ANNOUNCER: Produced by Rooted in Rights,

 
 a program of Disability Rights Washington.

 
 Seattle City Council District Two

 
 Transportation and
Sustainability Candidate Forum,

 
 hosted by the MASS Coalition,
Transit Riders Union,

 
 Tech for Housing, and
the Housing Consortium.

 
 [audience applauds]

 
 TAMMY: Good evening everyone.

 
 Thank you for being here,


 and thanks to the organizers


 for making sure we are all accommodated


 the way we need to be.


 I'm Tammy Morales and I am
going to sheepishly admit


 that I got here in my car by myself.


 CHRIS: Hello everyone, my name is Chris Peguero


 and I arrived on my motorcycle.


 ARI:  Good evening, everybody.


 My name is Ari Hoffman.


 I got here in my now famous


 Dodge Charger V-8 Hemi R/T.


 [audience laughs]


 OMARI:  My name is Omari Tahir


 and I want to apologize for taking Metro


 'cause I only paid $ 


 'cause I'm a senior citizen
and I'm 73 years old.


 [audience laughs and applauds]


 PHYLLIS:  Hi, thanks for being here this evening,


 and again thank everybody


 for participating on getting


 this show on the road.


 My name is Phyllis Porter,


 and I did take the
light rail this morning,


 and I also took the bus,
but here I took my car.


 MARK:  My name is Mark Solomon.


 I am from North Beacon Hill,


 and I drove here in my own
personal car with my wife.


 [MODERATOR]: In the process


 of building affordable housing,


 communities of color have been displaced


 while white people move
into new developments.


 How will you protect these
vulnerable communities


 from being displaced due to
new housing construction?


 CHRIS:  I think housing affordability,


 both in housing and


 affordable family housing specifically


 near our transit corridors


 is the most important piece around equity


 and how we build to make sure


 that all folks can remain in place.


 I think that's the biggest
question that we have,


 that as gentrification
displacement pressures


 continue to be placed upon our district,


 that we're not seeing
folks continue to leave.


 I think I'm very interested in looking


 at rent control as a way to look at


 how we can mitigate


 that gentrification
displacement in our district.


 [MODERATOR]: Pass the mic to your left.


 And please introduce yourself again.


 ARI:  Same question?


 [MODERATOR]: Same question.


 ARI:  Would you mind repeating it please?


 [MODERATOR]: Sure.


 In the process of building
affordable housing,


 communities of color have been displaced


 while white people have
moved into new developments.


 How will you protect these
vulnerable communities


 from being displaced due
to this construction?


 ARI:  Hello everybody again.


 My name is Ari Hoffman.


 One of the biggest issues


 that we're having right now is


 with regards to the codes.


 Because the codes are so onerous


 and because the codes are so restrictive,


 we have problems building the things


 that we want to build.


 It's taken me almost three years


 to get a permit on a single family house


 in my neighborhood that
I'm trying to build.


 If we make the codes more reasonable


 and we take them apart to see


 what's practical about them,


 we can lower the prices for everybody


 and make housing more
affordable for Seattle


 for everybody who wants to
move here, who lives here now.


 OMARI:  My name is Omari Tahir,
and I'm apologizing


 for being a contractor that builds houses.


 I bought my first house
in 1996 when I was 19


 working in Boynes, making
$1,000 a week overtime,


 working 10 hours a day
Saturday and Sunday.


 I quit the baseball team out Shoreline


 with half the baseball and football team,


 joined the Seattle Police Department.


 And I taught school, from pre-school


 all the way to lecturing at the U-Dub,


 Washington State, Wayne State in Detroit,


 and Bellingham, Western Washington State.


 I'm a expert in world travel.

 
 I lived in Africa for four years.


 I've traveled all over Africa.


 I lived in London


 for six months.


 I traveled all over Europe--


 [MODERATOR]: That's time.
Can you write that?


 OMARI:  And if you want to know a solution,


 I'm a solution man.


 I'm not a talker.


 I'm not campaigning on
literature and yard signs.


 I don't want you to vote for me--


 [MODERATOR]: All right, that's time.


 [muffled by moderator's voice]


 PHYLLIS:  Hi, my name is Phyllis Porter.


 I think displacement,


 when we talk about the homelessness,


 when we talk about displacement,


 of course we put it hand-in-hand,


 so I would say for the developers


 that right now they can take


 a certain portion of money


 and put it into a fund


 and they can build a certain amount


 of housing units.


 I think one of two things.


 With that funding that they're putting in,


 I think maybe we should have


 that stopped completely


 and just make it mandatory


 that the developers make more houses.


 Also when there's developers


 that are coming in


 and they're getting new buildings,


 buying new buildings,


 I think that the people


 that are already low income,


 or the people that have
already been processed


 for low income, when
these buildings come in,


 the developers, I think they should


 automatically roll the people


 that have already been
processed low income


 into the newer places,


 without them having to go
through the process again.


 MARK:  Mark Solomon.


 One of the things I'm looking at


 with the mandatory housing
affordability and the upzones.


 First, I want to make
sure that the upzones


 do not adversely impact
the property owners,


 the single family property owners.


 Second thing I want to make sure is


 that if a developer decides
to pay into the fund


 as opposed to setting aside
affordable housing units,


 that, if they're building
in this District,


 the funds that they put into that pot


 come back to build
housing in our district.


 Third thing I want to do is


 make sure that we examine
our tax exemptions


 and tax deferments for our seniors


 so that they can stay in their homes


 and not be economically affected.


 TAMMY:  Can you just tell me
what your signaling is?


 [SECOND OFFICIAL]: Yeah,


 I'm doing this to wrap up,


 you have five seconds.


 TAMMY:  Okay, thank you.


 I'm Tammy Morales, and I
think that one of the things


 that we have to do is stop
gentrification planning


 and really start planning our
cities for the working class.


 We've let developers run
roughshod over this city


 and we need to rein that in.


 We do that by permanently
affordable housing.


 We can use land trusts to do
that so that rents stay low,


 so that ownership stays low on that land.


 The other thing we need to do is require


 that any city surplus land get used


 for social housing and
for low income housing


 rather than selling it
off to the highest bidder,


 which is what we seem
to be doing right now.


 And then finally, we need to preserve


 existing affordable
housing and stop allowing


 for permits to destroy the housing


 that is affordable right now,


 and if it means that the city has to pay


 the current owner of
that property market rate


 in order to preserve that, then so be it.


 And then finally, this isn't just


 about increasing housing
and the affordability,


 it's also about making sure
that people can make a living.


 So we need to invest in infrastructure,


 in family wage union jobs so that--


 [MODERATOR]: Wrap up.


 TAMMY:  People can actually have a livelihood.


 [MODERATOR]: Many in our city,


 and we're going to
start this one with Ari,


 many in our city have barriers


 to traditional affordable housing,


 such as an eviction
record, a criminal record,


 physical disability,
substance abuse disorder,


 low or no income, and
mental health disorders.


 What strategies would you employ


 to ensure that these people have access


 to housing that meets their needs?


 ARI:  I'm Ari Hoffman.


 If you look at what
happened with Licton Springs


 and a lot of the other
low barrier encampments,


 the problem, or low barrier shelters also,


 is that we aren't treating the problems.


 We're allowing people to come in,


 bringing the problems with them.


 We're not assigning social workers.


 We're not making sure that
treatment's available to them.


 To bring anybody to housing,


 you're going to have
the exact same problems


 in housing that they have without housing.


 I know this from my own personal
experience and my family.


 If you just give them everything,


 it's enabling the behavior.


 We need make sure's that they have


 the treatment they need,


 they have the support system they need,


 and there's an interesting program


 I'm going to check out in Atlanta


 where they have social
workers living with people


 in houses to try and help
them solve their issues


 so they can integrate back into society.


 I'd like to look into
exploring those options.


 OMARI:  My name is Omari Tahir


 and I qualify for
everything that she said.


 No income, low income, mental disability,


 and I've lived in the
Downtown Emergency Center.


 I got accused of having
a Nickelsville Dearborn


 homeless encampment, with
the Native American is the one


 that allowed them to be


 on the Umoja Fest P.E.A.C.E Center lot.


 Now the reason why I established motive


 of Fest P.E.A.C.E. Center
and the Africatown,


 is 'cause Chinatown is fighting


 a better battle against gentrification,


 even though all over the country,


 they're destroying and
gentrifying Chinatown


 because they figure Chinatown
is a fifth column for China,


 and China is very competitive,
even with capitalists.


 I don't want you to vote for me.


 I prefer you vote for Ms. Morales,


 who ran against Bruce Harrell last year.


 Thank you.


 [audience laughs]


 PHYLLIS:  Could you repeat that again, please?


 [MODERATOR]: Okay, summarize.


 A lot of people in this city have barriers


 to traditional affordable housing,


 like mental disability,
substance use disorders,


 an eviction record, criminal record.


 What would you do to ensure


 that those folks have the
housing that they need,


 that meets their needs?


 PHYLLIS:  Again, my name is Phyllis Porter.


 I think first of all, I start with working


 with some of the agencies
that do that now.


 There's one agency,
Pioneer Human Services,


 that works directly with those
that have been incarcerated.


