This week, we’re playing audio from a City Council District 3 candidate forum that was hosted recently by Spokane Braver Angels. Incumbent Zack Zappone and challenger Christopher Savage were asked questions about law enforcement, homelessness, housing, neighborhood infrastructure, political division and leadership styles.

Cody Arguelles, a third candidate running for the seat, couldn’t make it to this debate, but don’t worry! You can read about his platform (along with the other candidates') in our two articles linked below:

Meet the District 3 Spokane City Council Candidates

20 Questions with District 3 Spokane City Council Candidates

Ballots are due for Spokane's primary election on August 5th.

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That's less than a week from now.

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If you live in the city limits,

there's not much on those ballots,

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likely just a vote on a tax to

fund aquifer protection activities.

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But if you live in Spokane's District

three, which starts in Brown's

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edition and stretches of North on

the west side of Division Street,

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you have a bigger decision to make.

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Which two candidates in the race

to fill a Spokane City Council seat

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should advance to the general election?

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There are three candidates,

liberal incumbent zopone and

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conservative challengers.

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Christopher Savage and Cody

argue After August 5th, only

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two will be left standing.

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We want you to be as informed as

possible about the race, so today

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we're airing another candidate for

him, courtesy of Spokane Braver Angels.

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Unfortunately argues didn't attend

this one either, but you'll hear

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candidates, Sasone and Savage tell you

why they're the best fit for the seat.

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All right, sit back, buckle up, and

enjoy becoming a more educated voter.

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Candidate Forum Audio:

My name is Ani Madson.

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I'm one of the two, uh, co-leaders for

the Washington Alliance of Brave Angels.

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We have at every level,

we have Red blue Balance.

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I am the red leaning coordinator.

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My colleague Sharman Benu is the

blue, and we are hoping to, uh, do

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more, uh, city council and municipal.

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Uh, events like this across the

state, Spokane and Spokane Valley

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have been our first two efforts,

and we are glad that you are here.

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I'm now gonna turn this over

to our moderator, Elizabeth,

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who's Elizabeth Dahl.

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I don't know why I just

suddenly forgot your last name.

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Elizabeth, who is, uh, uh, head of braver

politics nationally for Brave Angels.

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Take it away.

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And thank you.

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I really appreciate

everyone joining us tonight.

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Um, as Solani said, I'm the director

of Braver Politics at Braver Angels.

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Uh, I'm from the west

side of Washington State.

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Um, and I will be your moderator tonight.

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I wanted to mention at

the outset that one can.

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Cody argues, uh, was unfortunately

unable to join us, uh,

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despite his best intentions.

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So he will actually have an opportunity

to answer the same questions as

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these candidates, um, tomorrow and

like them, he will not have access

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to the questions in advance, and

then we'll append his answers to the

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video of the event when we post that.

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Um, I will, without further ado.

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Break into our ground

rules for the evening.

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There are ground rules both for the

candidates and for you as audience members

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because we hope that you're here to learn

and observe rather than to be a cheering

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section for a particular candidate.

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So I'm going to begin with the ground

rules for the candidates, which are

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that they will avoid using the party

labels, um, except in reference to

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actions taken by public officials

within a specific government body.

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So for example, you can say Republicans

in the state legislature voted to increase

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taxes if in fact that's what happened.

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Or you can say Democrats in the

state legislature voted to raise,

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uh, or voted for rent control,

if that's in fact what happened.

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What you cannot say is that, uh,

Republicans just hate poor people and

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Democrats want to raise your taxes.

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Second, uh, we're gonna ask you to

cite your sources as much as possible.

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If you cite figures, it's really helpful

for audience members to be able to, I

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understand where you're coming from and

where that information is coming from.

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We ask that everyone directs.

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Their criticism at actions

rather than intentions.

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It's really easy to criticize

your opposition and attack

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them as poorly motivated.

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But here we wanna assume that everyone's

engaging in good faith and instead

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just argue about outcomes and, um, the

actual actions rather than the intent.

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And pen.

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Ultimately, uh, avoid stereotypes,

jargon, and platitudes.

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Primarily what this means

is we're gonna ask you.

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Your audience members are not experts,

policy or otherwise, and we would

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ask you to explain any specific terms

that you use related to municipal

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business or government, um, that might

not be, uh, easily or readily known.

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Fundraiser.

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The average spoke cans.

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Resident what?

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Sorry?

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Ah, um.

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And finally, we know that in

times of heightened polarization,

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people have different definitions

for some words and phrases.

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So bearing that in mind as you

answer the following questions,

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please include definitions for

your words and your responses.

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So for example, homeless, affordable

housing unhoused, housing insecure.

