Home-ownership Coordinator at Homestead Community Land Trust
West Seattle
Who'd you pick for Seattle mayor? Nikkita Oliver
Why? I've done community organizing in the past at the Tenants Union. I've worked at El Centro de la Raza and I've worked with a wide variety of populations and recognize how important it is to not only be civically engaged, but to have those values instilled in our political process. I believe Nikkita Oliver holds a lot of that and what I do and how we can move that work forward. We've seen a lot of career politicians in the past who make a lot of blanket statements and empty promises to minorities and people of color and individuals who are often marginalized, but will show up for the photo op and not for the work at hand.
As you vote for a new mayor, what's the most important issue on your mind? I think it is representation to the folks here in Seattle who are actually being pushed out and making affordability for our city not only in housing, but in that you want to make a living wage and be able to make it in the city, in the area you work in without feeling like constantly being pressured to move out because of a lack of infrastructure or pay.
I just became a citizen this last January and the first thing I did was register to vote. Knowing that the new [presidential] administration was moving forward, that really sparked more engagement from me to say, 'Hey, I need to be actively a part of these conversations, not just constantly rant on Facebook. Go out there and do something about it.' I lived in Seattle for 24 years without the ability and privilege to do so and now it's like I have to get more engaged and actively fight.
Engineer
Who'd you pick for Seattle mayor? I chose Mayor Ed Murray and that was mostly based on the debate footage I saw.
You voted for him even though Ed Murray's not on the ballot? Oh, sorry! Mike McGinn!
Phew! Why did you choose McGinn? I chose him based on the debate footage and the fact that he was able to give detailed answers, mainly about transportation issues.
As you vote for a new mayor, what's the most important issue on your mind? That's tough because a lot of the candidates, you know, agree. I would say [transit] and homelessness would be my top two.
"Yeah, I can talk, but I'm parked illegally right now!"
Who'd you pick for Seattle mayor? Nikkita Oliver.
Why? I liked her positions on urban housing, which I know are the same as Cary Moon's in a lot of ways, but I also liked her stance on police activity and the direction she'd like to take things in that regard. I think she was a little more radical in the ways I wanted to see than Ms. Moon, who also seemed great. Either way, I'd be happy.
As you vote for a new mayor, what's the most important issue on your mind? You know, I'm not really a single issue voter. Top two would be housing and policing.
Software Implementation Manager
Judkins Park
Who'd you pick for Seattle mayor? I went back and forth between three candidates and really had a difficult time. It was between [Jenny] Durkan, Moon, and Nikkita Oliver.
Those are very different candidates. They are. And at the end of the day—I was super pro-Hillary last year, and at the end of the day, it felt like being pulled between what we've been doing and the future. I ended up voting for Nikkita Oliver because that's what Democrats of the future need to be doing: pushing ourselves to the left and pushing ourselves being more progressive.
As you vote for a new mayor, what's the most important issue on your mind? For me, it's keeping everything in context. There were a lot of candidates who were just singling in on just housing or just homelessness or just police reform. Something I really appreciated about Nikkita Oliver is that she looked at everything very holistically and very systemically like, if we are really looking for what's best to benefit the entire citizenry, what's best to approach these problems?
Government employee, community activist
West Seattle
Who'd you pick for Seattle mayor? Bob Hasegawa.
Why? The reason is because Seattle Fair Growth came out and he was one of the candidates they endorsed. I'm a community activist and one of the things that's important to me is, do the neighborhoods have a say in how neighborhoods are developed? I was hoping he would be somebody to make the developers pay their fair share for the impacts on our city—infrastructure strains, roads, schools, all of that. I just feel like developers own the city and they're driving the agenda and neighborhood folks are kept out of it. We are kind of starting to band together with the different neighborhoods and fight for our values. It just seems like Mayor Ed Murray shut all that stuff down. I don't know if there is a perfect candidate out there.
As you vote for a new mayor, what's the most important issue on your mind? I want Seattle to be reflective, that the decisions that are made in the government to be reflective of the values of the people who are paying the taxes. It's like we're paying all the taxes, but we can't even get on a metro bus anymore. Even our cable, our internet is strained! A lot of our infrastructure is strained and I see a lot of people making a lot of profit. They're not adding parking to their facilities, they're just building, and I guess straining our resources, and we're left holding the bill. I want them to pay a portion of their profits to the community in which they're profiting from. Our housing is important because part of our homelessness is that they're tearing down these houses. In my neighborhood, it was a house somebody paid just shy of $500,000 for and they're going to take that house, resell it, and then build on a second lot. They'll cut down our tree—I'm part of the West Seattle tree issue—and then they'll make a million dollars on that that house that they build, or they'll charge a million dollars. Who can afford a million dollars? They're tearing down the housing people can afford and they're putting up million dollar homes. It's just a challenge.
