Transportation Committee 9/16/2025

Captions by Red Bee Media

All right.

Good morning.

The September 16th, 2025 meeting of the Transportation Committee will come to order.

It is 9.33 a.m.

I am Rob Saka, Chair of the Transportation Committee.

Will the committee clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Kettle.

Here.

Councilmember Rink.

Present.

Strauss is excused.

Vice Chair Hollingsworth.

Here.

Chair Saka.

Here.

Chair, there are four members present.

All right.

I note that Councilmember Strauss is excused from today's meeting.

If there is no objection, colleagues, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing and seeing no objection, the agenda is hereby adopted.

Thank you all for attending today's meeting of the Transportation Committee.

This will be our final meeting of this committee until after the budget.

I want to start However, with some reporting late last week on Friday night, colleagues, I mentioned this during council briefing yesterday, some reporting in the Seattle Times that I first learned about.

But last week, the West Seattle Bridge experienced a major streetlight power outage reportedly caused by vandalism targeting critical electrical and our transportation infrastructure.

These illegal acts are not only dangerous, posing serious risks to drivers, commuters, transit riders, and the like, but also come at a significant cost financially to our city.

I personally witnessed individuals stripping copper wire while riding the bus, riding transit, which in my view highlights how widespread and pervasive and oftentimes visible this issue has become.

Our city must remain committed to working across departments in a truly one Seattle way, together alongside our regional partners, to identify effective strategies to prevent these kind of attacks on our critical electrical and transportation infrastructure and systems.

I would also like to take a brief moment to highlight the recent implementation of My office has worked in close collaboration with the South Park community, including the Duwamish River Community Coalition, Cultivate South Park, local businesses and, of course, parents to advance long overdue The effort has included multiple site visits and walking tours with my office, community and SDOT to evaluate the conditions This particular corridor serves as a busy freight arterial and tragically has been the site of two fairly recent pedestrian fatalities within the last year alone.

However, through sustained advocacy over the last year and a half, we have now secured the installation of speed cushions and raised crosswalk markings.

More is needed and more is on the work plan for SDOT.

But I do want to take a moment and pause, reflect, and in this case, celebrate some initial good news and how our city, how as executed by the department, is working to be as responsive to communities as possible to create safe systems and safe streets for all.

I want to personally extend my appreciation to the mayor's office, SDOT, Director Emery, Chief Safety Officer Vinu, shout out to Vinu, for their partnership and leadership and being willing to show such level of responsiveness and their shared commitment for me and my office and impacted communities to do more and be impatient about these issues.

The successful implementation of these improvements required complex coordination across departments, including with the Seattle Fire Department, to maintain appropriate emergency access as well as support from our regional partners.

However, these traffic calming measures are an important advancement in our efforts to reduce vehicle speeds and create safer, more accessible crossings for South Park residents and visitors.

Again, further improvements and upgrades are on the way.

In the work plan, this initiative does truly exemplify how collaborative, community-driven approaches can lead to effective and responsive governance.

Thank you again to the department.

Next, I want to talk about recent discussions at the Sound Transit Board level, affecting not only West Seattle, but our city's entire Sound Transit light rail network.

There have been discussions about the removal of The Avalon stations, one of three stations as part of Sound Transit's expansion into West Seattle.

In my view, this is completely unacceptable.

And I hearken back into my days as a product lawyer working with helping teams innovate and ship and launch brand new innovations, brand new products.

In the product development space, there's this notion of MVP, minimally viable product.

MVP, minimally viable products, reflects the core, essential features that need to be included in the V1 release of any new project, the version 1 release of any new product.

You can always add and chain on more features later, but in terms of viability, of the long-term viability of a product, there is a minimum bar.

And I think three stations Having three stations across West Seattle reflect the MVP in terms of minimum number of stations required to make sure that this important transit infrastructure project is viable and we have good ridership.

I'm concerned about the possible removal of this station as a supporter of this project.

And I believe the inclusion of Avalon Station, again, is a bare minimum requirement, is part of the core functionality of this project.

We can always build more later, but that's the bare minimum.

So I will continue to advocate for the expansion of light rail in West Seattle, as well as strong transparency, accountability, and when necessary, to the full extent possible, mitigation efforts.

It's another concern of my office, even though I don't sit on the sound transit board.

All impacted residents and small businesses need to be made whole to the full extent possible as a result of decisions to expand and now people have to relocate.

All right.

That said, moving on to today's agenda, we have several important items.

to vote on heading into this important budget season.

Our first two agenda items relate to implementing the District Project Fund, which we briefed and discussed in committee at our last committee meeting earlier this month.

We had a discussion on it at the prior committee meeting in August, and before the legislation was ready, we had another discussion at the concept level.

So this would reflect our fourth conversation about this.

Going forward, I will be looking for ways to support this program beyond the budget cycle.

Next, we have a likely vote on a proposed new e-cargo bike program.

This innovative legislation supports our city's climate agenda, decreasing congestion, and supporting Vision Zero's safety investments, which is a significant priority for me and my office.

I have offered two amendments, which I think will help strengthen this legislation.

We will then have a presentation from SDOT regarding the three-year implementation plan for the Seattle Transportation Plan, colleagues, as you'll recall, which we passed last year.

Looking forward to the committee refresher on this, as well as digging into how SDOT will implement it on a three-year cycle, with more granularity and details associated with that.

Finally, we have legislation from SDOT, which I would describe as a technical change related to an error on previously passed legislation by the council pertaining to a name change, an entity name change.

Throw clearing aside, we will now open the hybrid public comment period.

Public comments should relate to items on today's agenda and within the purview of this committee.

Clerk, how many speakers are signed up today?

Currently we have two in-person speakers signed up and there is one remote.

Excellent.

Each speaker will have approximately two minutes.

We will start with the in-person speakers first.

Clerk, can you please read the public comment instructions?

Public comment period will be moderated in the following manner.

The public comment period is up to 20 minutes.

Speakers will be called in the order in which they registered.

Speakers will alternate between sets of in-person remote speakers until the public comment period is ended.

Speakers will hear a chime when 10 seconds are left of their time.

Speakers' mics will be muted if they do not end their comments within the allotted time to allow us to call on the next speaker.

The public comment period is now open.

We will begin with the first speaker on the list.

Gordon Paddleford.

Gordon, speak very closely into the mic.

How's that?

That is very good.

Okay.

Good morning, council members.

My name's Gordon Pedalford.

I'm the executive director of Seattle Neighborhood Greenways.

Thank you for your time this morning.

On your agenda is the SDOT draft work plan, and there's some great things in there.

I think a lot of great ideas from this council reflected in there, from the mayor's office, and the voters of Seattle with the levy.

One thing I want to call out is I think we need to zoom out, especially as a transportation committee, and really look at some of the goals we're holding them accountable to.

Vision Zero, for instance, there's a lot of great Vision Zero projects in there.

We were just hearing about a great project in South Park.

I'm really excited about that one to save lives.

Sorry, I'll speak more into the mic.

But looking at the systemic level, are we making progress?

That, I think, is an important role for this committee to think about in terms of accountability.

And the answer currently is no.

