Select Budget Committee Public Hearing Session II 11/6/25

The select budget committee meeting will come back to order.

It is 5 p.m.

I'm Dan Strauss, chair of the committee.

Councilmember Juarez is excused.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Solomon.

Here.

Council Member Hollingsworth.

Present.

Council Member Kettle.

Here.

Council President Nelson.

Present.

Council Member Rink.

Present.

Council Member DiBetta.

Council Member Sacca.

Here.

And Chair Strauss.

Present.

Seven present.

Thank you.

We come together tonight to have a public hearing on two separate items.

First, First, we are going to open up the public hearing on the major institution master plan and school program being moved from Department of Neighborhoods to OPCD.

Can I confirm with the clerk, do we have anyone signed up for that public hearing?

At this point, we do not.

Okay.

So then we are going to move on.

I'm not gonna close that item completely so that if somebody comes up, we can reopen it at the end.

With that, we are moving on to item two of the agenda, which is the public hearing on the city budget.

Thank you all for coming out tonight.

It is a blustery evening.

The weather is not our friend, but we are all together here tonight and we're excited to hear from you.

We're gonna move through this as rapidly as possible and as slowly as necessary to hear from you.

To help facilitate that, if you agree with something, snapping the fingers or jazz hands helps us hear the message of the individual and call up the next name.

We've got three microphones.

I strongly suggest this middle one and you're gonna need to adjust it.

If you see me playing with the microphone, that means we can't hear you.

We're gonna call names in sets of 10 so that you can line up should you please.

Again, either microphone works.

You also have a number.

If you are leaving early, if you could let somebody know so that we know to take you off the list.

We are allowing group testimony today.

So if you have groups of three or more, we're going to give you four minutes and 30 seconds.

This amounts to the same amount of time as if you testified individually but this does help if folks need to leave or some folks in your group aren't as comfortable speaking in public as others and this was a request from the center school students last year and we are making good on our promise to come back to it.

So with that, we are, and just to do a check, we don't have any formally elected officials on this list, do we?

We've got, actually, I know that we've got an elected official from a different jurisdiction, so we will likely call him first.

but with that, we're gonna do one last check to see if there's any elected officials, but seeing as we only have our friend, council member James Lovell with us from the city of SeaTac, we'll let you go first, James, unless you want to just go in order, it's your decision.

We're gonna just go in order.

So I'm gonna call up the first list of 10. As I said to everyone outside a minute ago, we're gonna go smoothly, calmly, through this whole process.

We're gonna be here as late as it takes to hear from everyone, but also again, the jazz hands helps us keep moving forward.

So we're not here until midnight.

Yes, I've seen it happen before.

So with that, we're gonna call the first 10 names and we're just gonna roll through this amazing public hearing and then council colleagues, thank you for joining us this evening.

So one through 10, we have Hamdi, Curtis Ralph, Marcy Ralph, Shannon Johnson, Tom F., which is number five, Anitra Freeman, Hilary Pinkerton, number eight is an A first name, D last name, number nine is Cam Herzog, and number 10 is Alexander Klein.

So if Hamdi is ready, come on up.

When you hear the chime, you have 10 seconds remaining, so you don't have to stop right away.

Good evening, Hamdi.

Good evening.

We are a group, so we were not sure if...

Come on up, drop your...

And everyone's signed up already?

Yeah, but we're later in the line.

Wonderful.

So if you can leave your numbers with us, is that how you want to do it?

Just announce their names.

If you can announce your names right now, that would be helpful.

Indra Budiman.

What number?

14. 14, thank you.

Hamdi Abdul.

So we'll have four minutes and 30 seconds.

Welcome and at your convenience, take it away.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Indra Budiman.

I live in District 2 and work in District 1 as the Delridge Farmers Market Manager for African Community Housing and Development.

I'm here tonight to express my deep gratitude and strong support for council member Saka's investment in the Delridge Farmers Market and the Seattle International Public Market Project.

Food is life.

Yet today, access to fresh, nourishing food is more difficult than ever.

With cuts to snap and rising food prices, too many of our neighbors are going hungry, while local farmers struggle to find places for their harvest, fresh food rotting in the fields.

The Delbridge farmers' market bridges that gap.

connecting local farmers with community members who need food the most and ensuring everyone has access to healthy, culturally relevant food grown right here in King County.

In 2024 and 2025, our markets give away more than 75,000 pounds of fresh produce away to community members for free, providing financial security for farmers through the growing season and high quality produce to neighbors consistently.

The Seattle International Public Market will expand that vision, creating lasting jobs, joy, and opportunity for generations in Dalridge and across Seattle.

These investments are not just about food.

They are long-term investments in community, culture, and economic prosperity rooted in equity and justice.

Once again, my name is Indra Budiman, and I proudly support Councilmember Saka's investment in the present and future for our communities.

Hello, my name is Abukar Isaac.

I'm the Economic Development Manager for the African Community Housing Development.

I'm here to express my strong support for the Council Member SAC's funding amendment for the Seattle International Public Market.

This project goes far beyond construction, It's a transformative investment in economic mobility, food access, and cultural fatality.

This fiber market will support hundreds of small businesses, many of them owned by immigrant and women, to grow from above-up in permanent storefronts, to create living wage jobs, keep local dollars circulating, and anchor opportunities in our communities for generations to come.

This is inclusive growth in action where culture, commerce, drive side by side.

I thank Councilmember Saka for his leadership and I respectfully urge your support.

Hi, my name is David Lieberman.

I'm an architect and nonprofit housing developer.

I live in District 3 and I care deeply about the city, the people, small businesses, and all the buildings that we cherish.

It is refreshing to be here today to speak about Seattle's, not Seattle's problems, but Seattle's future.

Seattle has always been a city that builds public spaces, great public spaces, public markets, Seattle Center, our libraries, light rail, and the waterfront park.

every generation leaving something for the next.

The Seattle International Public Market is the next one on that list.

It will transform a forgotten stretch by Westcrest Park and Delridge into a food access hub with small businesses, a teaching kitchen, community space, local jobs, and a celebration of our city's diversity.

This is civic pride in action.

Please support Councilmember Saka's funding for the Seattle International Public Market and take pride in Seattle's future.

My name is Hamdi Abdul.

I am the President and the CEO of African Community Housing and Development.

I want to thank Council Member Saka and Chairman Strauss for their investment in our Del Ridge Farmers Market and Seattle International Public Market projects.

I would like to request for an increase to the to advance our goal to develop this important project.

I respectfully urge all council members to support this vision.

Investing in this market is investing in Seattle's shared future, a future where families have enough to eat, where friends and neighbors can gather, where small businesses can be built, can build generational wealth, and where knowledge flourishes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Appreciate you all very much.

Up next is Curtis Ralph followed by Marcy Ralph.

Curtis and Marcy, welcome.

Thank you.

I'm here for the Highland Park Improvement Club because they've been a community threshold for a very, very long time.

And we need the funding to help us rebuild our building that got burned down in Arnarson.

So that's what I'm here for is to hopefully you guys can support us a little bit.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Here, let me take the sign.

I'm Marcy Ralph, luckily married to him.

I'm here also for the Highland Park Improvement Club, and I'd like to thank Rob Saka for trying to bring forth investing in our neighborhood.

We're adjacent to the Delridge folks, and our neighborhood, we're very close-knit, but we've lost our place.

and, sorry, this t-shirt represents our resilience of getting together outside.

After our club burned down, our entire volunteer staff, we don't have any paid people.

We are all volunteers.

And everybody got together and we had an outdoor reset fest to try to bring our neighborhood back together because our place was gone.

Our hearts are not gone.

Our place is gone.

And I just ask you to consider investing in Highland Park, our neighborhood, to bring our place back because we have young people who want to keep our Highland Park Improvement Club going.

It's been in our neighborhood in the same place for 105 years until it was burned down.

So young people want to keep it going.

Can you guys consider giving us a place to keep going?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Up next is Shannon Johnson followed by Tom F.

number five and then Anitra Freeman.

Do we have Shannon Johnson with us today?

We're actually presenting as a group.

Great.

And what are your numbers?

Four, five, and 65.

And 65. Great.

Four, five, 65. That makes that easy.

And just all come on up to the dais together.

That way we clearly have a group.

Thank you.

Welcome.

And if you can announce your names, that would be helpful.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Eric Bell, and I'm here to advocate for the funding of SPU's Community Cleanup Budget, SPU 2A2.

Thank you, Councilman Saka, for your advocacy, support, and leadership on this issue.

For members rank, Paulingsworth and Nelson for your co-sponsorship and for Chairman Strauss and the rest of the council's work on the balancing package.

I know firsthand the energy and enthusiasm that cleanup groups all around Seattle bring to their neighborhoods each and every day and can say with certainty that any dollars spent on these endeavors will be some of the best returns on investment that will be included in the budget.

A Cleaner Outcott has been collaborating for several years with Seattle Parks, SDOT, and the Port, and we're bringing great efficiencies and community building to the work we're doing with these agencies.

I believe we're also challenging them to think differently about harnessing neighborhoods in the making of Seattle as a cleaner and safer city.

Last year alone, our group volunteered over 1,500 hours of labor to collaborating with the city on a wide range of projects.

And with funding, I believe, will bring even a greater growth and value in these partnerships.

I ask you to vote yes to SPU 2A2.

Thank you.

Oh, Tom Freberg.

and following Eric, I have an analogy, and it goes back to New York City in the 80s and 90s.

They had a program called the Broken Window Program, and it was city-funded that if a window was broken and they fixed it, it just was better for the neighborhood.

If it stayed broken, more things broke, and it went downhill.

I think cleaner Elk High is similar to that.

We go out and we clean things up.

If they're not cleaned up, if they're not brushed, there's an opportunity for things to go downhill.

We're there, spruce it up, it looks good, and the intention is it'll stay that way.

Thank you.

I'm Shannon Johnson, and I'm here to advocate also the increase in the SPU general fund for groups like Cleaner Alki.

I'm a volunteer with them, removing blackberries, ivy, picking up litter.

I see this as a well-organized group.

They have a two-year track record and they're expanding to all of your districts.

They work well with, side by side, with Seattle Public Utilities and the parks and other groups.

As a physician, I see the health benefits of volunteering, building community, the socializing, being in the green spaces, and last of all, the physical exercise.

So thank you for your consideration.

Thank you.

And as we have groups up here, if you're part of the group, stick around until all of the time is allotted.

With that, Anitra Freeman, Hillary Pinkerton, first name A, last name D, number eight, Cam.

And I see Anitra here, welcome.

Good evening.

Anitra Freeman with Share and Wheel.

And thank you to Council Member Solomon and Council Member Brink for your help for 10 City 3 and 10 City 4. 10 City 3 has a small extension, but that still leaves 10 City 3 and 4 both moving on November 15th.

I'm sure you've all had to move at some time.

and it's miserable, isn't it?

Imagine moving 200 people all at once in miserable weather.

It's going to be miserable weather again.

And it's going to keep being miserable weather.

Winter is coming.

You have a lot of demands on you with limited funds.

But preserving human life has to be a top priority.

And without shelter, people die.

Create more shelter.

for the people on the street and save the shelter that the people on the street have already created for themselves.

Please help Gent City 3 and 4 survive.

And Councilmember Hollingworth, we'd love to help you create more.

Thank you.

Thank you, Anitra.

Up next is Hillary Pinkerton, followed by A.J., I believe.

Hillary?

Yes, Hillary.

Welcome.

Hi, how are you?

Thank you, Mr. Solomon and Ms. Rignick.

I'm sorry if I murdered your name.

I appreciate y'all for doing Tent City 3 and Tent City 4. We really appreciate it.

but I am one of the families that live there and we do have five children and a pregnant lady and some just the weather's bad and everybody has life.

You don't want to lose life.

You can't put a budget on life.

And to help us move, we are all unfortunate but fortunate enough to have at least a tent to call home.

Please help us.

Thank you, Hillary.

AJ, did I say it right?

Ajaya.

Ajaya, all right.

My name is Ajaya Dorsey, and I'm from Tent City 4. All I can ask for is funding for us to stay open and for us to continue to have somewhere to live.

I recently got put out and every single place that I tried to go to turned me away because I have a service dog and training.

Tent City was the only, the only place that allow me to come and have somewhere safe to go.

I am also disabled as well.

I wouldn't last on the streets without at least having something over my head, even if it's a tent.

I'm beyond grateful for Tent City 4, and I just hope that y'all see the value in our lives and making sure that we have a place and a community to call home.

is all I have to say.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ajaya.

Everyone in this room is snapping their fingers for you.

Thank you.

Up next is Cam, followed by Alexander.

Good evening.

My name is Cam Herzberg and I'm here representing Tent City 4 today.

Thank you all so much for your time.

I'd like to make this clear as quickly as possible.

Tent City 4 represents and helps shelters more than who fell out of job losses and evictions.

Tent City 4 helps shelters families with kids, vulnerable adults in their 60s and 70s scared for their lives, those with cancer and multiple other disabilities.

So when we speak on behalf of 10City4, we speak not just on behalf of ourselves, but for those I just mentioned who are unable to represent themselves here today.

Please take us into both consideration and with mercy in helping us find a new spot to relocate again.

Not just on behalf of us here alone today, but also for the families and vulnerable adults, others who could not make it here today.

Thank you all so much for your time.

This is Cam Ersberg.

Thank you, Cam.

Up next is Alexander Klein, followed by James Lovell, Fiona Shea, Danny Johnson, Chris Leverson, Brandon Monson, Whitney Nakamura, and Demontris Bingham.

Welcome.

Hi, council members.

Thank you so much for being here.

I'm sure this will be a long night for you all, but I really appreciate your listening.

My name is Drew Klein.

I'm a former Amazon employee.

While I was there in a District 6, Dan, I felt I could no longer ignore the city's homelessness crisis.

And so I'm taking a one-year career break to do everything that I can to support this population.

I've been volunteering at food banks and emergency shelters, building tiny homes and things like that.

And one thing that I've learned is that it is so much less expensive and so much more humane to help people avoid falling into homelessness than to help them rise out of it after they've already fallen in.

And as you know, federal funding to support some of our precariously housed neighbors stay in their housing is drying up.

If we allow this to happen, it will be the equivalent of just pushing hundreds more people over the edge into homelessness.

And it'll cost so much more to get them out afterwards.

I'm asking you, to significantly increase the reserve for federal cuts to housing so we can avoid making this problem so much worse.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Alex.

Up next, we have Councilmember James Lovell, graduate of Chief South High School and representing Chief Seattle Club.

Welcome, James.

Do I even need to do my bio?

No, no, we're good.

Thank you, Chair.

Good afternoon, Budget Committee Chair Strauss and honored City Council.

My name is James W. Lovell.

I'm an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and also a City Council member south of here in SeaTac.

But today, I'm here in my capacity as the Chief Community Development Officer at Chief Seattle Club.

We serve our chronically homeless native brothers and sisters in every district in Seattle through our Day Center, our two tiny house villages, and our five permanent supportive housing buildings.

and we're doing some incredible work.

Through this all, though, we know that we continue to face growing difficulties serving our relatives with behavioral health challenges.

Today, we are asking for support for Councilmember Juarez's amendment, HSD042A-2, which would invest $350,000 for historic building repairs and improvements to the behavioral health space at Monterey Lofts building.

This effort will allow us to activate the next generation of our work serving our Native community with culturally responsive behavioral health services.

This is a time of great uncertainty, but it does not need to be a time of great inaction or of great inequity.

