User:Meekhof7/Bruce Harrell

Seattle Mayoral Powers
Seattle has a Mayor-Council government system. This means that the mayor of Seattle will have the power to veto council legislation, appoint and remove department heads, and has the ability to develop strong policy agendas. While the City Council holds legislative authority the mayor holds executive authority.

Chief of Seattle Police
Mayor Harrell appointed Adrian Diaz to be Chief of Seattle police in September 2022. Diaz was previously the Deputy Chief of Police before the resignation of Chief Carmen Best in August 2020 in response to the Seattle City Council’s plan to lay off 100 Seattle police officers thrust him into the interim Police Chief role. His appointment made his role permanent after a search for the position included 15 candidates with 3 finalists: Diaz, Seattle Police Department Assistant Chief Eric Greening, and Tucson, Arizona Police Assistant Chief Kevin Hall. Harrell appointed him to this position due to their “chemistry”, with Harrell openly campaigning for Diaz to apply for the role. The Downtown Seattle Association and Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, who have publicly praised Harrell’s public safety policies, both publicly supported the appointment of Diaz. The Seattle Police Officer’s Guild also supported the appointment, noting that his “internal knowledge of the department” gained him favor among their members. In a news conference following his appointment, Diaz stated that his priorities as Chief would be addressing violent crimes, ending the Seattle Police Department staff shortage, and improving department culture.

Deputy Mayor
Deputy Mayor Kendee Yamaguchi resigned in late July of 2022. Harrell informed his cabinet that he was making a change at Deputy Mayor and that Greg Wong would be promoted to Deputy Mayor. Mayor Harrell informed the press that she had resigned to “pursue other opportunities”.

Mayor Harrell appointed Greg Wong as Deputy Mayor of External Relations in August 2022. He previously served as the Interim Director of the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods after being appointed to the position by Harrell. Sarah Morningstar, the Deputy Director of the Department of Neighborhoods will serve as Acting Director until a permanent Director is found.

Director of the Department of Neighborhoods
In February 2022 Harrell announced the appointment of Greg Wong as Director of the Department of Neighborhoods. Harrell appointed Wong because, as he’s quoted stating, “Greg [has] demonstrated work ethic and [a] values-driven approach, along with [a] long record of local leadership and community partnership.”

In August 2022 Harrell appointed Wong to serve as Deputy Mayor of External Relations. In his absence it was announced that Deputy Director of the Department of Neighborhoods Sarah Morningstar will serve as Interim Director until a permanent replacement is found.

Director of the Office of Economic Development
In February 2022 Harrell announced the appointment of Markham McIntyre as Director of the Office of Economic Development. Harrell stated that McIntyre was appointed because he can “make the most of COVID recovery investments and work with Seattle businesses to drive real economic development that will benefit the whole community”.

Director for the Office of Police Accountability
Mayor Harrell appointed Gino Bettis as the Director for the Office of Police Accountability on August 1st, 2022. Bettis previously served as the Assistant State’s attorney in Cook County, Illinois. Harrell stated the reason for appointing Bettis was his “commitment to fairness and justice, belief in continuous learning and improvement, and proven experience”. One of Bettis’s most high profile cases in his role as Assistant State’s attorney was his investigation against former Chicago police chief Ronald Watts.

Director of Seattle Department of Transportation
In July 2022, Mayor Harrell nominated Gregg Spotts to be the next Director of Seattle Department of Transportation after a search process that included a search committee. He previously served as the Executive Officer and Chief Sustainability Officer at the Los Angeles (L.A.) Bureau of Street Services, where he is credited for delivering over $600 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act projects, and for making L.A. more "walkable, bikeable, transit-friendly, and sustainable". Harrell stated that he nominated Spotts because he "understands local priorities and recognizes how community voices can enhance and improve our transportation system". Spotts received numerous endorsements upon his nomination including from Councilmember Alex Pederson, the Port of Seattle Commission President Ryan Calkins, a representative from the union PROTEC17, the transportation lead from the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, the Seattle Department of Transportation Interim Director, the Executive Director of the Cascade Bike Club, and others. He began his work as the Interim Director on September 7th 2022; on September 13th the City Council unanimously approved him, and he officially became the Director. Upon his confirmation he stated that some of his priorities were reviewing the Vision Zero program, and accelerating the improvement of the city's bridges.

