Category: Mayor Harrell

City Council, Mayor Harrell, public safety, Taxes

Council Takes Up Harrell’s “Inherently Unsustainable” Budget; New Spending Includes $800,000 in Speculative AI Spending
Mayor Bruce Harrell, speaking at AI House in September

1. Your sales taxes are going up next year, thanks to a vote by the City Council Tuesday that approved a 0.1-cent increase that can, in the future, be used for any “public safety” purpose, including programs the city is already funding through its general fund.

The new tax, authorized earlier this year by the state legislature, will add $23.7 million in new funding to the budget to pay for 24 new CARE Team first responders, keep the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program going, and fund treatment, firefighters, and other non-police public safety programs. It also includes $15 million to supplant general fund spending on CARE, giving the city $15 million more to use on any purpose.

But, as a City Council central staff memo on the budget notes, there’s nothing in the state authorizing legislation that requires the city to use the new sales tax on new programs. (The original idea behind the legislation was that cities would use the tax increase to pay for police.)

According to the central staff analysis, Mayor Bruce Harrell’s proposed budget is unsustainable and relies heavily on fiscal sleight-of-hand to come up with a balanced budget in 2026, tumbling precipitously into massive deficits in 2027 and beyond. These tricks include relying on a one-time $141 million fund balance left over from 2025, which won’t be there to balance the budget next year; funding programs that will be necessary long-term, like food assistance for people losing federal benefits, with one-time resources, so that they don’t count toward future deficits; and assuming a $10 million “underspend” every year in the future, allowing the mayor’s budget team to chop $10 million off each year’s expenditures automatically without actually making cuts.

Referring to the fund balance, the memo notes, “The Mayor’s reliance on this $141 million one-time resource to balance his proposed spending for 2026 reflects the inherent unsustainability of the 2026 Proposed Budget, and demonstrates the basic magnitude of the mismatch between the City’s expenditures and its reliable, on-going revenues.

This damning assessment by the council’s own central staff could have implications throughout the budget, which the city council will begin discussing in detail today. What it could mean for the public safety sales tax, specifically is that, if the council passes Harrell’s unsustainable budget mostly as-is, future councils (and a potential future mayor Katie Wilson) could choose to use the money not to fund CARE and LEAD and treatment, but to pay for police, fire, and other basics that would ordinarily be paid for by the general fund.

In other words: Like the JumpStart payroll tax fund, which was supposed to pay for specific program areas (housing, small businesses, Green New Deal, and equitable development), the public safety tax could be used in the future as a slush fund to pay for programs that have historically been funded out of the city’s general budget.

The proposed budget adds about $53 million in new spending compared to the endorsed 2026 budget.

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2. One of the new initiatives Harrell’s proposed 2026 budget would fund is Permitting Accountability and Customer Trust (PACT) program—an $800,000 proposal that will purportedly “streamline the permitting application process and improve customer services using Artificial Intelligence and data integration.”

Callie Craighead, a spokeswoman for the mayor, told PubliCola the city hasn’t picked a vendor for the PACT funding yet. “The integration of AI tools is part of the City’s most concerted effort to date to reduce permitting time, making it faster and easier to build housing across Seattle,” she said.

Harrell is all-in on AI; at an event at the startup incubator AI House last month, he told the crowd, “If you’re thinking, ‘Maybe there’s an opportunity to monetize these things the city’s working on, that’s fair game, by the way. Faster permits—we know that AI can play an incredible role there. …  Time is money, and to the extent we can reduce permit processing times, this would be an added benefit for everyone involved in that process.”

Craighead said the new “AI tools” will help permit applicants catch errors before they submit applications; help “staff apply City code more consistently and efficiently, [and help] the City find opportunities to simplify and streamline policies.”

There are some companies that claim to reduce permitting times using AI chatbots and near-instant plan reviews, but it’s unclear to what extent these tools can actually supplant the human workers who currently work with developers and homeowners on permits and ensure compliance with the city’s complex codes by, for instance, talking to people and answering questions directly and inspecting conditions on the ground.

