Category: Councilmember Sawant

Stop Cruel and Inhumane Sweeps After years of neglect, massive cuts to social services, and unrelenting rent hikes throughout the City, Seattle’s homelessness crisis continues to spiral out of control. Volunteers for 2016’s One Night Count found 4,505 unsheltered people in King County, with 2,942 out on the streets of Seattle. That’s a 40% increase in homelessness […]

This Saturday, February 6, 2016, marked the 97th Anniversary of the Seattle General Strike. After two years of strict wage controls, workers in Seattle’s shipyards went on strike, demanding living wages for all shipbuilding workers. One hundred and ten local unions, including at least 65,000 workers, voted to join them in solidarity. For one week, […]

In recent weeks, an international group of misogynists (yes, seriously) that call themselves “Return of Kings” online began coordinating meetups around the world for this upcoming weekend. Multiple venues were advertised for Seattle, including the Central Library. It’s an understatement to say that the views that this group hold on women and the LGBTQ community […]

In this week’s issue of Real Change, Councilmembers were asked about the homelessness crisis here in Seattle. For space limitations, I provided abbreviated answers. Longer responses to these critical questions can be read below. 1) What do you want to get done on homelessness in the next year? The Mayor declared homelessness a Civil State of […]

I am deeply saddened to learn about the terrible shooting that took place at a homelessness encampment in south Seattle. My condolences go to the families and friends of the victims. We don’t yet know everything about the circumstances around the shooting. What we do know is that this tragedy happened under conditions of homelessness, […]

For months now, much of 23rd Avenue has been blocked off, under construction. Large construction projects like this one very often lead to much-needed street improvements, and are beneficial to the entire community in the long run. But impacts during construction differ. Big businesses have the cash reserves to stay afloat and weather a loss of business […]

On January 19, 2016, representatives of the Mayor’s office came and spoke to Council about their “Encampment Removal Protocols” – a euphemistic expression for escalating sweeps of homeless encampments. The city is demolishing unauthorized encampments, evicting people from the only shelter they can find. Where should these Seattleites go? Shelters are full, and there is a Civil State of Emergency […]