May 28, 2025 • 55 mins
Eddie Lin, running for Seattle City Council in District 2, shares his stance on housing affordability, public safety, transportation, and more while emphasizing his government experience and commitment to community-driven solutions.
As always, a full text transcript of the show is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.
Follow us on Bluesky at @HacksAndWonks. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Bluesky at @finchfrii and find Eddie Lin at @linforseattle.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:13):
Welcome to Hacks & Wonks.
I’m your host, Crystal Fincher.
On this show we talk with policy wonksand political hacks to gather insight
into local politics and policy inWashington state through the lens of those
doing the work, with behind-the-scenesperspectives on what’s happening, why it’s
happening, and what you can do about it.
Seattle City Councilmembers makedecisions that shape nearly every
(00:37):
part of daily life in the city - fromhousing, policing, to transportation
and parks, public utilities, andhow our tax dollars are spent.
They pass laws, approve the citybudget, and oversee city departments.
They also play a key role insetting long-term plans for growth
and development, negotiatinglabor contracts, and holding
agencies accountable to the public.
(00:58):
In other words, if you care about thecost of housing, how your neighborhood is
changing, how public safety is handled, orhow easy it is to get around Seattle - you
should care who sits on the City Council.
District 2 includes the neighborhoodsof Beacon Hill, Brighton, Chinatown
International District or the CID,Columbia City, Dunlap, Genesee, Hillman
City, Lakewood/Seward Park, LittleSaigon, Mount Baker, New Holly, North
(01:23):
Beacon Hill, Othello, Rainier Beach,Rainier View, Rainier Vista, South
Beacon Hill, and Yesler Terrace.
This race will help determine notjust the future of the district, but
the direction of the city as a whole.
So we're talking to candidates tosee where they stand, what they've
done, and who they are - not justas policymakers, but as people.
(01:44):
Today, we are excited to welcomeSeattle City Council District 2
candidate Eddie Lin to the program.
Welcome!
Thank you.
Well, as you know, we startwith a lightning round here on
Hacks & Wonks to help everyone getto know you a little bit better.
These are quick yes-or-no,or quick answer questions.
(02:04):
We'll have plenty of time to elaboratein the general answer period, but
this just helps people to begin toget to know you a little bit better.
So just starting out, do youown or rent your residence?
Own.
Are you a landlord?
No.
Have you ever been a member of a union?
(02:26):
No, but before law school, I workedfor three years as a secretary at
a law firm representing unions.
And during law school-
Wait, wait, wait.
Lightning round.
Okay, sorry.
That's a no.
Got it.
No.
Have you ever walked on a picket line?
Yes.
Have you ever crossed a picket line?
No.
Is your campaign staff unionized?
(02:47):
No.
If your campaign staff wants tounionize, will you voluntarily
recognize their effort?
Yes.
What political party do you identify with?
Democrat.
Have you used the Seattle PublicLibrary system in the past month?
No.
Have you been to a Seattle City Councilmeeting in person in the past year?
(03:08):
Several.
Have you or someone in your householdever relied on public assistance?
Yes.
Have you ever been stopped orquestioned by police in Seattle?
Yes.
Have you ever worked in retail or ajob where you had to rely on tips?
Yes.
Have you ever owned a business?
No.
(03:28):
Have you ever manageda team of 10 or more?
No.
100 or more?
Well, that would also be a no.
Have you ever reported someone'smisconduct in your workplace?
Not that I recall.
Have you ever fired someone?
No.
What's your favorite park in D2?
Jefferson.
What's your favorite D2 restaurant?
(03:52):
I'm going to say Homer.
What was the last liveperformance you saw in District 2?
It was Prometheus Brown at Clock-Out.
Nice.
What's your favorite
album?
I'm going to say - Fightthe Power by Public Enemy.
What's your favorite song?
(04:13):
Same song.
What's the last song you listened to?
Last song I listened to - just onethat stands out is Pink Pony Club.
What's the most recent book you read?
I am reading Skid Row.
What was the last sportsevent you attended in Seattle?
(04:36):
Sounders game.
What's your favorite cafe in D2?
Station.
Have you ever contested a traffic ticket?
Not that I recall.
Have you ever served on a jury?
No.
Have you ever been arrested?
Yes.
Have you taken transit in the past month?
(04:56):
Yes.
Past week?
Yes.
Have you ridden a bike in the past month?
Yes.
In the past week?
Yes.
Do you agree with the City Council'sdecision to rezone parts of SODO
to allow residential housing?
No.
Do you agree with the Council'sdecision to delay adoption of
(05:19):
the Comprehensive Plan past 2024?
No.
Do you agree with the City Council'sdecision to put Proposition 1B on the
social housing ballot, in addition to 1A.
Yes.
Do you agree with the Council'sdecision to divert JumpStart
revenue from its original purposeto address the budget deficit?
(05:45):
Yes.
Waffle.
Do you agree with the City Council'sdecision to allow SPD to implement
expanded surveillance technologies?
If we're talking about CCTVs - depends.
Do you agree with the Council'sdecision to allow SPD to use tear
(06:06):
gas and blast balls for crowdcontrol in certain circumstances?
Depends.
Do you agree with the Council'sdecision to reinstate SOAP and
SODA laws restricting peoplefrom certain areas in Seattle?
Jury's still out, butyes - I'm okay with it.
(06:28):
Do you agree with the Council'sdecision to make street racing and
attending a street race a crime?
Yes.
Do you agree with the Council'sdecision to continue to use SCORE jail
to detain people arrested in Seattle?
No.
Was it worth modifying or loweringstandards to recruit new police officers?
(06:51):
Yes.
Have we gotten our money'sworth on the money allocated
to recruit new police officers?
I'd say no.
Does SPD have a problemwith how it treats women?
Yes.
Does SPD have a problem withhow it treats BIPOC people?
(07:13):
Yes.
Would you have voted to ratify the SeattlePolice Officers Guild, or SPOG, contract?
No.
Will you vote for a SPOG contractthat lacks meaningful accountability
provisions, like civilianoversight with subpoena power?
No.
Should the scope of the CAREdepartment be included in or
limited by the SPOG contract?
(07:34):
No.
Do you think facial recognitionshould be banned in city use?
Depends.
Did Seattle ever "defund the police"?
No.
Should we have a design review board?
No.
Should public comment time be allowedto be limited without prior notice?
(07:56):
No.
Do you support theFerdinand Festival Street?
Yes.
Do you agree with the city policyof closing Lake Washington Boulevard
to cars, and only allowing bike andpedestrian access for 10 weekends
during the spring and summer?
Yes, depending on what we mean by close.
(08:16):
But as long as local folkscan get to their houses, yes.
Do you support expanded weekendclosures of Lake Washington Boulevard?
Yes.
Do you plan to increase fundingand staffing for investigations
of labor violations like wagetheft and illegal union busting?
Yes.
Do large corporations in Seattlepay their fair share of taxes?
(08:39):
No.
Do small businesses paytheir fair share of taxes?
Yes.
Do you support the rent stabilizationbill that passed in the most
recent legislative session?
Absolutely.
What's your go-to karaoke song?
I do not have a go-to karaoke song.
Favorite TV show to binge?
(08:59):
We'll say White Lotus.
First concert you ever attended?
Prince.
Oh, nice.
Favorite Seattle Sports moment?
Seahawks Super Bowl.
What's your comfort food?
Pizza.
Early bird or night owl?
(09:20):
Night owl.
What's a hobby peoplewouldn't expect you to have?
Frisbee.
What's your favorite neighborhood in D2?
Beacon Hill.
That's where I live.
What's a Seattle-based artistor musician that you love?
(09:43):
I'm going to say, I'mgoing to say Macklemore.
What's a book you wish more people read?
Homelessness is a Housing Problem.
What's your favorite rainy day activity?
Walking.
What's your favorite SoundTransit station name?
(10:06):
Columbia City.
Have you voted in every generalelection in the past four years?
Yes.
Have you voted in every primaryelection in the past four years?
Yes.
Yes.
Have you made any politicalendorsements that you regret?
Not really.
Have you made any politicaldonations that you regret?
No.
(10:26):
In 2021, did you vote for Bruce Harrellor Lorena González for Seattle Mayor?
González.
In 2021, did you vote for AnnDavison or Nicole Thomas Kennedy
for Seattle City Attorney?
Nicole Thomas Kennedy.
In 2021, did you vote for Sara Nelsonor Nikkita Oliver for City Council?
Nikkita Oliver.
(10:47):
In 2022, did you vote for Leesa Manion orJim Ferrell for King County Prosecutor?
Leesa Manion.
In 2023, did you vote forTammy Morales or Tanya Woo?
I'm pretty sure it was Tammy Morales,but I did struggle with that one a bit.
In 2024, did you vote for Alexis MercedesRinck or Tanya Woo for City Council?
(11:08):
Rinck.
In 2024, did you vote for Nick Brownor Pete Serrano for Attorney General?
Nick Brown.
Did you vote for Bob Fergusonor Dave Reichert for Governor?
Ferguson.
Did you vote for Kamala Harrisor Donald Trump for President?
Kamala Harris.
Did you vote to approve the AutomatedFingerprint Identification System, or
(11:29):
AFIS levy, on the April 22nd ballot?
I did.
This year, on Seattle's social housinginitiative in February, did you
vote for Option 1A, 1B, or neither?
1B.
Will you be voting for ClaudiaBalducci, John Wilson, or Girmay
Zahilay for King County Executive?
(11:50):
Most likely Zahilay.
Will you be voting to reauthorizethe Democracy Voucher Program
in the August election?
Yes.
Will you be voting to pass the Families,Education, Preschool, and Promise
Levy renewal in the November election?
Yeah.
And that is the end ofthe lightning round.
Hopefully, that was pretty painless.
(12:12):
Gives people a good idea of where we'restarting the conversation once we get
into these more general questions whereyou'll have the chance to expand and
help people get to know you better.