Moving away from actual employees to tools created by AI startups—a change the city’s new AI plan refers to delicately as “workforce transition”—will face strong opposition from the city’s unions (the largest of which, PROTEC17, has thrown its weight behind Harrell’s opponent Wilson), and potential opposition from the public as well. Replacing public workers with software could also have implications for the local economy, which is increasingly tilted in favor of wealthy tech-sector workers. And, of course, the current frenzy of AI hype could turn out to be just that—hype.

The city’s new AI plan says the “City’s AI Proof of Value framework ensures pilots are judged on clear objectives, business value, responsible use, and long-term supportability, not hype-fueled adoption we hear from sales staff.” Which seems, I don’t know… a little doth-protest-too much?

Elections, Mayor Harrell

Harrell Says King County Public Health is “Failing Us,” Talks Tough on Trump, and Muses About an AI Wall Where You Can Ask MLK What He Had for Breakfast
Mayor Bruce Harrell and FamilyWorks Executive Director Marcia Wright-Soika at a recent debate hosted by the Seattle Human Services Coalition

By Erica C. Barnett

As readers may know, I’ve spent much of the last month attending Seattle mayoral debates and live-posting about them on Bluesky. Typically, the dynamic is this: Mayor Bruce Harrell criticizes his opponent, Katie Wilson, for having “no experience” in various areas (housing, budgets, managing people, etc.), and belittles her while refusing to use her name. In response, Wilson defends herself with facts about her experience, achievements, and plans, often stumbling a little in the face of broadsides that may include five different inaccurate claims about her; Harrell is fond, for example, of claiming “she is one of the chief architects of the Defund [the Police] movement,” an absurdity that erases the Black leaders who began the movement in response to police violence against Black victims, like George Floyd, Breonna Tayler Eric Garner.

Over the weekend, though, Harrell had the rare opportunity to participate in a “debate” without his opponent present, after Wilson pulled out of the so-called “Great Debate” at the Washington Athletic Club at the last minute on Saturday afternoon. (Wilson’s campaign said she was sick; the debate’s emcee, Harrell supporter Julius Caesar Robinson, told the crowd, “She wants me to to pass on her apologies, which I am not!”) For a reporter in the audience, it was also a rare opportunity to see the usually unsmiling mayor in a friendly crowd—the debate was sponsored by We Heart Seattle, the Seattle Police Officers Guild, the state Realtors Association, and the Discovery Institute, among other right-leaning groups.

In contrast to his usual dour appearance when forced to share a stage with Wilson, Harrell was garrulous, expansive, and casual, often stopping to shout out people he recognized in the audience and ramble for minutes at a time about whatever was on his mind, be it the Mariners (“we’re playing some really, really good baseball this year) or the role AI will play in Seattle’s arts and culture (“The reason why culture and art is so strong is you’re going to see a heavy AI influence in it,” he said.)

And speaking of AI: During a rambling response to a question about how he would keep businesses in downtown Seattle, Harrell said he had great hope that AI startup incubators like AI House, on the downtown waterfront, would help produce “experiential activities” that would get people to come downtown. Those might include dog parks, day cares, restaurants, music, and interactive video, he said.

“We want video activity. And I gave an example to someone. I said, Imagine how cool would this be if we had like, a 10-foot wall. It’s interactive and it’s historical. And you could talk to Martin Luther King, and you could say, ‘Well, Dr, Martin Luther King, I’ve always wanted to meet you. What was your day like today? What did you have for breakfast?’ And he comes back and he talks to you right now. How cool would that be if we have a series of historical figures that we all could agree on, that we respect. And then it stops off, and we can watch the Mariners beat Toronto for the championship. That’s where downtown is heading, and our think tanks—my think tank that I’ve convened—are coming up these kinds of deals to make sure our downtown is vibrant and we get employees back. I think we can lead the way.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter, Dr. Bernice King, asked people to stop making AI versions of her father just last week. A spokesperson for the King Center in Atlanta said she’ll be issuing a statement soon about AI replications of her father’s likeness.