We're not making significant progress on our Vision Zero goals.

So we need to look really hard at that and figure out how we're going to get that back on track.

Estat has good folks.

They're doing good projects.

Those projects are keeping people safe.

But at the systemic level, we're not making sufficient progress.

And the same is true for our climate and our mode shift goals.

I'm in District 3, I'm a resident.

The RapidRide G-Line is moving more people than ever, which is awesome.

But if you look at our bus ridership overall, we're not moving enough people onto transit right now.

Same thing is true for walking and biking.

And so how do we think about not only the individual projects, which are good, but the system as a whole and how we're meeting our goals as a city on climate, on safety, on equity, all of these different things that we care deeply about as a city.

And with my 30 seconds remaining, I will just say on the comp plan, throwback to last Friday, we have an opportunity to make Seattle a lot more walkable.

44% of Seattleites can walk to something they need in their daily lives, whether that's a drugstore or a grocery store.

But with the neighborhood center's idea and with Corner stores or whatever we're going to rebrand them as, there's an opportunity to make even more parts of Seattle walkable.

Because if you can't walk to your daily necessities, we can have recreational sidewalks for walking your dog, but you can't get your kids to school.

You can't run your errands.

So that's just one plug for a more walkable comp plan.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Last in-person speaker, Jason Lee.

Good morning, council members.

My name is Jason Lee, and I co-lead the Fixed Late Campaign, and I'm here today to advocate for bus lanes on Denny Way.

I was here two weeks ago to discuss the flaws in SDOT's decision to reject bus lanes on Denny.

Transit is how we fixed traffic, and their numbers just didn't make sense to us.

So since then, we have asked SDOT, how many drivers did your traffic study assume would switch to taking the bus?

Their answer was zero.

It is completely absurd to think that drivers would ignore a bus that would save them over half an hour on their commute.

SDOT and the mayor's office have repeatedly claimed to put transit first, so why do they think that people will put transit last?

Shersaka, I know you care a lot about good governance, so I ask you, why did SDOT spend nearly two years of time and taxpayer money on a transit study that ignores transit?

What was the point in studying a bus lane that they thought nobody would use?

How did leadership approve a study with such a grossly negligent oversight?

When we expand our roads and highways, we don't assume that people will ignore the new lanes.

When we permit new housing, we don't assume that the units will sit empty.

You talked about Avalon Station earlier.

Imagine how frustrated you would feel if Sound Transit came to you and said, zero people are going to use this new station.

So why is it any different for this bus study?

Better transit is the best way to get people out of their cars, and the data shows that it's working.

The Seattle Times recently reported that car ownership rates in Seattle have dropped by nearly 10% since 2017. This is incredible, and we need to keep up the momentum, but that won't happen if SDOT keeps assuming that drivers are physically incapable of leaving their cars.

So I ask you, please direct Estot to revisit this transit study on Denny Way and to do it right this time by counting for mode shift.

They did it for the Madison BRT study, and they can do it for Denny Way.

Thank you.

Thank you.

OK, we will now go to our looks like one remote speaker.

Valerie Heidi Mudra, sorry for mispronunciation.

Valerie, once I allow you to speak, remember to hit star six.

Thank you.

Hello, Valerie Heidi Mudra, Belltown resident.

Good morning.

Last week, petitions with over 250 signatures and a cover letter were presented to Council with a copy of the cover letter to all council members regarding concerns about scooters, e-bikes, and bicycles on city sidewalks.

These petitions share concerns about pedestrian and rider safety, as well as the aesthetics of the transport haphazardly abandoned on city sidewalks, doorways, and crosswalks.

As recently as yesterday, there was an article by Naomi Isisaka in the Seattle Times, scooter injuries are on the rise in Seattle.

The Seattle Times also noted in a study that cargo bicycles rode on the sidewalk 37% of the time.

The petition submitted requested that the city review current policies and procedures related to these transports.

Until such times as these issues are resolved, the council should not consider allowing e-cargo bikes.

A few issues.

A $69 parking infraction is proposed.

Does this include on city sidewalks?

What is the mechanism for enforcement?

What about riding in violation of traffic rules, i.e., wrong way, not abiding by traffic lights?

Specifically, what is a pedestrian zone?

Why not say sidewalks?

For the Pedestrian Master Implementation Plan, the intent was to rapidly advance pedestrian-focused policies and initiatives that promote safety and accessibility for people who walk.

The introduction of scooters and e-bikes definitely has not supported this policy.

This legislation does not as well.

I have a general concern that these e-cargo bikes will be used in a manner similar to scooters and e-bikes, jeopardizing the safety of anyone walking on the city sidewalks.

I walk regularly.

For the most part, bike lanes are not used.

We do not need these additional transports on both sidewalks and city streets, feeding, zipping in and around pedestrian vehicles, and not abiding by traffic rules, i.e., going the wrong way, ignoring traffic lights.

listening to this and would like to hear your comments.

Thank you.

That concludes the public comment.

Thank you and just want to say a special thanks to the public commenters who took the time to show up physically and online to share their feedback with us.

I'll say Mr. Paddleford, the reminder that we need to kind of zoom out and focus on the strategic big picture with respect to whether our city is achieving some of these ambitious climate goals or safety goals, really important.

That's something that me and my office are thinking.

Very, very closely about and no doubt my colleagues are as well and we'll have opportunity shortly to address some of that.

Appreciate the comments about micro mobility and e-scooters and the safety or potentially lack thereof in some cases of those.

I do strongly support micro mobility options and expanding those and making it easier for people to get around, particularly on these last The last mile connections.

But we also must, we have a solemn responsibility to ensure people do so safely.

So for example, me and my office have been in close touch with some of the scooter operators like Linebike.

We've received a number of constituent concerns across Seattle pertaining to safety of those, including in my own district in High Point.

And so that's a top of mind issue for me as well.

And then finally, the Denny way suggestion.

I don't know what the best optimal solution is to address the Denny way situation on specifically the late eight, the route eight bus.

But I do know that I think, well, I do believe, I think there's more that our city can do to better address that.

And I am working with the mayor's office now to figure out if there's a revised course of action we can take.

And wasn't involved in the department's decision making in their current proposal, but I do know that they have a lot of factors to consider.

So in any event, working with the mayor's office now to see what more we could do.

All right.

Since there are no additional registered speakers, we will now proceed on to our first item of business.

Will the clerk please read items one and two into the record?

Agenda item one, resolution 32179, a resolution regarding the operation of a council district fund slash district project fund as provided in the 2025 adopted budget and 2025 through 2030 capital improvement program through council budget action S.003A1.

Agenda Item 2, Council Bill 121058, an ordinance relating to the Seattle Department of Transportation, amending Ordinance 127156, which adopted the 2025 budget, including the 2025 through 2030 capital improvement program, renaming the Council District Fund CIP project to the District Project Fund CIP project and lifting a proviso.

All right, thank you.

Looks like our presenters has joined us at the table.

Welcome.

Please introduce yourself and when ready, begin your presentation.

Good morning, Council Members.

Calvin Chow with Council Central Staff.

Chair, in your opening comments, you mentioned that this issue had been into the committee several times this year.

