At a meet-the-people-running-for-city-council event hosted by Washington Bus and The Stranger in the upstairs bar at Neumo's recently, Sally Bagshaw (running for Jan Drago's seat) mentioned to a potential supporter that she's a certified pilot. I leaned over into their conversation and said, "You're a pilot?" And we got to talking. And she invited me to go flying with her. In an airplane. In the sky. Anyone pondering a ride in a very small airplane flown by someone who isn't paid by an airline to fly it will inevitably think of JFK Jr. disappearing in that fatal fog with those two defenseless passengers, but if you ask Bagshaw, "Are we going to die like JFK, Jr.?"—semi-jokingly, semi-not-joking at all—she'll just laugh and say, "He was a new pilot with something like 110 total flight hours and was not yet a certified instrument pilot. I am."*

So I got my Xanax in order and, last Saturday, we went.

She and her husband—they met learning to fly planes—own a Cessna 172: four cylinders, 150 horsepower, seats two comfortably, four if you cram. It's parked out on Boeing Field.

We walked around the thing to make sure no one had crashed into it and dented anything, we pulled the wing flaps up and down to make sure they were working, we tested the gasoline levels in each wings ("When you hear about people"—she paused—"losing their planes"—she paused again, trying not to freak me out—"the single most often reason that a plane stops flying is that they didn't put enough fuel in it"), we checked the oil, we wiped bird shit off the windshield, and then as we climbed in Bagshaw showed me a laminated card that was supposed to reassure me that the chances of her dying in midair were remote. Nothing has ever scared me more than that ostensibly reassuring laminated card.

And then we were talking to air traffic control in headsets with fast-food-drive-through-style mouth pieces, and the propeller disappeared, and we were barreling down the runway, and then pointing toward the sky and the birds and God and everything, and then we were in the sky, just the two of us, clumps of wind knocking us this way and that, and a helicopter passed below us, looking like a spindly insect, and far below the helicopter a string of red and blue train cars snaked over the surface of the Earth. There was the field and track of a high school I didn't recognize. "What high school is that?" I asked, putting Bagshaw on the spot. She's running for city council; she should know her city. She looked and said, "Cleveland."

We flew over the West Seattle bridge, Safeco Field, Qwest Field, the skyline, and continued north. "There's Northgate," she said. "There's some really nice parking lots down there." She was milking a running joke. I had been giving Bagshaw hard time about parking lots because Erica C. Barnett (on Slog and in print) recently called her a "former prosecuting attorney with talking points straight out of Mark Sidran's 2001 campaign" who, on the subject of transit stations, was very pro-parking lots. Bagshaw explained to me her position: She just thinks more people will ride transit if they can leave their car at the station. She thinks underground parking is the way to go.

Then I mentioned Barnett's reporting that Bagshaw was pro-building-a-new-jail. (Barnett had pitted a quote by David Bloom, whom Bagshaw is running against, against something Bagshaw said. Bloom: "I do not believe Seattle needs a new jail." Bagshaw: "When there is violent crime, those people must be locked up.") "Erica, that's not true!" she called out thousands of feet above the city. She insisted her position was mischaracterized. I offered her the chance to clarify her position in detail, which she took me up on, sending me (after our flight) a 900-word essay on whether she thinks Seattle needs a new city jail. (Short answer: "No!") A taste:

In response to some questions asked and Slog statements made, I want to make certain my position about building a new Seattle City Jail is heard in full. The City of Seattle should NOT build a new jail to incarcerate those convicted of misdemeanors. We have other options. As the former Chief Civil Deputy of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, I have first hand experience with this issue...

(The full statement of her position is below, after the jump. Interesting fact therein: "According to the Mayor and City Attorney, the number of people living in Seattle has grown by 11% over the past 12 years, but the number of people in jail on a Seattle misdemeanor charge has dropped by 44%.")

Having gotten the parking-lots matter and the jail matter out of the way, we banked left and just started tooling around, and Bagshaw let me do the flying. I steered and took photos at the same time, while Bagshaw kept her eye on the instruments. There were mountains. There were islands. There were—farther south—reservoirs. There were golf courses. There was Mount Rainier. There were cutely curving waterways. There were roads like white veins. There were cool buildings toward the south of Sea-Tac (which we crossed over, airliners coming at us from the side). There was more Mount Rainier.

Then Bagshaw capably flew us back to Earth. No one died. It was awesome. "I like doing this better than anything," she said.

* Over email, Bagshaw elaborated: "The tragedy is that JFK Jr. made a series of bad piloting decisions. He was a new pilot with something like 110 total flight hours and was not yet a certified instrument pilot. He simply took risks he shouldn't have. Here are some examples: he took off at the end of a long day flying across the dark water. He was tired and in a hurry. The water at night without visual cues of lights below on the land can get confusing. The dark water and horizon meld, and for a non-instrument rated pilot, that's trouble. He was flying a fast, complex airplane that he had recently purchased but had very few hours flying. He was flying into increasingly hazy/dark conditions, and as I recall he had just gotten his leg out of a cast and he, his wife, and the passenger were hurrying to get to a family gathering. When he got disoriented in the dark he pulled back on the yoke and put the plane into a grave yard spiral."

