By Chris S. Nishiwaki
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
“All politics is local,” former U.S. Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill is often quoted as saying, reprising the 1932 axiom credited to Associated Press Washington Bureau Chief Byron Price.
If that is in fact the case, Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) residents in Seattle seeking representation in the City Council have cause for concern. This year will be the first time since 1996 that there will be no AAPI members on the Seattle City Council (SCC).
Mark Solomon was appointed this week to fill the District 2 seat vacated by Tammy Morales. Morales resigned a year into her second term on the Council, citing tension with her colleagues. The SCC chose Solomon over two AAPI candidates, Hong Chhuor and Edward Lin.
Solomon has been a crime prevention coordinator for the Seattle Police Department (SPD) since 1990. The SCC pointed to Solomon’s experience in public safety as boon for the City of Seattle’s District 2, which covers the Chinatown-International District (CID), Yesler Terrace, Mount Baker, Beacon Hill, Holly Park, Rainier Beach, Columbia City, Hillman City, and Dunlap.
The AAPI voice in public policy is critical in a city where AAPIs are the largest minority group, comprising over 18% of the city’s population. AAPIs make up nearly a third of the District 2 population.
Racially motivated assaults against AAPI community members are also on the rise, and centers of the Asian community, like 12th Avenue South and South Jackson Street in Little Saigon, have become the epicenter for drug use and distribution.
Pile on top of that the gentrification of neighborhoods, such as Beacon Hill, where the AAPI population was as high as 57% as recently as the 2010 census, and stands at 39% as of 2023, according to City of Seattle data.
The CID is also contending with a plan by Sound Transit to build a light rail station in the CID. Several community leaders prefer Sound Transit’s 4th Avenue station option over a station on 5th Avenue, but it is unclear whether Sound Transit will take community opinion into account.
AAPI leaders have served in the SCC since 1978, when the Filipina American Dolores Sibonga became the first woman of color elected to the City’s legislative body. Since then, AAPI representation on the SCC has remained unbroken, except for a five-year period from 1996-2001. Former Seattle Councilmember Charlie Chong vacated his seat on the Council midway through his only term to run for mayor in 1996, leaving a void of AAPI representation, until David Della was elected to the council in 2001.
Cheryl Chow, Martha Chose, Della, current Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, Kshama Sawant, and John Okamoto have served on the SCC over the last few decades. Sibonga served the longest, three terms for a total of 12 years. Okamoto had the shortest stint of eight months, serving as an appointed “caretaker” to complete the term of Sally Clark, who left the council to work for the University of Washington.
Tanya Woo was similarly appointed to fill the at-large District 8 seat that Teresa Mosqueda vacated, after she was elected to the King County Council in the fall of 2023. Woo ran unsuccessfully for a full four-year term last fall. She did not put her name forward as a candidate to fill the District 2 vacancy.
It is not unusual for council colleagues to endorse the incumbent, as the full council did in its endorsement of Woo last fall. The support for AAPI candidates for appointment this time around was tepid at best, during a process that required five rounds of voting to select Solomon by the necessary simple majority of five votes.
Council President Sara Nelson nominated Chhuor as one of the finalists for the appointment last week, citing the importance of having a voice from the AAPI community. But when it came to the final vote this week, Nelson chose Solomon in all five rounds of votes, before Solomon was elected.
Rinck, who defeated Woo during last fall’s election, voted for Lin, the only other AAPI finalist for the appointment, through the first two rounds of voting. Rinck was also the one to nominate Lin last week as one of the finalists, citing his housing and education bonafides.
Woo said she will as a private citizen and community leader continue the AAPI representation work she pursued while on the council. She has not completely closed the door on running for the District 2 full four-year term when it is up for election next fall.
“I feel like I’ve learned a lot during my time on the city council and I want to help Little Saigon and the migrant community,” Woo said. “It’s the poorest community. Many people don’t speak English. Many people don’t know how to access City Hall. We lack representation. All the buildings in Little Saigon are for sale. I feel like we are on the brink of losing our community. We are resilient, but this is a lot. So much is pushed into our little area. It is important to be that squeaky wheel.”
Della, for his part, remains optimistic for future AAPI representation on the city council and other public posts.
“Number one, we need to find an entity that consciously recruits people [in the AAPI community], and have the ability to groom them and help them get elected then help them stay in office,” Della said. “Also, the Asian American community is so diverse and dispersed, the whole concept of political unity is hard. We have our fair share of conservatives, too. You have to figure out what can bring them around to a candidate and bring them in and that [the community] is not divided on that candidate.”
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