[NARRATOR]: Produced by Rooted in Rights.

A program of Disability
Rights, Washington.

Seattle City Council, district seven,

transportation and
sustainability candidate forum.

Hosted by the Mass Coalition,
Transit Riders Union,

Tech 4 Housing, and
the Housing Consortium.

[ANNOUNCER]: And just want to thank you

to all the sponsoring organizations.

A lot of different organizations

came together to put this on.

350  Seattle,500 Women Scientists,

Disability Rights Washington,
the Housing Development Consortium,

Community and Greenways, Rise Up Belltown,
Rooted in Rights, Seattle Greenways,

Seattle Parks Foundation, Seattle Subway,

Seattle Sierra Club, South
Lake Union Greenways,

Seattle Transit Blog,
Transit Rider's Union,

Transportation Choices Coalition,
and the Urbanist.

So thank you to all the
sponsoring organizations

for making this possible.

And next up, we have the moderator,
and her bio is circulating in the back,

and she is probably one of the city's

foremost transportation
journalists, Erica Barnett.

So let's give it up for our moderator.

[applause]

[ERICA]: Thank you.

So to start out,

I would like to acknowledge that the land

that we stand on today
is the traditional home

of the Coast Salish people,

the traditional home of all tribes and bands

within the Duwamish, Suquamish,

Tulalip and Muckleshoot Nations.

I ask that we take this opportunity

to thank the original caretakers

of this land who are still here.

And with that, I want
to just jump right in.

Today we will not be having introductions

except for 10 seconds in which

you each tell us your name
and how you got here today.

And we'll start with Jason
Williams on the stage left.

And if you don't mind
throughout this forum,

if you could say your name when you answer

every single question for people
who are visually impaired.

JASON: Jason Williams.

Can you hear me?

[AUDIENCE MEMBER 1]: No.

ERICA: Press that button, let me grab this one.

JASON: Jason Williams.

ERICA: This doesn't count against your time.

[audience laughs]

JASON: Thanks Erica.

ERICA: Hot mic.

ISABELLE: Don't touch.

[ANNOUNCER]: Hello.
All right we're good. Sorry about that.

JASON: Thank you, appreciate it.

Jason Williams, I walked here
after taking the bus downtown.

GENE: Gene Burrus, and I walked here.

DANIELA: I am Daniela Lipscomb Eng
and I took an Uber.

MICHAEL: Michael George, and I walked
here from a couple blocks.

ISABELLE: Hello, my name's Isabelle
Kerner, and I drove here.

Sorry.

[audience laughs]

JIM: Hey I'm Jim Pugel,

and I took the number two from Queen Anne.

ANDREW: Hey, Andrew Lewis,
and I walked here from work.

JAMES: James Donaldson, and I drove here

due to my own personal disability

and made it here fine, thank you.

DON: Don Harper, took the number two.

I'm a little surprised I didn't see Jim

but I was buried in the back.

[ERICA]: Alright, first question.

You're gonna have one
minute each for these

and again please say your
name when you start answering.

I'll start with Gene,

how do we make Seattle streets

including sidewalks
and intersections

safer and more accessible for everyone,

including people with disabilities?

And there's two mics up there.

GENE: Gene Burrus. I think
part of what we can do is -

- better work on traffic lights
like in my neighborhood,

I live downtown, they've begun a process

of actually putting the "don't walk" sign up early

so that traffic has some free reign

to turn right and isn't
always being interfered with,

Pedestrians and traffic
aren't always interfering with each other.

So I think working on the traffic lights

and doing a lot more of that downtown

would help alleviate
some of the safety issues

that I think people have encountered.

[ERICA]: I forgot to mention
Arthur is our timekeeper up here,

and he will be holding up signs

when it's time to start wrapping up

and when it's time to stop.

DANIELA: Can you repeat the question?

[ERICA]: Sure. How can we make Seattle streets,

including sidewalks and intersections,

safer for everyone including
people with disabilities?

DANIELA: Daniela, and the first
thing we should start doing

is making sure that we have
ramps on all of the sidewalks.

It's a great way to not have people

in wheelchairs and those
with strollers trying

to go off the side of the curb

or get on into oncoming traffic

so that would be the first thing

that I would try and do is those curb cuts

and make sure we do that concurrently

so that we're not wasting money

and if we do, the same loss at both ends.

ISABELLE: I know it's an awkward chair situation.

MICHAEL: Michael George. First
thing that I would do

is make sure that we
adequately fund Vision Zero.

It is a real necessity and it runs a lot

of things that will make us safer.

The next thing I would do is
expand the Home Zone Program.

I think we need more
sidewalks in this city

and it's unrealistic to think

that we can build them
using traditional methods,

and that will allow us to

through traffic combing,

to make all of our streets safer for walking.

I am open to the Block
the Box legislation.

I think we do need to keep
people safe in our intersections.

I live downtown,
I walk just about everywhere

and I can tell you as
a dad with a stroller,

it becomes very apparent

where we have dangerous intersections.

There are a lot of curb cuts missing

that force you into traffic,

and every time I'm forced into traffic with a stroller,

I'm about this high.

And the first thing I think is "Holy moly,

I'm glad I'm not doing
this in a wheelchair.

That would be dangerous."

So I also think we need

to make sure that our curb cuts are right.

I think that there are a lot of places

where crosswalks are not...

Oh, that's all the time I have, thank you.

ISABELLE: Hi, I'm Isabelle Kerner,
and so I just wanna bring

up a few points in terms
of making the streets

and the sidewalks safer for pedestrians.

So I have a man's name, it's Richard Barren,

and he emails me quite often.

You might've gotten the emails

but it's recently been
brought to my attention

that for people,
particularly with disabilities,

one of the biggest
issues is that Lime bikes

and bike shares are not being
parked in adequate spaces.

And if you can just
imagine yourself having

to be in a wheelchair and
you're taking the sidewalk ramp

and suddenly halfway through the sidewalk,

you can't get around
because of the Lime bike.

That's a really big issue,

and then as far as timing the traffic lights goes,

we are on the same system as Bellevue

so we have adaptive signal
timing of the lights.

The problem is it's just not all connected

in one way yet but I think we could have

potentially split that up
into a few different sections

throughout a few different systems

so we could get the traffic light time

a little bit better and not have

to wait for everything to go up downtown

to get it working, thank you.

JIM: Hey I'm Jim Pugel.

I'm a big believer in education.

We have to teach every driver.

Our new drivers or those
who are being recertified

to be aware of pedestrian, bicycle,

and disability transportation.

I know that Metro Transit does it,

Community Transit does it.

Having been a police
officer for many years,

I know that we also have to reach out

to our immigrant communities,

specifically our elderly immigrant communities.

They get hit quite a
bit along Kingway South,

Ranier Avenue South,
and also by the light rail train.

I agree with Michael that we
have to get to Vision Zero.

We have about 22 to 20 fatalities a year.

We also have to have
the bike share companies

be more responsible about
where they store their bikes

so that vision-impaired
and the differently abled

in wheelchairs or other walking devices

or mobility devices

don't have to drive around them
or bump into them.

ANDREW: Thank you.
Hi, Andrew Lewis.

I would, and coming down to the end

of the table here, I'll echo a lot
of what's already been said.

Ramp coverage on all
sidewalks is very important.

I think that we need to make an emphasis

as a city that when we're
going into a neighborhood

and doing some kind of
infrastructure project

like replacing a water main
or putting something in

that we take that opportunity to put

in some concurrent development

into the sidewalks in that neighborhood.

That could be an opportunity
to replace the ramp,

it could be an opportunity
to widen the sidewalk.

That could be one of the
strategies that we use.

I'm also supportive of -

- rental scooters and bikes

as transportation options in the city,

but we definitely need to have
some kind of plan in place

to make sure that we're
not obstructing sidewalks.

So I would echo that as well.

JAMES: Yes, James Donaldson. I'm definitely

in favor of the Block the Box legislation

that's being talked about now.

We need to really
enforce those regulations

and ticket folks who
are blocking the ramps,

the disabled ramps off
the curbs and curb cuts.

There should be no excuse for those kind

of behaviors and driving patterns

that are let go a lot
of times very leniently.

Also in regards to our traffic signals,

I'm in favor of more of a

variable timed traffic signals
during peak hours

that has one set of settings on it
during lesser peak hours,

it's set to another setting to keep on

making sure our traffic flows

as effectively as possible, thank you.

DON: Hi, great ideas. Don Harper.

The first thing I would like to do about transportation

is to hit a realization

for everybody to realize we're all part

of the transportation,

walkers need to be aware that cars may not stop.

Cars need to be aware that the pedestrians

may not be looking where they're going.

Bicyclists need to be taking care.

We all need to work together

to make this transportation system work.

No one person has a supreme right of way

when it comes to transportation.

There's so many good ideas here.

The bike blocks, curb cuts,
signal timing, absolutely.

All that is very important
and I'm fully supportive.

Thank you.

JASON: Jason Williams

We absolutely have to get this right

and we have to put equity at the center

of everything we do in creating
legislation on this issue.

And to that regard, on the city council,

first thing that I'll do is to ensure

those working folks and people of color,

seniors and folks of all abilities,

are convening to have a leading voice

in shaping those policies
that we put in place.

Because their voice matters and it has

to be leading in the policies
that we put into place.

I agree that Block the
Box,

it's unfortunate that that didn't pass the
legislature this year.

