Public Forum with Seattle City Council District 5 Vacancy Finalists

Welcome to the Seattle City Council's District 5 Vacancy Forum, hosted by Unified Outreach.

My name is Edward Dumas.

I'll be announcing Dave Toledo, who will be your volunteer.

He's a longtime volunteer, and he'll be hosting tonight.

Everybody give Dave a hand.

Thank you, Edward.

Yes, my name is David Toledo.

I am a volunteer with Unified Outreach.

I'm happy to step in as moderator tonight.

I just want to thank the candidates for making it down here, especially with the traffic as it is on I-5.

For those that are tuning in through the Seattle Channel, there unfortunately is not an agenda posted, but just to quickly let you know how things will go, we're going to jump right into it.

Most of the questions will have a one minute time limit.

Anyone that goes over the one minute will hear a bell and we'll move on to the next.

Basically we're going to start out with questions from the host, myself.

That will run until 6.50.

Then we will go to a five minute break.

Then we will do questions from the audience.

And then we will have a speed round and we should end up finishing at 8 p.m.

on the nose.

We're going to go ahead and introduce the I'm sorry, I'm a little unorganized here, too many pages.

And then I will have each candidate do a one-minute introduction.

So first, let me introduce James Borey, I'm sorry, I'm already blowing it, Jim Neeloo Jenks, Julie Kang, Rob Wilson, Katie Hema, and Deborah Juarez.

Let's go ahead and start with Jim.

Go ahead and take a one minute introduction.

Thank you, David.

Thank you for coming tonight.

It's great to see you all.

It's great that our democracy works.

Sometimes we feel challenged, don't we?

As the moderator said, I am Jim Bury.

I've been really interested in applying for this position because I really think my experience will really make a difference for this city, my city, our city, and for the district as well.

After receiving a couple of master's degrees in architecture and in planning, I worked for a decade as a city planner, including with the city of Seattle as the deputy officer planning, and then in 25 years as a city manager in various relatively large cities around the country.

And what that did was give me experience in those areas which I think are very, very critical for the city of Seattle.

Public safety, the comprehensive plan and land use, housing, homelessness issues, and especially the budget.

We have really significant, obvious budget shortfalls.

So I think this experience will give me an opportunity to jump in.

I understand how cities work.

I understand city council's role to make a difference very quickly.

So thank you all for coming.

Thank you, Jim.

Neeloo?

Thank you.

Hello, D5.

I'm Neeloo Jenks.

I'm your Lake City neighbor, mom of two teenagers, an Iranian-American with birthright citizenship, and a lifelong community advocate.

I've worked on gun violence education, sorry, prevention, youth and education, and also on strengthening democracy.

When I ran two years ago, I knocked on thousands of doors and talked to so many of you.

And what I saw is that often our systems fall short.

They're shaped more by political dynamics and campaigns that make us fight with each other rather than centering our day-to-day community needs.

We need to recenter community voices and make government work better for everyone.

We can all see that Seattle isn't dying.

It's growing.

But without leadership that plans for that growth, we get rising costs, unsafe encampments, and gridlock transit.

We need housing and connected transit options, climate smart policies, and progressive revenue to fund what our communities need.

That's why I spent the last two years working on democracy reforms like ranked choice voting and democracy reform and democracy vouchers to return the power back to the people, because I will always seek out systemic solutions to solve our collective problems.

Thank you.

Julie.

Good evening.

I'm excited and honored to be here to share this space with all of the candidates and shout out to Unified Outreach and North Seattle College for hosting us.

My name is Julie Kang and I'm seeking your support.

This community raised my family and that's why I'm serving at this time.

I'm stepping up as the daughter of an immigrant and a public servant for the last 30 years I know what it means to work hard, face barriers, and serve others.

Our family is deeply rooted in D5.

My in-laws' Korean newspaper, my husband's restaurant, our first home, and the community bank we co-founded to help small businesses were all in D5.

I've heard concerns from neighbors and business owners about staying safe, keeping business open, being able to afford and remain in the neighborhood.

These aren't new to me.

I've personally experienced the same challenges and I'll bring my lived experience and knowledge to represent and advocate for you.

Thank you, Julie.

Rob Wilson?

Hello, everyone.

My name is Rob Wilson and I am a husband, father, Navy submarine veteran, people manager at Amazon, and an avid volunteer.

I put my name forward for the District 5 vacancy because I love this city, I love its people, and I see its potential.

The world needs people to step up right now and to believe in the promise of others.

I'll have many new things to learn in this role and I don't shy away from that.

Learning, growing, and succeeding in new roles is what I've been doing all my life.

It helps to be humble, to ask questions, and to really listen to others.

We've got hard problems to solve in this city, and I am passionate about working to solve them together.

Thank you, Rob.

Katie?

Hello.

My name is Katie Yuma.

I live a couple blocks from Aurora, where my husband and I are raising our two young children.

It's pretty rough.

There's gunshots at least once a week.

There's speeding traffic.

There's disinvestment.

My neighbors and I, the business is near us.

We want change.

We need change.

And this is where I can help.

For the past eight years, I've worked as a land use and community planner for the city.

My job is to bring together communities to plan for growth alongside the things that we need to thrive.

Because of this, I have a deep understanding of the processes and the programs across our city departments that shape our city.

And I have a track record of working collaboratively with community and with departments to find common ground and to make change.

We all know Aurora isn't working, but together we can imagine and we can build a better Aurora.

This vision shouldn't displace our local businesses or our neighbors.

We can grow in a way where we can hold on to what is important to us.

And this isn't just about Aurora.

This is about all of the communities across D5, where neighbors are working to improve their neighborhoods.

I'm here tonight because I want to work alongside all of the communities of D5 and across the city to grow the neighborhoods and communities that we love and that love us back.

Thank you.

Deborah.

Thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Deborah Juarez and I've been in this neighborhood for about 37 or 38 years and I've been a lawyer for about that long.

I started out as a public defender, I was in legal services and then I became a judge and then I had the opportunity to serve two governors and then to go work on Wall Street and then after that I went to a law firm, became a partner, did business.

Chair the tribal practice group, did a lot of economic development, rural development.

And then when the district system opened up, I decided this is an opportunity for me to run because I had gotten my two daughters out of the house and in college, and I figured mom's job was done.

And as you know, I served eight years as your representative on Seattle City Council, two terms.

So the big question, I think the elephant in the room is why?

Why now?

And there's two – I'll share a personal story later, but quickly.

The pragmatic reason is this.

Besides being called to serve by constituents, I'm not council president.

I'm not on sound transit.

Thank you, Deborah.

It's a finite amount of time.

Thank you, Deborah.

All righty.

So I also wanted to share with the audience that I know that some forums request that you keep quiet and only wave hands when you're supporting something.

We're going to go ahead and honor the spirit of the college.

And if you want to clap or you want to cheer, you're welcome to do that.

Alright, so let's start jumping into the questions.

We'll, I guess, start at this end with Jim Borey and then we'll move down the line.

Jim, the Northgate Mall Development Project.

What are your concerns or thoughts on keeping that on track?

Well, as you know, The pandemic really had a major impact on a lot of land use, a lot of development in this city.

I live very close to Northgate.

In fact, we walk to the transit station every morning or whenever we go anywhere.

And we see development happening.

So there is apartments going on.

I think that will help drive some of the retail which is necessary.

I think as a city we can do what we can to help from an incentive perspective and also from a permitting perspective as well.

I think we have some major reforms we need to do to facilitate development in the city and that will certainly help in Northgate as well.

Thank you, Jim.

Neeloo?

Thank you.

One thing I noticed when I go to Northgate is that there isn't a lot of community building that happens there.

There aren't as many organizations that I'd love to see.

So one thing I'd love to see is for the community to have places to gather, for the schools and the students to enjoy.

I'd also love to see more connectedness with other communities across D5.

That's our biggest issue, is getting around our district from east to west.

So in terms of transportation, I want to make sure that we're connecting our entire district and not focusing just on Transportation in Northgate, but also community building, too.

That's what I'd really love to see.

And also maybe a working elevator that's consistent, because not all of our neighbors can take that escalator.

And restroom.

Thank you, Neelum.

And if I need to repeat the question, please let me know.

So regarding the Northgate Mall development project, what are your thoughts or concerns with keeping it on track?

Well, first of all, Northgate Mall is only two miles from my house.

And it's hard to walk there.

It's hard to take a stroller with a baby in it.

So I think as we think about growth and community building opportunities, we also have to think about the infrastructure.

So I do love the idea that Nulu has mentioned about community space.

And I see the posters with green space, which I love.

But at the same time, I also think we have to think about how do we get there?

And I think it is a missed opportunity if we don't connect the west and the east side.

So we have Aurora Lake City Way, but how do we get from the west and the east side?

And that's an opportunity that we have to address.

Great.

Thank you, Julie.

Rob?

I am so passionate about the Northgate area.

I love this question.

I was at the Northgate Community Center party on Friday night with the kids, with the community.

There was a magic show.

It's a wonderful community, and it does have all that potential for people to come together.

I've been surprised, frankly, as a resident in the area.

I take that light rail every day.

I walk past it every day.

The construction's been much slower than I expected.

The NHL brought a lot of money in, and that iceplex landed right away, but everything else is crawling along.

Bed to Bath and Beyond that was there struggling for a long time.

We're finally getting the promise of a Trader Joe's.

I think that's a big deal.

The affordable housing that just popped up in the old parking venue, that's great for the community.

There's so many good things there, but we've got to move faster.

I think the comprehensive plan highlights areas like that as areas that could really take high rises.

There's no reason that we couldn't put a lot of housing in Northgate, all the facilities that go with it, the retail, the restaurants, a vibrant community.

I walk across that bridge to get here, and with the Ketchman area being so much I-5, we've got to make the density count where we can.

Thank you, Rob.

Katie?

Thank you.

So like my colleague said, Northgate, it's a huge opportunity to add housing amenities where we have light rail and really build those walkable neighborhoods.

As I've also mentioned, there's some issues with connectivity and especially for pedestrians getting around.

We've got a lot of really large super blocks in the area.

And so in terms of thinking about why isn't development happening under the zoning that we have right now and what can we really do to bump that opportunity up, that's something that we would think a lot about in terms of how can we increase the density but also at the same time try to incentivize more of those east-west connections for pedestrians and vehicles alike where we need them for access.

So I think there's a lot of opportunities here in thinking about also what are some of those potential issues that we're running into with the permitting and how can we try to speed those up, not with a sledgehammer, but really with a scalpel and thinking about what are the little lines of code that we're getting stuck on that are really preventing us from fulfilling the development that we want to see in Northgate.

Thank you, Katie.

Deborah?

Thank you.

Well, first and foremost, we have to get a business improvement area.

We only have two north of the Ship Canal, and Lake City Way in Aurora has been asking for a BIA, and that was one of the projects we were working on before I left.

Second, Northgate property is private property that's owned by Simon, and we work closely with Simon for the Kraken Community Iceplex and for that first light rail station at Northgate, and certainly for the second one at 130th.

And certainly with the John Lewis Bridge connecting North Seattle College to Northgate, that was part of the transit-oriented development, transit-oriented housing.

And then, of course, one of the big issues is that when I worked with Mayor Durkin, when we bought those, I think it's eight acres for $26 million, the Northgate Commons.

Yeah, the Northgate Commons.

You can see it's being repoed.

They're tearing it down now.

And that should have been done before I left.

It couldn't get done, so I was a little disappointed when I would drive by and say, what happened?

We were supposed to get all these units and four buildings and have economic development at the bottom, low-income housing and affordable on top, and it didn't happen.

Thank you, Deborah.

All right.

Another development question just down the street.

What is your plan for meeting community needs at the new Lake City Community Center.

And we'll start with Nilo on this.

Thank you.

Lake City is home for me.

I go by that location all the time to the library and the community center.

I have taught students at the library from John Rogers Elementary.

I think what we need to see there is a place that people can go.

I would love to see a shower for people to use if they need it.

I would love to see a community kitchen.

I would love to see a place for children to play.

I would love to see a lot of senior programming.

It's something I know in the in the neighborhood people really want and I would love to see a A climate resilience center.

We're not really lacking in terms of preparing for the future and people need places to go when it's smoky and it's hot and not everybody has AC here.

So thinking of somewhere that can bring people to Lake City too to help support our local businesses in the area is another goal that I would have for Lake City just to make it a place that's a real community hub and not suffering like it is right now.

Thank you.

Julie.

I love community centers, and I recently actually helped build a Lynwood neighborhood center by fundraising, but also making sure that community members and community organizations are included in those spaces.

The fact that we're able to have early childhood center as well as the elderly senior spaces for technology learning and so many boys and girls club.

I think those are some of the things that we could do, but I want to make sure that we have representation.

We have wraparound services.

We have opportunities to not only have a vision for a place, Get the input from the organizations that are already in the community, from the neighbors who are already using and living in that community.

So I think that's important.

And for all of that to happen, we need public safety.

We need to feel safe to walk to our community center and to stay.

And I know teen and youth programs, they usually still stay until late and we want them to feel safe.

Thank you, Julie.

Rob?

I really love the D5, so you're gonna see the passion here again.

That area is a wonderful area.

Little Tiger, Grocery Outlet, Dick's Burgers, all the wonderful things that you can go to in that area and enjoy and celebrate with family.

The farmer's market in that area is so much richer than I expected the first time I went there.

It is wonderful.

There's such a selection of foods.

This particular project, the Community Center, was one of those things where when I read the article in Seattle Times, I shared it with my wife immediately, it talked about rebuilding the Community Center with affordable housing, with childcare, with options for the community, having that forethought.

Don't just put back the building that was there before.

Think bigger.

Do more for the community.

Because public investment like that can help change a neighborhood.

It then drives things like making it more walkable, having more pedestrian traffic there.

And I think that community center has been really missing from that area and bringing it back is going to be wonderful for Lake City.

Thank you, Rob.

Katie?

Thanks.

So I think this is a great example of what we can accomplish when the city and communities work together and when we really demonstrate how we're listening to what community needs.

