Washington's primary election is on
August 1st, and we want to help you
get to know your local candidates.
So on the tea with Amanda Rowley,
I sit down with all 5 candidates
running for Spokane mayor to
discuss who they are and where
they stand on important issues.
Here's what they told me over tea.
Lady in Woodward, thank you for
joining me here on the tea with Amanda
would be to talk about your campaign.
Happy to have you here. Thank you.
This is this is awesome and loving the tea.
Well, I have to ask you, it's my first
tough question to start us out here.
What did you decide to drink today?
Well, I got the butterfly lemonade,
which is actually made from their blue
tea and it's purple, which I think is
not is quite fitting for the lilac city.
Well. So let's dive into it.
You're running for reelection.
You're you're near the end of
your first term as mayor.
So. Looking forward,
what are your plans now to focus on
increasing public safety in Spokane?
The concentration is on staffing the
department to the size that we need to stop.
What does that look like?
Where we going to get the funding for that?
So some people in the community
are not happy about,
not happy with Spokane Police
Chief Craig Meitle.
Do you think the chief was justified
in giving those downtown business
owners the level of access and and
data and information that he did?
I want our police chief to be
engaged in all communities.
When the downtown community
came and they said, you know,
we have issues downtown.
We want to work with the city and with the
Police Department to come up with solutions.
And that's what he did.
So you think I was justified?
Absolutely.
That's why I didn't perform,
have HR perform an investigation of that.
How do you explain?
Not initiating an investigation to
constituents who are simply asking
for transparency or are concerned
that may show a lack of these.
These Amanda are anti police advocates and.
That's not what they want.
So your opponent, Lisa Brown,
she's criticized you about the
last three years in office,
saying your administration has
stalled the progress of the city.
She points to excessive turnovers
and too much conflict among staff.
Spill the tea. What do you say to that?
Wow.
Well, you know,
this is a tough time to be a leader of an
organization that's 2000 plus employees.
When I came into office,
half of the cabinet was either
an interim or vacant.
I mean we have the same amount
of turnover of any corporation.
What would you say is your
biggest accomplishment?
I tell you one of the things there's,
there's several things,
but the one that I'm really excited about,
that I'm excited to work on in the next term.
Is this regional homeless authority?
Well, I can't talk about homelessness
without bringing up camp Hope.
What is your take on how that was handled?
From the formation of the homeless
encampment near I-92, its closure?
This started out as a protest,
but it got out of hand.
And so we said we have a facility
with all the wraparound services.
What are the lessons learned?
Doing the right thing doesn't
always get you the result
you you want, but you still
have to do the right thing.
We did the right thing and engaging
the state in this they have assured us.
That there's not going to be another
camp hope on wash dot property.
We're going to hold them to their word.
Well, thank you so much,
Nadine and for talking through all
this with me and good luck to you.
Thank you. Reelection campaign.
I appreciate. Thanks for the time.
Thanks for the tea.
Lisa Brown running for mayor here.
Thank you so much for joining me
on the tea with Amanda Rowley.
It's so nice to have you here today.
Thanks, Amanda.
Glad to be here.
Yeah, Well, we'll start out.
I'd like to find out what kind of
tea you decided to drink today.
I went with the Japanese matcha on ice.
First of Alltel me.
Why did you decide to run for Spokane mayor?
Well, I was the director of
commerce and I saw our city just not
moving forward in some key areas.
And I thought, this is the time when.
I could bring my experience from
the legislature and from WSU
Spokane to the city I love.
Your opponent has criticized you as a
career politician with no actual plan
to improve safety or crime in Spokane.
Spill the tea for me.
What do you say to that?
Well, it's it's it's wrong.
It's false. When I declared for mayor.
In March,
I immediately went on a listening tour
and I published a public safety agenda
that right now is a blueprint that
I can enact as soon as I'm elected.
What is your plan, Lisa,
to increase public safety?
One aspect is clearly law enforcement and
law enforcement has to be funded accountable,
get the kind of training that they need.
Another pillar of public safety
has to be a plan to address.
Homelessness.
What would you say for some
lessons learned out of the
formation and closure of Camp Hope?
Getting the actual housing to move
them to was part of the challenge,
but I think the biggest criticism is
just how long the camp stuck around.
The negative impacts for the
neighborhood were really unfortunate.
It was really unfortunate that
the city's response to the state
effort was to sue.
And litigate rather than sit
down at the table and cooperate.