Director of Sustainability and Environment
In February 2022 Harrell announced the appointment of State Representative Jessyn Farrell as the Director of Sustainability and Environment, taking over for Interim Director Michelle Caulfield, who returns to the Deputy Director role. Harrell stated that Farrell will bring “ambitious policy ideas and experience, needed collaborative approach, and vision grounded in a true commitment to environmental justice”.

Seattle Parks and Recreation Superintendent
In September 2022 Harrell named Executive Officer and Assistant General Manager for the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks Anthony-Paul (AP) Diaz as Seattle Parks and Recreation Superintendent. Harrell stated that Diaz was named in this role because he has a “track record of working collaboratively and innovatively with community and a commitment to preserving open spaces… [he understands] how parks create opportunities, advance equity, provide safe spaces, and support youth through mentorship”.

Climate Control
In 2021, Mayor Harrell released the "Emerald City Plan" for climate crisis, a two-pronged plan with a goal to reduce harmful emissions, strengthen climate resilience, and center environmental justice. In doing this he calls for taking steps such as developing a localized clean energy economy, establishing truly 100%clean buildings, preserving and investing in Seattle's world-class, divesting from fossil fuels, etc.

"One Seattle Homelessness Action Plan"
In May 2022, Mayor Harrell announced his "One Seattle Homelessness Action Plan" to reduce the number of homeless and displaced individuals in Seattle. The plan includes funding for 2000 units of low-income housing to relocate homeless persons from encampments throughout the city.

Actions During the July 2022 Heatwave
In July of the same year, the Pacific Northwest experienced a historic heatwave which brought dangerously high temperatures to Seattle. Harrell’s administration faced staunch criticism for continuing to remove homeless encampments during the heatwave, a move which critics say displaced homeless persons during deadly weather conditions without alternative housing available. While Mayor Harrell refuted the objections, numerous homeless persons reported to local news outlets that the city offered no plans to relocate them to safe housing after their encampments were removed. The Harrell Administration’s move was opposed by numerous Seattle City Council Members, along with the Regional Homelessness Authority.

Transportation
Harrell’s administration has emphasized the importance of increasing Seattle’s public transit reliability, safety, and ease of use. Harrell is expected to announce further transportation plans in the near future, as Seattle’s current Transportation Millage expires in 2024. Thus, a new proposal must be passed by Seattle voters in order to continue funding for transportation projects. (Kroman, 2022). Seattle has been faced with a rise in pedestrian accidents and deaths, leading Harrell to assemble a team committed to addressing Seattle’s top transportation concerns.

In July of 2022, Harrell’s administration reversed a decision made by previous Mayor Jenny Durkan to place the Department of Transportation responsible for issuing parking violation tickets instead of the Seattle Police Department. The move resulted in the cancellation of 200,000 parking tickets which had been issued under the Seattle Department of Transportation, as the legality of a civilian-issued parking violation fine was scrutinized.

Public Safety and Police Reform
From 2021 to 2022, the number of violent and property crimes decreased: 5,412 to 4,856 for violent crimes and 42,538 to 37,240 for property crimes. Homicide was the only category in violent or property crimes that increased from 42 to 46.

Harrell plans to ensure public safety by investing in prevention and intervention programs. These programs will work to reduce gun violence, assist victims of crime, and mentor at-risk youth. The mayor also hopes to create a budget that guarantees proper training and needed staff. Not every situation requires the presence of an armed officer, so different personnel, such as addiction specialists and social workers, are necessary and require resources.

The mayor is also working with the newly appointed Police Chief Adrian Diaz. They plan to address high-crime neighborhoods using hot-spot policing. Hot-spot policing strategies focus resources on small geographic areas where crime is highly concentrated. Harrell and Diaz are also using various recruitment strategies to increase employment. Their approach to public safety has been praised by the Downtown Seattle Association and the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.

Reducing Gun Violence
Gun violence is a growing crisis in Seattle. Therefore, Harrell has proposed several prevention efforts to reduce gun violence. Some of these efforts include improving education and outreach, fighting for stronger gun laws, and investing in technology to track gunshots. Education and outreach include making sure residents understand how to properly store firearms. Stronger gun laws mean placing a limit on the number of weapons that can enter the city. Lastly, technology such as Automatic Gunfire Locator Systems can hold offenders accountable.

