'Tacoma shuffle': People return to I-705 homeless encampment days after sweep” by Lionel Donovan for King 5: https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/homeless/tacoma-encampment-remains-occupied/281-8730a985-8104-470c-b169-7dc1bdfae0cd 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 the 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. Today, we're continuing our Friday almost-live shows where we review the news of the week. Welcome back to the program, friend of the show and today's co-host: political consultant and urban farmer, Heather Weiner. [00:00:52] Heather Weiner: Hi, Crystal. So happy to be here - happy Friday. [00:00:54] Crystal Fincher: Happy Friday. Well, we have a ton to talk about today - I won't - so much, so much. I wanted to start off talking about the capital gains tax case - it was passed by our legislature and people filed suit against it - conservative Republican interests filed suit against it. And there was just a court hearing a week ago in - where arguments for and against were heard about it. What is going on with that? [00:01:27] Heather Weiner: This is, I think, one of the most interesting stories if you care about education, you care about getting more childcare to people, you care about providing early learning, fixing leaky roofs in our schools. This is about $400-$500 million/year that is going to be going to all of these education projects. And in what I like to call a reverse Robin Hood move, these conservative interests are trying to steal from the children and give to the rich by taking away this capital gains tax. Now it's in court right now - it's in Douglas County Court. We expect to see a decision in the next couple of weeks - have had a lot of really interesting people weigh in on that court case - everybody from Wenatchee school teachers to the former Wenatchee Chamber of Commerce president, economists - all saying the capital gains tax is actually a really great way to balance our unfair tax code which puts the biggest burdens on the poor and the least burdens on the rich. Now here's a couple more things that have just happened today that you should know about, Crystal. The first one is we're seeing in the PDC filings that are coming in right now that there are some really bad black hat political consultants who are coming in to Washington state to help do this reverse Robin hood move. These are people who were fined the biggest fines in the nation's history for laundering campaign contributions during a previous ballot initiative here in Washington state - they were fined $18 million by my boo, Bob Ferguson. And here they are back again trying to repeal the Washington capital gains tax. The other really interesting thing that's going on is kind of this - what I think is really bad reporting. There is a Amazon exec who is moving from Medina to Dallas - I think probably 'cause the Seahawks had a horrible season and the Cowboys had a pretty good season. But what the reporters are doing is saying that the move occurred right before the capital gains tax goes into effect, so therefore that must be the reason why they're moving. There could not possibly possibly be another reason that somebody is moving to a warmer, sunnier place that has better barbecue. And so I've just been - just been kind of a little bit of a - rhymes with "witch" - to people on Twitter this morning telling them coincidence does not equal causality - just because somebody left the state before the capital gains tax goes into effect. And by the way, this is a super rich person who should be paying their share just like the rest of us. And if they are moving because of the capital gains tax, then they need to say it, take responsibility for it - that they are a tax dodger and that they do not want to take responsibility for all of the great things that this state has done for them. Am I on my soap box? Can you tell? [00:04:37] Crystal Fincher: I mean - it is logical and it makes sense - again, this capital gains tax - it's not an income tax. It is not a tax that most working people pay. This is where extraordinarily wealthy people are realizing gains - we're talking about that. And we are in a state that has no income tax FYI, so if you're arguing that people left for that reason - there are several stories where people have left to states with income taxes. It's like - I don't know if you're really doing this full analysis. But whether or not people are staying or leaving - and people continue to come to the state - it is, it has been well-documented and universally accepted and known for awhile that we have the most regressive tax structure in the nation, meaning that the people with the least pay the highest percentage of their income in taxes and the people with the most pay the lowest percentage of their income in taxes. And at a time where we see the impacts - exacerbated through this pandemic - of years and years of underfunding of education, of our social safety net, of our public infrastructure - we absolutely need everyone to be chipping in their fair share. And to continue to ask working people, who are making an income, to be paying basically to make up for super wealthy people not paying their fair share - just isn't realistic. At this point, we are basically - most of the taxpayers are subsidizing the sixth homes and the third yachts of extremely rich people with our taxes. [00:06:30] Heather Weiner: And the spaceship - and the spaceships up into the - up into the atmosphere. I mean, we are literally - actually, they do get huge tax subsidies for that. I mean, these are the same people who took tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds during COVID to basically pad their investment portfolios, to pad their investor rounds for these tech startups - they're producing nothing new. All they're doing is moving this taxpayer money between each other in kind of a shell game. And then they don't want to pay taxes on the gains that they have made from taxpayer money? Shame on you, shame on you - shame on you for going to Metropolitan Market and buying and spending $300 on cheese and then complaining about the people who are living in the boxes that that cheese was delivered in. Shame on you. If you want to do something about what is happening in this state with a lack of housing, with the lack of services, then you need to pay your damn share. [00:07:27] Crystal Fincher: You do need to pay your share. Absolutely. We could go on about this at length. [00:07:32] Heather Weiner: Oh boy. Boy, do I have feelings - I have a lot of feelings, Crystal. [00:07:37] Crystal Fincher: We will leave it with that for today, but I think we are both aligned and with so many other people in the state. Again, this was supported by wide margins of the public - north of 65% are really tired of our tax dollars not going - coming into our communities at the level that they should be while they are padding the corporate bonuses and fourth houses of the uber-wealthy - it just - it just isn't wonderful. [00:08:09] Heather Weiner: Can I just - you're talking about polling - for a second, I just want to do give you a quick update on polling. So I just read in The Olympian this week also that polling numbers - typically we think that Washington state is pretty just kind of knee jerk anti-tax - but we just this week approved a whole bunch of education levies. So we do want to fund education, which this capital gains tax does. And the polling, at least as reported in The Olympian, shows that any initiative to repeal the capital gains tax starts underwater. And as you and I know, as political consultants, a ballot initiative - a Yes ballot initiative - needs to start at over 60% to have any viability. So I just don't know how they're - if they're going to try to repeal this in the court, I think they're going to lose in the State Supreme court. I think they try to repeal it with the voters - I think it'll be a tough fight, but I think they might lose there too. [00:08:59] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, it is - it is certainly an uphill fight to try and repeal that. We're in a much different place than we were 15 and 20 years ago in terms of how people view their taxes. And now people have had a long time to see the effect of everyone not paying their share and seeing how many things now haven't been funded and are not happy about it. Also, there are lots of people unhappy about working conditions that have languished and lagged over the past several years - and especially during the pandemic - employers not being as responsive and protective of their employees as they need to be, or just flat out issues of pay. We've seen that with a number of unionization efforts around the country and around our area, but there actually has been - what I feel has been somewhat under-covered and that's why we're talking about it today - a strike from concrete workers and that has been going on for a while. And this week there was a press conference with Mayor Harrell and County Executive Dow Constantine talking about some of the impacts of the strike and saying the West Seattle Bridge reopening could be delayed - other projects could be delayed - if this is not solved soon. Of course, that makes everyone kind of go back into some entrenched messaging - some people are like, Well, well, those workers just, you know, get back to work already - when really this is an issue of these concrete companies needing to meet these demands to get the strike over with. What is going on with this? [00:10:41] Heather Weiner: Yeah. This is really interesting, because this is where unions have spent a lot of money and a lot of time electing people to office and this is where they expect those elected officials to stand with them. In this case, it's a public contract. There are four concrete companies who have basically - withholding great - better pay and better benefits for these people who are doing really hard physical jobs. And they're withholding that and so the concrete workers have been on strike. They've been outside for months - in the cold, in the rain - trying to negotiate this. And so this is where you - if you're an elected official - this is where you need to step up for the workers and you need to say, "The pressure is on the employers, is on these corporations, to pay fair share and get everybody back to work." I was very disappointed to see that the message instead was, "The corporations - the unions and the corporations need to go back to the table." What they're really doing there - it's an implied you're both at fault message - instead of it being the corporations need to just - they're making huge profits on these taxpayer funded projects. They need to make sure that money is coming back into the community by paying people fairly. Let me give you an example - your friend, Mayor McGinn, former Mayor McGinn, did the right thing in a similar strike situation when he was mayor. There were thousands of garbage, recycling, composting drivers who went on strike. And rather than saying they and the companies need to go back to the table, he said, "I'm going to start fining the companies millions of dollars a day for every day that they are not getting the trash picked up because that's what