Seattle's new socialist mayor has big plans

On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti

WBUR

News, On Point, Daily, Npr, Talk Show

4.3 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2026

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson had no prior political experience. She took over as the city faces an affordability crisis and a homelessness emergency. How's she doing roughly three months into the job?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:10.7	Seattle, Washington, known for a coffee, the Seahawks, the Space Needle, the rain.
0:16.7	But I also have learned that no one here carries umbrellas.
0:20.5	Oh, no, we don't believe in that.
0:22.5	How dare you carry an umbrella?
0:25.7	Come on, you.
0:26.5	Amazon is headquartered here.
0:28.4	Microsoft's headquarters are just across Lake Washington in Redmond.
0:31.9	A booming tech sector has drawn more than 60,000 people to Seattle in the past six years alone.
0:37.1	And that means Seattle
0:39.0	is also becoming known for expensive housing, homelessness, and an overall affordability crisis.
0:46.1	Talk to me about affordability. It's not cheap.
0:52.0	Is stuff expensive?
0:53.5	Stuff is very expensive.
0:55.2	Yeah.
0:56.5	What do you do?
0:57.7	I work in robotics.
0:59.5	Ooh, okay.
1:00.9	So see, the tech influence is real.
1:02.6	Yeah.
1:03.6	This is On Point.
1:04.6	I'm Megna Chakra Bardi, and you just heard On Point producer Claire Donnelly.
	...

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