Candace Mercer Olympia, WA
1 min readMay 2, 2020

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You earn a salary from your City Council job that is greater than my total yearly income yet I paid my rent of $1150 which is 105% of my disability income. I do not see why you cannot, on your income from that one job alone. There is no reason you cannot pay at least part of your rent in a good faith effort, using your stimulus or possibly unemployment benefits. Or you could apply for help from Community Action Council like others have.

While I agree some forebearance is needed, but this is not the way to go about it. You are giving cover to the rent is theft cohort with no regard for the impact this will have on people. This is magical thinking on your part.

You are encouraging a dangerous movement that is only going to increase homelessness. This is irresponsible, you should be setting an example of how to navigate this w/o rent striking.

With ideas like #decolonizinghomelessness and the ridiculous idea that Olympia needs a Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, these are jokes, while people are dying.

You are so out of touch with reality that you are no longer fit for office.

Please resign. You are in way over your head and you are helping to destroy Olympia. This is from someone who voted for you, and had high hopes you would make things better. You have not.

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Candace Mercer Olympia, WA

Candace is a progressive artist/writer/activist based in Olympia, WA reporting on homelessness & political violence. She ran for Olympia City Council in 2021.