 They help with wraparound services.


 They've started with mental health.


 They start with education, employment.


 If you have any type drug addiction,


 if you have problems with your family,


 they take care of those issues


 and they also work with legislators,


 so I think we will continue to work


 with legislators in Olympia


 to make sure, like Ban the Box.


 We have Ban the Box now, but still


 we have to go beyond Ban the Box.


 So I think we have to come up


 with more ordinances, more laws


 in order to make sure that


 when people are getting out of prison,


 or people who need help,


 that that help is there.


 MARK:  Mark Solomon.


 I like the idea of using


 the Ban the Box approach


 when it comes to housing.


 I like the idea of


 eliminating source of
income discrimination


 that prevents people
from getting into homes.


 I want to support those efforts


 I am very happy that the
state passed legislation


 to provide some relief for people


 who may be facing eviction,


 from 3 days to 21 days,


 so they have a chance to get right


 with that property owner.


 And I also think we need to be working


 with our property owners,
with our landlords,


 to have a little bit more compassion


 for somebody who may be struggling,


 for those who, again,


 may be one paycheck away,


 one car repair away,


 one utility bill away


 from finding themselves on the street.


 So there are a number of things


 that we can do working together,


 working with the State Legislature,


 again, working with our partners in County


 to make sure that people
can stay in their homes.


 [faint speaking]


 TAMMY:  I'm Tammy.


 So I think for those who
are at risk of eviction,


 the State Legislature
just changed their policy


 so that people actually
have a longer amount


 of time before they get pushed out.


 I think it's 60 to 90 days,


 which should help with some of that.


 We can also provide shallow subsidies


 for longer periods of time


 so people don't have to skip


 [muffled by soda can opening]


 to be able to move into
their next apartment.


 I think, in terms of those
who are chronically homeless,


 it is providing treatment and services


 to those people is not
giving them everything,


 it's actually treating some of the issues


 that they have, and we
need to do more of that


 if we're really going to talk


 about helping folks transition


 into housing that they can stabilize in.


 We do that by expanding the LEAD program,


 which is proven to be effective


 at helping people get
into housing permanently.


 The Navigation Teams that we
have are a waste of money.


 It's unconstitutional, it's not effective,


 and it wastes taxpayer dollars.


 Instead, we should be investing that money


 in LEAD programs that
can actually get people


 into housing quicker.


 Prolific offenders, also--


 [MODERATOR]: Time.


 TAMMY:  Are not prioritized for housing,


 so we need to change that.


 [MODERATOR]: Tammy, your time's up.


 TAMMY:  And we need to preserve


 [mumbling]


 CHRIS:  Thank you. Chris Peguero.


 For our campaign,
housing is a human right.


 We believe that we need
to have housing first


 before we move towards treatment options,


 that we need stability first,


 like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.


 If you're loved and you've got a house,


 then we can start moving
towards dealing with trauma


 that some of our houseless
folks are dealing with


 in regards to their addiction.


 We recognize that not all
of our homeless population


 are experiencing addiction, so we want


 to continue also to support
non-government agencies


 that are helping, like Mercy Housing,


 who are building low income
and affordable housing,


 like Hirabayashi Place,
Roberto Maestas Plaza,


 and the new Mount Baker Family Housing.


 I believe in harm reduction
and safe injection sites,


 making sure that folks have place


 that they're supported as
they're seeking treatment,


 as well as those options.


 The main priority for me is looking


 at all of our housing in regards


 to race and social justice lens,


 and I'll stop there.


 Thank you.


 [MODERATOR]: All right.


 Our next question will start with Omari.


 There's not currently a single all-ages


 and all-abilities route for people biking


 from anywhere in Southeast
Seattle to Downtown.


 Is this important to you,


 and what will you do to fix it?


 OMARI:  Well.


 I have four bicycles.


 I am 73 and I like riding the bicycle


 'cause they're quiet.


 I gotta push more.


 I like the push more 'cause it has


 a low carbon footprint


 and it starts every time.


 [audience laughs]


 We need more bicycle paths


 'cause other places, Europe
and China, bicycling is.


 Oh. Let me tell you this.


 In Ghana, West Africa,


 where I lived for four years,


 a bicycle is like a car.


 It's very valuable


 and so...


 The solution is,


 we gotta move away from the cars,


 more toward bicycles,


 and I don't know why they built


 this big, huge train-like thing


 that's just another bus,


 but it's got a track.


 And if you're not careful on your bicycle,


 your bicycle will go down in the track,


 and one lady already died.


 PHYLLIS:  My name is Phyllis,


 and could you repeat that again?


 MODERATOR: Sure.


 There isn't currently a single all-ages


 and all-abilities route


 from Southeast Seattle to Downtown.


 Is this important to you,


 and how will you fix it?


 Yes, it's important to me.


 I've been a member of the
Rainier Valley Greenways


 and chair for about the last five years,


 and just recently gave it up


 when I decided to do this.


 But that's one of the things


 we've been working on for a long time.


 So one of the things I would do,


 first of all, we have worked really hard


 on talking to the community


 and we've been getting solutions,


 we've been getting answers
from the community.


 So what I would like to do is take some


 of that information that we already gather


 and make sure that that
is being implemented.


 We can continue to advocate and advocate


 and say we need these things,


 we can continue to go to City Hall,


 we can continue to talk
to the Council members,


 and we can fight for these things,


 but every time we go back to the table,


 we have more meetings.


 It's time up for the meetings.


 It's time for the shovels


 and it's time for the action.


 So I would say, take
some of the information


 that we already gather
and get working on that.


 [crowd snapping]


 MARK:  Mark Solomon.


 I agree with Phyllis.


 The work's been done.


 The studies have been done.


 At some point, City Council needs to act,


 not do more studies.


 When I've been out in the
community talking to folks,


 I'm hearing about the concern
for the safety of cyclists,


 as well as the safety of pedestrians.


 So do we need to look at
more protected bike lanes


 so that our cyclists are safe


 when they're coming into contact


 with the 4-wheel vehicular traffic?


 Yeah.


 So again, the work's been done.


 The studies have been done.


 Bring folks to the table.


 Let's work together on solutions


 to make it actually happen.


 TAMMY:  I'm Tammy, and yeah.


 This one goes to Phyllis, I gotta say.


 We have studied this thing.


 We've designed the plan.


 We need to just build the damn thing.


 I mean, we've talked about this for years.


 So, we need at least one commuter route


 from South Seattle into Downtown,


 whether it's Beacon
Avenue or Rainier Avenue.


 We need to build the bike
networks, including east-west.


 We need protected bike lanes so that


 people can get around
their neighborhoods safely


 to run errands, to go
to the grocery store,


 to go pick up their kids at daycare,


 for kids to get to school.


 I work down at Rainier Beach,


 and we had a gentleman who died


 on his bike just a few months ago


 because he was trying to get to work


 and people were not even aware


 that bicyclists are around.


 So, it's time to stop wasting our time


 with community meetings,


 and just build the thing


 that we've been saying we need


 for years now.


 CHRIS:  Thank you. Chris Peguero.


 We have a bike master plan


 and we need to build
it, like we've shared,


 some of us have shared up here


 I think a few of the concerns I have are


 the expense of building protected lanes.


 I think we need them,


 but how do we build them so that it's...


 I think there was a dramatic number


 that came out about how expensive it was.


 I forget the exact number,


 in millions per mile,


 but if there's a better way


 to do that that's less expensive.


 The other concern that
I have is making sure


 that bikes are accessible to all families.


 I think that for the most part,


 communities of color oftentimes


 don't think of bikes as an option.


 How do we make sure that equipment,


 language, the cost of participating


 or being part of bike culture is not


 primarily just white and male.


 We have to make sure
that everyone has access,


 so how do we build that access


 so that everyone can benefit from that?


 ARI:  I'm Ari Hoffman.


 My website is hoffmanforseattle.com.


 Just, again, spicing it up a little bit.


 I recreationally ride my bicycle.


 I do it in the summer.


 I do it in the three
months a year that's nice


 here in Seattle because it
rains the rest of the time.


 As you can tell, I haven't
been out in a while.


 And the biggest problem that I have is


 that we're spending all this
money on these bike lanes


 that cannot be used most of the year


 because most people are
recreational cyclists like me.


 The people who commute,
we need them to be safe


 and we need protected bike lanes,


 but so many of these things were done


 without community input, like the ones


 that are going in on
Wilson Avenue right now,


 which are going to negatively affect


 the neighborhood and make it less safe


 because now families with disabilities,


 families with children, cannot park


 in front of their own houses,


 have to cross a very busy street


 from the Rainier Avenue road
diet, and it's dangerous.


 And there's no crosswalks for them


 to get across that street.


 Their driveways are like this.


 If they back out, they're
gonna hit a cyclist,


 or they're gonna hit somebody else.


 [yelling from crowd]


 So what happened was we
ignored the communities.


 We didn't talk to the communities.


 I'm all for bicycle
routing and bike paths,


 but we need to make sure
that the routing makes sense


 and doesn't effect
homeowners and businesses.


 [MODERATOR]: Time's up. Thanks.


 Next question,


 I think we're gonna go


 to a lightning round.


 We'll start with Phyllis.


