Connelly: Chinese-Americans call out Cary Moon for blaming foreign buyers



less Seattle mayoral candidate Cary Moon: Chinese-America leaders are worried about her call for a "targeted tax" on foreign, non-resident and corporate home buyers -- worried that it will be "xenophobic and discriminatory," and evoke a "dark legacy" of Seattle's past. Seattle mayoral candidate Cary Moon: Chinese-America leaders are worried about her call for a "targeted tax" on foreign, non-resident and corporate home buyers -- worried that it will be "xenophobic and ... more Photo: GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI.COM Photo: GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI.COM Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Connelly: Chinese-Americans call out Cary Moon for blaming foreign buyers 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Leaders of Seattle's Chinese-American community, in a letter released Friday, are calling out mayoral candidate Cary Moon.

They are worried that a "targeted tax" or "foreign buyers tax" would be "xenophobic and discriminatory," singling out Chinese buyers -- in other words, a racial profiling from the city's political left.

In the bilingual letter, signed by prominent businesses, they singled out Moon, who has speculated about "targeted taxes" that would be directed at foreign, non-resident and corporate buyers of homes in the Emerald City.

A "foreign buyers tax," the Chinese-Americans said, would "deepen troubling and long-standing false stereotypes of Asian and Chinese people here in Seattle," while doing "little or nothing" to solve housing problems.

Although personal wealth has fueled her run for Seattle mayor, Moon is conducting a populist campaign.

She has explicitly refrained from using the phrase "foreign buyers tax." Moon has, however, talked of "targeted taxes or other mechanisms to deter corporate and non-resident real estate speculation."

"Part of what's escalating prices is the fact that our housing is being traded as a commodity in the global economy. We need to figure that dynamic, how it's working and block that activity," Moon said in a recent Chinese Radio Seattle interview.

The Chinese-American leaders' particular concern is a recent article co-authored by Moon and Charles Mudede of The Stranger. It explicitly singled out Chinese buyers for the real estate tsunami that has hit Vancouver, B.C., in recent years.

The Moon-Mudede piece stated:

"This flow of Chinese money is looking for the next housing market, and it appears that Seattle and California cities are the emerging targets."

The authors citied an article in The Guardian to warn about the motives and tactics of Chinese buyers. Moon and Mudede wrote:

"Their analysis expects the flow of money from China for the next five years to double what it has been the last five. And what is critical to note, again, is that this money is not being invested in productive enterprises --- nearly 90 percent of the money is being used to purchase homes.

"These purchasers aren't breaking any laws. The problem is the reckless exploitation of the home market."

Such language evokes the "Hongcouver" criticism in Vancouver directed at buyers from across the Pacific dominating the real estate market. A raft of complaints have singled out "monster houses" and the cutting of trees in such neighborhoods as Little Mountain and Shaughnessy, and land being purchased for speculation.

The Chinese-American leaders in Seattle have taken a cue from the Moon-Mudede article.

"Even after Vancouver imposed a 'foreign buyers tax' of the sort that Moon advocates, housing prices there have continued to rise," they said. "Experts say the primary reasons that housing prices are rising here is that Seattle is growing rapidly, and demand for housing is outpacing supply."

They are worried that race will rear its ugly head in the Emerald City's housing debate.

Twice in the 1960s, despite broad, bipartisan urging, Washington voters refused to repeal an alien-land law directed at curbing foreign ownership. The law was finally repealed by voters in 1966.

A buyers' tax, argued the Chinese-American leaders, "would plan into negative perception of Asians that unfortunately constitute a dark part of Seattle's past.

"Given that dark legacy, and the current environment where President Trump has repeatedly expressed negative attitudes toward foreigners generally, and towards China and the Chinese specifically, we think attempts to blame Seattle's problems on outsiders, and the idea of a 'foreign buyers tax,' sends the wrong signal that Seattle may not be the welcoming, diverse and progressive city that we all believe it is to be."

They urged candidates and elected officials to get through the November election and deal with the housing problem without singling out for blame "people on a basis of their racial and national origin."

The letter's signers included such groups as the Chinese American Chamber of Commerce, Green Leaf Restaurant, China Harbor Restaurant, the WPI Investment Group, NW Wushu Academi and others.

Moon, in her Chinese Radio Seattle interview, said:

"I commit to listening, collaborating and to working with communities that have been left out, like those in Chinatown and the International District. ... We can create an affordable housing market where everyone who wants to live here and work here can stay."