-Hello.
My name is Bob Kettle,
and I'm running for Seattle City Council
because I share your frustrations
with the lack of progress that our city has made
on the critical challenges
of public drug use, public safety and health,
and homelessness.
I'm a first-generation American,
stay-at-home dad, and civic leader,
having retired as a naval officer
to support my wife's work as a civil rights attorney,
including the landmark case with the ACLU of Washington
overturning "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
I volunteer with several
neighborhood-level public safety organizations,
including the West Precinct Advisory Council,
the Queen Anne Block Watch Network,
and before that, as chair of the Queen Anne Community Council's
Public Safety Committee.
We cannot solve our public safety issues
without addressing public health.
With increasing shelter space,
it's time to restore our public spaces.
Encampments are an inhumane and inexcusable solution.
We need leadership able to partner
with county, state, and federal authorities,
and must also prioritize funding only programs
and service providers shown to actually work.
The truth is that my opponent's inaction and failure
have led to the current crisis.
More than 20 people are dying on our streets every week
from fentanyl overdoses,
in large part due to my opponent's vote
to essentially decriminalize public drug use.
Further, pledging to defund the police by 50%
was irresponsible and undercut our public safety
and our ability to implement reform.
I support allocating additional resources
to recruitment and retention, training,
community policing, including non-police responders.
I'll partner with the mayor to implement a pragmatic
and compassionate drug ordinance,
including funding addiction treatment centers.
I'll focus Seattle government
by working with city council colleagues
and partnering with the mayor on saving lives,
keeping the vulnerable safe,
and restoring our beautiful city.
We can do this, Seattle.
I'm Bob Kettle, and I ask for your vote.