With the August Primary Election to winnow down the field to the top two candidates in each race only weeks away, three key battles are set to shape Seattle’s path to recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. One will decide if a successful incumbent can retain one of two citywide seats on the Seattle City Council, one will place a new leader in that second citywide council seat representing cross-Seattle priorities, and one will bring a new mayor to City Hall to lead the sixth richest city in the nation.
Take the 2021 District 3 Priorities survey | View current results
Along with our ongoing coverage of candidates, forums, fundraising, and campaigns, CHS is asking the candidates in these three crucial races a small set of key questions about priorities for voters across District 3’s Capitol Hill, Central District, and neighboring communities.
Help us shape the 2021 CHS Primary Candidate survey by taking our poll on District 3 priorities and adding your thoughts and ideas for important, Capitol Hill and CD-area specific questions for the candidates.
Please suggest your questions in the CHS comments below and watch for the results when we post answers from the candidates later this month when ballots hit mailboxes across the district.
In Seattle, 15 candidates are vying to lead the city and replace Mayor Jenny Durkan who is stepping down after a single term of office:
2021 Primary Mayoral Candidates:
| Clinton Bliss | M. Lorena González | Lance Randall |
| Henry Clay Dennison | Bruce Harrell | Don L. Rivers |
| James Donaldson | Andrew Grant Houston | Casey Sixkiller |
| Colleen Echohawk | Arthur K. Langlie | Omari Tahir-Garrett |
| Jessyn Farrell | Stan Lippmann | Bobby Tucker |
Meanwhile, both citywide seats on the nine-member Seattle City Council are up for grabs though incumbent Teresa Mosqueda seems unlikely to be displaced from her seat on the city’s legislative body.
2021 Seattle City Council Candidates:
| POSITION 8 | ||
| Brian Fahey | Kate Martin | Kenneth Wilson |
| Jordan Elizabeth Fisher |
Bobby Lindsey Miller
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| George Freeman |
Teresa Mosqueda
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| Paul Glumaz | Alex Tsimerman | |
| Jesse James | Alexander White | |
| POSITION 9 | ||
| Corey Eichner | Nikkita Oliver | |
| Xtian Gunther | Brianna Thomas | |
| Lindsay McHaffie |
Rebecca Williamson
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| Sara Nelson | ||
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I’ve never been so unhappy with the City of Seattle and its leadership. Seattle is a shining beacon on the hill of how liberalism fails. We have no police. We have homeless on the streets everywhere. And we have a city that is so expensive to live in that most can’t afford it.
If this is the solutions liberalism provides since liberals have complete control of the city I now know that liberalism isn’t the solution.
Republicans offer even less.
SO DISAPPOINTING
(number of streets in Seattle where homeless are on / total number of streets in Seattle) x 100%
= not 100%, not even close to 1%, i.e. not everywhere.
As for things being too expensive, blame capitalism.
I see at least 25 -30 homeless with a few blocks by my house everyday. I’m jealous your experience is different. Seattle and all the supporting agencies spend 100k per homeless and we just get min services and more homeless.
*12,000 homeless estimated in King County(2021)
* KC spending on homeless(housing) 1 year ($400 mil)
* COS spending on homeless $167 million (1 year) (2021)
You mean blame Crony Capitalism and the Federal Reserve. I’m going out on a ledge here and assume you consider yourself a Socialist. Not like Venezuela of course, but like Sweden. Because everything is great in Sweden. However, Sweden is in fact Capitalist with an expanded welfare state. It would have to be as you need Capitalism to generate enough wealth to pay for everything. Actual Socialism has failed as a successful economic system everywhere it has been attempted. As a murderous totalitarian state where the One Percent truly prosper it has been successful. Is this what you are pining for? Doubt you’ll find yourself in that club.
You could say the exact same thing, but replace “Actual Socialism” with “Actual Capitalism” and it would still be true.
The US has been trending towards “Actual Capitalism” and a failed economic model. We generate plenty of wealth in the US, we just allow it to accumulate in a select few amount of people, rather than with the people that generate the wealth. This will continue as long as people care more about abortions and guns than their own well-being and the well-being of their fellow Americans.
Yes, more like Sweden. Doubt many republicans and moderates will like their tax rates.
So it’s not Capitalism you have the problem with.Sweden has a lower corporate tax rate which is what the oligarchs really care about.
It is the income tax many people cry about.
Sweden also has a highly functional government bureaucracy, something I cannot say about our city state or federal govt.
If our governments had a better record of success in providing services many more people might be willing to pay for those services.
I’m with Jer. The city’s a wreck. No, it’s not entirely the fault of the current council, but they haven’t made it any better. And I have no faith they will. For the first time, I will not vote for any incumbent in this election.
Then why don’t you run for mayor as the conservative beacon of light you claim Seattle so desperately needs?
Currently, the political alternates to the mayoral and council candidates don’t seem to offer anything that would sway voters. People like you love to complain about Seattle leadership, but nobody wants to step up.
In the end, Seattle is one of the best cities in the country to live in. The fact that people are still moving here in droves corroborates that.