Harrell’s off-the-cuff musings about an interactive fake MLK in downtown Seattle weren’t the only unusually candid comments he made at the friendly event, which ended in a standing ovation. I’ve gathered a few of his remarks here, all from an audio recording and edited lightly for accuracy from my live AI (yes, there are good uses for it) transcript—a fact that I’m noting, mostly, because Harrell took a moment out of his comments to say that he hoped I was quoting him accurately.

On whether he “punches down” against his opponent, who founded the Transit Riders Union and led successful minimum-wage efforts in Tukwila, Burien, and unincorporated King County:

“I haven’t done anything that I would consider punching down. … I’ve tried to argue with facts. I said in a debate, I think we had two debates a couple days ago, and I said my opponent has never hired one employee, and my opponent said, That’s not true. And then her campaign manager said, she hired me. And then I said to my opponent, well, how many employees have you hired? And my opponent wouldn’t ask the question. I don’t think that’s punching down. I said that my opponent ran a $200,000 budget, and last year they lost $21,000. The year before that, $38,000. The year before, $46,000. They had zero employees. … So when I cite facts like that, I don’t see that as punching down.” (Wilson has said that as head of the Transit Riders Union, she recruited volunteers, not paid employees. TRU’s IRS filings show negative income but positive assets, like many nonprofits.)

On dealing with the Trump administration:

“Dealing with Donald Trump is very, very hard because I don’t understand the end game. I have an idea of the end game, which is not healthy for America as far as I’m concerned. It’s my personal belief, and it’s more my style to understand the president. I actually had a one on one with President Biden several times, a one on one. Not a lot of people can say that. We would take a walk. I had one on ones with Vice President Harris. How many people could say— I’m very proud of that. I’ve had some great opportunities here. I believe there’s a sacred pact between the federal government and the city. They should help us with transportation projects, cancer research, public safety, infrastructure. So to answer your question directly, I’ve been very aggressive on our executive orders, because no one believes. Remember, I was a linebacker. A linebacker, and I’m not particularly big. I played against people who are much bigger. I’m tenacious.” (Harrell went on to praise Police Chief Shon Barnes, a “superstar,” and detail the executive orders I wrote about here, which include a local law banning federal agents from wearing masks to conceal their identities.)

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On whether he’ll require protesters “dressed in black bloc” to take off their masks too: 

“I think what you’re talking about are masks with the intention, perhaps, to take some kind of aggressive action which could result in someone being unsafe. And I don’t think that’s right at all. I have to respect the fact that some people—we were all wearing masks about three and a half years ago, and there could be code restrictions or health concerns where some people need to wear masks. So the reason I mentioned that is because when looking at the mask law, I asked the question, well, can’t—how far we can we go with masks in case someone still has a respiratory issue and have to wear masks? And so what we’re trying to do is make sure that masks with the intent to camouflage themselves, to exert force over people, is not what we want, and we’ll prohibit that. So I’m all for that, but I have to recognize that people will have health conditions that may require some level of mask, and we have to respect that.”

On “good protest”:

I expect people to use their voices. You all have loud voices. You know how I know? ‘Cause I hear them sometimes. And we don’t want you poking the bear. We don’t want you falling for the bait. And so we also want to do some training on what First Amendment good protest looks like, because I don’t want any of you to be charged with obstruction of justice. You heard my [police] chief ask many of you, have you ever heard of Willie Grimes? … If you go back in history books, this was a person that when the National Guard federalized, he was killed. … There are many incidents in our history when there was peaceful protest that resulted in violence. So we want to make sure that you all know the do’s and don’ts of peaceful protest to protect you as you raise your voice.”

