Deputy Mayor Nancy Tosta introduced Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal at Thursday night’s Town Hall at the Burien Community Center.[/caption] Story & Photos by Maureen Hoffmann Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal was introduced by Deputy Mayor Nancy Tosta to a standing-room-only gathering at a Town Hall held in the Burien Community Center on Thursday evening, April 20. It was a largely supportive and enthusiastic crowd, with a few hecklers on the sidelines. The first question came from two young girls from the “Bully Busters,” a group of Seattle 6th graders who started an anti-bullying campaign. Ms. Jayapal knew them and welcomed them, then addressed their question about efforts to change the bullying stance we witness across the country. The Congresswoman also took questions which covered the expected range of topics including education, healthcare, medication costs, the federal budget, immigration, and specific bills. Councilmember Debi Wagner and former Burien Mayor Arun Jhaveri were among those that posed questions. One Highline High School Freshman asked her about not only college-level education and tuition costs, but education in the broader sense. She applauded him for being so engaged as a freshman, thoughtful and present at the meeting. There were those who had been to her other Town Halls, who appeared to want to grandstand, but Ms. Jayapal recognized them and courteously indicated that she would take questions from people that had not previously had the opportunity to ask questions. As the Town Hall wrapped up, the Congresswoman moved around the room to meet and chat with community members. Here’s raw video from a live Facebook feed of the event: [fbvideo link=”https://www.facebook.com/RepJayapal/videos/1533815843295666/” width=”500″ height=”400″ onlyvideo=”1″]]]>

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28 replies on “Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal speaks to standing-room only crowd Thursday”

  1. So heartened by Pramila’s interaction with our community! Thanks everyone for turning out and voicing your questions and concerns!

  2. What exactly is meant by “bullying stance we witness across the country” ? Could it mean the bully protesters in Berkeley and across the country who riot to prevent people from speaking on college campuses? People who disagree with Jayapal’s agenda? Did anyone ask Jayapal a challenging question?

    1. Re: “the bullying stance”… that was just the question posed by the young girls. In their view, it’s not just in the schools, but in society at large as evidenced by the intolerance they see.

    2. I think she talking the bullying going on in schools. Trying to teach kids not to trash talk each other.
      But yes the morons at burkley or what ever where experiencing what’s call mob mentality that happens when so many people get conflicting news.Then think if they don’t react the same way as people around them then there the problem.
      Unfortunately we have a bunch of news media stations but all are owned buy a handful of people. That if they like the president then report he is great and everything he does is right. But if they don’t like the president then everything is wrong the world is ending. Chem trails are making frogs homosexual. Lobbyists are laughing and going yeah yeah tell the people that.
      Then you have to consider these 24hr news also have to fill 24hrs of time slots with news that can get a little difficult at times and please there advertisers. It’s a dying form of media that’s iv line has got a hole and it life support machine is slowly coming unplugged.

    3. You might watch the link provided above to see the wonderful meeting for yourself Peter and find that yes ‘tough questions’ were asked and two of the 6th graders who created the Bully Busters were present and asking to make people aware of this issue.
      Some of the tough questions I appreciated were these:
      1. Are the Democrats preparing their suggestions for improvement of Affordable Health Care? And is there still a possibility that it could become a single payer system, especially in the light that President Trump has been somewhat impressed by the Scottish single payer system.
      2. How will small towns find funding to help with the growing homeless situation many are facing?
      3. What can be done to assure seniors that they will be able to afford housing and care in their retirement years.
      There were many more of course but these were some that I was interested in.

      1. Clean it up – tough questions?
        “are Democrats preparing their suggestions for improvement of affordable healthcare? Is there a possibility for single payer?”
        “What can be done to assure seniors will be able to afford housing?” etc. etc.
        I don’t think you don’t get it because those are easy softball questions with premises in line with Pramila’s left wing ideology.
        I would have preferred questions like this:
        “Pramila, how do you propose to fund the College for All Act without adding to the debt and without increasing taxes on middle class Americans?” (hint: its not possible).
        “Pramila, how will you ensure that the $15 minimum wage will not cause small businesses to stop or decrease hiring – denying young people the entry level jobs they need to start out?”
        Just a couple of questions I’d have asked if I’d been there. But I probably would have been considered a heckler.

