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Quick note before we get into this week’s digest: PubliCola was on a roll this week, posting a huge feature on police accountability, six original news stories (including three exclusives), a reported commentary about the Seattle election results, an opinion piece about the current City Council, and a post about our podcast, Seattle Nice, which comes out every week.
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Monday, August 5
Seattle’s Community Police Commission, a Key Part of the Police Accountability System, Is In Trouble
The CPC, which is supposed to represent community views and come up with recommendations to improve police accountability, has struggled since its inception, with frequent staff upheavals, political disputes, and a lack of internal accountability. While many, especially current and recent staff, were deeply critical of the commission’s recent leadership, they also described structural issues that go beyond current staff and commissioners—issues that have been present for many years.
Afternoon Fizz: SPD Launches New Recruitment Ads, Mayor Harrell Orders Workers Back to Office
The Seattle Police Department just released the first ads to come out of a $2.6 million marketing contract. The ads feature retro-style animations of male officers saving people from a variety of scenarios—an odd choice for a department ostensibly trying to have a 30-percent female recruit class by 2030. And: Mayor Harrell says he’s tired of waiting for city workers to “One Seattle” their way back to their desks; in the interest of “collaboration” and innovation, he’s making it mandatory three days a week.
Tuesday, August 6
City Delays Pay Increases for 1,200 Workers, Saying New Payroll System Takes Priority
Nearly 1,200 city employees won’t get their approved raises and retroactive pay until November at the earliest, even though the city approved their most recent contract in June. The city is blaming the implementation of Workday, a new payroll and HR management system, for the delay. If this sounds familiar, that’s because the city gave the exact same explanation for delaying wage increases for a different group of 7,000 city employees whose contracts were approved in April.
After shutting down public comment before giving everyone who had signed up their one minute to speak, the Seattle City Council delayed a vote on an initiative, I-137, to fund social housing, citing unspecified legal concerns—a last-minute maneuver that prevented the measure from going onto the ballot in November, when progressive voter turnout is likely to be high. Then, after people continued to demand to speak, the council shut down council chambers, retreated to their offices, and approved a controversial plan to pay SCORE, a jail in Des Moines, more than $2 million a year to house misdemeanor offenders for short periods; supporters claim the beds are necessary because the King County jail in downtown Seattle doesn’t have capacity to jail people for offenses like drug use and sex work.
Alexis Mercedes Rinck Had a Good Election Night
Seattle City Councilmember Tanya Woo, appointed to the citywide Position 8 seat last year after narrowly losing the race for District 2 to incumbent Tammy Morales, trailed behind progressive challenger Alexis Mercedes Rinck on election night, and the margin has only widened since, giving Rinck an extremely strong tailwind going into the November election.
Wednesday, August 7
Let the People Clap! (And Speak!)
The new city council majority seems to believe their narrow wins in last year’s backlash election constitute a massive mandate for a return to the conservative public policies of the 1990s and early 2000s, but this belief appears misplaced: People keep showing up to decry policies targeting people who commit crimes related to poverty and addiction. Instead of chiding people for clapping and physically locking them out of public meetings, the council should adopt a radical strategy: Listening to what their constituents have to say.
Thursday, August 8
In another contentious meeting (where council members condescendingly told young constituents they were confused or had been misled), the council added another $800,000 to the $2.6 million marketing contract that produced the aforementioned SPD recruitment ads. They also declined to release $10 million collected this year for youth mental health programming (after the mayor’s office said it would be impossible to spend the full $20 million, which is from a brand-new source, this year), and voted to add 19 people, including 14 outreach workers, to the city’s Unified Care Team, which removes encampments and offers shelter referrals. Harrell’s office announced the city would be taking over these outreach contracts from the King County Regional Homelessness Authority earlier this year.
Friday, August 9
Kevin Dave, Officer Who Struck and Killed 23-Year-Old Student, is Challenging His Traffic Ticket
Seattle police officer Kevin Dave, who struck and killed 23-year-old Jaahnavi Kandula in January 2023 while driving 74 mph in a 25 mph zone, is challenging the traffic ticket issued to him in March for the fatal collision. Dave was not prosecuted for Kandula’s death, and the civil citation (and $5,000 fine) have been his only penalties. Court records also indicate that when Seattle police wrote the citation for negligent driving this past March, Dave still didn’t have a valid Washington driver’s license.
Seattle Nice: Post-Primary Edition, Featuring KUOW’s Scott Greenstone
On this week’s special post-primary edition of Seattle Nice, we welcomed KUOW politics reporter Scott Greenstone to help us break down the statewide and local election results, including the races for governor, lands commissioner (surprisingly close!), 43rd District state representative (surprisingly decisive!) and, of course, the Woo-Rinck race in Seattle City Council Position 8.