Seems like you’re really just regurgitating the LIBRULZ BAD narrative that some angry guy on the radio is yelling at you.
Why don’t I run for Mayor or city council? Because I’ll never get elected. I’m not going to be liked by any side. And I’m not a corp shill that is going to be getting my citizens united money from the corps for favors.
My solutions will be moderate and the liberals will hate me and the republicans will hate me. So basically we’re in a toxic state in the USA in general and there is no compromise. Seattle is bordering on socialism and obviously that isn’t working.
The current level of politics in the USA are way to toxic for normal people to run. We have to either get on the capitalism pot or we get off it.
I don’t think I’m could be corrupt enough or strong enough to do the tough work necessary to really create real change.
What does real change mean? At this point I believe our laws give corporations an out of proportion representation in politics, disenfranchise voters and utimately leads to profits are #1. Homeless and other things are just industries (think prison system as an example) that make money off the problem rather than solving.
What I really hope is that Americans wake up to this con we’ve been living for the last 40 years and demand change at every level of our governments. This infighting is useless and just empowers those the system is only working for.
The biggest problem with US politics is apathy. If people are upset with government, change it. Complaining while doing nothing accomplishes just that: nothing.
Seattle is bordering on socialism and obviously that isn’t working.
The US is a socialist country, it’s a reason you drive on public road, draw water from public pipes, visit public libraries, etc. We just have a really poorly funded version of it, mainly because of our poorly implemented version of Capitalism.
Have the Mandatory Housing Affordability upzones helped neighborhoods like Capitol Hill and the Central District. If so, how? If not, why not?
The city is land locked. Until they take a serious effort to tear down single family homes and build real housing solutions we are stuck with this inequity and terrible use of land in the city.
I’m not in CH, but in my neighborhood single family housing is being torn down and replaced with greater density. Here’s what that looks like: One (relatively) affordable older single family house valued at around $500k goes up for sale. Families who wish to buy it are outbid by developers, who tear down the house and put up anywhere from 3-6 townhomes at $800k each. So I challenge your assertion that SFH are the problem here.
It’s the same thing on Capitol Hill, only more so. Developers rule the day, with the complicity of the City.
I personally am glad they are building multifamily housing rather than just a single house on a lot housing 2 or 3 people when that lot can house 20 or more.
Plenty of single family homes all over Seattle. And also plenty of homeless on the streets. That’s my challenge. Housing crisis is a made up issue where city gov doesn’t take a strong enough stance on building housing. If citizens really wanted to house all of those amongst us (even the least) we would have done it so far.
But rather anyone owning a single family home in Seattle 1) doesn’t want to lose their home or home value and 2) knows getting back out on the market only puts them in tighter quarters.
It’s life. Seattle is changing and our city government and it’s citizens need to catch up.
The city council just voted 5-3 to deny churches the ability to build extra housing on their land for families making between 60 and 80 of the Area Median Income. Do you support this decision? Yes or No. If yes, where else should families making $70k/year be going for housing?
They should go here: https://www.homesteadclt.org/
This is how I bought my home.
Given safety concerns of SPD and many in community asking for the facility to be removed, would you support closure of the East Precinct at 12th Ave and Pine street? If not, what changes would you support to improve the situation for police and for the neighborhood?
Do not support removal. As for changes, I saw a story once about a city back east that had police start walking the beat again, talking to shop owners, residents. It built a level of trust, and there was a crime decrease. We could start with that.
Is there anyone outside of the Twitter left saying it should be removed? What’s the point?
Sad to see Arts and Culture so low!
When a city loses its soul it loses it’s arts and culture. Look at bellevue as an example.
Mayoral and citywide-seat candidates, my questions to you are as follows: 1) Do you support tiny homes? According to a June article in The Seattle Times, there are currently 298 tiny homes across the eight villages in the city, with two more villages in-progress.
2) If you answered Yes to supporting tiny homes, would you consider the equally tiny, yet far more space-efficient, option of microhousing/congregate housing/SEDUs? Starting in 2014, Seattle pretty much legislated away any incentive to build microhousing (in 2020, there were ZERO projects permitted for such housing, see https://www.sightline.org/2021/02/04/when-is-seattle-going-to-fix-microhousing/). If you’re OK with tiny homes, I would have to imagine you’d be OK with SEDUs, as well. Rather than having to support 8+ villages across the city (which requires finding unused parcels of land and non-NIMBY neighbors who are OK with tiny homes), you could fit many more people in congregate housing solutions.
-Former D3, now D2 resident
Why are Seattle City’s roads so terrible and why the City is only putting 20 million budget each year out of 6.7B total for road pavement? Seattle’s roads (and only Seattle’s) are disgusting compared to Bellevue, Kirkland and all other Puget Sound cities.
If you are looking for an alternative to the current incumbent in Position 8, please consider voting for me, Kenneth Wilson. I am not a politician. I am a licensed professional civil and structural engineer specializing in bridges and trained in creating and maintaining infrastructure. You can learn more about me and my stances on my website: http://www.kenforcouncil8.com.