New Poll: Is Seattle's glass half full or still half empty?

[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the latest greatest edition of Seattle Nice with Erica C Barnett

[00:00:16] of Publicola, Hi Erica.

[00:00:18] Hello.

[00:00:19] And political consultant Sandeep Kaushik.

[00:00:22] Hi Sandeep.

[00:00:23] Hello David.

[00:00:24] I'm your referee today, David Hyde, and I just wanted to warn you guys both in advance

[00:00:28] that I'm going to be issuing red cards today, which is something from soccer just to keep

[00:00:33] the podcast running smoothly if necessary.

[00:00:35] So don't make me do it.

[00:00:36] Are we just bypassing the yellow card?

[00:00:38] I thought we'd get yellow cards.

[00:00:40] Straight to red.

[00:00:41] Straight to red, okay.

[00:00:42] Today's topic basically is what the hell is Seattle thinking or at least that's what

[00:00:46] this new Chamber of Commerce commissioned poll claims to be about.

[00:00:51] That's what we're going to be talking about is some new polling for the city.

[00:00:54] We'll be getting into a bit about the new transportation levy towards the end.

[00:00:59] So stay tuned for that.

[00:01:00] I'm just going to point out a few things that I noticed in this poll.

[00:01:03] I guess some good news arguably for the city that most people think the quality of

[00:01:08] life is improving, maybe even some good news for the city council, a 10 percentage

[00:01:13] point jump in the numbers of people who strongly agree with this statement that

[00:01:17] I trust the city council to reform the police without endangering public safety.

[00:01:22] 10 percentage point jump there from last fall.

[00:01:25] Also an increase in the number of people who totally agree with the statement that

[00:01:30] the city has an effective plan to address homelessness, affordability and public

[00:01:33] safety, but that increase, sign deep cash shake is from 15% in September 2023 to

[00:01:39] 17% today.

[00:01:41] So my biggest takeaway from this poll is that 83% of residents basically still

[00:01:45] do not think the city has its shit together when it comes to the biggest

[00:01:48] issues.

[00:01:49] How about you?

[00:01:50] The biggest takeaway from this poll that we are seeing in my opinion is that

[00:01:55] we continue to see growing public support for increased density in the city of

[00:02:01] Seattle.

[00:02:02] I just tweeted about this when I was looking at the poll earlier today.

[00:02:05] The chamber has been doing these index polls every six months for about the

[00:02:09] last two and a half years.

[00:02:11] And so you can see the pattern evolving over time on a variety of these

[00:02:15] issues where they ask the same question in every six months in every poll

[00:02:19] and one thing we are continuing to see in this poll is greater public

[00:02:23] support for increased density in their own neighborhoods.

[00:02:27] And they ask people whether they agree or disagree with this statement.

[00:02:30] All things considered growth and development has been a positive for

[00:02:34] my area.

[00:02:35] Two years ago, 49% of Seattleites agreed with that number.

[00:02:39] Now it's up to 58%.

[00:02:42] And so there's been a steady and really quite rapid increase in Seattle

[00:02:48] voters saying they think that growth has been a net benefit for the city.

[00:02:53] That's a real shift.

[00:02:54] Erica, what do you think?

[00:02:55] That's interesting that that's the biggest takeaway, Sundee.

[00:02:57] But I mean, I completely agree.

[00:02:59] This poll has been showing a steady increase in support for density at

[00:03:04] a time when I would add, I mean, the mayor of Seattle just put out his

[00:03:08] proposed comprehensive plan last month and it really is very timid on

[00:03:13] density.

[00:03:14] And in fact, it proposes quite a bit less density than even most of the

[00:03:18] current city council members said they wanted.

[00:03:20] And so it's quite a contrast, I think between people saying, you know,

[00:03:24] not only do I want more housing in my neighborhood, I also want more

[00:03:28] commercial activity in my neighborhood people, you know,

[00:03:30] I think particularly during the pandemic got used to using amenities

[00:03:34] kind of near their homes and perhaps sort of looked around and

[00:03:37] said, hey, you know, I don't have a corner store anywhere near

[00:03:40] me.

[00:03:41] I would really like that.

[00:03:42] I, you know, would like to be able to go to the drugstore

[00:03:44] without getting in my car.

