City InsideOut debates the City Council District 6 race between Dan Strauss, Heidi Wills

I am the candidate for Seattle's future.

People want problem solvers.

They want to see results.

How are you?

Former City Council member Heidi Wills is back after 16 years to face off with City Hall staffer Dan Strauss in the race to represent Northwest Seattle for the next four years.

Property crime is up 57%.

Both candidates weigh in.

Harm reduction models work.

Born and raised here in the neighborhood.

The race to represent District 6. Next, on City Inside Out.

Welcome to this edition of City Inside Out.

I'm your host, Brian Kalanick.

The Seattle City Council District 6 race pits Dan Strauss, a current council legislative aide, against a former city council member, Heidi Wills, who last served 16 years ago.

Wills and Strauss survived a D6 primary that attracted more candidates than any other district in the city.

But now, they need to distinguish themselves on the November ballot, as the race to represent Fremont, Ballard, Finney Ridge, and Green Lake kicks into high gear.

Hey, I'm Dan Strauss.

I'm running for City Council.

Dan Strauss says Seattle's District 6 council race is a critical one for our city.

Seattle's future is at stake here.

And many people in D6 might agree.

The folks in my neighborhood are extremely frustrated.

Constituents of D6's current council member, Mike O'Brien, have been vocal about their concerns over homelessness, crime, and drug use in a district that runs from Green Lake to Ballard.

O'Brien was even physically removed from a meeting due to his stance regarding bike lanes on the Burt Gilman Trail.

I know where our communities come from and I know where we need to go.

Strauss, born and raised in Ballard, has served as a legislative aide to current council member Sally Bagshaw and state senator David Frockt.

I've got 10 years of legislative experience.

He says his policy background and homegrown roots make him the right fit for a changing district in a changing city.

I've seen the growth that we've experienced.

We've all experienced this growth, and we need to have a strong leadership to funnel this growth and to build our sustainable, equitable, and affordable future.

Strauss earned more than 34% of the vote in an August primary that featured 13 candidates, more than any other district in the city.

He's endorsed by the Martin Luther King County Labor Council, the King County Democrats, and The Stranger newspaper.

What are the issues important to you?

As of late September, Strauss has raised close to $166,000 for his campaign, with more than 75% of that coming from Seattle's Democracy Voucher program.

political action committee dollars have favored Strauss's opponent, Heidi Wills, in the D6 race.

The Seattle Firefighters PAC, plus Moms4Seattle and CASE, the Seattle Chamber's political arm, have spent almost $112,000 supporting Wills.

The Civic Alliance for a Progressive Economy has provided less than $100 to support Strauss.

Strauss says he's ready to lead with a housing-first approach to the homeless crisis, a push to prioritize transit-only lanes, a plan to address climate change, and even a proposal for a local D-6 council office location.

I'm the nexus between the Seattle that we've had and the Seattle that we're becoming.

And I have that experience and expertise to get this job done, and I'm really excited to use that to represent the people in my community.

Heidi Wills says she's eager to bring her collaborative approach to the District 6 job.

it's important to be a convener, to listen to all stakeholders.

Wills, who served as a Seattle City Council member between 2000 and 2003, before failing to earn a second term following a donation scandal, says she's focused on the essentials.

She points out D-6 still has the same amount of firefighters it did when she was in office.

and yet we have 100,000 more people living in our community than when I was on the council, really speaks to the fact that the city really needs to be prioritizing basic services.

It's big in scope.

After her time on the council, Wilsa served as an executive director for First Tee, a golf non-profit working with local kids, and has run a business of 65 employees with her husband.

And with managing a $6 billion budget at the city, I think that's valuable management skills to bring to the table.

Wills won just over 21% of the vote in the crowded August primary, roughly 13 points behind Dan Strauss.

She's endorsed by the Seattle Firefighters Union, Local 27, the Sierra Club, and Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

Isn't that great?

As of late September, she's raised more than $180,000 for her campaign, with just over 59% of that coming from democracy vouchers.

I'm concerned about more effectively addressing the root causes of homelessness.

Wills says her experience helping kids in underrepresented communities, plus the fact that she's a mom of middle school kids, a small business owner, and a former council member, make her the best choice for D6 voters.

So I bring a broader perspective to the table that's currently missing, and I think that's of value to the people not just in District 6, but to the city as a whole.

So who gets the nod in District 6?

Is it a longtime legislative aide looking for his first elected position?

Or a former council member looking for another turn?

D6 voters will make the call.

I am the candidate for Seattle's future.

People want problem solvers.

They want to see results.