So once again, we are humbly asking for your support with HSD 042A-2.

Since we have a few more seconds, I'd like to acknowledge we have a lot of worthy things up on the dais today, folks asking for a lot of support across the spectrum of the budget spectrum.

I'd like to call HSD 050A-2, that's support for the Thunderbird Treatment Center with our partners at Seattle University.

HSD 041-A, which is for United Nations of All Tribes Foundation, the foster care program, and HSD 053A-2, the Ballard Food Bank.

Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Lovell.

Up next is Fianna Shea, followed by Danny Johnson, Chris Leverson, Brandon Monson, Whitney Nakamura Dematris.

Welcome.

Hi, my name is Fiona Shea.

I'm a minimum wage worker and renter in District 3. I urge you to approve Councilmember Rank's proposal to fully reinstate tenant services by adding, at minimum, another $500,000 to what is proposed in the balancing package.

Last night, I was walking through Cap Hill on Broadway on my way home from a friend's house.

On my way, I saw someone off to the side of the sidewalk, cross-legged in the wet leaves, hunched over, staring down at the ground.

I asked if they were okay because it's the only thing I could think to ask in the moment and offered a couple of bucks because it's all that I had to offer.

But what kind of society and what kind of city are we living in where the best we can offer some people experiencing homelessness is $10 and a week smile from a young person who will likely always be closer to living on the street than ever owning a home?

Tenant services could have helped that person stay housed.

It could have helped the other people on the street that I passed on the way home stay housed.

If it helps you see the value of it, the most cost-effective way to address homelessness is to prevent it from happening to people in the first place.

We have the resources in the city to make sure that everyone is provided with dignified, affordable housing.

The only question is whether you all will care enough to make that happen.

Please fully restore tenant services funding so that organizations like Base Seattle, Queer Power Alliance, and the Tenants Union of Washington State can continue to help renters and prevent displacement and homelessness.

And please support all other items on the Seattle Human Services Coalition budget.

Thank you.

Thanks, Fiona.

Up next is Danny Johnson, followed by Chris Leverson.

Danny, welcome.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Danny Johnson.

I am a senior at the Center School.

I would like to address the drug and homelessness crisis adversely affecting Seattle.

Homelessness and drug addiction are tightly wound, and as a student attending school at the Seattle Center, I see the effects of of poverty daily.

I see it on the bus, at the grocery store in Seattle's largest tour attractions, and in its most forgotten spaces and alleys.

In this past week alone, I was indecently exposed by a man attempting to use the restroom while I was at a bus stop, and I've seen countless people experiencing poverty in horrific ways.

Councilmember Sarah Nelson, your work on passing Bill CB121083, which implemented a sales tax that will just generate an estimated $7 million toward drug recovery programs in the next year, was astounding.

Yet I believe that you can go further on this matter.

And as this is your last year on the Seattle City Council, I urge you to heed my advice.

The sales tax will generate an estimated $39 million, with only 19.2% of that allocated to drug recovery programs.

The other 80.8% of that revenue is allocated to public safety.

Public safety has been notoriously overfunded, and I believe that prioritizing recovery and harm reduction programs will decrease the price of drug-related crimes across Seattle, which has cost over $28 million in drug addiction in 2025 alone.

Council members, I am asking for 50% of the tax's revenue to be reallocated towards drug rehabilitation, specifically with

Thank you, Danny.

Well said.

And you should not have those experiences while trying to go to school.

Up next is Chris Leverson, who's doing a lot for Lake City.

Welcome, Chris.

Thank you, Council Members.

I'm a 21-year resident of Lake City, and I've been working for the past 10 years to support small businesses in the neighborhood.

While the loss of businesses and mounting empty storefronts is not unique to Lake City, The historic lack of real investment results, I think, in a disproportionate impact on our small businesses and our richly diverse neighbors.

As you're aware, we recently lost our Fred Meyer, which was also our neighborhood's largest employer, along with several other large businesses, and it's devastating and have created a critical situation in Lake City for our most marginalized residents and families.

Food and pharmacy access gaps are significant and real.

Most of our small businesses, many immigrants and refugee-owned, are just barely getting by and without thoughtful strategies and an increased investment, Lake City faces the possibility of losing its commercial center.

The current climate, the economic climate, is threatening our well-being and we need your support to remain vital and to ensure that our northeast corner of the city remains livable.

Lake City is an amazing place for those of you who have been there.

It's retaining, I think, a lot of what the rest of the city is losing.

It's gritty and it's weird and it's wonderful, so please support Lake City.

Thank you, Chris.

Before you leave, do you remember a Denny's on Lake City way?

I don't remember Denny's on Lake City.

We'll come back to that later.

Thank you very much.

Up next is Brandon Monson.

Brandon, welcome.

All right, good to see y'all.

I got to read off my phone or I'm going to go way off course here.

So good afternoon, Council Members.

My name is Brandon Monson.

I'm here to strongly support Council Member Juarez's proposed budget items for Lake City, $50,000 for a business incubation project to fill empty storefronts, and $100,000 for expanded cleanup services.

Lake City is a diverse community.

It's full of immigrants, small business owners, a food bank that serves so many, and resilient people who show up for each other every single day.

It's also a neighborhood that has faced years of underinvestment.

These proposed funds are not just about cleaning streets or filling storefronts, they're about equity.

And when you're talking about one of the most diverse zip codes in the state of Washington, we need to make sure that we're not leaving those zip codes behind.

This investment will help transform vacant spaces into local businesses, keep our streets safe, clean, and welcoming.

And the last I checked, there were 14 vacant spaces in the downtown corridor of Lake City.

So this investment is needed now more than ever.

I also want to recognize the Seattle Restored Program for the great work they're already doing in Lake City, helping small businesses and artists activate vacant storefronts and bring new life to our commercial core.

Programs like that show exactly what happens when the city partners with communities to create opportunities.

On a separate note, North Helpline Food Bank has been experiencing parking issues since the Fred Meyer closed.

On the east side of the 33rd Avenue, there is bollards that you all installed a couple years ago.

If you remove those, we can gain back 10 parking spots.

Please fund tent city three and four.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Brandon.

We have Whitney Nakamura next.

What was your name?

I was with Chris's group.

Was Chris a group?

We only had him as a single individual.

Did you sign up for public?

I did, I did.

What's your number?

My number is 101.

We are unfortunately going to need to come back to you at 101. Okay, I'm good.

I'm so sorry.

I'll be quick.

Do you want to split my time?

It's okay.

You're both from Lake City, sort of.

Are you also from Lake City?

Whitney Nakamura, Ofo Show.

Floor's yours.

Thanks.

Hi, my name is Whitney.

I'm here on behalf of the Seattle Women's Commission.

We're a diverse group of women who volunteer as commissioners because we care deeply about our communities and about our city.

We believe that everyone deserves to be safe and have a place to call home.

We support the amendments that protect our shelter and homeless support programs, increase housing, and restore tenant services.

Please include investments in the critical programs that support our LGBTQ communities, our immigrant and refugee communities, and those surviving gender-based violence.

the city must stabilize our human services sector by investing in this essential workforce.

Please provide a 5% wage equity increase for human service providers.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The time is still rolling.

Thank you so much.

Thanks for the solid.

Hi, I'm a resident of Lake City.

I'm a mother of two who both go to public school, and I've lived in Lake City since 2014, moved there when it was relatively affordable, and now our businesses are struggling on multiple fronts as Chris elaborated earlier.

We have a crisis now and we really need to endorse the allocation for Lake City so that we can incubate our businesses so that we can provide the necessary technical assistance to keep those that are still there afloat so that they can survive and thrive.

Thank you so much for the time today.

Thank you.

And do either of you remember the Denny's on Lake City Way?

No, okay.

I'm on my own with this one.

Not before my time, sorry.

DeMontris, you're up next.

Welcome.

Debra Juarez might have this one on me.

We'll see.

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is DeMontris Bigham.

I'm with the Church Council of Greater Seattle, and I'm a fourth generation resident of District 3. In the book of Exodus, the Israelites cried out under the weight of oppression, and God heard their cry.

Today the people of District 3 are crying out too.

Black families who have lived here for generations are still being pushed out by rising rents and redevelopment.

Our cries are about more than housing.

They're about belonging, dignity, and legacy.

District 3 was once a place where black residents built churches, small businesses, and culture that made Seattle vibrant.

But that foundation is being erased.

We need deeply affordable housing that keeps black families rooted in the neighborhoods they helped build.

To do this, we must embrace progressive revenue solutions, asking those with the most to contribute so that all can have stable homes and our children can learn and grow in thriving communities.

Like Moses, choose liberation over comfort and justice over convenience.

Let's make sure our city remains a place where all people can live and flourish.

Thank you.

I'm gonna call out the next 10 names, 21 through 30, Lee Curled Dove, Keith Curled Dove, James Potts, Ciel Castle, Chloe Giot, Annie Jerby, Steve Jerby, Alex Booker, Tony Higgs, Jesse McCabe.

Welcome.

And are you a group or are you all individuals?

Individuals.

Wonderful.

Take it away.

Good evening, council members.

My name is...

Actually, we're going to restart your time.

If you can hear me in the hallway, if you can hear me in the hallway...

They can't hear you.

Can you ask them to be a little quieter?

Yeah, I'm closing doors.

Thank you.

Over to you, my friend.

Okay.

Good evening, council members.

I'm Reverend Lee Curl Dove.

I'm one of the pastors at Seattle First Baptist in District 3. I also live in District 3, and I'm here with the Church Council of Greater Seattle.

As a Christian pastor, my faith demands that I see the image of God in my fellow human beings, that I affirm their inherent dignity and worth.

Time and again in scripture, God's concern is for those on the margins, those the system has pushed aside, ignored, and harmed.

God's call is to care for those folks, and that's why I'm here tonight.

My church sits at the corner of Harvard and Seneca, and so we frequently have unhoused neighbors who take shelter under our awnings or set up tents across the street.

Last week, we met a woman who had set up a tent across the street.

She came to Seattle last year after losing her home in Asheville, North Carolina from Hurricane Helene.

We met this woman because the city was preparing to sweep the street.

We offered her what we could before she was forced to move on yet again.

It's true that this year's budget puts more money towards affordable housing, but it also puts money to continue violent, dehumanizing sweeps of our unhoused neighbors.

Sweeps don't help anyone.

They only harm.

Sweeps only exist so folks can pretend like our unhoused neighbors don't exist.

Our unhoused neighbors deserve better.

They deserve a budget that prioritizes community care, offering them avenues to safe, affordable housing.

So please pass a budget that prioritizes community care over punishment so folks can have the care they need.

Thank you.

Thank you, Lee.

Up next is Keith, followed by James.

Good evening.

My name is Reverend Keith Curldove, and I live in Councilmember Hollingsworth's district, and I work in Councilmember Kettle's district.

I'm a minister of word and sacrament in the Presbytery of Seattle, and I am also here as part of the Church Council of Greater Seattle.

I work at an environmental nonprofit where it is my job to understand how the climate crisis affects local communities, especially the most vulnerable people within those communities.

As a Christian minister, I am called to stand in solidarity with those who are suffering or in need and are most harmed by systems of injustice.

Throughout the Christian scriptures, there is clear correlation between the health of the community and the health of the land.

As the climate crisis continues to worsen, the impacts are felt most heavily by the most vulnerable in our community, our neighbors who live in poverty and our unhoused neighbors.

Seattle is experiencing warmer temperatures than ever.

We have had 34 days above 80 degrees and eight days over 90 degrees this year.

Some people may have the privilege to turn on an air conditioner and pay higher utility bills, but for others is matter of life and death.

The city currently spends 40 times more money on policing than on Green New Deal initiatives.

It is very clear that policing does not make communities safer.

However, reliable access to clean water, clean air, good food, and clean energy does make communities safer.

So I ask you to pass a moral budget that prioritizes the health of the community and the environment that will actually make our community safer.

Thank you.

Thank you, Reverend.

Up next is James followed by number 24, last name Castle.

Good evening, council members.

My name is James Potts.

I live, work, and worship in District 7, represented by Councilmember Kettle.

I am writing to you as a member of Queen Anne United Methodist Church in accord with the Church Council of Greater Seattle.

I stand with them and with the Seattle Solidarity Budget Coalition.

My faith compels me to stand in solidarity with people who are vulnerable, in need, and often unable to navigate the complicated web of social services to access them in a timely manner, or as we say in the church, to stand in solidarity with the least, the last, and the lost.

Budgets reflect a community's priorities and in turn reflect the moral standing of such a community.

Budgets are a moral document.

I love and care about Seattle deeply, and I want to see all of its people well cared for.

Seattle's budget should prioritize community investment and development.

It should support the creation of more affordable housing that our city badly needs.

Finally, and most importantly, it should reflect an effort to increase access to social services that reduce suffering and prevent community violence.

placing these things higher in priority than increased spending for public safety and the police department.

I advocate for care before incarceration.

A budget that speaks to the values of our city through public investment is important.

Please that reflects the values of community care.

Thank you, James.

Up next is 24, last name Cassie.

First name Celia.

Celia, sorry about that.

I am here as a member of South Seattle Friends Meeting, Quakers.

Sally and I worship in the Central Area Senior Center, which is within Councilmember Hollingsworth District.

I also live in District 3 and Sally lives in District 2. I stand united with the Seattle Solidarity Budget and the Church Council of Greater Seattle.

As people of faith, we deeply believe that budgets are moral documents.

Quakers believe that there is that of God in every person.

We believe true safety comes from guaranteeing that people's material needs are met.

Every person in Seattle should have what they need to survive and thrive.

The first budget priority needs to be focusing on community care.

Fully fund community-led solutions to food insecurity, affordable housing, violence prevention, and mental health and substance abuse treatment.

A budget that includes expanded surveillance, sweeps, and over-policing of our communities makes us all less safe.

Thank you.

Thank you, Celia.

Up next is 25, Chloe Giet and then 26, Annie Jerby.

Chloe, welcome.

And just for a time check, we have 150 people signed up tonight.

Chloe, over to you.

Good evening.

Hello, Council Members.

My name is Chloe Gio, and I'm a minister at Quest Church in Council Member Strauss' district, and I live in District 4 in Council Member Rivera's district.

And I'm here today standing with both the congregants of my church, who I have represented through letters that they have written, and the Church Council of Greater Seattle.

As a person of scripture, the book of Proverbs says this, the plans of the diligence lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to want.

And as I have been watching this council present and debate the budget that we have today, the word that keeps coming up is want.

This budget certainly allots funding to a lot of important services in our city, but as the people and this council keep saying, we want more.

And actually, we need more.

The folks who've spoken here tonight need more.

The 100 plus folks who came to our church last night for a free meal because the support services they rely on can't always be dependent on need more.

We need more money for housing, we need more money for mental health services, we need more money for meal programs, for community care, for whatever the next crisis ahead of us is.

And I think that's something we can all agree on.

And so I urge the Council to be diligent, not only in their budgeting this cycle, but in their planning for the next year and the years ahead.

and as the need in our city rises, as the uncertainty at the federal level rises, we need diligent planning that leads to abundance.

We need more strategic research and investment into progressive revenue so that we don't have to keep underfunding important programs year after year because of a budget deficit.

Imagine a budget that doesn't just make do with what we have, but actually meets and exceeds the needs of the people of this city.

So today I urge you to invest in more forms of progressive revenue this year and the years to come to set the city up for future abundance.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chloe.

Up next is Annie, followed by Reverend Steve Jerby.

Hi, my name is Annie.