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These are all kind of buzzwordy

phrases that we use in politics.

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But that people often have an intuition

definition for, and we wanna make sure

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that people understand what you're

actually trying to convey and that

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your ideas are conveyed really clearly.

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So if you can include definitions for

words in your responses, that'd be lovely.

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And finally, no crosstalk or interruption

if either of you interrupt each other.

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The time that you spend

interrupting will be added to

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the end of that person's comment.

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Alright.

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, Now I am going to dive in

to beginning the debate.

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Okay.

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Hi, I'm Zach Sapone.

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I'm born and raised here in Spokane,

and I'm a public school teacher

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at North Central High School.

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The same school that my grandpa went to

and that I, that I graduated from, uh,

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and that some of our, our colleagues here

work at, uh, I'm proud to be representing,

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uh, you all on City Council today.

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I'm really proud of the progress

we've made since I was elected.

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I grew up here.

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I live by the same

values that we all have.

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I ran for office originally because

I believe in one simple thing.

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Everyone deserves a fair shot.

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I had that opportunity to go away for

college and come back and work and give

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back to our community, and that's what

I'm doing today as a city council member.

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I'm working on the issues of our

community around affordability,

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public safety, and infrastructure.

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We are having record of permitting

at our city right now, um, when

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it comes to housing affordability.

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Where we're investing in public safety,

addressing the opioid crisis in a

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holistic way that includes accountability

while getting people treatment and

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co co responsive, uh, teams with the

firefighters and the police and for

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our safe streets and infrastructure.

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We've made record investments in our

safe streets to have better for our

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vehicles pedestrians and cyclists, but

too many people are still struggling

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to get ahead, and so I'm running to

keep moving in the right direction.

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Thank you.

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And your turn.

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That was two minutes.

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That was fast.

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It was very fast.

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Good afternoon everyone.

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My name is Christopher Savage.

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I'm running for Spokane City Council

District three, and my top priorities

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for the city is public safety,

homeless crisis, and affordability.

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We are seeing many people being

priced outta their homes right now

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because of the affordability of

our houses is way out of our reach.

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My generation, especially

cannot find a house.

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And a house is one of the most

important things when you need

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to start raising a family.

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We need to focus more on the

better priorities of public

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safety and homelessness crisis,

as well as affordability.

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That is not being seen at

the city council right now.

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I go down to City Hall every

Monday night and do reports.

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I can tell you this, that has not

gotten better here in Spokane.

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It has gotten worse.

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What is happening to our home

is absolutely disrespectful.

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We need to change that because we have

such great potential that is being

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lost here, that it just hurts my heart.

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We need to have a citizen

council member that is coming up.

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To you all and representing you not

representing their own personal agenda.

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We can do this.

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Spokane can be a place for

all and not a place for some.

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Thank you.

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All right, now I'm going

to begin questions.

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For a little bit of background about how

we came up with the questions, braver

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Angels has a pretty unique process.

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So we begin by running a

professional survey in the district.

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So that happened just

a couple of weeks ago.

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And then we bring together members of the

community in an equally balanced group

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of right and left leaning individuals,

and we ask them about the top.

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Four issues that we gleaned

from that survey and ask them

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to come up with questions that

are acceptable to all of them.

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We use a proprietary process that we

call collaborative consensus to reach

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those questions, which means that

nobody has a hard stop on the questions.

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Nobody hates them.

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They can have a green light.

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They can have a yellow light.

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They don't really like it, but it's okay.

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But.

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Any question that someone

says, Nope, I absolutely don't.

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I think that question

is not a good question.

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Um, that question gets pulled out.

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So the questions that we end up with

are, um, agreed to by the entire group

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of equally balanced local citizens.

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And we really appreciate their input

on coming up with the questions that we

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have before us today and our four topics.

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Our topic specifically for this

debate that came up at the top of our

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survey include crime, homelessness,

housing, taxes, and polarization.

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So we are going to begin with a

question on crime, and I will let

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the candidates know as we go through

the questions, um, what the topic

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of the upcoming question will be.

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All right, so the first question is,

uh, public safety remains a top concern

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in Spokane, especially when it comes

to individuals experiencing mental

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illness, addiction, or homelessness.

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What role should law enforcement play

in responding to these situations, and

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how would you ensure an effective and

compassionate approach that balances

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individual rights, public safety, and

the needs of Spokane's Neighborhoods

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Safe Bank?

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Oh, yes.

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So what we need here in Spokane is we

need a new jail, which is going to be

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an accountability center because what

we need to do right now is we need to

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make sure that we are differentiating

between the people who want help

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and the people who don't want help.

