Sawant, Banks trade jabs in District 3 debate

Current City Councilmember Kshama Sawant and challenger Pamela Banks fielded questions on neighborhood issues like affordable housing and crime at the Town Hall Seattle-hosted function, as the two battle for the votes of approximately 90,000 people in Madison Park, Montlake, Capitol Hill and the Central Area.

Who’s more ‘in touch’?

Throughout the evening, Sawant repeated her calls for a millionaire’s tax to fund public transportation and her policy to not accept corporate donations, while Banks emphasized her work within District 3 and painted her opponent as out of touch with the issues facing the neighborhood.

In particular, Banks mentioned her inability to get a meeting last year with the council member over funding for the Career Bridge program. That effort is designed to help underemployed African-American men (and soon women) — many of whom who have been previously incarcerated — find work.

While the two candidates did find common ground on some topics — like their support of municipal broadband and the need for action to address the dearth of affordable housing in the city — the duo often differed on the best approach to achieve their targets.

In regard to strategies other than rent control for affordable housing, Sawant said the approach needs to be multifaceted and mentioned the city’s bonding capacity as a way to fund the construction of more units. However, she did emphasize the need to lift the rent control ban at the state level and said the current regulations are so absolute that it wouldn’t even be legal to enforce rent restrictions on landlords who have pending building violations.

Banks said it was more important to focus on “housing first” policies for the homeless and to support nonprofit housing providers, before addressing rules and regulations like rent control.

“We have got to build units, and build it now,” Banks said.

The two were also asked about how they would represent members of marginalized communities, outside of the ones they’re a part of.

Banks placed an importance on collaboration and reaching out to organizations like the Gender Justice League, while Sawant noted the LGBTQ town hall she organized as an instance in which she worked with that community, while also emphasizing the need for comprehensive housing policies.

Sawant also said there needs to be a cultural transformation where hate crimes become a zero-tolerance issue and that, “when inequality goes up, crime spirals.” An ombudsman position for LGBTQ issues in the city Office of Civil Rights were among the proposals Banks forwarded, along with expanding the Safe Place pilot program if it proves effective.

Public safety

While both candidates agreed on the need to address public safety issues and that that isn’t necessarily achieved through the hiring of more police officers, the two split when it came to tactics.

Banks discussed the Violence Interrupters program in Boston, in which former gang members are hired to address youth violence by getting them involved with outreach efforts. She said it’s more important to get people employed and educated before boosting the police force.

“Jobs and education stop crime and bullets,” she said.

Sawant called for an audit to get clarity on the police department’s budget and said issues like income equality and racism are at the heart of public safety issues.

She was also the lone no-vote on the proposed King County Juvenile Justice Center and said if there’s $200 million available to build a youth jail, there’s $200 million to fund youths jobs.

On the topic of small-business support at the city level, Sawant said there needs to be policies that would require landlords to give more notice before big rent increases, while Banks said she thinks the city needs to offer better protections, specifically detailing the departures of longtime tenants in the Promenade 23 building at 23rd Avenue South and South Jackson Street. Empty storefronts, Banks said, “put a depression in our neighborhood and our city.”

Transportation

The two also differed substantially on transportation policies.

Along with supporting the Move Seattle levy, Sawant wants to see her aforementioned millionaire’s tax to fund a full expansion of Metro Transit service that primarily helps working people and their day-to-day needs. This would mean creating a transit system that runs 24-hours and features feeder lines to light rail hubs, along with free ORCA cards for K-12 students and disabled passengers. 

While Banks also supports the levy, she raised her concerns about neighborhood residents not having enough input on where transit money goes.

“We cannot continue to put all modes of transportation on one street,” she said.

Parting words

Both candidates saved some of their sharpest critiques of their opponent until closing statements.

After continually noting her policy to not accept corporate donations and that voters need to pay attention to where money from big business is going throughout the night, Sawant again revisited that topic.

“He who pays the piper calls the tune,” Sawant said.

Banks, meanwhile, said approximately 45 percent of her campaign donations came from within the district, more than double that of Sawant, and criticized what she said is Sawant’s track record of poor attendance at committee meetings (including the Energy Committee, which she chairs).

“You can’t represent the people without doing the work in government,” Banks said.

For those that were unable to attend Sunday’s debate, video of the event is posted at www.seattlechannel.org.

To comment on this story, write to MPTimes@nwlink.com.