I'm a senior at Lincoln High School and a Running Start student at Seattle Central College.

In one month, I'll be a voter.

An affordable Seattle isn't just an economic issue, it's a moral issue.

We need more affordable housing to keep young people like me in this city.

I care about this so much that I'm in the carpentry program and hope to work on projects that create affordable housing.

Many of my classmates, both at Lincoln and the Wood Technology Center, have their own reasons to call for a budget that is moral and just.

I have over 200 letters in support of the Church Council of Greater Seattle's call for a moral budget.

Even my peers who don't have a faith community support the solidarity budget and the values of the Church Council is fighting for.

I implore you to preserve funding for affordable housing and to keep fighting for progressive revenue that funds values that support a thriving Seattle.

Thank you.

Thank you, Annie.

Up next is Reverend Steve Jerby, followed by Reverend Alex Booker.

Sorry for not getting your titles earlier.

Over to you, Reverend.

Good evening.

I'm Pastor Steve Jerby.

I live, work, worship, and vote in the Fourth District.

A house divided cannot stand.

It's a popular saying in politics and rooted in scripture.

Yet even with this ancient wisdom, that's precisely what we have in this budget.

A house divided, a city of division.

We see funding for homelessness services and safe parking, but at the same time, an overinflated police budget and city policies that support sweeping encampments of the unhoused.

This leaves service providers, faith communities, neighbors, and the unhoused community left to scramble with support because our city has criminalized poverty.

We increase and sustain funding for the Office of Immigration and Refugee Services, but this same council has increased funding for surveillance, making our migrant neighbors less safe, more at risk.

We've got cities like Redmond turning off cameras, and yet our sanctuary city supports policies that create harm.

This budget, which does some good, but not addressing the deep injury, is a budget divided.

There is no morality in lying.

There is no justice in division.

Thank you.

Thank you, Reverend.

Reverend Alex Booker, welcome.

Well, thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmembers, we have an opportunity before us.

with the progressive sweep of City Hall in process with or without the mayoral office, we have an opportunity to set us up and live into our espouse progressive moral values with this budget cycle for now and the future.

As a South End-born kid, Skyway raised, living in District 2 and a pastor of a District 7 church and representing the Greater Church Council of Seattle, I believe we can do this by continuing to fund affordable housing, but stopping the funding of sweeps that where those people should be living in those houses.

We can live into our values by continuing funding services for our migrant communities, but stop funding and using surveillance systems that put those very communities at risk, along with black and poor communities that I come from.

You had to make cuts to council member proposals because there wasn't enough revenue.

Where are the bold projections with that revenue we were gonna have?

That is how we live into our values, focusing on the root issues of harm that my community faces day in and day out, not by throwing money into reactive institutions that are an extension of said harm.

My sacred text says that where your treasure is, there your heart will be.

And if our treasures are bent toward morality and that long moral arc that bends toward justice, as Dr. King says, then the treasures of the city hall budget will be represented by morality and not by punitivity.

Like the sign says, budgets are truly a moral document.

Thank you.

Thank you, Reverend.

Up next is Tony Higgs and Jessie McCabe.

Tony, welcome.

Hi, thank you.

My name is Tony Higgs and I live in District 4 and I worked before I retired recently in District 5 for a food security meal program where we saw a lot of food insecurity even before the snap cuts and the closing of the Fred Meyer in Lake City.

I'm also here with Church Council, and I'm a member of University Congregational United Church of Christ.

I'm here to talk to you about my neighbors and other Seattle residents, my other neighbors.

My Nextdoor app is full of people who are asking for food, who maybe can't get to a food bank during the hours that they're open.

They're asking for cheaper places to live.

Some have no place to live at all, and of course, many are very fearful about being kidnapped by ICE.

This tells me we're witnessing a true state of emergency in this very wealthy city of ours.

So I would like Seattle's budget to reflect my values of care and compassion for our neighbors so that we're a true sanctuary city for those in need.

Please support more funding and progressive revenue for shelters, affordable housing, food security, and less funding for surveillance and big increases for the Seattle Police Department.

Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you, Tony.

Up next is Jessie McCabe.

Jessie, welcome.

Good evening, Councilmembers.

My name is Jessie McCabe.

I live in your district, Councilmember Rivera, District 4. I attend University Congregational United Church of Christ in the U District.

I'm bringing letters from our congregation in support of a caring and compassionate budget.

I teach biology at Seattle Central College and I am a member of AFT 1789. I believe that budgets are moral documents and should reflect the values of our city's residents.

Seattle's budget is important to me because I have many students and my own son who are struggling to build a future in this wealthy city.

The City of Seattle has provided opportunities for education through the Seattle Promise Program.

This helps Seattle residents build their future and contribute to this wonderful city.

And I have students who couch surf or move from shelter to shelter because they do not have a home.

I have many students who cannot make the most of their educational opportunities because so much energy is spent on just getting by.

Food security, mental health care, community resilience, and affordable housing will help our residents build a future for themselves and for Seattle.

Sweeps, surveillance, and increased policing will not help residents build a future here.

There is a phrase, if you can't beat them, join them.

Let's not join them, let's beat them with a budget of care and compassion rather than a budget of surveillance and criminalization.

Thank you for considering yours and my values.

Thank you.

And I think, am I seeing former representative Jesse Johnson?

No?

I am misidentifying you, my friend.

Excuse me, I was going to bring you right up to the front.

With that, we're going to go on to Joey Lopez, Ivan Gerdes, Garrett Plesko-Moore, Amy Durgin, Abigail Weber, Erica Bush, Dan Miller, Laura Drake, Alex Pettis, Alex Wheeler.

Welcome if folks want to line up.

Good evening, council.

My name is Joey Lopez.

I'm an executive director at the Church Council of Greater Seattle.

I live in District 3. I now work in District 4, and I worship in District 7. My faith tells me over and over to welcome the stranger.

The Church Council has worked with Seattle's migrant communities since the 60s.

We were a crucial part in advocating for Seattle's first sanctuary policies in the 80s.

Today, we work deeply in coalition to support migrants across our state.

It is good to see the commitment of $4 million for the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs.

It is good to see the amendment that makes this funding flexible for the growing needs of our migrant neighbors for the years to come.

Our migrant neighbors, however, are living in fear.

As my colleagues have said, this budget has some glimmers of community care and it is still filled with contradictions.

The fear our community members are feeling is compounded by the persistent surveillance by federal agencies and the downfalls of our state and local safeguards to protect our neighbors.

Budgets are a moral document.

They speak to the values of our city through public investment.

This budget is making some investments in community care and that is to be celebrated.

However, it is continuing to fund tools that undermine the dignity and safety of so many Seattleites.

We are glad to see the steps these proposals are making to investments in our communities.

Over the next few weeks, we hope this council will continue to make bold choices to invest in community care.

Thank you.

Thank you, Joey.

Up next, 32, Ivan Gerdes, 33, Garrett Plesko-Moore.

Good morning.

Good evening.

We've been here all day.

My name is Ivan Gerdes.

Hang tight.

You got Mick Jagger.

Sorry.

I'm used to ones that are more sensitive.

My name is Ivan Gerdes.

Thank you for allowing us all to talk to you.

And boy, I've got a lot of competition on who's been speaking.

Thank you to Council members Solomon and Riddick for the help that they've given to 10th City 3 and 4. Unfortunately, they are going to be moving on the 15th.

Not much we can do about that unless they get extensions.

And we do need help on that.

And I also want to bring up 200 people there.

208 people have already died this year alone homeless.

and that's horrifying, really.

So that's just pretty much all I've got to say.

Thank you for making that real.

Garrett, welcome.

Chair Strauss, council members, good evening.

Thank you for holding this hearing when people who are working families and more can still participate.

My name is Garrett Plesko-Moore.

I am a renter in the central district with my partner.

I'm also a volunteer and passionate supporter of the Garfield Superblock project and park redevelopment.

I'm incredibly excited that the city is making good on a 20-year-old promise to the residents of the central area, and construction has begun in earnest.

I'm so excited that this project is becoming a reality, including an accessible walking loop, new bathrooms, basketball courts, beautiful art installations that are featuring the seven ethnic groups that have historically made up the central area.

This project comes at a critical moment.

When gun violence on campus at Garfield High and beyond in the neighborhood, we must invest in what we know improves safety.

That's community investment and activation.

That's exactly what GSB does.

but given the years of delay on this project, the costs have increased while the scope has decreased.

Please help ensure that we're able to include critical components of intergenerational play and access regardless of income.

Please support Councilmember Hollingsworth's amendment that would contribute $150,000 to the Garfield Superblock and help us complete this project.

Thank you.

Thank you, Garrett.

Up next is Amy Durgin, Abigail Weber, and then 36, Erica Bush.

Yes, please.

What are your numbers?

34, 35, 36.

34, 35, 36. Anyone else with you?

37, 38, not 38, 40, and 39. Wonderful.

With that, you've got four minutes, 30 seconds.

Thank you for coming together to speak as a group.

Thank you very much.

So my name is Amy Durgan.

I'm a resident of Highland Park District 1. I'm also the president of the Highland Park Improvement Club, known as HPIC.

First, I just want to extend my absolute heartfelt gratitude to Councilmember Rob Saka, Mark Solomon, Deborah Horace, and Sarah Nelson for sponsoring the amendments to the budget to support HPIC with the proposed $500,000.

This money will help us fund a little less than half of the next construction phase, which is framing of the building, and we are shovel ready.

We are working on the foundation right now Our neighborhood does not have access to a dedicated community center.

HPIC fills this gap.

There is high demand.

We are growing.

We are sponsoring.

We've grown 350 members with sponsoring 1,000 people to our empty lot this past summer.

We know that the research is strong.

Strong community connection and mutual trust are the foundation of public safety and reduced crime.

By rebuilding HPIC, the city gains public safety, equitable services, civic readiness, vibrant events.

By investing in HPIC, you are not just funding a building, you are funding the infrastructure for that connection.

Thank you.

Hi, my name's Abigail Weber, and I am a resident in the Riverview neighborhood, right next door.

Thank you.

I moved to the neighborhood one month after the community center burned down.

And in that amount of time, I have gotten to know over 100 members face-to-face, not even on the internet, and it's such a strong community.

The amount of love and support that we have for each other is so strong.

The weight is so immense.

You just walk into that spot and you feel like you belong there.

So we are long overdue for a center to come together, especially post-COVID.

So we need a third place to host meetings, have cultural and art, cultural festivals, emergency preparedness, food aid.

like farmers markets, the abundance is there.

So please support us in building this wonderful community that has been striving for over 105 years.

So thank you.

Hi, thank you again for having us.

I just wanted to say that I'm also a resident of this neighborhood.

This space is where my husband and I moved when we first came here, and it's welcomed us with open arms.

It's now the place that we've chosen to raise our son, and this environment is what we feel he and other small children who are becoming a larger portion of this neighborhood deserve.

We know across our city that it is these kinds of places that create the relationships that build resistance to the pressures and the challenges that we're all here to talk about today.

So please support us in rebuilding this incredible space that's been here for this community for over 100 years.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Dan Miller.

I'm here for the Highland Park Improvement Club.

I also have a 12-year-old son and live in a community that I feel is underserved.

And I would love my son to grow up with a community centre, which is much more than just a building.

It's a hub of people where people get to know each other.

And when you get to know neighbours, you feel safe and you feel involved in your community.

So I feel this is very important to our neighbourhood.

So thank you.

Hi council members, my name is Alex.

I'm a new member of the Highland Park Improvement Club.

I just want to keep this short.

I'm really excited to be part of this club.

In the short time I've been here I've found a group of people really eager and excited to help their community and their neighbors and I really hope that by funding this project we can keep that going.

Thank you.

And I'm also Alex.

I'm the vice president of the Highland Park Improvement Club, HPIC.

Good to be back here.

We're very excited.

Thank you, Councilmember Saka, for putting us in.

Thank you, Chair Strauss, for moving us along.

We're very grateful for $500,000.

We would be very grateful for a lot more.

We have a lot more to do.

I want to stress this project is ready.

We have a blueprint.

We have our mop.

We've torn down the building.

We have shovels in the ground right now.

We are ready to cash a check and start building right away.

For all of these great reasons and so many more, please come out and visit us at Highland Park.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

And I think that's the end of this group, is that right?

Because you're number 38, is that correct?

I'll do 38, yeah.

You're number 38. You did not want to be part of the group.

That's correct, yes.

But I'm part of HVAC.

Okay.

Thank you all for joining up as a group.

Number 38, Laura Drake.

Hi, I'm Laura Drake, and I'm here for Highland Park Improvement Club as well.

They're all young folk.

I'm a bit older.

I've lived in the community for 26 years.

I was able to buy a home there as a single mother and artist back in the day in 99, which you can't do anymore, but through the City of Seattle home site program, which was a huge gift for me.

Anyway, the club, I started my business Stage Struck there in 2001 in that summer and then carried it somewhere else for 23 years.

I have a lot of history there.

I was a teacher at Highland Park Elementary School for nine years.

It's a very diverse community of families there.

And it's a great place and the community center is wonderful.

It's been there over 100 years.

Community gatherings of all kinds for all ages.

It's so unique.

I've never seen anything like this in the various places I've lived in my life.

And so it's worth keeping.

It's volunteer.

It's a beautiful thing.

We hope we can build it up and invite everybody who's here to come on over and party.

Thank you.

We're gonna move on to 41 through 50. We are an hour in.

If I can see Jesse, do we have the group of young adults that have to leave by seven?

We do.

I will in just a second.

With that, Neil Patel, Wilson J, Yvette Dinnish has left because Council Member Juarez is excused.

I'm not gonna get into that battle over here.

Tyler Blackwell, Casey Burton, 46A, first name, last name, starts with a J or an F, 47, Abel, 48, Charlie, 49, Roy, and 50, Phoenicia.

With that, Neil, welcome.

Good to see you.

Thank you.

Neil Patel with the Georgetown Business Association commenting support of Chairperson Strauss's balancing package, including Councilmember Saka's amendments, specifically the funding for the Georgetown Climate Resilience Hub and Neighborhood Center, the sea level rise adaptation plan for Duwamish rally, prioritizing farmers markets in food deserts like Delridge and Georgetown, and supporting for our initial BIA outreach efforts.

You've already spoken to my colleagues this afternoon, so I only wish to elaborate on two data points.

The first is this.

This comes from the Seattle Public Utilities Commission.

Based on this chart, everything that you see in red will be underwater.

with statistical certainty by 2100, 50-50 by 2050. So this is going to hit in our lifetime.

In those areas in red, you can see the entire Michigan Street, I-99 Industrial Corridor, Equinox Studios, Seattle Design Center, chunks of Boeing Airfield, and chunks literally all of South Park.

In addition to that, This map from the University of Washington, Sean Kawano, a graduate student there, maps out what are the equivalent of food deserts for emergency resilience hubs.

Each triangle in brown represents a place where you have to walk more than 80 minutes to get to an emergency relief center that is organized in the event of an emergency.

Those 80 minutes are called death walk minutes in the literature.

I'm confident that with the right partnership and funding, Georgetown can meet this plan or can meet this problem in the next 25 years before we are all, well, literally, underwater.

Thank you.

Thank you, Neil, coming with the data.

Wilson, you're up next, and then Tyler Blackwell.

Number 42, Wilson's last name starts with a J.

We are on 42. We will come back to Tyler Blackwell, 44. Come on up.

We'll come back to number 42 in just a minute.

Good evening, Councilmembers.