Do you think Camp Hope would
have closed by June 9th had this
lawsuit not been introduced?
Oh, absolutely.
There was already a plan in place.
Do you think Chief Mitel was
justified in giving downtown
business owners the level of access
and information that he did?
I think the buck stops not with the chief,
but with the mayor.
The chief reports to the mayor.
You've criticized Woodward's
administration saying it's stalled
the city's progress and pointing to
excessive turnover and too much conflict.
So how will your administration be different?
There may need to be some changes,
but I will make that decision
quickly and then with
the team will set some priorities.
I'll set a big table for
a transition committee.
What would you do is?
Mayor, to address the growing
pains we're feeling because of this
population growth in our community,
we definitely need more housing.
One of the things we have to
pay attention to, however,
is we need the infrastructure
that supports a good neighborhood.
And I'd like to see more housing,
particularly middle,
what they call middle housing.
Which really works for young
families starting out.
Well, thank you so much, Lisa,
for sitting down and spilling the
tea with me on on who you are.
And your campaign is mayor.
Thanks, Amanda Patrick,
we can thank you for joining me
on the tea with Amanda Rowley.
Love having you here.
And we can talk through your campaign.
Thanks for joining me.
Thanks for having me.
Well we both have the tea and
I have the question.
So we'll have you spill the tea on
on who you are here in just a second.
But first of all let's find out what
tea did you decide to drink today.
I
had a green tea because I'm already
over caffeinated and it they said
it was called young high stop.
Tell me why you decided to
run for Spokane mayor. I
decided to run because just as a
regular citizen I found increasingly
over the past couple of years that the.
City bureaucracy was completely out
of touch with people who who live in
neighborhoods and pay the taxes. How so?
The speeding has gotten so bad in our
neighborhood that we're basically afraid
to let our kids go visit friends.
The street is completely unregulated.
No, no speed limit signs.
We just figured the city didn't
know there was a problem there,
so we let them know five years later.
I found myself running for mayor because
there has been absolutely 0 action.
Tell
me a little bit about yourself.
What do you do for a living?
Everyone seems to brand me
as the YERT maker candidate.
I've heard that the your maker. Yeah. Yeah.
And it's true. I I do build Yerts.
I do have a small company to do that.
How would you say your experience in
education as a wildlife biologist,
a research analyst and and an
up and coming business owner.
How is that prepared you?
Potentially to be Spokane's next mayor. I
just want people to know that I do
have this mathematical side of me,
an analytical side of me.
What is more important is
that I plan on returning the
bureaucracy to the average person.
What does that mean?
As mayor, I would want to personally
attend neighborhood councils
because that is the most grassroots
part of of our city democracy
camp. Hope I want to hear what
is your take. On how things were
handled from the encampments
formation to its closure, anything
that big can't can't be
allowed to happen anymore.
However, I did think it was better
than them sleeping in parks.
It was better than them sleeping downtown.
So essentially, I just think we
need to stop pretending that this
homeless issue is going to go away.
Spokane Police Chief Craig Mital,
Do you think the chief was justified in
giving these downtown business owners?
This level of access and
information that he did,
in a sense, I feel like the access and
information that he provided to them should
be available to everybody in Spokane.
Would you have initiated an
investigation into Chief Mital?
Yes. I mean, I don't know
Chief Mital personally,
I would love to meet him.
I would love to hear more
about this situation.
I advocate for total transparency
of the Police Department.
Patrick, thank you so much for
joining me here and spilling the
tea on who you are. Thank you.
Kelly Stevens, thank you for
joining me here on the Tea with
Amanda Rowley to talk about your
campaign running for Spokane mayor.
Happy to have me here. Thank you.
I'm happy to be here. Little
break from potholes. Potholes.
Yeah, we're going to get to that in
just a second before we get going.
First question I asked all of our
candidates is what sort of tea did
you decide to sip on with me today?
I am trying the licorice tea.
Why did you want to run for
Spokane mayor? I wanted to work.
For the city, I wanted to be a part of
the team that takes care of the city.
And so that's why I'm at where I'm at.
And if I can do that on a grand scale,
that's what I want to do. You
mentioned that's why I'm at where I'm at.
Where are you at right now?
I'm at the Streets Department
and I filled potholes.
Tell me about that. You you came in
literally from work today, right? Yeah.
I didn't want to wear nice clothes
today and. And get them. Gross. So
what sort of changes would you
like to see in the city if you're
elected mayor? This is a hot
topic for me is gang violence
that we've got going on.
