(Image: Ry Armstrong 4 Seattle)
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 Ry Armstrong, a queer, non-binary actor bringing Democratic Socialists of America values and a pledge to champion the environment at Seattle City Hall.
- RY ARMSTRONG: The race for District 3 had to have a Democracy Voucher candidate — Ry Armstrong just might be it
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?
Armstrong: I grew up singing in the Northwest Choirs and Vocalpoint Seattle, so I would say in my early days it would be contributing to the Arts scene here on the Hill, but now I find myself listening to the Queer community about what they want to see in our community via the Seattle LGBTQ Commission. I have also more recently been working toward implementing and supporting a Trans Bill of Rights in collaboration with Councilmember Sawant’s office and pushing toward rent control legislation that so many people struggling to pay rising rents want to see in our city despite the State law. The great thing about legislative processes is that laws can change, and with our campaign in office you will see us fight for the working people of Seattle to create housing solutions to make sure people can actually work and live in our city’s center.
Q: If elected, what regular presence would your office keep in District 3? Meetings? Office time? How often? Where?
Armstrong: If elected, it would be the goal of my office to utilize our library system as a way to hold office hours in community and talk backs for what people want to see. Beyond that, creating a CRM system where people can submit tickets to our office’s helpdesk and expect a response is the new standard I want to set for our City Government. Too often things go unanswered and we need someone who will take on the job 24/7 to make sure constituents are not only heard, but also have their issues addressed and ultimately solved.
Q: What council committees are you best suited for? How will that help D3?
Armstrong: I would like to work Land Use, but bring Sustainability over from the current Renter’s Rights committee. For me the climate change work we need to see from our Land Use codes to SSDI regulations need to be looking toward the next decades of Green investment while balancing the need for increased affordable housing.
Q: Which recent Seattle council member would you most like to emulate? Why?
Armstrong: If I could combine Morales, Mosqueda and Sawant I would. These strong leaders have fought for so many radical changes to our city, and the fact that we could lose all three in one year is a devastating loss to our City Council.
Q: What is a position you hold that is controversial or unpopular among D3 voters? (Reader question)
Armstrong: We have to really invest in moving toward a carbon free future, and that will take sacrifice and change. Eliminating the sale of combustion engine vehicles (which account for over 50% of our emissions) and implementing a potential carbon tax for citizens or businesses who are not changing with the coming tides could be a necessary thing to explore. We would build this together as community and it is desperately needed to make sure we see a Seattle still standing here and resilient for my children’s children some day. It won’t be popular or easy, but we have to do it.
Q: What is a City Hall department or major initiative you would cut back on and how would you reprioritize that spending?
Armstrong: I would love to base salaries for individuals in City Hall off of AMI (area median income) and then use additional funds from those who may be overpaid toward policies like right-to-shelter and alternatives to policing. I would also love to do an audit of our capital projects and see where exactly these impact fee revenue streams are going. I want to take a deep dive into our budgetary processes and see where there are holes in the bucket so to speak.
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)
Armstrong: The building itself is very old and needs to be refurbished for both the working conditions of officers and for the community who relies on its services. Beyond that we need to utilize city building space to carve out new departments like 311 and 611 as we have outlined in our policy platform to help the police specify their job toward priority 1 and 2 calls, while providing alternative options to Seattle citizens than just a traditional police response.
Q: What is your position on single family housing/residential small lot zoning, and what is your position on upzones across Seattle? (Reader question)
Armstrong: Upzone as much as possible while maintaining the foundations of the Queer community in Capitol Hill and the BIPOC community in the Central District.
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?
Armstrong: We need to pass a right-to-shelter to incentivize the city to actually take action. We have spent 8 years talking and throwing money at the problem. If elected, I want to be case working individuals and bringing them inside. This will only happen if the City has a monetary consequence to actually take action instead of pass the problem along.
Q: What is one idea for District 3 that you have that no other candidate is talking about?
Armstrong: No other candidate is talking about climate change like our campaign and it’s terrifying quite honestly. Seattle needs to start preparing now for massive changes in weather and a refugee crisis from the South happening now into the next couple of decades. Other candidates who are more well-funded and supported by the status quo, business interests of our City barely allude to this crisis and some don’t even mention it on their literature. We have less than 7 years to turn things around, and there is a lot we can do at the City level to make sure we will survive. This is why I am running.
Q: How would you support lidding I-5?
Armstrong: Yes if we can get Federal funds to support it, then absolutely and build housing and park space above 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?
Armstrong: I think it would be a yellow and purple “Chihuly-esque” statue to honor the colors of the non-binary flag as I would be the first non-binary person elected to Seattle City Council in a world where trans and gender defying people are being vilified we could stand up and say not here in Seattle. Here everyone is loved and welcome. It would most likely be on the new Seattle waterfront, which would be at the base of Queen Anne in about 70-80 years.
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