Hopefully we get it done in
the state house next year.

We should absolutely,
as has been mentioned,

fully fund Vision Zero.

As such we should think
about dedicated lanes

for bikers, pedestrians, and
for people who use scooters.

And at the same time ensure
that they have the right of way

so that they
can get around the city

in a safe, fast and convenient way.

What's more is, as has been discussed is

we need to ensure...
that we stay on time.

[audience laughs]

[ERICA]: Many in our city have barriers,

oh I'm sorry did I skip you?
GENE: No.

[ERICA]: Okay. There's so
many of you up there, I apologize.

If I'm inadvertently skipping
someone, just yell at me.

Many in our city have barriers

to conditional affordable housing

such as an eviction
record, criminal record,

physical disability,
substance abuse disorder,

low or no income and
mental health disorders.

What strategies would you employ

to ensure that those people have access

to housing that meets their needs?

DANIELA: Is that me?

[ERICA]: Yes. Whoever didn't go the first time.

GENE: Are we...yeah, okay.

[ERICA]: We're just rotating.

DANIELA: Okay. Daniela Lipscomb Eng,

and the first thing we need to do

is really expand the
Rapid Rehousing Program

to make sure that we
have landlords connecting

with people who may be homeless

or have a criminal background
and that so we know

who they can be placed with.

So as long as we work
with current landlords

who won't look at a negative credit score

or someone who has a criminal record,

then that will be the first step

and that's what I would do.

MICHAEL: Thank you, I think this is a real issue.

I think there are a lot of people 
that are locked out of housing

and they can never reach
economic independence

because they become homeless
and the best thing we can do

is keep those people out of homelessness

by making sure that they get into housing.

The first thing that I
would do is really expand

and create a Seattle
landlord liaison program

to make sure that all the burden

doesn't fall on landlords,

I also think it is really vital to make sure that

if we're not going to have
criminal background checks

or anything like that,

we have a way to mitigate any of that risk

and I think we can do it.

We need to fund a program that makes sure

that any additional risk is mitigated

if there are issues,

so that we make sure that

when a landlord takes somebody in,

they're motivated and they know

that they won't end up
with a financial burden

'cause there's money
there to stopgap that.

So I think there are a lot of things

that we can do but first and foremost,

I really do think that there needs

to be a time...thank you very much.

ISABELLE: Could you repeat the question?

[ERICA]: Sure, many in our city

have barriers to traditional
affordable housing,

such as eviction record,

criminal record, disability, et cetera.

What would you do to make sure

that those folks have access to housing

that meets their needs?

ISABELLE: Okay so I know that from the beginning here

it was called a homeless crisis

and then it became a housing shortage

of some sort issue and now it's
an affordable housing crisis

and I'm gonna just trust
my eyes on this one

because I recently became aware

of a completely vacant building
across the street from me,

a very nice building, a 39 unit,

with 60 squatters living in it

and I know there's a lot more
of these vacant buildings.

So I don't think we need
to build more buildings

than already exist,

but what I would propose is
to use 575 shipping containers,

$40 million, have eight site
workers at each location.

Basically they're like
Legos, you can stack them,

make them dorms or a
trade school, whatever.

Have different designs for seniors

and those who are disabled,
you can put them together

and it would cost $40 million,

you can house 9,000 to
10,000 people in six months.

If we really just got going
and also gave 23 plots

of vacant city-owned land,
which we already also have.

So thank you.

JIM: I'm a big supporter of Housing First,

the groups of individuals,
Erica, that you mentioned.

I have experience in rehousing

of chronic public
inebriates in the late '  s.

We worked with Downtown
Emerging Service Center,

the Downtown Seattle Association,

private businesses and
other public entities

to create 1811 East Lake

which was a 65 unit housing

for chronic public
inebriates who were drinking,

defecating, urinating in public.

And I had high barrier
housing.

I also worked with the Law Enforcement
Assisted Divergent Project

which we need very good case managers

to work with the addicted,
to work with the mentally ill

and get the philosophy of Housing First

embedded in all of our government.

Get the person housed

and then work with them
to ameliorate all the other issues

that they have been challenged with

and been working against
for their entire life.

ANDREW: Andrew Lewis,
so similarly I'm a big supporter

of permanent supportive housing.

That's the only way that we're
really gonna get

any kind of result with folks

'cause you gotta house people first

before they can take care of
the other problems in their life.

Now I think it's gonna be hard

to convince landlords in a lot of cases

to take people in that
are low barrier to entry

but there's some incentives we can use.

I'm a big supporter of slot housing

where the city or government entities

take out long-term leases
on rental properties

to house folks at a low barrier to entry.

I think that when we're
doing public projects

and the city is the
landlord or city partners

and city housing authorities
are the landlords,

we should be carving out space
in those public projects

to make it so that we have
permanent supportive housing

that has a low barrier to entry

where the only folks we need to convince are ourselves

and there's very strong
public benefit to doing that.

So I favor continuing to incorporate

permanent supportive housing
into our public projects

and that being a public
and consistent commitment.

JAMES: James Donaldson.

With the exception of
hardcore convicted felons,

homelessness,

evicted tenants, folks who are unemployed,

chronically unemployed or underemployed,

this is many times not in their own fault

or their own ability to correct

that situation that
they find themselves in.

I think the city itself needs to find

or create a department where
they'll have caseworkers

who can work hand in hand with these folks

who are disadvantaged
and having challenges

to get into that housing and with that,

work directly with the landlords

and the apartment building owners

and all the rest of those folks to ensure,

to give a greater sense of surety

that these will be viable tenants

who will be able to be responsible

and the city can have
a part of that as well

to help those people
be responsible as well. Thank you.

DON: Yeah, Don Harper.

First I think what we need to do is
actually prioritize housing

in the city of Seattle budget.

This is not something
that we have done yet.

You can see just by the
fact that we're building

a $450 million Waterfront Park

to show that we are not
prioritizing housing.

So I would like to see us look

at the budget and start creating

more permanent supportive housing.

I'm also very much in support of having

a program so that we
keep people in housing.

So if they end up $50, $100, $150 short

of rent because they got
sick or their kid got sick

and they couldn't work
that we keep them in house.

There's so many good programs
that they've mentioned here,

working with the landlords
and protecting them

so that they're willing to rent

to all kinds of people,

but they're not going to be subject to the loss,

which is why they're scared to rent.

There's so many good ideas

and I'd love to work with you all on it, thank you.

JASON: Jason Williams.

personally I'm excited
about the Waterfront Park

because as we focus on
addressing the crises of the day

that are so important,

we also need to think about building the
Seattle we want tomorrow

and for me that includes open spaces

like the Waterfront Park.

Look, discrimination is not okay, period.

The discrimination that Erica was talking about

disproportionally affects people
who are already on the margins,

mostly people of color.

People who have fallen into a hard time

and so we need to serve them better.

Absolutely that includes
better housing policy

like a Housing First approach

with permanent supportive housing.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs would suggest

that we need to provide folks
stable, secure housing first

before they can get well and become whole.

Secondly we also need to ensure

that folks don't end up on
the streets in the first place

and that means improving
the financial resiliency

of at-risk households

and we can do that in working...

City of Tacoma has done that,
doubling down on diversion,

and I think that's something
that we could do here

in Seattle as well, thank you.

GENE: Gene Burrus, so I'm a resident downtown.

I have a lot of neighbors that
are exactly as you describe,

people with difficulty
getting into housing

who are maybe gotten out of prison

and had a hard time finding a job.

And I relay a story to you to tell you,

I think one of the things we can do

actually is improve the neighborhoods

that take away some of the issues

that would cause them to fall
back out of housing again.

One night after a shooting
that was literally

right across the street from where I live,

I was out on the corner talking

with police and one of
my neighbors came up.

He described to me how he had been

in the penitentiary for 10 years

and was in some supportive housing

right down the street from where I live

and he said the biggest problem

that he actually had was that the city

was not enforcing the laws
around the neighborhood

and he was led right back
into all the temptations

that had landed him in the
prison in the first place.

And he said the best thing
that we could do actually

is enforce the laws and
stop the drug market

on Third Avenue actually, thank you.

[ERICA[: All right, next question.

What's your vision to get
people to the new arena?

We'll start with Mike.

What's your vision to
get people to the new arena?

MICHAEL: First of all I think there's a question
about which arena

but if KeyArena for hockey,

that's worth talking about. [laughs]

I do think we need to expand
the capacity of the Monorail.

We can do that,
we should do that, it's critical.

I also think we need to make
better pedestrian access

coming from Lower Queen Anne or uptown,

no matter how you call that neighborhood.

There are a number of things,

including the streetcar expansion,

that could eventually expand the system,

get us to the stadium.

So having dedicated bus lanes,

especially during peak travel times,
is really important.

Even without that stadium,

when the current stadiums are full,

I use the library all the time

and sometimes it's hard
to get onto a bus or light rail

because we have capacity
issues during games.

We need to make sure that we
deal with those capacity issues

and that goes for all modes of transportation.

Of course Mercer is another
area that's going to be hard,

people are gonna be getting on the highway

and we need to fix that, thank you.

ISABELLE: So I actually worked at Sales Center

when the NHL Arena was
undergoing the renovation.

And it's a pretty innovative renovation

and I am pretty certain that
by the time it's finished,

it will be able to house

both an NBA team and a hockey team

and I think we've already got
some good ways to get there.