 Describe your experience
advancing racial equity.


 How has it informed your
approach to land use,


 transportation planning,
and public outreach?


 PHYLLIS:  My name is Phyllis.


 That's a great question.


 You know, I think every day


 just being an African American person,


 I think I'm looking in the
eyes of equity every day.


 Take, for instance, I've
been in transportation


 for a long time and a lot of times


 when we go to meetings,


 I'm pretty much the only person


 African American that's sitting there.


 And I think it's very important


 that that representation is there


 because people have different ways


 of relating to different things.


 One may say, "Let's just go out


 "and buy a bicycle and let's go ride


 "for a couple of hours" or whatever,


 but then you may have that family


 that's there, that other person who said,


 "You know what, I can't really take


 "my money and go and buy a bicycle."


 So I think looking at things in equity,


 you have to look at each individual,


 the culture from which they come,


 to see how you can get together


 to come up with a solution needed


 for different things.


 MARK:  Mark Solomon.


 My work as a crime prevention coordinator


 with the Seattle Police Department


 has really been about equity.


 It's been about making sure


 that the folks in the community,


 regardless of their citizenship status,


 regardless of their background,


 regardless of their identity,


 are treated with fairness,


 with respect, with dignity.


 There are many times I've been in


 this exact room talking to folks


 about how they can be
safer in their communities,


 and I've had multiple translations


 and interpretations going
on at the same time.


 Somali in that corner.


 Oromo in this corner.


 Vietnamese in this corner.


 Arabic right over here.


 The work I do is about ensuring equity


 and inclusion, making sure


 that voices are heard


 and people are respected


 and people are safe.


 TAMMY:  This is Tammy.


 So I think there are several things


 that we need to do to ensure equity.


 Our economic systems don't work


 for communities of color right now,


 so across the board we need
anti-displacement strategies.


 We need criminal justice reform.


 We need to support
minority-owned businesses


 and make sure that the economic vibrancy


 of our communities
includes people of color


 and communities from
different ethnic groups.


 As a Council member one of the things


 I want to do is to pass


 a race and social justice ordinance


 because right now we have an initiative


 that we like to hold up as a shiny thing,


 but we're just tokenizing racial equity.


 Our city departments don't actually invest


 because the Mayor, who's
in charge of the budget,


 doesn't invest in our city departments.


 So I think we need to
really need to make sure


 that we are investing in our city workers


 so that they can do the work


 we've charged them to do.


 They get tokenized and they get harassed


 when they ask questions
around racial equity


 in their departments,
so we need to make sure


 that that doesn't happen
so that they can work


 on our behalf--


 [MODERATOR]: Time's up.


 TAMMY:  On racial equity across the city.


 CHRIS:  Chris Peguero.


 Tammy, sounds like you were just talking


 about me and my experience in this city


 around race and social
justice and equity work.


 I've been at the City for 12 years


 and the last 10 years I've been part


 of the City's Race and Social
Justice initiative core team.


 And again, it's paramount that as we look


 at how we develop programs and policies


 within the City of Seattle.


 Can you hear me?


 Within the city of Seattle,


 that we're bringing together communities


 with the most potential for harm,


 that they're at the table
to help shape policies


 and programs to benefit everybody.


 My work has been centered around


 race and social justice,
LGBTQ equity work.


 I started the city's LGBTQ
equity affinity group,


 called SEqual, and I started


 Seattle Light's improbable
justice program.


 So my concern is directly in line


 with what Tammy mentioned,


 and we've worked together


 on helping actually produce


 what Tammy laid out


 around racial justice ordinance.


 ARI:  Could you repeat the question, please?


 [MODERATOR]: Sure.


 Describe your experience
advancing racial equity.


 How has it informed your
approach to land use,


 transportation planning,
and public outreach?


 ARI:  Racial equity to me means
that everybody's equal.


 Equity for all.


 The Jewish community
is here in Seward Park.


 Nearby Seward Park rather,
because we had to leave


 the Central District
because of discrimination.


 I don't want that to happen
to any other community.


 At the same time, I can't be silent


 when certain people online think it's okay


 to just let anti-Semitism go by.


 Jews are 1/10th of 1% of
the world's population.


 We are one of the ultimate minorities,


 and I don't see anybody on the stage


 or in this room condemning it.


 So if we're gonna start talking


 about racial equity and racial justice,


 let's start dealing with something


 that's right in front of us


 that we can't talk about.


 Thank you.


 OMARI:  I wanna apologize for being 73 


 and having more experience


 than the youngsters that I'm around.


 And then I would also like to apologize


 for teaching school,
where I taught a class


 about all of the problems
of this culture and society,


 and then the second of
half of the class was


 the students design a culture


 and design out all the flaws.


 So the ideas that I got
from the young people,


 we've already solved
all of these problems.


 I would just like to condemn


 this whole concept of race


 because there's only one race.


 That's called the human race.


 In the human race you've
got different religions,


 you've got different
cultures, but guess what?


 When I'm in Japan,


 all of the rich people in Japan live good.


 When I'm in Europe,


 all the rich people in Europe live good.


 When I'm in Africa,


 all the rich people in Africa live good.


 All the poor people across
the world are struggling.


 In other words, we gotta
get rid of poverty.


 [MODERATOR]: Time's up.


 [sparse clapping]


 [MODERATOR]: All right.


 Now we're gonna do a lightning round.


 [speech muffled by crowd sounds]


 Hold up red for no and green for yes.


 [faintly speaking]


 [mumbling]


 [faintly speaking]


 [MODERATOR]: All right.


 Here we go.


 So just pretend that's green


 and pretend that's red.


 [laughter]


 Those are sorta yellow and pink.


 Okay.


 Do you support rent control?


 OMARI:  Red means no?


 [MODERATOR]: Red means no.


 OMARI:  And green means--


 [MODERATOR]: So I'm just gonna read these.


 Tammy Morales says yes.


 Chris says yes.


 Ari says no.


 Omari says yes.


 Phyllis says no.


 And Mark says yes.


 Do you support the legislation proposed


 by Council member Mike O'Brien


 to make it easier to
build backyard cottages,


 mother-in-law apartments
in single family areas?


 I believe it looks like


 everybody says yes to that one.


 Do you support congestion pricing?


 OMARI:  Say that again?


 [MODERATOR]: Congestion pricing.


 [speech muffled by Tammy]


 TAMMY:  This is a different answer
than I would have said before.


 [MODERATOR]: In their cars.


 All right. Tammy says no.


 Chris says yes.


 Ari says no.


 Omari's thinking.


 [laughter]


 OMARI:  I don't know what, so I'm going with


 what Ms. Morales says.


 [MODERATOR]: Okay. Omari says no.


 OMARI:  Use my brain.


 [MODERATOR]: Phyllis says no.


 And Mark says no.


 Do you support legalizing


 electric scooter sharing in Seattle?


 [muffled speech]


 I'm seeing a lot of yeses.


 All right, everybody says yes.


 Some holding their cards
higher than others.

   
 [laughter]


 Tammy has a weird look on her face.


 All right.


 Do you support creating a safe lot


 with security and restrooms


 for people living in their car


 to sleep at night?


 That's part one.


 And so, everybody says yes
except Ari, who says no.


 And part two is do you support


 having a safe lot in District 2?


 OMARI:  Can you repeat that?
Say that again?


 [MODERATOR]: A safe parking lot


 for people to sleep,


 for people living in their cars


 to sleep at night.


 [faintly speaking]


 [MODERATOR]: A safe parking lot


 for people living in their cars


 to sleep at night in District 2.


 All right. So everybody
says yes, except for Ari.


 Same as the first one.


 All right.


 So we're gonna go back
to longer questions.


 One minute each.


 We're gonna start with Mark this time.


 Which bus routes in the District


 would be prioritized in the short-


 and long-term, and why?


 MARK:  Mark Solomon.


 Well, since I take the 36 


 quite a bit to get to work,


 that's one I want to prioritize.


 [laughter]


 Hey, gotta pay your bills.


 [laughter]


 At the same time, I'm looking at the fact


 that we don't really have a whole lot


 of east-west connections
when it comes to our transit,


 so let's do something to increase that.


 If you're in Rainier Beach


 and you want to get to West Seattle,


 how are you gonna do that efficiently


 without taking half a day to do it?


 So when I look at the 107,


 when I look at the 50,


 can we do some expansion there?


 Can we increase some stops?


 I want to see increased
east-west connectors


 to our north-south transit system.


 TAMMY:  This is Tammy.


 Well in the same vein,


 I'd like to prioritize the 50


 because that's what I
take to get light rail


 and it doesn't come nearly often enough.


 I also think that we need
to work on east-west.


 We have a lot of students in South Seattle


 whose designated college


 is South Seattle College in Delridge.


 It takes like 2 hours
to get there on the bus.


 Maybe not that long, but
it takes a long time.


 We definitely need to work
on our east-west connections.


 I know the folks in
Georgetown are frustrated


 that it is harder and harder
for them to get downtown


 and to get to where they need to go,


 so the parts of our
district that are struggling


 with lack of reliability
or with lack of frequency


 really need to be prioritized.


 And that's...


 That's what I got. Thanks.


