This Week’s Budget Update / Alki Walk with SDOT Director Spotts / Reconnect West Seattle 3rd Quarter Report / Seeking CPC Candidates / Seattle University Public Safety Survey Open / Duwamish River Community Projects to Receive $244,000 in Funding from the City of Seattle / Seattle Transportation Plan Phase 2 Outreach



Contents

This Week’s Budget Update

This week, the Council met as the Budget Committee to consider amendments proposed by Councilmembers to the Mayor’s proposed budget. Amendments were presented and discussed. There were no votes at this stage of the process, though some Councilmembers indicated their support, and desire to be added as a sponsor, for some items that were presented.

If you’d like to review the amendments proposed by Councilmembers, the links below connect to the meeting agendas, and departments covered:

October 25: Arts and Culture; City Auditor; Seattle Center; Education and Early Learning; Information Technology; Housing; Intergovernmental Relations; Immigrant and Refugee Affairs; Labor Standards; City Light; Seattle Public Utilities;

October 26: Department of Neighborhoods; Finance and Administrative Services; Economic Development; Office of the Inspector General for Public Safety; Planning and Community Development; Sustainability and Environment; Construction and Inspections; Seattle Fire Department; Parks and Recreation;

October 27: Community Safety and Communications Center; Human Services Department; Seattle Department of Transportation; Seattle Police Department;

Next week, the Budget Committee Chair will develop a budget-balancing package that is scheduled to be presented in the Budget Committee on Monday, November 7th.  The balancing package will include amendments to Mayor Harrell’s proposed budget in order to fund Council priorities supported by the Budget Chair.  A public hearing is scheduled for November 8th at 9:30 a.m. Additional information is available at the City Council’s Budget Committee webpage.  In addition, this interactive budget guide is meant to make the budget process straightforward and simple to understand. Most importantly, this resource is intended to highlight when and how you can make your voice heard during the process.

The City’s Revenue Forecast Council will be meeting on November 2nd to provide an updated revenue forecast, which will inform the 2023 budget.

Two key amendments I am sponsoring are to:

  1. Maintain Fire Department Medic Unit 26 and Ladder Truck 13;
  2. Cover inflationary increases for human service providers in 2024, as required by a law passed in 2019.

The impact on response times of Medic 26 and Ladder Truck 13 is clearly shown below. The neighborhoods where response times would increase are listed in the City’s Race and Social Justice Equity Index as higher disadvantaged areas.

The King County Regional Homelessness Authority notes the 5 largest homelessness service providers in King County have 300 vacancies. Needless to say, this hinders their ability to carry out their mission. They note “The low wages paid to direct service staff is believed to be one of the most substantial reasons for those vacancies.”

The work of social service provision comes down to people helping people, it is hard work, it can be trauma-inducing work, and staff has been at the frontlines of public health risks for the past two years. The ability of the safety net to function depends on staff. Without a workforce, the whole system falls apart.

The majority of social service providers are women, and often women of color. Anything less than a full inflationary increase will have a disproportionate impact on those workers.

Alki Walk with SDOT Director Spotts

We got together this week to celebrate that SDOT announced this month that the Alki Point Healthy Street design is moving forward as a Neighborhood Greenway and permanent Healthy Street.

SDOT is hosting an open house to share the early design and get community feedback for SDOT’s next design stage.

Virtual Open House – Tuesday, November 15, virtual breakout rooms from noon – 1pm. The online meeting link will be available on SDOT’s website in early November.

Reconnect West Seattle 3rd Quarter Report

SDOT released the 3rd Quarter Reconnect West Seattle report.

Projects completed include the new pedestrian island shown above on 16th Avenue SW at SW Elmgrove in Highland Park, and the 6th Avenue South walkway in South Park shown below:

Here is a map of the seven remaining projects planned after the bridge’s closure.

Here’s detail about the SW Roxbury Street/4th Avenue SW/Olson Place SW area, and a map of the crossing improvements:

Seeking CPC Candidates

The Council is seeking applications for the Community Police Commission (CPC).

Information about how to apply, commissioner responsibilities, and how to apply is available on the CPC’s How to become a CPC Commissioner website.

The Community Police Commission is one of Seattle’s three civilian-led police accountability agencies. Often called the ‘community’s voice’ in the police accountability system, the CPC’s mission is to listen to, amplify, and build common ground among communities affected by policing in Seattle.

Among other things, the CPC organizes community meetings, plays an important role in the federal Consent Decree process, and makes recommendations to the Council, Mayor, Seattle Police Department, and other city departments on public safety issues.

The CPC is made up of 21 commissioners who serve in a volunteer capacity, though need-based stipends are available. Seven commissioners each are appointed by the Mayor, Council, and CPC itself.

CPC Commissioners are expected to attend twice-monthly meetings, currently scheduled for the first and third Wednesdays of every month from 9 am – 12 pm, and to dedicate at least 10 hours per month to CPC-related work, which includes participating in committees or ad-hoc workgroups, attending community meetings, forums, and other events, and engaging with the community.