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And by having a new jail with wraparound

services for mental health, for a job

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site training, as well as addiction, we

can make sure that we can actually help

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these people in the right way and, uh,

kick out the people that are not wanting

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to be here and being part of society.

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We can actually help public safety

by also making sure that when we have

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laws that are voted in by the citizens,

which was like prop one, we need to

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make sure that we follow that rule.

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We don't need to go around and we

don't need to change it and water

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it down to the point where it is a

ordinance that isn't prop one anymore.

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We need stronger laws that are going to

make sure that people know that it is

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not okay to do what they're doing here.

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That is what we need to do.

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And would you like a rebuttal or

do you simply answer the question?

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Is that, I'll just speak for the two

minutes at the, and then I think he gets

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the rebuttal for the response after me.

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Um, yeah.

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I believe in a Spokane

where everyone feels safe.

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When you walk down the street at

your homes in your cars, everyone

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should feel safe where they're at.

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As a council member, I've been

really proud to sponsor and pass

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legislation that makes that possible.

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I've voted to ban open

drug use across our city.

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Just this last month, we voted

on a package of homelessness

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ordinances called Home Starts Here.

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And in that we talked about obstruction

in that everyone should feel safe

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walking down the street where they're at.

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But the reality is that we don't

have the facilities to do all this.

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I agree that we need

an investment in jail.

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We also need investment in mental

health beds, and we need an

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investment in, uh, sobering centers.

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And that is what I'm working

on as your council member.

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So I'm really glad to hear

my opponent agrees with that.

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Uh, that is something that as your council

member I've already been working on.

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We need to get the right

intervention for the right person.

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And that first starts with, uh,

outreach and connection to people,

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offering them the services that they

need and having, uh, enforcement and

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law enforcement as the last backup

if people are refusing to engage.

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I'm really concerned that we are

seeing across this country, uh, people

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being taken from their homes and

being terrorized in our community.

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And that is the same thing that

is happening here in Spokane,

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but it's also happening with

people who are on the streets.

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We need to make sure that everyone has the

options for safe treatment and that they

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can get those options, uh, from the city.

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We don't have enough resources from the

state, uh, and we need to be working col

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collaboratively, which we are working

on a task force with Republicans and

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Democrats across the county, uh, to

create a task force to address these

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big issues on a new jail, new mental

health resources, and asking voters or

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coming up with a voter plan for that.

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We know that voters rejected a new

jail two years ago because it was a $1

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billion check, uh, from taxpayers, a 0.2%

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sales tax increase, and it failed.

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If we don't come up with a plan that's

gonna address the real pro, the root

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of the problems, it's not gonna pass

by voters, and we're not gonna have

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a way to move forward as a community.

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And would you like a rebuttal?

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Yes.

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So this is why we need competent

laws here in City of Spokane,

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because with the open drug use.

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You could fool me.

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I go downtown almost every day

and I see open drug use everywhere

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by the hunting building, by the

Paulson Center in Riverfront Park.

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We need better laws that are going

to help us enforce these laws

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that are going to help out and

especially help out our police.

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Right now they're very demoralized

and that's why they are demoralized

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us 'cause they keep having their

hands tied on trying to help out.

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So I'm glad my opponent agrees that

we need a jail because that is one

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of the bigger things that we do need.

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Because that is going to help out.

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We only have 600 beds in this jail

right now, and we need 'em up to

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a thousand to help out with that.

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They are doubling up in those uh,

cells, and that is not safe for

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those inmates we need, and it's

not safe for the workers there.

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That's why we need a new jail.

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And yes, it was voted down two years

ago, but that was because there

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wasn't a good plan that was vetted.

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We have a good plan that we can start

making and we can actually make sure

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that the right dollars go to the

right places so that we can make it

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an accountability center where it has.

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Affordable.

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It has a mental health crisis.

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It has also addiction.

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It also has job site training.

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'cause that is what's

important to do with these.

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Thank you.

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All right.

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The second question is on homelessness.

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And what long-term strategies

should Spokane pursue to address

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chronic homelessness, especially

among individuals who are unable or

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unwilling to access existing services?

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Should the city consider changes to

how it coordinates with nonprofits,

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law enforcement, and regional

partners to improve outcomes?

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And you get to begin this time.

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Yeah.

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First, I want to say that the city

council has adopted the maximum

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extent that we can pass by state

law on drug use, open drug use.

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There's no other law that we can pass

to make it more strict on open drug

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use, but what we need is a coordinated

response across our community, and

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that's what we worked on and updated it.

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I do believe that everyone deserves

to have a safe place to stay and

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to have safe places on our street.

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And so I was proud to help

pass the legislation on.

