By Erica C. Barnett
It’s been nearly six months since most members the new city council took office (the exception, Tanya Woo, was appointed on January 23), and so far, they haven’t proposed or adopted a single substantive piece of policy legislation—or even managed to overturn any of the laws they criticized the previous council for passing.
Despite coming in with what some of them described as a mandate to make swift, dramatic changes, the new council has spent huge amounts of its public meeting time getting briefed on what various city departments and offices do—homework they arguably could be doing on their own time, or have done in the two months between last year’s election and their inaugurations.
Even the legislation council members have proposed, or are in the process of developing, is focused on reversing previous policies, rather than constructively creating new ones. Reversing a brand-new minimum wage for “gig” delivery workers, rolling back renter protections, bringing back loitering laws and laws that prohibit people arrested for drug offenses from being in certain areas of the city, like downtown—these are all ways of saying “no” to laws and policies adopted in very recent times—a purely negative agenda. And in any case, most of these ideas are still in the discussion phases—the only one that’s made it in to legislation, Sara Nelson’s proposal to reduce delivery workers’ minimum wage, has stalled.
So what’s going on with this new council, and is it fair to expect first-time council members to propose original legislation by this point in their terms? In preparation for the podcast, I looked back at the most recent pre-COVID election in which all seven districted council seats were on the ballot, 2015. (The council elected in 2019 had just over two months on the job before COVID hit, making 2016 the last “normal” first year for a new set of district council members).
The council elected in 2015 had five rookie members. By around this time the following year, that council had proposed, considered, or passed legislation barring landlords from raising the rent on apartments with maintenance violations; requiring landlords to rent to the first qualified person who applies for a unit; limited deposits on commercial leases; limiting security deposits and move-in fees, expanded access to the city’s Utility Discount Program, and banned “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ+ youth, among other legislation.
Even the new 2020 council (with four rookie members) passed substantial legislation during and after the COVID pandemic hit the city in mid-March, including a ban on independent expenditure contributions from companies partly owned by foreign investors; legislation expanding the maximum number of tiny house village shelters in Seattle; the JumpStart payroll tax on big businesses (which has provided hundreds of millions of dollars for affordable housing and other priorities every year since); legislation repealing laws against “drug loitering” and “prostitution loitering”; and a law (which the police have failed to follow) barring cops from questioning children until they’ve spoken to an attorney. That’s on top of all the local COVID relief laws the 2020 council began passing in March of that year.
Sandeep and I are usually on opposite sides when it comes to the current council, but even he acknowledged that this council has not been particularly productive, although he suggests that the mayor, not the council, may be to blame. We discussed this theory, along with how well Council President Nelson has stuck to her vow to use her “supermajority” to bring “big changes” to city hall, on this week’s episode.
I disagree. This council has been very active on the public safety front. Especially when it comes to working with organizations who work with at-risk youth. Councilmembers Nelson, Saka, Kettle, and Woo have all made time to speak with our organization about how they can support us. This council is very accessible, responsive, and engaged.
Pretty weird to characterize the current council as do nothing, compared to their predecessors, whose idea of ‘doing something’ was to pass idealistic laws and then do nothing to manage their fallout.
Prostitutes are victims, let’s eliminate laws that persecute them! Today we have more prostitution, now surrounded by gangsters armed with machine pistols, about which they ‘do nothing’, even if they caused it.
Everyone on the street is a victim of homelessness! So they do nothing for mental health and drug addiction root causes, because they’re compassionate by ‘doing nothing’ and leaving said victims to sink or swim on their own in tents under freeways.
Who are the real ‘do nothings?’
“… getting briefed on what various city departments and offices do—homework they arguably could be doing on their own time, or have done in the two months between last year’s election and their inaugurations.”
Understanding the workings of the city departments whose budgets they set is quite literally, the job they are paid to do. As someone who used to conduct said briefings with some regularity, I was always delighted when they cared enough to pay attention!
Respectfully, in what other context would you expect people to work for free?
Elected officials are asked to engage with the communities they represent at all hours of the day and night, not even counting the fundraising activity that is required to be elected to most public offices. Your implication that they should do so prior to being sworn into their elected office is “arguably” unfair, and certainly unkind.
Sometimes, when you have been spending years digging yourself a deeper and deeper hole, the best thing to do is JUST STOP DIGGING.
The urban hellscape that the prior Marxist City Council created might just start to heal with a “do-nothing” more moderate and sane City Council
Marxist? Geez I wish! Our city would be in much better shape.
Marxist, yeah right. People shouldn’t use words which they don’t know what they mean. These “moderates” are a shady bunch that will only screw those of us who don’t own a business. Corrupt fools do not make for a good council.
Four legs bad, two legs good! Four legs bad, two legs good!
So the GOP-led congresses of the past couple of decades in a local version? I think the Tom Delay congresses were consider the do-nothingest in history but the current version is a strong contender.
But this has been the way since the 80s…one party wants to govern and the other wants to prevent governing and if possoible, roll back the clock. No fun living through the road company version of a show that should have been shut down but here we are.
Re: Nelson’s proposal to lower minimum wage for gig workers – nobody deserves lower wages in today’s economy, especially in this city. There are some who make too much and don’t pay their fair share of taxes, to be sure. That her proposal has been tabled is a good thing.
All our wages will be lower once this group of “moderates” gets busy. At least if they were able to legislate, ha!
This Council DOES need to roll back some of the excesses of the previous Council, especially the anti-landlord legislation that caused the loss of thousands of rental units owned by small landlords, who, rather than risk renting to released criminals or the “first qualified” (leaving out those people who work two jobs and miss out on postings), sold their small holdings to developers, who promptly tore those older du/tri/quad/sixplexes down and built townhouses selling for $750k & up.
But you and Sandeep are correct about the Do-Nothing Council. As Jean Godden had pointed out in a Post Alley News column shortly after the election, back in the 90s, when Council President Jan Drago was faced with an incoming group of newbies, she spent several weeks BEFORE they took office getting people up to speed. They then hit the ground running. Ah, the glory years.
I read every Committee and Council Agenda. I am struck with how much time is wasted on appointments, mostly to Boards and Commissions that do little and are mostly (or completely) ignored (see also, “Urban Forestry Commission”). How much time and money could be saved if we just eliminated half of those? That would provide the City Council a helluva lot more time to get important stuff done, and Councilmembers wouldn’t get to keep hiding behind a “packed agenda” of appointments.
And yes, Mayor Harrell is absolutely culpable.
No, this city needs more laws to reign in the landlords and their out of control greed. First thing is they need to outlaw their price fixing software, rents would come back down to earth quick.
There is a vast difference between the corporate landlords, many of which are not local, and the small, local “ma and pa” landlords of 8 or fewer units. Those are the people who generally have much, much lower rents, don’t use that software, and people are able to negotiate with when something goes wrong. And, thanks to the previous City Council, many of those are the people who said “fuck it” and sold their buildings to developers, reducing by at least 3,000 units available. How’d that work out for ya?