My name is Tyler Blackwell and I represent the Soto Business Improvement Area in District 1. I want to thank the Council for your continued support of Councilmember Saka's proposals for the Soto Transit Study, as well as the policy review of unpermitted vending.

Over the next decade, Soto will experience historic levels of disruption and displacement.

from the FIFA World Cup next year to sound transit expansion.

These projects will reshape how people and goods move through the district.

We host many social services, as well as tens of thousands of jobs, including many living wage jobs.

And without a coordinated strategy, access to these jobs and services will be at risk.

The Soto Transit Study is a modest but essential initiative that will identify transportation gaps and recommend strategies to keep Soto accessible, functional, and economically strong.

At the same time, we have seen a rapid increase in unpermitted vending.

that creates health and safety issues as well as undermines legitimate businesses in the area.

We appreciate the proposals that are in the budget and Councilmember Saka's policy review will ensure that lasting effective solutions are in place for years to come.

Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you, Tyler.

Up next, 45, Casey Burton.

Casey, welcome.

Thank you.

My name's Casey Burton.

Thank you.

Sometimes forget that I'm tall.

My name's Casey Burton.

I am a renter in District 2, and I'm also a tenant attorney.

I'm here to ask that, at a minimum, you all reinstate tenant services funding in the upcoming budget.

Right now, the balancing package is reinstating $500,000, but we need another $500,000 to make sure that we're at 2024 levels.

Right now, the Tenant Law Center is not funded for a full attorney on top of the intake staff needed to help Seattle renters.

As you all know, more than half the city is renters.

That's hundreds of thousands of people who need help.

and the Housing Justice Project is only funded for about 33 Seattle renters per month in court.

There are about 600 to 800 unlawful detainer cases being filed every month.

We appreciate that you all are supporting rental assistance.

It's really important and it's going to make a difference in a lot of folks' lives.

But at the end of the day, you can't just throw money at landlords and assume that that solves every tenant's problems.

Rental assistance isn't going to ensure you get repairs.

Rental assistance isn't going to ensure you get an accommodation for your disability.

Rental assistance is not going to negotiate an agreement with your landlord to preserve your tenancy.

It's just not.

So we have to ensure that people have everything that they need.

Thank you.

That means funding services that serve the tenants of this city Thank you very much.

Thank you, Casey.

Up next, 46. First name starts with A, last name starts with either, I believe it's a J.

No.

Is that you?

Yeah.

Awesome.

Go for it.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Alan Francis.

I'm a renter in District 4, also a participant of SHARE.

A year ago, I moved into an apartment and got a rental agreement with my name on it for the first time in 10 years.

The possibility of losing my low-income housing and returning to the streets terrifies me.

Please, restore tenant services to 2024 levels.

I've seen neighbors lose their homes because they didn't know their rights or couldn't access legal help.

For me, a bad property manager or a single missed disability payment without tenant services is a direct path back to the streets.

I urge you to fully reinstate all funding for tenant services by adding at least $500,000 to the chair's balancing package.

We need both rental assistance and tenant services, and I support allocating $4 million for rental assistance for renters in non-profit affordable housing.

Without funding for these essential services, we risk more evictions, displacement and deeper crisis.

Share, tent city three, tent city four, supposed to move in just over a week.

Both these camps, this is the first time in in Share's history.

The two camps have had to move at once.

This is daunting.

We need help.

Also, we support standing additional camp encampments proposed by Council Member Hollingsworth.

Thank you.

And we offer our expertise and support.

Let's keep working together to find sites and stabilize our existing camps and provide funding for more shelter and a Women's Day Center.

Without shelter, people die.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Up next is 47. I believe it's Abel.

Last name starts with M.

Mendoza.

Mendoza.

Thank you.

Hi.

I would like to thank the City Hall and you people for being here and listening to us.

And I would like to say that I'm asking for you guys to have some sympathy on not relocating the tent that is on Martin Luther King and Rainier because we have families with children there and we have handicapped people and it's really hard for them to, you know, move with this hospitable weather and it's All I can say is that our future is in your hands and there's nothing else I can say regardless of what I say.

It's always your decision and not the decision of the public in general.

So thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Up next is Charlie followed by Roy and then I get it wrong every time.

It's Phoenicia or

Finica, thank you, Finica, and my apologies.

Charlie, you're up.

Thank you.

Good evening, council members.

Thank you for your time and the opportunity to speak.

My name's Charlie Eckblad, and I'm here representing Nitza Stegen.

I'm also a board member of the Soto BIA.

Nitza Stegen has a long history in Soto.

We own and manage many properties with tenants ranging from Tutabella, Momentum Climbing Gym, Home Depot, and of course, the global headquarters of Starbucks.

Together, those account for more than 3,000 daily visits to Soto.

Right now, this area is critically underserved by public transit.

As Soto evolves as a multi-use and multi-stakeholder community, it is necessary to gain an understanding of the existing gaps in service and prepare for future challenges, such as the elimination of the Soto busway and the relocation of the high-voltage lines on 6th Avenue South.

That's why we strongly support Councilmember Saka's proposed budget amendment to fund the Soto Transit Study.

This is a critical step towards more connected, reliable, and thriving Soto.

Thank you.

Thank you, Charlie.

Up next, we have Roy and then Finneka.

I'm still messing it up, I know.

Sorry.

Hello.

My name is Roy McGee, and I live in West Seattle.

And I was...

I'm here to ask to fund human services.

I worked for Fremont Public Association's food bank and volunteered there for about 15 years a while back.

And so I know there's need, because when you volunteer and work in those places, you see the homeless people coming through by the droves, even out in Fremont and Wallingford, which is a fairly well-to-do area.

And I also would like to talk about when you guys had your Fresh Bucks program and how it helped a lot of people actually get fresh fruits and vegetables and it helped stabilize a better diet.

So those programs helped, and we have to keep Medicaid and TANF.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Roy?

Finneka?

I'm still messing it up.

I'm sorry.

Really?

Yes.

Yeah, I appreciate your effort.

Hundredth time is the charm.

Well, good evening, council members.

My name is Finneka.

I'm here on behalf of Solid Ground, and we want to share our support for all the human service investments, as you can see by the red scarves here tonight, and to support the request to fully fund tenant services.

But I wanted to shed light on the threats to the continuum of care funds.

and particularly talk a little bit about rapid rehousing and ask that the council increase the federal reserve to avoid devastating losses to our homelessness system.

So every year our rapid rehousing program helps almost 400 individuals, including over 200 children, move quickly into permanent housing, that is market rate.

So we do this by providing rent subsidies for up to two years and really deep case management.

So that's things like helping people with bus tickets, helping them with their housing search, paying for move-in costs.

So if these COC cuts aren't filled, our city will lose out on one of the lowest barrier options for people to secure permanent housing.

A lot of people who come to us are referred because there's just not enough units in the coordinated entry system.

And so we help them find permanent housing in the market rate.

So we'd lose also on one of the most effective strategies to keep people from falling back into homelessness.

We maintain a 0% return to homelessness rate because we can offer long-term intensive support, right?

So people help people find jobs and gradually pay more of their rent share over two years.

So just wanted to highlight Rapid Re-Housing and why it's so important.

We hope you guys increase the Federal Reserve.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Finneka.

We're gonna go back to number 42 Wilson J.

42 Wilson J.

42 Wilson J. I'm gonna leave a note up here in case we return to it.

We're gonna move on to Actually, it is now 613. We have a group of young adults that need to leave by 645 p.m.

Is there any objection to them moving forward right now?

We're gonna do the Quaker way.

If you object, just raise your hand.

I'm hearing all snaps.

Thank you, sir.

So seeing no objection, we're gonna move group number 90 to right now.

So if you can come up right now.

And as you're coming up, then we do 51, through 60, Cecilia Black, Matt Johnston, Joshua Raddick, Kristen Eberling, John K, Chip Baker, Brian B, Mitch G, Tim D, and Norman Sigler.

But right now we've got group number 90. And I need to know which three of you have signed up.

What are...

So we need three signed up.

What are your numbers?

Can you show me your numbers?

We got 140, number 90, and what's the third number?

144, 140, and 90. We got four minutes and 30 seconds.

The clerk is letting me know you're blocking the members of the public from seeing.

If you'd like to be on either side or a little bit lower, we're trying to maintain the visibility.

But we've got four minutes and 30 seconds on the clock for you now.

Take it away.

Hello, my name is Laura.

I would like you guys to look at the setup of the room and question why we face the council as though they are not a part of us.

talk to each other and listen to the words that we are saying, not to the council, but to each other.

Because even in the negligent actions of our council members, we can listen.

We can hear each other and support each other.

I do urge the council to fight for the autonomy and care of our people in Seattle and to actively listen and seek out and believe those experiences for those who they are supposed to represent, who you guys are supposed to represent.

stop funding the police they take damn near a third of the budget that they do not need stop funding surveillance and stop thanking people for speaking when you forget them so soon and as for all of you who showed up here today get to know your neighbor why they're here and what they need what you need and see where you can aid each other this does not alleviate the council of their responsibilities but it is an active response to our needs lead by example and respond with empathy

Hi, my name is Nyah Collins and I'm a 19 year old and because of creative justice, I have a safe, healthy, fun, growing community, which we know there's not much like that in Seattle or Washington overall.

Because of creative justice, there are young people like me who get to express their self in healthy, safe ways through creativity.

Instead of being involved in the streets, heavy drugs are non-healthy environments.

And if you decide to take money from the programs like this, how will our youth, which is also the future, be able to know we don't have to do bad or follow a bad environment to be happy, entertained, or fed?

If you defund creative justice, you're taking away a bridge for a better life.

Don't be prideful just because you are comfortable and don't understand where the less fortunate comes from, but instead actually step into the community to see the changes a small program like creative justice can do.

Thank you and I hope you choose to make the right choice.

Hello.

Hello.

My name is Lex.

I'm 21, and I come to you with a demand.

I'm a part of Creative Justice, a nonprofit organization.

I'll try to be as time accurate as possible.

There are so many days we're in passing by homeless people in the street, looking lost, hopeless.

That far we look in their eyes isn't for no reason.

Wondering where they will lay their heads this winter.

We need funding to either erect new housing to assist them, youth, young adults, or youth.

youth, young adults, and adults.

Or we need proper programming to accurately target these people and their individual needs.

It's not that outlandish that we as a country are collapsing more than ever now with corrupt politicians making shit harder for everyone.

Sadly, there's so many nuances and small histories that tie into how we got here today.

Another final ask is more funding towards nonprofit organizations such as our own Creative Justice and Mockingbird, less funding towards the police departments.

Thank you.

My name is Rose.

I'm a creative justice coordinator, and I just wanted to list off some of the demands that are on the banner here that the youth group came up with last year, but they're consistently demands that we see coming up in community.

The first was to defund SPD 100%, to not rely on jails or prisons.

to fund BIPOC youth-led programming to create healthy environments, both environments that people can flourish in and also supporting the health of the actual environment.

One of the demands was housing for all.

That's been here all night.

We need everybody to have access to housing.

That's what safety is.

Healthy food and clean water for all.

education, healthcare, and basic supplies for all.

This is all listed on the Youth Solidarity Budget banner here, but also like you heard from young people, it's extremely important that we're funding community.

You've heard that from everybody here tonight.

We've heard again and again the way that police violence is affecting young people.

We've heard again and again the way that when they've come to council, they haven't felt heard.

It's really awesome that they were able to speak tonight.

The last time we came, we sat here and listened.

So like the first young person who spoke said, we need to rely on each other.

We have forms that we handed out to different community members.

We'd like to connect with you because we know the real power is with us.

and especially with young people who have a vision for a better future.

So thank you so much and have a good night.

Thank you for coming and thank you for everyone here for letting our young adults go a little bit earlier.

With that, we've got 51 through 60, Cecilia Black.

Young folks, please make way.

Thank you, Cecilia.

And for everyone else, Matt Johnson, Joshua Raddick, Kirsten Eberling, John Kay, Chip B. Please start lining up now.

Good to see you, Cecilia.

Good to see you.

My name is Cecilia Black and I'm a board member of B Seattle.

I want to thank council members Rink, Solomon and Saka for sponsoring an amendment to restore tenant services funding to its 2024 levels.

And I urge the council to fully reinstate all of the funding for tenant services by adding at least another $500,000 to what was proposed in the chair's balancing package.

This is a bare minimum.

Be Seattle relies on city funding and was just able to operate under the 2024 funding.

Last year's budget cuts decimated our work.

We now only have one full-time employee.

This is at a time when tenant services is needed more than ever.

Housing is one of the biggest barriers facing the disability community and Be Seattle's work like our Know Your Rights workshops tailored to people with disabilities helped Renters navigate reasonable accommodations and difficult relationships with landlords that helped keep people in their housing and prevent evictions.

People with disabilities have been devastated by the housing crisis and face even more uncertainty with the government shutdown and looming Medicaid cuts.

We need to be funding every resource to support community that we can.

Instead, this budget diverts funds into programs that surveil and harm community, like sweeps, graffiti, and street vendor enforcement, and millions set aside for police hiring.

Please reinvest in programs like tenant services.

Thanks.

Thanks, Cecilia.

Up next is Matt, Joshua, Kristen, John.

And Matt, are you individuals or as a group tonight?

Both.

Yeah.

One group of three, so is this the group of three or are you starting off on your own, Matt?

At the end, there's a group of three.

Okay, cool.

Over to you, Matt.

Chair Strauss, Council Member Saka, and all the other Honorable Council Members, thank you for having us.

We know you've got a big job here to cover all of these holistic solutions with the one budget, and we really appreciate your service and your effort here.

It can't be easy.

I'm Matt.

I'm the co-author of the Citywide Skate Park Plan that was ratified by this body in 2007. I live in District 1. Please support Councilmember Saka's amendment for completion funding of the Morgan Junction All Wheels area, which is like a community center with lots of action happening on it all the time and outside.

Seattle Parks has been struggling to develop this land bank site for over 10 years.

They asked our community to get together, fund a design, which we did with a grant that we got from the Department of Neighborhoods $28,000 worth of volunteer time went into the 10-month effort to complete this shovel-ready design that we have.

And then they told us, sorry, we actually don't have the construction money to complete your project.

That was not fun to have to tell the hundreds of kids that came out, everybody that volunteered for us.

So we really want to complete this project.

It means a lot to the community.

So please help Seattle Parks and Recs follow through with its commitment and continue to support Councilmember Saka's amendment to fund the Morgan Junction all wheels area.

Thank you.

Thank you, Matt.

Up next is Joshua.

Thank you member Saka for authoring and member Hollingsworth for co-sponsoring the budget amendment to fund the community driven all wheels area at the Morgan Junction Park expansion site.

The shovel ready design that the Morgan Junction All Wheels Association has worked to create through our volunteer funding $44,000 Department of Neighborhood grant is meant to be user friendly, accessible to all wheels and all ages, an unintimidating facility for youth to learn and grow their talents.

While other spaces in Seattle have been built with the best and most talented in mind, we hope this space could be a collaborative place for learning and building new talents on anything with wheels.

The design we've worked to put forth in collaboration with the kids in our neighborhood and our neighbors in Morgan Junction keeps accessibility in mind and will offer many opportunities for programming of this active space in the future.

I'm here to give my full support for this amendment and I thank you again for this opportunity.

I ask that you please maintain inclusion of this funding as you finalize the 2026 budget.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Kristen?

Hello.

Hello, council members.

My name is Kristen Ebeling.

I am a volunteer with the Morgan Junction All Wheels Association.

