September 7, 2023 - Candidates Night Notes

 

Here are the recording and notes from the HLCC candidates night for 2023

Event Recording

This is a Zoom video/audio recording of this event: Coming Soon

Candidates in Attendance:

Seattle City Council D5

·        Cathy Moore

·        Matthew Sumner, Representative for Christiana Obey Sumner who could not attend

Port of Seattle Commissioner:

Position 5

·        Not in Attendance:  Fred Felleman

·        Jesse Tam

Seattle School Board

Area #1  North End:

·        Liza Rankin  

·        Debbie Carlsen  

Area #3  Ravenna/University:

·        Evan Briggs

·        Ben Gitenstein 

Area  #6  West Seattle:

·        Gina Topp

·        Maryanne Wood

Opening Remarks from Candidates

2 minutes per candidate

·        Cathy Moore – Lifetime seattle citizen.  The current council member has been good at bringing the bacon home, but not transparent enough

·        Matthew Sumner for Christiana Obey Sumner – Want to end homelessness.  Everyone should be safe.  The poor should not be bare the costs.  She is cochair of the renter’s commission

·        Liza Rankin – current School board president. For educational equity and participated in the teacher’s strike as an advocate. 

·        Debbie Carlson – running for school board.  Not enough transparency to enable more public input.  Concerned with equity.  10 years of experience budgeting as an educational leader

·        Ben Gitenstein – running for school board.  Doesn’t want to close schools.  Avoid losing the progress we’ve made.  Rainy day fund is all spent.  Reinvest in neighborhood schools.  Seattle times endorsed.

·        Evan Briggs – Parent for SPS students.  Every kid deserves quality education based on the 3 R’s: relevance, rigor and relationships.  Need to attend to mental health needs, increased community engagement and financial stability. 

·        Maryanne wood:  Running for seattle school board.  From W. Seattle.  Lots of SPS students in her family.  Concerned with building of “mega schools” which leads to closing more small, neighborhood schools. 

·        Gina Topp – Running for seattle school board.  Experienced underfunded schools.  She is a product of SPS and has a daughter that will attend.  Lots of cuts to deal with budget leading to loss of music and bussing programs. 

·        Jesse Tam – Running for Port Commissioner.  Immigrant to this country.  Wanted freedom and opportunity.  Has lived in KC for 40 years.  Created a lot of jobs through investing in businesses.  Port is managing their money badly leading to deficits that we all pay for.  Endorsed by Gary Locke.

Questions/Rebuttals for Candidate

90 second responses per candidate and 60 second rebuttal from opponent, if the question was for a specific candidate

·        Why do drainage fees keep going up from SPU?

o   Cathy Moore:  I don’t know.  But that is not OK.  Too many homeowners and people who can’t afforf to live in our city.  Need to reduce regressive taxes more.

o   Matthew Sumner – Regressive taxes keep going up.  Need to look at a way to target taxes to top 20% of earners.

·        What do you think about the proposed school closures?

o   Liza Rankin – Enrollment up and down.  Currently in the dip but projected to go up.  State funding is by number of students.  But funding is used for all services, not just for the single student.  Opened 20 new schools in last 5 years.  Need to figure out how to decrease spending.

o   Debbie Carlson – The up/down enrollment story is one we’ve heard before.  Closing schools is a huge disruption.  Dr. Jones:  closing schools will not decrease spending.

·        In recent years, SPS has lost 3k students.  As a board member, how would you fix this situation?

o   Ben Gitenstein – Facing a steep decline in enrollment.  Enrollment is increasing in private schools and the population is growing.  Believes that families don’t see SPS as right for their kids.  We need to help them see SPS as a way to do more for their kids.

o   Evan Briggs – lost her train of thought and declined to answer.

