Councilwomen Juarez, Herbold, Vie For Council Presidency

Seattle City Councilmembers are currently deciding whether to elect District 5 Councilwoman Debora Juarez or District 1 Councilwoman Lisa Herbold as the Council’s next President.
 
On November 2, 2021, Seattle voters rejected Councilwoman Herbold’s brand of dogmatic and divisive politics.  We urge you to support Councilwoman Juarez, a proven doer and builder on the Council, as she aspired to become the first Indigenous leader in the history of our Seattle.
 
Most notably, Councilwoman Herbold supported efforts to defund SPD by 50%.  As Chair of the City’s Public Safety and Human Services Committee,  she also sat quiet last summer as people stormed the doorsteps of multiple public officials in Northeast Seattle, tormenting them and their families in demand that SPD be defunded or abolished.
 
Councilwoman Juarez, on the other hand, held the line along with District 4 City Councilman Alex Pedersen in resisting an arbitrary 50% SPD budget cut. She rightly criticized her colleagues for “taking a pledge without a plan,” and she and her family were accosted at her home for it.
 
Councilwoman Juarez’s candidacy for Council President is supported by Mayor-elect Bruce Harrell, and has earned widespread community support. Thirteen local tribal governments and 6 urban Indigenous social services organizations recently wrote the City Council: “Councilwoman Juarez uses . . . grace and wisdom to bring people together; she bridges political and ideological differences in order to advance the common good.”
 
Over 300 members of the International District’s Asian-American Pacific Islander business community told the Council that Councilwoman Juarez has “the tools to promote smart policy and forward-thinking.”  Reverend Harriett Walden of Mothers for Police Accountability wrote “Debora Juarez is the leader we need to help Seattle heal and unite… it is time for a leader like Debora who can restore our relationships with each other and with the earth.”
 
As to Councilwoman Herbold, Rev. Walden had this to say: “City Councilmembers’ efforts last summer to . . . defund the SPD by 50% have set [us] back many years, if not generations. I cannot support any candidate for City Council President who was part of those divisive and destructive efforts.”

The election will occur during the first week of the New Year but the Council is deciding the matter now.
 
Please now take a moment (literally) to click this link and send your email to the Seattle City Council, urging the Council to elect Councilwoman Juarez as Council President.

(If the link does not open for you, please send your email
to: Council@Seattle.gov and cut & paste this copy in the body:
Dear Seattle City Council: I support the election of District 5 Councilwoman Debora Juarez to serve as our City Council’s next President. Councilwoman Juarez brings a unifying, common sense style of leadership that our City needs at this time.  She is the best candidate to help lead our city in a new direction and to restore public safety in our streets and neighborhoods.)

Councilwoman Juarez with Mayor-elect Bruce Harrell at the Jasper Apartments in October 2021.

Congratulations to Mayor-Elect Harrell, Councilwomen-Elect Nelson

Neighborhoods For Smart Streets proudly endorsed Mayor-elect Harrell and supported At-Large City Councilwoman-elect Sara Nelson during the November general election.  We congratulate them both on their successful campaigns and wish them all the best as they help lead our city.  We are confident they will restore public confidence in Seattle city government and public safety in our streets and neighborhoods.

Mayor-elect Harrell declaring victory along with former Mayor Norm Rice on  November 2.

Gabe Galanda, King County Councilman Rob Dembowski and Jordan Royer at Mayor-elect Harrell’s election night party.
 

Kroger Pulls Bait & Switch Re: Wedgwood QFC

Kroger has announced it has no plans to reopen the Wedgwood QFC after the City Council unanimously repealed an interim hazard pay ordinance, last Monday. After telling property owner Wes Wilson and community advocate Gabe Galanda that the Wedgwood QFC might re-open if the Council “sunsetted” the ordinance, Kroger has now changed its tune. 
 
The Seattle Times reports:
 
"Though “pleased with the Seattle City Council’s decision to repeal Hazard Pay,” QFC has “no plans to reopen our Wedgwood location,” said spokesperson Tiffany Sanders in an email.

That rejection is playing poorly among some Wedgwood locals — and not only because they miss their store. By several accounts, Kroger officials had previously suggested that the Wedgwood grocery might reopen if the ordinance was repealed.

Wedgwood resident Gabe Galanda says Sanders told him, in late October, “there was a possibility Kroger would reopen the QFC” if the city ordinance was “sunsetted.”

And Wes Williams, whose family owns the shopping center where QFC operated, was told by Kroger officials not long after the closure that “they would reopen if the hazardous pay [ordinance] was repealed,” Williams said Friday."

Kroger has blatantly breached our community’s trust. We urge you to consider shopping at grocers other than Kroger’s QFC or Fred Meyer locations.

Neighborhood for Smarts Streets showing community appreciation.