So just a reminder of what's in front of the committee.

There are two pieces of legislation.

The first is a resolution that sort of establishes the operating parameters for the district project fund.

It articulates how the department will work with individual council district offices to administer those funds, select projects, and evaluate them, and then get them eventually to construction, as well as reporting and some of the other sort of high-level expectations for the program.

The second piece of legislation is an ordinance that actually provides them the budget authority to spend the money.

The money is currently under proviso in the 25 budget.

And then as a reminder, the project fund is funded for this year and next year, but does not have funding after 2026.

Got it.

Thank you.

So as Mr. Chow reminded us, colleagues, this has been before committee a number of times.

I co-wrote the resolution alongside the department and the mayor's office, and it reflects all the feedback that we had in various committee meetings on the same exact topic, and now it's time to move it out of committee.

Well, before we get there, do any of my fellow committee members have any questions or comments on resolution 32179?

Oh, council member Ring.

Thank you, Chair, for the opportunity to speak on this and just ask a couple of final questions.

I know we've heard this in committee a couple of times, but just a couple of final questions before we take action today, because I know I've certainly received a number of questions just about process for selection of projects and level of discretion over decision making.

So a question for Calvin.

We know that SDOT does extensive community engagement in all of our projects and has developed an identified list of prospective projects.

Is there any standard for community engagement and input for these specific projects?

Or will that just be at the discretion of council offices?

I guess I would say that this is meant to be sort of an extra layer on top of what SDOT already does with their community involvement projects.

Part of this process is making sure that district council members have a list of the projects that SDOT has already heard about and knows that there are some interesting issues out there that haven't necessarily raised to the highest priority for the next dollar of SDOT budget, essentially.

So I think the intention there is that it gives the district council members some sense of where the department has prioritized those issues, and then this fund is meant to have the district give some resources to the district council member to address So I wouldn't say that there's nothing in here that articulates a specific outreach standard or piece of it, but it is built on all the work that SDOT already does.

Understood.

Thank you for that.

And thinking towards even future council members and folks who may sit up on this day is someday I'm thinking about And so what recourse is there if there are projects selected by a council member that are in opposition to our official stated transportation, climate vision zero, or other goals?

They shouldn't be.

These projects will go through an evaluation process that is built on what our existing policy documents are.

So this isn't...

This project relies on the district council member to help identify the issues and sort of the project concerns, and then it goes into a feasibility and evaluation phase with SDOT to actually develop the project.

And that may mean that the project, as conceptualized, is infeasible, and there may be other options to address it that get to an underlying concern but aren't the specific improvement that was in mind.

Great.

Thank you for clarifying that point.

And my final question is just another clarification point.

What role does the levy oversight board have, or do they have any power or influence over these decisions?

It's a bit of a reporting requirement.

So there is a portion of levy money that does fund a portion of these projects.

Typically, there'll be, you know, in some of the, specifically the safety funds, I think, are most likely where there's going to be crossover.

So it has to be reported as part of the spending of levy funding.

I think the Levy Oversight Committee will also probably opine on the effectiveness of this program over time.

So as, you know, as this program comes up potentially for new ideas for funding in two years, we may hear from the Levy Oversight Committee about how things have gone from their perspective.

Wonderful.

Thank you for that.

And thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Councilmember Ring.

Councilmember Kettle.

Thank you, Chair Saka.

Thank you, Mr. Chao, for being here and for the SDOT representatives and for the public speakers.

I am aware of the Route 8 issue and looking at it as well.

And I also want to thank Mr. Paddleford for his comments and then also for Ms. Muda, Valerie, as I know her, which really pertains to e-mobility and the issues that we're facing on our sidewalks.

I know her.

I've met with her many times on the issues.

And that kind of goes to the Council Member Ring's questions.

I'll be leveraging what we have in the SDOT system, but also taking in what Gordon Battleford said, what Valerie had said, what Mr. Lee said.

Mr. Lee, Route 8 is a little bit bigger than this, but the Vision Zero, the safe routes to school, those kinds of pieces, or those safer community pieces, and that will be my approach to this.

I'm not going to come out of left field.

I'm going to be using a process, and as you noted, Mr. Child, this then will go into the feasibility because Whatever great idea it may be, the costs may be X, Y, or Z.

So obviously SDOT's gonna do their due diligence.

So I think there's pieces in this.

But it also reflects, as we talked about public safety, I hear about transportation every day, all the time, too.

Valerie, I know her very well.

I've been on Second Lenore with her and other locations through Belltown, Downtown, regarding the dangers of e-scooters on sidewalks, particularly with our elderly.

We take that kind of input and then kind of, in a way that SDOT doesn't get it, that same input that we get, and we'll look to, you know, kind of highlight or maybe give a little bit of a priority bump on one that, because it reflects what's coming out of community.

But overall, my approach, Chair, for SDOT, who's here, and for Mr. Chao from Central Staff would be to to work it in that manner such that Mr. Paddleford will be very happy with the results as he just walked in.

Thank you, Chair.

All right, excellent.

Thank you, Council Member Kettle.

Anyone else?

Okay.

I... Move that the committee recommend adoption of resolution 32179. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It is moved and seconded to recommend adoption of resolution 32179. Are there any final comments?

Hearing and seeing none, I will just note that excellent questions, colleagues.

Thank you.

I share the underlying concerns.

I think this is intended to be a new type of safety program and investment to supplement, not replace existing efforts.

And I think, I mean, I heard Cal say essentially that.

And so looking forward to, You know, working with the department to implement this program.

All right.

If there are no final questions, comments on this bill, will the clerk please call the roll on the recommendation to adopt resolution 32179.

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Council Member Ink?

Yes.

Vice Chair Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Chair Saka?

Aye.

Chair, there are four votes in favor and zero opposed.

All right, the motion carries and the committee recommendation that council adopt resolution 32179 will be sent to the September 23rd, 2025 city council meeting.

Let me also just quickly note, cause I did co-write this alongside the executive SDI, the mayor's office.

And I think it reflects a lot of collaboration.

It reflects It biases on the side of action and urgency in terms of having a stretch effort to build and implement some of these project ideas within a reasonable but still fairly ambitious timeline.

And I would just urge the department, that is the standard timeline.

There may be Exigent circumstances where one of these projects needs to be expedited outside of the timeline that we called out here for any number of reasons.

We know if there's willingness to do that, Whether it's next day, make critically needed repairs to the bike lane along 4th Avenue, some of these treatments, and I wouldn't say South Park because that's a multi-year effort, but Elkai, Harbor Avenue, there's a willingness, it can be done, but I am mindful of the I would just encourage them to be flexible as needed on some of these projects.

Colleagues, if everything is a priority and needs to get done yesterday, nothing is a priority.

And so please think about that as we implement this program together.

All right.

Do any of my fellow committee members have questions or comments on Council Bill 121058 to lift the proviso?

All right, hearing and seeing none, I move that the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 121058. Is there a second?

Second.

It is moved and seconded that the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 121058. Are there any further comments?

Hearing and seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll and recommendation to pass.

Council Bill 121058.

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Council Member Ink?

Yes.

No, Strauss.