And what I mean by that is, to your point, this could have just gone back as just a community center.

And what we knew we needed was more affordable housing in this area.

And so we found ways to work with all our politicians and figure out how we could work on making sure that affordable housing could work there, to work on those partnerships with our other departments to find funding for those things to happen.

I'm so excited for this to be a community facility, for it to be a hub for the neighborhood, and I think there's always ways we can look to do even more to really celebrate our residents, to ensure that we're bringing in arts and culture in these facilities, to really make sure we're making them a place for families, not just where they can walk to them, but where they can actually get the resources they need.

So I think this is a great example, and I would love to see more of these examples throughout D5 and a lot of our neighborhoods that are currently lacking them.

Thank you, Katie.

Deborah?

I'm proud to say that when I ran, I think you remember this, David, back in 2015, one of the things I ran on was building a community center, and I got that done.

The community center below, affordable housing on top.

And we also ran on a pedestrian bike bridge, which is now the John Lewis Bridge, and a police station, but that became another issue for another day.

But the point is, we ran on that.

We delivered that.

We got it in the budget.

It started around $15 million.

We got it up to like $39 million.

And started looking for an architect.

And as you know, my term was up.

I wasn't sharing parks anymore.

And my understanding was is that it was going to go forward because that's how hard we worked on that.

And I think it's important to note that it wasn't just me, it was because I live there, and there's community members I can see out in the audience who worked on not only wanting a new Lake City Community Center, but also wanting that second 130th light rail station.

And I also want to note that we also worked hard on getting a second police station in the north end, and then after some issues, we decided that we may discuss a satellite police station.

Thank you, Deborah.

Jim Borey, wrap it up.

But community centers can really be a focal point for a community.

Obviously, Lake City needs some infusion of activity and a central focus as well.

And I think they can do that.

To me, there's a couple of things important.

Engagement.

Engaging the people and ultimately what is done at the center is really critically important.

It's also important to program activities so that it isn't just a center, but it has activity and life and vitality.

I like the safety.

Getting to and from places in Lake City can be a challenge, so improving sidewalk, lighting, and other issues also can make a big difference as well.

Thank you, Jim.

Again, if anybody has questions from the audience, if you want to hold them up, April will grab those from you.

All righty.

Switching over, nope, actually, let's talk a little bit more about development, just one more question.

And we'll go ahead and have Julie start this one.

Do you support free range zoning and the proposed neighborhood center that would allow three and six story building construction?

Why or why not?

Well, it depends.

The reason why I say it depends is because yes, Seattle needs more housing, but it must be done and be done in a smart, realistic and grounded in the needs of the families like our neighbors.

And density is coming, so we understand that, especially in places like Lake City Way.

And we do have to prepare, not just by building more units, but by investing in sidewalks, schools, parks, and public services that makes density livable.

Because I think we have to consider how we can grow without pushing people out, but also growth should serve the community and not the other way around.

So, yes, we have to think about affordable housing.

Yes, we have to think about how do we engage more of our neighbors to stay in the community.

But we have to do it with growth in mind, but be mindful of the environmental and the green space and other factors that may hinder the high risers.

Thank you, Julie.

Rob?

I think one of these transformative experiences that led me to being here right now is going to Olympic View School and hearing a discussion of the Seattle Comprehensive Plan led by a panel of experts.

Council Member Moore was there, Council Member Rivera, and there were a number of folks from the city and then local business owners talking about what the comp plan meant to them.

There were folks in the audience who were a little worried about what's in the Com Plan.

They might not fully understand it, but hearing from business owners that talked about how hard it is for their employees to find housing anywhere near the business.

The business owner themselves talking about how hard it is to afford it.

Would I love to have my business on the first floor and housing on the second floor?

Yes, but that's years of construction.

Where am I going to live in the meantime?

I can't make this work.

And I went into that meeting open-minded.

I came out of that meeting understanding that a 20-year plan that doesn't build that many housing units isn't something we should be scared of.

If anything, we've got to move faster on it.

And if we can align the transit with what we need in the comp plan, I think everyone's going to love the city that that creates.

Thank you, Rob.

All right, Katie.

Hi, thanks.

So I'm a land use planner, so yes, I would definitely support warehousing.

So I, you know, I helped work on the comp plan.

I helped work on the neighborhood centers.

The whole premise, right, is that we're adding density where we have these assets that we can build on, where there's businesses people can walk to, where there's already parks, where there's already things that make it a walkable neighborhood.

And we build incrementally upon that in these places so we can get good transit, so we can get people out of their cars.

We need to add so much more housing in this city, and the only way to do it without adding more cars everywhere is to do it in places where people can walk.

And the other thing I want to say about that is zoning is a tool, right?

Zoning is not the vision for our neighborhoods.

The vision for our neighborhoods comes from people who live there.

It's more detailed.

It's about the types of housing we want to see, how we want it to look, and zoning is a tool we can use to shape that.

So I think when used correctly, the zoning can actually help make our visions happen and make the different types of housing we need to happen.

And so for that, I would definitely support additional or the three to six story zoning.

Thank you, Katie.

That's a really intense question and it would take more than a minute, but I'll be very fast.

This is what I think generally about zoning in the 2025 sale comp plan.

The half-mile radius around a child's home or your home should be our North Star.

The comp plan must be forward-looking and integrate upward economic mobility.

And I say that now, I just want to get wonky.

Before we get into zoning capacity, new housing, new jobs, transit corridors, 10-minute walk sheds, one Seattle with 300,000 additional units that Mayor Harrell's looking at, before we implement House Bill 1110, which would add another 65,000, And looking at neighborhood centers, urban neighborhoods, and we all know that there are 10 neighborhoods in the comp plan that, in D5, that's gonna be looking at.

Before we look at the middle housing types, in which there are nine, and floor areas, and aides, and daddies, and parking, you can tell I had this job before.

I really want people to focus on the good stuff, not just transit and community center, but when I say good stuff, I mean libraries, parks, green space, and economic opportunity.

Thank you, Deborah.

Jim?

Density is inevitable.

We have a city that's growing and it has a lot of demands because of all the employment and the success that we've had.

So that's a challenge for sure.

How you do it is critically important.

How you provide transitions to existing neighborhoods, how you support those neighborhoods at the same time that you provide A much denser housing arrangement, obviously supported by infrastructure.

That's been said.

To me, the biggest concern is transportation.

I don't think we've had the successful investment that we really need.

We need to ramp that up further.

That's sidewalks.

It's better bus service.

It's expanding the way that we serve the housing that we have today.

Otherwise, we're going to have streets that are one-lane streets throughout the entire city.

Thank you, Jim.

So I am very supportive of density.

I am very worried about our climate future.

We see LA go up in flames and we have water and we already have climate refugees living here in Seattle.

So the reality of this job isn't whether or not we decide we need density.

We see Seattle is growing.

We see the encampments and we see the unaffordability.

The reality of this job is communicating to the public why we need that density and not telling them they're bad for not wanting it or shaming it.

It's holding their hands and grieving over their rose gardens that they're going to have to maybe give up.

That's somebody I remember knocking on their door very distinctly.

I will be out there grieving with you about this transition and this future that I didn't want to come upon us, but it's here.

And if we don't build a better future and for the future, our children won't have one.

Our future generations won't have one.

So I intend to...

Always, whether I get this appointment or not, be out there with you grieving about this transition, but also celebrating a future that we can all celebrate.

I lived in triple-deckers in the Boston area, and believe me, it was fun, it was community, and I loved it.

So, that's all.

Thank you, Nila.

Hey, let's go ahead and put these paddles to use here.

So everybody's got a green and a red one.

Go ahead and get them ready.

Do you support the proposed neighborhood center plan in Roosevelt?

Alrighty, thank you.

And just to clarify, that's building three to six story buildings in that area.

Alrighty.

What's that?

is in 90th and Roosevelt okay all right thank you so was that a proper question or not I'm not sure oh okay all right moving on what and let's go ahead and start with Rob what is your plan for Thank you.

I'm just a volunteer.

I'm not getting paid for this.

Thank you.

All right, so we'll start with Rob.

And what is your plan for reducing, and I'm actually going to tie this in with a comment from the audience or question.

What is your plan for reducing gun violence and the sex trade on Aurora?

And I just want to add this as well.

If appointed, what would you do to help the vulnerable women that are involved in that sex trade?

And I'm sorry, you only have a minute, but do your best.

I think that's one of the areas where we need the most focus in District 5. All of us who drive there, who travel around Aurora, it's sad.

As someone with daughters, it's just hard to imagine somebody else going through that in their own life.

So for me, there's gun violence, and that's about police and investing in policing and being smart about the gun laws.

I think there needs to be a wider debate about guns in this country, and if that doesn't happen, we need to have it here in the state and the city.

On the sex trade side, there are innovative ideas, CCTV, other things in Aurora, so we can better understand the patterns, better understand the people behind this and help combat it.

But there are certain things we've just got to get right as a society, and that's one of them.

That's it.

Thank you, Rob.

Katie?

Thank you.

So, you know, two sides to this, right?

We've got enforcement and prevention.

So enforcement, you know, really thinking about how we can address those hot spots of activity happening.

We all know one of fifth is one of them.

And doing that by shifting where we can some of the duties that are given to police officers to some civilian forces and expanding those opportunities.

To really make sure that we have the police where we need them.

On the other side of it, I think there's a lot more to do about prevention.

And a lot of this does go back to housing and to homelessness and making sure that people don't have to go to desperate measures to make sure that they can provide for themselves and their family.

And so this is where we're talking about where can we expand our housing capacity?

Where can we up our supply so that people aren't forced out onto the street to make these decisions for themselves?

And the other thing I would do is look at the programs that are already working.

We've got the Aurora Commons.

They're doing great work and thinking about how we can continue to resource the things that are working and the people who are doing that work and who know the best way to address those issues.

Thank you, Katie.

Thank you.

Deborah.

Thank you.

When I was on Seattle City Council, one of the first times ever, we also met with Elizabeth Dahl, the CEO of Aurora Commons, and for the first time in 2016 and every year cycle after that, we tripled their budget at Aurora Commons for sex workers and those that want to get out in sex trafficking and working with SPD.

The other issue that is really important besides The money for the budget to allow their expansion, if you notice that with smaller now it's bigger, so they can have more services and we connected them with University of Washington so they can have medical services.

But the number one issue, and I just spoke to Elizabeth about this three weeks ago, is in Seattle, if a woman wants to get out of the sex trade, there's only seven beds in the whole city if a woman decides right there then and now that she needs to get out for whatever reason, violence, I mean just whatever reason, drug addiction, you name it.

And that is the problem that we've had, is we don't have a place to put women who need to get out of the sex trade and have somewhere safe to go, not even safe houses.

And so that has been an issue for us, and that comes back to housing.

Thank you, Deborah.

Okay.

Jim?

I am totally all in on guns and gun control.

Absolutely, Rob.

Thank you for bringing that up.

Public safety is so critically important with the city, and a lot of it has to do with our model of how we police.

Community policing is critically important.

So how the police officers engage with people on Aurora, how they engage with the sex workers and others is really critically important.

And also the services that are provided for them.

Drug treatment and other services need to be ramped up and much more invested than we have today.

Thank you, Jim.

Thank you.

I think, you know, with driving down, it's absolutely a tragedy.

As a mother as well, I find it really hard.

I think one of the most important things is talk to actually the women and girls who are doing this work and ask them what their cares and needs are.

and making sure that they have resources to turn to that are centering what would work for them.

I also think when it comes to gun violence prevention, having organized the nation's largest gun buyback in response to the Parkland shooting, I think what we need to do is just do things and pass laws and advocate and zoning laws.

Also making sure that we are not just throwing money in policing when we're having a hard time hiring police.

In that case, switching to alternative responses.

I want to be safer.

I want things that we can actually fund and do right now, and we hire police while we can, but our CARES team being expanded D5 was wonderful.

Let's do more of that.

Albuquerque has done a great job bringing alternative responses.

Let's latch on in the same way that other cities have done.

For example, Redmond has done some great expansion of their resources.

And Seattle is lagging a little bit.

We can do better.

Thank you.

Julie?

So I have to make a left turn in front of Krispy Kremes every day.

And I've seen accidents.

And as a mother and an educator, I really think, is this the best for the sex workers?

And I talked to about 50 different small business owners, and we have 101 Body Shop that has corridors because they see gun violence on a regular basis.

We have Rose Corner Flower Shop that serves the funeral homes, and they have a pimp and a sex worker Argument and the owner got sick.

I mean, she got hurt, seriously.

These are things that we think about and I think our former council member had started making some movements towards safety, protecting the public as well as the sex workers.

And I think we have to build on that.

So I don't want to start from ground zero.

I want to build on what is already in the plan.

Thank you.

All right.

Let's go ahead and...

Let's stay on the public safety.

Other than Aurora, and we'll start with Katie.

Other than Aurora, what are the hot spots in District 5 that are on your radar?

And what will you attack first?

That is a great...

Oops, sorry.

That is a great question.

Is this working?

Okay.

That is a great question.

I live off Aurora, so it is definitely the highest priority for me.

That is definitely not saying that other people aren't dealing with these issues as well.

So we've got Aurora is a long stretch, covers a lot of neighborhoods, a lot of issues up and down Aurora.

I've heard there's still some issues over in Lake City.

And there's also a lot of issues in places that, you know, they move, right?

We sweep them away and they just pop up somewhere else.

And so I think that addressing these places sort of one by one in those areas that are hotspots is really important.

I also think it's important that we don't just keep sweeping things from one place to another place and really dealing with them at a systemic issue or dealing with these systemic issues sort of at the root.

And so again, I'm gonna bring this back to housing and I really think what we need to do is figure out how we can get people in housing to prevent this from happening.

Keeping people in housing, but also getting people back into housing.

Thank you, Katie.

Deborah.

Thank you.

So what was the question again about crime?

What was it exactly?

Other than Aurora, what are the hot spots in District 5 that are on your radar and how would you attack those problems?

