The New Normal: When your living room becomes City Hall

Redmond City Councilmember Varisha Khan is navigating her first term from home while supporting her community through the pandemic.

Dorothy Edwards

Dorothy Edwards Jun 29, 2025

Jun 22, 2020

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          <article>
            <header>
              <hgroup>
                <h1>The New Normal: When your living room becomes City Hall</h1>
                <h2><p>Redmond City Councilmember Varisha Khan is navigating her first term from home while supporting her community through the pandemic.</p></h2>
              </hgroup>
               <p>By <a href="/author/dorothy-edwards/">Dorothy Edwards</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Jun 22, 2020</time></p>
            </header>
            <p>Varisha Khan is a first-time city council member in Redmond. She drafted, proposed and passed recent legislation that protects Redmond residents from late fees and evictions, and offers support during other hardships. She recognizes this pandemic as a collective trauma for society and the only way she feels she can cope is by doing what she knows: helping her community through writing humane policy that mends a frayed social safety net.</p><hr><p>Support for <em>The New Normal</em> is provided by Comcast. All news stories on Crosscut are controlled by our editorial team. Visit our <a href="https://crosscut.com/about?ref=cascadepbs.org">about us page</a> to learn more about Crosscut's editorial independence policy.</p><hr>
          </article>

Varisha Khan is a first-time city council member in Redmond. She drafted, proposed and passed recent legislation that protects Redmond residents from late fees and evictions, and offers support during other hardships. She recognizes this pandemic as a collective trauma for society and the only way she feels she can cope is by doing what she knows: helping her community through writing humane policy that mends a frayed social safety net.

Support for The New Normal is provided by Comcast. All news stories on Crosscut are controlled by our editorial team. Visit our about us page to learn more about Crosscut's editorial independence policy.

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By Dorothy Edwards

Dorothy Edwards is formerly an associate photo editor&nbsp;at Crosscut. Before Crosscut, she was a staff photojournalist at the Naples Daily News and USA Today Network in Florida.&nbsp;