Social housing Prop 1A is a major progressive victory in Seattle
Seattle News:
Good news first! Prop 1A to fund social housing has passed with a resounding 20-point lead. Congratulations to everyone who put in so much hard work into helping this pass.
As I said on Bluesky, “House Our Neighbors and their two social housing initiatives are an inspiring example of the kind of progressive victory and progress we can achieve in Seattle without compromising our values or appeasing big business.”
On Tuesday, the Seattle City Council voted to pass the less lethal weapons legislation (which includes SPD use of blast balls). Councilmembers Alexis Mercedes Rinck, Joy Hollingsworth, and Cathy Moore voted no.
Moore tried again to put some limits on mutual aid (help SPD gets from other law enforcement agencies) by requiring said mutual aid to agree to comply with Seattle’s crowd control policies–which, given the policing would be taking place in Seattle, seems eminently reasonable–but even Hollingsworth voted this amendment down.
Reading the first sentence in PubliCola’s article about the decision is illustrative: “The Seattle City Council approved legislation yesterday that retroactively authorizes the Seattle Police Department to adopt its own policies governing how officers can use “less lethal” weapons such as pepper spray, foam-tipped bullets, and blast balls—rubber grenades that can cause serious, even life-threatening injuries when they explode.’” The bolding is mine.
The Urbanist ran a first-person account by MJ Jurgensen (they/them), who was permanently injured by a blast ball deployed during a Seattle protest in 2020.
Another lawsuit was filed against SPD by SPD Lt. John O’Neil, alleging discrimination and retaliation. O’Neil has experienced quite a saga for more than two years being bounced around SPD. Four of the people identified in his lawsuit were the same four women who brought their own lawsuit against SPD last year.
The Washington Supreme Court decided that the SPD officers who attended the January 6, 2021 rally in Washington DC can be identified by name. Their names are Jacob Briskey, Jason Marchione, Alexander Everett, Caitlin Rochelle-Everett, Michael Settle, and Scotty Bach. The Everetts were fired by SPD for the part they played at the insurrection.
The Seattle City Attorney’s Office has said they will finally allow an elected municipal court judge, Judge Pooja Vaddadi, to hear criminal cases again. It has been almost a year since Natalie Walton-Anderson’s March 1 memo stating that the office would be filing a blanket affidavit of prejudice over all future criminal cases for Vaddadi. The memo cited three specific cases involving Vaddadi, about which Ashley Nerbovig wrote, “The case facts appear to deviate from the claims made by the CAO in their memo.”
In spite of this change, not enough cases have been restored to Vaddadi for her to resume her previous role.
King County News:
The lawsuit against Burien brought by the Seattle King County Coalition on Homelessness had a hearing today. The lawsuit is regarding Burien’s homeless camping law.
I wrote a piece for The Urbanist about Kirkland’s new 24/7 drop-in mental health crisis center–Connections Kirkland–that opened last summer. King County announced this week that Connections Kirkland has been selected to be one of the five crisis centers supported by the crisis care levy.
Washington State News:
The Legislative Black Caucus, which represents 14 state lawmakers, has some concerns about Governor Bob Ferguson’s $100 million police officer hiring grant program.
Rep. Kristine Reeves, the Chair of the caucus, told The Washington State Standard, “We’ve spent the last five years trying to repair the harm done over law enforcement investments in communities where real people have been harmed, and particularly Black people have been harmed,” she said. “We want to make it clear that we are equally prepared to have hard conversations about how we prioritize community investments.”
The caucus would like to see equal investment for social services and other supportive community programs as is made into the police grants. They particularly support more investment in the Community Reinvestment Project that was originally created in 2022.
In Praise:
I recently read If We Burn, a book by journalist Vincent Bevins, covering societal uprisings from 2010-2020, which occurred right as social media was becoming mainstream. I thought its many awards and positive reviews were very well deserved, so if you have some reading time, you might want to check it out.
Recent Headlines:
Washington sues to stop ban on funding for gender-affirming care
'Something More Left-Leaning': A South End View of the Seattle Political Landscape
OPINION | Seattle Considers Itself a 'Sanctuary City.' It's Time to Act Like One.
'The purge has begun.' Environmental justice workers locked out of EPA Seattle office
Chloe Cockburn: Latest criminal justice news and commentary 2.12.25
Cop faked conversation with witness to cover for reckless driving
Seattle's Conservative Cycle is Over: Proposition 1A Stomps to Victory, Likely Heralding a New Era
WA leaders tell Trump to ‘follow the damn law,’ vow to shield state
Washington’s Bills to Safeguard and Upgrade Democracy in 2025
WA bill would set new limits on when police can stop drivers