District 2
Serving parts of Renton and Seattle's Central Area, Capitol Hill, Beacon Hill, the Rainier Valley, Seward Park, Skyway, UW, Ravenna, and Laurelhurst communities.Girmay Zahilay
Do you have any direct experience with disability?
No
1. HOUSING: How would you make affordable housing available to people with developmental disabilities?
Building affordable and supportive housing must be a top priority for the King County Council. The housing and homelessness crises are a regional issue requiring a focused and aggressive response from our county government. We need a central authority that has buy-in from all local governments and aggressively pursues a housing first approach to the biggest challenges of this era. We must also ensure that we are getting the funding we need, and creatively using the funding we have to work towards solutions for the crisis so that we don’t continue to increase regressive taxes like property tax.
Affordable housing options must first be available to those who are the most harmed by the homelessness crisis, including those with developmental disabilities who are disproportionately experiencing homelessness. We must also make sure people with lived and professional experience are shaping our solutions and leading the charge.
2. SHELTER: How would you ensure people with developmental disabilities have a safe place to sleep and stay?
Everyone should have a safe place to sleep and stay, and it is devastating to see that so many of those who do not have these resources are also those who have developmental disabilities. I would ensure that those who most need it will have these resources, by helping to raise awareness around the problem and developing community partnerships that would provide more assistance to those with developmental disabilities. In one of the wealthiest counties of the wealthiest nation in the world, none of our neighbors should be too poor to live. I believe the county government must take a leadership role in building affordable housing, and that includes increasing funding and resources devoted to those with developmental disabilities.
3. SUPPORTIVE HOUSING: How would you ensure people with developmental disabilities are receiving case management and the support needed to escape homelessness?
In order to fully solve the homelessness crisis that King County is facing, we must provide adequate resources to those struggling the most. We cannot simply build more affordable housing, but we must also support people who need help in order to truly escape homelessness through other resources, such as case management. We must ensure that we as a county are getting the funding we need, and creatively using the funding we have to work towards solutions for the crisis.
4. SAFETY: How would you ensure the safety of people with developmental disabilities in police interactions?
Our justice system must be restorative and fair for everyone - people of all races and income levels. People with developmental disabilities should not be afraid of police interactions, but should instead feel supported and safe. I support investing more in LEAD, which matches people with case workers and the resources they need rather cycling people through an ineffective and harmful court and prison system.
5. SAFETY & JUSTICE: Would you support cross-training among professionals in the courtroom, police departments, victim assistance agencies and schools to prepare the justice community for situations involving people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities so they can receive equal justice?
Everyone should have equal access under the law. This program would provide that for people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities, and so I would support it.
6. ACCESS & ACCOMMODATIONS: How would you ensure access to straws in public areas?
By working with businesses in various areas, I would make sure that people with disabilities have access to straws or any other resources that they may need. Environmental justice demands that the council maintains clean and healthy living standards for our most marginalized communities. We must prioritize infrastructure upgrades and improvements in underserved parts of the county, rather than placing the blame on individuals who are already suffering the consequences of climate change.
7. JOBS: What would you do to increase job prospects for people with developmental disabilities?
People with developmental disabilities should not be worried that they won’t have access to employment opportunities simply because of who they are. Companies should commit to fair hiring practices, and ensure that they are not overlooking those with developmental disabilities in their hiring pools.
8. SAFETY: How will you ensure your city's streets, sidewalks and intersections are safe and accessible to everyone?
One way to have safer sidewalks and streets for everyone is to improve our city’s bike lanes. Protected bike lanes like the one on 2nd Avenue would provide better access to streets for cyclists in Seattle, so that they no longer ride on the sidewalk and create accessibility issues for pedestrians.
9. TRANSIT: Do you think Lyft, Uber and other ride-share companies should be required to include wheelchair accessible vehicles in their fleets?
