by Rich Smith • May 13, 2021 at 12:05 pm
The cop who ordered other cops to gas a neighborhood on this day will face no discipline from his superiors. RS
In a letter to Mayor Jenny Durkan and Council President Lorena Gonzalez, interim Seattle Police chief Adrian Diaz said he declined the Office of Police Accountability recommendation to discipline the East Precinct commander who ordered cops to launch tear gas and blast balls at a largely peaceful crowd after a tussle over a pink umbrella.
That pink umbrella incident established 11th and Pine as the primary protest zone in Seattle last summer, and transformed the anger about racist police brutality in the US more broadly into anger about the Seattle Police Department s racist police brutality in particular, a grievance that carries on to this day both in the streets and in City Hall.
Textgate: On Friday, the
Seattle Times revealed that not only had Mayor Jenny Durkan s texts from last June gone missing but so had the texts of Seattle Fire Department Chief Harold Scoggins and former Seattle Police Department Chief Carmen Best. Durkan chalked her missing messages up to retention setting issues, while Scoggins said his messages disappeared after password and device management problems. The City Attorney s office is still ascertaining what went wrong with Best s phone. The city has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to find these messages, the
Times reports. Has anyone heard of iCloud?
A solution? Council President Lorena Gonzalez announced today that she and City Attorney Pete Holmes are working on a proposal to create an independent public disclosure entity to deal with the mayor s office. The basic idea is that an independent entity wouldn t be accountable to the mayor and could more freely investigate mayoral records. Critics wonder what c
by Nathalie Graham • Apr 20, 2021 at 11:19 am
Nikkita Oliver (they/them) believes a city investment in peoples basic needs not police will create a truly safe community. Alex Garland
Last summer, during the height of the Black Lives Matter protests, activist and attorney Nikkita Oliver brought Mayor Jenny Durkan onto the steps of Seattle City Hall in front of a crowd of protesters to ask questions about public safety and policing. Unsatisfied with Durkan s canned responses, the crowd drowned her out with chants of Nikkita for Mayor.
But Oliver had no intention of running for mayor or for any public office, really. After placing third in the 2017 mayoral primary, coming in behind Durkan and urban planner Cary Moon, Oliver, the executive director of Creative Justice, focused on making changes from the ground up through community organizing and political education.
by Nathalie Graham • Apr 12, 2021 at 10:20 am
Nelson is all about bringing accountability back to city hall. COURTESY OF THE NELSON CAMPAIGN
Fremont Brewing co-owner Sara Nelson considers herself a progressive small business owner, and she thinks Seattle is missing that small-business voice on its city council. If elected, her main priority will be Seattle s economic recovery. Sponsored Tickets $15-$250. Aphrodesia delivery menu, incredible auction items, live streamed performances.
That s the basic pitch driving her run for Seattle City Council Position 9, the citywide position vacated by Council President Lorena Gonzalez, who is running for Mayor.
Nelson, who has a background as a city council aide, is vying for the seat along with master s student Claire Grant, Gonzalez s chief of staff Brianna Thomas, and activist and lawyer Nikkita Oliver.