1 00:00:00,333 --> 00:00:02,635 ♪♪ 2 00:00:03,169 --> 00:00:04,771 -Welcome to City Inside/Out. 3 00:00:04,771 --> 00:00:06,573 I'm your host, Brian Callanan. 4 00:00:06,573 --> 00:00:10,076 From dealing with a regional homelessness agency that's in 5 00:00:10,076 --> 00:00:13,613 financial crisis to a ballot full of federal, state, and city 6 00:00:13,613 --> 00:00:17,050 races, get ready for a busy summer of local politics ahead. 7 00:00:18,551 --> 00:00:20,787 -They are millions and millions and millions in the red. 8 00:00:20,787 --> 00:00:23,556 -And in a way, that organization was set up to fail. 9 00:00:23,556 --> 00:00:26,192 -A troubling financial audit has fanned the 10 00:00:26,192 --> 00:00:27,827 flame of a growing debate. 11 00:00:27,827 --> 00:00:30,463 Should King County shut down its regional 12 00:00:30,463 --> 00:00:32,132 homelessness authority? 13 00:00:32,132 --> 00:00:34,000 -Seattle City Council will come to order. 14 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:36,803 Local leaders are wrestling with that question as 15 00:00:36,803 --> 00:00:40,173 Seattle expands its homeless shelter network this summer. 16 00:00:40,173 --> 00:00:43,843 But in the meantime, the August primary features the race to 17 00:00:43,843 --> 00:00:47,814 replace interim D5 Seattle City Council member Debora Juarez. 18 00:00:47,814 --> 00:00:50,483 -You lead to leave, and you're bringing up this 19 00:00:50,483 --> 00:00:51,684 next set of leaders. 20 00:00:51,684 --> 00:00:54,954 -Plus, voters are preparing for a full slate of federal 21 00:00:54,954 --> 00:00:57,891 and state races this fall, potentially along with a 22 00:00:57,891 --> 00:01:00,326 measure that would roll back a controversial 23 00:01:00,326 --> 00:01:01,795 income tax on high earners. 24 00:01:01,795 --> 00:01:03,263 -It's not a millionaire's tax. 25 00:01:03,263 --> 00:01:04,364 It's an everybody tax. 26 00:01:04,364 --> 00:01:06,733 -What are the big headlines you should be tracking? 27 00:01:06,733 --> 00:01:09,069 -When they see those two words together on a ballot, 28 00:01:09,069 --> 00:01:10,203 they just want to say no. 29 00:01:10,203 --> 00:01:12,372 -Our panel of journalists weighs in. 30 00:01:12,372 --> 00:01:14,741 -As it stands right now, a lot of these levies are 31 00:01:14,741 --> 00:01:17,510 being sold as basically propping up the city's budget. 32 00:01:17,510 --> 00:01:20,213 -There's a big blow-up over this behind the scenes. 33 00:01:20,213 --> 00:01:23,550 -A look at the top stories of the summer ahead, 34 00:01:23,550 --> 00:01:25,351 next on City Inside/Out. 35 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:39,732 ♪♪ 36 00:01:43,870 --> 00:01:46,940 -Thanks once again for joining us here on the Seattle 37 00:01:46,940 --> 00:01:48,675 Channel for City Inside/Out. 38 00:01:48,675 --> 00:01:51,077 Brian Callanan here with you, and I have with me 39 00:01:51,077 --> 00:01:53,513 three journalists to help look ahead at the top 40 00:01:53,513 --> 00:01:54,814 headlines of the summer. 41 00:01:54,814 --> 00:01:55,748 First up, Erica C. 42 00:01:55,748 --> 00:01:58,051 Barnett, founder and editor of the news site 43 00:01:58,051 --> 00:01:59,652 Publicola. Erica, good to see you. 44 00:01:59,652 --> 00:02:00,420 -Great to be here. 45 00:02:00,420 --> 00:02:02,322 Next to her, the lovely and talented Jerry 46 00:02:02,322 --> 00:02:04,491 Cornfield of the Washington State Standard, coming 47 00:02:04,491 --> 00:02:05,158 up from Olympia. 48 00:02:05,158 --> 00:02:06,593 Really appreciate you being here, 49 00:02:06,593 --> 00:02:07,594 Jerry. -Thanks to you. 50 00:02:07,594 --> 00:02:09,295 -All right, and also with us rounding 51 00:02:09,295 --> 00:02:11,698 out the group is David Kroman, City Hall reporter for 52 00:02:11,698 --> 00:02:12,532 The Seattle Times. 53 00:02:12,532 --> 00:02:13,933 David, thank you for being here. 54 00:02:13,933 --> 00:02:14,634 -Thanks for having me. 55 00:02:14,634 --> 00:02:15,568 -Let's jump into this. 56 00:02:15,568 --> 00:02:17,270 David, let me start with you, actually. 57 00:02:17,270 --> 00:02:19,906 I want to talk about the call to possibly shut down the King 58 00:02:19,906 --> 00:02:22,008 County Regional Homelessness Authority. 59 00:02:22,008 --> 00:02:24,577 This is going to be a big headline, ongoing headline 60 00:02:24,577 --> 00:02:25,245 this summer. 61 00:02:25,245 --> 00:02:27,547 A recent audit found that the agency was about 62 00:02:27,547 --> 00:02:30,783 $40 million in the red, couldn't account for maybe 63 00:02:30,783 --> 00:02:33,853 $13 million of its total budget of $205 million. 64 00:02:33,853 --> 00:02:36,222 There's King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski 65 00:02:36,222 --> 00:02:37,290 is saying shut it down. 66 00:02:37,290 --> 00:02:39,792 Seattle City Councilmember Maritza Rivera is 67 00:02:39,792 --> 00:02:40,793 wanting that, too. 68 00:02:40,793 --> 00:02:43,062 Are you surprised that we're in this position right now? 69 00:02:43,062 --> 00:02:46,833 And I guess we're about six years after the KCRHA launched. 70 00:02:46,833 --> 00:02:48,201 -I don't think I'm surprised. 71 00:02:48,201 --> 00:02:51,437 You know, I think when you talk to people, there is a sense that 72 00:02:51,437 --> 00:02:54,541 there was kind of a fundamental weakness in the King County 73 00:02:54,541 --> 00:02:57,944 Regional Homelessness Authority, which is it was kind of—it 74 00:02:57,944 --> 00:03:01,047 was intended to be—to sort of turn down the political 75 00:03:01,047 --> 00:03:03,183 temperature around homelessness. 76 00:03:05,318 --> 00:03:08,555 But there is some realization that maybe in trying 77 00:03:08,555 --> 00:03:10,790 to do that, it actually— -Centering up the 78 00:03:10,790 --> 00:03:11,925 experience of the homeless. 79 00:03:11,925 --> 00:03:14,093 -Yeah, centering up the experience of people 80 00:03:14,093 --> 00:03:15,595 experiencing homelessness. 81 00:03:15,595 --> 00:03:18,932 But there's some sense that in trying to do that, it kind 82 00:03:18,932 --> 00:03:23,036 of too easily became something that was apart from a lot of 83 00:03:23,036 --> 00:03:28,474 elected lawmakers' consciousness and sort of too easily ignored 84 00:03:28,474 --> 00:03:31,477 and put off in a different part of people's brain and 85 00:03:31,477 --> 00:03:35,114 thinking, and therefore kind of became an easy scapegoat. 86 00:03:35,114 --> 00:03:38,618 And so I think there's some sense that perhaps, you know, 87 00:03:38,618 --> 00:03:41,454 the way it was set up and where it was positioned, it 88 00:03:41,454 --> 00:03:44,023 became kind of too easily forgotten, and as a result, 89 00:03:44,023 --> 00:03:46,559 some of the financial practices were allowed to slip 90 00:03:46,559 --> 00:03:49,529 and accountability was weak and therefore got into the place 91 00:03:49,529 --> 00:03:53,499 we are, which is some pretty significant weaknesses 92 00:03:53,499 --> 00:03:57,036 that I think go beyond just the top line numbers 93 00:03:57,036 --> 00:03:59,205 that we've seen around $13 million. 