Hello, I'm your host, Brian Calinan.
Seattle's newest council member ran on a platform of helping businesses, getting tough on crime, and providing effective solutions for homelessness.
So what are her plans to put those campaign promises into action?
I'm one-on-one with citywide council member Sarah Nelson to get an answer on that question and the ones you're sending in, too, next on Council Edition.
Revitalizing neighborhood business districts is number one priority, as is downtown revitalization.
All that and more, coming up next on City Inside Out, Council Edition.
Well, here she is from Citywide Position 9. It's Councilmember Sarah Nelson.
Very much congratulations on your election, and thank you very much for being on the show, Councilmember Nelson.
Well, thank you so much for having me.
This is quite an honor to be on the Seattle Channel.
You hit the big time.
You better believe it.
Well, I wanted to break down with you, if I could, some of the issues that you were talking about on the campaign trail.
see what your plans are to try to deliver on those.
And I really want to hear about what you're considering as chair of the council's Economic Development Committee.
I know helping businesses, especially small businesses, was a key part of your campaign platform.
If you can tell us some of the things you're working on, some specific things, if you could, now that you're on the council when it comes to economic development.
Thank you.
Yes, I ran on economic recovery because I know that so many small businesses are struggling.
Thousands of people have lost their jobs, and Seattle's working families are really struggling.
And Fremont Brewing survived, but so many others have closed.
So yes, small businesses are really a big part of my focus, and I have been speaking with small business leaders and really putting my ideas about how the city can help into implementable legislation.
So revitalizing neighborhood business districts is number one priority, as is downtown revitalization.
I'm coming to work in person at City Hall with my staff and just seeing the state of downtown.
It's coming back, but there's a lot more that the city can do.
So that is included in my overall revitalization plans.
reducing the displacement of BIPOC owned small businesses.
It's a big part.
We need to find new ways of helping entrepreneurs access capital, get technical support.
And then finally, just overall red tape cutting.
You know, when everything from business licensing to permitting, there's a lot that the city can do simply by helping small businesses.
get their permits faster and licenses faster.
And so it's a long list of ideas that I've got.
Sure, sure.
I know we're going to see your first committee meeting coming up on January 26 for economic development there.
Any thoughts?
Can you give us a sneak peek at all what's going to be on the agenda there?
I know it's still getting crafted, so anything you could tell us about that?
Well, I should tell your viewers that my committee is economic development technology which my kids think is funny.
Yeah, and city light, and so my first meeting will have three pieces of legislation that have been in the pipeline from city light, so that.
So, I am working hard to.
to actually wrap those up.
And then it's the following committee that I will have more economic development issues.
Now, City Light is a big department, and it's where a lot of the climate protection can happen, a lot of our opportunities.
So I am thrilled to be chair of City Light as well.
They have an innovation division around new technologies, and they're also facing some challenges like 14% vacancy.
So that will be a big part of my committee work as well.
I was gonna say just back on that city light piece, thank you for bringing that up.
I know you have a background in green energy or whatever else.
Are you gonna be trying to bring that to that committee?
Can you talk about that intersection of those issues, please?
Yeah, so absolutely.
So Fremont Brewing when we opened, we took part in the incentive program that they have to switch out.
At the time, it was fluorescent.
No, it was regular lights to fluorescence.
That was in 2009. And then we went through another round and replaced 900 fluorescent bulbs to LED.
So that is a program that I think that needs a lot more visibility.
And also, there are sources of renewable energy like biosolids that, I don't know, it's sort of a pipe dream that I had to incentivize that technology because that could add to our portfolio, as well as making sure that our electric grid and electrification charging stations.
There's a lot of room in there in that body of work that I can really use to promote our greenhouse gas reduction emission goals.
Yeah, great, thank you for bringing that up.
I wanted to talk about another leadership question, if I could, about the citywide council role you're in.
I was actually talking with Amari Salisbury of Converge Media just a few days ago.
He wanted me to ask you this question, so here goes.
What's Council Member Nelson's approach for all seven districts?
