(logo chiming) (upbeat music) - Welcome to "The Newsfeed."

In today's episode, we're here at City Hall for a one-on-one with Mayor Bruce Harrell.

In today's episode, we're here at Seattle City Hall for a one-on-one with Mayor Bruce Harrell.

The former city council member was elected in 2021 as Seattle's first Asian and second Black mayor.

We discuss public safety, homelessness, and much more.

We'll also look at a new light rail line that will make it easier for 1,000s of commuters to travel on the Eastside.

In a Cascade PBS investigation reveals details about a sexual harassment settlement involving a former Whatcom County Public Works official.

Our story has prompted calls for the resignation of the county executive who oversaw the situation.

I'm Paris Jackson.

Today's top story, Seattle is one of the fastest growing US cities we're here at City Hall to talk to the chief executive about the safety, social and financial issues affecting the community.

I sat down with Mayor Bruce Harrell to learn about what's working in the city, the current crises it's navigating, and how he aims to move the city forward with the News City Council.

Mayor Harrell, thank you so much for allowing "The Newsfeed" to join you today in your office.

- My pleasure.

- We're gonna get right to it 'cause there's so much to to talk about.

You've rolled out this downtown revitalization plan and it's garnered tremendous support.

Do you think this has been one of your biggest accomplishments?

- I don't try to measure or size up different things that we do.

One is more important than the other because depending on who's experiencing what we're trying to do, it may be more important to them.

So downtown, for example, is critical toward our success, but not so much more than someone living in a neighborhood that may not even experience it may not even come downtown.

What we're trying to look at is, in our country, many downtowns have suffered.

E-commerce has changed the way people live, shop, work.

COVID has affected the way people live, work, shop.

And so now, instead of just trying to go back to the good old days, we have to ask ourselves what do we build?

What are people's behavior and how do we use that to make a great vibrant city?

We have over a hundred thousand people living downtown.

It is a great place to live.

We want it to be active.

We know that daycare is an issue.

We know that dog parks are in need.

We know that we want to increase density in certain areas.

And so we look at our building code to think about how do we activate it, number one.

Number two is we know that from a public safety standpoint that illumination is critical, activities, the art, the theater, are critical to our vibrancy.

So what we did is we step back and say, how do we increase foot traffic?

How do we get people wanting to go downtown?

How do we want more people to live downtown?

I've talked to almost every mayor of every major city to understand what they're doing as well.

So we think we've given a good blueprint on what Seattle should be in our downtown area for the next several years and a lot of it is working.

And I'll give you one good example is if you look at the City Hall park next to the Courthouse, when we had come to office, that place was an eyesore.

There was garbage, you know, litter.

People were sitting around and making it unwelcoming for others.

And you go down there and enjoy a nice cup of coffee.

Area by area, we're gonna activate and clean up the area and illuminate there's lighting down there that we invested in to make it welcoming.

So I would say it's a great accomplishment, but all part of trying to get our city back to where we need it to be.

- You mentioned something that I think is a perfect segue.

You said public safety, SPD is facing lawsuits from within, from longtime women, employees and cops over sexual harassment, racism, and gender bias.

And this week you said that you were gonna hire an outside investigator to investigate these claims.

Do we have a cultural problem in SPD?

- I'm part of their culture.

I'm the chief executive officer of the city.

I recognize that, yes, cultures always have to be changed for the good.

And how do you change a culture?

Well, first of all, you become the culture that you tolerate.

So if I allow everyone to come to meetings repeatedly late, or if I allow race and gender discrimination to be implicit or explicit in behaviors, then that becomes the culture.

So one of my life's mission has always been to try to change cultures for the good.

At SPD, yes, it's been a male dominated culture to some extent it's been militaristic in their approach.

This is the history of policing in this country.

And while I never subscribed to a "defund movement," the idea behind the defund movement was to how do we take out the militaristic culture, if you will, in a department and re-energize that department to realize they are to protect and serve and that no one should die over a routine traffic ticket, right?

And that you don't ignore race.

You realize there could be cultural or racial biases in everything that you do.

So at SPD, to answer your question directly, we will open up the books, so to speak.

How many complaints does it take before you reevaluate the chief?

That's a fair question.

Only one.

It's not the number of complaints.

It's whether the chief can do his or her job effectively.

