Hollingsworth and Hudson campaign photos — and the iced E Madison development at the center of questions about Hollingsworth’s NIMBY leanings
Growth and development — and how we talk about it — have become heated issues in the race for the District 3 seat on the Seattle City Council.
Candidate Joy Hollingsworth says the dialogue in Seattle and, in particular, from her challenger, is tone deaf on issues of displacement, equity, and racism.
Her challenger Alex Hudson calling the city’s current housing policies “modern day redlining” at last week’s candidates forum on development and zoning is a prime example, Hollingsworth says.
Hudson is white. Hollingsworth is black. Hudson has presented a crisp, urbanist approach to growth in the city with full support for universal upzoning and housing. Hollingsworth’s approach has been less definite while still supporting blanket, citywide upzoning but with more “maybe” answers as she has spoken about fighting for policies that include exceptions to help slow displacement or combat the effects of gentrification.
“I was really disappointed with the invoking of redlining, a Jim Crow-era law that kept my grandmother from buying a home where she wanted, in an attempt to analogize our current zoning regulations,” Hollingsworth told CHS this week in response to Hudson’s words at last Wednesday’s Complete Communities Coalition forum. “Racist policies decided where minorities could live in Seattle in the 50s, and now these same communities are ignored as their neighborhoods are gentrified today… just sad.”
Hudson, meanwhile, sticks to the comparison and said she does, indeed, see the city’s current debates over housing policies and development as akin to the fight for civil rights. Hudson said Hollingsworth has also made similar comparisons about the impacts of zoning in Seattle while on the campaign trail.
But Hollingsworth said anyone trying to make the kind of connection Hudson is invoking is diminishing the systemic racism her community and others faced while also muddying the water around legitimate concerns of gentrification and displacement in neighborhoods like the Central District.
“Redlining was a covenant that targeted Jews, Blacks, Asians and people of color that they were not allowed to purchase a home in certain neighborhoods, It was racist policies that were systemic,” Hollingsworth said. “It’s not the same and I was very disappointed in hearing that comparison and super uncomfortable as well.”
The criticism comes as Hollingsworth’s campaign has been put in the position of explaining a Seattle urbanist scandal — Hollingsworth was a NIMBY. The Stranger reported Friday on a 2017 letter written by Hollingsworth opposing a proposed 5-story, 17-unit microhousing apartment building at 23rd and Madison, reporting that Hollingsworth would “rather have a view of Bellevue than housing in her backyard.”
The project was never built but Hollingsworth said the attempts to link the letter to how she might vote as a member of the council are not fair.
“The letter does not shape my values and what I want for my policies,” Hollingsworth tells CHS, saying she was standing up for a “community that has been gentrified and displaced.”
“I wasn’t thinking about zoning back in 2017,” Hollingsworth said.
Hollingsworth said the Stranger’s report and Hudson’s approach to the issues of development and growth show why the city needs leadership from someone who has lived with those challenges even if they haven’t been part of shaping policies and government.
“I can speak to real impact,” Hollingsworth says. “The impact it has had on the real communities. That perspective is important.”
Hudson’s experience as the former head of the First Hill Improvement Association and the Transportation Choices Coalition — and support from the crowd interested in the city’s zoning and growth policies — was evident last Wednesday with many of her answers clear, complete, and generating applause. Her message: growth is a Seattle asset.
“Every time I hear people talk about growth like it’s a burden, I find that very disappointing,” Hudson said Wednesday. “Growth and housing and people are not a burden, they are an asset and investment in having healthy, safe, and wonderful communities.”
During the forum, both candidates said they would not support any exceptions for housing and upzoning across Seattle allowed in the so-called “middle housing” bill that opens the door to “duplexes or fourplexes in most neighborhoods in most cities throughout the state, regardless of local zoning rules that have long limited huge swaths of cities to only single-family homes.”
Hudson also pledged her full, unequivocal support for density and height bonuses that would allow affordable and social housing developments to build larger — and presumably more cost efficient — buildings in neighborhoods in District 3 and across the city.
Hollingsworth backed off the pledge. Acknowledging that “the least expensive floor is the one built right above it,” the candidate said the city needs to take a “more thoughtful approach” with room for prioritizing preservation of character in certain neighborhoods.
