SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane mayoral candidate Lisa Brown and incumbent Nadine Woodward shared a stage and their plans to run Washington's second largest city if elected this November at a forum hosted by Spokane's NAACP chapter and KYRS Radio.
Brown and Woodward shook hands as they got on stage Tuesday night inside the downtown library and spent about an hour answering questions. Tuesday's forum comes 35 days ahead of the November election.
"In particular, in public safety, in our unhoused population, most people would tell you the situation has gotten worse over the last four years," Brown said.
"I ran for mayor four years ago because I wanted to do great things for the city I love and by working together we've made some sweeping accomplishments during incredibly challenging, unprecedented times. A health pandemic and a lockdown," Woodward said.
Both candidates were given 90 seconds to answer some of Spokane's most pressing issues, such as the homeless crisis and their plans to keep people warm this winter.
"Well, unfortunately I won't be able to implement until after the election, if I'm elected," Brown said. "But, let's do the basic math. There are at least over 2,000 unhoused people and there are 1,000 emergency beds right now."
Brown said she would work with non-profits, businesses and faith communities to quickly pull together additional options to get people indoors during the winter months.
Woodward talked about additional capacity at the Trent shelter during extreme weather events, but told the audience there will never be enough beds.
"That's why the city of Spokane has joined cities up and down the west coast and in the Ninth Circuit to have the U.S. Supreme court listen and hopefully overturn Martin v. Boise because we are having to dedicate most of our funding and resources on low-barrier beds instead of other programs like transitional housing that have better outcomes," Woodward said.
Candidates were also asked if they believe in transformative and restorative justice and how a tough on crime stance relates to that.
"I have heard many, many testimonies from people who finally changed their life when they finally had to face the consequences of crimes that they had committed," Woodward said.
"We're at a place where there are racial disparities in our criminal justice system and we have to dismantle them,"Brown said.
Later this month, Nadine Woodward and Lisa Brown will debate inside the KREM 2 Studios. Tune in on Oct. 26 to watch the debate.
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