One last time before the vote counting begins next Tuesday, the three candidates for the Seattle City Council District 1 seat (West Seattle/South Park) sat side by side Monday night, answering questions. This final pre-primary forum was at West Seattle Library in The Admiral District, presented by the League of Women Voters of Seattle-King County, with about two dozen people there to watch. KNKX radio reporter Simone Alicea moderated, asking questions including some written on cards and submitted by attendees.

The forum began with an up-to-three-minute opening statement from each candidate – Phil Tavel, then Brendan Kolding, then Lisa Herbold. As we’ve done with most of this year’s forums, we recap with key points rather than full transcriptions:

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Two weeks from tonight – on Tuesday, August 6 – the voting ends and the vote-counting begins. You should have your ballot by now. (If not, here’s what you can do.) Not registered yet? Here’s how. Haven’t looked at your ballot yet? Though you’ve likely heard the most about the City Council race, you have six other decisions to make:

SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT 6: Incumbent Leslie Harris is running for a second 4-year term.

(WSB photo from West Seattle Grand Parade 2019)

Harris, the current board president, represents Seattle and South Park, and has two opponents on the primary ballot, Crystal Liston and Molly Mitchell.

KING COUNTY COUNCIL DISTRICT 8: Incumbent Joe McDermott is running for re-election.

(WSB photo from West Seattle Grand Parade 2019)

He also has two opponents, Goodspaceguy and Michael Neher.

SEATTLE PORT COMMISSION: Two positions, elected countywide, are on this ballot. 7 candidates are running for Position 2 (which incumbent Courtney Gregoire is leaving) – Dominic Barrera, Kelly Charlton, Sam Cho, Grant Degginger, Nina Martinez, Ali Scego, and Preeti Shridhar. For Position 5, incumbent Fred Felleman is running for re-election, challenged by Garth Jacobson and Jordan Lemmon.

TWO LEVIES: You’ll be voting to approve or reject two levies on this ballot – the King County Parks and Open Space levy and the Seattle library levy.

AND OF COURSE: As mentioned and as amply covered here, the City Council District 1 field of three will be trimmed to two. If you want one more side-by-side look at the candidates – incumbent Lisa Herbold, Brendan Kolding, and Phil Tavel – the League of Women Voters forum is next Monday (July 29th), 6 pm at West Seattle (Admiral) Library (2306 42nd SW).

READY TO VOTE? Remember that postage is no longer required, so you can just drop your ballot envelope in any mailbox. The county also has secure dropboxes, including two in West Seattle – The Junction and High Point – and one in White Center; the full countywide list/map is here.

Eight months after their previous announced-with-little-notice West Seattle Junction walking tour, Mayor Jenny Durkan and Police Chief Carmen Best took another quick spin through the area this morning.

They dropped in on several local businesses, and some businesses’ proprietors walked with them, but there was no general-public coffee chat like the one they held last time.

They followed it up by walking in the West Seattle Grand Parade.

Your ballot has likely arrived by now, and you have until the night of Tuesday, August 6th, to vote. While the City Council District 1 race is not the only thing on your ballot, it’s the highest-profile race in our area and the three contenders answered questions side by side again Thursday night, this time at a forum presented by the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce at South Seattle College (WSB sponsor). We recorded it all on video:

It ran just under an hour. If you can’t (or don’t want to) take the time to watch/listen, ahead you’ll find our brief highlights of the Q&A – not direct quotes unless marked as such:

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(WSB photo: Sen. Joe Nguyen and WS Chamber board chair Lauren Burgon)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

“Some of my positions are controversial because I don’t care about getting re-elected.”

So said 34th District State Sen. Joe Nguyen toward the end of his West Seattle Chamber of Commerce Q&A today at The Kenney (WSB sponsor).

He was a last-minute booking – the Chamber had long planned to host County Executive Dow Constantine at this month’s lunch meeting, but he canceled yesterday, and first-year Sen. Nguyen agreed to appear instead.

We recorded it all on video:

Text toplines ahead:

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(View from the stage during Sunday’s forum)

Later this week, King County Elections will mail ballots for the August 6th primary, and you can vote as soon as yours arrives.

