-Welcome to "City Inside/Out: Council Edition."
I'm your host, Brian Callanan.
The Seattle City Council is in a race
to finish its comprehensive plan,
the city's road map to future growth.
But a last-minute legal challenge
and a looming deadline from the state
are raising new questions about this process.
Plus, the council has to reckon
with a new social housing measure
that city leaders unsuccessfully opposed
in the February election.
I'm with council members Joy Hollingsworth
and Mark Solomon
to discuss these topics
and the questions you're sending in, too,
next on "Council Edition."
-Voters responded. They want housing.
They want social housing. We want to make it successful.
That's the bottom line.
-When we saw before,
when the less lethal weapons were banned,
it basically left officers with sticks and guns.
-All that and more coming up next
on "City Inside/Out: Council Edition."
♪♪
I'm Brian Callanan, thanks for joining us once again
on "City Inside/Out: Council Edition."
right here on the Seattle Channel.
And with us for this episode,
we have Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth,
who represents District 3 from Capitol Hill to Montlake.
Thank you very much for being here.
-Thank you for having me.
-Also, we have with us Seattle's newest council member,
Mark Solomon, appointed to the job in late January
to represent District 2 in southeast Seattle.
Great to see you, too.
-Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here.
-Well, and the new guy always goes first.
I want to direct this question to you if I could, Mark.
I thought it was very interesting
during the appointment process
that you told the council and the public
that you were going to be a caretaker in this position.
You would not run in November
to finish out the term of Tammy Morales,
who stepped down from the council in January.
I want you to talk about that
and what you're bringing to this job,
which is clearly not an election campaign.
-Okay, so, I was very clear
that when I was seeking the appointment
that I wanted to be a caretaker,
primarily for a couple of reasons.
One is I know how difficult it is
to do a full-time job and run for a full-time job.
-You've run for office a number of times before.
-Yes, I've run for it before, and...
I know how much energy it takes,
and I did not want to be distracted from the work,
doing the work on council, by also trying to campaign.
So, by committing to being a caretaker,
I can focus on getting the work of this council done
and then do a warm hand-off to whoever the voters decide
that they want to have represent them
this coming November. -Got it, alright.
Another rite of passage
on "City Inside/Out: Council Edition,"
answering a question from a viewer.
And I want to throw this one at you,
a viewer who knows you have a short amount of time on the job.
Here we go --
Some thoughts?
-Well, there's a couple of things I'm thinking about.
One is...
I want to revisit the gig worker pay issue.
I've heard from several different sides already
being in this position,
and I know the impact it's taking on,
that it's impacting on the workers,
that are having less...
-Less work to do?
-Less work to do, more idle time in between jobs,
in between orders,
the impact that it's having on our restaurant industry.
So, I'm wondering, can we revisit that?
Can we look at that, can we tweak that
so that the workers can still get a fair wage
and they can work more hours,
and our restaurants can also benefit from the...
from the increased revenue
because they've seen a decline in revenue.
So, that's one. -Okay.
-Another thing I'm focused on
is making sure that people know
what resources are out there and available
for them to stay in their homes.
The Office of Planning and Community Development
has a number of anti-displacement programs
already on the books.
-Not a lot of people use them, unfortunately, because.
-Because not a lot of people know about them.
So, one of the things I want to do is make sure
that we do some sessions in the district,
maybe at the Rainier Beach Community Center
in a, you know, a couple of months,
with interpretation.
Bring the Office of Planning and Community Development
out there so they can tell folks,
"Here's what we have available for you
to keep you in your homes." -Okay.
-So, that's going to be one of the priorities
that I have, as well.
So, anti-displacement, um... -Yeah.
-You know... -Pushing gig workers, yeah.
-Working with the gig workers.
So, those are just two things
that I have on my mind right now.
-Okay. Alright, thank you.
And I'm gonna hear a little bit more, I know, in a bit,
but I did want to ask Councilmember Hollingsworth,
I know you're excited about
having Councilmember Solomon on board.
I saw you post a couple weeks ago,
your fellow Seattle Prep Panther right over here.
What's it going to be like
working with Councilmember Solomon?
And what's he bringing to the table?
-Yeah, Councilmember Solomon is phenomenal.
He's bringing a steady hand to the table.
