The mayor’s war on graffiti, ex-police chief Adrian Diaz fired, and much more.
By Erica C. Barnett
Monday, December 16
The city council will take up Mayor Bruce Harrell’s proposal, sponsored by council public safety chair Bob Kettle, to repeal most of the legal restrictions on their use of “less-lethal” weapons for crowd control, in January. Cathy Moore and Alexis Mercedes Rinck were discussing amendments to the bill that would restore some guardrails, such as requiring council approval for new weapons and putting police from other departments on desk duty if they won’t agree to follow Seattle policies.
Tuesday, December 17
Edmund Witter, the longtime head of the Housing Justice Project, is leaving to become general counsel for the regional homelessness agency; two top King County human services staffers will also take top roles at the agency. Also: Council president Sara Nelson went on KUOW to gaslight Tammy Morales, who’s leaving the council, in part, over a toxic work environment, and some Gov. Elect Ferguson-adjacent news that could lead to a search for another Seattle state legislator.
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Wednesday, December 18
Mayor Harrell Fires Former Police Chief Adrian Diaz
After praising ex-police chief Adrian and calling him a “good man” and a friend earlier this year, Mayor Harrell officially fired the former police chief this week, citing an investigation that found he had an affair with a woman, Jamie Tompkins, whom he as his chief of staff, bypassing a standard check and violating four SPD policies, including one requiring honesty.
An audit from the city’s Office of Inspector General (who conducted the investigation into Diaz) concluded SPD has not made progress on problems identified several years ago, including chiefs’ tendency to impose the lowest possible discipline for officers who violate policy. Also, the city attorney’s office confirmed that taxpayers will fund lawyers for Diaz, who currently faces four lawsuits by women who say he sexually harassed or discriminated against them.
Friday, December 20
“Illegal Vandalism” Is “Not Art”: Prosecutors Announce Felony Graffiti Charges
City, county and state prosecutors and police have been working for much of this year to build felony cases against 16 local taggers who they say are responsible for nearly $100,000 in damage. Officials, and the business reps they invited, spent a surprising amount of time defining what “art” is and isn’t and trying to distinguish between appropriate “murals” and illegal “graffiti.”
We discussed the biggest news of the week (with details from the investigation that were first published on PubliCola) before turning to the tragic killing of a Metro bus driver this week, which (I argued, and believe) was immediately and inappropriately politicized by fear-mongering politicians who want infinite spending on police. Finally, we talked about graffiti: I’m fine with it (and like quite a lot of it), Sandeep says Seattle will look like NYC in the ‘70s if we don’t send a strong message that graffiti is unacceptable.