ELECTION 2023: Watch for your one-measure ballot later this week

Wednesday’s the day that King County Elections plans to mail ballots for the February 14th special election. You’ll get a ballot with one measure – Seattle Initiative 135, which we wrote about earlier this month. If passed, this “would create a public development authority to develop, own, and maintain publicly financed mixed-income social housing developments.” The initiative does not specify how that housing will be funded, but supporters explains in their FAQ, “Once the public developer is established, they can receive and request funds from city, state, federal governments, as well as private donations if those donors feel so inclined.” Read I-135’s full text here. Ballot dropboxes open Thursday – West Seattle has three – one day after ballots are sent; you’ll have until 8 pm February 14th to get your ballot into one, or you can send it via USPS mail as long as it’s postmarked by that day.

P.S. If you want to find out more about I-135 before voting, it’ll be a major topic at the West Seattle Democratic Women‘s meeting Thursday night online – our calendar listing has info on how to RSVP.

25 Replies to "ELECTION 2023: Watch for your one-measure ballot later this week"

  • Adam January 23, 2023 (9:35 pm)

    Please, no. But my guess is that only those with a real interest in doing this will show up to vote. I hate that we’re not all voting on all things, but I also hate that most ppl have so little interest in voting. I guess we have one more inept bureaucracy to siphon money from our checks. But hey, maybe they’ll solve it this time. 

  • 1994 January 23, 2023 (10:36 pm)

    My vote will be no

  • Admyrl Byrd January 23, 2023 (11:14 pm)

    Gee, and if I’m out of town during this friggin limited voting period, I can’t voice my defiant no!  This is why people hate politics – special interests deliberately time this for low voter interest.  There should be a specification that no ballot measure shall be considered pass unless 2/3 of the registered voters vote.  OK, maybe 2/3 is irrationally high, but if turnout on this one is more than 20% I’ll eat my hat.

  • James January 24, 2023 (5:58 am)

    I’ll be voting Yes. I would love to see housing built above libraries such as the ones in Chicago.

    • Peter January 24, 2023 (2:17 pm)

      That is not what this proposal does. 

  • anonyme January 24, 2023 (6:20 am)

    How much is this one-measure election costing taxpayers?  This measure creates yet another costly and absurd bureaucracy, resembling the one surrounding the homelessness issue – but the election itself is expensive.  What a waste, all the way around.  We should not be having special elections except in the case of dire emergencies requiring immediate decisions.  Creating more bureaucrats does not fit that bill.

    • reed January 24, 2023 (8:40 am)

      The way people talk about homelessness on this blog, it sure seems to me like this is a dire emergency. People say they want a solution to homelessness (affordable housing), then complain when proven solution is offered. Yes it is going to cost money and our taxes will increase, but that is the cost of living in a civilized society. There is no winning with you people.

      • Unfortunate January 24, 2023 (2:12 pm)

        Most of the people that comment here are mid- upper class older people that get all their news from conservative media. These are not people that live in the real world.

      • Canton January 24, 2023 (11:25 pm)

        Exactly how much can the homeless personally give towards their housing? The concept would have to be “Free” housing… That’s why involuntary treatment needs to be front line. They need assisted living situations.

  • Canton January 24, 2023 (7:32 am)

    Just as Inslee is going to ask for 4 billion statewide for housing…

  • Ginnie Hance January 24, 2023 (8:04 am)

    No, no, no.Tax money for housing should be used only for people who are difficult to house. We need some public housing. The governments main roll in housing should be to create balanced laws that protect both tenants and owners. Incentives and protections for private citizens providing lower income housing for good tenants is the way to go. Not more tax money filtering through another inefficient government program!Government programs are always inefficient. Far more money is spent than needs to be spent.Please vote no!

    • DC January 24, 2023 (8:26 am)

      The state and city give tons of money to contractors and non-profits for housing issues. The lack of coordination and effectiveness of these contractors and non-profits is the real waste! Having in-house expertise and coordination has the potential to SAVE huge amounts of money. 

  • Peter January 24, 2023 (8:12 am)

    No funding = no vote. 

  • bill January 24, 2023 (10:35 am)

    If you remove profit from housing construction you automatically exclude the experts who can deliver large projects on time and budget. (I’m talking about those evil developers, by the way.)

  • Ugh! January 24, 2023 (12:27 pm)

    Siphoning money from the homeless to enable junkie & criminal lifestyles is just wrong! The unhoused citizens of our communities deserve better!  Put a measure on the ballot and name it “Bottomless Pit of Money to Enable Junkies and Criminal” see how that works out.  It only works if you call it “Homeless Funding”.  How about after we provide assistance to ALL the local unhoused and near unhoused citizens of Seattle, that are neither a junkie or a criminal, anything left can be spent on coddling.  Seems fair to me.

  • Millie January 24, 2023 (3:16 pm)

    Since this is a special election – who is paying for it?   Can’t be the Seattle Initiative 135 group since they are asking for money through a PDA for the mixed income social housing.

    • WSB January 24, 2023 (5:03 pm)

      Washington law says the cost of a special election is to be borne by its jurisdiction – so this would be a city cost for the Seattle portion of this special election.

  • Scarlett January 24, 2023 (3:38 pm)

    The obscene hypocrisy is that many here who are railing against the “freeloaders” are themselves probably  beneficiaries of inflated assets,  stock portfolio’s and home values, in large part due to government intervention.  You know, welfare.  Some of you will wake up tomorrow and smile at the bounce in your stock portfolio and likely don’t give a damn what that company or companies did to earn you that ROI.   Oh, that’s right it’s not called speculation anymore, it’s “investing.”  Like I said before, the only thing that hasn’t gone up in price these days is ‘talk.”  It’s still really, really, really cheap. 

    • Flo B January 24, 2023 (4:28 pm)

      Scarlett. As someone who grew up in a working-class family and got a job and lived within my means your sweeping generalizations just reinforced my belief that you and too many others don’t believe in responsibility and living within your means. Clearly you don’t believe people should be held accountable for their actions and instead always wave the victim card. Obscene hypocrisy indeed. Oh, by the way i DON’T have inflated assets or a stock portfolio and i rent an apartment.

      • Scarlett January 24, 2023 (10:26 pm)

        I said nothing about not holding people accountable.  You did, Flo.  Other than that, I’m not sure what your point is, or if you grasped what I wrote.  “Living within one’s means” is exactly the problem for millions of Americans;  there is no means to live within.   Housing is a crisis, it’s not just a political abstraction.  And “sweeping generalizations?”  Well, there are millions of Americans with billions – no, trillions – under asset management and there are certainly millions of homeowners who have benefited from very low interest rates, so this is a pretty good sample size.  One would think those who benefited from this asset bubble but chastise others as not deserving assistance  might be display a little more nobless oblige.   

      • Canton January 24, 2023 (11:16 pm)

        Spot on. Well said.

      • Scarlett January 25, 2023 (12:06 pm)

        Bleh.  Try reading my comment next time and before formulating a response.   

        • Flo B January 25, 2023 (1:23 pm)

          Scarlett. Actually, I did.

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