Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell outlines vision for ‘one Seattle’ in inaugural address
Jan 4, 2022, 12:29 PM | Updated: 12:31 pm
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell was sworn in Monday, and detailed his vision for the city as his term kicks off in earnest.
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Harrell spoke to a vision of “one Seattle” in his inaugural address, outlining a range of initiatives, from homelessness to health care.
“Starting today, we will lead the city with an obsession with excellence, and kindness; inclusion and hope,” he vowed. “We will balance optimism and we will reject these attitudes of fear. Starting with our Harrell administration, we will rise together as a city.”
Speaking to his “one Seattle” promise, he described a goal to focus on the needs of “working people, underrepresented people, and people who want a living wage.”
“People just simply want better opportunities,” he described. “People want to be free from violence. People want to save our planet. That’s a ‘one Seattle.’ … We make real progress when we move toward healing and reparation and restoration and we reject slogans and mean tweets, and we really commit to listening to one another.”
On the issue of homelessness, Harrell plans to issue an executive order to the city’s public utilities department to gather data on shutoffs, as a means of determining the number of households on the cusp of housing instability, or who may have recently been forced out onto the streets. Then, by the end of the year’s first quarter, he hopes to publish a plan detailing the city’s efforts to fight homelessness moving forward, in collaboration with city council, community stakeholders, and state and county leaders.
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Efforts to address policing will be led by Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell, centered on “the kind of police officer, and the right number of police officers,” in addition to ramping up programs to hire and train more “unarmed community-based” first responders.
In the weeks ahead, Harrell also plans to name new directors for the Seattle Department of Transportation and the Parks Department. Adrian Diaz will continue to serve as the Seattle Police Department’s interim chief, with Harrell hinting at his intention to give Diaz a chance to win the job outright before considering a national search for a new candidate.