And here they are, the candidates for District 6. We have with us Heidi Wills, we have Dan Strauss.

Thank you both for joining us.

We had a coin flip before the show, and Heidi, you're first.

I wanted to ask about why you're running, also maybe some of the things you learned after your past experience on the council.

Yes, I'm running to bring change.

I feel as though having knocked on 23,000 doors in District 6, running a grassroots campaign, that City Hall is not really attentive to the quality of life issues affecting people in our neighborhoods and in our small business districts.

And I'm a small business owner.

I'm a mom raising teenagers.

These are perspectives that are currently missing on the Seattle City Council.

I've served as a council member.

We're about to have one of the most inexperienced councils in memory.

Out of the seven seats that are up for election out of the nine, four don't have incumbents running in them, and the three incumbents are somewhat vulnerable.

So I think it's important that I've served in this position before, and I've also served in other management positions, including running a nonprofit serving youth in South Seattle, reaching hundreds of thousands of kids, teaching core values and life skills such as honesty and responsibility.

These are other major assets that I can bring to the table.

Okay, thank you very much for that.

Dan, same question to you.

Why are you running?

What have you learned after your time as a legislative aide here at City Hall and other governmental agencies too?

Yeah, being born and raised in Ballard, I've always thought that I'd retire there.

It's the best place on earth.

And so, you know, this last winter was the first time that I contemplated leaving town because I wasn't seeing the leadership that we need associated with the growth that we're experiencing.

And so that means addressing the housing and homelessness crisis, bringing better transit and transportation options here, and having a district office in Ballard, Green Lake, and Fremont.

I'm not going to just keep it in one place.

Sure, sure.

Yeah.

And, you know, I've got the experience having worked for three different legislators and three different legislative bodies, and so I know how places other than City Hall work.

I know what's working and what's not, the opportunities and the roadblocks here in City Hall, and I'm able to get the job done on day one because I'm currently doing a lot of the job today.

Let me dive into this a little bit further, and Dan, I'll start with you here.

So, the incumbent for D6, Mike O'Brien, is leaving behind a politically charged situation, I'll put it that way.

I want to keep homelessness on the side just to start, but how closely aligned are you with his positions on housing density, the environment, bike lanes, a lot of divisive issues here, and I know a lot of voters want to know about this.

The D6 incumbent, how do you compare to him?

So the details matter, right?

And so I lived on 63rd and 20th in downtown Ballard and I watched when I moved on to the block it was mostly single-family homes that looked like the neighborhood I grew up in.

In the four years I lived there, there was about only four months there wasn't construction and when I left it was all new construction.

And so I am for density, and I want to see it done right.

And that means better green building codes, ensuring that our tree canopy is protected as we build more densely, and important things like transportation and transit.

Our roadways, our sewer lines, our electrical grid, these are important things that have to be matched with density.

Affordable housing as well.

Just by saying, build more housing, you're not going to create cheaper housing.

So, you know, I was also hit by a driver while I was riding my bike.

Four days in Harborview, 36 hours in the ICU.

That was a hard one.

I'm glad you made it out.

Yeah, all right.

That's why I'm always smiling.

Right, yeah.

You know, so for me, understanding that a connected network of protected bike lanes is important.

Because if you have two sections of safe, low stress level infrastructure, and then you have one section that is high stress, dangerous, people who are only comfortable in low stress aren't going to use any of it.

And so as we continue to see more electrified transportation modes and more micro-mobility, there's going to be an increased need for safe and separated infrastructure like this.

So what I would say is that there's a similar desire to see the environment, density, bike lanes put forward.

And there's a really important details to make sure that they're done right, not just that they're done.

Okay.

Okay.

Thank you for that and for breaking down all those pieces.

Heidi, I don't know where you want to go with this, but in terms of supporting Mike O'Brien's policies on density, the environment, transit, bike lanes, all those different things, I just want to know how you compare yourself to the incumbent.

What you want voters to know about that?

Well, I do have the Sierra Club's endorsement, and he's been very active with that organization.

So I think that when it comes to the environment, I will be a champion, particularly for climate protection, which is what I've been doing for the last three decades.

And on other issues that are vitally important, we do need more protected bike lanes in our community.

We absolutely do need more housing of all shapes and sizes for people of all incomes.

Including in single family neighborhoods too?

That's been a big contentious issue has been ADU legislation that he sponsored.

And both Dan and I have been asked about that repeatedly on the campaign trail.

And I think that it's a nice gentle way to incorporate more housing in our community and allow homeowners to age in place.

I knocked on the door of a woman in Fremont.

who is a single mom, had a five-year-old child who had moved five times before she found that housing situation.

