VIDEO: See and hear the 8 finalists for vacant Seattle City Council Position 8

If you didn’t get to watch tonight’s public forum with the eight finalists for the 10-month appointment to Seattle City Council citywide Position 8, the Seattle Channel video is already available, and you can watch it above. They were chosen from 72 “qualified applicants” who applied for the job; last Friday, each current councilmember nominated one finalist. The contenders include one West Seattleite, Steve Strand, a Seattle Police captain who was nominated by Council President Sara Nelson; District 1 Councilmember Rob Saka nominated Mark Solomon, a Seattle Police crime-prevention coordinator. The other six finalists are Juan J. Cotto, Neha Nariya, Vivian Song, Mari Sugiyama, Linh Thai, and Tanya Woo. While you don’t get to vote on the appointment – the councilmembers will do that next Tuesday – you do get to tell them who you think they should choose; they’ll take public comment at a special council meeting at 9:30 am Monday (the agenda explains how to participate) and here’s how else to contact them, about this or anything else. You will get to vote on who holds the job next year – the chosen appointee is not obligated to run, but there will be an election this fall, for the last year of what was Teresa Mosqueda‘s term before she moved to the King County Council, and then another election next year for a full 4-year term.

Bbron January 19, 2024 (12:12 am)

does anyone with more council history knowledge know if such an SPD presence like this has been seen before? outside of whatever you feel about SPD/policing, it seems wrong to have council members with ties to SPD overseeing policy that could potentially impact the department. it screams conflict of interest especially in the wake of the consent decree.

Brandon January 19, 2024 (1:58 am)

Wouldn’t you want a candidate with ties to the community? Their whole role is to impact policy that affects all of us. The idea is they are supposed to act without bias and have fair representation for their constituent’s interest. Yes, risk of conflict of interest if they have key ties to the special interests of a certain department but exercising that would be against what they stand for (not that it has stopped anyone before). — No candidate is perfect. We get people who don’t understand budgets or economics wasting our money and making policies that drive away business all the time, so I think there are worse things to worry about here.
- Bbron January 19, 2024 (4:49 am)
  
  “ties to the SPD” is not the same as “ties to the community” especially considering the majority of officers don’t live in Seattle/the community they police. how would a conflict of interest between city council and the police department not be something at the top of the list of things to worry about? why would adding problems be the solution to the perceived missteps the council has already made? i’m suppose i’m just not as quick to trust candidates as you are, and don’t mind taking the time to scrutinize people that are about to be given more power.
- K January 19, 2024 (6:26 am)
  
  Specifically with the SPOG contract negotiations, it’s a conflict of interest to suddenly have bargaining unit members sitting on the Management side of the table. I would hope that if one of them were chosen (Steve Strand apparently started telling people a week ago he was going to have a new job soon, so he seems pretty confident he has it in the bag), they would do the ethical thing and recuse themselves from any discussion related to the SPOG contract. Based on past experiences, my hopes aren’t high they’ll do the ethical thing.
Al King January 19, 2024 (7:01 am)

Bbron. Every candidate has a “conflict of interest” You’re concerned with a SPD presence in the council. Would you feel better if it was an Amazon or Microsoft presence? Or if it was a “big oil” or “big business” presence? Can you name a candidate that’s guaranteed to NOT have a conflict of interest with anything?
Anne January 19, 2024 (7:16 am)

Would be interesting to see what jobs other candidates & sitting council members have outside of the council. I personally gave absolutely no problem with a LEO being on the council-it might prove eye opening for the person & the council.
- WSB January 19, 2024 (9:28 am)
  
  The page we’ve been linking to has all of their backgrounds and resumes – for this round of candidates. For sitting councilmembers, this is not a “part time” elected job like School Board and Legislature technically are – this is their fulltime job (although that doesn’t mean, for example, they don’t have family business interests, like Sara Nelson’s family brewery, for example)
  - Jason Sam January 19, 2024 (1:04 pm)
    
    @WSB. I clicked on several of the applications from this link & there seems to be an IT glitch where it pulls up one individual’s (Abdinoor) application no matter whose name you click next to. Maybe you can reach out to someone at the city to advise them of this IT glitch? Thanks. I wanted to see Steve Strands application but due to this IT glitch on city website it’s impossible. Thanks
Kadoo January 19, 2024 (7:19 am)

Tim Burgess was on the council and he was terrific. Steve Strand would be excellent on the council.
- Derek January 19, 2024 (9:42 am)
  
  Strand is a cop…LAST thing we need on council. Heck no.
  - Question Authority January 19, 2024 (10:02 am)
    
    Your position is a given, anyone who may help society and the City flurish in any capacity is unfit in your opinion. It seems you will only support the downfall of a funtioning economy for the good of all humankind which is utter nonsense.
    - WesrSeattleBadTakes January 19, 2024 (11:56 pm)
      
      Yes, economy before people. All praise the economy. Our only purpose is to serve the economy.

Polisci January 19, 2024 (8:33 am)

I watched the whole thing and Steve Strand understood the issues and had the best answers. West Seattle is well represented with him on the council. Too bad there’s a strong bias against police in this town. His background is what we need to advance public safety right now.

Kadoo January 19, 2024 (10:23 am)

Amen.

West Seattle Mad Sci Guy January 19, 2024 (8:45 am)

I’m chuckling in my head at the idea of them voting over and over for the person they nominated next Tuesday leading to a repeated 8 way tie =P

Jeff_P January 19, 2024 (9:07 am)

Tanya Woo is a joke. Her response on why she never voted until this election is laughable. Now she gets to fail upwards and get a gift-wrapped citywide position because Harrell lobbyists want to see a return on investment… yuck. God help us all with this group of know-nothings.

