CHS asked the eight candidates running in the District 3 primary election eleven questions about how they would serve the neighborhoods around Capitol Hill, the Central District, and First Hill on the Seattle City Council. As you consider your August 1st primary ballot, we have 88 answers for you. We asked the candidates about everything from policing to single family zoning to homelessness and lidding I-5. With help from readers, we asked what specific ideas make each candidate stand out and what positions were they willing to take heat for supporting. We also asked how they would address issues around the community's relationship with the East Precinct. Meanwhile, after years of complaints about challenges in connecting with the D3 representative's office, we also asked each candidate about their plans to connect with the communities they represent. A lot of them have heard the complaints and are promising greater access and office hours in the district. Now it will be up to you to hold them to it -- and show up. You can view every candidate's answers at one time on the All Candidates D3 Primary Survey Results Page here. You can find our full coverage of the 2023 primary here.

Below are the answers from candidate Andrew Ashiofu, a Seattle LGBTQ Commission co-chair with lived experience who hopes unique viewpoints as a Black, HIV+ political and social activist with an immigrant perspective will connect with D3 voters.

• ANDREW ASHIOFU: As D3 candidate field crowds, Ashiofu hopes unique perspectives on housing, health, and transit will change the race

Q: What is a specific example of a change you were part of that has made District 3 a better place? What was your role?

Ashiofu: I worked as a part of a team with King County that implemented increased access to AIDS/HIV treatment and PrEP. This is especially important because District 3 has a high number of people dealing with this condition and I aim to ensure every person has access to the treatment they need to survive. Additionally, during the Covid-19 pandemic I worked with the community response team that worked to ensure access to healthcare in District 3.

Q: If elected, what regular presence would your office keep in District 3? Meetings? Office time? How often? Where?

Ashiofu: My office would regularly have a bi-weekly presence at the farmers market on capitol hill on Sundays. I also routinely attend community council events and meet and greets at the local library in cap hill. I want my office to be as open as possible with as many lines of communication as needed in order to ensure I’m properly representing my constituents.

Q: What council committees are you best suited for? How will that help D3?

Ashiofu: I am best suited for the Public Assets and Homelessness, Neighborhoods, Education, Civil Rights, and Culture, and lastly, sustainability and Renters Rights. I would be best suited for these committees because of my lived experience. I would be best suited to deal with housing and homelessness as I was unhoused for a portion of my life. I know how to gain the unhoused community’s trust and the strategies needed to get them off the street. I am best suited for civil rights because of my experience as both being gay and black. I am a member of the Seattle LGBTQ+ Commission and many other organizations focused on the experience of being black and gay. This would help D3 because they would have someone who has directly been affected by the policy be the person drafting it.

Q: Which recent Seattle council member would you most like to emulate? Why?

Ashiofu: As a gay black man who has immigrated from another country, I wouldn’t want to emulate any previous council member. I have a great amount of respect for the people who have held these positions before me but my entire reason for running is that I want to bring my unique lived experience to the city council. I want to be something new for Seattle and to do that I can’t emulate the people who’ve come before me. My entire life I’ve forged my own path, I will continue to do this as a member of the city council.

Q: What is a position you hold that is controversial or unpopular among D3 voters? (Reader question)

Ashiofu: My position on homelessness is somewhat controversial but it comes from my experience with homelessness both while I was unhoused and my experience with the unhoused community afterwards. The vast majority of people who have become homeless did not become homeless as a result of drug addiction or a mental health disorder. People initially become homeless as a result of poverty, identity, and crisis. I became homeless as a result of my sexual identity not for any other reason. People become addicted to drugs or develop mental health issues as a result of being homeless and the extreme stress that comes with living on the street. All of these conditions could be avoided if services existed to help people in crisis and ensure that rents are never so bad they put people on the street. We need drug and mental health care but solving the homelessness crisis requires empathy and resources.

Q: What is a City Hall department or major initiative you would cut back on and how would you reprioritize that spending?

Ashiofu: We need to invest more into our seriously underfunded social services. We put too much focus into public safety without trying to address the underlying issues. We need to invest in health one, our parks and recreation, sanitation, public restrooms, trash collection, and libraries. All of these things would ensure a healthier and safer built environment for everyone in Seattle.

Is there a way to help SPD East Precinct feel like a less hostile and more responsive, supportive presence in the neighborhood? How? (Reader question)

Ashiofu: We need to analyze the training process for the East Precinct. We need to restructure the recruitment process to ensure the people whose job it is to protect and serve are the absolute best and brightest. The current training is shorter than a full school year and that is nowhere near enough to properly enforce the law. We need to ensure that there’s a huge emphasis on accountability and transparency within every aspect of police life, from training to the contract they sign. Lastly, we need to ensure that the office of police accountability has stringent civilian oversight. The police department needs to become more civilian focused, and it especially needs diversity in the oversight committee.

Q: What is your position on single family housing/residential small lot zoning, and what is your position on upzones across Seattle? (Reader question)

Ashiofu: I am entirely against single family zoning. Seattle desperately needs to densify in order for both rents and carbon emissions to come down. The city is continuing to grow and our current practice of single family zoning is inhibiting the response to this growth. If we don’t do away with this backwards practice we will be subject to higher and higher rents and a city that forces people out instead of welcomes them in.

Q: What does Seattle need to do that it isn’t already trying to address the homelessness crisis? What would that look like in D3?

Ashiofu: Seattle needs harm reduction centers to get people off the street and ensure that they aren’t a harm to themself. We need to treat homelessness as a public health crisis, not a crime crisis. We need more empathy and compassion and less punitive measures. We need less barriers to services in order to gain the trust of the unhoused population. We need social housing and safe injection sites. There is a plethora of avenues we can take and I believe we should explore them all.

Q: What is one idea for District 3 that you have that no other candidate is talking about?

Ashiofu: I believe Seattle should pass a pilot program for Universal Basic Income. Our people are struggling to make ends meet across the city and giving the most vulnerable members of our society a little cushion would go a long way towards creating a more stable environment for people across Seattle. It would help address systemic inequality and we have a long ways to go before we solve these expansive issues.

Q: How would you support lidding I-5?

Ashiofu: I support the Lid I-5 Organization and I support allocating funds in order to ensure connectivity across the city. It would generate business for construction and economic activity across the new space being opened up. It would enable us to focus more on multimodal transport as this new space could be designed with walkability in mind. Seattle needs more connectivity and I would use my platform to support it.

Q: Far in the future, if the city were to honor you with a statue, where would it be placed and what would it look like?

Ashiofu: It would be placed in the AIDS Memorial Parkway and it would look like a Phoenix. Through my darkest times I’ve always come out stronger. We rise from the ashes and continue to fight.

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