I can do under the contract." And he broke that strike and he helped those workers win much better wages. And that's what our elected officials should be doing right now, instead of somehow putting the onus on the workers themselves - they're sitting outside in the rain. It is not like they have a lot of power. They need to step up and help them. [00:12:55] Crystal Fincher: Certainly do. And was a fan of that action taken by former Mayor McGinn, certainly. Other mayors have done similar in the past to help address these work stoppages. And one of the things that's really critical with this is that these companies have a responsibility to deliver - what is implied is that the companies do what's necessary to maintain a functional and effective workforce. If they are not paying them effectively, that is not maintaining a functional and effective workforce. There actually is precedent and great justification for saying, Hey, you are obligated to perform. Do what you need to do, have the conversations that you need to have, come to an agreement - but you have an obligation under this contract. And saying, well, we don't feel like - on other projects, our profits are massive enough, even though they are substantial to continue doing work. And to allow this work stoppage to continue - relying on some public partners and government to also play hard ball alongside them - is just not what I think most people are hoping to see. We know workers are put in more perilous positions today than they have been in decades. And navigating just the challenges of being a concrete worker and working on a site is not an easy thing on the body, it's not an easy job to have - certainly through a pandemic it has not been a comfortable job to have. So, I do hope that the companies are encouraged to do what it takes to be good corporate citizens, to invest in their workers and in this community to get this done. But the blaming of workers is just something that I think more - most people are - see through and are tired of. [00:14:56] Heather Weiner: Yeah, I hope so. And I hope they do resolve this. I hope the companies do come to the table, do increase their wages and benefits so that they can get back to work. So that I can take the West Seattle Bridge to West Seattle again, because I - I live in Beacon Hill and boy, am I tired of that 3 minute drive turning into 35. [00:15:15] Crystal Fincher: It is a challenge. Well, this week there have been lots of conversations around public safety. One of them being - there are conversations with, between councilmembers and community members, Mayor Harrell and his administration announced a new hotspot policing strategy to address certain hotspots in the City as Erica Barnett and PubliCola covered extensively on Twitter and has been written about. This is a strategy that has been used - has been tried several times before in the past in former administrations - several former - to say, Well, let's just increase patrols in these areas, let's target some intersections, some blocks - and kind of flood them with police and patrols. And while it certainly is a visible sign that activity is happening and communities certainly don't want crime - they want to feel safe, they don't want to be victimized. And I don't think anyone wants that - that should not be happening. People do want to see action being taken to improve the safety in their communities. Whether more patrols are that action that people want to see is - certainly depends on who you ask, but it is not wanted across the board, certainly. And just the impacts of a hotspot strategy - how effective those are seems really questionable, given that this has been tried several times when SPD was smaller, when the budget was smaller, and Hey, let's hire more cops, let's increase the budget, let's invest in this hotspot strategy. And that has happened over and over and over again - yet, we're still having these same conversations about these hotspots. I certainly would hope that we would try strategy that's more in line with what data from across the country tells us actually helps to resolve crime completely. And that's getting closer to addressing the root causes and not after someone has been victimized - let's try and focus on that, let's prevent people from being victimized in the first place. It appears that Harrell is certainly moving forward with this hotspot strategy. So we will see how that turns out. But The Stranger had an article this week talking about how a CID community group was saying, Well, you've been saying that you have implemented this hotspot strategy in our neighborhood now. We don't see an improvement and we actually don't think that improvement is going to come from adding more patrol officers on our block. So it'll be interesting to see how that is responded to, what the results of this initiative are this time, and follow through what is and isn't working. [00:18:25] Heather Weiner: Yeah. I mean, we're just really - just moving people around from place to place to place. And so you have a hotspot team here, or an emphasis that they call it sometimes, and those people who are not housed still don't have any housing - you're not building any more housing - there's no place for them to go. And the people who are committing crime - fairly petty crime, but still disturbing crime - are working for much bigger syndicates of - and crime groups. And I think it was Andrew Lewis who said, Look, I really want to emphasize - I really think that we need to be spending resources on going after those kingpins, not going after the people, the pawns. By the way. I don't think he said it like that, but I think that's a brilliant analogy - I think he should be using that. [00:19:10] Crystal Fincher: I love that. [00:19:10] Heather Weiner: That was really good. Yeah - ring ring, Andrew. [00:19:13] Crystal Fincher: Well see - that's why you're a political consultant, Heather. That is why - right there. [00:19:17] Heather Weiner: Yeah. And - no, no. Yeah - anyway. Why am I a political consultant? We could talk about that next time. Well, not sure. [00:19:28] Crystal Fincher: There's a lot to be talked about, and this is happening with a backdrop of conversations that were covered and written about this week of - [00:19:35] Heather Weiner: Oh, I know - they were kind of shocking actually. [00:19:38] Crystal Fincher: Councilmember Sara Nelson basically, kind of literally pushing a "Seattle is Dying" narrative. [00:19:48] Heather Weiner: Didn't Bruce Harrell say that we weren't supposed to be doing that anymore? Didn't he literally say, I don't want to hear any more "Seattle is Dying." [00:19:55] Crystal Fincher: Well, he may have said he didn't want to hear it anymore, but a coalition of people who supported him certainly are not tired of it. And a number of those people also support Sara Nelson, who owns Fremont Brewing with her husband. And Sara invited 11 business representatives to discuss their public safety concerns at her Economic Development Committee hearing last Wednesday - this was covered on PubliCola in one of their Morning Fizz articles this week - but Nelson's committee doesn't deal with crime or homelessness, and isn't considering any legislation, but evidently Sara felt it was important to allow these business community members, and only business community members, to talk about their concerns. And again, those business owners really wanted more police - kind of at the end of the day. Sara Nelson was talking about, We're in a crisis. We need to increase the amount of police we have. We need to stop this horrible crime that is happening around the City and is out of control and the City is about to burn down - blah, blah, blah, blah. And again, to be clear, there are - people's concern about crime is absolutely legitimate. There are too many things happening that are bad. We do not want people to be victimized - I think that's really important to center. I think at the end of the day, if there was no crime, people would be happy about it, but wow is there so much data that is being ignored, really coincidentally by people who say that they want a data-driven strategy, that literally says that jailing people doesn't reduce crime at all. [00:21:47] Heather Weiner: No, if anything, it makes it worse because you're making people - [00:21:51] Crystal Fincher: There is actually evidence that it makes it worse because we don't focus on rehabilitation. We have to get in touch with the reality that if we're focused on - focusing on punishment is not the same thing as focusing on safety. We're really good at the punishment part, we're really good at making people feel pain - oftentimes it follows them for the rest of their lives as a consequence of committing crime. We're good at making some people and certain segments of our community feel good about that, other people don't feel any consequences for the types of crimes that they commit. But in this - we have to engage with the goal is - these people are reentering our communities. And they're our community members, and we have to help them reintegrate in society, and to be able to build a life - and to be productive on their own terms, to be stable in terms of housing and income, to have mental health resources available. And everything about our current carceral system destabilizes. There is no meaningful rehabilitation services provided. And the fact that you have been in the system is a red flag that people use in terms of employment and housing - that makes everything harder to do for people who are struggling to get started anyway. And at a time when people with no record, who are struggling just to be able to afford housing, imagine what it's like when you have people who just don't want to house you, who don't want to hire anyone with a record - what do you then do? We actually stack the deck against people being able to rebuild their lives and reintegrate into society. And our solutions have to be focused on that if we are going to make our communities safer. [00:23:57] Heather Weiner: Can I give you a totally - a little bit of a far-fetched conspiracy theory? So, I'm looking at the timing of this - this big push that we need more police, we need more police, we need more police, we need more officers - this is kind of what the answer is. And this is also during the time that the police union is entering into negotiations with the City. I don't think that that is - well, I don't know, it seems - I'm not saying it's causality - I was just bitching about coincidence does not equal causality, but I think that it - I don't know, it's an interesting timing issue. I also think it was really interesting that Debora Juarez took a swipe at Pike Place Market this week. [00:24:37] Crystal Fincher: That was interesting - also this week, Debora Juarez made comments talking about - she is afraid now to go to Pike Place Market because she feels that it's unsafe and that there are lots of issues around crime there, which raised a lot of eyebrows. [00:24:56] Heather Weiner: Yeah, I agree with her though. I think it is really dangerous. First of all, there's the donut place, right? That calls me in, right? Then you've got to go to the pierogi place - Piroshky's - oh my God - then that calls me in. Then