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PODCAST

Seattle Nice

David Hyde, Erica Barnett, and Sandeep Kaushik

It’s getting harder and harder to talk about politics, especially if you disagree. Well, screw that. Seattle Nice aims to be the most opinionated and smartest analysis of what’s really happening in Seattle politics available in any medium. Each episode dives into contentious and sometimes ridiculous topics, exploring perspectives from across Seattle"s political spectrum, from city council brawls to the ways the national political conversation filters through our unique political process. Even if

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All Episodes

43:27

Oops, There Goes Another Million!

Seattle Nice ·

2026/10/08

First, a quick invitation: Seattle Nice is hosting a live debate for City Council District 5 between Julie Kang and Nilu Jenks. Join us at the National Nordic Museum on October 21 at 6 p.m. On this week's show: What happens when government agencies can't keep track of millions of dollars? And why aren't Seattle voters more upset about it? First, the King County Regional Homelessness Authority says it's solved the mystery of the $8 million it previously claimed Seattle and King County owed it....

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45:24

Mayor Katie Wilson Joins Us as the Budget Battle Begins

Seattle Nice ·

2026/10/03

Mayor Katie Wilson joins Seattle Nice, along with Budget Director Aly Pennucci, to defend her first city budget as some City Council members argue she's got her priorities wrong. Wilson came into office facing a $175 million projected General Fund deficit. Her answer is a budget with nearly $50 million in General Fund cuts each year, no new taxes and a promise to balance the books through 2030. But some councilmembers are pushing back. They want things like more surveillance cameras, more cop...

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30:06

MHA Holiday 2.0: Starring Seattle Councilmember...

Seattle Nice ·

2026/09/29

Seattle still needs a lot more housing. But construction has fallen off for some types of housing, and developers say one reason projects aren't getting built is Seattle's Mandatory Housing Affordability program, or MHA. Seattle City Councilmember Dionne Foster joins co-hosts David Hyde, Erica C. Barnett and Sandeep Kaushik to talk about the fight over MHA and splits on the left over how to build more affordable housing. Foster's proposal would temporarily slash the fees developers pay under ...

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48:50

What Should Seattle Do to Stop the Bleeding?

Seattle Nice ·

2026/09/15

Editor's note: We recorded this episode before Mayor Katie Wilson announced her plan to reduce gun violence this week. Wilson's plan emphasizes community violence interruption, as opposed to the "focused deterrence" approach that CM Maritza Rivera has been advocating. Although Wilson has expressed support for some form of focused deterrence, she does not support CM Rivera's resolution. And the plan she announced this week doesn't include the core law-enforcement deterrence consequences that h...

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48:20

ORCAs, STARs, and Trump's Baleful Eye: the State of...

Seattle Nice ·

2026/09/11

In the latest episode, with David away at an undisclosed (but no doubt bougie) location, Erica and Sandeep are (re-)joined by friend of the pod Daniel Malone, Executive Director of Downtown Emergency Service Center (DESC), Seattle's largest shelter, housing and behavioral health homelessness services provider. In the episode, Daniel provides us with a first anniversary update on DESC's Opioid Recovery & Care Access (ORCA) Center, which Daniel tells us has been a major success, with ...

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38:33

Spinning in Circles: Seattle's Police Chief Carousel,...

Seattle Nice ·

2026/08/28

Seattle has had nine police chiefs in seventeen years. Now the carousel is spinning again as Mayor Katie Wilson launches the hunt for yet another leader for SPD. With the messy, hasty exit of Shon Barnes still fresh, we have to ask: Who actually wants this job? We break down the search, the political stakes for Mayor Wilson, and whether Seattle is doomed to repeat the same hiring mistakes. We also get into Erica's story about interim Chief Andre Sayles, who filed a potentially career-ending c...

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43:48

Recall Mania, New RV Rules & Not "Barnes 2.0"

Seattle Nice ·

2026/08/18

A pair of Seattle residents have filed to recall Mayor Katie Wilson. But the recall effort probably doesn't have a chance of clearing Washington's high legal bar. So why do it? And what does it reveal about the zeitgeist in Seattle right now? Then we dig into Councilmember Dan Strauss's plan to deal with RV encampments. Is it a compassionate attempt to get people the help they need while cleaning up the streets? Or a crackdown without enough shelter or services to actually work? Plus, Seattle...

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25:50

Mayor Katie Wilson's Bad Bets, The Stranger's...

Seattle Nice ·

2026/08/06

This week on Seattle Nice, the only podcast that tells you what's really happening in Seattle politics, we break down the primary results and what they mean for the city. Did Mayor Katie Wilson try the Mamdani play? Did it backfire? We debate whether her endorsements in the 43rd and 46th legislative districts actually mattered, why Seattle isn't New York, and how The Stranger remains the city's most influential political endorsement despite, in the eyes of some, barely covering City Hall. The...

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20:44

Preview: Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes Has Left...

Seattle Nice ·

2026/08/02

In one of the most disorderly weeks at Seattle City Hall in recent memory, Police Chief Shon Barnes has officially resigned. In this follow-up to our Emergency Friday Episode when the outcome was not 100 percent clear, David Hyde, Erica C. Barnett, and Sandeep Kaushik break down the chain of events from the mass shooting at the Bite of Seattle festival to the closed-door negotiations that led to Barnes's departure. In this Patreon supporter perk episode we get into: · &nbs...

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36:36

Emergency Edition: Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes...

