Seattle City Councilmember Bob Kettle had an emotional meltdown at a meeting this morning, calling Mayor Katie Wilson's decision to study police camera surveillance "unconscionable."

NEW: Young people are on the ballot this election, but can we please get young people to the ballot BOX? So far, King County voters 65+ account for 4 times as many ballots as people under 35. You have until 8pm Tuesday to close that gap!

King County Boomers Have Turned In FOUR TIMES As Many Ballots As Voters Under 35 This Election

The 2026 election could be another “change” election with younger challengers aiming to unseat longtime incumbents in several State legislative races around Seattle. But these young, scrappy candidate...

theburnerseattle.com

Inexperienced Seattle Mayor Apologizes for Naively Assuming Police Knew How to Do Their Job: tinyurl.com/3dv6uy9m

Disagree w/Wilson from the left on stuff like surveillance cams but know that she is as progressive as we're gonna get in a citywide position & every day she doesn't do the stupid do-nothing status quo shit Harrell did as effortlessly as breathing is a win for the city. Let her cook, fuck the haters

It couldn't be clearer what's happening with local legacy media trashing Mayor Wilson: the reactionary centrist majority is about to melt away & they're trying to bake in a narrative that she has fucked up in some catastrophic--but also indefinable--way, to hamstring the coming progressive majority

Seattle police chief Shon Barnes is getting $700,000 in a settlement for leaving the department, PubliCola has confirmed.

Nowadays, surveillance cameras rarely record and then get saved to a hard drive or a tape. They are hooked up to a cloud service via the Internet and AI uses them to train for facial recognition and the data can be stored or shared widely. I think some folks are not understanding newer tech.

Community Not Cameras coalition statement on the recent gun violence tragedy at the Seattle Center @mayor.seattle.gov

WOW. New announcement from Seattle CMs Strauss, Hollingsworth, and Foster saying they will fund universal school meals starting in the fall after all by using the general fund. Hard to see this as anything but a realization of the high political price they paid for their votes yesterday.

Surveillance cameras don’t prevent violence, or why I feel like a broken record notesfromtheemeraldcity.com/surveillance...

City of Seattle contracts with Axon, but it’s the same story!

404 Media@404media.co · last mo.

These cases repeatedly show that, because there are few limits on what police can use Flock for, they are often able to abuse the system for months or years before being caught. www.404media.co/cops-keep-ge...

$60,000 per drone “price tag”, amidst a budget shortfall where City looking to cut vital social services. How does this make any sense?!

Seattle's Leading Local News: Weather, Traffic, Sports and More…@king5news.com.web.brid.gy · 2w ago

The Seattle Fire Department is seeking to obtain 3 drones, and the request is going through the city's surveillance review process. You can send in comments and/or attend 1 of 4 community meetings. The first one is tomorrow at 6pm at Centilia Cultural Center and I plan to be there!

Seattle’s D5 Council frontrunners Nilu Jenks and Julie Kang have diverged around the issues of surveillance cameras, Aurora Avenue “stay out” orders, and relative enthusiasm for the mayor’s Taller Denser Faster housing proposal. Story: www.theurbanist.org/jenks-and-ka...

Jenks and Kang Offer Differing Views at D5 Seattle Council Forum

Seattle’s D5 Council frontrunners Nilu Jenks and Julie Kang diverged around the issues of surveillance cameras, Aurora “stay out” orders, and relative enthusiasm for the mayor’s Taller Denser Faster h...

theurbanist.org

NEW STORY// Jenks and Kang Offer Differing Views at D5 Seattle Council Forum By Amy Sundberg via @theurbanist.org

Jenks and Kang Offer Differing Views at D5 Seattle Council Forum

Seattle’s D5 Council frontrunners Nilu Jenks and Julie Kang diverged around the issues of surveillance cameras, Aurora “stay out” orders, and relative enthusiasm for the mayor’s Taller Denser Faster housing proposal.

theurbanist.org

There's a lot of things horrible about this amendment but this might be the most heartbreaking. What's the point of being a "sanctuary city" if you're gonna starve out undocumented students?

