Hi. I'm James Donaldson,
a former Seattle SuperSonic,
local business owner,
and a 40-year resident of the city.
Today, I lead a nonprofit
serving at-risk youth
with a focus on mental health awareness
and suicide prevention.
As your next mayor, I will restore trust
in our police,
bring more compassion and accountability
to the homelessness crisis,
and promote more affordable housing.
The current city government is just failing
to address the challenges
we all know are so important.
I look to other successful cities for answers.
In Newark, New Jersey,
they chose to reform their police, not defund.
In the last year, not a single officer
has fired their gun.
That's a remarkable success
and one we can learn from.
In Vienna, they encourage both private
and high-quality public housing.
Vienna also does a better job
in connecting homeless to the addiction
and mental health services.
Compassion and accountability.
As a lifelong Democrat,
I'm right there with the voters of this city.
71 percent of Seattleites support
reforming the police, not defunding.
72 percent of the voters
favor my plan to reduce homelessness
by increasing access
to mental health and addiction services.
56 percent of the voters agree with me
that we need more affordable housing.
The remarkable issue is how few
Seattle politicians
agree with the Seattle voters.
Seattle politics is often a fight
between well-funded
special-interest groups
who drive our council to the extreme.
Across America, Seattle is used
as an example of what not to do.
We'll fix that.
After addressing these three big issues,
I have one project
that's near and dear to my heart --
save our Sonics and get our team back.
I'm James Donaldson, former Seattle SuperSonic,
lifelong Democrat,
and your choice for mayor.