(The Center Square) – The Seattle City Council has voted to appoint Community Activist Tanya Woo to fill the vacant citywide position.
The appointment of Woo to the Seattle City Council ends a three week-long process conducted by the council to fill the vacancy.
The council looked at over 72 qualified applicants, cutting the list down to eight finalists, including Woo.
Woo replaces Teresa Mosqueda, who resigned her seat on the Seattle City Council on Jan. 2, to take a seat on the King County Council.
On Jan. 22, the eight finalists had the opportunity to address the council on their priorities if they were chosen for the vacant council seat. The Center Square counted 66 public commenters, who spoke on the eight candidates at the council meeting. Out of the 66 Seattle residents who spoke during the meeting, 20 voiced their support for Woo.
Woo’s appointment represents the continued shift away from a progressive body to a more moderate left-leaning group.
The new councilmember’s top priorities include examining the permitting system to allow fast tracking of permits for development and building of affordable housing projects; funding more behavioral health counselors, addiction specialists, and medical professionals to support homeless reduction strategies; and fully staffing the Seattle Police Department among other public safety initiatives.
Woo lost to incumbent Seattle City Councilmember Tammy Morales in the 2023 general election by two percentage points. Prior to Woo’s appointment at the city council meeting on Jan. 23, Morales said she was disappointed in the council’s process in appointing a councilmember to fill the citywide seat.
“[The process] did become about big business telling donors that they earned the right to tell this council who to choose and that is deeply problematic and that is anti-democratic,” Morales said in the city council meeting.
Morales voted for Seattle Human Services Department Community Safety Investments Manager Mari Sugiyama. Woo won the appointment with five out of the eight council votes.
Woo will hold the council seat until the 2024 general election.
