Connelly: Let homeless stay in parks until we have places for them -- Moon

Seattle Mayoral candidate Cary Moon: "Yes, I would let them (people experiencing homelessness) stay in parks until a place is found for them."



Seattle Mayoral candidate Cary Moon: "Yes, I would let them (people experiencing homelessness) stay in parks until a place is found for them." Photo: GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI.COM Photo: GENNA MARTIN, SEATTLEPI.COM Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Connelly: Let homeless stay in parks until we have places for them -- Moon 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

Ex-U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan used her courtroom skills, in an environment-arts debate on Monday to put her Seattle mayoral opponent Cary Moon on the spot regarding the city's proliferating homeless encampments.

Are Seattle parks a proper place for homeless camps, as Seattle City Council member Mike O'Brien once suggest, and at what point do they get too big, Durkan asked Moon during a faceoff sponsored by KEXP Radio.

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Moon reiterated her opposition to police sweeps of the camps. "We can't keep chasing them from one place to another," she argued. Durkan followed up: "Will she let them stay in the parks?"

Yes, Moon answered. If people are not harming parks or surrounding communities, she argued, "Yes, I would let them stay on parks until we have a place for them."

The latest Durkan-Moon debate quizzed the candidates on their knowledge of Seattle. Where do you go when you are not campaigning, they were asked. Elliott Bay Books and Discovery Park, Durkan answered. The fountain at Seattle Center, Moon replied.

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Asked for a favorite bus route, Moon answered the No. 2, which provides access to the Polyclinic, Virginia Mason Hospital, the downtown Seattle Library, Belltown, Westlake Park as well as the Seattle Center.

Durkan was offering more specifics. A moderator, ex-State Rep. Brady Walkinshaw, asked about storm water pollution.The city needs to look at storm water systems as part of its commitment to racial equity, Moon replied.

Durkan pledged, if elected, to put in place "thousands of 'rain gardens' throughout our city" to absorb storm runoff.

In closing statements, Durkan pledged she would work to create artists' lofts, exhibit spaces, and to bring the arts "into the neighborhood." Moon spoke of "rebalancing who has power in this city" and "defining a constructive future vision for Seattle."

Moon has not hesitated to discuss race and class.

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Durkan answered a question on climate change by promising to twist the arms of cab operators and others to put more electric cars on the road. The problem is not just getting cleaner cars on the road, Moon countered. "It's in creation of the car itself." She wants still more emphasis on transit.

As to environmentalism, Moon added: "This can't be wealthy people worried about polar bears."

The allocation of city resources brought a Durkan promise of more attention to low income neighborhoods. from Durkan. "Obviously, when city money is involved, we have to ask, 'Is there equal access," said the former U.S. Attorney.

"We have a widening wealth gap between black and white folks," Moon argued. And then a familiar refrain: "It's time for all white people to realize, we are part of the problem." She would use the "race equity lens with every allocation" of city money.

The two candidates clashed on what would seem like a technical issue.

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Durkan pledged to take her seat on the Sound Transit board and fight to accelerate arrival of light rail service in West Seattle and Ballard. And she lamented that a conflict of interest would prevent Moon from doing likewise.

It happens that Moon's husband, Mark Reddington, is lead architect on the massive expansion of the Seattle Convention Center. Moon acknowledged that there is "a conflict that could arise" as the city and Sound Transit work together.

She would, said Moon, "recuse myself" from such decisions. "It's a very minor matter," she insisted.

The candidates, Moon and Durkan, are being tested on past battles.

They were asked what stand they took in the 1995 referendum to create a Seattle Commons, a park in the region between downtown and south Lake Union that is now the scene of frantic head-over-heels development.

"Yes," said Durkan, holding up her card. No, replied Moon. "We needed the park, but not everything attached to it."

With the candidates going from early morning until mid evening --- Durkan has a major LGBT fundraiser tonight hosted by public affairs consultant Roger Nyhus -- the time for Moon to hang out at the fountain, and Durkan to walk the Discovery Park loop trail, is very limited.