there's Beecher's Cheese place - that's sucking me in. It is a really dangerous - and then they're giving out free samples everywhere. It is highly dangerous for me to go to Pike Place Market. [00:25:18] Crystal Fincher: And just so I correctly characterize Debora Juarez's words - she says she no longer goes to Pike Place Market downtown "unless it's Saturday in broad daylight" because of the "safety issues" there. Which was really interesting because Pike Place Market - one, closes at 6. And it is an area, as PubliCola points out, that is consistently bustling and full of people, which actually is one of the hallmarks of keeping places safe. I don't know if she is talking about feeling uncomfortable on her way to Pike Place Market - I am not sure, but that - if you were going to cite anything, seems like an odd citation and certainly made a lot of people raise their eyebrows and wonder - want some more clarification certainly from her, but also wonder if rhetoric is taking hold and if she is actually on those streets today or - you know that was - [00:26:28] Heather Weiner: This has always boggled my mind about the Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Businesses Association, where their talking point is to - ends up discouraging the very customers that they are trying to attract. Instead of telling everybody, Oh, it's unsafe here, don't come here. How does that help their business members? How do the Pike Place Market vendors feel about their City Councilmember discouraging people from going there? It just seems like it's not a great message strategy. And if I were them, I'd be talking about what they are doing to make it safer, what they are doing to welcome more people there. I do not want to undermine the fact that almost all the times we hear about people saying this - it's almost always women who are saying they don't feel safe. And I think that's a really valid point. If you are feeling less safe out on the streets right now as a woman, is there an increase in, particularly if you're a woman of color, is there an increase in a feeling of hostility from other - from men? What is happening out there, but putting more police on the streets and arresting more people, as you were saying, is not going to solve the problem. What's going to solve the problem is addressing - in a big way - the lack of housing, the lack of good paying jobs, the lack of economic and mental health and other health supports that people need so that they are not forced into crime. [00:27:51] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, absolutely. And speaking of that - Inslee this week is pushing legislation that prioritizes homeless encampment removal near highways, which - he talked about this being very important and characterizes it as, This is how we're - we need to take care of those people who are living under the highways. It's an extremely unsafe environment, it's a hazard for them, for drivers. And a lot of times he is talking about the right of ways under or adjacent to freeways and highways. Now, this has been an area - some of these are out of sight, some of these are very visible. We all know that there are some people who are bothered by the sight of homelessness much more than the thought of people and their experiences outside in a hostile climate without shelter. But as we go through this, Inslee was talking about the need to clear these areas, for providing a budget - and in this bill, there is also money allocated for outreach services. Everybody talks about the goal of getting people into housing and in ways that we've seen before - having outreach workers working with the people who are in these encampments to get them into housing and also to track the outcomes of the people that they're working with to see - was it successful, was it not? We've talked at length about some of the issues before in this program about the current way we offer services and "offer services." And that a lot of the services that we have actually do not serve our entire unhoused population, that our current shelter system - and in many areas and in many spaces - is really hostile to people in terms of requiring people to be in by 6:30 PM, out by 6:30 or 7:00 AM. If someone has a job, actually - and there are a lot of unhoused people who are working, who have jobs and are employed that - that can conflict with your ability to be sheltered. And that then makes any particular shelter, the possibility of that impossible, keeping someone on the streets. Or they don't allow pets that people have, or they don't allow partners to be together, or there's no secure storage for people's belongings and the threat of their belongings not being secure. Or a variety of reasons or requirements that disqualify people, or make it impossible for them to hold on to the amount of stability that they currently have and not fall further and while taking advantage of those shelter services. And so while some services are available, we are seeing over and over and over again, that that does not serve a significant portion of our unhoused population. And we can keep doing the same thing and saying, Well, we offered them and they turned them down - for a variety of very legitimate reasons. And watch people continue to move around to different places and be unhoused, or we can meaningfully do it. There are different perspectives on this bill. There are organizations like the ACLU, some housing advocates and providers, who were saying this is going to make it really easy just to sweep people and without enough accountability to protect people's civil rights and to actually address this problem. Others are saying our entire goal and why we have allocated this money is to make it possible to get these folks housed. It's an interesting perspective. How do you see this? [00:31:46] Heather Weiner: Yeah, well - well, I keep seeing it as every - it all comes down to money. And I'm just going to circle it right back to where we started. It all comes down to money and the reason that - a lot of the reasons that we do not have this housing, we do not have the services - because we don't have the money to pay for it. And the reason we don't have the money is because the super rich have rigged the system so that they don't have to pay their fair share. And you're seeing more and more anger - I think people are just number one, sick and tired of being inside. They're sick and tired of it being gray, they're sick and tired of COVID, and they're looking. And when they do go outside, they see people suffering and they just get really angry. And who they should be angry at is the super rich that they can't see who are not paying into the system like they should. [00:32:28] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, that is - that certainly contributes to the problem. In this article, and I am looking and we'll link this in the show notes - this is an Urbanist article by Natalie Bicknell Argerious. A couple of things that they talk about are potentially some helpful things in that - different jurisdictions can only act on land that they own or have the rights to act on or engage with. There have been issues between the cities and the state when it comes to engaging with people in these state-owned right of ways. And confusion or complication around whether cities can even go into offer services or work with folks in these encampments and feeling that that has been largely off limits. This bill is an attempt to also address that and make it clear that the cities and state can work together, it establishes an office to basically enable that. And so we'll see what happens but there is concern, as there has been everywhere, that this will enable sweeps and kind of move people out of some areas that seem to be relatively, really low impact for the surrounding community. It is away from neighborhoods, it's away from other things. And in the case of Seattle, many aren't even visible by anyone and allowing people to find a shelter in community that works for them while being unhoused. There was also the concern and has been some freeway deaths of people who were crossing a freeway or crossing an on-ramp and being hit by cars. So, I mean, there is some - obviously we don't want people to be outside, we don't want people to be in danger - I think that is a legitimate concern. But with a legitimate concern, we need to address it with legitimate solutions. We will see how this plays out, but this - following it up with another article this week that we can talk about - talking about in Tacoma - having the situation where, Hey, they did a sweep in an I-705 homeless encampment, which is a highway through Tacoma. And starting just days later, people were returning because a sweep does not provide housing. The number one problem that has to be addressed if we're talking about homelessness is getting people housed. If a conversation about homelessness doesn't start with housing, then we're completely failing. There is no chance of actually meaningfully addressing this and we are seeing this as King 5 details it - talking about the Tacoma shuffle, which is the term that people use for, Yeah, you do this sweep, you clear an area, but people still actually don't have anywhere to go. They still don't have a home. And so they moved to another location for a little bit, they're pushed out of that location, and they're back at this one. So we're not doing anything, but just kind of moving the deck chairs around on the Titanic, just moving people around the community, and spending a ton of money to do it. The City of Seattle spent over $1 million to clear out an encampment under a freeway and install razor wire. Could we have spent that $1 million perhaps on helping people to get into stable and permanent housing? That's a conversation we have, but certainly looking at the Tacoma shuffle, looking at how this has happened so far in Seattle and other places - this is a statewide problem. And if we don't address the housing issue and not focus on - whether it's substance use disorder or mental health disorders, which are made worse oftentimes by being unhoused - if we don't start with housing and lead with housing, then we're not doing anything to address this problem. [00:36:52] Heather Weiner: Amen sister. [00:36:53] Crystal Fincher: Well, with that, we will wrap up the day. I certainly thank you for listening to Hacks & Wonks on this Friday, February 11th. The producer of Hacks & Wonks is Lisl Stadler and assistant producer is Shannon Cheng. Our wonderful co-host today was Seattle political consultant, Heather Weiner. You can find Heather on Twitter @hlweiner. That's H-L-W-E-I-N-E-R. You can find me on Twitter @finchfrii - that's F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I. And now you can follow Hacks & Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Just type "Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar, be sure to subscribe to get our Friday almost-live shows and our mid-week show delivered to your podcast feed. While you're there, leave a review, it really helps us out. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in this show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the episode notes. Thanks for tuning in. Talk to you next time.