With that looming, the three contenders in our area’s highest-profile race, Seattle City Council District 1, spent an hour answering questions Sunday afternoon on the West Seattle Summer Fest Community Stage – Lisa Herbold, Brendan Kolding, and Phil Tavel. Your WSB co-publishers (Tracy Record and Patrick Sand) moderated the forum, which we presented in partnership with the West Seattle Junction Association (which brings you the festival each year). We chose the questions, some ours, but mostly from readers, as solicited here last week. Here’s how the hour went:

(One caveat about our recording – about halfway through, internal condensation blurred the center of the lens, so it’s more useful as audio than video from that point, fourth camcorder we’ve worn out in 12 years.)

As with our recent video interviews, we are not transcribing the questions and full answers – you’ll have to watch/listen for those – but rather, summarizing. Words are only exact quotes if you see them inside quotation marks. We had each candidate answer each question, with a :30 hard cutoff, plus a closing question and closing statement for which we allowed 1 minute each. Ahead, summaries of the 20 questions and answers:

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(WSB photos of candidates @ West Seattle 4th of July Kids’ Parade)

By this time next week, ballots should start arriving for the primary, and you can vote anytime up until the 8 pm August 6th deadline. While the City Council District 1 race isn’t all that you’ll be asked to vote on, it’s the highest-stakes race in our area. We’re three days away from the next side-by-side comparison of the candidates – L-R above, Phil Tavel, Brendan Kolding, Lisa Herbold. The first is at noon Sunday in Junction Plaza Park during West Seattle Summer Fest, and your WSB co-publishers are moderating. With so many issues in the city’s purview, we’re wondering, what have’t you heard the candidates address yet? You’re welcome to suggest a question, either in comments here or via email (westseattleblog@gmail.com). Hope to see you in the park on Sunday!

After Brendan Kolding entered the race for City Council District 1, he left the Seattle Police Department, where he had worked for 10 years and risen to the rank of lieutenant. Last night, The Seattle Times reported that when Kolding left SPD, he was facing disciplinary proceedings. The Times cites unidentified sources in reporting that Kolding “was investigated by the police department’s Office of Police Accountability (OPA) over a complaint that he had harassed (an)other officer.” The Times report says Kolding “denied the allegations, saying he was the victim of retaliation.” We contacted him via email with questions after seeing the story last night, and he has responded. We asked for comment on what led to the investigation reported by The Times; he replied, “I will not comment at this time. Sadly, I may end up suing the City over a pattern of bullying and retaliation that I experienced, so I need to keep things confidential for now.” He said The Times’ story “is an accurate representation of the conversation I had with their reporter”; the newspaper also reports, “Even though he has left the force, Kolding has a July 25 meeting scheduled with the department in which he can seek to have his name cleared.” We asked if he had any prior disciplinary action; Kolding replied, “No. In more than a decade of service to the SPD I did not have so much as an oral reprimand.” Finally, we asked what he would say to a voter who was concerned by the report: “The residents of District 1 are welcome to contact me directly if they have any concerns. My e-mail address is Kolding34@gmail.com.”

(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:

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(WSB photo)

With primary-election ballots going out in two weeks, we’re continuing our series of conversations checking in with the City Council District 1 (West Seattle/South Park) candidates. Tonight: Brendan Kolding, one of two challengers hoping to keep Councilmember Lisa Herbold from serving a second term. Your WSB co-publishers sat down with him for a wide-ranging conversation last week, which you can watch below, unedited:

If you can’t or don’t want to watch/listen, text toplines are 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:

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The primary election is getting closer, and your ballot will be mailed in two and a half weeks. In case you haven’t yet made up your mind in the top-of-the-ticket race, City Council District 1, we are presenting video interviews with each of the three candidates over the next three days. We start with incumbent Councilmember Lisa Herbold. The forums and Q&A’s we’ve covered so far have all focused on the same handful of issues, so we sought to hit some other topics:

If you can’t or don’t want to watch/listen, text toplines are 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:

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This week’s TV smash hit was the two-night Democratic presidential debate. You’ve seen the analysis of who “won” and “lost” – but days earlier, West Seattleites who went to the Morgan Junction Community Festival got a chance to “vote” at the West Seattle Democratic Women‘s booth. The group’s leader Rachel Glass just sent this report on how it turned out:

The West Seattle Democratic Women had our booth at the Morgan Junction Fair last Saturday, June 22. We had our signature interactive Penny Game, which has changing themes, but for this event, we invited attendees/passersby to vote for their choice of which candidate (out of all 24 Democratic candidates plus an Anyone But Trump option) they’d pick to be President. We displayed a hanging shoe rack and each pocket has the name of a candidate on it and the “voters” put the pennies into the pocket(s) of their choice.