 [laughter]


 CHRIS:  Would you mind repeating
the question, please?


 [MODERATOR]: Well now it's
covered in sticky notes.


 CHRIS:  Sorry!


 [laughter]


 CHRIS:  Chris Peguero.


 [MODERATOR]:  Which bus routes in the district


 would you prioritize in
the short- and long-term?


 CHRIS:  Again,


 my self-interest is the 36.


 I call it the people's bus.


 My love to the 36,


 but also the number 7 bus.


 I think the number 7 bus is...


 That's widely used.


 There was a question


 about making that a rapid transit bus,


 but I think when we make
decisions like that,


 we're not incorporating
what are the impacts,


 effects going to have on folks


 that really rely on that bus,


 so our elders, our students


 that rely on that bus.


 One program that I really
like right now is the,


 I think it's called Via?


 It's an app-based system


 that connects east-west


 to our Link Light Rail,


 but we do need to go further than that,


 from far Eastside to Georgetown


 and other areas like South Park.


 So I think we need to invest


 in more programs like that,


 but then also looking
at the limited ability


 for folks to access that
as an app on your phone.


 So we need to make sure that
everyone has access to that.


 ARI:  I'm Ari Hoffman.


 Chris, we finally agree on something!


 [laughter]


 The 7 bus, but I'd like to take this


 in a little bit of a different direction.


 That's the one closest to me also,


 but for me it's a safety matter,


 is that we have to stop taking the kids


 from our synagogue camps on the 7 bus


 because it was too
dangerous for them to go


 'cause every time they went,


 there was an incident on it.


 I wanna make sure that the bus
routes we have now are safe,


 and then we can start
discussing how we can expand


 the rest of 'em so that we can take care


 of the first mile and last mile,


 that we can make sure people can get to


 and from the light rail.


 Another idea, which
probably won't be so popular


 in this room, is how come we don't have


 more parking options
down by the light rail,


 so people who don't
have easy access to bus,


 at least for the short-term,


 can find a place to park
near the light rail stations,


 and then won't be taking
their cars into Seattle?


 OMARI:  I'm really proud of Metro.


 When I'm in Africa,


 the bus might be a hour late,


 might be two hours late.


 It might not come 'til the next day.


 You just have to roll over and take it.


 I love riding the bus all the way


 to Bellevue Art Museum and back for $ .


 I don't buy car insurance


 because they want $900 to $1,200 a month.


 So whenever I have to really go somewhere,


 I take the Metro bus


 because being a senior citizen,


 it's only $1 and it
might cost me $10 in gas,


 and I can get on the Metro.


 I don't have to worry about
the police stoppin' me


 'cause I don't have insurance


 'cause that's a $ 450 ticket.


 [laughter]


 And I don't have $450 to pay for a ticket.


 So I'm real impressed
with the Metro bus system.


 The 7...


 There's some that


 safety is a problem


 and I'm impressed with
some of the bus drivers


 for being able to take the abuse--


 [MODERATOR]: All right Omari, time's up.


 OMARI:  That they get from some of the kids.


 PHYLLIS:  I'm Phyllis.


 I would say I would wanna
start with the number 7.


 The reason I wanna start
with the number 7 is


 because it's so widely used.


 I wanna make sure that it's maintained.


 I do hear people talk
about the inconsistencies


 of the schedules, so I
would love to make sure


 that the inconsistencies
cease and we do better


 at making sure that people
that live in the community,


 that need to get through the community,


 that need to stay within the community,


 has that proper
transportation to make sure


 they can get to where they need to go.


 But I also hear people talking


 about the east and west
connection as well.


 So I think those would be the two things.


 I would work on the number 7 going north


 and south to make sure it's maintained,


 and also look into ways of making sure


 that we have that east-west
connection as well.


 [MODERATOR]: Let's pass the mic


 all the way back down to Tammy


 and start with you.


 75% of Seattle is zoned single family.


 What, if any, changes would you propose


 to allow different types of housing


 in these neighborhoods in the future?


 TAMMY:  Well, I think that upzoning
is the obvious answer to that.


 We have a lot of


 small apartment buildings,


 we have garage apartments, mother-in-laws


 throughout the district already.


 Beacon Hill is full of duplexes


 and four-plexes that blend
in with the character


 of the neighborhood and everybody
seems just fine with that,


 so I think that that is a way for us to,


 Mike O'Brien calls it gentle density.


 We don't need 300 unit buildings


 on every block in the city,


 but I think allowing for urban in-fill


 throughout our single family neighborhoods


 is a really important way to allow


 for more options for affordability


 and allow more kinds of
uses in our neighborhoods.


 Where I live, we have a small,


 I think it's maybe a 8-unit complex.


 We have another that's maybe 10 or 15


 a few blocks away on the arterial


 and it works just fine.


 We all get along and it's a great option


 for increasing density.


 [clapping]


 CHRIS:  Chris Peguero.


 For the record, we're PHIMBYs.


 We're public housing in our backyard.


 My neighborhood is real close


 to Mount Baker light rail station.


 We're single family zoned,


 but I'd like to see an increase


 of multi-family zoning within 75%


 of single family zone.


 I think we have to be real


 about the history of racial segregation


 that's played out in our housing policies,


 that have kept folks from being part


 of having more diversity


 within the rest of the city.


 Right now the HALA and MHA's predominantly


 within our transit corridors


 and already densified parts of the city.


 I think we need to look at


 how do we increase housing


 that everyone in the city,


 all districts are responsible


 for sharing the burden or being part


 of the solution to making sure


 that we have more affordable housing


 in the City of Seattle throughout.


 ARI:  I'm still Ari Hoffman.


 If you're worried about
gentrification and displacement,


 the quickest way to do that is


 through upzoning single
family neighborhoods.


 What you need to do instead is look


 at underdeveloped and undeveloped areas.


 For example, those of you
who live in the area know


 that on MLK Way heading to the light rail,


 there's a lot of places there
that could be developed,


 built up, taller skyscrapers
with more housing


 in them right near the light rail,


 so it won't add to congestion problems.


 The other thing you should
look at is incorrect zoning.


 My synagogue, the synagogue
across the street,


 the school across the
street, and the church


 across the street are
all zoned single family.


 There's plenty of other
commercial properties


 that are zoned single family.


 Those could be changed.


 Those could be modified to allow


 for more upzoning in those areas


 rather than impacting neighborhoods.


 If you look at the Jewish community


 in Vancouver, British Columbia,


 it was destroyed by upzoning


 because the developers came in and said,


 "Your house is now worth


 "five, six, seven, eight townhomes.


 "Here's $4 or $5 million."


 People took the money and left.


 That was the end of the neighborhood.


 OMARI:  I wanna apologize again
for living in Europe.


 [laughter]


 The difference between
the US and Europe is


 the government builds
all the apartment houses,


 so you're guaranteed
to get a place to live.


 London and Paris have been
gentrified for 100 years.


 I don't care what color you are,


 if you're not rich,


 you're not buying no property


 in London or Paris


 where you have a yard or a lot


 for a garden


 until the government
stops privatizing land.


 You've never seen a unemployed
homeless bird, have you?


 Because when the bird don't have a home,


 his job is find a new tree


 and then picking up and building a nest.


 But the problem in human society is


 the government controls all the land


 and you have to buy the
land to build the house.


 In Africa, I do rammed earth constructions


 in the village because 95%
of Africa is land, unused.


 PHYLLIS:  I'm Phyllis.


 I first would say probably to start


 with transit-oriented development.


 We wanna make sure that
the land that we have,


 like Ari said earlier,


 there is land on Martin Luther King.


 Around the light rail station,


 there is some land,


 and I would actually use that


 to make sure that we
could build from there.


 We have people that live
in those communities,


 people that don't...


 Some people travel
downtown and some do not,


 but if we could build up that community


 and have people live right there


 and work right there in the community.


 So I think that would be one way to do it.


 Another thing when we talk about upzoning.


 Upzoning can be okay.


 However,


 when you bring in private developers,


 even with upzoning.


 I live in an upzoning building


 and it's very, very, very, very expensive.


 So I think if we're gonna continue


 to use upzoning, we need to make sure


 that those buildings are funded publicly


 and not by private developers.


 MARK:  Mark Solomon.


 I'm gonna echo some of the things


 that have already been said,


 that our density,


 our building,


 as we're building up


 and increase our capacity,


 should be transit-centered.


 Looking at the old urban village model,


 where you put the
housing close to transit,


 close to shopping to
make it more convenient


 for the folks who are actually going


 to live in those buildings.


 And has been said,


 when we're looking at Mandatory
Housing Affordability,


 I am concerned about the
unintended consequences,


 that the property owners of
those single family zones


 may be hit with higher property taxes


 based on what property
could potentially be,


 the potential use versus the existing use.


 So I wanna make sure that we address


 those unintended consequences


 and these single family homes are not hit.


 Now, do we need to look at zoning?


 Yes we do,


 and we need to look at
where we currently have it,


 and maybe we need to look at
our industrial areas as well.


 [MODERATOR]: All right.


 You guys are doing a great
job keeping your time


 and also introducing yourselves,


 so I just wanted to
acknowledge that and thank you.


