A standing-room-only crowd wecomes the new City Council members at Cotto Belltown.
Dan McGrady
On a quiet Friday night, Cotto Belltown was bursting at the seams as it welcomed a large group of people for a Happy Hour to celebrate the start of the holiday season and introduce the new City Council to leaders who play a role in the success of the city. The standing room only crowd included leaders of the arts, medical community, colleges, nonprofits, and major employers. The goal was to celebrate the city and everyone who lives, works, or plays here.
"The party was all about pulling people together to make merry and cheer on Seattle. We have had a rough few years, but 2024 is going to be a great year," says JJ McKay, a host of the party.
As the crowd chanted, “Sa-ra! Sa-ra! Sa-ra!” Seattle City Councilmember Sara Nelson stepped up to speak. She congratulated the newly elected councilmembers and highlighted their collective wealth of professional expertise.
“This is one of the most professionally accomplished and diverse cohorts to enter City Council in a long time, with a tech sector attorney, a small business owner, a former Superior court judge, a City budget specialist, and a former Naval intelligence officer turned stay-at-home dad joining our ranks,” Nelson said.
She stressed that they did not run because it was the next logical step in their political careers, they ran because they love our city and they want to help fix it. Adding, “I’m so grateful they stepped up to serve and I’m excited about the progress we can make together.”
Public safety was a recurring theme of the evening. Bob Kettle, the newly elected councilmember for District 7, said, “I am excited to be joining the new City Council team to help tackle the issues facing our district and more broadly our city. Especially since the reset of the Council offers the opportunity to have a reset in many areas and so can help us take those steps forward needed to address those issues.”
Before closing out the speeches, Nelson added that the new council would be getting down to the basics of local government and moving away from divisiveness. She is inviting members of the public to tune in to watch the meetings on the Seattle Channel.