Should the City of Seattle Build a New Jail? No!

In response to some questions asked and Slog statements made, I want to make certain my position about building a new Seattle City Jail is heard in full. The City of Seattle should NOT build a new jail to incarcerate those convicted of misdemeanors. We have other options.

As the former Chief Civil Deputy of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, I have first hand experience with this issue. My office created many of the humane alternative sentencing options already in place. They work.

The City of Seattle and King County have worked successfully in the past to reduce the number of misdemeanants sentenced to jail. Programs such as Drug Court, Mental Health Court, and jail diversion programs direct non-violent people into alternative programs including community service, day reporting, and electronic home monitoring. These programs keep people out of jail while providing them access to jobs or job skills. In addition, supportive treatment programs for individuals referred by the specialty Mental Health and Drug Courts provide humane treatment and supportive programs for many, while ultimately saving taxpayers money and keeping our neighborhoods safe.

The number of misdemeanor jail bookings in the City has dropped over the past decade. The average number of days spent in jail has also declined, and even better, alternative programs that are working well have been developed by both the City of Seattle and King County. The need for misdemeanor jail beds has been reduced. The City should not build a new jail for misdemeanants.
We have data to support this decision. According to the Mayor and City Attorney, the number of people living in Seattle has grown by 11% over the past 12 years, but the number of people in jail on a Seattle misdemeanor charge has dropped by 44%. Plus, a King County mental health crisis diversion clinic may soon be available through King County.

As the lead attorney for King County’s Civil Division, I advised the director of the jails as well as the judges who presided over the Mental Health and Drug Courts. Working with Superior Court judges, I took the lead for our division and served on the committee that created the proposed Crisis Diversion Clinic. This program will provide an important alternative for those people with mental illnesses who are unable to take care of themselves, or who are deemed to be unstable and potentially of harm to themselves or others.

Right now, if a person is picked up by the police and is perceived to be of danger to him/herself or others, or is unable to care for him or herself, the police have only two choices: take the person to the King County Jail or to a hospital where psychiatric facilities are available, typically Harborview. If the Crisis Diversion Clinic is funded, the police will have a third option: a person who would otherwise be taken to jail or to Harborview who is seen to be suffering from mental illness or co-dependencies may be diverted to a safe, quiet place for recovery. There, they can be cared for, cleaned up, dried out, and where appropriate be given necessary medications. Seattle and King County leaders can be proud of this approach. The King County Council voted to fund this program, and diversion clinics have been shown to work in other cities. Portland and Bellingham have them; it’s high time we offer a crisis diversion clinic in our region too.

All this is good news, yet the need for 200 or more nightly jail beds for Seattle misdemeanants remains. Why? Under state law, the City is required to put people in jail for committing certain violent or dangerous acts. For example, drivers convicted of their second or third DUI’s must be incarcerated for 30-120 days in jail, depending on the number of previous convictions. Similarly, people charged with domestic violence offenses must be arrested and booked into jail. And some people, previously released, fail to show up for court and are re-arrested under a judge’s order. Release is not an option for these people.

Yes, the City needs access to jail beds, and the City has historically entered into contract with King County to provide detention functions. That’s the preferred option. It’s King County’s responsibility to incarcerate felons as well as the County’s misdemeanants for the region. King County has two large jails operating currently, one downtown and one in Kent, and has room to expand at or next to both facilities. That’s a less expensive and arguably a more acceptable option than siting a new jail in yet another neighborhood. The County, not the City, should be the primary regional provider of community corrections programs for both felons and misdemeanants.

The City cannot afford to construct a new jail, nor budget for the costs of establishing an entirely new department to run it. Jail operation requires the hiring of guards 24/7, medical teams on site, psychiatric assistance, food service workers, maintenance workers and so on. King County is already operating two jails and has contracted in the past with the City of Seattle and other regional cities to house City misdemeanants. King County should contract with the City to provide needed jail services. We waste resources by duplicating these efforts.

King County must reopen negotiations with the City of Seattle to provide jail space for the City. City and County leaders must stop bickering and enter into a fair 10+ year agreement that covers King County’s reasonable costs to incarcerate the misdemeanants.

Yes, we need to put violent felons in King County jails and that requires jail space. And as a regional goal, King County should make room for Seattle’s needs. We taxpayers deserve better coordination and cooperation from our elected leaders. The City should not get into the jail business. Leave that to King County.

We do not need a new City of Seattle jail!

Sally Bagshaw