SPOKANE, Wash. — Editor's note: The above interview was originally published in July 2023.
Spokane County's general election is coming up on Nov. 7, 2023. Some of the key Spokane County races include the city of Spokane mayor, Spokane City Council president and multiple Spokane City Council seats. KREM 2's Chief Journalist Amanda Roley sat down with incumbent Mayor Nadine Woodward over tea to learn where she stands on important issues.
To learn more about the city of Spokane's general election, click here.
To learn more about Spokane County races, click here.
Amanda Roley
Nadine Woodward, thank you for joining me here on The Tea with Amanda Roley to talk about your campaign. Happy to have you here.
Nadine Woodward
Thank you, this is awesome. And loving the tea.
Amanda Roley
That's my first tough question to start us out here. What did you decide to drink today?
Nadine Woodward
I got the butterfly lemonade, which is actually made from their blue tea and it's purple, which I think is quite fitting for the Lilac City.
Amanda Roley
Well, so let's dive into it. You're running for re-election? You're nearing the end of your first term as mayor. So looking forward, what are your plans now to focus on increasing public safety in Spokane?
Nadine Woodward
The concentration is on staffing the department to the size that we need to staff. What does that look like? Where are we going to get the funding for that?
Amanda Roley
Some people in the community are not happy with Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidl. Do you think the chief was justified in giving those downtown business owners the level of access and data and information that he did?
Nadine Woodward
I want our police chief to be engaged in all communities. When the downtown community came, and they said, you know, we have issues downtown. We want to work with the city and with the police department to come up with solutions. And that's what he did.
Amanda Roley
So you think he was justified?
Nadine Woodward
Absolutely. That's why I didn't perform or have HR perform an investigation of that.
Amanda Roley
How do you explain not initiating an investigation to constituents who are simply asking for transparency or are concerned that may show a lack of transparency?
Nadine Woodward
These, Amanda, are anti police advocates. And that's not what they want.
Amanda Roley
So your opponent, Lisa Brown, she's criticized you about the last three years in office saying your administration has stalled the progress of the city. She points to excessive turnovers and too much conflict among staff. Spill the tea: what do you say to that?
Nadine Woodward
Wow. Well, you know, this is a tough time to be a leader of an organization that's 2,000 plus employees. When I came into office, half of the cabinet was either an interim or vacant. I mean, we have the same amount of turnover of any corporation.
Amanda Roley
What would you say is your biggest accomplishment?
Nadine Woodward
I tell you one of the things, there's there's several things, but the one that I'm really excited about, that I'm excited to work on in the next term is this regional homeless authority.
Amanda Roley
Well, I can't talk about homelessness without bringing up Camp Hope. What is your take on how that was handled, from the formation of the homeless encampment near I-90 to its closure?
Nadine Woodward
This started out as a protest, but it got out of hand. And so we said we have a facility with all the wraparound services.
Amanda Roley
What are the lessons learned?
Nadine Woodward
Doing the right thing doesn't always get you the result you want, but you still have to do the right thing. We did the right thing in engaging the state in this. They have assured us that there's not going to be another Camp Hope on WSDOT property. We're going to hold them to their word.
Amanda Roley
Well, thank you so much, Nadine, for talking through all this with me. Good luck to you on your re-election campaign.
Nadine Woodward
I appreciate it. Thanks for the time, and thanks for the tea.
To watch the extended interview with Nadine Woodward, use the player below:
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