Public Forum with Seattle City Council District 2 Vacancy Finalists

Welcome, welcome.

Keep applauding.

Keep applauding.

It's good to see everybody.

This is District Two.

I love my community.

Welcome all of you.

Thank you for coming.

This is an exciting evening for us to be here.

Of course, this is our community.

Good evening and welcome to the public forum for the District Two Council Vacancy.

Seattle City Club, which is a trailblazing civic nonprofit dedicated to fostering civic engagement, has been chosen to host this highly anticipated public forum for the Seattle City Council position number two vacancy.

Tell you a little bit about Seattle City Club.

And before I do that, I want to say a big shout out and thanks to and give him a round of applause.

Jeff Carter, program manager for Seattle City Club.

We worked diligently and urgently and expediently and yeah, all that good stuff to make sure that this happened for you so that we could ensure that you were aware.

of who the candidates were during this public forum.

A little bit about Seattle City Club.

They have an over 40 year legacy of creating impactful programs to engage voters and hold elected officials accountable.

And of course, they are honored to be able to be part of this critical dialogue.

As a leader in civic initiatives, the organization is committed to providing a platform for open discussions that empower residents and contribute to the vibrancy of our city.

Rainier Avenue Radio, your community radio station, is the host, round of applause, come on.

Is the host in partnership with City Club and I'm Tony B. I'm your host on Rainier Avenue Radio.

I'm also the general manager and I will be the moderator for this public forum and we're gonna get started here.

In a second, I'm just going to make a couple of announcements that I think are really important for those of you who listen to Rainier Avenue Radio.

This Friday, we'll be broadcasting the basketball game between Rainier Beach and West Seattle, so you can tune in for that.

And then I also invite you to attend the Call to Conscience Black History Month Museum.

This building that you are in right now for the entire month of February will become a Black History Month Museum.

Round of applause.

We'll have several installations.

It'll be a guided tour, and so you'll find information as diverse as history on the...

And again, this is the history that comes from the organizations, the movements, the groups, the individuals who made the history.

So you're going to get information on the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party.

You'll get information on the Seattle Black Firefighters Association.

You get information on the history of African immigrants to Seattle.

One of the exhibits that I'm really looking forward to is a memoriam in honor of Quincy Jones.

And so there's just going to be a lot of cool stuff here.

And I'll give you a little hint.

The piano, maybe you've heard the story about Quincy and how he got introduced to music.

Well, he was broke into an armory, a forum, what do they call it?

Anyway, he broke into something, an armory in Bremerton.

And they ate lemon meringue pies as kids and did all this stuff.

And then he went in this one room and saw a piano.

And then he left.

And something told him to come back.

He came back.

And he told this story to Stephen Colbert and he hit one of the keys on that piano and he knew at that moment that that's what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

Now.

we are going to have that very same piano here, yes, for our Call to Conscience event.

So I definitely wanted to share some of that information with you.

This public forum will be broadcast live on the Seattle channel and of course live streamed on their YouTube channel and also broadcast across the Rainier Avenue radio broadcast media networks.

You can expect an insightful and transparent discussion.

As Seattle City Club and Rainier Avenue Radio continue our missions of fostering informed and active civic participation.

Why is there a vacancy on the Seattle City Council?

Well, Council Member Tammy Morales resigned her seat on the Seattle City Council.

That was effective January 6th, leaving a vacancy on the Seattle City Council beginning on January 7th.

City Charter gives the council 20 calendar days to fill a vacant council position.

This 20 day period began on January 7th, 2025 and the first day following council member Morales official resignation and ends on January 27th.

2025 from the date of the appointment, the newly appointed council member will serve until the 2025 general election results are certified by King County elections and the newly elected council member representing district two takes the oath.

So I'm going to give you an opportunity right now to meet the candidates, not yet opening statements, just an opportunity to meet our candidates.

Adonis Duxworth.

Baddeus Gregory.

Edward Lynn.

Shikundi Salisbury.

And Mark Solomon.

Candidates, these are the rules.

Each of you will get 60 seconds for an opening statement.

You'll get 90 seconds to respond to each question You'll get 60 seconds for closing statements.

There will also be an opportunity for our audience to ask questions as well.

You can do this in a couple of different ways.

I think it's Jeff that has the little cards that you can fill out and we can ask the question for you.

Or you can take the microphone and ask the question yourself.

Now if you ask a question, On the microphone, make sure it is a question and not a statement.

and keep it brief so that we can keep this moving.

So if you're thinking about a question, and I like this opportunity, because I love my District 2 folks.

I love y'all.

And this is about you, and this is what a public forum is for.

And so if you think about it, because there may be things that come up over the course of this discussion where you go, wait a minute, I have a question.

And yes, we want the opportunity for you to be able to ask that question.

So that's going to happen, too.

Regarding any form of rebuttal, there isn't any opportunity to rebuttal or rebut.

You get 90 seconds if there is something that you feel like you wanna comment on something someone said or you wanna further elaborate.

When you get into your 90 seconds, you can take that opportunity to do that and you can use 30 seconds of that and you'll have 60 seconds left.

So that's an opportunity for you.

However, I will say that I retain the rights.

to ask each of you a question if something comes up and i feel like we need more information on it or uh or i just want a further explanation and so that's going to happen too uh having said that let's begin uh we'll begin with opening statements and uh our first opening statement and again you will get 60 seconds for this um hong sure hi everyone my name is hong sure i use he him pronouns and i'm honored to be here tonight and i'm grateful that you've made it

a priority to participate in this process with me and the other candidates.

Tonight, I'm going to be talking a lot about my mom.

She's right there in the middle of the room, and she's giving me her consent.

So a little bit about who I am.

I'm an immigrant.

I'm a Civil War refugee from Cambodia.

I'm a small business owner, a son, a brother, and a husband.

And I've been working to serve the communities that I belong to in different ways for almost 20 years.

Why am I here?

I am here with you this evening because I want to improve day-to-day life in our city and our region.

And what does that look like?

For me, it's about having government that is responsive and accountable to the people.

It's about growing the number of thriving wage jobs, supporting entrepreneurs and our creative economy.

It's about housing and having housing that we can afford.

And it's ensuring that our neighborhoods feel safe and are well cared for.

And it's about protecting and supporting our most vulnerable.

What informs how I approach things?

As a refugee, my experience of displacement formed my earliest memories.

My Chinese Cambodian heritage and the culture that I come from is the basis for my focus on collective solutions for well-being, and it shapes my core values in how I approach things.

And time is up.

Thank you.

And Adonis Duxworth.

All right.

Good evening.

My name is Adonis Duxworth.

I grew up on Beacon Hill and live in Rainier Beach with my wife and two daughters.

Kids, culture, and community mean everything to me.

Those are the things that I value and those are the things I'll be fighting for if I get this appointment.

If you look back over my career with the city and outreach and engagement, policy, management, you'll see that I have a track record of getting things done in the city, getting projects built, bringing people into the conversation, and getting policy and legislation passed.

You'll hear from everyone tonight about public safety, the comp plan, and all the other things, and I bet you we can all do that work.

But let me tell you what I'm what I'm going to do specifically for District 2 if I get this appointment over the next 10 months.

Number one, we're going to address the state of emergency that is happening at 12th and Jackson.

Number two, we're going to do SPD outreach and recruiting fairs.

We're going to make Rainier Avenue safer.

We're going to get a resolution passed that outlines a framework for how the city should be engaging with us.

And number five, finally, we're going to cut through the red tape and break ground on the Rainier Beach Skate Park.

So thank you for this opportunity, and I'm looking forward to the conversation tonight.

Thanks.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

And Thaddeus Gregory.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Thank you so much for being here and for tuning in online.

My name is Thaddeus Gregory.

I'm a lifelong Seattleite, born at UW Hospital, raised just over the hill at Lakewood Park, and currently live in Othello, so South Seattle, District 2. This is my home.

I'm here tonight because I love the city.

By training, I'm a land use lawyer.

It's been an absolute joy to help build the city.

As I work with local home builders to provide diverse quality housing options, including critical affordable housing, I've gotten to know our neighborhoods, our businesses, and the diverse array of people who call Seattle home.

This work has also taught me how critical our comprehensive plan and this comprehensive planning process is.

I want to use this training as your city council member to create a comprehensive plan in a land use code that fosters plentiful, diverse, affordable housing.

15 seconds.

Over the past few months, I've hit the streets every day to hear from community stakeholders, businesses, nonprofits, and community leaders.

These meetings have emphasized the complex challenges that we now face.

And time is up.

I Edward putting in hyphens Eddie.

Eddie Lynn.

Thank you.

Good evening everyone.

My name is Eddie Lynn and I'm honored to be here.

Look forward to tonight's forum so you can learn about me and everyone else up here and why we want to represent you at City Hall.

I've worked at the city attorney's office the past seven years and I know how city government works, how to navigate bureaucracy and how to fight for your needs and priorities.

I wasn't born here, but I chose to live on Beacon Hill back in 2007 because as a mixed race Chinese American, I wanted my kids to grow up in a diverse community with strong Asian American representation.

I'm married to a public school teacher.

Our sons went to public schools here, and I've been very active in the PTSA communities.

I'm motivated to address the affordable housing crisis, and I'm the only candidate with years of experience in affordable housing.

15 seconds.

I love talking to and getting to know my neighbors.

I will always have an open mind and an open door, and I will be out in the community regularly listening to you and making sure your needs and your voices are uplifted at City Hall.

Thank you.

Time is up.

Thank you.

And Shikundi Salisbury.

Good evening.

Once again, my name is Shikundi Salisbury.

And for the record, you can find everything about me and what I'm about to talk about tonight at shikundi.com.

That's C-H-U-K-U-N-D-I.com.

You can follow along there.

A little about me, I'm a graduate of Garfield High School.

I'm a longtime member of this community.

I'm a 27-year a veteran of the City of Seattle and Parks and Recreation.

There I've done many projects, including community outreach and engagement projects.

Many of you have seen me at the public meetings, and I've been accountable listening and bringing that feedback back on behalf of the community around Seattle Parks and Recreation.

And while I've started many initiatives there at Seattle Parks, I've done even more in the community.

I have a long track record of volunteerism.

I've volunteered across the CID.

I've done community outreach.

I've done the work on the comp plan.

And I guess what I would end with is I have comments on the comp plan right now that you can go see online.

So if we're truly interested...

And time is up.

And Mark Solomon.

Good evening, everyone.

Many of you know me.

I've been in this community, serving this community for 34 years as a crime prevention specialist.

I've been into many of your homes.

I've been into many of your businesses, talking to folks about security, safety, safety for their staff.

I know this district on a granular level.

And that's one of the things that I do bring to this position.

And what I am focused on is not necessarily what I have done, but what I intend to do when I, if I'm fortunate enough to earn the vote to serve this district, one of which is support for small businesses.

We currently have a storefront repair program.

15 seconds.

How about if we have a storefront improvement program so that people can take advantage of incentives to make improvements before they suffer a crime?

I'm also looking at how can we streamline the permitting process.

And time is up.

