Feb 2015 Newsletter of Councilmember KSHAMAKSHAMA SAWANTSAWANT This city has made glittering fortunes for the super wealthy while the needs of working people and the poor are ignored by an out of touch political establishment. Let us join together in a struggle for a more equal and just society. Dear friends Make Seattle & neighbors, We have officially completed a year in Affordable – For All! office and what a year it’s been! • Thanks to our hard-fought 15 Now his year will be one of struggle for are being evicted by out-of-control rent hikes campaign, we passed the historic $15 racial justice, affordable housing, and in neighborhoods from Capitol Hill to the minimum wage in Seattle. progressive taxation. The $15 min- Central Area. This is the issue that affects -or imum wage law that we fought for and won dinary people the most, and is at the center • To crack down on rampant wage T theft in our city, we won additional needs to be enforced. of Kshama Sawant´s efforts to make Seattle funding for the new Office of Labor As the city council elections approach, affordable for all. Standards. voters need to ask themselves which candi- Since Kshama was elected to the City dates will defend their interests and which Council through a grassroots campaign, she • Together with indigenous activists, we will represent the business-as-usual politics of has fought hard for the needs of working peo- established Indigenous Peoples’ Day. the corporate elites. ple. Refusing any corporate donations, she re- These and many other victories have While Seattle’s wealthy developers make lies on the support of workers and progressive shown what is possible when we build enormous fortunes, we face the fastest rising activists. Join Kshama in the fight to make Se- movements—we can overcome resis- rents of any major U.S. city. In our district, attle affordable, city officials accountable, and tance from the political establishment working families, youth, and people of color our environment healthy and sustainable! and its corporate backers to improve ordinary people’s lives. We should cel- ebrate our successes, and then build on Tenants Defeat 400% Rent Hikes them to win even bigger victories. I hope you will join with me. Let’s East-African community leader, Ubah Warsame: take our city forward and make Seattle affordable—for all. We fought back and made it impossible for the Seattle Housing Authority, the Mayor, and the City Solidarity! Council to ignore us. Kshama Sawant was with us every step of the way. We need more elected officials like her, willing to take a stand against insane rent hikes. Kshama Sawant On Page 3 — Stop Shell in Seattle Arctic oil drilling platform to be repaired in Seattle? Shell NO! Paid for by Vote Sawant, P.O. Box 85862, Seattle, WA 98145 Kshama Responds The Fight against to State of the Build Thousands of Wage Theft Union s the $15 minimum wage law takes effect on April 1, and as Affordable Housing Units! casesA of wage theft like at Wet Seal in Northgate Mall make headlines, kyrocketing rents and record home supported a multi-billion dollar public working people must organize to prices make it clear that for-prof- works tunnel project to raise downtown make sure laws protecting workers are it developers and the so-called “free property values - why not a municipal pro- actually enforced. market” are colossal failures when it comes gram to build affordable housing? So far the City has a dismal S track record. In 2011, the Seattle City to providing affordable housing for work- We could do this right now. Seattle Shell: Climate Change Council formally outlawed wage theft. ing people in Seattle. That’s why Kshama has over $1 billion of additional bond ca- Yet to this day, not a single business has Sawant has initiated a proposal for a mu- pacity and it owns 60 acres of unused land nicipal bond sale to finance the construc- been prosecuted, even though the U.S. that it could use to build housing on. The Made in Seattle? Labor Department found violations in tion of thousands of high quality, city- s one of the most prominent bonds could be paid off and the properties he Port of Seattle is finalizing a Bill Bryant even indicated it was useless 71% of the West Coast restaurants it socialists elected to public office owned affordable housing units. These investigated from 2006-2012. maintained with truly affordable rents paid deal with Foss Maritime to use the to oppose the project, saying, “rejecting inA the U.S., Kshama Sawant delivered units would be rented out at below-market That’s why Councilmember by tenants. City staff is currently develop- vacant Terminal 5 as a temporary a “Socialist Response to the State of rates to working and middle class people this lease is not going to protect our Sawant helped to win increased ing a proposal. What we need to make it a the Union” that was live streamed who need an affordable alternative