So we know that we have crime in Aurora and we have since, as they say, time immemorial.

But in between Aurora and Lake City Way, there's a lot of land and a lot of light and a lot of crime that has gotten worse since I've lived here with gun violence, We've had a couple of assaults, we've had shootings, we've had homicides, we have RVs.

So Lake City Way, if people knew how much I had to work hard to keep some folks from dumping more tiny house, low level housing onto Lake City Way and in between Aurora and Lake City Way.

And it isn't that the homeless people that were there who are being housed are criminals.

It's sometimes what it attracts.

And when we worked hard to try to get a second, a new police station so we could have it west of I-5 or east of I-5, as you remember, some of you remember we had blocked the bunker and it got really, really, really ugly.

Death and all kinds of threats to me.

So I wanted to revisit that because I think if you have a police presence, not only on Aurora or up here, because we have a police station here, but something on the other side because the call times are not quick enough for them to get over to the other side.

Thank you, Deborah.

Jim?

So obviously Aurora is a major issue, but there are other concerns as well, Lake City Way.

Frankly, there are some concerns in Northgate, where I live.

If you drive down Northgate Way, you see boarded up businesses and others because of the twine, because of businesses that have been broken into.

But again, this comes back to having a model of community policing where the police officers are engaging at the street level.

It's not what I've referred to before as drive-by policing, where they're in their cars and they're waving at you as you go by.

We need to get people out on the streets, engaging with people, finding out what's truly going on, and what can be done to address the issues as well.

Thank you, Jim.

Neeloo?

Thank you.

So I live, like I said, in Lake City.

I would say Third Avenue is one of the areas that we have quite a lot of sex trafficking and gun violence and drugs as well.

So I hope people keep in mind that Y is one of the most ethnically diverse areas in the neighborhood of D5 not mentioned as often as we think.

And also Little Brook is an area that has a lot of issues.

I would say also Bitter Lake is an area that has issues.

A lot of D5 has issues.

Frankly, I think it's also a crime to have so many homeless people living on our streets.

and not having enough shelter capacity in the city.

I would love to see us have an actual real-time count of how any shelter beds are available in the city so we don't have a debate about who's rejecting housing.

Instead, talk about the shortage of housing and shelter and beds that we have.

I would love to see us have more housing to make housing affordable.

That's also a crime.

But generally, I think we need to invest in things, like I said, the CARES team, Community passageways, anti-violence programs, mental health programs for our students.

We've had shootings at Ingram.

I had a spree shooting in front of my house in Sandpoint.

We can do better.

Thank you.

Julie.

Yes, so I'm thinking about Lake City and Aurora, but in between Bitter Lake, Interurban Trail, as well as North Acres Park.

So we know that public safety is not a luxury.

It's a basic right.

And for too long, I think District 5 has been waiting, waiting for faster 911 response times, waiting for the promised North Precinct improvements, and waiting for the real help in places like Lake City Way and Aurora and all in between.

And I think we need a visible, consistent presence, officers who are trained, trusted, and supported.

But also public safety means care teams that are responding to mental health crisis, youth programs that prevent violence before it starts, and real investment in human services and housing.

And I also want to acknowledge Councilman Kettle for public safety chair for strengthening the And I think this is a part of the broader effort to address public safety concerns.

And I'll work with the council to continue to work on public safety.

Thank you, Julie.

Rob?

I think there are areas where we need to be really focused on where we need to prioritize our efforts.

Obviously around schools, obviously in some of these hot spots, but just sharing some anecdotes.

When there's something near a bus stop, and you try to call, and then you try to call again, and you talk to find it, fix it, That discussion of response times, the discussion around how do we prioritize these areas where a lot of people are going there every day.

Kids are boarding those buses.

Lake City, when we talk about areas like that, there's a lot of kids that walk to Jane Addams School, Nathan Hale School.

How do we make sure that's safe for them?

I talked about Northgate Way earlier.

Just thinking about an experience that we had that's one of those, like, how do we stop this faster?

There is somebody throwing, you saw them, you know, out of the corner of your eye, but driving under North Gateway, you're under I-5, it's kind of hard to see it, but a giant chunk of concrete got thrown at our car.

There's still a giant dent in there.

That's scary.

That's scary when there's kids in the car.

And I think there is an enforcement angle of this, but there's also a how do we get treatment to people that really need it because it's all connected.

Thank you, Rob.

Okay.

Moving on to budgets, and we'll start with Deborah.

This year, Seattle has a $250 million budget deficit.

Where would you prioritize budget cuts?

What are ways of raising revenue that you would support?

Okay, well, let me lay the groundwork here.

I've gone through eight budgets, and if I get this job back again, we will have two budget cycles, a $240 million deficit, And we also are entertaining, and I hope it happens, a B&O tax, that we have a sunset clause in it for four years, and it will go to the voters, and those monies will be used for addiction and services for that.

It's hard to say to a public, and I'm not gonna lie or pander or do performative art here, and say, oh, I'm gonna cut this and add this.

You can't.

You can't until the mayor sends down the budget, and then you can see where the priorities are.

We start with what our district needs.

That's what I've always done.

What does my district need?

What is the brick and mortar they need?

Is it transit?

Is it light rail?

Is it a crosswalk?

Is it a community center?

Those are the things you start with.

And then you make sure, which I've always done, and I'm going to say this a little braggy here, but I had like a 98% budget success rate.

And why?

Because I worked with the mayor's office in August to make sure everything D5 needed was in the mayor's budget so I didn't have to fight about it when it got down to the second floor.

Thank you.

Thank you, Deborah.

Jim?

So throughout my career, that's something that I've really worked on extensively.

I've put together actually 25 at least annual budget, multi-billion dollar budgets in the course of my time.

And there's certain things you learn about how to approach budgets.

I think when someone who is not familiar with budgets, they look for things that they can get their mind around.

They look for those little line items of $1,000, $2,000, $3,000.

And I think you need to look at fundamentally how a budget is structured.

And really what makes sense to approach.

I am certainly in favor of progressive revenues, such as the occupational tax.

I have questions about the exact proposal there, and I know that maybe when it's adopted, it may be amended and may not be quite the same.

But I certainly think progressive revenues like that would be a very good thing for the city.

Thank you, Jim.

Nilou?

Thank you.

I mean, I think it's a really hard time that our city is facing, and it's a really hard time in our nation.

Realistically, the things that I think we're going to need to protect is anything that's related to democracy, our libraries, our civic education.

How do we keep voter turnout high?

How do we keep our kids and our adults, everybody, educated on how important the threat is right now?

I also think we need to think about this big, terrible, horrible bill that passed, that what do we need to do to keep our people fed and health care and Medicaid and all the things that are coming in the next year?

Or what we should focus on this fall.

And then also, yes, supporting progressive taxes.

This BNO tax that is helping our small businesses that are suffering right now.

But what else can we do?

Anti-speculation taxes.

There are so many places holding onto land in hopes that the light rail will come in 20 years, and I need that housing now.

So thinking about other kinds of revenue that we can bring in, because especially when we're under federal attack, and we all know we are, we need to do something to protect our people.

Thank you, Nilo.

Julie?

Yes, we're facing budget crisis in education as well, so this is very real.

And I just want to highlight one of the things I've done in the D5 is a community bank.

When Bank of America and other large banks Could not give equitable loan rates to small business owners.

We had 54 members come together to find a solution where we were able to support small business owners and to offer equitable loan rates.

It didn't cost any money and in fact it generated money in D5 where we were able to allocate some money for good work for the community.

I always tell our students to think about financial literacy.

And to live within your means.

You know, as an immigrant, that's what we've done.

We don't overspend.

We've saved some for rainy days.

So I think, yes, it's a challenging time for all of us.

But before we increase taxes or put on other things that will be passed on to the citizen, I want us to think about accountability and visibility in the budget.

Thank you, Julie.

Thank you.

Rob?

When you look at the revenue of the city and how many things are percentages on sales and business profitability that year, the payroll at a particular company, that's going to be a roller coaster up and down.

And we can't spend to the top of that peak.

We have to plan for the good years and we have to plan for the slower years.

That means reserve funds.

That means planning for the years where the budget's got a little more money to spread around and the years where it doesn't.

So I think it is looking in that long-term view.

It's not just solving a one-year problem.

It's not just solving a two-year problem, but it's planning out.

There are a number of services in this city that are too important to ever cut.

And I think we all need to understand that.

Our leaders need to understand that.

There's things that people depend on on a day-to-day basis.

Affordable housing is not something you can slow down on.

You can't slow down on those investments.

You can't slow down on supporting the affordable housing providers because then they're going to close up housing and you're going to spend that much more money getting it back.

So pick your priorities, have a reserve fund for those rainy days, and really be open to new options when needed.

Thank you, Rob.

Katie?

Thank you so much.

I think to Deborah's point, you don't really know the details until you get there, but the approach I would take is trimming where you can.

What are the things that we don't need right now?

What are the things that we can maybe hold off on because they're not the top priority?

Figuring out where we can find efficiencies.

There's a lot of collaboration we can do amongst departments and really find out where we can make things more efficient in our processes.

And at the end of the day, that's probably not going to be enough to dig us out of the hole.

And so that's when your values really come in, right?

About what is it that you want to prioritize?

How are you going to make those hard decisions?

How are you going to make sure that your constituents are getting what they need at the end of the day?

But we're also thinking about how the city can survive sort of the next couple of years here in particular.

So in principle, I definitely support looking at more progressive forms of generating revenue.

I think it all comes down to the details.

If we're thinking about new taxes, you know, the number matters, right?

If it's going to be a giant shock to a business, then that could be a problem.

But really getting into the nitty-gritty of what we're really doing with these.

What are we really going to generate?

What are the potential harms that we might be causing?

And really thinking through, again, just how it stacks up against our priorities and our values.

Thank you.

Thank you, Katie.

All right.

Well, that completes the questions that we had prepared.

So we're going to go ahead and jump into some of the Audience questions.

So it's gonna be random.

We're gonna be here and then we're gonna be there.

So hang with us.

And I think that we will be random.

No, we won't.

We'll stay on track.

We'll start with Jim Borey, and then we'll just work down.

That'll be fine.

Jim, you get to start us off.

Kathy Moore has a reputation for being extremely accessible and responsive to her constituents, whereas previous District 5 council members have been criticized for allotting too much time for special interests at the cost of the district as a whole.

How accessible will you be to regular folk?

You stole my closing remark.

It's really all about being responsive, listening carefully, making sure that every voice is heard in the district, not any special interest, but every voice across the world.

There's no other way about doing that but hard work and meeting and being available and being responsive.

When some email is sent, you don't just put it on a certain file, you respond to it in every instance.

Can I say that I haven't seen that always happen in District 5, and I pledge that I will make sure that happens in District 5 if I'm a council member.

Thank you, Jim.

Neeloo?

Thank you.

District services are really important to me.

I love people.

That's why I'm here meeting people.

If you know me, you will know that I'm an extremely social person.

And so taking those calls and meeting with the public is something that I would value and cherish.

I also really believe in town halls and community meetings.

I remember going with the mayor in a former city to go learn about living room conversations, and so that's something I'd love to bring to our district.

How do we talk to each other when we disagree?

And I'd love to be a city council member that brings the community together and listens together, not just me listening to you, but all of us together and help facilitate that so we can actually live and learn and be happier as a society.

Because right now, I think we're really struggling.

And I think what everybody really wants is to be heard.

And I think that's going to be a really very important part of the role for the next council member.

And it's something that I would hope to continue.

Thank you, Nilo.

Julie?

So those of you who know me, I'm high energy.

I love to be in places to represent our community as well as to learn about one another.

And I think that's important.

And one of my priorities that I actually wrote down was civic engagement, hosting listening sessions across D5 and my favorite coffees and houses.

That was one of my ideas.

Civics for all, forums to rebuild trust.

I think there is divide and we need to work together as D5 and use civic fellowship to build on local leaders so that We can continue to nurture the next generation.

I think that's also important.

And those of you 30 years in education know that I have never not responded to a single email or not return a phone call.

I don't have all the easy answers, but sometimes it's just getting them the resources because they're not able to.

Thank you, Julie.

Rob?

Open doors, office hours, absolutely important.

Open booking tools, have people come to the office.

But you know that's just a small slice of the population that's ever going to go out of their way to get to you.

So you got to go out there and talk to them.

You got to be in unexpected places and you got to make it more of a meaningful conversation than me wearing a button and shaking someone's hand and moving on.

You got to have the time for a real conversation.

I am a big believer and I love the democracy voucher program in Seattle.

I think it's fantastic, I think it's innovative, and I think it's exactly the way that you get people's voices heard.

I was reading up on the page the other day, better understanding the program.

Yes, you have to get some donations to be eligible for democracy vouchers, but you can just barely hit that threshold and then do vouchers.

I think that's exactly what we need to better be beholden to the people and not to any special interests.

Thank you, Rob.

Katie?

Thank you so much.

So I love this question because I am very excited about talking to the folks of D5.

This is actually like a big part of what I do for my job is about engagement and particularly inclusive engagement.

So yes, come talk to me.

I would love to talk about whatever problems you have and help connect you to resources or help figure out how to solve your problems.

I love talking to people.

I love connecting with people.

I love talking about what they love.

I love talking about what they need.

I have a lot of experience doing inclusive engagement through our community planning processes because, as you said, it's not just the people who show up.

It's the people you have to reach out to.

And that means in-person translation.

That means just more time and energy.

That means meeting people where they are.

And that means respecting people for their perspectives and having compassion even when you disagree.

And that I think can be really hard when we're working towards solutions and there's people who are not happy with what we're talking about.

And it doesn't mean that they don't matter and it doesn't mean that we have to agree with them, but we have to have the integrity of still respecting their voice.

Thanks.

Thank you, Katie.

Deborah?

I'm guessing that was directed at me in eight years at Seattle City Council.

So let me just be honest with you about this.

When we went to a district system, D5 was the only district that had a district director and had a district office right here on this campus.

