Cary Moon announces mayoral candidacy

Urban planner and engineer Cary Moon has announced that she’s running for mayor.

In a statement, Moon said she’ll “develop strategies that strike Seattle’s problems at their root cause, not just address the symptoms.”

“Seattle's prosperity should provide shared opportunity and success for everyone, not just the wealthy elite,” she continued. “We can't let the future of our city be sold to the highest bidder.”

Moon is perhaps most widely-known for her work advocating against the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel—she had a vision for no highway on the waterfront at all. Her work advocating alongside the People’s Waterfront Coalition earned her the Municipal League’s Citizen of the Year award in 2009 and the only-ever Stranger Political Genius Award, and was honored by Real Change with their 2011 Change Agent Award

She has also been heavily involved in Seattle policy and urban planning, Alaskan Way aside; she’s currently on a leave of absence from her position on the Board of Directors at the Progress Alliance and the advisory board for public-private partnership One Center City.

Affordable housing appears to be at the forefront of her platform, which advocates for increasing tenants’ rights—”The Seattle Renters Commission is a good first step, but we can do more to help renters”—preventing evictions, “exponentially” expanding Seattle’s affordable housing, and implementing taxes to “deter corporate and non-resident real estate speculation.”

Moon’s platform also calls for exploring “missing middle” housing options, like duplexes, ADUs, and co-housing—named so because they’re a middle-of-the-road option between single-family homes and super-dense apartments. Some, including Sightline Institute, have found Seattle’s investment in these solutions inadequate.

She also advocates expanding public and nonprofit housing—also a key part of mayoral candidate Nikkita Oliver’s platform.

Moon calls for addressing affordable housing and transportation together.

“Working people are being pushed out of Seattle to chase affordable housing in places that are not served by transit, which leaves them isolated from their communities and services,” says Moon’s website.

Her proposed solutions call for more bus lanes, making walking and biking more viable, mitigating bus traffic equitably, and recognizing the rights of people with disabilities.

Homelessness is also a hot-button issue in this year’s mayoral race. She says she’ll prioritize long-term, supportive housing and provide more low-barrier shelters while addressing immediate needs and root causes.

Moon is the second opponent, along with former mayor Mike McGinn, to jump into the mayoral race since a lawsuit surfaced against current mayor Ed Murray, alleging he’d sexually abused a teenager in the ‘80s. Murray has denied that claim, as well as similar allegations by two other men.

Other candidates include attorney and educator Oliver, who is running as a People’s Party candidate, and safe-streets advocate Andres Salomon.

Both McGinn and Moon’s platform call for reversing Seattle’s reliance on regressive taxes, which hit poorest communities the hardest. Moon, specifically, calls for a tax on luxury real estate and a capital gains tax.

Moon will be running a virtual town hall next week to “share her solutions and field your questions.”

• Cary Moon for Mayor [Cary Moon]
• Mike McGinn enters the mayoral race [CS]
• Mayor Murray's editorial, annotated [KUOW]
• Finding the Missing Middle [Sightline]
• Ecuadorian immigrant, bike advocate Andres Salomon announces run for mayor [Seattle Globalist]
• Seattle taxes among nation’s kindest to the rich — and harshest to the poor [Seattle Times]
• Seattle Renters’ Commission passes City Council [CS]
• Housing and Affordability [People’s Party]