‘You should have known better’: Lake City resident challenges Seattle Council president on Fred Meyer shutdown

When Seattle City Council President Sara Nelson revealed she did not know the Fred Meyer in Lake City was in danger of shutting down during a news conference last week, a passerby who happened to be a nearby resident challenged her, calling it “a failure that you didn’t know that was going to happen.”

“That’s an outrageous statement,” the passerby, a local resident named Jonathan, said during her press conference. “You should have known better, and this is far too late. I think that’s an outrageous statement to make, and that’s why I walked over here, and I had to pass drug users. I passed a man with a needle out in his hand.”

“Gotta say, I’m a citywide elected official and I spend a lot of time all over the city,” Nelson responded. “And you’re right. I should have been more attuned to what was going on here.”

Jonathan joins ‘The Jake and Spike Show’

“Do you believe her when you asked her that she seemed to be unaware that it was closing?” KIRO host Jake Skorheim asked Jonathan.

“No, there’s no way. That was the last pharmacy in Lake City in that general vicinity,” Jonathan said. “We lost the Walgreens a year ago. We lost the CVS not long before that, and both of those closed due to theft. You could go into those at any time, and the shelves that weren’t bare were completely locked up, and there would be people out in front of them openly stealing things and then reselling them on the sidewalk directly in front of the location.

“So to imagine that this last bastion of really having a grocery store, really having a pharmacy, which also has full-time staff as security guards,” Jonathan continued. “That must mean she either never came to the neighborhood, or she’s full of it.”

Jonathan believes the reason that Fred Meyer location was doing so poorly was due to drug dealers using the Fred Meyer parking lot. Fred Meyer has a policy to call the police, but the police wouldn’t respond because it’s on private property.

“She mentioned this as well, that the city council failed to act and passed the law that would have matched the state’s law that made open-air drug use a crime,” Johanthan said. “That’s one of the reasons they’re simply not enforcing basic laws in these areas.”

Jonathan mentioned that Nelson’s meeting was taking place in front of an empty playground, and that most of the parks in the Lake City neighborhood look like this due to them being covered in trash and littered with people using drugs.

Jonathan also argued that, despite crime, including shoplifting, decreasing statistically, it’s really not the case.

“What has happened is Fred Meyer and Kroger and QFC, they have a policy where they will not report shoplifters,” Jonathan said. “They will not call the police, and they do not allow their employees to do that, and you as a private citizen cannot call either. So 911 will not take a report unless it’s from Fred Meyer, and they obviously won’t call. So when shoplifting occurs, it doesn’t count as a crime statistic anymore. So of course, the numbers look down. No one’s counting.”

Mayor Bruce Harrell announced Friday he is creating a comprehensive set of investments in his 2026 budget proposal to significantly increase food access in Lake City.

“He took that opportunity to basically say, ‘There’s nothing to see here. Lake City is fine,'” Jonathan countered. “He bailed on us about two weeks ago as well when he was supposed to come down, and when we did approach him a few weeks ago, he essentially threw a hissy fit and walked out of a meeting in Lake City because he doesn’t like to be questioned on where he is failing. I think that’s unfortunate because we need a mayor who’s going to do the right thing.”

“I’m certainly glad that you spoke out,” Jake said. “I hope that more meaningful conversations can actually happen now. I hope they actually take it seriously. It would be really great, especially when we have a mayoral race happening right now.”

Listen to the full conversation here.

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