For four years, 1140, I think, was our office that we rented from Dr. Brown for $200 a month.

And we met there every Friday from 10 to 3. The other thing that people need to understand is that We would get, depending on how hot the issue was, anywhere between 1 and 200 emails and sometimes well over 100 phone calls.

City Hall doesn't have phones anymore.

After 2020 and COVID, they went to a computer system, so we would listen to messages.

I had the best chief of staff, Brindell, who was chief of staff for Larry Phillips at King County Council.

We had a system to try to get out, but there are other ways besides being accessible.

There is a newsletter.

There's having community events.

Some of you remember Dive in D5 and Live in D5, which, by the way, was not taxpayer.

We raised that money to make sure we had that space to get out and talk to as much people as we could.

Yes, every elected would love to meet with everybody all the time.

But while you're doing that, it isn't just D5.

It's the rest of Seattle as well.

Thank you.

Thank you, Deborah.

All righty.

Okay, next we'll start with Nilou and environmental question.

Under the current One Seattle Plan, Seattle may fail to meet its goal of 30% tree canopy by 2037. What are your thoughts?

Well, I think trees are important.

I ran because of the climate emergency the first time around, and I think that we need to make sure that we're planting trees.

And, you know, I don't think trees and houses are enemies.

You know, generally the people that want trees want them because they live in a house.

And so I think if we can find ways to build in rights of way and have more flexible floor plans to build houses, we can make sure that we have trees and greenery.

I also think we need to make sure that we're keeping in mind biodiversity.

I think all of us have seen that our environment is changing here.

In the last 20 years I've lived here, I've seen a lot of change.

And then I think that we have to really think about how we hit our goals overall in climate.

Can we do on-bill financing to get heat pumps for everybody in this city?

Can we use heat pumps like they are in Tacoma to help with rent stabilization.

Can we have better, you know, all the public transit that has come up so much here east-west but also keep expanding and making sure that our light rail is supported and that we're getting out ORCA cards to people who really need them.

There's so much that we can do to make the city a greener place.

Thank you, Nilou.

Julie.

So in areas like Northgate and Lake City where we're seeing more people, we have to also think about investment in the green space and clean air that we need to thrive.

So environmental justice is not a far-off idea.

I think it's really about whether our kids can play in a shaded park, whether seniors can walk safely without overheating, and whether families living near major roads are protected from pollutants.

As we prepare for growth, we must invest in trees, electric transit, green building standards, and maintaining our parks, not just to check off a box, but really to create a healthier, more resilient community.

Let's connect our climate investments to where people actually live, especially in D5, where infrastructure has lagged behind.

So I think our neighbors deserve clean air, quiet streets, and the shades of a tree on a hot day.

And that's the kind of environment future I'll fight for.

Thank you, Julie.

Rob?

This is a very true story.

I was on 103rd and 5th today, sweltering in the heat and wondering where the tree cover was that was going to save me.

But the Northgate development isn't going fast enough and I didn't have tree cover anywhere near me because I had fencing and construction materials.

So hopefully that speeds up.

There was such an important need to preserve the trees we can.

We had a neighbor going door to door to save a line of four trees, establish trees, beautiful trees in the neighborhood, and they had to heroically go around and sign petitions and talk to the city and preserve those trees.

It shouldn't be an uphill battle to save the trees.

That should be something that we can do the dense housing, but let's save the tall trees we do on a lot of those properties.

There's plenty of other area to develop, and if we build denser here, we can save the trees here.

The other thing I'll say is the comp plan and reading the PDF when they opened it to public comment, there's so many smart, pragmatic, creative people in the city proposing really great options for tree cover along roadways that'll add to the beauty of the city, will add to the walkability of those areas.

So many good ideas out there.

Let's follow them.

Thank you, Rob.

Katie?

So I am a tree lover.

My background is in landscape architecture and conservation.

And we need more trees.

We need more of them everywhere.

But I think that when we pit them against housing, we make it into a zero sum game.

Yes, we do have limited space and we have to figure out how to fit all of these things in.

So yes, if you want more housing and more trees, we have to go taller.

And that's something that we have to agree to do.

I also think that there's a lot of nuances in our code that we can use to encourage the outcomes we want.

So it's not just about the number of trees, right, but it's about the size and the type of trees.

How can we encourage more conifers and larger shade trees?

And really thinking about what are those small tweaks we can make to actually encourage that new private development.

I also think the tree is an equity issue.

I think that the right-of-way is one of the best places to add trees.

It covers pavement, it cleans air directly at the source, and it puts the expense of maintaining the trees on the city, not on homeowners or on renters who might have a limited income.

So this is why I think a great example of how we can work with community and with our departments, particularly with SDOT, to develop strategies about how we can get more trees, particularly in a rights-of-way.

And again, it's going to make us have some difficult trade-offs, but it's the work that we need to do.

Thank you, Katie.

Deborah?

I'm going to get a little wonky here.

So I understand under the comp plan on the tree planting piece that we are talking about establishing a point-based system for tree canopies for green space, looking at that 10-minute walk shed.

But also under Mayor Harrell's One Seattle, as you know, he's looking at 300,000 units coming in.

And my understanding from looking at it, that was Council Bill 120985, is that there is protections both in the Mayor Harrell's One Seattle comp plan And now the proposed comp plan about tree and tree protection.

And one thing that we've been blessed with north of the Ship Canal, and it goes back to something that Julie was saying, that there was a redlining environmental racism that took out a lot of trees south of the Ship Canal.

So if you're a District 5 or if you're on Seattle City Council, you just don't look at D5.

You look at the whole city and having green space and canopies for everybody.

And that's a hard task to do, particularly when you're dealing with developers and private property and zoning.

So one of the things that we have tried to do and work closely with, and I know that Council Member Dan is here, so I think you should ask him.

Thank you, Deborah.

Jim.

Well, first off, Deborah, I was not referring at all to your time in office.

I was referring to more recent experiences, so I apologize if you interpret it that way.

I've endured worse.

You're very kind.

It was not for that reason at all.

Obviously, planting trees is critical.

I've worked in a number of cities where we've had very, very aggressive planting programs, and they've been tree USA cities.

So planting is important.

Preserving is also equally important.

I really believe we need some more flexibility in how our tree ordinance is done, because sometimes we don't have the best result that we could just because of the way we approach it.

So I think that's important.

From an environmental perspective, the most important thing is how we mix our land uses so that people don't need to get in a car when they go everywhere.

That's really critically important.

One of the reasons that we moved to the area we did in Northgate is so we can walk.

Literally, the grocery store is across the street.

We can walk to probably 25 restaurants.

We walk to other services as well.

We walk to transit.

Having communities where you can walk, where you have those services is critically important.

Thank you, Jim.

All right.

Let's go ahead and...

This is about...

Okay, and we're gonna start with Julie, I believe.

And do you support art-infused behavioral health programs for low-level court diversion?

What specifics would you like to share?

Do you support art-infused behavioral health programs as diversion for low-level offenses?

Yes.

So my undergrad at UCLA was art and psychology and I thought I was going to become an art therapist.

And then I learned at that time that art therapy was not offered with health insurance and with immigrants and refugees.

So I pivoted and became a teacher and taught art.

I have been thinking about how do we infuse art, and we need more, especially at a time like this, when I'm working with students with special needs, students who are multilingual, and I know that we have a lot of community organizations that are doing it, and I also know that they're challenged by budget cuts, so this is the time, I think, You know, community can step up.

But I am a pro-art, art appreciator, art lover, and creator of art.

So I am definitely supportive.

Thank you.

Rob?

I've been educating myself recently a lot more about things like treatment courts and other diversion methods and alternate forms of the criminal justice system that are ultimately more effective for the communities and for the people who go through those programs.

It's not about locking people up.

It's not about not giving them a second chance.

It's about finding ways to help them and treat them.

I think an art-infused project sounds amazing.

I personally experienced when in the Navy, you have folks that you meet in the Navy, you talk to them about their background, and especially on the USS Nimitz, the carrier I was on at the time, you had folks that were avoiding jail time by joining the military.

That might sound surprising to some, but it's an alternate option that a judge gives them and gives them another chance, gives them something where they can go out and make an income, be part of society, contribute, and really turn their life around.

That moved me, and that's something that I think we should all be open to.

When there are better ideas, let's pursue them, and let's make this world better for everyone, even those who made some mistakes.

Thank you, Rob.

Katie?

Thanks.

Yeah, I do.

I mean, I don't know why anybody would say no to that.

I think that, to your point, second chances are super important, especially for those low-level offenses.

People are dealing with a lot.

There's a lot of stress out there.

It's hard right now.

And a lot of that can come out in ways that are antisocial behavior.

We know that when people work with their hands, it opens them up, and that opens them up to healing.

I do this all the time with my toddler.

Draw the picture, right?

So I think it's a great idea, and I would definitely support this and other methods that we could do for diversion so that we can keep people in the communities, keep them with their support systems, and make sure that people can lead happy lives where they're thriving.

Thank you, Katie.

Deborah?

Thank you.

That's like a two-part question, so I'm gonna answer the easy one first because I think it was a wonderful question for me because my daughter's an art teacher and is an art therapist, and I was wondering if she was in the audience and actually teed me up for that.

So of course I'm for that.

So in my former life as a public defender and certainly as a King County Superior Court judge, I was one of the first judges that did drug court, where we actually did felonies and did diversions.

We also did it as a public defender for muni court for low offenders.

But community court is something important because people have to be held accountable.

And so being the first King County Superior Court judge with Judge Martinez, who is now a federal judge, having drug court, where it's a low-level felony, not a crime of violence, Putting people not only to treatment, but giving them alternative modes for treatment and for getting healthy and addiction.

At the time, people were not happy about that.

They thought the tax dollars were being wasted on giving people opportunity, either through...

There's all kinds of treatment modalities that we use that people thought weren't good enough.

They wanted them in jail.

So I'm very much supportive of community and art.

Thank you, Deborah.

Thank you.

Jim?

I would also certainly support the art diversion programs.

If you think about it, especially for a nonviolent offender, what does someone learn in jail and what does someone learn with diversion?

It's kind of a no-brainer, isn't it?

So we need to invest in those types of programs.

We need to look for opportunities, not just for art, that's really important, but there's also other animals that can be involved.

I'm a runner.

I think running is a great program for diversion.

So there are a lot of programs where they can have diversion as well.

So I would certainly support that in treatment.

Thank you, Jim.

Nilou?

That was exactly what I was thinking.

I think meeting people where they're at, some people aren't there, people will be wonderful for them and some people will need other options.

I think also looking at the data for what is most needed is important.

But I will say I'm absolutely a fan of art because my best friend would beat me up if I didn't.

I have many, many friends who are artists in this city.

Shout out to 1448. But she was also an art therapist working with children.

It really is like that opportunity to get out your feelings creatively.

And just do the healing that you need to do is important.

I think all of society should think about ways how we can bring people back into community, back into healing, and being with all of us, rather than always looking to punish.

Because if you, I don't know, as a parent, my kids are here, I would say that they do better when I do less punishing and less bringing in.

Thank you.

All right, let's kind of stay loosely on the subject of crime and punishment.

Actually, you know what, let's do some quick raise the paddles.

First question, do you support diversion for low-level offenders?

Okay, easy one.

Do you support art-infused diversion for low-level offenders?

Okay, you guys got easy ones.

Okay, now let me give you a hard one.

Seattle has repealed the previous ban on arresting and booking shoplifters and vandals who have committed up to $750 in retail theft or property damage.

Do you support prosecuting low-level criminal offenses?

I don't know if that's necessary.

Sorry.

Seattle has repealed The law that says that they don't book crimes up to seven hundred and fifty dollars.

Do you support that repeal?

Do you support prosecuting shoplifters under or vandals under seven hundred fifty dollars?

All right, City Council, if you're watching this video, this is where you start seeing differences.

Is it a minor?

Sure, sure.

Thank you, Julie.

Okay, now we're back to questions.

Okay, just one more along that same line, and we'll start with Rob.

There are a lot of small businesses that are suffering with lots of violence and theft.

What will you do to support the businesses and help them thrive?

That's precisely why I put up the green paddle.

Granted, it was a little half-hearted because I think there's a lot of hard questions here.

But I don't think every small business owner in Seattle should need a security guard standing near the exit.

I don't think that's affordable.

I don't think that's reasonable.

I think it's a good jobs program, but it just doesn't work for the small business owners.

So some of that's technology.

I mean, there are certain businesses where the theft is a bit harder and everything's behind the counter.

But if you're a grocery store or anyone else, I know I, as we talk about those half-mile areas, as you talk about walking to something, do you want to see all your grocery stores disappear in Seattle because nobody gets prosecuted for shoplifting?

The margins are already really slim in a lot of these businesses, and we've got to do more to make sure there's consequences for walking in the door, taking something, and running out.

I think we've seen other parts of the country who went fully permissive on this, and it just doesn't work.

It shuts down businesses.

It changes the neighborhood.

We can't have that.

Thank you, Rob.

Katie?

Thanks.

So, I am a small business, and this is something we worry about all the time.

We run on very small margins, and if something bad were to happen, if we got broken into, that would be really challenging for us to recover from.

So I think that the city does have some good programs where they do provide some grant funding and support for businesses who are experiencing vandalism or other things, and we can beef those up.

That's not solving the problem, but it is helping business owners survive some of those incidents.

And so I think part of it is it is about how we are growing our city.

It is about having active streets where there are more eyes on the street.

It's about how we design our buildings and our streets and our lighting and all of those different things.

I'm interested to see how the camera program works on Aurora and thinking about how we can use technology in other ways.

I also think that we need to approach some of these things with compassion, and that doesn't mean leniency, but it does mean that we can try and figure out why these things are happening and solve them at the root cause.

And again, I'll just say housing is a big part of this, right, and income inequality.

And so thinking about how we can prevent these things upstream, just not when they happen.

Thank you, Katie.

Deborah.

Could you repeat the question one more time?

I'm not even sure where I put the card.

Hold on one second.

Small businesses retail theft, right?

