Comments

1
Yay, status quo affirmed. No need to vote.
2
Durkan doesn't support a tax on big businesses because it would hurt small businesses? Mmmmk.
3
Whoa! Durkan is seriously creepy. Look at the power mad look in her eyes and the phony smile.
Moon is backing down now from the pressure from the city’s wealthy. She’s still the better choice since she is more flexible and ethical than Durkan. It is the people that can make the difference.
Keep building the movement in the streets. Politicians cannot be trusted.
4
Moon doesn't have the chops for the job. Were she to win, expect a lot of backtracking. Her trust fund fueled heart would stagger under the pressure and responsibility. Maybe similar to the way Trump is under the weight of the presidency. Cary Moon belongs to the class of Seattleite who insists on both reveling in and rebelling against the culture that single family zoning has created in the North End and Cap Hill.
The concept of using public property as a solution for the city will never be successful.
What is the most critical to the city and the region is still a grand bargain with developers for the North End neighborhoods. Only this will bring a form of equity and economic and racial integration that been too long lacking. Could help with transportation too.
5
@3 - Hi sexist. Have a nice day.
6
#5 Is that he best you can do?
7
#4 You could be a developer?
9
In the question about Municipal Broadband, i thought I heard Durkan say effectively that 'private companies are ok' but that Seattle should control and lease out (& therefore mitigate the corporate low-service/high-profits model) by controlling the "last mile" infrastructure (she said "data right-of-ways").

Does that mean she wants to run --or "nationalize"-- the data wires to people's houses as a Municipal-owned right-of-way?, and then use that access as leverage against Comcast & CenturyLink & whomever else?

Could some reporter find out more about that? Because that is pretty radical, and not something I expected from 'stay the course' Durkan.
10
Nice! The Stranger is now part of a Durkan fundraiser email:

"The Stranger had this to say about Jenny's performance last night, which perfectly sums up the night: "Throughout the night, Durkan mostly ran circles around Moon with sharper answers and more specific proposals."
Jenny is the only candidate in the race that has put forth specific policy proposals AND laid out in detail where she will get the funding. Jenny knows that we cannot solely rely on new revenue from measures that must be first passed in Olympia. We need to take urgent action now, locally, to address our city's challenges."

(Just not via a head tax which is totally in our purview)
11
One of them (I honestly can't remember which one) said in response to White Center annexation that the city made wild promises to the north end that they never fulfilled. She was probably referring to the recurrent urban legend that Seattle promised the area north of 85th Street sidewalks if they agreed to annex. No one has ever been able to prove that. It's something bitter old Seattleites pass on to bitter new Seattlies.
12
I think Moon is putting up an "alternative" because she doesn't really support the tax, but doesn't want to say so. In her example, she wants to spare low margin grocery stores by basing the tax on the number of employees, but groceries are low margin precisely because they need to employ a relatively large number of people.

FYI, You'll lose larger chain grocery stores if you do this "payroll tax part two." And it's the affordable chains (like Food Mart) that will pull out first because they have the lowest margins. And why do Seattle faux-regressive always respond to how regressive your tax system is with yet even more regressive taxes.

YOUR FUCKING SHIT HOLE STATE DOESN'T HAVE AN INCOME TAX!

How do you find the time to talk about this shit? Everything you do until you fix your state tax system just makes you sound like bigger and bigger assholes. None of you are doing what you need to be doing, which is talk about how fucked up your state is ALL THE FUCKING TIME.

Love,
13
@9

The problem is that Durkan won't be nailed down to a single position. It's not an accident that you're scratching your head wondering what she meant and what she will do.

The only hint is that Murray also took a bunch of money from Comcast, said it wouldn't influence him, and gave vague but contradictory statements kind of supporting municipal broadband in some form (such as not municipal broadband) and then proceeded to bury the issue when elected.