Despite these proposals, on November 8, 2022, a 14-year-old shot another student in a targeted attack at Ingraham High School. On Wednesday, after the incident, Harrell suggested that the state should ban assault rifles and require training. However, he could not identify a specific policy response to the shooting, saying it is too early to determine which gun safety measures could have prevented the tragedy. Instead, Harrell will push the state Legislature to allow local governments to develop their own gun policies.

Proposed Budget
In late September, 2022 Harrell proposed a $7.4 billion budget for the 2023-2024 fiscal year. This would be a $300 million increase from the previous fiscal year. This budget would have been the first biennial budget since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic at the start of 2020. Another critical aspect of the budget would be addressing the $140 million revenue gap, a gap that had increased over the past 6 months, indicating stalled growth and pressure from increasing national inflation.

Harrell’s $7.4 billion budget proposal included 49% for “Utilities, Transportation, & Environment”, 21% for “Administration”, 11% for “Public Safety”, 7% for “Arts, Culture, and Recreation”, 6% for “Liveable and Inclusive Communities”, and 6% for “Education and Human Services”. This represents $3,661,000,000 for “Utilities, Transportation, & Environment”, $1,532,000,000 for “Administration”, $802,000,000 for “Public Safety”, $512,000,000 for “Arts, Culture, and Recreation”, $468,000,000 for “Liveable and Inclusive Communities”, and $434,000,000  for “Education and Human Services”. Utilities, Transportation & Environment would decrease by 1% of the overall budget but represent an overall budget increase by $143 million from the previous budget. Administration would stay at 21% of the overall budget but represent an overall budget increase of $7 million from the previous fiscal year. Public Safety would stay at 11% of the overall budget but increase by $13 million. Arts, Recreation, and Culture would be increased by 1% of the overall budget, and obtain an additional $62 million. Liveable and Inclusive Communities would stay at 6% of the overall budget but increase by $52 million. Education and Human Services would stay at 6% of the overall budget and increase by $24 million from the previous year.

Some of his noted allocations include: over $250 million for affordable housing, shelter units, and a 13% increased investment in the King County Regional Homelessness authority; over $33 million towards the City’s Unified Care Team, Green New Deal investments, and the One Seattle Climate Justice Agenda; $8 million to fund Vision Zero Projects, projects that renovate or upgrade critical transportation corridors; moving park enforcement officers back to the Seattle Police Department, a move he claims would save $5 million in overhead; a large increase in funding to law enforcement, in part to bolster officer recruitment and retention; and increased funding for the Seattle Fire Department in an effort to increase recruitment by 50% by 2023.

City Council Vote
The Seattle City Council approved Harrell’s proposed budget on November 30th, with a vote of 6-3, with councilmembers Sara Nelson, Alex Pedersen, and Kshama Sawant voting against. After multiple rounds of amendments and discussions the Council ultimately funded 99% of the mayor’s proposals over the 2 years. The City Council did limit some of Harrell’s proposed increases in funding towards public safety and law enforcement, including lowering the increased funding towards the Seattle Police Department, eliminating some unfunded Seattle Police Department positions, and rejecting a proposed gunshot detection software. Despite those changes the approved budget still represented an overall increase in public safety funding.

During the voting process for the budget, the divisions between councilmembers “ruffled some feathers” according to the Seattle Times. Nelson and Pedersen both voted against the budget, in part, due to their belief that eliminating some of the unfunded Seattle Police Department positions would hurt public safety, that the public would view this move negatively and in the perspective of the "Defund the Police" movement that was prominent in 2020, and hurt the recruitment and retention of new officers. Councilmember Lisa Herbold, one of the yes votes on the budget, countered those claims, stating that the council had fully funded the police department for 3 years in a row. Councilmember Kshama Sawant, the lone socialist on the council, has voted no on every proposed budget since 2014, with the reasoning for her no vote on the 2023-2024 budget being that working people would be hurt from the budget while larger companies like Amazon are left unaffected. Harrell credited his budget being passed, in part, due to the joint work between his office and Budget Committee Chair Teresa Mosqueda.

