SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Dori: Where is Jenny Durkan?

May 11, 2018, 7:38 AM

Jenny Durkan, ORCA cards...

Mayor Jenny Durkan during her State of the City address. (Seattle Channel)

(Seattle Channel)

“Duckin’ Durkan,” as I’ve come to call her, doesn’t take a position on anything.

RELATED: Dori’s listeners weigh in on head tax

Mayor Jenny Durkan won’t take a stand on anything, including the controversial Seattle head tax. She will barely talk to anyone, and refuses to share her true feelings. Jenny Durkan claims that she has “made very clear what [her] principles are,” but she won’t share them with any of us. Is her priority getting people clean, or building more houses for heroin addicts to shoot up in?

And where is Jay Inslee in all of this? Amazon leaving Seattle would have a devastating effect on the entire state, yet he has stayed completely silent on this issue.

Here’s what I find extraordinary about the Seattle City Council — they have no idea what they’re going to do with the money. They talk about building more housing while ignoring the root cause of homelessness around here — drug addiction. If you don’t address the root causes — drugs and mental health — we will never, ever solve homelessness around here.

Nobody knows how much money they want because they’re starting at $75 million, but Kshama Sawant yesterday admitted that she wants to take this to $150 million. And you know that won’t be enough. Two years ago we passed a levy for homelessness, and that wasn’t enough. What is enough?

The answer is, too much is never enough.

All they do is talk about Amazon, while ignoring the 499 other businesses that would be affected by this tax. To those workers, those business owners, their enterprise is every bit as consequential as Amazon’s.

Jenny Durkan blames the federal government for the homeless crisis, but most cities are seeing a reduction in homelessness. Seattle is one of the few that has had not just an increase, but a skyrocketing increase. We are mismanaged by public officials who have no clue what the plan is and no clue how to turn around lives.

Please follow our Community Guidelines

The Emanuel Nine Memorial fountain is seen during a media preview at Mother Emanuel AME Church in C...

Associated Press

Memorial opens honoring victims of the 2015 Charleston church massacre

It took Alana Grant years to find the strength to set foot in the basement of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, where her grandfather, the Rev. Daniel Lee Simmons, attended his final Bible study. Her fears have been replaced by gratitude and hope now that there is a completed memorial in a courtyard by […]

4 hours ago

Associated Press

Thousands of flights canceled as airlines work to dig out from nationwide ground stop

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 2,000 flights were canceled Saturday as airlines across the U.S. worked to dig out from the longest nationwide ground stop in 25 years, which stranded passengers and forced professional and college sports teams to scramble for alternate transportation. Trump administration officials said new technology being added to the nation’s air […]

4 hours ago

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, right, attends a bilateral meeting with Philippine President F...

Associated Press

Canada’s Carney reports progress in trade talks with Trump as he expands ties with Asia

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Saturday that he had a lengthy conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump and senior administration officials before leaving for Europe and Asia and that the two countries are making progress toward a trade deal after negotiations collapsed in August. The comments came as Carney announced that […]

5 hours ago

FILE - President Donald Trump talks with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after a roundtable on crimi...

Associated Press

With shifting Iran rhetoric following US elections, Trump leaves Mideast in limbo about path ahead

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has had a lot to say about his thinking on the way ahead in the Iran war since Republicans were trounced in last week’s midterm elections. In exchanges with reporters, broadcast interviews and social media posts since Election Day, he’s somehow managed to back away from carrying out additional […]

5 hours ago

FILE - China's President Xi Jinping, right, and U.S. President Donald Trump visit the Temple of Hea...

Associated Press

The Nvidia scandal is heightening America’s AI rivalry with China ahead of Trump’s visit

HONG KONG (AP) — Well before reports emerged that former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was having an affair with a suspected Chinese spy, the advanced chips made by his company were at the center of the race between the U.S. and China to dominate artificial intelligence. The scandal now threatens to intensify that rivalry. As […]

6 hours ago

Associated Press

Alaska voters reject ballot measure seeking to repeal open primaries, ranked voting system

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska voters have rejected the latest attempt to repeal the state’s system of open primaries and ranked choice voting in general elections. The ballot measure, decided as part of the Nov. 3 election, marked the second time in two years that voters have rejected attempts to overturn the system and revert […]

6 hours ago

Dori: Where is Jenny Durkan?