On Wednesday June 14, candidates for the District 1 Seattle City Council seat faced off in a mobility-focused forum co-hosted by The Urbanist. Phil Tavel, Stephen Brown, Preston Anderson, and Jean Craciun participated in the forum. Maren Costa was ill and sent her campaign manager Kyler Parris in her stead to share her stances. Tech lawyer Rob Saka (likely frontrunner for big business support) did not attend.
The D1 Mobility Forum took place at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center and was moderated by Crystal Fincher, host of the Hacks and Wonks podcast and a board member at The Urbanist.
Candidates broadly agreed about the need to complete sidewalk networks, improve transit service, tackle road safety, and complete the Center City streetcar — though Tavel was more hesitant to prioritize bike and pedestrian modes over motorists.
One interesting takeaway from the race is that Costa was the only of the candidates who did not vote for Mayor Bruce Harrell in the 2021 general election. Additionally, Anderson, Brown, and Tavel also said they voted for Republican Ann Davison over abolitionist Democrat Nicole Thomas-Kennedy for City Attorney.
It’s a crowded race, so see for yourself what candidates had to say to distinguish themselves. The event was streamed on Zoom and posted to The Urbanist’s YouTube. It was the third in a series of mobility-focused forums put on by a collective of local advocacy organizations.
Hosts of the Mobility Forum series include: 350 Seattle, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587, Cascade Bicycle Club, Disability Rights Washington, Puget Sound Sage, Seattle Subway, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, Seattle Transit Riders Union, Transportation Choices Coalition, The Urbanist, Transportation for Washington, Teamsters 117, Washington Bikes, Washington Council of the Blind Advocacy Committee, West Seattle Bike Connections, and Duwamish Valley Safe Streets.
In the District 1 race, The Urbanist has published interviews with Amazon tech worker turned climate activist Maren Costa and clinical social worker Preston Anderson so far, so check those out for more information.
Doug Trumm is publisher of The Urbanist. An Urbanist writer since 2015, he dreams of pedestrianizing streets, blanketing the city in bus lanes, and unleashing a mass timber building spree to end the affordable housing shortage and avert our coming climate catastrophe. He graduated from the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington in 2019. He lives in East Fremont and loves to explore the city on his bike.