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Week in Review: December 31, 2021

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 1, 2022 42:11

For the last show of the year, we have the first part of a discussion with Executive Director of America Walks and former mayor of Seattle Mike McGinn about how the City's response to the recent snowstorm and Harrell's recent appointees highlight opportunities for the incoming administration to both learn from and leave behind the past as they stand up a government to lead us into 2022 and beyond. 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, Mike McGinn, at @mayormcginn. More info is available at officialhacksandwonks.com. Resources: “Why Sweden Clears Snow-Covered Walkways Before Roads” by Angie Schmitt from Streetsblog USA: https://usa.streetsblog.org/2018/01/24/why-sweden-clears-walkways-before-roads/ Disability Rights Washington - Disability Mobility Initiative: https://www.disabilityrightswa.org/programs/disabilitymobility/ “Does Adding an Extra Driving Lane Make Traffic Worse?” by David Stockin from Drivetribe: https://drivetribe.com/p/does-adding-an-extra-driving-lane-E6FPiVJnQSCPun1-pS-Q-A?iid=Ic6o2PzdQcaGewi7L9kSbw “The Fundamental Law of Road Congestion: Evidence from US Cities” by Gilles Duranton and Matthew A. Turner from American Economic Review 101: https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/aer.101.6.2616 “'Zombie highways,' mass transit failures: PBS 'News Hour' takes look at Birmingham” by Bob Sims from Advance Local: https://www.al.com/spotnews/2009/08/zombie_highways_mass_transit_f.html “Inslee's Proposed 2022 Budget Plugs Holes in Highway Megaprojects” by Ryan Packer from The Urbanist: https://www.theurbanist.org/2021/12/27/inslees-proposed-2022-budget-plugs-holes-in-highway-megaprojects/ “Seattle Mayor-elect Harrell names niece deputy mayor, lists other appointments” by Sarah Grace Taylor from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/bruce-harrell-announces-key-cabinet-members-appoints-niece-as-deputy-mayor/ “Seattle Mayor-elect Harrell appoints final deputy mayor, other leaders before taking office” by Sarah Grace Taylor from The Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-mayor-elect-harrell-appoints-final-deputy-mayor-other-leaders-before-taking-office/ 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. Today, we're continuing our Friday almost-live shows where we review the news of the week with a co-host. Welcome back to the program, friend of the show and today's co-host: activist, community leader, former mayor of Seattle, and Executive Director of America Walks - the excellent Mike McGinn. [00:00:57] Mike McGinn: I'm glad to be here, Crystal. [00:00:59] Crystal Fincher: Glad to have you here, as we close out 2021 and tiptoe gingerly into 2022 - and just wanted to talk, not just about what's happening this week, but contextualize it and what's happening through the year. And there was no one better to do that with than Mike McGinn, with so much context just in organizing and urbanism land use policy - and few things you picked up as mayor of Seattle. So this week, we are in the midst of seemingly unending snow that we're dealing with - it snowed on Christmas, it is snowing right now as we're recording on Friday morning, temperatures have not been above freezing all week, they're just supposed to get above freezing today - briefly - before we get some more snow perhaps this weekend. And so we've been blanketed with the snow, mobility has been a challenge, sidewalks have been treacherous - and please shovel your sidewalks, folks - but there's been no cohesive strategy and a ton of people haven't. Our streets have been a mess. Also, it's been freezing and dangerous for people who are unsheltered and we have an imperfect emergency response. And we've talked many times about our responsibility to keep our neighbors safe from extreme climate - heat in the summer and now freezing cold, which can be lethal if you're out there. And so as you're looking at what we're dealing with, what does it tell you about where we're at in Seattle? [00:02:50] Mike McGinn: Well, first of all, I just want to say that it goes from an old mayor to a new mayor at midnight on the 31st, or the first minute of January 1 - and I actually went outside to check the weather the second I became mayor, right? Because I was actually thinking about at the time - what would it be like to enter office if there was something happening? And that's happening right now to Bruce Harrell. So clearly the response that you see to a snowstorm is based on muscle memory and work that's done years and months in advance. So for example, I believe they're still substantially using the road clearing plan that we adopted - and I took office a year after a snowstorm that really showed some weaknesses in the snow response of the City of Seattle. And so there were a lot of big changes made after that. And we still follow that strategy. But there are things - [00:03:52] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, we lost the mayor over that snow response. [00:03:55] Mike McGinn: Yeah, that was big deal. And at the time, this City didn't really use salt, it pushed snow to the middle of the road - not to the edges. And we got a long, cold stretch so it froze in the middle so people couldn't make turns - all the streets were icy. It really had really dramatic effects on the City and the City's residents. And that was a big deal. So we changed a lot of that - the focus now is on plowing the transit routes first, we even shared online the GPS of where they were going. And we use salt because it turns out actually - all that sand has an effect too on the City's systems and storm drains. And the salt was not that big a deal, not as big a deal environmentally. So we made all those changes but it still took us a couple of snowstorms to really get it right. The very first one - there was freezing on the West Seattle Bridge and it shut down stuff. And the brine that was used on the roadways in advance of the storm wasn't powerful enough. So Bruce Harrell will be coming in and it's not like he can change all of that stuff in the past. But it's - one thing I learned though, was it's - a mayor does make a difference in the moment to moment, because there are decisions that have to be made. And we are seeing some of that right now, right? Like as we discover the City can't open up the winter shelters that it wants to open up because people are having trouble getting in to man those shelters because of the conditions. So we have an Emergency Operations Center that opens. I discovered that you want to be there before the snow starts falling, or the ice, or the wind, or whatever the issue is. And you stay there through it for a couple of reasons. One is that you might be able to help facilitate some decisions - you might be able to make a phone call to another arm of government. But I think it's also just a show of support for the City employees that are doing the work. They know it's important when the mayor is there and it matters to them. So for this to be happening during a transition, hopefully everybody is in a position to keep pushing. But this is really something that I hope Durkan and Harrell are working on because there are people, and particularly the least powerful among us, who are counting on the City to innovate and come up with different ideas and different solutions to take care of people in circumstances like this. And I remember being down at EOC, in the Emergency Operations Center, and overhearing the conversations of people on the phone who are working to try to get people to treatments they needed. And just dealing with the situations that come up - that maybe there's a City resource that can be used in that moment to help people. And you need that attention to detail and attention to the developing circumstances to be able to do that. You don't want to read about it the next day - that a bad thing happened and nobody was there to help from the City who should have been. [00:07:12] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, completely agree. And as I look at this, just looking more forward, we're in a continuing, worsening climate crisis. And we are seeing more extreme temperatures than we've seen in decades - right now on the cold side. We saw that on the hot side earlier this year. And so it seems that we should be preparing for more extreme and more prolonged weather events of all different types. And so to your point, you put in place and largely constructed a snow response strategy after the catastrophic failure that helped to lead to you - [00:07:55] Mike McGinn: 2009. Yeah. [00:07:56] Crystal Fincher: - to being in office. Yeah. And it has been updated since then, but now we're at this time and it is foreseeable that these staffing issues as we move forward are going to be - there're issues with staffing for these kinds of services when we're not facing this kind of an extreme challenge - it only gets worse when we are. How do we plan to be more resilient as we move forward? How do we plan to make sure that we have more than just a bare bones, nighttime, get out at 7:00 AM, shelter - and it's still freezing outside and we're putting people out there. How do we focus on perhaps not forcing people into congregate shelter? Are there better options that we can provide even in an emergency situation? So really there's a big opportunity for the Harrell administration, as we move forward, to update this plan and this policy and this capacity. And a lot of people would be surprised to understand that government provides a lot of services - not directly - I mean, they certainly do their share of direct services, but they contract with a lot of companies and service providers. And