[00:03:45] And I think there was just a real realization that having that stuff

[00:03:48] in your neighborhood is really nice.

[00:03:50] And so that is also reflected in this poll, which I think is

[00:03:53] really promising, but it's also kind of an illustration of how out

[00:03:56] of step the mayor's office seems to be right now with how much

[00:04:00] people really do want, you know, more neighbors, more commercial

[00:04:04] activity, more to do in their own neighborhoods and not just,

[00:04:07] you know, downtown Seattle, which is what the city is sort

[00:04:10] of monomaniacally focused on right now.

[00:04:12] Yeah, just to build on that.

[00:04:13] I mean, the two other questions in this section of the poll,

[00:04:16] they asked, this is a new question that they haven't asked in

[00:04:18] the past, but we should allow the construction of more retail

[00:04:21] and commercial space in my neighborhood to your point, Erica,

[00:04:23] it's three to two in favor of that.

[00:04:25] And then they used to have a question saying, I support the

[00:04:28] building of new housing in my neighborhood.

[00:04:30] They actually modified that question a little bit here and

[00:04:33] asked it as I support the building of a wider variety of

[00:04:36] housing in my neighborhood, but essentially got the same

[00:04:38] result as they did six months ago, which is, you know,

[00:04:41] pretty overwhelming more than two to one support for that,

[00:04:45] for support for building in this case a wider variety of housing

[00:04:49] or more housing that seemed to get similar results in these

[00:04:52] polls.

[00:04:53] So that's a really remarkable, remarkably high number and that

[00:04:56] is a big shift from where it was even a few years ago.

[00:04:59] And the reason I highlighted that as I think the biggest,

[00:05:02] my biggest takeaway from the poll is because I thought the

[00:05:04] rest of the poll, the results were fairly status quo,

[00:05:06] right?

[00:05:07] I mean, I do think this poll shows that we're continuing

[00:05:10] to see a lot of public concern about the top issues are

[00:05:13] still homelessness and public safety, though I where there is

[00:05:17] a change as concerns around affordability have really jumped

[00:05:20] up and that is now clearly, you know, kind of up there with

[00:05:23] public safety and homelessness as a top tier issue.

[00:05:26] But by and large voters in this poll are saying they are

[00:05:30] really concerned about encampments and want to see them

[00:05:33] cleaned up, you know, they are continue to be concerned

[00:05:36] about questions related to public safety.

[00:05:38] They're very strongly in support of adding more cops and

[00:05:42] SPD.

[00:05:43] Those things are kind of all status quo, I think from what

[00:05:45] we've seen in the last couple of election cycles.

[00:05:47] Yeah, I guess that point kind of gets to my issue with

[00:05:50] sort of polling in general.

[00:05:52] I mean, I think you can look at a lot of very detailed

[00:05:54] questions in this poll, but basically, you know, it

[00:05:57] polls are at best a sense of, you know, what people

[00:06:01] are concerned about for whatever reason, whether it's,

[00:06:03] you know, because they hear about it all the time on

[00:06:06] the nightly news or, you know, or on Reddit and reading

[00:06:09] about it, you know, people have varying concerns over

[00:06:11] time that do not always conform precisely with what

[00:06:15] the city spending priorities are or should be.

[00:06:18] You know, at the same time, I mean, I think that,

[00:06:20] you know, you can look at this poll very broadly as

[00:06:22] kind of a good feeling bad feeling poll about the

[00:06:25] city and where it's going.

[00:06:27] And I think that as the chamber said during the press

[00:06:30] conference about this earlier this week, there is

[00:06:33] cost for optimism.

[00:06:34] Looking at a poll like this, I mean, I tend to be

[00:06:37] pretty skeptical of polling in general just because

[00:06:39] I think people are influenced by a lot of different

[00:06:41] factors and how they feel about the city or what

[00:06:43] issues they are most concerned with.

[00:06:46] And I don't think that we should necessarily base

[00:06:48] policy on polling because, you know, polling

[00:06:51] changes over time and generally, you know, within

[00:06:54] the course of a couple of years, people will

[00:06:56] start to care most deeply about something else.