On the “failing” Seattle/King County Public Health Department:

“Now, one thing that I did ask when I first got elected, I really wanted to serve on the Board of Health because I thought I should implode it. Remember, the health department is a $3.5 billion organization run by the county. …  There are many cities like Berkeley that run their own health department, and there’s an effort underway on a national basis for cities to get close to running their own health departments, becoming what they call a continuum of care. Now, why would cities be interested in doing that? I’ll tell you why. Because during COVID, the monies went right to the cities, and they found out cities were nimble. They knew their constituents better. They knew their streets better than the county. I know the streets better here in Seattle than the county.

“Okay, so part of the challenge, Andrea, is that I can’t tell them how to do their job, because this enabling of [public drug use] often is exacerbating the problem. … And so I struggle a little bit with the Health Department. When I say this during these debates, my opponent will say, you’re passing the buck. I don’t pass any bucks. I’m an empowered person. But I have to acknowledge that there are structural issues of how the health department are doing their job, and we are all suffering as a result of that. So I’m on top of the issues. We’re working on it now, and I will guarantee you that we’re making changes to our relationship with the county, because I’m paying into a system that, I think it’s failing all of us. So we’re moving very recently because, because I realized the system was failing. …”

“What I want to see from the health department, and I won’t denigrate any of these fine people work with health department. I will not do that. But here’s the challenge, Andrea, I never see them when I—if you and I took a walk out on Third Avenue, we’ll see people that are not fulfilling their lives. So what I’m asking my group is, where are these health workers? Many of them are fine people. So what I want to see—every time I see someone dying or sick, I want to see them getting help.”

On his work ethic:

“Anyone that works around me knows that I outwork everybody. I will. I’ll work seven days a week, 12, 14, hours a day. My people that work with me, they are amazed with the energy, I have an amazing wife. In any debate, I always have to find her, because she’ll always say, smile, Bruce, smile. They take pictures of me. I’m looking at myself expressing joy at the love of my life.”

A full recording of the Q&A session with Harrell is available here. 

I’ve also posted a rough transcript here.

Addiction, Courts, Mayor Harrell, Police

This Week on PubliCola: October 11, 2025

Controversial cop promoted, then demoted, by new police chief, Harrell says he has a plan for addressing food deserts and potential federal troop invasion, and more.

By Erica C. Barnett

Monday, October 6

Seattle Nice: Harrell Talks Tough on Food Deserts and Homelessness

On this week’s podcast, we discussed Mayor Bruce Harrell’s proposal to ban restrictive covenants that limit the size of grocery stores and pharmacies. Harrell pitched theas one solution to the problem of “food deserts”—areas with few grocery stores (or pharmacies) where residents have to travel long distances to get basic items—but how impactful would it really be?

Tuesday, October 7

SPD Chief Puts Cop Who Called 2020 Protesters “Cockroaches” In Charge of East Precinct

Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes quietly removed the East Precinct’s gay acting commander, Doug Raguso, and placed a newly promoted captain, Mike Tietjen, in charge. Tietjen was at the center of two high-profile incidents during protests against police violence in 2020, including one in which he was reprimanded for failing to report fellow officers for harassing a trans woman while he was in the car.

Wednesday, October 8

Three Key Questions to Save Our Light Rail Future

In a guest op/ed, King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci made the case for considering a light rail alternative that would reduce the cost of the over-budget Ballard-to-West-Seattle light rail extension by running all three rail lines through the existing downtown tunnel, rather than digging an entirely new one.

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Harrell Says SPD Will Stand Strong Against Federal Invasion; SPD Promotes Former Deputy Chief Who Said Aurora Sex Workers “Enjoy It”

Two stories in Wednesday’s Afternoon Fizz: First, Mayor Bruce Harrell introduced two executive orders that, he said, will help protect Seattle against federal troops by banning face masks and training police and city employees on how to respond to ICE. Also, the SPD promotions Barnes announced internally last month include a new captain whose controversial remarks about sex workers were one of the reasons he was demoted in 2019.

