Politics and Government

From Bremerton to Issaquah and Tacoma, key races are on the ballot around the region that loom large for urbanist priorities. The outcome could determine where things are headed.

Focused on transit and street upgrades, budget amendments this week will be the subject of behind-the-scenes wrangling as Budget Committee Chair Dan Strauss assembles an initial balancing package for the council to debate next week.

Seattle has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to improve public safety outcomes by civilianizing more tasks and focusing police on major crime. That’s what mayoral candidate Katie Wilson’s public safety platform proposes, which Bryan Kirschner argues would be anti-bad guy, pro-good cop, and taxpayer-friendly.

King County Executive Shannon Braddock has proposed a series of changes to one of the county’s pre-filing youth diversion programs, currently called Restorative Community Pathways, replacing the community-led program with a county-led program with a slashed budget.

In four different races, Kirkland voters face a choice between pro-growth candidates interested in fostering additional types of housing throughout the city, and candidates looking for the city to be way less aggressive in fighting the region's affordable housing crisis.

"It's never been more important to have a movement mayor," Seattle mayoral candidate Katie Wilson told supporters Sunday. Multiple speakers portrayed Wilson as a bottom-up, people-powered coalition-builder, who stands in sharp contrast to incumbent Bruce Harrell, who they see as a top-down establishment leader lacking vision for the city.

Progressive challenger Katie Wilson continues to have the edge in the highly competitive Seattle mayoral race, despite a large fundraising advantage for corporate-backed incumbent Bruce Harrell. Two polls released this week indicate that Wilson still holds a lead, after winning the primary election by nearly 10 points.

While the Seattle Police Officers Guild scored a big raise and new benefits, the new labor contract negotiated by Mayor Bruce Harrell will continue to hamper the City’s new civilian crisis response department and its police accountability agencies.