[00:06:59] For example, one thing that comes up in this poll

[00:07:01] is that people are concerned about affordability,

[00:07:03] which I do think is quite interesting.

[00:07:05] The increase in concerns about affordability

[00:07:08] reflected in this poll, you know, reflect the fact

[00:07:11] that housing prices are getting much higher.

[00:07:13] You know, I don't know to what extent they

[00:07:15] pulled renters but rents are getting higher.

[00:07:18] But, you know, I mean, this is kind of a good

[00:07:21] feelings bad feelings type of poll.

[00:07:23] And in general, you know, people are pretty

[00:07:25] grumpy, but people are always pretty grumpy

[00:07:27] in polls.

[00:07:28] Do they like the city council better?

[00:07:30] I mean, yeah, they like them a little better because

[00:07:32] the majority of the city elected this council.

[00:07:34] So that's kind of, I don't know, a bit of a

[00:07:37] tautological conclusion for a poll.

[00:07:39] So I think there are some interesting things

[00:07:42] that when you get into some of the more detailed

[00:07:44] questions but in general, yeah, people are

[00:07:46] slightly less grumpy about the city and

[00:07:48] they're slightly more worried about their

[00:07:50] own ability to afford to live here in the

[00:07:52] future.

[00:07:53] I mean, there's a question in here that's

[00:07:55] about, you know, have you thought about

[00:07:57] moving out of Seattle?

[00:07:59] Have you actively thought about it?

[00:08:01] And that number is always super high.

[00:08:03] And I think one should take it with a huge

[00:08:06] grain of salt since people don't actually

[00:08:08] move out of Seattle and the numbers that

[00:08:10] this would suggest, but it's also just

[00:08:12] kind of a grumpiness measure.

[00:08:14] Yeah, I think it's worth noting.

[00:08:16] I mean, this is not a poll that is telling

[00:08:18] us that like voters are, you know, fat

[00:08:21] and happy in Seattle right now.

[00:08:23] I guess I'm saying there's never been a

[00:08:25] poll like that.

[00:08:26] I don't think that there has ever been

[00:08:28] a poll in the history of Seattle.

[00:08:30] I'm calling it here that, you know,

[00:08:32] that people have said that a majority

[00:08:34] of people have said that things are going

[00:08:36] in the right direction.

[00:08:37] They trust the city council.

[00:08:38] They think that all the policies

[00:08:40] that those bureaucrats at City Hall

[00:08:42] are adopting are good and they just

[00:08:44] love paying taxes and wish they could

[00:08:46] pay more of them, which is another

[00:08:48] question in this poll.

[00:08:49] People hate taxes.

[00:08:50] I don't know about your entire list

[00:08:52] but I can tell you now, admittedly

[00:08:54] you do have to go back to the pre-Covid

[00:08:56] poll, but there was polling where the

[00:08:58] city council had approval ratings,

[00:09:00] you know, that were in the, you know,

[00:09:02] 50% range and where there was

[00:09:04] definitely a much more optimistic

[00:09:07] right track kind of feeling in the

[00:09:09] city of Seattle that we used to see

[00:09:11] in polling.

[00:09:12] So we've been in this kind of state

[00:09:14] of malaise for a few years now

[00:09:16] where the wrong track numbers are still

[00:09:18] being back.

[00:09:19] They eased a little bit in this poll.

[00:09:21] You know, there's some other indications

[00:09:23] that people are a little less, they seem

[00:09:25] to be a little less or kind of static on crime.

[00:09:27] But yeah, the-

[00:09:28] And yet homelessness has gotten,

[00:09:30] I mean, continue to get worse.

[00:09:31] Yeah, but affordability seems to have

[00:09:33] risen as an issue as those maybe

[00:09:35] are a little less front and center

[00:09:36] no matter what the state of the actual

[00:09:38] condition of homelessness is.

[00:09:40] I will say that there's like sort of a,

[00:09:42] there's a closed circle element of

[00:09:44] asking about the city council because

[00:09:46] I mean, the example you gave David,

[00:09:48] I trust the city council to reform the

[00:09:50] police department.

[00:09:51] The city council, I mean, they can

[00:09:53] propose laws, they can certainly do all of that.