What would you do?

Sorry about that.

Thank you everybody.

There are a lot of small businesses that are suffering with lots of violence and theft.

What will you do to support these businesses and help them thrive?

Okay, well, when we say violence and theft, violence, absolutely.

That's a crime against a person, it's a felony, absolutely.

When we get into theft, then I'm gonna get a little wonky here.

Is it theft for one degree, second degree, third degree?

And the reason why I say that is when you brought up the question earlier about booking, it wasn't that people didn't, we used to book them in the day.

It's that we have jail capacity issues.

That is why they had that policy.

We simply can't take people in for what they call low-level crimes when we have rapists and murderers and people who are shooting.

Those are the people that are going to get the cells first for public safety, and that's required from us as council members when we're elected under the charter.

So the other issue, too, is we're still under a consent decree, and we're always concerned about racial profiling, the disparity of treatment of people of color and arrest.

And also, there was a time where I was the council member with a few others where I did not support poverty as a defense for theft, misdemeanor, or felony.

People know the difference between right and wrong.

And so again, there's nuance in that question because I think you have to define how much theft.

Are you breaking in and assaulting someone or are you just taking someone's bike, which is just as important.

Thank you, Deborah.

But I don't know if there's room in the jail for that.

Thank you.

Okay, sorry.

Jim?

Well, I certainly agree there are a lot of nuances, but clearly we need deterrence for what happens.

You know, I have been in the Walgreens, for instance, in Northgate a number of times when there's someone clearly walking out with all kinds of stuff and the people at the store say, well, we can't do anything about it.

The police won't respond and they won't enforce it.

So it's whatever you want to take, come and take it.

Literally, that has happened on numerous occasions.

So we do need some enforcement.

I also agree that eyes on are important.

As we design our cities, we need to make sure there are eyes on, there's activity levels.

Where we live in the last six months has been additional development that's happened, which has been additional development and eyes on, and that has made a difference in the actions of many people on the street.

So all those things are important.

And I would agree with technology.

We need and use technology in our best ways as well.

Thank you, Jim.

Neeloo?

Thank you.

I appreciate the conversation about capacity because we have both, you know, talk about the jail but also our courts and also the thinking about just how we can divert people like we were talking about earlier.

But in terms of supporting our businesses, you know, looking at Lake City that's really having a hard time and even Northgate, I would really like to see BIAs created in those areas.

And even though it's harder in those areas, maybe we could have an ambassador program across the city for our smaller hubs that need support before but they can become thriving hubs.

So that's something that I'd like to see is a little more support for our businesses on a level where they can get the same kinds of services that we're seeing in other areas of BIAs and bringing in services to give housing to people and connect them to services is something I'd like to see too.

I know that was successful in the U District.

So generally trying to help the people that are, you know, making choices that are not awesome.

I think, you know, addressing poverty and diverting actions, but also helping the businesses by giving the support they need on the street.

Thank you, Nilou.

Julie?

So when our daughter was 16, she went and got a job, part-time job, making minimum wage at a clothing store.

She couldn't really buy anything from the store because things were a little bit pricey.

But she would see people coming in and filling up a bag and walking out.

And the manager would say, there's nothing we can do about it.

That's not normal.

That's not what we should teach our children.

So I think civic education is something that we have to think about.

And I think as adults, we have to role model and teach our children what is right and wrong.

And we have to set expectations.

So yes, I understand that we have to have our basic needs met and we as a society need to provide that.

But I think we have to be strict and firm for those who are taking advantage of the small business owners and those who are not able to maintain and sustain those businesses for people like us.

Thank you, Julie.

Let's do two more questions and then we'll take a small break.

Katie, let's go ahead and start with you.

Yeah, let's do it.

Considering how much time and energy was taken up with ethics issues in the previous two years, what will you do to limit your potential ethics conflicts once you are seated?

Okay, all right.

So I have worked for the city for some time and so I've gotten very used to disclosing anything that may in fact have a financial ethics issue and so disclosures are great but they don't get us all the way.

People really don't understand the details of what that means or what the actual implications are so for me it all comes down to communication and putting the facts out there.

We need to trust our government for it to be effective and efficient And so I think, you know, sometimes we can give more information than we have to to make sure that we are in fact building that trust with our communities.

So disclosures are great, but if it comes down to it and I need to recuse myself from a decision in which I would be sort of, you know, have financial ethics issues, then so be it.

I have no problem doing that.

Thank you, Katie.

Deborah.

Thank you.

I'm guessing this has to do with the ethics issue regarding some council members that represented districts which also had businesses, which was for the delivery of food.

And I know that there was a big fight about, is this lowering the ethics or is it taken away from?

We have always been as transparent as possible.

People PDR us to death.

In fact, I would tell people, don't even bother PDR.

Just tell me what you want and we'll print it out.

You can have it.

So the other issue is this.

If you are a representative from a district That kind of takes away your power with two at large and other folks who may not have the job that you have, like she owns a business.

Does that mean that if she has this job that she has to recuse herself with anything that has to do with the business or delivery fees?

And those are the issues that we were struggling with.

And I'll just be frank because I did speak to Council Member Moore about that when she called and I talked to some other council members because we have to think that now that we have a gig economy and we have people delivering and we have these app fees and we have all these things, everybody does more things now and you can't just find yourself without representation on a really critical issue.

Thank you, Deborah.

Jim?

You know, I've worked in the public sector for about 40 years, and I'm very familiar with disclosure and ethics, and I really have never had, frankly, any investment in the community besides owning a house.

I don't now.

So ethics to me are pretty simple.

I don't really have any conflicts that would be out there.

I do think that as the Council talks about ethics, that the communication is important.

I don't think that everybody necessarily understood the ethics proposal.

And I think there would have been a better understanding from the community perspective about it.

Thank you, Jim.

Nilou?

I'm not sure what conflicts I would have.

I feel like similar in your vote.

But I would do what I could to reduce them and remove those from my plate.

But also I would recuse myself if that was necessary, if it seemed like a reasonable choice after discussing with the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission.

so that we could have trust in our choices in society.

Like I said, I work in democracy, and at a time when our trust in our government is falling, I would do anything I can to make sure that our voters and our citizens know that they can trust the decisions that are made.

And of course, I wouldn't throw aspersions on fellow council members either, because again, that would reduce trust in elections.

So generally, yes, I would recuse myself if I had to, and mostly my North Star would be making sure that people trust their government, because that's what we need really badly.

Thank you, Nilo.

Julie?

So I've been a public servant for 30 years in education, and in education, ethics is critical.

And transparency is very important.

So I've lived for 30 years as an adult, as a public servant, without any issues.

However, I do know that in this appointed seat that there may be some concerns.

So first of all, transparency, accountability, earning the trust.

And I have served on boards where I did have to excuse myself.

Again, I think communication is important.

Let them know why you can't vote on certain things, why you have to remove.

Or knowing the policies, maybe perhaps that is an area where my expertise may be valued.

Then I do have to, you know, share that knowledge and perhaps strengthen.

But it's not for my own benefit, but it's really for the benefit of the community.

Thank you.

Rob?

This is where I'll go back to my first career as a naval officer.

Four years in college, learning what that takes, what that means, what that trust is that the public places in the military, and how you can live up to that, how you need to earn that.

And then you're operating around dangerous equipment.

You're running a nuclear reactor.

You've got to follow the letter of the book to the T.

This is a world of procedures.

This is a world of being accountable.

Making sure the paperwork's right.

Making sure everything's right because the stakes are so high.

It's a safety thing for those on the crew.

It's a national security thing.

That's the bar I started my career on.

And it's something that's stuck with me ever since.

You see, I kept the short haircut ever since.

I just couldn't.

Like, it's with me.

But one of the things, you know, looking at Seattle, looking at what our voters expect in terms of disclosure, public records, What we're doing when we're communicating with other council members, etc.

We've read the articles in the Seattle Times.

We know we've got to hold ourselves to a high standard and make sure what the public expects is what we do.

Thank you, Rob.

Okay, last question before the break.

We'll start with Deborah.

No kings or queens should elected officials be held to the same standard as their constituents in instances other than arrests Related to public protests, if you were charged and either found guilty or pled guilty to the crime of things such as fraud, theft, DUI, would you resign from your position?

If not, why not?

Okay, well, obviously everyone is held We are a nation of laws and we are all held to the law in the same standard and no one is above it.

So if I were indeed a felony misdemeanor, I don't know, federal charge, Yeah, I guess, but I guess it would depend on the crime.

If I'm out there protesting, which is my right to do, not in my capacity as a council member, which we did during George Floyd, and we also have our new police chief that said, I'm gonna honor our sanctuary city if ICE comes, and that means getting arrested, then I'll get arrested.

I kind of have, like, the same attitude.

You know, we're a sanctuary city, we're a safe city, and we're all gonna have to get out there, not just, quote, unquote, people of color.

with our bodies and our voices to stop what we're seeing in Los Angeles.

So on that aspect, absolutely I would take my punishment and certainly any other crime, yeah.

I mean, I think we can all agree, especially after the No Kings Day, which is said that we had to have a No Kings Day, that of course we're held, and in fact, I would argue we're held to a higher standard.

Thank you, Deborah.

Let me clarify, I'm not sure, and I'll give you another chance to answer.

This said not related to public protest.

This is specific to if you are found guilty or plead guilty to crimes such as fraud, theft, DUI, not related to protesting, would you resign?

If not, why not?

And I'll give you another chance at that.

Well, okay, well, I guess I would resign, but I guess it would depend on whether, I mean, everyone has a Sixth Amendment right to trial, and I'd probably, I mean, there may be a reason I did what I did.

I don't know.

I don't know.

I'd have a jury if they found me guilty, I guess.

But that's kind of nebulous.

If I killed somebody, absolutely.

But, you know, if I, by accident, If I picked up a salad at QSC and didn't know it was in my cart, I'm not gonna resign.

I mean, so that's a little bit down the road there.

So I don't know who asked that question, so we can talk at the break.

Okay, thank you, Deborah.

So again, I'm just gonna, I know this was a long one, but Jim, as we move on to you, we'll just clarify.

This says, if you were found guilty or pled guilty.

So we're not talking about protesting, we're not talking about, I didn't know I did it.

If you and the following members, and Deborah, if you want to take another spin at the end, you're fine too, but Jim, otherwise, go ahead and Jim.

Do I get two shots, too?

Yes, I'd resign.

If you don't, you really undermine the public trust.

And I think it's really very important.

So if I was convicted of something aside from a protest, and I have been to two of the No Kings protests, and I think what I have to say, that's what happening at the federal level is disgusting and it's unfortunate, and unfortunately it's tainting all of government.

It taints the state, it taints others in the way the public looks at it.

We need integrity, and we need people that step up, and I would resign.

Thank you, Jim.

Neeloo?

Well, I'm the oldest child, so very much a rule follower.

I want to knock on wood because I don't even have a speeding ticket in my past.

But I can't imagine what I would do that would get me in that scenario.

But yes, I would resign.

Again, it goes back to what I said earlier about the public trust and making sure that people feel that they're represented by people that care about the integrity of the system.

And I should say that just because I'm a hesitant Rule breaker doesn't mean that I'm super judgmental.

I did have siblings that I had to negotiate with.

Thank you, Nilou.

Julie?

So again, being an educator, I stay away from troubles.

But there are times when I have to fight, and I think there are differences.

So if I'm found guilty, most definitely I will.

But I also want to highlight that I really think of every human of equal value.

So because I'm an elected official, it doesn't give me grace.

It doesn't matter.

So yes, I am for that.

But also, I want us to think about all of the rules and how we contextualize it, right?

So I think it depends on who's prosecuted for what reason.

And they may have their narrative.

So I want to have at least a hearing.

So I want to be able to have an opportunity But that said, I do agree that we have to be role models and we have to set high expectations for us.

Thank you, Julie.

And Rob, just real quickly to remind everybody, the question was specific about being found guilty or pleading guilty.

Rob, go ahead.

I love that there's a protest carve out in this question because I think that's all the more important in 2025. If Etsy's delivery was faster, I'd have my today is a good day to protect democracy shirt, but it's still on its way.

It's slow.

I think politicians and government officials need to be held to a higher standard.

I think that's my first reaction when I heard this question.

The phrase that resonates with me ever since I was a kid, ever since I saw local town government in action is you are a public servant.

You are serving the constituents.

They're the bosses.

They're the managers.

They're the ones who vote for you.

They're the ones who vote you out of office when you're not doing a good job.

I think we are beholden to that group.

And if I disappoint that group by making a mistake that guilty or convicted guilty, I'm out.

Great.

Thank you, Rob.

Katie?

This is probably the easiest question of the night, so thanks.

This is nice to get a little break.

Sorry.

Yeah, I would, because that's what you should do.

And that's what the people who are serving you should do.

So I will yield my time to the lady from Hindhurst.

Thank you.

Yeah, Deborah, if you wanted to follow up.

Only because I whispered in Katie's ear like, I was just going to just do this while everyone was talking.

Yes, I would resign.

Yes, because we are, as public servants, held to a higher standard.

Thank you for the clarity.

All right, I have 7.02 on the clock.

Let's do, do you want five minutes or eight minutes?

Five minutes, okay?

All right, five minutes.

We'll come back at 7.07.

Thank you.

We are now returning to the Seattle City Council District 5 Vacancy Forum hosted by Unified Outreach.

And once again, I would like to thank the candidates, James Jim Borey, Neeloo Jenks, Julie Kang, Robert Wilson, Rob Wilson, Katie Hema, and Deborah Juarez.

Round of applause, please.

So we've got about 50 more minutes.

We have a pretty good chance of getting through most of the questions, but how about we break it up real quick with some of the raise the paddle.

These will be just really quick answers and questions and answers.

First question, do you support free local bus service throughout Seattle?

Oh, okay, okay.

Do you support charter schools?

I need answers from everybody.

All right.

Through the fire, right?

All right.

Do you support an expansion of tiny home shelters in District Five?

Do you support Sarah Nelson's legislation penalizing open drug use?