even what we're asking them to do is the same as it has been. And we need to talk about updating that and making sure that they have the type of capacity to respond to this and that they're prepared for a response for today and not the response of 10 or 20 or 30 years ago. Everything is demanding more updated, more relevant, responsive, resilient solutions. And I see this as a big op opportunity for the Harrell administration to take on. And one that's going to have more consequences if they don't. [00:09:42] Mike McGinn: Well, that use of the word resilient too - and it's worth looking at that because the pandemic certainly exposed every weakness in our society, and exposed the way in which inequality works at multiple levels - and who was exposed to harm because of the pandemic, whether it was the disease itself or the loss of a job or exposure to the disease, all of these things - and who didn't. It's a stress test on the system and a snowstorm is a stress test on the system too. And one of the things - you look at car commercials and they just love to show these big, robust vehicles muscling through the snow like there's some fantasy of freedom associated with that. But what we know from snowstorms, as an example, or flooding - is that it's a very fragile system - that a transportation system that relies on every individual, that they need a big vehicle to navigate the system - that system doesn't work. It doesn't take much stress to tackle that. Whereas if you have neighborhoods that are built around walkability - the ability to get down to the grocery store and pick up what you need, or get to a pharmacy, or get from your home to staff the emergency shelter. So that resiliency isn't just the walkability, but actually affordable housing throughout the City. So that the people who take care of the City can afford to live in the City and close to a bus route that might be operating - because we have enough snow plows to handle the arterials, but we don't have enough snow plows to handle every residential street. So there's all of these even more fundamental things we can do to create a resilient place. And I remember that once in a snowstorm long before I was mayor and I walked home. I walked home from downtown to Wallingford where I was living. And I felt pretty good about it - like if something went wrong, there was probably a public house along the way where I could stop in and get warm. I was going to make it and people could still have a semblance of their daily lives. Whereas the person driving out to Issaquah might have been leaving their car out by the side of the road in a snow drift, wondering what to do next and how to get home. So these are just a resiliency that filters through everything. And we should be looking at our cities when the sun is shining and the weather is great, we should be looking at our cities with, Well, how do we make it so that people can afford to live here so they can meet their daily needs? And it goes to snow clearing strategy as well. And we were talking a little bit about this before the show started. In Sweden, they went and studied and made a conclusion that they should clear the sidewalks before the roads, because the people who were using the sidewalks tended to be more women than men and tended to be on very important trips - for childcare, for getting to work and the like. And we're now developing a set of protected bike lanes around the City. And we got a little snow plowing machine for that - I don't know what they named it yet, but I forget, there was a whole naming thing going on for that - but the idea that if you had a connected network of those places, you could plow those. And that meant somebody in a wheelchair, if they could get from their front door to that lane, they could have a clear path to the neighborhood store. They wouldn't be isolated in their homes by the ice - that is what happens now to somebody who is disabled. So looking at the strategies and rules we have around snow clearing of sidewalks, how - maintenance of sidewalks. Right now, it's the job of private property owners. And we started sending out crews - we were just starting to get at this - we started sending out crews to clear the corners downtown, because the snow plows of course piled up snow at the corners. But we were sending out crews with shovels. Well, why not hire a bunch of people with shovels to go out and make sure that there's clear paths on all the curb ramps where people need them, which is a lot of the City. But these are the types of policy choices we can make about what we prioritize. And of course it's going to take money and it's going to take a different viewpoint. First, it's going to take a change of view - that maybe the person in the single-occupancy vehicle isn't the most important user of the transportation system that needs to be prioritized. It's the everyday trips that people who don't have vehicles need - center our transportation system around them, and we'll have a transportation system in which we all benefit from really great accessible neighborhoods. [00:14:46] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. I completely agree. And to your point - for me, there was a term that was used a lot in the prior federal administration - prior administrations were picking winners and losers. And really that's what we do when we talk about transit and prioritization of cars. We are really eliminating the choice for people to walk, or bike, or roll, or to do anything but drive. We've made that so inaccesible and hard for people that - if people want to drive, great, but there are so many people who dislike so many elements of driving - dealing with traffic, dealing with parking, dealing with trying to be out on these roads and can you make it up a hill or not? And just the inflexibility of the system to support cars that we continue dumping money into. And if we actually did prioritize transit choice - that hey, you know what? If you end up driving, okay. But what we're not going to do is make it impossible for you to walk, for you to ride your bike. I mean, I saw a picture online this morning of right now in the middle of the snow and someone attempting to walk on Aurora. And they're basically walking on the side of the street because the sidewalks are just snow and ice - in the middle of this extremely dangerous road when conditions are ideal. And now they're driving on an icy snowy street. And you just look at that and have a sense of impending doom and dread because you know how dangerous that is on a clear, sunny, dry day. And we are forcing people to walk in the median, we're forcing wheelchair users to roll in the street because it is just impossible to do that on a sidewalk where a sidewalk exists. [00:16:40] Mike McGinn: Yeah. If they can even make it down past the ice that's on the sidewalk outside their front door to reach that place. So yeah, we were talking about prioritization and money. I highly recommend by the way - what the State Legislature will be making decisions in the coming year about - where money should go. There's a lot of federal money heading to the states right now as part of the infrastructure bill. And I really commend to people in the state of Washington, across the state, but certainly the listeners here for Rainier Valley Radio and whoever else we've attracted to this podcast. Thank you, Crystal for your work for building and promoting this thing. The Disability Mobility Initiative is a partnership spearheaded by Disability Rights Washington, but they partnered with Front and Centered - they partnered with other advocates. And what they want to do is put the needs of non-drivers at the center of transportation policy. So that was the philosophy I was talking about earlier. Because I think a lot of our transportation, and you'll see this in advocacy organizations - there's some advocacy organizations that are like, look, the powers that be are going to build their highways. They got all the power. And our job is just to try to fit in around the cars somehow in the policy making too. Maybe we should get a little bit more. Now transportation is now the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the state, in the country. It's behind this extreme weather. It's one of the things behind this extreme weather we're having. So it's a good reason to change it by itself. But how about a philosophy that instead of trying to fit in around this dangerous polluting activity, instead we said, well, how about we make it so that cars fit in around people, that we start to get the ability of people to walk to their daily needs, to walk to transit - and transit, by the way, as a middle leg of a walking trip says the Executive Director of America Walks - me. [00:18:47] Crystal Fincher: It's true. [00:18:49] Mike McGinn: It's true - mostly, mostly. I guess there's some Park and Rides out there, but it's mostly the middle leg of a walking trip. It extends how far you can walk by quite a bit, I've discovered. So why not build a whole system around that and then figure out how to fit in the vehicles around that that you still need. And that is how places were built until we abandoned the good sense of building walkable town centers and walkable business districts in order to prioritize jamming cars through them. So this is a big philosophy change and what's beautiful about the Disability Mobility Initiative is it's centering the needs of non-drivers. And again, that's great for everybody. And that's an approach that Washington state transportation advocacy is needed. And enough of, let the highway builders have their highways. Maybe we'll get a few dollars for the things we care about. Let's get the dollars in the right place to start with. [00:19:52] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. And