We had just under 300 folks vote at our booth that day! Each “voter” received 5 pennies and they could put all their pennies into one candidate’s pocket or spread them out into the pockets of several candidates. Total: 1496 pennies cast. We had visits from older folks, teen pre-registered voters, millennials, folks of all races, ethnicities, LGBTQ, and even a deaf voter!

Here is a breakdown of the results in order of “Number of Pennies Each Candidate/Option Received”:

Anyone But Trump 387 26%

Elizabeth Warren 317 21%
Kamala Harris 182 12%
Bernie Sanders 129 9%
Pete Buttigieg 126 8%
Jay Inslee 89 6%

Total 1230 votes

Joe Biden 53 4%
Cory Booker 48 3%
Beto O’Rourke 29 2%
Julian Castro 20 1%
Andrew Yang 18 1%

Total 168 votes

The next 5 were Marianne Williamson, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Tim Ryan with 15, 13, and 12. Michael Bennet, Amy Klobuchar, and Tulsi Gabbard with 8 each. The rest were less than 8.

Of course this “vote” was taken before the debates. WSDW’s next event where we do the Penny Game again will be at Delridge Day (August 10), which takes place after the second round of Debates (July 30-31). It will be interesting to see how the results change over the course of the summer!

If you’re planning a public watch party for the July debates, please let us know so we can get them in our calendar! The 34th District Democrats have already sent word of theirs – night one at The Point in Burien, night two at Arthur’s in The Admiral District.

(WSB photos. Above, endorsement-ballot counters)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

With eight weeks until the August 6th primary election -and five weeks until ballots go out – our area’s largest political organization made its endorsement decisions tonight.

The 34th District Democrats did so with a full house at The Hall at Fauntleroy. Just over 100 members were present and eligible to vote.

We start with the marquee race:

SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 1: Incumbent Lisa Herbold and challengers Phil Tavel and Brendan Kolding were all nominated for endorsement in the West Seattle/South Park race. The endorsement went to Herbold with 76 votes; Tavel got 19, Kolding got 5. Here’s the announcement:

Here’s what happened before the voting:

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(WSB photo, Avalon/Yancy, last March)

What happens to RVs after they’re towed? The city told us that one, which we happened to spot last March, was a private tow ordered by its owner for repairs. But sometimes even the ones in the worst shape wind up auctioned or resold and back on the streets. According to a news release from the mayor’s office this afternoon, she’s hoping to change the rules:

Mayor Jenny Durkan announced new steps today to stem the supply of hazardous vehicles by preventing the re-sale of towed cars and recreational vehicles (RVs) and preventing the rental of hazardous vehicles to vulnerable individuals. The City will continue its work through the RV Remediation Program to clean up the public right of way to mitigate the public health hazards of debris, garbage and waste adjacent to RVs.

“We have an obligation to protect public health and ensure that our neighbors are not living in inhumane conditions. And we will hold accountable those who prey on vulnerable people for profit,” said Mayor Durkan. “We will continue to work for holistic solutions and do more to connect people with services and housing – and we will continue to invest in the strategies we know have an impact, like our Navigation Team.”

To stem the supply of dilapidated and hazardous vehicles in Seattle, Mayor Durkan has directed all City departments to begin applying additional criteria on whether a car or RV that has been towed by a City contractor meets the definition of a public health hazard. In the event an RV is designated as a public health hazard, it will be destroyed instead of re-sold back into the market at auction. Her directive will focus on preventing the re-sale of vehicles that meet the Junk Vehicle criteria set by the state and vehicles that are posing significant public health, fire, or safety hazards.

Next week, Mayor Durkan will transmit legislation that updates the Seattle Municipal Code to fine predatory landlords who rent cars and vehicles including RVs in poor and inoperable conditions to vulnerable populations. The legislation will require remediation of up to $2,000, which will go into a restitution fund for vehicle occupants.

The new steps build on the RV Remediation Program established by Mayor Durkan in May 2018 to mitigate the negative impacts to public health and safety, from RVs in the public right of way. In the pilot, City teams engage individuals living in RVs and vehicles to voluntarily move their vehicles to allow for cleaning and the removal of garbage, debris, and inoperable or unsafe vehicles left behind. Last year, the program resulted in 161 tons of garbage and debris removed.