“Capitol Hill is very different than South Lake Union,” Hollingsworth said. “People like to come and live on Capitol Hill because of the character of the neighborhood, the legacy of our buildings. I would love for us to do it in a little bit more thoughtful way as we’re developing and building our city.”
The wrinkle? It is those types of exceptions and efforts to preserve that has helped create Seattle’s housing crisis in the first place, Hudson says.
“I don’t see less housing as an advantage for any part of our city,” she said.
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Okay, so every candidate supports growth and Hollingsworth wants to be careful in the planning after having directly experienced Seattle’s past discriminatory choices. Got it.
Sounds like the stranger was making up a guy to be mad at.
“Capitol Hill is very different than South Lake Union,” Hollingsworth said. “People like to come and live on Capitol Hill because of the character of the neighborhood, the legacy of our buildings. I would love for us to do it in a little bit more thoughtful way as we’re developing and building our city.”
No, I only live in Capitol Hill because it has a dense housing around a light rail station (that isn’t <1000 ft from breathing freeway pollution) and multiple good grocery stores nearby.
also South lake Union doesn’t have grocery stores. we need to think about building communities in addition to just housing
South Lake Union does have a grocery store.
meeee toooo
Hollingsworth is spot on here. we’re not New York, we’re a city of neighborhoods. I moved to Seattle from the east coast for the green spaces. it just feels like the people trying to shape our city’s policy aren’t actually from here.
First Hill has some of the densest tree canopy in the city, and is also one of if not the most dense neighborhoods in the city. Upzoning and density is not mutually exclusive with tree canopy, and if you want to preserve green space you should support upzoning so we can have urban infill development rather than razing the surrounding forests just to building suburban sprawl. Exclusionary zoning is a holdover from redlining and it perpetuates climate arson, full stop.
Stop invoking systemic racism with your Zillow disappointment. stop comparing this to the civil rights movement. you have no idea what we went through during that time.
FULL STOP.
” you have no idea what we went through during that time.”
Times have changed first of all.
I DO and many others have experience in the civil rights movement. Affordable housing is part of that plan.
Also, there are greenspaces within Capitol Hill and beyond. There’s streets closed off for dog parks and simply sitting playing a game of chess.
😄 Really? Ask Jewish, ask Russians what they went through and look at them now. It’s time to move on and try to rebuild black communities. So many amazing people around them, who can be an example for the younger generation and for many adults as well. Those, who are earning respect and admiration by hard work, by spreading love and joy with their talents.
Jewish and Russians only had to suffer because black people weren’t really in the NW yet until Boeing. And when they did arrive, they were forced in and Jews got more benefits. Time for you to read your modern history books.
The central district has already been upzoned. that’s the issue. the CD dealt with a disproportionate amount of growth and was gentrified as a result!
Upzoning and density are not mutually exclusive with tree canopy, but without proper regulation and planning they will be. Developers will not voluntarily choose pricier land, nor to keep trees when that cuts into their profit. Yes we need more housing, but also yes there needs to be some thought/planning into where, how, and equity of green space
She’s ignoring gentrification of the CD
I agree with you completely. Hudson is tone deaf on gentrification.
Nope, I mean Hollingsworth, the one who used CD issues to get votes, but then turns out to be chummy with the developer-loving mayor.
Are you seriously stating that a black woman that was born and raised in the CD is ignoring gentrification and using her experience to get votes?! WTF … … … like what’s she supposed to do? I highly doubt she isn’t including her understanding of gentrification in how she puts together a case for the best way forward. It’s a pretty punk-ass move to devalue a candidate like this just because you don’t agree.
New York City is also a city of neighborhoods. Quite a few of them have excellent access to green spaces, including in less pricey neighborhoods. Source: lived in several of those neighborhoods, knew folks in others.
Anyone who appreciates and wants to enjoy green spaces needs to confront the geometric reality that building up more and building out less is necessary to preserve green spaces.
Much of New York City has undergrounded utilities, so street trees can be large and provide a lot of benefit. Rowhouses in DC have significant setbacks, allowing large trees to grow between them and the sidewalk. Seattle has overhead utilities and ever-diminishing setbacks, thanks to regulatory capture of SDCI and the CC by developers.