·        Can you discuss the shortfalls between McClary and what’s happening with the Seattle school budget.

o   MaryAnne Wood:  Not sure.  But has to do with budget shortfalls and declining enrollment.  Notes that SPS has money for mega school.

o   Gina Topp:  SPS must fix budget/tax problems.  Regressive tax structure has not changed since 1930s.  She’s an attorney with a masters in tax law.

·        Jesse, you say that the port is embroiled in a management crisis.  SeaTac is unsuited for large jets and bad for POC families living near to SeaTac due to pollution.

o   Jesse Tam:  SeaTac is a huge cost.  No planes can park, no income, large tax requirement led to no money for dealing with pollution.

·        Why are we paying for parking at Metro stations like Angle Lake?

o   Matthew Sumner – Need to make transit easy to use and therefore parking should not be a barrier.  Work toward green new deal

o   Cathy Moore – Metro doesn’t work very well.  It’s a big bureaucracy.  Concerned with cuts to bussing due to investment in link light rail.  Need all the mobility improvements in addition to Metro.

·        We have seen gun violence in our schools including nearby.  What would you say about this issue?

o   Debbie Carlson – slow response to the Ingraham shooting.  How do we address it and heal.  Need to talk to communities about next steps.  Talk about mental health service needs, after school violence prevention programs.

o   Liza Rankin – gun violence is a pandemic.  Was there for full days for 2 weeks after.  SPS had additional security and support staff to provide an extra level of protection.  Had several community meetings. 

·        Evan, campaign pamphlet says in a city of abundant resources, there are persistent opportunity gaps.  Describe the gaps and what you’ll do about them in SPS.

o   Evan Briggs – Large opportunity gaps between POC and white kids due to history of redlining.  Systemic change needed.  Many children have been absent from school since the pandemic: “lost children”. 

o   Ben Gitanstein – data on SPS testing outcomes.  1/3 are not meeting math reading targets.  3 things:  empower teachers to innovate in the class, more creative programs, keep small schools.

·        Gina, campaign pamphlet says you were legal counsel to the KC Executive, how would you use these skills on the school board.

o   Gina – set legal agenda and policy agenda for Exec.  Fought Trump family planning with lawsuit and won.  Knows how to engage community and create good policy as a result.  Has to leave early for childcare.

o   MaryAnne Wood – true grassroots candidate.  Not an experienced politician.  Grandma and gardener.  Wants to try and do something different.  Ands brings a wealth of life knowledge.

·        What is the job of a port commissioner?

o   Jesse Tam – 200K worker, airport and water port.  Should not have to pay tax levy to port and not costing more in property tax.  The port must take care of the economy in this region.

·        How would you increase taxes on large corporations?

o   Cathy Moore– Jump start tax was passed and is “overwhelmingly successful” to fill budget holes.  She supports increasing is.  Also, a local capital gains tax for $250K stock cashouts. 

o   Matthew sumner – Christiana wants to look at the roots.  In addition to jumpstart and a local cap gains tax, Vacancy tax due to that housing being too expensive.

·        What are your top 3 goals to improve safety in schools?

o   Liza Rankin – 2020 converted all locks to enable internal lock from inside.  Community action teams between schools and communities.  Don’t want to harden or frighten children.

o   Debbie Carlson – Listen to students.  They want more mental health services in schools.  Pilot programs were successful.  More social and emotional education in schools to create a culture of safety.

·        MaryAnne, your pamphlet said she has concerns about the 1 size fits all buildings.  Can you elaborate?

o   MaryAnne Wood:  Large schools make is easier for more kids to fall through the cracks and to not provide services that individuals need.  Smaller community schools are better.

o   Evan Briggs:  Her child goes to a small school and there are issues.  Moving often between teachers due to low resources.  Optimal is 300-400 per school.  More adults in the building are needed.

·        Jesse, your pamphlet talks about a decent family wage.  What’s the solution?

o   Jesse Tam:  Education changed his life.  The younger generation taught him technology.  Need internships and apprenticeship.  Raise the bar of the community and get proper compensation through training.