Yeah. We've seen an uptick
in drive by shootings,
drive by shootings.
And it's our kids that are doing this.
When a kid that you know is telling
you that he knows the shooters
and he knows the kids being shot,
it feels like it's only a matter of time
to when is that brought to your house our.
Gang task force that we have,
We need to find the strong points
that it has and run with it.
We need to find the weak points and redo
some things able to get our kids safe again.
We may be able to rein in some of the the
drug problems that we're seeing downtown.
Last year I had to give someone CPR.
I was in the pothole truck and saw somebody
trying to do CPR and really struggling.
I understand you want an
award for that life saving it.
I did. I'd like to hear,
Kelly, what is your take on
how things were handled,
from the formation of the homeless
encampment on I-90 to its closure?
I guess in theory
it felt like a great idea to move
into a single spot where we could
provide resources for everybody.
But some of the other things
that came along with that?
Changed it from an OK idea to it's
it's really rough on the neighborhood.
You see it as somewhat of a benefit,
but right there maybe not the best place.
What steps would you take as mayor
to prepare for this influx of people
moving and growing in Spokane?
I want to see us building up more so
than building out. We only have so
much ground space, but we've. Got
a lot of skyline.
What makes you stand out,
Kelly, against your opponents?
I'm dirty. I've got
The Dirty. I've got the
bright orange shirt on.
How are you not going to see me?
I'm extremely real.
Everything I want to do is to
help make our city amazing.
Well, thank you so much, Kelly.
It was a pleasure to have
you on here. Thank you.
Tim Archer, thank you for joining
me here on the tea with Amanda
Rowley for your to talk about
your campaign for Spokane mayor.
Happy to have you here. I'm
happy to be here.
Thanks for having me, Amanda.
Yeah. So let's start out.
I got to ask what kind of tea
you're decided to sip on with.
It is their campfire tea.
So, Tim, tell me, why did you
decide to run for Spokane mayor?
Well, I have to confess,
I was talking to you a couple
years ago during the mandate,
and I said the mayor took my job,
so I'm taking hers.
But since then, you know,
and then I cooled off,
that's not a good reason to run.
So I've observed what's happened
over the years with the soft
on crime legislation and the
low barrier shelters and I
know things can be better.
You're former president of the
Spokane Firefighters Union.
That's correct. And how long did you
serve as a firefighter for Spokane?
For 20 years I spoke with Mayor Woodward
on her campaign for reelection and
she says your job has been there,
it's been, it's been brought back.
Did you ever try to get rehired?
I did Spokane fire.
I requested a reinstatement
last fall because the governor
lifted the mandate, right?
But I was informed by HR at the
time that they were going to
bring me back at entry level pay.
Make me the most junior
driver on the job. It
wasn't worth it to you to come back
at that entry level. Pay and rank.
You know, it's not so much the pay in
the rank. It was an issue of dignity.
Well, Tim, we have seen in
the last few years just a huge
uptick in driveway shootings,
violent crime in our community.
So what would you do is
mayor to address that? I
want to make Spokane the most uncomfortable
city in the state for criminals.
And at the same time,
I want to make it the most welcoming
and safest city in the state for our
law abiding citizens and visitors.
That's a pretty bold statement.
How are you going to do it?
We need to empower law enforcement.
We need to change the culture out there.
That's always implying that
that we need police reform.
Do you think Chief Mital was justified
in the level of access he gave
downtown business owners to that
data and information that he did?
Yes, I do and and I.
I don't know the full details,
but I would assume that he would
have given it to other people
who would have asked as well.
I would have dealt with it by having it
investigated by by a member of the city
administration or myself personally.
What is your take on the formation
of Camp Hope and its closure?
It was handled with a lack of decisiveness.
It never should have gone that long.
What I would support our high barrier
shelters like the Union Gospel
Mission with their 180 beds. But
with high barrier shelters, I mean,
that is what the protest from Camp
Hope originated out of was the need
for more low barrier correct shelters.
But you're saying that's that's not
the answer. That's not the answer.
You're running against four other
mayoral candidates. Yes, I am.
What's going to make you stand
out in this race?
I am the only conservative candidate.
Well, thank you so much, Tim,
for spilling the tea with me on
who you are as you run for Spokane.
Mayor. Thanks for having me.
These are only snippets of my
interviews with these candidates.
You can watch the full interviews
on the Crem 2 YouTube page.
Thanks for watching.