A roundup of this week’s news.
Tuesday, June 25
Seattle Nice: Is This the “Do-Nothing” Council?
On the Seattle Nice podcast this week, we discussed the new city council’s record in the first half of its first term. The council hasn’t passed any substantive legislation yet—but how does it compare to previous councils with large numbers of rookie members? In short: Not good. Both the 2016 and 2020 councils made multiple major policy decisions by this point in their terms.
Jury Awards $680,000 to Seattle Protesters Arrested and Jailed for Chalk Graffiti
The city of Seattle lost its case against a group of protesters who were arrested and booked into jail at the height of the COVID pandemic for chalking anti-police and pro-free speech messages onto a temporary barricade outside the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct. The jury agreed with the protesters that police targeted the protesters not because they were causing property damage but because of the content of their speech.
PubliCola is supported entirely by readers like you.
CLICK BELOW to become a one-time or monthly contributor.
Wednesday, June 26
Council’s Public Safety Chair: “We Don’t Have the Luxury” of Being Picky About Police Test Scores
Even though the company behind a police hiring test used by smaller jurisdictions has said they aren’t interested in creating a test for Seattle (the test, from Public Safety Testing, has an extremely high pass rate), city council members continue to speak in favor of the test. This week, public safety chair Bob Kettle insisted the city would be better off with the PST test, publicly mischaracterizing PubliCola’s reporting in the process.
Thursday, June 27
State Will Continue Requiring Low-Income People to Pay Back Disability Benefits Through 2025
The state legislature passed a bill last year that removes a requirement that very low-income people pay back disability benefits they received while they were waiting for federal assistance. However, a last-minute change bumped the effective date forward two years, meaning people will continue receiving demands for payment until late 2025.
Friday, June 28
After waiting more than a year for Burien to select a site and service provider for a tiny house-style shelter, King County withdrew its offer of $1 million and 35 pallet shelters; the money will now go to other homeless services in South King County. Also, Burien will redirect hundreds of thousands of dollars originally intended for a homeless day center and the outreach provider REACH to a controversial group run by a Kirkland mortgage broker and Union Gospel Mission volunteer named Kristine Moreland.
Seattle City Attorney Ann Davison praised the US Supreme Court’s ruling in a case called Grants Pass v. Johnson, in which the court found that being homeless is a voluntary action, rather than a status, and ruled that it is not cruel or unusual punishment to criminalize the act of sleeping in public. The city’s own rules technically require the city to offer shelter before sweeps, and Mayor Bruce Harrell said he has no intention of changing those rules in the wake of the ruling.