All right, these are your candidates.

Welcome, everyone.

Again, my name is Tony B. I am your moderator.

Welcome to the Columbia City Theater, this 109-year-old building that is now hosting this event in particular.

One of these candidates will be your next Seattle City Council member, one of the folks on this stage, the same stage that has been graced by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Quincy Jones, Nirvana, Sir Mix-a-Lot.

These are all people who've been on this stage in our community and now we can say that these six candidates, one of which whom will be your next Seattle City Council member, will also have been on this stage now I'm not gonna this has been an alphabetical order Hong I'm not gonna make you go first every time you know so I will be shifting up and we'll be going back and forth Hong I will be starting with you first on this first question though and this is a question and I will repeat the question for any candidate that needs the question to be repeated and again these aren't just my questions these questions have come from our community probably will ask a couple of questions because I'm at these two and I had a microphone and I had candidates here.

So that's pretty cool.

But these candidates come from our community.

Again, if you have a question, you can go to Jeff and fill out the card or when we have the open forum mic session, you can ask your question on that particular microphone.

Here we go.

Hong, the people of District 2 elected Tammy Morales.

On what issues, positions do you agree and disagree with former council member Morales?

I would say that first and foremost, I want folks in the room to know that I've been working towards progressive causes and values for the last 13 years with various nonprofit organizations ranging from housing and homelessness, access to mental health, youth and family services, youth development, and the arts.

That being said, I think of myself as a pragmatic person.

So I always think about what is it that we can get done and what is it that's gonna have the most big impact now?

And you might be wondering, to answer the question, like what specific things?

I don't know that I have a specific list that I'm gonna go down and say I disagree with this and I agree with that.

What I said at the very beginning was I just want us all to come, to be able to leave Seattle and go in the world and for them to say, where are you from?

And you'll be like, Seattle.

I want them to say, that place is amazing.

That place is amazing.

It has really great amenities.

The people there are fantastic.

There's jobs.

It's an interesting place.

And I want us to feel pride when we go out there.

what very specific policies that I realize that that's not something I'm gonna do on my own.

Earlier I shared that I come from a collective culture, right?

Like I don't see things as black and white, they're not cut and dried, and the way forward is to not stake my flag down and say this is the issue that I'm gonna make or break it.

I'm gonna approach the council work being a collaborative team player and representing the people that share the district with me.

And time's up.

Okay.

I'm going to ask the question again.

I'm also going to suggest to you, because I've been doing this for a long time, get up on that microphone, all right, so your voice can be heard when you're talking into the microphone.

You answered the question however you want to answer the question.

I'm going to ask the question that was asked by the folks of our community.

And I'm going to go straight down the line.

So Adonis, the same question will be for you.

The people of District 2 elected We elected Tammy Morales.

Democratic process.

On what issues, positions do you agree and disagree with former council member Morales?

Appreciate the question.

I mean, a couple of years ago, I think two, three years ago, I think we had some new neighbors move into our neighborhood.

And there had been a series of shootings prior to them moving in.

And when they moved in, the shootings just continued, right?

And our neighbors had bullet holes in their house.

And so they organized a neighborhood intervention, you know, to like, hey, what can we do about this?

And I remember one of my neighbors on the call, one of my neighbors on the call, because we had like a series of them, a series of them.

And they had asked the question, where's our council member?

That's what they asked.

They said, where's our council member?

I mean, I couldn't answer that question.

And it was like, okay.

But at the same time, I was getting emails and whatnot about Lake Washington Boulevard.

So it was just kind of interesting that that's how our council members showed up.

And so going forward, I have a strong emphasis on public safety.

We've been impacted by crime.

And it's a big thing.

It's a hard thing to have your house broken into twice in four months.

And the second time our house got broken into, they watched my family as they were getting ready to get in the car and go to the dance studio.

So public safety, it's one thing that I definitely want to focus on and showing up for the community, 100%.

Thank you.

Thaddeus, would you like me to repeat the question or you're good?

I think we're good, thank you.

Okay.

First, I want to thank Councilman Morales for her hard work and representation of District 2. Being on City Council is a hard job.

What Councilman Morales did, what she came to do, was to uplift people from broad spectrums of the community.

She helped to uplift people who didn't have as many opportunities.

On City Council, we have a wide variety of leaders, people with differing opinions, and Councilman Morales came from a position where she looked out for progressive causes for the little guy.

As we envision our community, I want to help pursue the causes that unite us, help create affordable housing, help make our city safer by engaging in police, in bringing more police into our community, help our small businesses by creating a safer neighborhood, by looking very closely at what incentives we can give for them to bring workers into their shops.

15 seconds.

and to bring more people onto the streets to go to these businesses.

Ultimately, I really appreciate the work that Council Member Reynolds did, but I look forward to helping the broad spectrum of people in our community to achieve.

Edward, would you like me to repeat the question, or are you good?

I'm good.

Thank you, Tony.

So a few of the things that I would support, I'm a big supporter of progressive revenues.

So the jumpstart payroll tax, I'm a big supporter of.

And that really has saved our city's budget these past few years and hundreds of million went to affordable housing.

and to the Equitable Development Initiative, which I believe Councilmember Morales was also a strong supporter of.

Last year, the payroll expense tax was increased for student mental health by 20 million, so I supported that.

I think, and she also had legislation about for zoning for community-based organizations that want to do mixed-use affordable housing plus some community space, and I'd be supportive of that as well.

I think public safety is the big area where I don't believe Council Member Morales really championed public safety for D2, whether from 12th and Jackson all the way down to the gun violence and other things impacting Rainier Beach and Rainier View.

So yeah, public safety, and I think it's basically a misconception that D2 residents don't care about public safety or don't want police.

We want police officers that look like us, that know our children, that speak our languages, that know our cultures.

But we do need police when things, when your house is broken into, when there's gun violence.

And time is up.

Yeah.

Shikundi, are you good or would you like me to repeat the question?

I think you will repeat it, thank you.

All right, so the question is, and this is from our community, and answer the question however you want to answer it, but this is the question that was asked.

The people of District 2 elected, it's who we voted for, democratically elected, Tammy Morales.

You're about to change.

On what issues, positions do you agree and disagree with former Councilmember Morales?

Thank you for repeating the question there, Tony.

First of all, I worked closely with Councilmember Morales, and you can see a picture of me and her on my website at Chicundi.com, where I led a couple of comp plan discussions last year.

So I was actually engaged around the comp plan, around housing issues.

I was there.

These are not just things that I'm considering.

I've been doing the work and I was there hand in hand with her as we sought to engage this community around the coming comp plan and the complications of it.

So I led two events with her and I most certainly supported her work around EDI because that has helped us help legacy homeowners and this work around the comp plan.

Right.

And then on the flip side, I would say that, you know, while I most certainly was a supporter, there was a lot of times where Tammy was not there.

And so we most certainly have heard about gun violence.

You know, I've been at all the rallies.

I was there at the Elijah rally at Safeway.

I was down there when the workers were shot at.

Right.

But conversely, I was at the Lake Washington Boulevard meeting the most contentious meeting, I would say, of 2024. And Tammy should have been there.

Right, so whether you're on the violence side, the public safety side, or the transportation side, there was a lot of times where I expected Councilmember Morales to be there and she was not there.

Mark.

Yes.

Would you like the question repeated or you could?

No, I'm good.

So most of you already know that Tammy and I have history because in 2019, we competed for the seat.

And there were a lot of issues where we differed.

And though she prevailed in that election, We still work together.

I still work with her office.

We did meet with folks in Little Saigon at 12th and Jackson to address, to hear from the community to see what can we do about this issue.

And it wasn't just us city folk, we had folks there from Reach and Lead.

We've worked together on issues around violence in the Mount Baker Light Rail station area.

So I had a good relationship working with her and her office to address some of the concerns that were brought forward by community.

You know, as has been said, we differed on public safety and public safety approaches.

But that didn't mean we couldn't work together for the betterment of the community.

You good?

Very good.

All right, this next question, I'm going to start off with you, Adonis.

And it's an issue in our community.

And so there's really a couple of different questions that were asked, and I'm going to ask both of them.

And I know that what I'd like to hear is an answer on whatever your position is. on these two questions that are very different in what they are looking for and hoping for, all right?

Okay, so I'll start with this.

The pedestrianizations, we were talking about safety, the pedestrianization of Lake Washington Boulevard has been a long running debate.

Given that South Seattle has less access to park space, than the north end, do you think the street should be closed to cars for visitors to enjoy?

Now I'm gonna read another question, all right?

Let's see, okay.

Making Lake Washington Boulevard only accessible to pedestrians and bikes is not something many indeed to desire.

Bike lanes were installed in D2 without widespread community input or warning.

Will you commit to keeping Lake Washington Boulevard open to vehicles?

If that's clear, I can make it more concise, but I think you see- I think I know what you're asking.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yes, Lake Washington Boulevard should be accessible to cars.

And I'll just point out, you go back to 2020, During COVID and the state, the social distancing, there was a lot of chatter online, and I was the one who connected with the people first with the director, Sam Zimbabwe, then down at the pits.

Eight women came and met with Sam Zimbabwe, and that was the first time there was a compromise to actually, like, open the road back up.

So I was the one who did that when I was working at Estot.

So all I'll say about Lake Washington Boulevard is this.

I don't know if anybody's been down to the waterfront and seen the waterfront.

I don't know if you remember what the waterfront used to be like.

But if you go down to the waterfront now, it is amazing.

It is amazing what city government, nonprofit, the community can get together and do.

It is just absolutely just fantastic.

So why can't we get together and do that on Lake Washington Boulevard, right?

They want to tell me it's about like money and all the different things.

But we've seen what the city can do.

So we can come together where you can have cars, you can have bikes, you can have people walking, you can have access to the water, and you can keep the trees down there.

You can do that if you have the will to do it.

So over these next 10 months, I would like to lay the foundation to build that will to do that on Lake Washington Boulevard.

Thank you.

Eddie, would you like me to repeat that?

Or do you get the gist of what I'm talking about?

I can certainly repeat it for you.

No, I'm good.

And I would agree with Adonis.

We do need to have it open for vehicles and for all modes of pedestrians, bikes.

And one thing that I've heard in the community I'm not a regular user of Lake Washington.

I live on Beacon Hill, so I need to get down to Lake Washington Boulevard more often.

But one thing that I'm aware of is we have a lot of elderly.

We have people.

I have a father-in-law.

He doesn't live here, but he does come to visit from time to time, and he's paralyzed on half of his body.

And so making it accessible for our whole community Not everybody can walk or bike.

And so some people need to travel by car.

Some people use that to get their kids to childcare or what have you.

So yeah, it needs to be open to all modes of transportation.

Shikundi, are you?

Yeah, that's a pretty strong question.

I think I got the gist of that one this time.

So I can go ahead and start.

You can start the clock.

Again, I talk about this on my website, shikundi.com.

Check me out.

And if you don't hear everything I'm talking about tonight.

What I would say and what I've heard so far and what I talked about just briefly, I was at one of the most contentious public meetings of the year.