Oftentimes, certain people in certain districts feel really overlooked.
How will Sarah Nelson engage with all the districts across the city?
Your thoughts about that question and what your citywide role really means.
Well, I love that question.
First of all, it's listen first.
And I remember that my job is constituent services.
So that is key, no matter where anybody lives in this town.
Now, when I worked on council for Richard Conlin, when I met you, when you got this job, all council members were elected citywide.
And so that made it pretty easy.
But now, there will be communication with other council offices.
If a constituent approaches me or a stakeholder in a district, I will be communicating with my colleagues to figure out who leads on the solution.
So, but to answer Omari's question, yes, I am a citywide council member and that means I work for everybody and I take that to heart.
And I have to keep in mind that the decisions that I make we'll have trade-offs.
And so policies in the South end do impact the North end, and that is why I wanted to run for a citywide position, because I like that comprehensive citywide perspective on what we need to do.
Yeah, and just taking that historical perspective, if I could with you, Council Member Nelson, what else has changed between the council you knew from a decade or so ago and now?
Can you talk about that?
No, I'm just kidding.
Please.
I think I do think that districts have had a major impact.
And when I was campaigning, a lot of people did say that they wish all council members were elected citywide.
On the one hand, it gives council members much more, a closer relationship with their districts, but it also means that sometimes there might be, it might be difficult to see the bigger picture.
So I just believe that no matter what the system, We have got to all work together and keep the interests of our constituents front and center over the concerns of special interests, etc.
We we work for the people and and that will remain constant no matter what.
OK, thank you for breaking that piece of it down.
You're also vice chair of the Renters Rights Committee, which is led by Councilmember Shama Sawant.
We had a question for you coming for a property owner via Twitter.
He writes this.
How can Sarah help small rental property owners remain viable in Seattle?
Can she help support community wealth building, affordable housing, and anti-displacement via less risky slash complicated slash punitive mom and pop landlord regulations?
A lot of small landlords, I'm sure you've heard this narrative before, struggling with regulations that the city has in place.
What do you tell them?
Well, I want to tell that person that a lot of people haven't been at the table, and I am listening.
Small landlords are also small businesses, and I am extremely concerned about what I'm hearing is the difficulty of doing their business in Seattle.
Now, we have to remember that we've got an affordability crisis in town, and we have got to retain the naturally affordable housing that is provided by these small landlords.
And that's where a lot of families live.
And so we really do need to take a look at the layering on of some of these recent regulations that are hurting small businesses because the last thing we want is that these housing providers go out of business, which means their properties will be redeveloped for market rate.
And so we've got to support them more.
So I want to say, I hear you.
Yeah, thank you.
I know we're going to be talking more about that in the months and years ahead.
Another question, if I could, for renters and landlords, if you will, your thoughts about the mayor's move to extend the eviction moratorium until mid-February.
And I should point out, everybody, that the council has a measure in place that gives tenants a defense against rent-related evictions for six months after the moratorium ends, they can prove financial hardship.
But I just wanted to ask you this, Council Member Nelson.
Do you think we're going to see a mass of evictions in February?
And maybe what happens later this year when that protection from the council might expire?
Well, people talk about this cliff, this massive eviction, and I do believe it's serious.
I also know that the best way to help both renters and small housing providers is direct cash payments.
And so I want to make sure that those dollars are in the hands of people who have to pay their mortgages so that they can retain their property so that their renters have a place to live.
So that's a direction that I think that we should be going.
I applaud the mayor for calling for his stated desire to bring together a group of landlords and tenant advocates to really talk about what would work best to help both sides.
And I think this is a really interesting intersection to between City Light and some of this work because the mayor was also talking about making sure that leniency on some of those utility bills was extended a little while too.
I think that's an important part of this equation to Councilmember Nelson.
You're absolutely right that the moratorium on utility turnoffs is part of the eviction moratorium extension.
So City Light often runs at about 12% deficit and they're at 50% now.