She wants to live close to where she works.

She's a nurse that works at the 45th Street Clinic in Wallingford, and finding a two-bedroom unit was really difficult.

She took me to the backyard, and there was a backyard cottage.

That's where the homeowner lives.

And when I went to houses from hers to ask what they cared about.

The homeowners that I doorknocked said that they were concerned about ADUs.

When I had mentioned to them about their neighbor, they were not even aware that there was a backyard cottage there.

So I think that it's a gentle way to incorporate more density in our community.

I think one area where I disagree with the incumbent, or a couple, it might be that I think he came in, right, citywide, and I was a citywide council member too, and I think people want to see that transition to someone who's an advocate for issues affecting them in their neighborhoods.

And I would be that advocate.

I would also have a district office in District 6. I think that I would staff that at least one day a week so people could come and talk to their representative and have their needs met.

Another area where I would disagree would be public safety.

I think that that needs to be prioritized and I think people feel as though they're not being heard or listened to by this city council.

17% in my neighborhood which is Fremont in the last three years.

It's up 24% in South Ballard.

It's up 22% in Greenwood.

I think people really want to see a city council that prioritizes basic services including public safety.

Let me try to dive into one issue here and start with you, Heidi, on this.

Talking about the response to our homelessness crisis.

I know you're hearing a lot about this on the campaign trail, too.

I want to focus, if I can, on the example of car camping and RV camping.

It's all over District 6. It's on other parts of the city, too.

Just for a point of focus here, I think this might help.

So Ballard, as you know, is home to a safe parking lot, has seven spaces for cars only right now, Our Redeemer's Church.

That lot is getting some support from the city.

And Heidi, just thinking about this, what do you think about that lot in Ballard?

Does the city need more lots like this for cars, possibly RVs?

Let's try to focus on this issue and branch out from there if you can.

Well, you know, these are homes for people, right, who are not able to afford traditional housing in our community.

And so we need to ensure that we have places for them to be that have the services that are necessary, particularly hygiene services, showers, warm running water.

And there are places within the district that are willing to welcome RVs and car campers.

So I think that we need to work with churches and other social service agencies with that.

I think that the RV legislation that the mayor brought down was trying to get a some problems where some of these RVs are not safe and they're not hygienic.

And I think that that's something that the City Hall has not been willing to tackle.

Those are tough issues to talk about.

And I think that we need to talk about them and ensure that the living conditions of people, whether they're in traditional houses or their RVs, are safe and sanitary.

And Dan, I know you've been working a lot on this with Councilman Brackshaw's office.

Your thoughts on car camping, RV camping, what's happening in Ballard?

Does the city need to have more safe lots?

Talk about RV camping, too, if you could, please.

Yeah, so overall, we need to have more appropriate shelter for people to come inside.

And that's four walls, a door that they can lock that has the services that they need on site.

And so that's just across the board.

And now I'll get a little bit more into RVs specifically, which is that, yes, if we are going to have meaningful resolution to what's going on on Chisholm Avenue and other places in our community, we need to have the amount of RV safe lot spaces for people to actually come to.

And unlike what occurred previously with this proposal, where it didn't have running water, it didn't have hygiene services, it didn't have social services, we need to make sure that these things are in place.

Also, when we are able to achieve the big, bold solutions that I'm proposing about housing first models and bringing people inside, we know that for some folks, RVs are their last piece of property.

And for people who have lost everything in their life, and they may be clutching on to the last piece of physical property that they have.

And that can be to say, just come inside and there goes your last piece of property that can be tough for some people and i think that there's room to say look You know, we'll park your RV for three months, come on inside, and I'm sure that in that time they'll realize that they can bring the things that are still close to them inside and that their RV is not as needed anymore.

And that's the approach that I bring.

Housing first, social services, and that's mental health, chemical dependency, navigating social security and disability.

Having all of these wrapped together and You know, at a safe lots program, in a housing first model, these are the solutions we need.

Thank you.

A big topic and I appreciate you breaking that down.

Dan, I'll start with you and talk about light rail here, set to arrive in Ballard in a scant 16 years from now, in 2035. So, I've heard both of you say you'd rather have a tunnel than an elevated train going into Ballard there.

a tunnel that could cost an extra $450 million potentially.

Where does that money come from, one, and what do you say to the millions of people outside of Seattle in the sound transit service area saying, wait a minute, is that what we voted for?

Let's talk about this.

What's happening with light rail and D6?

We packaged the projects occurring in Inner Bay altogether to be more competitive for funding.

When they stand on their own, they're not going to be very competitive.

