FOLLOWUP: One West Seattleite among eight finalists for City Council vacancy

4:50 PM: One day after a list of 72 qualified applicants was made public, the City Council has just sent word of the finalists for the City Council vacancy created by Teresa Mosqueda‘s move to the County Council.

Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson (Position 9 – Citywide) announced today that the Council identified eight finalists to fill the vacancy left by now-former City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda (Position 8 – Citywide). The finalists for Position 8 are:

· Juan J. Cotto
· Neha Nariya
· Mark Solomon
· Vivian Song
· Steven K. Strand [West Seattle resident]
· Mari Sugiyama
· Linh Thai
· Tanya Woo

A list of the 72 eligible applicants and completed application materials were made available to the public via the Council Vacancy webpage on Thursday, January 11. Councilmembers selected the eight finalists from the list of 72 qualified applicants provided by the City Clerk.

During today’s special meeting, the Council also selected Seattle CityClub to host a community forum with the finalists, giving the community a chance to hear from the candidates before the final selection is made.

NEXT STEPS:

· A Community Forum hosted by Seattle CityClub will be scheduled.

· A Special Council Meeting for Councilmembers to consider the finalists has been scheduled for Monday, January 22, 2024 at 9:30 a.m. Finalists who participated in the Community Forum will have the chance to address the Council during this meeting.

· The anticipated vote by City Council on the appointment will occur on Tuesday, January 23, 2024 at 2:00 p.m.

More information on the vacancy-filling process is here.

8:41 PM: The news release above did not mention which councilmember nominated which finalist; we watched the meeting recording to verify that. District 1 Councilmember Rob Saka nominated Mark Solomon, SPD crime-prevention coordinator for the South and (temporarily) Southwest Precincts, at the end of a 7-minute speech (starting 1:18:28 into the video) in which he said his “personal evaluation criteria” included “someone who has an ability to collaborate across differences … find common ground and get stuff done … someone who doesn’t view me as the enemy … doesn’t view any of my colleagues as the enemy either.” His military experience, Saka said, was a time when he was fighting against enemies, and this work should not involve that kind of “mindset.” His other criteria, he continued, included a “strong record of service” and a “growth mindset” as well as the ability to handle criticism and to “think critically who’s in the room, who has a seat … and who doesn’t.” Multiple councilmembers said they would have nominated Tanya Woo – who lost a close race with Councilmember Tammy Morales – if she hadn’t been nominated in the early going by new Councilmember Bob Kettle.

Ivan Weiss January 12, 2024 (5:21 pm)

The Council could not go wrong by selecting Linh Thai. He has “street cred” in abundance, not only in Southeast Seattle, where he served for six years as Representative Adam Smith’s community liaison, but also all over the city with Southeast Asian and East African communities. He has worked to help rehabilitate gang members at the Atlantic Street center, and was part of the citizen selection committee that hired Police chief Carmen Best. Linh has a military background, and experience through his work with Rep. Smith in local governments,
nonprofits, housing, K-12 education, pubic safety, military/veterans affairs, ethnic
communities, and foreign affairs/NGOs. He would be an excellent choice.

Mike January 13, 2024 (7:41 am)

I must be looking at a different Linh Thai, because she’s a she and she’s a Vietnamese refugee who graduated with honors from Federal Way High and then UW pharmacy. Maybe there’s a few Linh Thai’s in the area?
- WSB January 13, 2024 (6:12 pm)
  
  This is the person named Linh Thai who is a finalist for the Seattle City Council appointment:
  https://www.linkedin.com/in/leadnowornever

K January 12, 2024 (6:02 pm)

Well, Saka took the opportunity to make a dig at Tavel during the nominations for the final 8. Saka is wasting no time in showing himself to be divisive and petty. Hopefully the final council member will be someone who knows how to take the high road so we’re not spending the next 2-4 years dealing with councilmembers’ feelings instead of the city’s issues.

Gary January 12, 2024 (8:15 pm)

Tavel has only himself to blame for this one.
WSB January 12, 2024 (8:29 pm)

I just watched the video (couldn’t monitor it live) and did not hear Saka mention Tavel – at what point did you see/hear that?
I’ll be adding the meeting video above. – TR
- K January 13, 2024 (7:41 am)
  
  Saka didn’t name him directly but he was the only councilmember who, in addition to listing the positive attributes they were looking for in a candidate, made a point to add a negative, something to the effect of “someone who doesn’t hate me” (I forget the exact phrase… it was when they were discussing reasons for choosing candidates), but it was a clear reference to the letter of endorsement from the other D1 candidates. That would be Tavel (and Anderson as well, I realize). It was really childish and not at all a necessary remark to make the nomination.

937 January 12, 2024 (6:43 pm)

Well looky there – Tavel loses … AGAIN.

Rob January 12, 2024 (7:09 pm)

They think Tavel is Trump

Pete January 12, 2024 (7:20 pm)

Tanya Woo never bothered to vote in an election until 2021.

Linh Thai January 12, 2024 (7:42 pm)

I really appreciate Ivan Weiss for the kind supportive words. Not just several Council Members, I also took the time to review all 639 pages of very insightful and remarkable aspirations of each candidate ranging from high school students to retired civic leaders. I am soaking up their wisdom and reflecting on their expectations as many of you to get me to and through the next steps. I am truly humble for this nomination and the opportunity to serve.