 Seattle has the most regressive tax system


 of any city in Washington State,


 and Washington State has


 the most regressive tax
system in the country.


 Do you believe the city
has a responsibility


 to raise significant new revenue


 to address challenges
facing our communities,


 and if so, what tax policies


 would you advocate for at the city level?


 CHRIS:  Chris Peguero.


 I think the city's really relied heavily


 upon increasing property tax


 as we've developed new
initiatives and programs,


 and we really need to make sure that


 that is not an additional pressure


 for gentrification displacement,


 especially for our folks who are elderly.


 They've retired. There is
no more income coming in.


 They've got a pension that's stagnant.


 It's remaining the same.


 So I think that's one place,


 but I think if we...


 I'm very interested in


 a capital gains tax at the state level.


 So I think lobbying the state to look


 at other ways to generate revenue outside


 of just property tax


 and that's all I have.


 I'm tired, sorry.


 ARI:  I'm Ari Hoffman.


 I'm against any tax increases


 until we know where the
money we have is going.


 The city coffers are full


 We have a $6 billion budget


 and we don't know where
that money's going.


 We know it's going to
non-performing agencies.


 It's not going to performing agencies.


 Just look out on the streets.


 Also, I worked to repeal the head tax.


 I went around gathering signatures


 and a lot of people who
supported the head tax


 didn't know where the money was going,


 and that's why they worked
to repeal it as well,


 because they thought it
was a good idea in concept,


 but they had no idea
where the money was going.


 I will not increase taxes
in any way, shape, or form


 until we know where the
money we have is going.


 We talk about housing affordability,


 and yet we never discussed
how we keep raising the taxes


 on ourselves again and again and again.


 I don't know about you, but I can't afford


 my property taxes anymore.


 Thank you.


 OMARI:  If the billion dollar
corporations don't pay tax,

    
 our workers should not pay tax.


 [clapping]


 Do you know that America
was funded not by taxes?


 The income tax came as a World War I tax,


 and then the people in government said,


 "Oh, we got the people's
money before they get it!"


 and they came back in World
War II and made it permanent.


 So 20% of your worker's money


 goes to the government
before you've seen your 80%.


 The corporations, the
billion dollar corporations


 pay zero for taxes because they control


 the legislatures of every
state and city government,


 and right now the
business people are trying to


 run a slate of police officers
and police-connected people


 to take over City Council,
which is straight up fascism.


 PHYLLIS:  My name is Phyllis Porter.


 I would have to agree
with Chris on this one.


 For capital gain, I
think we have to take it


 back to the legislature
and start lobbying.


 We're gonna need more money through that.


 Another thing is getting money is through,


 when I said the capital gain lobbying tax,


 I just kinda lost it on this one.


 Can you repeat that a little bit?


 [MODERATOR]: Sure.


 Just, do you believe the
city has a responsibility


 to raise significant new revenue,


 and how would you do
that at the city level?


 PHYLLIS:  Okay.


 I think with the head
tax that was going on,


 number one, I wasn't really happy


 because when they started with it,


 they didn't have enough people,


 they didn't get enough
information from the businesses.


 I think they shoulda got together


 and talked more with the businesses.


 I do think corporations do need to pay.


 I don't think they need to pay everything.


 I don't think that they have to pay


 as much as what was asked before,


 but first of all,


 'cause if you charge too much,


 if you have them pay too much,


 I have a feeling that they can move away.


 If they move away,


 people will be impacted by that.


 When you think about the people


 that work for those
different corporations,


 if you tax too much and they go away,


 people are gonna lose their jobs.


 People are gonna become stressed.


 People are gonna into
financial strain, so.


 Sorry, my time is up.


 MARK:  Please repeat the question.


 [MODERATOR]: Do you support...


 Do you believe that the
city has a responsibility


 to raise significant
new revenue to address


 the challenges facing our
communities and if so,


 what tax policy would advocate
for at the city level?


 MARK:  I first believe that the
city needs to be responsible


 with the funds that it already has,


 to make sure that what we are
receiving in terms of revenue,


 it is spent properly and spent smartly.


 So before we go out
looking for more revenue,


 let's examine how we're
spending our current revenue.


 I do agree that Seattle has
a very regressive system.


 Our state has a very regressive system,


 and I think that's one of the reasons why


 the city's actually suing to see


 if we can get a income tax,


 to challenge the Washington
State Constitution


 that bars a state income tax.


 As a city, I think we need to be working


 with our partners at the state level


 to look at bringing in an income tax,


 coupled with a reduction


 in our property taxes and our sales taxes.


 We can't have all three,


 but we need to be smarter


 and we need to have something


 that's more equitable for
everyone in our community.


 TAMMY:  This is Tammy.


 So despite what some people think,


 Seattle is not dying.


 We're actually one of the
fastest growing cities


 in the country, which means
we have infrastructure


 and libraries and a homeless crisis


 that we have to pay for,


 and guess who's paying for that right now?

    
 All of us, with our city
taxes, our income taxes,


 our sales tax, and our property tax.


 You know who's not paying for it?


 Big business.


 [clapping]


 So we do need to generate more revenue,


 and I totally agree that
we are spending our money


 on the wrong things, like police overtime


 for sweeping people off the street.


 I'm not sure why can dream big


 [clapping]


 with our fancy waterfront park


 and the shiny new transfer station,


 but we can't solve the
homelessness crisis.


 So if we're gonna spend our money,


 let's spend it on the things that matter,


 and the way we do that is


 with a payroll tax on big business.


 I say, let's institute a payroll tax


 for every business and
do it on a sliding scale.


 Maybe small businesses only pay 0.5%,


 large businesses pay 1%,


 but we have to solve these problems


 and it has to stop being
on the backs of you and me.


 [clapping]


 [MODERATOR]: All right.


 Last question in this round,


 then we're gonna go to a lightning round,


 and if you could keep it
to 45 seconds this time.


 This is an easy one,


 so you should be able to do it in 30.


 [laughter]


 What is the most frustrating choke point


 in your personal commute,


 and what would you do to fix it?


 [faintly speaking]


 What is the most frustrating choke point


 that you personally
experience in your commute,


 and what would you do to fix it?


 ARI:  I appreciate the confidence
in the short answer.


 Right now the worst
choke point in my commute


 really is when I'm going
somewhere else from my office


 on I-5 when it goes down
from four lanes to two lanes,


 and I think a lot of us have
dealt with this problem before.


 One of the things you need
to do is first fix the signs


 and let people know that some
of those are pass-throughs


 over on the right-hand side,
and you can go that way


 to get on the highway, but it's gotten so,


 so congested over there.


 That's not gonna do it.


 We need to take a serious look


 at how to address that problem


 because going from four lanes to two lanes


 on a highway that size
is just not manageable,


 and stopping people from
getting through downtown.


 We need to take a serious look


 at what solutions can be done,


 addressed so that we
can solve that problem.


 OMARI:  Choke points, education.


 Teaching our children capitalism works.


 Capitalism is based on greed.


 It doesn't work, nowhere in the world.


 [whooing from crowd]


 It's a vampire system


 and all the problems of the human beings


 in North America and South America


 and Europe is based on greed.


 Bezos, Jeff Bezos right here in Seattle


 has $150 billion personal wealth,


 and every direction you go in Seattle,


 you got white people
livin' in tent cities.


 It's a disgrace and it's a shame.


 [clapping]


 PHYLLIS:  My commute is really easy.


 I walk two blocks, get on the light rail,


 from the light rail I'm on the 550


 going over to Bellevue,


 so every day that's really good,


 but the only issue I would say,


 the choke point would be the sidewalks.


 I've tripped so many times


 on sidewalks that were uneven.


 I've even tripped to
where I had a concussion,


 I lost my memory, and I ended up


 with five stitches on the side of my head.


 So I would say the
sidewalks really need work.


 There needs to be work.


 There's work to be done.


 MARK:  Mark Solomon.


 I really don't have any choke points


 on my commute, but I do have


 is a recognition that
we have neighborhoods


 in this district that
don't have sidewalks,


 so that when somebody is
trying to navigate on foot,


 they're forced to go out into the lane


 where they are subject to
being potentially hit by cars.


 That's one thing I definitely wanna fix.


 I wanna get some sidewalks
for our Dunlap neighborhood.


 TAMMY:  I ride my bike often down to Rainier Beach


 where I work, so I live and work in D 


 and I really don't have
choke points on my commute.


 CHRIS:  Chris Peguero.


 With Phyllis, I think


 sidewalks are definitely an issue for us.


 For me personally, I live a couple blocks


 from Link Light Rail, and I think


 we've already outgrown that system.


 I think we're behind the times


 and I'm glad we have it.


 We're expanding it,


 but when we have morning rush hour,


 it's jam-packed and you may have to wait


 for a couple of trains to get on board.


 So I think that's a great system


 I wish it were bigger and more robust


 to handle the number of folks


 that are coming in and out of downtown,


 especially if we're gonna be looking


 at things like congestion pricing


 and really using mass transit


 to get up and back into downtown.


 So I think a more robust
transit system is what I'd like.


 [MODERATOR]: All right.


 Lightning round time.


 Do you support automated
traffic enforcement cameras,


 speed limit reductions,
and banning rights on red?


