I'm your host, Brian Caliman.
She was the first Latina elected to the Seattle City Council, was selected to be council president, but now she's leaving the council after coming up short in a run for mayor.
Council President Lorena Gonzalez joins me to discuss her legacy after six years in office and the challenges the council may face in the years to come.
It's all coming up on a special one-on-one interview right here on Council Edition.
I have been really proud to have had an opportunity to step up in a moment of cr
And here I am with Council President Lorena Gonzalez.
And I really appreciate you being with me, Council President Gonzalez.
And I have to say, from the election through the council's budgeting process that wrapped up a short while ago, you have been through a challenging couple of months.
How are you doing right now?
Well, thanks, Brian.
It's good to see you again, as usual.
I'm doing, you know, feeling great, doing well.
I'm looking forward to recess here over the next couple of weeks.
And right now we're just focused on wrapping up this really important legacy of work that we're leaving behind, having served on the council for six years and really excited about looking towards the future and seeing what other exciting opportunities lay before us.
So feeling positive.
All right, that sounds go touch on your legacy in I do want to also talk ab the council's been doing weeks because you have b after the budget was app I wanted to focus on one passed a bill to establi and notice requirements f office in an effort to p diversion programs.
The The city has had these pr nearly a decade.
People a rather than jail time.
Our has raised some concerns also a backlog of crimin inherited.
She wrote to t about this.
I plan to re in our city's public safet forward to City Council's and attention to this dire backlog of cases.
I want to talk about your response to this and overall what the council is trying to achieve with this new legislation when it comes to what we're talking about here with these different issues of prefiling diversion.
Yeah, well, I appreciate the question.
You know, as someone who used to represent crime victims, you know, survivors of sexual assaults, survivors of elder abuse and other kinds of crimes, I certainly appreciate the interest in continuing to center the needs of survivors and victims of Of crimes, whether it's at the city attorney's office or in any other office and and I think that's part of the reason why we felt really strongly about increasing the city attorney offices budget by.
Um, you know, to the largest it's ever been in the history of the city.
So this new city attorney elect is going to inherit the largest budget for a city attorney in the history of the city precisely to do that, to address the issues of victims who are still waiting for justice, but also to engage in programs like pre filing diversion.
that have been proven with data to prevent recidivism, to prevent people from continuing to offend.
And that's good for victims.
That's good for us as a city.
And given that we have invested millions of dollars in this budget and pre-filing diversion programs, the least we can do for the taxpayers is request transparent consistent reporting of whether or not these programs are working and if there is a proposed shift or change to those programs, how they will be changed or shifted so that the City Council has the information it needs to make future budget decisions about the City Attorney Office's budget, specifically as it relates to those really important, you know, pre-filing diversion programs.
And just to play a little devil's advocate with you here, I know the city attorney elect brought up the example of Little Saigon.
There's been a lot of problems at 12th and Jackson recently.
Open air drug market there, people selling stolen goods.
I've toured the area myself.
She pushed back with some of that evidence there and saying we need to get a lot tougher on crime, etc.
I wanted just your reaction to that and just what we're talking about for the future relationship between the council and the city attorney.
Yeah, well, I think it's important for your viewers to know that those those kinds of crimes that that are occurring at 12th and Jackson and other places throughout the city are first and foremost unacceptable and and it is our expectation that the police department is going to investigate those crimes are merited to forward th appropriate prosecuting a case, if it's pretty si never go across um uh city desk.
It would it would a I think I think, you know, there are jurisdictional issues there.
There are complexities there, and those shouldn't be confused with the diversion programs that we have funded in the city.
Our diversion programs are are specifically, you know, designated for individuals that the city attorney and the municipal court have together identified would benefit an individual from from, you know, continuing to engage in negative behavior.
And so So those dollars should be protected and they should be utilized in a way that is really going to truly prevent people from committing more crimes in the future.
Got it, thank you for helping clear that up.
I wanted to talk about public safety in a more general way because it's been a key issue in your time in office.
And I don't know if you remember back in early 2012, before you were elected three years later, I interviewed you when you were a civil rights attorney.
It turns out we're not any older, Lorena, just the hairstyles have changed ever so slightly.
In all seriousness, you represented Martin Minetti.
He was kicked by a police officer, Shandy Cobain, who also shouted a racial slur.
You settled that case with SPD in June of that year.
This was at a time when t of holding the police dep Seattle was just getting consent decree process at wanted to ask how much o was this case for you in to run for public office.
It was really important and it was very galvanizing for me.
I think that was the moment when I realized that while I loved being a civil rights attorney and helping individual clients, I really wanted to do the systems work.