Thursday, October 9

Reversing Decision, SPD Removes Controversial Captain Tietjen from East Precinct

Two days after PubliCola exclusively reported that Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes had promoted controversial police lieutenant Michael Tietjen to captain and put him in charge of Capitol Hill’s East Precinct, Barnes announced internally that he was removing Tietjen and appointing a new commander for the precinct. In his email to command staff, Barnes blamed others for the decision.

Friday, October 10

Banishment Orders and Mandatory Addiction Assessments Haven’t Helped Drug Users, Court Records Show

A recent review of court records showed that two people have been jailed, so far, for violating orders to “stay out” of designated “drug areas.” The city’s new drug diversion alternative, implemented by City Attorney Ann Davison, does not include mandatory services, and a recent review by the county public defender’s office showed that almost no one who used this alternative ended up in treatment.

Mayor Harrell, Police

Reversing Decision, SPD Removes Controversial Captain Tietjen from East Precinct
Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes (l) and Michael Tietjen (center) pose during a celebration of Tietjen’s promotion to captain of Capitol Hill’s East Precinct

By Erica C. Barnett

Two days after PubliCola exclusively reported that  Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes had promoted controversial police lieutenant Michael Tietjen to captain and put him in charge of Capitol Hill’s East Precinct, Barnes announced internally that he was removing Tietjen and appointing a new commander for the precinct.

In an internal email to SPD command staff, Barnes blamed our article for “leading to a crisis of confidence among our LGBTQIA+ community members” and said his decision stemmed from “internal leaks” and “a lack of comprehensive input from those involved in employee assignments” for his decision to remove Tietjen.

Tietjen became infamous during the 2020 protests against police violence after he drove his unmarked SUV onto a sidewalk full of people and, when they scattered, referred to them as “cockroaches.” His punishment in that case was being reassigned to a different precinct. Tietjen was suspended without pay for another protest-related incident, in which he shoved a person who was trying to render aid to a demonstrator blinded by tear gas into a bus stop, slamming the man’s head into the structure.

That same summer, Tietjen was reprimanded for failing to act when he was in an SUV full of police who allegedly harassed a trans woman, asking her if she “had a dick under” her skirt. Tiejten has a child who is part of the LGBTQ+ community, from whom he is estranged.

In the email, Barnes blamed “internal leaks within our department” as well as PubliCola’s article for creating “unease” that forced his hand.

Among the immediate concerns is a recent article that has raised unease within the East Precinct, leading to a crisis of confidence among our LGBTQIA+ community members. This situation has prompted several community partners to withdraw their support. To address this, I will be reassigning our East Precinct Commander and appointing a new leader to help restore our community engagement efforts. This decision stems from a lack of comprehensive input from those involved in employee assignments and internal leaks within our department. My priority is to always restore trust within our community.

Far from resulting from “leaks,” Barnes’ decision reportedly received massive internal and external pushback after PubliCola reported it. Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office reportedly did not support Tietjen’s appointment and may have been blindsided by the decision.

Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

At a recent debate, Harrell, who is seeking a second term, called Barnes a “superstar” who could “work for any department in this country”.  “[He’s] a PhD, he’s a Marine, he’s smart, and he has a great command team,” Harrell said of Barnes.

After this article ran, SPD provided the following statement:

This summer, SPD proudly continued to build support and collaboration across the community of Seattle through extensive neighborhood meetings and district public safety forums.

After a recent standard promotion process where we promoted several highly qualified candidates, we received additional information and feedback that had not been previously surfaced. As Mayor Harrell has said, we are a learning organization, and the SPD executive team took this as an opportunity to improve the process. Moving forward, promotional decisions will feature a full review of the person’s history to ensure we place the right candidate in the right position. As a department, we are committed to bolstering relationships throughout Seattle and continuous improvement.

Joel Merkel, the co-chair of the Community Police Commission, told PubliCola after our story came out that promoting Tietjen to head up the East Precinct raised concerns about Chief Barnes’  “knowledge and insight into SPD’s history history and dynamics … particularly as we’re trying to change the culture of SPD.”

We’ve reached out to SPD for comment.

