By Josh Feit
8 > 75
Seventy-five dollars was the cost of an unfair “notice fee” that then-PubliCola freelancer Katie Wilson cited when, as a crusading writer in 2023, she wrote a piece for us condemning junk fees—the insidious add-ons that landlords pile onto renters to increase the actual amount they pay every month. These fees include things like “administrative” fees, charges to receive packages, and unspecified “service” charges. Wilson’s $75 “notice fee” example was “for preparing and giving the notice” that a tenant had to remove a potted plant from their balcony.
Eight is the number of votes now-Mayor Katie Wilson got last week, when the city council unanimously passed her legislation banning these junk fees. (The vote excluded Maritza Rivera, who had to recuse herself because she owns a rental property). A 2025 Urban Institute study found that these types of arbitrary and undisclosed fees can add between 10 and 30 percent to base rent.
As chair of the Housing, Arts, and Civil Rights Committee, A-student Councilmember Dionne Foster sponsored Wilson’s priority legislation, noting that the fees disproportionately hit Black residents, seniors, young renters, and working-class people.
Trump’s Case Against U.S. Olympian David Hearn for Vandalizing the Reflecting Pool (since abandoned by Trump’s own DOJ) > North Seattle Couple’s Case for Recalling Katie Wilson
Speaking of the misconception that Mayor Wilson is flailing: It seems unlikely that the recall request submitted against Wilson last week (by a north Seattle couple who are angry about the way Wilson handled the Seattle Center shooting and her overall approach to crime) will get far.
Like in cities nationwide, crime is down in Seattle this year.
The recall proponents must show and detail malfeasance or a violation of the oath of office. Those claims need to pass muster with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and then the King County Superior Court. If that happens, the aggrieved duo needs to get 69,000 valid signatures to send the recall effort to the ballot.
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0 > $6,250
$6,250 is what third place North Seattle state house candidate Ron Davis spent on political consultants in the runup to the August primary. $0 is what the Stranger is paying to live rent-free in Davis’ head.
I do not come to praise the Stranger. I was the news editor there for nine years two decades ago, built a dogged news section (that included ECB!), established and forged the influence of the SECB (Stranger Election Control Board), and have since watched from afar as the news section has lost its credibility and the paper has lost its way (long before Brady Walkinshaw took over.) And so yes, I agree that their outsized influence over elections is a drag.
But Ron Davis’ recent sour-grapes email to his supporters about the Stranger—in which he even seems to take issue with the fact that they make endorsements— says more about him than about the paper. For starters, his conspiracy theories about Walkinshaw’s centrist agenda make little sense when you consider the paper endorsed socialist Kshama Sawant along with a slew of progressives, such as Kelabe Tewolde, Nilu Jenks, Rebeca Saldaña, Nicole Macri, Teresa Mosqueda, Gabe Rothstein, and Rob Foxcurran. (They also have a legit, self-avowed Marxist on their staff and editorial board who wrote a pro-Sawant piece in advance of her primary challenge against Rep. Adam Smith.)
Ah. But they didn’t endorse Ron Davis. I don’t know why they didn’t; he’s a dedicated YIMBY and they probably should have supported him to emphasize why the NIMBY incumbent in the race, Gerry Pollet, is the wrong choice. But neither the revolution Davis believed he would bring to Olympia nor Stranger-endorsed second-place challenger Will Dreher’s bland agenda points to oligarchic marching orders from on high. And if the Stranger is the compromised avatar of centrism Davis thinks it is, why does he want their endorsement so badly (doth protest way too much)?
Davis is not the first person to base his whole campaign on getting the Stranger’s endorsement in the primary (it’s every local consultant’s “knowing” advice.) But sending out a 3,000-word concession email with a section—a section!—titled “Educate my community on how the recent purchase of The Stranger by still-anonymous wealthy investors had corrupted a once-reliable ally in the progressive movement” is not healthy behavior.
Josh@Publicola.com
This probably won’t pass the filters here, but as I said on Bluesky, mayhaps one would not want to act like a pompous ass to everyone when one is schmucking for endorsements and votes. From every update, including his own, it looks like Davis came in to the endorsement meeting making those sleazy half-truth attacks on Dreher and his usual talking down at anyone who doesn’t agree with him. Which rhymes with his post election behavior. Politics is working with people, even if you don’t much like ’em.
TLDR: You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
I had to load the Davis screed in Xcancel (loss of credibility by posting on that cesspit) and wow…he really thinks the Stranger is Seattle’s only newspaper. “The people have spoken…the bastards” never goes out of style, I guess.
The voters in the 46th pretty emphatically decided Gerry Pollet was the right choice, Josh, and that Davis’ (and your) agenda of neoliberal trickle-down developer-driven brand of “urbanism” wasn’t. State legislators have a hell of a lot broader range of issues to deal with than the holy grail of density, and Gerry deals with all of them. His two (now one) hapless challengers aren’t equipped.
I’ve seen “Recall Katie Wilson” signs popping up in a few places, but there’s nothing on them about who’s paying for them. Are there un-election transparency requirements?
Davis’s concession crash out was poor form and put his character as a leader in full display. I would have liked to see some self awareness and humility about what the voters want — not so much what institutions in town line up to support him, or not.
I’ll say it was weird that they didn’t endorse Ron when they had in previous Council races. I’m sorry he didn’t advance. (Ron, move to West Seattle! Kick Rob Saka’s ass!)