So the first question wehave is, why are you running?
So I currently, for the past sixyears, have been working full-time
with the Office of Housing.
(12:33):
I'm in the City Attorney'soffice, but I support the Office
of Housing on affordable housinginvestments and overseeing our
market rate incentive programs.
And I'm running to primarilyaddress the affordable housing
and homelessness crisis.
You know, it's been a state ofemergency for 10 years, and we
have not made sufficient progress.
(12:55):
The other reason I'm running is - havingworked in the City Attorney's Office
since 2017, I feel like I have a strongunderstanding of how government works and
how often it doesn't work, especially forresidents and businesses of District 2.
And I believe our districtdeserves a strong representative.
I'm a good listener - help peoplesolve problems, a creative thinker.
(13:17):
And so I just want to be astrong voice for District 2
representatives, constituents.
In recent campaigns, there's beena lot of talk about the importance
of representation in District 2.
What does representing the peopleof District 2 mean to you, and why
do you think you're the right personto represent the district right now?
(13:40):
Yeah.
District 2 is the most diverse district inour city, in terms of race and ethnicity.
We have a lot of migrant,immigrant communities.
I am the son of an immigrant myself.
And, but, you know, no one person canrepresent the entire diversity of District
2 based on their own lived experience.
And so for me, the most important thingis whoever represents District 2 is out
(14:05):
there doing the work, is a good listener,and fighting to uplift the voices - the
diverse voices - of District 2, andespecially the most marginalized voices.
So Seattle's facing a $244 millionbudget shortfall, and recent fixes
have been one-time measures likediverting JumpStart funds - without
addressing the structural problem.
(14:27):
What specific long-term solutionswould you support: new progressive
revenue, permanent cuts, or both?
And what specificallywould you be supporting?
I would support new progressiverevenues, including capital gains tax.
Happy to look at our JumpStart payrolltax and potentially increasing that.
(14:50):
In terms of - we do need to be goodstewards of the dollars that we
have - and I would want to engagewith District 2 residents as well
as city employees, and not justcity managers or department heads.
I would want to engage with our unions tounderstand what our priorities need to be.
(15:10):
You know, the budget is a moral document.
I believe our homelessnesscrisis should be a top priority.
Public safety, I think, is a toppriority for District 2 residents.
And, you know, that's a complicatedissue that we can talk about.
But we need to lead with our values.
We need to protect our communities thatare being attacked by Trump right now
(15:31):
- our LGBTQ and immigrant communities.
So, you know, it's the - we don't knowthe lay of the land of what's going
to happen in the next six months.
There's news today about cuts to HUDfunding, so there might be even bigger
budget deficit coming down the pipe.
But I think the most important thingis to do robust engagement with our
(15:55):
community and the employees thatare doing the hard work every day.
Ahead of past major events like theMajor League Baseball All Star Game,
the city increased police presenceand encampment sweeps, saying it would
create a more welcoming environmentfor the people coming into town.
But in places like the CID, that approachbackfired - and people stayed away,
(16:17):
businesses suffered, and the promisedbenefits didn't materialize in District 2.
Experts say truly welcoming citiesprioritize basics like bathrooms, seating,
transit, and activating public spaces.
With the World Cup coming, do you supportrepeating the same approach as before?
Or what should the city do instead toensure District 2 actually benefits
(16:38):
from the World Cup being in Seattle?
I absolutely agree with that.
I mean, bathrooms is achronic problem for our city.
It's shameful that we don'thave public bathrooms.
It creates, you know, not just issuesfor people visiting our city, but
also for just families with kids,people - for our homeless community.
(17:01):
You know, this gets back to reallyneeding to work with the leaders
in district - I mean the communityorganizations in District 2.
So for example, Seattle ChinatownInternational District PDA,
they just hired somebody tospecifically work on this.
And so I would want to listen tothem about what they want to see
(17:22):
to - you know, how to encourage.
I think a lot of it is around, you know,during the MLB, they didn't even have
maps that showed how to get to SeattleChinatown International District.
So just more engagement withthat community and finding out
how they can be more involved.
What are the top safetyconcerns in District 2?
(17:43):
And how do you plan to address them?
I'd say the top safetyconcern is gun violence, and
particularly youth gun violence.
There was a shooting of a FranklinHigh School student about 10 days ago.
There was a shooting - a drive-byshooting - in a park down at
Be'er Sheva Park on Friday.
(18:04):
Eight-year-old girl and a 70-year-oldwoman were bystanders and got shot.
District 2 has the largest number ofgun incidents in this city by far.
And youth gun violenceis at an all-time high.
Specifically, I would love to seededicated long-term funding to address
(18:26):
youth gun violence in particular.
The mayor does have approximately$46.6 million, I believe, in the
upcoming FEPP Levy for school safety.
I would like to see that targeted towardsyouth gun violence, specifically in south
Seattle and Central District - parts ofthe city that have been most impacted.
(18:49):
And we may, you know, need to increasethat number because that would
be spread out over several years.
But this is, I believe, an emergency.
And if we are not going to treatit like such, we're just going
to see more children being harmed- families, communities being harmed.
(19:09):
Now, when you say you want to seeincreased funding, what do you
believe that funding should bespent on to reduce gun violence?
Well, really, probably, most importantly- working with the community-based
organizations that have already been doingthis work, that are doing intervention.
You know, we need to work onupstream, long-term issues in
(19:33):
terms of supporting our youth.
But at the moment, we also needto work with the teens who are
directly, you know, at risk.
And so, you know, groups likeCommunity Passageways, groups like
Urban Family that have been doing thiswork - that often see one-time funding.
(19:55):
And, you know, this type of workrequires dedicated, long-term,
so that people can hire and planaccordingly - that they can pay their
staff living salary and living wages.
And, you know, really develop thoselong-term relationships with youths
who, you know, who need support.
(20:15):
And when there's a rotating cast ofstaff, that's, you know, that's not a way
to run a program for supporting youth.
The council has signaled that they wantto weaken the existing surveillance
ordinance, which aims to ensure that thepublic has the opportunity to weigh the
costs and benefits of new surveillancetechnology, including the impact
on civil liberties, before the cityobtains the technology - particularly
(20:39):
because of disproportionate harmsthat marginalized communities have
experienced, and because of the current,very present concerns about the data
being collected about people's habits,movements, political, religious, sexual
activities and orientations beingweaponized by the federal government
under the current administration.
(21:00):
Do you support any weakeningof the current ordinance?
And when do you thinksurveillance is appropriate?
Surveillance - I think, for example,traffic cameras, I think, can be
appropriate for - not as a long-termsolution, but when, you know, really
(21:21):
the way to solve, for example, publicsafety issues around our traffic.
And we have some of the most dangerousroads in District 2 with MLK and Rainier.
Really, the long-term solutionis to redesign those streets to
be safe and to have better, youknow, public transportation.
But as a short-term measure,doing things like traffic
(21:43):
cameras, I think can be effective.
I do have a lot of concerns about, youknow, whether any surveillance could
be used by the federal government.
So we need to ensure that we have strongprotections and deletion policies.
And, you know, potentially we mightneed to look at strengthening those
(22:06):
- basically having shorter retentionpolicies to make sure that we don't,
you know, inadvertently have datathat could be used by the feds.
So do you support any weakening ofthe current surveillance ordinance?
No, I do not.
Is the current council approach ofshifting the balance of funding away from
prevention and towards punishment workingto address safety concerns in District 2?
(22:31):
No, I don't believe it is.
How would you change that?
So we have a - and public safetyis a top priority, I think,
for our city, for District 2.
You know, when there's a lack ofpublic safety, it is often our minority
communities and our most marginalizedwho are impacted, including, you know,
(22:54):
people that are living on the street,that are probably the most harmed
when there's a lack of public safety.
You know, our criminal justicesystem has been broken for - probably
since it was ever established.
And,
you know, we really need toreimagine how our criminal
justice or injustice system works.
(23:16):
We need to lean in much heavier intorehabilitation and diversion programs.
You know, there's really norehab right now - or very little,
at least, in our jail system.
And so it shouldn't be a surprisethat we have recidivism rates
that are through the roof.
(23:37):
So I'd really like to, I mean, weneed to address the upstream causes
of public safety concerns, But wealso need to lean in way heavier into
rehabilitation and diversion programs.
Despite a record high number of encampmentsweeps involving police, homelessness is
up over 25% over the last two years - withmany in District 2 lacking access to
(23:59):
shelter, services, and affordable housing.
There's also a shortage of sheltercapacity - and there are nearly
twice as many people as shelter beds.
What isn't working and what will youdo to actually reduce homelessness
in District 2 and the city?
Yeah, So there's statistics that showthat when rents go up $100 per month,
(24:21):
that homelessness on average - and thisis a national statistic - increases by 9%.
So, you know, my work with theOffice of Housing is about building
affordable housing, including permanentsupportive housing - and we've done a
decent job on that side of the ledger.
But with the rent skyrocketing as theyhave over the past five years, we just
(24:45):
have not been able to, to build enough.
So number one, this is, you know, oneof those top reasons I'm running - is
we need to just build a lot more ofall types of housing - market rate,
subsidized social housing - andto help get those costs down.
Now, the rent stabilization bill isa critical first measure, but that's
(25:11):
only one sort of piece of the puzzle.
The other part is, you know, changing ourComp Plan to allow much more density to
reduce the cost for developers - thingslike getting rid of design review,
things like drastically reducing orgetting rid of parking requirements, and
just expediting our permitting processand reducing the burden to build.
(25:33):
And I see that both, you know - thehigh cost to do affordable housing, but
also the high cost to build market ratehousing, which is part of the issue - a
key driver of our homelessness crisis.
The other thing we need to do is - wedo need to expand shelter, transitional
housing in tiny home villages.
We got away from that during COVID,which was understandable, but we need
(25:57):
to vastly increase our shelter capacity.
