Monday, April 7
City Settles Discrimination Lawsuit by Black Police Captain Demoted by Former Police Chief Diaz
PubliCola reported exclusively that the city had settled a discrimination lawsuit filed by Police Captain Eric Greening for nearly $1 million, including attorney fees; Greening sued the city after former police chief Adrian Diaz demoted him, claiming Diaz did so in retaliation after Greening raised concerns about discrimination at SPD.
On Seattle Nice this week, we discussed City Councilmember Cathy Moore’s efforts to make it more costly to build middle housing, Ron Saka’s resolution denouncing past efforts to reduce spending on police, and a new audit that says the city should adopt a different approach to gun violence than it has in the past.
Tuesday, April 8
Grim Outlook for Local Homelessness Programs Under Trump’s Slash-and-Burn Cuts
At a meeting of a new city council committee focusing on the impacts of federal funding cuts and other changes, housing funders, service providers, and the regional homelessness authority described a grim future for people who are homeless or unstably housed in the region, as federal funding cuts and affordable housing scarcity threaten to push more people onto the streets.
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Wednesday, April 9
On the first episode of Amy and Eric Barden’s new podcast, BomBardened, the pair interview Ginny Burton, a recovery advocate who works with men in prisons. Burton, a former drug user, opposes housing first and other widely adopted harm reduction strategies such as medication-assisted treatment, saying that maintenance drugs like buprenorphine just get people high—a belief that is contrary to medical consensus.
Thursday, April 10
Bad News for the City Budget: New Forecast Slashes $241 Million from Last Year’s Projection
A new city budget forecast—the first since Trump took office—predicts that Seattle will take in $241 million less than previously anticipated over the next two years. Most of the new shortfall projection comes from a cooling JumpStart tax, which relies overwhelmingly on revenues from just 10 companies. The grim outlook could force real cuts this year—although with the mayor and council president up for reelection, there are strong incentives to put off tough decisions until after this budget cycle.
Friday, April 11
The city’s troubled new payroll system, Workday, has cost the city at least $32 million to implement, according to documents detailing 18 change orders (so far) in the city’s contract with the consultant Deloitte. And at a meeting about the Families, Education, Preschool and Promise Levy renewal, Councilmember Rob Saka criticized Seattle’s lengthy school closures during COVID and said the city needed more homegrown tech workers from under-resourced communities who “look like” him, rather than immigrants on H1-B visas.