94 00:03:59,205 --> 00:04:02,008 It's really about how you conduct or should 95 00:04:02,008 --> 00:04:05,111 conduct business in an organization like this, 96 00:04:05,111 --> 00:04:06,879 which has, you know, $200 million passing 97 00:04:06,879 --> 00:04:08,781 through it every year, it has to have really 98 00:04:08,781 --> 00:04:10,984 strict financial policies, and the conclusions are 99 00:04:10,984 --> 00:04:11,851 it just really did not. 100 00:04:11,851 --> 00:04:14,687 -Yeah. Erica, I know this is a moving target here, 101 00:04:14,687 --> 00:04:17,991 but is it a done deal that the KCRHA is going to get shut down? 102 00:04:17,991 --> 00:04:19,058 What do you think? 103 00:04:19,058 --> 00:04:20,260 -I think it's going to get shut down. 104 00:04:20,260 --> 00:04:23,429 I don't think it's a done deal, but everything, I mean, 105 00:04:23,429 --> 00:04:25,999 everyone that I've talked to, you know, from board members 106 00:04:25,999 --> 00:04:29,102 to elected officials who are not on the board, you know, 107 00:04:29,102 --> 00:04:32,071 seems to indicate that the process that it would take 108 00:04:32,071 --> 00:04:33,773 to actually fix all these problems. 109 00:04:33,773 --> 00:04:35,975 I mean, and it's just -- it's stuff that you -- 110 00:04:35,975 --> 00:04:39,445 is kind of unheard of, like the same person being in charge 111 00:04:39,445 --> 00:04:41,414 of, you know, an accounting, you know, 112 00:04:41,414 --> 00:04:45,351 a program from the very start, approving it to the very 113 00:04:45,351 --> 00:04:47,320 end, saying, you know, all that money was 114 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:48,221 spent correctly. 115 00:04:48,221 --> 00:04:50,590 I mean, there's just -- there's segregation of funds issues. 116 00:04:50,590 --> 00:04:51,958 There's, you know, lots of stuff. 117 00:04:51,958 --> 00:04:55,595 So it would take about a year and around a million dollars, 118 00:04:55,595 --> 00:04:57,196 according to the auditor, to fix this. 119 00:04:57,196 --> 00:04:58,765 And I think there's just not a lot of appetite 120 00:04:58,765 --> 00:04:59,832 for that right now. 121 00:04:59,832 --> 00:05:02,101 -Yeah. And just a lack of accountability, 122 00:05:02,101 --> 00:05:03,236 too, it sounds like. 123 00:05:03,236 --> 00:05:04,771 -Yeah. And I would say, you know, 124 00:05:04,771 --> 00:05:06,806 from the beginning, I mean, these practices 125 00:05:06,806 --> 00:05:09,709 were sort of instituted and there's a culture, I 126 00:05:09,709 --> 00:05:12,945 think, at KCRHA of just kind of not tracking 127 00:05:12,945 --> 00:05:14,314 things properly. 128 00:05:14,314 --> 00:05:16,349 And that leads to, you know, these 129 00:05:16,349 --> 00:05:18,785 massive, I mean, there are also $63 million 130 00:05:18,785 --> 00:05:19,919 in the red right now. 131 00:05:19,919 --> 00:05:21,621 So So there's just huge, you 132 00:05:21,621 --> 00:05:24,891 know, intrinsic problems that I just think that this 133 00:05:24,891 --> 00:05:26,359 is like the last strike. 134 00:05:26,359 --> 00:05:27,860 -It's going to be a challenge for sure. 135 00:05:27,860 --> 00:05:30,763 Jerry, I'm going to try to pull you in here because the State 136 00:05:30,763 --> 00:05:33,900 Department of Commerce kicks in about 8% of the KCRHA's budget, 137 00:05:33,900 --> 00:05:36,502 nearly $16 million for work like the Right-of-Way 138 00:05:36,502 --> 00:05:39,072 Safety Initiative along the highways, et cetera, 139 00:05:39,072 --> 00:05:40,506 helping people who are living there. 140 00:05:40,506 --> 00:05:42,942 So there's a state, federal, county, city, a lot of 141 00:05:42,942 --> 00:05:44,143 funding going into this. 142 00:05:44,143 --> 00:05:46,946 I just wanted to get a big picture view from you with 143 00:05:46,946 --> 00:05:49,849 headlines like these about financial problems, etc 144 00:05:49,849 --> 00:05:51,384 What is the state's appetite, 145 00:05:51,384 --> 00:05:54,053 do you think for helping counties with this work when 146 00:05:54,053 --> 00:05:55,555 something like this happens? 147 00:05:55,555 --> 00:05:58,424 -In my sense is the lawmakers in the region are the ones 148 00:05:58,424 --> 00:06:01,060 that are most informed and they are going to press 149 00:06:01,060 --> 00:06:03,529 locally, but even you mentioned the right-of-way safety 150 00:06:03,529 --> 00:06:06,599 initiative when that started out there was a lot of conflict 151 00:06:06,599 --> 00:06:09,635 between the state and the cities and especially 152 00:06:09,635 --> 00:06:11,971 Seattle so they took a while to figure out how to 153 00:06:11,971 --> 00:06:14,240 work together on something that was pretty right 154 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:16,142 there in the public eye everyone could see it 155 00:06:16,142 --> 00:06:19,011 happening and what wasn't happening and the state has 156 00:06:19,011 --> 00:06:21,714 its own issues about how much it is spending per 157 00:06:21,714 --> 00:06:25,184 person to try to help shelter individuals there's been 158 00:06:25,184 --> 00:06:28,187 questions raised about some of their other programs 159 00:06:28,187 --> 00:06:30,456 so you know this is just a large issue that I 160 00:06:30,456 --> 00:06:32,925 don't think anyone really wants to wrap their arms 161 00:06:32,925 --> 00:06:34,193 around at the state level. 162 00:06:34,193 --> 00:06:36,796 So they're kind of standing back and enjoying, I 163 00:06:36,796 --> 00:06:39,432 think, to some degree, the debate that's going on 164 00:06:39,432 --> 00:06:40,400 in the largest county. 165 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:42,001 -I'm going to find a different verb for 166 00:06:42,001 --> 00:06:44,537 that, but I understand what you're saying there, Jerry. 167 00:06:44,537 --> 00:06:46,406 Exactly. Jerry, let me jump back to you. 168 00:06:46,406 --> 00:06:47,840 I want to talk elections here. 169 00:06:47,840 --> 00:06:50,710 So there's a signature gathering effort that's underway right 170 00:06:50,710 --> 00:06:53,379 now to put an initiative on the the ballot for the fall. 171 00:06:53,379 --> 00:06:55,948 This would repeal the high income or excuse me, 172 00:06:55,948 --> 00:06:58,918 high earners income tax, the so-called millionaire's tax 173 00:06:58,918 --> 00:07:00,953 the legislature passed earlier this year. 174 00:07:00,953 --> 00:07:03,456 This comes from “Let's Go Washington” and Brian Heywood, 175 00:07:03,456 --> 00:07:05,958 who's pushed back in a number of measures from the Dems who 176 00:07:05,958 --> 00:07:07,226 control Olympia right now. 177 00:07:07,226 --> 00:07:09,228 I know that taxing the rich has been a pretty 178 00:07:09,228 --> 00:07:12,131 popular political stand in our state the past few years. 