[00:09:55] But the fact is, you know, on that particular

[00:09:58] question, you know, the public doesn't

[00:10:00] generally know, I think, that the city

[00:10:02] council does not control the police department.

[00:10:04] There's no question in here about

[00:10:06] I trust the mayor to reform the police

[00:10:08] department when in fact the police

[00:10:09] department is responsible to

[00:10:11] the mayor, not the city council.

[00:10:13] So, you know, I just think,

[00:10:15] what is the point of asking questions like

[00:10:17] this?

[00:10:18] And this is just, this is not a knock on

[00:10:19] the chamber particularly.

[00:10:20] It's all these polls, you know,

[00:10:22] they're all like, I'm going to blame the city

[00:10:24] council for everything including tons of stuff

[00:10:26] they have no control over.

[00:10:27] City council passed a police reform ordinance

[00:10:29] in 2017 and it was undone by contract

[00:10:31] between the mayor's labor, labor

[00:10:33] negotiators and the police union.

[00:10:35] City council cannot on its own

[00:10:37] reform the police department.

[00:10:39] So that's just an example of a question

[00:10:41] where I think that it's trading in

[00:10:43] sort of voters lack of

[00:10:45] detailed knowledge to say, oh look,

[00:10:47] that it's everybody hates the city

[00:10:49] council.

[00:10:50] The city council is so bad they,

[00:10:52] you know, can't even be trusted to

[00:10:54] change the culture at the Seattle police

[00:10:56] department.

[00:10:57] Well, they don't need power over that really.

[00:10:59] So anyway, I know I sound grouchy

[00:11:01] and I do tend to get grouchy about

[00:11:03] polls because I think they tell us

[00:11:05] a lot less than we

[00:11:07] pretend that they do when they ask

[00:11:09] sort of misleading questions like that.

[00:11:11] You know, I don't know that much about

[00:11:13] polls.

[00:11:14] I've talked to Stuart Elway for what it's

[00:11:16] worth about these polls to see what he

[00:11:18] is.

[00:11:19] I think they are pretty well done that

[00:11:21] they're consistent with his own polling

[00:11:23] for crosscut, which is now called PBS

[00:11:25] or something like that.

[00:11:26] But I wish, Sondip, that we were

[00:11:28] sometimes like talking about a different

[00:11:30] poll.

[00:11:31] It's this poll every time the chamber

[00:11:33] presumably gets to decide what the

[00:11:35] focus is here and there aren't

[00:11:37] that many polls happening.

[00:11:39] And so I don't know how much play

[00:11:41] the media or even Seattle nice should

[00:11:43] be giving this poll as opposed to

[00:11:45] others.

[00:11:46] But I think that if you look at the

[00:11:48] poll, it's not about taxes here.

[00:11:50] The voters don't trust the government

[00:11:52] to spend their taxes effectively and

[00:11:54] they don't really want taxes to go up.

[00:11:56] I'm assuming they mean though their

[00:11:58] taxes because we don't have a question

[00:12:00] here that says do you support raising

[00:12:02] taxes on the big businesses

[00:12:04] that support the Chamber of Commerce

[00:12:06] to help address Seattle's looming

[00:12:08] budget gap?

[00:12:09] There's no question in here like that.

[00:12:11] And so less about methodology but just

[00:12:13] more about the absence and the

[00:12:15] being poorly designed or whatever.

[00:12:17] But isn't it in some ways one sided

[00:12:19] in terms of, you know, it's a chamber

[00:12:21] poll that reflects chamber priorities

[00:12:23] one way or the other.

[00:12:24] And it gives us maybe a reliable

[00:12:26] sense of where the public is

[00:12:28] moving on the chamber's questions

[00:12:30] but it's not asking the questions

[00:12:32] that every liberal from FDR to

[00:12:34] Shama Sawant would have which is

[00:12:36] what about tax Amazon?

[00:12:37] Sure.

[00:12:38] I mean I think I agree with you

[00:12:40] to some extent.

[00:12:41] I mean there it's definitely the

[00:12:43] questions that they're asking here.

[00:12:45] I think are definitely coming from a

[00:12:47] kind of business community perspective

[00:12:49] of how they're framing the question

[00:12:51] or the issues and I think you're right

[00:12:53] that they don't ask a straight up

[00:12:55] question about do you support

[00:12:57] higher taxes on corporations, right?

