(WSB photo from April 19th WS Chamber-convened ‘head tax’ discussion)

One week ago today, four City Councilmembers, including West Seattle/South Park’s Lisa Herbold and WS-residing/citywide-representing Lorena González, officially unveiled their proposal for the so-called “head tax,” a business tax to raise money they say would be used mostly to build housing for people who are homeless. That was one day after Herbold and González had made their case to a gathering convened by the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce (WSB coverage here).

If you haven’t already read it, the proposed legislation is here; the resolution establishing how the money would be spent is here; a proposal with specifics for the first five years is here.

Three days after the proposal went public, there was an at-times-contentious three-hour public hearing at City Hall on Monday night:

On Wednesday, the council’s Finance and Neighborhoods Committee discussed the proposal, including a plan for how the money would be spent:

On Thursday, Councilmember González sent a survey to “business leaders.” One West Seattle recipient forwarded it to us anonymously. In the e-mail, González addresses the recipients, “In an effort to create an additional tool to engage with you regarding the proposed Employee Hours Tax/Payroll Tax, the Council has developed an online survey which allows business owners to give direct feedback to the Council and express any specific concerns.” Going through the survey, we note that it asks for opinions about housing and homelessness before asking for opinions on the potential head tax and the payroll tax that is proposed to follow it in three years. The survey is here.

Today in her weekly update, Councilmember Herbold went through a copious amount of backstory on the tax proposal and explanation why she supports it. If you aren’t already on her mailing list, you can read it on the city website. She wrote in part:

… The structural cause of homelessness in high cost cities like Seattle is that there is a growing unmet need for more affordable housing created when new workers, earning new high wage jobs, and low-income workers are in competition for limited housing. Lower income workers lose out and the result is that the explosive growth and rising rents that Seattle is experiencing has increased homelessness even as we, each year, exit more than 3,000 people out of homelessness and into permanent housing. A progressive tax on businesses most benefiting from this growth is our best option because we already rely heavily upon regressive property and sales taxes that hit everyone equally. …

Along with Herbold and González, the tax proposal is co-sponsored by Councilmembers Teresa Mosqueda (citywide) and Mike O’Brien (northwest Seattle’s District 6).

The next scheduled official discussion is back before the Finance and Neighborhoods Committee at noon Wednesday (May 2nd), with “issue identification” to be included; then the committee is scheduled to vote on it a week later, at 2 pm May 9th, including consideration of any amendments. If that schedule is kept, the full council would vote at 2 pm on Monday, May 14th. All three of those meetings would have public-comment periods; you also can reach councilmembers via e-mail or phone – contact info is here.

Since taking office five months ago, Mayor Durkan has made many who’s-staying-and-who’s-going announcements, but hadn’t said whether she would keep Kathy Nyland as director of the Department of Neighborhoods. Though Nyland – appointed almost exactly three years ago by then-Mayor Ed Murray – had a background in neighborhood-group leadership, she drew some fire for championing Murray’s plan to cut the city’s ties with neighborhood-district councils. This afternoon, Durkan announced that she’s moving Nyland out of DoN:

Seattle Mayor Jenny A. Durkan announced that Andrés Mantilla will serve as Interim Director of the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, effective May 16, 2018. Mantilla currently serves in the Mayor’s Office as the Director of External Relations and Outreach. Kathy Nyland will continue working in the Durkan administration as a senior advisor at Seattle Parks and Recreation focused on community and neighborhood outreach.

“From day one, I committed to bringing City Hall directly to neighborhoods, and the Department of Neighborhoods plays a critical role in building strong partnerships directly where people live and work. Kathy has worked tirelessly to help communities across Seattle have a strong voice in their government, and her leadership has helped to foster more coordinated, citywide outreach on Seattle’s most urgent challenges. We will build on her important work to bring more equitable engagement to our neighborhoods,” said Mayor Durkan. “As we address growing disparities and make our City more affordable, Andrés will be instrumental in elevating the voices of community members throughout Seattle. His commitment to equity and communities of color will elevate the work of our City.”

Mantilla has deep roots in communities across the City. Prior to his role in the Mayor’s Office, Mantilla worked on community and small business outreach at the Department of Neighborhoods and Office of Economic Development as well as on the Community Outreach Team for Mayor Greg Nickels.

(WSB photo of Andres Mantilla: 2011, when he visited WS as a representative of the Department of Economic Development)