D2 Council Race Unpacked, Crosswalks Hacked, and will the Virginia Inn get Axed?

[00:00:10] Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Seattle Nice. I'm David Hyde with Erica C. Barnett of Publicola. Erica, I'm just curious about, does the C still stand for crank or is that change? Always, forever. Always, forever. Always and forever. All right, there we go. There's some other she-words I can think of. Oh, jeez, jeez. Oh, no. Also with us. This is the origin of the phrase. This is not the United Kingdom. Also with us, political consultant and podcaster Sandeep Kaushik and Sandeep,

[00:00:39] in the spirit of this question, what is your middle initial? I have no middle initial, David. I have no middle name. Sandeep blank Kaushik. I think many people have probably called you that. Well, you see what you get, yeah. On today's show, a story that made international news, Seattle Crosswalks Hacked with an AI Jeff Bezos voice. Also, a Seattle institution that's near and dear to some of our hearts could be closing, so we'll be talking about that in mournful tones.

[00:01:08] But first, the race for District 2 in South Seattle, one of the most progressive in the city, Mayor Bruce Harrell, the first to represent District 2. Then it was progressive council member Tammy Morales, who resigned last year. Mark Solomon is now our District 2 representative, but basically he's a placeholder.

[00:01:26] And you've been writing about this, talking to, I think, three or four of the candidates who have now thrown their hats into the District 2 ring, including Jamie Fackler, who doesn't want Seattle to become a playground for the rich. Yeah, I mean, too late, right? But yeah, I've been interviewing the candidates for District 2. And, you know, I mean, there's quite a few viable candidates in this race. One of them is Jamie Fackler. He is a city employee.

[00:01:55] He works for the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections as a building inspector. And he is also a leader in the ProTech 17 union, which is the biggest union that represents city employees. And, you know, he's kind of, you know, he's a working class guy who, you know, has an interesting background, has kind of bounced back and forth from Seattle to Bellingham and other places over the years.

[00:02:19] But, you know, he talked about exactly what you said, wanting to, you know, make this a place where people who, you know, do not have a college degree can work, where people can, you know, kids can get educated in the trades and make a good income. And, you know, where people are not losing their homes during the potential upcoming recession. So he's really making kind of a working class pitch to voters.

[00:02:43] And, you know, he's one of actually three city employees currently running in this race, which is kind of, I don't know if that's unprecedented, but it's a lot of people with specific city experience. Is Fackler running kind of an urbanist position when it comes to trying to make the city more affordable for all? Or is he more nostalgic? I would not say he is more nostalgic. I mean, he is nostalgic in the sense that we talked about Seattle in the 90s quite a bit and didn't make it into our interview because I didn't want to look nostalgic.

[00:03:14] But, you know, I mean, I think that he is, in fact, he is an urbanist. You know, he works at the city department that does a lot of that that creates a lot of the red tape that makes housing difficult to build. And I think he wants to, you know, clear away some of the regulations that, you know, just the pile on of regulations that make it very expensive. But he is also in favor of increasing the amount of housing that's allowed in the city through the comprehensive plan, which the city is working on right now.

[00:03:43] And so, you know, I think all three of the candidates that I've spoken to so far, you know, sort of at least talking to me, have been in that urbanist lane. I think that is just becoming kind of de rigueur or whatever. Although, of course, we saw a lot of candidates run in the last election for city council who said that they were in favor of more housing. And then some of them have backed down since. But but yeah, I would say that Jamie is is in that lane. Where was Jamie on public safety stuff in your conversation, Erica?

[00:04:12] He said, you know, we need if there's a burglary, if there's domestic violence, you know, there are reasons that we need police. But, you know, I pressed all three candidates on where where they would support cuts and whether, you know, SPD would be sacrosanct the way that it has been in the past because the city is facing a budget crisis. And he said, no, they would not be. You know, he said everybody should have to tighten their belt if we're looking at an austerity budget.