 TAMMY:  That's more than one question.


 ARI:  Say that again?


 [MODERATOR]: Okay, let's divide that up.


 [laughter]


 Do you support automated
traffic enforcement cameras?


 OMARI: No.


 Automated enforcement cameras?


 [MODERATOR]: I think, are
you holding up? Okay.


 So everybody says no except for Phyllis.


 OMARI:  You said automated cameras?


 [MODERATOR': Traffic enforcement cameras,


 like speeding cameras at stoplights.


 [MODERATOR]: Okay, next.


 [muffled speech from stage]


 [MODERATOR]: Speed limit reductions.


 OMARI:  Say that again?


 MODERATOR: Lowering the speed limit.


 ARI:  Where?


 MODERATOR: Just in general for safety.


 Probably not on the highway.


 All right, so...


 Let's get a good look.


 Okay, so everybody says that they agree


 except for Ari and Omari.


 OMARI:  Autobahn doesn't have a speed limit.


 [MODERATOR]: Do you support
banning rights on red?


 OMARI:  What?
Say again?


 [MODERATOR]: Banning rights on red.


 [chattering from crowd and stage]


 PHYLLIS:  Banning it?


 [MODERATOR]: Banning it, yeah.


 Tammy, Chris, and Phyllis say yes.


 Ari, Omari, and Mark say no.


 All right--


 OMARI:  Stopping you from being
able to turn on red?


 [MODERATOR]: Turn right on red.


 OMARI:  I don't know, that's convenient.


 [laughter]


 [MODERATOR]: Do you think that Lyft, Uber,


 and other ridesharing companies


 should be required to include


 wheelchair accessible
vehicles in their fleets?


 [MODERATOR]: All right, everybody says yes.


 [laughter]


 I believe, yep.


 Is removal of parking to
repurpose right-of-way


 for non-vehicular users acceptable to you?


 Everybody...


 Omari's still thinking.


 [faintly speaking]


 So removing parts, it's strangely worded,


 but basically is it acceptable


 to take out parking so that people


 who are not in a car is having


 better access to streets?


 [faintly speaking]


 I'm just the moderator.


 [laughter]


 [voices drowning each other out]


 OMARI:  I'm a citizen, so you
have to break things--


 [speech covered by moderator]


 [MODERATOR]: It's a yes or no.


 Okay, Ari says no.


 Are you sitting this one out, Omari?


 OMARI:  You're talking too fast.


 [laughter]


 When you get certain age,


 you gotta slow down for elderly.


 [MODERATOR]: I'm just trying to keep to time


 to get as many questions in as possible.


 All right, we'll go to the next one.


 Is the city doing enough
to implement Vision Zero?


 OMARI:  Vision Zero?


 [MODERATOR]: The goal of having


 zero traffic fatalities


 and serious accidents.


 [laughter]


 All right, everybody says no,
that you're not doing enough.


 Last question, do you support funding


 the Center City Connector,
the downtown street car?


 All right, everybody
says yes except for Ari.


 All right, now we are gonna
go to audience questions.


 I will attempt to read your handwriting,


 which is all lovely.


 [laughter]


 And we can keep these also to 45 seconds,


 so we can get through


 as many audience questions as possible.


 [SECOND OFFICIAL]: Can you just try


 and wrap your statements at 5 seconds?


 [MODERATOR]: What is your long-term vision


 for Rainier Avenue in
terms of transportation,


 safety, land use, and affordability?


 And I can't remember who's up first.


 Who was first the last time?


 ARI:  I think it's Omari's.
Omari.


 MODERATOR: Omari, you're up first.


 Long-term vision for Rainier Avenue.


 OMARI:  I hope they don't do to Rainier Avenue


 what they did to 23rd


 in the Africatown Central District.


 They reduced it from two
lanes going each direction


 to one lane going each direction,


 so when you come up from
the hill from U-Dub,


 it's two lanes going
and then all of a sudden


 you hit one lane with a turn lane,


 where if two cars come at the same time,


 they're gonna have a headache.


 Then when it gets down to,


 I think,


 Rainier, it turns into two.


 It's mind-boggling why you would


 put a choke


 in a area like that
where there's two lanes


 going both ways on each end,


 then all of a sudden, boom.


 Choke.


 OMARI:  So I hope they don't do Rainier like that.


 PHYLLIS:  I really wish we had more


 than 45 seconds on this one.


 But there's been far too many casualties


 down on Rainier Avenue.


 That's our main arterial in District 2.


 [clapping]


 Too many casualties.


 So what I wanna do is continue


 to make sure that Phase 2,


 which we've been promised since 2017,


 continues to move forward,


 and let's get it done now.


 We don't need to wait anymore.


 There's too many people dying.


 There was 1,243 incidents,


 I should say collisions,


 over a 3-year span.


 We can't have that anymore.


 We need to work now.


 Too many people are dying.


 We've already lost three
people on Rainier Avenue.


 Rainier is my number one project.


 I have worked on it for
the last seven years


 and I am gonna continue to make sure


 people can get up and down Rainier Avenue


 on bike, walking, or however they need


 to get down the street.


 [clapping]


 MARK:  Okay. Again, this one's
Phyllis because I agree--


 [MODERATOR]: Say your name.


 MARK:  Mark Solomon.


 My vision for Rainier is safety.


 Safety for our pedestrians.


 Safety for our cyclists.


 Safety for our vehicular traffic.


 Safety for our buildings on Rainier


 that have had cars run into 'em.


 So, reducing the traffic, or the speeds.


 Reducing the congestion.


 Making it safe for cyclists.


 Making it safe for the
folks who are on foot.


 That's my vision for Rainier,


 and a lot of work's already been done.


 Let's continue that work.


 TAMMY:  Well, this is Tammy.


 Yeah, I do think what
we need with Phase 2,


 we need to continue the road diet.


 I'd like to see the
prioritization of buses.


 We need better safety
sidewalks for pedestrians


 and for folks who do wanna bike,


 whether we put the
protected bike lane there


 or on Beacon Avenue, people still need


 to feel safe biking on that road.


 And I said no to the
cameras on the intersection.


 What I would like to see instead,


 especially on Rainier since it's so busy,


 is the all-way cross.


 I don't know exactly what you call that,


 but they do it at the junction


 and it's pretty cool.


 All the pedestrians
cross at the same time.


 So I would like to see that
kind of alternative instead.


 And we do need to make sure
that safety is a priority


 because we've had too many
people injured or killed,


 and too many building
collisions on Rainier Avenue.


 CHRIS:  Chris Peguero again.


 My vision is, again,


 looking at routes for safety,


 slow things down on Rainier.


 One thing, especially near parks


 and our schools and other public services


 like libraries, that we're increasing


 the number of lighted
crosswalks across Rainier.


 I helped bring in front-lighted crosswalks


 at Genessee at La Escuelita Preschool.


 As a concerned parent, I think we need to,


 especially, again, where
we have a lot of children


 and families crossing,
we need to prioritize


 that we implement the
Safe Routes To School


 and other safe routes around.


 And then everything else


 that everyone else said


 around slowing down and road diet.


 Can I take a bio break?


 I really need to use the restroom.


 Literally, I cannot wait anymore.


 [MODERATOR]: Run, run, run.
You can go on.


 [laughter]


 Gotta do what you gotta do.


 ARI:  I'm still Ari Hoffman.


 For me, Rainier Avenue
when they did the road diet


 kicked all the traffic
over onto Wilson Avenue,


 so now Wilson Avenue's more dangerous.


 They didn't look at it in terms


 of the overall neighborhood,


 and I'd like to look at it as


 how it impacts the area surrounding it.


 Rainier Avenue is unique because you have


 commercial section, a residential section,


 you have all different kinds


 of section along Rainier Avenue.


 What I would like to
do is give that project


 to somebody like Urbanova,
which is doing unique things


 with technology and smart
cities out in Spokane,


 and see what they can do with it,


 because it seems like
we're just retreading


 the same ground we've covered before,


 and it doesn't seem like
anything's really getting safer


 for the neighborhood overall.


 Thank you.


 [MODERATOR]: All right.


 I got confused 'cause there's
fewer people up there now.


 What are the top 3 changes


 that you would advocate for locally


 to bring Seattle's carbon emissions


 down to neutrality?


 And this says by 2035.


 What would you do to make
Seattle carbon-neutral?


 PHYLLIS:  First of all, we could start at home.


 There's things that we can do at home.


 We can recycle. We can not eat meat.


 That's a good one.


 Can you say it one more time?


 [MODERATOR]: What are the top three things


 you would do locally to bring


 Seattle's carbon emissions to zero?


 PHYLLIS:  I would make one of the
things that would again,


 if we could get more cars off the road,


 if we could get cars off the road


 and get more people to walking, biking,


 other modes of
transportation would be one.


 The other things, like I said,


 things that you can do at home.


 The fleet, the Seattle
fleet of all the cars,


 I know that they've turned over


 to a lot of cars that
are now more efficient


 for the environment, so just make sure


 that we continue to
invest in those things.


 MARK:  Mark Solomon.


 The top three things the city can do?


 One thing I've been talking
about for quite a while


 has been greening our fleet of vehicles.