huge point in the coming months - there's going to be a lot of decisions made on this transportation package. We do know and have a ton of data that expanding highways does not improve traffic, which is often how it's sold. And so let's actually improve people's commutes no matter how they choose to take them, which is going to take a massive rebalancing of the share of our transportation budget that we spend on cars versus the share that we spend on everything else that - that's such a large portion of our community uses. So appreciate that. [00:20:27] Mike McGinn: Nationally and locally, there's an issue. There's a phrase out there. There's something they call zombie highways. These are the highways that were drawn up in the heyday of the highway building era. And the reason they're called zombie highways is because they're still out there soaking up money for planning, and people are still trying to figure out how to raise the money to build them. 509 extension, which will - everybody goes, "Oh, great. It'll connect I-5 to that dead-end 509 by the airport." Yeah. It'll also send tens of thousands more cars a day through South Park, which wants to get rid of another highway that was built in the past that isn't so good anymore. We've got to stop funding the ideas from the 70s - 1970s - and start funding the ideas for the 2020s. And it seems like now would be a good time to think about that. [00:21:17] Crystal Fincher: Now would be an excellent time. There was a great article in The Urbanist about this, this past week, and talking about the - Inslee's proposed budget and a significant amount going to highway expansion. And even conversations within Seattle of - do we have one bridge over Montlake versus two, and relying on old projections that are no longer needed and an increasing realization that hey, we don't need what we thought was needed 30 years ago, 20 years ago. Why are we still relying on the same projections? And I recall there was a mayor around a decade ago that had several conversations about this in terms of a tunnel, and few other things, which actually turned out to be correct. So yeah. [00:22:07] Mike McGinn: Oh my God. And yeah - no - for the listeners that don't know, I thought - if you were around then, you knew. If you're new, maybe this is history. I thought we should not replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with the tunnel highway. I thought we should invest in transit along that corridor. And there was not a single elected official in the state of Washington who would side with me on that, except for Councilmember Mike O'Brien at the time. The entire City Council, one of whom is now our mayor, thought that building a highway on the waterfront for $4 billion - and by the way, they promised at the time that then there wouldn't be a highway on the surface - and it turns out, they still need lots of lanes on the surface too is what they're saying. So we haven't let go of this magical thinking that more lanes will lead to a better transportation system, when what we know is that more lanes just leads to more vehicles and lots of other places too besides that highway. And that's a big source of the pollution we have and challenges we face. And it doesn't scale, doesn't stand up to bad weather. It doesn't scale and it's not a question of ideology. I like to say it's a question of geometry. If everybody is surrounded by a car, they don't fit in a city. You just can't fit them all. You just can't fit it all. It's just math. So be nice if we could figure that out. Yeah. [00:23:29] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. I mean, I learned a lot of lessons from you in that too. I did not start off agreeing with where you're at - I'm like, "What do you mean? Just roads and transit - that's not going to be enough." And I was wrong. Lots of people were wrong. And lots of lessons to be learned throughout that. And one of the points that you made then was just like, "Hey, these projections are all out of whack. There's no way that this works and it creates so many problems when you count on capacity, then tolling on that capacity." And then that doesn't happen. Then what? Then what happens? And then the promise of no cost overrun. But anyway, we don't need to go back there. We can do year in review, but we won't do a decade in review here. [00:24:18] Mike McGinn: There is a transition here. There is a pivot here - because one of the topics that we've talked about out is - topic of the week is there's going to be a new mayor. There's going to be a new mayor, but we're learning a lot more about his administration. And he did replace his transportation chief, and he's announced some new people he's going to come in. So the history of the past is still with us in the present. But let's talk about the present then. [00:24:45] Crystal Fincher: Well, let's talk about the present. And to your point, Harrell announced the final round of his major appointees, deputy mayors - among those that were recently announced, big deputy mayor heading intergovernmental relations, intergovernmental office relations - I forget what the exact title is - but Gael Tarleton, former port commissioner, former legislator. Gael Tarleton - background in security and issues related to Russia. And Gael was a big supporter of Sara Nelson, a supporter of Bruce Harrell - certainly an indication of the direction that is being signaled in terms of policy, I would think. [00:25:36] Mike McGinn: Well, I think there's a mixed bag of appointees. And I don't know everybody that's listed, but there are a number of people I do know. And for the one thing is - there are a lot of names, I'm not quite sure how to describe this - it's like there's some type of special LinkedIn that you have to be on in order to be hired by Murray, Durkan, or Harrell. Right? [00:26:09] Crystal Fincher: Well, let me list some of them instead of - qualifying that. In the first round, a lot of them - Monisha Harrell, who is the senior deputy mayor and shares a last name with mayor, soon-to-be mayor Bruce Harrell, because she is his niece, but has a lengthy resume of her own. And I certainly will say, have seen - certainly there are a lot of people not excited about Bruce Harrell being mayor and that has led to some justifiable critiques of who he has slated for his administration. But what I don't want to feed into is just tossing people out, or their accomplishments out - especially women of color - their accomplishments out just because they're working in this administration. I try and keep my critiques policy focused. And I don't want to suggest that Monisha Harrell is not worthy of holding the position of senior deputy mayor at all. She's a board chair of Equal Rights Washington, member of the National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund - extremely competent. And we'll see how that manifests within this Harrell administration. Tiffany Washington is going to be the deputy mayor of housing and homelessness, the deputy mayor of external relations - is that what Gael did? Is that intergovernmental - [00:27:36] Mike McGinn: That's Gael Tarleton. That's Gael Tarleton. [00:27:38] Crystal Fincher: Okay. That was - I'm looking at one of two articles - this one's by Sarah Grace Taylor. And part two, so yes, Gael Tarleton. And then some appointees from folks who worked in Harrell's office before. So two former employees of a City Council office, Jennifer Samuels, and - let me see - Jeremy Racca. [00:28:09] Mike McGinn: Yeah. [00:28:10] Crystal Fincher: Jeremy Racca, who worked as a former LA. So it's going to be an interesting time. Kendee Yamaguchi will serve as mayor of external relations, Gael Tarleton is the interim director of the Office of Intergovernmental Relations. As we talked about last week, and you just mentioned, there's going to be a new SDOT head. So Derrick Wheeler-Smith is going to be the interim director of the Seattle Office for Civil Rights. And it's really interesting to see a number of these appointees hold the title of interim. So I don't know what that means, and if they are planning on transitioning into that role, seeking others, but there are a number who still hold the title of interim. So these could change over time, but that's who we're looking at now. And Tim Burgess - former Councilmember, former mayor Tim Burgess - is going to be influential within this administration. So certainly a lot of names that we have heard, were used to hearing from 10, 15 years ago, are now back - as recently as 5 years ago for some of them. But here we are. So certainly a shift in tone and direction from - [00:29:34] Mike McGinn: It's really interesting, because you are right to point out - there are names that are new to city government and then there are names that we have not seen before. And that's why I said, it's something of a mixed bag. And it starts one to wondering - what direction does he go? And I think that's where a lot of people are in right now - is the reading of the tea leaves, right? Like what will be Bruce Harrell's priorities as mayor? And how will he govern? And people look to appointments as part of that question. I have to say - Burgess and Tarleton both give me pause - because both of them, specifically on these issues we were just talking about, represented an older view. And the firing of Sam Zimbabwe, who's a pretty competent administrator and a professional, and was mostly under the radar during his term. He wasn't out there either upstaging the mayor or making the mayor look bad - just being a dedicated civil servant. That gave me pause about - what does it mean for policy that Sam Zimbabwe was let go when there're so many other positions to fill. Like trying to get a new transportation head while you're trying to also