[00:04:38] But again, you know, there's there's a difference, I think, between what candidates say and what they end up doing, because I will say, you know, another candidate that I talked to, Adonis Duxworth, also said that, you know, nothing would be off the table, as did I think the third candidate I talked to, Eddie Lynn. But what tends to happen is candidates may say things like that.

[00:04:58] But then when they're on the council, you know, it is very, very difficult politically to to cut the cops, especially since people like Sandeep have demonized the very concept of defunding the police by eliminating vacant positions and things like that. Abso-fucking-lutely. Yes. Yeah, we got to have those. We got to have those empty seats. Yes. They're valuable empty seats. I want to I want to strangle abolition in its crib. Yeah.

[00:05:26] So nothing, nothing, nothing's only had good experience with cops. Yes, that's not true. But I have some horror stories, but nothing's off the table, meaning it's sitting on the table and I don't plan to touch it or something, potentially, depending on who we're talking about. All right. Another candidate, one of whom you just mentioned, Erica Adonis Duxworth, the stranger calling him the coolest guy ever to run for city council, which may or may not mean they're planning to endorse him.

[00:05:53] But Sandeep, what can you tell us about Adonis Duxworth? You know, he's an S.D. He's an S.D. employee, but was, I think, at least until very recently, if not still so. He's the mayor's transportation advisor. So has been kind of up in the at City Hall in the in the mayor's policy shop. And yeah, he's a he's interesting guy. He's a Arden skate punk kind of guy, skateboard kind of guy.

[00:06:20] And he's apparently a really, really good golfer. So I'm jealous of him on that front. You're not making him sound cool, though. No. Not with the golf part, but the skate part. I know. Well, he makes he makes his own music and stuff. I think now Adonis is a he's a cool dude. Like he's much cooler than any of us, which is a low bar. Yeah. It's pretty cool. I mean, you and I are not very cool.

[00:06:45] But the reason I was asking about, you know, and so he's he's obviously got a lot of experience on transportation policy stuff, but and city experience. But also, you know, one of the things that he's been talking about is he's been a real advocate for building a skate park down in Rainier Beach, something that he thinks is really necessary to help kind of engage youth down there and stuff like that.

[00:07:11] So he was like like three of the four candidates. He was an applicant for the appointment that Mark Solomon got back in January. So I've I met with first met with Adonis back when he was seeking the appointment and I've had a chance to talk with him a number of times since. I think he's running kind of with a foot in both sort of sort of sort of straddling the line between the kind of left and center left lanes, which is a good place to be in a general election.

[00:07:40] But but I think the challenge there is how do you get through a crowded primary? The skate park issue. I mean, it is it is funny. We talked about this, you know, about Adonis's priorities and we talked about, you know, a lot of the wonky stuff that I tend to bring to interviews. And and at the end of our interview, I was like, so is there anything I didn't ask about, you know, standard question? And he was like, well, I'm a little offended that you didn't ask about skating.

[00:08:04] And I was like, I was like, man, like every other interview, you know, is all about skating because I think, you know, perhaps people let the subject steer the interview sometimes. And so but yeah, I mean, the Rainier Beach Skate Park is definitely kind of a, you know, a micro issue in terms of the whole city that that he is, you know, really, really passionate about.

[00:08:27] And, you know, and said that when he was a kid and he was starting to kind of, you know, get in trouble, he he turned to skating and and and golf as well. And, you know, he said the community kind of rallied around him and that was, you know, a real place to go. I mean, I this he did not say this, but I think was implied that it's like, you know, not traditional sports. It's not kind of the usual pathways that people steer, you know, wayward youth into. And I mean, I think it really changed his life.

[00:08:55] Especially a young African-American kid, you know, in South Seattle. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to I'm going to sound super uncool just by saying I was a skateboarder, you know, my youth and I wouldn't associate it with wholesomeness. Well, you're too uptight and whitey for for a daughter's. I'm saying I was a skateboarder and kind of a derelict. But anyway, it's interesting. I'm just but also like, you know, during our interview, we talked about graffiti, which is kind of you guys can read the interview when it comes out next week.