        1. Watch the meeting on the link provided Peter maybe you will find that she did respond to your questions. Too bad you don’t think questions about affordable senior care and housing are important, but I’m not surprised.

        2. Peter: enough with the “left wing ideology” nonsense. You sound like a broken record.
          We can only hope for single payer health care. Now that I am on medicare I have the best health insurance I have ever had and I paid a ton for private insurance before.
          Affordable housing? All decent people hope so.
          And how about increasing taxes on the one percent who get so much and give so little – say the Trumps of our country.
          Every time he issue of raising minimum wage arises the nay sayers cry ” hurt small business”. Hasn’t happened. Won’t happen.
          Try to think kind thoughts for a change Peter. Tom

          1. Clean It Up and Tom Taffe – unfortunately you both seem to think that anyone who disagrees with you has bad motives or is not concerned with the poor, elderly, etc. I will not waste my time addressing such ad hominem attacks, other than to say that I too am concerned about the plight of the elderly, and that everyone be able to afford housing, have healthcare etc. I just disagree with you on how to get there.
            There is more than one way to solve problems, and the solution is not always more spending on federal government programs and higher taxation (i.e. trickle down charity). Or the solution is somewhere in between. Whatever the solution, hopefully we can not demonize each other. Just a thought.

          2. Hey Peter responding is not a waste of time. Please respond.
            How would you address affordable housing?
            How would you address affordable and equitable healthcare?
            How would you address our system of taxation which is about the most inequitable in the world?
            These are not ad hominum issues.
            And finally who are you? Tom

          3. Tom – asking someone their position on the issue or how they would fix something is not an ad hominem. The ad hominem is comments like this: “And how about increasing taxes on the one percent who get so much and give so little – say the Trumps of our country.” i.e.if you disagree with me, you hate the poor and support Trump. and this: “Try to think kind thoughts for a change.” i.e. if you disagree with me, you are unkind.
            Ad hominem, personal attacks happen on both sides (and in between). I am guilty of it also probably so I suppose its something we can all work on.
            Regarding affordable housing: the best way to help people afford housing is to have a vibrant economy with lots of opportunities for well paying jobs. Have you seen public housing in the inner cities? They are cesspools of crime and decay. I realize there are different opinions on how to have a vibrant economy. I would start with reforming taxes and unnecessary regulation that stifles business investment. I do not think taxes are too low, but too high.
            Healthcare? I do not think the federal govt. runs anything efficiently (cf Veteran’s Admin) so I am not for the federal govt. running our healthcare system. I do not think our current system is ideal either. Reforms are needed to lower costs.
            Regarding taxation: I reject your premise that our system is inequitable, unless by that you mean that businesses are taxed too much (which I’m sure you don’t). When you tax something you discourage it. We don’t tax too little, we spend too much.
            Regarding who I am: when you demand to know the names of all the other posters, then I might take you seriously on this.

          4. Ah Peter, be of good cheer. I have asked for the “names of all posters”. To no avail.
            The ,moderator told me that he had tried a non anonymity policy and that contributions dried up. Sad.
            Opinions fired from behind the ambuscade of anonymity are smoke sans mirrors – Actually you are not the worst offender in anonymity land. The crown prince of sarcasm justified his anonymity by saying it might jeopardize his exhalted position in the community. What bunkum.
            So gird your loins Sir Peter – l have asked for all names.
            Smoke sans mirrors really is rumbly thunder without lightning. Bring out your inner Thor.
            Who atre you really?? I remain Tom.

          5. I don’t know – I try not to obsess over the names people use on this blog and instead focus on the points they make and whether they make sense. Whether you go by your full name, first name only, or some nickname or clever moniker (like Question Authority, Clean It up, etc.) does not matter much to me.
            Thanks for your comments.

