ELECTION 2019: District 1 City Council candidates to debate on Tuesday night

ByeLisa April 22, 2019 (2:27 pm)

Brendan Kolding has my vote. He’s the only one with clear Anti-camping, Anti-Upzoning , Anti – Drug sites (seriously NO Public money for Drug users to Shoot up!) , Providing Parking for cars in housing and clear messages about how he stands. Looks like a clear choice to clean up the city. Go Brendan!

Nolan April 22, 2019 (3:39 pm)

Kolding is an authoritarian in Democrat clothing and it’s embarrassing that he’s so successfully appealed to your worst tribalistic instincts by claiming that every problem can be solved if only he has enough police officers running harassment campaigns on the undertrodden. I can only hope that there are enough decent people in this area to keep him out of office.
- A April 22, 2019 (5:04 pm)
  
  What’s embarrassing Nolan is what our city has become. This experiment of bending over backwards to accommodate the homeless has failed miserably. I want this city to return to the way it was before the socialists took control of our council. If there is any sanity left in this city, Lisa will lose and she will lose by a large margin
- Peter April 22, 2019 (5:15 pm)
  
  Well said. Kolding’s policy is to criminalize being poor, contributing to the enlargement of a permanent criminal class that the police depend on in order to keep their funding, authority, control, and job security. I will never trust any cop.
  - West Seattle Hipster April 22, 2019 (6:56 pm)
    
    “I will never trust any cop”.That is, until you need one.
    - Peter April 24, 2019 (5:25 pm)
      
      The police have never come any time I’ve called 911 while living in Seattle. Not once. So as to your “until you need them,” you don’t have the first clue what you’re talking about.
  - WW Resident April 23, 2019 (4:29 am)
    
    QUOTE : “I will never trust any cop”That is dumb
    - Peter April 24, 2019 (5:27 pm)
      
      No, that is not dumb, it’s very smart. The entire history of policing in the US proves hoe racist and corrupt the police are. I repeat: I. Will. Never. Trump. Any. Cop.
  - wscommuter April 23, 2019 (9:33 am)
    
    What an amazingly ignorant statement “contributing to the enlargement of a permanent criminal class that the police depend on in order to keep their funding, authority, control, and job security …” and what that reveals about your thinking , that somehow there is a conspiracy to persecute the poor to secure police funding and such. Shaking my head at the stupidity. Sorry if my words are harsh but this kind of dumb is why Donald Trump is president and proof that unhinged thinking can be found not just on the far right, but the far left as well.
- NoMoreEnabling April 22, 2019 (5:25 pm)
  
  I am a decent left leaning lifelong democrat who is tired of having my taxes wasted by their use for enabling policies and actions that cause greater suffering and hardships for us and for the drug addicted and severely mentally ill homeless populations. We need Brendan Kolding to help enact compassionate and effective strategies and tactics to bring back a Seattle where law and order is followed, and those who commit crimes are arrested, placed in jail and triaged to the most appropriate treatments. If you want to support true compassion and believe in the power of tough love you vote Kolding.
- CitizenAlki April 23, 2019 (9:58 am)
  
  I am a loyal member of the law abiding tax paying tribe. Our tribe likes to obey rules, treat people civilly, and clean up after ourselves. Our tribe has plenty of compassion and empathy for all.
  - Peter April 24, 2019 (5:31 pm)
    
    I too am a member of the law abiding tax paying tribe. Unfortunately, the corrupt police are NOT among the law abiding.
- Richard April 24, 2019 (8:36 am)
  
  We need the strong leadership Kolding offers. I won’t let political parties continue to drive a wedge between citizens and good law enforcement.kolding’a gonna win this and we’re going to see how a city council should be run.
PigeonRidge Ben April 22, 2019 (4:37 pm)

Your yelling makes it difficult to be receptive to what you’re trying to communicate.

Corby April 22, 2019 (2:36 pm)

No public money = problems persist. The money has to come from somewhere.

Mj April 22, 2019 (5:46 pm)

Lisa needs to be voted out of office. Stricter and equal enforcement of the law is needed. Thieves need to be held accountable.

KM April 22, 2019 (7:28 pm)

The city council is not responsible for the police or courts, direct your anger at those who can do something.
- BrainTrust April 22, 2019 (8:16 pm)
  
  The police and courts are only part of the problem. City Council – including Councilmember Herbold – is responsible for policy development and fund appropriation. The policies they’ve come up with over the last four years and the clear lack of transparency directly impact the worsening homelessness, drug, and affordability crises.Directing anger at the Council and calling for change in our D1 representation is more than justified.
- St April 22, 2019 (8:26 pm)
  
  I disagree km. Police are told what to do by the police chief who gets their marching orders from the mayor. A lot of Seattle problems (not impounding RVs until x amount of years for example) are purely political and the Seattle Council is apart of the process.

98126res April 23, 2019 (8:43 am)

Vote Brendan Kolding! Character, truth, problem solver, bold leadership for Seattle! Zero choice last election. 2 liberals ran due to gross Jungle Primary. Imo Herbold is a poor city administrator, sends mind numbingly long over detailed unclear communications, unaccountable helm of unsexy utilities (easily avoidable disaster dumped sewage off discovery park and smack onto taxpayers $30+ million), and she sides with every socialist city council promoted policy. Kolding is a breath of fresh air. He gets my Democracy Vouchers too.