[00:09:23] But but, you know, he has some kind of nuanced and, you know, interesting perspective on graffiti that I think is a little different than the mayor's. Oh, so. So, yeah. More more pro graffiti. We could use a little bit more graffiti. Yeah, I would say so. We could use a little bit more, you know, hipster derelict on the council. I mean, you know, my attitude on graffiti is let it grow. But but that is that is not a widely shared perspective in the city of Seattle.

[00:09:53] Hipster skateboarder, slightly pro graffiti. And but someone who the business community would potentially end up backing. Well, well, yeah. So what's interesting, first of all, the reason I had asked about Jamie about his positions on public safety is that the other three candidates in the race, while they're kind of running in somewhat different lanes, all of them, all of them are pretty moderate sounding on public safety. Right.

[00:10:17] I think Jamie may be a little bit a little bit more to the left, though, even he's not sounding super, you know, defund abolition. And that's nobody is because that was a moment five. Yeah. And that's an interesting change. Right. And I don't think it's interesting anymore because it was five years ago. I do think I do think it's kind of interesting. But but but, you know, I think all all of whether it's Adonis or Eddie Lynn, who we'll talk about a minute or Takayo Eater, the other candidate. They're all saying, you know, we actually need police. We need more police presence.

[00:10:45] You know, we need to people need to feel safe. And they don't always do down in parts of the district in southeast Seattle. So that's going to go out on a limb, though, Sandeep, and say there is not one candidate that runs in that one viable candidate in any race that's going to say we don't need more police. And you should probably stop being surprised by that because that is not that is not public safety is on the table. Even in 2023, we had candidates saying that, right, who got through the primary and were, you know, look at District five.

[00:11:14] Erica, another candidate you've written about, Sandeep, just mentioned Eddie Lynn, a former Perkins Coie lawyer who is now in the city attorney's office. So why does Eddie Lynn want to be the next D2 city council member? So Eddie Lynn, as Sandeep mentioned, is also one of the people that sought the appointment that Mark Solomon got for District two. So he is he is running again or seeking the seat again.

[00:11:40] And, you know, we talked last week and he you know, he said that he would prioritize getting people off the street. There are some things that are going to be off the table for him and budget cuts like housing, like, you know, particularly homeless shelters. And he also said that he's really motivated by the problem of gun violence in southeast Seattle. I actually talked about gun violence with all the candidates I've spoken to so far.

[00:12:05] But Lynn said that he would like to propose potentially a levy to pay for youth violence prevention and gun violence response programs that could not. He mentioned this specifically that unlike Jumpstart, which has been rated, you know, for all kinds of reasons that it was not supposed to go to. Originally, a levy can't be. I mean, it's a dedicated funding source in a way that council budget priorities are not.

[00:12:33] And so that was that was an interesting, you know, priority that he said he would actually put money behind. But, you know, I mean, I think all these candidates are they're not that far apart from each other. I have not talked to to Coyote Eater yet. And Sandeep maybe knows can talk a little bit more about her. But they are they are not that far apart in terms of, you know, their positions on public safety, their positions on the need for progressive revenue. I mean, all three said that they would support progressive revenue of some kind or another.

[00:13:00] So, again, let's see what happens, you know, with whoever's elected and if they follow through on that. But, yeah, it was an interesting conversation. And we published that on Public Call last week. Support for Seattle NICE comes from Hearth Protection, offering commercial protective services with trauma-informed, community-oriented and evidence-based physical security practices,

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[00:14:00] Sadiq Takayo Eaterer, a business owner, karate teacher. But would she chop government spending? Yeah. I haven't talked to Takayo recently, but I did have a couple of conversations with her back when she was seeking the appointment. One of the, you know, three or the four that sought the appointment. And I think Takayo is definitely running in a kind of more moderate lane overall. I think Erica's right.

