(Image: CHS)
A poster from 2019 — ready for a re-run in 2021
In October of 2013, CHS was there as an upstart challenger squared off with incumbent Seattle City Councilmember Richard Conlin in a debate on rent control held at Seattle Central that would set the tone for the major political upset that would remove the veteran lawmaker from office a few weeks later.
That win built on causes like the $15 minimum wage, a tax on big business, and controlling rents came at the start of Kshama Sawant’s political career in the city.
“We’ve done $15 an hour and taxing big business. We haven’t done rent control,” Sawant told CHS Wednesday.
“Between 2013 and 2019, there was a huge shift in broad consciousness… Now, in post-pandemic, it is even greater. People’s eyes are opening,” the now longest serving member on the council said.
Eight years later as she faces the ultimate political fight to keep her place on the council, Sawant says it is time to complete her initial goals in the city, announcing in a rally at 22nd and Union a renewed push of her bid to prepare Seattle with rent control legislation that would slow and sometimes prohibit yearly increases in rent by tying a cap to inflation and pressure lawmakers in Olympia to lift the state ban that forbids it.
Wednesday morning, Sawant was joined by activists and community members to announce a renewed rent control push and the launch of a major petition effort calling for the protections that she says is based on the early efforts to show support for the Amazon tax.
“Working people have lost housing. They’ve lost savings. They’ve lost security. They’ve had to move, to find new housing, to double up with others. They’ve had to scramble and give up basic amenities just to keep a roof over their heads. Small businesses have also taken a severe brunt from this pandemic and the economic devastation of the last year,” Sawant told the small crowd assembled outside a Central District apartment building developed by Lake Union Partners. “Meanwhile, billionaires and multimillionaires have enriched themselves during the COVID pandemic. Corporate landlords have raked in millions.”
The renewed bid picks up the work done by Socialist Alternative and Sawant’s office to push rent control forward in 2019 with legislation that would tie a cap on rent increases to the rate of inflation. Sawant’s rent control would link the maximum rent increase to the inflation rate, which was above 3% as recent as 2018 but has fallen below 2% during the pandemic, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That thrust two years ago in the ongoing battle for rent control in Seattle gave way to Sawant’s successful battle to retain her seat in the November 2019 election. By 2020, the city’s shifting political tides put the effort to tax Amazon on the frontburner. The pandemic sealed the deal. By summer, Seattle had a new payroll tax and Sawant, another victory like $15 an hour — a far left movement translated into a version palatable at Seattle City Hall.
Now she says it is time for Socialist Alternative and her supporters to renew the rent control fight as the city emerges from the pandemic, and Sawant says, landlords are looking to cash in. Sawant cited an ApartmentList.Com study that found that rents are already on the rise saying that between January and April 2021, “rents across the board in Seattle for apartments of all sizes increased by 9%, an annualized rate of more than 40%.”
“This puts rents on track to more than rebound in a very few months from the temporary 2020 drop, and to continue soaring at pre-pandemic crisis levels,” a press release from Sawant’s office reads.
(Image: Recall Sawant)
Meanwhile, this week, the Recall Sawant campaign trying to remove Sawant from office began the process of collecting the more than 10,000 signatures across District 3 to put a recall of the three-term councilmember on the ballot.
Organizers have outlined multiple acts they say warranted recall including using city resources to promote a Tax Amazon initiative, allowing demonstrators inside City Hall during a protest last June, and marching to Mayor Jenny Durkan’s home address kept secret due to her past role as a federal prosecutor. A fourth charge of allowing Socialist Alternative to influence her office’s employment decisions was rejected by the state Supreme Court.
The Kshama Solidarity campaign says the charges are untrue and that the recall is part of a “broader assault on democracy.”
The recall battle is set to play out across the summer and to next November’s General Election — or beyond. The rent control fight will open up a second front.
There was no mention of the recall in Sawant’s remarks Wednesday morning. Instead the focus was on equity and tenant rights from the roster of speakers who followed in support of the new rent control campaign including Reverend Robert Jeffrey, Senior Pastor at New Hope Missionary Baptist, police accountability activist Castill Hightower, and Amzi Jeffs, a Head Steward at UAW 4121.