The CPC is seeking candidates with lived experience in behavioral health, homelessness, policing, victim services and advocacy, communications, and Native/Indigenous and youth voices.

Please submit your application to OCPC@seattle.gov.

Seattle University Public Safety Survey Open

Seattle University is getting out the word about its annual Seattle Public Safety Survey:

Seattle University is administering the 8th annual citywide Seattle Public Safety Survey, which is accessible at publicsafetysurvey.org from October 15th through November 30th and is available in Amharic, Arabic, Chinese, English, Korean, Oromo, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Tigrinya and Vietnamese. The purpose of the survey is to solicit feedback on public safety and security concerns from those who live and/or work in Seattle. A report on the survey results will be provided to the Seattle Police Department to help them better understand your neighborhood’s safety and security concerns and community-police dialogues will be held in May-August 2023 to provide opportunity for police-community engagement about the results. More information on the Seattle Public Safety Survey which is part of the Seattle Police Department’s Micro-Community Policing Plans (SPD MCPP), can be found on the SPD MCPP website.

Here is a link to access the 2022 Seattle Public Safety Survey flyers in all 11 languages.

Duwamish River Community Projects to Receive $244,000 in Funding from the City of Seattle

Photo courtesy of The Heron’s Nest

The City of Seattle announced grants for seven community-driven projects serving neighborhoods along the Duwamish River. As part of the Duwamish River Opportunity Fund, these projects will help to increase the sustainability of the neighborhoods impacted by the Superfund clean-up. The projects will begin this year and will continue into 2023. Here are the awards:

2022 Duwamish River Opportunity Fund Awards

  • $11,000 to Bike Works to support bringing BikeMobile to South Park and Georgetown. The BikeMobile will provide free and sliding-scale bike repair to residents, and give away a limited number of bikes, helmets, and locks to youth and adults with financial need.
  • $40,000 to Concord International Elementary School PTA to help address systemic inequities in their school community by supporting investments in Concord teachers, providing enrichment programs for students, and facilitating community events.
  • $33,000 to Georgetown Super 8 to support the Georgetown Super 8 Film Festival which seeks to foster inclusive dialogue and ensure a diversity of community voices are defining, documenting, and telling the story of the Duwamish Valley community.
  • $40,000 to Heron’s Nest to help sustain the organization’s various programs, pay fair wages to coordinate and consult positions, train 20 land stewards, pay stipends at restoration events, and build out two new facilities: a community kitchen and a self-recycling hub.
  • $40,000 to Pumas Play to fund the construction documents and permitting for South Park’s Puma Playfield. The Puma Playfield Project is working to transform the eastern portion of the Concord International Elementary campus into an activity hub that facilitates and encourages play and healthy activities for the school community and surrounding neighborhood.
  • $40,000 to Shared Spaces Foundation in support of their Duwamish River Program, which works to build a strong community network of water and land protectors, and helps people get trained to be water-based tour guides.
  • $40,000 to South Park Senior Center to support the Community Connection: Culture, Compassion, and Movement program that invests in the resilience of the Duwamish River Valley through access to nutritious cultural meals, supportive social services, and physical activity.

Decades of industry near the Duwamish have left significant contamination in the mud and along the river’s banks. In 2001, The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listed a 5.5-mile stretch of the Duwamish River as a Superfund cleanup site. Since then, the City of Seattle, King County, the Port of Seattle, and the Boeing Company have invested over $100 Million in early cleanup actions to reduce contamination by 50 percent, while also working to eliminate ongoing sources of contamination.

Since 2014, the Duwamish River Opportunity Fund has granted more than $1.8 million to community projects focused on quality-of-life enhancements in the neighborhoods of South Park, Georgetown, and SODO. The fund is one component of a broader City effort to improve the quality of life and restore the health of Duwamish River communities.

To learn more about the fund, visit seattle.gov/neighborhoods/programs-and-services/duwamish-river-opportunity-fund. For questions, call (206) 233-0093 or email drof@seattle.gov.

Seattle Transportation Plan Phase 2 Outreach

The Seattle Department of Transportation has launched the second phase of public engagement to develop the Seattle Transportation Plan (STP), and is asking for your input in creating the plan.

SDOT’s indicates its goal is to build a transportation system that provides everyone with access to safe, efficient, and affordable options to reach places and opportunities.

You can share your thoughts with SDOT in 17 languages on the STP Online Engagement Hub:

  • Review the STP vision, goals, and objectives
  • Share what future of transportation you want to see
  • What actions you would like SDOT to take to achieve this future, and share your thoughts on how they can become part of our transportation system

There is a potential Menu of Actions that you can click to “like” and/or submit comments.

To learn more about the STP and share your ideas in your preferred language:

 

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Posted: October 28th, 2022 under Budget, Councilmember Herbold, District 1, Transportation
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