And so we packaged Magnolia Bridge, the Ballard Bridge, looking at the fact that Sound Transit 3 is coming, looking at West Mercer Place needing to come into play tangentially, Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge is a current, you know, so there's a lot of projects going on.

Inner Bay is the third most used north-south corridor behind I-5 and SR-99.

And so again, each of these, Magnolia Bridge standing on its own, Ballard Bridge standing on its own, not going to be competitive for state or federal funding.

When we package these projects together, Representative Charlton brought back a million dollars for us to continue packaging these projects so that the next time there's a state transportation package, we will be very competitive.

So I've already been at work for this to get us more funding for the tunnel, in a sense.

And when we look at Sound Transit's tunnel coming in, after we've already gotten more funding for that entire corridor, we're going to be able to then approach the county, the port, Sound Transit to go back to the feds.

And the city can also use right-of-way, Wave permitting fees in kind costs.

There's a lot of ways to drop that down additionally and the tunnel through downtown there will be Opportunities for cost savings and that's for the entire alignment that will be offset.

Okay.

Thank you for breaking all those pieces down Heidi your thoughts about this Tunneling into d6 for sound transit looks like it could be more expensive and possibly time-consuming your thoughts about this

Well, the person representing District 6 is the advocate, right, for that community.

And there's almost universal support for a tunnel.

We need to be thinking 50, 100 years out and what's in the best interest of our community.

Having a tunnel there improves the reliability and certainty for the entire Sound Transit system as a whole.

So, everyone benefits from that.

Fortunately, we have really successful partners in garnering federal dollars in our two women senators.

They've also been helpful in getting dollars that are starting really soon for renovating the Ballard Locks in Ballard, for example.

So, we do have excellent partners at the federal level, and I think we just need to ensure that this November, people vote.

There will be a ballot measure that will affect Sound Transit.

Okay, people will be looking to that for sure.

I want to switch gears to safe consumption sites, safe injection sites, community health engagement locations.

Do you support these types of facilities?

I know the city's been studying this idea.

King County Health has been pushing for them.

How do y'all start with you?

Do you support having safe injection sites in Seattle?

Well, certainly everyone's concerned about harm reduction strategies, right?

I went up and toured Insight, which is the safe injection site in Vancouver, on my birthday, because what else is a candidate going to do on their birthday?

But I felt like, as a candidate, I really needed to understand what this is being talked about.

So I had a tour of that, and I cannot imagine a facility like that in our community.

So and if I can't imagine that in a small business district or part of my community where I live in District 6, how can I support that anywhere else in the city of Seattle?

And part of the reasons also are that it's not scalable.

One site can serve between 300 and 500 people.

We have 23,000 people suffering from opiate use disorder in King County alone.

It's also very expensive.

It's about a million and a half dollars per site.

So I think that those public dollars should be spent on treatment on demand, which is vitally important and more needed.

A need for that as well.

Dan, your position on these safe injection sites at the Chells, let's talk about it.

Yeah, well, we know that it's not legally possible here in the city.

I think that's an important place to start.

The U.S. Attorney's definitely said that, yeah.

And, you know, for me, where I come from is harm reduction models work.

And they're very important.

This is how we address the HIV outbreak in North Seattle.

And I do want to be very clear that no one should be using drugs in a problematic way or in public spaces.

We know that These harm reduction models work to be able to meet people where they are, transition them into medically-assisted treatment and other diversion programs, and oftentimes get them into housing.

I also toured Insight in Vancouver, British Columbia, and it, you know, East Hastings was a much more organized version of many places that we have in our community.

So King County, you know, the Heroin and Prescription Opiate Task Force unanimously passed this proposal and they passed a pilot for two places.

And so I think that making sure that we are not burdening a community.

Rather, we are meeting them where they are and reducing overdoses and getting more people into treatment.

That's how harm reduction models work.

Okay, thank you for that.

I need to switch gears one more time.

Heidi, I'll start with you here.

A lot of Political Action Committee dollars have been pumped into this race going to the early part of October as we're recording this program.

PACS have put in about $112,000 in independent expenditures to support you.

I want to talk about that and what influence you think that has because I know you've been talking about campaign financing on the trail, what you went through many years ago, and things of that nature.

Your thoughts about PACs, please.

Right, right.

So I've embraced the Democracy Voucher Program.

I was the first out of the 13 candidates, the fastest to qualify for those.

So I'm running a grassroots campaign.

And because of the limited amount of dollars that I can raise, that's why I've been out doorbelling and talking to people directly.

