King County General Election

Voter participation is absolutely critical for the proper administration of our representative form of government and is a top priority of mine. As I have been out campaigning one of the biggest problems with participation that I have found is voter apathy. The two main reasons for this are a misunderstanding of the importance of local elected offices and the feeling that “my vote doesn’t count”. I will work to educate voters on the importance of having a voice at all levels of government and the importance of using your voice by exercising your right to vote.

The biggest problem with election security at King County Elections is the inability of the current administration to simply follow the law. During the August primary, election observers noticed non-employees entering the tabulation server room. Upon further inquiry, the director admitted changing the tabulation server without the required emergency L&A test, public notice, and both party observers. Suspiciously, the security cameras were also off. When elected, I will be sure all state and local laws are adhered to without fail.

We're a small newsroom, but you can help us grow and cover more ground by becoming a supporter.

My top priorities for addressing homelessness are building more homes of every type and also expanding our region’s behavioral health infrastructure like I did through my Crisis Care Centers initiative. King County needs to build over 200,000 units of homes in the next 20 years to close the gap. That means changing our regulations to help the private market build much more, preventing displacement, and investing in supportive housing, tiny house villages, public housing, and affordable rentals and affordable home ownership opportunities. I would pay for this by continuing to collect our existing revenue sources and advocating to the state legislature to give the county more progressive options. 

I am the prime sponsor of this proposal and so I support it. The cost of living is astronomical in King County. Workers in unincorporated areas deserve a living wage and the same labor standard protections that those in neighboring cities receive. 

The council's transportation policy priorities should be to make public transit accessible, affordable, reliable, ubiquitous, sustainable, and safe. We should expand all public transit options especially in underserved areas of the county. We should also invest in multi-modal options like bikes and scooters, and improve our transit infrastructure everywhere to make it accessible for people with disabilities. The Council should focus on recruiting, training, and retaining Metro staff including operators and mechanics to address the labor shortage.

The county needs to address the homelessness crisis with greater urgency. The ultimate driver of homelessness is the lack of affordable housing and we therefore must ramp up efforts to increase the supply of housing and increase the availability of subsidies and social housing. At the same time, we must ramp up our deployment of short-term emergency shelter options to eventually eliminate unsheltered homelessness in the county. In order to make this possible, the county needs to work with the state legislature to develop a set of sustainable, progressive revenue sources that will shift us away from fiscal austerity.

I strongly support the proposal. We cannot have a thriving community if people in our region cannot cover their basic needs even while working a full-time job. Research has shown that the high cost of living in King County makes the statewide minimum wage insufficient. In response to this reality, many cities in our region have adopted minimum wages above the state-wide floor and it is appropriate for a similar, higher rate to be in place in unincorporated areas of the county. Ensuring that every county resident can support themselves and their families will benefit the entire community.
 

The council needs to prioritize increasing funding for public transit and for walking and biking infrastructure. I would support measures to enhance bus frequency, extend operating hours, and increase coverage. We should also ensure that our transit systems are reliable and safe so more people in our community will utilize this form of transportation and shift away from cars. The council also needs to work in collaboration with our Sound Transit partners to ensure that the implementation of the ST3 expansion is carried out as quickly as possible, balancing the long-term needs of riders while mitigating the short-term construction impacts.

My top priority for addressing homelessness is to dramatically increase shelter capacity to rapidly house neighbors experiencing homelessness through the expansion of shelter, tiny homes, permanent supportive housing, and affordable permanent housing. I am committed to serving on the governing committee of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority and helping to reset the agency through governance reforms to increase oversight to effectively deliver shelter and services such as behavioral healthcare and evidence-based treatment. I would pay for these efforts by incentivizing cities across King County to invest in the Authority and passing a countywide payroll tax dedicated to affordable housing.  

As a union member and MLK Labor endorsed candidate, I support Councilmember Zahilay’s proposal to increase the minimum wage in unincorporated King County. The state minimum wage is not a living wage in King County and workers in unincorporated King County do not benefit from policies that better ensure a living wage in neighboring cities. According to recent data an employee making Washington’s minimum wage would have to work 103 hours each week to afford a one-bedroom rental at fair market rent in King County. I support this and other policies that better ensure workers can live in King County. 

