-Hello.
My name is Bob Kettle,
and I'm running for Seattle City Council
because I share your frustrations
with a lack of progress that our city has made
in the face of critical challenges
in public safety, public health, and homelessness.
I'm a first-generation American,
stay-at-home dad, and civic leader,
having retired as a naval officer
to help 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.
The truth is, my opponent has been part of the problem.
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,
training, and community policing,
including non-police responders.
My opponent and the council have enabled open drug use
and drug dealing, which has claimed the lives of over 500
Seattleites last year alone.
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.
Not only are they public safety threats,
most critically to the unhoused themselves,
but blocking our parks and sidewalks
infringes on disability rights,
harms our neighborhood businesses,
and diminishes everyone's quality of life.
We need leadership able to partner with county,
state, and federal authorities to add mental health,
hospital capacity, and addiction treatment centers.
We must also prioritize funding only programs and service providers
shown to actually work.
I'll focus Seattle government on saving lives,
keeping the vulnerable safe,
and restoring our beautiful city.
We can do this.
I'm Bob Kettle, and I ask for your vote.