🗳️ Meet the D5 candidates

District 5’s Top Issues According to Both Candidates

Come November, Seattleites living in District 5 will vote on a new city council member. In the August primary, candidates Nilu Jenks and Julie Kang advanced to the general with 54% and 33% of the vote, respectively. They joined us on today’s podcast to talk through the top issues facing their district and city council. Here are a few excerpts from the conversation. [City Cast Seattle]

• Who are they? Julie said she has lived in North Seattle for thirty years and watched the district grow. She sees more families struggling with the rising cost of basic needs, shops closing, and concerns about public safety. Nilu previously ran for the seat in the 2023 election and says that blue cities need to show that they can govern and meet basic needs like transportation, housing, and also highlighted that the area is lacking in grocery stores and pharmacies.
• Public safety: Both Julie and Nilu highlighted the slowness of police response on the north end, which Nilu says is 160 minutes for a Priority 3 (not life-threatening) call. Julie’s campaign priorities call for a second police precinct to be added to the district, but said she believes that the police shouldn’t be dispatched for every situation, but response times need to work for neighbors. Nilu called for more use of the CARE team to respond to priority three calls.
• CCTV: When asked why she had changed her mind on CCTV cameras being used in the city, Julie said that CCTV cameras are a tool neighbors want in North Seattle right now. She highlighted the need for strict limits on who can access camera data and short retention periods for recordings. Nilu agreed, but said that while she’s not opposed to cameras, many neighbors are also concerned about ICE kidnapping neighbors on Aurora and federal authorities accessing the data.
• Day one priorities: Nilu said she wants to work on expanding shelter and doing outreach to those living in RVs and cars, pointing to a recent situation at Sandel Park involving alleged bounty hunters ambushing an RV. Julie’s priority will be to set up an office on Aurora above the Lake City Library to be accessible to neighbors.
• You can listen to the entire episode here, or watch the episode on YouTube.

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