Airport communities of Kent, SeaTac, Burien, Des Moines and Normandy Park will host a Port of Seattle Commission candidates forum to share concerns of local residents and to determine which candidates have their best interests in mind.
The forum is Wednesday, Sept. 13, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Highline College Student Union Building, Mount Townsend Room, 2400 S. 240th St., Des Moines.
Doors open at 6 p.m. for light refreshments.
The 33rd District Democrats, Highline College, M.L. King County Labor Council, and the Seattle/King County Building and Construction Trades Council are sponsoring the forum.
“Our goal is to share the issues and interests of those who live and work closest to the airport with the Port Commission candidates, and to give voters a chance to learn which candidates will best advocate for our communities and serve on the Port Commission as true policymakers,” said Stacia Jenkins, a former City Council member in Normandy Park and the chair of the 33rd District Democrats.
“Many people think of the noise, traffic and air quality impacts of living next to Sea-Tac Airport, but the economic and social equity impacts are equally important,” Jenkins said. “The lowest income residents and lowest home values in King County are in the communities directly surrounding the airport, and that’s not a coincidence. Sea-Tac Airport is our district’s largest employer, and we think there’s great potential to improve policies to better serve our communities.”
Nicole Grant, executive secretary treasurer of the M.L. King County Labor Council, agrees there is room for improvement.
“Twice this week at the airport, taxi drivers went out on strike due to unsanitary workplace bathrooms and poverty wages,” Grant said. “Driving cabs at the airport was once a middle-class job that immigrants and refugees new to this country could perform to provide for their families. That’s no longer true. The Port of Seattle is an economic engine for the surrounding cities, but not all workers in these communities benefit from the Port’s prosperity. Contract workers stand in stark contrast to workers directly employed by the Port.
The Martin Luther King County Labor Council represents workers on the docks and at the airport. We’re co-hosting this forum to raise the profile of issues like this, and to call on candidates to have the moral conviction to address economic inequality in the cities directly connected to Port operations.”
King County District 5 Councilmember Dave Upthegrove, and Shaunie Wheeler, a SeaTac City Council candidate and political director of IBEW Local 77, will moderate the forum.
The event is free and open to the public, and the audience will have an opportunity to submit questions for the candidates.
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