Derek January 12, 2024 (8:02 pm)

This is all theater. They’re going to pick the non-voter Woo, who is anti housing and anti anything progressive. This conservative council now has massive overreach and now Woo gets to fail upwards. This is not good. The put Woo next to a finalist of literal cops to make her look the least bad to progressives. It’s all blatantly obvious. Prepare for Harrell’s massive overreach. The moderates are who exited, this is a full on conservative council.

Robert January 12, 2024 (9:51 pm)

The council is a center left council. The last two elections have made it clear that most of us believe the far left was unable to produce concrete results. The slogans about “root causes” and restorative justice were ways to avoiding making progress toward public safety and actually doing something that would help the homeless population. If they had taken a both/and approach many of us would have supported them. A more moderate and pragmatic council, working with the mayor, offers us the opportunity to make real progress rather than fantasizing about creating a utopia.
Adam January 12, 2024 (10:35 pm)

You progressives are fighting a losing battle by every time someone disagrees with you calling them alt-right, MAGA extremists, or any other label intended to make sure everyone else gets in line. It’s absurd. Conservative council? Wow. You really haven’t traveled outside of Seattle in your life, have you? I can’t really tell if you guys believe your own BS.
Question Authority January 12, 2024 (10:54 pm)

Why is a safe and prosperous society such a threat to you and your ideals? If the council ends up not catering to your version of utopia it’s only because a different direction is needed and long overdue. Maybe you should have put your name in the hat since nobody seems to have leaned left enough for you.
Mel January 13, 2024 (5:42 am)

You have to be kidding me….conservative? No one on this council is conservative. Just because they don’t swoon over your progressive ideals doesn’t make them conservative. We’ve been trying the progressive route the past 5+ years and it hasn’t been working for this city. We need new ideas.
937 January 13, 2024 (8:54 am)

Sounds good to me! I think your take is hyperbolic – but if correct, what a breath of fresh air!

Governor’s mansion next!
Mike January 13, 2024 (5:56 pm)

Derek: That the composition of the current SCC is less “ progressive “ than you’d prefer doesn’t mean it’s conservative. Not by a long shot. You sound extremely liberal ( absolutely your prerogative), but this time you didn’t prevail. The voters have spoken. Let’s please stop the divisiveness and pull together to improve the city we all share.
bradley January 13, 2024 (7:51 pm)

Well Derek, Woo received more votes in her District than all the other candidates combined. At least she ran for office, too. Great pick.

Modicum January 12, 2024 (8:22 pm)

Is that the same Steve Strand from the HiYu parade every year? He seems very involved in the community. Got my vote

Odd son January 14, 2024 (2:33 pm)

He’s good if you like being ignored on email. He only replied to one of a few emails over the years about crime, and he was condescending. No thanks.

Mike January 12, 2024 (11:27 pm)

Steve Strand!

Odd son January 14, 2024 (2:33 pm)

No thanks!

Pelicans January 13, 2024 (1:05 am)

Did they give reasons for not including others who applied, such as Tavel?

WSB January 13, 2024 (1:10 am)

Some listed others who had impressed them besides their nominee, but I didn’t hear anyone say “we should NOT consider (candidate’s name).”
K January 13, 2024 (7:46 am)

Most councilmembers listed positive attributes they were looking for in a candidate. Saka was the only one to discuss a negative attribute that would be exclusionary (see comment above). Saka ran on a platform of being friends with the mayor, and it seems he also wants the Position 8 councilmember to be his friend. Hopefully he learns quickly that the city council is a governing body and not a Facebook group.

Rosey January 13, 2024 (7:57 am)

I’m not exactly optimistic on who the council’s preference is going to be, given how this council has shaped up, and given general non-committal stances new elects provided in lead up to their nomination. Hope I’m wrong though.

Terrible January 13, 2024 (9:10 am)

This is very exciting news. We could have 2 West Seattleites on the city council. Going from defund the police to appoint a cop to the council. We may have finally turned the corner after our city had record murders in 44 years.

Scarlett January 13, 2024 (9:12 pm)

How long is this defunding fear-mongering going to parroted? Take a page out of the conservative playbook, and take responsibility for your own protection. The size of a police force is a statistically insignificant deterrent to crime, by the way.

Bashful January 13, 2024 (1:01 pm)

Strand or Woo would be excellent with this current council. I doubt Woo has much support outside the CID and couldn’t win citywide. Then again Strand is a police in seattle. Kiss of death.

Del January 13, 2024 (9:56 pm)

Woo would be my pick. The international district has suffered severely since 2019. Woo has a passion and dedication that would help bring a voice to a neglected part of our city. District 2 School ratings are the worst in the city, daycares need bulletproof glass, needles commonly found in toilets, and vandalism plus drug use has made the area derelict.

Josh January 15, 2024 (10:55 am)

How did we elect someone with no political background who somehow managed to make enough enemies during the campaign that he has to be careful who he proposes for a vacant seat and all the while ran on a campaign that he could get along with anyone, especially the mayor. How did you all not see through this nice guy shtick? People criticized Sawant because she let SA decide the positions of her chair. Are you also going to criticize Saka because he lets the mayors office decide the positions of his chair and make enemies of all who disagree?

Sorry, comment time is over.