179 00:07:12,131 --> 00:07:14,767 How do you think this initiative is going to do? 180 00:07:14,767 --> 00:07:16,803 -At the ballot, It's going to be, at this 181 00:07:16,803 --> 00:07:19,439 moment, if it gets to the ballot, I really, you know, 182 00:07:19,439 --> 00:07:20,573 it's going to be hard. 183 00:07:20,573 --> 00:07:22,809 I think the mood is not to see an income tax 184 00:07:22,809 --> 00:07:24,043 in Washington, right? 185 00:07:24,043 --> 00:07:27,213 The voters, when they see those two words together on a ballot, 186 00:07:27,213 --> 00:07:28,448 they just want to say no. 187 00:07:28,448 --> 00:07:29,649 I mean, just two years ago. 188 00:07:29,649 --> 00:07:33,419 -Even if it is focused on higher earners, the top 0.5 percent? 189 00:07:33,419 --> 00:07:34,821 -I mean, there's obviously no trust that it's 190 00:07:34,821 --> 00:07:35,488 going to stay there. 191 00:07:35,488 --> 00:07:37,123 It's one line. 192 00:07:37,123 --> 00:07:40,326 I mean, if we look back two years ago, voters, Brian 193 00:07:40,326 --> 00:07:43,496 Heywood and company got 400,000 signatures on an 194 00:07:43,496 --> 00:07:47,200 initiative that says no income tax, state, city, county. 195 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:50,503 And the legislature just took it and they adopted it as law. 196 00:07:50,503 --> 00:07:52,672 And so now they're going against that two years later. 197 00:07:52,672 --> 00:07:56,409 And so I don't think there's any real inherent trust that 198 00:07:56,409 --> 00:07:59,679 that income tax level will stay at a $1 million and 199 00:07:59,679 --> 00:08:01,581 above as it's targeted to be. 200 00:08:01,581 --> 00:08:04,684 -And I guess the other one for “Let's Go Washington,” it's also 201 00:08:04,684 --> 00:08:07,687 behind this measure to ban kids who are transgender from 202 00:08:07,687 --> 00:08:09,322 playing in girls' K-12 sports. 203 00:08:09,322 --> 00:08:10,857 Where do you want to start with that one? 204 00:08:10,857 --> 00:08:12,925 -Well, that one and the other one that the “Let's Go 205 00:08:12,925 --> 00:08:15,628 Washington” has, I mean, they have potentially three dealing 206 00:08:15,628 --> 00:08:16,762 with the parental rights. 207 00:08:16,762 --> 00:08:17,430 -That's right, as well. 208 00:08:17,430 --> 00:08:18,631 -And access to information with children. 209 00:08:18,631 --> 00:08:21,267 Those are really two hot-button issues in the sort of 210 00:08:21,267 --> 00:08:23,870 the culture wars that we continue to have out there. 211 00:08:23,870 --> 00:08:26,772 So if I had, I think the polling shows, the early 212 00:08:26,772 --> 00:08:29,976 polling shows strong support to pass both of those, 213 00:08:29,976 --> 00:08:33,713 whether or not the political debate, whether there's money 214 00:08:33,713 --> 00:08:37,149 to actually enunciate what they will do, what it means. 215 00:08:37,149 --> 00:08:40,586 The number of individuals who are involved is not 216 00:08:40,586 --> 00:08:44,190 high, but the policy level of who's going to dictate 217 00:08:44,190 --> 00:08:47,960 what, you know, how our young athletes are competing. 218 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:50,096 I think the voters are probably going to weigh 219 00:08:50,096 --> 00:08:51,230 in and that one may pass. 220 00:08:51,230 --> 00:08:51,597 -Yeah, yeah. 221 00:08:51,597 --> 00:08:53,199 I will see what happens there. 222 00:08:53,199 --> 00:08:55,935 Erica, let's talk elections in Seattle, if we could, and 223 00:08:55,935 --> 00:08:58,571 the race to replace interim D5 council member Debora 224 00:08:58,571 --> 00:08:59,772 Juarez in North Seattle. 225 00:08:59,772 --> 00:09:01,340 We'll have a primary election in August. 226 00:09:01,340 --> 00:09:04,210 It appears Julie Kang, co-chair of the King County Immigrant 227 00:09:04,210 --> 00:09:07,013 and Refugee Commission, has an early lead in money raising. 228 00:09:07,013 --> 00:09:09,215 You've got Nilu Jenks, who ran and lost for this 229 00:09:09,215 --> 00:09:11,384 job in 2023, appears to be the main challenger. 230 00:09:11,384 --> 00:09:13,886 Health care advocate Silas James also in the mix. 231 00:09:13,886 --> 00:09:15,555 How do you see this race shaping up? 232 00:09:15,555 --> 00:09:17,957 And bigger picture, what does it mean for the political 233 00:09:17,957 --> 00:09:19,158 makeup of the city council? 234 00:09:19,158 --> 00:09:22,128 -Well, I mean, this is a pretty pivotal race in the sense 235 00:09:22,128 --> 00:09:25,298 that, you know, if Julie Kang wins, I think she will be more 236 00:09:25,298 --> 00:09:26,966 on the sort of traditional D5. 237 00:09:26,966 --> 00:09:29,502 I don't want to say conservative, but more moderate 238 00:09:29,502 --> 00:09:32,104 centrist side compared to Nilu Jenks, who is the kind 239 00:09:32,104 --> 00:09:33,573 of progressive frontrunner. 240 00:09:33,573 --> 00:09:35,041 Now, she did come in third. 241 00:09:35,041 --> 00:09:35,975 Cathy Moore won. 242 00:09:35,975 --> 00:09:37,643 This district does tend to be a 243 00:09:37,643 --> 00:09:40,880 little bit more centrist to conservative historically. 244 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:44,150 so I mean, but we now have a council that is, you know, 245 00:09:44,150 --> 00:09:47,687 let's say four progressives, five less progressives. 246 00:09:47,687 --> 00:09:51,357 so this could swing the council on a lot of central votes. 247 00:09:51,357 --> 00:09:53,859 so I think it's a really important election. 248 00:09:53,859 --> 00:09:57,163 Tends to go more towards the Debora Juarez, Cathy 249 00:09:57,163 --> 00:09:58,598 Moore moderate side, 250 00:09:58,598 --> 00:09:59,332 but we'll see. 251 00:09:59,332 --> 00:10:01,200 I mean, Nilu ran last time. 252 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:03,102 I think a lot of people were kind of, or at 253 00:10:03,102 --> 00:10:05,271 least I was surprised that she did so poorly. 254 00:10:06,272 --> 00:10:08,841 so maybe she'll have a shot this time. 255 00:10:08,841 --> 00:10:10,543 I don't know. 256 00:10:10,543 --> 00:10:12,812 Yeah, it just depends on how well Julie Kang performs 257 00:10:12,812 --> 00:10:14,180 because she's another unknown. 