No one should be left out of any type of transportation. Lyft, Uber and other ride-share companies should be required to provide their services to anyone who wants them, regardless of their physical status. We should explore partnerships with rideshare and other technology companies to increase options for residents with disabilities and residents in neighborhoods like Hillman City, Rainier Beach, Renton, and Skyway.
10. TRANSIT: What will you do to expand transit service and improve reliability?
All transportation decisions should be viewed through a social justice and equity lens. In an era of mass displacement, we must ensure more than ever that communities like Skyway and Renton have reliable access to public transit. We must invest more in bus service, build protected bike lanes, and increase employer partnerships on transit access.
Larry Gossett
Not yet submitted
District 4
Serving the Seattle communities of Downtown, Belltown, Queen Anne, Magnolia, Fremont, Ballard, Greenlake, Greenwood, and North Seattle.Jeanne Kohl-Welles
Do you have any direct experience with disability?
Yes. My most direct experience was with care giving for my mother as she aged. See my response to question number 8 for how her dreadful experiences being wheelchair-bound with ACCESS vans informed me when working as a Council member with King County METRO Transit on service delivery of the ACCESS vans and subsequently requiring development of a new RFP and evaluation process. Fortunately, my son was able to be on hand to help his grandmother whenever she had to take an ACCESS van which was still extraordinarily difficult to manage, but without him, would have been impossible for her.
1. HOUSING: How would you make affordable housing available to people with developmental disabilities?I believe equitable access to housing is a basic human right. As Chair of the Council’s Health, Housing and Human Services (HHHS) Committee, I champion programs that provide direct support to individuals with disabilities and others seeking safe affordable housing. I sponsored legislation last year to enact an ordinance prohibiting landlords or home sellers from denying people housing based on how they would pay for the unit (also known as ‘Source of Income’ discrimination). I had been the prime sponsor of the legislation while serving in the State Senate. The ordinance expands the protections that are already part of the Open Housing chapter of the King County Code. King County has land use regulatory authority in the unincorporated areas of the county, so the ordinance prohibits landlords and home sellers in unincorporated King County from denying housing to potential tenants who have a verifiable alternative source of income, such as Social Security. The legislation also includes other housing subsidies, such as Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) vouchers, state Housing and Essential Needs (HEN) funds, or rapid rehousing assistance.Beyond just the legislation, we need to prioritize creating the capacity and resources needed to enforce this legislation. We have a severe shortage of affordable units in King County, and that shortage is a direct cause of the increasing numbers of people experiencing homelessness in the county, including those with developmental disabilities. I support designating housing units for people UNDER 30% AMI, including voucher programs that offer subsidies for people with developmental disabilities specifically. Also. I recommend adding protections for DD populations in affordable housing development that consider noise, safety barriers, proximity to roads and general accessibility beyond just ADA compliance. Soon, I’ll be introducing legislation around just cause eviction protections and working to make sure vulnerable populations are not wrongfully evicted from their homes, disrupting their stability.Increasing the availability of affordable units (particularly units close to transit hubs) and alleviating homelessness has been a major focus for me during my first term on the County Council. I worked successfully to get funding for modular housing, additional emergency as well as enhanced 24/7 shelter space, increased access to aid in finding housing and several affordable housing projects into our 2019-2020 Biennial budget. I support protections for renters and I also support the Regional Affordable Housing Task Force’s (RAHTF’s) Five-Year Action Plan to eliminate the housing cost burden for households earning less than 80% of the median income. We need to secure 44,000 affordable housing units within the next five years, and 244,000 by the year 2040 through building, preserving, or subsidizing units. In my second term, I’ll work to increase investments in affordable Transit-Oriented Developments (TODs), increasing funding for affordable housing developments for households earning less than 50% of the area median income, and combating the displacement of individuals and families, especially in low-income communities and communities of color.2. SHELTER: How would you ensure people with developmental disabilities have a safe place to sleep and stay?
