This Week on PubliCola: July 5, 2025
King County assessor jailed, new public safety sales tax could pay for treatment, and a longtime youth homelessness provider is in tumult.
Monday, June 30
Sung Yang, the board president for the Downtown Seattle Association, is also a registered lobbyist for IKE Smart City, the company that just brokered a deal to install digital ad kiosks that will benefit the DSA financially throughout downtown Seattle. And: The city’s families and education levy is supposed to fund preschool and other additive education improvements, but this year’s will also fund programs previously paid for out of the city’s general fund.
Seattle Nice: What’s Behind the Proposed New Business Tax?
On this week’s podcast, Sandeep and I discuss the proposed ballot measure to increase business and occupation taxes for the highest-grossing businesses—why it’s happening, why it’s happening now, and what it could mean for this year’s elections.
Tuesday, July 1
Local Public Safety Sales Tax Increase Could Include Some Treatment Funding (In Addition to Cops)
City Council President Sara Nelson, anticipating Mayor Bruce Harrell’s introduction of a 0.1-cent sales tax increase for public safety, is proposing that up to 25 percent of the new tax go to addiction treatment; precisely what kind of treatment the tax would fund remains up in the air.
Thursday, July 3
County Assessor Wilson Jailed on Allegations of Stalking, Violating Protection Order
After PubliCola broke the news that county assessor and King County executive candidate John Arthur Wilson had been jailed for stalking his ex-partner, Lee Keller, at her home, we updated this post to include details from Wilson’s bail hearing at the downtown jail, at which Keller spoke about her fear that Wilson would continue to violate her no-contact order against him.
Accused of voting Republican by the Harrell campaign, mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan first said the accusation was false, then recalled that, actually, he did vote for Tulsi Gabbard in the 2024 primary. And former councilmember (and current Congressional candidate) Kshama Sawant registered a campaign for a local health care initiative her political party has described as a “battering ram” to push nationwide universal Medicaid.
YouthCare, the 50-year-old nonprofit dedicated to ending youth homelessness, has taken drastic actions in recent months to address a financial crisis—laying off a quarter of its staff and closing or consolidating standalone shelter and housing programs. Former staff critical of the agency worry that Youthcare is focusing too much on a future workforce-training hub, the Constellation Center, and not enough on its core mission.