What's your opinion of the currentdraft of a Comprehensive Plan, and what
potential changes would you prioritize?
We need to go as big as possible.
You know, there was the environmentalreview, so, you know, we can only go as
big as the environmental review analyzed.
(26:20):
But we should be allowingas much density as possible.
We should absolutely be preservingand expanding, to the extent
possible, Neighborhood Centers.
We should be expanding, you know - werely, we do a lot of density on
transit corridors - and those needto be wider and deeper into the
(26:40):
neighborhood, so it's not just puttingrenters on, you know, heavy arterials.
Those would be my top priorities.
The City Council has signaled awillingness to weaken some renter
protections, including potentiallyjust cause eviction rules and
rent increase notice periods.
Do you support any rollbacks?
(27:01):
And what protections will youdefend or expand in District 2?
Yeah, so this is one of those trickyissues in the sense of - let's go
back to prior to COVID when ourlandlord-tenant laws were way too
landlord-friendly, and it was just arubber stamp to get somebody evicted.
(27:24):
And then during COVID, we had theeviction moratoriums and a court
backlog where you could not evictsomebody for 12 months, mostly
because of the court backlog.
And that was causing real issues forour affordable housing providers,
(27:45):
particularly when you might havetenants who might be causing harm
to other tenants - threateningother tenants, engaging in like drug
dealing in our apartment buildings.
And so our affordable housing needsto be safe for all the tenants,
(28:06):
including families with kids.
So, you know, we have to havea housing ecosystem that works,
that is safe and affordable.
And, you know, we have a number ofhousing, affordable housing providers who
have been saying that they want to seeadjustments to the landlord-tenant laws.
(28:29):
And, you know, I've heard someof those, or seen and read
about some of those proposals.
The thing that I have not seen yetis deep engagement with renters.
And so I would like to seethat occur before we make any
changes to the landlord-tenantordinances we have on the books.
(28:52):
You know, renters make up morethan 50% of our households.
And so any changes to our landlord-tenantlaws need to be done very carefully
and with deep engagement with renters.
They are often disenfranchised - we onlyhave one renter on the City Council.
And, you know, it's oftentimes that thosevoices are not the voices that are heard.
(29:15):
So, but this is an issue that I thinkare - again, at least what I've been
hearing from affordable housing providersis that our current rules are not working.
So is it fair to say that you're opento changing some of the current rules
in response to the feedback that you'veheard from affordable housing providers?
(29:38):
I am open - open to that.
And I mean, I think we always need to look
at our laws as, you know - as thingschange, we need to, you know, look
at them from time to time and seewhat's working and what's not working.
But as we do that, we always need tosort of prioritize the voices and the
(30:01):
needs of our most impacted communities.
And so as we do that, you know,renters need to be front and center.
And we need to listen to their voicesmost of all as we make any updates.
So you mentioned through youranswer - and other experts have talked
about - the court backlog being theprimary reason of some of those delays.
(30:24):
Does changing the lawimpact the court backlog?
It does not.
And so that's part of the issuethat - and I've heard that that court
backlog is basically mostly gone away.
And I do think, you know, there aredue procedures so when there is a
real health and safety issue - thatthose cases are prioritized.
(30:44):
But what I would love to see is a morerobust support system, because really,
you don't - there are times when Ithink somebody is housed in a situation
that is not meeting their needs.
And so if somebody is struggling forwhatever reason - whether they've lost
(31:04):
a job, whether they're going through,you know, a mental health issue.
Or, you know, they need support.
And so I would love to see a morerobust support system for renters
who are struggling and to, youknow, if they - they might be in an
affordable housing, they might be ina market rate housing building, but
(31:25):
they might need to move to a buildingthat has more robust support system.
And, you know, we have apretty segregated, or just
a siloed housing system.
So we have a lot of nonprofit providers,but they all do their, you know,
they all manage their own portfolios.
And so I would love to see morecollaboration amongst our affordable
(31:47):
housing providers and a way for toget - you know, I'd like to do a lot
more rental assistance for rentersthat are struggling financially.
And for those that have other needsthat are not being met - to get
them into buildings where thereis a more robust support system.
How will you ensure that the SeattleSocial Housing Developer succeeds and
(32:10):
complements existing affordable housingprograms and policies in Seattle?
There's a number of thingsthat we can do to support them.
One of those steps is to get themproceeds as soon as possible, which
could include a loan with repaymentagainst future tax revenues.
So hopefully that occurs.
You know, that would probably - if itdoes occur, could happen before, you
(32:34):
know, whoever takes office for District 2.
The next things we need to do is to updateour Comp Plan and zoning code to make sure
that the Social Housing Developer can takeadvantage of bonuses and other exemptions
for affordable housing to make it easierto build social housing across the city.
We should make sure that social housingis included in future planning efforts.
(32:56):
I think, you know, one of the promisesof social housing is to address, is to
have a more integrated model of housing.
You know, we are one of the mostsegregated, or we are a deeply segregated
city across class, across homeownershipand renter, across race and ethnicity.
(33:17):
And so, you know, how could social housinghelp with segregation across our city?
And that's a, you know,largely a planning tool.
So those are the top of mind issues.
And then just being a good partner.
You know, as a new model of housing,it's unclear, you know, what other
issues might come up for them in terms ofregulatory, you know - do they have the
(33:42):
same, you know, landlord-tenant issues,or maybe, you know, they might need sort
of unique language based on the way thatthey do their income and set their rents.
So just being a good partner for them.
So life expectancy in parts ofDistrict 2, like Beacon Hill and
the Rainier Valley, is up to 10years shorter than in wealthier
(34:03):
neighborhoods that are also in Seattle.
It's largely due to pollution,highway, and major street proximity,
and historic disinvestment.
What would you do to address these healthdisparities and environmental injustices?
Yeah, there's a lot of airquality issues from traffic.
You know, I mentioned earlier thatwe have two major corridors along
(34:26):
MLK and Rainier, we're next to I-5.
Went to an air quality issue around theKing County Airport recently because a
lot of their smaller planes still useleaded fuel - so that's something that
I was not aware of, and I think a lotof people in our community are not aware
(34:47):
of - that they still use leaded fuel.
And, and so raising awareness of theseissues so that we can help mobilize the
community to, to then get legislation,for example, at the state level that would
ban use of leaded fuel in smaller plants.
I think the other issues we need toaddress is just moving away from so much
(35:09):
vehicular traffic, which, you know, iscausing these air quality - so road diets
and moving towards, you know, increasingbuses and electrifying our bus fleets.
And then, if we need to, youknow, assisting our low-income
(35:30):
residents with air filters
if they live in areasof high air pollution.
With so much recent development onand along transit corridors - both
in private residences, where some ofthose air filters are more accessible,
but also in public buildings - howdo you balance the need to mitigate
(35:52):
those air pollution harms with somuch recent and planned development?
I mean, the health and safety of residentsneeds to, you know, be the priority.
And this is why we need to notjust build along those corridors.
We should be, you know, buildingmore deeper into the what used to
(36:16):
be single family neighborhoods.
And, you know, we have plentyof space in Seattle to build
dense, walkable neighborhoods.
We just need to unlock that capacity andnot put it on these transit corridors.
What are your priorities fortraffic safety in the district?
(36:40):
Traffic safety - the priorities is to
reduce vehicular speeds on - so some ofthe the reasons why MLK and Rainier are
so dangerous is when you have two lanestraveling, vehicles - a road that's
(37:00):
two lanes wide - vehicles speed up.
And so we just saw recently, Imean, this was a sort of an odd
situation where the motorcycleran a red light at MLK and Alaska.
But that's, you know, the intersectionthat I'm at every day to get on light
rail or to go down to Columbia City - it'san extremely dangerous intersection.
(37:21):
And so getting vehicles to slow down - andyou can do that with like raised walkways.
And longer term, you know, weneed to look at narrowing those
roads to slow down traffic.
But in the meantime, things like trafficcameras could be an interim measure.
What specifically would you be proposingto make it safer to walk and bike
(37:43):
in the district over the next year?
It's hard to imagine, you know, howquickly you can do transportation
improvements and whether youcan do that in the next year.
I do think there are some visual signsthat you could do, for example, with
Sound Transit and their at-grade crossing.
(38:08):
But certainly longer term, I mean, trafficcameras - you could probably put up
more quickly to get people to slow down.
But long-term things like raised walkways- I don't think those are that difficult
to build, but I'm not sure, within SDOT'splanning horizon, how quickly you can
do a raised crosswalk, for example.
(38:29):
How could you and the city work moreeffectively with the multiple relevant
agencies - like SDOT, Sound Transit, KingCounty Metro - to improve accountability
for reducing injuries and deathsrelated to traffic on our streets?
I think the most important thingin terms of accountability is,
(38:54):
you know, it needs continued focus and,
you know, uplifting the priorities ofour community, making sure that our
community knows where to advocate.
So, you know, it can be very confusing.
Like, yeah, who, who isresponsible for this?
How do we go about advocating forsomething like a raised crosswalk?
(39:17):
Do we need to go to talk to SDOT?
Or, you know, does Sound Transithave some role in that because of
the at-grade light rail crossing?
So that's something that, youknow, for me, having worked with
numerous different departments in thecity, having negotiated with other
agencies, including King County, issomething that I'm used to doing.
(39:40):
And so a lot of it is informationsharing with our community about
where to advocate, making sure thatwe continue to uplift these issues
so that they are front of mind.
And then just doing thehard work of interagency
negotiations and collaboration.
How important are issues likeclosing roads to cars, activating new
(40:04):
pedestrian areas to traffic safety?
Oh, I think those are critical.
I mean, we - long term, we have totransition away in our community from,
you know, vehicles being such a, youknow, dominant use of our right of way.
And our, you know, so much ofour land in the city is tied
(40:27):
up in streets and parking.
And if we want to, you know, create amore safe, affordable, walkable, you know,
city - that means transitioning away.
