Think about for a second that Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and Metropolis Council members attended the inauguration of President Kamala Harris. On this parallel universe, Harrell and firm return to Washington, D.C., many instances to attend invoice signings and picture ops and such.
If this was our actuality, would Seattle be in the identical place politically?
What’s the native election about, actually? And what’s at stake for our collective future?
Indubitably, President Donald Trump scrambled the equation. Native and statewide polls confirmed an instant reaction — most of it anger directed towards firms and the billionaire class. Photographs of Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos on the inauguration again in January sparked an intensely damaging response that has not subsided.
That is the yr, it appears, to lastly eat the wealthy. No less than in deep-blue Seattle.
Harrell channeled that he understood that sentiment at a latest debate: “I rise up daily occupied with this battle, however folks wish to be satisfied that this one who’s been in energy for 16 years will not be siding with the companies,” he mentioned. “And in case you have a look at my background, I’ve been preventing firms my total life.”
Challenger Katie Wilson shot again: “These firms are spending an terrible lot of cash attempting to get you reelected, so that they have to be seeing one thing that they like.”
The candidates’ endorsements current a way more nuanced image.
Organized labor is break up. Harrell has MLK Labor and unions for house well being care employees, constructing trades, transit operators, et al. Wilson’s institutional support contains the identical unions for house well being care employees and MLK Labor, together with others.
However right here’s the factor. Love them or hate them, companies pay the lion’s share of metropolis taxes. And more and more, the burden falls on fewer firms — 65 taxpayers paid about $306 million of the payroll expense tax revenues final yr — about 87%.
Financial populism stands out as the approach out of the political wilderness for nationwide Democrats, nevertheless it’s a troublesome balancing act for municipalities. Which raises the query: Is it doable to encourage giant companies to find and keep in a metropolis whereas additionally viewing their workers and revenues as prime targets?
All of the whereas, Bellevue and its decrease taxes beckon.
Trump apart, Wilson and different candidates difficult incumbents on the Seattle poll argue that issues like homelessness should be getting higher by now.
How dissatisfied are Seattleites?
Polling by the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce exhibits 86% of residents really feel the nation is on the improper monitor, however folks have far more constructive views of how issues are going regionally. The truth is, 49% of respondents mentioned the town was shifting in the proper route, one of the best for the reason that chamber’s polling started in 2021, when a whopping 68% of individuals mentioned Seattle was on the improper monitor.
However the ballot recognized two areas the place folks didn’t really feel good.
About 58% disagreed with the assertion: “The Metropolis has made significant progress in decreasing the variety of homeless encampments.”
To the assertion, “Seattle has made significant progress on shutting down open air drug markets,” 61% disagreed.
The King County Regional Homelessness Authority operates the homelessness response system round right here. Everybody within the political sphere agrees that RHA has fallen properly in need of expectations. What to do about it stays a thriller. Wilson doesn’t point out the group on her marketing campaign web site. Harrell says he’ll persist with RHA, for now.
Is the dearth of progress on homelessness as a result of a dearth of taxpayer cash? In his proposed 2026 funds, Harrell touts $225 million for homelessness response and $349 million for the Workplace of Housing.
Wilson talks in regards to the want for brand spanking new progressive income: a brand new capital features tax, a rise within the payroll expense tax, a tax on vacant buildings, an expert providers tax and better property taxes.
It appears inconceivable {that a} metropolis of 83 sq. miles and about 800,000 residents would nonetheless be within the throes of a homelessness emergency that was declared 10 years in the past. However saying it’s an absence of cash doesn’t account for the failure of insurance policies and execution. Accountability — getting higher outcomes or struggling some form of consequence — is in the end the duty of voters, who’ve proven no latest historical past of taking out their frustrations by defeating spending measures on the poll field.
As for open-air drug markets, the Metropolis Council handed an ordinance designating Keep Out of Drug Areas as a approach for police to concentrate on sizzling spots. It’s an try and carry some quick reduction to companies and residents dealing with ongoing avenue dysfunction.
In her response to a Downtown Seattle Association questionnaire, Metropolis Lawyer Ann Davison wrote: “I totally help implementation of SODA, which is why I proposed the legislation within the first place.”
Erika Evans, who beat Davison within the main by 22 share factors, rejects SODA.
“SODA … zones don’t cut back crime or enhance outcomes,” she wrote within the questionnaire. “That’s not actual security.”
Evans added: “We should spend money on what truly works: housing, behavioral well being, and actual alternate options to incarceration.”
Though SODA is the legislation — handed by the Metropolis Council 8-1 — Evans mentioned she wouldn’t implement it.
I’m reminded of a dialog I had with Seattle cops a number of years in the past. On the time, the King County Jail was not reserving folks arrested for misdemeanors. In consequence, thieves would go into retailers, take objects price lower than $750 and stroll out the door.
An officer advised me that he as soon as talked to a man he briefly detained at a house enchancment retailer for stealing objects. The man, from Montana, mentioned he couldn’t consider Seattle was so lax. One may pitch a tent anyplace, buy medication at nearly any downtown avenue nook and steal with no consequence.
Jail is clearly not the reply for folks with substance use problems. Alternatively, eradicating jail as a chance for low-level crimes doesn’t do anybody any favors, both. That’s the conundrum dealing with Seattle voters.
Three Seattle incumbents on subsequent month’s poll are thought-about underdogs since coming in second place of their respective main races two months in the past: Harrell, Davison, Metropolis Councilmember Sara Nelson.
I’ve adopted these public servants carefully since they took workplace in 2022. I don’t at all times agree with them. I’ve watched their missteps, miscues, miscommunications. I’ve additionally seen them take voter considerations about public security and civic discord and truly do one thing.
By and enormous, Harrell, Nelson and Davison met the second.
Do they need to be one-termers?
If the Seattle citizens is indignant at Trump, does it make sense to take it out on Metropolis Corridor? If voters are indignant that not sufficient progress has been made on native points for the tax cash invested, are they positive the challengers may do any higher?
Elections are in regards to the future, however this one appears oddly mired up to now, figuring out whether or not we swing again to the times when encampment cleanups are known as sweeps, wastes of public sources like participatory budgeting are swept beneath the rug, cops are seen as oppressors and taxes are the salve that cured all neighborhood ills.
Seattle’s latest historical past of one-term mayors exhibits that change can include vital downsides. It typically takes a couple of time period to efficiently implement packages and reforms. With a brand new mayor each 4 years, the forms learns to maintain its collective head down and never get too near any chief’s agenda. Stagnation guidelines.
In tense instances, it’s maybe hardest to remain the course. However new instructions can price the one factor that may by no means be recovered: Time.
Ballots have to be postmarked or dropped off by 8 p.m. on Nov. 4.
