@1: It is pretty fraudulent to compare Cary Moon to Bernie Sanders, who has served the public in elected office for 36 years and counting -- to Moon's zero.

why can't we just elect them as a 2-mayor team? then everyone will be happy.

Returning... to the topic. The reason Durkan sounds floppy-floppy or wishy-washy in her answers is that she really is a Jenny come lately to City issues and never really took the time to figure out what she thinks about them. She has not done her homework and is not ready. Durkan should challenge Satterberg not replace Burgess. Vote Moon.

The people who would vote for Hillary are the same people who would vote for Durkan.

The difference between "vacant property tax" and "non-owner occupied tax" is big. The difference is especially big when, the biggest problems in the city revolve around rental prices. A "vacant property tax" does not tax a property that is being rented, because while a vacant investment property that takes valuable homes out of the housing market, a rented property is a social good that provides someone a home in the city.

In contrast, a "non-owner occupied tax" targets landlords renting out their property. In some cases, the landlord will attempt to pass the tax on to their tenet. In other situations, the landlord will eat some, or all, of the tax increase. Finally, some tenancies will be ended so the landlord can get out of the landlording business and sell the property.

If you combine the third outcome with the HALA criticism, Moon doesn't sound like a leftist but rather a NIMBY revaunchist that is willing to play into the worst classist stereotypes in order to develop the Green/Tea alliance that led McGinn to the Mayor's office. Here's the thing, when fighting road projects, like McGinn, you can form a Green/Tea alliance without compromising any liberal/progressive agenda. In housing, you cannot form a Green/Tea alliance without throwing renters under the bus.

I CANNOT STAND DURKAN! She has absolutely no fucking idea what to do with Seattle. She's an establishment candidate running on establishment platitudes. She is laughable. She might be from Seattle, but lets not pretend that she hasn't been living in Issaquah and the fact that she NOW is renting downtown so as to seem like she's actually in sync with the city is laughable. She is stale as toast. She is essentially the extended arm of FORMER mayor Ed Murray. Seattle CAN and DESERVES better. Vote MOON!!!!

Since I used "laughable" twice in a comment I thought I'd call myself out first for it. I KNOW I KNOW I could use better word usage lol.

@4. That would be dumb if it wasn't such a Seattle-approved solution. As such, it's just sad. And not particularly funny. Time to form a committee to study it and get consensus.

Durkan--opportunist; a moral compass that has a lot of play.

"Six thousand of those are expected to be affordable, achieved mostly by requiring developers to build affordable housing in exchange for the right to build taller buildings. Durkan has said the HALA plan is the city's best shot at more housing quickly."

The HALA Plan was changed 1.5 years ago to eliminate Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning. When developers pushed back, the city changed the name to Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) and its estimate of how many would pay the fee in lieu to 83%. (Actually closer to 100%.) The city also says it will leverage these fees 3:1, meaning the taxpayers will pay 3/4 of the cost of off-site (somewhat) affordable units, using State Housing Trust Funds, Seattle Housing Levy funds, federal tax credits, community banks and some philanthropy. Notably, it will take the city 4 to 5 years to put these funds out for bids, to make the awards, to assemble the funds and then, construction. The HALA does not speed up, but slows down the process of building nonprofit subsidized housing,

@7, it will help to clarify the point of the policy, if we look at different types of properties separately. Single family is simple - purchase of these properties by investment speculators just pushes prices up, with no benefit to anyone. Whether a renter is subsequently installed on the property doesn't make any real difference - the number of people housed in this way isn't huge, but in any case the inflation of house prices is the problem, and it isn't affected by availability of rental units.

But with multifamily, it doesn't make much sense to care whether the owner lives on the property or not, or how many vacant units - I mean, empty apartment buildings are not the usual symptom, am I right?, so this type calls for a different policy angle from what's discussed in this article.

Durkan is checking off the mayoral position box on her way to her next position. She seems to lack a real understanding or concern for the average resident trying to survive in the new Seattle. The fact that she's adopting Moon's position on outside investors shows she'll morph herself into anyone you'd like her to be to win this race. It also means there's no real commitment to addressing such vital issues because she can flip her position again tomorrow. I'm sick of watching good, hard-working, smart and creative people being forced to leave Seattle because our local leaders have left us at the mercy of Amazon and other corporate interests who have turned this city into their extended campuses and left the rest of us behind as collateral damage. Durkan is old Democrat, and we know what that meant for the country. It's time for new leadership in Seattle, in the WA and national Democratic Party. You have profoundly failed us and now we must plot a new course!

She has the politician's gift of speaking out of both sides of her mouth. Unfortunately, most voters won't pay enough attention to see any wrong.

Durkan Jailed dissenters and created a grand jury to interrogate people. Public pressure was able to have these people set free. She is not interested in what the people want. Unless it is those at the top. Moon is the best choice.

Durkan would continue the status quo or make it worse.