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Home Starts Here.

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Home starts with an OR is an acronym

that stands for Healthcare Outreach

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and Navigation, multidisciplinary

Engagement and Economic Security.

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We need an all above approach to

addressing homelessness and houselessness

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to get people back and homes and on the

street or off the street and into homes.

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So we need to address healthcare.

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We need to get people the access to mental

health resources O off opioid dreams.

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Treatment and into houses.

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Uh, we need, uh, outreach and navigation.

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We need a, we've been investing

in a scattered site shelter

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system that is working.

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These smaller shelters are getting

people off the street into shelter,

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connected to services, and moving on.

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Uh, multi multidisciplinary engagement

is the enforcement aspect of this

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for folks that are refusing to engage

with, uh, with the provider network.

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Then we need to have a backstop for

those folks that are refusing to engage

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and that's going to community court.

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And if they refuse to go into community

court, then there's another option

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for them that's a regular jail.

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And finally, we need economic

security, which is addressing our

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affordability at all types of levels.

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We need housing affordability and making

houses cheaper, which I've done a lot.

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As I stated before, we have record

permitting year after year after year.

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That's been a bipartisan agreement across

the city to get these land use changes.

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We are addressing

affordability at with Transit.

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I've been pushing for a low income

bus fare program, so that helps people

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stay, uh, save money in their pocket

so they're able to, uh, prevent from

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being homeless in the first place.

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And we're also addressing affordability

with the working families tax credit.

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I've supported investment to get people

enrolled in tax credit from the state

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so that they have more dollars in

their pocket, so they're less likely to

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become, uh, homeless in the first place.

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Thank you.

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Would you like me to restate the question?

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Uh, no.

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I think I got it.

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So.

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I kind of pushed back on saying that

we're helping more homeless people.

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Now at the Track Shelter, we had

360 beds available for homeless

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people there when that was open.

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Now with the Scattered Sites

model, we only have about 180.

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I don't know how we're helping

more people with less beds.

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What we need to do is we need to have

better contract service providers.

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Jules, helping Hands and Catholic

Charities do not need any more.

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I really push back on their efficiency

with what they're doing, especially

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when the city asks the COPS program

to jump through me to ask for metrics

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to jump through hoops, but we won't

ask the same for these people when

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we give them a lot of money that

it seems actually reprehensible.

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We need to pick better

contract service providers.

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People like that actually show metrics

like Adult Teen Challenge, who's the

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executive director is Tyson West.

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They have a 12 month program

that has a 70% success rate.

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We need to have those metrics shown to

say, okay, we're gonna give you more money

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and allocate you more money 'cause you

show that it's going to the right place.

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We need better contract service

providers so we can actually help

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these homeless into the right

bed and have more beds available.

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Because right now with less beds,

we are not helping more people.

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Thank you.

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Would you like a rebuttal?

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Yep.

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I'm really glad to support Home

starts here that has metrics in the

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legislation that we are working on

that and just this week we got our

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point in time count that showed that

homelessness has gone down across the

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county for the second year in a row.

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Uh, that is in addition to the

number of beds going offline.

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Since then, we've added more

beds, about 170 extra beds

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since that count in January.

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So we're working on those

things and it's working.

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We're seeing people that are moving.

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Into shelters and out of shelters

and, uh, into safe, stable places.

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And that's the type of events,

investments that we wanna do.

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What didn't work was track.

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Track was the large scale shelter.

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Uh, that was the large one.

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People weren't moving out of

homelessness as being safe, stable.

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It is a data proven research that does not

work in large scale shelters, but rather a

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small shelter site that gets people stable

and connected to resources is successful

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at moving them into permanent housing.

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Thank you.

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Our third question will be about housing.

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Spokane faces growing demand for housing

that is affordable and sustainable.

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What specific policies do you support

to increase the supply of housing

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to meet community needs while also

addressing other citizens concerns

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about climate risks, transit

access and displacement concerns?

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Housing affordability is one of the major

issues, as we've talked about before.

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Everyone deserves a place to live.

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And too many people are struggling

to find a place to live.

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I know that when I was searching for a

home, that I was being outbid by people

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from California who were coming in and,

uh, putting, asking prices too high.

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We've seen rent go up at incredible

high rates, uh, that people are

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no longer to afford it, and we're

seeing more people that are doubled

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up at homes living in their cars.

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And so we need to address that

affordability, and I'm really proud

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of the legislation that we've passed

working across the aisle at City Hall

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and passing these in unanimous decisions.

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We've made changes to our land use that

allows, um, a variety of housing, uh,

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to be built throughout the entire city.

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Uh, that decreases the cost.