The Council’s transportation priorities should increase Metro transit frequency, reliability, and safety to deliver on an updated Metro Connects and high-capacity rail system that connects everyone in our region. Priorities pertaining to Metro Transit must 1) address the Metro operator and mechanics shortage by implementing more incentives and supports to create a pipeline of operators and increase operator safety, 2) pass a Countywide Transportation Benefit District package to help restore and expand routes and frequency and deliver on Metro Connects. Policy priorities pertaining to Sound Transit are to ensure the Ballard light rail link expansion is on-time and centers riders. 

We're a small newsroom, but you can help us grow and cover more ground by becoming a supporter.

• Seattle declared homelessness a emergency 7 years ago and the crisis has worsened.
• While we should continue to invest in a variety of affordable housing models, there is clearly a gap in emergency and transitional housing.  King County should we working with the KCHRA and communities within the region to fill this gap.
• Assure that public right of ways are clear for the safety of all who use it, including pedestrians and those unhoused that are occupying these and similar areas
• I’m committed to providing adequate public safety.  I opposed defund the police and that movement has exacerbated a police officer shortage and contributes to the inability to
• Improve the King County Regional Homeless Authority.  The KCHRA approaches cities and communities in a siloed way, the result being division and lack of progress on this issue. Homelessness is a regional issue and the KCRHA has the potential to play a vital role in convening communities within King County to collaboratively address the homelessness crisis with a regional approach.
• I support funding homeless outreach services that show positive outcomes towards getting people off the streets and into more stable shelter, mental health services and/or substance use treatment. The KCHRA should also be outcomes focused and transparent with the public about whether goals are met. 
• The opioid and fentanyl epidemic is a crisis that impacts the unhoused by increasing vulnerability to crime and decreasing one’s ability to make the necessary voluntary decision to accept services.  We must address the opioid and fentanyl epidemic as the public health emergency that it is.
• As for funding, one of the roles of the King County Homelessness Authority is to look for ways to make current systems serving homelessness more efficient and effective.  Effective approaches should continue to be funded and not those who fail to show outcomes.

• Every community in King County should be competitive in terms of attracting the workforce needed.
• I support a minimum wage with exemptions for small businesses.

• In 2021, the King County Metro Strategic Plan, King County Metro Service Guidelines, and Metro Connects Long-Range Plan is to focus on equity, sustainability, safety, and innovation over the next ten years. Given the challenges from the last two years, safety and innovation is key.
• Traffic congestion must be addressed as this has a negative impact on the environment.  In addition, the public transportation fleet of buses and cars should be transitioning to electric or hybrid.
• Many people work in one part of the region and live in another.  Another aspect of equity is to assure that the transportation system as a whole should be able to connect all parts of the region as efficiently as possible.
• Equity of course also means addressing the needs of BIPOC riders, immigrants, people who don’t speak English as a first language, people with disabilities and people who take in little or no income.  With the goal of sustaining our transportation funding, rider fares must be enforced.  However, I support programs that assist riders who are low income by providing Orca cards or similar programs.
• We need to invest in multi-model transportation approaches to decrease single passenger vehicle use.  This includes efficient, plentiful, and accessible public transportation including encouraging carpools, buses, light rail, use of micro-transit, and a ferry system that meets needs. 
• Impact of COVID-19:  innovation to transportation includes considering the impact of large numbers of people telecommuting from work several days of the week.  This should be supported for King County employees so long as the work we do for the public gets done. 
• Safety is important.  All public transportation should be drug free and free from all types of second hand smoke.  This is for the safety of not only passengers, but for the bus drivers and transportation staff servicing vehicles.
• An additional policy priority is to address the shortage of transportation workers in the system.  This starts with a safe workplace and strategic efforts to attract a diverse workforce for this important public service.

We know the solutions for homelessness, and while there are many ways we can better meet people’s needs and curb displacement and homelessness, the biggest and most impactful way we can do this is through housing — permanently affordable housing and supportive housing services. 

