(Image: Shobhit for Seattle City Council District 3)

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 Shobhit Agarwal, a queer resident of Capitol Hill, a native of India, and a one time computer science and engineering guy who now works in retail and says that diversity of experience would inform his work at Seattle’s City Hall.

• SHOBHIT AGARWAL: In a crowded field, latest District 3 candidate taking building by building approach

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?

Agarwal: I am a first-generation gay immigrant from India who has been married to my husband for ten years. We got married less than a year after Washington State voted to legalize same-sex marriage, and two years before it was legalized nationally. Prior to 2010, I was involved in Trikone-NW, a local LGBT organization focused on queer South Asians. The founders of the group, a lesbian South Asian couple, were plaintiffs in the 2005 case fighting for same-sex marriage but unfortunately lost at the Washington State Supreme Court. I was then and am still interested in advocating not just for our marriage rights that are so dear to me and increasingly threatened today, but for all queer people, and especially trans people, people of color, and trans people of color. Between these issues and the urgent issue of reproductive rights, this work is just as important on the local level as it is on the national level, and I would be proud to fight to protect these rights on the Seattle City Council.

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

Agarwal: My office would be open to my constituents. They will have my email address and my phone number. They can email me or my staff at any point and raise their issues. I will also have a monthly meet and greet at Capitol Hill Library, Douglas Truth Library, Montlake branch and Madrona Sally Goldmark branch. I would do these meetings either on a weekday night or on a Saturday late morning. Since I live in the center of the district, my home office will always be open for phone calls and emails.

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

Agarwal: Finance and Housing- I have been a Treasurer on HOA board for five years. My work on this committee will increase confidence in my voters that their dollars are being used effectively. My work on housing policies will move development of new housing faster and hopefully lead to reduction or at least stabilization of rent increases. I will also ensure rules such that housing construction is done while maintaining the green canopy of Seattle. Transportation and Utilities- My main platform of Green infrastructure is focused on Transportation and utilities. I will work DoT to ensure we have last mile loop buses on 15th Ave , 23rd Ave and MLK connecting those neighborhoods to their local grocery stores and Capitol Hill light rail station. I will work with Seattle City Light to upgrade electric infrastructure to enable it to support electric vehicles as they become more affordable and prevalent. D3 residents will benefit from both of these policies.

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

Agarwal: I have knocked on over 2100 doors in Seattle and talked to a lot of people. The perception of the Seattle City Council and its members is not great. I am my own person. I was a senior program manager at Microsoft and have been on my HOA board for five years. I bring the capability to listen to all sides, sometimes conflicting opinions, engage experts in different areas, identify issues and risks, work with the other council members to identify options and their pros and cons and reach the most effective solution that we can implement for our people. Yes, this will require compromise and I welcome compromise. I am running because I want to see a more prosperous and equitable Seattle and I believe I have the long-term vision to see through to that goal.

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

Agarwal: My stance on public safety is not universally accepted. I believe our police, fire, EMT force should be local. I want to encourage our local youth to join en masse to change the culture of these organizations. I also believe in bringing back local peach officers or community officers who do not carry a firearm. They are the on foot or on bike local presence. Residents in the neighboring few blocks would know them by name and could reach out to them for non-life-threatening emergencies. That said I do not believe in defunding the police. Money is always going to be a constraint. That means we have to prioritize our goal and projects. I do not believe that investment in the First Avenue street-car brings the best return on investment. There are faster alternatives already available on that route including light rail. If I have the option to use those funds and move the Ballard light rail from 2039 to 2034, I will rather do that. I don’t expect most Seattle residents to get rid of their cars till we have a very robust metro transit system. Even then they might want to keep a car for excursions into the Cascades. A robust metro system is at least 20 years away. Since residents are more likely to have cars than not, I want them to park those cars off the streets. I would require apartment complexes and condos to plan and build parking spaces for their residents. Please note, since D3 has so many restaurants and art venues, we would still need street parking for the non D3 patrons of those businesses.