[00:14:26] The differences between the candidates are not, you know, super stark. It's not like there's, you know, massive differences. But there are, you know, differences of degree and differences of emphasis and things like that. And I do think probably Takayo is going to be kind of more skeptical of going for revenue increases first before some, you know, belt tightening on the budget.

[00:14:50] She's definitely a strong advocate and proponent for improving and increasing public safety. She thinks that's a real. And when we say public safety, I do want to get away from that. Let's specify that term. You mean police. I do. Yeah, I do. I mean, obviously, public safety is a broad umbrella term. It can mean a lot of things. So, yeah. But I do think she's going to be more supportive of increasing police and stuff like that. Yes. Is she the most law and order candidate?

[00:15:19] Well, you know, like I said, they're all whether you, you know, I think Eddie Lynn is probably a little farther left on on the economic stuff and stuff like progressive revenue. But when you get to the cops and public safety stuff, you know, they're all kind of sounding. They're all singing from the same songbook right now, it seems to me. I, you know, maybe she's a little bit more law and order than than Adonis and Eddie.

[00:15:45] I probably, you know, but but it's a it's a matter of degree. OK, I'm going to make a prediction. One of these four candidates is likely to win, but I don't know which one. And District 2, as we mentioned, one of the more progressive, if not the most progressive district in the city. Although, as Erica points out, the international district a little less so than it had been. But anyway, like what do you all think? Who's who's got the right message or what is the right message for District 2?

[00:16:12] I mean, I think, you know, as as as you all know, I don't like to make predictions because I'm usually wrong and I don't like being wrong. But, you know, I mean, I think all these candidates are viable. I don't think that they have distinguished themselves from each other all that much yet. And so. So, yes, I just I really hesitate to make a prediction.

[00:16:31] I think Adonis, you know, could get the mayor's endorsement so that, you know, would help with the folks who are going to be inclined to vote for for Harold, who's also going to be on the ballot this year. You know, he hasn't gotten that endorsement yet, I believe. Let's see. Jamie Fackler has gotten Tammy Morales's endorsement.

[00:16:50] And and I mean, I'm not going to go through all the endorsements, but, you know, I think that we will get a better sense of kind of where these candidates fall as both they start having to speak more publicly, but also as the endorsements start coming in. Mm hmm. Yeah, that tells you a lot. I mean, we're not even at filing deadline yet, which is next month. I agree. The endorsements do tell us a lot and really then are going to help shape sort of public perceptions of the race like that.

[00:17:17] Just that Morales endorsement alone sort of sort of, you know, I think brands Jamie probably to his advantage, at least in the primary as the you know, as the most progressive candidate running. Right. Because that's where Tammy was on the council very over onto the left progressive side. So, you know, and so we're waiting to see how this all shakes out. But I do think the mayor's endorsement, if he does choose to endorse in this race, is going to be important.

[00:17:43] I do think probably if that happens, Adonis, who worked for the mayor, likely has the inside track on that. But also, like, where's labor going to go? You know, I was hearing chatter a few weeks ago that, you know, some of at least some of progressive labor was leaning towards Eddie. But now with Jamie in the race, does that change scramble that dynamic? There's other elements of labor. I thought I was hearing, you know, preliminary chatter might be more interested in Adonis.

[00:18:11] So there's a lot yet to shake out here about where big constituencies, where's the business community going to go? I think more likely, you know, less likely to Jamie or Eddie, maybe more likely towards Adonis and potentially to Kaio. But we'll have to see. All right. Now cue the sad music.

[00:18:34] I'm trying to think what would be like Man and Butterfly, maybe like that, because we are talking about an institution near and dear to Sandeep Kaushik's heart and possibly Erica's as well. The Virginia Inn Restaurant operating on the corner of Virginia and First Avenue since 1903. And now it might be closing due to a dispute with their landlord, which is the Pike Place Market Preservation Development Authority. So Sandeep, why should we care? And is all hope lost?

