Seattle Nice: Our 2025 Predictions

Pessimism, Optimism, and a Few Curveballs (Sports Metaphor!)

Sandeep says Seattle hasn't done "Space Needle Thinking" in years. Photo by Dietmar Ramich, via Wikimedia Commons

By Erica C. Barnett

This week's Seattle Nice features the debut of a very special guest—PubliCola co-founder and Maybe Metropolis columnist Josh Feit! We brought Josh on this week to discuss our predictions for 2025, but, as tends to happen when we all get in a room together, we quickly entered tangent city. So in addition to our predictions (things that definitely will come true, things that won't come true but should, and things that shouldn't happen but will) you'll get a history lesson about Jimmy Carter's misremembered "malaise" speech, the time Sandeep and I saw the Monkees together, and our thoughts about the most recent casting for "Cabaret."

In between all that, we did discuss some of the predictions I published last week, and David added a few of his own.

On the agenda:

• David's "bold predictions" about local elections this year: There will be ten mayoral candidates or fewer; at least one incumbent up for reelection will lose (perhaps Republican City Attorney Ann Davison?), that the initiative to fund social housing, Prop. 1A, will win in February, and that every candidate will agree to participate in a Seattle Nice debate (let's manifest this!).

• Josh's considerably darker prediction about the MAGA years ahead: He thinks we're going to start seeing the masks drop in Seattle, as emboldened Trumpists in "blue" cities across the country make their presence known through what Josh calls "trickle-down bullying"—from snide comments in coffee shops to hate crimes and outright violence.

• I talk about why I'm worried that the city of Seattle is horribly ill-prepared for Trump 2.0: Mayor Harrell has made a public statement that he's open to working with the administration on areas of common interest, but has not announced how he plans to fight immigration raids and crackdowns on LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights, and neither the mayor nor the council has discussed how they will respond if and when the new administration cuts federal funds, which pay for everything from housing to disaster aid, to blue cities.

• Sandeep thinks Seattle will remain stuck in its current period of, yes, malaise, as the era of big, bold ideas (like JumpStart, the tax the business community opposed until they realized it could help the Chamber-friendly council pay for regular city services, avoiding new taxes and budget cuts) continues to recede. Harrell likes to talk a big game about "Space Needle Thinking," but Sandeep argues that we've been playing small ball in Seattle for years (double sports metaphor!)