Are you not familiar with the open drug use that they get ticketed for that now?

Do you support that?

Okay, everybody's paddles are kind of midway.

Let's get them up or down.

All right.

Protests in Seattle have shut down traffic movement in Seattle's downtown area as well as various freeways, highways, and bridges.

Do you support limiting these types of protests?

I'm waiting.

Do you support limiting the movement of protests that shut down freeways and highways?

Okay.

Everybody good?

It's like we're all kind of whiffling and waffling.

Can I get everybody's up or down at the same time?

Okay.

All right.

Thank you.

Is everybody okay with these?

I feel like I'm, I like, I know you guys are used to much more mild.

Charter schools, I think we need some clarification.

I support the students in the charter schools.

Now, do we think about funding?

Okay, so Julie, let me get the audience to participate.

By raise of hands, who would like that as a question that deserves a one-minute answer?

Raise your hand.

Sorry guys, nope, that was just to raise the paddle.

So...

Can we say something about the protests?

There are like tanks in our area and like if we have to shut down the highway to not let military tanks in our city...

Okay, by audience approval here, should we get rid of all the raise the paddles and just go to one minute answers?

That's gonna cut into, that's gonna cut into your question.

So I'm gonna leave it up to you by raise of hands.

Should we throw away the raise the paddle?

Who wants to throw it away?

We can also just do their questions.

Okay.

That's what we're going to do.

That's what I was asking.

Do you not want to have the bullet questions and answers?

Do you just want to go to the audience questions?

Okay.

All right.

Who was the last question?

The question started with Deborah, I believe.

So we're back to Jim.

All right.

Oh, okay.

Oh, sorry.

Okay.

Starting with Neeloo.

Do persuasive surveillance systems make us safer?

For example, CCTV, auto license plate readers, traffic cameras.

What are the alternatives?

Well, the alternatives is More police, I assume, but there's also things like taking, you know, investing in better design in our streets and designed to drive traffic and build community.

For example, Aurora, it would be great to have pedestrianized streets and actually treat the area like a neighborhood instead of a place that needs to be policed all the time.

Give them trees, give them buses, give them walkways, you know, support the businesses.

There are other things we can do to make places safer.

And mainly they're the ones that build, develop a community.

And I think that's something that D5 really could benefit from across the district.

Thank you, Nilou.

Julie?

Well, I know we're going to start doing some pilot programs around the SOAP area.

So yes, on that.

However, traffic cameras, I know we have them.

Some of you have maybe even gotten a ticket and fought it for a lot of the reasons.

So I think, again, we have to look at some data.

And have Some data-informed decisions on how we're going to use it and what's the purpose.

And lastly, I think it's important for our constituents to know the reason for having these and having their input because I think a lot of times we just go and do it and then people don't know why.

So when there's no buy-in, it's hard to have people follow rules.

And so if we can just make sure that we have the data to support why we need to have CCTVs, you know, Traffic cameras, all of that, I think that might be better.

Thank you, Julie.

Rob?

I think there's absolutely places where technology could do a lot.

We talked about stolen vehicles for license plates, but when you see an Amber Alert go off, wouldn't it be nice to have some more cameras out there that could find that car quickly?

I sure think so.

Speed limits is another one where that's where my mind went right away.

I think that's a much less controversial one.

Roosevelt's a bit of a super highway, but also a place that a lot of pedestrians are trying to cross.

There's not many places to cross that road.

So you got to look left, you got to look right, and then a car just zooms down at 45 miles per hour.

I think there's a big difference between ticketing somebody at 26 and a 25 and ticketing somebody at 40. We went to one of the neighborhood service centers, which are great places around the city, by the way.

You get the slowdown signs.

You can borrow a speed gun from one of them if you're concerned about your street.

I've sat there before.

I've seen people go 40-plus miles per hour on a really slow residential street, and I don't think that should be okay.

We got to start on the main thoroughfares and do that, but I think this type of technology can really make our city better and safer.

Thank you, Rob.

Katie?

Yeah, so I think in this, you know, in thinking about our safe streets, we need short term solutions and we need long term solutions.

So I think these can help fill some of those short term gaps.

They are limited in what they're able to do.

And there's obviously a lot of privacy trade offs there.

But I think for me, the thing that I'm the most excited about are really thinking about those long term solutions, those more holistic strategies.

So at 20, I was talking about the design of these streets, right?

We can talk about our lane widths.

We can talk about how many crossings we can have.

We can get trees in there.

We can do speed humps.

There's a lot of different treatments we can do to get to the same objective instead of just using cameras and sort of, you know, punitive measures to get people.

The problem with that rate is limited funding.

We would love street, you know, speed humps everywhere, right?

Slow traffic down, but we don't have enough money to do that.

And so this is, I think, one of the areas that I would be really excited about is actually working with communities to figure out how can they do improvements on their own streets?

How can we give power back to people to figure out how they can help slow traffic on their streets?

They know their streets best.

They know the traffic patterns and where it's coming from.

So I would be very supportive of those long-term holistic solutions.

Thank you, Katie.

Deborah?

You're going to get mad at me for asking, but can you ask the question again?

Because I want to make sure on the surveillance issue if we're just talking about traffic or if we're just talking general crime.

It didn't say.

It just said safer.

Does pervasive surveillance systems make us safer?

For example, CCTV, auto license plate readers, traffic cameras, what are the alternatives?

Yes, it does make safer, but let me explain something here, because when I was on council, every time we tried to do more surveillance, we had big fat fights with ACLU, for good reason, and you should have that.

So, shot spotter, camera vest, CCTV, license readers, drones, traffic cameras, but we also didn't want to err on the side of violating people's personal space and privacy.

We also didn't want to err on the side of criminalizing traffic behavior so that there's a camera.

But I also understand that we had to put them, and we did vote to do this, in areas around schools because, you know, for children and people should be cited for that for safety purposes, high-level traffic areas.

Sound Transit stations, I sat on Sound Transit, so we wanted to make sure we had cameras there because we had a lot of overdose and deaths.

And also, it does help the officers, and when you're down 600 or 700 officers, you have to rely sometimes on these surveillance systems, not just to arrest crime, but also to prevent crime.

And I know some of you remember the shot spotter, and some neighborhoods didn't want it, some neighborhoods did, but it was really important to have that conversation.

Thank you, Debra.

Jim?

So my answer is yes.

To all the above, they are really critically important.

Red light running cameras, speeding tickets.

There does need to be guidelines on how technology is used, and I think that needs to be a public conversation.

But I'll just give you, for instance, again, back to my daily walk along North Gateway.

At Eighth Avenue, it's unbelievable.

When I wait to cross there, I wait till all the people that run the red light are passed before I actually have to cross.

If I were a blind person, I would have been dead many times, literally.

We could have a red light camera there and other places and make a really big difference in our safety and the ability for people to walk places.

And I think that's really very important.

We have a challenge in the number of police officers we have today.

Folks, we're not going to solve that in a few years.

That's always going to be a challenge for us who are recruiting.

So using technology can help extend what we do and how we enforce our laws will make a big difference.

So one other kind of little pet peeve of mine is The whole 25-mile allowance speed limit on all these streets, all that has done in most instances is have people disrespect the laws that are there.

It's an unrealistic speed limit.

Thank you, Jim.

And just refresh my memory.

Neeloo, we started with you, right?

We did start with you.

Okay, so Julie, we'll start with you.

And how do you deal with stress and conflict in your daily life?

So as I've shared, I'm finishing up my second master's in clinical mental health counseling.

And in that work, and as a teacher, there are a lot of stress and conflicts that we have to deal with.

I think when people are on the same page, it's easy.

But when they're on different pages, they have to learn and listen to each other.

So listening is critical.

And you have to see their perspectives.

We always tell our students, consider others' perspectives, right?

So I think that also echoes for adults.

And then we have to really think about what are the pros and cons and have a dialogue.

I think we are missing civility at this time.

So if we are able to have conversations and understand each other's perspective, then I think we are able to do what's best for our constituents.

Thank you.

Rob?

I think sometimes after an email or a message that tees me a little bit, I take a deep breath.

I walk away.

I don't reply right away.

I think that's a good practice for everybody.

The other thing is I think the conflict part here is really important because it is about listening to the other person, understanding where they're coming from, and looking for compromise.

Often it's not something binary one way or the other, there's an easy answer one side or the other.

There's often something in between and maybe they have a ton of feedback that you could benefit from.

So what might seem like conflict at first might be something really productive when you connect with that person.

On the other side, being a parent, I think, teaches you a number of lessons.

One of them is that a parent's first thought is often wrong on how to react.

I think there are some really good books and studies out there about how to deal with adolescent minds that are growing and reacting a certain way, and educating yourself, learning about how to connect with others can really benefit you long-term.

Thank you, Rob.

Katie?

Sorry, was the question just about stress, or was it also about conflict?

How do you deal with stress and conflict?

Thank you.

Sorry.

I was going to start with, you know, a Plymouth martini with a twist.

Right?

And then get back to it, right?

So my husband and I took a restaurant through COVID.

Like, stress is not unfamiliar to us.

I'm a parent of a toddler and a baby.

It is a normal everyday occurrence.

I'm currently doing, you know, two and a half jobs.

I'm only stressed because I love what I do and I care a lot.

Dealing with conflict is something, to your point, when you're a parent, you learn a lot of techniques where you think to yourself, that would be good with more than just my kid.

And you bring those into your everyday life.

The reason I actually love conflict is because it unearths the things that you care about, and it makes you actually dig deeper and find out what your common ground is and what your values are.

And when you get to that point, you can then figure out different solutions to the problems that you're working on.

People come with the solution, and it's often not the right one.

And this gives you the time to actually talk about your values, think of other potential ideas, and work forward from there to find that common ground.

Thank you, Katie.

Deborah?

Thank you.

I'll be quick.

Where I come from, that's called good medicine and mental health.

And so quickly, I've been doing my 10,000 steps.

I'm on my eighth book.

I love podcasts.

I'm big in how we relate to our faith, our family, our community.

I am not on any social media platforms.

I don't watch cable news.

And after eight years on Seattle City Council and also raising two millennial daughters and also being a public defender and a judge, I'm used to stress and adversity, clashing of ideas and what we call struggle sessions.

Yeah, you can do that.

And I want to end with what my mother would always say, and that is, I'm not smarter than anyone.

I've just lived longer.

And for you boomers out there, there's some wisdom as you get older that you want to focus on what's important and also looking into people's humanity and recognizing whatever your differences are, that humanity piece has to be there for you to be a whole human being and give to your community and your city.

Thank you, Deborah.

Jim?

So my simple and quick answer is I run.

My wife will tell you that I run way too much, but that has been a great release over the 40 years of my public service.

Because I will tell you, I've worked for a lot of council members, and how ironic that I would say that sometimes that's stressful.

But I think there's also the emotional intelligence training that I've received over the years has been really, really valuable to me.

How to work with others, how to achieve solutions working together, be respectful, listen carefully is very, very important.

Also, how to work through conflict.

My favorite book is Getting to Yes.

I don't know if you've read this before, but it's just a wonderful example of how you can take positions and really get beyond those positions to solutions that really work for everybody.

I think that's a very important lesson to learn.

Thank you, Jim.

I sing, I read, I turn to community.

These are the things I do when I'm stressed.

In 2016, after that election, the first book I turned to was Healing the Heart of Democracy.

That's actually how I came to politics.

And it talks about holding the tension of conversation between all of us.

I think it's really important That we develop skills to learn how to disagree better.

It's also why I work in ranked choice voting.

It's known to reduce political violence.

People don't understand that the IRA bombing stopped and the Good Friday agreements was a ranked choice voting agreement.

So I look for solutions that make us all do better.

But really, as an Iranian American, I've been labeled either the great Satan on one side or the axis of evil.

And the truth is that none of that is true.

And having to walk that path where people just miss and Read each other and have no understanding and politics pits us against each other.

I've always had to be an ambassador, a communicator that has patience for people's understanding.

And so that's what I do.

I hold ground for everybody, know that people come to their thoughts honestly and start from that point to have a discussion.

I don't come in thinking I'm right.

Thank you, Nilou.

I think we're going to stay.

Julie, you started that round, right?

Let's stay on, Julie.

Do just a quick 15 to 30 second answer just to let us know you a little bit better.

What's the last show that you binge watched?

So we don't own cable and I don't really watch television because I'd rather be out in the community, in community spaces, working with our students, mentoring, and being a cultural broker to our ethnic API community.

And there's so much work, so I'm sorry, I don't have a favorite show.

Thank you, Julie.

Rob?

I think it's a great question and talk about good timing.

I read a book earlier this year on the making of the West Wing and then I started listening to a lot of West Wing podcasts.

They highlighted not to watch every episode because that would be a lot of time but to watch key episodes in each season and something that really taught you something or they brought something out in the character.

So I watched probably about 20 to 25 episodes of the West Wing And I am up here probably because I believe in a lot of the idealism on that show, what politicians should be should stand for and what this country can be.

So that was my takeaway.

Thank you, Rob.

Katie?

I don't watch a lot of TV, but and or and or.

Even though it is, you know, Disney, corporations, etc., etc., it is also the rebellion that we needed right now.

So it couldn't have come at a better time, I think, for a lot of people putting all of these sort of like, you know, other things aside.

But yeah, that was just, you know, just sometimes nice to turn off and just see a world where the rebellion works.

Right.

So thank you, Katie.

You want to get the last show?

Oh, I'm embarrassed, but I think my husband's out here, so I can't really quite fudge this one.

Sunday, yesterday, I binged about four hours of Veep, even though I've seen every episode because I love Selena.

I'm sorry, I do.

I love the way she dresses.

I like Veep.

I love the way she talks.

Sometimes I talk like that.

So I'm a big binger on Netflix and Prime and Hulu, and I like documentaries, and I'm really into post-World War II right now, reading Judgment in Tokyo and the trials like happened in Nuremberg.

So I'm a big history buff and I love reading that stuff and then finding the documentary about what I'm reading so I can understand it more.