So that means reimagining ourpublic spaces, like you said.
Like the Ferdinand Street, likepedestrianizing Pike Place.
(40:48):
And I'd like to see it done insort of like commercial cores
like that, where there's alreadya lot of pedestrian activity.
And then, you know, I think if you do somepilot programs, then people can really,
you know - those are easier to roll outand people can see the benefits of it.
And then you can start tomake it more permanent.
(41:09):
Do you support the proposed weakeningof Seattle's Ethics Code for Seattle
City Councilmembers on conflict ofinterest and recusals due to conflict?
And what changes would you support tothe ethics code to improve transparency?
No, I do not - especially right now.
And, you know, earlierwe were talking about the
(41:31):
landlord-tenant potential updates.
And, you know, again, youknow, perceptions matter.
And there's a lot of perceptionthat this change is being made
to sort of push through landlord-tenantlaw changes, and I just don't think
(41:52):
that that's the right approach.
You know, if there is a conflict, I don'tsee why recusal is not the standard.
There are other councilmemberswho don't have conflicts that
can vote on these issues.
And I just think it sends the wrongsignal to our community and particularly
(42:13):
to renters as this, you know, city - atleast according to news reports - is
considering potential changes.
In terms of updates, I mean, I'm happyto engage on what potential updates we
might need to improve our ethics rules.
But certainly, disclosuresare the absolute minimum.
But recusal when there's an actualconflict, that is not, you know,
(42:38):
something that - a financial interestthat's not shared widely amongst the
community should be the standard.
Now, we asked every candidatewho we're talking to to submit
questions that they would likeasked of their fellow candidates
- their competitors in this race.
And so we have askedother candidates for that.
So the first question for you was: Why did you vote against Proposition (42:59):
undefined
1A for Seattle social housing?
Yeah, so first I'd like tosay I did vote Yes on 135, and
I voted Yes to fund and 137.
And
I voted for 1B.
(43:19):
I strongly support progressive revenues.
And so there's alwayssort of two questions.
There's, you know, howare you going to tax?
And then how are yougoing to use the proceeds?
And so I, you know, strongly support theprogressive revenue side of that measure.
And, you know, I had a coupleconcerns around 1A, which
is - as a newer organization,there's always a learning curve.
(43:43):
And, you know, just wanting to makesure that they have all the, you know,
any stumbling blocks that are resolved- before kind of we go big was my concern.
Obviously, that was notthe voters' concern.
And so I'm happy to togo full steam ahead.
The other issue is I've seen affordablehousing providers develop projects that
(44:10):
are higher AMI, area median income,
which is a big part of social housing.
And I've seen affordablehousing developers struggle
on some of their projects.
So, for example, there was a CommunityRoots Housing project called The Heartwood
- they developed at 14th and Madison.
It did not have funding fromthe city and it was targeted for
(44:33):
higher median income residents.
And they had a hard time leasing upand are probably selling that building.
And that's because when you are buildinghousing at those higher AMI levels,
you're really oftentimes competing withthe market - and that's a tough place to
be for a lot of our nonprofit and PDAs.
(44:58):
And so just that wasanother one of my concerns.
We had a few candidates askquestions about that one, but
we did have one other question.
As the mayor has tried to redirectJumpStart Seattle funds to the
general fund, how will you ensurethat the funds are allocated and
protected as the voters approved?
I'm not sure the voters approved JumpSt-oh, are you talking about social housing?
(45:27):
No.
This is-
Or are you talking about JumpStart?
This is JumpStart.
Oh.
And that was the questionas provided by a candidate.
OK, OK - fair, fair enough.
So we'll leave apart the voters-approvedquestion and kind of get to the heart
of there - how will you ensure thatthe funds are allocated and protected?
As originally intended, we'll say.
Absolutely, right.
And I strongly support the originalintent behind the JumpStart, you
(45:52):
know, payroll spending package.
And, you know, which was foraffordable housing, Equitable
Development Initiative, Green New Deal.
And, you know, that was during COVIDwhen there was this idea that, you
know - well, certain revenues can go tofund backfills in our general budget.
And we're out of COVID, althoughnow we have new budget deficits.
(46:17):
I think for me, you know, this is why weneed to raise new, progressive revenues
- things like a capital gains tax.
We also just need tolead with our priorities.
So when we're looking at the budget,I do still strongly support affordable
housing, the Green New Deal, theEquitable Development Initiative, and
we need to make sure that they continueto get the support that, you know,
(46:42):
was originally intended in JumpStart.
And so what that means is that weneed to raise additional revenues
to address any budget deficits.
But again, it also gets back toneeding to engage with our community
about what are our top priorities,and because we are going to be looking
at a constrained fiscal environment.
(47:03):
And so when there are difficultcuts to be made - I mean, you know,
nobody wants to see cuts to the parksor to the permitting department.
And so these are tough choices.
And, and there aren't easy answers tothis other than, I mean, the last point
I will make is - one, revenue that peoplehave not looked at enough is when we
(47:29):
build new housing, housing developerspay 10% sales tax on construction.
They're paying - oftentimes payingexcise tax, because there's typically
a turnover in property ownership.
They're often paying MHA fees- mandatory housing affordability
fees - for affordable housing.
So if we can incentivize housingdevelopment through things like
(47:54):
getting rid of parking requirementsand reducing design review, we can
raise new revenues that way as well.
Well, that is the end of thecandidate-asked questions,
and we'll transition back tojust our general questions.
So how do you plan to mitigatefederal attacks on civil rights,
particularly those targetingtrans people and immigrants?
(48:17):
Yeah, this is such an important topic.
I'm the son of an immigrant - mydad immigrated from Taiwan and
married my mom, who's white - andthey met in North Carolina.
So, you know, I wouldn't existif, you know, we had attacks on
immigrants back then, like we do today.
(48:43):
You know, so this is going torequire intergovernmental responses.
So we need to work closely withthe county, closely with the state.
We do need to have fundingto protect our communities.
I was supportive of - I believeit was Councilmember Rinck who
proposed, I believe, $300,000 inspending to help immigrants facing
(49:10):
deportation or other proceedings.
We're probably going to need toincrease that more, especially
with the cuts to - there's a groupcalled Kids in Needs of Defense,
which has had their funding gutted.
And they represent kids in deportationproceedings - and it's just unconscionable
that they would not have representation.
(49:31):
So, you know, this is one of thosedifficult situations where we're
going to be facing budget cuts.
And yet, we also need to lead with ourpriorities around protecting our LGBTQ and
immigrant communities from these attacks.
I think the other thing that we needto be very thoughtful and mindful
of is, again, listening to thesecommunities and saying - Hey, what
(49:56):
do you - support do you want to see?
And that's going to bean evolving landscape.
So just, you know, one example - I wasspeaking to a leader in the immigrant
rights community, and he was justsaying, you know, he wasn't super
excited about the word "sanctuary" city.
(50:17):
And the reason he didn't like the word"sanctuary" was because he felt like it
maybe sent the wrong message to immigrantcommunities that it was safer than it was.
And, you know, they need to - ourimmigrant communities need to be
aware that this is a fraught time.
And so we need to be very careful abouthow we communicate things with our
(50:41):
communities - that we're giving timelyinformation, that we're not raising
undue alarm, but that we're communicatingcorrect and timely information.
And that, and sharing informationthat they find useful.
What can be done to help smallbusinesses in District 2?
Many are talking about increasedrents - kind of mirroring some of
(51:03):
the conversations we're having aboutresidential rents in the commercial space
- increased insurance, various other costsand challenges throughout the community.
What are your plans and whatdo you plan to do to help?
I think one thing that we could do forbusinesses - at least for some businesses
that are impacted by things like brokenwindows or retail theft - is having a
(51:32):
more robust support system for them forthings like repairing broken windows.
If we can actually make progress on ourhomelessness situation by, you know,
getting people into shelters, meetingtheir needs, then, you know, they
(51:55):
might rely less upon sort of, you know,small businesses, or impacting small
businesses, to get having their needs met.
The other thing that I would loveto look at is - are there ways
that we can reduce the regulationsand taxes on small businesses?
(52:17):
So, you know, some of our businesses- they might not be paying a lot in
taxes, but they might be just, youknow, the cost of an accountant alone
might just be extremely burdensome.
And so if there's ways that we canhave like minimum thresholds of like,
you know - if you don't have enough,if you don't raise at least a million
(52:38):
in revenue, then you kind of get ablanket exemption so that you don't even
have to pay for the accountant or payfor the lawyer to file the paperwork.
I'd like to look at ways thatwe can reduce those burdens.
And as we move to conclude thisinterview - and voters are trying
to distinguish between you and theother candidates in District 2 - what
(53:00):
do you tell voters is the differencebetween you and the other candidates?
And why should they vote for you?
You know, I typically don't like to,you know, focus on the differences.
I'd like to focus on sort of whatstrengths that I think I bring to the
campaign or would bring to this seat.
Obviously, again, housingexperience is top of mind.
(53:25):
And the other thing that I talk aboutis, you know, my job right now is an
assistant city attorney - I don't dopolicy, but what I do is I empower
the departments and my clients,you know, to achieve their goals.
And so I would want to bring thatsame skill set to representing
(53:46):
residents and businesses in District 2.
I'm a strong listener.
You know, I have a strongunderstanding of how our government
works, how our city works.
And so I would really want to bring,empower them through, you know,
giving them the information theyneed to advocate, and then taking
their priorities to City Hall.
(54:08):
Well, thank you so much for joiningus today - appreciate your time,
and appreciate your willingnessto share where you're coming from,
your vision for the city with thevoters and residents of Seattle.
Thank you so much, Eddie Lin.
Thank you, Crystal.
It's been a real honor.
I've been a longtime fan of your showand just been a pleasure to talk to you.
(54:29):
Thank you so much.
Thank you for listening to Hacks & Wonks,which is produced by Shannon Cheng.
