Free Republic

Back in April, Seattle’s socialist Mayor Katie Wilson laughed at the idea of millionaires fleeing the city over the prospect of new and higher taxes.In fact, so many of them have moved there in recent months that the nonprofit community in the city, which offers various services, is completely overwhelmed.She is seemingly unconcerned about the fact that downtown Seattle is becoming a ghost town with tons of unoccupied commercial space. On the other hand, she is probably overjoyed that transgender people are migrating to Seattle in huge numbers.“Though trans people make up just 1 percent of the population in Washington...

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson's Office has formed a "Trans and Queer Interdepartmental Team (IDT)," a city-led initiative aimed at financially supporting so-called "transgender refugees" who have reportedly flooded into the city to flee Republican-run states amid legislation cracking down on sex change procedures, particularly for minors. Seattle taxpayers will now have to pay for the cosmetic and elective surgeries of transgender people who have relocated to the city. This includes breast implants and "facial feminization surgeries," the Daily Mail reported. Funds will also be provided for their food and housing. [embedded tweet] Seattle's LGBTQ Commission is leading the initiative, which...

(The Center Square) – Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes says that any police officer who violates the city’s new policy requiring documentation of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions, including video recording, will be subject to disciplinary proceedings.“This would be a violation of our policy, a violation of the law,” Barnes told the Seattle City Council’s Select Committee on Federal Administration and Policy on Thursday. “They could be placed on administrative leave per the [Seattle Police Officers Guild] collective bargaining agreement.”Barnes said what would happen to the officer ultimately would be based on a recommendation by the city Office of...

Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes has made it official. If you wear the badge in this city and you don’t surveil federal immigration agents on the job, you could be fired. Barnes told the Seattle City Council’s Select Committee on Federal Administration and Policy last Thursday that officers who fail to comply with the city’s new ICE documentation mandate will face discipline. “This would be a violation of our policy, a violation of the law,” Barnes said. “They could be placed on administrative leave per the [Seattle Police Officers Guild] collective bargaining agreement.” It’s hard to believe, but the far-left...

All those empty office buildings in downtown Seattle are dragging down property values, according to newly-released King County Assessor data. According to the King County Assessor’s Office, the city’s most valuable skyscrapers have lost $3.7 billion in value since 2022. Approximately a third of downtown commercial space remains vacant. Among the biggest decreases in value are the Amazon Doppler Tower and Meeting Center (62% drop), Amazon’s Day One Tower and Spheres (59% drop), the DocuSign Tower on 999 Third Street (56% drop), Amazon’s Re-Invent Towers (55% drop), and the US Bank Centre (53% drop). The three Amazon office buildings listed...

Seattle is ramping up cleanup efforts as it prepares to welcome tens of thousands of visitors for the FIFA World Cup this summer, with a new report highlighting millions of pounds of waste removed, hundreds of thousands of sharps collected, and growing community participation across neighborhoods. The Seattle Clean City 2025 Community Impact Report, released April 14, outlines what the city calls a year of major milestones, stronger partnerships, and expanded, data-driven strategies aimed at keeping streets and public spaces cleaner and safer. In 2025, Seattle Clean City and its partners collected and removed 5.3 million pounds of waste from...

SEATTLE — City advocates say they are struggling to find solutions as homelessness and open-air drug use spread across Seattle’s streets, amid growing concerns about the direction of socialist Mayor Katie Wilson’s new administration.

Seattle could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue as Starbucks expands operations in Tennessee, a local outlet estimates. Fox 13 Seattle reported Tuesday that the Emerald City "could lose up to $750 million in tax revenue in the coming years as Starbucks expands in Tennessee instead of Washington." In a press release Tuesday, Starbucks announced it will invest $100 million and bring 2,000 new jobs to Nashville. "Starbucks has major plans for its newest business location, where it will employ up to 2,000 people over the next several years to serve in a variety of corporate-related operations,"...

At the end of Ayn Rand's novel, Atlas Shrugged, the main characters are in an airplane, fleeing New York City, which is undergoing an economic collapse after the left took over and all of the producers fled. As they pass over the city, the lights go out; all of them, plunging the city into darkness. One of the protagonists, railroad mogul Dagny Taggart, sees this and says, "It's the end." The main character, inventor John Galt, corrects her: "No. It's the beginning." Seattle's new socialist mayor, Katie Wilson, seems determined to replicate the ending from Ayn Rand's novel. Her lunatic...

SEATTLE, WA - Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Seattle on Friday to mark May Day, continuing a 140-year tradition of advocating for American workers' rights.While the day is rooted in labor history, this year’s participants also focused on immigration reform and opposition to current federal policies including the US's involvement in multiple wars.Participants at the rally spoke on how modern workers' rights are inseparable from immigration issues and international concerns.Many demonstrators voiced specific opposition to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the current presidential administration’s handling of immigrant labor.

