(The Center Square) – New Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson’s first State of the City address, which she delivered on Tuesday from the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, did not go over well with critics.
Wilson, a community organizer and self-described democratic socialist who narrowly defeated incumbent Bruce Harrell in November to become mayor of Seattle, spoke about her plans to tackle various challenges facing the city, including crime, homelessness and affordability.
Andrea Suarez is the founder and executive director of We Heart Seattle, a grassroots volunteer movement focused on cleaning up Seattle’s public spaces, while providing resources, housing and treatment options to the homeless.
“She didn’t address the service-resistant crisis population who will not accept shelter or tiny homes,” Suarez told The Center Square. “She didn’t bring up the death toll of our loved ones from fentanyl overdose. She didn’t bring up solutions for the crime associated with drug addiction.”
In Tuesday’s address, Wilson said her plan for addressing homelessness includes ongoing and improving efforts to prioritize encampment removals, while also expanding shelter and support services, as well as looking at parcels of city land on which to construct tiny houses and micro modular shelters.
“The only crime she was concerned with was gun violence and a freak accident the night before that killed a women crossing a street,” Suarez noted.
Two Seattle teenage boys were shot and killed in a targeted attack at a bus stop on South Henderson Street near Rainier Beach High School at the end of last month. On Tuesday night, a woman was killed after being hit by a car in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.
Calling Seattle’s drug problem – fentanyl specifically – the “elephant in the room,” Suarez lamented Wilson’s failure to mention it in her speech.
“It’s bewildering to me that she didn’t address it,” she said.
According to the DEA, more than 1,067 people died from fentanyl poisonings and overdoses in King County in 2023, a 47% increase from 2022. Some reports indicate the total fatal overdose count for all drugs in 2023 reached 1,340.
Seattle accounts for a disproportionate number of these deaths, with 57% of the county’s total fatal overdoses in 2023 occurring within the city.
Preliminary data for 2024 showed a potential 15% drop following the 2023 peak, with 702 lives lost.
“The death toll from drugs and havoc from drugs is exponentially worse than either [shootings and motor vehicle accidents] and yet crickets,” Suarez said.
Washington State Republican Party Chair Jim Walsh, who also serves in the House of Representatives, took issue with Wilson’s vision of “treating childcare and early education as public goods … just like our parks, schools and utilities.”
Walsh did not hold back on his criticism of the mayor.
“Her premise that a person’s labor is a public good, analogous to a park or park bench, is preposterous,” he texted The Center Square. “It suggests a stunning ignorance of basic economics. And it’s impractical public policy. She’s setting herself up for failure.”
Ari Hoffman, host of “The Ari Hoffman Show” on KVI 570 AM radio, took to social media in criticizing the mayor’s address, calling it “AMATEUR HOUR.”
Wilson had some technical difficulties with audio and the teleprompter before launching into her 40-minute speech, her longest on the campaign trail or in office, she said.
In a Wednesday morning post on X, Hoffman said, “Socialist Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson came out completely unprepared for her first big address,” before adding, “This is what happens when you elect someone who never had a real job.”
Not everyone was critical of Wilson’s first State of the City address.
“There was a lot in the speech that I know will resonate with our members,” Downtown Seattle Association President and CEO Jon Scholes said in a statement provided to The Center Square. “I appreciated Mayor Wilson’s statements on collaboration and partnership. It’s the only way we make progress on Seattle’s biggest challenges, including homelessness and public safety – the first two issues she addressed in her remarks. Mayor Wilson also acknowledged the importance of the business community and employers to the tax base and overall well-being of the city; she communicated the value of jobs and small businesses for Seattle’s success.”
