PROPOSITION NO.1,
VETERAN, SENIORS AND HUMAN SERVICES LEVY
Approving this proposition will (for the third time) renew a levy which funds services for veterans, seniors, and “resilient communities" in King County. What’s a resilient community? I didn’t know either. Resilient communities are people susceptible to reduced health, housing, and financial stability due to past traumas and biases.

A ten cent levy would be collected on every $1000 assessment on a home next year, then increase by 3.5% each year until 2029 (when I’m guessing this will be back on the ballot). That amounts to $80 a year on an $800,000 home in 2024. The will money help fund things like job training for veterans, legal assistance for domestic violence survivors, and elder abuse prevention for seniors.

What are you, a MONSTER??!! $80 a year to protect grandma and other vulnerable people seems like money well-spent.

VOTE APPROVED

COMMISSIONER POSITION NO. 5
Two term incumbent, Fred Felleman, is running for this position against Jesse Tam (a banker guy) and Todd Curtis (an engineering PhD). Fellemen’s professional background is as a killer whale biologist, whose achievements prior to becoming a port commissioner included banning offshore drilling and eliminating cruise ship waste discharge off Washington’s coast.

As commissioner for the past seven-plus years he’s continued his fight to make the port as green as possible. Yeah, there’s too many cruise ships in Seattle, but Felleman is working toward forcing them to use on-shore power, and he’s been a fairly strong advocate for a common sense bike lane along Elliott Avenue near the cruise ship terminal, which is crazy crowded in the summer months.

He also supports congestion pricing on the roadways near SeaTac Airport, which would encourage travelers to use Link Light Rail, as well as a potential new bus route from downtown Seattle that Felleman is advocating for.

Tam touts his business experience and focuses on “fiscal responsibility” in his campaign platform. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but with his Newcastle address and Chamber of Commerce backing, he seems a little too Romney-esque for my tastes.

Dr. Curtis touts his experience as an aviation engineer as his biggest qualification for port commission, and his focus on “the social impacts that airports, seaports, and railroads have on communities” is interesting. But he’s short on details and support (his Facebook page has 3 likes, his Instagram page 4 followers), and his candidacy seems less than serious.

Commissioner Fred seems to be steering the Port of Seattle in a decent direction, so let’s keep him at the helm.

VOTE FRED FELLEMAN

CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT NO. 4
Maritza Rivera doesn’t seem to know what “defund the police” means. In her King County voter’s guide statement she says that the city council’s pledge to defund the police was both a “poor decision” and “performative posturing.” But then goes on to say that Seattle needs to have “an alternative to an armed response to 911 calls” and “not all situations require police officers" which is EXACTLY what defunding the police looks like. So she either doesn’t know what the term means or is doing her own form of “performative posturing.” No thank you. NEXT.

Ken Wilson is making his second run for a city council seat, having lost to Teresa Mosqueda in 2021 by nearly 20%. Wilson is a bridge builder, literally. His engineering firm helped build the John Lewis Memorial Bridge across I-5 at Northgate and the bike/pedestrian bridge near Microsoft’s campus (which will hopefully be open someday). But can he build bridges metaphorically and politically? Not sure. What I do know is he lists “public safety” as the most important issue facing Seattle, but his solution is to simply hire more cops. Been there, DOES NOT WORK.

George Artem was arrested for second degree kidnapping and wrote a book about how being in solitary confinement affected his diagnosed manic-depression. He might be an interesting guy to get a cup of coffee with, but I’m not sure he’d be great on the city council. He’s also really into Dogecoin. So, uh, NOPE.

Which leaves us with: Ron Davis. Davis is a Harvard educated tech bro, but I won’t hold that against him, mostly because he’s the candidate who is most focused on the biggest crisis facing Seattle today: housing affordability. Making Seattle more affordable will help with other issues we face, mainly homelessness and petty crime. To help with housing costs, Davis wants to focus on supply (streamlining the pace of permitting is one idea), subsidies (like rental assistance), and stability (preventing rent gouging will help).

Perhaps most important to me personally is Davis’s desire to “make it as easy to get around the city without a car as it is with one.” Alternatives to driving (biking, walking, buses, light rail) used to be a hot topic in Seattle. Now it’s all but forgotten. I’m hoping Councilmember Davis will make it an important part of the civic discussion once again, bro.

VOTE RON DAVIS

SEATTLE SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1, DIRECTOR DISTRICT NO. 3
All three candidates for this school board position seem like decent, capable, accomplished people, and, in fact, they have much in common. Each is a parent to kids in Seattle public schools, and each of their campaigns focus on transparency, equity, fiscal responsibility, and student mental health.

So what sets them apart?

Ben Girenstein is a Tech Dad (I think he works for Google and it’s interesting that he writes “my views are my own, not my employer’s” in the King County voter’s guide...did his employer force him to do that?) who’s posted some pretty adorable interviews done by his eye-rolling daughter explaining why he’s running for school board. In addition to the above focuses, gun violence (specifically a shooting at Ingraham High School) seems to be what he is most concerned about in public schools. Important for sure.

Christie Robertson says she became an education advocate when one of her children was diagnosed with a disability, and her platform’s emphasis on inclusivity reflects that. Her focus on marginalized kids is noble, but she’s a little buzzwordy (is "buzzwordy" a word?). I don’t know what the “Universal Design for Learning initiative” is, or what “Nothing About Us Without Us” means, and she doesn't teach me.

Evan Briggs has experience in the classroom and running educational programs. She’s also an activist and an advocate, using her skills and experience as a filmmaker to spread a message of inclusivity and mental health (for kids AND old folks). Briggs also plays the banjo, and is the only one of these three candidates to give even the slightest nod to arts education, which sadly seems to play second fiddle to the STEMs these days.

VOTE EVAN BRIGGS