Budget Shortfall
The budget is able to work through the $140 million shortfall due to the use of a program called the Jumpstart payroll tax. This program grants flexible revenue that is projected to run out by 2025, representing a short-term solution to the shortfall. An amendment by Councilmember Sawant, to raise $140.5 million in revenue by increasing the tax rate by 47% to some of the city’s highest employers, failed, only gaining the support of Councilmember Morales and Budget Committee Chair Member Mosqueda. Chair Mosqueda, in partnership with Mayor Harrell, formed the Revenue Stabilization Work Group in an effort to find future stable revenue streams. The group, and Mosqueda, have not yet shared any specific proposals to raise revenue. Councilmember Nelson stated that she had concerns with the work group, believing that the city should “spend within its means” instead of looking for additional revenue streams. She did not name what areas she wanted the city cut funding to. In the 2023-2024 budget all city councilmembers proposed additional funding in their policy areas. The deficit, in part due to national inflation issues, and in part due to various decreases in revenue; a $9.4 million decrease in the General Fund, $4.5 million decrease in the Sweetened Beverages Tax and a $64 million decrease in real estate excise taxes; is projected to grow from $140 million in 2023 to $152 million in 2024.

China Harbor Restaurant Event and Subsequent Queen Anne Mayoral Forum
On October 8th 2021 Bruce Harrell, at the time campaigning for mayor, attended a dinner event at China Harbor restaurant, a popular location to host political fundraisers, to spread and deliver his mayoral platform. In attendance were many other political figures including former Washington Governor Gary Locke, Burien Mayor Jimmy Matta, and candidate for Port of Seattle Commission Hamdi Mohamad, among others. The event, which in total had around 270 people in attendance, had many COVID-19 restrictions in place by the restaurant, including requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test, and for event goers to wear a mask when not eating, drinking or sitting at their table. According to state law at the time, masks were required in all public, indoor spaces, with the exception of those actively eating or drinking. During the event Harrell, along with the other political figures and many other attendants were photographed mingling, and posing for photos, without masks. This drew criticism, including from Seattle journalist Erica C. Barnett who shared the photos on Twitter and called the event a “giant, unmasked fundraiser”. One of Harrell’s mayoral opponents, M. Lorena Gonzalez, publicly stated in a forum later that “leadership in my mind means that you cannot play by your own rules when it comes to public health, especially when the city is in a public health crisis”, referring to the China Harbor event. In a statement two days later Harrell commented on the story, saying “even though I only removed my mask for dining and brief intervals for photographs with friends and community leaders, I understand that people in public life will and should be held to high standards”. Locke, Matta, and Mohamad all commented on the story as well: with Locke stating that he tried to wear his mask the whole time but nobody is perfect, Matta commenting that the venue was big enough for everyone to be safe but they were still cautious, and Mohamad saying that he only removed his mask to eat and some photos.

Barnett, who publicly criticized the event, was also set to be moderator for a forum hosted by the Queen Anne Community Council between Harrell and other mayoral candidates. According to Barnett, Harrell’s campaign pushed, and eventually threatened to withdraw from the forum, unless she was removed as a moderator, which she eventually was. This drew a round of criticism from his opponent, with Gonzalez stating at that forum that “It’s my understanding this journalist was one of the first to report on my opponent’s decision to host a very large maskless indoor fundraiser in violation of King County’s public health mandate”, going on to further criticize the event. Harrell responded by saying that “he had no discussions with Barnett but the question was posed, why was she the person to host us.”

Leaked Excerpts from Homelessness Meeting with Seattle Police Department
In August 2022, as Harrell was implementing and pushing his “One Seattle '' plan to fight homelessness, excerpts from a meeting with the Seattle Police Department were leaked to the radio station 770 KTTH. In the leaks, he stated that “no one has a right to sleep on the streets”, claimed that the “authority” was “working against” his efforts to address homelessness, criticized the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, and vowed to work against “inexperienced” City Council members. In later comments he acknowledged his statements, and did not deny them, however he did use more “diplomatic” language, according to the Seattle Times. In those comments he also stated his belief in his right to “criticize what he sees” but that he would make calls to anyone who felt might be offended by his leaked remarks. Lisa Daugaard, the director of the Public Defender Association and overseer of the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, a program to provide care for those who break the law due to extreme poverty, stated that their relationship with Mayor Harrell was still “in good shape”. Mark Dones, CEO of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority did not directly address Harrell’s remarks but did state his belief in the work that the Homelessness Authority does. First-term City Councilmember Andrew Lewis noted that he did not believe the comments meant there would be any substantive changes with the Mayor and the Council, and that he had no concerns over the remarks.

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