And while I am committed to seeing cars on Lake Washington, that is the answer to the question, I was there to sit with community and, well not sit, it was pretty cantankerous, but, and hear the concerns.

And that's the kind of council member we need, somebody that's showing up.

Not because, oh, well, now I gotta show up because I'm a council member.

I show up regardless.

I was there, right?

And then I have over 25 years, 20 years of working on Lake Washington Boulevard.

I built the trail.

the running trail that's right there that goes from Mount Baker to the rowing house to the Mount Baker Beach, right?

I built the trails in Coleman Park.

And the last thing I would say about Lake Washington Boulevard, and I'm channeling the elders of this community, because we have many transplants and folks that moved here eight, nine, 10 years ago.

Many years ago, you could drive around Seward Park.

right and what older people in this community would say is we already did that okay and so this proposal was brought and the compromise that was made many years ago before many of folks moved here is that we would make seward park pedestrian only and that is why the loop right if you and if you go back there the loop used to be you can drive 10 seconds And so I would contend that Seward is the pedestrian only, Lake Washington Boulevard is the compromise.

And time's up.

Thank you.

Mark.

So I had heard about that meeting.

I wasn't there, but I heard about it.

And when I heard what the discussion was about closing it, making pedestrian only, bikes only, I said, who in the neighborhood is saying that?

And the word I got back was no one.

Okay, so if the people who live there do not want a pedestrian only, I think those are the voices we need to hear more, right?

So, blunt answer, all modes of transportation, including vehicles, it needs to stay open.

Okay.

Ann Hong.

The short answer is much of what you've heard on the stage, open to everyone.

our region is growing, our district is growing and we can't afford to kind of stake our ground and say this is ours or this is for this group of people and not for that group of people and we need to keep, the thing you'll hear hopefully tonight is that I'm for options, I'm for choices and the more that we kind of restrict ourselves from making choices it makes people frustrated, it makes people feel unheard, it makes them feel not included You know, a company like Amazon can decide one day that they're gonna require all of their workers, there are thousands of workers in the region to go to work.

What impact, like could we have planned for that?

I mean, they do what they do and so for us to kind of cut off options for the people who live here and work here and need to just live their daily lives, it doesn't make sense to me.

All right, thank you.

So I'm going to throw a wild card thing in here.

I'm so sorry.

Do you want to get a chance to answer?

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

No worries.

So I agree with much that's been said up here.

I want to keep that Lake Washington Boulevard open.

As someone whose dad used to bike along the road, I also know that sometimes it's unsafe.

As someone who drives down that road, when the speed bumps went in, I was like, oh, you know, this is slowing me down.

I'm not sure how I feel.

But ultimately, I know the speed bumps are going to save lives.

They're going to help protect our community members.

We pursue Vision Zero to help prevent pedestrian deaths.

We want to make a city that allows for multimodal transportation.

people able to bike and scooter and take all different types of transportation to where they need to get.

I think Lake Washington Boulevard also has things like Bicycle Sunday, where they do shut down the street, where they allow pedestrians, allow bicycles to have free rent.

Closing down that street also has impacts on the people who live there.

It restricts their access to get from point A to point B.

Several houses have direct access from the street to their homes.

and we'd be essentially robbing them of the ability to drive to their house.

And so as we make decisions, we need to listen to all stakeholders.

Nonetheless, it is really important to have more parks in the South End, to have access to green space for all of our community members.

And so even if that doesn't turn into a park, which it should not, we should make more opportunities to bring green space and parks to the South End.

Thank you, Thaddeus.

My apologies, Thaddeus.

I skipped over you.

What I was going to say, I have a wild card question.

I just want you to answer.

Take 15 seconds.

Now, this is just me and my fellow community members who live near, very near Lake Washington.

When Lake Washington is shut down for cars and it's just walking, that's cool, except all those cars park in our neighborhood and take up our parking spaces and sometimes don't respect the property because they're just coming to visit.

And I know this is a complicated issue, but I'm just sharing with you the experience that some of us have who live very near the lake when you shut the lake down, the cars and folks park wherever they want to.

And I'd just like to get your feedback on that, or you can say nothing.

Hong, just what do you think about that, man?

You got 15 seconds.

Yeah, I think I'm gonna have to go back to what I said earlier in that, you know, we live and share this city and region together.

And we have to figure out ways to make it so that people don't have to drive and take up space.

Make it easier to take buses or to take transit.

Okay, and that's 15 seconds.

I appreciate that.

And this is just my own personal thing, but you know what?

That's why I vote.

You know what I'm saying?

Adonis, 15 seconds.

Man, people come and they park in my parking space in front of my yard and they get out and they leave trash and I'm not cool with that.

I know.

That's just me.

I saw an Instagram thing that said the older I get, the more I'm curious about who's parking in front of my house.

No, I get that.

I mean, the short answer is parking enforcement.

So if they're parking illegally, we need more parking enforcement to enforce that.

That's the short answer, but if they're not parking illegally, It's annoying and it sucks, but they can park there.

Got you.

That is, do you feel me?

I grew up in Seward Park and I do feel you.

And I'm not saying that, but man, that's our neighborhood.

What?

Absolutely.

Anyway, 15 seconds.

Ultimately, again, it's about multimodal transportation.

Growing up, we had an express bus right in Seward Park that let you get to and from downtown and other places in the city.

It's not there anymore.

We need to look at more ways to connect the south end to the rest of the city.

And time's up.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Eddie, you know where I'm coming from.

I hope you do.

You said you live on Beacon Hill.

Man, try living on Lake Washington and they close it off the cars.

Well, I think this is why we have to talk to people in the neighborhoods that are using these roads, that are the ones that are kind of the experts on what happens when you make these changes.

You know, I've seen changes on Beacon Hill or Columbian, and then, you know, what happens when people start cutting through the neighborhood.

So we've got to engage with the people that are using these every day that are the real experts in what happens when we make changes.

Thank you, thank you.

You know what, so I would say as a person who has a team at the city that has been victims of the $250 million plus budget shortfall, this is a revenue opportunity and we need to increase parking enforcement.

The other thing that I would say is that, so yes, we can meet the budget.

The other thing I would say is that we need to meet with the stakeholder groups that are encouraging people to come.

And time's up.

Mark, what do we do in our neighborhood?

You know, going down to Soar Park for like and looking at all the cars that are taking up parking on the side streets, you know, parking, you know, blocking people's driveways and the whole bit.

Yeah, that's not cool.

I understand what you're saying, you know, where you're coming from there.

So, again, stakeholder engagement, how can we work on this together?

Time's up.

Thank you all for answering that question.

Personal, you know what I'm saying?

And I'm outvoted.

You know, the people in the community, we're outvoted.

So our voice is very small when it comes to what's happening.

But it's a citywide thing anyway.

That's that.

We'll go on to the next question.

And the question is answered is asked in this way.

If you don't get it, I can re-ask it.

But the question is, what is your position on the threat of sound transit to businesses, residents and community members of the Chinatown International District?

And if you don't know, this is a big deal for light rail.

But where is that light rail gonna be located?

Are people gonna be displaced?

Where is it gonna be?

If you're unfamiliar with that issue or don't have the time to explain it to you right now, I'm assuming that our candidates are familiar with this issue.

And so I would like to know where you stand on this issue.

But the question is, what is your position on the, call it the threat, I don't know, the threat of sound transit to businesses, residents, and community members of the Chinatown.

because I'm gonna start with you.

I appreciate it.

Right now, the CID is in a place that's absolutely unacceptable for the city.

We have not served that community in ways that they deserve.

We've not offered them the amount of support.

We've not sat down and listened to them in meaningful ways, in ways that allow for the broad community members there to have their voices heard.

Earlier this year, or I guess it was at the end of last year, feasibility study came out and showed that the original Fourth Avenue plan was probably not able to go forward due to conflicts with Amtrak and public rail lines.

And so our solution has to be getting back into that community and saying, okay, what do you need from Seattle to help make sure that the community members here, especially the elderly community members that make up a good portion of the CID community, can have access to the rail line.

Part of it is also thinking of ways.

the, if the station cannot be, you know, it has to be further north, further south, can we connect the heart of the CID to those stations using shuttles, using other means of transportation?

But really, it's sitting down, listening to the community, talking to people.

And time's up.

Zee, would you mind grabbing my, My charger from a laptop, the battery's running low.

Thank you so much.

We're live.

Eddie, would you like me to repeat the question?

I'm good, thank you Tony.

Okay.

So before working at the city, one of the major areas of practice that I did is I represented property owners who were being condemned by sound transit.

I represent Northgate Mall, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and I saw what a difference it made when you had strong legal representation and things that they said, we can't pay for that.

Well, when you had strong legal representation, there was a way to pay for it.

And what we've seen in D2, we're the only part of town that has miles of light rail at grade, right?

And why is it only in D2?

Is it too expensive or it's infeasible?

So that's my pushback.

I want to push down transit to say, hey, not again in Chinatown.

Let's make sure, let's do the homework.

Let's see if, I don't want you cutting corners on costs.

I want to make sure that, you know, I'm not an engineer, so I don't know if the fourth is possible, but I do know that when you have the community pushing for something, you have the right people at the table, what is impossible becomes possible.

Thank you.

This is a big question.

This is going to be something that, whatever it ends up being, it's going to be there for 100 years.

By just a show of hands, how many of you are familiar?

Just raise your hand if you're familiar with the Chinatown and that International District light rail situation.

Everybody.

Yeah, that's what I thought.

Shikundi.

Yeah, that's a repeat the question for me.

Sure.

Just kind of like, take a breath.

The way the question is written, and I'll read it the way the question is written because that's why they wrote the question this way.

Let me find it again so I can say it just exactly how they said it.

Well, the question, I'm going to paraphrase here a little bit, was the threat of sound transit to the Chinatown International District.

And what I'm assuming they're leaving out is the part about the light rail and the impact that that's going to have on the Chinatown International District.

And again, I won't have time to go through all the potential options there are right now.

But this is going to be there for 100 years.

Ms. Shikandi.

Thank you for repeating the question there, Tony.

What I would say is, first of all, as you can see from my website at shikandi.com, that all of my answers are based in my real-life experience.

Some people call me anecdotal, but that's just what it is because I really am out here across the district.

And so, yes, I'm very cognizant of the threat because I had a business on Martin Luther King and 38th.

My bid, I had a barbershop right there next to Platinum Plush and Sound Transit came and they put a giant pile of crushed rock there.

My customers could not get to my barbershop.

I missed the deadline by a month.

Nikita and those guys got the funding.

She was able to stay in business.

I was not.

I had celebrity people coming to my barbershop.

They could not find a place to park.

I was forced out.

And unfortunately, I didn't have enough money to hire Super Eddie here.

If I would have had the money to hire a high-power attorney, but many of our small businesses in the CID that would be impacted, they don't have that kind of money.

So it's important for us in a real way to stand up for those businesses and make sure it's a great process.

But we do, we know that this area is getting denser and we need the transportation options, but we need it done in the right way.

And I don't want to see anybody close down.

Like my barber shop was closed down.

