Tag Archives: Reprint

Features

What’s Going On With Graffiti in Seattle?

by Grace Chinowsky

(This article was originally published on Real Change and has been reprinted under an agreement.)

The City of Seattle’s stance on graffiti remains as staunchly “anti” as ever, with Mayor Bruce Harrell doubling down on his graffiti abatement efforts, but the legal and social outlook on street art in the city has evolved significantly.

The City is currently awaiting the results of their appeal against a federal court’s injunction of an ordinance banning graffiti — effectively legalizing it until a judge makes a ruling — and one of the city’s most high-profile taggers is now out on bail after being arrested for the second time last month. Meanwhile, the City is partnering with a local nonprofit that connects people in need of employment with work cleaning up graffiti, reaching businesses in the Chinatown-International District (CID) hit hard by graffiti writers.

But is graffiti the big problem our mayor has made it out to be?

Continue reading What’s Going On With Graffiti in Seattle? →
News

City Can Continue ‘Obstruction’ Sweeps for Now; Ex-KCRHA Director Turns In First Work on City Contract

by Erica C. Barnett

(This article was originally published on PubliCola and has been reprinted under an agreement.)

City Can Continue ‘Obstruction’ Sweeps for Now

Last Friday, a state appeals court issued a ruling staying any enforcement of a King County Superior Court decision finding Seattle’s rules on “obstruction” encampment removals unconstitutional. The City defines an “obstruction” as any encampment, tent, person, or property that is located in virtually any public space, including remote areas of public parks. The stay comes in response to an appeal filed by City Attorney Ann Davison’s office on Friday, and allows the City to continue its practice of no-notice sweeps, which have ramped up dramatically under the Harrell administration. Attorneys for the plaintiffs in the case have until Aug. 11 to respond to the City’s appeal.

Continue reading City Can Continue ‘Obstruction’ Sweeps for Now; Ex-KCRHA Director Turns In First Work on City Contract →
News

Teamsters Union Reaches ‘Historic’ Agreement With UPS, Faces Criticism From Rank-and-File

by Guy Oron

(This article was originally published on Real Change and has been reprinted under an agreement.)

On July 25, the Teamsters union announced that it had reached a tentative agreement with UPS over pay and conditions, just a week before 340,000 workers were poised to go on strike in what would have been the largest single-employer work stoppage in United States history.

The announcement followed months of tense negotiations and more than a year of preparation by the union. For weeks, UPS workers held practice pickets to show the shipping company they would not back down.

Continue reading Teamsters Union Reaches ‘Historic’ Agreement With UPS, Faces Criticism From Rank-and-File →
Voices

OPINION | If We Let Journalism Die, Our Democracy Won’t Be Too Far Behind

by Marcus Harrison Green

(This article has been copublished with The Seattle Times under an agreement.)

Editor’s Note: This piece is adapted from a recent talk by Marcus Harrison Green at Town Hall Seattle.

Not too long ago, I was speaking with a friend who recently left journalism for much more lucrative pastures, and who is seriously thinking about expatriating from the United States.

I chided him for being overly cynical about the state of journalism and our country, and he replied that in this day and age, “to be cynical is simply to be paying attention.”

Continue reading OPINION | If We Let Journalism Die, Our Democracy Won’t Be Too Far Behind →
News

Video Confirms that Officer Was Going 74 MPH, Did Not Have Siren Running When He Struck Pedestrian

by Erica C. Barnett

(This article was originally published on PubliCola and has been reprinted under an agreement.)

Content warning: This post contains descriptions of a violent, fatal traffic collision and images of a vehicle involved in that collision.

Video from the body-worn camera of Seattle Police Department (SPD) officer Kevin Dave shows Dave accelerating to 74 miles an hour and failing to turn on his siren as he approached the intersection where he struck and killed pedestrian Jaahnavi Kandula earlier this year. The King County Prosecutor’s Office, which is still deciding whether to charge Dave with a crime, provided the video and other documents in response to PubliCola’s records request.

Continue reading Video Confirms that Officer Was Going 74 MPH, Did Not Have Siren Running When He Struck Pedestrian →
Arts & Culture

Police: Not Just Above the Law, but Hiding Behind It

BOOK REVIEW: ‘Shielded: How the Police Became Untouchable’ | By Joanna Schwartz | Publisher, 2023 | Nonfiction, politics | Available at The Seattle Public Library

by Dave Gamrath

(This article was originally published on Real Change and has been reprinted under an agreement.)

Anger around the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer seemed to finally generate demands for changes in American policing, but over the past three years, not much really changed. Stories of police abuse keep coming. Why is this?

In Shielded: How the Police Became Untouchable, UCLA law professor Joanna Schwartz explains the multitude of barriers that have prevented necessary police reform from happening.

Continue reading Police: Not Just Above the Law, but Hiding Behind It →
Features

Derailing the Defund: How SPD Manipulated the Media Narrative Around the 2020 Protests

by Glen Stellmacher

(This article was originally published on Real Change and has been reprinted under an agreement.)

While thousands of Seattleites took to the streets to protest George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Minneapolis police, calling for the Seattle Police Department (SPD) to be defunded by 50%, exclusive SPD documents obtained via public records requests reveal internal deliberations and backroom dealings designed to craft a counternarrative to those demands.

Continue reading Derailing the Defund: How SPD Manipulated the Media Narrative Around the 2020 Protests →
News

At Mariners’ Request, Mayor’s Office Pushed for Encampment Removal to ‘Make Opening Day Great’ Last Year

by Erica C. Barnett

(This article was originally published on PubliCola and has been reprinted under an agreement.)

For weeks, the City has been scrambling to make downtown Seattle, Pioneer Square, and the stadium district inviting to the tens of thousands of people expected to pour into the area this week for All-Star Week. In addition to trash pickups and temporary park “activations” (pickleball, a free outdoor roller rink), the City has flooded the neighborhood with police; last Friday, in tiny Occidental Square alone, PubliCola counted at least eight officers, six park rangers, four private security guards, and about a dozen Downtown Seattle Association ambassadors.

And, of course, the City is sweeping unsheltered people by removing tents and RVs from the area.

Continue reading At Mariners’ Request, Mayor’s Office Pushed for Encampment Removal to ‘Make Opening Day Great’ Last Year →
News

Fentanyl Task Force Agrees on Need for Evidence-Based Court Alternatives — With One Notable Exception

by Erica C. Barnett

(This article was originally published on PubliCola and has been reprinted under an agreement.)

A task force convened by Mayor Bruce Harrell to come up with proposals to address illegal drug use in public spaces has been meeting for several weeks to discuss how Seattle’s court system can address a potential influx of cases from the City Attorney Ann Davison’s office. This summer, the council is expected to pass a new law empowering Davison’s office to prosecute people who use drugs in public by aligning Seattle’s municipal code with a new state law making public drug use or simple possession a gross misdemeanor, rather than a felony.

Continue reading Fentanyl Task Force Agrees on Need for Evidence-Based Court Alternatives — With One Notable Exception →
News

Tacoma City Council Introduces Competing Proposal Against Bold Renters’ Rights Initiative

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by Guy Oron

(This article was originally published on Real Change and has been reprinted under an agreement.)

Housing justice advocates warn that the Tacoma City Council may be trying to subvert an ambitious package of renter protections that voters will weigh in on during the November general election.

Continue reading Tacoma City Council Introduces Competing Proposal Against Bold Renters’ Rights Initiative →