Hi, my name is Mia Jacobson
I am 37 years old, a 3rd generation West Seattleite, a 3rd generation union Longshoreman, and a single mother of 3. I went to Seattle Academy and the University of Washington - you could say that I am Seattle through and through.
I was born in the house that I’m raising my kids in, a house that my parents could afford with a single income, and one that I cannot afford working the same job my father did. This means that I’ve watched the city of Seattle change over my lifetime and I am very much personally invested in its future. This is my city. This is my children’s city. I want this city to flourish.
Why isn’t our local legislative process working for us?
The conversation which creates legislation is not accessible, transparent, or accountable.
While most council and committee meetings have an opportunity for public comment - our representatives are not required to respond to any comment or to answer questions asked (no accountability)
Every agenda is preset by the representatives and if the speaker does not "speak to the agenda," they escorted out of the room (no transparency, accessibility or accountability)
Council and Committee meetings happen downtown Monday-Friday from 9-5 in often empty rooms
our society is managed while most of us are at work (no accessibility)
Representatives are tasked with inviting speakers to meetings (no accessibility)
the conversation is controlled by an individual agenda (no accountability)
if someone has pertinent information and/or experience to any policy and/or proposal - they are not included in the conversation unless they are personally invited by an official position
Meetings held in private offices concerning social welfare are not recorded for public viewing (no transparency or accountability)
The community has no way of knowing who else in their city has the same concern or is working on the same project (no transparency or accessibility)
there is no systemic process holding our representatives accountable for their decisions outside of the election cycle (no accountability)
Technology has changed the way we use information and the way we work with people.
We now have the access to the research and experts needed to check what we’ve been told is working against evidence.
We can use data scrapes and analytics to generate a very digestible interpretation of huge amounts of information.
We can coordinate within large numbers in a digital space to discuss our local issues and suggest solutions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
We must use these tools to hold our government accountable for any identified failure to protect and serve the common welfare.
What does it mean to Be the Rabbit?
If we now have the technology to open the policy making process to everyone, we have outgrown the organizational structure of representation.
Our amplified ability to access information and coordinate within huge numbers means we no longer need to rely on someone in office to figure out how to fix our problems. It doesn’t make sense to expect someone without experience with the issue to address it effectively, when we can ask the people who do.
Our current legislative process limits the information used to address our concerns according to the individual bias and inexperience of our elected positions. We don’t have to do that anymore.
It is time to shift our focus from the powers that be, to the powers that we have become.
Follow us on social
Contact Us
Interested in working together? Fill out some info and we will be in touch shortly. We can’t wait to hear from you!