It was called Metropolitan Barber Shop.

You can Google that.

And Mark, did you need me to repeat the question?

No, I'm good.

First of all, Sound Transit needs to...

rebuild their trust, or actually earn the trust of the people in the CID, because many folks in the CID feel like they've been lied to.

Sound Transit hasn't been an honest broker.

And they haven't done enough engagement with the community regarding the siding.

Yeah, it's like, do you do the 4th Avenue side, the 5th side?

Do you put it north, do you put it south?

there needs to be more community engagement around this issue.

And not only should we be looking at Little CID for the impacts of light rail, I'm thinking about the West Seattle Ballard extension.

I'm thinking about how many businesses and homes will be displaced when they put in a station at the Alaska Junction, at 30th and Avalon, as well as right there on Delridge.

That hasn't been talked about, but we're going to be losing a lot of homes and a lot of businesses, which means losing a lot of tax revenue.

That has to be talked about, too.

What's another alternative?

Is another alternative to the lateral extension more rapid ride lines and more frequent rapid ride lines?

Something that we need to consider.

Thank you.

You good?

Got about 15 seconds left.

I don't know if you want karaoke.

Giving me a microphone is dangerous, man, I'm just telling you.

Hong, are you good?

Do you want me to repeat the question?

I'm sorry, I don't have a website where I've outlined all my things, and I'm not a high-powered lawyer.

But what I can speak from is from lived experience.

I was a part of the Capitol Hill Community Council when that neighborhood was putting in its first light rail station.

And so I have lived experience of what disruption can take place.

We lost so many long-term and beloved businesses.

They're just gone.

So when we talk about CID and Little Saigon, maybe the phrase humbaos, not hot dogs, means something to you.

With Uncle Bob Santos, he stood up for the CID and the International District in Chinatown and said, we need to be involved.

It's not that we don't want light rail, it's just that we want to make sure that you are PROTECTING US AND MAKING SURE THAT THE IMPACT ON US IS MITIGATED.

EVERY TIME THERE'S A SPORTING EVENT, EVERY TIME THERE'S SOMETHING LIKE A WOMEN'S MARCH, IT IMPACTS US.

IT DIVERTS BUSINESSES, IT CLOGS UP THE PEOPLE WHO GO THERE.

SO WE WANT TO MAKE SURE, JUST AS Tony B said, make it make sense, right?

We want to make it so that when all of us are long gone, folks go there and they're going to be like, what is the Seattle team?

They said, you're going to have to transfer here, you're going to go back this way, and then, you know, super confusing, right?

So we just want to be involved and we want to make sure that the decision makers are understanding that this is people's livelihoods.

It's their whole entire family legacies in the CID.

Don't just wipe them out without talking to them and making sure you understand the ramifications of the choices that are being made.

Thank you.

Adonis.

So this is a tough one because we're talking about a neighborhood that has just been historically under invested in or just no investment at all.

And then now there's a big massive infrastructure project lumen over the CID and it makes me think of how we've done this in other parts of the city.

23rd Avenue was a project that I worked on.

I worked on it.

I was the outreach lead on that thing every day.

The CD, underinvested in for so long, and then we come in with this big road project, right?

And then what I used to hear from people, this is what people said to me.

They were like, you didn't do this project until all the white people moved in.

That's what they used to say to me.

And that was really tough.

That was really hard to take.

And then you've got a contractor, right, who's basically like taking over the road, and it's really hard to get in places, businesses are shutting down.

And so the things that I saw work on that project, getting all the organizations, the BIAs, the community councils, all those folks in the room before you start construction, let's have that conversation, right?

The other thing I saw work on that project was mitigation.

mitigation for businesses during construction.

There's a number of ways that could look like money, that could look like working with a contractor to make sure the contractor doesn't shut down roads and various things on holidays and things like that to get the project built.

We got 23rd Avenue built.

I think Sound Transit's gonna get this built too in the CID, but they have to make sure that they do it right and make sure they engage the community and have the right kind of mitigation.

Okay.

Thaddeus, I will not make you answer the question again.

This next question, I will do a little.

It's about fentanyl.

In talking to, at the time, both candidates who were running for attorney general, it was a big deal to them.

had different approaches about how they were looking at it.

I'm going to ask the question the way that the question is asked.

You may disagree with the way that the question is asked, and as a community, I hope you know, because we don't talk about it enough, the impact that fentanyl is having in our community.

Do you know that grade schools have Narcon, so in case a grade school student accidentally takes fentanyl?

They can get the cure.

There's other things going on in our community regarding fentanyl as well.

We had a program up here with an EMT, a school teacher, and anyway, it's a big deal in our community, and this drop of a pin, pin drop of fentanyl can kill you.

It's everywhere.

Anyway, so the question that I'd like to ask of our candidates, and I'm gonna start with Yushikandi with this particular question.

Ooh, did I lose it?

How do you go here?

Oh, I gotta find this one.

Let's see here.

I'm sorry, give me a second.

I had a whole bunch of questions here, I'm sorry.

And I figured that out.

So the question, was what will you do to support, what will you do to support rehabilitation in regards to the efforts to control the fentanyl scourge in our community?

And Shikandi, I'll start with you.

You answered the question however you want to, but that's the way the question was asked.

What would you do to support rehabilitation?

regarding the fentanyl scourge in our community.

Thank you, Tony.

So first of all, in prior question, we talked about CID, and I just wanted to remind people that I had a business at the corner of 14th and Jackson for over 20 years, and it burned down, along with Operation Nightwatch.

And we most certainly had many fentanyl-afflicted people that came in there.

Now, moving on to the fentanyl crisis, I'm intimately involved with this and been impacted.

My mother walked through a fentanyl cloud in her lobby of her building, and it affected her immediately.

So I got the memo, I received the alarm, and what I would do specifically is make sure that we prioritize resources to programs like the care team, right, and our CSOs, and the responses to, so people can have a non-commissioned officer, if you will, respond to these fentanyl crisis when people are in crisis.

However, people that refuse treatment and refuse resources we do need to have ways that we can remove them from hurting themselves and others.

So we want to have a really velvet glove as we approach this, but it will still be with their hands.

And you know what?

I'm going to give you an additional 15 seconds now that I found the original question.

How will you support drug rehabilitation and mental health to those especially doing fentanyl and other substances on the streets?

So that's just a little further.

Let me give you another one.

Oh, again, I would just prioritize resources.

The city has launched many initiatives now, and they're just getting up on their feet in terms like the CSOs, those cars, you see them.

We have a care team.

And so we have many resources and leverage the pool to be able to give people the resources they need to move away from fentanyl.

And Mark, the question again, how will you support drug rehabilitation and mental health, it's up to you, maybe you won't support it, maybe you see another way, to those especially doing fentanyl and other substances on the streets?

And I say that just because there are people who have different thoughts about how you should deal with the crisis, Mark.

There's no question that we need more mental health supports, more case workers, more drug treatment interventions.

We currently don't have enough.

That's especially true when we look at a number of folks who are out on the street in crisis.

And many of those folks in crisis are coping with that crisis by self-medicating.

And because they're self-medicating, sometimes that leads to more crisis.

So there is an intersectionality there.

Addressing the fentanyl issue is not just something that can be done by law enforcement.

It's not just a law enforcement fix.

It's a human services fix.

mental health fix and we need to invest the dollars in our mental health resources to assist people who are in you know those particular circumstances.

I have a colleague that works in DEA and they have a community engagement program and one of their programs that they have they're going into schools and they talk about one pill can kill right and that's related to fentanyl there's so much fentanyl out there right now that looks like candy So it is a danger to our young people.

15 seconds.

And because it is such a danger to our young people, as well as a danger to mother who walked through that cloud.

we gotta invest the money, and if the city doesn't have it, I wanna go find it.

And time is up.

Hong, how will you support drug rehabilitation and mental health to help those, especially doing fentanyl and other substances on the streets?

Yeah, I really appreciate the framing of this question and the way that Mark answered it, because I would say that if all I had was the experience of walking through Little Saigon like I did this last weekend.

I would say maybe it becomes an enforcement thing.

But I don't see it as that.

I think we need to look at it as a healthcare crisis that we need to treat.

And that came from my time working at Plymouth Housing.

It's a permanent supportive housing nonprofit.

And that's where they really taught me things like trauma informed care.

And that's where they taught me about harm reduction.

And so for me, when I think of what we need to do, it's like what Mark said, we have to understand that it's not just an isolated thing, we have to do what was done, I think it was just announced like the week or two before when they did a bust of the people who are suppliers.

We need to stop the source and then people having access to it.

And then we have to figure out how to understand and care for the whole person.

They need to stop using, then we need to figure out, like a facility that they might be able to go to for detoxing.

And then they'll need counseling, both emotional, mental health counseling.

And then they'll need job training and ongoing support because relapsing is very much a thing.

So just like Mark said, it needs to be a holistic approach to care for someone's whole humanity.

And the only way that we can do that is to treat it not as a legal problem and a law enforcement problem solely, that sometimes that's necessary, but to start from the whole person first.

And time is up.

Adonis, how will you support drug rehabilitation and mental health help to those especially doing fentanyl and other substances on the streets?

Well, the good news is people do recover.

That is like the good news.

People do recover.

Those are people's moms and dads and brothers and sisters.

There's probably a mom at home right now whose son who's up there in the CID right now, and she's wondering when her son's gonna come home.

And if you're picking up what I'm putting down, I've been very active in the recovery community for almost 10 years now, helping men and women, mostly men, get to meetings.

I do a lot of my volunteer work, at the Salvation Army and the Union Gospel Mission, and over and over again, I hear stories of recovery.

I hear people who go from being on the street to getting a job, and then five, three, four, five years later, they're a very active person in the community.

And so what needs to happen in those situations is, because what happens is with addiction, you're out there, you're doing it, you're doing it, you're doing it, and you hit bottom, you hit a bottom, you hit a bottom, and there you are at the bottom.

And unless that hand is there when you're at the bottom, you start to feel better, Your buddy calls you, you're back on the street, you're doing it again.

So somebody has to be there when you hit bottom.

And when they're there, people need to be stabilized.

You need to stabilize them with shelters, with homes, because otherwise they're just going to go back out and do what they're going to do.

Then you've got to get them into a recovery program.

There's all kinds of different recovery programs to get people into, and then they need that long-term care, whether that's counseling or someone to be there and stay with them to let them know that things are going to be okay.

But the good news is people do recover.

That is, how will you support drug rehabilitation and mental health help to those especially doing fentanyl and other substances on the streets?

Absolutely.

So first, when we approach this issue, we have to approach it from a place of love.

These are our neighbors, as we said, someone's mother, father, son.

These are the people who we need to look to support the most.

It's an intersectional problem.

I'm happy that the city has invested more money and more resources toward helping youth get mental health care.

Because if we address problems before they even start, When we help children not even get to the place where they're going to use drugs or be engaged with fentanyl, we can help prevent problems in the future.

It's also investing in things like specialized courts.

Think about mental health court, veterans treatment court, ways that provide specialized care, more one-on-one treatment that looks at the person holistically and provides them counseling and treatment options.