Barnes’ letter went on to say that if SPD leaders aren’t “aligned with” the department’s strategy toward “human trafficking along the Aurora Street corridor.”” they should “have an open conversation with me or consider their place within our department.”

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PubliCola reported yesterday on the promotion of Marc Garth Green, a former deputy chief who was demoted by former chief Carmen Best after he made insensitive comments about sex workers on Aurora Ave. N in 2019, saying that many of them “liked” being out there. Garth Green was defending a policy SPD had at the time of arresting sex workers, rather than focusing on buyers. Currently, SPD uses elaborate sting operations to catch men trying to pay for sex, a misdemeanor; these operations, which require special training and can involve as many as 20 officers, have long been a staple of SPD’s response to street sex work.

SPD’s “ongoing initiative to combat human trafficking along the Aurora Street corridor has faced internal resistance,” Barnes wrote. “I want to reiterate that both I and the mayor’s office fully support this program. Leadership sometimes involves taking risks, and I firmly believe that proactive measures are necessary, even in the face of opposition. Those who are not aligned with this mission are encouraged to have an open conversation with me or consider their place within our department.”

Barnes also noted that there has been “scrutiny regarding the sharing of public records with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),” a reference to independent journalist Glen Stellmacher’s story alleging that SPD expedites public disclosure requests from ICE while using delay tactics like “grouping” to delay records requests from citizens and journalists. Under this policy, SPD takes multiple requests from the same requester or media outlet and “groups” them all into one single mega-request, responding to individual requests one at a time in full before moving on to the next one.

“While we are still clarifying the specifics of this situation, please prepare for potential media coverage that may highlight our actions without complete context,” Barnes wrote. “Our focus will be on ensuring transparency and working closely with the mayor’s office on a response, given the sensitivity surrounding immigration issues in our city.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

immigration, Mayor Harrell, Police

Harrell Says SPD Will Stand Strong Against Federal Invasion; SPD Promotes Former Deputy Chief Who Said Aurora Sex Workers “Enjoy It”

1. Mayor Bruce Harrell signed two executive orders on Wednesday that he said would “ensure that our city is prepared and resilient” if President Trump sends federal troops to Seattle.

The orders, however, are largely symbolic and include recaps of policies that are already in place—like a ban on police cooperation with immigration enforcement—or under consideration, like an increase to the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs’ budget, announced last month. One of the orders sets up a task force to come up with response plans if Trump does send troops to Seattle. The other highlights future legislation that would prohibit law enforcement officers from wearing masks to hide their identity and ban “staging and operations of federal civil immigration enforcement activities on City property to the extent permissible by law.”

City employees will also be required to go through training on the “protocols and procedures for complying with state and local immigration laws,” including the Keep Washington Working Act, which prohibits city employees from assisting in immigration enforcement.

Hamdi Mohamed, director of the city’s Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, said the two orders “send a clear message that we will use our full power to stand up and protect our communities—ensuring the Seattle Police Department and the city cannot and will not participate in federal civil immigration enforcement, creating a task force across departments who will meet with and coordinate responses with community organizations like OneAmerica, and writing new laws and directives to meet this moment to ensure that our local law enforcement prioritizes the safety and first amendment rights of our residents and community members.”

But Seattle, like all cities, has little power to actually stop federal troops from wearing masks (as they have in California, which banned masks) or enforcing immigration laws in public spaces—as they have in Chicago, whose mayor declared all public properties “ICE-free zones” earlier this week.

Harrell dismissed various potential scenarios, including a situation in which police cooperate with federal troops or ICE, as “hypotheticals,” saying, “we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Six Seattle police officers participated in the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the January 6 insurrection, including two who were fired after video evidence surfaced of them breaching the Capitol—the largest known January 6 contingent from any US police department. A 2021 video that surfaced in 2023 showed a large “Trump 2020” flag displayed at SPD’s East Precinct, along with a mock tombstone bearing the of name a young man, Damarius Butts, who was killed by SPD officers in 2017.

