On Wednesday, five Seattle Mayor candidates squared off in a forum that we co-hosted alongside our allies at the Move All Seattle Sustainability (MASS) coalition and elsewhere. We learned a great deal about the candidates in 90 minutes, so we encourage you to watch the video and check out the transcript. The same coalition is hosting Seattle City Council Position 9 Forum on Tuesday, June 22nd, so don’t miss that either: register here.
The five participating Mayoral candidates were Jessyn Farrell, Lorena González, Bruce Harrell, Andrew Grant Houston, and Lance Randall. Colleen Echohawk and Casey Sixkiller couldn’t attend due to scheduling conflicts. Echohawk sent organizer Matt Remle in her stead to make a statement. Sixkiller didn’t send a statement, but did announce an endorsement this week from an anti-bike lane group with the Orwellian name “Neighborhoods for Smart Streets”.
Sometimes we found broad consensus for urbanist principles. Candidates agreed we need to reduce exclusionary zoning and allow apartments in more neighborhoods. Candidates support the campaign to lid I-5 in Downtown Seattle. All intend to add more bus lanes, make transit more affordable for working class riders, and most ultimately would work toward fare-free transit — though they vary in how much they’d make it a priority.