 The car that's assigned to me is a hybrid.


 I wanna see more hybrid, more electric.


 I want to phase out


 petroleum-fueled cars


 as much as we possibly can.


 I want to see us do more in terms of


 our existing construction,
to see if we can do


 some green retrofits of
those buildings to reduce


 the carbon emissions from
existing construction.


 I know that we're doing that in terms of


 for


 new construction,


 and I have to wrap up.


 And again, starting at home.


 TAMMY:  This is Tammy.


 So I believe that something like 50%


 of our carbon emissions come


 from vehicles in this city,


 but we're still prioritizing cars


 in all of the decisions that we make.


 And really that has an impact most acutely


 on communities of color, who get displaced


 and who have to deal with that issue,


 so I think we need to
implement complete streets


 and make sure that we're investing in


 all of those different
modes of transportation.


 We need to invest in better mass transit


 so that we can get
people out of their cars


 and get them where they need to go


 more reliably and more quickly.


 And then the other 40% is from buildings,


 so we need to invest in green
building and infrastructure,


 and also invest in the
just transition for workers


 who are in those industries
so that as they move


 out of those extractive economies,


 they're doing the right thing.


 These things are not an investment


 if they're killing the planet,


 so we need to invest in the right things.


 [clapping]


 CHRIS:  Thank you for the time so I could relieve.


 Chris Peguero.


 The city's looking at
electrification network


 with public networking
and charging system.


 I think that's a great idea,


 but it's how we build that system


 to make sure that it's equitable.


 And one thing that I recognize


 in my work around the environment is


 that technologies are
great in helping us reduce


 our impact on climate and the environment,


 but if it's not mass market


 and everyone has access to it,


 it's not gonna touch that system


 in changing those outcomes.


 So how can the city influence car makers


 around electric vehicles to
have access for all folks?


 So ridesharing programs, et cetera.


 And the last thing I'll leave with


 is freight electrification, diesel...


 I'll stop. Thank you.


 ARI:  If we're worried about the environment,


 then I agree we have
to start here at home,


 and before we get into these projects


 which we don't know how
we're going to pay for,


 I'd like to start with figuring out


 why there's thousands and
thousands and thousands


 of pounds of trash out on our streets,


 and why there's needles in our parks,


 and why there's human
waste all over our streets


 and our sidewalks and our parks,


 and why the methamphetamine count


 in Lake Washington is up,


 so much so that it's tracking in sea life.


 I'd like to solve those problems first.


 And at the same time, we can deal


 with the green construction, we can deal


 with these things, but the free market has


 a great way of finding innovation


 to make it cheaper for everybody,


 and that I'm putting Rainwise


 on my house right now because I want


 a little bit of my tax dollars back


 and I know it's good for the environment.


 So if we find ways that are good


 for people to do these things,


 and that are cheap, people will do them.


 OMARI:  My contemporary talks
about the free market.


 I'm talking about the slave market


 'cause with the stock market,


 the first stock on the
stock market was black folk.


 It's amazing.


 Anybody know who the Seven Sisters are?


 The big oil companies.


 I see the Earth as a live body


 and I would hate for my body


 to be drilled in and things


 just sucked out of it,


 sucked out of it,


 this over here, over there.


 I don't understand that


 because it's gonna run out.


 Then what?


 [MODERATOR]: All right.


 We're gonna try to get through


 a couple more audience questions


 before we wrap up.


 The next question is,


 I'm gonna combine a couple questions.


 What makes D2 unique
from the rest of Seattle


 and what makes you uniquely
positioned to represent us?


 And then another question
asker pointed out


 that this meeting is held in the heart


 of huge East African
community and yet I don't see


 a single person from that community here.


 I don't know if that's accurate or not,


 but this is the question asker.


 [snaps, whooing, clapping from audience]


 Not accurate.


 What will you do about that?


 And I think that would be inclusion


 of the East African community in D2.


 So what makes D2 unique?


 How are you in a unique
position to represent us,


 and East African
representation in particular?


 And we'll start with Mark.


 MARK:  What makes D2 unique is its diversity,


 its vibrancy,


 the cultures, the languages.


 I can't explain it.


 I'm excited about this community.


 I love this community.


 I'm from this community.


 I was born and raised here,


 and I've seen the changes over the years.


 I've seen the brilliance
and diversity of its people.


 And what makes me uniquely qualified


 to represent these folks is,


 this is home.


 I'm from this community.


 I've been serving this community


 for almost 30 years


 and I wanna continue


 to serve that community,


 just at a different level.


 TAMMY:  This is Tammy.


 So what makes this
community unique is that


 we do have such incredible diversity:


 languages, religions, cultures,


 backgrounds, lived experiences.


 And what makes me uniquely qualified


 to serve this district is
that I've been organizing


 in all of these communities
for the last 20 years,


 and I have the grassroots
organizing experience


 to take with me to City Hall.


 [clapping]


 I wanna shoutout to Kadijah and Gudina


 who are here from the
East African community.


 They are on my campaign.


 That's who's here, the people
that I've been working with


 in the community, so I
am uniquely qualified


 because I have relationships


 with people throughout District 2.


 I've been organizing with people


 throughout District 2, and between that


 and my 20 years of policy
and budget experience


 at the City, County, and State level,


 I'm the person who will
fight for this community.


 [clapping and whooing]


 CHRIS:  My name's Chris Peguero.


 I've been a resident
of Seattle for 20 years


 and 10 years into my life
here, I moved to Beacon Hill


 and it was the first
time in my prior 10 years


 that I had actually felt like I came home.


 And it was, for me, being
of diverse backgrounds,


 it was great to find that
finally after so long,


 and we decided to have a family here.


 D2 is unique and it is, again,


 the most diverse ethnically,
racially, economically.


 We have the highest number


 of labor representation in District 2.


 My job at the City has
been pushing against


 status quo politicians that don't see us,


 that look at us as the bad stepchild.


 I wanna make sure that we have bold,


 responsive leadership in City Council,


 and I have that done that
work for the last 12 years.


 ARI:  I'm Ari Hoffman.


 I've lived and worked in D 


 for the last 16 years,


 ever since I moved back here.


 My wife's family's 4th generation.


 They've been here ever since


 the Jewish community moved


 from the Central District in the 1950s.


 They were among the pioneers


 of the Jewish community


 here in Seward Park,


 and I love this community.


 I love that you can go


 from Seward Park and go


 all the way across and all of a sudden


 you're in an industrial area


 and there's commercial area


 and there's more residential areas,


 how different this entire area is.


 For me, the most important thing to me,


 is that you vote.


 Not that you vote for me.


 Our voter turnout is sad.


 More people need to
get out there and vote.


 [clapping]


 I don't wanna be, thank you.


 I don't wanna be the representative


 of just the people who agree with me.


 I wanna be the representative


 of everybody in this room,


 no matter which side
of the aisle you're on,


 so please get your friends to go out


 and vote, even if it's not for me.


 [clapping]


 OMARI:  For the Somali community,
[speaks in foreign language].


 For the Amharic community,
[speaks in foreign language].


 [speaks in foreign
language] for the males.


 [speaks in foreign
language] for the males.


 [speaks in foreign
language] for the females.


 Bein' in Africa, all over Africa,


 I have the little girls teach me


 the songs and the language


 because little girls got patience.


 [laughter]


 And then they love being the teachers.


 I've been working


 with the East African
community for 40 years.


 When I was in high school,


 I loved being around the African students,


 and then one day I
found out I was African.


 [laughter and clapping]


 PHYLLIS:  Hi, I'm Phyllis.


 I really love the South End of Seattle.


 I remember coming to Seattle back in 1986


 and reason one, there was cool summers,


 there was blue waters,
and there was opportunity.


 And I moved down on
Kenyon, Kenyon and 46th,


 and there I began to
see outside of Seattle.


 I could see that things were
different in that community.


 I could see that there
were a lot of people,


 a lot of culture, and I really loved that.


 But not only have I lived
there, I've been there.


 I've seen the seven-year-old
girl who got ran over.


 I've been at the hospital.


 I've talked to the parents.


 I've seen the 15-year-old paraplegic


 who got ran over on Martin Luther King.


 I've lived the struggle.


 Not only have I worked in the community,


 but I am the community


 because I have been there


 and I have been struggled


 with a lot of people that live there.


 And I can honestly look


 in a lot of people's eyes and say,


 "I feel you and I hear you"


 because I have been there.


 [MODERATOR]: All right, last question.


 We'll start with Tammy.


 And this is an audience question.


 The city's own analysis shows a shortage


 of open space in the South End,


 and I'm particularly concerned


 about a lack of access to nature.


 How do you see yourself increasing


 our access to nature
here in the South End?


 TAMMY:  This is Tammy.


 We have several parks.


 I think we have a giant golf course


 that gets used somewhat.


 I think there are lots of opportunities


 for open space within the District


 that we need to take advantage of.


 And I also know that in Georgetown


 there are several spots


 where there are small pocket parks


 that people are interested
in trying to expand,


 trying to take more advantage of.


 And so I would be happy to meet


 with folks throughout the District


 to see what we want to do


 about expanding access and opportunities


 for people to get into those parks.