Vice Chair Hollingsworth?

Aye.

Chair Saka?

Aye.

Chair, there are four votes in favor and zero opposed.

All right.

The motion carries in the committee recommendation that council passed.

Council Bill 121058 will be sent to the September 23rd, 2025 City Council meeting.

We will now move on to our third item of business.

Will the clerk please read item three into the record?

Agenda item three, Council Bill 121040, an ordinance relating to new vehicle types and curb allowances for e-cargo bicycle delivery, establishing a new vehicle type for e-cargo bikes, establishing rules for operations, parking and loading for e-cargo bicycle delivery, clarifying new curb allowances for e-cargo bike delivery and adding new sections.

11.23.430 and 11.44.300 to an amending sections 11.14.055, 11.23.120, 11.31.121 and 11.76.015 of the Seattle Municipal Code.

All right.

Let's see.

Is everyone at the table that needs to be here?

I think so.

Okay.

All right.

Uh, well, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll give one more represented the opportunity to join us.

Should there be any more focused questions?

Um, could you please introduce yourselves or reintroduce yourselves in case of Mr. Chow?

Uh, and when ready, tee us up for conversation.

Calvin Chow with council central staff.

Katherine Rice, curbside management electrification program manager.

So, council members, this Permit proposal was presented to you at the last committee meeting.

We have the presentation here if you want to reference to it.

I added a memo to you that's attached to the agenda as well.

Just a reminder that this is a program that's fundamentally a curb use program, a permit program to allow cargo e-bikes to stage deliveries at specified curb uses.

It does not necessarily speak to the commercial uses of eCargoBytes themselves.

It really is fundamentally about the use of curb.

I can turn it over to SDOT to go over the highlights of how the program is proposed, but I think it's fairly concise, and we went through it in pretty much detail two weeks ago.

And then council member just recognizing that you have two amendments that you're proposing for this legislation.

All right.

Thank you.

Let's see.

I move that the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 121040. Is there a second?

Second.

It is moved and seconded that the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 121040. We will now proceed with a discussion of the legislation and the amendments that have been submitted.

Well, you already joined us.

Thank you.

Do any of my fellow committee members have any questions or comments on the base bill as presented?

Go ahead.

Councilmember Kettle.

Thank you, Chair Saka.

Thank you, Ms. Rice, for joining Mr. Chow at the table.

I do think this is very important legislation, and I do think that we're getting ahead, because I do believe it's in other cities they're trying to catch up, and hopefully we've incorporated all their lessons learned.

Chair Saka said curb use.

Again, I want to go back to public comment and Valerie and her concerns.

We have to ensure that this is curb use and that is something that we need to do because we don't, Talk about Vision Zero challenges.

If we have even more things rolling around on our sidewalks where people are trying to walk, and particularly the size of these, potentially, of these e-cargo bikes, that's going to be a problem.

And so we have to maintain that piece.

I do like this in the sense of my point about we have to be professional on logistics.

We have to get logistics right in our city, because the second and third order effects, the ripple effects of not doing logistics rights is really hard.

And this may show to be A boon for us in the sense of getting the bigger trucks off of our streets, fingers crossed.

And so I really appreciate this.

I know in the last meeting I brought up the issue of pedicabs.

As someone who's been on one of these, which as I mentioned was an e-ticket ride at an amusement park, particularly because they're battery packed.

They're not pedi anymore.

They're pedi plus e-bikes, taxis.

I did not offer any amendments to kind of tag that kind of pedestrian taxi cab to this based on my consultations with central staff.

But we do need to press on this.

I recognize it's more of FAS.

I do recognize there's some differences.

But it is a major issue.

I've experienced it firsthand, and I've seen it, and it's an issue for different parts of the city, particularly in those areas with the tourists, the stadium districts, the waterfront, the Pike Place, where we have a large number of people.

Then we have some individuals, not all.

I don't want to cast a wide net, There is individuals who are basically using these in a wrong way, but I'm not gonna tie it to this bill.

But I will be working with central staff on this.

And Chair, I also saw the two amendments make sense, so thank you for the opportunity, and thank you, Ms. Rice, for your work on this program, because again, We have to get ahead on all things logistics because if we put everything onto our streets, that's going to be a major problem moving forward.

So thank you.

Council members, if I could just follow up a little bit.

Council member, thank you for your comments.

I just want to acknowledge that whenever we talk about micro-mobility, it's a much bigger, broader conversation about how people are using our streets and our right-of-way.

I think it's important to recognize that this legislation in front of us is really targeted to a very specific use, and one of the things that is nice about a permit program is that we have operators that are going to be Reporting on how they're operating.

It's people who want this service, so I think it's a more amicable relationship than maybe we have where, you know, Scooters, everybody's using them, but it isn't necessarily a direct relationship with the department, per se.

So I think there's more opportunity to track how this particular use of e-bike technology is going to be used, which may be different than pedicabs or some other uses that we've talked about.

So I just don't want to lose the focus on this being very much about freight delivery.

Well, Mr. Chow, since you brought up that, yes, of course, as Chair Saka knows, he and I, like ahead of the levy, ahead of the transportation plan, we're all about the freight program, so 110 percent.

And that's going to show up, actually, in the comm plan a little bit, too.

And that's logistics, the freight program logistics.

So thank you for highlighting that and for the chance to basically second what you said there.

And I'm sure Chair would probably third on that comment.

So thank you.

Absolutely.

Thank you, Councilmember Kettle, another unapologetic champion of cargo freight mobility.

Do any of my other colleagues have any comments, questions on the base bill as presented?

Councilmember Rink.

Thank you, Chair Saka, and I know I asked a number of questions on this last committee, but just one outstanding question I have that I realize we haven't covered, and I apologize if I've missed this detail.

Understanding this is a new permit program, I think there's an outstanding question of those who maybe continue to choose operating e-cargo bikes but choose just not to get a permit.

Could you clarify in that instance what any type of Punitive measures there may be for somebody who just chooses to not pay the permit fee and continues using an e-cargo vehicle.

This permit program is not on e-cargo vehicles themselves.

It is on the use of curb space.

So if those vehicles, those bikes use curb space and don't have a permit, they would be ticketed.

That is what the enforcement penalty is for.

This program is not about How you're operating your business, you know, people can figure out how to use it and they don't need this curb space, then they won't come in for a permit.

At least that's my understanding.

Correct.

Yes.

And we plan to work very closely with parking enforcement on this as any new permit program.

Their team has been very communicative with us of any concerns and also support for the program as well.

We'll be doing a period of warning flyers for anyone that is misusing this use case at the curb and then also citing following that.

So working very closely with their team.

Great.

Thank you both for clarifying that.

Thank you, Chair.

All right.

Thank you, Council Member Rink.

Hearing and seeing no further comments on the base bill, I move to amend Council Bill 121040 as presented on Amendment 1. Is there a second?

Second.

Thank you.

It is moved and seconded to amend Council Bill 12040 as presented on Amendment 1. Central staff, could you please provide a brief description of this amendment?

And I'll talk a little bit more about it from my perspective.

Chair, your amendment's very direct.

It extends the fee waiver from six months to 12 months.