I'm not entirely sold on the streetcar

but if it goes as I am told,

then it could help connect
the missing portions of it.

And we also disagreed with a
couple billion dollars tunnel

that takes you all the
way from Century Field

to the right next to Seattle Center.

And we have the Monorail
and I like the Monorail

because it's pretty, it's fun,

it's kind of like a roller coaster

the first time you ever go onto it.

And I think we really used to emphasize

making public transportation enjoyable,

visually aesthetic,

and I think that would make it a lot more popular

with people than the way
it currently is. Thank you.

JIM: Thank you. Jim Pugel.

I think we have to do a number of things,

one, increase capacity
to get people to and from.

We also have to work with
the Convention Bureau,

the Uptown Community Council,
Queen Anne Community Council,

and our new partner down there

who's bringing in 5,000
employees next year, Expedia,

and encourage the people
who are gonna attend

not only the hockey games,
possibly basketball games,

but all the other programming

that's gonna go on at KeyArena.

We have to encourage them
to patronize the restaurants

and patronize the hotels,
maybe come in a day early.

Spend the night there,
enjoy all the amenities

around the Seattle Center and
the Pacific Science Center.

But we do have to work on transportation.

I'm concerned, in the 18 years,

I'm sorry, the 28 years
I've lived on Queen Anne,

almost every single parking
lot around KeyArena is gone.

So transportation,

especially with Expedia moving in,

is gonna be very tough.

ANDREW: Thank you. Andrew Lewis.

So I think about this a lot too

just as a consumer of mass transit

'cause I live in Uptown, right,

so I think about, "How am I gonna get around

once the arena traffic
really starts going?"

And the transportation benefit district

is one of the greatest things
that the City Council's done

over the last five years,

it's coming up for renewal next year

and I think we need to really look at it

in terms of how can we drive Metro service

going into the mid-2020s

to emphasize getting people
to and from Seattle Center?

We've got a lot of really good connections

going to the downtown core to Uptown

and going from the Bowery to Uptown

but east to west is mostly just served
by the number eight bus,

so increasing options going east to west,

maybe increasing the amount

of mass transit that's on Mercer.

And when we're putting in light rail
through Sound Transit,

making sure we have two stations that
serve Seattle Center.

One in the northwest corner,

but also one at the southeast corner

and those are gonna be the long term strategies

that we can use to help make sure

that we're getting people in
and out of the Seattle Center.

JAMES: James Donaldson. Anybody's
been around Seattle

for any length of time has seen

all the open-air parking lots
around KeyArena disappear.

There's very, very few left now.

Maybe just a couple,

I can count them on one hand, even,

and so parking will be a premium.

Parking will be very expensive.

And I am in favor of increasing

and enhancing our transportation methods

to get people back and
forth from the parking lots

outside the Seattle Center area

to the actual KeyArena for basketball

and hockey games and concerts.

Perhaps there's a way
we can give an incentive

to these sporting and entertainment groups

to come in on a five or 10% discount

on your entry ticket that you're paying

if you take light rail, the Monorail,

and enhance that a little bit more.

Streetcars, Uber, there's all kinds

of different ways to get back and forth

and try to reduce the amount of cars

that are on the street at the
actual same time, thank you.

DON: I've gotta admit I've worked on this a lot

and I still don't know how to get people

to the new KeyArena.

There is gonna be so many people.

Mercer is being designed
so it can't handle

the transportation, there
are no parking lots.

Most of the people that
are coming in for the hockey

are actually in the outer areas
of Seattle and beyond,

this is where
they're coming from.

I think a lot of them are gonna drive.

We're gonna have to find places

for them to park and park downtown.

When light rail finally gets here in 20 years,

yes I think that'll be a great boon.

If we can convince people
to actually increase

the cars on the Monorail which so far

I've heard no one is willing to do.

That might help,

but really, just look out.

So that's the best I can do, thank you.

JASON: Hi, Jason Williams.

I'm excited for the new KeyArena.

I think it'll be a boon to the district.

As representative of the district,

I think it will be great
for businesses there.

It'll also be great for
the whole arts economy

that has popped up around Uptown.

With KEXP there and others there

and I think it's a great thing.

We do have to worry
about this traffic issue

as a concern though for
a lot of neighborhoods

or the people who live
in the neighborhood.

I think more reliable
and frequent bus service,

especially during peak
times with the games

is something we absolutely need to do.

Second, we need to look for ways

to maybe partner with neighboring cities

all the way down to Angle Lake

and up to Northgate and
then as ST  comes online

so that we can incentivize people

who are commuting into this city

from our neighboring
cities to use light rail

instead of commuting into the town.

Another thing that I'm concerned with is

for the residents who call Queen Anne home

and Uptown home is ensuring
that they have a place

to park if they have a car to ensure

that it's not taken from one of the people

who come and visit the
game, thank you, sorry.

GENE: Hi, Gene Burrus.

Long term I think obviously the light rail

finally getting to
Seattle Center will help.

But in the short run,
as others have stated,

there is not gonna be a lot of parking around KeyArena.

It's gonna be a mess so what I think

we might need to think about doing

at least in the short run is figuring out

where these season ticket holders live,

where they're coming from for games,

whether it's Northgate
or it's the east side

or it's the coop and start to run

remote parking lots with
shuttle buses into the game.

I think people coming to the games

are gonna get fed up quite quickly

with traffic and parking and are probably

gonna be looking for alternatives

and if we're able to offer
specialized shuttle buses

that come from outlying areas,

I think that will do a
lot to solve the problem.

dc Daniela Lipscomb Eng.

So a great way for us to ensure

that we can continue

to have more people get to the new stadium

is to expand bus routes and the frequency

that they run on game day.

Also if we had a place where
Uber and Lyft drivers can go

'cause that's how a lot of the
people get to the games now.

So they have specific drop-off and pickups

so they're not stopping in the middle

of the street to block traffic.

But how are we gonna pay for all of this?

We continue to add more and more things.

And so we spent
$238 million on the streetcar

that didn't fit which is why we need

to make sure that we have accountability

and transparency in our city government

with an independent audit
so we can have the money

to pay for these central bus routes.

So that we can have the money for Uber

and Lyft and the Monorail
to continue to work.

[ERICA]: All right, as you all can see,

you now have placards in front of you

which means that it's time
for the lightning round.

So just hold up those
placards as high as you can

and I will say out loud
what people are holding up.

And please no sideways
placards, none of this.

This is not an answer.

So pick one, whichever one is
closest to your point of view.

Do you support the city's
current chemical removal policy?

So everybody, the majority,
actually you know what,

I'm gonna come up here so I can see.

The majority are saying that they do not.

So saying no, Jason, Gene, Daniela,

Isabella, Andrew.

I'm not good at this, sorry.

Saying yes are Michael, Jim Pugel,

James Donaldson and Don Harper.

Do you support making
the Show Rocks Building

a permanent part of Pike Place Market

and preventing future apartment
development on that site?

[AUDIENCE MEMBER 2]: Can you say the end of
the question one more -

And preventing future apartment
development on that site?

So the majority agree,
the nos are Gene Burrus,

Daniela Lipscomb Eng,
Michael George, Don Harper.

And everybody else said yes.

Do you support opening a safe lot -

MICHAEL: Excuse me, you said preventing
apartment development?

ERICA: Yes, I said -
MICHAEL: Oh, I don't agree, sorry.

ERICA: Don't agree, okay,
Michael says don't agree.

Do you support opening a safe lot

for people living in their cars?

JIM: A what?

ERICA: A safe parking lot

for people living in their cars.

Okay, James?

Okay so the majority say that they agree.

The don't agree, so no safe parking lot,

are Gene, Daniela,
Isabell, and Don Harper.

Do you support a safe parking
lot in District Seven?

All right so that's the
same answers as before.

Do you support congestion pricing?

All right, the majority of folks

up here say they don't agree.

The yeses are Jason, Gene, and Michael.

Do you support legalizing
scooter sharing in Seattle?

JIM: I don't know enough about it.

ISABELLE: Once we get the bike shares, though -

ERICA: Jim is opting out of this question.

Isabella? Isabella says no.
ISABELLE: Yeah I'm off ticket.

And Don says no and
everybody else says yes.

JIM: We need facts and research.

ERICA: Do you support shallow rent subsidies

to enable people at risk
of becoming homeless

to stay in their homes?

JIM: Oh hell yeah.

ERICA: All right, everybody says yes.

Do you support automated
traffic enforcement cameras?

So red light cameras.

Speed limit reductions
and banning rights on red.

All right, let's see,
the nos are Jason, Gene,

Isabel, and Don, everybody else said yes.

I appreciate that, I had to break

that up into three questions last night.

So thank you for being succinct.

Do you think Lyft, Uber and
other ridesharing companies

should be required to include

wheelchair accessible
vehicles in their fleets?

All right, everybody says yes.

Is the city doing enough
to implement Vision Zero?

JIM: What?
ERICA: Vision Zero.

All right, everybody says no.

And Don is opting out.

Last question of this lightning round.

Do you support funding
the Center City Connector?

All right most everybody says yes.

Gene, Jim, and Andrew are saying no.

Okay, we're back to regular questions.

And in...well we'll keep
them at one minute for now.

