There was anger, chanting, shouting … and public comment on both sides. After a two-plus-hour meeting, seven City Councilmembers voted this afternoon to repeal the head tax they had approved less than a month ago (the “no” votes were Teresa Mosqueda and Kshama Sawant). In case you missed it, the Seattle Channel video is now available. Once public comment ended at about 1:11 into the meeting, West Seattle/South Park Councilmember Lisa Herbold was the first to comment pre-vote, starting at 1:14 in and continuing for seven minutes of near-fury. She refuted the claims that no progress is being made against homelessness, but said that progress is limited because more affordable housing needs to be built. She said the repeal vote “runs counter to my values as a person” but she felt compelled to vote for it because a majority of Seattle citizens believe homelessness has resulted from “government inefficiency.” “People say we are bowing to political pressure, but nothing could be further from the truth,” she insisted, saying a ballot fight between now and November would do more damage. She said she hoped the repeal would be a “temporary setback.” Other councilmembers who commented at length included West Seattle-residing citywide Councilmember Lorena González, who with Herbold co-chaired the task force that came up with the head-tax; starting at 1:38 in the video, saying “all the solutions (to homelessness) require new and additional revenue.” She said, “It gives me no pleasure to have to repeal this law because I think this law was well done” and vowed to “fight for solutions that will not tear this city apart.” She added that this is “a defining moment in the city of Seattle … and not a good one.”
West Seattle, Washington
25 Wednesday
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