[MAIKO WINKLER-CHIN] I would say that the field that I work in
is community
development, of which housing
is a part of.
And I think that background comes
from growing up
with a Japanese immigrant mother,
in a small community
that was
not necessarily rich in resources,
but rich in people,
humor, hard work, and perseverance.
Housing is actually a grounding,
so then you can go off
and do other things.
You can go and get
a good education
or jobs
or live with your family
and really help provide for that.
[BRUCE HARRELL] She fully understands the need
and she fully understands
the challenges affordable
housing developers will face right now
and have faced historically.
Again, her commitment to this work,
I think is,
quite frankly, unprecedented.
She is clearly the obvious choice
for this critical moment in
Seattle's history.
[MAIKO WINKLER-CHIN] For years
when you're not working in the city,
you're like: What are they thinking?
How do they think?
How is that decision
making happening in all this?
And when you're
presented with an opportunity to perhaps
provide a different point of view,
kind of how to do it right?
...[MONICA MARTINEZ SIMMONS] As the Office of Housing Director.
[MAIKO WINKLER-CHIN] As Office of Housing Director.
[MONICA MARTINEZ SIMMONS] Congratulations to you.
(applause and cheering)
[MAIKO WINKLER-CHIN] A lot of people come to Seattle
just as I did for opportunity.
And I'm
lucky that I married a guy
that would be supportive of me.
But people don't always have
those familial supports.
The homeless are just you and me
often times. People end up in situations
that are really, really hard,
and it's our responsibility,
I feel like as a community
if we're truly community
to help take care of them
and provide housing.
We are one city,
so how is it that we deal
with these different situations,
with different neighborhoods
and geographies
grappling with the same thing?
The tools that we provide
may work in one place and not the other,
but we all need tools
that work throughout the city
to make the place a better place.
Do I freak out a little bit
when I sit in this office? Oh Heck yeah.!
First of all, the building sways
and the glass makes noise...right?
There's that.
But you know, you just have those moments
where you just kind of reflect
and go, OK, now what could I do?
Get to work.
I got a job to do.