And my day job, I work for Skate Like a Girl as the executive director.

It's a local nonprofit facilitating equitable skateboarding programs and creating jobs for young people in our city.

As a lifelong skater and Seattle resident, I want to sincerely thank you all for the support of the Morgan Junction Skate Park so far.

It might be hard to picture on a cold, rainy day like today, but skate parks are incredibly vibrant, intergenerational, creative, and healing spaces.

They bring together people of all walks of life to move, create, and connect all through the simple joy of free play.

As a volunteer on this project, I've seen so many people come together, but most importantly, the youth.

From elementary schoolers to college students, young people have really shown up for this project.

Whether it was sweeping the original DIY skate space, attending planning meetings with Grand Line Skate Parks and other advocates, or advocating at community events, they've been there every step of the way.

By funding this project, you're showing them that with hard work, advocacy, and continual resilience, rad things really do happen.

Growing up skating in the city, it wasn't always easy being one of few women at the skate park.

But these days, it's rare to go to the skate park without seeing other girls out there.

That shift within my lifetime is thanks to all the amazing accessible skate spaces just like Morgan Junction.

So please ensure this project is funded so our thriving community of young skaters have free spaces to continue to be active, find joy, connect to mentors, serve their communities, and more.

Thank you.

Up next is John followed by Chip.

That's a tough act to follow.

Amen.

Yeah.

Hey, thank you everyone for coming out tonight.

It's incredible to see just all the passion that you guys are investing into our community.

It's awesome.

This is really inspiring.

And also thank you to all of you for taking the time here to listen to all of us and listen to our budget.

I'm also here to support the Morgan Junction Skate Park.

in West Seattle.

I'm a lifelong skater, live in Rob Saka's district.

We have the opportunity to create something awesome, vibrant, a place for everyone to play in an active South Side neighborhood.

My nine and 12-year-old were amongst the first to help start cleaning up this park four years ago to make it a spot suitable for skateboarding.

I've seen middle schoolers unprompted picking up shovels, brooms, sweeping up the park after school to try to get a spot to roll around on.

This was years ago.

The park is currently fenced and unusable.

My primary ask of you and all of us, the Parks Department and ourselves, is can we as adults take the simple step to finish what the kids already started?

Thank you for your support of the Morgan Junction skate spot, and let's make it a place of play, self-expression, and connection.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Up next is Chip, followed by Brian.

Hello.

I'm stepping in for Chip.

He had to leave, but...

Okay.

Do you have three people signed up?

We have one of these cards.

You already spoke.

Yeah.

They have the one.

We have the one for Chip.

And they're going to split.

They're going to split.

We have one person who had to leave.

Okay.

So two of you are going to take one person's time.

Is that correct?

Yep.

Copy that.

Go.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Charlie Reese and I'm a local youth from West Seattle and I'm here on account of the Morgan Junction All Wheel Society.

I work for Skate Like a Girl and I run this skate club at West Seattle High School.

And I'm here and for me, this project is something I've invested a lot of time in.

and I've gone to cleanups and meetings and a bunch of stuff like that.

And I think that skateboarding is a way of self-expression and it creates a space where youth feel welcomed and where they can be their genuine, unique, and unfiltered selves.

For me, skateboarding has saved me.

I'm not very good at making friends, but for me, skateboarding makes it easier for me to connect with people and make new friends and connections.

It has taught me important values such as persistence, creativity, and passion.

Working on this project, for me, has been a way I could have a positive impact on my community and spread my love of skateboarding.

And by allocating the budget for this skate park, not only do you provide a multi-use recreational space for all wheels, but you also have a deeper impact on the lives of so many who live, laugh, and love skateboarding.

My name is Oscar Thornburg.

I've been a local skateboarder from West Seattle for about two years now.

The Morgan Junction DIY was my local skate park after it got torn down.

I lost my passion for skateboarding and a very large part of the community was lost.

It discouraged a lot of kids from skating and finding the community of skateboarding many people know and love.

It's taught me many things like perseverance, patience, and courage.

I think that providing the needed funding for MJawa would create a positive space for youth engagement and it's preventative for kids going down a different and more dangerous path like drug use.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you gentlemen.

Up next, so we have 56, Chip Baker gone, 57, Brian, is that you?

That's you, so Brian.

I'm Brian, I don't know who Chip is.

We don't know who 56 is.

Chip was the last group, don't worry about Chip.

Okay.

So are you all speaking as a group?

Yes.

What are your numbers?

59, 57, 58, 59, and 60.

Awesome.

Thank you all.

over to you at your convenience.

Okay.

Hi, my name is Tim DiMarco, and along with my friends here, we represent Schmitz Park Restore.

And the first thing we want to do is thank Council Members Rink and SACA for their co-sponsoring of the amendment to fund our projects.

Schmitz Park is part of the Seattle Parks Department, but is unlike any of the other parks in Seattle.

It's a 53-acre forest in West Seattle, and as per the directions of the Schmitz family who donated the land, it's been left totally in its natural, pristine state.

This is not a curated park like most of the Seattle parks, many of which the Olmstead brothers had a lot to do with.

They actually had their fingers into this park too.

But what the Schmitz wanted was this park to be left totally natural and pristine.

Unlike the rest of Seattle, it was all a big forest and it all got mowed down, but this piece of property is still there for all of us to share.

The park allows the citizens and the visitors of Seattle to see firsthand what it was like before the forests were mowed down.

Schmitz Park has a creek that is fed by natural artesian springs.

It is a pristine creek which at one point in time was teeming with salmon that fed the Native American population in the area as well as the whales in the Puget Sound all over Seattle.

Our volunteer community organization teams with the Seattle Parks Department to protect the park.

Our mission is to help remove invasive species, the native plants, we provide historical tours of the park, and we educate people about the history of the area as well as the plants and the animals that live in the park.

But one of our most important goals is to daylight the creek.

The creek flows through this forest only to be forced into a culvert and pumped out into Elliott Bay with storm runoff.

This prevents the salmon from finding the creek and our hope is that by daylighting the end of this creek, we can reintroduce the salmon like we did in Fauntleroy Creek.

And with that, I'll hand it off to Good evening.

My name is Mitch Grosby, and I'd like your support for our project.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Brian Barrio.

I'm one of the co-founders of Schmidt's Park Creek Restore.

First of all, I'd like to thank you all for having us today.

I also want to just highlight some of our wonderful achievements thus far.

As you know, we're working with the Seattle Public Utilities, Alcott Community Council, Seattle Parks, and I'd also encourage you to visit our website, schmitzparkcreekrestored.org.

We first connected with the University of Washington The landscape architects drew us out some comprehensive, cohesive designs to create what we need to do with the park, the creek, and the forest.

We've taken those layouts and we've used them so far to have the community involvement These depict the project, and these give concise concepts and development to complete the restoration of Schmitz Park Creek and restore it.

Our community involvement has been so far.

We've teamed up with the A Cleaner Alki, Eric Bell, Green Seattle Partnerships.

We've gotten publicity with Encore Magazine, who's giving us advertising through the plays.

Expedia has given us some other options to work with and gave us a free table at the Earth Day last year.

On that note, I'd like to turn it over to Norman.

Hello, everybody.

My name is Norman Sigler, and I'm the Public Affairs Director for this group.

I'm a volunteer as well.

We're a 100% volunteer organization.

My real job is to do executive recruiting for nonprofits in the Seattle area at Clear Consulting.

But this is a project that is special.

I lived in West Seattle for 10 years, and I love .

It's a great natural resource for our community, and it's also a great resource for our orca who need the salmon.

So I appreciate your funding.

Thank you, Council Member Rank.

Thank you.

And please let Dan and I know that we noticed he wasn't here.

Up next is 61 through 70, Jessica Dixon, Martha Baskin, Laurel Trujillo, Aaron Rubin, Zee Bittata, Kim B, Marcus Johnson, Marta Kidane, and Kara Williams.

You can barely hear me.

All right.

Wonderful.

Good to see you, Jessica.

Hi.

Hi, council members.

I'm just here briefly to support council member Saka's statement of intent to explore creating a new independent department of climate and the environment to protect and grow Seattle's urban canopy via a newly established urban forestry division.

Seattle's trees are currently managed, or in many cases neglected, by nine city departments including Estot, Seattle City Light and Parks.

Multiple complaint lines to report tree problems lead to confusion, delays, and most disheartening, no action at all.

An independent urban forestry department would be better for Seattle's trees, our city employees, and our citizens.

Urban forest policy should be set by experts who follow science-based guidelines.

We can do better.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jessica.

Martha?

Yes, all right.

Hello there, Dan.

Thank you, Martha.

Good evening to you.

So it may seem off kilter to be talking about urban forest consolidation when we've got such grave crises going on in this nation that continues to allow housing to be under free market capitalism.

But I too am here to say yes to urban forest consolidation, a thousand times yes.

Consolidating forest policy and the nine agencies that manage trees under one umbrella one city department capable of seeing the forest for the trees and understands the importance of protecting trees for reasons of clean air, of public health, of changing climate, urban resilience.

They're very, very critical.

Today, over half of Seattle's trees are managed by DCI, the building department, which makes its money from issuing permits and rarely, if ever, mandates the existing trees are protected.

and it sure as heck doesn't mandate affordable housing.

In fact, Seattle has lost an estimated 4,500 trees on lots undergoing development in the last two years or 345 a month, which makes us number five in the nation for heat islands.

allowing DCI to continue to manage this is reckless and completely insane in a climate crisis.

Council Member Sanka, Rink, Solomon, thank you very much for submitting the statement MO-OIS, et cetera, to consolidate the nine agencies into one department.

I thank you for understanding the need for it.

Thank you.

Always good to see you, Martha.

Up next is Laurel Trujillo and then Aaron Rubin.

63, yes?

We are on 63. Okay, perfect.

Getting that.

And I had to take my own advice to get closer to the mic.

I need to do so as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello.

Can you hear me?

Hello.

My name is Laurel Trujillo and I am the owner of Ounces Taproom and Beer Garden in West Seattle.

Ounces is one of the businesses in North Delridge that will be significantly impacted by Sound Transit's ST3 light rail plan.

I am testifying today in support of Council Member Saka's proposed budget amendment to offer financial support for businesses in North Delridge affected by Sound Transit acquisition.

First, I want to say thank you to Council Member Saka.

for proposing this critical amendment.

And of course, thanking Council Member Strauss for including it in the proposal, including the proposal in the balancing budget.

So the core issue faced by my business and many others stems from Sound Transit's inadequate approach to business relocation assistance.

Simply put, the issue is financial.

Sound Transit will acquire our property for light rail, forcing us to move.

And to move, it costs a lot of money.

So while Sound Transit covers some of the costs, a significant portion is not covered or reimbursed, leaving a massive financial gap that small businesses like myself must then absorb.

The reality is that we need capital to successfully relocate.

If that money is not provided or reimbursed by Sound Transit, business owners like myself are forced to cover these substantial costs out of pocket, often requiring us to incur new burdensome debt.

We are essentially left to fail.

Sound Transit has relocated businesses time and time again across our region, yet the current relocation package still lacks essential resources.

We're asking you for, you leaders, your leadership is crucial.

We need you to push back on Sound Transit to address their failings and shortcomings and help fill the financial gaps that they leave.

So thank you for hearing me.

Thank you.

Up next is Erin Rubin.

Erin, good to see you again.

You too.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Erin Rubin.

I'm the owner of Mode Music Studios and Founder and Managing Director of Mode Music and Performing Arts, both located in North Delridge in District 1 by Council Member Saka and both directed directly impacted by Sound Transit's West Seattle Link extension.

I'm here tonight to strongly support Councilmember Saka's budget amendment in the Office of Economic Development's 2026 budget, which allocates $250,000 to support small businesses in North Delridge at risk of displacement.

Over the past 11 years, our two organizations have employed hundreds of local musicians and artists and provided music and arts education to thousands of Seattle families.

We built something that connects children, families, and working artists, a true community hub.

And like many of our neighbors, we now face the challenge of relocating both a community-serving nonprofit and a small business because of this project.

We are in full support of public transit and understand how vital this expansion is for Seattle's future.

But as Sound Transit's work moves forward, the city's support is essential to help small businesses manage the financial and logistical strain of relocation.

This funding can help offset the enormous unpaid time, energy, and resources it takes us to plan, manage, and rebuild.

And it also can set an important precedent for how the city supports small businesses affected by future link extensions.

This amendment is a critical step toward the city recognizing and supporting the independent businesses that keep our neighborhoods strong in Seattle.

Please ensure it's implemented.

And thank you.

Thank you, Erin.

Up next is number 66, Z Batara, followed by 67, Kim B, 68, Marcus Johnson.

Z, welcome.

Yeah, hi.

We're going to go together as a group.

Great.

If you want to show me your numbers.

67 for Kim.

Kim.

74 is the other number.

Right.

Okay.

So at first I'd just like to acknowledge the people in this room and I want to let you know I hear you.

We can't hear you.

Yeah, I hear the people in this room and the needs that they have for sustaining life and I appreciate that.

We're here tonight to talk about tree management in the city, but I want to let you know that your goals are critical and necessary and I really appreciate that.

So, thank you council members for hearing us this evening and thank you council member Shaka for introducing the statement of legislative intent to explore regulating the management of trees in the city and asking the mayor's office and the office of sustainability to underscore a study to do this.

and hopefully by doing so we will have a structure for tree management in the City of Seattle so that we can improve the organization, policies and regulations that we have regarding tree management and ensure that they are meeting our canopy goals for climate resilience.

In requesting that the current departments that are involved in tree management in the city come together to explore solutions, hopefully we will identify ways that centralize tree management under one department that will allow for greater efficiency and accountability, reduce confusion and redundancy and result in an optimal outcome for retaining the beautiful and healthy trees that we currently have and are growing our tree canopy to reach our 30% tree canopy goal in the next decade.

Although being introduced as a budget item tonight, this study will not result in any real monetary cost and is really critical and necessary for helping us come together for tree management in the city.

Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you, and I'm Sandy Shetler, also commenting in support of Councilmember Saka Sly to study the best way to manage trees, which are key to public health as we add housing.

This study will help us take a look at whether or not having nine different agencies managing a single resource is actually working to get us near our 30% goal.

30% is the minimum needed as predicted, scientists tell us to protect us from climate and heat impacts.

And I also support Councilmember Rink Sly to study the feasibility of the city taking over maintenance of street trees.

The expense and liability of big shade trees keeps many people from planting them along streets, even when in frontline community heat lie islands where they could dramatically improve health and livability.

San Francisco, Washington, D.C.

already do this.

Let's at least see what it costs.

Thank you.

Hello, Council Members.

Hi.

My name is Zee.

Some of you remember me.

And I'm here, I'm very thankful, Council Member Saka.

I'm here in support of the budget that will not clear-cut Seattle and tree canopies and also the maintenance of street trees and also planting more trees.

You all know that to give SDCI as a sole power to issue permits to cut trees really doesn't make sense.

So the changes that you are proposing, I think I'm really, really happy.

So I'm happy that I was here several times and that you guys are listening to us.

So one of the important I'm not a lawyer, so it's very hard for me.

But I think Urban Forestry Commission and then maintenance later on, that's a must that we need to have.

Otherwise, Seattle's going to get clear cut, and we don't want that to happen.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Zee.

With that, we have Marta Kidane and then Kara Williams.

Marcus Johnson first.

You are, in fact, first.

Sorry, Marcus.

Thank you.

My name is Marcus Johnson.