Also speaking was Shirley Henderson, owner of Squirrel Chops coffee at 22nd and Union where the event was hosted. Sawant said Wednesday that her rent control campaign will also include separate legislation for commercial rent control “to help struggling small businesses that are confronting the same displacement and gentrification pressures that working class renters face.”
“There is no state ban on commercial rent control, so there are no excuses for the City Council to delay on this measure,” Sawant said. “I have asked the City Council’s technical staff to develop this legislation, and they will be doing that over the next couple of months.”
Sawant staff said the commercial rent control draft legislation is not yet available.
But there is also major work to be done on the residential rent control front which must overcome a state-wide ban on rent control.
Rent control, in some cases also called rent stabilization, means limiting rent increases. In some cities, it can be tied to inflation, or the cap can apply only per tenancy or beyond the duration of a tenancy, and come with or without restrictions on evictions. Some include only buildings of a certain age and exempt new buildings. In some instances, landlords have found ways to work around rent control by converting rental units to condos, for example. Other so-called “loopholes” includes rent control not applying to ADU’s and single-family homes. Another famous “loophole” is “vacancy decontrol,” which means landlords can raise the rent after a tenant leaves a rent-controlled apartment, charging whatever they want to the next tenant.
Sawant’s proposed legislation would establish the annual cap and, her office says, close the many possible loopholes. The bill would also create a rent control board empowered to decide on exemptions to rent control limits in the case of emergencies like natural disasters that cause financial hardship for the building owner.
But for it to matter, the state’s ban on residential rent control needs to be undone. The legislation, backed by pro-developer lobbyists, dates back to 1981. State legislators will have to repeal that ban. Sawant’s draft legislation says that rent control will go into effect in Seattle as soon as the state-wide ban is lifted.
Wednesday morning, Sawant said CHS should ask state representatives like Sen. Jamie Pedersen and Rep. Nicole Macri why they weren’t at the rally to kick off the new campaign — not her. “The question is, what side the Democrats are on?,” Sawant said. “It’s a question for them, really.”
But it has been two years since her last major push for the controls. Has anything changed since 2019 — and 2013 — with Sawant’s approach and her collaboration with the state leaders needed to change the state’s approach to rent control?
The councilmember bristled at the question. “Your focus on my personal relationship is completely misplaced,” Sawant said, adding that she has “an unprecedented record of delivering on promises.”
“I am with the people,” Sawant said.
With $15 an hour and an Amazon tax under her belt, it is difficult to argue with her.
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I have to wonder if, when you ask Pedersen and Macri why they weren’t at the rally and which side they’re on, you’ll also ask them if anything’s changed with their approach to and collaboration with Sawant. I’m guessing by the way you slipped four paragraphs of an unrelated topic into this piece that you will conveniently “forget” to ask them anything.
Pedersen and Macri weren’t at the Sawant rally because they were in Olympia actually creating tangible and visible change regarding the “taxation of the rich.”
Here is Senator Pedersen’s response to the following email requesting a change in tax structure…the email sent reads, “stop taxing the poor, if not the rich, then who?”
Pedersen’s response is, “Thanks for your message. After many years of working on progressive tax reform, I am thrilled that the legislature passed ESSB 5096 this year. I served on the conference committee that negotiated the final language for the bill and was delighted that our effort succeeded with a 25-24 vote last Sunday in the Senate. The bill will raise up to $500 million per year for early learning and K-12 education, to be deposited in the Education Legacy Trust Account. In the years with extraordinary revenues, amounts over $500 million per year will be dedicated to school construction. The money will help us to ensure that we have adequate resources to fulfill our paramount duty for Washington’s children and youth by giving them a quality education.
