Fifteen months after the Seattle City Council voted unanimously to cease banking with Wells Fargo, it has renewed a three-year contract with the climate-wrecking bank. This is why we need a public bank.
Sitting in the Pacific Building in the morning on March 9th, I learned an important lesson: high-powered decision-making is incredibly dreary. The halls of power (at least in Seattle) are lined with drywall and floored with shabby office carpet. Windowless conference rooms are stocked with the same drab plastic tables you would find in any corporate office. This seemed intentional—and a bit ironic, given that the people in this room could have a serious impact on climate change.
On Wednesday, over 150 people delivered a financial report to Mayor Murray showing that over the last ten years, the City of Seattle’s pension fund (SCERS) has lost $65 million by remaining invested in fossil fuels.
