Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson faced a series of direct and at times uncomfortable questions during a forum held by City Club and Fox 13, where homelessness, public safety and the city's relationship with its business community dominated the conversation. The event gave residents a rare chance to put their concerns to the mayor face to face.
Wilson has drawn national scrutiny in recent weeks for her comments toward the business community, including a call for a boycott of Starbucks. Asked whether she still supported that boycott, she acknowledged she had recently visited the Pike Place Market Starbucks and ordered a blueberry muffin latte, joking that the staff creation meant she had broken her own boycott.
The mayor was also asked to respond to Spencer Pratt, a Los Angeles mayoral candidate who suggested that people living on the streets and using drugs there would move to Seattle, claiming Wilson would welcome them. Wilson declined to engage with him directly, instead telling the audience that when comparing cities, the data shows housing costs are what drive homelessness, pointing to a clear correlation between the two.
Pressed on whether Seattle is too lenient in offering housing to people struggling with drug addiction without requiring treatment, Wilson argued that people fall into homelessness from many different directions. She said that each person has an individual situation and that what works for one may not work for another, which is why she believes the city needs a variety of shelter options and service models.
After the question and answer session, community members were able to raise their own concerns, and public safety quickly took over. The discussion began with Wilson's newly proposed sales tax to fund more bus services, with one attendee saying they supported taxes when the system works but were not sure they would get home safely that night.
Others shared accounts of shootings and stabbings, and described employees carrying whistles for their safety while businesses paid for private security because, they said, police never show up. One speaker noted that spending ten percent of revenue on private security felt like an extra sales tax, and another said nearly 25 employees had been forced to use that whistle, insisting downtown was not safe.
Homelessness remained a central theme, with one resident asking when the power washing of encampments would stop. Wilson said a new approach was coming to the area of 12th and Jackson very soon, but conceded that the city does not have many options right now and that, in a sense, it is simply moving people around. She said the city cannot keep moving people from place to place and call that progress, while business owners voiced worries about downtown vacancies and the future of investment in the city.