He's bringing a listening voice.
He's bringing passion, love for the district.
He knows all the communities within the district.
He has a really great background of navigating the city, as well.
He has hit the ground running, and when I say running,
he's at a full sprint right now.
So, we're excited to have him as a colleague
and to be able to work with him.
-Okay. Looking to --
She should do some testimonials for you at some point.
I can't wait to learn more on that.
Alright, I wanted to move on to
what Mayor Harrell was talking about here very recently
in a State of the City address,
talking about a city that, as he sees it,
is on the right track. Here's a clip.
-I think there's a different mood in the city,
a different spirit, if you will, a renewed spark,
a renewed belief and optimism
that we are on the right trajectory.
Now, to put that feeling into words,
and to claim our action,
we describe it as Seattle being on the rise.
-Councilmember Hollingsworth, I'm going to assume
you agree with the sentiment that we have a city on the rise.
It's important to stay positive as a city leader,
but I wanted to get to why.
What do you point to in your district, or citywide,
to say, "There's the evidence
that Seattle is on the right track"?
-Yeah, you always have to say optimistic,
but you also have to be realistic about things, as well.
When I'm talking to people, going to different communities
through the neighborhood, or also grocery stores,
anywhere I'm seeing people and interacting, on the bus,
you get this feeling of hope and optimism
that people feel like the tone is different at the council,
that they feel like the city is moving in the right direction.
And also, you know, when you're talking to folks,
they also feel like, hey, you know,
we want the city to work for us,
to be able to navigate city departments.
Our office is completely focused
on constituent services and neighborhoods.
And you know, hey, this is...
being like a traffic control person, right?
To navigate different city departments.
And people have responded well to that
because they just want the city to function.
There's obviously some areas of improvement,
but I feel like we have a lot to look forward to.
The Waterfront, Pike Pine Core.
all the investments that are coming into the city,
the sports, everything. It's very hopeful.
-Okay, Councilmember Solomon, maybe I'll go to you here,
just with this idea of optimism and realism,
Mayor Harrell was quick to point out in his address
it wasn't time to hang up a "mission accomplished" banner
or anything like that. -Correct, right.
-And I think about these things
because the city is starting to meet its goal
of hiring more officers.
But the progress has been very slow.
The data shows the number of encampments,
They're down, but we still have thousands of people
who don't have homes in our area.
What were your takeaways from the mayor's message?
What are you going to do to support this effort
of Seattle on the rise?
-Well, the message I took away is, you know,
listening to what the mayor's priorities are
in terms of moving us even further forward.
Like permitting reform, for example.
Okay? That's something that desperately needs to happen.
-Yeah, he's talking about cutting that time in half.
That's big. -Yeah, and it needs --
And I would like to see that time cut even more.
And I think we can do that, be with...
the plans that he currently has in place
by streamlining the process,
having a one-stop shop, as opposed to the current system
where you have different people from different agencies
with different expertise and different...
-Design review, all these things.
-All these things that really do slow things down.
So, if we can expedite things,
make it easier to build in the city,
I think that's definitely going to help.
You know, the visions that we have for...
well, I would say we're already a world-class city.
We get the Club Cup coming this year.
-FIFA's gonna be a big deal with the World Cup.
-We got the World Cup coming next year, right?
So, we're going to have thousands,
hundreds of thousands of people coming to our city,
and I want to be able to highlight
all of our neighborhoods, right?
Again, downtown, the Stadium District
is going to get a lot of attention,
but I want people to go down to Columbia City,
and you know, partake in some island soul action.
-You bet! I know what you're saying.
-Or get some French toast at Geraldine's.
Right? -Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-You know, I want the folks to come up in CID
and enjoy the richness
and the vitality that they have there.
Go to the Wing Luke Museum while you're in between matches.
-Okay, okay.
-Take advantage of the cultural diversity that we have here.
And on that issue of diversity --
Right? Um... -Yeah.
We are embracing our diversity.
We are embracing our inclusion.
We are embracing our equity. We shouldn't run from it.
-Can I stop you for a second?
Because you're going down a path
that I definitely want to broaden out here
because the mayor was saying in his address
that he has some grave concerns
for what the Trump administration has in store
for Seattle and its people.