And so their focus is on making sure that people enroll in, there are a couple of programs to have relief on their utility bills.
And that is, and so we wanna make sure that just extending the eviction moratorium doesn't discourage people from enrolling in these programs because that's a way that we can track how many people are really hurting from inability to pay their electric bills and they can access aid right away.
Right.
That's been an issue for many years, people accessing those programs.
So I'm hopeful that people will access them, too.
I wonder if I could move on to some issues of public safety with you, Council Member Nelson.
I know it was a big part of your campaign.
Specifically, I want to talk about staffing levels at the Seattle Police Department.
So whatever the SPD is doing right now for recruitment and retention, it doesn't seem to be working.
Publicola reported the department now has about 950 sworn officers.
down from 1,282 in 2019, the lowest staffing level the SPD has had since 1970. What does that say to you and how do you change that trend?
Well, first of all, it is, I believe, it's a big, it's almost a crisis because we've got 911 response times for priority one calls that are hovering around eight or nine minutes, industry standard being two or three.
let alone priority two, three, et cetera.
So we have got to build back up the staffing in SPD.
We have to adequately staff SPD, and we have to make sure that we advance critical police reforms.
Now, both of these require investment.
And so retention and recruitment, and preferably recruitment from communities so that we can diversify our force, that will go a long way to building trust between community and SPD.
But this is a top priority.
And when I talk about economic recovery, public safety is key.
And the charter says that we have got to ensure that every district in the city has enough public safety.
And so this is, you know, we swear on the charter that, and so we've got to do our duty to make sure that we have enough officers to do their work and keep everybody safe.
Yeah, very first part of the city charter there.
But this whole idea of reimagining police, I know that phrase has gotten thrown around a lot.
There's some other answers too that I know get thrown in that mix there.
Can you talk about your overall vision there when it comes to public safety?
Because it's not just the police department that needs to be involved here.
Right.
Well, first of all, I was here years ago when the consent decree came down, right?
So we have been under a consent decree for, I think it was at least 10 years, maybe.
Yeah, 2011, you got it.
There we go.
Okay, so we've got to make sure that we hit the mark and comply with the terms of the consent decree.
And so that's first and foremost in our priorities.
But when people talk about reimagining, in addition to what I talked about, diversifying the force, I'm also talking about strengthening our community policing model.
And when cuts were made to SPD and also on top of the voluntary separations that were due in part to the culture that was established here, that means that community policing teams were cut.
And we just added money for the community service officers, which are non-uniform, but this is what we need.
The gold standard for re-imagined policing across the country is the community policing model, which basically ensures that there's better communication between community and the force to surface problems that don't require a uniformed armed response.
We have got to go back to making sure that we are fulfilling our vision of community policing, so that's one.
And then finally, the SPA contract.
It's been over a year, and so that needs to be renegotiated.
I do not sit on that committee, one of the few, but stronger disciplinary protocols so that we can ensure that that misconduct is dealt with adequately, and so that officers that have problems in this area do face consequences.
Right.
And let me pull a headline on that very issue, if I could, out here and talk to you about it, Councilmember Nelson, because you and the Council, the Public Safety Committee there, heard a presentation recently about a ruse used by Seattle police during the 2020 protests.
Officers used some disinformation going on their radios.
saying the proud boys, the right wing extremist group was on the scene arm.
That was not true.
Six officers involved to not given any discipline.
Four have left the department, but one has reportedly been hired back.
I know you've talked a lot about this reform issue and balanced reform when you were on the campaign there.
True for the for the SPD.
Interim Chief Diaz is trying to consider some further disciplinary measures here.
He's got a lot in his plate with this, but what's the outcome?
Do you want to see from this issue specifically?
This was a big issue for the SPD, the mayor and the interim chief had a press conference about it recently.
What outcome do you want to see from this?
Well, because this is before Chief Diaz, I'm not able to say what outcomes I want, nor am I an expert, but I will say that that was.
a combined failure of leadership and extremely poor judgment that resulted in damage to public trust.
