‘Too many have workshopped their public safety dissertations on communities’: Seattle council president wants action, not plans

Thirty-five of Seattle’s most powerful business leaders signed a letter this week calling on Mayor Katie Wilson and the City Council to deliver a comprehensive public safety action plan within 100 days.

Seattle City Council President Joy Hollingsworth told “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio she agrees with the urgency and is tired of the city treating communities like test subjects.

“There have been too many people in this city that have workshopped their public safety dissertations on communities, right now,” Hollingsworth said. “‘Well, let’s pull this lever. Well, what if we turn this off? What if we do this?’

“You’re listening to the people right now, and they’re telling you to their face: ‘This is what we want. We want a positive relationship with our police officers. We want gun violence prevention programs to work for us. We want after-school programs.’ They’re telling us everything they want,” she continued.

Hollingsworth added that it’s time to stop planning and start showing up.

“I need to see action,” she said. “I need to see boots on the ground. I need to see people with active actions and less of some of the planning and the dissertation and the workshop of that.”

Hollingsworth thanks the business community

Hollingsworth opened by thanking the 35 companies for staying in Seattle and holding the city accountable, offering a colorful analogy.

“They could have did us like the Baltimore Colts did. When the football team woke up in the middle of the night and just left,” she said. “So I just want to say thank you for being here, thank you for investing in Seattle, thank you for paying taxes.”

Hollingsworth agreed with what they are asking for, whether it’s CCTV cameras, more police officers, increased presence, or addressing fentanyl use.

Only 34% have confidence in the city’s public safety strategy

KIRO host Gee Scott pointed to a poll showing that just 34% of voters surveyed have confidence in Seattle’s public safety strategy and asked whether City Hall has a credibility problem.

“That poll and other things tell me that people don’t trust us, potentially, to execute certain things,” Hollingsworth responded.

She laid out her five personal measures for evaluating the health of the city’s public safety: response times, which are currently averaging 10 minutes when the goal is seven, the activity around encampments, fentanyl overdose deaths, the types of crimes being committed, and who is being victimized.

“Is an elderly person walking down Third, Pike, Pine getting hit in the face with a nail in a board? That happened a little ways from City Hall,” Hollingsworth said. “Who are the victims? That’s how you can tell the health of a city.”

Gee presses on connection to the community

Gee pushed Hollingsworth on a point he has been making all week. He said too many elected officials are disconnected from the communities dealing with gun violence, and he asked her directly how often the violence has touched her personally.

“It’s usually 50% of the time. I either know someone who knows somebody or have been impacted personally,” Hollingsworth said.

She also pushed back on the idea that she’s a typical politician.

“I’m not a politician. I’m a kid from the CID who cares about the community, who wants to solve these problems,” Hollingsworth said.

Gee asks about the mayor’s plan

Gee asked Hollingsworth directly whether she has confidence in Wilson’s public safety plan.

“I don’t know what the plan is,” Hollingsworth responded.

She declined to comment on the mayor’s approach specifically but listed what the council has done in the last two years, including expanding the CARE team, investing in police hiring, adding license plate readers and CCTV cameras, passing a chronic nuisance law, and increasing penalties for street racing.

“The council’s willing and ready to work with the mayor, and we have been,” Hollingsworth said. “I know that people like to highlight the differences between us, but I know we’ve been willing and ready to work with the mayor.”

Seattle faces a projected $175 million deficit in 2027, and the mayor is required to send her draft budget to the council in less than a month.

Gee proposes a fix for the police chief process

Gee pointed out that hiring a police chief requires both the mayor and the city council, but the mayor can force a resignation alone. He said that needs to change.

“On the way in, it’s teamwork,” he said. “But then on the other side of it, if you guys decide to get rid of or force them to resign, the mayor can do it by themselves. I’m just recommending, in the future, there needs to be some type of proposal so that we don’t let that happen again.”

Hollingsworth agreed with the broader principle.

“There are certain positions in the city that I don’t think should be political,” Hollingsworth said. “That is your fire chief, that is your police chief, that is the CARE chief. That is also Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle City Light. We’re not going to progressively fix a sidewalk or conservatively fix a pothole. These are services. This is life or death. This is public safety.”

What has to be different in a year

Gee closed with a simple question. If Hollingsworth is sitting in the same chair one year from today, what has to be different for her to look Seattle residents in the eye and say the city is safer?

“When I go in the morning, and I walk my dog, I see kids playing at a park, and the only sound I hear is kids playing,” Hollingsworth said. “If kids feel like it’s safe in our city, if we keep our babies safe, we keep our families safe, the community will be safe.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.