As he did in his first term,
the president has threatened to withhold federal funding
from places like Seattle with so-called sanctuary city status
when it comes to immigration policy.
Seattle and many other jurisdictions
have filed lawsuits against the Trump administration over this,
and the council has stood up a new committee
specifically to deal with federal policy changes
as proposed by Councilmember Rinck.
Councilmember Hollingsworth, let me start with you.
I don't want to scare people,
but I just want to get real
about your concerns about the president
and what you can do about it,
what you want to do about it as a city Councilmember.
-Yeah, this is why we feel lucky to live in Washington State.
We have a great governor that is going to continue to protect us.
We have an attorney general that has filed a ton of lawsuits
already against the Trump administration.
We have an executive that has, you know, said,
"Hey, we are standing up to the administration
that threatens any Seattle values."
Every layer of government, we have protection.
City Council is, you know, one of...
the front porch of the city,
and you know, looking forward to working
with the Select Committee on Federal Issues
that are coming to our city. -Starting up in March, right.
-Absolutely, coming, so that's going to be great for us.
But I do feel hopeful that we do have every,
you know, branch of government
working collaboratively and together
to make sure that we're protecting our Seattle values,
that we all -- from diversity, equity, and inclusion
to our immigrant community -- all these different layers
that make Seattle what it is, we have the protections,
I feel ready, you know, in order for us
to make sure that we're protecting folks in Seattle.
-When people ask you about it and they're saying,
"Are we going to lose some money?"
I mean, what do you say to them?
-Yeah, at this time you say, hey, we don't know,
but we are exploring options and different ways
with all the city departments have been directed
to understand, hey, what money comes from federal,
what money comes from state, what comes from county,
all these different layers,
so we can figure out
how we can be protected and what that looks like.
People are working behind the scenes every single day,
every day, we get an update
regarding what's going on in the administration.
And it can be a lot, you know?
And that's why, sometimes, I don't watch the news.
I look for the updates from people officially.
So, you know, I do feel confident
that we will ready to handle
some of the stuff that's going to be thrown at us.
-Okay, thank you, and Councilmember Solomon,
I wanted to keep going down the path
that you started here because I think about
the very diverse district you represent in D2 there,
the amount of immigrant families that I know are there.
I have to think they're very anxious
about what's going on right now.
What's your message to them?
What's your message to the city, I guess,
when it comes to how you're responding
to what the Trump administration is doing?
-Well, one thing that --
I was at the South Precinct Advisory Council
meeting last week
and questions did come up about --
and they always have come up, you know, in the community
about interactions with law enforcement.
You know, can I trust to interact with law enforcement?
Can I trust to report something
and not be afraid that I'm going to get snatched up?
-Yeah, I've heard from some advocates
who are saying sometimes people aren't taking kids to school
or accessing health care.
-Right, and the message was, you know,
that I've been giving, has been very clear,
and the message that the precinct command staff
also gave was very clear,
is that the Seattle Police Department
does not care about a person's immigration status.
-Yeah, they're not allowed to ask.
-They don't even ask, right?
What they're concerned about is,
someone calls because they need help,
we want to get them help, you know, and again,
don't care about the status.
And that's what I am continuing to say,
is like, if you need assistance,
if you need us to be of service to you, that's our job.
Our job is not to worry about whether you're,
you know, what your immigration status is.
Our job is to be of service. Period.
-Are you concerned about that potential
loss of funding, though?
Because that's... -I am.
I am concerned about the loss of funding
and some of the meetings that I've had
with some of our organizations
that are out there in community, doing work,
that currently are on the books to receive federal funds.
I'm asking them, "So, is your funding in jeopardy?"
Okay, and what do we need to do to fill that gap
if that funding does become in jeopardy?
When we were involved in the appointment process,
I think Councilmember Rinck asked about the...
basically, the threat of withholding funding from,
or funding being withheld from the federal government.
And my response was,
"Okay, if they want to withhold funding, fine.
We'll find our own money." -Okay.
-And that's what I'm thinking about.
How can we insulate ourselves
from what may be coming towards us, right?
Whether that's funding, whether it's,
you know, dismantling of certain programs...
all the things that seem to be happening
that the only reason I can think of that they are happening
is cruelty and chaos.
So, how do we insulate ourselves from that?