Part of it is putting all options on the table and having very real conversations.

Look to other cities that have combated this problem, like Vancouver.

They have engaged things like safe injection sites, which allow for testing products to make sure that people aren't gonna die when they accidentally have fentanyl in the drugs they're using.

And time is up.

Eddie, how will you support drug rehabilitation and mental health help to those especially doing fentanyl and other substances on the streets?

Thank you, Tony.

First, we have to lead with compassion.

I think there are so many who have a family member.

I had an older brother who was a chronic alcoholic and died from alcoholism-related cancer.

And so we have to lead with compassion.

I'm glad we are taking steps.

We passed the county crisis cares levy.

That's taking too long to open up those crisis care centers.

The mayor's doing overdose recovery, which is gonna be a great resource because when people overdose, they're in a very vulnerable time.

So that's a strong step.

And I support permanent supportive housing.

I support harm reduction.

But I think we've never seen fentanyl before.

And now the drug cartels are putting in new things to avoid detection.

And so I think there's a question that we have to struggle with as a community about how do we address, what does harm reduction look like?

If you take one pill and you die, what does harm reduction look like when our children are dying?

So I think, and I'm concerned that we have drug dealers that are exploiting our homeless.

There was recently a big bust of people that were operating out of the jungle.

So we certainly have to use law enforcement to go after the drug dealers.

And if people are engaging in criminal behavior associated with their federal use.

And time is up.

we do need to address that criminal behavior.

All right, so this next question, Mark, I will be starting with you.

And I mean, these have all been amazing questions from our community.

The seats going to get a little hot right now.

All right.

And I need y'all out here to make sure that this seat stays hot on this question.

So the question was asked by someone who calls themselves an old timer.

And so when I'm reading the question, and I'm gonna read it to you, I'm figuring this is a person who, like me, was before the internet, before email, before Instagram, before all these different ways that you have to communicate.

So the question is this, and you can answer it however you want to.

but this is how I'm looking at it.

The question says, for us old timers, we remember being able to call and get a response from our council member.

What will your constituent response philosophy be?

Show up.

And I look at my city council icon, my city council hero, Sam Smith, right?

When people called Sam's office, he was sometimes the person who picked up the phone, right?

So go, I want to talk to Sam.

This is Sam.

They weren't expecting that.

And that's the kind of Customer service I want to provide.

If you call me, I want to return your call.

I want to show up in your neighborhood.

I want to be present for you.

I want to be accountable to you.

I want to be responsive.

I think about the line of work that I'm in right now.

People don't call me because they're having a good day.

They call me because there's an issue they want taken care of.

There's something that they want resolved.

There's something that they need assistance with.

It's my job to do that.

It's my job to be of service.

And I can't be of service if I don't show up.

So that's the primary thing for me is showing up, being present, and listening to what the concerns actually are, and then working with folks to actually deliver results.

Okay.

Hong, same question for you.

And I'm going to get everybody back up here again.

This technology is just a man playing games with me.

This is from an old timer who says he or she, whoever the individual is, they remembers being able to call and get a response.

What will your response strategy be for your constituents?

And there's a lot of them, man.

I get it.

Email, Facebook.

I mean, there's a bunch of ways.

So just tell us what it is or would be.

Okay, am I good?

You're good.

I would say, first of all, don't look at this face and think that I'm maybe not approaching old-timership.

And so, I show up as a curmudgeon quite often these days, actually.

But in all seriousness, the way that I would approach it is really just to be present, to bring and to talk about everyone's and be willing to hear their hopes their dreams, their frustrations.

And I think in most of my experience of working with people, and I work with people a lot, whether that's behind the counter at my family's business, whether it's at my office where I'm working with donors who are frustrated with something, or whether I'm working with a parent who just wants to know who to talk to about to resolve the issues that their youth is dealing with.

I'm like, I don't work with programs, I don't know, but let me find someone who can help.

Let me just listen to you.

I want you to feel like you are the one that matters to me right now.

I want you, the human person that's coming to me for help, to feel listened to and that someone cares.

And I would just say, I recognize that maybe they're not asking me to resolve it.

They just want to feel seen and heard.

And Adonis, for us old timers, including myself in that, we remember being able to call and get a prompt response from our council member.

What will your constituent response philosophy be?

I ain't mad at you if you say email.

No, it's all good.

I mean, I remember the phone stuck in the wall and you had to dial the thing.

I get it, I get it.

I mean, what comes to mind is accessible and responsive and follow up.

So I was thinking about a business owner I just helped who reached out to the mayor's office.

He was struggling.

He had a construction project on Washington and his business was off Occidental, so his business was between Washington and Yesler on Occidental.

There was a city project on Washington, and then there was a private construction project on Yesler, and so nobody could get onto Occidental.

And then he said every day he would show up to work and there was somebody sleeping in his doorway, right?

And so just being at the city and knowing how the city works and knowing all the different people, I was able to get a timeline on the city project, and we got that wrapped up, so we got that access back.

Yes, there's a private project, so I knew where to go to look to check the timeline on that project.

Got the timeline down, reported back to this business owner, so he was okay with that.

But then there was the person who was sleeping in the doorway.

How do we deal with that, right?

So that's UCT.

There's different programs in the city.

that deal with people who are homeless, and so they were able to track that person and get that person moved.

So what I did was, is right before the holiday, I walked down there, I had Washington open, Yessler open, and the person was gone, and he thanked me for it.

So that's the kind of way I would be responsive.

Thank you.

Fatty, a same question for us old timers.

We remember being able to call and get a prompt response from our council member.

What will your constituent response philosophy be as you're sharing this to these district two folks out here and letting them know how you get out or would get out?

Yep, one of the most important roles of this D2 council member is to help restore faith in the council, help restore faith that your council member is listening to you.

And it is responding promptly.

It's also showing up and listening and hearing what the person has to say actively.

And after the conversation, you know, maybe following up and saying, here's what I heard from you.

What do you want me to do?

It's also being proactive.

and going out and knowing about issues.

So when those calls come in, when the emails come in, when whatever comes in, you're able to jump in and tackle it immediately.

You already have some background and you know and have some ideas about what you want to do.

It's also knowing and thinking about who are you not hearing from?

Because so much of the problems that I think Seattle is facing comes from people who don't have a seat at the table, who we aren't able to listen to because we haven't invested the resources to go out and hear from them.

It's why investing in social services is important.

It's why our or see staff going into the communities to talk to unsolved community members, people dealing with drug issues, people who are dealing with mental health issues, and making sure that they have a place to come and talk to.

And time's up.

Eddie.

For us old timers, we remember being able to call and get a prompt response from our council member.

What will your constituent response philosophy be?

Thank you, Tony.

You know, I think constituent services really is the top priority of being a council member, at least in a district, for District 2. That's why I am applying for this position, and that would be my top priority.

And it's something that I really enjoy.

I mean, over the past month, I've had the opportunity to meet a lot of people in the district, to meet some of your pleasure to get to know different parts of the community.

As far as response philosophy, I love to meet people in person, but I think you have to meet people where they're at.

So some people like the phone.

Some people might want that email response.

Some people might want you to meet in person, some people might like a community forum or a community meeting.

So it's really about being accessible and being responsive is really like Hong said.

People just wanna know that they're being heard, so you do need to get back to them promptly so they know that.

Thank you.

Shikundi.

For us old timers, we remember being able to call and get a prompt response from our council member.

What will your constituent response philosophy be?

Thank you, Tony.

So first of all, all of my responses are not aspirational.

They're based on things that I've already done and will continue to do as your council member.

One of the things that I've set up in the Black Legacy Homeowner Group that I've founded is that we have a ticket system.

When people call us, our members call.

I have volunteers that take tickets and we get back to people.

The other thing is we do home site visits.

We go and I take resources to seniors right now.

Those old timers, I'm going to people's homes right now and meeting them and telling them about the senior tax exemption.

I sit in people's living rooms right now.

So the old timers, give me a call.

It's not a problem.

The other thing that I would have is community meetings by precinct.

I know the lines aren't the same, but I'm a PCO.

I had an elected PCO in the 37th, and so I know about going to my neighbors' homes.

The other thing that I would say, right, is in Seattle Parks, we have a thing called workplace expectations, where we like to get back to people within 48 hours, and I will most certainly do that.

So the old-timers that call my office, I would give them a tracking number, and we would get back to them.

That would be my plan.

and uh i'll take the rest of my time uh tony to respond back to the fentanyl question i believe that we need somebody that has reasonable and and pragmatic and compassion right my seven years of service as a volunteer on the board of real change along with my time on the african-american advisory council for spd under chief norm stamper give me the best of both worlds and to be able to approach it pragmatically and with compassion

We're going to go on to our next question.

And that question really was a good question for y'all.

You heard the responses.

If it made sense to you, you know, then cool.

If it didn't make sense to you, you're entitled to that too.

I did say I was old timer, but man, you don't have to call me.

You can text me.

You can get me other ways.

You know what I'm saying?

Times have changed.

That's just my feeling about it.

And I don't want us old timers to all get categorized into we don't know anything about technology.

All right.

But I appreciate everyone's answer here.

You're still gonna be on the hot seat for this next question.

And again, our audience is gonna hold you to this and we're gonna have audience questions in a little bit.

So here it is.

This is pretty plain and simple.

Maybe, maybe pretty plain and simple.

And Hong, I'm back to you again.

Maybe this is pretty plain and simple.

Please answer this question so that our audience knows when they leave here what the answer to this question was, or not, it's up to you.

I don't know, I'm not running for office.

We did vote though, and this isn't a vote, this is being selected, so here we go.

What are your top concerns and priorities for District Two?

If you had a chance to check out my materials, this won't seem surprising to you, but it is advancing public safety, investing in a thriving local community, and addressing our housing and homelessness crisis.

I think all of them feed into each other.

You know, you can't think about anything, if you don't have a place to live, if you don't have a place to sleep at night and be comfortable and be safe and not worry that your person or your property is going to be attacked or taken from you, you can't think about the next thing.

If you can't feel like you go out into the neighborhood and be safe, why would you want to put yourself out there to open up a small business?

And the small businesses are the things that are going to make our district and our city the vibrant, thriving, interesting place that it is.

If we take any of those things out, we're going to become some middle America suburb where all we have are like, no, no, we're gonna have like Panera's and you know, whatever, right?

That's your choice.

You're not gonna have a King Donuts.

You're not gonna have the Red Wing Cafe.

You're not gonna have, you know, the Wajimaya, right?

Like you won't have these homegrown small businesses that come from the people who live here because we can't, we have to do all of those things at the same time.

So public safety, investing in a thriving local community, address for housing and homelessness crisis.

Same question to you, Adonis.

So there's the work of the council, so I'll have to, if I get the appointment, I'll be on the special committee with the comprehensive plan, also the chair of the land use committee, so that's the work of the council.

But specific to District 2, 12th and Jackson CID, Little Saigon, top of the list, number one priority.

What I hear from folks down there in all the meetings that I've had is that we come and we go, and so a sustained effort in CID, Little Saigon.