As Chair of the Board of Health and of the Council’s HHHS Committee, I consider equitable access to basic services a top priority. The County’s Coordinated Entry for All (CEA) program attempts to alleviate some of these issues at shelters, but it is obviously still very challenging. The ability to reach those experiencing homelessness is critical, whether to provide urgently needed medical care, improve access to services, or to help with finding appropriate housing. In my first term, I worked successfully to fund critical outreach, health and human services for our neighbors experiencing homelessness. As a member of the four-person Budget Leadership Team, I worked to include millions for emergency shelters, affordable housing projects and other services for those experiencing homelessness. It’s vital that in these shelters, the spaces are welcoming, inclusive, and protective of folks with disabilities from encountering abuse. The budget also includes funding for several recommendations from the OneTable group, including creation of a regional consolidation of homelessness services and increased behavioral health services. I am the lead for the Council on this initiative.3. SUPPORTIVE HOUSING: How would you ensure people with developmental disabilities are receiving case management and the support needed to escape homelessness?
I absolutely agree with the need to ensure that all our residents – including anyone with a disability of any type – get the amount and type of aid they need in order to secure permanent housing. As a former academic, I am concerned about what is being considered in the creation of the vulnerability index, if it is not weighing severe intellectual or developmental disabilities. Currently, local cities and the County are working together to create a new regional authority to address the homelessness crisis. Under this new authority, when the County and City consolidate homelessness crisis response services, we need to take a hard look at how we assess vulnerable populations with tools like the VI-SPDAT because more often than not, people with DD are not prioritized despite sometimes having great difficulty navigating the system because of communication and problem-solving challenges, etc. We need to disaggregate the data we collect and ensure they are truly trauma-informed.4. SAFETY: How would you ensure the safety of people with developmental disabilities in police interactions?
There is clearly a need for additional training of law enforcement officers, including within the King County Sheriff’s Office. The County Council works closely with OLEO, the Office of Law Enforcement Oversight, which is tasked with overseeing the KCSO and conducts reviews and investigations into KCSO actions when necessary. KCSO needs to be held accountable by OLEO, and also held accountable when the King County Council has the opportunity to review biennial budgets, to ensure the KCSO is meeting the stated goals for crisis intervention training for all deputies. As a member of the MIDD Advisory Committee, I supported a major expansion of LEAD (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion) throughout the County—as well as other crisis intervention efforts. I now serve on the LEAD Policy Board as well to oversee operations. In addition to the deaths of Ms. Lyles and Mr. Williams, Tommy Le was killed by KCSO deputies amidst a mental health crisis—he was found holding a pen in his hand. In addition to crisis intervention trainings and diversion programming, we need to be able to hold law enforcement accountable in a meaningful way.5. SAFETY & JUSTICE: Would you support cross-training among professionals in the courtroom, police departments, victim assistance agencies and schools to prepare the justice community for situations involving people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities so they can receive equal justice?
I would absolutely support such training for law enforcement professionals. Equitable access to fair, non-discriminatory treatment by the justice system is a basic right. I serve on the LEAD (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion) Policy Coordinating Group and sponsored legislation prohibiting youth solitary confinement and moving toward Zero Youth Detention.6. ACCESS & ACCOMMODATIONS: How would you ensure access to straws in public areas?
My understanding of the plastic straw and utensil ban in the City of Seattle is that businesses are allowed to carry plastic straws for customers who need them for medical reasons. I believe the most efficient way to deal with this question is a campaign to educate Seattle business owners on the need to keep plastic straws on hand and to properly train employees to offer them when appropriate.7. JOBS: What would you do to increase job prospects for people with developmental disabilities?
Though King County government has limited power in terms of setting hiring requirements, we do play an important role in providing services – and funding organizations - that help those with disabilities find a job and stay employed. As Chair of the Council’s HHHS Committee, I support continued and increased funding for these services and organizations. King County government itself employs thousands of people. My legislation was enacted last year to overhaul the County’s anti-discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment, and workplace misconduct policies, procedures, and trainings. At King County, we do employ individuals with developmental disabilities and provide support for them to make sure that they have the resources necessary to succeed, through a program called Supportive Employment. They have job coaches as well. I would support encouraging other government jurisdictions and companies to adopt our model, and see how to continue expanding these types of programs.8. SAFETY: How will you ensure Seattle’s streets, sidewalks and intersections are safe and accessible to everyone?