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We've invested in our, our permitting

system to make it cheaper and

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quicker to, uh, build more housing.

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We've also been working on reducing

other barriers to housing and

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sponsoring legislation that would

turn our empty lots into housing and

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using state incentives to do that.

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So these are a lot of things that

we're doing and we've seen the results.

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We've seen record number

of permits year over year.

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We've seen the housing market stabilize.

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Um, I've also supported

protections for renters.

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Who are seeing increasing rents

and making sure that they have

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the stability to, to survive.

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So these are the types of

things that we're needing.

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And, uh, a a lot of these, this

legislation would be, uh, rolled back

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if we were not moving in the, uh, if

I'm not reelected, it'd be rolled back.

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And we want to keep moving

in the right direction.

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And we're seeing this come from the

state to the, the direction of moving to

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infill and more density so that we have

the opportunity to build more housing.

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On top of that, we've also made record

investments in affordable housing through

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a sales tax initiative that's been built,

that has built hundreds and hundreds of

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units throughout the, my time on office.

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So we're building a different variety

of, uh, housing at different, uh,

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levels of affordability so that

it's building a better market for

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everyone to have a place to live.

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Thank you.

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I believe it was actually

your turn to begin this time.

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Sorry.

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Um, the, yes, please respond.

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Alright.

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So the first thing we can, we

can absolutely do is when I

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talk to developers, they say we

need to really clean up the code

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of the Spokane Municipal Code.

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There's things that are in there that

make it really hard for the developers

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even to develop smaller parcels.

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If you don't have a parcel that is

the same size that is right next

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to you, it makes it a nightmare

for you to try to do anything.

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And this is what we need.

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We need more single families,

uh, homes in Spokane because

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that is the American dream.

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It may be dead for a lot of people,

but that's what people want when

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they wanna start growing a family.

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They won't want more apartments.

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They want actual housing.

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And what we need to do with actually

having more housing is I come a free

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market principle where we need to increase

the inventory to satiate demand so we

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can bring the price down naturally.

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And by doing that, we can actually go

through our comprehensive plan, which

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comes from the Growth Management Act,

and we need to make sure that we have

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10 areas around Spokane that we can

actually annex from Spokane County and

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make our own so that we can actually

start building more developments.

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Now there are a couple out there

that are more fully developed,

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so we need to go past those.

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So we need to really access and focus

in on the underdeveloped property.

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Because by doing what we I just said

about having the demand be satisfied

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with the inventory that's there, we

will bring the price down naturally

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and that will be the best thing that

we can have for our future generations.

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Because if we don't have future

generations coming to Spokane or families

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wanting to have their children here,

we don't have a future here in Spokane.

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And would you like to rebut?

443

Yeah.

444

I'm really glad my opponent supports

increasing the inventory because

445

that's what we were doing at Spokane

and the policies that have passed.

446

We have record permits year over

year in building more houses.

447

But if you drive around

town, you see what I see.

448

We see a lot of empty lots

downtown on division up in the

449

northeast across our entire.

450

We have a lot of space to build in

Spokane, and what we have are a lot

451

of developers who are sitting on land

and waiting for the price to go up.

452

And so I've been supporting legislation

at the state level that we need that will

453

incentivize us to change our property

taxes so that homeowners at their homes

454

will have lower taxes, will those vacant

lots, will be taxed the fair rate.

455

Uh, and we would be incentivized

to build the housing that

456

should be built on those lots.

457

So everyone is a property owner

who is a tenant, should see their

458

taxes go down while the speculators.

459

Who are sitting on lots would

see their taxes increase, which

460

would turn into more housing.

461

Thank you.

462

Alright, we're going to move on to

question four, which is about taxes.

463

Many Spokane residents struggle with the

cost of maintaining sidewalks and other

464

infrastructure, even as these improvements

are critical for safety and accessibility.

465

What role should the city play in ensuring

that neighborhood infrastructure is

466

safe, equitable, and well maintained?

467

And how would you prioritize funding

or policy changes to support that?

468

And you'll have the first

crack at this question.

469

All right.

470

So what we really need to focus on is

general facilities cost and impact fees.

471

We have not been addressing

those for almost two decades.

472

That is what helps build a lot of our, uh,

sidewalks and a lot of our infrastructure.

473

We really need to talk to people about how

we can actually add this infrastructure.

474

'cause up in my neighborhood,

we don't have any sidewalks.

475

And this isolates you to your house.

476

You don't get to communicate

with your neighbors.

477

I do because I'm a little bit weird.

478

But we actually want to have a community

that we built here and that is AC

479

that is accessible through sidewalks.

480

We really need to make sure

that we have places people can

481

walk and not play in the street.