get a new police chief and all sorts of other positions - why take that on? And it gives me fear that what we're going to see is that somebody was complaining that maybe Sam was building too many bike lanes or something. And that was the impression I got from reading The Seattle Times article on that - that somebody in Bruce's camp - and I remember Bruce saying something to the effect of, "I'll tell you what? I'm not going to lead with bike lanes," he said, during the forum, which was kind of a peering into Bruce's soul on transportation there, for a second. And so that's bad. I think it's bad. I think it's a real challenge coming in, as mayor Harrell will be, coming in with the incumbent not going to be there. So all of the department heads and the people in city government, they didn't know who the mayor was going to be for a long time. And so - or whether they would have jobs. So in that situation, you see people leave. And I had the same experience because my predecessor lost in the primary. So everybody knew from August onwards that there would be a new mayor. And even after I took office, there were people who had applied for and received great jobs, and they'd come to me and say I'm leaving for the Obama administration or I'm leaving for a new national position. And there were about four of those. And each one of those searches is important and time-consuming and requires the mayor's personal attention because you really want good people in there. And I think that there's been a fair bit of turnover and interims. And so I think that's going to be one of the challenges for mayor Harrell - is standing up government, so to speak - not just forming his own office and how that functions, but also seeing how - getting the department heads in place to realize his vision. Circling back to Burgess and Tarleton, both of those just give me a lot of concern because I just don't think either of them - to the degree that Burgess in charge of special projects is going to have some strategic leadership in this - that just gives me concern because I saw what he prioritized and what he didn't prioritize as a City Council president. And I just hope that Bruce will be listening to some more progressive voices in his administration than Tim Burgess. [00:33:26] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, certainly - and Burgess's support and involvement in the Compassion Seattle campaign that was there to codify sweeps in the City Charter certainly gave a number of people pause. And the criticisms of progress attempting to be made in terms of the SPD and public safety in a meaningful way for everyone in the City - certainly a divergence in a lot of what has turned out to be popular opinion in the City and where Tim Burgess was at. And I think that, to me, probably more than anything symbolizes just the conversation - recalling the many conversations during your term that you had with the Council, and where the Council was at, is a very different place than where the Council is at - and by implication, where the residents of Seattle who are electing that Council, is at. The residents have made a turn in who they are electing and supporting in recalls for their Councilmembers. And so that is very different than some of the rhetoric that we've heard back when folks were in office. And certainly during this election cycle in 2021 throughout these campaigns. [00:34:49] Mike McGinn: One of the things that I admire about Bruce Harrell, and mayor Harrell in a day or two, mayor-elect now but mayor Harrell - is when Tim Burgess wanted to pass an anti-panhandling statute, it was Bruce Harrell deciding to listen to the Human Rights Commission and vote against it, that meant that that didn't become law. And another thing that - [00:35:14] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. He was the deciding vote. It really rested on where he was going to be at. [00:35:17] Mike McGinn: He kind of cracked it open too, honestly. When he said he would vote against it, that opened the path for Mike O'Brien to come in as well. And so I could veto that and not have the veto overridden on that. And he also spearheaded the effort to get - that felons didn't have to check a box saying whether or not they had been a felon previously when trying to get rental housing. And that said something about who Bruce wanted to support. I recall, late in my term, I was meeting with the Black pastors. I met regularly with them, and they were asking me a series of questions. They would ask me why had Council president Burgess not funded the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative the way I'd asked for additional funds. And I tried to explain to them about how Tim didn't think there was good enough data to support that. And they asked me about why Tim Burgess had not expanded a program for returning felons called Career Bridge. And I explained to them again that Tim didn't think there was good enough data. And then they asked why he had cut a program in Rainier Valley, just eliminated it from the budget, as the chair. And I'm sorry, I can't remember quite the name of the program, but again it was a program that worked in Rainier Beach. And I explained again - and they're all looking at me and I realized, they're actually asking me a different question. They said, "Why is that, though? Why is that?" And I answered them - because the point they were making is that, why was it the programs for poor people and Black people that were subject to this exacting scrutiny for effectiveness in the City budget, whereas other things seemed to fly through. I had a great conversation with Girmay Zahilay about the King County Council - they just walked on some type of relief for the Convention Center. He said, "Yeah, if it was a program for poor people, we have this long exacting process to decide whether or not we can afford it or whether or not it's good. But if it's for other people, if it's for the big donors, it just flies through." And this is my concern. So when I look at this new administration, I'm looking for the Bruce Harrell that stood up against the anti-panhandling statute and stood up for the rights of people returning to the community from prison, and to not fall for that. And I'm really hopeful that the idea that we can't spend public money on programs to assist people until we know they're perfect is not the voice listened to in this process as well. And I think this is going to be a really big test of the new administration because Bruce came in with a coalition that doesn't like taxes, the business community doesn't want taxes. And will he stand up to them like he stood up to them on the anti-panhandling statute. And that's the Bruce that I want to - that's the mayor I want to see in Bruce Harrell and I hope he does it. [00:38:20] Crystal Fincher: I feel the same. And to your point, in the mix of appointees, some of them certainly give me pause, others give me hope. I mean, there are certainly people who have done a lot of good work. I mean, I look at work Monisha Harrell has done, I look at work that Marco Lowe has done - I mean, the guy who wrote the book on transitions - and just very competent, and talking about the importance of these searches and getting the right people in place. As the Chief Operating Officer, just really focusing on execution within the City, which is major. You can have a great idea - Durkan had some good ideas that she was just not able to execute. And another lesson I learned during your tenure and administration was just how important the actual ability to manage - to manage people, to execute on programs and policy, and to not just set a goal, but to be able to work through the implementation of it and make sure that it actually delivers on the promise that it initially had. I think that was one of the major challenges of the Durkan administration and one that I think Harrell has the opportunity to do much better on. [00:39:37] Mike McGinn: Yeah. And I think oftentimes what's covered in the media are the disagreements in policy between the City Council and the mayor. And so we see - what's the policy on sweeps, what's the policy on police officers, or the like. But there's so many things that - it really exists in the executive branch and there's nothing the City Council can do to make the City work better - that's a management function and an executive branch function. And I think that this is a place where the City really needs to rebuild its muscle memory, to rebuild its strength on execution on a lot of things. And again, there are people in departments who I'm sure are executing great right now, but what I just saw - so much of that is dependent ultimately on getting that alignment through the department director and to the top. [00:40:42] Crystal Fincher: I always appreciate you and your insight. I always appreciate your ability to reflect and to look at what you did. And you're like, "Hey, this went really well, could have done this better." And I have certainly learned a lot from that over the years. So I thank all of you for listening to Hacks & Wonks on this Thursday, December 30th, 2021. It's December 30th, oh my gosh. The producer of Hacks & Wonks is Lisl Stadler with assistance by Shannon Cheng. And our insightful co-host today was activist, community leader, and former mayor of Seattle, and Executive Director of America Walks, Mike McGinn. You can find Mike on Twitter @mayormcginn. That's M-C-G-I-N-N. 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 the full versions of our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. 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. Get boosted, stay away from the Omicron Rona - it's getting everybody out there - please be safe and be kind to your neighbors. And we'll see you in 2022.