All right.

Very direct and very straightforward.

And some color commentary directly from the author is this.

Colleagues, at its core, the main proposal, the goal underlying the main proposal is twofold.

One, to more quickly Advance, help our city, better position our city to more quickly advance our climate goals.

Supporting e-cargo mobility and these important last mile connections does exactly that, especially if adoption grows, especially if we have wide-scale adoption.

The second goal is to better facilitate safety.

Getting some of these massive trucks off the streets, especially with these last mile connections where they may not necessarily be needed in a denser urban environment, that helps us do exactly that.

So that's really the twofold goal of this.

As we know, this legislation is modeled after programs in New York, Boston, In one other city, I'm forgetting offhand, but this legislation itself represents the first of its kind because New York has a more formal and established program, but to the best of my knowledge, it has not been codified into formal legislation.

So this would be first in the nation.

For all those who like first-of-its-nation legislation, here it is.

Here we are.

First-of-its-nation.

New York City hasn't even done this.

But we have incorporated, our city has specifically incorporated lessons learned from these other slightly more built-out programs.

And I don't know if anyone, colleagues, had a chance to read the Seattle Times article from last week sometime from Nicholas Deshaies on this exact proposal, but there was one quoted person in that article that said, well, the Department If they really, truly want to drive adoption and encourage participation, incentivize participation by a broad number of stakeholders in this program, they should not charge anyone whatsoever for the permit, but just still encourage people to seek the permit, but there should be no charge for it.

In terms of adoption of any product or program, making it free is Across sectors, whether it's private or government, that is the best way, most proven way, tried and true way to help drive adoption.

And so in working with stakeholders, there was a proposal on the table from some directly impacted stakeholders on this program to waive the fees instead of six months, as in the base bill, to waive it for two years altogether.

And I want to respect some of the work that the department put into this.

But I do ultimately want to better encourage and incentivize adoption and participation in this program.

And I think there's a way to split the difference, so to speak.

And not just among the big players.

The big players have very advanced, sophisticated compliance.

Teams and they'll be fully compliant and participate, hopefully.

But more of those small, medium players, I want them to better participate in this program.

So I think 12 months, delaying the fees for 12 months strikes a better, more appropriate balance in terms of Driving participation in adoption and having had conversations directly with the department about this myself directly, they would agree that the longer, as a general proposition, the longer you delay collection of fees, the more the likelihood that you're gonna drive adoption.

So for those reasons, I think this makes sense and reflects a modest delay and increase or collection of these fees.

So I encourage a yes vote.

Any comments, questions on that?

Hearing and seeing none, will the committee clerk please call the roll on the adoption of Amendment 1?

Councilor Merkettle?

Aye.

Councilor Morink?

Yes.

Vice Chair Hollingsworth?

Aye.

Chair Saka?

Aye.

Chair, there are four votes in favor and zero opposed.

Thank you.

The motion carries and Amendment 1 is adopted.

I move to amend Council Bill 121040 as presented on Amendment 2. Is there a second?

Second.

All right, it is moved and seconded.

Thank you to amend Council Bill 121040 as presented on Amendment 2. Central Staff, Mr. Chow, can you please describe the amendment to the committee?

Chair, your Amendment 2 would add language including operator liability insurance as a potential permit condition at the discretion of the Director of Transportation.

Thank you.

And colleagues, whereas the prior amendment number one is a little more substantive, I think this is much more technical in my view and really makes explicit what I think everyone hopes and intends for the program, that the operators, the permit holders maintain some sort of Commercial liability insurance as they would if they were operating normal cargo trucks.

And so it gives the department discretion to determine appropriate thresholds in addition to any number of other criteria for the permit holder.

So in any event, but ultimately helping to protect against liability.

And just to get proven best practice, I ask for your support.

Do any of my fellow committee members have any questions or comments?

Hearing and seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on adoption of Amendment 2?

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Council Member Ink?

Yes.

Vice Chair Hollingsworth?

Aye.

Chair Saka?

Aye.

Chair, there are four votes in favor and zero opposed.

All right, thank you.

The motion carries and Amendment 2 is adopted.

Are there any final questions or comments on the bill as specifically amended here today?

Hearing and seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll on the recommendation to pass Council Bill 121040 as amended.

Council Member Kettle?

Aye.

Council Member Rink?

Yes.

Vice Chair Hollingsworth?

Yes.

Chair Saka?

Aye.

Chair, there are four votes in favor and zero opposed.

All right, the motion carries and the committee recommendation that council pass Council Bill 121040 as amended will be sent to the September 23rd City Council meeting.

We'll now move on to the fourth item of business.

Will the clerk please read item four into the record?

Agent item four, Seattle transportation plan, three-year implementation plan.

Thank you.

And will our presenters please join us at the table and share your presentation.

When you're ready, please introduce yourselves and begin your presentations.

Thanks, Councilmember Saka.

I'm Bill aboard with SDOT.

Megan Shepherd, Interim Director, SDOT's Policy and Planning Division.

Sarah Strand, Principal Planner with the Revenue and Capital Development Team at SDOT.

So thank you, council members and Chair Sokka, so much for the opportunity to be here today and share the very first Seattle Transportation Plan first year, like, three-year implementation report.

This marks a major milestone for us as SDOT.

This is something new, not only in its content, but in the purpose.

Can you go back for just a sec?

Thanks.

Because what we're going to talk about today is an organizing framework for Estat's work that brings it under the broad umbrella of the Seattle Transportation Plan.

We're kind of in a very special, unique, happy planner place in the sense that we have this freshly created 20-year vision for transportation.

as well as the passage of the 2024 transportation levy.

So it's like fresh new vision plus funding.

And what we're here to talk about today is sort of like our first steps on how that funding can really bring it to life.

I really want to take a moment to say thank you, council, members of the Transportation Committee, Chair Saka, for all of your partnership on the adoption of the Seattle Transportation Plan.

And the creation of the 2024 transportation levy.

So we wouldn't be here without the work we have done with you.

So this report, we're going to walk through it today.

But I want to just sort of like highlight that part of what makes it special, right, is that it's a fantastic educational tool for the public.

It's a look into SDOT in a way that we haven't provided before.

A real breadth, and it really uplifts some of the things that the public may not know about as much.

But also, in terms of internal coordination, as you know, SDOT's very big.

And it's really been a unique opportunity to work across people from across the department to see how our work connects, interrelates, and advances us towards the goals of the STP.

So on the next slide, just a little reminder of our Seattle Transportation Plan vision.

The vision was built through extensive public engagement.

So over two years, SDOT connected with over 7,000 people at more than 80 community events, collected over 76,000 data points.

Received 9,000 survey responses, 8,000 map comments, and all of that time and effort that people put into this helped shape this vision and helped shape the Seattle Transportation Plan.

So that enabled us to co-create with community like the guiding goals and strategies that are now driving our work.

So that was one thing that was really special about it is the extensive engagement.

The second one is that it represents a shift in our planning away from being very modal into integration across the modes.

That is taking us towards more holistic planning where we're able to think about the needs at one time of all the users of the system.

And it also really helped create a strong anchor for the levy.