We need growth, but I completely agree with Joy here. having experienced this first hand these out of town developers have no regard for our communities. my home is boxed in by projects from developers from new Jersey and Florida with the base rent on one of these 1 bedroom units starting at $2,500 a month!
no sunlight, no greenery.. too few neighborhoods shoulder the brunt of Seattle’s growth while other parts remain untouched. we need smarter planning all around
Those other parts remain untouched because their residents have successfully argued that the “neighborhood character” is not like South Lake Union. Hollingsworth is just hoping to get the same privileges where she lives, not get rid of the bullshit neighborhood-based privilege system.
They’re calling it “redlining” because they can’t find a 300k dollar condo. The audacity. They gentrified our neighborhoods and now they’re using relics of our oppression to equate their house search to Jim Crow.
Wake up!
Seems Hollingsworth forgot about her roots as soon as she started having a thriving business. This is why Hudson is the clear choice to me.
It is refreshing to see that Hollingsworth understands nuance and that planning a great city is complicated. Yes we need to build a lot more housing and yes we need to do it in a way that maintains character and avoids unintended consequences such as displacement. I am so tired of the overly simplistic leftist position on housing “build baby build” that Hudson embodies. That is music to the ears of the developers and their shareholders. And frankly, her comment on redlining is tone deaf and a little racist. I am with the hometown candidate that gets it. Go Joy!
I get not wanting to not displace any further people, but what does that actually even look like? We need housing. There’s a reason why more white people live in the north, and why more black people live in the south – newsflash: rent prices, and racial income inequality.
I don’t need idealism. Waving your hands and saying we need to do it in a “non-displacing way that doesn’t gentrify, and that preserves the neighborhood character” just sounds like a load of dog whistle conservative bullshit. Capitol Hill is already gentrified. Black and white people are already largely separated. This paired with her track record, Hollingsworth doesn’t really look like my candidate, and shouldn’t be your candidate if you care about race and housing.
Upzone Wallingford, Fremont, Magnolia, Lake Forest Park, etc. first. Then come to the CD/CH. How about that?
Thank you! The CD ground zero for gentrification and displacement because nobody files bs SEPA determinations or frivolous claims by neighborhood associations. Upzone the rich neighborhoods and ban vacation rentals 100%. Half of the new townhomes in the CD are foreign/investment portfolio owned or empty or vacation rentals or all of the above.
Agreed completely. CD has gone to less than 10% Black, while also incurring lots of development – often predatory development as well (after being disinvested in and harmed by the Cities development and transportation policies and programs).
It’s not like there isn’t already a ton of development and growth that’s already happened (and is still to come) — to pretend like the CD and Joy Hollingsworth (who lives in a triplex by the way) are at all equivalent to the people who have actually pushed redlining, gentrification and displacement to certain neighborhoods is to look at the world without context or any nuance (or understanding of structural and systemic racism).
And speaking of lack of context, nuance (or actual depth) – the Stranger is continuing it’s recent history of being a total shill for whomever or whatever is the favorite of the current crop of writers and finding ways to shit on everything else. They just had an editorial against the Crisis Care Levy! Unserious.
New housing in rich neighborhoods is just more housing for rich people.
As D3 candidates, that’s a fairly meaningless proposal that equates to “upzone in places my voters don’t live”. The CD and CH are already (mostly) upzoned, yes. So both candidates should be able to support blanket city wide upzoning rules, which will make it possible to build in Wallingford etc the way it is already possible to build in CH/CD. Instead Hollingsworth wants to use ‘character of the neighborhood’ exceptions that are currently used to block development in those neighborhoods, and bring them to where she lives. Maybe she can explain how they will apply to Rainier Beach, if they’re meant to be a city-wide anti-displacement measure.
Council vote on issues not in their neighborhood, and D3 candidate should protect it from gentrification so…. this post makes no sense.
Well, no. As a D3 voter, I’m not going to vote for anyone to protect my neighborhood at the expense of a proper city policy. But I do understand many voters really are that selfish, so I get where you are coming from.
Sooooooo, the black candidate is not the one to vote for if you care about race? Ok, got it. Vote for the white candidate if you care about race. Thanks for that.
Or….we see through Hollingsworth’s identity politics. Maybe just maybe!!!
A couple of things: First, D3 isn’t the only area up-sizing. Have you seen the U-District lately? Northgate is also growing quickly and I expect Roosevelt to grow as well – mainly because of light rail.