[00:19:04] Yeah, the VI, the Virginia Inn, is a real Seattle institution. And I think, you know, widely beloved. I mean, I'm certainly one of those. My office, before we moved to Pioneer Square in 2013, prior to that, my office used to be in the Terminal Sales Building, which is at First in Virginia, right across the street from the VI. So the VI was kind of my, you know, I don't know, my cafeteria and my watering hole, right?

[00:19:30] The place where I could be found on many a happy hour, you know, one of those front tables in the VI or over in the bar having a 5 p.m. I'm not sure Madam Butterfly is enough to be running under this. Keep going. Yeah, but it's, you know, it is. It's been around forever. It's an iconic institution. And I think there's been a lot in my world, a lot of people, you know, very unhappy and starting to organize to try to help save the VI.

[00:19:59] Very unhappy at the news. The owner announced last week that they were shutting down on April 27th because of this lease dispute. So there is a organized effort underway right now to kind of try to get the owner and the PDA to, you know, find some better resolution here. Maybe extend their lease temporarily while looking for a solution that doesn't involve closing the place. So we'll see what happens. But yeah, right now we're a couple of weeks away from the place shutting down. So it looks pretty grim.

[00:20:30] Erica, what do you think? Well, so Sandeep mentioned that his office was in the terminal sales building. Our office, Publicola's first office, was inside Sandeep's office. That is true. Back in 2009. And then we moved up to one of the upper floors with a view of the water. And yeah, the VI, I mean, that was also, you know, it's a little, it's gotten a little pricey. I was just there a few weeks ago, actually.

[00:20:56] And, you know, I'm sure that has something to do with the cost of the lease. But yeah, I mean, I love the VI. It's an institution. It used to be kind of a Politico hangout. I don't know if that's true anymore, but I remember interviewing candidates for King County Executive there. And, you know, I've probably, this is probably a sore spot that I don't want to remind anybody in Dow Constantine's office about. But that is the year that we endorsed Ross Hunter over Dow Constantine.

[00:21:26] So yeah, a long time ago. But it's definitely an institution. Sounds like the dispute is over some kind of payment that they want, that the PDA wants. The Virginia end to make over and above its lease amount. And they're saying that they can't afford it. So, you know, I hope that they work it out. I mean, I don't want to be like all vanishing Seattle about a business. But this like truly has been there for more than 100 years.

[00:21:54] It's not like it's being kicked out for, you know, the building to be raised. I mean, it's just going to be, you know, an empty storefront or an empty bar front, you know, that that used to be this institution. I mean, it can be filled again. There can be new institutions. You know, no institution is sacred. But but I'll be sad if it goes away. Just to be what's the word? An imp here a little bit. You know, when an institution that we personally care about me, Sandeep or Erica, it's all

[00:22:24] sentimentality and caterwalling. Have we been caterwalling? Or have I been being sentimental? Oh, Sandeep has. Sandeep has. You try to avoid it. I feel like I'm mewling more than I'm caterrolling. There you go. But whenever, you know, sort of a longstanding Seattleite exhibits nostalgia for kind of the way things used to be, Ubinists typically don't have a lot of sympathy for that emotion. I'm not talking about the politics or the policy.

[00:22:50] I'm talking about like the emotion of nostalgia that you're both expressing for a certain past that you have memory for. I'm super not. 2009 is not that long ago. I was a grown ass woman. And I just think like, you know, you could both open yourselves up to sort of identification with others. You're doing that. You're opening us up. Progress. Because I'm open to your nostalgia here and I'm open to others nostalgia when it comes to

[00:23:18] other aspects of the way things used to be. I don't think urbanism, you know, requires that kind of rigidity or in this case, hypocrisy. So that's my point. I mean, this is not this is, again, not an urbanist issue at all. I didn't say it was. You keep saying urbanism. You said urbanism like five times. Well, in the in the instances where you're talking about other issues where people feel nostalgic and skeptical about progress and they and they think about, you know, gosh,

[00:23:45] the way things used to be rather than just simply seeing them as reactionary misguided. Why don't we identify with that to some extent and say, well, yeah, what do we do about that? That those feelings are legitimate, even if you don't agree with the policy solutions. Yeah, I mean, I've written a lot about this and and I've never said those feelings aren't legitimate. I mean, in other situations either. You know, I do think nostalgia can be fascism. And I you know, and so I think that we should definitely like avoid nostalgia to the extent that we can.

