Seattle Metropolis Council Pos. 9 candidates sq. off in discussion board over homelessness, the atmosphere, and defunding SPD

Candidates for the Open Position 9 The citywide seat on the Seattle City Council spoke in a forum on homelessness, climate change and policing 43. District Democrats Thursday evening as the campaigns race with two months to the primary.

The candidacy of Council President Lorena González for the mayor’s office opened this city-wide seat.

One such candidate, Brianna Thomas, has worked in the González office since 2015 and ran for the council that year to represent West Seattle and Delridge before finishing fourth in the primary with about 10% of the vote.

Nikkita Oliver, who was a fixture in the disempowerment of the police department and ran for mayor’s office in 2017, could be the candidate who most radically wants to turn the status quo on its head.

Sara Nelson, the co-owner of Fremont Brewing, who ran for a seat on the city council in 2017 but finished third in that primary, would likely be a more moderate vote on the council. She previously spoke out against the JumpStart tax passed last year for large companies and the debt relief of the police.

The only candidate who had never run for public office before and who attended Thursday’s forum was Corey Eichner, a Seattle High School administrative officer.

Oliver, whose pronoun she / she is, called for an end to searches of homeless camps and “radical accessibility” in Seattle parks that would include mental health, access to homes, hand washing and showering stations, and sanitation and garbage disposal.

They also unveiled several short-term solutions to the city’s homelessness crisis, including tiny houses and hotels as temporary shelters rather than “traumatizing” the gathering accommodations.

Oliver

Nelson

“It’s way bigger than just being homeless,” said Oliver, who noted his own experiences of sleeping in her car in college. “We literally have people on the verge of homelessness, so we need to both prevent people from being pushed in and house people who want to come in.” Oliver called for more progressive taxation to pay for social housing.

Thomas similarly called for the expansion of tiny houses and hotel accommodation, saying to focus on repayment plans for tenants after the eviction moratorium was lifted to repay the rental costs that have built up. She also campaigned for the city council’s right to legal counsel to get free lawyers from displaced tenants and found her support for a proposal proposed by Councilor Kshama Sawant to ban evictions of school children, their families and educators during the school year.

Thomas also said, “What we have seen from the Durkan government in recent years is a tax and racial bias against working people and people of color. Real conversation. “

Nelson, who missed the first 40 minutes of the hour-long forum, said the council’s current approach to homelessness was going in the wrong direction.

“When I say the wrong direction, I mean ineffective solutions, a lack of political will to do something else so that we don’t go on the path we have chosen,” she said.

Thomas

Eichner

Eichner said the city needs quick resettlement opportunities for unsecured people without preconditions so that there are fewer obstacles in finding accommodation.

He also said he supports the “reallocation” of part of the Seattle Police Department’s budget, but not necessarily the 50% that the activists have been pushing for.

“We should try to use our resources primarily to invest in basic services for our citizens,” said Eichner. “When conflict does arise, we should seek restoration, not punitive consequences.” He also wants to decriminalize some behaviors that could be resolved through community-based interventions.

Oliver, noting that they are an “abolitionist”, was the most shrill for disappointing the police. Thomas said she doesn’t have a specific number to defuse, but said, “I absolutely believe in getting rid of this system and investing in community-based solutions.” She added that the city must “get out of the consent decree”.

Speaking of the climate, Nelson said the city needs to engage the private sector to eliminate the carbon emissions, arguing that as a small business owner, she is the best candidate for that. Oliver pushed for green apprenticeships, green housing, and a city bank to move away from institutions investing in fossil fuels.

Thomas noted the disproportionate effects of climate change on color communities.

“I think we are making sure that the investments we make and the actions we take are in the communities that are already hardest hit by failure to address the problem,” she said.

Oliver is handily leading the fundraiser, bringing in over $ 185,000 since the campaign started in March, according to records with the state’s Public Disclosure Commission. Nelson raised more than $ 120,000; Thomas $ 68,000; and Eichner $ 8,000.

Nelson was the only candidate in attendance on Thursday not participating in the Democracy Voucher program. Oliver has collected the maximum coupons for the primaries that will take place on August 3rd.

The full forum can be viewed here.

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