By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Rob Saka has his first 2027 challenger for the City Council’s District 1 seat.
The challenger even has yard signs.
His name’s not on them, though. They’re imploring Councilmember Saka to “Save Curby.”
(Photo from @kidsforcurby on Instagram)
The art on the signs is from editorial cartoonist Brett Hamil. But the idea of putting them on signs and planting them along Delridge was 17-year-old high-school junior Russell McQuarrie‘s.
“Curby” is from a Hamill cartoon published in the South Seattle Emerald back in November, referring to the concrete mid-street hardened median near Delridge/Holly, at the center of a “Delridge Safety Project” for which Saka successfully pushed to add $2 million to the new city budget. Because of a RapidRide stop in the area, it prevents left turns, including into the Refugee and Immigrant Family Center Preschool, at which Saka is a past parent.
And that’s just one of many City Council/city government actions of which McQuarrie disapproves. He lives in South Delridge, explains that his family “has always been politically active,” and says his fury was first ignited by sweeps of encampments near his home. “Homelessness is a failure of the state, and these sweeps are punishing people for the state’s failures.”
But no yard signs about that so far. He has chosen instead to spotlight the battle over “Curby.” Even more than the plan itself, McQuarrie says it’s the timing – $2 million in spending when the city has been dealing with a big budget deficit, as well as big challenges like homelessness. So despite being a self-described “broke high-school student,” he decided to print up about 20 signs, putting half of them out for starters. “Everyone I’ve talked to thinks [the proposed barrier removal] is absurd. … It’s interesting to educate people through art.” A teacher who knew Hamil helped him make contact, McQuarrie says, adding that Hamil gave his permission (and incidentally is now selling “Save Curby” T-shirts online). Some of the signs have disappeared since he put them up in the week before our conversation last Sunday, he says, which is why he initially contacted WSB. (We went looking for them after our conversation and spotted signs near the Delridge Library, near Louisa Boren STEM K-8, and near Delridge/Andover).
What would McQuarrie rather see the $2 million go toward? Social housing, light rail, environmental-justice grants, to name a few. Meantime, he’s already busy with a variety of other activism and advocacy – he says he worked on recently elected citywide Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck‘s campaign, and environmental education with the Duwamish River Community Coalition.
Has he brought his “Curby” concerns directly to Councilmember Saka?
He says he has tried multiple times – including four phone calls that “went to voicemail” – and hasn’t reached him or received a reply yet. He says he tried to talk with Saka while at City Hall recently for Councilmember Rinck’s swearing in, but that he was told to schedule a meeting, and hasn’t been able to do that yet. He has brought it up with Councilmember Rinck, who he says agreed it was “absurd,” while also noting that the budget decisions were made before she joined the council.
Meantime, he plans to print more signs, and is looking toward that 2027 council run, while noting “I could go straight into law school” instead. If you have a question for him, he says he’d be happy to hear from you at kidsforcurby@gmail.com.
As for “Curby” itself? We asked SDOT on Tuesday about the timeline and next steps for planning and constructing the “safety project” expected to involve its removal, since it’s written into this year’s budget. Once we get the answer, we’ll update. (We asked Saka himself about the project in this recent interview.)
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