I want to do, we talked about hiring police from the neighborhood.

And so for every neighborhood here in District 2, I want to host recruiting and outreach fairs for SPD.

And so I'm thinking back to when the police and fire department used to come to your school and it was like, it was kind of a cool thing.

So I think there's a lot of opportunity there.

Making Rainier Avenue safer, just period, it needs to be safer.

And there's things we can do in the first couple months to perhaps stop people from cutting in the center turn lane and some other things that I think we can do to make Rainier Avenue safer.

in the first couple months of this appointment.

There's only 10 months to do stuff.

So I'm thinking about things that actually can be done in those 10 months.

The other thing, because this is just what I hear constantly, I hear this constantly, that the city does not listen to us.

They don't listen to us on a whole number of things.

And so this is why I want to get that resolution passed that outlines a framework for how the city should be engaged with us.

And then the last thing, which is near and dear to my heart, I'm trying to give kids a different path.

Well, five seconds, I'm sorry.

Yeah, a different path.

So, you know, instead of a path to crime, let's do a path to skateboarding.

So we're going to break ground on the Rainier Beach Skate Park in these 10 months.

Adonis, I'm sorry I gave you five seconds like that, but oh well.

You handled it well.

Thaddeus, what are your top concerns and priorities For District 2, tell our public audience how you're going to get in.

Over the past several months, I've been out in the community every single day, talking to community members, talking to leaders, talking to small businesses, talking to people who are just walking down the street, asking them, hey, what's up?

What are your priorities?

How are you feeling?

And what I've gotten back is that public safety, affordable housing, and homelessness are three of the top issues.

Part of addressing this is listening more to the community, showing up, making sure that people know that they can reach out to their city council member and know that they're going to take action, that they're going to take what they're saying and run with it and try and improve situations.

It's investing in the CID and listening to stakeholders in the CID.

We know that 12th and Jackson, 12th and King are hotbeds.

It's working collaboratively in bringing together coalitions to address problems and connecting community members with each other.

Public safety is one, investing in police, making sure that we have more police officers.

A few years ago, I was walking down the street.

I had Rainier and Edmunds, nearly killed in the drive-by.

50 shots, one out.

And I was very thankful that police were able to show up quickly, that we had people who would run into gunfire to protect us.

With public safety, it's also bringing community together.

I remember having Officer Cookie back when I was in elementary school.

And time is up.

Eddie.

Hey, hey.

What are your top concerns and priorities for District 2 that you want to share with our in-studio audience and those watching across the Seattle Channel and the Rainier Avenue Radio Broadcast Media Network and just listening on our radio?

network.

Tell us what it is.

Thank you, Tony.

So, yeah, like many others, public safety, 12th and Jackson.

At the same time, speaking with Jeff Leong here of the CID Business Improvement Association, we also have to address the public perception of, you know, we don't want people to avoid the CID.

We want people to go shop and eat there.

So please, everybody, go down there, go out to eat.

Yeah, housing and homelessness are top priorities, and it's been what I've been working on for the past five years with the Office of Housing.

And with the comp plan on the agenda, that's a huge issue, particularly for District 2, because they have a displacement risk map.

And District 2 is the most at risk of displacement.

And we need to make sure that the wrongs of the past, the redlining that has basically robbed our D2 community of wealth building opportunities, we need to change that.

And we need to get it right this time and start Turn it turn in the corner there.

We need to adjust segregation in our community.

Segregation is again related to our prior planning and it's plaguing our communities.

It's also harming our schools and schools are going to be a top priority for me.

I know it's not typically something something about for city council.

but we do have a family's education preschool and promise levy coming up.

It funds important wraparound services for programs like Friends of the Children that Hong works with and other school staff, preschools, and our community college tuition.

And time is up.

Thank you.

Chikundee, what are your top concerns and priorities for District 2?

Thank you, Tony.

I think our in-studio audience already knows at the beginning of my answer here that my top priorities can be found at shikundi.com, and they are clearly outlined.

However, I don't have a problem reiterating them right now.

Public safety and community well-being, housing affordability and anti-displacement, And economic development and environmental sustainability.

These are my three top priorities.

And again, as I've talked about all night, I have years and decades of engaging with this community in District 2, doing the work, caring for them.

And I'm not just doing outreach and engagement now because I'm running or trying to get in office.

I already ran for office in 2020. So I most certainly met with many of you then, and I've continued that work.

So when I talk about my top priorities, they truly come from community.

And it's not from a survey that I recently did.

It's from the work of sitting in your living rooms, being at the rallies, being at the comp plan meetings, hosting events around the comp plan and the one Seattle plan.

I was there as a volunteer, not as my city job.

When I talk about my engagement, it's off the clock.

And that's what's important and what I will bring to the table as a council member, that passion and desire and drive that you and many in this community have seen from me for the last 25 years.

Mark.

Sir.

What are your plans?

Top priorities, obviously, as has been talked about, public safety, displacement, density, affordability, building generational wealth, having the ability to purchase homes so that generational wealth can be built.

And when I think about public safety, I think about what happened this past weekend.

There were six shootings in the South End, okay?

One of them in Soto, okay?

That's not D2 anymore, right?

Five of them were in D2, you know, from Seward Park to right by Aki Kurose to North Beacon Hill.

That is a concern for me. when we have that level of gun violence going on.

And it's not necessarily something that just having more cops on the street is going to prevent.

So what resources can we tap into that will be those violence interrupters?

We already have violence interrupters in the community.

What kind of support do they need, and how can we work together to interrupt this cycle?

And I'll say more about public safety.

It's not just about cops and firefighters.

Public safety to me is also about the viability of our business communities.

When we have thriving business communities, we tend to have less crime.

So how can we support our small businesses?

And that's one of the reasons I'm looking at how can we create a fund, go out and find the resources to help our small businesses before they encounter any kind of public safety issue.

Thank you, thank you, all of you for being on this stage.

If you are interested in asking a question, there's a microphone right there in a very orderly fashion.

Go ahead and, well, we could line up, it's one thing, or we do have a mic, because I know there may not be people who wanna get up, so I'm not sure how we're gonna do this yet, but if you have a question, raise your hand.

Okay, hold on a second.

Hold on a second.

So that's one person with a question.

Does anybody else raise your hand if you have a question?

Okay, I see a couple questions down here and we're going to make it happen.

So we got you.

And then the person with the broken foot spoke up, so we're going to do them.

But here's a question from our community.

That's why it's mobile.

And then I also ask people to come down here.

So this is a question from, is there any Columbia City business owners in the audience today?

Okay, yeah, Columbia City business owners.

So on Friday, when we were passing out flyers to let folks know that this was taking place, because nobody knew, is what it is, businesses, three businesses asked basically this same question.

And this is the question, and I'm gonna start, Adonis.

What will you do to help small businesses like those in Columbia City that are struggling with issues such as crime, police response time, that's a very real thing, increase costs related to the new minimum wage and other costs?

On Friday, when we were talking about this meeting, three small businesses told us that they may have to close.

You want me to repeat that?

I heard three questions in there.

Will you repeat that?

Yeah, that's a lot, huh?

Yeah.

Okay, so you got 90 seconds to work your way through it.

Can you repeat the question?

I will repeat it.

What will you do to help small businesses like those in Columbia City, right here, that are struggling with issues such as crime, Police response time.

You heard me say that's a real thing.

We don't even call the police.

Increased costs related to the new minimum wage and other costs.

On Friday, three businesses said that they may have to close.

This is just keeping businesses afloat, right?

So when I think about that, It starts with access, access to the business.

And if the crime is an issue, then I do believe that we do need an increased presence of police.

But I wanna be clear about what I'm talking about.

So in the CID, that's gonna look different than Columbia City, it's gonna look different than Rainier Beach.

So one of the ideas when I was talking to some of the Columbia City business owners I was talking about, wouldn't it be great if cops got out of their car and walked a beat?

And just walked a beat, walked a beat, got to know the businesses, got to know the people, talk to people, right?

So they're walking a beat.

And then what this does is it cuts down on things like burglaries and whatnot.

So that's one way I believe that we can support small businesses that way.

In terms of the increased cost of business, my understanding that insurance is going up, insurance is going up because of the public safety issue.

So there's businesses in Ballard, there's businesses downtown, there's businesses down here in the South End.

where insurance is just skyrocketing.

It's skyrocketing because they don't want to insure these businesses because the crime is so bad.

And so I think we can start with a place of public safety, increased presence of police on the ground, in the neighborhood, walking a beat.

All right, thank you.

And Thaddeus, same question.

You want me to repeat it?

Are you good?

Yes, please.

I know, man, that's a lot.

What will you do to help small businesses like those in Columbia City that are struggling with issues such as crime, police response, increased costs related to the new minimum wage?

Three businesses said that they may have to close down on Friday.

They shared that info.

Absolutely.

So I have spoken with many small businesses in our community, ranging from the top of D2, CID, down to Rainier Beach and all throughout, including here in Columbia City.

It is, as Adana said, about bringing police onto the beat.

As he's talking about insurance, I talked to someone whose insurance went up 40%.

I talked to another business owner who was refused insurance, can't even get insurance.

say your window gets busted in, these small businesses are having to pay out of pocket.

So it is bringing more policing, but it's also bringing more people onto the street.

And we can achieve this using the comp plan, using processes that increase density, processes that bring more players to the table to frequent these businesses.

Living in Othello, we see a bunch of development going on, including the Hala and the Nisi Sagan development right near the Othello station.

I've talked to small businesses around there, and they're seeing increased numbers of people coming in.

So we need to build around small businesses and plan our cities to not only create mixed-use residential buildings, which have more spaces for small businesses, so maybe rents can be a little bit cheaper, but also bringing people in to go eat them and see food that's all over.

And that is time.

Eddie, do you want me to repeat the question, or are you good?

I'm good, Tony.

Thank you.

So first of all, I support our workers, our minimum wage workers, and they're struggling as well.

And the hard part, what we're struggling with is that even at minimum wage, you still can't afford to live here in Seattle, right?

So we have to address the affordable housing crisis, which ultimately will support our workers and our small businesses.

I mean, we're dealing with a lot of intersectional issues here.

Absolutely, public safety is a key one.

You know, the broken windows program I've heard, you know, does not pay the full cost, especially in like district.

I'd love to support broader exemptions or ways to cut regulations and taxes for our small businesses.

And it's not just the taxes they pay, but they also have to hire an accountant, hire a lawyer to figure this stuff out.

And that might be a lot more than ultimately the taxes they end up paying.

And finally, I also just think that we can be cheerleaders for our local businesses.

We got to shop and eat local.

So not just in Chinatown, come on down here to Columbia City, shop and eat local.

Thank you.

All right.

Shakundi, would you like to hear the question repeated, or are you good?

Always, Tony.

Please repeat the question.

I'm sorry, I didn't hear you.

Please repeat the question, Tony.

No problem.

What will you do to help small businesses like those in Columbia City, where we are, that are struggling, and we are, with issues like crime, police response time, increase costs related to the new minimum wage?

