This week’s local elections sent a message that it’s time for a dramatic shift in Seattle politics. With the election of candidates like Bruce Harrell for mayor, Sara Nelson for Seattle City Council and the likely election of Ann Davison to serve as City Attorney, voters made clear that their patience has run out. They...
Former Seattle Police Chief and Change Washington adviser Carmen Best says that despite the city of Seattle trying to address homelessness, “if you just walk around, you can see that it hasn’t necessarily worked.” Best’s message underscores the need for Seattle’s leaders to develop a real plan to address homelessness that matches the scale of...
Change Washington Adviser and former Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best believes that the recent spike in gun violence in Seattle requires both additional resources for police to respond, but also deter crimes. “We do need to have more visibility with officers in the field so that there is a deterrent for people to gather in...
Change Washington adviser and former Seattle Police Department Chief Carmen Best cited lack of support from Seattle City Council as one reason more than 300 police officers have left SPD in recent years. Police officers “want to feel like they have a decent budget, like their job isn’t at risk every single day that, they’re...
Former Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best told Change Washington that Seattle is on the edge of a precipice and that city leaders will determine whether we “turn and keep it the top-tier world class city that it is or if we’re going to just let mayhem and destruction take us in a different direction.” Chief...
Mark Mason, CEO of HomeStreet Bank knows a lot about Seattle and what’s working and not for our city’s businesses. In a recent Seattle Times editorial, Mason makes a number of critical points that our elected leaders and candidates for office must address: Companies are leaving Seattle or abandoning plans to locate here. Mason points...
The latest Danny Westneat column is bleak. Business owners, residents, and visitors alike are reeling from the “wild, wild West” that Pioneer Square has become. There is no question what has gone wrong here. In a knee-jerk move, the Seattle City Council cut the police department’s budget leading to the loss of the first African-American...
The first day of school arrived last week and still the school district had not cleared the encampment of homeless individuals by Broadview-Thompson K-8 School. Parents are upset and why shouldn’t they be? At the same time, the Seattle Times Editorial Board called on the city to ensure that city parks and amenities are cleared...
If you had $216 million, what would you to do address homelessness? KOMO reports the City of Seattle now has a record $216 million to spend on homelessness this year and with about 8,000 people unsheltered, the city should be poised to make a serious dent in the number of unsheltered and unserved people…right? Recent...
U.S District Judge James Robart made clear this week that the federal consent decree allowing the federal government to oversee the Seattle Police Department will continue until Seattle’s leaders can get their act together. The Seattle Times reported that Judge Robart cited many possible reasons for the ongoing lack of compliance that he says has...
The race for Seattle City Attorney is turning into one of the more interesting races to watch after yesterday’s primary. The importance of this position cannot be overstated. The city attorney is responsible for ensuring that criminals are prosecuted. As KOMO News put it, “concerns about crime, safety and repeat offenders are a driving force...
“These people need to get down to business and clean up the mess in this city.” That’s what Joe Howard, a financial trader living in Seattle, has to say to local political candidates. “I understand you want to open up society, you want a fair and equitable society, but just being airheaded about things behind...
The global pandemic was a gut punch to our rapidly growing regional economy, with the greatest costs of the slowdown landing on the backs of low-income workers and communities of color. This coincided with a rapid spike in violent crime, vandalism, and people in crisis. We are recovering, but in order to get the economy...
ANALYSIS OF SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL PROPOSAL TO EXCUSE AND DISMISS MOST MISDEMEANOR CRIMES By Scott Lindsay – attorney; Seattle resident; former public safety advisor and special assistant for police reform to the City of Seattle; former senior counsel to House Oversight Committee Democrats. On Wednesday, October 21, Councilmember Lisa Herbold, chairperson of the Seattle City...