258 00:10:14,180 --> 00:10:16,148 -Yeah, going to have to build a lot on that one. 259 00:10:16,148 --> 00:10:19,151 David, let me jump to you because there's another issue on 260 00:10:19,151 --> 00:10:22,221 the August ballot that I think is most likely going to pass. 261 00:10:22,221 --> 00:10:24,390 I'm talking about the renewal of the library levy. 262 00:10:24,390 --> 00:10:28,094 Three out of four people said yes to it in 2019, and it 263 00:10:28,094 --> 00:10:31,998 would be interesting if it didn't pass again this year. 264 00:10:31,998 --> 00:10:32,832 Let me say that. 265 00:10:32,832 --> 00:10:34,967 You've written about this story, kind of the story 266 00:10:34,967 --> 00:10:35,935 behind the story here. 267 00:10:35,935 --> 00:10:38,404 There's a cap on the total dollar amount in 268 00:10:38,404 --> 00:10:41,240 levy money Seattle can take from its residents. 269 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:43,476 Can you explain what's going on here and how this 270 00:10:43,476 --> 00:10:46,078 library levy, which is bigger than the last one and more 271 00:10:46,078 --> 00:10:48,481 than likely going to pass, it's gonna push Seattle 272 00:10:48,481 --> 00:10:49,548 closer to that limit. 273 00:10:49,548 --> 00:10:50,650 Let's talk about that. 274 00:10:50,650 --> 00:10:53,052 -Yeah, it's an interesting time, and it's interesting 275 00:10:53,052 --> 00:10:55,287 that the library levy has become the sort of face of 276 00:10:55,287 --> 00:10:58,157 this because compared to, say, you know, transportation or 277 00:10:58,157 --> 00:10:59,558 housing or even education, 278 00:10:59,558 --> 00:11:00,559 it's actually not that big. 279 00:11:00,559 --> 00:11:02,495 It's about a third of the size of those other ones. 280 00:11:02,495 --> 00:11:05,064 But because those other ones passed before it, 281 00:11:06,132 --> 00:11:10,803 Seattle has gotten to this point of nearing its $3.60 282 00:11:10,803 --> 00:11:13,439 per $1,000 of assessed value. 283 00:11:13,439 --> 00:11:16,876 You know, it's a little weedy cap that the state 284 00:11:16,876 --> 00:11:19,945 puts on property taxes that it's able to raise through 285 00:11:19,945 --> 00:11:21,380 these kind of straight levies. 286 00:11:21,380 --> 00:11:25,084 You know, I think for years—and, you know, people in the 287 00:11:25,084 --> 00:11:28,921 city's budget world have told me this—the assumption in 288 00:11:28,921 --> 00:11:32,658 City Hall was either voters would stop approving these 289 00:11:32,658 --> 00:11:36,062 levies or lawmakers would maybe at least cap their 290 00:11:36,062 --> 00:11:37,830 size or shrink their size. 291 00:11:37,830 --> 00:11:39,198 Neither of those things have happened. 292 00:11:39,198 --> 00:11:41,767 And voters have enthusiastically supported all the levies, 293 00:11:41,767 --> 00:11:43,602 and they have continued to grow. 294 00:11:43,602 --> 00:11:47,206 And it puts Seattle in this uncomfortable position for 295 00:11:47,206 --> 00:11:51,077 really the first time that I have read about, where they have 296 00:11:51,077 --> 00:11:54,980 to consider—they kind of have to triage a little bit, or kind 297 00:11:54,980 --> 00:11:58,651 of find alternate doors to raise the sort of property tax 298 00:11:58,651 --> 00:12:00,553 revenue for its priorities. 299 00:12:00,553 --> 00:12:04,390 And I think that's a little bit uncomfortable position 300 00:12:04,390 --> 00:12:07,693 for the mayor and city hall to be in because they 301 00:12:07,693 --> 00:12:09,528 haven't needed to do that. 302 00:12:09,528 --> 00:12:12,064 -Because business was so strong before. 303 00:12:12,064 --> 00:12:13,032 Sales taxes were great. 304 00:12:13,032 --> 00:12:14,100 Property taxes were great. 305 00:12:14,100 --> 00:12:16,135 -Yeah, because the assessed value of property was 306 00:12:16,135 --> 00:12:17,002 raising so quickly. 307 00:12:17,002 --> 00:12:19,205 And, again, they just, you know, they hadn't 308 00:12:19,205 --> 00:12:21,874 really gotten particularly close to this cap before. 309 00:12:21,874 --> 00:12:24,710 It sort of had this feeling of that it was 310 00:12:24,710 --> 00:12:28,314 this endless resource that they could continue to 311 00:12:28,314 --> 00:12:30,182 tap for their priorities. 312 00:12:30,182 --> 00:12:33,452 You know, I think even, you know, one step deeper beyond 313 00:12:33,452 --> 00:12:36,522 this is this kind of question of, and I know Erica has 314 00:12:36,522 --> 00:12:39,959 written about this and thought about this, of what levies 315 00:12:39,959 --> 00:12:43,462 were supposed to be doing and what they're actually doing. 316 00:12:43,462 --> 00:12:45,865 Yeah. The kind of main theory behind levies is 317 00:12:45,865 --> 00:12:47,633 they're supposed to be additive. 318 00:12:47,633 --> 00:12:50,202 They're supposed to bring a new program on 319 00:12:50,202 --> 00:12:53,606 top of kind of basic services that the city covers. 320 00:12:53,606 --> 00:12:55,775 -Rather than providing 30 percent of the Department 321 00:12:55,775 --> 00:12:57,009 of Transportation's budget. 322 00:12:57,009 --> 00:12:59,645 -Exactly. But as it stands right now, a lot of these levies 323 00:12:59,645 --> 00:13:02,681 are being sold as basically propping up the city's 324 00:13:02,681 --> 00:13:06,352 budget in a way that has worked out basically so 325 00:13:06,352 --> 00:13:09,421 far because voters have have been generous, but 326 00:13:09,421 --> 00:13:11,724 it is starting to feel a little bit like a house 327 00:13:11,724 --> 00:13:14,026 of cards where if one of these levies goes down, 328 00:13:14,026 --> 00:13:16,195 you know, again, like you said, it's 30% of the 329 00:13:16,195 --> 00:13:18,097 Department of Transportation's budget. 330 00:13:18,097 --> 00:13:19,665 That's a really precarious place for them 331 00:13:19,665 --> 00:13:19,999 to be in. 332 00:13:19,999 --> 00:13:21,433 -Yeah. Erica, I saw that look in your eye. 333 00:13:21,433 --> 00:13:22,902 Did you want to say something about that? 334 00:13:22,902 --> 00:13:23,969 -I just wanted to add one thing. 335 00:13:23,969 --> 00:13:26,071 I mean, in addition to propping up the budget, 336 00:13:26,071 --> 00:13:28,707 these levies now are, and this happened with the 337 00:13:28,707 --> 00:13:31,243 parks levy as well a few years back, these levies are 338 00:13:31,243 --> 00:13:32,545 largely about maintenance. 339 00:13:32,545 --> 00:13:33,979 So you have like a capital levy, 340 00:13:33,979 --> 00:13:35,948 you build all these beautiful libraries and 341 00:13:35,948 --> 00:13:37,183 now they're falling apart. 342 00:13:37,183 --> 00:13:40,019 You go to the central library, it's just looking 343 00:13:40,019 --> 00:13:41,120 pretty shabby. 344 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:43,222 And so this is sort of additive 345 00:13:43,222 --> 00:13:44,223 in that sense. 