I do believe that we need to make sure that streets and sidewalks are accessible for those with a wide range of disabilities. Within the City of Seattle, the King County Council does not have jurisdiction over Seattle’s streets, sidewalks, and intersections, but I am committed to working with Seattle City Council Members to address these issues. I am also committed to making sure that when we review construction projects, we push developers to consider the impact on mobility that their construction may cause and plan around that. During my first term, we identified a number of issues with the service delivery of ACCESS vans, which serve some of our most vulnerable community members, including the elderly and individuals with disabilities. Through direct experience with the major challenges my wheelchair-bound mother experienced with ACCESS, e.g., very lengthy waits to be picked up to attend and return from medical appointments and not being able to use toilet facilities, I know how important it is that those services are delivered effectively and on time. We worked with Metro Transit to set up a new RFP process with a new set of evaluation criteria in order to field new contractors and make sure that problem and other problems would be resolved. In addition, I have sponsored and supported measures on major transit expansion, implementation of low/no-cost transit fare programs, and reforms to fare enforcement policies, to name a few.9. TRANSIT: Do you think Lyft, Uber and other ride-share companies should be required to include wheelchair accessible vehicles in their fleets?Yes, absolutely, as these ride-share companies are now a major means of mobility for many King County residents. As King County continues to grow, it is imperative that we look toward a mobility framework rather than solely a transit framework, and we must consider rideshares within that. Rideshare services certainly have a role in the mobility framework that the County is building, because they reduce reliance on regular use of single-occupancy vehicles. A benefit of partnering with the private sector to provide transit options is that it offers more options for people to use to get where they need to go. I recognize the role that these ridesharing services have in the mobility framework, which is why I support the collaboration between KC Metro, Sound Transit, and City of Seattle called Via to Transit. Via to Transit, available either via app or phone, provides on-demand shuttle service to or from five Link light rail stations in southeast Seattle and Tukwila. This service, which counts as a Metro bus trip or a transfer on an Orca pass, helps with the last-mile-connection for people to access transit easily, even if they don’t live right next to a transit station. This, I believe, is an excellent example of rideshare services integrating into a broader mobility framework. The jurisdiction of the King County Council over private companies is limited, but I would encourage these companies to include wheelchair accessible vehicles, and would happily require it for our Via to Transit services.10. TRANSIT: What will you do to expand transit service and improve reliability?Affordable and equitable access to transit, both through Metro and Sound Transit, has been a high priority for me in my first term. I support expanding our current system and service hours and have sponsored all the major transit legislation in my first term to expand access to affordable, equitable transit. I have worked to add specific transit routes in my District. Recently, I introduced legislation to waive transit fees when Metro’s Emergency Snow Network is activated. I use transit daily and will continue to be a strong advocate for increasing access, and expanding routes and bus service hours. I have been working with King County Metro to develop both short-term and long-term plans for increased transit service in north Belltown and on the waterfront following the closure of the Viaduct and Bus Route 99. I was able to convince Metro Transit to add a Route 29 stop in north Belltown to ameliorate the closure of Route 99. And I have worked with constituents and KC Metro to expand transit options to Shilshole Bay after sponsoring a study of the area, and am pleased that those efforts have turned into a pilot project set to start at the end of the year. Of course, our ability to add routes, increase accessibility and expand the system depends on our ability to fund these projects. I support the creation of a King County Transportation Benefit District to be approved by voters, especially with the 2020 expiration of the Seattle Benefit District. In thinking outside of the box, I think we could consider using our authority to increase County gas taxes, which could be especially challenging, or to establish a toll or city payment for the use of roads by city residents to commute through unincorporated areas, but without imposing such a toll or tax for those who drive electric or hybrid cars.
Abigail Doerr
Do you have any direct experience with disability?
