(light expository music) - Welcome to "The Newsfeed."

In today's episode, you'll hear more from our one-on-one in-depth conversation with Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell.

In this week's segment from the conversation, we'll cover the city's forecast and budget deficit, Seattle police recruitment, and community concerns about law enforcement and more.

And we'll also look at the growing number of students demanding university divestment from Israel at the University of Washington.

And 2023 marked one of the worst years for state traffic deaths, despite initiatives to reduce them.

I'm Paris Jackson.

In today's top story, we're letting you hear part two of our interview with Seattle's mayor Bruce Harrell.

The city is facing a massive budget deficit due to a combined decline in revenue and high-projected inflation.

I sat down with Mayor Harrell to discuss those topics and learn how the city plans to address each of those issues.

The numbers are down with officers and the recruitment, but there have been bonuses and incentives to entice those potential officers.

Do you think these higher wages will secure more people wanting to join the police academy?

- I think so.

It's always an interesting question as to the role compensation alone plays into someone's career choice.

Certainly in retention, we know that plays a significant role because as bills and the cost of living goes up, and they're looking and they're saying, "Do I have other options?"

So we put forth a very attractive package for officers to be compensated, and I think they should be.

We're the largest city in the state and a very demanding job with the challenges, and I think they should be compensated the highest, and I'm willing to put that in front of the City Council as I have.

But there's so many other intangibles.

You have all this, these beautiful outdoors here.

We're a multifaceted economy, we are part maritime industry, high-tech, biotech, great university system.

So Seattle has a lot to offer as well.

And I'm not selling snake oil.

I'm selling the fact that we are one of the most rapidly growing cities in the country.

That is just a fact.

And people are coming here.

So it's not just compensation.

Yes, that's a component of it, but it's also what this area has to offer.

I've been to other cities.

I wouldn't put Seattle below any of those cities.

This is an awesome city.

So I think people are realizing that, and we'll get our numbers up.

- [Paris] But we're gonna just switch gears just a bit.

Certain communities have experienced trauma.

And when we talk about those particular groups of people, I'm more so referring to those in BICOP communities that have in some instances had negative relationships with law enforcement.

What do you say to people that have been in those positions and the mistrust that they have with officers at points in their lives, or what could you say in terms of reassuring them about the police that patrol our streets?

- Well, the first thing I'd say is I don't have to go far to talk to that community.

I just have to go to a mirror.

I'm half Black and half Japanese.

I grew up around Black folk at the Central District, but it wasn't just Black folk.

There were Filipinos and Native Americans and white folk.

It was diverse, but it was primarily people of color because that's where we lived, in the Central District back in the 1960s.

I understand mistrust.

I've cross-examined police officers.

Police officers are human beings.

We all have biases.

What I say to communities that mistrust the police, all I can say is I get it.

Man, I don't trust government and I'm the mayor of a city.

And so now it's incumbent upon me as an executive to make sure that at least you have people in positions of power and influence to build community trust.

Now, trust is not something you should give freely, as I've told my three kids.

Trust has to be earned.

We have to earn it as members of government in everything that we do.

We're human.

So this is ongoing work.

And I don't care how you identify, what demographic you claim.

That's cool.

I'm all supportive of how a person wants to claim who they are.

And I don't know your life's history.

I don't know you personally.

And so over a cup of coffee, I always tell folks, I'm trying to look at life through your lens.

I know my lens, I know my experiences.

So I don't project that on a race because you're white or your Black or you're API community.

I don't project any experiences on you because I'm looking at you first as a human being and I'm trying to understand your human experience.

I don't know what you experienced 20 years ago in your life and I don't know why you may have a level of mistrust.

So trust is something you have to work really hard on, and it starts with trying to again, look at it through the lens of the other person and building that rapport.

And that's ongoing work every single day.

- Next year, the city will face a nearly 250 million budget deficit.

What measures are you considering to close those shortfalls?