The West Seattle Bridge is entering the last stage of construction

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 1, 2021 0:44

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When will the West Seattle Bridge open

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 30, 2021 28:04

Chris Sullivan's Chokepoint -- a reopening target for the West Seattle Bridge // Pam Falk on the global response to the omicron variant/ Iran nuclear talks/ Barbados, the republic // Dose of Kindness -- "Gunna's Drip Closet" // Gee Scott on the Seahawks' loss/ the new UW football coach // David Fahrenthold live on the fight over Jan 6th documents/ the Biden agenda See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The West Seattle Bridge is on track to re-open in the coming months

Only in Seattle - Real Estate Unplugged

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 30, 2021 0:51

Today, Mayor Jenny Durkan said work crews are starting the final phase of repairs on the bridge that's been closed for almost two years.

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Hour 1: King County mayors call for help

The Gee and Ursula Show

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 30, 2021 32:29

URSULA'S TOP 5 // GUEST: Chris Sullivan on the West Seattle Bridge & Sound Transit debacle // WE NEED TO TALK. . . can you break up with someone over the holidays? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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#844 - Two More Homeless Encampment Fires In Seattle Brings Total to Over 1,200 This Year!

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 20, 2021 29:56

It has become a familiar sight at many homeless encampments in the city: An orange glow from a fireball erupting among the tents.On Wednesday evening, it occurred under the West Seattle Bridge and at an encampment located across the street from Chelan Café, where Jillian Meador is a regular customer.“And it seems to be spreading in Seattle," she said. "That hits way too close to home."Seattle firefighters a day earlier also extinguished a smaller blaze at Ballard Commons Park that burned down a tent and scorched nearby trees. The latest encampment fires now exceed 1,200 so far this year, a new record with just under two months before 2021 ends.Join your host Sean Reynolds, owner of Summit Properties NW, and Reynolds & Kline Appraisal as he takes a look at this developing topic.https://komonews.com/news/local/seattle-logs-more-fires-at-encampmentsSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/seattlerealestatepodcast)

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Hour 3: Seattle is a mess (still)

The Jason Rantz Show

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2021 39:21

The Monologue: A homeless camp explodes into a massive fire under the West Seattle Bridge. The Interview: Texas Congressman Pat Fallon critiques the Biden administration. The Monologue: Seattle's high crime rates are spreading to smaller cities. The Interview: Jason Mercier comments on the Washington State Supreme Court's ruling on Inslee's vetoes. LongForm: Ann Davison speaks about her plans for the future as Seattle's new City Attorney. The Quick Hit: Gaige Grosskreutz gives his first interview since giving testimony in the Rittenhouse trial See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Sully tours the West Seattle Bridge