‘City council would rather blame the mayor’: Saul Spady argues 7 of 9 seats are up, nobody wants fingerprints on the crisis

The Seattle City Council is feeding negative media coverage of Mayor Katie Wilson while refusing to show up at community meetings or pass laws that would address the city’s drug and safety crisis, Quality of Life Coalition founder Saul Spady said.

Spady joined “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio and said the council’s strategy is to let Wilson take the political damage while council members avoid accountability ahead of 2027, when seven of nine seats are on the ballot.

“There wasn’t a single city council member there,” Spady said of a recent North Precinct community meeting attended by roughly 150 residents from Ballard, Fremont, Lake City and Aurora Avenue. “The mayor sat there and took her notes and answered questions when asked. I wouldn’t give her an A+, but I wouldn’t give her a D. She was there.”

Spady says the council wants Wilson to quit

KIRO host John Curley laid out the theory that insiders at City Hall seized on Wilson’s handling of the Bite of Seattle shooting to undermine a mayor who came into office without union endorsements or political debts to established power brokers.

Spady said the dynamic goes deeper than a recall petition filed in August that was later withdrawn.

“I think there are certain people that believe that will happen,” Spady said when asked whether the council is working to push Wilson to resign. “Obviously the council and the mayor are not in alignment.”

Spady asserted that the council’s silence is strategic.

“There’s all this anger for the mayor, and there’s no anger at the council,” he said. “I think the council is trying to build on that because seven of the nine of them are up for re-election, and they don’t want to hold any responsibility for the situation on the street.”

Spady noted the council has the power to pass a public camping ban, crack down on open-air drug dealing, and push for enforcement of existing state laws but has chosen not to act.

“The city council can pass laws. They can push the mayor to do whatever they want,” Spady said. “I think the city council would rather blame the mayor than acknowledge that there isn’t alignment on the council between those nine people to get five together to pass things like an RV camping ban.”

Spady pitches a city initiative to force enforcement of state drug laws

Spady said he is working on a citizen initiative for Seattle that would compel the city council and mayor to follow existing state drug laws, targeting the gap between what is on the books and what prosecutors choose to enforce.

“You can’t change state laws or create new laws, but you could create a citizens vote to highly incentivize following the laws that are on the books,” Spady said. “The law’s actually on the books that if you’re arrested three times for a misdemeanor since 2023, you can get a year in jail. And then there’s another law on the books that says we’d strongly encourage you to incentivize diversion, which would be mandated treatment.”

Spady said the initiative would push for at least six months of mandatory treatment after a third arrest, with the case forgiven upon completion.

Spady founded the Quality of Life Coalition in 2025 with backing from Cascade Party chair Krist Novoselic. The coalition has filed a separate initiative in King County to ban public camping in unincorporated areas.

Spady floats ‘Town Hall Jams’ for 2027 council races

Spady said he is building toward the 2027 Seattle City Council elections with a concept he called “Town Hall Jams,” free live music events at local businesses, funded by democracy vouchers, where every council candidate would get five minutes to address voters.

“I want to challenge all Seattle City Council candidates next year to take a portion of their democracy vouchers, work with businesses, and pay for bands to be in those businesses for free to show that you can create community,” Spady said. “And then invite the other people running for council. Everybody will get five minutes to say their spiel.”

He said the broader goal is to redirect the city’s political conversation away from national politics and toward the running of Seattle.

“I see a great moment for Seattle to walk away from our favorite conversation, which has nothing to do with our city, which is Donald Trump, and talk about the running of the City of Seattle,” Spady said. “Don’t we want a safe and fun Seattle?”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

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