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

Agarwal:Seattle residents feel that their day-to-day needs are not being met or it takes too long. It is not because our city employees are not working their full potential. It is because we are short staffed and /or the processes take too long. I want to address those needs and respond to our residents much faster, especially on their daily needs, construction permits, pothole concerns, bad pavement concerns, graffiti removal, broken cars, thefts, harassment of any kind, traffic concerns. Seattle police is already starting to move money from the heavy firearm they used to purchase. I would move that money to hire part-time local community peace officers, who are non-firearm carrying local community representatives of all ages, whose job is to direct the local populace to non-police resources for non-life threatening concerns.

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)

Agarwal: SPD always travels in vehicles. This does not allow them to have an on street human interaction with the local populace and thus the bond of trust that exists in many countries like UK, Australia, Singapore is broken. I would like to see police going on foot and interacting with the local population. If we see each other as fellow human beings, the trust will increase. Also, a 25- or 30-year-old police officer is not trained in mental health issues. It is unfair to them and to us if we call them for all non-violent or crime issues. I want to develop a network of local part-time community peace officers that route such needs to non-police departments.

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

Agarwal: I believe in high density cities. They are good for economical public transport, economical food availability, economical to support local business. They are good to make cities walkable. Example, Manhattan. Greater Seattle is expected to grow by a million people in the next 15 years. We need 400-600K homes to absorb that increase. Due to our geography, our land is limited. That means we have to grow taller– everywhere. I believe in upzoning across all of Seattle. I also believe that the compromised state law doesn’t go far enough. I would love to see more apartments and condominiums, especially within a few blocks of major public transportation arteries like metro and last mile loop buses.

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?

Agarwal: I want to address homelessness in a compassionate and compartmentalized manner. We have not been successful so far as we have been chasing our tails. We might help a few people get off the street but, in the meantime, more people lose their homes. I want to stem the pipeline — reduce the recent homeless or upcoming homeless so we can address the long-term homelessness more effectively. Most youth homelessness happens when LGBTQIA+ kids are evicted by their families or when foster kids turn 18. I want to continue to support organizations like Lambert House to get such youth off the street and in stable housing, so they have an opportunity to build their lives. Most homelessness in adults is caused to due to economic issues whether old age, job losses or increase in rents. I am for implementing rent control for apartment complexes to reduce the latter. I want to leverage and fund I-135 to build public housing that we can house both old age, recently un-homed and people likely to lose their homes in the near future, It would also help in housing our service provides- teachers, nurses, grocery workers, police, fire officials, EMTS – based on their income and allow them to live locally in the neighborhoods they work. Once we have stemmed the pipeline, we can focus on long term homeless– people with mental health and substance abuse issues. I would convert some of the empty buildings in downtown to both residences as well as mental health and substance abuse hospitals. I would work with public/private partnerships and donors to fund and staff these facilities. the latter will require that we pay the staff a living wage and house them locally. This would be a long and repetitive process with a lot of regression in some individuals till we can convince them to break their habits and seek help. Finally, I also want to create barriers for non-resident homeowners, who buy properties and either keep them empty or do Airbnb or vrbo as this reduces the market supply and raises home prices.

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

Agarwal: I was the first to talk about my Green infrastructure plan– (1) Metro transit with last mile loop buses on 15th, 23rd and MLK (2) Work with Seattle City Light to upgrade electric infrastructure to support electric vehicles. Many other candidates have started leveraging my plan above. Secondly, I want to encourage local youth to join police and fire departments en masse and change the culture. I want part-time local community peace officers who keep in touch with their neighborhoods and direct non-life-threatening concerns to other departments than police. I want to address local concerns like potholes, bad pavements, graffiti, broken hours in a much time sensitive manner.

Q: How would you support lidding I-5?

Agarwal: I support lidding I-5. it could become the new arts and environment center connecting downtown and First Hill and Capitol Hill. I recommend using the lid to build gardens, with walkways and bike paths. I would like to see an amphitheater, a skateboard ramp park, and a graffiti wall for artists can paint on and which rains clears it off. I want it to be both a walk friendly connector as well as a destination.

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?

Agarwal: Honestly, I am a humble citizen. I do not want to see my statue. I would be happy in my afterlife knowing that I did good for the people and that the fruits of my labor and vision are persisting.

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