And so it's going to take some time to rebuild that trust.
And the problem is that, yes, as you said, some of those officers have left.
But look, the ruses are used in different situations for, you know, in undercover work and interrogation, whatever.
But you don't let, that was a chaotic time and it was a bad decision to sort of let, to tell cops to kind of just wing it.
And so better leadership and maybe some parameters around this, when this particular kind of ruse is employed is the very minimum that we have got to establish going forward.
Yeah, I was gonna say Council Member Herbold has brought up the idea of, hey, whenever a ruse is used, it should probably be reported.
Does that sound like a good path forward to you, just so there's more transparency on this?
Because I should point out, these are not illegal to use.
Ruses are often used in undercover cases.
In this situation, though, I think it's something the council wants to keep their finger on and keep an eye on, for sure.
Yeah, no surprises, right?
So I understand that, Mayor Harrell, there was not a lot of knowledge in getting information about about that was, you know, required a long investigation.
So I think that to Council Member Herbold's point, yes, better reporting, but we've got to, again, define the different kinds of ruses so that we don't show all of our cards when sometimes ruses are are important to fighting crime, right?
Right, good point.
They're not illegal under state law.
It's important to point that out.
I want to stick with public safety for another question here.
Dealing with crime downtown.
You've touched on that.
Reducing gun violence, though two is another important piece of this and an issue we talked about last fall as well.
Gun deaths, injuries, shots fired all hit the highest level in a decade last year.
I know the chief has said there isn't any single cause for this, but I just wonder what you tell those victims of gun violence and what your approach to this is as a City Council member.
Well, first, we acknowledge their pain.
We come out, and after shootings, it's the responsibility.
It's the right thing to do to really hear the families and other loved ones of shooting victims.
And so that's first and foremost, is making sure that they understand that we're hearing and feeling it.
But here's the thing.
The majority of shooting victims are people of color.
And I, um, after that weekend in July, when there were multiple shootings, I met with a group of people who had been involved in, in, in, um, in gun violence in the past.
And I asked that very question.
I said, what can we do better?
Because what we're doing isn't working.
And, um, they didn't say law enforcement.
They didn't say more money to these nonprofits.
What they said is jobs, jobs.
after-school programs, ways of keeping youth engaged and interacting with mentors.
And that's what I think the city can really do.
Yes, there should be a law enforcement component, but it's never one or the other.
It's never only community, only law enforcement.
But I think the thing that would really make a big difference is reestablishing some of those jobs programs and making sure that we work with our workforce development actors to make sure that people have access to jobs at every level of skill.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing how you deal with that on Economic Development Committee.
Thank you for this.
I wanted to move on if I could talk about homelessness with you.
Another big issue while you're a candidate, a constant point of focus for the council and the city at large.
We have some viewers who want to know more about this.
Peter wrote this into us.
Can you address the connection between substance abuse and homelessness?
How do we stop the cycle of addiction so they are no longer a threat to themselves and regular citizens?
Peter, thank you for the question.
Not everyone who is homeless is abusing drugs, but when people who are homeless do abuse drugs, it does turn into an acute problem.
Council Member Nelson, your approach to this question.
Well, my approach is personal.
I am in recovery, and so I have been calling for the ability of Seattle to directly fund substance abuse treatment.
We do not have that right now.
Those dollars flow through the county.
There's not enough capacity or dollars.
And so I think that we need to reprioritize our existing resources to be able to start funding this and also fully support the regional homelessness authorities implementation plan, starting with downtown.
So those two things go together.
But yes, by not addressing substance abuse, we are simply perpetuating a cycle of chronic homelessness.
And also by not addressing encampments, because these are environments where even if you want to be in recovery, it's very, very difficult.
People living in encampments are preyed upon by dealers who come from out of town or whatever.
And so it's a vulnerable population where addiction is spreading.
So seriously addressing encampments, funding substance abuse treatment, and those are two key things.
we're never going to make a difference unless we actually start allocating real dollars to that piece of the puzzle.
Right.
