SOCR 2018 Housing Discrimination Testing The Seattle Office of Civil Rights (SOCR) conducts testing every year to determine the prevalence of racism and bias in our housing and employment sectors. Also called “affirmative testing,” this strategy gives the City an opportunity to do outreach and education for people in violation of the law, intentionally or […]

Councilmembers M. Lorena González, Teresa Mosqueda, Lisa Herbold and Mike O’Brien, transmitted a letter to Mayor Jenny Durkan, expressing their deep disappointment at her refusal to honor the original intent of how all revenue collected from the Sweetened Beverage Tax (SBT) would be invested.  Instead, the Mayor has set off a false alarm amongst the non-profit community that is unnecessary, inaccurate and […]

Councilmember Kshama Sawant (District 3, Central Seattle) issued the following statement today in response to the State Court of Appeals ruling on Seattle’s Tax the Rich (income tax) legislation – Ordinance 125339 – sponsored by Councilmembers Sawant and Herbold, which passed unanimously by City Council in 2017: “Yesterday’s court ruling on our ‘Tax the Rich’ […]

Councilmember Lisa Herbold (District 1, West Seattle – South Park) issued the following statement today in response to the State Court of Appeals ruling on a municipal income tax on those with high incomes. “Two years ago my colleagues and I unanimously passed legislation to tax people with high incomes. In doing so we created […]

LGBTQ Inclusive Services in Homelessness Services & Ingersoll Report Last year I sponsored a Statement of Legislative Intent that requested Seattle’s Human Service Department  (HSD) to submit guidelines to make sure that the providers with whom the City contracts are offering services and have policies that are inclusive of LGBTQ recipients of those services.  The […]

Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda (Position 8, Citywide), Chair of the Council’s Housing, Health, Energy and Workers’ Rights Committee, and her Council colleagues unanimously passed in an 8-0 vote an ordinance that would give annual inflation adjustments to providers contracted through the Human Services Department, after over a decade of this issue being raised by non-profit providers.  […]

–Councilmember M. Lorena González, chair of the Gender Equity, Safe Communities, New Americans & Education Committee, joined community leaders and other elected officials today to reaffirm that Seattle is a Welcoming City, with protocols and policies in place to ensure city employees do not share sensitive personal data when interacting with U.S. Immigration and Customs […]

I sent the following letter on Tuesday July 9th, 2019 urging the CEO of Cascade Public media urging him to recognize the decision to form a union by the workers at Crosscut and KTCS. Dear Robert Dunlop, CEO Cascade Public Media: As a Seattle City Councilmember and an elected representative of the city’s working people, […]

Councilmember Kshama Sawant (District 3, Central Seattle) shared excerpts from an open letter addressed to the CEO of Cascade Public Media, underscoring her support of Crosscut and PBS KCTS 9 journalists and employees efforts to form a union, and urging management to voluntarily recognize the union.   Sawant, after having successfully supported other unionization efforts […]

To Cadence Real Estate, Chris Garvin, Barret Johnston, John Garvin:  I am writing to again urge you to transfer the building-based section 8 subsidies to  another building in the Central District, to allow your tenants to remain in their  communities when you demolish their homes.   My office has done outreach and found a not-for-profit affordable […]