We're probably gonna go down t0 45 seconds

at some point 'cause I wanna
get audience questions in

and if you have a question
you haven't submitted it,

grab a card and hand it to one

of the volunteers over
to the left of the room.

All right, let's see.

Seattle has the most regressive tax system

of any city in Washington State

which has the most regressive tax system

of any state in the US.

Do you believe the city
has a responsibility

to raise significant revenue to address

the challenges facing
our community including -

[AUDIENCE MEMBER 3]: I'm sorry, can you slow down?

[ERICA]: Sorry.
[AUDIENCE MEMBER 3]: Say it way slower.

[ERICA]: It's a long question, I apologize.
[AUDIENCE MEMBER 3]: Are you saying progressive?

[ERICA]: I'm gonna start over.
[AUDIENCE MEMBER 3]: Thank you.

Seattle has the most regressive tax system

of any city in Washington State.

And Washington State has the
most regressive tax system

of any state in the US.

Do you believe that the
city has a responsibility

to raise significant new revenue

to address the challenges
facing our communities?

And if so, what tax policies
would you advocate for

at the city level?

ISABELLE: So, Isabelle Kerner, like
a lot of people living

in Seattle I don't really think

that this is a revenue problem.

I think it's a spending problem

and that comes partially from the fact

that I've been doing this campaign

on basically $2,500 so
you can get a lot done

with very little resources

as long as you do it the right way.

I'm also an artist so I've
had to use that skill before.

I think the city council needs to one,

be able to know how to
balance a checkbook.

And two as far as taxes go, I don't think

anybody likes them and so I'm thinking

we all jump with
excitement at the word tax.

But I'm more fiscally conservative

so I would agree that maybe
we can change our taxes

to all have one tax and
then have percentage

of that tax that we can basically give

to any tax public product we want

and that percentage would be dependent

on how much money you make.

So if you make $50 million
and the tax is 10%,

that would be 50,000, then I'm paying 5,000,

you're paying five million,
you might only get 2%

and I'll get all 100% to
even the scale, thank you.

JIM: I think the city of Seattle has some sway

over what taxes, what revenues we develop,

but we have to work with state

and the elected state officials

and make sure that we get
progressive elected people

down in Olympia to reform our tax laws.

That's the Constitution of
the State of Washington.

We should examine all
of the revenue streams

that we have now and if we determine,

which I think we do
need new revenue streams

to address the homeless issue,
the mental illness issue,

the substance abuse disorder issues,

we have to work with
the business community

and the homeless service providers

and get all of us at the table

and agree on the proper revenue stream,

what it's gonna be focused on,

and what the accountability
be what for that.

Knocking on doors today
and in the previous weeks,

that's one thing that people are seeing

and I'm hearing is the levy
fatigue and revenue fatigue.

They are very generous voters,

but they want accountability.

[ERICA]: Just a reminder to
say your name before you -

ANDREW: Yes, Andrew Lewis.

So yes I'm a big proponent

of getting new equitable taxes.

We need to get permission
from Olympia unfortunately

to get what we really need,
which is an income tax

with high marginal rates
on the high earners

and a capital gains tax.

I'm actually optimistic that
in the next couple years

we'll be able to get those tools.

Just this last session we got

a progressive real estate
excise tax in Olympia

for the first, after trying
for decades to get that.

So I think history's moving quick.

History's moving in the direction

of more equitable taxation
in Washington State.

Going further than that, I do think

that as a city we could do a better job

at introducing more performance auditing

into how we conduct our affairs.

King County has a very aggressive

performance auditing
program, they've saved

$127 million in the last three
years through that program.

I think we should look at that as a way

to be more responsible
with the money we have now

while we're still looking at ways

to get more equitable tax options.

JAMES: James Donaldson. If you would allow

I'd like to just read a couple

of typed notes that I've
made this afternoon here.

In regards to raising
more revenue for the city,

for a decade our senator Reuven Carlyle,

who represents our 36th District,

has issued reports that
show how much money

could be raised just by
closing the tax loopholes

that have been granted
down by our legislature

down at Olympia mainly.

The legislative has
created 640 tax exemptions

worth 10s of billions of dollars.

It's a heck of a lot easier to close

those tax loopholes or modify them as much

as we can than it is to try
to get all these other laws

and revenue streams raised as quickly

as we possibly can, thank you.

DON: Hi, Don Harper.

Yes I would be supportive

of a state income tax if we ever get there

but I would also want to say that we need

to eliminate the sales tax.

This has always been what has
stopped conservative members

of the state to anyone
who's been here long enough,

that they didn't like that
sales tax was still included

because they realized that the income tax

would be charged and slowly
the sales tax would go up.

I don't think that the
city should be involved

in any capital gains
taxes or income taxes.

I think performance audits of all

of the mayor's office,
of all of the departments

of this city and of the city
council should be performed.

And I think what'll
happen is is we're going

to see some savings, I think
there is enough revenue.

We have over a $2 billion budget.

I think there's money in there

that a little better planning
and a little better guideline

on our priorities that we're going

to have enough money to accomplish

what we need, thank you.

JASON: Jason Williams.

When I go around

and talk to folks at the door,

people are desperately looking

to solve the crisis of
today like homelessness,

housing affordability,
traffic and so much more

as well as plant signposts
for where we wanna go

for the future like
conserving our Keystone lands

and waterways and heritage sites

like the Showbox that
makes Seattle special.

As well as having greater
equitable economy and tax system.

I am concerned however by some

of the comments that I hear,
and I share this concern,

that this city has lost
trust in being good stewards

of the public's trust and
the public's resources.

And I think the head tax
was a symbol for that.

I think recent public uproar

about the Seattle Library's levy too,

about waiving fees for late books

is another symbol of growing consternation

about the city government
not spending funds wisely.

So in order to achieve
this vision that we desire,

we need to restore
trust and accountability

'cause efficiency also helps us

create greater impact later on, thank you.
[ERICA]: Time's up.

GENE: Gene Burrus.

I share the view

that I think, I'm not certain that we have

a revenue problem in the city of Seattle.

I feel like we need a complete audit

and some accountability in the way

that the city spends money.

Or if, while we're spending $200 million

on a First Avenue Streetcar
and nearly a billion dollars

on a Waterfront Park I think we have

got our priorities a little wrong.

I will say on the nature of
the taxes that we collect,

I've been a plaintiff in lawsuits

against the city both on the income tax

and on the Waterfront
bid so I am definitely

100% opposed to using
local improvement districts

which I think are a perversion
of the democratic system

as a way of raising money.

And any turn to an income tax,

I think there was a show done by the city.

It's obviously something that needs

to be done at Olympia, at the state level,

and the city shouldn't be entering

into lawsuits just for the
fun of it, so thank you.

DANIELA: Daniela Lipscomb Eng,

and right now the city does not need

to start collecting more money

from us to increase our tax revenue.

They have property
taxes, levies, utilities.

And we're upzoning all of Seattle

which means more property
taxes for the city to collect.

More utilities, more levies
that people are paying.

People are getting priced
out of their homes.

Senior citizens can no longer live

in their homes because of
how they're being priced out.

So what do we need, we
need accountability,

we need transparency.

Sally Batshaw has the emails going back

between her and her husband saying

that the income tax is not
constitutional in Washington,

yet they still passed it
and then city taxpayers

paid money to defend that.

That's not what we need to be doing.

Let's use the money
that we have now wisely.

Let's not bail out the bike system

and then close it a year later.

Let's use the money with have

with accountability and transparency.

MICHAEL: So I would agree with, Michael George,

I would agree with a lot of
what people have said here.

I'm an out-and-out environmentalist.

I believe in the Growth Management Act.

The consequence of that is that there is

less land development
and that drives the price

of housing up so it is our duty

to make sure we fund affordable housing.

It's the right thing to
do and it's the only thing

that we can do to make
this city habitable.

I have spent my entire career and life

advocating and working professionally

on the intersection of affordable housing

and public transportation
and that is something

that we need to get right.

In terms of revenue streams,
it's not just the city budget.

I think where we really are losing

a lot of our efficiency
is at the project level.

We really need to look into how

we're building affordable housing.

I think there are a lot of
efficiencies that can be had.

It is not the affordable
housing developers

that are getting it wrong but some

of our funding requirements
are forcing them

to make choices that are not efficient.

There is a number of
other things we can do

with public transportation that,

that's all I have to say, thank you.

ISABELLE: I don't think it's my
turn, it's Jim's turn.

Is it my turn?
No, I think -

e: It's Jim's turn.

ISABELLE: Oh, you go.

[ERICA]: Describe your experience
advancing racial equity.

How has it informed your approach

to land use, transportation
planning, and public outreach?

JIM: Racial equity, having been a defendant

in lawsuits from the ACLU,
the Defender's Association,

and the Racial Disparity Project

for disproportionality in drug arrests

in Belltown and downtown,
I learned firsthand

the importance of working
with traditional allies

and traditional adversaries
in developing equity

in the criminal justice system

so that those who become involved

in criminality and are accepting

to case management and diversion

will get a second chance
and a third chance

to get into permanent supportive housing,

case management whether it's
a substance use disorder,

but it does disproportionately fall

on people of color, on immigrants,

and quite often on women.

So we have to make sure
that all of our systems,

not only the criminal justice systems

but our transportation systems.

I also saw it in a disproportionate amount

of enforcement for youth
of color in Sound Transit

and Metro and we worked
on that and fixed it.

