What Mayor Katie Wilson Says About Graham Street Station, Lake Washington Boulevard, and South End Issues

Weekend closures on Lake Washington Boulevard. Public safety issues in Jose Rizal Park. Surveillance in the Stadium District. In a sit-down interview with the Emerald, Mayor Katie Wilson addressed these issues and more, as she enters her fifth month in office. The interview was conducted on May 26 at the Northwest African American Museum (NAAM), where Wilson spoke without notes for close to 30 minutes.

Below are the responses, separated by topic, Wilson provided to more than a dozen questions.

Wilson Backs Graham Street Station, Defends Lake Washington Boulevard Closure

The Sound Transit board will make a critical decision on May 28 on the fate of potential light rail stations on Graham Street and Boeing Access Road. In the interview, Wilson, who sits on the board, addressed her plans to expedite the construction of the Graham Street Station, which Sound Transit has delayed for decades: "Seattle continues and accelerates our work to expedite permitting for all the Sound Transit projects in our purview, including Graham Street Station, and I'll just say we're very committed to seeing Graham Street Station [getting constructed]."

At a recent town hall about the two South End stations, an attendee asked how citizens can hold Sound Transit accountable if light rail projects on Graham Street and Boeing Access Road are not constructed. Addressing that concern during the interview, Wilson said the most effective actions people could take would be to organize and put pressure on the board. "I will say that the public outcry in favor of, like, building the damn trains right has actually been really, really helpful in sending a message to every single member of the board," Wilson said.

Prior to the interview, the Emerald invited readers to submit questions to ask the mayor, and most of the submitted questions focused on the weekend closure of Lake Washington Boulevard to vehicles throughout the summer. One reader, Catherine, wanted to ask, "What would [Mayor Wilson] say to people in Southeast Seattle who will be affected by the weekend closures on Lake Washington Boulevard if [she] had the opportunity to sit down and talk with them in person?"

In response, Wilson said, "They're always challenges because we have a limited amount of public space, and you can't use everything for everything all at once. … Once people kind of adjust to [the weekend closures], it's going to be a massive public benefit both for that kind of neighborhood, construed broadly, and for the whole city."

But are the weekend closures a first step to permanently closing Lake Washington Boulevard to vehicles? Wilson didn't answer directly. "I'm not looking at it that way. I think there will be a continual public conversation about the best use of that space, but right now, we're doing the weekends, and hopefully people love it."

Surveillance Cameras: Are They Really Off?

Wilson spoke directly about what some have considered her most controversial World Cup policy decision: the installation of surveillance cameras in the Stadium District. In March, the mayor said that the cameras would "not be turned on and will not be connected to the [Real Time Crime Center]." This statement was contradicted at an April Community Police Commission meeting, when an SPD representative said the cameras are on but not recording because it's difficult to turn them on when they are fully off. Wilson was asked directly if the cameras were on or off.

"My understanding of 'on' and 'off' is either they're on and recording things, or they are off. So [the surveillance cameras] are off," said Wilson. "We want to be able to turn them on in the instance of a credible threat, and we've been doing work to kind of define internally what that is. So they are not recording, but they are there, and we are able to turn them on if we feel that that is warranted."

Can Seattle Expand Shelter Fast Enough?

During Wilson's campaign last year, in an interview conducted by The Stranger, Wilson said then that, if elected, she would build enough shelter in her first six months to "get people inside in time for the World Cup." Speaking months later with the Emerald, the mayor talked about her overarching plan to stand up 4,000 units of emergency shelter in her first term, to accelerate the process of building these shelters, and to expand the maximum number of tiny homes per village.

But Wilson admitted it was an ambitious goal she has yet to achieve.

"The point of setting an ambitious goal like that is to kind of light a fire under this whole effort, under everyone, and that this has certainly done that," she said.

In that same interview with The Stranger, Wilson had also said she wanted to make "sweeps irrelevant" during the World Cup. At a recent CID public safety meeting, SPD West Precinct Captain Marc Garth-Green told the Emerald that the police are "not in the business to do [sweeps] unless we are ordered to." He continued, "But right now, there's been no directive from [the mayor's] office at all, and I don't think there will be."