So that's kind of me.

I'm a bit boring.

So that's it.

Thank you, Deborah.

Jim?

So once in a while, we like some escapism.

My wife and I, we actually did go to a movie two or three weeks ago, I guess it was, to see Superman.

I don't recommend it.

Maybe I'm showing my age in making that recommendation.

It wasn't what I remember anyway.

Thank you, Jim.

Nilu?

I don't tend to binge shows.

I tend to read more.

But I do watch shows and I'll say what we just watched last night.

We started watching with my kids Poker Face.

You know, something that I had a friend recommend to me.

So, yeah.

Thank you.

All right.

Now back to serious stuff.

And we'll start with Rob.

What would you propose to transition the unhoused population into temporary housing or treatment?

What other cities do you think have found success using innovative and sustainable solutions for the unhoused population?

So much of my passion for this topic comes from being introduced to Mary's Place through Amazon.

I think that partnership has been great.

They're housed in one of the Amazon buildings on the campus.

They share a building with Amazon.

And then they do a match every year.

So that's where I learned so much about this issue was learning about Mary's Place, learning about how creatively they used hotels that were closing down in the South Lake Union area that weren't closed down yet that they could use for a period of time.

That creativity of creating shelter space, reading up on something like the Health Through Housing program and how King County then invested in getting more shelter space.

But ultimately that Journey from the streets to permanent housing when there's not enough shelter beds.

That's not a good start.

There are not enough tiny homes.

That's not something they can transition to.

So I think the data shows that steady housing, like tiny homes, like something permanent, is the best you can do.

And I do think we need to follow the example of other cities to get this right.

Thank you, Rob.

Katie?

Thanks.

So I do think we have some examples, as you said, the tiny housing, you know, getting more emergency shelters and things out there are definitely the ways to address things in the short term.

But we have a long term issue, too, and that's with our affordable housing.

We need to find more creative ways to deliver affordable housing.

We're running into a lot of funding issues, particularly with the federal government not, you know, funding it as much anymore.

And there's some incredibly promising models that different groups are looking at in terms of how we fund that and how we think creatively about some of those financing models.

The city should be supporting that work and really working to scale that up as the traditional model is starting to crack a little bit.

So I think for us, we need to think about those short-term solutions, those long-term solutions.

And I can't think of a city where they've solved it and done it right, but I think there's a lot we can learn from different cities.

Obviously, context is different.

Our land value and just the cost of land here brings in a whole different dimension of the complexity of how we solve that issue.

Thank you, Katie.

Deborah?

Thank you.

I want to just quickly go over how we got to where we're at when Mayor Murray said 10 years ago, we were gonna try to end homelessness.

We went from unsanctioned encampments, to sanctioned encampments, to low barrier, to no barrier, to high barrier, to tiny house villages, to transitional housing, to RVs.

So all that to say is there's a continuum of how you need to meet people where they're at and provide services.

So of course, we need to build more transitional housing that are staffed with social workers to connect people with the services that they need.

The problem that we were seeing, the problem I think you all are frustrated with, and you don't just see it in D5, you see it everywhere, is what do you do when you have 72 tents and only, you know, you have like well over 72 tents, I remember at Bitter Lake and a few other places, and you only have, you know, I'm just going to pick a number because some of them are really high.

You have 100 people, 90 people, and only 11 want services.

You can't arrest them.

What do we do?

And so we have to have stronger ways, off-ramps, to work with those people that you can't- Thank you, Deborah.

But you can't live here.

You can't have a tent under a bridge.

Thank you, Deborah.

Okay, sorry.

Thank you.

Jim?

So a lot of the key to this has to be public-private partnerships.

The public can do it all, but leveraging the resources the public can put to bear with private resources, with philanthropic resources and others, That's really important.

We do need transition housing.

Obviously, but we also need permanent housing.

I would suggest people look at the city of Minneapolis and Hennepin County.

I actually worked there a number of years ago as the county administrator for Hennepin County.

They've done an excellent job of addressing much of the housing issues Denver has as well.

So I would look to those models because they have used, for instance, they have used hotels.

That's been a major source of transitionary housing and some permanent housing in those locations.

But homelessness needs to be treated not just with providing a home, It has to do with drug addiction, treatment for drug addiction.

It has to do with a whole host of issues that go beyond just being in a house.

And those need to be case managed, person by person, to make a difference, and then we can turn things around.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jim.

Nilou?

So thinking of the cities locally that I'm interested in, Tacoma, like I mentioned earlier, has this heat pump rental stabilization program, because part of it is also talking about making sure rents are reasonable.

And also they have this real-time shelter bed availability across Pierce County and Tacoma that I think we should bring here so we know the scope and scale of our program.

Cities that I really respect, also Minneapolis, like you mentioned, but also Houston that came together as a city and said, we can't just sit here and argue with each other and brought in corporate and people who disagreed with each other to actually solve problems and address their issues that they all recognized, they shared, and instead of, you know, Yelling at each other and fighting.

And finally, I think a big part of this needs to be preventing homelessness.

What can we do to cover someone's short-term bills if it's just a small bind?

Because it's so much more expensive to address an issue after it's happened and the trauma is ongoing at that point than it's actually prevented.

So domestic violence, support, and whatever, that public-private partnerships to try and support people from falling into homelessness in the first place.

Thank you.

Julie?

So I'm thinking about unhoused population in Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and I know that we need more shelter beds, more behavioral health treatment along with just not tiny homes and permanent supportive housing.

I think all of these are important to consider, and I support a compassionate, results-driven approach.

So I think it's important for us to not just house them in these tiny homes, but really think about coordinated outreach, accountability for service providers, and a system that really helps people move off the street and into recovery.

It's not compassionate to leave people in crisis or just to turn away because they are no longer feeling safe in our neighborhoods.

I think we really have to think about a holistic approach and look at the data of what's been done because 10 years later, we're still in the same place.

Thank you, Julie.

We started at Rob with that one, right?

Okay, so Katie.

And thank you, everybody, just for being so...

You know, being a part of this, we have about 13 more minutes of questions and then we'll do the closing statement, so.

All right, Katie.

How will you ensure you and the council will serve all racial, ethnic, and religious communities in Seattle?

And then, we have many immigrant-owned businesses on Aurora.

How can we engage them so that we are addressing their issues, advancing inclusion, business strategies that look at all of our needs?

That's a long question for one minute.

Okay.

For the first part, accountability, holding our counterparts accountable for the work they're doing, ensuring that they're reaching out to the members of their community who are going to be either the beneficiaries or potentially have the burden of those, the policy decisions we're making.

Businesses along Aurora.

Part of this we talked a little bit about.

I've done a lot of engagement as a community planner and I've learned a lot about the strategies about how we reach out to people effectively.

It's really challenging.

It takes a lot of time and it takes a lot of resources.

We need interpreters who can't just interpret the language but actually culturally interpret it so we understand what we're talking about.

I think that Aurora is an incredible example of one of those places where you do have a lot of business incubators because the spaces are cheap.

And even as we're talking about, let's redo Aurora, let's change it, let's revitalize it, understanding that part of the lifeblood of that corridor are all of those small businesses and those business owners, that we need to think about a vision that keeps them there, that keeps them in place and also provides new opportunities for them to grow and expand.

Thank you, Katie.

Deborah?

Okay, I need you to read that again because that was, okay.

No, you don't have to apologize.

I combined the two things.

That's probably part of the problem.

So you said meet the needs of D5 and meet the needs of the city.

Is that what you said?

Yes.

How will you ensure you and the council will serve all racial, ethnic, and religious communities in Seattle?

And then...

Sorry, I've got to quit putting these off to the side.

We have many immigrant-owned businesses on Aurora.

How can we engage them so that we are addressing their issues, advancing inclusion business strategies that look at all of our needs?

Sorry, I was combining them because I thought I was seeing a common thread of addressing all communities and then specifically immigrant business communities.

Well, I would like to say this, and maybe some people can disagree, and that's fine.

I would like to say that in the eight years that I was on Seattle City Council that I worked really hard to do that, not only as I've shared with some of my younger and new council members that got elected and came on board that I mentored, Your vote weighs just as much as anyone else's vote.

You represent the city of Seattle in everybody and everybody's problems.

There's a reason why we went to a district system, but you honor the needs of your district.

And for me, that's laser-focused on brick-and-mortar transit, housing, potholes, public safety, homelessness, because I would like it when the mayor would call me and say, we're thinking of putting this in D5, and I'd be like, no, you're not doing that because we already have three of those.

And I think when you talk about Anyone.

You want to represent anyone.

And when you're talking about Lake City Way, and we have so many small businesses that are immigrant-owned, and I remember when all this was going on during COVID, and people were breaking in and coming in and taking things, and they were just going up and down in other places as well.

You're down 700 officers.

You really are doing the best you can with the tools you have to try to make it better.

Thank you.

Sorry.

Thank you, Deborah.

That's okay.

Jim.

So it's a lot of heavy lifting.

It really comes down to listening and engaging with people, engaging at the district level, meeting people where they are, having forums that people can come and talk and have a conversation, and having that at the city level as well.

Understanding issues that people bring forward, understanding their concerns, obviously, is critical.

We can also look at the investment from the lens of who it affects and who has helped.

That's something that I think any investment that we do ought to come with that perspective.

Thank you, Jim.

Nilou?

This is a really dense question, but I think as someone who is from a marginalized community and who speaks three languages, Farsi, English, and Spanish, I think making sure that we're reaching out in language and having translation services and are culturally sensitive in our approaches to different businesses and Religious minorities and their needs is actually really important.

It's the way to get buy-in and make sure that people are understanding, you know, in both directions what's needed and wanted.

And then in terms of supporting businesses, it's again reaching out and talking to the community because different districts will have different needs.

And I appreciate what Deborah said here regarding, you know, remembering that this is a citywide thing and keeping in mind that there is a lot of community outreach that needs to happen and making sure we're balancing everybody's needs across the city.

Thank you, Nilo.

Julie?

So I think this is my narrative.

You know, I've always been in the community making sure that we have an equitable model, inclusive model, and everyone voices at the table.

And that doesn't mean that we do the same thing.

Sometimes we have to differentiate.

And when we think about translation and interpreter services, we want it real time.

It's not through a Google Translate or it's not through somebody else advocating, like a young child.

A lot of our students are serving as interpreters, and that's not the role of the students all the time.

I think it's important as we think about businesses, especially I mentioned that I visited almost 50 businesses, and in-person, relational, and that's not only for ethnic community businesses.

I think all businesses need that attention to be, you know, advocating for them because They can't come to spaces like this because they're working.

City Council meetings are happening in midday.

So we have to go to where they are.

Thank you, Julie.

Rob?

I love that our local elementary school is a Title I school.

You have kids from all backgrounds.

You have kids from many different religions.

I have my kids come home and teach me things about different cultures, different religions on a weekly basis.

It's wonderful to embrace the diversity of the city.

It's one of the things that makes the city strong.

It's one of the things that makes D5 strong.

I think there are things the next council member can do in this district, including translation services.

You need to be putting out your newsletter in different languages.

You need to be making sure the message gets out.

But you also need to be conscious about who's on your staff.

What locations are you placing those offices in?

Where are you holding office hours?

Where are you holding meetings?

And then going out and meeting the business owners.

Show up at their front door during business hours and meet them.

See what's on their mind.

See what they're struggling with.

And then be ready to roll up your sleeves, get in the trenches with them, and help solve problems.

Our immigrant communities have enough challenges right now, and we need to do all we can to help and support them.

Thank you, Rob.

Next, Katie, you're starting?

Oh, okay.

We like your style.

No, we'll move it to Deborah.

Deborah, how will you work with Seattle Public Schools to improve student safety in areas around our schools?

And will you commit to working with Seattle Public Schools to ensure they are part of one Seattle and integral to an equitable city?

Do you want me to read that again?

It's a two-parter, but absolutely Seattle City Council works with the also-elected school board, whether it was on housing, busing, food, the sugar tax, making sure that the tax money went back so we could feed kids.

So the other issue on the safety issue is that when we are doing the budget and looking at SDOT and looking where we wanted to put sidewalks, We made it a priority, not only that, number one, not just high transit foot traffic where you need sidewalks, but also schools.

And working with the school district, one of the issues that I worked, and I want to hopefully, if I get this job, is to go back because we were the original people that worked hard with the Seattle School District to redo Memorial Stadium.

That started in 2016, Council Member Bagshaw and I to get that up and going when we were doing Climate Pledge Arena.

We should have done it at the same time because you don't move dirt twice when you're doing this kind of economic development and pouring concrete and getting brick and mortar up.

And when we were bringing the NHL and I was chairing Parks and Seattle Center at that time.

So we were always working with the school district and that has never ended.

Thank you, Deborah.

Jim?

Obviously, the city council itself in communication with the school district, the school board is very, very important.

But a couple of things.

I'm also a proponent of school resource officers, policemen that are actually in the schools.

Where I've worked before, we have not had them had a rest capability, and that's taken some of the potential negativity to having a police officer in a school, but it's really paid huge dividends in many, many situations, and I would support that.

A good solution to help.

Thank you, Jim.

Nilou?

So I serve on the Board of Roosevelt Alumni for Racial Equity, and I work with the Urban League to be in Roosevelt and Garfield High Schools.

And what I think is most important is that we're working with students, bringing them into the conversation, center their needs.

You know, they're asking for mental health support.

They're asking for things that bring more belonging.

And also just having been a parent at John Rogers Elementary and the other school nearby, State Park.

There was no safe routes to school.

I live on Sandpoint Way.

We don't have sidewalks.

Cities should have sidewalks.

I understand it's a long-term investment and it takes time.

At least we should have safe routes for kids to be walking to school.

So there's a number of things that, as a city council member, and working in partnership with our school board members, I know one of them is here tonight.

Sorry.

But, you know, I think that having a really strong and important relationship for me, the kids are our future and future generations, and making sure that they're centered in their decisions and their needs is going to be incredibly invaluable in making the decisions, because they know what they need more than we do.

Thank you, Nilou.