The final compromise bill will impose a tax of 7% on capital gains in a single year in excess of $250,000, with broad exemptions for real estate, retirement accounts, agriculture and timber, and family-owned small businesses. It also creates a larger deduction (up to $350,000, instead of the standard $250,000 deduction) for taxpayers who donate to Washington nonprofits. The Department of Revenue estimates that it will fall on about 0.2% of taxpayers.
Equally important, the court challenge to the capital gains tax will give the Washington Supreme Court a chance to tell us whether it still supports the decades-old caselaw that considered income to be property and made a progressive income tax illegal without amending the constitution. I feel hopeful that this case will open the door to a more significant overhaul of our tax structure, which many consider to be the most regressive in the United States.”
Best wishes, Jamie
Senator Jamie Pedersen
43rd Legislative District
[email protected]
pronouns: he, him, his
Olympia Office
JAC 235
P.O. Box 40443
Olympia, WA 98504-0443
(360) 786-7628
District Office
1200 12th Ave. S., Ste. 801
Seattle, WA 98144
(206) 729-3206
Legislative Assistant
Sam Hendrickson
[email protected]
So, yes, “All Power to the People” and “Derek,'” individuals will argue certain special interests….but, the fact of the matter is that state-wide individuals earning over $250 grand in profit will be taxed. If this isn’t progress on “taxing the rich” then I don’t know what is.
Here is an interesting fact ~in all of the years that Sawant has been on the Council she has NEVER once testified in front of the House or Senate’s Ways and Means Committees to request change in taxation of the rich… NOT EVEN ONCE, NEVER.
Sawant stands on her podium decrying the woes of the rich getting off free with tax breaks while Macri and Pedersen are down in Olympia making statewide changes.
Seems to me like Sawant’s goal of taxing Amazon is a bit short sighted. She is bunting while Macri and Pedersen are hitting home runs.
Is there still room for change? Yes, but its not going to happen all at once… one step at a time.
Another point… In that picture of her propaganda poster she has “Tax the Rich” checked off… that’s “rich” especially considering the fact that she is taking credit for other people’s work. Yet another example of her ingenuity.
Finally, please don’t let this fact slip by you, Macri and Pedersen actually respond to all of their constituents… Sawant doesn’t even try.
This! ^^^
Very lucky to live in a district with a socialist. Keep fighting the good fight Kshama! Don’t pay attention to sheep in republican clothing! We’re here with you!
Why limit yourself to a district with a socialist? You have many other optional places to reside that offer a full country of socialism.
Yeah, get the heck out of US and move to Venezuela if you crave socialism this much.
You do not know what socialism is and shouldn’t comment on it. Venezula has many issues and most are from US and imperialistic meddling than socialism. If they were capitalist, they’d be even worse off than they are due to the structure of the resource-based econ there. You are just a Right Wing Facebook troll archetype when you comment like this. Bot-esque. Parroting words you heard before. Socialism is the ONLY way forward. Pandemic should prove that.
The whole vaccine development thing notwithstanding, right?
Hello Derek. You’ll note that I didn’t suggest Venezuela. I was merely suggesting that instead of trying to convert our country to socialism (because that seems really hard) perhaps it would be easier to simply move to a country that has the system you desire. You know, kind of like dating someone you really connect with instead of trying to change some person into one who suits you perfectly. I’m reminded of the Lyle Lovett song, “If I was the man you wanted, I wouldn’t be the man that I am.” Hey, I’m merely concerned about your stress levels. By the way, your claim that our friend Matt doesn’t know what Socialism is, could be countered by your somewhat shaky understanding of what constitutes a Republican. Just my opinion of course.
Sure, as long as it doesn’t involve the nuts and bolts needs of the community she’s supposed to represent. Kinda like someone’s wacko parent running a family’s household.
