Seattle mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan calls out city leadership: ‘We don’t see our values on the streets’

Joe Mallahan, former vice president of business development at T-Mobile, is once again running to become mayor of Seattle.

Mallahan made his case for the upcoming election on “Seattle’s Morning News” on KIRO Newsradio, positioning himself as a more effective leader than Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and sharing his intentions for Seattle’s future.

“We really have it in us to have a model city for progressive government, and we just don’t see our values on the streets,” he said. “And I think that’s just because we have a lack of leadership in city government. And I jumped into the race because I don’t think there’s another candidate that can actually beat Bruce in the general.

“And I think Bruce has badly mismanaged city government. He’s allowed the police department to develop, I mean, there’s a lot going on there, but there’s a dysfunctional and demoralized police department, and he hasn’t been an activist mayor, even remotely in that regard. And homelessness continues to be a huge problem, and he shows very little vision,” he continued.

Joe Mallahan nearly became mayor in 2009

Mallahan got close to becoming mayor in 2009, beating then-incumbent mayor Greg Nickels, but losing by around 1% to Mike McGinn.

When asked what has changed since then, Mallahan responded, “I’m a much better candidate than I was when I lost to Mike McGinn, and God bless Mike, he ran a great campaign, and I ran an OK campaign. What’s changed in Seattle—our streets are dirtier and less safe, and we have great progressive values. Well, progressivism would tell you, ‘We would take care of the homeless,’ and quite frankly, we deserve the homeless. We need to add a ton more emergency bedding and get people off the streets and into treatment.”

His approach to homelessness: ‘I think there needs to be an incentive’

Speaking further on homelessness in Seattle, Mallahan believes the city needs a new approach.

“I think there needs to be an incentive,” he shared. “I hate to use this term, but we need to hold the homeless accountable. The vast majority of homeless have mental health and addiction problems, so asking a lot from them isn’t reasonable, but you can certainly tell them, ‘Look, you can’t sit here and deal in and consume drugs in the public space. It’s bad for the common good. It’s bad for you. And we need you to get into treatment.’ And so there needs to be a little bit of push to treatment.”

Mallahan called himself “a pragmatic leftist,” adding that he believes conservative values and left values “overlap 80%” and that with his 30 years of management experience, he is the best candidate.

“I’m 62 years old. I just retired from T-Mobile, and I think I got eight years of great energy left in me, so I’d love to spend it serving the City of Seattle and its people,” he shared.

Listen to “Seattle’s Morning News” with Charlie Harger and Manda Factor weekday mornings from 5-9 a.m. on KIRO Newsradio. Subscribe to the podcast here.