to the facilityT to repair one of Shell Oil’s arctic environment, but it will cost us over 200 funding for the newly created Office by thousands and garnered media out-of-control private housing market. reality is a grassroots movement that forces drilling platforms, which ran aground jobs and many hundred more jobs in of Labor Standards, which is tasked attention from outlets across the For years and years, elected officials the City Council and the Mayor to prior- last year in Alaska. Port commissioners related businesses.” So much for the Port with enforcing the minimum wage country. See for yourself what all the have done very little to address the growing itize the need for affordable housing over were briefed on the proposal, which was of Seattle’s motto “Where a Sustainable law. She also introduced a successful fuss is about! affordable housing crisis in our city. They big developers’ desire for ever more profits. negotiated in secret for months. World is Headed.” amendment requiring the City Council to consider increasing the penalties for tinyurl.com/SawantSotuResponse Terminal 5 is closed while its facilities Kshama Sawant rejects this defeatist wage theft. Sawant said, “We need real are being upgraded to serve the new approach: “on the day of the world’s largest megaships that require larger cranes and penalties. When a worker steals from ever demonstration to stop climate change, his or her boss, they lose their job and “My Rent Rose by 130%!” stronger wharves. Q & A Seattle saw an impressive coalition of labor likely go to jail. Why don’t we treat Noting public opposition to this and environmental groups on the streets Kathy Heffernan: The apartment • Thousands of city-owned labor-law violators the same?” climate-killing proposal, some port last September,” she said, “I’m confident Will the City Council finally Tent City Victory building where I live was recent- affordable housing units – commissioners claimed they are against that we can bring this coalition together start taking wage theft seriously? That ly sold and the new landlord Seattle should sell bonds omelessness is on the rise. Re- drilling in the arctic and reiterated their again to oppose the use of a public port to depends on workers’ ability to organize raised my rent by 130%. to build thousands of cently, the annual One Night supposed commitment to the environment. promote Shell Oil’s profits at the cost of the to defend their rights. It also depends Now I have to move out. high quality, city-owned HCount found 3,772 people in King Nonetheless, the Commission refused destruction of the Arctic and the climate.” on whether or not we have city officials County without shelter. This rep- I know this is happening housing units, rented at to vote against it. Port Commissioner like Sawant prepared to fight for resents a shameful 21% increase over to thousands all across below-market rates. working people. 2014, and it’s time to do something to the city. My question to Women’s Shelter change that. During the City of Se- Councilmember Sawant is: While building a move- attle budget debate, Kshama Sawant What can our elected repre- ment to win much needed Wins Funding Workers at the brought together a broad coalition of sentatives do about the crisis of far-reaching change, we labor leaders, community organizers, affordable housing in Seattle? should pressure city officials to he “People’s Budget” coalition, Space Needle get social service providers, and engaged take immediate action to: brought together by Councilmember citizens to start a “People’s Budget” Kshama Sawant: I believe housing is a Sawant,T succeeded in winning first-time Organized movement. human right. Yet in District 3 and across • Impose high impact fees and linkage funding for a year-round, low-barrier, Together, they demanded a bud- Seattle, we have the fastest rising rents in fees – Developers enjoy huge profits women’s homeless shelter. get that meets the needs of ordinary the country. Homelessness rose by 21% in Seattle; make them pay high fees to In addition to cold weather, women on people, laying the groundwork for sub- fund affordable housing. stantial changes to the budget process last year and gentrification is pushing the streets frequently face the threat of sex- communities of color and working people ual assault and physical violence, and need in the future, while also scoring im- • Increase notice for rent hikes – out of the city. some place to go. Thanks to the “People’s portant victories this year. For example, Working people need more than 60 the “People’s Budget” movement won Budget” coalition, the City will now allo- days to deal with the implications of $100,000 per year in 2015 and 2016 to We can solve the housing crisis, but only cate $120,000 per year in both 2015 and provide basic needs like tents, cooking by taking bold action that challenges big high rent increases.