New city manager Blair King’s wife already has been called a racial slur at a grocery store on Bainbridge Island.
King told that story to the Racial Equity Task Force at its most-recent online meeting.
In introducing himself to task force members, King said he knows all about overt and subvert racism.
Adopted as a young child, he was raised in Central California. “I was never fully white, never fully Asian. They thought I was Native American,” he said of the community as there was a reservation nearby.
Both he and his wife are part white, part Korean. “I have a sensitivity to the complexities of race,” he said. Luckily, I’ve been around a “wide variety of people and cultures.”
Despite that, King said he still has a lot to learn.
“I also make stereotypes on appearances,” he admitted. “I have to work every day on my own behavior.”
King said as an adult he researched his heritage and found out his dad was an American GI in Korea, but he died of Agent Orange from Vietnam.
Task force members asked questions of King.
Peggi Erickson asked how he would connect to minorities in BI.
He explained when he worked in Lodi, CA he wanted to connect to the Pakistani population, which often kept to themselves. So he reached out to them, and they hosted him and his wife at a large gathering.
Renni Bispham asked what King thinks the city could do right away to make a difference with equity.
He said he’d like to make sure the city makes purchases from minority-owned businesses. And he’d like to see more diversity in city management. He said he’d like to accomplish both in the next nine months.
James Friday asked what could be done to deal with inequity in transportation and housing. He also asked what could be done about the police department since it no longer has an oversight committee.
Regarding transportation, King said he’d like to “make public transportation so attractive everybody wants to use it. I want to remove any stigma from using public transportation. Even if you have an automobile it’s in your interest to use public transportation.”
He added right now the attitude is, “I want you to take the bus so I can drive on the road.”
King added that alternative forms of transportation also are being looked at, such as walking and biking. He also said, “This is a hilly place,” so he sees electric bikes becoming more popular so charging stations would be needed.
As to housing, King said the City Council needs to decide who it wants to provide housing for through a Housing Action Plan. He said there are different tools to use regarding who the housing is for, such as farmers, workers or those with marginal incomes.
And with police, he said some on the council want to bring back a public safety committee. But the key to a good relationship with residents is for police to take a “sensitive, humanistic approach.”
In answering another Erickson question about race equity at King’s previous job in Coronado, CA, he said it’s a lot like BI – population 25,000, “mostly anglo and affluent.” He said equity could be moved forward on BI by doing things that “reflect the diversity of society – not just BI.”
In his opening statements, he said city staff is receiving equity training. The easiest way to explain it is to compare three people of different heights trying to watch a game over a fence. To have equity, the boxes need to be of different size so they all can see.
King’s been on the job about a month, but is still in the process of moving here because the “housing market is tough.” He’s also been busy catching up on all of the key issues in the community. Plus, there has been lots of planning to safely open City Hall back up July 1. But he’s enjoying it.
“Local government is closest to the people,” he said. “And you get to see your work.”