A Monday final meeting of Mayor Katie Wilson’s “Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy” transition team has “sold out.”
Monday’s public session at First Hill’s Town Hall Seattle has seen all free tickets claimed. A standby queue will be formed at the venue’s west entrance. Continue reading
(Image: CARE)
A heat map of CARE call for service responses so far in 2026 — Source: seattle.gov
By Brenna Gauchat
Seattle’s expanding force of crisis responders has been busy with calls across the East Precinct including Capitol Hill and the Central District about three times every day so far in 2026. Amy Barden, chief of Seattleâs CARE Department, says there is more to do to continue to address public safety around Capitol Hill.
After taking a brief sip of hot tea, helping a sore throat through a bad cold, Barden answered questions on how the new department plans to help tackle Capitol Hillâs most pressing safety concerns in the new year.
âCapitol Hill is not doing well,â Barden said this week in a community meeting with the GSBA chamber of commerce. âSo it very much frustrates me when leaders are calling âmission accomplishedâ about crime statistics.â
The neighborhoods of Capitol Hill and Central District aren’t the busiest areas for CARE right now. Currently, only around 18% of the department’s responses take place in the East Precinct. The city’s largest precinct geographically leads the way with CARE calls as the North Precinct generates more than 30% of the department’s current activity.
Still, the areas around the core of East Precinct near Broadway and Pike/Pine are some of the busiest for CARE, and responders can be seen there daily. Around 70% of East Precinct CARE work is currently taking place in these densely populated areas near downtown. Continue reading
Quynh Pham of Friends of Little Saigon will lead the Department of Neighborhoods for Wilson (Image: Friends of Little Saigon)
Mayor Katie Wilson has announced a slate of changes at Seattle City Hall as she has selected new leaders — and a few Harrell administration holdovers — to lead key departments.
The changes join Wilson’s earlier selections on some of the higher profile roles including change at Seattle Department of Transportation with the selection of Angela Brady, previously a leader on the city’s Waterfront projects, to take charge at SDOT.
Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes, Seattle Fire Department Chief Harold Scoggins, Office of Emergency Management director Curry Mayer, and CARE Chief Amy Barden are all lined up to continue their leadership roles under Wilson.
Wilson’s last major round of changes and retained directors is below. You can learn more about the new leadership updates here. Continue reading
Tuesday, multiple South Seattle public schools were under “shelter in place” security protocols after unconfirmed reports immigration agents were in the area to target families near the campuses.
As the Trump administration’s ICE battles are felt in Seattle, worries about how the city’s police — and their technology — respond to federal agents is a top concern at City Hall. A planned expansion of the city’s Real Time Crime Center camera system to include parts of Capitol Hill and the Central District is a key area of worry.
Despite the street disorder and public safety issues the new cameras are hoped to address, calls to put the expansion on hold have the mayor’s ear.
Mayor Katie Wilson shares the concerns and is “currently reviewing options,” the mayor’s office told CHS late Tuesday about a pause.
Wilson says she is sorting out what is possible including a proposal from Seattle City Councilmember Eddie Lin to stop the approved and funded expansion and redirect funding to help immigrant communities targeted in the Department of Homeland Security crackdown.
District 3 Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth representing Capitol Hill and the Central District where the new cameras will be located, has supported the Real Time Crime Center growth and joined Mayor Bruce Harrell last year in his push to include the area around the Central District’s Garfield High School in the expansion.
Hollingsworth said Tuesday she is “open to a conversation” about a pause but continues to support the community public safety effort that she says buoyed to Garfield area camera plan in the first place. Continue reading
12th Ave’s Jefferson building (Image: Community Roots Housing)
Seattle City Hall has released its roster of 2025 affordable rental housing investments including funding for the development of three new buildings, plus $33 million to support preservation of existing affordable apartments. The 2025 roster includes support for 2,116 affordable homes across 20 buildings with $155 million in total funding.
The millions, part of the 2025 Notice of Funding Availability, represents Seattle’s strategy to expand the city’s housing supply while trying safeguard existing residents from displacement.
The 2025 investments are distributed across 20 different buildings and focused on new construction, the preservation of existing units, and a first-of-its-kind “stabilization” fund. Continue reading
House our Neighbors campaign leader Tiffani McCoy is now leading the Seattle Social Housing Developer
The Seattle Social Housing Developer is moving forward under a new leader as the Seattle City Council takes up legislation this week that will set the terms for taxpayer funding to power the new development authority to borrow enough to build or acquire 2,000 units of affordable housing over 10 years.
Tuesday morning’s meeting of the council’s Finance, Native Communities, and Tribal Governments Committee chaired by Dan Strauss will take up the ordinance allowing the city to enter into an interlocal agreement with the Seattle Social Housing Developer “to establish the terms and procedures for the implementation, administration, transfer, reporting, and oversight” of the voter-approved social housing tax.
Seattle voters approved formation of the public developer and later a 5% tax on employers who pay any employee more than $1 million in compensation to finance the program. The tax is expected to raise more than $50 million annually. Continue reading
Team Hollingsworth: Hollingsworth, Altshuler, Harris, Park, and Yonan
As District 3’s representative Joy Hollingsworth tackles her first challenges leading the Seattle City Council, she has a new team backing her up.
A new hire for 2026 will bring strategic advising for community relations to Hollingsworth’s office.
Hollingsworth announced Karinda Harris has joined in the advisor role and remains the principal at The Harris Connection, “a venture focused on social capital, strategic connection and authentic engagement.” Hollingsworth says Harris grew up around Beacon Hill and the Central District and worked previously as a community relations manager at Vulcan Real Estate, New Seasons Market, and the City of Seattle.
Harris joins Hollingsworth veterans including Alex Altshuler who serves as director of operations, leveraging experience in civic engagement and non-profit fundraising. Her background includes conducting digital equity research for the Seattle Information Technology Department. Continue reading
A group calling itself the Seattle chapter of the National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression including former District 3 representative Kshama Sawant disrupted the Seattle City Council Tuesday forcing a short recess as they demanded city officials end “all collaboration” with ICE.
The disruptions came amid an hour of public comment Tuesday afternoon as newly elected council president Joy Hollingsworth engaged in dialogue from the dais with the protest crowd and offered to meet privately.
After repeated disruptions, Hollingsworth called the recess. The demonstrators were cleared out of council chambers when proceedings continued. Continue reading
(Image: City of Seattle)
The Bullitt House is available
This week, Mayor Zohran Mamdani moved into Gracie Mansion, the city’s 1799-built Manhattan mayoral residence overlooking Hells Gate.
In Seattle, as Mayor — and Capitol Hill renter — Katie Wilson sets about her goals of creating more housing for more types of people in the city, shouldn’t she also get her own place.
“While the mayor is certainly interested in publicly-owned, permanently affordable, mixed-income housing, I don’t think she’s looking to acquire public property for her own residence,” a Wilson spokesperson tells CHS. Continue reading
A table comparing OEM spending across four cities — SF totals are much higher due to that city’s organization of its 911 call center and EMS resources under its office
Seattle City Council’s public safety committee chair Bob Kettle will lay out his city legislative priorities for the year Tuesday morning in a meeting that will also begin a process to assess Seattle’s Office of Emergency Management.
Seattle spends about a third per capita on its office responsible for “planning and mitigation, disaster response, and recovery” than a similar city like Denver and only a quarter of what Portland budgets for it office, according to a presentation (PDF) for Tuesday’s meeting. Continue reading