Jort April 23, 2019 (11:16 am)

I look forward to questions about topics other than homelessness and safe injection sites, because I enjoy watching single-issue candidates stammer and flounder and gasp for air while they try to comprehend that there are other issues out there beyond “hurr durr homeless people are icky!” Seriously! It’s fun to watch. Turns out actual elections aren’t MyNorthwest comment sections.

WSB April 23, 2019 (11:52 am)

Last event, for the record, if you missed it and didn’t catch our coverage, had questions on 5 other issues:

affordable housing
environmental health, sustainability, and resiliency
health care
public safety
light rail

(Addiction and homelessness were the other two.)
https://westseattleblog.com/2019/04/video-4-candidates-7-issues-34th-district-democrats-district-1-city-council-forum/

Dave S. April 23, 2019 (11:24 am)

In July 2012 there was an opinion piece in the Seattle
Times called “Seattle, if New York can clean up its streets so can you” that
details property crime, drugs and pervasive homelessness that has gone
unchecked or has been ignored. That was 7 years ago. Google it. Have things
gotten better? What has changed? Lisa Herbold has been in city hall before she
became an elected representative when she served as one of Nick Licata’s aides
assisting with policy. I voted for her over Shannon Braddock because I thought
she was the better choice. The first-come, first-served renter’s law which was
one Councilmember Herbold’s signature pieces of legislation got struck down as unconstitutional
as it should have. She voted for the employee head tax only to vote to repeal
it 3 weeks later. Where does she stand? What have been her *significant*
accomplishments that have contributed to the betterment of everyone in the city
or her district? I used to blindly follow The Stranger’s Voter Cheat Sheet over
the years but no longer do. Most of their endorsed candidates of the past
several years have gotten elected and what has changed? What has gotten better?
For the right-leaning politicos, any solution to our city’s woes is going to
require funding. For the extreme left politicos, the rule of law needs to be
followed — contrary to your opinion that those that wish that are just a
bunch of NIMBYs. It’s time for new leadership. Tavel or Kolding should get the
opportunity. If they’re not up to it you vote for someone else 4 years from
now. In closing, for those that like to bash the police, it is obvious that you
have no idea how difficult their jobs are or how much training and education is
required to become a sworn officer in this city.

WSB April 23, 2019 (11:55 am)

To save anyone else the search, I looked for the link the commenter mentioned & here it is:
https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/seattle-if-new-york-can-clean-up-its-streets-so-can-you/
- Dave S. April 23, 2019 (1:46 pm)
  
  Thank you WSB!
- ExNewYorker April 23, 2019 (6:54 pm)
  
  Article about NYC and Giuliani is so true. In his prime, Giuliani cleaned up the city and made it livable. He had strong arm tactics, but there were fantastic results. I moved to Seattle in 2016 after over fifty years living in NYC. I am disgusted with the state of this city and many of its public spaces. We need to get a grip on what’s happening here. It stinks and it’s increasingly unsafe. I suggest you need someone to be a catalyst to bring about the rule of law. Kolding would be my first choice.
Training? April 23, 2019 (8:07 pm)

I mean, you make some fair points but then you gotta blow all your credibility at the end. You writ eabout “…how much training and education is required to become a sworn officer in this city.” Um, okay. Tell us. Dazzle us with the stringent and arduous requirements to be a cop. Go on. Tell us how long the training (which pulls down 5k a month salary, btw) is, and how that compares to, I dunno, the training required to cut hair.
- Dave S. April 24, 2019 (2:04 pm)
  
  For starters, they need to receive training and education on criminal justice and criminal law. Depending on rank, responsibility or assigned area you may require training on crisis intervention or crime scene investigation, forensics, operations, protocol and so on. You could also sign up for the Seattle Community Police Academy as a civilian and attend a once a week evening class for 9 weeks that is absolutely free for anyone to attend and learn about it, but you’re likely too lazy learn about such things.Not everyone passes the academy either. You have to continually demonstrate that you can remain cool and calm under pressure in a crisis situation — this is the reason most candidates don’t pass the academy, or they have failed a stringent background check. Since my logical and rational post agitated you would probably not do so well on the temperament requirements.Lastly, is a 5K per month gross income a lot of money by Seattle income standards? It seems to me most of our first responders can’t afford to live in the city they protect and serve. Another topic for another time perhaps.Have a nice day!-
  - CMT April 24, 2019 (2:12 pm)
    
    Thanks Dave S – many of us do appreciate the training and temperament required to be a police officer, as well as the dangerous job they do.
    - training? April 24, 2019 (3:41 pm)
      
      CMT: many of us do, myself included. But the best way to support them, now and in the future, is to not sugarcoat the situation. We owe it to them to seriously improve the training and education that cops get. It will make them safer, it will make everyone safer, it just makes sense. And the only way we can ever get there is by admitting that maybe, just maybe, cops should not have 1/3 of the training that barbers get. Maybe, just maybe, we should value them more.
  - training? April 24, 2019 (3:37 pm)
    
