Durkan touts mayoral accomplishments in ‘Two Years of Action’ report
Dec 3, 2019, 1:16 PM
Mayor Jenny Durkan. (Kevin Schofield, SCC Insight via Flickr Creative Commons)
To celebrate the recently-passed anniversary of two years as Seattle’s mayor, Jenny Durkan released a report detailing her time in City Hall.
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The report outlines “progress on key community priorities like essential services, homelessness, housing, and transportation.” Durkan touts the city’s response to February’s historic snowstorms, ORCA cards for low income communities, a decline in homelessness, and investments in housing among her accomplishments.
“From Day One, my goal has been to deliver the essential services our growing city needs, and to turn our shared progressive values into action,”Durkan said in a news release. “Together, over the last two years – from the Squeeze to the Freeze – we’ve shown that Seattle can face our toughest challenges while continuing to deliver on services that our communities rely on.”
Throughout her tenure in office, Seattle’s mayor has faced criticism from both sides of the aisle. Some progressives have accused her of contributing to the city’s issues with wealth disparity, while conservatives have claimed she hasn’t been tough enough on crime.
She’s also faced a pair of high-profile clashes with Seattle City Council: First in an unsuccessful attempt to appoint Jason Johnson as the permanent head of the city’s Human Services Department, and months later over how money from the city’s soda tax should be spent.
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Despite that, she points to other victories during her time in office, including managing what’s become known as the Seattle Squeeze, establishing the city’s “Housing Seattle Now” initiative, and taking steps to address climate change.
“Looking ahead, I’ll continue to get out of City Hall and listen to community,” said Durkan. “I’m grateful to members of our communities who continue to make their voices heard and work to make their communities better, and to the more than 12,000 public servants at the City of Seattle who come to work every day to make a difference here in Seattle.”
You can read the full report here.