And that's really the question, I'm answering.

Now, when one becomes a department head, what I try to give that department head is full disclosure.

You may have a issue of this in your department.

You've had some discontent employees in this department.

The Police Department is like other departments.

I've hired a lot of new department heads, some of whom have come from different cities, they don't even Seattle.

And I expect each department head to understand the vulnerabilities in their culture and to take action.

So the question for this chief is, given the history of cultural or gender bias, I should say, and gender bias in police departments, generally, what are you doing effectively to mitigate that, to build the culture that we need?

I want you to show as an example in this country, what could happen with this kind of commitment toward parity and equity and kindness.

And he's being evaluated in that sense right now.

And so it's a work in progress.

Now, I picked him out of a national search.

I believed in his ability.

He has a history with the department and he is done some magnificent work.

But for me, I have a certain standard of excellence that I'm held to, that I hold myself to every single day.

My lifetime has been a I've tried to push myself to the limits of excellence that everything that I do.

So the question for me is he meeting that mark?

And that is a process I'm going through right now and I'll make my decisions.

And I think that the people in the city know that I'm pretty cool to work for.

People like working for me, actually, I'm pretty good at recruiting folks.

I'm also good at retaining folks, but I have a level of energy and excellence in everything that I do.

And I expect that from this position and so I'm evaluating that right now.

- Another pressing topic facing the city.

Currently the Supreme Court is weighing a class action lawsuit, Grants Pass versus Johnson.

We know that if the courts in fact favor Grants Pass, I could have reverberations here in Seattle.

What are your thoughts on what that can mean for the city?

- From my standpoint, it's not gonna have a significant effect.

And the reason I say that is we will always lead for offering shelter first.

And I believe that the issue of housing and sheltering so many is solvable and that we go about it in a very compassionate approach.

I don't want anyone sleeping in a tent and dying in the extreme heat or the extreme cold.

It's as simple as that.

Now, I want to give people permanent supportive housing, but in the meantime, I may have to put someone in a temporary kind of shelter, whether it's a tiny home or some kind of congregate shelter with other types of supportive services.

I don't want someone having to live in those conditions and I won't criminalize poverty.

And so the legal flexibility or restrictions is not going to alter our approach because I believe in a humane approach.

(upbeat music) - Thousands of commuters now have a new way to travel on the Eastside without their cars.

Thanks to Sound Transit.

Sound Transit's latest transportation milestone, almost two decades in the making now connects Bellevue to Redmond, an enthusiastic crowd gathered for a ribbon cutting, including King County Public Officials, Governor Jay Insley and US Senators Maria Cantwell and Patti Murray.

They all celebrated the agency's much awaited East Link light rail in new stations.

The light rail project broke ground in 2008 after voters approved it.

Sound Transit says the current configuration called Two Line is expected to move about 6,000 rider between Bellevue and Redmond daily on trains with two cars each.

Eventually the train will cross Lake Washington linking Bellevue to Seattle.

Originally, the connection was expected to open last year, but it's now expected to open in 2025.

Once a connection to Seattle is complete, Sound Transit forecast, ridership will uptick.

Over the next few years, riders can expect more travel options in northern cities between King and Snohomish counties and two more East Side stations at Mary Moore Village and in downtown Redmond.

(upbeat music) A Cascade PBS investigation finds Whatcom County paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in a sexual harassment case involving a former Public Works director.

Now the county council is calling for the resignation of the county executive.

A Cascade PBS investigation raises questions after Whatcom County leaders quietly paid over $200,000 in a sexual harassment settlement to a female employee against a former Public Works Director last year.

Our investigation found John Hutchings resigned in 2022 in lieu of termination, a day before a third party investigator interviewed three female employees, who reported he made sexual comments to them or touched them inappropriately at work.

County administrators never formally disciplined Hutchings and helped him get a new job by writing a favorable recommendation letter.

After we published our story, Whatcom County council members called for the resignation of the county executive Satpal Sidhu, who oversaw the settlement and wrote the recommendation letter for Hutchings.

County Council members say they are upset, they knew nothing about the situation and only learned about it because of the Cascade PBS investigation.

The county council has voted to launch a formal investigation.

I'm Paris Jackson.

Thank you for watching "The Newsfeed," your destination for nonprofit Northwest News.

Go to crosscut.com for more.

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