ANDREW: Andrew Lewis.

So I started
first getting involved

in politics when I was in high school

at the Center School
here in District Seven

and there's a big social justice
ethos to the Center School.

And one of the big reasons
why I'm in public service

is because we need to be
doing a much better job

in the city of Seattle of
being a more equitable place

where everybody feels welcome.

I'm proud of my work, being a
very untraditional prosecutor

in the city attorney's
office where I worked

on diversion programs
that have gotten people

into mentorship housing and
ended up declining cases.

I'm proud of the work that I did

when I was a member of the
Seattle Human Rights Commission

advocating for tenants
that were getting forced

out of their houses and advocating

for people that were experiencing

discrimination in the workplace.

And I try every day to be
an ally instead of a savior

and I struggle with that all the time.

I think a savior is someone who says,

"Here's what you need to
do," an ally is someone

who says, "Here I am, how can I help?"

And that's how I'm gonna
approach the constituencies

and the communities
here in District Seven.

Here I am, how can I help and
what do you need me to do?

JAMES: James Donaldson.

I don't know if you know this

but I have been in this black
skin of mine all my life.

And it is just a fact of the matter

of when you are a person of color,

you face racial inequities daily.

You're reminded daily that
you are a person of color,

that you are a minority, that you're not

on equal footing with everyone else.

I don't know how many of you know,

but I moved to my home in
Magnolia nearly 40 years ago.

There were ordinances on the books

that are still there that
you could not sell your home

to an African American
person, to a person of color.

Ordinances on those books
that are still there now.

I do a lot of work in our inner city

with our young black men, black boys,

black women, black
girls, I'm always trying

to encourage us to do the best we can.

I continue to work and
if you notice up here

on the panel I'm the only person

of color running for the
city council position.

Sam Smith was our first African
American city council member

nearly 42 years ago and we need

to continue the tradition, thank you.

DON: Don Harper, and that is going

to be a tough one to follow.

I don't know if you
noticed, I'm a white male.

And that of course comes with
a certain -

- burden nowadays.

But as an electrical contractor,

I was an employer and I can tell you

that in my employment I hired
anybody who was skilled.

And I have, I've worked with women,

I've worked with African Americans,

I of course hired Hispanics.

It just really doesn't matter to me.

I'm not color blind, I see people,

I see what they look
like, I see how they act.

But in the way that I
personally live my life,

I am, it just doesn't matter to me.

What I would like to see is
equal pay for equal work.

And I think the city of Seattle

and its government is guilty of that.

I think all our industries
are guilty of that

and I think what we need to do is go

through what we're asking
the large corporations

to do which is to go through every job

and make sure every person
is getting paid equally.

JASON: Jason Williams.

I don't believe that being a white male is
a burden,

it's a privilege.

And we need more people to
recognize that privilege

and to do their work to put equity

at the center of everything that they do.

Because if you look at outcomes

in education, in wealth,

in income, in adverse
impacts from climate change

and so much more the disparity

is most stark along racial lines.

It's clear that we need
to put racial equity

and equity more generally for people

of all abilities, for people
however they identify,

at the center of every single policy

that we put in place and
as I mentioned earlier,

what I will do is make
sure that those voices

that are most marginalized
have a leading role

in shaping those policies.

I look to the Roadmap
Project here in Seattle.

I look to the Puyallup Watershed Project

further down south as ways
to galvanize communities

and give those communities the voice

in shaping those policies.

I view my role as a
facilitator in that process.

GENE: Gene Burrus.

So I think
as a city councilperson

what we can do most is
ensure that the city itself

is not engaging in discrimination

and it has the right kinds of
diversity programs in place

that help people of color and women

and minorities into positions
that they can be role models

for the rest of the city but I think

a zero tolerance policy for discrimination

in the city and in the city government

is certainly what is needed.

Obviously the police department
has had issues with this

and I don't think that there's a choice

to be made between professionalism

in the police department
and them effectively

doing their job and I
think we can have both.

And I think part of the job
of the city councilperson

will be to ensure that
that happens, thank you.

DANIELA: Daniela Lipscomb Eng, and this is great.

Thank you James because to continue this,

he's not the only person of color.

I am Hispanic, I have my mom from Chile.

I grew up in Chile, I
am fluent in Spanish.

So everyone who is of color
deals with this every day

with people assuming what color they are.

My husband is half Chinese, half Japanese.

My kids are not gonna know what they are.

But I teach them

every single day that
color doesn't matter.

We are all in this together.

It doesn't matter that they're Chinese

or Japanese and that their parents

were not allowed to get married.

What we need to do is make sure

that we start with
education from a young age

and that everyone, no matter
what Seattle public school

you are in, has that equal opportunity

for the education no
matter what color you are.

And not assuming that people are white

or are Hispanic or aren't.

MICHAEL: Michael George.

So I've spent my career working

on huge infrastructure projects

including every light rail line

that's run through all
these different communities

and a whole bunch of other public projects

and there is a lot of
outreach that's done.

We have the Race and
Social Equity Toolkit.

We have, we talk about redlining

and we have a whole bunch of other things,

implicit bias training, but
we're not getting the job done.

We just talk a big game.

I can tell you in a lot of those meetings,

outreach meetings that we're in,

what happens is the people
that we're really trying

to get a voice from are not there.

First of all they don't trust the system

so they don't show up.

We don't do a good job
speaking their language

whether that's literal
and have translators

or whether that's just
professionals going out

and speaking in big words
that's just turning people off.

We need to do a much better
job proactively bringing people

to the table in this justice system

that can't get to these meetings

to actually bring their voice.

And then we need to genuinely bring

their ideas into our
policy, into our projects.

We can't just continue
checking boxes, thank you.

ISABELLE: Isabelle Kerner, and I'm just gonna cheat

a little bit on this one so for one,

I'm a white woman of privilege

but as an artist I can assure you

I really do appreciate all colors.

And I used to go to Saint Jo's

which was predominately white.

It was like 5% of my
classmates there were people

of color then I went
to Garfield High School

were about 63% of my peers
were people of color.

And while I was attending
Garfield High School,

I volunteered for Team
Read which is a nonprofit

that pairs second and third graders

with reading and writing deficiencies.

Most of the people, the school population

was predominately white but almost all

of the children in the
program were people of color.

When I was 16 I also worked
at Seattle Art Museum

as part of the Teen Advisory Group

and I noticed the demographics

of the museum's local visitors

didn't accurately reflect the culture

and ethnic variation of Seattle.

I suggested that we have advertising

in different neighborhoods which ended up

drawing a much more diverse
audience to the events and -

[ERICA]: It's time.

ISABELLE: Okay. Than they did.

[ERICA]: All right, this
will be my last question

from the organizing groups
then we're gonna jump

into the audience questions
so just a reminder,

if anybody has audience questions.

If anybody has questions write them down

on a card and they will be picked up.

Just wave that card in the air,.

Awesome.

So last question is across North America,

when cities invested
in connective networks,

the number and types of
people biking have increased.

If elected what will you do to make biking

a practical, safer, and
more accessible option

across Seattle and what bike projects

in District Seven will
you work to complete?

ANDREW: Andrew Lewis.

Thank you for that question

'cause I'm really excited
about a specific bike project

that's in District Seven
down on Roland and Marina

near the marina in Magnolia.

So currently it's city-owned property.

It's an extension of Magnolia Park.

It's complete undeveloped, it's full

of a lot of invasive species.

And there's a project that started,

like all good projects, it was
a neighborhood matching grant

and a bunch of folks in
Magnolia got together

and said why don't we connect
this missing link here

on Marina and Gilman to
connect the Magnolia Village

to Marymoor Park, to the Marina,

to the new park down there in Smith Cove?

And help people in Magnolia use biking

as a viable commuting
option to do downtown,

help people use biking as a viable option

to get to recreation opportunities

down through our green belt there?

And allow people to go up from downtown

all the way to Discovery Park
and to patronize the villages

in Magnolia, the businesses
in Magnolia Village?

So I'm very much in favor of that project

and hope to see it completed.

JAMES: James Donaldson.

Biking, like
many recreational activities

such as sports has a way of
bringing communities together

and bringing different
types of people together

to interact, many times
for the first time.

Unfortunately in many parts of our city,

communities of color
don't have or don't have

the attitude to jump on bikes just

because they wanna go
from point a to point b.

Some folks would rather walk to get there.

Some folks would rather carpool.

There's all kind of different ways

to transport yourself around town.

I think that biking has really helped out

so many other parts of our neighborhoods

but the disadvantaged
parts of our neighborhoods

still have a long way to go.

A lot of that can be brought up to speed

by educational programs for
our young people especially,

teaching them the value of transporting,

green energy and all
the rest of those things

that we're about and reducing
our carbon footprint.

So education is really gonna be the key

to get more and more diverse populations

into our biking population.

DON: Hi, I'm Don Harper, I'm on

the Queen Anne Community Council.

Have been for over 20 years where I serve

as the chair for the arts committee.

For about 2 1/2 years I was on
the Magnolia Trail Committee

that Andrew mentioned, and
I fully support the idea

of completing that trail but we did run

into a problem with the city.

So I think as a city council member,

I think I can straighten
that out and get that moving.

