WAS MARC DONES REALLY THE BEST KING COUNTY COULD FIND TO LEAD ITS FAILED HOMELESS POLICIES?
A SAD REALITY MAY BE THAT IT IS TIME TO ALREADY MOVE ON FROM THE FOUNDERING REGIONAL HOMELESS AUTHORITY
Marc Dones, the first CEO of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA), resigned after two years. During his tenure, homelessness in King County increased, and complaints arose about KCRHA’s unresponsiveness incleaning up homeless encampments near schools. Despite receiving tens of millions in public funds, the authority failed to effectively address homelessness, with more people dying on the streets than moving into permanent housing.
Dones made himself the face of expanding the authority and advertised job openings with generous benefits. Various governing bodies affiliated with KCRHA faced administrative failures and controversies. As support eroded, Dones resigned from his $247,000-per-year position. The search for his replacement is underway. The KCRHA approved a search committee, likely to be composed of members from the same liberal establishment that previously failed to find a suitable leader.
Because why would anything really change when it comes to Seattle’s liberal establishment? Read more here… Shift.
UNIONS TRY TO CHANGE SUBJECT FROM JAY INSLEE’S HIGH GAS PRICES TO JAY INSLEE GIVING AWAY JOBS
You can always count on Washington’s organized labor leaders to step into the fray when their economic interests – like having a Democrat governor and Democrat-dominated legislature to hand out taxpayer money – are threatened. That must be the reasoning behind the PR stunt reported on by the Washington State Standard of a union coalition releasing “a report laying out an ambitious ‘worker-centered climate roadmap’ to create more than 800,000 jobs across Washington in the building, transportation, energy, and low-carbon manufacturing sectors.”
After a month of Governor Jay Inslee taking a pounding for creating the nation’s highest gas prices with the disastrous cap-and-tax law he jammed through with legislative Democrats, the union bosses have announced that “Washington state has a crisis of climate change and a crisis of inequality and these two crises need to be addressed simultaneously.” You can read more about how these crises will cost you a lot of your tax dollars here… Washington State Standard.
IF MAYOR HARRELL’S NEW DRUG PLAN IS WEAK ENOUGH TO BE SPONSORED BY ANDREW LEWIS, HOW CAN IT DO ANYTHING?
One of the problems of having the veto-proof far-Left majority that currently governs the Seattle City Council is that even if Mayor Bruce Harrell develops a sound idea on public safety, he has to water it down so much for it to have a chance to pass that one wonders whether he should just wait until he has a majority of new council members next January. That is the dilemma KUOW surfaces when covering Mayor Harrell’s “new proposal that not only aims to establish a public drug-use law, it endeavors to gain the City Council’s approval.”
Embattled City Council incumbent Andrew Lewis is the loudest proponent of the proposal, seemingly to wash away some of the stench of him killing the council’s effort to make public drug use a crime back in June. You can read more about how Councilman Lewis believes deeply in fooling enough people to get re-elected and that this “package is a balanced approach to respond to the crisis fentanyl has brought to our streets”, despite the fact that he has been looking the other way during his four years on the council, here… KUOW.
IN CASE (LIKE KSHAMA SAWANT) YOU MISSED ECON 101, RENT CONTROL IS BAD FOR PEOPLE, LIKE RENTERS AND OTHERS
Lengthy pieces on the economics of rent control may not usually be on your summer list, but Shift wants to change that by offering this op-ed from the Seattle Times. Since soon-to-be-retired Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant missed this part of Econ 101 when she was obtaining her undergraduate degree in the field, you can remind her of the rather simple fact that “rent control has been discredited by economists again and again, leading Assar Lindbeck, former chair of the Nobel Prize in Economics Committee, to assert, ‘In many cases, rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city — except for bombing.'”
You can read more about how saner voices should not let Councilmember Sawant bomb the city on her way out here… Seattle Times.
LAST WEEK'S NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW
Last week’s Newsmaker Interview featured Spokane Good Government Alliance (SGGA) Executive Director John Estey, discussing the upcoming elections in the city. With the primary election imminent, Spokane faces a crucial choice between moderate/conservative approaches and liberal/extremist proposals. Mayor Nadine Woodward, who has faced obstacles from the five liberal councilmembers who have controlled the seven-person city council since her election in 2019, is this year being challenged by career politician and former Jay Inslee cabinet member Lisa Brown. Four of the seven city council seats (including City Council President) are also up for election. Estey shed light on SGGA’s mission, its key concerns for the 2023 elections, and highlighted leading candidates for the Mayor and City Council President positions. Read more.
SHIFT JOINS Q13 FOX FOR ELECTION NIGHT COVERAGE
Shift WA’s very own Randy Pepple will be on Q13 Fox for Election Day coverage. Tune in this evening to hear our analysis of the primary election!
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