Today Councilmember Tammy J. Morales (District 2) released the following statement, reflecting on her last day in office representing District 2:

I want to take the opportunity to send one last message with my platform and share a few things in my heart to the people of District 2 and our beloved city. January 6th is a date that will forever be remembered with the solemn understanding that our democracy can come under attack by the will of a few. Across the US, we see how the priorities of the wealthiest individuals in our country dictate policy at the expense of all working people. It is with this understanding that I urge us to support each other by engaging at every level of government because our rights and autonomy depend on it.

I first ran for office in 2015 after seeing communities across the South End and the CID get displaced by higher costs of living amid rampant gentrification. As a trained planner, I knew this displacement was preventable and felt I had something different to offer from the direction the city had been moving. After losing by just 354 votes, I knew immediately I would run again and was overjoyed to win in 2019.

Then, just 3 months into taking office, everything changed. In March 2020, the nation was directed to shut down amidst a global pandemic and suddenly we had to shift to governing while isolating to protect our neighbors. Just two months later, we experienced a racial uprising compounded with our global economic crisis. The pandemic and subsequent protests for racial justice highlighted the existing inequities within our systems and people across industries—business, healthcare, non-profit, even government— had to reckon with these inequities. We had a choice: perpetuate the status quo or build something new together.

Throughout the past five years, my office passed 28 laws – ranging from groundbreaking tenants’ rights, to consumer protections, police accountability, small business protections, equitable mobility, reproductive health protections, progressive revenue, and more. Some of my proudest moments include: 

• Passing the JumpStart progressive revenue tax to include the Equitable Development Initiative, the City’s only anti-displacement project fund, and our Green New Deal 
• During the first few months of COVID: passing the small business stabilization fund, coordinating the opening of a new COVID testing site in D2, and instituting hazard pay for grocery workers 
• When Roe v Wade was overturned, we acted swiftly to ensure people receiving abortions and gender affirming care would be protected in Seattle
• We oversaw the development of and secured funding for Seattle’s Social Housing Developer 
• We codified the City’s historic Race and Social Justice initiative as the Race and Social Justice Ordinance
• We passed the Complete Streets Ordinance to ensure more government responsibility for equitable mobility for all
• We passed historic tenant protections (e.g. eliminating the just cause eviction loophole, passing a $10 late fee cap, expanding tenant relocation assistant protections, and the winter eviction moratorium)
• We oversaw the development of a CID Resource Guide with the Department of Neighborhoods and Human Services Department to support unhoused and low-income people in the neighborhood
• We secured millions of dollars for new sidewalks, traffic-calming home zones, pedestrian improvements, and bike lanes in D2
• And we seeded the Generational Wealth Building work at the City. 

We also secured hundreds of millions of dollars to invest back into D2 and across the city, and wrote countless letters of support every year for state and federal funding on behalf of D2 organizations. There wasn’t a day when my pen didn’t meet some form of paper— whether to sign official documents, take detailed notes on a bill or budget item, or to write cards to folks to commemorate the brilliance we have across the district.

My team and I worked around the clock, often sacrificing kids’ practices, family dinners, weekends, and more, to make sure that we did everything in our power to show up authentically for the 105,000 people, 40,000+ households in the district. And there are still many instances where we wish we could have done more.

Today, I write this exactly 10 years after I decided to run for this office to serve the people of District 2. I knew this was the way I wanted to serve my community, and I tried to give it everything that was in me.

Throughout the last five years that I worked in City Hall, I was well aware that I did not work alone, but that you were working here with me. The victories we won are indeed your victories, and please know that I will continue fighting to defend them alongside you as I depart this office.

It has been the opportunity of a lifetime to serve you. Thank you. 

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