 In Rainier Beach we've
been doing a lot of work


 at Be'ersheva trying to expand access


 to the beach along there--


 [MODERATOR]: Time's up.


 TAMMY:  So that folks can get there
because right now there's--


 [MODERATOR]: That's time. Thank you.


 [moderator muffles speaker]


 TAMMY:  marina and we wanna change that.


 [clapping]


 CHRIS:  Chris Peguero.


 I think we do have a lot
of really incredible space


 here in District 2 and
throughout the city.


 I think one of the key,


 one program that I'm really
incredibly excited for


 that I've been able to work on at the City


 is a partnership with Latino Outdoors,


 this year with Outdoor
Afro, Asian Outdoors,


 annual program WILD, North
Cascades National Park,


 and North Cascades
Environmental Learning Center,


 bringing in students from our District,


 kids of color, up to the North Cascades


 to experience our National Park system,


 since that is usually difficult to get to.


 One thing that we're doing to run


 that program is making
sure transportation,


 language, equipment is
not a limiting factor


 in accessing those natural
spaces outside the city.


 ARI:  I'm Ari Hoffman.


 We need to protect our parks


 and play fields and
our recreational areas.


 Something like the green
space camping ordinance


 that was proposed a few years ago,


 which I worked very, very hard


 to stop, is a very, very bad idea.


 I'm tired of cleaning
needles out of the dugouts


 of the fields that I coach on.


 I've had enough of that.


 We're not protecting
our parks well enough.


 We're not protecting our
green spaces well enough.


 We need to make sure
that they are protected.


 We need to make sure that our play fields,


 and yes, even our golf
courses, are protected


 because kids sometimes don't
have any other place to play


 because they can't be part of a team sport


 and there's a lot of kids
who go up to Jefferson


 and do that, and there's a
lot of other places they go,


 and if you take out the
golf course, what's next?


 You're gonna take out the baseball fields?


 Soccer fields?


 What sport's more important
than the next one?


 OMARI:  I coached Little League
baseball for 40 years


 and never made a dime and
the reason why I coached


 the Little League baseball was
because I like young people


 and I like young people to be positive.


 I don't like bad kids
and I found out the way


 to deal with that was to work with them,


 not lock them up in no jail.


 Now I wanna apologize to my
African brothers and sisters


 for growing up as a
dark-skinned white person.


 My dad was the first
black electrical engineer


 in the whole Northwest,
Washington and Idaho.


 He was head of Fish and
Wildlife in 1957 and '58.


 I was the 18-under Seattle
ping-ping champion--


 [laughter]


 'til I got beat by the
  -year-old Asian from Canada.


 [laughter]


 PHYLLIS:  I think one way is to start


 with the kids and start with education.


 We take our kids to
the park at a young age


 and as they continue to grow,


 I think it's a great responsibility


 if you work with your children


 to let them know what the
grounds actually mean,


 what parks can do, how it can help


 the environment in the future.


 And if we start really early,


 I think those kids will grow up


 to make better stewards


 of the outdoor spaces.


 And also, again, we do have a lot


 of parks in the area.


 We have so much space


 that we even have P-Patches


 where we can also take the kids


 and get them invested now


 and let them understand


 what these parks and what the ground


 can actually do to better our future.


 MARK:  Mark Solomon.


 To me, the last thing we should be doing


 is removing green spaces that we have


 in our community already,


 so I oppose redevelopment


 or privatization of Jefferson Golf Course.


 One reason is because I caddied


 for my grandmother on that golf course


 more times than I can count.


 There are a lot of trees,


 a lot of open space,


 and it's a community asset


 that's part of our fabric


 and we need to maintain it.


 I wanna increase the
use of street-end parks.


 I've had the opportunity to work


 with the parks and public,


 with Seattle Public Utilities,


 and with Department of Transportation


 to enhance our street-end green spaces.


 I wanna see more of that


 and I want to increase the opportunities


 for young people to get into nature.


 [MODERATOR]: All right.


 Thank you all,


 and now we're gonna go


 to closing statements.


 You each have one minute to respond


 to anything you didn't get
a chance to respond to.


 Use it however you like,
and we'll start with Chris.


 CHRIS:  Exciting.


 I just wanna say thank you


 so much for the opportunity.


 For me, it's really been incredible


 to campaign alongside some
incredible folks as well.


 I'm incredibly proud to be part


 of this District and have a long career


 with the City of Seattle,


 and I want to take that expertise


 that I've been able to build


 to push against status quo,


 to make sure that we are benefiting


 all equally with our...


 I got distracted, I'm sorry.


 [MODERATOR]: It's okay.


 CHRIS:  Is everyone okay?


 [muffled speaking from crowd]


 [muffled speaking from Moderator]


 [MODERATOR]: Is everything all right?


 [faint speaking]


 ARI:  Everybody okay?


 I know there's not a lot of people


 in this room who agree


 with what I'm saying tonight,


 and I know this isn't my crowd.


 I know that some of you,


 I said I wasn't actually
seeking your endorsement.


 I just want to be candid.


 I want to have candor with you and say,


 "That's not something I'm going after,


 "but I'm happy to have the discussion."


 I'm happy to have the discussion


 with anybody in this room.


 My business cards are back there.


 They have my contact information


 because my city representatives


 were never there for
me when I needed them.


 So if you don't agree with me,


 that's perfectly fine.


 Let's go out and have coffee.


 I'll even treat for it.


 Let's go out and have a beer.


 I'll treat for that too.


 I don't even drink beer.


 I'll have a scotch.


 [laughter]


 But, let's go out and
have the hard discussions.


 Let's go out and have
the policy discussions


 and let's talk because
that is what's missing


 from our civic engagement, is civility.


 Let's bring that back.


 [clapping]


 OMARI:  The reason why I don't
want you voting for me,


 I would prefer you vote for Ms. Morales,


 is because hopefully next
year I'll be back in Ghana,


 West Africa, implementing
the city I designed.


 I'm here in Seattle because I was born


 and raised in Seattle,


 and I can't do politics in Africa.


 It's a state thing, but
I can go to the village


 where the land is free and
everybody loves America


 because we're perceived as rich.


 So please vote for the person
that ran Bruce Harrell off.


 [laughter and clapping]


 I was so proud,


 I was so proud of Ms. Morales


 having the guts to challenge Bruce.


 He's a martial arts expert.


 He was on my football team in high school.


 He's dangerous!


 [laughter]


 PHYLLIS:  I'm Phyllis and I wanna be a part


 of a city that allows diversity,


 embraces diversity, and also to make sure


 that there's equal accessibility


 to all citizens of the city.


 Not just the rich, not just,


 I mean, not the rich.


 I want it to be for everybody, so.


 Also I want the city to know,


 the people in the community to know


 that I also feel like we have people


 that often make policies,


 people that often bring laws.


 However, a lot of the laws and policies


 they're working on does
not even impact them.


 I wanna be that person where I
have been impacted by policy.


 I wanna be that person because
policy hasn't worked for me


 and I wanna be that person who
can listen to the community,


 be in the community to
listen to the people


 in the community, and also
take that back to City Hall


 and say, "You know what,
it's all about the people."


 So again, I wanna represent
those that look like me.


 I wanna represent those
that don't look like me.


 I wanna represent those that have money,


 those that do not have money.


 I wanna represent everybody


 because I know the struggle.


 [clapping]


 MARK:  Mark Solomon.


 As I said before, this is home.


 I was born in this community,


 raised in this community,


 been working in this community.


 This is home and I
wanna take care of home.


 And the people in this
community I consider family,


 and I wanna take care of family.


 I wanna make sure that your
voices are heard downtown.


 I wanna make sure that the City


 responds to you when you call,


 when you email,


 somebody gets back to you.


 I wanna make sure


 that we're working together


 to get things done.


 We can get a lot more done


 when we work with each other


 as opposed to yelling at each other


 or pointing fingers at each other.


 I've been bringing people together


 for almost 30 years


 to get things done in this community


 and I intend to continue
to do that on City Council,


 and I'm asking for your support.


 And I thank you for being here tonight


 and showing an interest in your community


 and coming out tonight.


 So thank you for this opportunity.


 [clapping]


 TAMMY:  This is Tammy.


 Well, thank you Omari for
that unsolicited support.


 [laughter]


 I am running because
we are at a crossroads


 in this city and this is about more


 than just running to represent D ,


 although that is always gonna be


 my priority, but I worry that the soul


 of the city is at risk right now.


 We are at a crossroads
where we will continue


 to let corporate power players,


 people who can pick up the phone


 and make decisions on our behalf


 continue to have undue
influence at City Hall,


 or we can shift power to the people,


 back to our communities,
to our low income folks,


 to communities of color, and make sure


 that our voices are being heard.


 That's why I'm running, to build power


 for the people of District 2.


 I, as I said, have a proven track record


 of working with Council members.


 I don't think that it
is an asset right now


 to say that you are
inexperienced in this realm.


 There's too much at stake.


 I wanna take my grassroots organizing


 and my policy experience to work for you,


 so I'm asking for your vote.


 Thank you.


 [clapping]


 [MODERATOR]: All right.


 Thank you all so much.


 Let's have a round of applause

    
 for all of our candidates.


 [clapping]