SEATTLE — Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell said he believes the city moved forward under his watch but acknowledged he has “unfinished business” after four years in office.
Harrell spoke for nearly an hour on Tuesday as he winds down his term, reflecting on what he says have been achieved goals and what is still a work in progress.
If you take a look at the waterfront and the new Memorial Stadium and the Pike Place Market, you see the beauty of what the city has become. I’d like (voters) to know that I played a role in that. You look at the almost $4 billion of investments that I proposed to the voters, and they passed, transportation, housing, and education, that every kid that goes to Seattle Public Schools will be able to go to college for two years for free,” said Harrell. “That’s my one Seattle vision.
“My fear would be that they look at a termination decision I made of the chief, or the challenges in the regional homelessness authority, or the unaffordability of housing, and they say, ‘Oh, you know that Harrell and those politicians, they were responsible for that,’” Harrell continued.
RELATED: Bruce Harrell concedes Seattle mayoral race to newcomer Katie Wilson
Harrell said he has not spoken directly with Mayor-elect Katie Wilson since the hard-fought election, but admitted that his departmental leaders encouraged her to retain Police Chief Shon Barnes.
“Chief Barnes is an outstanding chief and makes good decisions. He’s a good leader,” said Harrell, who also said he’s proud of improvements in public safety on his watch.
“The interesting thing about crime is when crime rates just skyrocket, and they’re really high, everyone blames the politicians, but then when they start to come down, they will say, well, it’s coming down organically, not the result of politicians or policies,” said Harrell.
He also downplayed having a significant scandal within his administration, but when he was reminded about the Adrian Diaz firing, Harrell said, “I wouldn’t even call that a scandal. I mean, I would call it a termination based on facts that were investigated.”
Harrell also acknowledged that more improvements are needed in handling homelessness and the operations of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority.
I think what the public doesn’t understand is that when we remove people from an encampment, that we are fully committed to sheltering that person, to making sure their needs are met,” he said, “There continues to be a stream of people still coming, and it is very tough to do without a true regional approach.
“It is going to take an effective, strong leader to do that work, and I’m optimistic that (Girmay Zahilay) will lead the way,” he said.
Harrell was asked about what the hardest truth is about governing Seattle.
“With social media being what it is, with all of the levels of social media that often, there’s just misleading or untrue assertions about an area, about people, about things, and that sort of becomes a reality,” said Harrell. “To give you a specific example, if you if we just went to the worst areas of Seattle and put a camera there and started doing quick excerpts on the most tragic areas of our city, it looks like that’s everywhere out in the city, and we could create a narrative to suggest that when, in fact, there’s still a lot of beauty in this city, a lot of good things in the city. I think often social media has the ability to create a reality that is far from reality.”
“That’s dangerous for policymakers,” said Harrell.
When asked if he had relief, pride, or unfinished business about his time in office, Harrell added, “I don’t even know how to spell retirement. I have a lot of energy, so unfinished business, but I’m eternally grateful for the city. I spent 16 years as an elected leader in the city, and I hired a lot of great people, and we did a lot of great work.”
link
