(WSB photos and video by Patrick Sand)

One week after their first general-election-campaign forum in West Seattle, the women running for mayor, Cary Moon and Jenny Durkan, returned this afternoon. This time, they answered questions during the West Seattle Democratic Women‘s monthly meeting. Chair Rachel Glass described the race as “compelling and intriguing” in her introduction.

Above is our full unedited video of the forum; the text below represents highlights, not full transcriptions – to see/hear the candidates’ full answers, you’ll have to watch the video. The ground rules, set out by Glass – “this forum is not about anything negative … I want you to see the best of these candidates.” They had two minutes each for an opening statement, for each of four prepared questions, then time for each candidate to ask her opponent a question, then a few audience questions, and two-minute closing statements.

Moon won the coin-flip to give her opening statement first. She says she believes she started as the least-known candidate. She says she came to the campaign with a “list of solutions” for problems including the “heartbreaking” homelessness crisis. “In the past mayoral administration, I don’t think anyone knew where we were headed.”

Durkan opens by saying her staff told her she and Moon have done 85 forums, 50 since the primary. She says three things put her on track to run for mayor, something that a year ago she couldn’t have envisioned herself doing. First thing she mentions – election of President Trump. She says we’re not getting “anything good” out of “the other Washington” right now.

(Both made a point of mentioning they’re moms – Moon with two teenagers and two grown stepkids, Durkan with children 21 and 16.)

Then, the questions:

First question – what will you do about problems such as bigotry and hate crimes that are on the rise?

Moon: The president is sowing so much distrust, “fear of the other,” that it’s pervading our culture everywhere. To fight bigotry, hate crimes, etc., she says she has a “clear agenda” for Seattle being a welcoming, inclusive city. “This city with our prosperity and shared progressive values … can do this work and show the rest of the country hope. … Cities are where democracy was invented and where democracy still works.”

Durkan: She and Moon have “no daylight” between their stances on this issue. She says it was “just wrong” that the president said there were good people “on both sides” in the deadly Charlottesville clash. She mentions opening a civil-rights division in the US Attorney’s Office that she led in this region. She touts her former office’s outreach to the Muslim community and talks about having launched an anti-cyberbullying program.

Second question: What will they do to fight climate change despite the White House’s withdrawal from the Paris accords, and what else to do about the environment?

Durkan: “I will do all I can to do more on that front.” She refers to (West Seattle-residing) former mayor Greg Nickels‘ leadership on the issue. “We should be leading on the green-technology field.” And also, she says she’ll do something about single-occupancy vehicles’ contribution to pollution and will take steps to convert the city fleet to electrification, and to encourage other electric conversion.

Moon: Also namechecks Nickels, and commits to setting “aggressive targets” in reducing emissions. She says she wants to work with the disadvantaged communities that are most affected, and brings up the life-expectancy gap between South Park and Laurelhurst. And she says she favors expanding incentives for energy-saving buildings. Plus, public buildings should have rooftop solar, she thinks.

3rd question: Part of the homelessness problem is due to the lack of affordable housing. What specific steps will you take to work with council, developers, landlords, citizen commissions to create more options for Seattleites and ease this problem?

Moon: She says ex-mayor Murray was on the wrong track by hiring consultants who said the homelessness crisis and housing affordability crisis had to be solved separately because they weren’t related. They are, she contends. She wants to look at root causes of the affordability crisis, including addressing real-estate speculation. Money also has to be invested in creating affordable housing – four times what’s being done now.

Durkan: “We will lose our soul as a city if we don’t figure this out.” She also says affordable housing – low-income and “missing middle” – has to be built “as quickly as we can.” Some of the money will come from HALA, she says, but “we’ll have to look for other sources.” Also, she says, affordable housing that exists now has to be protected. And she wants a rental voucher program, to clear the Seattle Housing Authority waiting list, for starters.

Next question: What’s an example of a big bold idea that if elected you will fight to implement?

Durkan: Keep pushing for the city income tax, and statewide income tax/”progressive tax reform.” Also, “thriving housing developments” where people from all economic sectors can live and thrive together.

Moon: She says we’re “already on the way to big, bold solutions for housing affordability,” mentioning something she wrote that was widely viewed. She says she has a 5-part strategy including support for small businesses, a “21st-century industrial strategy,” local procurement.

Next – each candidate asking a question of the other.

