The Southend Speaks: Maria Abando On Upcoming District 2 Candidate Forum
Community organizing has always been at the heart of positive change, and for Maria Abando, an organizer with Whose Streets? Our Streets!, it's a lifelong passion. On a recent episode of “The Day With Trae” guest hosted by Deaunte Damper, Abando shared insights into her work, the current climate of community engagement, and her organization’s upcoming District 2 candidate forum on October 14.
Originally from Tacoma and now residing in Seattle's Chinatown International District, Abando dedicated herself to foster improvements for safety and well-being in her own neighborhood and beyond. As a community organizer, she explained that she is perpetually asking herself "who's been left out" and "whose voices aren't here" when critical decisions are being made.
Abando described the current political environment as " a climate of fear,” meaning that people are scared to congregate toward a cause. She noted that this fear stems from various directions, from the federal government to the notion that activists and leaders could be targeted or criminalized. This environment, she explained, makes it challenging for individuals to speak up and advocate for issues they care about.
In response to this, Abando and her colleagues strive to create community-centered, people-centered organizing spaces where all people are valued. She stressed that no effort and no issue [is] more important than a person’s well-being. "Campaigns end, true community persists,” she said.
Whose Streets? Our Streets! began in 2020 as a fiscally sponsored project of Seattle Neighborhood Greenways. Abando said that the organization was founded by incredible leaders in Seattle to facilitate community-centered public safety conversations that challenge the conventional understanding of public safety that continue to fail the city’s underserved and underrepresented communities.
Since its inception, Whose Streets? Our Streets! has expanded its work to include transportation justice, climate resilience, and abolition. "We know these are our streets. We live these streets. We grew up in these streets,” Abando said. “We deserve to belong, we deserve to feel safe, and we deserve to be a part of the conversations that define those things."
The organization is currently preparing for a candidate forum for Seattle's District 2, a district of particular importance given its diverse communities. Abando explained that District 2 has been a focal point for the implementation of surveillance technologies, such as Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in the Chinatown International District earlier this year, a major talking point in anticipation of the upcoming election in November.
Abando provided a comprehensive overview of the history of surveillance in Seattle, noting that it dates back to the 1990s with "stay out of drug areas" (SODA) and "stay out of areas of prostitution" (SOAP) zones. She highlighted that the city was even forced to issue a formal apology in 1999 for covert surveillance that was impacting people's privacy. In recent years, city leaders have been increasing surveillance, she said, reintroducing SODA and SOAP zones, live video recording cameras, automatic license plate readers on police vehicles, and real-time crime centers that can pull footage from various sources, including traffic cameras and potentially even Amazon Ring cameras. In reflection, Abando looked forward to hearing perspectives on surveillance from the candidates running to represent District 2.
Whose Streets? Our Streets!’s upcoming District 2 candidate forum will take place on Tuesday, October 14, at 5 PM at the Rainier Arts Center. To RSVP and learn more about the organization, visit our-streets.org
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