Those PACs that were mentioned, which is over $100,000 of support coming to my campaign, are about half of it's from the Firefighters Union, which, you know, Dan also competed for that endorsement.

I've prioritized public safety, and I think that they like my messages around that.

And when I was on the Seattle City Council, I was a strong supporter for the Firefighters Union.

The other pack is CASE, which is the Chamber of Commerce, which my opponent also competed for that endorsement.

And we have very similar answers to their questionnaire, which is publicly available, even the stranger.

has put that on their website.

But perhaps the difference there is that I've taken a stand on an issue which has really polarized our community, which is the head tax.

I've taken a position on that, that I don't think that that's how Seattle needs to raise more funds in order to solve homelessness.

And in fact, I don't think that the city of Seattle should do it alone to solve homelessness.

And we really need to work together as a region to address that issue with housing, right, as well as supportive services.

So I think that that's really important to make clear.

And also that I'm a small business owner.

And there currently isn't that perspective on the Seattle City Council, and it shows.

We opened a few different boxes there.

Thank you very much.

And talking about PACS and their influence on this race, you heard what Heidi said, your thoughts about the influence they're having on this race and others in the City Council.

Yeah, well, you know, I think that there is a lot of influence.

We saw a lot of mailers sent in the primary, more dollars spent than any primary before this, you know, and I'm really running a grassroots campaign with the most organizational endorsements, with the highest number of democracy vouchers, the highest number of donors, the highest number of in-district donors.

And so what this demonstrates is that I am Competing for many of the same endorsement all of these endorsements my my friend here And I have competed for and there is and while we have very similar policy approaches I think that what's really important to recognize is who is supporting each of us because that is going to Demit because we've had many of these conversations that you and I are having today sure we've had these with all of these organizations, and they have taken a look at us and decided who aligns with them most.

And so, you know, for instance, Pew's Progressive Guide and the Civic Alliance for a Progressive Economy have both endorsed me.

And so, you know, when you look at the difference between us, I'm definitely the progressive grassroots candidate in this race.

Thanks very much.

We need to start wrapping up here.

And Heidi, if you would, final thoughts as to why voters should support you, please.

Yes, you know, I think that it comes to bear what we've been describing about the polarization in our community.

And I'm a collaborative leader who has broad support from labor, from business, from various elected officials in our community, from the environmental community as well.

And I think what's needed as a part of the healing in our community is someone who can work with all stakeholders in order to get progress on addressing the root causes of homelessness, on securing more affordable housing in our community, working on mobility and transportation choices for folks, prioritizing public safety, which really affects the quality of life of people in our community.

and other basic services, supporting parks, community centers that are open.

And as a working mom, right, that's a special lens that I bring to this opportunity because we don't have someone who's been raising teenage children on the city council in this millennium.

And I think that someone who understands the needs of families would be important to have at the table.

Thank you very much.

Dan, you get the last word.

Yeah, absolutely.

So thank you for the opportunity to be here today.

You know, I want to, as I said, I want to address the housing and homelessness crisis with housing first approach.

I want to see transit that we can rely on so you can go to your bus, wait no more than 10 minutes and get where you're going without getting stuck in traffic.

The district office I want to open, I want to have off hours so that people who are working a normal job don't have to go out of their way to have their voice heard.

You know, I'm going to be able to hit the ground running because I'm already working on many of these policies today.

I think an important differentiating fact is that I think that people should only have to work one job, that they should only have to work for eight hours a day, that they should get the paid leave they deserve, the family medical leave they deserve, and access to affordable child care.

So I'm running a grassroots campaign.

I have many organizational endorsements, including Planned Parenthood, Washington Conservation Voters.

The 36th District Democrats, the 43rd District Democrats, and many, many more.

Okay, thank you both for this, and we will be right back.

Clean it up around here, you know, it's messy around here.

Making sure that homeless people are taken care of, that should be your priority.

Just focusing on more programs to get those that are capable to support themselves.

It's not going to ever be affordable to live in the city.

We'd like to know what you think.

Send us an email at contact at seattlechannel.org or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Before we close today, it's time for our weekly CIO poll.

What's your chief concern in District 6?

Is it homelessness, affordability, transportation, or something else?

We want to know what you think.

Cast your vote and weigh in with your comments at our website, seattlechannel.org slash cityinsideout.

While you're there, you can watch our programs online anytime.

Coming up next week, our election coverage continues with Council District 7. Former Seattle Police Chief Jim Pugel faces Assistant City Attorney Andrew Lewis in the race to represent the neighborhood stretching from Pioneer Square up to Magnolia for the next four years.

Watch them debate right here next time on City Inside Out.

I hope you join us.