Seattle’s police department may have dismantled the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (or “CHOP”), but the memory of the “summer of love,” as it was declared by Seattle’s Mayor Jenny Durkan, lives on, and the city has now pledged to engage the spirit of the demonstration in its hiring practices.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, Seattle is now making experience in advocating for social justice and developing policies aimed at “racial equity” as key resume elements for candidates competing for city jobs, including jobs with the Seattle Public Library, and the Seattle Public Utilities, which handles the city’s water, sewage, and garbage services.
The two jobs are also well-paid, and the winning candidate will make over six figures a year — a salary exempt from Seattle’s JumpStart tax, which punishes high wage earners with an additional tax surcharge designed to help the city pay for “fair housing” and coronavirus relief.
“The city of Seattle is hiring ‘social justice’ advocates to staff its administrative offices—and unlike private-sector jobs, these positions aren’t subject to the city’s new tax on six-figure salaries,” the Free Beacon reports. “Library administrators, public utilities employees, and city auditors are just some of the positions Seattle is hiring for that have prerequisites of advancing ‘racial and social justice equality,’ according to city job postings.”
The library’s “director of Administrative Services” position pays “between $110,393 and $182,155” annually, according to the Free Beacon, and is responsible for overseeing the library’s multi-million dollar budget. Although knowledge of financial services is required for the position, it seems an understanding of social justice is just as important.
Candidates must be “knowledgeable in the area of race and social justice, and developing policies with stakeholder involvement for better community and staff equity.”
Seattle Public Utilities, which handles water, sewage, and garbage collection, is hiring a “Deputy Director of People, Culture and Community” — and, in this case, it does not seem as though direct knowledge of city utilities or services is required for the role, which pays an estimated $215,000.
Candidates, instead, must understand how “to embed race and social justice and service equity policies and practices across the utility, by positioning equity at the core of decision-making at Seattle Public Utilities.”
The city of Seattle itself, the Free Beacon says, is hiring for its own social justice coordinator — a plum city job with a $180,000 salary.
Seattle, of course, is still reeling from the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest, and is likely facing at least two federal lawsuits over the city’s handling of the weeks-long demonstration, which forced longtime residents and business owners in the Capitol Hill neighborhood out of their homes, and resulted in at least two deaths, both of black teens.
Seattle’s mayor refused for weeks to police the “autonomous zone” that sprang up around one of the city’s police precincts and only moved to dismantle the protest after nightly violent episodes.