Who’d you vote for in the mayor’s race and city council position 8?
I voted for Jenny Durkan and Teresa [Mosqueda].
What was the most important issue for you?
The totality of thoughtfulness and pragmatic approach to solving problems. I think [Durkan’s] political connections are going to be useful to the city relative to the fact that she’s been a U.S. attorney [and] she’s got connections at the state level. I think those are exactly the sort of real resources we need.
What about a policy issue? Is there anything you were thinking about most?
I think both Moon and Durkan have reasonable positions on most of the issues that I care about. I really thought that Moon’s work against the tunnel on the waterfront soured me against her. I thought that wasn’t the most efficient use of city resources. And perhaps we have a better outcome as a result of her involvement but I think that would have happened anyway and I think that was counterproductive.
What about city council?
I don’t like some of Jon Grant’s ideas around housing. I have a much more free market approach. I think that we need to produce substantially more supply and not put limitations on landlords’ abilities to rent their units unencumbered.
Full disclosure: In 2008, Gurnee took Stranger publisher Tim Keck salmon fishing.
Who’d you vote for in the mayor’s race and city council position 8?
OK, the city council I’m not sure I remember.
It was Jon Grant and Teresa Mosqueda.
Who did The Stranger say to vote for?
We said to vote for Jon Grant.
Jon Grant is who I voted for. And I actually voted for Durkan for mayor.
What was most important to you in that race?
I had seen a side by side writeup of Durkan and Moon in—it was a Business Insider, a big writeup of the two of them. I felt like Moon was very social minded, which is what I usually go for, but there was something that I didn’t have confidence in: her business mind. She felt very mushy and touchy feely about some of the things she stood for, which didn’t instill a lot of action confidence in me. There was something about that writeup that made me go for Durkan.
Are there particular issues that are most important to you or you want to see the next mayor work on?
Not that I could speak to well enough. But the things that stood out in that write up, one of them was even as dumb as the flow of traffic. I feel like Durkan had more action items to resolve that whereas Moon was more concerned about pedestrian crossing. They were so similar in most other things that I actually found it difficult to discern where each of them stood, so I just went for the more business minded person.
Do you work in business?
I work at a startup and I think Moon probably had a bit more interest in startups, which is funny [that I voted for Durkan].
Who’d you vote for in the mayor’s race and city council position 8?
Mayor was Cary Moon and I don’t remember.
It was Jon Grant and Teresa Mosqueda.
Teresa.
What was the most important issue for you as you were voting?
In the mayoral race, it was homeless sweeps.
You want to end the sweeps?
Yes.
What about in the city council race?
Nothing that really stood out. I went with Teresa because of the Progressive Voters Guide.
What stood out about Cary Moon?
I like her approach to solutions much better than Jenny Durkan. I like that she’s an urban planner and so has experience in how cities grow and change. I find Jenny Durkan to be a little bit too corporate, for lack of a better word, for my taste. I’ll be happy with either one of them and, even though I suspect Jenny Durkan will win, I wanted to push for a more progressive Seattle even though we’ve got it fairly good.
Who’d you vote for for mayor and city council position 8?
Durkan and, oh, who were the candidates?
Teresa Mosqueda and Jon Grant.
Mosqueda.
What was the most important issue for you as you were voting?
Stability to make sure that the city government continues to function well.
Why is that so important to you?
I think we’re in a national and global political environment right now where we need people who have practical experience governing. That’s why I picked Durkan anyway. I think her background as U.S. attorney and her law record, what she’s done in court and that kind of thing, I think she’s proven herself to be pretty good on a lot of civil rights issues and stuff like that. The homeless sweep thing, I can see how that’s an issue of contention. But at the same time I think that her plan is much more aggressive with getting sanctioned places set up. I understand the sentiment of stopping the sweeps but really [encampments] are dangerous. A lot of these encampments…it’s pretty gnarly living conditions. I think if we’re going to do that kind of thing we should have safe spots that are set up with garbage cans, easy access, people to come and check on it, that kind of thing to make sure people aren’t freezing to death and things like that.
What about in the city council race?
I just like the idea of having more women in the city government and more women of color would be good. So that was actually my decision there.
Who’d you vote for in the mayor’s race and city council position 8?
Jenny Durkan. The city council, um…
It was Jon Grant and Teresa Mosqueda.
I voted for Teresa.
What was the most important issue to you?
Progressive values, just really focusing on making sure that homeless people get a place to stay, healthcare, making sure that we continue to have our light rail, continue to have our public transportation, that sort of thing.
What stood out about Jenny Durkan that made you want to vote for her?
Definitely her experience. She’s got a whole lot more experience than Cary Moon, as far as I can tell, and she was a lot more centralist in a way, more consensus seeking, that sort of thing. So I think she’ll probably be a good leader, whereas I feel like Cary Moon might have been a bit more provocative—maybe pushing agendas too quickly or [being] very idealistic. I feel like we need to build coalitions, make sure things actually work on the city level. So that’s why we picked Jenny Durkan.
Who’d you vote for in the mayor’s race and city council position 8?
For mayor, I voted for Moon.
What was the most important issue for you?
For me, the housing issues that are going on in the city as well as environmental issues. Those are two things that are important to me and I feel that she was a better candidate for the job. Also, some of the things that worried me about the other candidate were some of the big donors that she had. I feel like any time a candidate has those types of big business interests and stuff involved, it kind of makes me leary to vote for them.
What about the city council race, Jon Grant and Teresa Mosqueda?
Mosqueda.
Why?
I pretty much looked at who backed each candidate and I kind of agreed more with the backers for Mosqueda.
Who’d you vote for in the mayor’s race and city council position 8?
I voted for Durkan, I didn’t vote for city council. I wasn’t familiar with the city council [candidates]. I just wanted a little more experience in management, that’s why I went Durkan.
Any particular issue that was most important to you?
I want to get someone fixed on the homeless situation and try to move on from the camp scene to more of an encompassing program of rehab, employment, education, and mental health, those kinds of things.
Who’d you vote for in the mayor’s race?
Cary Moon
What about city council position 8, Jon Grant and Teresa Mosqueda?
I didn’t look too closely at that one. I was mostly interested in the mayor’s race.
What was the most important issue for you?
Mostly the housing. Trying to figure out how to better improve Seattle’s density, transportation, all of that. They’ve got to do rezoning, they definitely need better zoning.
Upzoning?
Yeah, upzoning.
What about Cary made you most excited to vote for her?
Her urban development experience seemed like a plus on that front. [She is] a little bit less invested in the existing political spectrum. That seemed a bit more positive than putting somebody who had already had a lot of involvement with existing administrations. [She will] break away from existing ties. Previous election cycles have left a lot of sour taste, perhaps, in people’s mouths.
These interviews have been edited slightly for length and clarity.