346 00:13:44,223 --> 00:13:45,958 I mean, we built all these things, 347 00:13:45,958 --> 00:13:47,960 but we didn't have a plan to maintain them. 348 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:49,829 And so if we want to maintain them, then we 349 00:13:49,829 --> 00:13:51,997 have to pass another levy just to take care of the 350 00:13:51,997 --> 00:13:53,098 assets we already have. 351 00:13:53,098 --> 00:13:55,634 -That's a big question for voters this summer, for sure. 352 00:13:55,634 --> 00:13:57,269 Jerry, let me jump to you because the 353 00:13:57,269 --> 00:13:59,271 The city of Seattle is definitely not the only 354 00:13:59,271 --> 00:14:01,440 government agency going through some budgetary 355 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:02,441 challenges right now. 356 00:14:02,441 --> 00:14:04,343 Could you talk about what's happening at the state level? 357 00:14:04,343 --> 00:14:07,613 Because you wrote recently about Moody's, one of the big 358 00:14:07,613 --> 00:14:10,916 three credit rating agencies, downgraded its outlook for 359 00:14:10,916 --> 00:14:13,752 Washington state finances from stable to negative. 360 00:14:13,752 --> 00:14:14,954 That doesn't sound great to me. 361 00:14:14,954 --> 00:14:15,788 What does that mean? 362 00:14:15,788 --> 00:14:16,255 What's going on? 363 00:14:16,255 --> 00:14:17,890 -It doesn't sound great to me either. 364 00:14:17,890 --> 00:14:19,925 But, yeah, they don't have library levies. 365 00:14:19,925 --> 00:14:22,361 But if they could have more levies, they would do that. 366 00:14:22,361 --> 00:14:25,598 So, I mean, it's the same terminology, the cities, 367 00:14:25,598 --> 00:14:29,235 counties, schools, it's a structural deficit where the 368 00:14:29,235 --> 00:14:33,038 revenues that are coming in from all the different sources 369 00:14:33,038 --> 00:14:36,275 do not match the rising costs and the demand for the 370 00:14:36,275 --> 00:14:37,977 services from the public. 371 00:14:37,977 --> 00:14:40,713 And, I mean, they're both going up, but just one's 372 00:14:40,713 --> 00:14:42,281 going faster, a lot faster. 373 00:14:42,281 --> 00:14:44,750 And so, and that's that, you know, they're going to hear 374 00:14:44,750 --> 00:14:45,951 the word shortfall again. 375 00:14:45,951 --> 00:14:48,454 They're talking about multibillion-dollar shortfall. 376 00:14:48,454 --> 00:14:52,091 But it's really the gap between how much we're getting and 377 00:14:52,091 --> 00:14:55,127 how much we feel like we need to spend or we need to 378 00:14:55,127 --> 00:14:57,096 maintain what we're doing now. 379 00:14:57,096 --> 00:14:58,564 And I don't know if there's any solutions. 380 00:14:58,564 --> 00:15:02,434 or this whole issue of the income tax and the revenue, 381 00:15:02,434 --> 00:15:04,303 that's a couple years off. 382 00:15:04,303 --> 00:15:08,507 Even if that happens and the lawsuits fail and all, 383 00:15:08,507 --> 00:15:12,177 the amount of money it brings in will just cover the cost 384 00:15:12,177 --> 00:15:14,480 of maintaining the budget they just passed. 385 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:18,017 So there's no real new dollars going to be put into 386 00:15:18,017 --> 00:15:21,587 the system from that tax and not quantitatively 387 00:15:21,587 --> 00:15:23,022 large new numbers. 388 00:15:23,022 --> 00:15:25,624 So they're in a cycle of trying to figure it out. 389 00:15:25,624 --> 00:15:29,061 Former Governor Gregoire told the Association of Washington 390 00:15:29,061 --> 00:15:32,598 Business just a few days ago at their conference that Democrats 391 00:15:32,598 --> 00:15:35,701 need to kind of like take a break and figure out, you know, 392 00:15:35,701 --> 00:15:38,938 they need to resize their dreams with the amount of revenue 393 00:15:38,938 --> 00:15:40,406 they have to fulfill them. 394 00:15:40,406 --> 00:15:42,708 -Yeah, and AWB recently put out a poll, too, about 395 00:15:42,708 --> 00:15:45,411 businesses wanting to leave the state and things of that 396 00:15:45,411 --> 00:15:47,746 nature, which could have an impact on taxes, too. 397 00:15:47,746 --> 00:15:50,516 I don't know if I buy the people and the businesses leaving. 398 00:15:50,516 --> 00:15:52,017 some go, some come. 399 00:15:52,017 --> 00:15:54,987 I don't know, but i think people like it here. 400 00:15:54,987 --> 00:15:56,522 They're going to make it try to make it work. 401 00:15:56,522 --> 00:15:58,057 The problem is... - Yeah, you drove all the way 402 00:15:58,057 --> 00:15:59,692 up from Olympia to get here. 403 00:15:59,692 --> 00:16:01,393 -I saw them all on the roads. 404 00:16:01,393 --> 00:16:02,594 They're all heading to work. 405 00:16:02,594 --> 00:16:05,898 but if you look at the income tax, all the components of it, 406 00:16:05,898 --> 00:16:08,067 they raised taxes last year. 407 00:16:08,067 --> 00:16:09,935 Now they're going to get rid of them and replace them. 408 00:16:09,935 --> 00:16:13,706 That's the kind of instability that Moody's is looking at and 409 00:16:13,706 --> 00:16:16,108 saying, hey, we're not sure if you have a long-term vision 410 00:16:16,108 --> 00:16:18,344 of how you're going to finance your government, 411 00:16:18,344 --> 00:16:20,279 and that's why we're getting a little bit 412 00:16:20,279 --> 00:16:21,280 nervous. -All right. 413 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:22,214 Thank you for that. 414 00:16:22,214 --> 00:16:23,816 David, let me jump to you because 415 00:16:23,816 --> 00:16:25,784 there's a question I want to talk about with regard 416 00:16:25,784 --> 00:16:27,119 to expanding homeless shelters. 417 00:16:27,119 --> 00:16:28,554 The mayor and council are working 418 00:16:28,554 --> 00:16:29,421 on this this summer. 419 00:16:29,421 --> 00:16:30,489 The mayor wants 1,000 new 420 00:16:30,489 --> 00:16:32,024 units in the first year of her term. 421 00:16:32,024 --> 00:16:34,259 The council is going along with this idea for the 422 00:16:34,259 --> 00:16:37,196 most part, but this is a program that would include wraparound 423 00:16:37,196 --> 00:16:39,398 services and could carry some serious costs in 424 00:16:39,398 --> 00:16:41,400 the middle of a budget year-wide deficit is 425 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:43,402 definitely already looming on the horizon. 426 00:16:43,402 --> 00:16:44,870 I know Erica was touching on this 427 00:16:44,870 --> 00:16:47,072 earlier, trying to make something sustainable here. 428 00:16:47,072 --> 00:16:48,540 Can the city stand up these shelters 429 00:16:48,540 --> 00:16:51,677 quickly, for one, and keep them standing into 430 00:16:51,677 --> 00:16:52,511 the future? 431 00:16:52,511 --> 00:16:55,581 -That's the multi-million dollar question, 432 00:16:55,581 --> 00:16:56,081 I suppose. 