[00:12:59] I mean that's something where we've

[00:13:01] seen polling in the past that shows

[00:13:03] that substantial majorities

[00:13:05] of Seattle residents who ask

[00:13:07] them a question like that say yes.

[00:13:09] They do support higher taxes on corporations,

[00:13:11] right?

[00:13:12] Not just that they support higher taxes

[00:13:14] on themselves because they keep voting for them.

[00:13:16] Well, yeah, I mean...

[00:13:18] I mean actions speak louder than

[00:13:20] the response to a pollster's question

[00:13:22] I think on taxes.

[00:13:23] Yeah, I you know I mean this is where

[00:13:25] I think probably the

[00:13:27] business community may be the most out

[00:13:29] of step with your kind of median

[00:13:31] Seattle progressive voter is probably

[00:13:33] on questions of taxes, right?

[00:13:35] I think where they're probably much more aligned

[00:13:37] than the left is are in questions of things

[00:13:39] like whether they're about

[00:13:41] investments or policing.

[00:13:43] I think you should take every kind of

[00:13:45] poll like this with a grain of salt

[00:13:47] and kind of look at the framing of the questions.

[00:13:49] I think for instance on the budget stuff

[00:13:51] sort of way the questions are framed here

[00:13:53] is like should we look at cutting

[00:13:55] sort of non-critical

[00:13:57] services or should we raise taxes

[00:13:59] to maintain spending levels?

[00:14:01] I was just about to bring up that question.

[00:14:03] Right, and I do think it's fair to call out

[00:14:05] that question a little bit.

[00:14:07] I think the question and would be very interested

[00:14:09] to see the result of is

[00:14:11] would you accept some cuts

[00:14:13] maybe significant to basic services

[00:14:15] so that we can balance the budget

[00:14:17] or would you support raising tax?

[00:14:19] That might be a more neutral way of kind

[00:14:21] of framing the problem, right?

[00:14:23] Not just that but here's the way the question

[00:14:25] is actually framed. It's not just framed

[00:14:27] as cutting non-critical things.

[00:14:29] It's saying there is an option where the city

[00:14:31] could quote work to offset

[00:14:33] the deficit by prioritizing government

[00:14:35] and supporting our city's most vulnerable residents

[00:14:37] in reducing non-critical spending

[00:14:39] before considering tax increases.

[00:14:41] The fact is that if there are cuts

[00:14:43] it's going to be to government basics

[00:14:45] and supporting our city's most vulnerable residents

[00:14:47] in part because cutting police

[00:14:49] which is the biggest chunk of the budget

[00:14:51] is always off the table.

[00:14:53] Contrasting that with the city should

[00:14:55] maintain the spending levels and programs

[00:14:57] in place today and raise new taxes

[00:14:59] to cover this estimated $230 million deficit.

[00:15:01] Well no wonder raise taxes

[00:15:03] because we've actually got 23% of the vote.

[00:15:05] This is chamber marketing material

[00:15:07] that they're going to use later

[00:15:09] when arguing against future tax increases

[00:15:11] and I think we should recognize that

[00:15:13] but when I see a question like that

[00:15:15] I think I might have taken this poll.

[00:15:17] I get a lot of polls.

[00:15:19] I'm going to say I guess

[00:15:21] the city should maintain

[00:15:23] spending levels and programs in place today

[00:15:25] and raise new taxes.

[00:15:27] If those are my options

[00:15:29] it's kind of a false option

[00:15:31] designed to produce

[00:15:33] a certain set of numbers.

[00:15:35] Yeah, I mean on that one look

[00:15:37] I think voters in Seattle

[00:15:39] are more divided on questions of taxation

[00:15:41] probably than this poll shows

[00:15:43] almost certainly and there's other polling

[00:15:45] that we've seen in the past that indicates that.

[00:15:47] I do think the way

[00:15:49] this question got framed

[00:15:51] you can kind of raise your eyebrows at.