I am the Director of Clean and Safe Operations at the U-District Partnership.

We want to express our gratitude to the Council for investing in person-based, place-based outreach in the U-District.

Over the past few years, the U-District's outreach team has helped house more than 70 people and have connected 140-plus to shelters since 2021. We've supported over a dozen of our most complex unhoused neighbors into housing and people once responsible for nearly 80 percent of the crisis calls to our ambassador program.

This dramatically improves safety and cleanliness in our core corridors through partnerships with our safety ambassadors.

The Council's investment in these place-based, person-based behavioral health outreach positions will make the U District safer and is a compassionate investment in some of our most chronic public safety issues.

Our outreach work in the U District has been successful in large part due to our partnership with the LEAD program.

Please support their budget allocations as it is critical to our work.

We also want to express our support for the Council's work to address illegal vending on the streets, which directly impacts the small businesses that are rooted in our community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Marta, good to see you.

Good evening, Council Members.

My name is Marta Kidane and I'm the Community Engagement Manager at Low Income Housing Institute.

First, I would like to thank Council President Nelson and Budget Chair Strauss for allocating $4 million in tenant-based rent assistance.

I would also like to thank Council Members for securing $500,000 of Council Member Rink's $1 million request for tenant service programs, but ask the Council fund the $1 million in full.

These are critical services, as you've heard all evening.

Lastly, we appreciate the mayor's inclusion of $7.8 million for non-congregate shelter and we ask that the language added in the balancing package to claw back these funds in the event of federal budget cuts be removed.

We believe a holistic approach that looks at the entire city budget is a better approach rather than immediately cutting much needed shelter expansion.

Help us protect our unhoused neighbors by editing this language and securing $7.8 million for non-congregate shelter.

I'd also like to ask that the council members lift up the budget priorities put forward by the Seattle Human Services Coalition.

A few of those I'd like to call out for you now.

Protect existing housing services, support survivors of gender-based violence, protecting and supporting food banks and meal programs because these snap cuts are causing so much harm.

And then lastly, increasing the reserve for federal funding cuts in order to ensure that a lot of these programs don't disappear.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Marta.

And Kara, I always feel like I'm saying your name wrong.

Kara Kara.

You got it, Kara.

Thank you.

Good evening, council members.

At least one in the evening.

Yep.

Thank you.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Kara Williams, and I work at the Low Income Housing Institute.

I'd like to thank Council President Nelson and Budget Chair Strauss for adding four million for tenant-based rental assistance to your balancing package.

These dollars will keep your constituents housed, and we ask that you protect these funds in your final budget.

I also want to thank you for including 500,000 for tenant services organizations and encourage you to add 500,000 to reach the full 1 million ask.

This money is crucial for providers who keep people safely housed.

Finally, I'd like to acknowledge your deep consideration of the threat of federal funding uncertainty.

I ask that you approach your response to federal cuts looking at the entire budget rather than earmarking specific programs for federal backfill.

Please protect the 7.8 million allocated for non-congregate shelter so that we can grow our number of shelter beds and save more lives.

With a holistic perspective, it's possible to add shelter beds while sustaining existing housing and services.

I also would like to share my support for all Seattle Human Services Coalition budget priorities.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Kara.

Up next, we're gonna go 71 through 80, Madigan Lodal, Tiana Brave, Henry Tanaka, Denise Perez Lally, Christopher Archiapoli, Dave Glogger.

Number 78 is M.

McKiernan.

79, Leonard Mitchell, and 80, Curtis Tanzi.

Welcome.

Do we have Madigan?

Yes, hello.

Good evening.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Madigan Lodal and I work at the Low Income Housing Institute.

I'm here to express my support for the $4 million that have been allocated for tenant-based rental assistance for at-risk residents living in affordable housing.

Seattleites are struggling to sustain affordable and safe housing due to increased living expenses putting our neighbors in increasingly precarious situations.

These challenges are expected to worsen in the face of federal and state budget cuts as essential programs like SNAP are at serious risk.

It is vital to prioritize our housing supply as well as keeping our tenants currently housed.

Maintaining the $4 million that have been allocated for tenant-based rental assistance will go far in protecting vulnerable residents at risk of losing their homes.

I'd also like to thank you for adding $500,000 for tenant service organizations and urge you to add $500,000 to reach the full $1 million ask.

These preventative measures are crucial to help stabilize households before they fall into homelessness and will ensure providers can keep people housed.

I urge you again to protect the $4 million allocated to tenant-based rental assistance and add $500,000 for a total of $1 million to tenant service organizations.

Housing is a human right and you have the power to protect it.

Thank you.

Thanks Madigan.

Up next is Tiana Brave followed by Henry Tanaka.

Good evening.

Hi.

Can you hear me well?

I believe so.

Okay.

My name is Tiana Brave.

I'm a resident of the City of Seattle, a manager at the Low Income Housing Institute, and also a mother.

I am here to thank the Council for the $4 million allocated towards affordable housing and rental assistance in the City, and to also plead that the additional $500,000 for tenant-based organizations is allocated, and I want to thank Councilmember Rank.

for that as well.

And we hope that the funds are sent out expeditiously as well.

I have worked in the housing sector since 2012, including with KCRHA and also with the coordinated entry systems in King and Pierce County.

Therefore, I have personally witnessed the impacts of housing and housing insecurity within our communities.

We need this help, we deserve this help, and together we can stabilize the housing journeys of many.

Thank you.

Thank you, Tiana.

Up next is Henry Tanaka.

Henry, welcome.

How's it going?

Going well, how are you?

I'm all right.

I'm trying to keep this short.

My name is Henry Tanaka.

I live in District 3 and I work in District 5 as an affordable housing case manager with the Low Income Housing Institute.

I'm advocating for the protection of $4 million in tenant-based rental assistance as a social service servant that stands shoulder to shoulder with those individuals who need it.

The threat of homelessness should be the furthest thing from a person's mind when they have achieved a stable housing in their efforts to climb and succeed in life.

At this pivotal point in American history, we want to make sure that we're doing right by our constituents and abiding by the civil understanding of to each according to their need, from each according to their ability.

And in that vein, I'm also supporting the $500,000 budget increase to fulfill the $1 million budget ask as sponsored by Councilmember Rank to increase funding for tenant service organizations.

I know firsthand that some of the smallest improvements can have some of the biggest impacts on each microcosm of constituents.

I humbly ask the Council to fund the work being done and move in unison with organizations that refuse to leave anyone behind in our city.

Thank you.

Thank you, Henry.

Up next is Denise Perez Lally.

Denise, welcome.

Good evening, honorable council members.

Thank you for your continued support, consideration, and believing in what's possible.

I am Denise Perez Lawley with purpose, dignity, and action.

And for the last two years, I've had the honor and the privilege of serving as co-leads program director.

And from that vantage point, I want to share what we are witnessing.

Something remarkable is happening in Colied.

More and more participants are considering embracing MOUD and treatment, often by watching their neighbor take the same courageous step.

Since the end of 2024, over 50 individuals found stability in housing, a milestone made possible through persistence, partnership, and deep human connection.

This progress is not accidental.

It's the outcome of CoLead's outreach team that meets people where they are, moving at the speed of trust, sparking hope, and learning every name, face, and story.

Our temporary lodging program opens the door to stability, and our aftercare team stays the course walking beside each participant for up to a year after they've moved into permanent housing to ensure they remain on solid ground.

The model of care transformed City Park, City Hall Park, resolved major encampments along the I-5 corridor through the state's right-of-way encamp resolution program.

Together we can support Pioneer Square through the Community Solutions Initiative.

We can't wait to work with

Thank you.

I'll tell you the super secret email address that goes to all of us, which is counsel at seattle.gov.

You can follow up with any additional commentary there.

And Christopher Arcciopoli, you represent our midway point this evening.

I am happy to be in the middle.

So we are technically at 76 and we have 150 people signed up.

So colleagues, we can expect to be here until just a little bit after 9 p.m.

if we stay on track.

Chris, Christopher, great to see you.

Thank you council members.

My name is Christopher Archipoli.

I'm a senior project manager with the Seattle LEAD program and a resident of Seattle's third City Council District.

I stand before you today asking that funding for LEAD be restored and expanded in your 2026 budget and that funding to support additional outreach for unhoused individuals in the business improvement areas of Ballard and the University District be included.

In the North Precinct, LEAD has worked with REACH, HOST, the Ballard Alliance, and University District Partnership to develop the Seattle Neighborhood Impact Framework.

With the support of Councilmember Strauss and other city leaders, this model has had a sustained positive impact in Ballard and the U District.

This work does not happen without resources.

At the end of the second quarter of this year, there are over 1,000 individuals enrolled in LEAD in Seattle King County.

If not LEAD, who will provide long-term case management in connection to legal coordination?

LEAD is crucial within the continuum of social services providing priority outreach in Seattle's neighborhoods.

For this work to expand its impact, we must also acknowledge the fiscal realities.

I urge the Seattle City Council to be a leader in supporting programs that uplift those who are most vulnerable.

Please increase funding for LEAD and include funding to support additional outreach for unhoused individuals in the business improvement areas of Ballard and the University District in Seattle's 2026 budget.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you, Christopher.

Up next is David Glauger, followed by Megan McKiernan, Leonard Mitchell, Curtis Tansey.

David, welcome.

Good evening, Council Members, Chair Strauss.

I'm here to speak in support and ask for your support for Council Member Saka's statement of legislative intent to look at whether we combine our nine tree departments into one.

It's easy to dismiss this with all these important issues that are here that I hear about tonight and I definitely feel for these issues but this issue that Councilmember Spitsaka has proposed will not cost anything and in the future it actually might save us some money as we go forward so we can fund other things so I ask you for the support and I thank Councilmember Rink and Solomon for your support on this issue and I'm not a one-issue person.

And last week at the budget meeting, I heard many comments in support of Council Member Hollingsworth's amendments to help the black community to this city who have been wronged so much in the past.

So I ask you to support Council Member Hollingsworth's amendments to support the black community.

And I also ask you to support, I picked up this red scarf today because I was asked to support the human services of the city.

So I ask you to support them.

I care.

I really do.

And back to the trees.

The trees are so important.

They provide protection for not just the people that we're advocating for, but they're people that are on the streets.

The trees provide protection, and they provide money for the future if we pass Councilmember Saka's amendment.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Up next is Megan McKiernan, followed by Leonard Mitchell.

Megan?

Megan.

Megan.

Sorry, I learned to read in Ballard.

Damn.

I know.

All right, let's see if I'm ready to begin almost.

Megan McKiernan, I'm a resident of District 5, and I grew up right next to Lake City, and not only do I remember Denny's, but I remember the golf course, and I remember aqua dive.

Pause the time, pause the time, pause the time.

What intersection was that Denny's on?

It was across the street from the current Starbucks, right?

Yeah, somewhere around there.

Deborah Juarez, we're gonna roll this tape back.

Denny's was on Lake City Way.

Please continue.

First of all, I want to say how sobering it is to hear the stories of fellow Seattle residents who are in great need.

And I just also want to add my urgency to work your budget magic, or magic budget, and to do what you can.

I know there's just so much need.

I do what I can as an individual, but it's very sobering.

I loved what one woman said, support the values of care, compassion, and generosity, because we're a very wealthy city.

So about our trees, which is why I'm here also, I want to thank Councilmember Saka so much and Councilmember Rink and Solomon.

for your SLI to explore combining the nine departments that currently manage.

Oh my lord, damn, it's about to say when I look at the clock.

I'm a community organizer on the ground, and not only are we losing trees to inefficiency and things that happen, but we are traumatizing neighborhoods and I've spent a lot of time working with communities and people who have lost significant trees that were not in the way of development and where developers have acknowledged that.

But it doesn't stop there.

The loss doesn't stop there.

So this work is going to be really important and I support you in any way in making it happen.

Thank you guys.

Thank you for all your work.

I know it's a lot.

Thank you, Megan.

Up next is Leonard Mitchell followed by Curtis Tanzi.

Good afternoon.

My name is Leonard and I am a co-lead participant.

I want to share about this program and what it has meant to me.

Before Co-Lead, I didn't have a bed to sleep in, a bathroom to utilize, or a shower to take, or access to healthy food or snacks when I was hungry, or even a caseworker to keep me on top of what I need to do to get back on my feet.

That was at least until I was doing the Co-Lead program.

They helped me out with a lot of stuff, like getting my ID, obtaining an ORCA card, getting a phone.

Just a lot of things, man.

It just feels good to actually have, like, somewhere to call home, you know?

Changes a lot, you know?

It makes a difference, you know?

Honestly, I really like the program.

I hope I can stay for longer than six months, but if I can't, it's whatever.

But at least, you know, I'm doing what I gotta do to get it done, you know?

But that's all I gotta say.

Thank you for sharing your story.

Appreciate it.

Thank you, Leonard.

Up next is Curtis Tansy.

Curtis, number 80. Curtis, number 80. We can come back to you if you show up.

But that puts us on the 81 through 90. We have Jeff Towle, Autumn Kemmer, Dennis McLeach, Dana Howard, Jester Bradley, Max Santiago, Mango Talent, Liliana Davis, Lorenzo B. Welcome.

Jeff.

Hi, thanks for taking the time to listen to me.

A year ago, I was in your freeway greenbelt with blood clots and stuck in my tent for a good month.

Wasn't able to move around and In the last year, I've been in a co-lead system, and I've been able to get my ID, my birth certificate, and get on disability.

And my self-esteem has completely changed, and tomorrow I'm moving into my own apartment.

I can't say enough for the staff at CoLead.

They've been not just there to get their paycheck.

They really do care.

And I've stayed in a variety of shelters in my years of being homeless, and I think they do it the best.

I ran 10-54 on the east side for eight years.

and I moved them around every three months and I feel for them also.

It's not easy, but especially as wintertime coming up, but there's a lot more success stories besides myself, but I just wanted to come say to you guys that their system does really work.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jeff.

And thank you for sharing your story with us.

Autumn, number 82. Number 82, Autumn Kemmerer.

Number 82, Autumn Kemmerer.

83, Dennis Mc...

Dennis...

Le Clutch.

Le Clutch.

I'd use the taller one.

Yep.

There you go.

Thank you.

Hello, everyone.

Previous client.

My name's .

Previous client of lead, current client of co-lead, participant.

And man, have they provided just some wonderful case management services.

And I don't have no script.

I'm just here on humility, love.

You know, I'm just me, you know, I've stumbled a little bit and co-lead was there when I really needed it.

In order to maintain being a good father of two, Lavina and Miliana LaCleche, in order to maintain my wellness, my health, reinstate my SUD license.

Man, there's so many things that Co-Lead has helped out when I didn't have any hope.

It is not easy out there and to know that I have a backbone or a bridge to help me maintain all these wonderful goals and things I've had.

It's been wonderful to know that they're there.

Yeah, I'm here to speak on behalf of that.

And it's unfortunate Curtis is not here.

He's a wonderful story too.

Not sure what happened with that, but I appreciate it, your time.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dennis.

Thank you for sharing your story.

Dana, 84?

Yeah.

You got 84?

Great.

Hello, I'm just gonna go from the hip on this.

I'm sure you can make something of it.

Respect the streets, have no doubt what the Lord's going to do.

A shout out to my kids and my three, or my three kids, Basically, I'm really grateful to be here.

I could have died like four times already, but I didn't, by the grace of God.

Some of you may have seen me around on the streets.

Some of the best relationships I've ever met, people that I've ever met on the street were the best relationships I've had.