Seattle Nice ·

2026/07/31

Note: This episode was recorded Thursday morning, before Barnes's resignation was confirmed. Hosts Erica C. Barnett, Sandeep Kaushik and David Hyde break down the chaotic 24 hours that preceded Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes's official ouster. Rumors of a forced resignation. A defiant chief and the NAACP and Urban League rallying to his side. The mayor's office went silent for hours. We were recording in the middle of the chaos, when it still wasn't clear how it would end. Then we shi...

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39:07

Seattle's Aurora Ave Sex Trade Fight & Mayor's Office...

Seattle Nice ·

2026/07/23

This week on Seattle Nice, (the only podcast that tells you what's really happening in Seattle politics), we get into three topics: Should buying sex on Aurora Avenue be a felony? King County's top prosecutor is pushing state legislation to upgrade paying for sex from a misdemeanor to a felony. But some county public defenders are pushing back. We dig into the numbers and debate whether tougher penalties are the right approach.Mayor Katie Wilson loses press secretary. Sage Wilson is out in ea...

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36:13

Seattle Transit Tax Showdown, "Lewd" Nude Beach...

Seattle Nice ·

2026/07/17

Welcome to Seattle Nice, the only podcast that tells you what's really happening in Seattle politics. Join Erica C. Barnett (PubliCola), David Hyde, and political consultant Sandeep Kaushik as they break down the latest from City Hall. In this episode: Transit Tax Showdown: Seattle's transit measure is poised to head to the November ballot. We break down the City Council's marathon Thursday meeting, including a failed attempt to "water down" the levy and a "shut up" maneuver that brought the ...

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43:10

Six Months In: Grading Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson

Seattle Nice ·

2026/07/12

Six months into her tenure at City Hall and Mayor Katie Wilson has a message for Seattle: things are going great, actually. On this episode of Seattle Nice, hosts Erica C Barnett, David Hyde and Sandeep Kaushik dig into Publicola’s two-parter with the mayor: a "spicy" interview that covers everything from whether she's the next "sweeps" mayor to whether Chief Shon Barnes keeps his job. Plus, why the council keeps finding out about Wilson's legislation the same way the rest of us do: by ...

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48:08

Is Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson Still an Urbanist?

Seattle Nice ·

2026/07/04

Just as urbanists thought they had a deal to jumpstart stalled housing construction, it fell apart. We unpack the rise and fall of a proposed temporary break on Seattle's Mandatory Housing Affordability program, which taxes new development to fund affordable housing. Those tax dollars have all but dried up as building costs have soared and construction has stalled. Developers and density advocates argued a two-year partial fee pause could revive dozens of stalled projects while costing the ci...

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34:59

World Cup Glow, Homeless Surge: Seattle's Unsheltered...

Seattle Nice ·

2026/06/27

While Seattle celebrates hosting the World Cup, the city's unsheltered count just jumped 21 percent. What explains the increase? Can we trust the numbers? And why are we seeing shelter capacity shrink right when it’s needed most? Also: Mayor Katie Wilson's "zero-tolerance" push in Little Saigon. Is this the same old policing playbook, or something genuinely new? Can a progressive socialist approach call for more policing? Our co-hosts do not agree. Send us a text! Note that we can only ...

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27:48

Has King County's Human Services Department Fixed the...

Seattle Nice ·

2026/06/16

Last August, an alarming, high-profile audit of King County’s Department of Community and Human Services’ spending on “high-risk” youth program providers found widespread problems and indications of potential fraud. So now, 10 months later, has DCHS been able to clean up the issues that led to the serious internal control problems the audit surfaced? New DCHS Director Susan McLaughlin joins Erica and Sandeep (while David is away) to make the case that DCHS is back on track. The agency i...

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17:32

Mayor Wants to Double Down on Seattle Transit Sales Tax

Seattle Nice ·

2026/06/05

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of Seattle Nice, which takes up Mayor Katie Wilson’s proposal to double the current transit sales tax. It’s a familiar Seattle policy dilemma: how do we pay for the reliable public transit we need without relying on regressive taxes? Next, we examine the newly passed Housing Opportunities Package (HOP). It’s a massive set of zoning changes and regulatory shifts aimed at kickstarting residential construction across the city. Is the unanimous vote ...

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41:24

Are Falling Seattle Home Prices Good News? Redfin's...

Seattle Nice ·

2026/06/02

Daryl Fairweather, Chief Economist at Redfin and author of Hate the Game: Economic Cheat Codes for Life, Love, and Work, joins us to explain why the housing market is doing something it almost never does here: cooling off. In this episode we break down the recent headlines that stopped Seattleites mid-scroll: prices here are dropping here faster than anywhere else in the country. Fairweather points to the perfect storm behind the slowdown: sky-high mortgage rates hitting expensive markets the...

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34:30

How Badly Did Sound Transit Just Screw Seattle?

Seattle Nice ·

2026/05/30

On the latest episode, we cut through the fig leafs and happy talk from Sound Transit officials to lay bare the hardball political realities underlying their decision to kill the long-promised light line extension to Ballard, which has been left unfunded and postponed indefinitely. Who to blame? Erica says it is a systemic failure, pointing to ST's excessively slow, expensive, and politicized planning process, noting that it took approximately 30 years just to fund the relatively simple...

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47:36

Is Sound Transit Ignoring a Plan that Could Save...

Seattle Nice ·

2026/05/21

Sound Transit is facing a $35 billion budget gap and the long-promised light rail extension to Ballard is at severe risk of being cut. Scott Kubly, former Director of Seattle's Department of Transportation, joins us to unpack how the region landed in this mess and shares a plan to cut costs and save the Ballard line. The headline number is jaw-dropping: Sound Transit projects cost two to three times more than comparable transit built almost anywhere else on Earth. Why? Kubly walk...

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211 results

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