Kshama helped re-open a post office in the central district, right on that same street, to name one specific “nuts and bolts” need of the District 3 community. But also, Cap Hill & D3 as a whole are filled with renters. Seems like rent control (as well as the numerous renters’ rights protections Kshama has already helped pass) is pretty relevant to the community in her district. Oh except maybe not the multi-million mansion owners in certain parts of the district…
More b.s. propaganda . . . those of us in D3 are not only renters or millionaires. There are plenty of us regular working class folks who bought here years ago and own small condos. Re: nuts and bolts, all I have to do is look at Kshama’s behavior during CHOP to know she doesn’t care at all about those of us who actually live in D3. She is also notorious for not responding to calls or emails from people in D3. She lives in a more expensive house/neighborhood than many of us but please, keep on with your Trumpian false narrative trying to pin this on the “multi-millionaires” in D3. I voted for her twice and I’m supporting the recall. She’s a phony and a fraud.
There’s a reason they call it sophomoric thinking, especially when all her supporters look like college sophomores.
It’s actually called junior high brain. They want some toy and Jeff Bezos is expected to pay for it.
It’s actually called “Puberty Pea-Brain” and it can last through old age depending on hormone levels.
Another fawning, one-sided article about Glorious Leader Sawant.
Sawant cited an ApartmentList.Com study that found that rents are already on the rise saying that between January and April 2021, “rents across the board in Seattle for apartments of all sizes increased by 9%, an annualized rate of more than 40%.”
As pointed out by SCC Insight today this metric is cherry picked and misleading. If you go back to March 2020 the same graph would show a decline in rent of 21.8% but more importantly if you go all the way back to 2017 rent is basically flat with seasonal variations and today it is still 15% below the 2017 rates.
There are zero economic studies that show rent control has a positive impact on housing in the long run. It basically only benefits a small group of people. I’m sure Councilmember Sawant knows better though and introducing a policy that is more draconian than any other rent control policy in the country won’t have any negative consequences.
Fortunately both Councilmembers Gonzales and Mosqueda are focused on their own election campaigns so I doubt they will indulge Councilmember Sawant on her opus. This is just another arrow in her quiver of distractions to refocus attention away from her abuse of office and show her diminishing band of supporters why they need to help her fight to keep her position.
Rent control doesn’t work. It’s a failed experiment in many cities across the country; you end up with deteriorating buildings and all new construction goes luxury.
Good intentions but sadly not good outcomes.
That’s why we need a lot more public housing. Because developers and landlords shouldn’t drive this conversation or problem.
The notion that the government can effectively and efficiently provide public housing is almost more comical than the rent control proposal. New York’s public housing authority is currently under federal oversight because conditions have become so bad in many of the 176k unites they manage across the city. In the initial report the monitor filed the state of public housing in NY was atrocious ( https://www.politico.com/states/f/?id=0000016c-1a74-d86a-a7fd-1b74296a0001). Complaints include rat infestations, mold, faulty plumbing and electricity, broken elevators and a city bureaucracy “where spin is often rewarded and accountability does not exist”. I’m sure Seattle will get this right though and avoid the pitfalls that have lead to public housing becoming a slum in many major cities. They have such a great track record with things like Pronto bike share, the city street car, the monorail etc.
All governments?
Having a roof over their heads at a low price is better than living on the streets or dealing with 20% rent increase every year, and private rental housing have plenty of maintenance complaints.
Economists almost universally think rent control is a bad idea. You need movement. The only “economist” who doesn’t think so is Ms. Sawant. lol
Yeah. You could always tell which buildings in Berkeley and SF were impacted by rent control because they were a total dump (since the landlord had no incentive or financial intake to keep them in shape).
Rent control is the unflushable turd of housing policy. Over time, a few long-term tenants get discount housing at the landlord’s expense, and everyone else gets screwed. Look to San Francisco for the fruits of decades of rent control. We’d be better off if Sawant spent her energy making it easier to build new housing.
Yeah let’s simp for landlord. There’s only way less of them than tenants. Majority used to rule where I come from…
You think like a child.
I’ve been reading this site for a long time for useful information.
It’s now nothing but a location Sawant boot-licking posts. You’d think the owner would have learned something from the recent reaction to the “Community News” post. There is no attempt at objectivity here. Look at the very first words of this headline “I am with the people”. That’s completely slanted and should have been left off.
This site is now just like the Stranger and MyNorthwest. I just read it to see what all the way-to-far left and right people are saying.