Julie?

So of course, as an educator, I'm passionate about school safety, student safety, and I served on the equity committee for over five years in Seattle Public Schools.

So when we think about student safety, we think about a holistic approach.

So starting from getting to the school bus stop and, yes, sidewalks, But also with density, I know that we have a neighborhood where the school bus stop is right on the edge and the bus has to stop.

The public bus 28 has to stop.

So I think there was a little bit of oversight there.

So I want to think about as thinking about the infrastructure, but also thinking about public safety.

Kids have to be able to walk to schools on their own or with their family members.

And a lot of families, a lot of my neighbors are saying, no, they don't feel comfortable with their kids biking or walking.

Thank you, Julie.

Rob?

I think the word partnership is so important here because there are so many critical partnerships in our city and Seattle Public Schools is absolutely one of them.

Seeing our own school where fencing has been improved over the last few years, there are cameras on every one of the doors to make sure the people who are entering the school are the people who are supposed to be entering the school.

I think that's a first level.

The other one, crossing guards.

I love seeing crossing guards near the school.

I think that makes a big difference.

Crosswalks.

We talked about speed zones earlier.

Absolutely.

In these walking areas around the school, we walk our kids to school every day, and cars going a bit slower is going to help everybody out.

They're going to have more time to see the kids.

They're going to have more time to be safe.

And then within the schools, the headlines are frightening when something happens, and so much of that comes down to mental health, having the support for students, having students know who to turn to, who to speak up about, how to report something.

When people report something, when they're looking out for their classmates, when people are connected, we can avoid really dangerous situations for our kids.

Thank you, Rob.

Katie?

So I love this question because child friendly cities are like a passion of mine.

So sidewalks are baseline.

That is the most basic thing we can do to make it more physically safe for our children in the city.

But child friendly cities are really about promoting not just their physical safety, but their cognitive and their social development.

It sets them up to be more resilient.

By age five, a child's brain is 90% developed.

So those early years are super critical.

And so what this means is we need to create systems, we need to create a city that our kids can actually walk around by themselves and they can bike around by themselves.

Independent mobility is so critical for developing self-confidence and we don't have the streets to do it and we don't have the places for kids to go.

You know, the meme that's like, why don't the kids go outside anymore and it's basically a highway?

That, we've built that, right?

And so this is contributing to a lot of our mental health issues that we can't have our kids just free range anymore, right?

We can't do that.

And so I think infrastructure is one of those issues of really, you know, obviously we can't build all the sidewalks all at once, but focusing where we can do that, but really taking a more holistic and broader look about what does it mean to be a child-friendly city?

Thank you, Katie.

Let's go ahead and do a couple I know you guys don't like it, but we want to know you guys a little bit better, okay?

We know you don't work for the school district, and that's not the, but two questions.

Do you support public safety officials in the schools, yes or no?

Do you support civics being taught in the school, yes or no?

Okay, easy.

All right, I'm sorry I wasn't able to get to the last four, but I can get to at least one of them.

And I think we're going to start with Jim again, is that correct?

Jim, let's have you start with the last question, which is, during the pandemic, many students and young adults did not have opportunities for internships and jobs.

How can we make space for them?

I'm not sure I understand the question.

During the pandemic, many students and young adults didn't have opportunities for internships and jobs.

How can we make space for them?

I think it's just like, what opportunities can we give the youth that maybe were affected by COVID and didn't have a chance to get their first jobs and internships?

I think the city can really do outreach to businesses and really work to establish internships and other opportunities.

It's something that I've done, frankly, as a city manager before, where you encourage partnerships with different organizations.

In my organization that I have, a non-profit, we work to give internships and other opportunities for students.

So I think it's a matter of partnering with the private sector.

There may be opportunities also for cities to provide jobs, for cities to provide opportunities for those as well, and I would support both of those avenues.

Thank you, Jim.

Nilou?

So I think this is a great place where our labor unions could help us.

They have great training, internships, and apprenticeship programs.

Also, the Urban League has a job training program that I've helped work with.

And the city can also help provide jobs.

I mean, there is also a role for volunteering here.

And you could have paid volunteers that could do a lot of work in our city and give kids opportunities that they need to help them develop a variety of skills that were lost during the pandemic.

And also helping address anxiety is a thing that's come out of the pandemic.

But generally, I think turning to the youth and asking them what opportunities they would like needs to be part of the conversation too.

Thank you, Nilou.

Julie?

So I think our youth has so much talent And skill sets that we can only imagine to, you know, get, especially in technology.

And during the pandemic, we actually worked with a lot of nonprofit organizations and community leaders to pivot into even Zoom meetings.

And the youth were able to get it.

And I think by working in partnership with across generations, highlighting and utilizing the skill sets that our youth are able to come with.

I think we can create jobs that we're not even imagining yet.

So I think we want to be proactive in partnerships to create opportunities for them.

And we know that if we have a lot more vibrant small businesses, then yes, kids can walk to their ice cream store or donut shop and be able to create small jobs.

In terms of internship, I do want us to think about how do we provide support for resume building, interview skills, Mentoring, all of those things that are needed for, especially for immigrant children.

Thank you, Julie.

Rob?

I really like how this question was phrased.

I think the other place you see this in the school system is in the school system.

Where the kids, depending on their age during the pandemic, their whole growth and development has been changed by that year, two years of social isolation for some of them before they were back in the classroom.

And the other thing I think a lot of us have seen in our communities is, oh, we used to do that before the pandemic.

That went away when the pandemic happened.

That went away.

I think if it's something where we're not seeing the internships and those opportunities like we were before the pandemic, we absolutely have to get back to that level.

It obviously has to be in partnership with private businesses.

I think the name of it is the Maritime High School, I think.

I met some folks down who worked in that in the, I think, Tacoma area.

And I was doing a CPR class, met somebody from down there.

Talk about a brilliant idea.

Talk about something where you target education to exactly where the job needs are.

And that can be a partnership between public and private to make the funding happen.

And those kind of things create better outcomes for our kids and help them align their interests with their future jobs.

Thank you, Rob.

Katie?

Thank you.

So this is, you know, along the lines of what I was talking about of child-friendly city.

I think part of this is really about building the narrative that it actually does take a community for us to raise our kids.

And along with that, you know, obviously the idea of partnerships with businesses, with nonprofits.

I think those are, you know, pretty easy ones to name.

Supporting the programs that are already working.

We've got a lot of job training programs supporting that, continuing to fund those.

And I do really love the idea of really thinking about the opportunities potentially with our maritime and industrial sector and with the port.

You know, as we're looking to sort of think about what are the new innovative industries we might be able to bring and really pairing with our partners there to think about how can we grow these living wage jobs where potentially, you know, kids don't need to go to college, but they can have that financial security throughout their life and also benefit Seattle and our maritime industrial sector.

Thank you, Katie.

Thank you.

Deborah?

So that question doesn't just span during the pandemic also now, so I'll be very quick.

I worked with Mayor Durkan and Duane Chappell at Deal for the Promise Program for Seattle students can have their first two years of college free at any Seattle college.

We did that and I was very proud of it.

I made sure that Ingraham and Nathan Hale were in the queue on that, focusing on low-income children, children of color, and also families where it would be the first time someone from that family went to college and it's been successful.

I've been very, very blessed that I work with Dr. Brown, who used to be the president here.

We had an apprenticeship program where we worked with the building and trades, iron fitters, teamsters, and unions right out here in the parking lot.

And with the Tulalip tribe, we had ironworkers actually have an apprenticeship program because the bottom line is, and I've read this somewhere, I would like to take credit for it, but IA is not coming for ironworkers or plumbers.

They're gonna come, they can't replace you people who build things, and that's what we've lost in this world.

And so during, also during, now getting back to the pandemic, we work closely with Amazon to make sure that laptops were delivered, I believe to John, to Jane Adams and John Rogers.

Thank you, Deborah.

Well, we've come to the end of the forum.

We're going to go ahead and have one-minute closings from each of the candidates.

Let's go ahead and start at the opposite end with Deborah and work our way backwards.

Deborah?

I was hoping I'd be last since I'm an elder.

Oh, no, I'm not.

Someone else is here older than me.

She's going to try to pull the elder card.

Okay, so let me hurry up and say this.

So I said this in the beginning, why are you running again, Deborah?

Eight years, you couldn't wait to get out of there.

That's true.

And I also said the reason why is it's a finite amount of time, I'm not the council president, and I'm not on sound transit.

And that took up so much time.

I want you to go look at my cover letter and what I'm calling my Indigenous Decolonized Storytelling Resume CV and look at what I've built in D5 and across the city in brick and mortar.

Lake City Community Center, Kraken Community Iceplex, Comet Pedge, the Waterfront, 130th Light Rail, the Seattle Indian Health Board.

We got a second clinic up at North Helpline at the McDermott House.

We also got our second food bank at Bitter Lake.

All the public-private partnerships that we did when we worked with Thornton Creek, Simon Properties, the NHL, Seattle Storm, and of course, my pride that I worked so hard on, the John Lewis Bridge, who started out as a pedestrian bike bridge.

Thank you.

Thank you, Deborah.

Katie?

Oh, that way.

Okay, sorry.

We're doing the loop.

Okay.

All right.

To all of you who came here tonight, thank you.

It is really wonderful to see you all engaged in the future of your community.

So I am here to work for the constituents of D5 and for the city, the residents, the businesses, the unhoused, and the people who don't even live here yet.

I want to be part of growing places that people love, to build community and to build community.

And to build, sorry, to build community through community building.

I've been in public service for almost my entire career, and I've worked with people in communities to connect them with city processes so that they can help shape their futures.

Where I thrive and where I'm really excited to work is with community finding common ground and to find solutions both for today and tomorrow.

I'm excited to work with D5 and use my experience as a land use planner, as a small business owner and as a parent, and think about how and where we can add more housing so that we can grow our neighborhoods that support our residents at all stages of their life, from childhood to old age, so that people can stay in place and with the communities that they love.

Thank you, Katie.

Rob?

I'm really excited about this role because of how you can think big and reimagine how the city is going to look long term.

Two ideas I didn't get to earlier.

One of them is it's very exciting to think about living I-5 and doing a ton of new development, whether that's parks, affordable housing, etc.

I think that's the type of thing that looking ahead decades in the future could be amazing and transformative for the city.

You want more land, that's where you find it.

The other one is just looking at transit options the other day.

When you look at Google Maps and it's two hours to get somewhere by public transit and 30 minutes to get there by car, what do you think people are going to do?

If we really want a city that's connected and works for everybody, that's the kind of thing we have to target, 45 minutes or less anywhere in Seattle.

I think that's a good goal.

Seattle faces a number of hard problems, affordable housing, homelessness, and public transit funding.

This is way more than 16 months worth of challenges.

D5 needs someone who's going to put in the time, ask the questions, and connect with people.

I encourage the council to be opinionated in this process and choose someone who can learn in the role, serve the people of D5, and potentially run again in 2026.

Thank you, Rob.

Julie?

I lived in District 5 for nearly 30 years as an educator, small business partner, and community leader.

I love our community.

And know this district deeply, its promise, its diversity, and its challenges.

I have high hopes and expectations for our district.

You heard me talk about safety, sidewalks, small businesses, and transportation.

These aren't abstract issues to me.

They're personal.

I've walked these streets, visited small businesses, listened to countless neighbors and community leaders.

When appointed, I will continue to lead the same way.

with accountability, with transparency, being realistic and honest with heart by truly listening.

I'll work with our North Precinct to make our neighborhood safer, support transit solutions, and advocate for small businesses and immigrant voices that build this community.

I'm not here to make easy promises, but to do the hard, steady work of earning your trust and being accessible.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve.

Thank you, Julie.

Nilo?

Thank you so much for this space.

Thank you for moderating and keeping time.

And thank you everybody for showing up, for caring, for being part of this conversation, and for believing in the future of our city.

Democracy only works when we participate, when we're willing to sit and disagree with each other.

And I truly hope everyone will engage in conversations about what we need for this city.

I also hope you'll vote.

Our August 5th is our primary.

We have election coming up.

Please use your voice.

Your vote matters.

Your voice matters.

And it helps shape the city we want to live in.

I'm grateful for everybody here that's applied.

Thank you for all the work that you do for our city.

And however this appointment turns out, I know that I will keep fighting for a city where people are safe, housed, heard, and truly seen.

I want everyone to think about policies that address our housing crisis with anti-displacement measures in mind.

I really don't enjoy seeing my neighbors having to move away from young to old.

And think about affordable childcare.

It's really hard.

And our youth and also our climate emergency.

And finally, please, everybody, just fight for democracy.

I'll say as an Iranian-American, it's really important.

It's very, very valuable.

So current and future generations need you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Jim Borey, bring it home.

Thank you all for coming.

It's really very inspiring to see you here tonight.

Thanks to everybody as well.

I want to thank you for applying.

A lot of great people.

I've enjoyed meeting them.

You know, I've applied for many jobs as a city manager, and it's really to me not been about the competition, but it's really been about the best fit, the best fit for the position.

To me, I feel like I have a lot of the reasons for having a best fit.

My experience as a manager has put me in a position to understand the issues that the city has, and those are the most important points.

I want to do this job for you, but I also want to do this for my daughter and my two granddaughters who live in the city.

I want this to be a city they can grow and prosper in.

If I'm selected, I promise I will listen to you, I will be responsive, and I'll work as hard as possible to support the district and the city.

And thank you very much for coming.

Thank you, Jim.

Thank you again for attending.

In closing, I just want to say that I have no horse in this race.

Although I was 30 years in District 5, I'm currently in West Seattle.

But I will say I'm very impressed with The candidates here today and again I don't have a horse in the race but I would say thank you to the council members that showed up today.

I would hope that the rest of the council members will view this and that they will seriously take into consideration the quality of candidates, the character and there's actually a sign out in the audience there that says D5 deserves a voice, not a caretaker.

Please, City Council, elect somebody or appoint somebody that you feel will adequately represent this district.

Thank you for coming.

Have a good night.