And how do we demonstrate that,
in Seattle, we are going to embrace our diversity,
we are going to advance equity,
and we are going to be inclusive.
-Thank you. On a bit of a lighter note,
Councilmember Hollingsworth, I wanted to ask you this.
You've played the game of basketball
a little bit in your time. -A little bit.
-You're a bit of a fan.
When the mayor said in his address,
"I have an announcement to make,"
brought out a basketball,
everybody thought he was talking about
the Sonics coming back.
Then, he said, "just kidding."
I had a tough time laughing at that.
I wanted to get your reaction. What'd do you think?
-Yeah, I had a tough time, as well.
I thought it was a funny joke.
-Oh, he got us! That's for sure! -He got us.
And you know, my uncle played for the Sonics
back in the 70s, Bruce Seals.
He came here from New Orleans.
That's my mom's brother, my uncle.
That's how my family got to Seattle.
So, it was, you know, it touched a little nerve.
But I knew he was joking.
It was all fun and games and it's fine.
-Alright, well, I need to get back to business here,
and I'm going to talk about the comprehensive plan.
And Councilmember Hollingsworth,
you're in charge of the committee
that is overseeing the comp plan,
the road map to growth in Seattle.
There was a public hearing, as you know, earlier this month,
quite a long one, as you also know.
The council heard from a number of people,
some saying, "Go for it.
We need this plan plus even more growth."
Then, others were saying,
"This is the first time we're hearing about this.
This is going to have negative impacts on my neighborhood."
Then, a week later, a group of people in your district,
the Friends of Madison Park, filed an appeal
asking the city hearing examiner
for a supplemental environmental impact study on this plan.
This is one of six groups that have now filed an appeal.
At the time we're recording this program,
a date for that appeal has not been set,
but as I understand it,
the clock is really ticking for the city now
to comply with this state measure.
House Bill 1110 that says,
okay, single family zoning, that's a thing in the past.
This is set to go in effect in July of this year.
Is the city going to meet that deadline?
-Yeah, so, we're still on track
to continue to push the process forward.
Does it mess up our timeline
for a little bit of comprehensive plan,
you know, depending on some of the challenges
that have been brought forth?
We won't know until we have an executive session
with our law department to understand
what are the legal implications of these six challenges
that have come forth with the city.
But I want to be clear because the comprehensive plan,
how incredibly important it is to our city,
to people that want to buy a home,
to people that want, you know, different,
how their neighborhoods are designed, grocery stores.
We want it to be a welcoming city, an accessible city,
an affordable city, a livable city, and a safe city.
We want all of those things within our community,
and so we're going to continue to push this process forward,
but we are going to have to understand
what legal implications some of those lawsuits to our city
are going to bring. -Got it.
Aside from the legal piece of it,
you've got some people in Madison Park
that are clearly upset about this.
What do you want to say to those folks?
-Yeah, you know, I've had meetings with them,
and it's not, I would say, not that they're upset,
but they're, you know, questioning
and wanting to understand the infrastructure piece
and making sure that the city can --
the proposal neighborhood zones
and the neighborhood centers that are proposed
and the different areas, we have four in our district,
can handle the type of growth that the city wants to have.
And the infrastructure piece, that's parks,
that's drainage, that's water.
People always think about comprehensive plan as housing,
but it's much more than that, right?
It's the whole comprehensive plan of the city.
-And it sounds reasonable to ask about that.
-Very reasonable, very reasonable.
So, you know, that's something that we're going to look into.
I don't think it's unreasonable to ask about infrastructure,
drainage, water, sewer, garbage, all those different pieces.
-Okay, thank you.
And I know there's a lot more ahead on this.
Councilmember Solomon, I had a question come in from a viewer
about transit-oriented development,
building homes near transit,
which is encouraged under the new state law.
Eric asks this --
Eric put a little pepper on that one,
but I just wanted to ask you about that.
Some thoughts about transit-oriented development
and the comprehensive plan, please.
-Well, I've always felt that...
when it comes to any kind of development,
make it make sense, okay?
And when I look at what's already in place in District 2,
a lot of it is transit-oriented development.
When I look at North Rainier,
when I look at the MLK and Othello area,
when I look at Rainier Beach,
you've got a lot of density already, okay?
