‘The Detroitification of Seattle’: Former KIRO host on the city’s slide, what could turn it around

Former KIRO host Saul Spady is looking to bring on a “rational, radical” political revolution in Seattle, as he views the city as nearing a Pompeii-level collapse due to many of the current policies and voting trends among residents.

Speaking on “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio, when asked about where he sees Seattle on a scale of 1-10, 10 being Pompeii, Spady likened the city to Detroit.

“I call it the Detroitification of Seattle,” he said. “I would say we’re at a five. We’re heading towards seven, but we have an opportunity. We have to remember that our mayor is a weak mayor. We can sweep the city council if there is a connected set of city council members who want certain policies that pulled really high in Seattle.”

Inside the ‘rational, radical’ perspective on Seattle’s policies

Spady broke down his “rational, radical” perspective and how it could favor some of Seattle’s most debated policies.

“The rational, radical perspective on this is that the government is wasting our money, and every citizen is oppressed by the lack of results that we’re receiving,” Spady said. “If we’re building public housing units that are a million dollars each, we’re not just stealing from the developer, or like the big business, we’re stealing from you and me and everyone in this building to create housing that, at this point, when you take an addict off the street, leads them to dying at a higher rate.”

Spady noted that Seattle voters have become single-minded in their opposition to President Donald Trump, often choosing candidates based on who is the most anti-Trump rather than on actual policies.

“Seattle and King County have been literally electing every politician since Trump has been in office on who is more Trumpian. Is Bruce Harrell more Trumpian than Katie Wilson? Is Claudia Balducci more Trumpian than Zahlei? And what that leads to, and you see this in almost every Democrat that’s an incumbent running for office, they don’t run on policies anymore, they just run on the fear of their MAGA opponent. So we have lacked creativity on the West Coast because we’ve decided in our protest of Trump, we have kind of led our cities into a downward spiral to really prove to Trump how smart we are.”

‘Three strikes, six months of rehab’: Spady’s vision for Seattle’s homeless

Spady also laid out the political coalition and the policy changes he believes Seattle needs to turn things around.

“I think our enemies are the Democratic Socialists that are leading our city into a downward spiral, and we have to build a coalition, Republicans, Democrats, and independents,” Spady said. “We are going to pull this damn thing back together. We are going to pass three strikes and go to six months of rehab. We’re going to rezone around our light rails for 20 stories and do a public-private partnership, so we stop wasting our money to build these housing units that kill people.

“And we’re not going to take an addict for fentanyl and put them into a building where their dealer lives downstairs,” Spady continued. “We take an addict for fentanyl and give them six months with an opportunity to get their life back, and then we’ll give them housing, then we’ll give them a job picking up trash.”

When asked how Seattle can stop drug addicts from coming to the city, Spady was blunt in his response and noted Seattle may be the “final battleground” after all other cities make real fundamental change.

“You can’t stop them,” Spady said. “Seattleites who are addicts will move to LA for the winter. They’ll take the bus down there because there’s this continuum of an opportunity to service your addiction that exists, really mostly on the West Coast, now in Seattle and LA. San Francisco, San Jose, and Portland are all trying to right the ship, and getting addicts off the street, giving addicts three to six months to get sober, and then reconnecting them with services, but we are going to be the final battleground, because you’re going to buy me a burger when Spencer Pratt wins in LA.”

Listen to John Curley weekday afternoons from 3 – 7 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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