482

I, when I grew up, my parents told

me that you don't play in the street.

483

'cause that's where cars belong.

484

We don't need to push people in the street

because we're making it unsafe for them.

485

That's what we need to do with

sidewalks as well as make sure that

486

we have an accessible neighborhood

that we can walk through.

487

Also, what we need to do is

we need to focus and talk

488

to our neighborhood council.

489

My neighborhood Council Alboa,

south Indian Trail Neighborhood

490

Council, I have attended every

meeting for the past six years.

491

We need council members who

are going to listen to us.

492

So when we ask for RFB, uh, crosswalk,

which is a rapid flashing beacon, they put

493

it in the place that we have requested.

494

So, for instance, on Indian Trail,

our neighborhood council said that

495

it was Beacon on Beacon Street that

we really need to put this RFB.

496

It went down to Woodside and it

went up to a Holyoke, not on Beacon.

497

And the reason why we need it on Beacon

is because there's several accidents

498

that have taken young men's lives down

there that I was actually there for, and

499

that's why it's so, uh, close to my heart.

500

We need to make sure that we are saving

these people and not making sure that

501

our, uh, neighborhoods are unsafe.

502

Thank you.

503

Yeah.

504

So.

505

I absolutely believe that we

need safer streets for everyone.

506

I've been very proud to sponsor

legislation such as the Safe Streets now.

507

Uh, Jana Man, safe Streets, now

Resolution that was talking about how

508

we can do quick interventions now.

509

Um.

510

What you heard my opponent mention is

a lot of things that we're actually

511

already doing at City Council.

512

There's a Hawk Light on Indian Trail,

and that was something that I got past

513

my first year in office and we actually

went out and talked to residents,

514

knocked on their doors and asked them,

where do you want that hawk light?

515

And they told us which side of the

intersection they wanted on, and

516

I got that moved to get it there.

517

So the reality is that we listen to the

constituents and we address the needs.

518

I've been supportive of expanding

our traffic calming fund or

519

our safe streets now fund and

doubling the number of cameras.

520

We have a revenue problem,

we can't invest in more.

521

Uh, traffic calming programs

without more revenue.

522

And the way we can do that is by

expanding our cameras that bring in

523

the revenue that we can turn around

and invest in our city and make our

524

strong, our neighborhoods stronger.

525

That's better.

526

Uh, curb bump outs,

that's more hawk lights.

527

It's better bicycle lanes.

528

It's better, uh, addressing traffic

fatalities and changing intersections.

529

Those are the things that I've been

working on and been championing, and

530

I'm proud of the record that I've.

531

Done at the city and I will

continue to fight for those changes.

532

And the fact is I've had to fight

against the administration and we needed

533

to change a mayor to, uh, get, hire a

director of transportation to direct

534

the staff to implement those projects.

535

And that's the type of change that we need

to keep moving and not moving backwards.

536

Thank you.

537

We do like a re.

538

All right.

539

We will move on to question number

five, which is about polarization.

540

So Spokane residents are not immune from

the broader climate of political division

541

and growing distrust in institutions.

542

What steps would you take to protect

democratic norms such as transparency,

543

public input, and civil discourse?

544

And how would you work to

build trust across political

545

differences on the city council?

546

And actually, since you went

twice, I'm gonna let you.

547

Alright, so what we can do, sorry,

I was kind of spacing out there.

548

Please.

549

Uh, say that again.

550

I thought he was gonna go first.

551

Oh, sorry.

552

Um, Spokane residents are not immune from

the broader climate of political division

553

and growing distrust in institutions.

554

What steps would you take to protect

democratic norms such as transparency,

555

public input, and civil discourse?

556

And how would you work to

build trust across political

557

differences on the city council?

558

So the first things that we can do

is to restore the public forum that

559

has been totally reduced in the

past couple years at, uh, city Hall.

560

What has happened is that we used to

have a lot more time to speak at public

561

forum and that act, it made the meetings

longer, but that's what I appreciate.

562

You got public testimony from the public.

563

It's not, it's not the same anymore.

564

We only have 20 people that can

go down to public forum now and

565

it's reduced to two minutes.

566

It used to be three minutes and it

was unlimited people that could talk.

567

That's why some meetings that I

went to lasted long into the night,

568

especially certain recent ones, but

that's how we can actually help with

569

the political discourse is that we need

to make sure that everyone is heard.

570

Whether we like their opinions or not,

we need to hear them because it will help

571

us know in which direction we need to go.

572

We can have sometimes know what

that they're talking about, and we

573

can make sure that they are going

to make, have their opinions heard.

574

That's how we can help with the

political discourse and kind

575

of, uh, uh, calm the divide.