          6. Ah Peter, how Trump like you have become. Never willing to spend time to get to know the subject but always ready to tell others about it.

          7. Ahh Peter I think the problem they have is with some of words or phrases you tend to use.
            Like left wing ideology or when you make sound like any democrat is on the wrong side of things. When we all know that anyone Democrat or Republican can have different ideas then what there party has we are all still human and have a brain.
            Unfortunately sometimes when talking about politics you seem to make sound like it’s your or the highway. When there might be a better way or there might not be.

  3. Sounds like she wanted control over the meeting’s agenda. “Hecklers” and ” Grandstanding” are labels for people who don’t go along with the agenda. Hmmm.

    1. Jack, Pramila focused on questions from Burien residents. She did ask people who had already asked her questions at other community meets to give way to people from Burien.

  4. Was stunned at the meeting. She is here in Burien as the Congressional representative. It is a formal meeting. At the beginning in her remarks she said she was proud to be an American citizen and she recognized the vets in the audience by asking them to stand.
    It was shocking how few vets were in the audience.
    As a veteran (1969-71) of the US Army I asked a simple question, “Why was there no American flag in this meeting?”
    An American Congress woman at a formal town hall and no flag. And not even a hint as to reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. That set a tone for me.

    1. Mr. Rangle, you bring up very good points. I too was surprised at how few veterans stood up. I had a feeling some were shy to do so. I do agree that our Stars and Stripes and for that matter the Washington state flag should have been on display at such a meeting and I would certainly have welcomed a reminder of our Pledge to Allegiance to these United States. Both Pramila and the Community Center need to have this brought to their attention for future reference.

    2. Chuck, Pramila does not speak the language. She speaks the language of the social justice warrior. Compare / contrast her website with that of Dave Reichert:
      Reichert’s website speaks of keeping Americans safe from terrorism, and his commitment to the defense of our country. He served in the Air Force – and he shows his commitment to our veterans and the issues they face. He talks about freedom and liberty.
      Pramila’s website talks about:
      – founding a hate free zone.
      – “bringing a gender lens to immigration reform”
      – “secured 5.25 million into transportation pre-apprenticeship programs for women and people of color.”
      In short, Pramila Jayapal is of, by and for identity politics and radical leftism. Pramila is Lauren Berkowitz or Kshama Sawant with a congressional seat. And she benefits from occupying a district that is leftist enough to keep re-electing her (like they did McDermott). She has no incentive to compromise, but rather to continue militating for social justice issues.

      1. Yes Peter, Pramila’s website does talk about those things and surely you must agree that they are good things indeed. How can one say that militating for social justice is anyrthing but a good thing. Defense is important. Our vets are important. Freedom and liberty are great concepts. Especially freedom from hate and freedom from unemployment for women and people of color. Surely you must think these to be good things.
        Buzz phrases like ” identity politics” and ” radical leftism” are not good things. They are your bugaboo, the ad hominem attack. Wouldn’t you agree Sir Peter? Tom

        1. Tom – no I do not agree. They are meaningless platitudes. “hate free zone” “people of color” are just social justice warrior buzzwords. And it is not ad hominem to point out Pramila’s morally bankrupt ideology and practice of identity politics – unless you actually share the ideology (which I take it you do).

      2. This, of course, is the Dave Richart who is afraid or ashamed to show his face at a town hall meeting in his own district.

        1. Maybe Reichert observed some other town meetings held by Republicans and figures that if he held a town meeting, whatever he tried to say at the meeting would be drowned out by left-wing protesters (anti-Trumpers) who are not interested at all in what he has to say, but are instead only interested in disrupting.

  5. She certainly sounded better informed overall than when she was a candidate for the office.
    I was not that impressed with most of her responses to questions, but I think she did a good job of explaining the free college concept and how it paid back in spades in the past.
    She is a reliable vote for Bernie’s bills that make their way to the House, so if she follows his lead, she might do an adequate job overall.

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