And I am always cautious about just because we have density
doesn't mean we have affordability.
-Okay, that's...okay.
-At the same time,
I do have pockets in the district
where you have concentrations of low-income housing, okay?
Part of the plan that I want to see
is spreading that out throughout the city.
I don't want to see low-income housing only in D2.
But the question is about transit-oriented development.
We need the connections to make it feasible.
Make it more, you know,
do we need to increase our east-west connections,
for example, as opposed to just our north-south?
-Short answer is yes, I would say.
-Yes. -Okay.
Because we have very few lines that actually, you know,
bus lines that actually run east-west.
Do we need to look at more of the,
you know, the Metro van service
to get people to different, you know,
different areas, to the light rail station,
to the bus stations?
Do we need to look at doing more rapid ride,
you know, lines throughout the city?
So...
You know, thinking about, you know,
where is the housing now? How accessible is it to transit?
Again, let's make it make sense.
At the same time,
when you're looking at other neighborhoods
that have traditionally been single family residential, okay,
I am concerned about displacement.
I am concerned about people
being able to stay in their homes.
I am concerned about families
being able to build generational wealth.
I benefit from being in the home that my grandparents built.
So, I'm a beneficiary of generational wealth.
So, that's a big concern to me, as well.
Not just, you know, transit-oriented development,
but how do we keep people in their homes
so they can build that wealth? -Okay. Thank you.
I know there's a lot still ahead with this.
And I did want to ask one more viewer question
to you, Councilmember Hollingsworth.
Here's what we got.
-Yeah. Here's the plan, which I'm really excited about.
Some of the comprehensive plan,
what it does is it...
transportation, getting people out of their cars.
So, you just asked the question about the transit,
you know, orientation. Where does that go?
Great example is the G line,
looking at, you know, Madison Valley
and connecting that to downtown.
And it's fast, reliable, it's frequent.
It's all these different things.
And so, that's the first piece.
I think the second piece is, you know, trees.
Having that --
That viewer's probably talking about
also, like, the tree canopy
and what does that look like in South Seattle
and in, you know, Delridge,
all these different places and south of I-90.
I can name all the neighborhoods,
but saying "south of I-90" is easier.
So, tree canopy and also walkable neighborhoods.
Where are we putting grocery stores and corner stores
and small businesses and all those different things?
So, those are different things
that the comprehensive plan does and sets up.
And so, we're going to continue to work on those.
-Okay, got it. -Could I actually --
I'm just going to add to that is,
it also comes down to, how do you design the building?
You know, how do you build it
so that you allow for green roofs,
to allow for natural light?
-Built environment is a big part of your background.
-Yeah. How do we alter the built environment
to take into consideration...
making the buildings more efficient,
more green, if you will.
-Okay. Thank you very much.
Is there another public hearing set yet?
I know you're looking for another one.
-We're looking for one.
You know, the first one we had went 5.5 hours.
We had to cut it a little short because of the weather.
And so, we want to hear from the people that we didn't hear from.
A lot of those people towards the end were our young folks
that, you know, just signed up and we couldn't get to them.
And so, we want to prioritize them first.
We're working on a date.
So, please tell the public, please stay engaged.
Please continue to send us emails,
but we're working on it.
-Alright, we'll be back in touch on that.
I wanted to talk a little bit about the social housing measure
that voters just passed, Prop 1A.
This measure would institute a new payroll tax
on companies paying out salaries above $1 million
to pay for more affordable housing.
Social housing is the system here.
The council put together an opposition measure
to this, Prop 1B,
but it failed by a pretty large margin at the ballot box.
Councilmember Hollingsworth,
what's your plan to implement a proposal
the council didn't really want, but the voters clearly did?
-Yeah, voters responded. They want housing.
They want social housing. We want to make it successful.
That's the bottom line.
So, Seattle has been such a giving city.
We voted on $1 billion levy for housing.
People want to know accountability and transparency.
How many new houses is that going to build?
The same with social housing. People want it to be built.
They want it at a low cost.
They want transparency, they want accessibility,
and they want to make sure it's done in a fast timeline.
So, we're going to be working hard
to make sure that it is successful
and that we make sure that it's done at a very cost,
you know, efficiency level.
-Okay, thank you.