To the topic at hand, I almost hope that rent control is passed. Combined with the covid rent suspensions I can’t wait to hear the whining about lower stock and higher prices that will result.
Here’s an idea Sawant. There was an infant shot at 23rd and Jackson a few weeks ago. An infant. What tiny action have you taken to even possibly see that doesn’t happen again? I suppose in her mind that’s not a voter, so who cares right?
Her touting Rent Control is like someone else’s MAGA rhetoric.
She would at the least have to convince many who oppose her “style” and “substance” to be convinced to change the state constitution. In other words,she’s blowing smoke to rile her minions , kinda like her posters.
Yeah we should never change the status quo. Using your logic, civil rights wouldn’t have happened.
Well you say the country should be governed by “majority rule” so the by that the civil rights would have never passed.
Funny that the guy who dropped a racist comment in the article about Sixkiller because he doesn’t like his politics decides to invoke civil rights when challenged.
Thought the exact same thing! Ironic.
I’m all for changing things, if they seemed to work.
I can’t think of one example of rent control or rent stabilization that seems to help keep housing affordable overall.
Rather, it seems to benefit a small number that are already renting, and even they are limited in ability to moving should they want to move elsewhere because the market will have moved beyond them. And new renters will still get priced go up.
Truly – what city is a good example of where rent regulation policies have actually kept housing affordable across the city, not just kept some units low for those that are already here? What is the real world example of this working?
It seems to me there are likely other ways to keep people housed and encourage the development of more housing options, like rent subsidies and incentivizing developers/landlords to offer more units that are affordable to low and middle income residents.
Unfortunately rent control hurts everyone except for the select few who get in early. Consider this scenario… Manhattan family lives in a 4 bedroom apartment. Parents in one BR and the three kids in the other bedrooms. Kids grow up and eventually move out. Maybe one of the parents ends up passing away. Now you have one person living in a 4 BR apartment with absolutely zero incentive to move out and downsize. Now that’s 3 more unused rooms in an expensive city and that increases the demand and ultimately drives up rent for everyone else. If she means that ALL rent will be controlled citywide, no developers will build here and landlords won’t have any incentive to keep the properties kept up. With a lot of Sawant’s proposals, unintended consequences never seem to be considered. Where has rent control ever really worked except for the lucky few who get in?
Price. Controls. Do. Not. Work.
Sawant’s entire ideology is flawed – this crap just doesn’t work. You know what actual socialism looks like? It looks a heck of a lot like crony capitalism, minus the economic growth.
I think she cut her economics degree out of the back of cereal box.
I’ll start by giving a semi-freebie to the pro-rent-control side: I agree that it’s silly we have a state-wide law that says cities cannot enact rent control. If a city wants to enact it by a vote of the people, go right ahead. Why did the state feel the need to preemptively strike down rent control ideation across all of Washington?
Okay, now to get to why rent control is a well-intentioned but ultimately bad idea. An overwhelming amount of academic research backs this up. Feel free to look up the research and expert opinions of reputable economists like Ed Glaeser (Harvard) or Steve Levitt (Chicago). If you don’t believe the academic literature, or just don’t want to look it up, that’s OK because this is easy to back up with a very simple thought experiment, courtesy of Ed Glaeser: “Let’s say you rented an apartment in New York in 1955, you had three small kids, you rented a three-bedroom. It was perfectly matched for the needs of you with your kids growing up. They moved out of the house in the early 70’s. By the late 80’s, maybe your husband or wife actually died and you’re living on your own in a three-bedroom apartment in New York. But, my goodness, would you ever move out? Your rent is a fraction of what the market rent is.”