[00:15:53] That said there's a lot of useful information

[00:15:55] in here

[00:15:57] and I think we

[00:15:59] ignore the kind of

[00:16:01] top-line findings

[00:16:03] or others ignore the top-line findings

[00:16:05] of this index poll

[00:16:07] which happens every

[00:16:09] six months and they put it out publicly

[00:16:11] and they put out the cross tabs

[00:16:13] and it's done by a very very reputable polling

[00:16:15] for here in Seattle

[00:16:17] who I often work with

[00:16:19] and use on polling that I do

[00:16:21] and so there's some

[00:16:23] pretty

[00:16:25] clear takeaways from this poll

[00:16:27] and like I said one of the biggest ones for me is that

[00:16:29] the kind of

[00:16:31] sense of

[00:16:33] where how people are feeling about the city

[00:16:35] and what issues are really concerning to them

[00:16:37] are pretty much the same as they were

[00:16:39] last fall

[00:16:41] affordability is a little higher but

[00:16:43] in the mix

[00:16:45] it's gone up from being a kind of 15%

[00:16:47] of voter citing it as a concern to now

[00:16:49] 26% of voters over the last few years

[00:16:51] so that is a significant jump

[00:16:53] but basically it's homelessness, it's crime, it's affordability

[00:16:55] those were the top issues

[00:16:57] last election, there's a top issues now

[00:16:59] Do we need a poll to tell us that?

[00:17:01] I would say there are some

[00:17:03] former candidates on sub-stack

[00:17:05] who might need a poll

[00:17:07] because when I read their blog posts

[00:17:09] it seems as if they

[00:17:11] maybe don't think that those issues

[00:17:13] are important to voters, they think it's all about

[00:17:15] messaging and poor media coverage

[00:17:17] and everything else, they don't seem to think

[00:17:19] Well that's what I'm saying though, I think those things are actually very much intertwined