Thank you to Co-Lead.

They've helped me.

I got hit in the head with a pipe so I forget things really easily.

When I got here I was in pretty sad shape.

But thank you to the community.

There is a need for medical out there.

I know for a fact that If somebody wanted to volunteer and go around helping people, I know they do.

That is a big need because bandages and being clean is very important.

Also the power of prayer.

You know, like the Lord said, wherever there I am in my name, in my name, there I am.

So we're not going to lose this battle.

Thank you.

Just thank you for being here and supporting the people on the streets because it's a big need.

That's where the real battle is, and thank you.

Thank you, and thank you for sharing your story with us.

We're going to go to 85, Jester Bradley.

For a group.

Your group, great.

What are your numbers?

85, 86, 87, 89. All the way to 89. All the way to 89.

Great, so 85 through 89?

Yeah, yeah.

Wonderful.

Great to see you all.

Good evening.

My name is Max.

I'm Liliana.

I'm Jester.

I'm Mango.

I'm Enzo.

And we are seniors at the Center School.

Police officers have always been one of the main departments receiving massive amounts of funding each and every year.

We know that this is an issue.

We think an increase in police funding could result in more violence against minority groups.

Police funding is important, but there are other more important places where the funding can go, like EMS, which brings us to our argument.

We want the council to take 30% of the funding towards police hiring and put 20% of it towards emergency medical services, EMS and 10% towards post overdose response team.

EMS needs more funding!

EMS is essential for saving lives and providing support for emergency situations such as fires, overdose, heart attacks, car crashes, and mental health episodes.

It's important that first responders are well-funded for proper training and hiring.

The more EMS we have can result in a net positive for the community.

EMS needs more funding.

The emergency medical services team deserves fair pay and training like any other department police, but police already have an overflow of funding while EMS and other emergency services are lacking funding and support.

With an increase in homelessness population and violence in Seattle, we need more emergency service in the city to help control situations and take care of people who need help.

We need more funding.

Additionally, police lack proper training to deal with mental health and neurodiversity, creating misunderstandings and false assumptions.

With more EMS first responders at the ready, mental health crises can be dealt with before any damage is done.

According to KUOW, not a single sworn officer has lost their job or pay due to budget constraints.

In fact, the department has consistently received more funding for hiring than it can spend, and yet the myth that the police department was defunded persists.

This was posted on April 4th, 2024, and we have confirmed this fact with City Budget Deputy Director Jeanette Blankenship.

EMS needs more funding.

We also need funding for post overdose response team to help Seattle citizens recover from drug addiction.

As we know, Seattle has an opioid crisis.

More EMS funding will support citizens suffering from addiction.

So in conclusion, EMS needs more funding.

Thank you.

We all want to say it together.

EMS needs more funding.

And please report back to the rest of your center school students.

For everyone here, the center school seniors from last year are the ones that brought back group public comment.

So let's all thank them now.

With that, we are moving on to 91. We are ticking through here.

I'm going to be smart enough not to try to say your name.

You got number 91?

Aine Abbey.

That's you?

Welcome to it.

And then Emijah Smith, Dominique Alex, Rachel Chevron, Crystal Brown, Stu Hennessey, Marissa Perez, and Marissa Torres.

Radu?

Radhi.

We'll get there in a moment.

Over to you.

Are you a group today?

Oh, no.

Yeah.

Do you want to speak as a group?

We always speak as community, but I'm going to use my

Okay, we're going to go individually today.

I want 430. So what are all of your names and then we'll do...

Do you want to speak by yourself and then the rest go as a group?

Yeah.

Sure.

Yes.

We'll do a group.

We'll do a group.

So we got number 91. Is it Myja Smith?

Yes.

92. You're Myja?

Yes.

Great.

And then Dominique?

She's not with our group.

Okay, Rachel?

Who was the third?

Did either of you all sign up from Tubman?

Ah, that's why.

Can we sign them up afterwards or no?

We're going to have each of you go individually if that would work better because we didn't I did not properly describe the rules and if I start breaking them now, everything's going to fall apart.

With that, over to you.

We're going to give you a minute each, a minute, 30 seconds.

All right.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you, Budget Chair Strauss and members of the council.

My name is Aina Abbey and I'm the CEO of the Tubman Center for Health and Freedom.

And we provide health services to your constituents and every single one of your districts.

and I'm here to say thank you.

Thank you so very much for investing in community care and solutions.

There are a lot of things going wrong, but there are things going right.

And investing in Tubman Health is doubling down on that solution.

I wanna thank Council Members Solomon, Rink, Hollingsworth and Juarez.

for your sponsorship and Chair Strauss for including Tubman Health Center in the balancing package.

Officially documented is OPCD007C1.

It's important, you know, my colleagues are standing here.

We're here on the front lines every day as researchers, as clinicians, as community members.

As you heard in the room, care is the most important thing in Seattle and that's what we're doing.

And so I wanna say thank you because these last five years wouldn't have happened without partnership between government and community.

We have built two community clinics.

We serve 54 zip codes in this county.

And with your investment into our third clinic, we'll be able to see an additional 10,000 community members in Rainier Beach.

And so this investment in capital is not just about a facility, it's about a community.

We ask you to please resource this proven community solution so we can provide an additional 159 FTEs and circulate $16 million annually amongst our people for our community.

Thank you.

And now, Maja, over to you, my friend.

Yes, thank you.

My name is, is it starting?

Okay.

My name is Imijah Smith.

So I'm a daughter of the historic black community in the Central District.

So I just wanted to first say that thanks to the council for being here.

Thank you for supporting, or I want to support 100% Joey Hollingworth's amendments.

I want to also just say really quickly, supporting the, I think it's Saka, Renick, and Solomon around the trees piece.

That's really, really important.

and as a board member, I wear a lot of hats in different spaces and places, but as a board member with Tubman Center for Health and Freedom, I also want to say thank you for the support that's in the budget, but if we can stretch that, you know, I know it's tough, but let's get the full six million.

So that's what we're asking for.

I feel like there's still more time here for me to speak.

I want to also just share I know it is really challenging and I've sat up here and I'm really listening to the folks who are unhoused and looking for more shelter.

And when I think about the Central District, why Joy Hollingsworth, Council Member Hollingsworth's amendment is so important is because we didn't get those resources when crack and addiction was placed in the black community.

And I'll even see south of the Ship Canal Bridge.

We didn't have these places to go as the people in the community in the homes.

So I definitely have, my heart goes out to that community, but that's all the more reason why we need to restore our community.

My son goes to Artfield, my granddaughter goes to Bailey Gassard.

That's my community in the Central District, yet when I'm in there with my family, I feel like I'm giving them a tour.

And so I want to be in my community, feel safe, feel welcomed, and people not look at me as a side eye like, why are you here?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Well said.

Dominique, welcome.

Hi, I'm Dominique Alex, CEO of Mary's Place.

The city has recently informed us that our Allen Family Center is losing $167,000 in funding from the Department of Early Education effective January 1st.

I respectfully ask that you reinstate the critical funding.

The Allen Family Center is a drop-in family resource center in South Seattle that serves families experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness.

Through partnerships working out of the Allen Family Center with Mary's Place, Bright Sparks, Mercy Housing, and Pathways to Progress Alliance, we provide essential resources including childcare navigation, play and learn groups, basic things like diapers and food, family showers, and housing navigation services.

The deal funding specifically supports our partnership with Bright Sparks, which provides childcare navigation for unhouse families, helping them identify programs, complete applications and navigate the complex subsidy program.

Without child care, parents cannot work or search for housing.

BrightSparks also provides plan learn groups specifically designed for sibling caregivers, older children who are caring for younger siblings while their parents try to stabilize their situation.

These families are living in shelters, in cars, and on the street, or just barely holding on to housing.

They're already facing impossible barriers.

Access to child care isn't a luxury.

It's a difference between a parent being able to work towards housing stability or remain housed.

Without that $167,000, we cannot continue the relationship with BrightSparks.

We appreciate your consideration.

Thank you.

Rachel?

Hi.

Good evening members of the council.

My name is Rachel Chevron and I'm the program manager and chef with the Finney Neighborhood Association's Hot Meal Program, a member of the Meals Partnership Coalition.

I'm here today to speak in favor of additional funding for meals programs.

We asked the city council to protect the $1 million in additional funding for meals included with the proposed 2026 budget.

We're also supporting an amendment to the budget sponsored by council member Hollingsworth and co-sponsored by council members Saka and Rank that would add funding for senior meals programs.

As I'm sure everyone can agree, we are living in politically unprecedented and unpredictable times.

However, hunger and broken food accessibility systems are nothing new.

Thankfully, Seattle has dozens of highly effective and efficient meal programs like my own that are poised and ready to meet the needs of our community's most marginalized neighbors.

This week, my program received fewer food donations from a reliable source because much of the product was diverted to a pop-up pantry at the airport to feed unpaid government workers.

Having access to unrestricted funds like the $1 million in the proposed 2026 budget allows meal programs like my own to react quickly, purchasing ingredients to fill unforeseen gaps.

I bring up this example not to highlight my discontent at a sadistic federal government, but to demonstrate how complex and fragile the food system is at this time and what organizations like the Meals Partnership Coalition are up against.

Thank you for the support and I urge the full council to ensure that these modest investments in meal programs are included in the final budget.

Thank you.

Thank you, Rachel.

Up next is Crystal Brown and then Stu Hennessy.

Hey, Crystal.

Thank you Councilmember Saka and Budget Chair Strauss for including the farmers market and BIA in your balancing package and your continued support and leadership in South Park and Duwamish Valley communities.

My name is Crystal Brown.

I'm the ED of Cultivate South Park and we focus on community centered work in South Park and the Duwamish Valley neighborhoods.

We advance food equity, arts and culture, youth leadership, small business economic development, and local ownership of commercial and civic spaces.

I'm proud to share we expanded support from approximately 100 households per month in 2020 to over 5,000 households per month in 2025 through food distribution and wellness programs.

we helped secure and activate over 30,000 square feet of community owned property representing more than five million in community asset value.

For every $1 of city funding we received, our organization leveraged an additional three to $4 from external funders.

We supported dozens of micro businesses and local entrepreneurs through markets, trainings, and events, generating both direct employment and indirect economic activity within the neighborhood and Duwamish Valley, which leads me to our current project, activating a commercial kitchen in the heart of South Park to support several food businesses and vendors in partnership with King County Public Health, as well as a 2,000 square foot third place to support all the community groups and residents and businesses in Duwamish Valley.

We would love to work with the support of City Council to help close the gap funding gap on this project, which will continue to increase prosperity, sustainability, and well-being of South Thank you.

Thank you.

Stu Hennessy is up next.

And Stu, you were virtual but didn't speak virtually, correct?

Yeah.

For some reason, I couldn't handle the technology.

I can't either on a good day.

Oh, no way.

Well, thank you, Council Members, and thank you for hanging out so long.

First of all, I want to thank Council Member Saka for proposing at the Admiral Junction in West Seattle.

would be funded for some walkability improvements.

It is an area where California Avenue and Admiral Way intersection as well as the adjacent intersections of 42nd Avenue Southwest and Southwest Lander Street experience daily dangers.

Given that there are multiple senior housing and three public schools in the small area, the funding will go a little way further to help us ensure safety.

Perhaps it could be used for a study and design to truly make a walkable, friendly neighborhood that will not prohibit many residents from even wanting to enter or leave their houses.

For instance, the Brookdale senior citizens, they need to be able to come out and feel safe that they can actually be out in the streets, go to the stores and do the things daily.

and don't feel trapped in.

As we do our walkthroughs with SDOT, it's important for us to consider ourselves or imagine ourselves as those people that are in a walker or disabled and whether or not they can get across five lanes of traffic, five lanes in 15 seconds or less.

Many of those residents are staying indoors for the fear and also the indignity of this.

Also, I remember Denny's.

and also Montgomery Warrants.

So to close, I just want to say that the walkability is the ability to safely cross streets, not the sidewalks so much, but the ability to safely cross streets.

Thank you.

Thank you, Sue.

Real quick, you remember the Denny's in Lake City or a different Denny's?

Lake City.

It was on Lake City in...

I think it was really close to 145th.

All right, all right.

Now we're getting into...

Now I might be losing my point with Council Member Juarez.

This was before Google Maps, right?

Unfortunately, well, that's the interesting part about parts of our city that got less attention is they don't have street view to the back as far as other parts of our city.

Marissa, over to you.

Good to see you.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Marissa Perez.

I am a resident of District 1, and I serve as the Executive Director of the Seattle Human Services Coalition.

We represent over 200 organizations providing essential services across the city.

I do wanna acknowledge, though, that we represent far more than those agencies.

As you can see by the many community members wearing red scarves tonight, Seattle itself truly believes in fully funding human services.

We want to thank the mayor and the council for the increased funding for human services across nearly every sector of our community.

However, it will not be enough to protect our most vulnerable residents and community members from the cruelty of the federal administration and its actions.

Please support amendments HSD 047, HSD 061 through 64 and SDCI 001 and restore the amounts that were requested by our member coalitions, including $500,000 for senior services, $1 million for tenant services, and $1 million for gender-based violence services.

We ask that you protect investments in wage equity for human service staff and increases for food banks and meal programs, strengthening the human services sector at this time of increased need and instability.

This is a critical moment.

Agencies are being rocked by federal cuts, which are impacting the overall capacity and resilience of the human service system.

We desperately need City Council to continue to prioritize funding for human services to protect our community and the agencies who serve our neighbors.

Thank you.

Thank you, Marissa.

Amarantha Torres followed by Reedy or Redoo?

Reedy.

Reedy.

Hi there.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Amarantha Torres, and I'm the co-executive director of the Coalition Ending Gender-Based Violence and co-chair of the Seattle Human Services Coalition.

Our 30-plus member programs support survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and trafficking every day in our communities, and they're why we're here, to urge you to support HSD amendments 061 through 064. I especially want to thank Councilmember Rink, Councilmember Kettle, and Councilmember Solomon for your leadership and support on these amendments and Budget Chair Strauss for including them in the balancing package.

Advocates support survivors in court, in hospitals, in police stations, in confidential shelters, in school, and at home.

Advocates work in any system that survivors are navigating to ensure that they are supported as they seek safety, dignity, and self-determination from the impacts of abuse.

Investing in advocacy is therefore also investing in effective homelessness prevention, public safety, equity, and access to justice.

These amendments will help provide critical local funding so programs can keep their doors open to all survivors in our city.

So we ask for your support.

Lastly, in solidarity with our partners who work to support affordable housing, immigrant communities, and human services, we also support restoring tenant services, stabilizing funding for homeless youth, investing in wage equity for human service workers, making funding, this is a long list, sorry, making funding to OIRA ongoing, and all of the updated budget recommendations from Seattle Human Services Coalition.

So thank you so much for the time to speak today.

and thank you for helping me with my pronunciation across the evening.

Ridi, over to you.

Thank you.

Good evening, council members.

I'm Ridi Mukhopade, the executive director at the Sexual Violence Law Center.

I'm also a longtime resident in District 1. SVLC provides free legal representation to survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking, trafficking, and child sexual abuse throughout the city.

with nearly 70% of our clients identifying as BIPOC and approximately one-third of our clients identifying as having a disability.

Each of our attorneys serve 100 survivors each year, and funding cuts, we are now looking at reducing three attorney positions.

On behalf of the survivors we serve, SVLC is asking you to support the HSD amendments 061 through 064 and the Seattle Human Services Coalition's budget recommendations.