576

Another thing that we can do is that I

promise everyone here is that no matter

577

who I disagree with, if I, if we have

different, uh, opposing viewpoints,

578

I will come up and talk to you.

579

We may not agree.

580

We may not like it, but I will

talk to you until we're blue in the

581

face, because that's what I, that

is what the job I signed up for.

582

Thank you.

583

Yeah.

584

I think this question's really important

because we see this on a national scale.

585

The rhetoric and the polarization is

increasing across our country, and

586

it's largely coming from national

leaders who are increasing the,

587

the, the rhetoric and the violence.

588

And so we need to recognize that

that increase of polarization

589

is coming from a national level.

590

But here at a local level, it's come.

591

It comes down to who do our

friends and our neighbors.

592

When I look at this room, when

I look at city council meetings,

593

when I go around the neighborhoods

and talk to people, we're talking

594

to people who we know, right?

595

At a local level.

596

It's about building that relationship and

that trust with the people that you know.

597

And so I've been committed to building

that relationship with people across

598

the aisle and working with people.

599

Since I've been in office, I've

co-sponsored legislation by working

600

with people across the aisle on

really controversial items, and

601

we, what we do is we sit, we talk,

we build that relationship, and we

602

identify what do we have in common.

603

And what we have in common is about

making Spokane a better place and

604

fighting for everyone to have a fair shot.

605

Thank you.

606

Would you like a rebuttal?

607

Yes.

608

So what we need to do is we need to talk

to everyone, not just our own people.

609

We need to talk to all stakeholders.

610

Like for instance, there is a

property maintenance that was passed

611

this week where the city council

said they had a year to talk with

612

everyone about what is going on.

613

And they actually had two letters

sent from them from boma, which is

614

the Building Office and Management

Association, as well as the DSP, which

615

is downtown Spokane Partnership, about

how they wanted a little bit more

616

time, so they could be a stakeholder

group that was brought together so they

617

could actually help in the ordinance.

618

We really need to start doing that

rather than talking to our own side and

619

making sure we're listening to everyone.

620

Because when we don't, we lose

opportunities like that where we can

621

actually make an ordinance that it works

for everyone and not just for some.

622

Thank you.

623

Alright.

624

Because we only have two of you, we're

actually gonna close a little bit early,

625

so this will be our last question.

626

Um, and then I'll do closing

statements and then we'll conclude.

627

So the final question is also, uh, in,

in a similar vein, but not the same.

628

We often hear about candidates

plans for the future, but we would

629

like to hear about your past.

630

What is a decision compromise or stand

that you've taken that best reflects

631

your leadership style and how does

that experience shape how you would

632

serve Spokane on the city council?

633

And you can begin.

634

Yeah, I think, um, I'm a teacher.

635

I'm a public school teacher, and I

believe in facilitating and having

636

conversations with everyone and.

637

One of the best examples of this

was the biggest issue in our

638

community is about homelessness.

639

And we took a year, about a year

to organize round table discussions

640

and do the most outreach and

facilitate those conversations.

641

And a lot of people wanted us

to pass legislation immediately.

642

And instead I worked with, um, our,

our council staff and other council

643

members to put on round table

discussions where we had 50 to a

644

hundred people that came together.

645

And had really hard conversations across

the aisle to decide what's the best way

646

that we can operate working forward.

647

And it took a lot of compromise.

648

The final results was not necessarily

the exact thing that I would argue

649

and champion, but I, I listened to

stakeholder feedback, worked with

650

people across aisle from, uh, lived

experience and people who have ex uh,

651

experienced homelessness to downtown

property owners and business owners.

652

And I met with them regularly

and talked to them regularly to

653

try to address their concerns.

654

And that's the type of leadership

that we need in Spokane is people

655

who are gonna listen to each

other, work with each other.

656

And I have that experience and

I've done that in the past.

657

Uh, it's what I do in my classroom

and it's what I'm gonna continue

658

to do as your council member.

659

Thank you.

660

You say the question?

661

Yes.

662

Uh, we often hear about

candidates plans for the future.

663

What we'd like to hear about your past.

664

What is a decision compromise or

stand you've taken that best reflects

665

your leadership style, and how does

that experience shape how you would

666

serve Spokane on the city council?

667

So currently I'm the past president of

Meals on Wheels, and that has helped me

668

learn a lot about how we can help our

community by delivering meals constantly.

669

For the past six years, this has shown

me what leadership is by trying to help

670

out with the board, trying to figure out

food costs, logistics, trying to deliver

671

these food to the people that need it.

672

And this is an interesting part, is

that through my leadership I've learned

673

that there's a lot of nonprofit boards

out there that are really cutthroat.