- Well, I tell everyone it's my problem, not yours, and I'm pretty darn good at budgeting, whether it's zero-based budgeting or marketing or market or target based budgeting.

I don't want to prematurely talk about what we're doing to address it, but it will be addressed.

I've asked each department head what a certain percentage looks like, if you had to cut it down 15%, if you had to cut it down 8%.

I put a hiring freeze on jobs.

We're looking at where there's duplications in departments.

My goal is to not reduce in any way essential services of the city.

Safety is an example, or even our housing strategies.

And so we'll present a balanced budget.

We work sometimes 8:00 PM, 9:00 PM at night right now, way before the budget process, figuring this out.

So we have a plan.

We'll unveil the plan at the appropriate time.

But this year it won't involve any new taxes or new fees.

What we need to understand is why the budget reached almost $8 billion, right?

It's 7.8 billion.

When I first took office, it was in the three and a half, $4 billion range.

And I think quite honestly, we can be more efficient in city government, and that's what we're gonna do.

And so we'll unveil our plans toward the end of the summer.

- Mayor, before I let you go, in your state of the city address, you alluded to a major development that could take place here in the city.

Is an NBA team on their way to return?

- So it's not a huge secret that both Seattle and Las Vegas are the most attractive markets for an NBA team.

And as soon as last night, I had dinner with two people that have both the means and resources to put this together.

And so yes, there are discussions underway.

I am very aggressive on doing that.

Seattle remains a viable market here, and I don't think I have to convince even the NBA ownership group.

There's a media deal right now that's being worked out, but we are clearly on their radar.

I had coffee with the former mayor of Sacramento, Kevin Johnson, on how he was able to keep his team.

This was about, oh, maybe two months ago.

And so I'm looking at the playbook on how you get that done.

We have a lot of deep pockets around here that want the team.

I remain excited, and hopefully we'll have some announcements here in the near future.

But I am not gonna get in front of my skis.

- That's some good news.

Thank you so much for your time.

- Thank you for the interview.

- More University of Washington student demonstrators have joined the solidarity movement for Gaza, like other college campuses across the country, echoing demands for university divestment from Israel.

A wave of pro-Palestinian student groups are growing across college campuses nationwide, some sparking arrests by police and offshoots of violence.

Two University of Washington student encampments have grown in size in recent weeks.

The protest zone in solidarity with Gaza on the University of Washington campus is organized by student groups, Progressive Student Union and the United Front.

One student member of the United Front says the groups are sharing the space to fight for the same cause, which is to stand in solidarity with Palestinians.

The groups are calling for the university to divest from Israel, cut its ties with Boeing, and end the repression of pro-Palestinian students, staff and faculty.

Meanwhile, similar student movements have resulted in more than 2,000 arrests nationwide and have put university administrations under intense scrutiny.

United Front members say they are working to deliver their demands to UW's Board of Regents in the coming weeks, and plan to remain on the Quad until their demands are met.

Efforts to eliminate traffic deaths in Washington need to go farther after data from last year suggests the state is coming up short.

Despite nearly two decades of efforts to eliminate Washington pedestrian deaths, recent state data shows much more needs to be done to reach a goal of zero fatalities.

It's been 24 years since the state's commitment that no lives will be taken on any roadway.

But analysis from 2023 indicates that it was one of the worst years for Washington traffic deaths, including pedestrians.

The Seattle Department of Transportation says Aurora Avenue North accounts for 20% of traffic deaths in the city.

It's a route that is Seattle's north and south alternative to I-5, where many drivers speed, foot traffic is high, and pedestrian protections are minimal.

In 2021, the City Traffic Agency began the Aurora Avenue Project to address safety concerns.

A construction start date has not yet been set for the busy corridor.

The Washington Traffic Safety Commission says Seattle and King County have the most pedestrian traffic deaths in the state, and the next highest county is Yakima.

I'm Paris Jackson.

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

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