(WSB photo)
Two weeks from today, the county will mail primary-election ballots. So this week we’ve been presenting a series of new interviews checking in with the City Council District 1 (West Seattle/South Park) candidates. Tonight we conclude with Phil Tavel, one of two challengers aiming to make Councilmember Lisa Herbold‘s first term her only term. Your WSB co-publishers sat down with him last week; video of our wide-ranging conversation is below, unedited:
If you can’t or don’t want to watch/listen, we have text toplines below – but note that they do not represent a full transcript, nor are they direct quotes except where signified by quotation marks, just (in some cases very) brief summaries of the questions/responses:
He also ran in 2015 (finishing third in the primary). What’s been different about this campaign compared to last time?
He feels like this time he has a better chance, more support, and “on the flip side” more expectation. People want change. Also: Campaigning as parent of a 7-year-old is a little easier than campaigning as the parent of a 3-year-old.
What does the CASE endorsement meant to him?
“They want someone who understand what it means to run a business … supporting them so they can grow … and give back o the community.” He says local business owners want someone who will support them and listen to them. He wants to see “more public-private partherships” and says those aren’t possible if a councilmember is “antagonistic.”
Councilmember Herbold often refers to business owners in other areas, such as the U-District, having asked for her help. Since Tavel touts his connections with local businesses, what can he say about Herbold’s meetings with local business owners?
He says they “don’t feel that they really get heard.” He says last year a group of restaurant owners met with her and asked what she had done for them and the reply was that the council hadn’t raised their taxes. He says she should have intervened sooner to help the Avalon business owners being affected by the road work there. He says the city charter says the council is supposed to “promote prosperity” but is not doing that.
Any laws the council has passed affecting businesses that he wants to roll back?
He isn’t advocating for any rollbacks at this point but cites some examples of what he sees as the city overstepping its bounds in making some rules affecting operations, such as hiring changes. “The business license fee was another one” – no outreach ahead of time, and while the council says “only the top 15 percent of businesses” are affected, “any bar or restaurant” will hit that revenue limit “(without making) a lot of profit.” He thinks the minimum-wage law should have included a training wage, usable for example by small businesses hiring teens for summer help.
What should the city do to help business?
Reach out “to a wide range of business” before pursuing a change in law, to find out about the potential impact and “does it help?”. He’d like to see more supportive action for businesses that are following the rules, not always warning/negative messaging (and cites the example of the Office of Labor Standards coming out and posting information about wage theft), but also supports “coming down like a ton of bricks” if a business DOES break the rules.
Back to the CASE endorsement – how will you deal with potential criticism that he’d be “the business candidate”?
He feels that’s a “fantastic” label and is “proud” to be supported by businesses and business groups. But “if a group (supported me) that I disagree with, I would disavow them.”
If the main imperative is change – and if it’s you and Brendan Kolding in the general – why should it not be him?
“My background for the past 15 years – being a public defender and a pro tem judge – I have a full understanding of the criminal justice system, while Brendan’s experience is all (with SPD).” He also thinks his being 10 years older than Kolding, and other life experience, is a plus.
Would you keep Camp Second Chance in operation?
He has visited the encampment and admires the work volunteers are doing there as well as camp residents “trying to be good stewards” of the property via being watchful in the neighborhood. He also understands the concerns voiced by community groups such as Highland Park Action Committee after years of having encampments in their neighborhood. He thinks the city could do more to “help and support and be a better partner to Camp Second Chance.”
HALA MHA – where do you stand?
“The in-lieu-of fees are too low.”
What else should we be doing regarding affordable housing?
Need to do more regarding preserving existing affordable-housing stock and keeping elders, communities of color and others from being displaced.
End single-family zoning?
“I don’t see a need to just end it.” But “we need to do more to plan for greater density in the hearts of our urban villages.” Single-family zoning “further out” should be OK – we should be able to still have “more suburban areas.”
Name one thing the current council has done right.
“Declaring an emergency over homelessness was the right thing to do.”
The council might be majority newcomers. How will you get things done while learning on the job?
He’s already met many other candidate and thinks the desire to see the city “do better” will bind them and help facilitate action. “I think it’s doable.”
Besides, as previously discussed, along with business owners and unhoused people, who else can the city help?
Substance abusers, mentally ill people, everybody living on the streets. “We have too much money in the city for” people to be living on the street. Also, elderly people – helping them age in place. The city “needs to be … kinder and more understanding” with them.
Any specific city taxes you would want to roll back or scale back?
The soda tax. “The way they went about that – it’s a regressive tax – it ended up generating $2 million more than expected,” and it’s been a burden on restaurants. “I want to do a bigger look at all of the levies” to “take a look and see where our money’s being spent now” and what we’re getting for it. Not a city tax, but he also still wants to know more about where marijuana tax money is going.
Annex White Center?
Up to that area’s residents. As for whether there’s any benefit for the city, the question is whether the added tax base would outweigh the expense.
The West Seattle Golf Course’s future?
“I don’t see why it shouldn’t stay the way it is.” Maybe you could put some housing between the stadium and golf course, but otherwise he thinks it’s bringing the most value the way it’s being used now.
Aside from light rail, what’s West Seattle’s #1 transportation challenge and what does he want to do about it?
Getting off/onto the peninsula. Maybe expand the offramp from the bridge to 99. Analyze how the viaduct-closure period worked and look for ways that multiple modes could work better together on the long term.
Your vision for how Seattle will look in five years?
A community center in each district that would be more of a hub – temporary emergency housing/services there if needed, access to city services. A police force that feels supported. True accountability if something goes wrong, but not paperwork for the sake of paperwork. “Seattle can be the greenest and most technologically savvy city in the country.” Too many people are not proud of the city and the way it looks. He’d like to see people say they’ve had five years of positive change.
Pro sports’ future?
“The City Council should be a huge supporter of getting the NBA back, and in a way that’s … beneficial for all the people of Seattle.”
EARLIER IN THE SERIES: Last night, we published our interview with Brendan Kolding (see it here); Monday night, we published our interview with Lisa Herbold (see it here).
NEXT IN THE CAMPAIGN: At least two more forums are scheduled before the primary – Sunday, July 14th, at noon, the West Seattle Junction Association and WSB are co-sponsoring a forum on the final day of Summer Fest, in Junction Plaza Park (42nd/Alaska). Got a question nobody’s asked yet? Email us! Then on Wednesday, July 17th, the county mails ballots, and you can vote as soon as you get yours. The next day – Thursday, July 18th – the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce presents a forum at 6:30 pm in Olympic Hall on the south end of the South Seattle College (WSB sponsor) campus (6000 16th SW). The deadline for voting is Tuesday night, August 6th, which is when vote-counting begins. Whichever two candidates get the most votes will advance to the November general election.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT: Thanks to the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse for allowing us to use its conference room for these interviews.
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