Harrell said there were no specific indications that Trump planned to send federal troops to Seattle, but said he wasn’t “worried” about “poking the bear” with his announcement.

2. New East Precinct SPD commnder Michael Tietjen isn’t the only controversial figure to receive a promotion and accolades from new police chief Shon Barnes. (As we reported yesterday, Tietjen was promoted to oversee policing in the city’s longtime LGBTQ+ neighborhood despite a history of misconduct that included an incident in which four officers allegedly harassed a trans woman.)

Three weeks ago, Barnes also announced the promotion of Marc Garth Green as commander of the West Precinct.

The job is a step back up the ranks for Green, a former deputy chief who was publicly demoted by former police chief Carmen Best after he made offensive comments about sex workers while defending SPD’s decision to focus on arresting sex workers rather than johns. During a heated exchange with then-councilmember Teresa Mosqueda, Garth Green said many of the women walking up and down Aurora are there by choice because they “make money and enjoy it.” He also suggested that sex workers themselves were contributing to gun violence in the area.

Garth Green was eventually reassigned to Harbor Patrol—the same division to which Tietjen was reassigned in 2007, after he and a partner were caught on video choking and allegedly planting drugs on a man in a wheelchair.

Later that same year, Garth Green and other SPD officers were accused of giving preferential treatment to an SPD captain who was caught trying to pay a woman for sex on Aurora.

In his announcement of four promotions  (the other two new captains are Kevin Runolfson and Heidi Tuttle), Barnes said, “Their advancement is not only a reflection of personal achievement but also a testament to the values of dedication, integrity, and leadership that we need at every level of this department.”

Elections, homelessness, Mayor Harrell, podcasts

Seattle Nice: Harrell Talks Tough on Food Deserts and Homelessness

By Erica C. Barnett

Mayor Bruce Harrell has issued a fusillade of official announcements in the weeks leading up to the November 4 election, including one, last week, about legislation that would prohibit restrictive covenants that limit the size of grocery stores and pharmacies. On this week’s podcast, we discussed the timing and implications of the proposal, which Harrell pitched as one solution to the problem of “food deserts”—areas with few grocery stores (or pharmacies) where residents have to travel long distances to get basic items.

As I noted in my story about the plan, size restrictions didn’t prevent grocery stores from opening in the two locations the city gave as examples of this phenomenon. In one case, a Sprouts organic food store replaced a long-vacant Albertson’s, joining an Amazon Fresh and several cultural grocery stores to create a diverse mini-food hub in North Seattle. In the second, neighbors successfully lobbied for a Trader Joe’s to anchor a development that brought hundreds of new apartments Greenwood; that project replaced a single-story Safeway and a parking lot, and is just four blocks away from a giant Fred Meyer.

The size of grocery stores in Seattle is limited primarily by zoning, not rarely-used restrictive covenants; in the lowest-density neighborhood commercial zones, for instance, grocery stores can’t be larger than 10,000 square feet. And the problem in food deserts isn’t that grocery stores are too small—it’s that there aren’t enough (or any) grocery stores of any size in those areas, while wealthier, whiter neighborhoods like Ballard are almost overrun with options.

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You could argue (and I have) that Harrell’s anti-covenant proposal is a solution in search of a problem. But what about other ideas for enticing grocery stores to open in Seattle, like a separate Harrell proposal to simply exempt all grocery stores from state business and occupation taxes? We were all pretty skeptical of this idea, since tax breaks aren’t free—when the government cuts taxes for one group, they always pass the losses on to someone else.

We also discussed ongoing turmoil at the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, whose CEO, Kelly Kinnison, was recently the target of several toxic-workplace allegations. Kinnison’s only penalty was a round of executive coaching and a written reminder that the KCRHA prohibits retaliation, but the agency itself still faces criticism from all sides—including KCRHA board member Harrell, who has recently been arguing that Seattle spends more than its fair share on the regional authority. Sandeep said it’s time to “write [the KCRHA] off as a failure, because it is a failure.” To which I asked: “But then what?”