Moon asks Durkan,”We have a problem in our city where we are creating tremendous wealth and it’s only going to a few” – what does she think is causing this and what “deep transformative changes” will Durkan make to fix it?

Durkan acknowledges that “we’ve almost become two cities” especially if you compare north and south. More economic development needs to be directed to neighborhoods that have been “left behind.” That includes improved education programs too, including attacking the opportunity gap with the next Families and Education Levy. And she mentions her proposal to give 2 years of free community college to all Seattle high-school graduates.

Then she asks Moon, “what do you think the hardest conversation you’d have to have with West Seattle is” if Moon is elected mayor?

Moon said she helped fight for the monorail, helped fight for transit improvements, but over the past 10 years things got worse, not better for transportation in West Seattle, “so how do we work together to build public will to get more resources into transit service? This is something the mayor can’t solve on her own – we have to work with Sound Transit, King County Metro, other transit agencies to invest in West Seattle,” so the hard question will be, how to break through 10 years of non-progress?

(Durkan asides that the coolest thing Moon said in her reply was “the mayor” (solving) “on HER own.”)

Next, audience questions.

One man says the Seattle chief of police has accepted another job in Ireland – is that OK?

Durkan says, “I’ve actually asked (Chief) Kathleen O’Toole about this. She has not actually taken another job.” She explains O’Toole’s past work in Ireland and says she is currently consulting on a part-time basis, and it’s OK if it’s not affecting her work here.

Moon says she hasn’t talked with the chief but has also heard O’Toole is consulting in Boston, but will be talking with her about the work that needs to be done here in Seattle, and about what her commitment is to that. “If she says no, it’s important to me to do these other projects, I’ll take that into consideration.”

Next audience question: Soon we’ll have a tunnel, and it’ll be tolled, and there’s talk of tolling city streets. How do we make it economic for people to get around?

Moon: “This is maddening – we spent over $4 billion building that tunnel knowing it wasn’t going to help people get in and out of downtown very well … about a year ago I heard the tolling committee was going to announce $3/$4 tolls but they decided not to announce that … I think this is a problem that has not been resolved yet, I would look at getting additional money for Metro transit – we need a low-cost, affordable transit system to help people be able to move around the city.” She says that’ll be needed even more if people are going to avoid the tolled tunnel.

Durkan: She sees short-term and long-term solutions. Long term, she hopes that her vision of Seattle will see more people living near where they work so transportation isn’t so much of an issue. But accelerating Sound Transit 3, especially for West Seattle and Ballard, will be key in the nearer-term. First, we need more bus service, she says, and need to be “more innovative in how we get people out of cars and into buses.” She also wants free ORCA passes for kids and seniors, and to get more ORCA Lift availability for those who need it.

Last audience question was about Mayor Murray’s discontinuance of support for neighborhood district councils. How would you as mayor envision effective neighborhood engagement?

Durkan: If there was one failing of the past administration – it’s become top down, rather than community up. “I think we have to change that around – we are in such a place in our city, we have so many innovative people in our neighborhoods …I would not have closed the district councils – I know there were ways they were not as inclusive as they should have been … I want to reinvent how we engage.”

Moon: She says many people are reporting her for just this reason – she’s a listener and collaborator. She namechecks Jim Diers and notes that Seattle practically invented neighborhood planning. “Community at its best is working toward a common goal,” not just inviting people to come gripe. She espouses “21st-century neighborhood planning” that would address housing affordability and public spaces. She says Seattle is great because “we invent things here … we need to keep inventing because that’s who we are.”

Finally, on to closing statements.

Durkan: “I love this city to my bones but it is changing before our eyes.” She says we’re at “a crossroads” and can “decide what city is created by growth, rather than having growth determine us.” She touts thousands of contributors and hundreds of volunteers. “We’re going to have to pull together,” and not “follow the path of Washington, D.C., of division.”

Moon: “I think we all know there’s so much at stake in our city … we see increasingly corporations buying up our land, building (that makes) our city look more like an office park.” She points to Vancouver B.C. and San Francisco’s housing-affordability crises that have “driven out” so many. She says “cities are my passion and my profession” and that’s why she’s the right person for the job.

P.S. WSDW, by the way, also hosted Durkan, Moon, and four other mayoral candidates before the primary – here’s our coverage of that event in June. To keep up with what the group is doing next, check out its information-laden website here.

P.P.S. Whoever you’re voting for, get your ballot either postmarked by Tuesday, November 7th, or into a ballot dropbox – find the locations here – by 8 pm that night.