And I know the council has been recently talking with the King County Regional Homelessness Authority about some of the different things they're doing to measure how many people who are homeless in our regions.
There's some good communication going on there, but I wanted to focus on that encampment piece.
You were talking about this a lot on the campaign trail in terms of keeping public spaces clear.
I've heard a ton about what's going on in Woodland Park.
I know Council Member Strauss The mayor have talked about really looking at that area as a focus right now.
Is that your main focus?
I wanted to talk about this encampment issue and where you're looking to try to make a difference on it right now.
Yeah, so I want to go back to the previous question because I forgot to mention, you know, your point about crime and encampments, you know, encampment crime, I've seen statistics that encampment related crime is up 122%.
And that gets back to why we need treatment is because a lot of people are committing crimes to support a habit, et cetera.
But to your point about Woodland Park, that's my neighborhood.
I live in District Six.
I applaud Council Member Strauss for focusing on this and also Mayor Harrell.
But I think that we need to do more than take a one-off approach to all of these different encampments.
We need policy direction and a citywide implementation plan and then start in geographic areas, just like Mark Jones of, you know, the head of the authority has called for with downtown, because we simply can't wait to have enough housing units available for everybody who is living outside.
If we that's kicking the can down the road, and that's a recipe for just inaction.
So I think taking a regional approach, having some policy guidelines is really what we need to support whatever individual encampment focus that we choose to prioritize next.
And looking at that, those encampments, I think that's going to be ground zero for this discussion here.
What was your interaction like with the RHA?
I know the council recently met there.
Was there a good idea about this?
Collaboration, I guess, or teamwork going forward.
I think it's going to be.
There's going to be a lot of scrutiny of that with the RHA just starting up the city, finally transferring all those more than $100 million over to the RHA to try to see some results.
What do you want to see out of the RHA?
I guess over the next couple of months or year, maybe if you want to look at it that way.
I know this isn't an instant overnight solve it kind of a problem, but talk to me about the RHA.
What's your expectations are for that group?
How you're going to be working with them as a council member?
Well, Seattle signed an MOU with the county and precisely because this is not a Seattle only problem and we can't go it alone.
And so that we need at least a regional approach.
And so I am full on in support of the creation of the Regional Homelessness Authority.
And I also think that we need a better plan on homelessness because what we've been doing to now we've been investing millions and millions of more dollars every year and the problem keeps getting worse.
And so we need to follow in best practices that have worked in other cities.
And I trust I trust Mark Jones and and their staff to really figure out what those best practices are and shepherd the dollars where they need to go to make the most difference.
And I think that their first priority is establishing a whole bunch of peer peer navigators, actual employees who are well paid that can go out and engage people in encampments.
They need to have a real time list of housing solutions that work for each individual.
And so I think that their plan is on the right track and it's up to council to get in line and support it.
Yeah, yeah, final question for you.
We need to wrap up the show.
What has it been like shifting from campaign mode into council member mode?
I imagine it's been a blur over the last couple of weeks.
Tell me what it's like settling into this citywide role.
Wow, you know it's it's.
Gosh.
In a way it is.
I don't really know how to approach this, because on a personal level, this is something that I've worked very, very hard for.
And I knew what I was taking on.
And now being in the position of responsibility for delivering, it's an awesome responsibility.
And so I have to say that my first priority is really establishing good relationships with my colleagues.
get things done if we work together and also with the executive.
And so first and foremost, I am calling up my colleagues and asking to meet and getting to know them as people, as real human beings.
And so I'm in the position now where I can do that.
And so that is what I'm doing.
But it's a lot of other meetings.
It's a lot of intake of information and It's hard because we're not, most people aren't on site.
And so, you know, the information comes and fits and starts.
Plus I'm just getting to know my staff and hanging art.
Right, right.
Very important things.
All of these things.
Well, I really look forward to talking to you more about these different issues.
Council Member Nelson, in the months ahead.
Thank you very much for joining me.
Thanks everybody for watching.
And we will see you next time on Council Dish.