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson’s staff abruptly ended an interview with a local news reporter this week after he pressed her on rising gun violence and surveillance cameras in the city after a recent shooting. Chris Daniels of KOMO News asked Wilson about community concerns over increasing gun violence and whether additional surveillance measures might be reconsidered. The mayor was quickly cut off mid-response by a member of her staff. “I appreciate it, but let’s keep it on topic, OK?” the staffer told Daniels, stepping in as Wilson appeared poised to respond to a question about whether the shooting would change...

* Iran and Egypt have both criticised the branding of their World Cup group-stage meeting as a "Pride Match" * Egyptian football officials formally lodged objections with FIFA over LGBTQ+ themed activities surrounding the fixture * The June 26 match in Seattle was designated by local organisers as part of Pride Month celebrations Iran and Egypt have expressed opposition to branding of their upcoming World Cup meeting as a "Pride Match," with both football federations raising concerns ahead of the Group G fixture in Seattle. The two nations were drawn together for the 2026 FIFA World Cup after the tournament...

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson announced a crackdown on open-air drug dealing Wednesday, declaring the city will "no longer tolerate" public drug sales, public drug use and the sale of stolen goods in two neighborhoods that residents and business owners say have been plagued by crime and disorder for years. "We will no longer tolerate open-air drug sale and use and vending stolen goods," Wilson said in a press release Wednesday. "We are expanding police personnel in the area to engage directly with individuals participating in these activities, explain that the behavior is no longer tolerated and help ensure that the...

Seattle cleaned itself up to host the World Cup the way a child cleans his room before his parents come upstairs: by shoving the dirty laundry under the bed and stuffing everything else into the closet. Socialist Mayor Katie Wilson herded thousands of drug addicts away from the SoDo neighborhood’s Lumen Field football stadium and nearby Downtown’s hotels, then bragged that “Seattle is ready” for the massive influx of international visitors. But walk just a few blocks, and the truth crowds the sidewalk — hunched over and smoking fentanyl. This week I joined Jonathan Choe, senior fellow at the Discovery...

For the longest time, Seattle has held a terrible grudge against police. It all started back in 2020, when the whole “defund the police” campaign was in full swing following the death of George Floyd. The Seattle City Council acted quickly, slashing the police budget by a whopping 20%. This, in turn, led to less support for our officers, resulting in hundreds of officer resignations. And where has that gotten them? Nowhere…fast. Several businesses have closed down in the area due to the increase in rampant violence. And now a new report suggests that, under the leadership of a Democratic...

Progressive Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is being ripped for unveiling a village of tiny homes being likened to porta-potties — with no rules stopping the homeless people who move in from doing drugs. Wilson, 43, previewed 50 of the 70-square-foot units on Sunday — while readily conceding that she failed on her promise of having half of the 1,000 planned units ready in time for the World Cup, which starts Thursday. The tiny units — barely bigger than a portable toilet, about the size of a jail cell and equipped with just a single bed and desk — cost $16,000...

Progressive activists have discovered the perfect business model: Declare a crisis, accuse opponents of violence or genocide, demand emergency powers and funnel money into activist-run nonprofits with virtually no oversight. The latest example of this comes from the Seattle LGBTQ Commission and a coalition of local left-wing groups, which are demanding that socialist Mayor Katie Wilson declare a civil emergency over what they call a “trans relocation crisis.” They’re claiming, with no evidence, that tens of thousands of transgender-identifying individuals are fleeing Republican-led states and arriving in Seattle as refugees. Their proposed solution: a taxpayer-funded bloodletting. On Saturday, radicals flooded...

Democrats will tell you crime is getting better in blue cities around the country. Does anyone actually believe that? Just ask residents of Los Angeles, where Mayor Karen Bass touts statistics showing that crime rates have lowered when, in reality, there’s been a home invasion wave, and street takeovers are as regular as the sunshine.Or you could ask the beleaguered residents of Seattle, where some residents feel forced to put up barricades to keep the perps out. They argued that they were getting no help from the police in the rainy leftist enclave where a Democratic socialist with virtually no...

Residents in a troubled Seattle neighborhood have begun erecting large homemade barricades across residential streets after a surge of gun violence left many fearing for their safety.Neighbors living near Aurora Avenue say repeated shootings, alleged prostitution activity and late-night chaos have pushed the community to a breaking point.Following another burst of gunfire over the weekend, frustrated residents took matters into their own hands by physically blocking off nearby roads in an effort to keep traffic and suspected criminal activity out of the area, Fox 13 reported.Videos circulating online show multiple streets partially sealed off with piles of dirt, chunks of...

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson spent last fall rallying with barista union organizers and urging the public to stop buying Starbucks. Now, with the company building a 2,000-person corporate office in Nashville, Wilson wants everyone to know she's changed her mind. Wilson, a 43-year-old self-described democratic socialist, told The New York Times this week that her earlier anti-Starbucks remarks "were not productive in the sense that they caused more harm than good." The reversal came just months after she stood at a barista union rally as mayor-elect and, in November, declared to KUOW: "I am not buying Starbucks, and you should...