It was very clear what our proposed vision was as we were going about the business of working closely with community to define that.

So what we're going to do today is we're just going to further elaborate on how the investments and the programs, the policies, the partnerships we'll be working on will be advancing the STP and where we're going to be focusing over the next few years.

The resolution that you adopted, when you adopted the Seattle Transportation Plan as our vision, called for us to identify near-term priorities and to ensure those priorities align with the adopted capital improvement plan and the voter-approved transportation levy.

So here we are today presenting this implementation plan to you.

This report does not represent a brand new planning effort.

Based upon all of the robust engagement we had through the STP, all of the engagement throughout the development and passage of the transportation levy, this was our moment to take all that feedback, look at the long-term vision, and then make the immediate near-term priorities clear.

So this report is really about transparency.

It's about accountability.

It's showing The people at Seattle that we heard them.

And it helps us to demonstrate on how we're delivering on our commitments.

Okay, this is a very exciting graphic for planners.

Because it tells that story, right?

How we get from that high-level vision down to the projects that we build out in community.

Sarah made this.

I think it's really cool.

So at the foundation of our work is the One Seattle Comprehensive Plan, its transportation elements, the 20-year vision in the STP, which is our North Star.

So those define our goals, our modal priorities, our system-wide policies.

Then here in the middle is The transportation levy and the capital improvement plan.

They're like some of like the guardrails.

These are things that we, you know, must do.

Both projects, timelines, funding commitments.

And then where this report fits in is helping to translate all of the work across SDOT and aligning it with, you know, our key moves and our clear goals.

It is sort of like the connective tissue between the funding that's available, the commitments that we've made, the projects that we're going to build back up to that vision.

So with that, I'm going to pass it to Sarah.

She is going to briefly revisit the fundamentals of the Seattle Transportation Plan, because they are the framework for what is in this implementation report.

And then she's going to give us some highlights and walk through the report itself, along with highlighting what comes next.

Great.

Thanks for setting the stage, Megan.

So before I dig into the details of the implementation report, I am just going to cover some of the core structure of the STP because it's really important to understand that because that's really the architecture for how we organized this implementation plan.

So we can go to the next slide, please.

So what is in the STP?

It's a thick document, so we've really condensed it down to give you a quick refresher, but there's six guiding goals, and within each of those, there are a range of key moves.

And as a reminder, those key moves are the strategies that we worked with community and stakeholders to identify as being really the most vital to achieving those goals.

And then across all of those, there are implementing actions identified in the STP 173 in total.

And those are really the roadmap for how we're going to make our key moves.

In addition, there's a part two of the STP that identifies eight functional elements.

And as Megan mentioned, the STP supersedes are for what used to be standalone modal master plan.

So bike, ped, transit, freight.

Those are now included, just kind of reinforced through the functional elements of the STP, and they are accompanied by priority investment networks still.

In addition to those, we also have four new functional elements that were created with the STP to represent our curbside management, our vehicles, our people, streets and public spaces, as well as our new and emerging mobility work.

In addition, the STP identified 81 large capital projects.

Those are our 20-year mega-corridor aspirational projects.

So in reality, those are a lot of smaller, multi-phase projects that you see come through on a year-to-year basis, but that's the 20-year vision for our future transportation network.

And then last but not least, we have three tiers of performance metrics.

This is how are we measuring success?

What are we striving for?

What are our performance targets?

And so what I think I want to make really clear right now is the organizing framework for the implementation plan is really focused on responding to this question of how are we implementing our goals and our key moves?

How does our work connect to this framework?

Our capital project delivery continues to be Conveyed through annual work plans, through our annual levy delivery plan.

A lot of it's already pre-baked, committed to in the levy.

And then our performance metrics, you will see that is not included in this report because the resolution that adopted the STP directs us to deliver that separately.

So that'll come next year on a biannual basis.

And so this is it.

This is the organizing framework for the implementation plan, the meat of it.

You'll see our six goals, safety, mobility and economic vitality, sustainability, equity, livability, and maintenance and modernization.

And each of these have The goal statement and each of the key moves under them.

And you'll see a page dedicated to each of those in the section of the implementation report.

And we speak directly to the overarching work that we're doing to advance the goal and then specifically to each key move.

How is our work organized to directly tie it to the outcomes that we're trying to achieve?

We can jump to the next slide.

So before I dig in deeper to the details of the implementation report, just a quick review of how we've gotten here today.

And so after the levy was approved by voters and the first annual levy delivery plan was presented to city council, we began coordination to get the report compiled.

We followed the requirements of the adopting resolution and began working with our modal boards, hearing about some of their initial priorities at their board meetings.

And then just a fun anecdote to share is that we had a joint board workshop.

We brought all of the bike, ped, transit and freight modal boards all together in one space.

And it was a really great event.

A lot of cross modal learning, people getting to hear different perspectives outside of their board's purview.

So whether that's freight priorities or pedestrian priorities or transit, And I think it really resulted in a stronger outcome with this implementation report.

And we've also been working with the TEW Transportation Equity Workgroup Subcommittee on transparency, accountability, and decision-making.

And they've been helping to guide us on advice on how to make sure that we don't just publish a PDF, but think about accessibility and how do we make sure that this gets digestible, interactive when we put it onto the webpage.

And then as we continue after this gets published and go back out to community to re-engage with the long list of partners that helped shape the STP, how do we tailor the engagement to them to make sure this is a resource?

So can we offer toolkits to CBOs or short videos to go on social media or what that menu may look like?

And we can proceed to the next page.

Alright, so now we get to dig into what's in this report that is presented for your consideration today.

So a big flag up front is that all of our work is very cross-cutting.

So we know that there's a lot of things that could fit in all of the goals and so a lot of this is Jiggering our work to fit in the most logical place where we're seeing this is the most impactful work towards this key move.

But up front in the plan, you'll see we've also highlighted broad focus areas, our spotlight initiatives.

And so these are really cross-cutting.

They're across all of our goals.

They're citywide in impact.

They're usually major coordination efforts.

And I've highlighted those here on the right on the slide.

And so up front, it's responsible stewardship.

So reaffirming our commitment to safety as a top priority, implementing our Vision Zero Action Plan, equitable climate solutions.

So that's things like expanding EV charging, expanding the urban tree canopy, our low pollution neighborhoods.

And then this could easily be a bucket on its own, but delivering the transportation levy, that's of prime importance to the department in the coming years and is incredibly important for responsibly stewarding taxpayer funds.

Coordinated operations, that's what SDOT does.

It's keeping the city moving, whether that's signals, ITS, our transportation operations center, maintenance, and it also includes how we coordinate for major events and major construction.

The big things that are obviously on our horizon are how are we coordinating to support the influx of visitors from around the world for FIFA, as well as how are we gonna support travelers through disruptions with the Revive I-5 and how do we manage and mitigate those?

And then last but certainly not least is the transformative impact projects that are identified.

And these are really shaping across the board, these three buckets are shaping our departmental priorities.

And these are requiring major coordination.

So our Aurora Avenue, whether that's across departments or with other agencies, and then our sound transit work to expand the light rail system.

