Israel likes a good challenge. She spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa. She's helped train women to run for political office in Morocco. More recently, as a manager for King County Parks, she helped keep parks open despite an 80 percent budget cut. Now, she's taking on well–liked Seattle politician, Nick Licata. He's sailed to re–election twice with 77 percent of the vote. So you gotta wonder why Israel, a political newcomer, would go after this seat? Israel: "While I do have great respect for him and have voted for him three times, his contrariness sometimes lends to a divisive approach."
Morocco RPCV Jessie Israel in Seattle City Council Race
Seattle City Council Race: Israel vs. Licata
10/26/2009
You can look at the race for Seattle City Council Position 6 several ways. It is 12–year council veteran Nick Licata versus energetic newcomer Jessie Israel. She's a well–recognized rising star. He's a well–known civic voice. For liberal Seattle voters, the candidates seem to offer a choice between left and leftier. However you measure it, Israel is giving Licata the toughest run yet for his spot on the council.
Jessie Israel's decision to jump into politics wasn't exactly an 'aha' moment.
Israel: "I think I had an 'Oy vey' moment."
These moments came often as she watched local leaders butt heads on major transportation projects.
Israel: "And I got frustrated. I got frustrated as I was looking around and seeing that my peers were being priced out of Seattle. Seeing that my peers who are doing tremendous things on the international front, on the environmental front – all that innovation being lost in local government because we couldn't get our act together to make a decision, stop the bickering, and move forward."
So, the enthusiastic Seattle native made her move.
Israel likes a good challenge. She spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa. She's helped train women to run for political office in Morocco. More recently, as a manager for King County Parks, she helped keep parks open despite an 80 percent budget cut.
Now, she's taking on well–liked Seattle politician, Nick Licata. He's sailed to re–election twice with 77 percent of the vote. So you gotta wonder why Israel, a political newcomer, would go after this seat?
Israel: "While I do have great respect for him and have voted for him three times, his contrariness sometimes lends to a divisive approach."
Licata's running for his fourth term on Seattle City Council. His approach may bristle some, but Licata rejects Israel's criticism that he's an obstructionist. He takes pride in challenging ideas he sees as bad for the city. In fact, it's this aspect of his job that convinced him to run again.
Licata: "And as I was wrestling with that I realized that in committee meeting after committee meeting, I actually was the council member who was asking the hardest questions. And that if I wasn't there, I don't believe that the policies that this city is coming forward with out of the council would be as tight, or would be as good."
Licata has aggressively opposed some high–profile initiatives, like efforts to keep the Sonics here, streetcar expansion and plans to turn Mercer Street into a two–way boulevard. He's called the nearly $200 million Mercer project a boondoggle that won't improve congestion. And it fails pedestrians, too.
Licata: "As a walkable community, it doesn't really work out that well. Certainly we need new sidewalks and we need bike paths and bike lanes, but that can be done just as easily with the current configuration and making some modifications."
Jessie Israel disagrees and solidly backs the Mercer project.
Israel: "An urban neighborhood with gridlocked traffic with no parks, no open space, no walkability is not going to be a neighborhood families want to live in. And if we don't build the Mercer project, if we don't do the deep–bore tunnel, that's exactly the community in downtown, in South Lake Union, that we're looking at."
The candidates do have a lot in common. They've each lived in unusual circumstances – Israel in a mud hut in Africa; Licata in a commune on Capitol Hill. Both refer to those experiences as character–building.
They also agree on many city priorities. Neither wants a new jail. Both want to protect open space and parks. And they both favor hiring more police officers. But on that point, their approaches are wildly different.
Licata supports the city's four–year plan to add about 100 police officers. Israel wants to double that. She's proposed a two–year plan to add 200 officers. Licata calls her plan absurd and logistically unrealistic.
Licata: "And I think it's the sort of approach of, rather than throwing money at a solution, you're just throwing more bodies at it. The challenge in front of us is really using our police force wiser as well we expand it."
Israel's offered few specifics about how she'd ramp up hiring. She admits it'd be a challenge. Seattle police officials say it's a challenge just to hire 20 officers a year.
Better public safety is something Nick Licata lists among his top achievements on the council. He sponsored legislation that led to more civilian oversight for police, and increased transparency. Licata says that upset the police guild, and he thinks that's why they endorsed his opponent instead.
O'Neill: "Have we had disagreements? Sure we have. But that's not the reason that Nick didn't enjoy our endorsement."
That's police guild president, Rich O'Neill. He says Israel impressed him with her diverse experience and willingness to engage with people on new ideas.
O'Neill: "You know there was a point in our interview when we were all done and she was the only candidate who stayed around afterward and spoke with officers just casually. You know, when we saw that and then compared it to all the other candidates who were running for city council, it was really a no–brainer."
Israel has secured several other key endorsements, including the Seattle Times, the Seattle Firefighters Union and the Seattle Chamber of Commerce.
Licata has won endorsements from top legislators, the King County Democratic Party and the King County Labor Council.
Dave Freiboth heads the labor council, which represents most major unions in the area.
Freiboth: "Council member Licata has a good community base in terms of affordable housing. [He's] supported us strongly on our efforts to protect industrial jobs. The guy lives his principle in support of working families."
In the August primary, Nick Licata easily won the three–way contest with more than half the votes. Jessie Israel pulled in about 30 percent. I'm Liz Jones, KUOW.
© Copyright 2009, KUOW
