If elected, my administration will work to rebuild trust between City Hall and those most deeply impacted by violent crime — the victims, survivors and families who have too often been overlooked, felt unheard and unseen.

 I have heard from crime survivors that the current system, as it’s evolved, now offers fewer clear points of contact, consistent care, and resources to turn to for help and advocacy. As mayor, I will work to correct those gaps and ensure victims and survivors are not treated as afterthoughts in our city’s approach to safety, healing, and justice.

 I have heard from too many mothers and families who lost their loved ones to violence and felt dismissed or ignored by city leadership.  These voices matter. They are not political soundbites — they are the human cost of leadership that talks about compassion without practicing it.

 1. What are your top priorities for improving the City of Seattle’s response to crime victims and survivors?

 One of my top priorities is to rebuild a citywide support network that places victims and survivors at the center of public safety. I will direct my public safety leadership team to identify the current scattered investments for survivor support, and coordinate and strengthen these victim-support programs under one trauma-informed strategy, ensuring that survivors have a clear point of contact and that our investments actually assist survivors with the needs they identify. I will seek feedback from survivors who have contacted our current support service systems in recent years and make changes responsive to weaknesses they identify, ensuring we have a system where survivors receive immediate, compassionate response from city leadership.  I will also prioritize funding permanent victim-service positions rather than annual stopgaps.

  2. How will you ensure crime victim and survivor services are treated as essential public safety infrastructure, not optional add-ons?

 Survivor support is the foundation of real public safety. As mayor, I will make survivor services a permanent, protected part of the city’s safety budget — not a line item vulnerable to shifting political winds. I will ensure that every public-safety initiative includes a crime survivor impact assessment, that SPD, Fire, and CARE response systems systematically receive and address feedback from survivors, and that survivor needs are elevated alongside other law enforcement priorities.

 3. What steps will you take to provide stable and dedicated funding for victim advocacy and trauma recovery services?

 Survivors deserve consistency and stability. My administration will explore, in this area as well as others where service providers with limited reserves struggle with unpredictable funding, how to make longer term funding commitments consistent with legal requirements of annual budgeting. I will expand grants to make survivors of serious crime whole for monetary losses, rather than leaving this to an unpredictable legal process which rarely generates restitution payments. My public safety team will also publish a transparent survivor-funding dashboard so residents can see exactly where funds go and what outcomes are achieved.

 4. How will you ensure that survivors have access to resources and support not tied to restorative justice or offender-based programs, particularly for those who may not wish to engage in such models?

 Healing must be defined by survivors, not by systems. My administration will ensure that restorative justice and diversion programs do not determine who receives care or resources. Every victim and survivor—regardless of whether they choose to participate in restorative justice—deserves equal access to services, advocacy, and healing support. Participation will always be voluntary, never a requirement for assistance. I believe in equal access for all crime victims and survivors, and I will ensure our city’s policies and funding reflect that principle at every level. As noted, my public safety team will explore expanding grants to make survivors of serious crime whole for monetary impacts, rather than relying on the outcome of legal or diversion processes.

 5. What accountability measures will you put in place so victims can raise concerns and ensure services meet their needs?

 Accountability begins with listening and continues with action. My public safety team will create an accessible channel for survivor feedback on the state of our survivor support investments, and will investigate complaints, track service outcomes, and recommend corrective measures across departments. Each year, my public safety team will publish a State of Crime Victim and Survivor Services Report, based on independent surveys analyzed by community researchers, followed by public hearings to ensure full transparency. Crime survivors will not and should not have to fight to be heard. I commit to hearing, seeing and acknowledging their experiences - their feedback will drive change.

 6. How will you personally engage with survivors and advocacy organizations to ensure their voices shape your administration’s decisions?

 I will lead through proximity, not press releases, and will listen, rather than manipulating survivor stories for political gain. My public safety team will host regular Survivor Roundtables to ensure that survivors and advocates have a direct voice in shaping city policy and improving the systems meant to serve them. I will also commit to participating in the next Crime Survivor Summit, in partnership with the King County Executive’s Office, to strengthen collaboration and transparency across systems. In years past, some mayors made it a priority to meet personally with surviving family members of homicide victims. If elected, I will bring that commitment back. I will sit with families, listen to their stories, and ensure that their voices guide how this city responds to acts of violence and loss. I will never use victims’ trauma and pain for political gain; I will show up, listen, and act.

 7. As criminal justice reform efforts continue across our region, how do you define offender accountability, and how will you ensure that reforms do not come at the expense of justice, safety, or healing for crime victims and survivors?

 Reform and survivor safety are not opposites; they are interdependent. I define accountability as taking responsibility, repairing harm, and preventing recurrence — all while centering survivor healing. My public safety team will review major public safety reforms through a victim-centered lens before they are implemented, ensuring that the perspectives of those directly impacted guide every decision. I will also partner with King County and community coalitions to design justice models that reduce re-offense, strengthen prevention, and keep survivors at the center of every solution. One of the key pillars of restorative justice is accountability — not just for offenders, but for leaders. As mayor, I will be accountable, and I will hold others accountable. That is what real justice looks like.

 In Seattle’s next chapter, compassion must be more than words.

 My administration will measure success not by press conferences, but by how survivors and families feel seen, supported, and safe — because no mother should ever have to beg her city to care after her child is gone.