You can follow Hacks & Wonkson Bluesky @HacksAndWonks.
You can find me on Bluesky at@finchfrii - that's F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I.
You can catch Hacks & Wonks on everypodcast service and app - just type
"Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar.
(54:49):
Be sure to subscribe to get the fullversions of our Friday week-in-review
shows and our Tuesday topical showdelivered to your podcast feed.
If you like us, leave areview wherever you listen.
You can also get a full transcriptof this episode and links to the
resources referenced in the showat officialhacksandwonks.com.
Thanks for tuning in - talk to you next
(55:16):
time.
Welcome to Hacks & Wonks.
I’m your host, Crystal Fincher.
On this show we talk with policy wonksand political hacks to gather insight
into local politics and policy inWashington state through the lens of those
doing the work, with behind-the-scenesperspectives on what’s happening, why it’s
happening, and what you can do about it.
Seattle City Councilmembers makedecisions that shape nearly every
(00:37):
part of daily life in the city - fromhousing, policing, to transportation
and parks, public utilities, andhow our tax dollars are spent.
They pass laws, approve the citybudget, and oversee city departments.
They also play a key role insetting long-term plans for growth
and development, negotiatinglabor contracts, and holding
agencies accountable to the public.
(00:58):
In other words, if you care about thecost of housing, how your neighborhood is
changing, how public safety is handled, orhow easy it is to get around Seattle - you
should care who sits on the City Council.
District 2 includes the neighborhoodsof Beacon Hill, Brighton, Chinatown
International District or the CID,Columbia City, Dunlap, Genesee, Hillman
City, Lakewood/Seward Park, LittleSaigon, Mount Baker, New Holly, North
(01:23):
Beacon Hill, Othello, Rainier Beach,Rainier View, Rainier Vista, South
Beacon Hill, and Yesler Terrace.
This race will help determine notjust the future of the district, but
the direction of the city as a whole.
So we're talking to candidates tosee where they stand, what they've
done, and who they are - not justas policymakers, but as people.
(01:44):
Today, we are excited to welcomeSeattle City Council District 2
candidate Eddie Lin to the program.
Welcome!
Thank you.
Well, as you know, we startwith a lightning round here on
Hacks & Wonks to help everyone getto know you a little bit better.
These are quick yes-or-no,or quick answer questions.
(02:04):
We'll have plenty of time to elaboratein the general answer period, but
this just helps people to begin toget to know you a little bit better.
So just starting out, do youown or rent your residence?
Own.
Are you a landlord?
No.
Have you ever been a member of a union?
(02:26):
No, but before law school, I workedfor three years as a secretary at
a law firm representing unions.
And during law school-
Wait, wait, wait.
Lightning round.
Okay, sorry.
That's a no.
Got it.
No.
Have you ever walked on a picket line?
Yes.
Have you ever crossed a picket line?
No.
Is your campaign staff unionized?
(02:47):
No.
If your campaign staff wants tounionize, will you voluntarily
recognize their effort?
Yes.
What political party do you identify with?
Democrat.
Have you used the Seattle PublicLibrary system in the past month?
No.
Have you been to a Seattle City Councilmeeting in person in the past year?
(03:08):
Several.
Have you or someone in your householdever relied on public assistance?
Yes.
Have you ever been stopped orquestioned by police in Seattle?
Yes.
Have you ever worked in retail or ajob where you had to rely on tips?
Yes.
Have you ever owned a business?
No.
(03:28):
Have you ever manageda team of 10 or more?
No.
100 or more?
Well, that would also be a no.
Have you ever reported someone'smisconduct in your workplace?
Not that I recall.
Have you ever fired someone?
No.
What's your favorite park in D2?
Jefferson.
What's your favorite D2 restaurant?
(03:52):
I'm going to say Homer.
What was the last liveperformance you saw in District 2?
It was Prometheus Brown at Clock-Out.
Nice.
What's your favorite
album?
I'm going to say - Fightthe Power by Public Enemy.
What's your favorite song?
(04:13):
Same song.
What's the last song you listened to?
Last song I listened to - just onethat stands out is Pink Pony Club.
What's the most recent book you read?
I am reading Skid Row.
What was the last sportsevent you attended in Seattle?
(04:36):
Sounders game.
What's your favorite cafe in D2?
Station.
Have you ever contested a traffic ticket?
Not that I recall.
Have you ever served on a jury?
No.
Have you ever been arrested?
Yes.
Have you taken transit in the past month?
(04:56):
Yes.
Past week?
Yes.
Have you ridden a bike in the past month?
Yes.
In the past week?
Yes.
Do you agree with the City Council'sdecision to rezone parts of SODO
to allow residential housing?
No.
Do you agree with the Council'sdecision to delay adoption of
(05:19):
the Comprehensive Plan past 2024?
No.
Do you agree with the City Council'sdecision to put Proposition 1B on the
social housing ballot, in addition to 1A.
Yes.
Do you agree with the Council'sdecision to divert JumpStart
revenue from its original purposeto address the budget deficit?
(05:45):
Yes.
Waffle.
Do you agree with the City Council'sdecision to allow SPD to implement
expanded surveillance technologies?
If we're talking about CCTVs - depends.
Do you agree with the Council'sdecision to allow SPD to use tear
(06:06):
gas and blast balls for crowdcontrol in certain circumstances?
Depends.
Do you agree with the Council'sdecision to reinstate SOAP and
SODA laws restricting peoplefrom certain areas in Seattle?
Jury's still out, butyes - I'm okay with it.
(06:28):
Do you agree with the Council'sdecision to make street racing and
attending a street race a crime?
Yes.
Do you agree with the Council'sdecision to continue to use SCORE jail
to detain people arrested in Seattle?
No.
Was it worth modifying or loweringstandards to recruit new police officers?
(06:51):
Yes.
Have we gotten our money'sworth on the money allocated
to recruit new police officers?
I'd say no.
Does SPD have a problemwith how it treats women?
Yes.
Does SPD have a problem withhow it treats BIPOC people?
(07:13):
Yes.
Would you have voted to ratify the SeattlePolice Officers Guild, or SPOG, contract?
No.
Will you vote for a SPOG contractthat lacks meaningful accountability
provisions, like civilianoversight with subpoena power?
No.
Should the scope of the CAREdepartment be included in or
limited by the SPOG contract?
(07:34):
No.
Do you think facial recognitionshould be banned in city use?
Depends.
Did Seattle ever "defund the police"?
No.
Should we have a design review board?
No.
Should public comment time be allowedto be limited without prior notice?
(07:56):
No.
Do you support theFerdinand Festival Street?
Yes.
Do you agree with the city policyof closing Lake Washington Boulevard
to cars, and only allowing bike andpedestrian access for 10 weekends
during the spring and summer?
Yes, depending on what we mean by close.
(08:16):
But as long as local folkscan get to their houses, yes.
Do you support expanded weekendclosures of Lake Washington Boulevard?
Yes.
Do you plan to increase fundingand staffing for investigations
of labor violations like wagetheft and illegal union busting?
Yes.
Do large corporations in Seattlepay their fair share of taxes?
(08:39):
No.
Do small businesses paytheir fair share of taxes?
Yes.
Do you support the rent stabilizationbill that passed in the most
recent legislative session?
Absolutely.
What's your go-to karaoke song?
I do not have a go-to karaoke song.
Favorite TV show to binge?
(08:59):
We'll say White Lotus.
First concert you ever attended?
Prince.
Oh, nice.
Favorite Seattle Sports moment?
Seahawks Super Bowl.
What's your comfort food?
Pizza.
Early bird or night owl?
(09:20):
Night owl.
What's a hobby peoplewouldn't expect you to have?
Frisbee.
What's your favorite neighborhood in D2?
Beacon Hill.
That's where I live.
What's a Seattle-based artistor musician that you love?
(09:43):
I'm going to say, I'mgoing to say Macklemore.
What's a book you wish more people read?
Homelessness is a Housing Problem.
What's your favorite rainy day activity?
Walking.
What's your favorite SoundTransit station name?
(10:06):
Columbia City.
Have you voted in every generalelection in the past four years?
Yes.
Have you voted in every primaryelection in the past four years?
Yes.
Yes.
Have you made any politicalendorsements that you regret?
Not really.
Have you made any politicaldonations that you regret?
No.
(10:26):
In 2021, did you vote for Bruce Harrellor Lorena González for Seattle Mayor?
González.
In 2021, did you vote for AnnDavison or Nicole Thomas Kennedy
for Seattle City Attorney?
Nicole Thomas Kennedy.
In 2021, did you vote for Sara Nelsonor Nikkita Oliver for City Council?
Nikkita Oliver.
(10:47):
In 2022, did you vote for Leesa Manion orJim Ferrell for King County Prosecutor?
Leesa Manion.
In 2023, did you vote forTammy Morales or Tanya Woo?
I'm pretty sure it was Tammy Morales,but I did struggle with that one a bit.
In 2024, did you vote for Alexis MercedesRinck or Tanya Woo for City Council?
(11:08):
Rinck.
In 2024, did you vote for Nick Brownor Pete Serrano for Attorney General?
Nick Brown.
Did you vote for Bob Fergusonor Dave Reichert for Governor?
Ferguson.
Did you vote for Kamala Harrisor Donald Trump for President?
Kamala Harris.
Did you vote to approve the AutomatedFingerprint Identification System, or
(11:29):
AFIS levy, on the April 22nd ballot?
I did.
This year, on Seattle's social housinginitiative in February, did you
vote for Option 1A, 1B, or neither?
1B.
Will you be voting for ClaudiaBalducci, John Wilson, or Girmay
Zahilay for King County Executive?
(11:50):
Most likely Zahilay.
Will you be voting to reauthorizethe Democracy Voucher Program
in the August election?
Yes.
Will you be voting to pass the Families,Education, Preschool, and Promise
Levy renewal in the November election?