I wanted to transform systems.
I wanted to not just have to operate within the bounds of existing laws.
I wanted to be in a position to change laws, to create new laws that would prevent those kinds of egregious racial bias, unnecessary use of force, use of deadly force incidents from occurring in the first place, as an example in this context.
And to me, it was really an opportunity to reflect on the privilege of being a lawyer and how I can use that law degree.
my lived experience as a woman of color and daughter of immigrants to really push the status quo to change and to do much more than just reform, but to actually produce real meaningful justice and change, not just one family at a time, but for all families and all people in the city.
Yeah, I wonder if you can take it to present day when it comes to our city's discussion about reimagining public safety.
We're talking about finding options where armed officers are not going on every 911 call.
We're talking about the battle now over police budgets that has emerged from that.
Concerns from some neighborhoods that want more of a police presence.
You were the prime sponsor of the police accountability legislation.
The Council passed in 2017. I really think you've tried to change the narrative in this city when it comes to public safety over your time in office.
Where do you see this issue headed for the City Council and for the city at large?
Yeah, I mean, I think that it's really important to stay focused on who needs government to be responsive and why.
And I think we still have an opportunity to have a conversation about what does it mean to produce public safety and for whom are we producing public safety?
Are we doing that equitably or are we providing public safety services only to those who are wealthy, who own property?
and who have never been victims of crimes themselves.
And so I think I think there is going to be a lot of wrestling for the city government to continue to do in this space.
There'll be hopefully an opportunity to stand up all these alternatives to law enforcement that I have been proud to support and champion in some instances, while also still continuing to acknowledge that we will need armed law enforcement to respond to certain incidences, especially while we're shifting to alternatives.
And making sure that the officers that remain are from our community, understand community policing, have access to their mental health care needs as well.
and that we are always, always holding those who violate the law or violate our civil rights accountable, including termination in the instances where it's merited.
That's really complex work that takes time.
We've been at reform in the city of Seattle for a long, long time.
And last summer showed us how easy it is to lose progress.
And so the challenge really is, how do we continue to maintain progress, but allow ourselves to have those learning moments and acknowledge that we have to do more to prevent a George Floyd murder happening in our own city and to make sure that everyone in this community feels that they are being, you know, that they are receiving constitutional policing services from our armed law enforcement.
Thank you and I think we could do a whole show on public safety together.
Council President Gonzalez, but I wanted to move on to some other issues too because you have broken a few barriers on the council during your time there and your daughter Nadia appears to be tackling you a lot more these days.
Judging by recent photos, they do grow up quickly.
I wanted to focus on how being a mom has shaped your time in office too.
You just spearheaded a program for child care worker recognition payments in the most recent budget.
You push for more funding for child care facilities too.
You also work to double the capability Seattle preschool program back in 2018. Just a question I have here, kids and families, how did they affect what you did as a council member?
Oh my goodness, they affected so much of how I showed up.
And it's unfortunately not one of the things that we talk about a lot of the city.
But I think, you know, creating in this growing city, especially for working people and their families who continue to struggle to know whether they're going to be able to keep living here and access services here, making sure that we are preparing our youngest learners, our youngest children, with prenatal care, with access to childcare, with all of the things that they need to be successful is so important.
And that comes not just from, you know, being a mom, that, you know, I championed many of the things that you discussed before becoming a mom, but now as a mom who, you know, struggles with finding the right kind of childcare for my own daughter that is affordable.
I know firsthand how important it is to make sure that we're getting these services to the people in the city.
And that's why I've spent so much of the last six years really fighting for those services, because I wanna make sure that this world, this city is a better place for them.
And the way we do that is connecting them to education, making sure they have safe child care, and taking care of the child care workers who, you know, who have shown up every single day, especially during this pandemic, and taking care of our families when we've been unable to in huge danger, right?
And so I think, you know, making sure that we continue to to create those services and those opportunities for families to live and thrive here is gonna continue to be key to the city's economic recovery and resilience as we continue to deal with this pandemic.
And let me follow up on that whole issue of making our city an equitable place, because there's another part of the most recent budget that I don't know if a lot of people know you worked on setting up a basic income program through the Department of Neighborhoods.
Income inequality.
It is a global discussion, certainly one here in Seattle.
We got billionaires.
We've got 11% of our population living in poverty, too.
What were you trying to establish with this basic income program?
And where do you hope this larger conversation about our economy and income inequality goes?
Yeah, I mean I think I'm in a city like Seattle, where the wealth gap continues to grow, especially when you compare our white residents wealth with our BIPOC residents wealth.