No
I have been honored to have partnered with advocates for people with disabilities -- many of whom are disabled themselves -- in my work to expand and improve transit in King County and in the Puget Sound region. I am committed to being an advocate for people with disabilities and that starts with listening and making space for people living with disabilities to have a voice in guiding our policy making to best address the challenges our region. I am committed to ensuring that the boards and commissions in place to be a voice for people with physical and developmental disabilities is well represented in the community and has a strong voice in the conversations and decisions that are shaping our county.
1. HOUSING: How would you make affordable housing available to people with developmental disabilities?
King County Council is not doing enough to drastically develop more affordable housing nor are we doing enough to ensure that people with developmental and physical disabilities are central in our policy conversations to address our housing crisis.
King County must be providing affordable and low income housing for people with developmental disabilities. As was mentioned above, sixty-four percent of people counted as homeless reported having a disability and thirteen percent of those people reported having a developmental disability. It is essential that developmental disabilities become a more central focus when the county is researching and creating policy around housing affordability and homelessness. King County needs 244,000 units of low income affordable housing by 2040 and as of now our region does not have a financing plan to meet that need. While the County’s regional affordability task force spent 18 months developing an action plan - the time consuming task force came away without having the difficult and most important conversation on how we are going to fund the much needed affordable housing.
I feel strongly that we need to approach our housing development crisis similar to our approach on Sound Transit 3, it is my priority to develop a 20-year housing plan with meaningful funding mechanisms to meet our goals. For Sound Transit 3, we used all of our political might to address an issue that should have been tackled decades earlier: we identified a long term need and rolled up our sleeves to do the hard work to map out the funding and revenue needs, obtained authority from the legislature, and then worked hard to get voter approval. Apart of this process, it will be critical to have voices from the disability rights community at the table to ensure we are developing a long term housing plan that meets our regions housing needs.
I will ensure that these 244,000 units of low income affordable housing are accessible and that units are set aside for people with developmental disabilities. I also recognize that private development and market-rate developers play an important role in our housing development. We need them but we cannot solely rely on them to develop the housing we so badly need. The county must create public housing to meet the housing demand and I feel confident that we can develop an immediate and long term plan to make the necessary public investments. With private and public housing developments, we need to ensure that we change the AMI standards for rates because it can often exceed what people who need housing the most can actually afford.
While housing stock is a significant challenge in our housing crisis - there are also significant barriers that are preventing individuals, especially people with disabilities, in staying housed. In addition, the process of finding housing and continue to be housed is often not accessible for people with disabilities. We need to ensure that there are more protections in place that protect people with disabilities from being discriminated against during the screening process for housing and we need to see the County set standards for eviction reform such as creating tools and partnerships (and requirements) to offer payment plans for defaulting tenants.
2. SHELTER: How would you ensure people with developmental disabilities have a safe place to sleep and stay?
People with developmental disabilities who are unhoused deserve to have a safe place to stay and it is unacceptable that so many of our shelters are inaccessible, especially when such a large portion of people who are unhoused have reported having a developmental disability. Inaccessible shelters only contribute to the number of unsheltered people with disabilities here in King County and shelters need to be accessible and have appropriate support programs for people with disabilities.
There are many barriers preventing people with developmental disabilities from accessing shelter and it is the job of local government to remove those barriers. It is critical that housing and homelessness government programs need to center the experience of people with disabilities if we are going to end homelessness in King County.
Some unsheltered people do not stay in homeless shelters because they are inaccessible and therefore are forced to live on the streets. We need to ensure that people who are performing sweeps are making sure people with disabilities can access a shelter. They also need to be required to assist in helping them get to shelter.
I will fight to prioritize funding for increased access to supportive services such as case workers who can help people navigate finding stable shelter and employment and for coordinating and developing the necessary shelter space for people with disabilities experiencing homelessness. We need to increase funding for case workers so we can help unsheltered people with disabilities stay safe and housed. With this, we need King County to ensure shelters are accessible for people with various types of disabilities. This would mean allowing service animals in shelters for folks who rely on them and ensuring shelters can accommodate different types of equipment.