Yeah.
And that is the end ofthe lightning round.
Hopefully, that was pretty painless.
(12:12):
Gives people a good idea of where we'restarting the conversation once we get
into these more general questions whereyou'll have the chance to expand and
help people get to know you better.
So the first question wehave is, why are you running?
So I currently, for the past sixyears, have been working full-time
with the Office of Housing.
(12:33):
I'm in the City Attorney'soffice, but I support the Office
of Housing on affordable housinginvestments and overseeing our
market rate incentive programs.
And I'm running to primarilyaddress the affordable housing
and homelessness crisis.
You know, it's been a state ofemergency for 10 years, and we
have not made sufficient progress.
(12:55):
The other reason I'm running is - havingworked in the City Attorney's Office
since 2017, I feel like I have a strongunderstanding of how government works and
how often it doesn't work, especially forresidents and businesses of District 2.
And I believe our districtdeserves a strong representative.
I'm a good listener - help peoplesolve problems, a creative thinker.
(13:17):
And so I just want to be astrong voice for District 2
representatives, constituents.
In recent campaigns, there's beena lot of talk about the importance
of representation in District 2.
What does representing the peopleof District 2 mean to you, and why
do you think you're the right personto represent the district right now?
(13:40):
Yeah.
District 2 is the most diverse district inour city, in terms of race and ethnicity.
We have a lot of migrant,immigrant communities.
I am the son of an immigrant myself.
And, but, you know, no one person canrepresent the entire diversity of District
2 based on their own lived experience.
And so for me, the most important thingis whoever represents District 2 is out
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there doing the work, is a good listener,and fighting to uplift the voices - the
diverse voices - of District 2, andespecially the most marginalized voices.
So Seattle's facing a $244 millionbudget shortfall, and recent fixes
have been one-time measures likediverting JumpStart funds - without
addressing the structural problem.
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What specific long-term solutionswould you support: new progressive
revenue, permanent cuts, or both?
And what specificallywould you be supporting?
I would support new progressiverevenues, including capital gains tax.
Happy to look at our JumpStart payrolltax and potentially increasing that.
(14:50):
In terms of - we do need to be goodstewards of the dollars that we
have - and I would want to engagewith District 2 residents as well
as city employees, and not justcity managers or department heads.
I would want to engage with our unions tounderstand what our priorities need to be.
(15:10):
You know, the budget is a moral document.
I believe our homelessnesscrisis should be a top priority.
Public safety, I think, is a toppriority for District 2 residents.
And, you know, that's a complicatedissue that we can talk about.
But we need to lead with our values.
We need to protect our communities thatare being attacked by Trump right now
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- our LGBTQ and immigrant communities.
So, you know, it's the - we don't knowthe lay of the land of what's going
to happen in the next six months.
There's news today about cuts to HUDfunding, so there might be even bigger
budget deficit coming down the pipe.
But I think the most important thingis to do robust engagement with our
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community and the employees thatare doing the hard work every day.
Ahead of past major events like theMajor League Baseball All Star Game,
the city increased police presenceand encampment sweeps, saying it would
create a more welcoming environmentfor the people coming into town.
But in places like the CID, that approachbackfired - and people stayed away,
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businesses suffered, and the promisedbenefits didn't materialize in District 2.
Experts say truly welcoming citiesprioritize basics like bathrooms, seating,
transit, and activating public spaces.
With the World Cup coming, do you supportrepeating the same approach as before?
Or what should the city do instead toensure District 2 actually benefits
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from the World Cup being in Seattle?
I absolutely agree with that.
I mean, bathrooms is achronic problem for our city.
It's shameful that we don'thave public bathrooms.
It creates, you know, not just issuesfor people visiting our city, but
also for just families with kids,people - for our homeless community.
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You know, this gets back to reallyneeding to work with the leaders
in district - I mean the communityorganizations in District 2.
So for example, Seattle ChinatownInternational District PDA,
they just hired somebody tospecifically work on this.
And so I would want to listen tothem about what they want to see
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to - you know, how to encourage.
I think a lot of it is around, you know,during the MLB, they didn't even have
maps that showed how to get to SeattleChinatown International District.
So just more engagement withthat community and finding out
how they can be more involved.
What are the top safetyconcerns in District 2?
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And how do you plan to address them?
I'd say the top safetyconcern is gun violence, and
particularly youth gun violence.
There was a shooting of a FranklinHigh School student about 10 days ago.
There was a shooting - a drive-byshooting - in a park down at
Be'er Sheva Park on Friday.
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Eight-year-old girl and a 70-year-oldwoman were bystanders and got shot.
District 2 has the largest number ofgun incidents in this city by far.
And youth gun violenceis at an all-time high.
Specifically, I would love to seededicated long-term funding to address
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youth gun violence in particular.
The mayor does have approximately$46.6 million, I believe, in the
upcoming FEPP Levy for school safety.
I would like to see that targeted towardsyouth gun violence, specifically in south
Seattle and Central District - parts ofthe city that have been most impacted.
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And we may, you know, need to increasethat number because that would
be spread out over several years.
But this is, I believe, an emergency.
And if we are not going to treatit like such, we're just going
to see more children being harmed- families, communities being harmed.
(19:09):
Now, when you say you want to seeincreased funding, what do you
believe that funding should bespent on to reduce gun violence?
Well, really, probably, most importantly- working with the community-based
organizations that have already been doingthis work, that are doing intervention.
You know, we need to work onupstream, long-term issues in
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terms of supporting our youth.
But at the moment, we also needto work with the teens who are
directly, you know, at risk.
And so, you know, groups likeCommunity Passageways, groups like
Urban Family that have been doing thiswork - that often see one-time funding.
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And, you know, this type of workrequires dedicated, long-term,
so that people can hire and planaccordingly - that they can pay their
staff living salary and living wages.
And, you know, really develop thoselong-term relationships with youths
who, you know, who need support.
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And when there's a rotating cast ofstaff, that's, you know, that's not a way
to run a program for supporting youth.
The council has signaled that they wantto weaken the existing surveillance
ordinance, which aims to ensure that thepublic has the opportunity to weigh the
costs and benefits of new surveillancetechnology, including the impact
on civil liberties, before the cityobtains the technology - particularly
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because of disproportionate harmsthat marginalized communities have
experienced, and because of the current,very present concerns about the data
being collected about people's habits,movements, political, religious, sexual
activities and orientations beingweaponized by the federal government
under the current administration.
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Do you support any weakeningof the current ordinance?
And when do you thinksurveillance is appropriate?
Surveillance - I think, for example,traffic cameras, I think, can be
appropriate for - not as a long-termsolution, but when, you know, really
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the way to solve, for example, publicsafety issues around our traffic.
And we have some of the most dangerousroads in District 2 with MLK and Rainier.
Really, the long-term solutionis to redesign those streets to
be safe and to have better, youknow, public transportation.
But as a short-term measure,doing things like traffic
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cameras, I think can be effective.
I do have a lot of concerns about, youknow, whether any surveillance could
be used by the federal government.
So we need to ensure that we have strongprotections and deletion policies.
And, you know, potentially we mightneed to look at strengthening those
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- basically having shorter retentionpolicies to make sure that we don't,
you know, inadvertently have datathat could be used by the feds.
So do you support any weakening ofthe current surveillance ordinance?
No, I do not.
Is the current council approach ofshifting the balance of funding away from
prevention and towards punishment workingto address safety concerns in District 2?
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No, I don't believe it is.
How would you change that?
So we have a - and public safetyis a top priority, I think,
for our city, for District 2.
You know, when there's a lack ofpublic safety, it is often our minority
communities and our most marginalizedwho are impacted, including, you know,
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people that are living on the street,that are probably the most harmed
when there's a lack of public safety.
You know, our criminal justicesystem has been broken for - probably
since it was ever established.
And,
you know, we really need toreimagine how our criminal
justice or injustice system works.
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We need to lean in much heavier intorehabilitation and diversion programs.
You know, there's really norehab right now - or very little,
at least, in our jail system.
And so it shouldn't be a surprisethat we have recidivism rates
that are through the roof.
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So I'd really like to, I mean, weneed to address the upstream causes
of public safety concerns, But wealso need to lean in way heavier into
rehabilitation and diversion programs.
Despite a record high number of encampmentsweeps involving police, homelessness is
up over 25% over the last two years - withmany in District 2 lacking access to
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shelter, services, and affordable housing.
There's also a shortage of sheltercapacity - and there are nearly
twice as many people as shelter beds.
What isn't working and what will youdo to actually reduce homelessness
in District 2 and the city?
Yeah, So there's statistics that showthat when rents go up $100 per month,
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that homelessness on average - and thisis a national statistic - increases by 9%.
So, you know, my work with theOffice of Housing is about building
affordable housing, including permanentsupportive housing - and we've done a
decent job on that side of the ledger.
But with the rent skyrocketing as theyhave over the past five years, we just
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have not been able to, to build enough.
So number one, this is, you know, oneof those top reasons I'm running - is
we need to just build a lot more ofall types of housing - market rate,
subsidized social housing - andto help get those costs down.
Now, the rent stabilization bill isa critical first measure, but that's
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only one sort of piece of the puzzle.
The other part is, you know, changing ourComp Plan to allow much more density to
reduce the cost for developers - thingslike getting rid of design review,
things like drastically reducing orgetting rid of parking requirements, and
just expediting our permitting processand reducing the burden to build.
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And I see that both, you know - thehigh cost to do affordable housing, but
also the high cost to build market ratehousing, which is part of the issue - a
key driver of our homelessness crisis.
The other thing we need to do is - wedo need to expand shelter, transitional
housing in tiny home villages.
We got away from that during COVID,which was understandable, but we need
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to vastly increase our shelter capacity.
What's your opinion of the currentdraft of a Comprehensive Plan, and what
potential changes would you prioritize?
We need to go as big as possible.
