By Erica C. Barnett
After several delays to address technical problems with the A/V system in council chambers (eventually, the two council members who were attending remotely joined the meeting and voted through somebody’s cell phone, which was propped in front of a mic), the city council chose Mark Solomon to represent Southeast Seattle’s District 2—and lead the council’s land use committee—until the general election in November.
Solomon, a crime prevention coordinator for the Seattle Police Department and a former intelligence officer for the US Air Force, has tried to join the council twice before. In 2019, he ran for the open District 2 seat and lost to Tammy Morales by more than 21 points. Four years later, when the council needed to fill an open seat, he tried again, but the new council already had its heart set on Tanya Woo, who had just lost to Morales the previous year. This time, it took five rounds of voting before the council chose Solomon over mayoral transportation staffer Adonis Ducksworth,
From the beginning, though, Solomon had a plurality of four (out of eight) council votes, with two other candidates—assistant city attorney Eddie Lin and Parks and Recreation employee Chukundi Salisbury—each receiving one vote in the early rounds.
Solomon, like the other candidates, pledged to address the longstanding market for drugs and stolen goods at 12th and Jackson, saying he would implement Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. CPTED is a set of strategies designed to send signals that a location is hostile to crime, such as bright lights, surveillance cameras, tall fences, and the removal of trees and bushes that people might be able to hide behind.
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As land use chair, Solomon’s job will include working on the much-delayed 2025 update to the city’s comprehensive plan, which Morales recently told PubliCola she had hoped to amend to get more housing in the Rainier Valley and to protect “neighborhood centers”—about 30 locations across the city where three-to-five story apartments would be allowed within 800 feet of frequent transit stops.
Solomon, who pledged last week to oppose removing any neighborhood centers from the comprehensive plan, hesitated when reporters asked him about that pledge and his general approach to land use shortly after he took the oath of office, then said that yes, he supports all the neighborhood centers. But, he continued, it’s important not to “concentrate” new housing, especially affordable housing, in Southeast Seattle.
“There are some neighborhoods who don’t want change, don’t want eight-story [sic] apartment buildings in their community,” Solomon said. “That’s understandable, but we are one Seattle, and Seattle needs to come together so that it’s not all concentrated on North Rainier and D2—it’s spread out. … Quite frankly, right now, D2 has a lot of density. … So when it comes to the low income housing, workforce housing, I want to spread the wealth throughout the city and not just concentrated in D2.”
Solomon also said he plans to revisit the tree ordinance, a priority of North Seattle Councilmember Cathy Moore, and to emphasize anti-displacement measures in the comprehensive plan to “ensure that we keep people in their homes [so they] have the opportunity to build generational wealth.” He also talked up the idea of a “storefront improvement fund” to pay for business improvements like lighting, better locks, and planter boxes to “bollards or planter boxes to prevent vehicles from smashing into the businesses.”
He also addressed the optics of the council appointing someone voters in District 2 rejected to represent them—first, by appointing unsuccessful D2 candidate Woo to a citywide council seat, and now by appointing him to replace Morales.
“The thing I’d like to point out to folks is, while council member Morales and I were rivals for the position, even after the election, we did work together,” Solomon said. “So for those who may be disappointed that you know, I’m now their representative. If you don’t agree with me, fine. I’m still going to advocate for you. I’m still going to work for you. I’m still going to try to make things better by delivering services for the community.”
12th and Jackson succeeded as a neighborhood center when the grocery stores located there controlled the parking dynamic by using parking lots and in some cases the public street to temporarily store incoming merchandise and produce. The forced “clean-up” of the street killed the dynamic business control of the block. Eventually it became all about Metro passenger zones, turning radius, parking prohibitions etc. By default Metro now runs the block and the result is apparent.
Are you aware that Metro removed the bus stops at 12th & Jackson a couple of months ago?
Completely innapropriate to hire her opponent, who held more conservative views as she did. Very wrong of you City Council.
And yet, completely unsurprising, no?
I’d like to hear less about “generational wealth” and more about social/community wealth. The former just means selling your share of a community-built investment (the generational wealth is in the land, not the buildings) vs holding it in trust for everyone. But that seems to be an un-American way of looking at things.
Don’t blame the City Council, blame Tammy Morales! Gutless quitter if you ask me. Until the Seattle Left finds somebody tough enough to go toe to toe with Sara Nelson, the City government isn’t going to change much. Micro aggressions are something that plays well at Evergreen State. Politics are a full contact sport….
Given the animosity and disrespect Tammy Morales had towards her Council colleagues, the Council had no obligation to fill her seat with someone on the Far Left. This district is NOT nearly as Leftist as many Leftist publications would have you believe. It’s important to note that Tanya Woo only lost to Tammy by 403 votes. And that moderate Mayor Bruce Harrell won this district by a huge margin in his 2021 election.