The other thing is I
worked for about five years

on connecting, trying to connect from-

- the Smith Cove Park
underneath the Magnolia Bridge

straight to the bike trail, and we ran

again into problems
with the Port of Seattle

and security issues but
I think it's possible

for the very willing and I think

when we replace the Magnolia Bridge

which I know will be very soon,

that we can incorporate
that bike trail there.

Those are the ones that I know
the most about, thank you.

JASON: Hi, Jason Williams.

Inspired by region or
local indigenous leaders

who remind us all the time to
use seven generation thinking,

I've been going around
talking to neighbors,

asking what vision they
have for the year 2100.

And over 80% of the people I talk to

in all neighborhoods
throughout District Seven,

their first response has something to do

with nature or climate or the environment.

And they suggest to me that we have

to start planting down some signposts

as I mentioned earlier about the kind

of future that we want to have.

The kind of future that we wanna have

is a future marked by natural beauty,

by more sustainable
forms of transportation,

and also by healthy communities.

And I think that's why we need

to make investments in
the Bike Master Plan.

That's why we need to finish some

of the projects that were mentioned today

and that's why that when we look

to maybe replace the Magnolia Bridge,

the one for one replacement
that we should consider

also tying it to investments in things

like bike transportation, ensuring people

of all abilities can get around.

GENE: Gene Burrus.

I think I might have

a little bit of a different
view on this subject.

I live across the street from a bike lane

on Second Avenue and I think while I agree

with finishing a lot of the trail work

that doesn't take traffic lanes

away from buses and other things,

I think we might've lost sight

of being cost-effective in
how we invest in bike lanes.

When we hear about cost overruns

on construction of bike
lanes where they're

a million dollars a mile
to build a bike lane

on Second Avenue, I think that's the kind

of thing that breeds
mistrust with city government

and the way that they spend their money

and that we need to be cost-effective

in the way we are spending
our transportation dollars

and where it makes sense
for bicycle commuters, yes.

But where we're spending
a million dollars a mile

for a few bikes an hour
that go down the street

while the buses are stopped
dead on Second Avenue,

I think we've made the wrong decision.

DANIELA: Daniela Lipscomb Eng, and bike lanes, wow.

What a hot topic, so I, when I'm in my car

'cause I do drive, I have four young boys

under the age of five.

There's nothing infuriates me more

than when there's a biker in front

of me and they're not using the bike lane.

So I went to the Cascade Bike Club

and I asked them why,
why would you do this?

Why are they doing that, and they said

to me that the street cleaners

do not fit on these protected bike lanes

and so they're full of garbage,

full of glass, full of needles,

and they're dirty, so let's work

with the bike clubs and let's work

with these new bike lanes
that we're putting in

to ensure that the city can clean them

so that the bikers are gonna use them,

that they're safe for them.

Otherwise we're wasting our money

and when a bike lane ends as it does

in Magnolia right before you're gonna go

to the Smith Cove park, you need

to make sure we have a smooth transition

for bikers to be able
to merge with traffic

because right there, bikers don't use them

'cause they have to stop before
just to get into traffic.

MICHAEL: I think, Michael George, I think a lot

of us have the same idea, it's a bike lane

that is very often as a downtown resident,

is I go around Terminal 91
under the Magnolia Bridge

and of course once you
get to LA Bay Marina,

there's this tiny little wooden path

that is just a break in the system.

And if you could only get your bike across it,

you could again easily
access Magnolia Village

and it would really not
impact car traffic at all.

So I think those are the smart
decisions that I think a lot

of us up here are talking
about and hearing.

I also think we need to think
about how everybody else

that's trying to cross
a bike path is impacted.

I actually ran into a couple of people

who had the same issue,
they were disabled,

that use wheelchairs and
there are a couple places

where it's very hard
to cross the bike lanes

to access public transportation
and other things.

So I think as we are
rolling out bike lanes,

we really need to think
about how each user

is going to be impacted by our decisions.

Having said that, thank you.

ISABELLE: Isabelle Kerner, and I'll echo a lot

of what everyone else
says but when I think

about biking with my family,
so I'm pretty young, I'm 23.

So I used to go biking with my dad

and we already went on
the Burke Gilman Trails.

So that was around for a long time

so that's more what I
think of when I think

of family biking because I've seen

these bikers go on the bike lane.

And crossing them sometimes
I feel like I could get hit

and I don't think it's
really fair honestly

because they don't have insurance,

they don't have license plates,

you can't give them a ticket.

I had a friend in high school that died

because he accidentally ran a red light,

wasn't wearing a helmet.

I see a lot of bikers not wearing helmets.

I've been t-boned by a bike twice.

They don't have any insurance so you can't

really do anything about
it but as a driver,

I have to pay money for car tabs

and insurance to protect them.

And so I think if we wanna fund better,

safer bike lane, we
could very easily do that

by just giving them a license plate

and maybe holding them
accountable a little bit

the same way that they
would park their bikes

or use their ride share and then park it

in the middle of the sidewalk ramp.

I just think that's
inconsiderate, thank you.

JIM: Thank you, Jim Pugel.

I think we have to do a few things.

One, if we promised people, the voters,

the levy voters in Move Seattle

that we were gonna give x amount of money

to bike lanes and to further advance

the Master Bike Use
Program, then and we say

now it's too expensive
so we have to cut some,

then we have to take the same rate

or the same amount of
cuts to the rapid rides,

to the sidewalk improvements,
to the bridge improvements,

to everything else so that everyone

who voted for that Move Seattle levy

gets cut at the same rate
and the same percentage.

That's only fair, if we don't

then we lose trust with our voters.

I think we also need to do
public private partnerships.

The Expedia project down
here along the waterfront,

they put $900 million into that project.

A lot of that went into a new bike lane.

That's gonna make biking a lot safer

and a lot quicker to get to
and from downtown Seattle.

[ERICA]: All right, we're gonna
move to audience questions

and I think we're also going

to move to 45 second answers so we can get

in as many audience questions as possible.

First I wanna do a mini lightning round

which is how many of you support funding

a 400 plus million dollar
Magnolia Bridge replacement?

Okay, all of you, all right.

So here's a question from the audience.

How do you justify
paying up to $420 million

on a one-for-one replacement
for the Magnolia Bridge

considering that it's half the amount

of the entire Move Seattle levy?

ANDREW: I started on the last one

but I'm happy to start again.
[ERICA]: James?

James, you're up now.

JAMES: Can I get the question again? I'm sorry.

[ERICA]: Yeah, how do you justify

your support for the
Magnolia Bridge replacement

given that it's half of the
entire Move Seattle levy?

JAMES: Okay, thank you. James Donaldson.

I justify my support of
it because it's needed.

I mean Magnolia Bridge is 90 years old

and it went through the
earthquake, the Nisqually quake.

It has braces up and down the legs.

I don't know if you've
ever seen this thing.

I drive over it every single day

and so I know it's
needed and it's a matter

of time before we have to replace it.

The monies have to come from various pots

that we have available to us,
be it the federal government,

state government, the
county, Port of Seattle.

And even possibly a small toll

that I think the Magnolia residents

would be okay with, 25 cents, 50 cents

just to go up and down the
bridge every day like I do.

I think we'd all be okay with that

and that's how I justify,
it's very very much needed.

DON: Hi, Don Harper.

Just so you know I was on the campaign

against the Move Seattle levy.

And why, because it was
the worst written levy

I have ever seen, I spent seven years

on the Two Parks Levy
Oversight Citizen Committees.

It taught me how to read levies.

Before then I didn't really pay attention.

I read that levy, it was badly written.

So I don't like the comparison.

If we don't have the Magnolia Bridge,

the estimates by SDOT says it will take

a one hour commute time
from 15th Avenue West

using Dravis to get to the
top of Magnolia Bridge,

or to the top of Magnolia.

How would you like to
have a one hour commute

10 blocks from your home?

The Magnolia Bridge is a part
of our SDOT infrastructure

and we need to fund it.
[ERICA]: Time.

JASON: Jason Williams.

yeah Magnolia is poorly served

by public transportation
and only has three points

of entry when you think
about public safety.

When you think about moving freight

in and out of the Village
for local businesses there

as well as employees who have to commute

from other parts of the neighborhood,

I absolutely will prioritize replacing

the Magnolia Bridge
one-for-one replacement.

What's more though is the bridge
is also a symbol isn't it?

It's a symbol of the kind of
infrastructure investments

that we need to make in Seattle.

Not just Magnolia Bridge, but I talked

about the Bike Master Plan and other parts

of infrastructure when
we think out long term

and the kind of Seattle
that we wanna build.

If we're gonna add density
in places like Magnolia.

If we're going to in other neighborhoods

throughout the area then we need

to make important
infrastructure investments

and that means also improvements -
[ERICA]: It's time.

JASON: To the public transportation, thank you.

GENE: Gene Burrus.

I agree that the Magnolia Bridge is a symbol.

I think it's a symbol
of the city government

falling down on the job, that they've known

this bridge is going
to have to be replaced

since the Nisqually
Earthquake 17 years ago.

They've done nothing to get the funding

and in the meantime we've chased

poorer transportation spending options

like the First Avenue Streetcar.

So I would cut that $410 estimate

by $150 million overnight by canceling

the First Avenue Streetcar and putting

that money towards the Magnolia Bridge

which is what the city
should've been doing

for the last 17 years anyway, thank you.

DANIELA: Daniela Lipscomb Eng.

And it's right that there are only three points

of entry into Magnolia and the majority

of all of the buses are
served by the Magnolia Bridge.