You know, there was the environmentalreview, so, you know, we can only go as
big as the environmental review analyzed.
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But we should be allowingas much density as possible.
We should absolutely be preservingand expanding, to the extent
possible, Neighborhood Centers.
We should be expanding, you know - werely, we do a lot of density on
transit corridors - and those needto be wider and deeper into the
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neighborhood, so it's not just puttingrenters on, you know, heavy arterials.
Those would be my top priorities.
The City Council has signaled awillingness to weaken some renter
protections, including potentiallyjust cause eviction rules and
rent increase notice periods.
Do you support any rollbacks?
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And what protections will youdefend or expand in District 2?
Yeah, so this is one of those trickyissues in the sense of - let's go
back to prior to COVID when ourlandlord-tenant laws were way too
landlord-friendly, and it was just arubber stamp to get somebody evicted.
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And then during COVID, we had theeviction moratoriums and a court
backlog where you could not evictsomebody for 12 months, mostly
because of the court backlog.
And that was causing real issues forour affordable housing providers,
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particularly when you might havetenants who might be causing harm
to other tenants - threateningother tenants, engaging in like drug
dealing in our apartment buildings.
And so our affordable housing needsto be safe for all the tenants,
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including families with kids.
So, you know, we have to havea housing ecosystem that works,
that is safe and affordable.
And, you know, we have a number ofhousing, affordable housing providers who
have been saying that they want to seeadjustments to the landlord-tenant laws.
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And, you know, I've heard someof those, or seen and read
about some of those proposals.
The thing that I have not seen yetis deep engagement with renters.
And so I would like to seethat occur before we make any
changes to the landlord-tenantordinances we have on the books.
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You know, renters make up morethan 50% of our households.
And so any changes to our landlord-tenantlaws need to be done very carefully
and with deep engagement with renters.
They are often disenfranchised - we onlyhave one renter on the City Council.
And, you know, it's oftentimes that thosevoices are not the voices that are heard.
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So, but this is an issue that I thinkare - again, at least what I've been
hearing from affordable housing providersis that our current rules are not working.
So is it fair to say that you're opento changing some of the current rules
in response to the feedback that you'veheard from affordable housing providers?
(29:38):
I am open - open to that.
And I mean, I think we always need to look
at our laws as, you know - as thingschange, we need to, you know, look
at them from time to time and seewhat's working and what's not working.
But as we do that, we always need tosort of prioritize the voices and the
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needs of our most impacted communities.
And so as we do that, you know,renters need to be front and center.
And we need to listen to their voicesmost of all as we make any updates.
So you mentioned through youranswer - and other experts have talked
about - the court backlog being theprimary reason of some of those delays.
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Does changing the lawimpact the court backlog?
It does not.
And so that's part of the issuethat - and I've heard that that court
backlog is basically mostly gone away.
And I do think, you know, there aredue procedures so when there is a
real health and safety issue - thatthose cases are prioritized.
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But what I would love to see is a morerobust support system, because really,
you don't - there are times when Ithink somebody is housed in a situation
that is not meeting their needs.
And so if somebody is struggling forwhatever reason - whether they've lost
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a job, whether they're going through,you know, a mental health issue.
Or, you know, they need support.
And so I would love to see a morerobust support system for renters
who are struggling and to, youknow, if they - they might be in an
affordable housing, they might be ina market rate housing building, but
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they might need to move to a buildingthat has more robust support system.
And, you know, we have apretty segregated, or just
a siloed housing system.
So we have a lot of nonprofit providers,but they all do their, you know,
they all manage their own portfolios.
And so I would love to see morecollaboration amongst our affordable
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housing providers and a way for toget - you know, I'd like to do a lot
more rental assistance for rentersthat are struggling financially.
And for those that have other needsthat are not being met - to get
them into buildings where thereis a more robust support system.
How will you ensure that the SeattleSocial Housing Developer succeeds and
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complements existing affordable housingprograms and policies in Seattle?
There's a number of thingsthat we can do to support them.
One of those steps is to get themproceeds as soon as possible, which
could include a loan with repaymentagainst future tax revenues.
So hopefully that occurs.
You know, that would probably - if itdoes occur, could happen before, you
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know, whoever takes office for District 2.
The next things we need to do is to updateour Comp Plan and zoning code to make sure
that the Social Housing Developer can takeadvantage of bonuses and other exemptions
for affordable housing to make it easierto build social housing across the city.
We should make sure that social housingis included in future planning efforts.
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I think, you know, one of the promisesof social housing is to address, is to
have a more integrated model of housing.
You know, we are one of the mostsegregated, or we are a deeply segregated
city across class, across homeownershipand renter, across race and ethnicity.
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And so, you know, how could social housinghelp with segregation across our city?
And that's a, you know,largely a planning tool.
So those are the top of mind issues.
And then just being a good partner.
You know, as a new model of housing,it's unclear, you know, what other
issues might come up for them in terms ofregulatory, you know - do they have the
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same, you know, landlord-tenant issues,or maybe, you know, they might need sort
of unique language based on the way thatthey do their income and set their rents.
So just being a good partner for them.
So life expectancy in parts ofDistrict 2, like Beacon Hill and
the Rainier Valley, is up to 10years shorter than in wealthier
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neighborhoods that are also in Seattle.
It's largely due to pollution,highway, and major street proximity,
and historic disinvestment.
What would you do to address these healthdisparities and environmental injustices?
Yeah, there's a lot of airquality issues from traffic.
You know, I mentioned earlier thatwe have two major corridors along
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MLK and Rainier, we're next to I-5.
Went to an air quality issue around theKing County Airport recently because a
lot of their smaller planes still useleaded fuel - so that's something that
I was not aware of, and I think a lotof people in our community are not aware
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of - that they still use leaded fuel.
And, and so raising awareness of theseissues so that we can help mobilize the
community to, to then get legislation,for example, at the state level that would
ban use of leaded fuel in smaller plants.
I think the other issues we need toaddress is just moving away from so much
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vehicular traffic, which, you know, iscausing these air quality - so road diets
and moving towards, you know, increasingbuses and electrifying our bus fleets.
And then, if we need to, youknow, assisting our low-income
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residents with air filters
if they live in areasof high air pollution.
With so much recent development onand along transit corridors - both
in private residences, where some ofthose air filters are more accessible,
but also in public buildings - howdo you balance the need to mitigate
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those air pollution harms with somuch recent and planned development?
I mean, the health and safety of residentsneeds to, you know, be the priority.
And this is why we need to notjust build along those corridors.
We should be, you know, buildingmore deeper into the what used to
(36:16):
be single family neighborhoods.
And, you know, we have plentyof space in Seattle to build
dense, walkable neighborhoods.
We just need to unlock that capacity andnot put it on these transit corridors.
What are your priorities fortraffic safety in the district?
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Traffic safety - the priorities is to
reduce vehicular speeds on - so some ofthe the reasons why MLK and Rainier are
so dangerous is when you have two lanestraveling, vehicles - a road that's
(37:00):
two lanes wide - vehicles speed up.
And so we just saw recently, Imean, this was a sort of an odd
situation where the motorcycleran a red light at MLK and Alaska.
But that's, you know, the intersectionthat I'm at every day to get on light
rail or to go down to Columbia City - it'san extremely dangerous intersection.
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And so getting vehicles to slow down - andyou can do that with like raised walkways.
And longer term, you know, weneed to look at narrowing those
roads to slow down traffic.
But in the meantime, things like trafficcameras could be an interim measure.
What specifically would you be proposingto make it safer to walk and bike
(37:43):
in the district over the next year?
It's hard to imagine, you know, howquickly you can do transportation
improvements and whether youcan do that in the next year.
I do think there are some visual signsthat you could do, for example, with
Sound Transit and their at-grade crossing.
(38:08):
But certainly longer term, I mean, trafficcameras - you could probably put up
more quickly to get people to slow down.
But long-term things like raised walkways- I don't think those are that difficult
to build, but I'm not sure, within SDOT'splanning horizon, how quickly you can
do a raised crosswalk, for example.
(38:29):
How could you and the city work moreeffectively with the multiple relevant
agencies - like SDOT, Sound Transit, KingCounty Metro - to improve accountability
for reducing injuries and deathsrelated to traffic on our streets?
I think the most important thingin terms of accountability is,
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you know, it needs continued focus and,
you know, uplifting the priorities ofour community, making sure that our
community knows where to advocate.
So, you know, it can be very confusing.
Like, yeah, who, who isresponsible for this?
How do we go about advocating forsomething like a raised crosswalk?
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Do we need to go to talk to SDOT?
Or, you know, does Sound Transithave some role in that because of
the at-grade light rail crossing?
So that's something that, youknow, for me, having worked with
numerous different departments in thecity, having negotiated with other
agencies, including King County, issomething that I'm used to doing.
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And so a lot of it is informationsharing with our community about
where to advocate, making sure thatwe continue to uplift these issues
so that they are front of mind.
And then just doing thehard work of interagency
negotiations and collaboration.
How important are issues likeclosing roads to cars, activating new
(40:04):
pedestrian areas to traffic safety?
Oh, I think those are critical.
I mean, we - long term, we have totransition away in our community from,
you know, vehicles being such a, youknow, dominant use of our right of way.
And our, you know, so much ofour land in the city is tied
(40:27):
up in streets and parking.
And if we want to, you know, create amore safe, affordable, walkable, you know,
city - that means transitioning away.
So that means reimagining ourpublic spaces, like you said.
Like the Ferdinand Street, likepedestrianizing Pike Place.
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And I'd like to see it done insort of like commercial cores
like that, where there's alreadya lot of pedestrian activity.
And then, you know, I think if you do somepilot programs, then people can really,
you know - those are easier to roll outand people can see the benefits of it.
And then you can start tomake it more permanent.
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Do you support the proposed weakeningof Seattle's Ethics Code for Seattle
City Councilmembers on conflict ofinterest and recusals due to conflict?