Although we have made important progress building more units of affordable housing over the last six years while I was in office — quadrupling the affordable housing investments largely through JumpStart Progressive Payroll Tax — our housing supply has not caught up with the growing population and the growing need for more affordable units. By the year 2050, our region needs around 418,000 new housing units. Right now the average cost of a home is around $800,000. We need resources to build housing and more inclusive zoning throughout our region to allow for the creation of missing middle housing and affordable units. We also need more emergency housing options to provide non-congregate shelter options to those experiencing homelessness while we build housing units. 

I will continue to be a housing champion to build bridges between housing advocates, businesses, labor, and King County communities and local jurisdictions to put additional dollars into action to provide greater housing stability across our region. With my proven track-record of collaboration and record delivering on housing investments, we will make progress on safe, stable, and affordable housing for all by: 

• Building faster and with greater urgency by expediting permitting to build more housing, especially for Built Green standards and those who apply community benefit agreements and high workforce/labor standards. 
• Working in partnership with local jurisdictions to rezone to allow for building a more inclusive, equitable, affordable city by permitting and promoting diverse housing options, especially in high-opportunity access areas close to grocery stores, schools, transit options and parks. 
• Providing renter and small landlord financial help through rental assistance, small landlord supports, and other rent-stabilization efforts to prevent more people from losing their home in the wake of the pandemic and due to the ongoing housing affordability state of emergency 
• Spending and authorizing new funding for strategic housing acquisition including purchasing multifamily buildings, apartments, hotels to allow for diverse, affordable housing options.

I support it! Increasing the minimum wage is crucial for our community to allow residents to be able to live where in neighborhoods of their choosing, to live close to where they work, go to school, can access public goods like parks, and much more. This is important for the health of our community and the health of our economy—we need to create economic viability that pulls up those who have least. When our workers prosper, we all prosper. It’s good for small businesses as well - when lower wage workers have more money in their pocket they spend it in their local economy and create greater economic activity. Increased minimum wages also support small business owners with greater stability and productivity by reducing turnover. I support King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay on the proposal to increase the minimum wage in unincorporated King County. 

In the halls of our state Capital, I advocated for increasing the minimum wage and passing sick leave for four years with a broad coalition. When that didn’t pass, I helped draft and pass Initiative 1433 to raise the minimum wage in Washington State as well as providing seven days of paid sick leave for all workers. I have been on the front lines fighting for increases to the minimum wage, and wholly support a minimum wage increase for King County as well.

When thinking about the top priorities for King County Metro, it’s important to me to center the needs of the people who make our systems run: the drivers. The concerns of the Amalgamated Transit Union must be addressed by paying drivers a living wage; increasing affordability near transit hubs so drivers, mechanics, and other staff can meet the requirements of the job; and supporting other concerns and ideas from the ATU. We also need green vehicles and more ergonomic vehicles to support worker safety and physical health. When we support the workforce needs, it supports a robust, reliable public transit system that can serve our community and grow ridership. By supporting workers we will have more reliable and robust transit service in our communities that are experiencing challenges due to not enough bus drivers.

Some top priorities include:

• Ensuring drivers make a living wage, have healthcare and retirement benefits, have a voice on the job, and they’re safe on the job;
• Addressing the climate crisis and approaching environmental protections through an environmental justice framework;
• Improving mobility and accessibility; 
• Supporting equitable, transit-oriented communities.

I look forward to supporting these investments to stabilize our transit system while we also invest in TOD by partnering with local jurisdictions and sound transit to make sure sound transit expansion comes with transit oriented affordable housing, childcare, and services. TOD reduces the need for long commutes and creates more access to transportation investments.  The County can play a role in supporting needed investments in street safety in unincorporated areas—sidewalks, bike lanes—to ensure greater mobility and equity and create better connections for people walking and biking to transit within surrounding communities. That’s the vision — a connected system for all Ages, Languages, Ethnicities, Genders, Race, and Abilities (ALEGRA!).