The gap is just larger than it's ever been.
While we are lucky to be home to many large profitable corporations, we are also seeing that people are falling through the cracks at a faster rate.
And so I think that, you know, policymakers at the local level have to use the tools that are available to them to really roll back things like child poverty and poverty generally.
Guaranteed basic income is one of those programs that has been used at the federal level.
and also most recently in San Francisco.
And in both instances, we are seeing through those programs a reduction in the number of people experiencing poverty and the depth of poverty that those populations are experiencing.
And so through this Guaranteed Basic Income Program pilot that will be scoped out all next year and hopefully implemented starting in 2023, can be a key way to prevent people from entering into homelessness and can be a way for us to create a pathway of economic stability for people as they exit homelessness as well.
But this is gonna be, as our income inequality continues to grow across the city, this program will be key to keeping people healthy and out of poverty for a longer period of time.
I want to talk a little bit more about homelessness and maybe I could just ask the question in a general way.
Where do you feel the council has made some strides on this issue during your time in office and where is the council fallen short?
Well, I think where we have all fallen short, not just the council, but all of us as a region is is that we have not gotten to functional zero homelessness yet.
You know many, many.
smart people, many well-meaning people have worked day in, day out to solve for homelessness and to get us as a region to functional zero homelessness.
And we've not been able to do that.
That is a unfortunate outcome and reality of where we're at.
The good news is that we have drastically increased the amount of funding available to increase shelter, to increase affordable housing.
Just in this budget, we approved a budget that funds $198 million worth of new affordable housing.
That's a long-term solution, not a short-term solution, but those long-term solutions are critically important to ultimately creating housing stability and to ending homelessness for individuals.
And so I think I think that's part of the reason why I also think that guaranteed basic income program is so important is that's a short term strategy to create economic stability to prevent people from entering into and slipping into housing instability and and that's going to be another key way for us to help.
So there's lots of good stuff that we have been doing as a region and collectively like the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, for example.
And I believe that we will start seeing meaningful impact and progress in the coming years issue.
And just to follow up on the RHA, the Regional Homelessness Authority, you served on the governing committee for the RHA.
Do you think there's enough buy-in from cities around the county for this really to work?
I have seen some different pushbacks.
You've seen it too from these different smaller cities around King County.
And I really think this does have to be a group effort.
Your thoughts about that moving forward with the RHA?
Yeah, I mean, I think, and I think RHA is a stride forward, right?
That is one good thing that has come out of the last few years of debate.
I think Mark Jones is in a very good position to build a greater, deeper, sustainable buy-in to the regional homelessness authority.
I think where I continue to have concerns and where I think we should all continue to have concerns is that only the city of Seattle and King County as a government are funding the Regional Homelessness Authority.
Suburban cities do not provide any kind of funding into the system, even though they will benefit from what is produced in terms of additional shelter and homelessness outreach through the Regional Homelessness Authority.
So there is a question in my mind about whether sort of the scale of the need is going to eventually outgrow the capacity of the Regional Homelessness Authority just based on how the funding is structured.
But I think that Mark is very well positioned to build the consensus and to bring folks along.
And, you know, those first initial, their first initial successes starting next year are going to, I think, inspire confidence and create greater, hopefully greater will to to put some more skin in the game, as they say, and really sort of go at this as a region.
Okay, we'll definitely be keeping track of that.
I wanted to make sure I followed up on another issue too.
Where do you think you're leaving the council in terms of how they will work with Mayor-Elect Harrell in years to come?
I ask because the councilor's relationship with Mayor Durkin has been a bit rocky over the past four years.
I think we have to be honest about that.
Homelessness, just one of the issues that's led some very stark disagreements.
Do you feel like that relationship between the council and mayor is going to change with Mayor-Elect Harrell?
I sure hope so.
I think it's imperative that the relationship be one of collaboration and strong and regular and consistent communication between the council and the mayor.
That I think in my mind is key to making sure that people in the city of Seattle know that City Hall is focused on solutions and not on politics and personality disputes.
And so my hope is that there will be many more occasions in which there is collaboration and consensus and fewer public disputes about issues that could have been resolved by picking up a phone.
So I really do hope that that occurs.
I think this city council is ready for that kind of relationship.
And I hope that the next mayor is also ready and willing and able to have that conversation.
It certainly seems like he is.
He's an alumni of the Seattle City Council.
Also a council president before you.
Exactly, and understands how we do our business, has relationships with all of the council members.
And so I think that the ingredients are there for a recipe of good collaboration, and I hope that that is the case because that's what the city needs.
