Monday, June 3
The King County Regional Homelessness Authority’s new director, Kelly Kinnison, will start on August 1, after more than a year in which the embattled homelessness agency lacked a permanent leader. Darrell Powell, its interim director, left abruptly last week (the Seattle Times later confirmed he was fired), and the agency bumped interim deputy director Hedda McClendon, a local human services veteran, into the acting CEO role.
Tuesday, June 4
Council Imposes New Reporting Requirements on Community-Led Development Projects
After proposing, then walking back, a budget amendment that would have frozen spending for the city’s largest anti-displacement program unless the city spent all the money it has reserved for dozens of capital projects within three months, City Councilmember Maritza Rivera proposed, and the council passed, a new amendment requiring a status report on all projects funded through the program, called the Equitable Development Initiative. Community groups continued to rally against the proposal, fearing, they said, that this won’t be the last attempt to raid equity-focused programs to close the city’s budget gap.
Wednesday, June 5
City attorney Ann Davison plans to propose legislation that would create a legislative version of Stay Out of Drug Area zones, from which people arrested for drug crimes can be banned. Previous iterations of SODA banished drug offenders from huge swaths of the city, including areas where social services are located; the bans have not been showed to reduce overall drug use or sales, although—like police emphasis areas—they do push drug activity to other areas.
Thursday, June 6
Local Control Can Work to Solve Our Housing Crisis: Here’s How
In a guest column, King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci explains how each of the county’s 39 cities can add new housing in the way that works best for their city, using principals local control to achieve ambitious new growth targets aimed at creating housing affordable at every income level.
“I Will Accept Whatever You Think is Best”: Woo Says She’ll Recuse Herself From Gig Worker Wage Vote
After the director of the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission advised City Councilmember Tanya Woo that she should recuse herself from voting on legislation to reduce the minimum wage for gig delivery workers because her family owns a restaurant that uses these delivery services, Woo sought a second opinion from the full commission. When they declined to take action, Woo said she’d accept the recommendation and recuse herself.
Friday, June 7
A Handful of Supporters Rally for Ousted Police Chief Diaz, Expected to Return to SPD at Former Rank
A dozen or so people rallied outside City Hall and police headquarters to support former police chief Adrian Diaz—a minuscule turnout for a man who was ousted last week amid allegations of sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation against both the department and Diaz himself. Diaz is taking an indeterminate amount of time off, but when he returns, he will almost certainly go back to his prior rank of lieutenant, which pays significantly less than the $340,000 salary he has made as chief.
Last year, in response to a shooting at Ingraham High School, the city raised the JumpStart payroll tax to fund mental health programs in schools. Since then, though, the money has gone unspent, awaiting followup legislation. This week, council members expressed skepticism about the plan, suggesting it wasn’t fully baked—a tacit dig at sponsor Kshama Sawant, whose legacy the new council seems intent on undoing.
And: Councilmember Rob Saka cut off an SDOT staffers’s presentation on efforts to incorporate equity in transportation levy implementation, saying the committee already had “a handle on” that issue—a move that led to an awkward few minutes as the staffer, who happened to be the only woman of color at the table, had to sit silently while the committee skipped past her presentation.