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Erica C. Barnett

@ericacbarnett.bsky.social

17K followers 1K following 5.6K posts

Seattle-based reporter, founder/editor of PubliCola.com, and author of Quitter: A Memoir of Drinking, Relapse, and Recovery She/her, Latina, Texan

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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 9d

Just want to emphasize how astonishing and unprecedented this is: The sitting Seattle Police Chief refused to answer a factual question about a budget line item (the removal of the city's contract with SCORE Jail) because the City Council President learned about it from my website.

Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 9d

"I'll be clear, I do not read PubliCola, so I will not respond to that," Shon Barnes, the Police Chief of Seattle, who definitely does not read PubliCola and is not mad at all about our reporting

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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 21m

One thing people should know is that Choe works for Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk's group, and was at the WH on behalf of that group

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2h

Jonathan Choe to Trump: "Another group right now that is behind antifa and working with antifa very closely based on the research that we have right now that we're gonna give to you and your team are the Democratic Socialists of America."

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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 24m

A friend noted that he wears "the exact same sandals they give you at the King County jail," no matter what the weather

Cursed Macramé Owl @danielsohn.bsky.social · 29m

For those of you not in Seattle, Choe is one of the dumbest, most bargain-basement fake reporters on the scene. A wet, sad idiot with truly nasty feet

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2h

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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 1h

phrasing?

excerpt from Bruce Harrell fundraising email: "That’s why we’re launching a $10,000 Debate Day Money Bomb to show our grassroots strength before Bruce steps on stage."

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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 1h

Read PubliCola's detailed, deeply sourced coverage when we first report it, or risk learning about it from the Seattle Times days or weeks later.

Links to our previous coverage in this story from a week ago, which the Times got around to over the weekend.

publicola.com/2025/10/01/h...

Homelessness Agency Director Gets Sternly Worded Letter and "Executive Coach" After Investigation Into Racial Bias Complaints - PubliCola

By Erica C. Barnett On Friday, the governing board of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, made up mostly of…

publicola.com

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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 2h

Three Key Questions to Save Our Light Rail Future
In a guest post, Sound Transit board member and King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci says it's time to consider light-rail options that don't require digging a second tunnel through downtown Seattle.
publicola.com/2025/10/08/t...

Three Key Questions to Save Our Light Rail Future - PubliCola

By Claudia Balducci It’s no secret that our region needed high-capacity transit yesterday — or better yet, four decades ago.…

publicola.com

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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 3h

Seattle mayor Bruce Harrell’s Unified Care Team sweeping a single tent outside my office, on the same block as the Compass Center homeless shelter. At least two police officers involved in removing this one tent.

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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 18h

The one big donation to Wilson's PAC so far is $75,000 from PROTEC17, the union that represents city employees. As Harrell likes to mention on the campaign trail as an example of his management experience, most city employees ultimately answer to him, and they're backing his opponent.

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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 19h

Incumbent Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, a career politician and beneficiary of $1.3 million in business PAC funding SO FAR, is trying to portray himself as the victim of his underdog opponent, Katie Wilson, and her progressive supporters.

Outside groups are spending to try to take down Bruce's re-election campaign.

Just this week, a political action committee backing Bruce’s opponent dropped another $75,000 into the race, bringing their total to nearly $200,000. And more money is waiting in the wings.

Let’s be clear: this money will almost certainly be used to attack Bruce, twisting his record and misleading voters about the real progress Seattle has made under his leadership.

Bruce has worked tirelessly to make Seattle more safe, more affordable, and more compassionate. He focuses on results, not grandstanding. But his opponents are gearing up to flood the airwaves and social media with negativity.

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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 20h

To be clear, they don't turn off, they just aren't monitored (at the moment) for 10 hours out of every day.

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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 21h

Sara Nelson, correcting me in a debate, says Seattle's police cameras aren't monitored 24/7. I did report this and will correct myself—they're monitored 14/7. I still don't get her argument that a lack of live monitoring at predictable hours is evidence that mass surveillance is a good investment.

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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 23h

A rare sighting at City Hall!