The program has resulted in 173 vehicles being towed because they were inoperable, unsafe or posed a threat to public health, but in 2018, 60 of the 173 – 53 percent – had been removed from a clean-up site with significant safety and health risks returned to the marketplace. As a part of this effort, the City can now more easily deem a vehicle unfit to return to the market and process it for disposal.

KOMO TV reported last fall on what they dubbed “the RV auction shuffle.” Meantime, Real Change News reported half a year before that, that the city had spent $225,000 in 2017 on towing and disposing of RVs.

Just a little over five weeks remain until ballots go out for the primary election. That voting for the August 6th primary election will, among other things, determine which two of the three candidates for City Council District 1 (West Seattle/South Park) move on to the November general election. If you’re just starting to pay attention, incumbent Lisa Herbold is running for a second term, challenged by lawyer/entrepreneur Phil Tavel – who finished third in the 2015 primary – and former SPD lieutenant Brendan Kolding. All three are West Seattleites. A few notes:

34TH DISTRICT DEMOCRATS’ ENDORSEMENT MEETING: Members of our area’s biggest political organization, the 34th District Democrats, are scheduled to make endorsements at tomorrow night’s monthly meeting (7 pm following 6:30 pm social time, The Hall at Fauntleroy, 9131 California SW). The process and rules (as well as the full list of offices they’ll be endorsing for) are in the 34th DDs’ June newsletter (PDF). The group has already had two D-1 council candidate forums, both of which we covered, including video: April 10th and April 23rd.

DELRIDGE NEIGHBORHOODS DISTRICT COUNCIL: Kolding and Herbold are scheduled to talk with the DNDC next week, 7 pm Wednesday, June 19th, at Neighborhood House High Point (6400 Sylvan Way SW, all welcome). Tavel appeared last month; here’s our coverage, with video.

MORGAN JUNCTION COMMUNITY FESTIVAL: At least two of the three candidates plan to campaign at the June 22nd festival; the latest list of booths includes the Tavel and Kolding campaigns.

CAMPAIGN $: While the only numbers that ultimately matter are the vote totals, we’ll be checking in from time to time on other campaign-related stats. Today: The fundraising. You can explore candidates’ contributions, expenditures, and more via the state Public Disclosure Commission website. Here’s the latest on what each campaign reports bringing in:

Herbold – $71,832
Kolding – $57,565
Tavel – $23,388

The largest expenditures reported by Herbold and Tavel are for campaign consulting; for Kolding, website development/maintenance.

It’s the West Seattle Junction eatery whose name you won’t see on a sign. Margie’s Café is upstairs at the Senior Center of West Seattle and recently got some renovations.

Even if you’ve never been there, you helped pay for it, thanks to the Veterans, Seniors, and Human Services Levy, approved by voters two years ago. It’s a countywide levy, and King County Executive Dow Constantine is visiting some of the 38 senior centers/organizations benefiting from it.

SCWS executive director Lyle Evans showed the West Seattle-residing executive around this morning. His center received a $84,000 grant from the levy, which was used not only for café improvements, but also for necessities including bookkeeping and a website upgrade.

The café improvements, by the way, included a new ice machine and larger sandwich-making counter. And the café is open to the public – find out more about it (including hours and menus) here.

Filing week is over and nobody else jumped into local races on this final day, so the lists of who’s in the running for three local races are the same as what we published last night, each with the incumbent plus two challengers:

SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 1
Brendan Kolding
Lisa Herbold*
Phil Tavel

KING COUNTY COUNCIL DISTRICT 8
Joe McDermott*
Goodspaceguy
Michael Robert Neher

SEATTLE SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT 6
Molly Mitchell
Leslie Harris*
Crystal Liston

Also of note, though they are voted on King County-wide, the two Port of Seattle Commission positions – #2, which commissioner Courtney Gregoire is relinquishing, has seven candidates; #5 has incumbent Fred Felleman and two challengers.

See the full list of filings for offices around King County here. The primary to narrow fields down to the top two contenders is August 6th.

(Side note: In the first-ever City Council District 1 primary four years ago, nine candidates ran. This time around, D-1 has the smallest primary field, with the other six districts each having a lineup of six to 14 contenders.)