Council Edition: Solomon & Strauss on vacancy, taxes & public safety

-Hello. I'm your host, Brian Callanan.
A vacancy on the Seattle City Council
has set off a fast-paced replacement process,
but a familiar name may provide some answers.
And there's no shortage of questions,
as the council considers a major change to the city's
business tax structure.
Plus, there's a new sales tax proposal intended
to provide a boost to public safety.
I'm with council members Mark Solomon and Dan Strauss
to consider these issues and the questions you're sending in too.
That's next on "City Inside Out Council Edition."
-This Shield proposal is providing relief
for them to be able to be successful in a city
that is rapidly becoming unaffordable.
-I never thought I'd be in a position
to want to protect our country from our federal government.
-All that and more.
Coming up next on "City Inside Out Council Edition".
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Welcome once again to "City Inside Out Council Edition"
here on the Seattle Channel.
I'm Brian Callanan and for this episode we have with us
Mark Solomon, council member from the district two area
of Southeast Seattle there. Very glad you're here.
Also, the council's land use chair.
Thanks for being here, Council Member Solomon.
-Thank you very much.
-Also, we have with us Council Member Dan Strauss
from district six, from Green Lake out to Bauer,
parts of Magnolia in northwest Seattle there.
He's also chair of the finance,
Native Communities and Tribal Governments Committee.
Good to see you again, Council Member Strauss.
-Always good to see you, Brian.
-All right. Let's jump into it here.
I'm talking to you right in the middle of the council's process
to find a replacement for Council Member Moore,
who stepped down from her position unexpectedly.
July 7th was her last day.
A few viewers have some questions
about what kind of candidate you are looking
to fill this vacancy, including Lab who writes this.
Lab, thanks for the email.
There are a lot of questions in there, as it turns out.
But Council Member Strauss,
you've got 22 candidates to choose from,
one of whom happens to be former council president
and D5 representative Debora Juarez.
How do you answer this question?
-Which question?
-Right. There's a ton of them there.
-Yeah, I mean, so caretaker, I'll take from the top,
which is, you know, I've gone back and forth
over the last couple appointments about
whether caretaker is is a good thing or not.
I don't think --
-Meaning someone who wouldn't run for the job afterwards?
-Right. I don't know that there's a perfect answer there.
I think this one's different
than the last two appointments that we've had.
That it'll be 16 months instead of just a few months.
-Right, right.
-Mark to my right is just... is a caretaker,
and he's been a joy to work with.
So, you know, there's not a a right answer about caretaker.
Answering the question about budgeting and
policy and experience, or have they run before?
There is the need to understand budgeting
and how a city bureaucracy works
because there's not a lot of lead time
before we get into budget.
-Yeah, it's a couple of months here, right?
-Just right around the corner.
And it's rare for a city council to appoint a council member.
It's even more rare to do it two years in a row,
and it's even more rare to do it two years in a row
and have two appointees at the same time.
-Right, right.
So having experience is important,
and that means knowing the blocks.
You know, in my conversation today,
highlighting that Holman is very different than Crown Hill.
-Sure. Right.
-I mean, Licton Springs and Northgate
are a quarter mile away from each other,
-and they're very different. -That's right.
Blue Ridge is very different than Matthews Beach.
I need to...in Meadowbrook is very different than Broadview.
-Right? -Right. Right. Right.
-I need somebody to know the streets, know the blocks.
Know the issues and know D5 inside and out.
-So it sounds like Debora Juarez has the job
or what do you think?
-No, I mean,
what I just described could have been a number of people.
-Okay. -Right.
You know, Jed Bradley didn't make it to the finalists,
but he has budgeting experience in for the UW,
which has a larger budget than -- than we do.
Lulu Jenks has great on-the-ground knowledge of
across Lake City.
Talking to Julie King,
she -- she understands what's going on in Aurora.
She understands the West. She understands the East.
I mean, there are a lot of really good candidates
that we have to look at right now.
-All right. Fair enough.
Council Member Solomon,
as Council Member Strauss pointed out,
you've been through this appointment process here.
You joined the council back in January
when Councilmember Morales stepped down.
And I've talked to a few people
who really think Council President Juarez,
if she didn't get the job, they'd be shocked.
But I do want to make sure I ask the question of
how you're going through this process?
-Well, I will acknowledge
that there are a number of qualified candidates,
and I appreciate everyone
who's put their name forward to b

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