Brett Hamil@bretthamil.bsky.social · 2w ago

Teacher, voice cracking, talks about how she buys food for kids and how means testing def blocks undocumented families from accessing free lunches. The council is basically voting on whether to compound Trump's persecution of immigrants

Mayor's Press Secretary Departs, Budget for Police Salary Hikes Tops $80 Million Today's Afternoon Fizz.

Mayor's Press Secretary Departs, Budget for Police Salary Hikes Tops $80 Million - PubliCola

1. Sage Wilson, Mayor Katie Wilson’s press secretary, is leaving the mayor’s office after less than seven months on the…

publicola.com

Learn about the spying technologies police are deploying in our communities at EFF's Street-Level Surveillance hub. www.eff.org/sls

Street Level Surveillance

EFF Presents: A Field Guide to Police Surveillance

sls.eff.org

"Gettin Stuff Done" #seattle #doomloop #STM

After Marathon Meeting, Council Committee Passes Wilson's Transit Measure Mostly Intact The 0.3 percent sales tax, which will go before voters in November, would expand transit service in Seattle for the next 10 years.

After Marathon Meeting, Council Committee Passes Wilson's Transit Measure Mostly Intact - PubliCola

By Erica C. Barnett It took three hours and 37 minutes—45 minutes longer than the new film The Odyssey—but a…

publicola.com

Seattle mayor shuts off some surveillance cams, OR faces deep health care cuts, feds threaten to prosecute WA election officials, and Seattle Symphony gets an upgrade. This and more news from across the #Cascadia bioregion: www.cascadia-journal.com/cascadia-tod...

Cascadia today: OR faces deep health care cuts + Seattle mayor turns off surveillance cams + invasive mussels in OR

Good morning! As you may know, in addition to writing this newsletter, I'm helping organize a movement for Cascadia autonomy at Cascadia Democratic Action (if you're not receiving CDA's action alerts,...

cascadia-journal.com

It is the same thing. Police surveillance tech (CCTVs, LAPRs, RTCC) from Axon, which receives millions annually in DHS contracts. City would be signing up for increasing ongoing annual costs amidst a budget gap, certainly to be offset by reducing other services. www.thestranger.com/news/seattle...

We’re back with another weekly reporting round-up from July 6- 12. Last week, we published 11 articles on topics like Seattle’s CCTV surveillance, the upcoming Erika Kirk event, a sexual assault at the Northwest Detention Center, elections, and more. Take a look at what you may have missed!

TtS weekly Roundup: July 6- 12

By Hannah Saunders We’re back with another weekly reporting round-up from July 6- 12. Last week, we published 11 articles on topics like Seattle’s CCTV surveillance, the upcoming Erika …

throughthestatic.org

Axon is infiltrating our cities, communities and consciousness to extract profit by tracking our every move. We must stop Axon. This is the fight of our lives, and for the livelihood of our future. TURN THE CAMERAS OFF! CANCEL THE CONTRACTS!! GET YOUR AXON OUTTA HERE!!!

@thestranger.com this morning

Reminder: today at 5pm is the in-person portion of the public hearing on the Seattle Transit Measure (STM) renewal. STM funds a significant portion of Seattle's bus service, and the proposed renewal provides a big increase in our service hours. So be sure to come by City Hall to give public comment!

Thank you Seattle City Councilmember Rinck @councilmember-amr.bsky.social for standing with us. When our civil liberties are under attack, we stand up & fight back! We are on the right side of history, and appreciate leaders like yourself that consistently stand up for our most vulnerable neighbors.

In this thread, we are uploading all six pages of the Office of Civil Rights Policy Briefing Memo, and are providing the Legistar Link below: seattle.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=...

UPDATE: Seattle City Council has just received a letter from 18 community organizations calling on Council to delay the expansion of CCTV surveillance tech, to conduct meaningful engagement with immigrant communities, and invest instead in community safety programs.