Where Seattle council candidates Nelson and Foster disagree most
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Sara Nelson, left, and Dionne Foster. Photos: Courtesy of candidates' campaigns
Seattle City Council president Sara Nelson is in danger of losing her seat after trailing challenger Dionne Foster by more than 20 percentage points in the August primary.
Why it matters: The general election will test whether voters want to stick with Nelson's centrist, business-friendly politics — or embrace Foster's progressive pitch on housing, policing and taxing the wealthy.
Catch up quick: Nelson, the co-founder of Fremont Brewing, was elected four years ago to Position 9, one of the council's two citywide seats.
- Foster is the former executive director of the Progress Alliance of Washington, a liberal nonprofit, and has also worked as a city policy adviser.
Zoom in: Here are some of the candidates' biggest areas of disagreement.
Capital gains tax
Foster wants to pass a city-level capital gains tax to help close the city's budget shortfall.
- She says this type of tax — which typically targets profits from selling assets like stocks and bonds — is especially needed given the threat of federal funding cuts.
- Nelson opposed a proposal to enact a citywide capital gains tax last year.
- "My priority is restoring trust in the City's use of taxes, not trying to find new ways to increase them," Nelson wrote in a Downtown Seattle Association candidate questionnaire.
Surveillance vote
Nelson recently voted to expand surveillance cameras in the city and give police access to city traffic camera feeds.
- Foster said she would have opposed that expansion, citing the risk of the federal government acquiring the data and using it to target undocumented immigrants and others.
- "We're in a really dicey moment as a country right now," she said during a recent Seattle Channel debate.
Nelson argues that the cameras are valuable tools to help solve and potentially deter crimes.
- "I am focused on the people that are dying, that are getting robbed, that are getting broken into" around the city, Nelson said at another debate on Sept. 15, calling those issues more important than "a hypothetical data breach."
"Stay out" zones
Last year, Nelson voted to support "stay out" zones that let judges ban people accused of drug or prostitution crimes from certain city blocks.
- During the Sept. 15 debate, Nelson said the zones are "an attempt to interrupt the drug dealing and the public use and the harm that is being caused."
- Foster called them "banishment zones" that don't offer a comprehensive solution.
- "It is not an effective way to get people housing, to get people treatment," Foster said.
Housing and growth
Nelson spearheaded a push to rezone land near the stadiums for housing — over objections from the Port of Seattle — while Foster said she would have kept the area zoned for industry.
Yes, but: Foster says she'd go beyond Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell's growth plan by adding eight more neighborhood centers that allow for denser housing. Nelson voted against that expansion last week.
- Foster also highlights her support for Proposition 1A, which taxed businesses to fund a new system of publicly owned affordable housing. Nelson backed a competing measure that wouldn't have raised new revenue for the social housing program.
What's next: Ballots will be mailed to registered Seattle voters Oct. 15.
- They must be postmarked or returned to an official ballot drop box by Nov. 4 to be counted.