Enrique January 19, 2024 (9:21 am)

everyone has an interest somewhere, the only difference here is you dislike law and order and those interests didn’t work out so great for us the last 4 years

Jeff_P January 19, 2024 (9:38 am)

And locking people up just pushes the new poverty class (ones who commit crimes) up. You can’t lock up every poor person committing theft crimes. We tried that during Reagan and Clinton and it failed beyond all repair. These Closet “Stormfront” Republicans masquerading as centrist/liberal who want to banish homeless to an island out of sight, out of mind, aren’t showing compassion or caring about members of society. You don’t care about healthcare or actually sheltering people, you just care about your possessions. Tell me why someone like Tanya Woo is good for the city when she doesn’t even vote? The solutions are in fixing social economy.

Derek January 19, 2024 (9:43 am)

Vivian Song is the only candidate worthy.

Admiral Mom January 19, 2024 (11:39 pm)

Nah, lying is never a good strategy.Manipulating and playing the system to get elected by renting an apartamento at a different district is a HUGE FLAG.https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/seattle-city-council-candidate-has-residency-conflict-in-school-board-role/
- Derek January 20, 2024 (4:06 pm)
  
  I don’t even care that she did this. Seattle Times is a conservative rag these days and hates any slightly progressive candidate. Song is closest to Mosqueda (WHO WE VOTED FOR). Woo never even voted, much bigger red flag to me.
  - Admiral Mom January 20, 2024 (7:26 pm)
    
    Blame the Seattle Times? Then also blame The Stranger, and blame every one else but let Vivian deceive and lie. Has been going on since 2021 but who is counting anyway? https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2021/06/15/58250579/slog-am-bezos-thinks-youre-lazy-school-board-candidates-explains-why-she-moved-to-run-and-spd-voter-registration-issues-referred-to-countyI cannot in good conscience look the other way but it sounds like you can.
    - Derek January 21, 2024 (11:03 am)
      
      I don’t like Song ideally but Organized Labor backs her and I much rather have a school board member than a grifter who doesn’t vote, backed by conservative big business owners who aren’t from Seattle. Woo has too much Big Business lobbyist stink.

937 January 19, 2024 (10:25 am)

Police Union Contract NOW!!! 4 years without is LONG ENOUGH!

K January 19, 2024 (12:59 pm)

And this is why having cops on the city council is bad.
Shawn January 19, 2024 (2:31 pm)

Cool how about this contract: hiring freeze and 25% wage reduction until budget is under control, and to pay for all the quiet quitting since BLM. If you are not up to date on all vaccination including covid, you are fired. If you disobey civilian orders like wearing a mask during a pandemic, you are fired. If you have a history of racial profiling or shooting brown people for fun you are fired. If you turn off your body cam for any or no reason except bathroom breaks, you are fired. If you can’t be civil to people and just power trip instead of serving the public, you are fired. 90% of the cops guns replaced with nightsicks. I’m probably forgetting something, but that would be a decent start.
- Mel January 19, 2024 (7:56 pm)
  
  Such fabrication. “Shooting brown people”…really? Is that a regular occurrence by SPD? At least they don’t strike per the law, and continue to show up to work when their contract is expired. They go years without pay increases. Teachers strike immediately if they’re unhappy with their contracts.
  - CAM January 19, 2024 (11:12 pm)
    
    Of course the police would never “strike.” The absolute gall of those unions who announce their intentions in advance and allow their employers and people who rely on their services to make adjustments to avoid any seriously negative consequences. They should follow the example of SPOG for sure. (Image from this summer)
    - 937 January 20, 2024 (12:05 am)
      
      So being sick is a conspiracy… Got it
      
      What was all that Covid stuff again?

Odd son January 19, 2024 (1:26 pm)

I hope the council listens to its constituents and makes a wise choice because.. when the next election comes around, the chosen council member will be an incumbent. There are some inherent advantages to being an incumbent. You can see it in the history of elections, most recently we saw that with Sawant. Basically hard to get rid of a bad employee once they are in.

WSvoter January 19, 2024 (4:09 pm)

My criteria is community involvement, city government experience, and a track record of compassion. Steve Strand! The police work for the Executive, not the Council.

CAM January 19, 2024 (6:38 pm)

Policing is not government experience. The two have no overlap. These days it’s far more akin to military based on the way they treat themselves and the way they train themselves and the toys they buy for themselves. And no, rank and file military is also not government experience.

Al King January 19, 2024 (4:32 pm)

What shocks and saddens and SCARES me is the commenters here that want to eliminate police with NO plan to curb crime. If you think things are bad now just wait to see the mayhem if these police haters get their way. Take away police guns but let criminals keep theirs?

CAM January 19, 2024 (6:41 pm)

You are the only person here talking about eliminating the police, Al.
- WestSeattleBadTakes January 20, 2024 (12:02 am)
  
  It’s easier to complain about “extremists.” You never have to think or give any ground if you keep pointing to the “extremist.”

Millie January 20, 2024 (2:20 pm)

Thank you WSB for allowing us to follow/listen to this public forum. I believe we all agree, based on the recent election, the primary issues faced by the incoming Council are: budget deficit, public safety, revitalization of the downtown business district, neighborhood improvements, and long-promised sidewalks to improve pedestrian safety (promised via Transportation Levies since Mayor Royer (?). I am not including the homeless issue, not because it is not important, but rather that it is being addressed as a regional issue (city, county and state). I listened to the candidates and was impressed by the following: Mari Sugiyama (budget experience and knowledge of city operations) and Steve Strand (his experience of city operations as a result of employment with the Seattle Police ). It is important for a Councilmember to have knowledge of public safety which should be helpful in reviewing/adopting a police contract when negotiations are completed between the City and Police Guild.

Sorry, comment time is over.