3. SUPPORTIVE HOUSING: How would you ensure people with developmental disabilities are receiving case management and the support needed to escape homelessness?
King County needs to invest in providing case management support to people with disabilities to help them escape the cycle of homelessness. This needs to be a priority in future King County housing and homelessness policy because it won’t matter how many housing opportunities we create if we don’t have case workers on the ground helping unsheltered people access them. Caseworkers are overworked, underpaid and because of this are unable to give people the adequate support they need. We need to increase funding for case worker support and peer support specialists so they can ensure people who are homeless can navigate services. We need King County to hire more case workers and pay them enough to be able to live in the city they work in and not face financial insecurities.
I’ve found that there are so many people in administrative roles managing programs and caseworkers. These positions are important, however, there needs to be more attention given to funding competitive wages for case workers and hiring more case workers on the ground. With this we also need to be providing case workers for people who can’t stay in shelters because of their inaccessibility. Case workers should meet unsheltered people where they are at and folks shouldn’t only have access to case workers at shelters.
Case workers shouldn’t only help folks who are unsheltered find housing but should be working to prevent folks from becoming unhoused in the first place. Best Start for Kids Homelessness Prevention has found success in supporting our at risk youth find housing. I want to see King County create a similar homelessness prevention program for adults, especially those with developmental disabilities.
Case workers are an essential component of the support system we need for unsheltered people with developmental disabilities and I am committed to ensuring we have enough case workers on the ground helping people get back on their feet.
4. SAFETY: How would you ensure the safety of people with developmental disabilities in police interactions?
King County must ensure that the sheriff's department is undergoing in-depth and ongoing trainings on how to support and respond to people with disabilities. The murder of John T. Williams and Charleena Lyles is unacceptable and we cannot allow these tragedies to continue. King County must increase police officers training, knowledge, and awareness of people with developmental disabilities.
Even last week, a 13-year-old was arrested for protesting outside of the city council. I was disappointed to see SPD arrest a young activist for standing up for what they believe. Instead, much work needs to be done to develop restorative justice programs. I also strongly oppose King County using any form of facial recognition surveillance by our law enforcement officers and would immediately move forward legislation similar to San Francisco’s legislation to prevent the use of facial recognition by our King County Sheriff.
It is unacceptable that half of people murdered by police officers have a disability. Our police departments need to be better trained on how to respond to folks with developmental disabilities and I am committed to ensuring this happens.
I believe in restorative justice and that it is possible to address the harm that has happened in our communities through a collaborative, restorative and healing process. I believe punitive approaches to our criminal justice system can cause more trauma and harm in our communities.
I believe the current county council has had a hands off approach to addressing reforms in our criminal justice system - with our sheriffs, in our youth and in our adult criminal justice system. I am committed to engaging deeply in helping reform the way in which we approach our justice system in King County.
5. SAFETY & JUSTICE: Would you support cross-training among professionals in the courtroom, police departments, victim assistance agencies and schools to prepare the justice community for situations involving people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities so they can receive equal justice?
Yes. As I mentioned in the previous question, the murder of John T. Williams and Charleena Lyles is unacceptable and we need increased training for police departments about how to respond to and support people with disabilities. Criminal justice professionals also need to have an increased knowledge about people with disabilities such as their legal responsibility towards the disability community.
I was impressed with the work of Amplifying Voices of Inmates with Disabilities when they negotiated with King County to stop the inhuman practices of segregating people because of their disability and denying people their psychiatric medications. We need to ensure that King County Jails uphold these reforms and continue to better their support and understand their legal responsibility to people with disabilities.
In addition, I support divesting funds from our criminal justice system to invest in community based and community driven solutions. I am a strong supporter of diversion programs and restorative justice work and have participated in the programming the County currently runs and recognize the important work that needs to be done to expand these programs. There needs to be programs created that specifically support people with disabilities and we need to significantly increase our investments in these programs along with upstreaming the investments.