Our colleagues, our team, and the survivors we work with are looking locally to you to be bold and generous as federal and state systems fail survivors in other communities.

When legal services, community advocacy, and safety nets such as housing, counseling and workforce support for survivors are deprioritized or underfunded.

There are significant increases in domestic and sexual violence incidents, community safety is compromised, and lethality increases.

It's for these reasons we ask you to support HSD amendments 061 through 064, and thank you for the sponsors for your amendments and for this opportunity.

Thank you, Rudi.

We have about 46 more people to go.

So we are on number 102, Jesse Wasson, you're up next, followed by Hallie Willis, Sarah Dickmeyer, Carlo Alcantara, Mike N, Rita M, Lisa K, Lily Hayward, and Jessica Castellanos.

With that, welcome, Jessie.

Good to see you.

Hello.

Hi, council members.

It's so good to see you tonight.

My name is Jessie Wass, and I'm the deputy director for Inspire Washington.

We are the state's cultural advocacy organization.

We support the very important and uplifting programs in science, heritage, and the arts for every community in Washington state.

Today I'm here to convey our support for Amendment Arts 9B1 sponsored by Councilmember Rank, Hollingsworth and Strauss in the chair's balancing package.

This amendment is to correct a small clerical error that will ensure that all funding collected from admission tax will go to the Office of Arts and Culture.

I understand that this is kind of a confusing amendment, but I really do believe that this is what will be important to ensure that arts funding is equitably distributed across our city.

I also just really want to thank and express my gratitude for all of your support and commitment to maintaining the Office of Arts and Culture and all the incredible programs that they offer for our city.

Thank you so much for your time and for being here tonight.

Good to see you all.

Thank you, Jesse.

Great to see you as well.

Hallie Willis?

Welcome.

Thank you.

You got it right.

Finally.

200 times a tip.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Hallie Willis.

I'm a renter in District 5, and I'm the policy manager at the Coalition on Homelessness, which represents over 60 organizations that house, shelter, and care for people in our community.

In partnership with the Human Services Coalition, I'm here to urge you to significantly increase the reserve in the mayor's proposed budget for federal cuts to housing so that people can keep their home when HUD defunds our community.

The feds are already ripping the rug out from under people who are hungry, homeless, and barely getting by.

This budget needs to batten down the hatches so we can take care of our own in this city.

I want to thank Council Members Strauss, Kettle, Rink, and others for elevating this important issue and the dire need to sustain thousands of people's homes that are at risk of HUD COC cuts.

I urge you to prioritize funding for homes through HSD 073, significantly increase the mayor's proposed reserve for federal cuts, and fully restore tenant services to protect people's homes.

Thank you.

Thank you, Hallie.

Sarah Dickmeyer, number 104, and then Carlo 105. I'd probably use the taller one.

Hello, council.

My name is Sarah Dickmeyer.

I'm the external first man.

Sarah, use the taller, yeah.

Apologies.

Better?

Hello?

My name is...

Hello?

It seems awkward to stand so close to it, but it's what you should.

Yes.

All right.

Hello, all.

My name is Sarah Dickmeyer, and I'm the External Affairs Manager at Plymouth Housing.

We operate permanent supportive housing for nearly 1,400 Seattle residents who have successfully transitioned out of homelessness.

We have 11 buildings in District 7, two in District 2, and then one in District 3 and 6 each, for a total of 15 in the city.

We provide wraparound stability services, including case management, support for chronic conditions, and 24-7 staffing that altogether prevent returns to homelessness more than 95% of the time.

But our work and the supports of our residents rely on are facing threats from many directions, from attempts to weaponize continuum of care funding, a federal shutdown endangering basic assistance, the chronic underfunding of operations and frontline wages and the growing cost of building maintenance and basic daily living on top of a tax on people's right to belong.

Our asks tonight are to prioritize sustaining funding for existing shelter, housing, and human services and to keep our community support system intact, to increase reserves for federal cuts, and to reconsider including additional wage adjustments for housing and homelessness service workers.

It takes people to help people.

But mostly we urge, as you weigh your final decisions, to ask, who is this serving?

Will this budget keep people safe, healthy, and in their homes?

And will we be better equipped to handle more federal cuts and chaos targeted at our community's most vulnerable?

Thank you.

And if I may, you're talking about the Enterprise?

Yeah.

On Lake City Way?

Yes.

Proud Lake City gal over here.

It was a Denny's, right?

It was a Denny's.

There we go.

All right.

My family walked there in the snow after we lost power one night for dinner.

All right, Councilmember Juarez, you see this?

We're going to roll the tape back.

Thank you, Sarah.

Carlo, you're up next, followed by Mike, Rita, Lisa.

Carlo, great to see you.

Good to see you.

Thank you for staying here this late.

Yes, my name is Carlo Alcantara.

I am here representing Aurora Reimagined Coalition.

I'm requesting the council support on a few amendments.

The first one's S.022SA and 025SA.

Improving the safety and reliability of our highest ridership buses.

That's the 7, the 8, and the E.

They aren't just a transit issue.

They're equity issues as well.

So we need to start painting some of these bus lanes red.

but also supporting the SLI that asks SDOT to measure the environmental impact of these transit projects and all transit projects across the city need to get us or will help us meet our climate and equity goals.

Councilmember Rink stated it best that we can't manage what we don't measure.

So if we're serious about the climate issue and we're serious about equity, we need to know how our transportation investments are moving the needle forward.

I'm also asking support for implementation of the State Shared Streets Bill, that's S.042SA, and then finally to support OPCD 011A for the Northern Lights Project.

This amendment's going to provide funding for long-term planning that's currently lacking for the Aurora Corridor.

Last year, we came out here asking the Council to refund the North Aurora Planning Study.

and you guys did refund it.

And so we're asking to make good on that promise to keep and conduct the long-term study for transformational planning and change that Aurora needs.

Thank you.

Thank you, Carlo.

Mike N.

Mike Dickram here.

So I'm here to actually ask for a reduction in some of the budget.

Maybe you could reuse this money in better areas.

I'm a homemaker, and I've been doing this for a little bit.

As a matter of fact, I'm going to throw out some W's to Bruce.

He and I were teammates at Washington.

Since then, I've built a few hundred homes around the Seattle area.

and inside the city.

One thing I need to be able to build a home, and I build, by the way, net zero, four-star build green homes.

I sell them below the medium price point for the city of Seattle, but I need permits, and I'm not getting permits.

I'm now 13 months into waiting for my current set of permits.

Last summer, getting a little fed up with this, I engaged some Microsoft former clients of mine.

We developed an AI program that could do complete permit review in less time than I was spent at this microphone.

and by engaging now and saving on your $750,000 you want to spend on AI review, we now have AI right now that can fully vet building permits.

I want to be able to engage with you guys and then by this time next year, you're going to be able to reassign about 80% of the people with SDCI and help take care of some of these other needs.

So let us know.

Engage with the master builders.

Software is here.

It's ready.

It's now.

We don't need to spend any more time studying it.

What we need to do is implement it, and that way I can get scores of thousands of dollars off each home I build due to the holding costs that you guys incur me when I can't get a building permit.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mike.

Up next is Rita, followed by Lily, and then Jessica.

We're going to do a group of 107. 149.

All right, hang on, hang on.

149 and 151.

I didn't even know we got there.

Cool.

Shall we start?

Just one second.

Oh, okay.

Thank you.

At your convenience, take it away.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Council President Nelson, Council Member Strauss, Council Member Solomon, and Council Member Rink for including us in the proposed budget in support of the historic Arc Lodge Heritage Pride of Seattle.

I'm Rita Meher, the co-founder and the ED of Tasvir.

This funding is essential for improvements to ArcLodge Cinema, which is now a global cultural hub in Seattle, now called Tasweer Film Center.

It is the headquarters of the world's only Oscar qualifying South Asian Film Festival in Seattle, and audiences attended from 23 countries across the globe.

We want them to experience this building positively with accessibility, and when they go back, remember it fondly.

We also contribute to the local and citywide economy from SeaTac to downtown hotels to businesses in Columbia City as we work to shape the neighborhood into the vibrant cultural corridor in post-pandemic recovery.

We host the Pacific Northwest only film market, which draws industry leaders from Hollywood, from Netflix to MGM Studios, creating creative jobs for Seattle community.

The suite is a Seattle's treasure that's invested and invest in and grow what we have built together.

Hello, again thank you for including us in the budget.

My name is Farah Noshin and I'm also a co-founder of the SWE which was founded in 2002 and I'm a current board member.

The SWE has brought 23 years of economic and cultural richness to the city of Seattle.

We have collaborated with numerous local community organizations and businesses organizing over 800 arts and cultural events.

and now we have grown into an internationally known name in South Asia itself along with everywhere that South Asian diaspora reside.

Today, I'm also speaking as an independent artist and resident of Artspace Mount Baker Lofts in the Rainier Valley, which is now Desperage New Homes as the owners of Arc Lodge Cinema as of March 2025. and we have hosted several community events including our signature film festival and market which brought people from India, New Zealand, France, England and all over the US as well as across the water from the east side.

In the short time that SWEA has been here, we have economically and culturally supported numerous businesses, restaurants, bars, rental spaces, non-profit organizations, independent artists, Uber, Lyft drivers, public transportation, hotel art, Airbnb homes, etc. in my neighborhood and beyond.

So in this critical moment of culture and arts, we are in need of cities funding to run a historic art theater located in a marginal area of Seattle.

So as running a theater requires expenses and opportunities for jobs and equipment and investment will benefit and enrich the city of Seattle and its south end neighborhoods and connect the local to the global and national art communities.

Hi, my name is Swapnil.

I'm also one of the board members at the SWIR and thank you for including us in your budget.

I would start with saying that the funding for any cultural project is actually an investment and it's not spending.

Every dollar that is invested returns more in taxes by the enhanced economic activity.

The SWIR has a proven 23 years of record with local, national, and global recognition.

Just last month, we had our Film Festival, which was visited by people across the globe.

Seattle, which is en route to being a global cosmopolitan destination, would enhance that by attracting people from across different countries and continents.

Since we are in a technical or tech hub Seattle, I would like to leave you all with a tech metaphor of where Tessweer falls into all this.

It is that if filmmaking facilities is funded by public money in Seattle, it would act like a hardware and Tessweer is a vital software for that.

So with that, I would relinquish my time.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you all so much.

Up next we have Lisa Kois followed by Lily Hayward and Jessica Castellanos.

Welcome, Lisa.

Thank you.

My name is Lisa Coyes and I am here on behalf of Tesfier Film Center to express my gratitude to Council President Nelson for her amendment and Council Members Solomon and Rink for their co-sponsorship and to Chair Strauss for including Tesfier Film Center in the balancing package.

These are exceptional times we are living in and the needs of our communities as we're hearing tonight and those most vulnerable within our communities are great.

At a time when civil discourse is challenged, when the dominant narrative being put forward is one of erasure, violence, and authoritarianism, it is vital that we protect community spaces that center the lived experiences of the global majority and make those spaces accessible.

The Arc Lodge in Columbia City has a long history as a cultural center dating back to 1920 when it was originally built as a Freemason Lodge and then for decades as an art house cinema serving Columbia City and more broadly the Central District in South Seattle.

Movie houses have the power to bring people together to share experience and create and promote connection and dialogue, educate and inspire.

We need more of these spaces in today's fractured world.

Tesvir is in a unique position to not only revive this cultural cornerstone of Arc Lodge, but also to deepen the cultural and economic impact in the community as the Tesvir Film Center extending Tesvir mission of uplifting South Asian voices in storytelling to more broadly creating space dedicated to the voices and the stories of the global majority.

Lisa, up next is Lily Hayward followed by Jessica.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Lily Hayward here with the Seattle Metro Chamber.

First, we wanna thank you, council members, for maintaining many of the investments in Mayor Harrell's proposed budget, including those in public safety, economic development, and homelessness response.

We know from our index polling that these are the priorities voters care most about, so we thank you very much for including them in the balancing package.

and we just want to point out that while the latest revenue forecast projects very modest economic growth when compared to previous projections prior this year, the reality is that our region's economic future remains uncertain and voters and employers alike continue to be concerned by rising costs.

The balancing package before you accomplishes a balance of fiscal responsibility while maintaining investments in many of the key issues that you hear tonight, and we encourage you to stick with this strategy.

We also encourage council members to support amendments that bolster accountability for how tax dollars are spent, ensure transparency in city operations and outcomes, and improve those outcomes for residents and businesses alike.

Thank you for considering amendments that will help us make progress on key issues and focusing on keeping Seattle's economy strong and competitive as you finalize this year's budget.

Thanks so much.

Thank you.

Up next is Jessica.

Good evening.

I'm here with my colleagues from Kids in Need of Defense, and we're going to present as a group.

Wonderful.

And what are the other numbers?

111 and 112.

111. Alexander and Kelsey?

Wonderful.

Yes.

Okay.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Jessica Castianos, and I'm the managing director of Kids Needed Defense, our Seattle office.

KIND provides direct legal services to unaccompanied children and youth in Seattle and across Washington state.

We respectfully urge you to include an additional $4 million to expand funding for immigrant communities on a sustained basis rather than one-time funding.

This is a lifeline that ensures Seattle stands up against the inhumane practices of the federal government by caring for some of our most vulnerable community members.

When I spoke to you all earlier this spring, unaccompanied children and youth were facing an unprecedented crisis, and that crisis is still with us today.

Unaccompanied children and youth are seeking safety and stability, arriving in our country alone after dangerous journeys.

They are then forced to face the immigration system that is harmful and built to return children to the dangers they were originally fleeing from.

Without legal help, they must face the system entirely on their own.

Because of your investment, especially through the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, KIND and our partner organizations have been able to continue representing unaccompanied children and youth, even as our federal contract hangs by a thread, renewed only every three months.

Your support has made it possible for unaccompanied children and youth in Seattle to have someone by their side when they would otherwise have no one, and it's enabled my office to remain open.

but the threats are growing and unaccompanied children and youth are now a focus of increased immigration enforcement.

It is clear the crisis facing them is more acute than ever.

Our city must stand strong, must not abandon its children nor the immigration advocates fighting to serve them.

Thank you so much for your ongoing support and in particular council members Solomon, Rink, Nelson and Strauss.

Thank you so much.

Good evening, council members.

My name is Alexandra Carrasco, and I'm the supervising paralegal of Kind Seattle's office.

All children deserve stability, and this is why I'm here today, asking for additional funding for ORIAA.

I've sat beside children in immigration court while they faced proceedings that could determine the trajectory of their lives.

While leaving the courtroom, I watched children's eyes widen in fear as ICE officials lined the walls and the hallways, which was our only exit.

The children searched for me for safety and security.

I witnessed the emotional toll of funding instability on a child's mental health.

When federal funding for legal services were cut, I was forced to step out of my current role, and I lost contact with many clients.

When I returned to Kind, I reconnected with the client and found his mental health had significantly deteriorated.

He felt abandoned, depressed, and anxious.

Upon my return, I was able to advocate for him to receive the services he needed.

I've had to tell children they would no longer have an attorney due to funding loss.

The child sat, scared of the future, feeling alone and with tears in their eyes.

I've also been able to tell children that our funding was restored.

The relief expressed in their body language and facial expressions was evident.

Seattle as I know it is a city that values compassion, justice and inclusion.

and by providing additional funding of legal services for unaccompanied children, we are upholding their rights and providing them with a support system.

Let's be the city that meets hope with help.

Thank you.