New Seattle City Council sworn in, Sara Nelson elected president (city hall, hotel)

[homesinseattle]

Article link here: https://crosscut.com/politics/2024/0...cted-president

“2024 is off and running at Seattle City Hall.
On Tuesday, in council chambers filled with family and friends, the Seattle City Council held a swearing-in ceremony for five newly elected members and two reelected members.

The City Council voted 9-0 to elect Citywide Councilmember Sara Nelson as the 2024-2025 Council president.

In a short speech Tuesday, Nelson emphasized her desire for the new council to work collaboratively and to focus on good governance.
“We have one job: that is to work together with the Harrell administration … and to work together to do the most good for the greatest number of people,” said Nelson. “What really matters is how we do it. … We need to take the time to get things right and listen to constituents on all sides of the issues.”

[rjshae]

It sounds like the Mayor got the city council he wanted. Now we'll see how they do.

[primaltech]

I, as a resident of Seattle (and a political liberal), would like to see pragmatic city leadership, moderate if not centrist on the politics, mostly focused on cleaning the city up and realistic things and the real pressing issues on the ground. The fentanyl use in broad daylight going on everywhere is plain unacceptable, as is the ever-present homelessness situation.

Not woke priorities and all that feel good nonsense. You can't take the things that have enabled the decline of Seattle and expect them to help or improve Seattle. It will just be more decline if we make everything about far left woke hyper progressivism, and again, I am a liberal, not a conservative. Leadership needs to be effective first and foremost and local city leadership needs to address the issues of the city, and steer things in a better direction. Take the politics out of it.

[Hemlock140]

Already she has called for higher pay to the police, and actually prosecuting people for public drug use. She has the majority of council members to back her up, so we can finally be hopeful for positive change here.

https://www.king5.com/article/news/l...0-6ce169c3f65e

[pete98146]

Originally Posted by primaltech

I, as a resident of Seattle (and a political liberal), would like to see pragmatic city leadership, moderate if not centrist on the politics, mostly focused on cleaning the city up and realistic things and the real pressing issues on the ground. The fentanyl use in broad daylight going on everywhere is plain unacceptable, as is the ever-present homelessness situation.

Not woke priorities and all that feel good nonsense. You can't take the things that have enabled the decline of Seattle and expect them to help or improve Seattle. It will just be more decline if we make everything about far left woke hyper progressivism, and again, I am a liberal, not a conservative. Leadership needs to be effective first and foremost and local city leadership needs to address the issues of the city, and steer things in a better direction. Take the politics out of it.

Bravo! Couldn’t agree more! Everyone loves a good ISM now and then but we soon realize there are other important issues that need our attention.

[homesinseattle]

Originally Posted by pete98146

Bravo! Couldn’t agree more! Everyone loves a good ISM now and then but we soon realize there are other important issues that need our attention.

Agreed!

[jabogitlu]

Police pay goes into the OT slush fund if positions aren't filled (and guess who is in charge of filling positions).

Police are making BIG BUCKS from OT in Seattle.

Unless these funds are specifically earmarked only for new hires, I doubt this will move the needle in any way at all.

I'm also a realistic progressive who extremely disliked Kshama Sawant and I don't think Tammy Morales is better in any real way. At the same time, I don't think this council is going to steer us in a good direction, at all.

I don't think Seattle actually has the pool of possible leaders to be elected that could fix the problems we have. In other words, there is a vacuum of rational and good-governance folks in our region right now. I'm not sure how to fix that. But the new line-up... meh. Bad in different ways than the old line-up.

[rjshae]

So what are the metrics that will determine whether this council is doing a good job? A reduction in theft, deaths from drug use, and homelessness? Improvements in the arts? Better parks? Fewer pot holes? Higher hotel usage?

[Transmition]

People prefer to decide the metrics after they have been doing the job for a while, so that they can cherry-pick depending on if they like them or not based on emotional reasons.

[rjshae]

Originally Posted by Transmition

People prefer to decide the metrics after they have been doing the job for a while, so that they can cherry-pick depending on if they like them or not based on emotional reasons.

True enough, and nobody is going to have the same interests so the opinions will vary. But maybe the city can have a stretch goal of showing up on a respected list of the best-run cities.