6. ACCESS & ACCOMMODATIONS: How would you ensure access to straws in public areas?
While the straw ban in Seattle was well intentioned - and stoked an important conversation in our community about waste - I do believe there are bolder and more effective solutions to addressing pollution, waste, and addressing climate change. I am proud to have led the efforts on some of systemic solutions to address climate change and our environment. However, the measure to ban straws in Seattle has presented issues around accessibility for people with problems with muscle control.
As Seattle and King County Public Health completes our health inspections - I believe part of our inspections program should include accessibility education and requirements regarding straws and other important accessibility requirements. King County should add a section to the health inspectors checklist for restaurants that includes training for restaurant workers on how to serve people with disabilities. I’ve heard stories of people being denied plastic straws in Seattle by services workers who were not properly educated on how to support people with disabilities and the straw ban policy.
Individual choices do have an impact on our environment, but we also need to be holding corporations accountable for their plastic use if we are going to have a serious impact on our overall plastic waste. I understand why people were excited about this policy, but we need environmental policy solutions that are focussed on environmental justice and making sure all people are considered in the process.
7. JOBS: What would you do to increase job prospects for people with developmental disabilities?
People with disabilities are often overlooked in the job market and are not given employment opportunities. We need to provide job opportunities for people with disabilities that pay fair and competitive wages and that are at workplaces that are properly trained on how to support people with disabilities. Additionally, I strongly oppose any policies that pay sub-minimum wage for people with disabilities.
I will work to expand and increase funding for the King County Supported Employment Program. This program is crucial for supporting people with developmental disabilities find employment by setting them up with career coaches at quality employment agencies. King County should expand this program to make sure we are increasing the rate of employment among people with disabilities.
8. SAFETY: How will you ensure your city's streets, sidewalks and intersections are safe and accessible to everyone?
Access to reliable transportation is critical for thriving communities. I have spent much of my career working to increase access to reliable transportation in our communities and know how critical our pedestrian infrastructure is to our community’s safety and to our health -- especially for those with disabilities. So much work needs to be done to ensure the streets in the city of Seattle are accessible and walkable for all and that our public transportation infrastructure is interconnected.
While King County does not invest directly in the city’s public walking infrastructure -- it is a priority for me that King County Metro is working closely with SDOT to ensure that pedestrian access infrastructure is integrated seamlessly in Metro’s planning and service. I have personally knocked on nearly 12,000 doors (as of Aug 22nd) and do not own a car and rely on public transit for my means of travel. There are too many neighborhoods (especially in North Seattle) that have inadequate pedestrian access to and from transit service.
My ideas for expanding and investing in adequate pedestrian infrastructure include the following:
- Partner to prioritize and invest in first and last mile connections to transit: Safe access to transit is a critical way we can get King County to engage in sidewalk infrastructure. While working on Sound Transit 3 we successfully advocated for system access funding for first and last three mile connection for biking and walking pedestrians. We need to prioritize access to transit in all Metro infrastructure and secure funding for sidewalk infrastructure around transit.
- Expanding metro service: Our region needs to be fully connected by Metro bus service - I will fight to expand Metro across our region and will work to ensure we are also expanding services during non commuter hours. Transit should run regularly and not just during commuter hours to connect people to light rail and other major transit hubs so that we are reducing the distance. This means adding more lines and more stops to our transit system.
- Continuing to improve Metro’s Access Program: King County needs to ensure that MV Transportation provides reliable Metro service through their contract with the Access Program. It is unacceptable that for years transit advocates and riders raised concerns about the previous contract and unreliability with the Access Program. King County should’ve responded to these concerns when they were first raised. King County must survey riders satisfaction with the program under the new contract and hold MV Transportation accountable to a high standard of service.