[00:24:14] But like I said, I'm not being nostalgic about the Virginia and I was like in my 30s by the time I worked anywhere near it. And so this is not like, oh, my God, my college years, it was so much better when I was 20 or whatever. I just think, you know, when when a hundred plus year old institution is going away, then, you know, we need to say, is there an easy solution here? And and if the easy solution is working up better lease terms, then let's look at that.

[00:24:41] Let's see if I mean, obviously, it's not simple, but, you know, but maybe it can be done. But yeah, I don't I don't think I'm expressing any nostalgia for the way things used to be. I mean, I don't like I am. I think Virginia's great. And I liked it when there was less traffic. Sandy, go ahead. Moss back Barnett here. Yeah. I mean, all my favorite like if I'm nostalgic for anything, it's Cafe Septiem on Broadway. But like but but also like who cares? Shit changes.

[00:25:10] My God, I hadn't thought of Cafe Septiem. How long ago was I mean, I don't know. Like Cafe Septiem. I was back in our stranger days. But I will say this. This is now reminding me of those two Muppet characters. Yeah, David. So I will say this. Nostalgia is indeed a hell of a drug. Right. And and to your point, David, I do think it can, you know, bleed over. I don't know whether it turns into fascism, but it can certainly turn into nimbyism. Right. Which is that was Erica's point.

[00:25:38] Not what you're kind of kind of implying here. But nostalgia, it's you know, I mean, any drug, if you abuse it can, you know, turn into a into a negative. But but actually having some affection and attachment for the kind of places and spaces and businesses and things that give the city its identity and its vibrancy and its color. And it's, you know, that's normal and good.

[00:26:05] But also, you never want to see a small business shutdown, particularly a viable one over some kind of, you know, tangential dispute like this where people are going to lose their jobs. Patrons are going to lose the opportunity to go there and stuff like that. That just kind of sucks. Right. Like, so so I don't think this is some kind of, you know, you know, closet nimbyism on my part or other parts to say the Virginians a beloved institution and we should try to save it.

[00:26:32] Just it's pure nostalgia, which is which is hypocritical if we're going to be choosing others of being neo-fascists when they're being nostalgic. But that's my point of view. I think we should be open to the emotion of nostalgia and open to the idea that skepticism towards progress is sometimes right. You know, like the environment hasn't improved a ton in the last 50 years. It's gotten worse. Like, you know, that there used to be more fish and animals and birds around. You're making a global point. And I don't think I know.

[00:27:00] I don't think nostalgia actually has anything to do with fish. Well, it does. I'm going to make a shark point here, though. But I will say that so because I just made the defense of nostalgia, but I will say cities are like sharks. Right. They have to keep moving in order to, like, breathe and survive. And, you know, you cannot freeze a city at one moment in time. Straw man argument. Straw man argument. Anyway. But again. But again. Well, yeah. Talk about a straw man argument.

[00:27:30] Your entire argument is is built on sand. But it's built on a. But when you're talking about your explanation of the when you're talking about part of place, when you're talking about part of Pike Place Market, which the Virginian is. I mean, if you're saying, like, let's just like tear it down and who cares? I mean, you're saying, let's just tear down the market. I mean, and there there definitely was that we had that debate. And I think the market won. And it is an institution in Seattle.

[00:27:57] And I think that you, David, would more than, you know, as much as anyone would defend the market against demolition. Well, this is part of the market. And it is an institution in the market as much as like the Athenian is. And so I agree. I'm not a nostalgic. I try. At least I try very hard not to be a nostalgic person. I am not from here. I am from from a city that, you know, changes all the time. And it which is Houston, if people don't remember.