[00:17:21] I don't think people just have

[00:17:23] opinions in a vacuum and I think that pretending

[00:17:25] they do is absurd and insulting

[00:17:27] to people because of course people

[00:17:29] form their opinions based on information

[00:17:31] that they receive and if the media

[00:17:33] is obsessed with conflating homelessness

[00:17:35] and crime for example

[00:17:37] people are going to be more likely to conflate homelessness

[00:17:39] and crime, you just can't pretend

[00:17:41] that there is no

[00:17:43] outside input into this equation

[00:17:45] Well Eric I know that we had

[00:17:47] questions last week about

[00:17:49] transportation planning here in the city of Seattle

[00:17:51] and there's even some stuff in this

[00:17:53] poll about it right, so I wonder if you can

[00:17:55] take us there

[00:17:57] Yeah there's a question in here about

[00:17:59] the

[00:18:01] concept of back to basics

[00:18:03] budgeting and there's a few questions

[00:18:05] about that and one is about

[00:18:07] transportation and the question

[00:18:09] is should the city of Seattle

[00:18:11] either focus on funding the basics

[00:18:13] like filling potholes, maintaining

[00:18:15] parks and addressing public safety

[00:18:17] or should the city focus

[00:18:19] on bold initiatives like building more

[00:18:21] bike lanes and trails, redesigning streets

[00:18:23] to calm traffic and installing

[00:18:25] street amenities like trees and benches

[00:18:27] and when you ask it that way

[00:18:29] people are much more likely

[00:18:31] to say that they want to go back to the basics

[00:18:33] Now my question

[00:18:35] is what is the difference

[00:18:37] first of all between

[00:18:39] maintaining parks

[00:18:41] and adding trees and benches

[00:18:43] number one I mean I guess

[00:18:45] in one question it's on the streets

[00:18:47] but you know these are very

[00:18:49] kind of specifically and weirdly chosen

[00:18:51] amenities and number two

[00:18:53] I mean the idea that bridge

[00:18:55] maintenance, filling potholes and paving streets

[00:18:57] are more important

[00:18:59] than calming traffic

[00:19:01] is you know I think really out of line

[00:19:03] with what a lot of people in the city

[00:19:05] want which is safer streets

[00:19:07] where people aren't getting killed all the time

[00:19:09] to bring it to the transportation levy

[00:19:11] the analysis has been

[00:19:13] done you know sort of adjusting the transportation

[00:19:15] levy that the mayor proposed

[00:19:17] last week

[00:19:19] for you know compared to the move Seattle levy

[00:19:21] the proposal is very very car centric

[00:19:23] it is very focused on

[00:19:25] you know quote-unquote maintaining

[00:19:27] the infrastructure that we have so there's a lot

[00:19:29] in there for bridge maintenance there's a lot for paving streets

[00:19:31] and there's a lot

[00:19:33] for you know just these kind of

[00:19:35] auto oriented things

[00:19:37] and I think that when you

[00:19:39] look at what

[00:19:41] voters say about street safety

[00:19:43] and just the kind of

[00:19:45] priority that the city itself has made

[00:19:47] on vision zero

[00:19:49] the timeline for vision zero which is zero deaths

[00:19:51] and serious injuries due to traffic collisions

[00:19:53] is within the life of the levy

[00:19:55] and the levy itself

[00:19:57] really pulls back on that it reduces funding

[00:19:59] inflation adjusted for pedestrians

[00:20:01] it reduces funding for transit

[00:20:03] voters approved a levy that was much more ambitious

[00:20:05] on those fronts

[00:20:07] in 2015

[00:20:09] and we've seen traffic fatalities continue

[00:20:11] to increase and serious injuries continue

[00:20:13] to increase

[00:20:15] and so I think if you would frame this a different

[00:20:17] way and put it

[00:20:19] you know in the context of you know one

[00:20:21] of the basics being people not being

[00:20:23] killed on our streets

[00:20:25] I think people probably would support that

[00:20:27] so again I mean

[00:20:29] I just I think it's all in the way you ask

[00:20:31] the question I think that question was designed to support

[00:20:33] a sort of timid

[00:20:35] auto oriented transportation levy

[00:20:37] that's a lot smaller

[00:20:39] and could be instilled succeed

[00:20:41] well I'll just share a little

[00:20:43] I guess I'll call it sort of informed

[00:20:45] gossip here on that

[00:20:47] question because I know we were talking about the size

[00:20:49] of the transportation levy and I was saying I was surprised

[00:20:51] by you know that

[00:20:53] they came in at a kind of lower figure

[00:20:55] than I expected when we're talking about it last week

[00:20:57] I think word on the street is

[00:20:59] this levy package is not completely cooked yet

[00:21:01] and we will see

[00:21:03] I think we will see it get bigger

[00:21:05] somewhat bigger as it goes through the process

[00:21:07] and I think we will see some ads get made

[00:21:09] now whether that makes it less car centric

[00:21:11] or not I don't know

[00:21:13] I do know the advocates kind of feel like

[00:21:15] does till too much in that direction

[00:21:17] though I'd also say

[00:21:19] the advocate sort of gave short shrift to bridge

[00:21:21] maintenance and they put a couple hundred

[00:21:23] million dollars in this levy to kind of maintain

[00:21:25] Seattle's bridges that

[00:21:27] really are in need of significant work