I hope you all see the issue here: this one person is choosing not to downsize JUST BECAUSE their rent is far below what the market dictates. Sure, this individual is not “displaced”, but by using up more housing than they need, it prevents a larger group (family, friends/coworkers who are OK with being roommates, etc) from better utilizing that apartment. And this scenario is very likely to happen with rent control: it will “freeze” the city, so to speak. It will seem like a delight in the short-term for those who wish they paid lower rents per month, but in the long-term it will be a nightmare for anyone wishing to move to Seattle. If you’re pro-rent-control, at this point you may say “that’s the point, I am tired of outsiders with money moving into Seattle, you have failed to convince me”. Okay, well entertain this: rent control will also make it harder in the long-term to move around WITHIN the city. Let’s say you rent in West Seattle currently, and rent control goes into effect tomorrow, yay you’re happy with your reduced rent…fast forward two years and you would like to move to the Broadview neighborhood (let’s say you got a new job). Guess what? There will be little to no vacancy because everyone wants to stay put in their units which ought to be pricier. The few vacant units available are of poor quality because the owner either had little-to-no incentive to maintain the unit and/or they can’t afford the market rate for repairs (rent may be capped, but rates for plumbers/mechanics/tools/materials aren’t). If I still haven’t convinced you that rent control is a bad idea, well then I’m legitimately curious about your ability to appraise the value of, well, anything. Do you not notice quality differences in other goods/services, and thus see their price differences as justified?
A significantly better idea would be to require that owners designate X% of units within each apartment building as “affordable”. In this model, the market-rate units essentially subsidize the affordable-designated units. Isn’t this what the modern left often champion anyways with other financial matters? The upper-class subsidizing the lower-class? Makes perfect sense to me. I don’t hear much talk about making other things all the same price (perhaps because people realize it wouldn’t work). Please come to the same realization with housing…
For chronically homeless populations, Seattle can also look to build more communities like Plymouth on First Hill. The dignity to live in your own unit, and they always have nursing staff available! Why don’t we have like a dozen of these?
“A significantly better idea would be to require that owners designate X% of units within each apartment building as “affordable”. In this model, the market-rate units essentially subsidize the affordable-designated units. Isn’t this what the modern left often champion anyways with other financial matters? The upper-class subsidizing the lower-class?”
Actually that’s not quite accurate. In this scenario the lower middle class is subsidizing the lower class.
@Bobbo
help me understand your reasoning. I’ll venture a guess first, though: are you suggesting that the upper class are homeowners, therefore the market-rate rental units are occupied by “lower middle class”? If this is what you are getting at, then there is some merit to that paradigm. But there do exist high-end renters, often times they are recently arrived/young/high-income earners and can’t actually buy their own place yet. I would much rather these folks rent market-rate units in new downtown or new SLU construction than take up an existing below-market-rate unit in south Seattle. But if there isn’t enough new construction, then they’re going to do exactly that: use up the inventory that is better utilized by middle and working class folk.
Yeah I probably shouldn’t have said “lower middle class” but rather middle class.
My point was people who are renting and many of whom are not wealthy are subsidizing low income units. So if you are lucky enough to get a low income unit, good for you. However, if you aren’t you now have to pay higher rents.
I appreciate that housing is increasingly becoming unaffordable and Seattle is turning into (if it’s not already) a City for rich people, and we need to do something about that.
That said – I can’t think of a real world example in which rent control or more modern twists on the concept like rate stabilization have successfully kept housing affordable. San Francisco has regulations on rental policies, and even with a pandemic slump in rents, still has some of the most expensive rents in the country. Same thing with New York.
Rent control and rent stabilization helps those fortunate enough to get in early to continue to afford their rentals, but it doesn’t seem to help keep rents low across the City, meaning their sh*t outta luck if they want to move, and new people can’t afford a place in the first place.
Seems like a combination of things like need rent subsidies or just straight up more housing, through a mix of public housing and incentivizing developers to build more low and middle income housing.
Rent control is a nice slogan to slap onto a poster, but I don’t think it actually helps
Aside from the obvious of switching to Airbnb or other shorter term rentals, one would simply target tech employees (by setting a high salary multiple) who are most likely to buy and move out. Lower end apts will get harder and harder to find.
If they want lower rent, they need to focus on driving tech companies out of WA.
Jfc no. We need better public trans… Wtf?