(If you don't know.... www.youtube.com/@theseattlec...)

Six sock puppets representing Seattle City Council members, displayed on Tuesday, October 7 at Seattle City Hall. From right to left, they are: Bob Kettle, Maritza Rivera, Sara Nelson, Rob Saka, Dan Strauss, and Debora Juarez.

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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 1d

Harrell, in contrast, said it was irresponsible for the media to ask about allegations that he brandished a gun at a pregnant woman who took "his" parking spot at a casino when he was a 38-year-old lawyer, because it forced him to relive his trauma from supposed racial profiling by the casino

Woman says she was 8 months pregnant when Seattle Mayor Harrell pulled gun on her, leading to his 1996 arrest

Rose Sanchez may not remember every detail of the encounter between her family and Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell from that late night in 1996. But there are details she told KUOW she’ll never forget, li...

www.kuow.org

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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 1d

In the press release where Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell lambasted his opponent Katie Wilson for dropping out of college, he also suggests she will "quit and walk away" when "things get tough in our city." You know things are tough when the mayor is attacking his opponent for something she did at 21.

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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 1d

Your feeling that cops make a place feel safer is not universally shared, particularly among people most often profiled and targeted by cops and cop-like officials.
What makes me feel safe is an abundance of people going about their regular business, a state that only exists in cities.

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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 1d

This mentality—that voters are just obsessed with what candidates were up to decades ago, as college kids—may also be why Harrell constantly brings up where he went to high school and talks about his college football career almost 50 years ago.

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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 1d

When Alice Lockhart, of @350seattle.bsky.social, asked for a return to the standard 2 minutes, committee chair Dan Strauss said "we are continuing to monitor if one minute feels too short or if one minute is feeling all right," thanked her for her feedback, and ended the meeting a few minutes later.

Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 1d

The Seattle City Council's virtual public comment period for feedback on the mayor's proposed budget lasted just 45 minutes. Speakers were limited to just 1 minute despite the fairly short sign-up list.

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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 1d

Metro reached out to clarify a detail from the Times' story, which I cited above: The increase to 275 security officers was made this year, and the next budget will maintain that number.

Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 1d

That contract is reportedly imminent, and should come with a new MOU that establishes new rules for CARE. It's unclear how much SPD will be willing to let go of "dual" dispatch, in which police have total authority over CARE's ability to respond to 911 calls.

Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 1d

Here's that report, which says the expiration of the agreement with SPD that restricts CARE from responding to most calls without police approval offers an opportunity to set more favorable terms in the negotiations for the next police contract. seattle.gov/documents/De...

seattle.gov

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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 1d

New report from Seattle's Inspector General concludes that the CARE Team of unarmed first responders isn't "utilized in the way it was originally intended—as a resource
for non-emergency, low-risk calls for service to 911"—thanks to the terms of an agreement attached to the police union contract.

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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 1d

SPD Chief Puts Cop Who Called 2020 Protesters "Cockroaches" In Charge of East Precinct
Mike Tietjen, who was promoted over a gay acting commander, the subject of multiple complaints in 2020, including an incident in which officers taunted a trans woman.
publicola.com/2025/10/07/s...

SPD Chief Puts Cop Who Called 2020 Protesters "Cockroaches" In Charge of East Precinct - PubliCola

By Erica C. Barnett The Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct, located at 12th Ave. and East Pine St. in the…

publicola.com

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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 1d

Hard to believe, but there was a point (in 2020-2021) when even elected officials publicly asserted that over-policing of public spaces, like buses and transit stops, leads to profiling and doesn't make people safer. This seeming, arguably performative, consensus didn't last, and here we are again.

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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 1d

The "public safety on buses" example everyone always gives is "I saw someone smoking fentanyl on the bus." You're not going to fix that problem without addressing fentanyl addiction, even if the county does manage to arrest a few addicts for public drug use.

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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 1d

Buses, unlike rail, are diffuse. There are 100s of them operating across the county from early in the morning until late at night. So it would be nice to have some evidence that distributing a couple hundred security guards across the system makes people "safer" before investing additional millions.

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