Councilmember Solomon, another housing question for you,
this one in relation to the proposal
Council President Nelson has brought up,
adding more housing to the SODO neighborhood
just west of your district.
Port of Seattle has fought back hard against this.
They're worried about impacts to freight.
They hammered out a deal with the city
to prevent housing in this area two years ago.
Dan has this question. Housing and Soto.
-I've been getting information from all sides on this issue,
so I've talked to the port,
I've talked to Councilmember --
Council President Nelson,
I've talked to the unions who are in favor of it,
I've talked to folks who are opposed to it.
Um...
I'm gathering more information. -Okay.
Because one of the things that I'm thinking about is,
you know, again,
what's the infrastructure there to support housing?
Grocery, library, transit, um...
Not only that, I'm thinking about the geology of the area
because, again, SODO was fill, right?
So if we have a major earthquake,
how many of those structures are actually in SODO
or are going to be able to withstand a big shake?
So again, as I said before, let's make it make sense.
-Okay. -Okay?
So I'm not only looking at, you know, who's for it,
who's against it, what their concerns are,
But I'm also looking can the geography support
housing in that area?
-It's a very interesting question.
I did want to make sure I got in this question, though,
about a big vote a couple of weeks ago on the council
about crowd control, crowd management policies
for the Seattle Police Department,
their use of so-called less lethal weapons
like blast balls, pepper spray.
Councilmember Hollingsworth,
you opposed this final legislation
that the majority of the council approved.
What were your concerns and where does the SPD go from here?
-Yeah. First of all, let me thank Councilmember Kettle.
He did a phenomenal job behind the scenes,
like getting everyone's concerns,
trying to figure out different amendments
to get everybody to a yes.
So I just want to start with there.
The second thing is I just had three non-negotiables.
One was throwing away from people.
The second one was throwing underhand.
The third was the mayor's approval.
-Yeah. The blast balls we're talking about here.
-Yes, absolutely.
And I know that amendment passed to have a state of emergency
that Councilmember Saka proposed that went through
for the mayor to declare a state of emergency.
I just, at the time, just didn't think it was
a priority and the right time to do it,
not necessarily meaning that I didn't support it,
but just thought that it wasn't a priority
for -- should have been a priority --
priority for us right now. -Okay. Got it.
-Councilmember Solomon, some thoughts on this?
I should point out that putting this
crowd-control measure in place is the last thing on the list
for Seattle to complete to get out from
under the federal consent decree it's been under since 2012.
Your thoughts about this, why you supported it?
Does it make Seattle safer?
-Well, again, as I explained when we were taking this vote,
I'm coming at this with a perspective of having worked
with the Seattle Police Department
for close to 35 years, having interacted with officers,
having heard their stories from when they're on the line
and having to deal with these kind of situations.
And when I look at the legislation
as proposed and amended,
you know, it did provide those protections for free speech,
free assembly, free expression.
At the same time,
when we saw before when the less lethal weapons were banned,
it basically left officers with sticks and guns.
-Okay. -Okay?
And while the weapons we're specifically talking about,
like the blast balls and the CS gas,
those are absolutely last-resort things that if all else fails,
then the use can be authorized. Okay?
At the same time, I think it's an important distinction
to determine between the authorization to use
and the authorization to deploy.
-I see. -Okay?
And, you know, the officers I talked to,
they don't want to use these things.
-Yeah. -They definitely don't want to
use CS because, you know, it's not contained.
-Tear gas. -Everyone is going to be...
-Affected by that. -...in an affected area,
whether they were involved in the crowd or not.
Blast balls in terms of how they're deployed --
Yes, deployed away from people, usually you roll it.
There may be some circumstances
where it has to be done overhead,
but that's the decision
that should be left to the incident commander on scene
who's dealing with the dynamic situation.
-Thanks. I have I have 20 seconds left.
The one sentence you want to say to our new chief,
Shawn Barnes at the SPD, what should his top priority be?
What do you got? -Relational policing.
-I like that, that was short. What else?
-Welcome to Seattle. -Well, that too, yes.
-Welcome to Seattle, and community connections
and relationships mean everything to this city.
-Thank you for that. We will see what happens next.
That's Councilmember Mark Solomon.
That's Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth.
I'm Brian Callanan.
We will see you next time on "Council Edition."
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