In the report, after the spotlight initiatives are presented, it then Transitions into addressing each of the key moves through the goals.

And throughout them, you'll also see that we feature various examples of projects or programs or teams to just make it more real for the public, for the readers of what are examples of what we mean and celebrating our success along the way a little bit as well.

So I'm just gonna start walking through and give an example with safety upfront.

So our safety goals, each of these start with the goal and step through the key moves.

I'm gonna move pretty quickly through these just to give you a taste, but it's elaborated in more detail in the report.

So safety upfront, our big impetus behind safety, it's our Vision Zero Action Plan.

We highlight the need to update that in the coming years.

As one of our major initiatives, but this also includes other initiatives like the tools that we use to ensure that we're prioritizing investments where the safety need is greatest.

We highlight things like our freight and rail partnerships, our Safe Routes to School program, or our Snow and Ice team.

Next slide, please.

In our equity goal across the key moves, we highlight things like how we'll need to be updating our transportation equity frameworks implementation plan in the coming years, pilot TW youth mentorship program, how we're working with OPCD on an anti-displacement work group, our transportation access program that is funded by the Seattle Transit measure.

Next slide.

And then what you'll see throughout is that we've done some showcasing.

So showcasing different projects, programs, initiatives that we're saying this is really exemplary of the type of work that's helping to advance the STP goals and key moves.

So here we have the redesign and renaming of Fortson Square as a really excellent example of how we're centering the voices of communities of color and underrepresented groups in our planning and decision-making processes.

Next slide.

And then moving on to sustainability.

So this is really structured around what's already documented in our climate change response framework and is directed by more than one climate executive orders.

And this is really about how are we addressing climate change, but also improving livability in our neighborhoods.

So there's things like piloting low pollution neighborhoods highlighted in here.

We have expanding our EV charging access.

We have commercial e-cargo bike program, which you've just taken action to help implement today.

Congratulations and thank you.

And then we also have things like our healthy streets or even our paid street parking programs and how that incentivizes or de-incentivizes different behaviors on a right-of-way.

Next slide.

And so here's an example of partnerships are a really important component of something that we've included in this plan.

We really wanted to tell the story of how important it is that we rely on other departments and other agencies to make the STP vision into a reality.

And so some of the examples here are low pollution neighborhoods.

We're going to be having to work in very close partnership with community and with local businesses as we have conversations to come up with the concepts and designs for these and learning from some of the things that are on the ground today, like the pilot that we're supporting at Pike Place Market, and then expanding EV charging and generally advancing the electrification blueprint in partnership with Seattle City Light, working with OSC, We can go on to the next slide.

Then mobility and economic vitality.

So almost everything that we do could fit in this bucket.

So there's a lot here, but delivering on our levy is prime, right up front.

A lot of those capital investments are all about mobility and economic vitality, but you'll also see called out our support for the West Seattle and Ballard Link extensions, how we're supporting access and reliability across different modes, whether that's through metro rapid ride corridors, The historic investment in expanding and closing gaps in our sidewalk network, freight and bus only lanes, and supporting port connections to I-90 and I-5, to things like our Seamless Seattle Wayfinding program that helped make travel seamless for pedestrians, as well as things like digital tools for dynamic curb management, so things that you might not hear about as often.

Livability, this is about making places for people, places for people to gather, to linger, to connect, rather than just pass through.

And headlining here is really our People's Streets and Public Spaces Program.

As well as things like our neighborhood greenways, the different programs that we have to have neighborhood block parties, free permit programs for community, and some exciting projects that we have like the Occidental Promenade or the Spark Block and the longer term plan for the Third Avenue activation.

We can go to the next slide.

And then last, but certainly not least, is maintenance and modernization.

And so upfront, something we're highlighting is the critical, though sometimes invisible to the traveling public, infrastructure of our maintenance and the behind the scenes things like our enterprise asset management and work order system upgrade that's going to create a lot of efficiency for us to be able to implement and do this work.

And we also include things here like our ITS modernization, some of the autonomous vehicle policy and technology and innovation work that we're doing, bridge preservation, And are generally our maintenance and operations here.

And the next slide.

And so the big feature here that we wanted to include was really calling out, celebrating, and honoring that everyone at SDOT plays a role in implementing our STP vision from the planners and the project developers down to the boots on the ground who are building that vision into a reality.

And so we showcase here the The really specialized and diverse crafts across our crews who make this work happen in the plan and are the ones out there maintaining and operating the system and helping to make this key move So we can go on to the next slide.

So what's next?

We're aiming to continue to hear feedback from modal boards who have been reviewing this.

Tomorrow is the deadline for comments on that.

There may be areas where we might need to add a little bit more detail or change emphasis.

And if there's any tweaks that we need to make, we'll get that done ideally by the end of the month to be able to publish this to the webpage in a digestible, hopefully interactive format.

And then we're gonna be going back out to community, fall through winter, connecting with folks to help them understand how this work aligns with their priorities.

And then in January, you'll receive the next annual levy delivery plan.

That's where the capital delivery information will continue to come through.

And in 2026, the STP performance report, the first biannual one, will come before Council.

And I just want to also note that with the three-year timeframe for this first STP, it lines us up so that we can come back to you with the next update of it combined with the next performance update in one document.

Last slide.

So with that, I'll close and just want to thank you all again for your leadership and your partnership to get us to this point with our STP work today.

This is really just a reflection of our commitment to demonstrating to the public how we're making good on the commitments in the STP, and we're looking forward to hearing any feedback or questions that you have about the report.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, Ms. Strand, Ms. Shepherd and Mr. Laborde.

Appreciate the update here.

Colleagues, any questions, comments on the briefing today?

Go ahead, Council Member Kettle.

Thank you, Chair Saka.

Thank you, Ms. Shepherd.

Thank you very much.

And then your work on the policy division, good news.

And Ms. Strand, thank you for this briefing.

And then, of course, Mr. Laborde and the folks of SDOT.

I got two things to say.

One for SDOT.

I love it.

It's fantastic.

And it's a, it shows what we can do.

And the steps forward.

And I appreciate it.

And I noted that the, on one part too, that you had neighborhood greenways in one of the slides too.

Nicely done.

Again, with a nod to our public commenters.

But you're really, this is leadership by example.

You're showing what city departments can do.

And you have the various pieces in here.

By the way, as I look at the slides, the only thing that I would say in terms of adjustments maybe is on slide two, Seattle's not flat.

That's my only critique.

And the hills are important, and they actually play into a lot of the transportation challenges that we have.

But what you're showing is how to do this work and the steps that are needed to go through it.

So I really want to thank Ms. Emery, the director, and all the members of the SDOT team for this work, and then stepping forward as we work on this together across the various pieces and how you brought the various pieces together.

And the strategy, you know, because, Chair, as you know, we could spend $1.3 billion just on sidewalks.

But we have a freight program, as we talked about earlier.

We have a bridge program, pedestrian.

We have all these different pieces.

And so it's about bringing these pieces together with a way ahead, with a strategy that's needed.

So I just want to thank you very much for this.

Okay, that's part one.

Part two, Chair, is for the Mayor's Office.

And I'm looking at the camera.

