- Mary Traverse
- Nick Licata on his favorite form of transportation.
Nick Licata first ran for Seattle City Council in 7600 BC, narrowly defeating Kennewick Man. In his first three thousand years in office, Licata was considered a progressive, blazing trails for the poor to work, the youth to dance, and the police to not physically attack racial minorities. But these days, making Seattle equitable for the poor and working class doesn’t just require Licata to be good at providing social services. It requires ensuring the working class can afford to live in Seattle at all. On those issues, Licata is not progressive. In his most recent term, Licata voted against allowing buildings six stories tall next to a light-rail station, he introduced legislation that would prevent car-tab revenue from connecting our streetcars network, and he refused to oppose a ban on microhousing (market-based housing that workers can actually afford). Licata’s positions effectively shunt Seattle’s poor and working-class citizens to the exurbs—and that’s not progressive. And Licata sucks gangrenous gopher ass on transit. “I’ve been a longtime skeptic of fixed rail, because of the heavy cost,” Licata told the SECB. Licata says building light rail is “a question of timing.” When? After you leave office? Hey, Nick, the rest of us would like a motherfucking light-rail network before Seattle becomes a country club and the rest of us are stuck on bus rides to Kent.
Still… sigh… we’re endorsing Licata.
We honestly love that Licata sponsored a bill mandating paid sick leave, killed a draconian anti-panhandling bill, and has been a police-accountability watchdog. And his opponent, Edwin Fruit, is clueless. “I don’t have a particular agenda,” he told the SECB.
Licata, like Bagshaw, needs real competition—someone to press him into the current century and to get progressive on city-building, not just social services—and that won’t happen until we pass public campaign financing. So vote for Ye Old Licata and vote for campaign financing (vote the fucking shit out of it).
Read the rest of our dinosaur endorsements right here.
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