It is the main throughway
in and out of Magnolia

and it needs to be replaced.

So how do we spend $400 million?

Well we don't waste $200 million

on streetcars that don't fit.

We don't waste all of this money

that the city is currently doing.

We buy the noncommercial grade escalators

for the UW transit
station that cost $5 million

to buy the wrong escalators.

Let's make sure that we
have independent audits

of the city to find out
where all the money is going

so that emergency vehicles
can get to and from Magnolia.

We are...thank you.

MICHAEL: Michael George.

We should've been reserving

for the Magnolia Bridge for a long time.

We didn't do it, that's on city
government not on the people

of Magnolia so we have
to replace that bridge.

Beyond that, it is going
to have huge repercussions

on 15th and a whole bunch of other places

surrounding Magnolia
if we don't replace it.

I think the biggest opportunity

to add affordable housing in this city,

definitely in our district, is Interbay.

We're gonna have a light rail
system running through there.

We cannot continue to put
more traffic through 15th.

We are also going to need
to move cars through there.

So I am going to do everything I can

to replace that bridge
and then I am also going

to do everything I can to connect it

to Destiny Magnolia as well
as developing Interbay

the way it should be which is with

a lot of affordable housing, thank you.

ISABELLE: Isabelle Kerner, and
so first thing's first,

I want a new estimate on the bridge.

I don't trust SDOT right now
and I've actually come up

with a little bit of a different plan.

And no one's probably gonna like me,

it's on my website under
the Magnolia questionnaire

and you can read about my bridge plan

which would cost far less than $400 million.

Further, with the Move Seattle levy,

problem with that is that
if we basically take away

the streetcar then we are breaking a deal

we have with the federal government

to provide funding for
major transportation.

If we break that promise
with the federal government

by pulling all the
funding for this project,

they're never gonna give it to us again

and we're gonna lose even more of it.

And I do agree we could put a toll on it,

50 cents, a dollar, whatever,
I'm sure that would be fine.

But it needs to be renovated,
it's not that big of a bridge.

JIM: Okay, I do support a
one-for-one replacement on...

I'm Jim Pugel and I
feel, I agree with James

that when the bridge was originally built,

it had several funding
buckets that helped fund it.

Doorbelling in Magnolia, I've also heard

that some of the folks
would support a small toll.

We have replaced the
14th Avenue South Bridge

that connected Georgetown,
we saw the damage

it did that community for
the 2 1/2 years it was closed

and the Lucille Street
Bridge that we replaced

in the late '  s and early '  s.

That connected Beacon
Hill with Georgetown.

These are all important neighborhoods.

We have to keep our
neighborhoods connected

and provide good public transportation

and as was mentioned, that's where a lot

of the Metro buses go.
Thank you.

ANDREW: Andrew Lewis.

Yeah, I think it is an essential bridge

and we need to replace
it because a big part

of shaping the neighborhood of Magnolia

is gonna be maintaining
that essential connection

to the rest of the city.

The Magnolia Bridge serves
265 Metro buses every day.

It's the biggest mass transit connection

that Magnolia has to the rest of the city.

As I've doorbelled in Magnolia,

I meet a lot of renters in some

of the areas down near Magnolia Village

who are completely
dependent on that bridge.

They're the ones that would be
impacted most by removing it.

I think as we start
having these conversations

about densifying in Magnolia Village,

densifying up at 34th and Government,

it makes a lot of sense
to replace the bridge.

We're not gonna do it alone.

We'll do it by working with the state,

working with the Port,

and working with Burlington-Northern
Santa Fe Railroad

who are some of the partners who helped

build the bridge the last time it was up.

[ERICA]: All right,
another audience question

which is, interpret this however you want.

But how do we deal with the tents

that are impeding foot
traffic on sidewalks?

And I'm gonna assume
that this is primarily

in downtown Seattle.

DON: Yeah. Hi, my name's Don Harper

and I would remove them.

One thing that has happened here

is we've lost control of our city

and we had an opportunity to start

to correct this years ago
and we just played around.

And we've been playing around with it

for since Murray was elected.

What I think we have to do is
we've gotta get our city back

because just in the same
way we treat our children,

we have to give them discipline.

The same thing has to happen with parts

of the citizens of this city, thank you.

JASON: Jason Williams.

Yeah I mean
we are in an emergency.

The fact that we now have just

as many homeless as high
schoolers is not okay.

And that's why we need to help people,

first and foremost, keep
them in their homes.

As I mentioned earlier
that means starting first

with improving the financial resiliency

of people who are at risk of ending up

on the streets in the first place.

Diversion is a program
that now city of Seattle

or Tacoma has doubled
down on and it's a way

in which that we can
keep people in their home

and it can also serve as a platform

on which we can deliver critical services

like mental health services,
substance abuse counseling,

and other contributing
factors to homelessness.

So we should start
there because right now,

King County is exiting more people

out of homelessness than ever before.

The problem is the rate of entry

exceeds that exit, thank you.

GENE: Gene Burrus.

To answer
the question directly,

I too would remove them.

I think we need to provide shelter

for people that need
shelter and the reasons

that people are on the streets are varied

and so the types of shelters

that they're gonna need are varied.

What is needed for a woman
escaping domestic violence

is very different than a young man

that came here because
his family kicked him out

of the house 'cause he was using drugs.

So we need to provide shelters

but we can no longer leave it an option

for people to live on the sidewalks.

That's simply not an option
that the city should allow

and we should provide other means

of sheltering people but
sidewalks are not one.

DANIELA: Daniela Lipscomb Eng, and we need

to remove the tents but we
need enforcement of laws.

We need social workers,
healthcare workers, job training.

We need adequate services for people

that are living on the streets.

We also need enforcement,
we can't allow people

to carry three grams of heroin,

which is 30 doses, on
them without prosecuting.

Our law enforcement has
just gone out of control

and our police officers
are spending the majority

of their day as social workers

and that is not okay because
then they can't do their job.

So I would remove the
tents and offer services.

We have kids right now living in tents.

They should be going to school.

They should not be worried about where

they're gonna live or where
their next meal is coming from.

MICHAEL: Michael George.

I believe we need

to create more shelter
with coordinated services

because I also agree we cannot have people

living in our parks and on our sidewalks.

I have spent my life trying
to make cities livable.

When people, I live
downtown with two kids.

We treat our parks as our backyard.

When I leave my house, it
is very scary sometimes.

We run into some pretty
difficult situations

and that's hard, I also know
a lot of these homeless people

on the street, I've tried to get

a lot of them into housing.

The coordinated system
does not work very well.

It's sad to see them
deteriorate over time.

So we need to step up, we need
to provide real alternatives

for these places for these people to go

where they can get help if they need it

or just housing as most people
need, it's just housing.

But we need to do something
because we cannot continue

to grow the city and get
denser if we don't, thank you.

ISABELLE: Isabelle Kerner.

So I refer to this

as a camping crisis because I believe

that is quite literally what it is.

I've visited a few hundreds of these camps

and I've talked to hundreds of the campers

and they helped me come
up with a solution.

So like I already mentioned,

it involves shipping containers.

There will be 23 sites, one site

for the extremely drug addicted

and one site for the
extremely mentally ill,

the non-alcoholic batteries,

the woman's domestic violence and whatnot.

We have 23 plots of vacant city land.

We'll have a fence around them

and we'll train good techs
so that we can collect

data-based information,
swipe in swipe out,

keep everything structured, pay them

to help remodel the containers

and put it into a fund
that they can't access

'till they exit the program with a job

that they are interested
in and then it will pay

for their affordable
housing and $40 million

is twice the cost, thank you.

JIM: Jim Pugel.

to the direct question

of can we allow camping on sidewalks, no.

It's dangerous, it's a
terrible public policy

for those who are camping and it's unfair

for those who are using sidewalks
for their transportation.

Sidewalks are meant for foot

and some bicycle transportation.

We have to rapidly rehouse
those who are homeless.

We have to work with the police department,

and quite frankly 90% of
police work is social work.

That's my experience after 35 years.

But we have to work with
the social service providers

and government and as
a city councilperson,

I am gonna advocate for housing first

and then take care of all the
other co-occurring disorders

if a person has those, whatever.

We've gotta fix it.

ANDREW: Andrew Lewis.

So to get back to the question again,

we all can agree that
no one should be living

in tents but we need to be really careful

that when we treat homelessness

as a public safety problem instead

of an affordable housing
and public health problem,

we're just gonna be asking
for trouble in this city.

We need to be doing what other cities

have pragmatically done like San Francisco

and Austin, where you
rely on first responders,

EMTs, public health professionals

to do outreach to
encampments to get people

into some kind of permanent placement.

'Cause if we just sweep
encampments on the sidewalk

as the first response, they're just

gonna set up another tent two blocks away

and the underlying problem
isn't met in an effective way.

So I would rely more on
public health responses,

more on first responders to get people

into some kind of situation better

than the tent on the sidewalk.

JAMES: James Donaldson.

As a former business owner

for 28 years and with a business here

in Seattle for seven of those years,

after we closed up in 2007
during the Great Recession

I swore I'd never do business
in the city of Seattle again.

As a business owner, okay?

I am very much a small business advocate.

I think that we should
create a no-encampment zone

around every retail shop operating

here in the downtown
core, from the front door

all the way out to the curbside,
no encampments allowed.