674

Apparently there's a lot of egos that

come up on the board and they start

675

fighting with my leadership style.

676

There was a calm that came over the

board that many people right now are

677

still saying what is happening right now.

678

We are one of the top three nonprofit

boards that actually, uh, a couple

679

other companies like Avista, when they

look and try to do their nonprofits

680

and how they see their leadership,

they are surprised by what we are doing

681

because usually there's infighting.

682

With my leadership, it becomes,

it becomes a calmness where

683

everyone is working together.

684

I try to consolidate and make

sure that everyone is heard and

685

that everyone is working together.

686

That is what has brought

with my leadership.

687

It has made sure that when you

get my leadership, it brings

688

a lot of calm to everyone.

689

Thank you.

690

Alright, with that, I'm going to move on

to closing statements, and because you

691

won the coin toss and started with the

opening statement, I'm going to ask him

692

to begin with the closing statements.

693

Was it One minute.

694

I can't remember how long the closing is.

695

Yes.

696

One minute.

697

For your opening and for your close,

698

we need in here.

699

We need here in Spokane, a citizen

council member that is going to

700

represent you and not themselves.

701

We need a person that is gonna

represent the will of the people

702

and not their own personal agenda.

703

I have showed you, got you.

704

All that.

705

I am dedicated because I go

down to City Hall every Monday

706

night and not just watch there.

707

I sit there in the background

and I make sure that I do reports

708

because I wanna not only educate

others, but I want to inform them.

709

I want to show other people that

there is a, what is going down

710

at City Hall that is not good.

711

We need to make this better.

712

We are losing a great

potential here in Spokane.

713

Spokane is a beautiful city.

714

I love living here and that's

why I'm running for city Council

715

is because I'm tired of seeing

our city go from bad to worse.

716

We need to make sure that we are cleaning

up Spokane, making safe streets for

717

all, and making sure that we have a

future here for our future generations.

718

If we don't, Spokane is

not gonna be the same.

719

It's gonna be a shadow of its former self.

720

And I know we can do this because I

look into every one of your eyes and

721

I know that we can actually do this.

722

I can see the hope, I

can see the dedication.

723

I can see you're all sacrifice

for what you wanna do for your

724

city, and that is what we need.

725

That is what you're going to get with

my cany and my city council race, is

726

that you are going to have a council

member that is dedicated to you.

727

Thank you.

728

Thank you both so much

for participating tonight.

729

I get a good stuff.

730

Yes.

731

Sorry.

732

No problem.

733

Uh, thank you all for coming today.

734

Uh, I am asking for your vote and

your support to stay on City Council.

735

I believe you have a choice today, and

I believe I offer a vision of a vibrant

736

future and opportunities for Spokane

instead of just focusing on negativity.

737

We need someone with a vision of, of

a future, and that vision is rooted in

738

representing and fighting for working

people and middle class families.

739

I wanna fight for you to have a

opportunity around affordability

740

and housing that you can live in,

that your kids don't have to move

741

away, but they can live here and

grow up here and have a stable life.

742

I believe in a future of, uh,

public safety where everyone can

743

walk down the street and feel safe.

744

And that you don't have

to worry about that.

745

I've ama I also believe in a

future with, uh, our infrastructure

746

that is represented for everyone.

747

That's not just our streets for vehicles,

but it's for pedestrians and cyclists

748

that you can take your kids and bike

to the restaurant in the coffee shop

749

and have that future with each other.

750

But we also need to invest in our local

businesses and our neighborhood business

751

districts and our childcare centers.

752

That's what I've done on your city

council and I'm proud of the progress

753

we've made, and I'm running to keep

doing that work and fighting for you.

754

Thank you.

755

Thank you.

756

Thank you both for joining us tonight.

757

Thank you for your

service to the community.

758

Um, and thank you all for

joining us tonight for this

759

wonderful candidate forum.

760

Um, we have now concluded, so please

feel free to get up and mingle.

761

Um, applaud the candidates.

762

And so we need more thoughtful, uh,

conservatives who will participate and.

763

Have good conversations.

764

Thank you.

765

Sign up sheet and we have a signup sheet

in the back and Mary Lynn will follow up.

766

Thank you all for coming.

767

All right, that's the end of the forum.

768

It's gonna be a shorter than usual

episode this week because us folks over

769

at range, we're prepping to take a little

bit of a vacation synced up with the

770

Spokane City Council's summer vacation.

771

Anyways, don't forget to get those

ballots in if you live in the city limits.

772

And if you're looking for even more

information on these races and these

773

candidates, you can check out our page

on the KYRS website under free range.