The Central District is unique, geographically. It’s not exactly downtown adjacent, but is extremely convenient – closer than many parts of Capitol Hill. Its name is a dead giveaway!
Growth is heading our way whether we like it or not. And I think our leaders will need to manage both historic and cultural issues AND increasing density.
I want Magnolia affluents to suffer being gentro’d.
Your class envy is showing.
At last someone admits the primary “progressive” goal is to punish people.
Lightrail grows those neighborhoods but we’re seeing upzoning in White Center and CD where no lightrail exists. Why? Cheaper housing and gentrification. Tired of it. Time for Magnolia to suffer.
@central District Res: at least you are honest about yourself being a NIMBY and are just jealous of the richer, more politically powerful folks in Magnolia. Probably has a semi-secret agenda that Magnolia will depreciate and your area will worth more.
That’s a good start to have an adult conversation.
You know nothing about me and offered nothing in this post. You’re having a good faith “adult” conversation.
I can’t buy a house anywhere I want either. It’s only because of my financial situation. I lost my first and only during crisis. “Redlining” is mostly a history, otherwise those black artists and sport stars wouldn’t be able to live in the affluent neighborhoods among others of different race.
I don’t like any of the candidates, but to blame Hollingworth for the letter, where she was opposing micro housing is wrong. Right now, in those kind of housing, I see mostly former homeless, with the all kinds of issues and addictions. Let’s be honest, it’s ruining the neighborhoods. It’s becoming unsafe and the value of real estate is dropping fast. Not everybody, who is owning a house is rich. Many are still paying mortgage with the hard earned money. City is already putting a heavy burden on them, with numerous taxes.Have some respect to them. Plus, Capitol Hill is already overpopulated. It’s a super dense neighborhood. I was asking before and I’m asking again, why are so many homeless are put in the housing here? Especially with addictions, which drives the crime rates up. I don’t see anything for working families with children. For them, proximity to transportation is especially important. Build micro housing somewhere else, outside of capitol hill.
It seems that people are got used to shootings every day, unconscious people on the ground, on the benches, ugly graffiti and pounds of trash. Maybe to start first from fixing all those problems?
Too much of political agenda in all discussions and conversations. I was tired of it, while growing up in another country. Just make the city safer and cleaner already. I don’t see anyone up to this task. They are probably will be afraid to be accused of some racial discrimination or some other type of nonsense. It’s a sad situation.
“Right now, in those kind of housing, I see mostly former homeless, with the all kinds of issues and addictions. “
We are all better off with formerly homeless people being housed. And we don’t need to push out the people who lived here and became homeless just so that the low income housing can be filled with retired California transplants.
Hudson is the only choice.
Hollingsworth is a corporate democrat. Hudson is a main stream progressive.
It’s a little patronising and outdated to use your color to gain votes of like colors. The black vote will heavily favor Hollingsworth as a result.
Nailed it! She’s owns a business and thinks like the upper business class. Not what the CD or CH need!
Oh no, she owns a business? How dare she? So glad you are 100% self sustaining and never in need of some evil business owner and their services.
You say “Hudson is the only choice” and then you say “Hollingsworth is a corporate democrat.” I am not sure what a “corporate democrat” is but I like it when people have jobs (as in, provided by corporate entities) and I like non-wackadoo Democrat ideas. Thus I’m really excited to vote for Hollingsworth, and ergo Hudson is NOT the “only choice.” I for one am making a different choice.
“It’s a little patronising and outdated to use your color to gain votes of like colors. The black vote will heavily favor Hollingsworth as a result.”
You think your grotesque stereotyping and de-meaning of Black voters is not patronising?
I am a third generation CD black voter and I am anti-Hollingsworth. Want to try this one on me?
So, this is the internet. I’ve seen a few screen grabs on Twitter (I’m sorry – X) lately where people seem to have forgotten to change to the fake accounts where they pretend to be Black and say things like ‘We Black people love Trump!’ – and their profile picture is clearly a white person. No offense, but we only have your word that you’re who you say you are. Sure, one can be Black and anti-Hollingsworth, but one can also be a fraud or shill. This is called ‘not believing everything I read on the internet’.