[00:28:23] And, you know, so I I I I reject the notion that I have some nostalgia for the Virginia Inn. You may not. You may not. All right. So that is my motivator for saying that they should probably try to work out some lease terms. So this hundred three year old business can can stick around. I think it would be OK if you did did feel some nostalgia for the Virginia is my point.

[00:28:46] OK, so now I do want to move on, though, to the most exciting story, I think, of the month that some clever person or people or group. We don't know who hacked Seattle's crosswalks, a number of crosswalks to play an A.I. Jeff Bezos voice. Hi, I'm Jeff Bezos. This crosswalk is sponsored by Amazon Prime with an important message. You know, please, please don't tax the rich. Otherwise, all the other billionaires will move to Florida, too.

[00:29:16] I want to get it. Seattle Department of Transportation is saying that the hacking is under investigation. But the thing that this reminds me of is the Barbie Liberation Organization in the early 1990s, if you remember this, where they switched the voice boxes in talking G.I. Joe's and Barbie dolls. And I don't know if you know this, but the guy who started that organization went on to found the Yes Men. He was like a Reed College art major. Sure. And I do know that. Yeah.

[00:29:45] I love this kind of protest action. But I'm curious what you all think. I mean, I love it, too. I think it's great. And I think that it is very funny and very Seattle that the Department of Transportation, as you said, they kind of issued this somber statement about how seriously they're taking this and they're going to get to the bottom of it.

[00:30:02] And it's like, I mean, at a time when we are facing budget cuts of hundreds of millions of dollars, the federal government is pulling grants that are going to dramatically impact incredibly important social services here in Seattle. This is, you know, this is this is a priority of the Department of Transportation is to get to the bottom of these crosswalk hacks.

[00:30:24] I just I think it's, you know, that the Seattle official government doesn't see any humor in this is peak Seattle. I'm I'm with you, Erica. I thought that the S.DOT response to this sounded very, very huffy and uptight and they could have just sort of laughed it off. I mean, it is a funny, clever protest. I mean, I definitely was thinking like how it makes me think, how easy is it to hack these like crosswalks? And like, can we do that?

[00:30:52] GeekWire linked to a YouTube video that that kind of tells you how to do it. All right. Well, there you go. So so when I go to like, you know, figure out how to steal a Hyundai, I can also go and hack the crosswalk. You know, we can put some Seattle Nice messaging into the crosswalks. Let's do it. Listen to Seattle Nice. Jeff Bezos says, listen to Seattle Nice. Right. Anyway, I thought it was it's clever, funny as a way of protest.

[00:31:19] And frankly, like we're in a era where we I know we don't talk about national politics on this podcast, but we are in an era of Trump 2.0 where we are. I feel like clever, smart attention getting protest is going to be of increasing importance over the next few years. So good on whoever did that. That was smart and funny. Fandeep is for protest unless they're against police funding. That's right. Well, it depends on what you not.

[00:31:46] Every protest is John Lewis on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. I'm sorry to say like, yeah, yeah, there's there's there's dumb shit that you could protest in favor of. Absolutely. But if you're going to do it, switch the voice boxes. That's what I say. Hopefully these people don't get disappeared. That would be the big concern. Yeah. They're going to get where is Seattle's gulag? Where's our sister city? That was like Bergen, Norway. Yeah. Yes. The Norwegian gulag. We're going to send that.

[00:32:17] Oh, that's funny. That's so funny. And it's and it's it's like it's like one of those luxury luxury prisons where you get. Yes. Like better. Yeah. It's not a gulag. It's a sauna. Everybody gets sent to the Norwegian sauna. All right. That's it for another edition of Seattle Nice. She's Erica C. Barnett. He's Sandeep Kaushik. I'm David Hyde. Our editor is Quinn Waller. And thanks, everybody, so much for listening.