Then if somebody does set up camp there,

we give our police officers the authority

to come by with the paddy
wagon and just sweep them on up

and take them off to some other base

where we can deal with them better there.

We wanna create safety
for our shop owners.

We wanna create safety for our
tourists as well, thank you.

[ERICA]: All right last question,

this is gonna be a 30 second question

and then you'll all have a minute

to just give a quick closing statement.

If you're elected to the city council,

which committee would you
like to chair and why?

Start with Jason.

JASON: Jason Williams.

They have very long names.

Very long names, I can't
recall specifically the name

of the committee that I most
wanna serve on right now.

But I believe strongly in improving

economic opportunities
and security for all

and that's why I would like to work

in fully funding the
Seattle preschool program.

Right now we provide funding only

for 10,000 children every single year.

The need is over 10,000
that means we're leaving

7,000 children behind every year

and we need to start first
with universal access

to affordable high quality early learning.

GENE: Gene Burrus.

I agree they do have long names

and with sometimes unrelated topics.

But the one I would wanna chair

is the one currently chaired
by Chairwoman Juarez,

Councilwoman Juarez, it's the committee

that decided to impose the Waterfront bid

on downtown residents and I would love

to chair that committee and
overturn the Waterfront bid.

And make sure that
Magnolia doesn't get one

imposed on them for a bridge.

DANIELA: Daniela Lipscomb Eng, and I would like

to chair the committee
about land use and zoning.

Right now, single-family homes

are extremely important in Seattle.

The current state of
trying to pass ordinances

to have all 80Us with no parking,

and the more that we've built in Seattle

with no adequate parking,
people are getting

pushed off into the streets.

We also need adequate green space

in all of our new developments.

Parking and green space is very important.

We wanna reduce our carbon footprint,

let's do it with keeping our trees.

MICHAEL: Michael George.

I'd also like to chair the Land Use Committee.

It's something I've spent my career on.

I think we could be doing much more

with our policy to create
more affordable housing

in a way that doesn't
impact neighborhoods.

I really do believe that we need

to move beyond this it's
either supply or it's subsidy.

To really fix middle income housing,

there are a lot more
things that we could do.

I've thought through them, I would love

to get it done because
this city is not gonna work

if there's only housing for
people with six figure incomes

and that's why I am running, thank you.

ISABELLE: So the committees I would
most likely be interested

in chairing are Finance and Neighborhoods,

the Planning Land Use and Zoning

as well as the Select
Committee on Homelessness

because I really do believe my
shipping container idea plan

will work and I do need 23 plots

of the city's vacant land
in order to make it work.

And a small amount of money
in partnership from businesses

of all sizes and in
particular the tech industry.

And I think that we've declared a state

of emergency a while ago, I
haven't seen a lot of urgency

and I just don't think
it's working, so thank you.

JIM: I agree that we have
to shorten up the names

of our committees so
we know what they are.

I would like to sit on
transportation and infrastructure.

I think we've got some
pretty darn good departments,

having worked with other
people at all levels

throughout every city department

in my 31 year career with the city.

I know that we have great employees.

But we have to look under infrastructure

and we have to look under transportation.

20 years ago we had 21,000
people living downtown

and 55,000 people visiting.

We now have 88,000 people coming

into downtown every day.
[ERICA]: Time.

ANDREW: Thank you. Andrew Lewis.

So the committees get
shaken up every two years

but I would wanna hang onto the one

that has housing as part of the portfolio.

I think that as someone who grew up

in the city in a working class household,

we really need to make
sure that if you work

in the city you can aspire to live

in the city and keep that as something

that is true about Seattle.

I would also, we have a small arts office

in the city of Seattle
and arts is usually one

of the departments that gets mixed in

on the odd end of one of these committees.

We have a huge arts
presence in District Seven

from the Opera in Seattle Center
and all the theaters, and I think

that'd be really interesting to work on.

JAMES: James Donaldson.

The committees that appeal

to me right off hand would
be land use and zoning,

I'd be very much
interested in taking a look

at that, being a part of that committee.

I am projecting our future uses

of zones and lands and permitting out

for the next 20 or 30 years.

Also transportation is
gonna be another big one

and with Seattle growing the way it is,

with the greater Seattle metropolitan area

growing the way it is, it
will continue growing.

There's no stemming the tide right now.

People wanna come here
for great opportunities,

it's a great place to be, thank you.

DON: Yeah I've got three committees.

So my name's Don Harper.

One, I would be looking

at the utility, city light.

I have a professional knowledge

about electrical distribution and I'd like

to be able to lend that to the city.

The second one would be the one

that Council Member Juarez is on now

and I would change the name,

she changed it to Public Assets.

She did that on purpose, she is now trying

to take our parks and
turn them into housing.

This is wrong, parks are for parks.

If we build density,
where are kids gonna play?

Next one would be land use.

[ERICA]: All right, so I said

that everybody would get a minute to close

but I'm looking at the time
and it turns out that I lied.

You each get 30 seconds for
a quick closing statement.

I will start with Gene.

GENE: Gene Burrus.

I just wanna thank everyone

for coming out and listening to all of us.

I know everyone's busy and I'm glad

that people think this is important.

I never thought I would get involved

in city politics but as I say,

city politics got involved with me.

I've been a downtown
resident for 10 years.

And my neighbors and I have
become increasingly frustrated

being told by city leadership
that it's just a fact

of life that we have to live with crime,

that we have to live with
an open air drug market

next door to our house, and I
don't think that that's true.

And I'm here to change that.

DANIELA: Daniela Lipscomb Eng.

As a mom of four young boys

and a small business owner, I care more

about my kids than I do about myself

which is true of all parents.

Which means I want this
city to be a better place

for them than it is now and I will work

with you and for you to make sure

that you have our trust, that
we can have an open discussion

and that I don't make decisions

without first talking with you.

We need the transparency
within the city government

and we have completely lost that.

As a Hispanic woman up here, I
ask for your vote, thank you.

Yes thank you for coming today.

MICHAEL: Housing and transportation,
getting those two things right

are the only way that
we're gonna actually solve

the climate issues that we face.

I have spent my career and
life working on those issues.

We can do a lot more if we bring people

with a depth of experience
to make the nuanced policy

that it's gonna take
to make this all work,

which is why I'm running.

I really do believe that this city

can work for everybody and I look forward

to your support and I
hope that as a parent,

this city will not just work for us

but that it will work for
future generations, thank you.

ISABELLE: Hello once again, it's Isabelle Kerner.

And I would like to
thank you all for coming

and I still do need to qualify

for my democracy vouchers so if any

of you here are interested in my ideas

or maybe wanna see a
prototype or something,

there are some forms on the back next

to the Lego box and I just need a few,

10 more $10 contributions
and a statement of support

and I hear a lot of people
talking about solutions

but I haven't really heard of one

that is competing with
mine yet, so come on everyone! Let's go!

JIM: Jim Pugel.

Thank you
all for making the trip

down here tonight however you got here.

And have a safe trip
home, thank you to SEIU

and Erica for hosting this.

I look forward to serving you.

I served the city and
the county for 34 years.

I love public service, I know
to be a good public servant

you have to be responsive, you have

to communicate, and you have to be honest

and transparent and I look forward to it.

ANDREW: Thank you, Andrew Lewis.
it's been my great honor

to serve the people of Seattle

as an assistant city attorney and I hope

to be able to continue to serve the people

of Seattle on the Seattle City Council.

I've been endorsed

by the Martin Luther King
County Labor Council,

36 district Democrats,
37 district Democrats,

King County Young Democrats,
I hope to earn your support

as well, thank you so
much for coming out here

and if you have any questions I'm easy

to track down, send me an email

and I look forward to
hearing from you, thank you.

JAMES: James Donaldson.

40 years, I've been in Seattle for 40 years.

From the first day I dribbled a basketball

for our dearly departed
Seattle Supersonics

to the day I bought my home in Magnolia,

I have been part of our community

in a variety of different ways.

Working with our young people,

being an excellent role model for so many,

being a small business
owner, creating jobs,

and I continue to bring
all those skill sets

to the city council and
I ask for your vote.

As your African American
candidate up here,

thank you very much Daniela
for that, thank you.

DON: Yeah I'm Don Harper.

As I said, I've been on the Queen
Anne Community Council

volunteering for over 20 years.

In that time I've helped to raise

over $2 million for
parks and over $1 million

for pedestrian safety programs.

I'm a retired electrical contractor.

This is not a career move for me.

This is a matter of passion
and trying to serve our city.

I will listen to you,
I will talk with you,

and I will respect what you have to say,

unlike our current city council.

Thank you very much.

JASON: Jason Williams.

Thank you, thanks again

for everyone for being here,
thank you for the sponsors,

thank you Erica for moderating this.

As a son of two working
class parents in Federal Way,

my dad was a butcher, my
mom a public school teacher.

I want to ensure that as Seattle grows

and prospers that all can benefit.

And that starts first with as I mentioned,

universal access to high
quality, affordable childcare,

as well as improvements
to work force development.

What's more is we need
to conserve our land,

waterways, and heritage
sites as Seattle grows.

Lastly, we can only do this
through restored trust.

As someone with experience
working across all sectors,

government, business
and society -

[ERICA]: Now you're filibustering.

JASON: Thank you.

[ERICA]: Thank you all so much.

Let's have a round of
applause for our candidates.

[audience applauds]