    Right. So I asked you to tell us about the training they do, and you responded with um, they do training.”For starters, they need to receive training and education on criminal justice and criminal law.”Right. How many hours is that? Let’s compare it to the training of other jobs, since that is the implicit comparison you make when you initially talk about “how much training and education is required.” I ask you again–how much training? Not what they are learning, let’s operationalize all this–let’s talk about hours. Because if we’re not talking about hours, if we’re just saying oh, they learn about this and about that then it’s just too easy to spin. So how about it? How many man hours of training do they get–and do you honestly think it’s enough?As for your other comments… Let’s break it down:”Depending on rank, responsibility or assigned area you may require training on crisis intervention or crime scene investigation, forensics, operations, protocol and so on. “Uh, so depending on various things they might get various training? Gosh. So do bus drivers, cabbies, bartenders, and nearly everyone else working a job. You’re not supporting your initial claim that being a cop requires some higher amount of training or education.”You could also sign up for the Seattle Community Police Academy as a civilian and attend a once a week evening class for 9 weeks that is absolutely free for anyone to attend and learn about it, but you’re likely too lazy learn about such things.”And you could sign up for a woodworking class at the local college. This has nothing to do with what we’re talking about. But nice burn at the end!”You have to continually demonstrate that you can remain cool and calm under pressure in a crisis situation — this is the reason most candidates don’t pass the academy, or they have failed a stringent background check.”And the same is true for daycare providers. This is NOT unique to cops!! Why pretend otherwise?”Since my logical and rational post agitated you would probably not do so well on the temperament requirements.”I doubt they’d let me be a cop, you got that right–but as for the logic of your post? Well, that’s what we’re discussing right here–and so far you’re not looking too rational in explaining how, precisely, cops have loads of training and education. Again–let me spell it out for you–cops do not have that much training (they should! but they don’t!). Take California for example. How many hours of training do you need to be a cop? 664. How many hours of training do you need to be a cosmetologist? 1,600.”Lastly, is a 5K per month gross income a lot of money by Seattle income standards?”Buddy, you give anyone 5k a month to take (free) classes at a technical or vocational school, they’ll be over the moon. The 5k a month is not for being a cop–the 5k a month is just for the training. Training for other professions, not only do you not get 60k a year, it COSTS money. Now–do I think cops should get paid for training? ABSOLUTELY–in fact I think they should get paid more–both for training and on the job. But we gotta stop with this mindless worship of the job–it blinds us to what would make cops even better prepared for their difficult jobs.So look: It is not easy to be a cop–don’t get me wrong. But don’t pretend that they have nearly enough training–and anyone who seriously supports police officers would agree with me–more training is good for them, good for civilians, good for everyone.
    - Dave S. April 24, 2019 (4:18 pm)
      
      I would love to read your tome about the number of hours of police training receive and your perceived adequacy levels, but the majority of comments are related to the candidates running for District 1 City Council. You seem to have seized upon something you are truly passionate about. Is this the right thread? If you want to learn more about the amount of training the SPD receives I already gave you a clue as to how you can. Best of luck to you.
    - training? April 25, 2019 (11:45 am)
      
      Dave S:” In closing, for those that like to bash the police, it is obvious that youhave no idea how difficult their jobs are or how much training and education is required to become a sworn officer in this city.” You put something like that out there and when someone points out, hey, actually I do know exactly how much training and education is required, and IT’S JUST A TINY BIT OF TRAINING. Next time do your homework before you make this oft-repeated but incredibly inaccurate claim. Just a heads up that if you continue to spout things that are flat out wrong the rest of your message will get tainted.

2 cents April 23, 2019 (6:43 pm)

Speaking of the Stranger ticket, (as Dave S Mentions), none of the challengers have a chance at getting their endorsement. Tavel is 2nd in fundraising but hasn’t provided much detail as to what he’d do if won. I still think Lisa is a damn fine representative to have. She’s quietly powerful on the counsel and a great advocate for West Seattle.

Gatewood April 24, 2019 (12:20 am)

Most the time she disagrees with the majority the vote is 8-1 or 7-2. If she was quietly powerful votes would be 5-4 with her side winning.
- Dave S. April 24, 2019 (7:08 am)
  
  Yeah, she voted against funding Pronto along with Tim Burgess at the time when she was first elected. That was commendable but what else has she done that has contributed to the betterment of people in the city and her district?

Dave S. April 24, 2019 (7:03 am)

@2 CENTS, The Stranger began to lose credibility with me when they gave Ed Murray a platform to attack and discredit his multiple accusers. They lost even more credibility with me recently when Katie Herzog wrote a hit piece attacking Richard Swartz, the constituent who was responsible for the viral clip of the council ignoring him during public comment. So if a candidate doesn’t get The Stranger’s endorsement I will look at it as a positive and be more likely inclined to vote for them. I could care less if Lisa is a powerful voice, it’s about results. What are they? I pointed out that her signature piece of legislation was struck down as unconstitutional. You are free to vote for the status quo and I will vote for change.