That's my takeaway from Durkan on this. Same thing on sweeps. She supports sweeps, and defends it with how sweeps aren't really sweeps. Except, aren't they? The people you're pushing out either have a place to go or they don't. And they haven't so far. And if elected, Durkan will still "sweep" lite even if they don't have any place to go except some other illegal camp.

I don't think Durkan is the devil. She'd be an OK mayor. But she does not give straight answers because she doesn't want to admit where she stands, or be held accountable. And she wants as many Republican votes as she can get.
14
@11

She didn't reject it. All Moon said was that they would have to study at the details and know for sure if the city could afford the infrastructure costs and deliver what was promised. Your point about everyone knowing ahead of time whether they were promised sidewalks or not is kind of what she means, even if the urban legend isn't true.
17
@12 - Let's exempt grocery stores then. They as critical to our livability infrastructure as small businesses are. It shouldn't be hard to focus on the ones (Amazon) that are having the most "disruptive" effects on our rent/traffic/sm.businesses.

As for your rant about WA not having an income tax... yes, well there's only so much a city mayor can do about that, since it is the State Legislature who has to make that change for the whole state. Go lobby them. Seriously, I entreat you to make a big stink in Olympia so we can have a proper, progressive income tax. I support you in this. Many of us do.

While you're down there, please smack them all on the head for their "largest ever" corporate tax reduction to Boeing, who promptly left the state with all our money. We may not be in such a financial bind at present.

@13 - Aye! I don't like non-straight answers. :>(
19
We'll have to take it before the state supreme court, which can decide that "income" is not a form of "property." Don't remember the details, but I think we might also need to defend a technicality, state law (not constitution) prohibits "net income" tax, and we're slicing it pretty fine and calling it a "gross income" tax. I'm not a lawyer, nor have I been involved with this effort, but there are some who have been.
21
seattle would have to create a new tax form and require taxpayers remove the expenses from any business income and investment income reported on their federal returns. oh forget it, Seattle needs more lawsuits to defend against, go ahead pass another ordinance.
22
@18

Legislatures can enact whatever they want, whether it's constitutional or not. I refer you to the one billion abortion bans that Republican legislatures have passed year after year since Roe. Every time, somebody has to challenge it in court, and watch it get struck down. It's mostly grandstanding, red meat for the pro-life constituents. Though some of these court precedents have incrementally whittled back the right to choose here and there around the edges. Local gun bans have worked the same way.

The Washington supreme court decision striking down income tax decades ago was filled with drama and sketchy moves, pinch-hitting justice substitutions and all manner of questionable shit. It's ripe for challenge. We should have gotten a new and clearer ruling on this long ago, and we can do so now, if the Leg will pass something. They could very well decide that income tax is totally legal. Or they could open the door to some quasi-income tax like schemes. Only one way to find out.

Remember that conventional wisdom is that rent control is banned in Washington full stop. Yet all it took was "crazy" Kshama Sawant and her populist mob to push hard enough, and we found a way to at least ban rent increases on apartments that don't meet code, along with various other renter protections. It's entirely possible more quasi-rent control is legal, but you only find out if you pass something first.

Lobbying Olympia is great. One of the most influential kinds of lobbyist is a mayor, especially the Seattle mayor. Especially when they're backed by the whole city council. And a mayor who wins wide support on an income tax platform provides political cover for legislators, by demonstrating that the electorate supports it. Or, if it requires a constitutional amendment, well, support from mayors and council members is the first step in building the coalition to make that happen.

In short, you don't get from here to there unless you try. Lip service isn't enough; you need your local leaders to stick their necks out to make it happen.
23
I listened to the whole debate and didn't hear Durkin defend sweeps, much less endorse them. I heard her speak compassionately about the homeless, and promise 1000 units of microhousing for them spread across the city in her first year in office, with a tenable funding stream established.

Any of you people claiming Durkin defended sweeps care to post the debate transcript without taking Durkin out of context? You can't, because she didn't. Not unless you take her out of context.