I do too, and I look at that issue specifically of homelessness because I know you heard a lot on the campaign trail too, this issue of we're gonna keep these public spaces all clear or whatever else, which I think is a message everyone can agree with, but the way we get there is the key.
I think finding that collaboration on the issue of homelessness feels like a really key issue because the first thing the mayor-elect has to do basically is figure out, do you extend the eviction moratorium past January 15th?
There's a lot to discuss there with this housing and homelessness issue right off the bat for the council and mayor.
Absolutely, and I think that the more alignment that can be found, the better.
Now that being said, civic discourse and disagreeing every once in a while, but doing so civilly and clearly is allowable and healthy for democracy.
But hopefully we'll have fewer areas of disagreement, right?
And more areas of agreement and sort of getting to sort of the meat of the issue.
on how to address homelessness is really about not the, do we agree about bringing people inside?
It's about how we do that effectively, compassionately, and with the sense of urgency that has not existed in large part, frankly, because of a lack of, you know, strong communication and relationship between this council and the current mayor.
Got it, OK, I want to make sure we left a good amount of time for wrapping up here because it's very difficult.
It's very difficult to sum up your past six years and I'm going to try to give a few highlights here.
The first Latina elected to City Council in 2021. People of color make up a majority of the council.
You've worked on police reform, helping families, immigrants, the LGBTQ community.
It's a long list here.
Can you tell me some of the accomplishments that you're most proud of?
I know that must be difficult to think about the past six years, but I'd like to try.
Yeah, it's always hard to pick a favorite.
But, you know, I think, you know, the work that I've done, especially as the daughter of Mexican immigrants for immigrants and refugees in our city is definitely makes me really proud to have been a champion on this body for immigrants establishing the legal defense network that funds legal aid for immigrants who might be deported, didn't exist before I got to the council.
And when I first negotiated to get that funded, right before our budget cycle, I was told, you only have one time dollars, I can't commit to you that this is gonna be year after year after year.
And here we are now, it is baked into the base budget, And in fact, this last budget, we enhanced it and we've grown it.
That has been an area.
The work I've done for families in education, preschool, early learning, prenatal services, even through the Seattle Public Library, creating a direct revenue for some of those programs have been just sort of a point of joy for me as well.
And of course, the last thing that I would say is, Um, you know, I, I came up through the ranks, not just as an immigrant rights, um, activist, but also as a civil rights attorney and the work that I've been able to do on police reform on changing the narrative around public safety have been critically important to me.
And, um, and I know that these are really hard conversations for us all, cause it's about our personal safety, but, um, but I think that, uh, I have been really proud to have had an opportunity to, step up in a moment of crisis in the city to lead us through the pandemic and to lead us through this racial reckoning.
We have a lot more work that's left to be done, but I'm really proud of my civil rights record.
Yeah, and in terms of the council in the city as it stands, do you think you leave them in a better place?
I think so.
You know, I think I think we are.
As just engaged residents, we are.
We have some healing to do.
I think we are very, very polarized right now.
But I think that when the new year comes, my hope, my wishes, one of my New Year's resolutions is for the health of this city to heal and to recover and to Um, get back to extending to each other, some grace and some gratitude for how far we've come.
We have together overcome this pandemic and we are still dealing with it.
Many of us have lost loved ones as a result of this pandemic.
Um, but we have much to be proud of as a city.
Um, and our leaders, um, myself included, do this work day in, day out because we love the people who live here and we love the city wholeheartedly.
And so I hope that we get to a place where we can acknowledge all of the good things we've done while also admitting that there is still much more we can do to really make this city a just and equitable and livable and affordable place.
Yeah.
I just wanted to ma there anything you can tel next for you?
Any thoughts chapter for for you is go still, I'm still sort of t but um, you know, no surp
I'm going to spend the first part of next year really thinking about exactly what my next step is and getting much needed rest as well.
But I'm really excited to not take too much time away because I really want to get back to movement building.
I want to get back to making sure that we are changing the systems that need to be changed so that we can all have a healthier, better life.
and be proud of who we are as a city.
So I look forward to making those announcements sometime after the new year.
But for now, I'm just gonna focus on resting and not having to be on camera as much.
No offense taken at all.
I will say, Council President Gonzalez, it's been an honor to work with you.
Thank you for always being such a gamer about being on this show and talking about what's happened on the council.
It's been a real pleasure to work with you.
Thank you.
Likewise, brian.
Thanks s a professional and uh an award winning uh contribu me.
I promise.
I promise you to say council pres Thank you for joining me