Talked to three businesses on Friday when we were passing out this information that said that they may have to close.

Excellent.

Thank you for repeating the question, Tony.

What I would say is I raised my, once again, my experience comes from something I really do, right?

It's not aspirational.

I'm a member of the Royal Esquire Club right here in the block up.

I go to the executive meetings.

Our windows have been broken, so I stand in solidarity with Columbia City businesses because I am one.

That's why I raised my hand.

It's a member of a club.

So what I would do for our businesses here in Columbia City and beyond is, of course, work with SPD to look at SEPTED and ways that we can improve safety around these facilities.

Is it better lighting?

Is it more cameras and the like?

I'd also work with the Office of Economic Development.

We have underutilized programs right now where businesses can take advantage of those.

The other thing is I will work with the local businesses collectively, you know, using the groups such as the Chamber of Commerce, right, so we could get really what are the top ten things, top five things, and groups like the Washington Hospitality Association, which I know that many members in the businesses here in Columbia City are a member of that.

So that's what I would do in response to that question, Tony.

I use the remaining 20 seconds of my time to really talk about my response in standing with the victims in our district when crime has hit home and murder has hit home.

I was there at Connor's house when he was murdered that night before.

I stood with his parents and galvanized our community around there.

And I organized a rally at Garfield High School when Ahmad was killed last year.

I was there and I brought 500 people out.

And time is up.

Compassion.

Would you like the question repeated or are you good?

No, I get it.

Because we're talking about how the Columbia City businesses are feeling.

And I was actually at the Columbia City Business Association meeting this morning.

And we talked about the issues that they had.

I'm familiar with the Columbia City BIA.

I've had conversation with folks from Rainier ABC.

We specifically talked this morning about officers getting out of their cars and being in the community more.

But we also have to face the reality that we don't have the officers do that proactive work because our numbers are down.

Now, we are bringing more officers in.

We are getting more slots in the academy to bring more officers on board, but from the time somebody applies to the time they become a usable officer, it could be up to two years, okay?

And that's a reality that we have to acknowledge.

What can be done is, you know, she couldn't even mention, CEPTED.

I've done that with a lot of the businesses in Columbia City.

Going and talking to the folks at Molly Moon's about personal safety.

Talking to the folks at PCC about the robberies that have happened on the road and doing better safe card themselves.

15 seconds.

So it's not just a matter of what we do after the fact.

It does get back to what we can do before the fact.

What can we do to assist those businesses to prevent them from being victims of crime in the first place?

And time is up.

Do we have a microphone for that person who was in the back of the room who broke their foot?

I have it right here in my hand.

Okay.

Oh, oh, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, I did it again, Hong, I am sorry.

Wait, man, get my attention, man.

You're gonna skip me for my favorite question of the night so far because I get to talk about one of my favorite people in the room.

You want me to repeat it?

No, no, I got it, I got it.

And I told you I get to talk about her.

And so, you know, my mom gets me to answer the question of why I'm up here.

And, you know, I think about her and she pours so much into our small business.

And it's not just a transactional thing for her.

It's like our way of life, right?

Like it's an extension.

It's our hope.

It's our dream.

And so for us to be able to address this question is amazing because, yes, we deal with crime.

Yes, we deal with increased costs and wages, and we want to do the right thing.

We want to support the people who work with us, and we want them to be not a Starbucks employee when they can come work with us.

But we need support from the city for that.

members of the police force to come and walk in our neighborhood so that people see that there's safety and accountability.

We want to look at things like technology access and training.

I'm trying to teach her all the time how to use our POS system.

And it would be great if we can get resources from the city to do that.

We want to make it easy for our customers to come to us.

That's on the roads, that's the sidewalks, that's transit.

and we want them to be able to park and do their business and get on with their day.

We want them to, we want the city to continue investing tools like the TI Fund, which we've been able to benefit from, and we've been able to invest and grow our business.

We want something that's crazy and maybe out there, but it's like, healthcare, right?

Like we can't compete with Starbucks.

If there was some kind of like healthcare marketplace that we as small businesses join into, we can become competitive.

And time is up.

Thank you.

So now we're gonna go to this part of it.

I'm just gonna ask everyone, please be civil.

I think that everyone has been civil up here on this stage in answering the questions.

you're going to get like 10 seconds to ask your question.

So if you have to provide context, I'm going to say take the mic and give it to the next person.

This is called giving you some time to formulate the question.

That's what I'm doing now.

And then the answer is going to be about 30 seconds because I want to get as many questions as we can in.

Ask the question in about 10 seconds.

If you start telling me about your circumstance, I'm gonna say, take the mic back so we can give it to somebody else.

Does everybody understand that?

Okay, first question, the person with the broken foot in the back, please say your name.

The person with the broken foot is your godmother.

This is Dawn Mason.

I'm a former state representative.

I'm a former state representative.

I congratulate all of you who are with me.

Give it the question.

No, stand up there.

I'm most likely the oldest person in the room.

I'm an elder of distinction.

I know four of you up there, three and my godson.

And the question.

So I want to know this.

Do you really, how do you really understand being a council member?

Most of the answers you have given sounds like you're running non-profit organizations.

How do you understand being a council member?

Let's get some answers.

I got you.

I got you.

We're going to stop now.

Hong, how do you understand being, what is it?

How do you understand being a council person?

My understanding is that council member have staff who are the policy experts.

My role is to be your bridge and to be your, like show up, listen to you, understand what's going on in your life, take it back to the people who know policy and work towards the solution with the rest of the council.

All right.

Adonis.

As a transportation advisor in the mayor's office, I work with council every day and central staff every day.

So I've got a pretty good sense of the work that they do, how we set agendas and work with them, and just the day-to-day of being a council member.

Yeah.

All right.

Ann, Thaddeus.

As a land use lawyer, I worked with city council members, not only in Seattle, but across the region, learned about how they address problems, when to use staff, how to get into the public and hear from stakeholders about how to address issues and what's most important.

Eddie.

Working in the city attorney's office, we work with the mayor's office and council central staff regularly.

I've worked on legislation, drafted legislation, and work closely with current council members.

Yeah, I see myself at the intersectionality of policy and government and also community, right?

Most certainly we have people in the office who know policy.

They're experts, legislators, folks that can help you draft legislation.

But my job is to be able to really connect with community and see when we're going to follow the policy and when we're going to change the policy.

Mark.

I see the primary job of a city council member is not just legislating, it's listening.

It's being a servant to the community.

So that's what I see the primary thing is that yeah, we can do the policy thing, we can do the implementation thing, we can do the problem solving thing, but am I really listening to the community?

Are people being heard?

Do people feel that they have been heard and their concerns have been addressed?

Again, for me, it's about service and being a servant.

Man, time is up.

Okay, we're going to take the next question here.

Sorry, Don.

Y'all know if I'm willing to interrupt my godmother.

I'm serious about this.

It's not personal.

Okay.

Next question, I'm going to go here, and then I know there were some questions over here, and I'm just going to try and remember.

So we're going to take this question first and answer the question in 10 seconds.

Ask the question in 10 seconds.

How sure are you to be more...

Pavilion than the last 10 County people been on the board to the people.

Uh, I'm not sure with him.

How sure are you gonna be more positive for the people in the community that the ones been on the board before?

Mark, we'll start with you again.

Uh, it's listening.

It's showing up.

It's being responsive.

Just that simple, being of service to the community.

Hong.

I'm sorry, can you, I didn't.

Yeah, what she said.

I'll just go, I'll draw from two experiences, one as my experience in life as an immigrant and refugee, and one as a nonprofit person.

Like you cannot make it in this world as an immigrant or refugee or a nonprofit person without having hope that the world can be better and that you can bring people along to achieve that vision.

And that's who I am.

Adonis.

Showing up and dealing with the issues that people in District 2 are dealing with.

And so that is the CID, Little Saigon, that's Rainier Avenue, that's MLK, dealing with those issues to make those places safer.

And you know, I keep hearing, I keep hearing it, I keep hearing it, but the city does not listen.

So by listening, by getting this resolution passed that outlines the framework for how the city should be engaging with this community, that is one way to definitely show that things will be different.

Yeah, it's showing up, it's listening, it's being proactive and showing up even when people don't ask you to be there.

So you're able to hear more diverse voices in the community.

It's talking to groups who you may disagree with to better understand their point of view so you can integrate ideas and discuss what the actual best solution is.

And it's community engagement.

bringing people together, building broad coalitions, because the issues that are in front of us can all be addressed together.

And time is up.

Eddie, same answer to answering that question.

So I think it's about hard work, being humble, showing up, not being ideological, being a practical problem solver, and listening to you.

This community is amazing.

This community has the right ideas, and I want to uplift your ideas.

And Shikundi.

Yeah, I plan on using my 28 years of experience as a city employee along with my many years, decades of being a community volunteer and an elected PCO.

And that combination of knowing how to work in the city and also work and listen, a proven, demonstrated ability to listen and work with our community as I've done, that's going to prepare me to make sure that I avoid the pitfalls of my predecessors.

Thank you.

Mark.

You want me to go again?

Okay.

Does everybody get an opportunity?

Yeah.

Okay.

There's a person right there that's sweater.

There's three people right there.

Get them and let's see if we can get through them really quickly.

Get this person right here and give them the microphone and let them get their question.

Make your question concise and quick and then we'll do these three right here really quickly.

Go ahead.

Say your name.

Kirsten Dodro.

D2 is an area of high priority for environmental justice through exposure to air pollution, heat, and noise pollution.

How will you prioritize the health of your environment and your community through your time on council?

Really quickly, Hong, you want to start, please?

It's by working with community partners.

There are folks that are already doing this work.

The name that comes to mind is Maria Battaiola up on Beacon Hill.

you know, folks at El Centro de la Raza, they're right there underneath the flight path, and they've been doing this work.

And so that's who I would turn to is the people who are experts in the community.

15 seconds.

Adonis.

Yeah, yeah, going back to kids, kids, kids, kids, and I got to think about where we're placing this affordable housing.

Are we putting affordable housing right on an arterial?

Because if you think about this, that's air pollution for children, right?

So that's what I'm thinking about in terms of is this going to work for kids?

15 seconds.

Where do kids get to play?

Where do kids get to do the things that they want to do?

And if we're putting them right on an arterial, that can't be healthy for anybody.

Thank you.

And Thaddeus.

Yeah, it's about using the comp plan and using our landing strategies to ensure that as we're building density, we're building screening, that we're making sure to invest in trees and greenery that helps keep our air clean.

The legacy of the South End is this being built in an industrial area, this being a former landfill.

And so making sure that we remediate and work with partners.

And time is up.

Eddie.

Yeah, it's all about the comp plan.

We're in a climate crisis.

We see it in California.

And we're going to have refugees coming here.

And we're gonna have to have a world-class transportation system, right?

Our roads are not gonna get any bigger, but we're gonna have more people using them.

So that's how we're gonna make the most out of our roads and transportation.

Thank you.

Again, as I've answered every question, I have a demonstrated ability to work in this area, and I've been doing it for a long time.