433 00:16:56,081 --> 00:16:58,450 You know, I think the approach that they're taking 434 00:16:58,450 --> 00:17:01,387 right now is kind of a proof of concept to the, you know, when 435 00:17:01,387 --> 00:17:04,256 you press the mayor's office on how are you going to fund 436 00:17:04,256 --> 00:17:07,926 this program, which would be significant, because it's 437 00:17:07,926 --> 00:17:11,930 one thing to spend the money to stand up this shelter, but 438 00:17:11,930 --> 00:17:16,335 to a T, everyone has said that they want, as you mentioned, 439 00:17:16,335 --> 00:17:18,737 wraparound services, pretty intense resources 440 00:17:18,737 --> 00:17:19,671 put towards these. 441 00:17:19,671 --> 00:17:21,573 So it's not just the cost of standing them up. 442 00:17:21,573 --> 00:17:25,210 It's the cost of running them and maintaining them, and that 443 00:17:25,210 --> 00:17:27,646 is going to be significant going forward. 444 00:17:27,646 --> 00:17:29,214 And when you press the mayor's 445 00:17:29,214 --> 00:17:31,750 office about this, their argument is, you know, 446 00:17:31,750 --> 00:17:34,386 we have this kind of initial investment. 447 00:17:34,386 --> 00:17:36,055 It's around $17 million to 448 00:17:36,055 --> 00:17:38,791 get this first round of shelter up and running. 449 00:17:38,791 --> 00:17:40,959 And our hope is that it is going to prove so 450 00:17:40,959 --> 00:17:43,629 wildly successful and so appealing that the council 451 00:17:43,629 --> 00:17:45,898 will look at this and basically feel that they 452 00:17:45,898 --> 00:17:49,134 have no choice but to fund and to continue funding this. 453 00:17:49,134 --> 00:17:50,369 It's easier said than done. 454 00:17:50,369 --> 00:17:54,940 We're looking at structural deficit, $150 million this year, 455 00:17:54,940 --> 00:17:56,341 probably about the same next year, 456 00:17:56,341 --> 00:17:58,844 unless something pretty dramatic changes. 457 00:17:59,912 --> 00:18:02,915 So, you know, Mayor Katie Wilson has talked 458 00:18:02,915 --> 00:18:05,517 about capital gains tax, other sort of, quote, 459 00:18:05,517 --> 00:18:07,419 progressive revenue, however you want to define that. 460 00:18:09,254 --> 00:18:11,990 That is probably not going to solve any short-term issues 461 00:18:11,990 --> 00:18:14,259 or provide significant new funding for shelter 462 00:18:14,259 --> 00:18:16,628 because it's there's probably gonna be litigation 463 00:18:16,628 --> 00:18:19,598 administrative costs years to make not even sure how much 464 00:18:19,598 --> 00:18:22,367 a capital gains tax for example would bring in so 465 00:18:22,367 --> 00:18:24,970 if if the goal is to fund at a significant 466 00:18:24,970 --> 00:18:27,773 level something like the ongoing operations of a 467 00:18:27,773 --> 00:18:30,542 thousand shelter beds that will require prioritization 468 00:18:30,542 --> 00:18:33,412 that will require moving money from one place to the 469 00:18:33,412 --> 00:18:34,880 other cutting some things 470 00:18:36,415 --> 00:18:38,917 coming up with some interesting budgetary tricks that I 471 00:18:38,917 --> 00:18:40,119 haven't learned about yet. 472 00:18:41,553 --> 00:18:42,955 -You're going to ask the state for something. 473 00:18:42,955 --> 00:18:43,555 -Yeah, right. 474 00:18:43,555 --> 00:18:44,456 It's always one of the first tricks. 475 00:18:44,456 --> 00:18:45,390 Ask the state for money. 476 00:18:45,390 --> 00:18:46,692 Okay, yeah. 477 00:18:46,692 --> 00:18:48,193 -Another levy, who knows? 478 00:18:48,193 --> 00:18:48,994 -Yeah, yeah. 479 00:18:48,994 --> 00:18:50,329 -So it'll be tricky. 480 00:18:50,329 --> 00:18:52,331 -Yeah, and Erica, you wrote recently about this. 481 00:18:52,331 --> 00:18:54,600 This is a big project, and I think it's led to some 482 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:57,369 tension, from what I understand from some of your writing, 483 00:18:57,369 --> 00:18:58,637 between the mayor and the council. 484 00:18:58,637 --> 00:19:00,772 Can you talk about what's going on behind the scenes 485 00:19:00,772 --> 00:19:02,674 and, I guess, where this project is going to go? 486 00:19:02,674 --> 00:19:05,511 -Yeah, I mean, I think the tension that already existed 487 00:19:05,511 --> 00:19:08,313 between the mayor and the council really came out into 488 00:19:08,313 --> 00:19:11,049 the open with this because, you know, they sent down, 489 00:19:11,049 --> 00:19:13,652 the mayor's office sent down legislation, didn't 490 00:19:13,652 --> 00:19:16,555 have a sponsor, didn't have committees for any of these 491 00:19:16,555 --> 00:19:19,224 three bills to go into, just kind of didn't work with 492 00:19:19,224 --> 00:19:20,792 the council at all initially. 493 00:19:20,792 --> 00:19:23,195 AND, YOU KNOW, AND THERE WAS -- AND PEOPLE CAN READ ABOUT 494 00:19:23,195 --> 00:19:26,298 THIS IN PubliCola, BUT THERE WAS A BIG BLOW-UP OVER 495 00:19:26,298 --> 00:19:30,002 THIS BEHIND THE SCENES LAST WEEK, I BELIEVE, 496 00:19:30,002 --> 00:19:33,038 WHERE THE MAYOR'S OFFICE CALLED DOWN TO THE COUNCIL 497 00:19:33,038 --> 00:19:35,073 AND SAID, "YOU NEED TO PULL THIS LEGISLATION BECAUSE I'M 498 00:19:35,073 --> 00:19:36,875 NOT HAPPY WITH SOME OF THESE AMENDMENTS." 499 00:19:36,875 --> 00:19:39,378 NOW, THAT'S NOT HOW THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS 500 00:19:39,378 --> 00:19:40,412 TYPICALLY WORKS. 501 00:19:40,412 --> 00:19:43,515 AND SO I THINK THE COUNCIL WAS FEELING THAT THEY HAD BEEN 502 00:19:43,515 --> 00:19:46,552 KIND OF ORDERED AROUND BY A separate branch of government. 503 00:19:46,552 --> 00:19:49,454 And I think this will, you know, be an issue, not just with this 504 00:19:49,454 --> 00:19:51,723 legislation, but, you know, in the future if they 505 00:19:51,723 --> 00:19:53,358 don't sort of address this tension. 506 00:19:53,358 --> 00:19:55,227 But, you know, as far as the shelter 507 00:19:55,227 --> 00:19:58,230 units, I mean, you know, as David said, I mean, it's 508 00:19:58,230 --> 00:20:00,065 going to cost quite a bit of money. 509 00:20:00,065 --> 00:20:01,500 And so there needs to be, I mean, the 510 00:20:01,500 --> 00:20:02,734 council approves the budget. 511 00:20:02,734 --> 00:20:05,070 So there needs to be a good relationship between the 512 00:20:05,070 --> 00:20:07,306 second and the seventh floor for that to happen. 513 00:20:07,306 --> 00:20:09,074 And that's definitely not the case 514 00:20:09,074 --> 00:20:09,608 right now. 515 00:20:09,608 --> 00:20:10,475 -Okay, thank you. 516 00:20:10,475 --> 00:20:12,744 Jerry, I'm gonna try to go speed round if I can 517 00:20:12,744 --> 00:20:14,246 here. Back on elections here. 518 00:20:14,246 --> 00:20:16,615 So we've got former Seattle City Councilmember 519 00:20:16,615 --> 00:20:19,184 Kshama Sawant going against longtime US Congressman 520 00:20:19,184 --> 00:20:21,153 Adam Smith for the District 9 seat there. 