Author: Clay Showalter (Clay Showalter)

On October 19, 2015, the Seattle City Council passed a resolution in solidarity with the work of Planned Parenthood. This follows last year’s resolution calling on the federal government to repeal all bans on public coverage for abortion, like the Hyde Amendment. More about that resolution can be read here.  With lies, violence, and intimidation, the […]

On October 14, 2015, Councilmembers Licata joined me, Attorney Knoll Lowney, Osman Osman and Sahro Farah from the 6511 Rainier Tenant Association, Hana Alici of the Tenants Union of Washington State, and Sharon Lee of the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) to introduce proposed legislation to ban rent hikes in buildings that are not up to code. […]

On October 12th, 2015, Seattle came together to celebrate our second annual Indigenous Peoples’ Day. When I first took office in early 2014, indigenous activists had been trying to secure sponsorship for the Indigenous Peoples’ Day resolution – without success. My office responded to the community immediately. Together with Matt Remle, the author of last year’s historic resolution, […]

    After weeks of collaboration with Indigenous Rights activists, on Monday, October 6th, 2014,  the Seattle City Council voted unanimously in favor of Resolution 31538, declaring the second Monday in October “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” in the City of Seattle. It was an honor to work with activists to draft the legislation, and to sponsor […]

This week has marked a series of victories in the movement for high quality affordable housing for all, and against slumlords! In response to notorious slumlord Carl Haglund’s attempt at doubling the rent on the tenants of the Charles Street Apartments, a building wracked with infestations and 225 housing code violations, tenants reached out to my City Council […]

Last year, it was my good fortune to have worked with indigenous community activists on the creation of Indigenous People’s Day in Seattle. By passing this historic resolution, the City of Seattle rejected a celebration of Columbus Day, and honored the history and memory of those who experienced the brutal realities of colonialism and genocide. This […]

Now let’s step up protests to resolve the issues of all his tenants! With the help of Councilmembers Kshama Sawant and Nick Licata, and the Tenants Union of WA, tenants living in the Charles Street Apartments at 6511 Rainier Avenue South organized and fought back against appalling living conditions and circumstances. Tenants have lived with rats, roaches, […]

On Monday, September 28, 2015, Mayor Murray presented his version of the budget for 2016. Once again, it falls far short of what working people need. Check out my response, and join me at City Hall on October 27 for a People’s Budget Town Hall to build the movement for a budget that reflects the needs of ordinary […]

On September 23, 2015, I held a press conference to discuss the visit of Chinese President Xi and present him with an open letter. While President Xi is meeting with executives from corporations such as Uber, Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks, Amazon, DuPont, and Pepsi, the serious problems facing working people in both China and the U.S. […]

On September 21, 2015, the Seattle City Council unanimously adopted a resolution committing to a vision of zero youth detentions within Seattle. Congratulations to the activists and community members who have built such a powerful movement against youth detention and the school-to-prison pipeline.  I strongly support this resolution, but words are not enough. Only months ago, every other Councilmember […]