I hope everyone realizes that landlords have not been allowed to raise rents on existing residents since March of 2020. And under current Seattle Covid rules they will not be able to do so until sometime in 2022. The only way to increase revenue is if a resident moves out. Then you can try increasing rents but generally have to offer four weeks or more of rent incentives to land a new resident.
The idea that landlords are getting rich off Covid is a joke. Many have had to carry non-paying residents for s year or more with no option to evict, collect, etc. And Sawant would like all overdue rent and utilities forgiven. Rents have declined or been stagnant since 2018, while expenses have risen appreciably.
As for commercial tenants, many are still receiving Covid rent reductions from their landlords one year after this began. I have two such tenants, and have not gotten one dollar of consideration from my lenders. I have absorbed over $100,000 in commercial rent reductions to keep my tenants in business and I am not a giant corporate landlord.
This is the state of landlords in our city. I am not asking for government assistance but it would be nice if the city would stop treating us as enemies of the people.
Rent control sounds like a great idea but in practice it has the opposite of its intended affect. The same could be said for Socialism, I suppose.
Socialist Performance Art is so much more exciting than competent government.
The people need to have the right to vote her out via recall. Lets get to 10k signatures!
Socialist polices don’t work in Russia, China, or Venezuela; why would they work here. We have tried her experiment. What have we gotten? More homelessness, more crime, more rent vacancies. The people need to have a way out, we don’t need to wait 3 more year.
Does “socialist policies that don’t work” include universal health care? Most Western developed countries have it.
You are confusing socialism with communism.
And you are confusing Sawant with a socialist….. she’s a Marxist, which *is* the failed form of social government that ran/runs the USSR, China and Venezuela… She’s not the Nordic style, provide a better social safety net type… she’s the we should confiscate the historic houses on Capitol Hill and turn them into social housing type. Sounded like a scene right out of Dr. Zhivago….
I am happy to have someone like her move the City Council further left or at least keep it liberal even though I don’t agree with everything she says.
There’s not a single person on the Seattle City Council who isn’t liberal…..
That was my naïve thinking too, when I voted for her back in 2013 for the position at-large.
I’ve wised up since then, and become much more informed.
I do not support Sawant, but I believe that a recall is a tactical mistake.
If she beats it, she gains strength for her next election. She also can claim, like Trump claimed after the first impeachment, that they “beat the charges against them.”
If she loses, what’s to prevent her from running again in 2 years? “Let the people choose!”
The recall effort people would be better off actually finding a useful opponent that can stand up to her batshittery without wilting in the spotlight like Orion unfortunately did.
SCCInsight did a deep dive on Sawant’s rent control talking points today, and ruthlessly dismantled them. She lies, and lies, and lies, and it’s easy to prove. Good journalists do a service by holding public figures accountable and shining a light on the truth, even when it reveals their lies.
CapitolHillSeattle, on the other hand, makes no effort to do real journalism and simply presents Sawant’s arguments without any criticism or attempt to determine their veracity. At least everyone in the comments section can see the Sawant sycophancy for what it is.
Kshama is with the people (except for those who she was elected to represent). RECALL now.
Sawant is the worst non-Republican politician I have ever seen. She is a narcissist and cult leader that only cares about herself. She has been a disaster for D3. Her scorched earth politics are on par with the far right. She has hurt the causes that she supposedly supports and Seattle more than anyone else. Good riddance.
Sawant REALLY hates landlords. She is very hypocritical, because many of them are small business people who have just one or two rental properties….just the kind of people she claims to advocate for.
I think this renewed push for rent control has everything to do with the recall effort. She is running scared, and is trying to gin up more support from her leftist minions.
I’m not sure who I’m going to vote for next time, but I’m not supporting this recall. The idea that her peacefully marching her people around is grounds for removal is just silly. Let the people decide at the next actual election.
It sure is grounds for removal. She led them to the home of Mayor Durkan, whose address is private/protected because she was a federal prosecutor, and therefore put her at risk for violence and even death.
If that’s not good enough for you she just admitted her guilt in misusing city money.