521 00:20:21,153 --> 00:20:23,088 Covers from Seattle down to Federal Way. 522 00:20:23,088 --> 00:20:24,890 Smith is way ahead on fundraising. 523 00:20:24,890 --> 00:20:27,125 I just wanted to ask how real do you think the 524 00:20:27,125 --> 00:20:28,627 challenge is from Kshama Sawant? 525 00:20:28,627 --> 00:20:30,696 -I mean I don't think she unseats him but I think 526 00:20:30,696 --> 00:20:33,999 I think she puts issues out there that forces him to 527 00:20:33,999 --> 00:20:37,436 think about how he legislates from Washington, D.C. 528 00:20:37,436 --> 00:20:39,171 And did look at the finances. 529 00:20:39,171 --> 00:20:42,474 She is spending almost every dollar she gets, and 530 00:20:42,474 --> 00:20:45,611 that's a difficult pace to spend what comes in. 531 00:20:45,611 --> 00:20:48,313 But she raises the bar in the conversation to issues 532 00:20:48,313 --> 00:20:51,350 that he's not talking about necessarily to start off with. 533 00:20:51,383 --> 00:20:55,020 -Yeah, some things, war in Israel for certain, 534 00:20:55,020 --> 00:20:56,822 all that type of thing? 535 00:20:56,822 --> 00:20:59,491 -Yeah, I just don't know if there's enough voters in that 536 00:20:59,491 --> 00:21:02,261 district that will agree with her on some of these points. 537 00:21:02,261 --> 00:21:05,530 But to cast a vote for her will be difficult for many. 538 00:21:05,530 --> 00:21:06,431 -Okay, thank you. 539 00:21:06,431 --> 00:21:08,967 Erica, I know you've been reporting on some tough times 540 00:21:08,967 --> 00:21:11,536 ahead for Sound Transit, which recently announced is 541 00:21:11,536 --> 00:21:14,339 deferring or postponing or whatever you want to call it. 542 00:21:14,339 --> 00:21:15,307 -Don't say deferring. 543 00:21:15,307 --> 00:21:16,808 -Okay, okay, all right, sorry. 544 00:21:16,808 --> 00:21:17,976 Postponing. How about that? 545 00:21:17,976 --> 00:21:18,543 Yeah, sorry. 546 00:21:18,543 --> 00:21:20,612 We're talking about the building of this Ballard 547 00:21:20,612 --> 00:21:22,814 extension that was promised to voters with the Sound 548 00:21:22,814 --> 00:21:24,116 Transit 3 measure 10 years ago. 549 00:21:24,116 --> 00:21:27,152 So the agency is trying to close this $34.5 550 00:21:27,152 --> 00:21:29,154 billion budget shortfall. 551 00:21:29,154 --> 00:21:29,988 How did we get here? 552 00:21:29,988 --> 00:21:31,089 What does the way out look 553 00:21:31,089 --> 00:21:32,157 like? What do you think? 554 00:21:32,157 --> 00:21:34,660 -Well, how we got here is, you know, sort of the same issue 555 00:21:34,660 --> 00:21:35,961 that we've been discussing. 556 00:21:35,961 --> 00:21:38,263 I mean, things just got more expensive. 557 00:21:38,263 --> 00:21:40,432 There were some—I mean, just labor is more 558 00:21:40,432 --> 00:21:42,934 expensive, materials are more expensive, there 559 00:21:42,934 --> 00:21:44,269 are overruns. 560 00:21:44,269 --> 00:21:47,973 And so the question now is, you know, how do they come 561 00:21:47,973 --> 00:21:49,775 up with ways to cut costs? 562 00:21:50,876 --> 00:21:54,212 And then, you know, what can they defer? 563 00:21:54,212 --> 00:21:56,748 They do not like the word "defer," because it 564 00:21:56,748 --> 00:21:59,551 implies—it implies what is actually happening, 565 00:21:59,551 --> 00:22:02,754 which is that they're cutting the Ballard line for now 566 00:22:02,754 --> 00:22:04,489 until more money can be found. 567 00:22:04,489 --> 00:22:07,359 And the Ballard line, as Dan Strauss said, it's 568 00:22:07,359 --> 00:22:08,694 the downtown tunnel. 569 00:22:08,694 --> 00:22:10,228 I mean, it stops at Seattle Center. 570 00:22:10,228 --> 00:22:12,130 It doesn't go anywhere near Ballard. 571 00:22:12,130 --> 00:22:14,599 And so I think it's a real problem. 572 00:22:14,599 --> 00:22:17,569 We approved the Ballard to West Seattle light rail line. 573 00:22:17,569 --> 00:22:20,539 It's going sort of into West Seattle, not very deep, and 574 00:22:20,539 --> 00:22:22,040 not going to Ballard at all. 575 00:22:22,040 --> 00:22:25,477 And I think that it's very strange to me that politicians 576 00:22:25,477 --> 00:22:27,946 other than Dan Strauss have not been complaining 577 00:22:27,946 --> 00:22:28,880 about this more loudly. 578 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:31,249 I mean, politicians in Seattle in particular. 579 00:22:31,249 --> 00:22:33,752 -Yeah, Dan Strauss, the Seattle City Council member 580 00:22:33,752 --> 00:22:36,021 who represents that area there. 581 00:22:36,021 --> 00:22:37,956 David, I wanted to make sure I picked up on a story 582 00:22:37,956 --> 00:22:41,393 you did recently about World Cup matches coming to Seattle. 583 00:22:41,393 --> 00:22:43,495 You've been living under a rock news flash here. 584 00:22:43,495 --> 00:22:45,931 Seattle is scheduled to host a number of World Cup matches 585 00:22:45,931 --> 00:22:47,933 between mid-June and early July. 586 00:22:47,933 --> 00:22:49,434 How much is the city spending on this? 587 00:22:49,434 --> 00:22:51,570 What is the return on that investment going to be? 588 00:22:51,570 --> 00:22:53,438 I've seen a few headlines that might indicate 589 00:22:53,438 --> 00:22:54,773 we're going to get fewer crowds. 590 00:22:54,773 --> 00:22:56,241 Can you talk about this? 591 00:22:56,241 --> 00:22:59,544 -Yeah, the city's putting something like $30, $32 592 00:22:59,544 --> 00:23:01,313 million toward the event. 593 00:23:01,313 --> 00:23:04,116 A lot of that is from grants, federal and state grants. 594 00:23:04,116 --> 00:23:06,017 So it's not really coming directly out 595 00:23:06,017 --> 00:23:07,152 of the city's coffers. 596 00:23:07,152 --> 00:23:09,421 -It was $14 million from the city itself. 597 00:23:09,421 --> 00:23:12,624 -Yeah, something more like $14 million, which, you know, the 598 00:23:12,624 --> 00:23:15,794 calculation is that that will pay for itself, that the cost 599 00:23:15,794 --> 00:23:17,195 benefit there is worth it. 600 00:23:18,597 --> 00:23:22,000 It's it is always very hard for me to kind of wrap 601 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:25,804 my head around tourism agencies and their promises 602 00:23:25,804 --> 00:23:27,372 of economic benefit. 603 00:23:27,372 --> 00:23:30,242 We see this a lot when we're talking about convention 604 00:23:30,242 --> 00:23:32,577 centers or baseball stadiums or, you know, 605 00:23:32,577 --> 00:23:35,280 whatever the thing might be that it's going to bring 606 00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:37,983 in trillions of dollars of new activity and save the 607 00:23:37,983 --> 00:23:40,786 city, it's always hard to fact check that a little bit. 608 00:23:40,786 --> 00:23:44,156 That said, it is also very true that there is going to be a 609 00:23:44,156 --> 00:23:45,991 surge of activity in Seattle. 