The hatchet job Stranger writers are laying on a gay in government pioneering life-long left Obama appointee is disgustingly Breitbartian. You are enacting a precise photo-negative of those shitbags whi brought us Trump, and are no better than them.
24
So it was Moon, Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn? That's good to know. I thought it was the other one. I just remember one of them referring to it as "gritty", which made me giggle.

Here's the reality that no one wants to speak: White Center can't support itself as its own city. The county is going to force it off on someone, and Burien rejected it, so it's going to become part of Seattle, no matter what anyone thinks.
25
More onMunicipal Broadband (or better, Fiber Optic infrastructure): The US is a municipal fiber desert, and anti-competitive too!
26
@17 --- Let's exempt grocery stores! He said like that's a totally easy thing to do in a municipal statute! What's a grocery store? Exempt grocery stores, and all you'll do is convince every business in Seattle to sell milk and eggs.

Maybe YOU could fix your states tax system. Haul you're own ass out to Olympia and make a big stink. Tell your May Day marching idiots to do the same. Literally don't know where you all find the balls to complain about anything else until this is done. All of your other ideas for funding homeless services and education are bullshit.

I don't live in Washington, yet! I am seriously considering moving there, to avoid paying state taxes. I know your rents are rising, but I have some serious savings coming up so I don't think finding an apartment will be that hard. I'll just take yours!
27
Durkan just talked about how she loved playing tourist among those "gritty" (read: not white) folks down there. Pandering (and kind of colonialist? ) but not the strong leadership or grown-up management she wants us to think she represents.
28
@23

"Any of you people claiming Durkin defended sweeps care to post the debate transcript without taking Durkin out of context? You can't, because she didn't. Not unless you take her out of context."

False. Moon has said she will not push people around without having someplace for them to go. Durkan will say anything and everything but she will not say that.

Go and listen for yourself. Listen to the two minutes from 31:44 to 33:44. Its all right there:

We use the term sweep to mean a lot of different things. The first actions the city took were inhumane. They pushed people aside like they meant nothing. They treated their property like they meant nothing. You know that sometimes that last bit that looks nothing to us is something to them.


Such compassion. Durkan seems to really get it, right? She's saying all the words. But listen.

We have a new system in the City of Seattle. We've created these teams called Navigation teams...I went with them last week. I will tell you every person in Seattle will be so proud of what they do. They are not sweeping. I asked the police officer why are you leaving these people in place. There is a woman who had a baby and sometimes they come here. We know she and the baby need help. Sometimes she comes here and where hoping we can get her to get the baby help. That is not a sweep.


Get it? Why are they refraining from pushing these people out in this case? Because they have no place to go? No. That's not what's holding them back. They're holding back in this particular case because of the baby. Once the baby has been (let's face it) seized by CPS, they no longer have a reason to stop. They will then push everyone out whether they have a place to go or not. That is the central point. It's great that they will bin up all their stuff. But not having a place for all of them will not stop the sweep. They will create a paper trail for where they go, but that will be on the street. They will *document* the fact that they are on the street somewhere else. Which does what exactly? Makes it easier to find them for the next sweep that pushes them somewhere else for a little while?

That is the distinction between Durkan and Moon here.

I think it's irresponsible to use that phrase. Go to the city of Seattle. They ave documented every time they move someone. The before, the after, where they site people. How much they care for the property. The bins they put them in. They will bring the bin to them downtown if they're somewhere else. I just think we have to be careful about the terminology.


Durkan really cares about this word "sweep". She wants to rebrand it. Durkan's people must have focus grouped this and figured out that you can keep up the sweeps as long as you tell the concerned public it's not a "sweep". Change the name.

Because of bins and documentation. Kinder gentler sweeps. That's great and all but it only underscores the one thing that has not changed: we will still push them out even if we don't have a place for them to come inside. She is distracting from that clear difference between Moon and Durkan because that one difference is what really matters.

Please wait...

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