[00:21:29] and repair and so I'm quite happy

[00:21:31] to see that if that's what we're talking about it back to basics

[00:21:33] that's good but

[00:21:35] nonetheless like at least the word I'm hearing

[00:21:37] is that I do think we'll see some

[00:21:39] ads and some changes

[00:21:41] to this maybe even from the

[00:21:43] seventh floor and then we'll see what the second floor

[00:21:45] the council does for that. Yeah

[00:21:47] I mean I think that is true I think that happened

[00:21:49] with the housing levy too

[00:21:51] I think it was originally going to be

[00:21:53] 800 million came in at 930

[00:21:55] I could be getting those numbers a little off

[00:21:57] but it was 970 at the end

[00:21:59] 970. Okay but I think that

[00:22:01] I mean that is a fairly

[00:22:03] incremental change I mean yes

[00:22:05] it makes a difference but if we're looking

[00:22:07] at something like that level of increase

[00:22:09] the mayor's office did polling

[00:22:11] that said that 1.7 billion would

[00:22:13] pass but just not

[00:22:15] as strongly as 1.3

[00:22:17] I know that there are some advocates calling

[00:22:19] for 3 billion obviously

[00:22:21] that's not going to happen

[00:22:23] but I mean it just kind of shows the gap

[00:22:25] between what the

[00:22:27] sort of pedestrian and safety advocates

[00:22:29] and disability rights advocates

[00:22:31] are saying that

[00:22:33] is necessary and what the mayor's proposing

[00:22:35] and you know the number that

[00:22:37] they keep citing

[00:22:39] I mean it's just

[00:22:41] indisputable simple math

[00:22:43] is that on the timeline set out

[00:22:45] in this levy of 250

[00:22:47] new blocks of sidewalks in

[00:22:49] eight years it's going to take between four and

[00:22:51] 500 years to complete sidewalks

[00:22:53] on all 11,000

[00:22:55] blocks in the city that do not have sidewalks right now

[00:22:57] and that is a staggering number

[00:22:59] and we definitely could do better on that front

[00:23:01] I mean sidewalks are

[00:23:03] fricking expensive like

[00:23:05] I mean this is right

[00:23:07] so bridges, so roads

[00:23:09] I mean we can't apply a different standard

[00:23:11] to sidewalks than we do to these car

[00:23:13] projects I mean I did that campaign

[00:23:15] right and we had the same

[00:23:17] complaints like there's not enough sidewalk

[00:23:19] but you know it's expensive

[00:23:21] sidewalks and there's an opportunity

[00:23:23] there's a trade off right if you put more money over here

[00:23:25] just to nitpick on that a little bit

[00:23:27] it's not just sidewalks they're also talking about sidewalk

[00:23:29] you know alternatives which are

[00:23:31] not things that have curbs

[00:23:33] and look like traditional sidewalks it's just paving

[00:23:35] in the right of way and sometimes

[00:23:37] it's carving out space in the

[00:23:39] street itself for people

[00:23:41] and so you know the city

[00:23:43] has actually figured out ways around that to make those less expensive

[00:23:45] and we're still looking at this

[00:23:47] incredibly slow timeline

[00:23:49] I quote a person, a speaker

[00:23:51] at a press conference at city hall

[00:23:53] this week in my story about this this week

[00:23:55] you know that means that people with disabilities

[00:23:57] you know are

[00:23:59] essentially being told that it's going to be

[00:24:01] hundreds of years before they can

[00:24:03] really access the city

[00:24:05] and so it's not just ah sidewalks are expensive

[00:24:07] it's you know who are we

[00:24:09] prioritizing we're saying 72 hours for

[00:24:11] potholes which is an element

[00:24:13] of this plan and

[00:24:15] we're saying 500 years for sidewalks

[00:24:17] and I know I sound like I'm on my soapbox right now

[00:24:19] but it really is a contrast in the

[00:24:21] plan and if you look at

[00:24:23] just 250 blocks of sidewalks

[00:24:25] over 8 years in isolation

[00:24:27] that is a tiny amount of the city

[00:24:29] you know whether or not you care

[00:24:31] about people with disabilities being able to leave

[00:24:33] their homes and you know

[00:24:35] kids being able to ride their bikes

[00:24:37] you can look at that number and see

[00:24:39] that it's really pitiful

[00:24:41] north of 85th they should

[00:24:43] they should secede from Seattle

[00:24:45] like they got annexed

[00:24:47] back in the 40s and 50s right the big promise

[00:24:49] was they were going to get sidewalks that was

[00:24:51] the reason we got we annexed from

[00:24:53] 85th to 145th and

[00:24:55] hasn't happened man maybe it's time for a

[00:24:57] north Seattle secession movement

[00:24:59] right free ballard free north

[00:25:01] Seattle

[00:25:03] yeah I think ballards

[00:25:05] doing a little more okay than district

[00:25:07] five few of us are sidewalks are relieving

[00:25:09] that's a great place to end that's it

[00:25:11] for another edition of Seattle nice

[00:25:13] he's Sandeep Kashiq she's

[00:25:15] Erica C Barnett I'm David Hyde

[00:25:17] our editor is Quinn Waller

[00:25:19] and we've got some live events coming

[00:25:21] this year more about that

[00:25:23] next week but there's one coming up next month

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[00:25:27] association or some other group and you want to

[00:25:29] invite us maybe like what do you think

[00:25:31] weddings bar mitzvah

[00:25:33] we can be available for yeah

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