610 00:23:45,991 --> 00:23:47,859 These are going to be significant events. 611 00:23:47,859 --> 00:23:50,028 A lot of people are going to come here and a lot of people 612 00:23:50,028 --> 00:23:51,229 are going to spend money here. 613 00:23:51,229 --> 00:23:53,064 So compared to baseline, I think the activity 614 00:23:53,064 --> 00:23:53,865 will be much higher. 615 00:23:53,865 --> 00:23:56,635 And the calculation is $14 million, which is split 616 00:23:56,635 --> 00:23:58,136 out over two budget cycles. 617 00:23:58,136 --> 00:23:59,638 That's 2025 and 2026. 618 00:23:59,638 --> 00:24:00,405 -Right, right, right. 619 00:24:00,405 --> 00:24:03,175 -Is in the grand scheme of things, not that much to 620 00:24:03,175 --> 00:24:05,944 spend to prepare for an event of this magnitude. 621 00:24:05,944 --> 00:24:08,280 And that will be worth it for the city to do. 622 00:24:09,381 --> 00:24:10,315 -Fair enough. Jerry, time to wrap up. 623 00:24:10,315 --> 00:24:12,984 And I'll try to do the 30-second version if I can. 624 00:24:12,984 --> 00:24:13,952 A headline that we missed. 625 00:24:13,952 --> 00:24:16,588 I know we have a ton of state legislative races going on. 626 00:24:16,588 --> 00:24:17,456 Supreme Court, too. 627 00:24:17,456 --> 00:24:18,790 What do you got on your mind? 628 00:24:18,790 --> 00:24:20,659 -It’s not state level. 629 00:24:20,659 --> 00:24:21,960 These guys might be into it. 630 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:25,730 The charter review commissions in cities and counties, they're 631 00:24:25,730 --> 00:24:28,800 debating some interesting topics around the state, 632 00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:31,303 some in one place in Snohomish County debating 633 00:24:31,303 --> 00:24:34,105 not allowing folks on city council of Everett to also 634 00:24:34,105 --> 00:24:35,540 serve in the legislature. 635 00:24:35,540 --> 00:24:37,509 They had a member recently. 636 00:24:37,509 --> 00:24:41,580 So I would watch those for local issues, making some 637 00:24:41,580 --> 00:24:44,015 changes in local governments. 638 00:24:44,015 --> 00:24:44,549 -Very interesting. 639 00:24:45,750 --> 00:24:46,751 -How about Erica? 640 00:24:46,751 --> 00:24:47,652 What do you have on your mind? 641 00:24:47,652 --> 00:24:48,220 What's going on? 642 00:24:48,220 --> 00:24:50,989 -Well, I'm going to be following the budget, obviously, late 643 00:24:50,989 --> 00:24:52,157 summer and into the fall. 644 00:24:52,157 --> 00:24:52,824 -Like you do. 645 00:24:52,824 --> 00:24:57,095 -City Council and mayor are talking about doing a fire 646 00:24:57,095 --> 00:24:59,331 district to move some of it. 647 00:24:59,331 --> 00:25:02,234 So it would be a separate levy type structure. 648 00:25:02,234 --> 00:25:03,735 -Kind of like the park district. 649 00:25:03,735 --> 00:25:06,671 -To move some of the funding for the fire department, 650 00:25:06,671 --> 00:25:09,941 which costs $350 million or so, out of the regular budget. 651 00:25:09,941 --> 00:25:12,978 That would close the deficit, but it would put another 652 00:25:12,978 --> 00:25:16,281 basic service onto the ballot and into the hands of voters. 653 00:25:16,281 --> 00:25:19,618 So it's risky, and it would be an additional property tax. 654 00:25:19,618 --> 00:25:20,585 -We'll see what happens there. 655 00:25:20,585 --> 00:25:22,854 David, help us wrap up some final thoughts about a 656 00:25:22,854 --> 00:25:25,290 story you might be tracking over the next few months. 657 00:25:25,290 --> 00:25:27,559 -Yeah, you know, I've written about this, and Erica has 658 00:25:27,559 --> 00:25:29,794 written about this, you know, the mandatory housing 659 00:25:29,794 --> 00:25:32,497 affordability program, whether that continues on 660 00:25:32,497 --> 00:25:35,300 as it exists right now, which is the basically 661 00:25:35,300 --> 00:25:36,768 fee that developers pay 662 00:25:37,969 --> 00:25:39,437 into an affordable housing pot. 663 00:25:39,437 --> 00:25:42,307 There's a push to roll back that fee significantly. 664 00:25:42,307 --> 00:25:45,877 I think boosters or supporters of rolling back the fee 665 00:25:45,877 --> 00:25:47,913 would like to see that legislated this year, 666 00:25:47,913 --> 00:25:50,549 which would mean that they need to get it before the council 667 00:25:50,549 --> 00:25:52,617 several months before its August recess, 668 00:25:52,617 --> 00:25:54,419 which is pretty soon. 669 00:25:54,419 --> 00:25:58,857 So if they are going to have any traction on that push, 670 00:25:58,857 --> 00:26:01,059 I think we would need to see that, you know, 671 00:26:01,059 --> 00:26:02,961 in the next few weeks or months. 672 00:26:02,961 --> 00:26:05,230 So I'll be watching to see if that goes anywhere. 673 00:26:05,230 --> 00:26:06,197 -Great. Thanks for that. 674 00:26:06,197 --> 00:26:08,433 And we will be right back. 675 00:26:08,433 --> 00:26:11,503 What are people saying online about the big stories 676 00:26:11,503 --> 00:26:12,370 of the summer? 677 00:26:12,370 --> 00:26:13,338 One person writes, 678 00:26:23,381 --> 00:26:23,848 Another says, 679 00:26:33,858 --> 00:26:36,161 We'd like to know what you think. 680 00:26:36,161 --> 00:26:39,230 Email us at contact@seattlechannel.org 681 00:26:39,230 --> 00:26:41,132 or find us on social media. 682 00:26:41,132 --> 00:26:43,468 Great to get that input, and a big thanks to David 683 00:26:43,468 --> 00:26:45,904 Kroman of The Seattle Times, Jerry Cornfield of The 684 00:26:45,904 --> 00:26:47,739 Washington State Standard, and Erica C. 685 00:26:47,739 --> 00:26:48,873 Barnett from Publicola. 686 00:26:48,873 --> 00:26:50,408 Really appreciate you being here. 687 00:26:50,408 --> 00:26:51,076 -Thank you. 688 00:26:51,076 --> 00:26:53,178 -And also really appreciate Susan Han. 689 00:26:53,178 --> 00:26:56,181 She is retiring after 19 years at The Seattle Channel. 690 00:26:56,181 --> 00:27:00,418 I worked with her for 15 of those years, and she's the best. 691 00:27:00,418 --> 00:27:02,687 She's a great friend and a consummate professional. 692 00:27:02,687 --> 00:27:03,922 I'm going to miss you deeply. 693 00:27:03,922 --> 00:27:04,756 I know that. 694 00:27:04,756 --> 00:27:06,758 A lot of people here at this table love you, too, and The 695 00:27:06,758 --> 00:27:08,660 Seattle Channel is going to miss you, too. 696 00:27:08,660 --> 00:27:09,427 Thank you Susan. 697 00:27:09,427 --> 00:27:10,462 We'll see you next time. 698 00:27:14,766 --> 00:27:29,748 ♪ ♪