But while seated at NAAM, the mayor disagreed with Green's assertion. "I think that what he probably meant is that we are not doing additional or focused encampment removals in that area, because of the World Cup," said Wilson. She continued, "I think people are generally aware of this; we have not stopped encampment removals or sweeps."

One specific encampment the mayor addressed with the Emerald was a camp at Jose Rizal Park, which was the focus of an April town hall hosted by Councilmember Eddie Lin. Many attendees there felt the city was not doing enough to address public safety concerns related to the encampment, and city data may validate those concerns. Over the past year, of the 300 SPD referrals to the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program, only two came from the South Precinct, which includes North Beacon Hill.

Wilson was unable to address the low number of LEAD referrals from the South Precinct — "I am not sure I can speak to the reasons why" — but said she is working to address the problems facing North Beacon Hill residents, even hinting at future plans.

"I know that there's a lot of persistent encampments in North Beacon Hill, so we are working hard at this," said Wilson. "[I'm] not gonna make a big public announcement about it [today], but we've been working internally with SPD and with service providers, and to try to figure out what a more effective strategy is going to be for the Little Saigon area, and also very committed to figuring it out for North Beacon Hill."

How Seattle Is Preparing for the World Cup

The Chinatown-International District (CID) is one of the neighborhoods that could experience a major influx of soccer fans from around the world, and Wilson spoke about how the city has prepared the CID. Much of Wilson's response focused on supporting small businesses and encouraging fans to use public transit.

"There's been a lot of work done also to prepare small businesses to be able to take advantage of this opportunity," said Wilson. "And to try to make sure that all the money is not just spent kind of right around the stadium."

She continued, "I think the big thing is we're really hoping that people are arriving at the games, and at downtown, by public transit, so we've set this goal of 80% of people arriving by public transit, and our transit agencies are working really hard to make additional transit service available."

Jobs, Unions, and Seattle's Economic Future

Recently, many tech companies, including Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and Starbucks, have laid off local workers, while the cost of living and unemployment rate have been high. So, another reader question focused on the mayor's vision for a healthy Seattle economy.

Wilson first addressed a "media narrative" about her administration's relationship with big businesses. "I'll just say, like, Starbucks, among other major players in our business community, is contributing a million dollars to our shelter acceleration," said Wilson. "We have, like, actually a good working relationship with a lot of these [companies]."

Wilson then discussed how addressing public safety and affordability concerns helps businesses of all sizes. "[Having] a really lively, livable city is success, and having great living wage jobs and affordable housing is success."

It was only when pushed that Wilson talked about workers' unionization efforts, like those at Starbucks and REI, and her support for them. "Seattle's a union town, and I think that when workers stand up and organize and fight for a contract … that's something I can be, like, honest about."

What Wilson Says She's Gotten Right — and Wrong

As the interview wrapped up, Wilson reflected on what's worked and what hasn't during her tenure. For her biggest "mistake" in office, Wilson talked about the learning curve she's faced working with Seattle's big businesses. "I've definitely learned a lot about what my role as mayor is, in terms of, like, needing to have kind of multidimensional relationships with, like, large corporations that are rooted in Seattle. … There's more that's lost if that relationship becomes adversarial."

Regarding her greatest success so far, Wilson pointed to her administration's efforts to accelerate shelter expansion. "We're still obviously in the early stages of starting to open up new shelters, but it's going to be just an ongoing effort over the next four years. But I'm just really proud of all of the work that city staff in multiple departments have done."

When talking about the shelter expansion effort, Wilson circled back to her relationship with big businesses. "We have contributions not just from Starbucks, but from T-Mobile and Microsoft, and John Stanton, and Terry Gillespie. Right, really, like, pitching in, and just realizing … we have a great partnership also with the Downtown Seattle Association as well on some of this. So I just think there's a real across-the-board recognition that we have to collectively make progress on this crisis."

The Emerald's May 26 interview with Mayor Katie Wilson was recorded and transcribed. Unless indicated in the article, all quotes are taken from the interview. You can view the full interview below or on our TikTok page.