- Ensuring equitable access and development in transit hub infrastructure: It is no secret that communities around permanent light rail infrastructure have seen rents and home prices rise and after years of disruptive construction are then priced out of the communities they live in. Ensuring we are thoughtful and intentional about building affordable housing around transit hubs -- and prioritizing housing for people with disabilities -- is critical to how we are planning our communities and transportation network.
9. TRANSIT: Do you think Lyft, Uber and other ride-share companies should be required to include wheelchair accessible vehicles in their fleets?
Yes. Everyone should be able to use ride-share services and Lyft and Uber need to provide options for ADA accessibility.
10. TRANSIT: What will you do to expand transit service and improve reliability?
I was taught at an early age the value of public transportation and watched my dad commute daily across town to his job as a community college teacher in my hometown of Spokane. I have spent my career bringing together coalitions of people to tackle some of our regions toughest issues such as transit. I led the Sound Transit 3 campaign that will bring much needed high capacity transit to our region and I led the campaign to pass the largest increase in transit service in Seattle history. We need to expand public transit services because better public transportation options will make our city more accessible. I am committed to building healthy, thriving, and equitable communities and will fight to ensure King County is moving forward public transportation.
I made a choice a few years ago to not own a car and rely on transit as my primary means of transportation, but there are people in our community who do not have that choice and can only use public transit. As a transit advocate and transit rider, I know the many mobility challenges our region faces and have spent my career fighting for increased transit choices including investments in our Metro bus system and to expand Sound Transit.
As Seattle Transportation Benefit District Prop 1 expires at the end of 2020, I think it is critical that King County Metro go to the ballot with a county-wide replacement. Thriving transit is key to building connected communities and a future for all of us that has clean air and clean water. I see transit as a central tool to fight poverty and provide access to opportunity, grow our economy, and live our values.
In addition, I believe that transit -- while often a more affordable transportation solution -- is still too expensive and a financial burden on many of our low income riders and community members. I am proud to have worked to have helped implement the low income fare program (OrcaLIFT) withKing County but there is so much more work to be done to continue to make Transit more affordable. I am committed to fighting to get an affordable transit pass (ORCA for ALL) in the hands of every person in King County.
As a first step, I will work to eliminate the prioritization for a high farebox recovery rate to help ensure everyone can use our public transportation services. Farebox recovery is one of the Council’s primary metrics of determining a successful transit agency and the Council continues to push for a higher farebox recovery rate. As a King County Councilmember, I would set out a process and conversation with my colleagues on the council to modernize this and other transit performance metrics. Eliminating the directive from King County Council to prioritize high ‘Farebox Recovery’ would:
- Make space for creative policy solutions to improve transit. If our transit agency planners and our policy makers weren’t so focused on where certain revenue was coming from and instead how we can improve ridership and increase service it would open the door for creative solutions around transit revenue.
- Create a more equitable transit system and eliminate a regressive double burden on our lowest income transit riders. Metro is mostly funded by regressive sales taxes and by setting the expectation that transit riders must pay their fair share means that low income people are paying more for transit service.
- Value transit as an incredible public benefit - whether you use it or not: Budgets reflect our values. Investments in transit benefit everyone by helping us have cleaner air, cleaner water, less cars on our roads, and of course the additional choices to get out of traffic. Farebox recovery policies hold transit to a higher standard than other transportation choices.
I am also committed to improving King County’s Access Transportation program. It is unacceptable that people who rely on Access Transportation are picked up late and dropped off late to destinations. Unreliable transportation can have serious implications on people’s lives and it is disappointing that this unacceptable level of service went on for as long as it did. I was pleased to see the private service King County was previously partnering with loose their bid for another contract.
However, I am still concerned with the new contract King County has with MV Transportation which promises better service yet does not meet all of the demands of advocates. I’m concerned the new contract will not improve service because its standard on how late transit can be before MV Transportation is fined is not high enough. I also think the contract should’ve required MV Transportation to allow same day rides rather than requiring riders schedule trips by 5pm the day before the ride. Overall, I believe Access Transportation should become an in house program and I support setting up a public agency to oversee the program in the future so the County can ensure the program meets high service standards.