And what changes would you support tothe ethics code to improve transparency?
No, I do not - especially right now.
And, you know, earlierwe were talking about the
(41:31):
landlord-tenant potential updates.
And, you know, again, youknow, perceptions matter.
And there's a lot of perceptionthat this change is being made
to sort of push through landlord-tenantlaw changes, and I just don't think
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that that's the right approach.
You know, if there is a conflict, I don'tsee why recusal is not the standard.
There are other councilmemberswho don't have conflicts that
can vote on these issues.
And I just think it sends the wrongsignal to our community and particularly
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to renters as this, you know, city - atleast according to news reports - is
considering potential changes.
In terms of updates, I mean, I'm happyto engage on what potential updates we
might need to improve our ethics rules.
But certainly, disclosuresare the absolute minimum.
But recusal when there's an actualconflict, that is not, you know,
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something that - a financial interestthat's not shared widely amongst the
community should be the standard.
Now, we asked every candidatewho we're talking to to submit
questions that they would likeasked of their fellow candidates
- their competitors in this race.
And so we have askedother candidates for that.
So the first question for you was: Why did you vote against Proposition (42:59):
undefined
1A for Seattle social housing?
Yeah, so first I'd like tosay I did vote Yes on 135, and
I voted Yes to fund and 137.
And
I voted for 1B.
(43:19):
I strongly support progressive revenues.
And so there's alwayssort of two questions.
There's, you know, howare you going to tax?
And then how are yougoing to use the proceeds?
And so I, you know, strongly support theprogressive revenue side of that measure.
And, you know, I had a coupleconcerns around 1A, which
is - as a newer organization,there's always a learning curve.
(43:43):
And, you know, just wanting to makesure that they have all the, you know,
any stumbling blocks that are resolved- before kind of we go big was my concern.
Obviously, that was notthe voters' concern.
And so I'm happy to togo full steam ahead.
The other issue is I've seen affordablehousing providers develop projects that
(44:10):
are higher AMI, area median income,
which is a big part of social housing.
And I've seen affordablehousing developers struggle
on some of their projects.
So, for example, there was a CommunityRoots Housing project called The Heartwood
- they developed at 14th and Madison.
It did not have funding fromthe city and it was targeted for
(44:33):
higher median income residents.
And they had a hard time leasing upand are probably selling that building.
And that's because when you are buildinghousing at those higher AMI levels,
you're really oftentimes competing withthe market - and that's a tough place to
be for a lot of our nonprofit and PDAs.
(44:58):
And so just that wasanother one of my concerns.
We had a few candidates askquestions about that one, but
we did have one other question.
As the mayor has tried to redirectJumpStart Seattle funds to the
general fund, how will you ensurethat the funds are allocated and
protected as the voters approved?
I'm not sure the voters approved JumpSt-oh, are you talking about social housing?
(45:27):
No.
This is-
Or are you talking about JumpStart?
This is JumpStart.
Oh.
And that was the questionas provided by a candidate.
OK, OK - fair, fair enough.
So we'll leave apart the voters-approvedquestion and kind of get to the heart
of there - how will you ensure thatthe funds are allocated and protected?
As originally intended, we'll say.
Absolutely, right.
And I strongly support the originalintent behind the JumpStart, you
(45:52):
know, payroll spending package.
And, you know, which was foraffordable housing, Equitable
Development Initiative, Green New Deal.
And, you know, that was during COVIDwhen there was this idea that, you
know - well, certain revenues can go tofund backfills in our general budget.
And we're out of COVID, althoughnow we have new budget deficits.
(46:17):
I think for me, you know, this is why weneed to raise new, progressive revenues
- things like a capital gains tax.
We also just need tolead with our priorities.
So when we're looking at the budget,I do still strongly support affordable
housing, the Green New Deal, theEquitable Development Initiative, and
we need to make sure that they continueto get the support that, you know,
(46:42):
was originally intended in JumpStart.
And so what that means is that weneed to raise additional revenues
to address any budget deficits.
But again, it also gets back toneeding to engage with our community
about what are our top priorities,and because we are going to be looking
at a constrained fiscal environment.
(47:03):
And so when there are difficultcuts to be made - I mean, you know,
nobody wants to see cuts to the parksor to the permitting department.
And so these are tough choices.
And, and there aren't easy answers tothis other than, I mean, the last point
I will make is - one, revenue that peoplehave not looked at enough is when we
(47:29):
build new housing, housing developerspay 10% sales tax on construction.
They're paying - oftentimes payingexcise tax, because there's typically
a turnover in property ownership.
They're often paying MHA fees- mandatory housing affordability
fees - for affordable housing.
So if we can incentivize housingdevelopment through things like
(47:54):
getting rid of parking requirementsand reducing design review, we can
raise new revenues that way as well.
Well, that is the end of thecandidate-asked questions,
and we'll transition back tojust our general questions.
So how do you plan to mitigatefederal attacks on civil rights,
particularly those targetingtrans people and immigrants?
(48:17):
Yeah, this is such an important topic.
I'm the son of an immigrant - mydad immigrated from Taiwan and
married my mom, who's white - andthey met in North Carolina.
So, you know, I wouldn't existif, you know, we had attacks on
immigrants back then, like we do today.
(48:43):
You know, so this is going torequire intergovernmental responses.
So we need to work closely withthe county, closely with the state.
We do need to have fundingto protect our communities.
I was supportive of - I believeit was Councilmember Rinck who
proposed, I believe, $300,000 inspending to help immigrants facing
(49:10):
deportation or other proceedings.
We're probably going to need toincrease that more, especially
with the cuts to - there's a groupcalled Kids in Needs of Defense,
which has had their funding gutted.
And they represent kids in deportationproceedings - and it's just unconscionable
that they would not have representation.
(49:31):
So, you know, this is one of thosedifficult situations where we're
going to be facing budget cuts.
And yet, we also need to lead with ourpriorities around protecting our LGBTQ and
immigrant communities from these attacks.
I think the other thing that we needto be very thoughtful and mindful
of is, again, listening to thesecommunities and saying - Hey, what
(49:56):
do you - support do you want to see?
And that's going to bean evolving landscape.
So just, you know, one example - I wasspeaking to a leader in the immigrant
rights community, and he was justsaying, you know, he wasn't super
excited about the word "sanctuary" city.
(50:17):
And the reason he didn't like the word"sanctuary" was because he felt like it
maybe sent the wrong message to immigrantcommunities that it was safer than it was.
And, you know, they need to - ourimmigrant communities need to be
aware that this is a fraught time.
And so we need to be very careful abouthow we communicate things with our
(50:41):
communities - that we're giving timelyinformation, that we're not raising
undue alarm, but that we're communicatingcorrect and timely information.
And that, and sharing informationthat they find useful.
What can be done to help smallbusinesses in District 2?
Many are talking about increasedrents - kind of mirroring some of
(51:03):
the conversations we're having aboutresidential rents in the commercial space
- increased insurance, various other costsand challenges throughout the community.
What are your plans and whatdo you plan to do to help?
I think one thing that we could do forbusinesses - at least for some businesses
that are impacted by things like brokenwindows or retail theft - is having a
(51:32):
more robust support system for them forthings like repairing broken windows.
If we can actually make progress on ourhomelessness situation by, you know,
getting people into shelters, meetingtheir needs, then, you know, they
(51:55):
might rely less upon sort of, you know,small businesses, or impacting small
businesses, to get having their needs met.
The other thing that I would loveto look at is - are there ways
that we can reduce the regulationsand taxes on small businesses?
(52:17):
So, you know, some of our businesses- they might not be paying a lot in
taxes, but they might be just, youknow, the cost of an accountant alone
might just be extremely burdensome.
And so if there's ways that we canhave like minimum thresholds of like,
you know - if you don't have enough,if you don't raise at least a million
(52:38):
in revenue, then you kind of get ablanket exemption so that you don't even
have to pay for the accountant or payfor the lawyer to file the paperwork.
I'd like to look at ways thatwe can reduce those burdens.
And as we move to conclude thisinterview - and voters are trying
to distinguish between you and theother candidates in District 2 - what
(53:00):
do you tell voters is the differencebetween you and the other candidates?
And why should they vote for you?
You know, I typically don't like to,you know, focus on the differences.
I'd like to focus on sort of whatstrengths that I think I bring to the
campaign or would bring to this seat.
Obviously, again, housingexperience is top of mind.
(53:25):
And the other thing that I talk aboutis, you know, my job right now is an
assistant city attorney - I don't dopolicy, but what I do is I empower
the departments and my clients,you know, to achieve their goals.
And so I would want to bring thatsame skill set to representing
(53:46):
residents and businesses in District 2.
I'm a strong listener.
You know, I have a strongunderstanding of how our government
works, how our city works.
And so I would really want to bring,empower them through, you know,
giving them the information theyneed to advocate, and then taking
their priorities to City Hall.
(54:08):
Well, thank you so much for joiningus today - appreciate your time,
and appreciate your willingnessto share where you're coming from,
your vision for the city with thevoters and residents of Seattle.
Thank you so much, Eddie Lin.
Thank you, Crystal.
It's been a real honor.
I've been a longtime fan of your showand just been a pleasure to talk to you.
(54:29):
Thank you so much.
Thank you for listening to Hacks & Wonks,which is produced by Shannon Cheng.
You can follow Hacks & Wonkson Bluesky @HacksAndWonks.
You can find me on Bluesky at@finchfrii - that's F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I.
You can catch Hacks & Wonks on everypodcast service and app - just type
"Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar.
(54:49):
Be sure to subscribe to get the fullversions of our Friday week-in-review
shows and our Tuesday topical showdelivered to your podcast feed.
If you like us, leave areview wherever you listen.
You can also get a full transcriptof this episode and links to the
resources referenced in the showat officialhacksandwonks.com.
Thanks for tuning in - talk to you next
(55:16):
time.
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