Backyards not Backrooms with Norm Rice
Join us to welcome Norm Rice, Seattle’s esteemed mayor who presided over Seattle during its breakout “grunge” era, from 1990 to 1997.
Seattle’s first African American mayor and author of Gaining Public Trust: A Profile of Civic Engagement, Mr. Rice shares his faith in civic engagement as an engine for urban renaissance. Particularly instructive for students of Seattle history is his pioneering emphasis on the urban village concept. By recognizing people’s need to build community through parks and other green spaces, Mayor Rice transformed Seattle’s neighborhoods and reversed decades of economic decline in Seattle’s downtown, seeding the revitalization of South Lake Union and the growth of tech titans like Amazon. Although he lamented the “Seattle process,” the mayor successfully devised a collaborative approach encompassing diverse stakeholders, from grassroots activists to corporations – a politics that many yearn for today.
We record on the traditional lands of the Coast Salish peoples.
The views expressed in this podcast series are those of the guests and reflect their personal lived experiences. Power of Place presents oral histories with real people, and while some opinions may be controversial, they are shared as authentic expressions that honor the complexity of place. Conversations are edited for length and clarity, but otherwise remain unedited to preserve context and substance. Listener discretion is advised.
“You have to hear their complaints in order to solve their problems.”
