This Week on PubliCola: March 9, 2025
Sara Nelson gets a challenger, Republican Ann Davison says immigration crackdown is an "issue of local control," and we discuss new revelations about the mayor's 1996 arrest.
By Erica C. Barnett
Tuesday, March 4
PubliCola Questions: Seattle City Council Position 9 Candidate Dionne Foster
City Councilmember Sara Nelson has her first viable challenger: Washington Alliance for Progress director Dionne Foster. Foster, who previously worked for the Seattle Foundation and in the city’s Office of Policy and Innovation, says she’ll focus on environmental justice, housing development, and “addressing the [police] hiring shortage.”
Wednesday, March 5
Three quick stories in Afternoon Fizz: Councilmember Nelson’s proposal to allow housing in the city’s stadium district moves on to full council; Republican City Attorney Ann Davison joins a lawsuit over Trump’s anti-immigrant executive order; and Councilmember Rob Saka says we shouldn’t build new public restrooms “unless and until” the ones we have are clean.
Thursday, March 6
Sound Transit’s CEO Search Should Be About Leadership, Not Political Deals
In a guest op-ed, two transit advocates argue that we need a transparent process for appointing a Sound Transit CEO, rather than one in which the presumptive frontrunner, King County Executive Dow Constantine, wields enormous power over the hiring process and appointed half the board that will make the hiring decision.
Saturday, March 8
On this week’s podcast, we discussed Dionne Foster’s campaign against Sara Nelson, Ann Davison’s decision to join the anti-Trump lawsuit, and KUOW’s reporting on Mayor Bruce Harrell’s arrest in 1996, including an account from the woman who says Harrell brandished his gun at her family in a casino parking lot.