So as a volunteer, I will continue my work with University of Washington's Nature Lab, where I serve on the advisory council there, and I'll bring those tools and techniques of leaders around climate change to beer here at the city.

And then as a member of the Parks and Recreation Department, where I've worked in the Green Seattle partnership for 20 years around reforesting District 2 and the rest of the city, I have an intimate knowledge of how to bring trees to our district.

Mark.

Well, I'm glad that I mentioned Maria Baciola and the Beacon Hill Council because I also sit on the Beacon Hill Council.

And micro particulates is a special concern for us because it is impacting the health of our neighbors, especially our elder neighbors.

Increasing the tree canopy is one way you can do it.

Preserving open space is another way.

The council was just able to get a park, a block dedicated to a park space at 17th and Walker.

We fought hard to make sure that the...

And time is up.

And I'm sorry, I'm smashing.

The public forum wasn't even supposed to include questions from the audience.

I just thought it was really necessary.

I'm going to get this gentleman right here in front because he had his hand up in the back.

Make your question really quick.

Please answer it in about 30 seconds.

Say your name first and get your question in.

My name is David, and I was wondering what our initiative to bring kindness and neighborness to the Columbia City neighborhood.

Do you guys have any projects?

Okay, that's the question.

Thank you.

What is the answer to the question?

We'll start with you, Adonis.

What I've found works in a lot of different neighborhoods is just activating spaces, creating spaces for people to enjoy music, create art, do all the really fun things that people do.

And then, you know, working in the DOT, we have a lot of We work with a lot of communities to create these spaces.

15 seconds.

Whether that's street eateries or temporary closures of side streets to have bands play, that kind of thing.

Just really activating and celebrating the community.

Dan, that is.

Yeah, part of it is by leading to an example, being kind yourself, engaging with community members, showing up and listening.

It's creating third spaces, places for people to connect.

It's talking to people in arts and culture, getting more events where people can listen to music.

This is the stage with Jimi Hendrix and Quincy Jones.

Let's have more of that.

Seattle has a rich arts history.

Let's capitalize on it.

Thank you.

Eddie.

Yes, I agree.

We need more arts.

And one other thing I'd like to do is just to lead by example.

You know, we are in such a divisive time, and it's only going to get worse with what's happening at the Feds, right?

So what we can do is come together as a community to support one another and to not be ideological, to meet people we're at, to not take things personally, and to really lean in and listen to these hard conversations.

Shikundi.

Thank you, Tony.

So yeah, once I would be a council member, the projects, he asked specifically about projects that I'm working on.

I had an amazing night out with my neighbors on my block, right?

And I want to bring that back in where it's not just a SPD thing, it's a city thing.

I want to get neighbors involved in the One Seattle community service projects that we did.

I was out there.

I've been there every year doing those.

The other thing, on a personal level, I've been leading health walks at Seward Park as a volunteer once again.

And then I would bring back community meetings, having routine community meetings right here in Columbia City.

And time is up.

Mark.

So the question was, what are my ideas to bring kindness to Columbia City?

Yeah, what's your project to bring kindness?

This is counting into your time to answer the question.

Collaboration, consultation, kindness.

15 seconds.

I will be asking you that.

I'm not going to come into your community and say, here's what I'm going to do for you, right, or here's my ideas for you.

I want to hear from you as to what your ideas are and how can I partner with you to make it happen.

Thanks for indulging me, Mark.

Z, I know you've had people.

One more question is all we're going to have time for.

Oh, wait, wait, wait, Hong.

Again, I'm sorry.

Go ahead, Hong.

Answer.

With only 30 seconds to answer, I'll just say sweet fried dough.

So King Donuts, you know, we partner with a variety of local community organizations.

the ABC Bicycle Club, it includes Bike Works, the UW Tennis Club, Friends of the Children this month for National Mentorship Month, ORCA.

We gave Dunlap 100 donuts for the 100th anniversary.

And time is up.

See, I made a decision since we started a little late, hope that everybody's not mad at me, so I'm going a little bit extra.

One question over here, ask a question.

Hey, my name's Cliff.

So if you were on council, let's say in the last year, and you probably heard about the Connected Communities pilot.

Would you have supported that?

Yes, no, and if not, why not?

All right.

That is.

You know what?

I want to talk to you about this afterward.

I don't know about that.

All right.

Eddie.

Hold on.

Eddie.

I believe the Connected Communities is Morales' zoning proposal that would support affordable housing with community-based spaces and yes, I would support it.

Yes, I would support that and I was at the meeting, I hosted the meeting in March of last month at Washington Hall, I mean last year with Councilmember Morales and I was there supporting that with Office of Planning and Community Development as well.

So yes, I've done the work and I will continue to do the work.

Yes.

Yes, here we go, Hong.

Yes, and I was really inspired to see one of the first beneficiaries of this program being Marjorie.

And as a small business owner, rent is a big part of our cost structure.

It's not as much as labor, but it is.

And so I was inspired to see that the city was investing in the kind of stability and empowerment of small businesses.

Okay, see, I gave you a little extra time, because I missed you last time.

I want to take advantage of that.

I appreciate it, thank you.

Adonis.

Yeah, that's one I'd have to learn a little bit more about.

Okay.

All right, thank you, thank you.

There were so many questions.

I'm glad that we did.

How about a round of applause for our candidates?

You know, that was...

That was cool, D2, but this is hard work.

This is not an elective process.

I appreciate what y'all are doing.

Let's seriously give them a big Columbia City round of applause.

Thank y'all for running.

And don't be mad at me because I cut some short out there and cut some short out here.

So everybody is going to get 60 seconds, 6-0 for closing statements.

I'm going to be hard on that because we're a little over time.

60 seconds for closing statements.

I'm going to go in the reverse order.

Mark, I'm going to start with you.

Closing statement, 60 seconds, 59. Oh, OK.

I do want to appreciate everyone for being here tonight.

Thank you for your attention.

Thank you for your concern about your community.

I've said in the past that D2 is my home, and I want to take care of my home.

The people of D2 are my family, and I want to take care of my family.

I know this community on a granular level.

I've been in every inch of this community, and as I've mentioned before, I've been in many of our people's homes.

so I know the concerns.

And like many others, I know how to work in collaboration with other entities, other agencies, whether they're city, county, or community-based, to effect positive, impactful change.

And that's what I pledge to do as your representative on city council, to work for you, to advocate for you, to listen and serve.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Shikandi.

Starting my own clock.

So once again, first of all, thank you for everybody coming out again.

Any question that you did not get answered from me specifically tonight, you can go to my website and send me an email from there and I will respond to you, okay?

I'm very accessible on all platforms.

So that being said, I really want to lean hard.

I don't have to dream sale here.

I've been doing the work and I will take that and extrapolate it in the role of the council member okay and so my work and everything it really speaks for itself but i'm happy to speak for myself right now so i have about 20 seconds left and all i would say is that i while we most certainly all have amazing jobs and we do our work and we're very capable people what you do away from work on your spare time as a volunteer really defines your passion and commitment to this district.

And mine speaks for itself.

I'm everywhere.

Time is up.

Thank you, Shikandi.

Eddie, 60 seconds.

All right.

Thank you, everybody, for being here.

It really warms my heart to hear everybody else speaking about D2.

It's my home, it's your home, and it's worth protecting.

We've got big challenges ahead of us.

We are a rapidly growing city.

So how do we grow while protecting our identity?

How do we grow while allowing our elders to age in place?

How do we grow while creating opportunities for our youth?

It's an enormous responsibility and I would work night and day to represent your interests.

One other thing I just want to mention is, if appointed, I would run for election in November for a couple of reasons.

One, because I want to be accountable to you, and I believe running would hold me accountable.

And two, the problems we face are gonna take a lot longer than 10 months to solve.

I'm in it for the long run, and I want to make that long-term commitment to you to really solving our most complex and intersectional problems.

Thank you.

And Thaddeus.

Thank you so much for coming out tonight.

Thank you for being involved in this political process, and your engagement speaks volumes to the importance of this position.

Right now, City Council is facing a comprehensive plan that presents its challenges and opportunities, opportunities to drastically change Seattle, to create affordable housing, to help house our unhoused community members, to help allow teachers EMTs, firefighters, baristas, everyone from all walks of life a chance to live in Seattle.

I have too many friends who have left, brilliant people who would help this city be a better place, who leave because they can't afford it.

15 seconds.

I want to work together, build broad coalitions.

I went from as a young kid about the power of bringing people together and just discussing, talking about how to make Seattle a better place.

And time is up.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Adonis, 60 seconds.

I'm just humbled and grateful to be sitting on this stage with my family here.

Grew up on Beacon Hill over there, rode my little skateboard around the the neighborhood, met my wife at Mercer Middle School and to just, you know, I played golf at Jefferson Park.

I was a ball boy for the Seattle Supersonics for a couple of years and went to the UW and worked at the city and have done a lot of great things at the city.

A lot of the projects you see around here are projects that I was a part of getting built.

And then to be sitting up on this stage with another opportunity for how to serve the people in this neighborhood that I grew up in, it's just, it's kind of wild.

So I'm just grateful to be up here and I'm really happy my family's here.

and it's really good to just see all y'all, so thank you.

Thank you, thank you.

And Hong.

I share Adonis' sentiment that this is wild to be up here, and I wanna thank everyone who's here tonight, people who are tuning in on livestream, people who are watching the recording a little bit later, It's really, really, really important that we take the time to be informed and engaged.

And so I thank my mother, who's over there, my husband, who's over there, my friend Jeffrey, Andrea, her husband Darrell, Jeff, other folks I see in the crowd.

Thank you so much for being here, just a friendly face.

And I'm really excited for this opportunity to bring my experience, my lived experience as an immigrant, as an Asian American, as a small business owner, as a nonprofit human service worker, and the service that I've given to the community and the relationships that I have in the community to help solve our problems together.

15 seconds.

As a longtime volunteer in the CID, Little Saigon, I understand.

You've got to show up not just as your day job.

Thank you, City Club, Tony B., for hosting this event.

Kudos to my fellow candidates for your desire to serve.

And finally, thank you to everyone who's reached out to me personally just to say go Hong.

Here we go.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And thank you to you.

Give yourselves a round of applause for showing up and showing out tonight.

This is what it's all about, having you here.

Really appreciate it.

Whatever you need to do, if you like a candidate, call your city.

Council people right now and say hey, I like this one.

This is what I you know believe should happen make your voice heard This is the opportunity that we have to do that because somebody on Monday is going to be one of these individuals on Monday will be your new City Council member.

Again, my name is Tony B. I'm unashamedly Z.

If you could be at the front giving everybody a flyer.

I'm unashamedly promoting Black History Month here at this museum because it's so important.

And if you don't understand the context of who we were, it's damn near impossible to understand why we are where we are now.

So come here from the voices the people the organizations the institutions who created the history that you can't find anywhere it'll be here in about 14 installations starting on february 1st you can go to call the conscience dot world thank you that's it that's all the time that i have that's going to do it for the kid it's me tony b saying remember whether you believe you can or whether you believe you cannot you're probably right i'm out peace