I’d also like to introduce you to the Dunning-Kruger Effect where – and I’m paraphrasing here – one who lacks knowledge and skills displays overconfidence in their abilities and they are perceived as being correct and knowledgeable as opposed to people who show nuance and doubt about an issue or issues and are perceived to be less correct and less knowledgeable.See Trump for a prime example of this.
The current city council seems to be an amazing example of the Dunning-Kruger Effect at work, and Alex Hudson is, in my opinion, of the same ilk. I’m not saying who to vote for but I am trying to get people to understand that we need leadership who understands nuance and doesn’t just bullshit their way into a position (or, upwardly fail, if you prefer that phrase).
Ah, so accuse me of lying. Neat. Another thing black people have to deal with. I am only mixed, so maybe I should only get half a vote in your eyes huh? Do you want me to show you pictures of the black people canvassing for Hudson?
A few of your foaming-at-the-mouth posts earlier you accuse Hollingsworth of playing race identity politics, and here you are doing the same.
Also, you didn’t take the time to comprehend what I wrote. You went from 0 to rant (sorry, 0 to victim) in under 60 seconds instead. Have a nice day.
Anyone who doesn’t think redlining is directly related to modern zoning should look at redlining maps and compare them to zoning maps. On the redlining maps, anywhere that allowed apartment buildings was immediately considered “undesirable,” because it was assumed racial minorities would live there. Those areas that permitted apartment construction have changed very little over the past 60 years. So, that’s why most apartment construction has happened in places that were zoned for apartments last century: the “undesirable” label changed, but the zoning didn’t. That’s why there aren’t any new apartments in Madison Park or North Capitol Hill (don’t even get me started on Broadmoor), and lots of new, dense apartments in the CD, CID and south Capitol Hill. Zoning has been how formerly redlined areas and detached housing enclaves have remained so entrenched.
Hollingsworth isn’t wrong that gentrification has decimated the neighborhood character of the CD, but she seems way off base about the causes and solutions. The carve outs for “a more thoughtful approach” and “prioritizing preservation of neighborhood character” are weapons that have been used for decades by the wealthiest and most advantaged to concentrate growth and destructive gentrification away from their neighborhoods onto communities with the fewest resources. There’s no reason to think that pattern won’t repeat if the same types of exclusions are built into future zoning plans. Make it legal to build every neighborhood (Magnolia, Madison Park, Wallingford, all of them) as densely as the CD. That’s how you start to grow the city equitably.
Is your end goal to increase housing supply… or to screw the people in Madison Park and Magnolia “if I cannot afford it, mess up their neighborhoods too!”.
It feels like you want the latter, to be honest.
So do most advocates here… you just sound jealous. And if you ever can afford a house in Laurelhurst, you will turn around to defend the “neighborhood character”. It’s human nature but this kind of hypocrisy is pretty nasty.
Lol – Projecting your own feelings, maybe?
Yes, my end goal is to increase housing supply (since we have a severe housing shortage driving up costs), and for that housing supply to be spread more evenly across the city. Apartments in Magnolia or Madison Park aren’t going to “mess up” those neighborhoods. In fact, apartments already exist in those places, but it hasn’t been legal to build many more since the beginning of redlining. And redlining correlates strongly with current zoning, the basis of the point in my original comment.
What’s your end goal? Other than making accusations about my intentions, while ignoring what I actually wrote.
Best to read about history – Powell-Barnett wanted and got exactly those zoning exclusions in the ’60’s for the upper Leschi neighborhood in fear that the single family homes, mostly occupied at the time by black families, would be torn down and the neighborhood turned into a ghetto by apartment developers.
The absurdity of a white Liberal dog-whistling a Black candidate to be Racist…
If Seattle voters aren’t able to get past these lame dog whistles, you will get another garbage City Council.
Do these white woke candidates actually have solutions to offer except labelling everyone racist?
I am a black voter and anti-Hollingsworth. Many of the black community members are. I am of the Hudnell to Hudson pipeline.
I am a white native Seattleite and my vote is for Hollingsworth. I hate the name calling when people do not agree. This is not a one size fits all. Regarding all the upzoning we also need to invest in infrastructure. What is our sewer capacity, roads, schools, electrical capacity, etc. This is not a simple solution. I am healthy, but older and I do need to use my car. And what about the cost of building. Do people realize building costs and land cost have skyrocketed. Our resources have to be better managed.