So for everybody upstairs who's watching, this is what I'm talking about when I say that the Office of Housing needs to create a Seattle Housing Plan similar to what SDOT has done with the Seattle Transportation Plan.

Just step through this in terms of having the purpose in those pieces.

And OH, I do believe, has done a lot of this work, but they've not done what SDOT has done.

So let me just be clear.

I'm not looking to say nothing's been done, because clearly different pieces have done.

We've gotten some sly responses and so forth, but also clearly is that we don't have a housing plan that mirrors the effort and the complexity that this Transportation plan, you know, where you highlight, you know, the long-term, you know, the triangle piece that, you know, you're just working through the pieces that are inherent to, you know, a plan like this.

And then, you know, by the numbers and, you know, the goals.

OH could just take SDOT's goals and key moves here.

Safety is important with housing.

Sustainability is really important.

As I've been highlighting recently, maintenance.

One reason why individuals are, you know, when I'm going around a housing development, it's got a massive rat's nest around it.

You wonder why people are on the streets.

Because you can just imagine what is on the inside.

And there's other examples of that.

Livability, equity, huge in housing.

So these goals and key moves, I mean, you can just take STP and put OH.

And then the approach and the process and the advisory boards, these pieces, and it doesn't have to mirror exactly, but the approach and the process, the focus areas, these kinds of things, the work that's gone into this is so important.

And I know this is the Transportation Committee, but since this is here, On the record, and I've been talking about this a lot lately, actually I've been a year now because I initially started last fall with Council Member Moore, but we have to put OH to the same paces that SDOT has gone through In order to create this, first the Seattle transportation plan, then the work related to the levy, and now the implementation piece.

And it will make a difference.

And by the way, I recognize, and you actually have ST3, you have King County Metro, you have different pieces.

I do recognize on the housing plan requirement that we have KCRHA, the King County Regional Homeless Authority.

We have now the social housing PDA and so forth.

I recognize that.

But we have to also incorporate what they're doing.

Just like when you're doing a freight program, you're working with the port and the rail.

So it's not like out of bounds to say that.

And I just want to thank again, and I'm coming back to S.N.I. I just want to thank you for the work you've done, but also leading by example and setting a path for other departments to follow.

And for the folks in the mayor's office, this goes to what I've been talking about for quite a while because, again, in the long term, as I've said, In order to gain our goals in public safety, we have to gain our goals in public health or in the human services world.

And one way to do that is to have a process, particularly on housing, that mirrors, again, not exactly, but takes in these pieces to move forward.

So again, thank you, SDOT, for your efforts here.

Thank you.

Right.

Thank you, Councilmember Kettle.

Colleagues, any final questions, comments on this topic?

Go ahead, Council Member Hollingsworth.

I'll be super quick.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, SDOT, for your plan.

I'm gonna be doing more of a deep dive in this, and so I just really appreciate the presentation.

But if I could have some just quick thoughts, love to see the EV charging piece.

I know a lot of people have talked about that, and as we are trying to excel into the future and make sure that we have low carbon footprints, The accountability and transparency, just tagging off of what council member Kettle talked about it's super helpful to follow along to see real-time outcomes with having so much data that you all have and making it very digestible and easy, especially for the public as well.

So people can comment about our progress on Vision Zero or on certain goals that we have.

I think it really makes it helpful because a lot of times people get disconnected or disengaged with government because they just don't understand or it's complex or it's just buried deep and a thousand-page document, but you all make it really digestible, so I really appreciate that.

If I could highlight one thing that I've heard of feedback is just continuing doing the outreach with communities that don't have access to come down for public hearings or are not on social media or just finding out about certain things once they see a crew outside their home doing some type of construction project.

I think that's really key because a lot of those folks Just don't have the transparent access to government.

And so thinking about creative ways that you all can get involved in to make sure that communities have the necessary information to understand projects and the input that they need to have about certain things would be super, super helpful.

And I know that you all do the best that you can with different departments in our city and then yourself with your outreach and the relationships you have.

But just wanting to continue that improvement would be super helpful, particularly South End.

So I know that's not my district, but south of I-90, my parents still live in Rainier Beach, but some of those.

And then the other thing just thinking about, and I know you all don't have control over this when you put out RFP, but really, really thinking about intentionally diversifying our vendors that we're working with and using and being very intentional about that if you're using If you're in the south end, you're using a certain vendor to communicate with folks, like, what does that look like?

And making sure that we're continuing to reinvest those dollars because those people continue to spend in their community as well.

So I just wanted to throw that out there.

Thank you.

Excellent.

Thank you, Vice Chair Hollingsworth.

Any final comments?

Okay, I will just note that in the interest of time, my goal is to get us out of here by 11 or as close to 11 as possible, because I do note that there is a conflicting tribal summit happening downstairs that many of us want to attend with our intergovernmental partners at the tribes.

And so, I'll just note that a couple of things.

One is that great presentation.

I think it's appropriately higher level.

Presenting information at a higher altitude.

That said to, I guess, kind of pile on to some of my colleagues' comments.

Would actually like to see more hard concrete specific data in terms of performance metrics so we can better as a committee and more importantly, the public better track our progress against some of these ambitious goals.

And I also note that this sort of work stream is a bit of a work in progress.

We noted the September 30th target date to publish to the website.

There's some ongoing community engagement feedback Loop happening after that.

A number of other supplemental reports, related reports.

I think most pertinent being the impending Spring 26 STP Performance Report.

All that is to say where I would expect more granular level detail and certainly when you come in to present at the committee level, Have it more easily digestible so you can have more hard, raw, concrete data so we can all see, measure our progress against some of these ambitious goals and hold ourselves accountable to it.

So we'll be inviting the department back to dive a little deeper into some of these performance metrics.

But I appreciate this kind of initial update on this important work stream more strategically.

So thank you.

All right, well, seeing no further questions, we'll now move on to our fifth and final item of business.

Very technical in nature, but important.

Will the clerk please read item five into the record?

And item five, Council Bill 121023, an ordinance relating to railroad franchises amending sections one and three of ordinances 126969 and 126970 to correct an error in the name of a franchisee.

All right.

Thank you.

Will our new presenters please join us at the table and share your presentation.

When you're ready, please introduce yourselves and begin your presentation.

Yeah.

Good morning, Council Members.

Thank you for having me.

I'm Joey Akin.

I'm a supervising project manager at Estot's Capital Project Division.

And I'm Calvin Chow with Council Central Staff.

So we are here to discuss Council Bill 121023. Its proposed legislation is just to correct a simple error in Ordinance 969 and 126970. And hopefully I'll give you guys a second.

Can you all see the presentation?

Not yet.

Okay.

I'll give you guys a second.

I'm glad I didn't wear burgundy today.

I have a resolution on who wore it best.

I thought about it.

Okay.

So we're here to discuss Council Bill 121023. This proposed legislation, like I said, corrects a simple error in Ordinance 126969 and 126970, which were both voted on by Council back in December of 2023. Those ordinances are dealing with franchise agreements Specifically with BNSF and Union Pacific Railroads, who are the franchise holders for the Wacom Yard, which is adjacent to the north segment of East Marginal Way project.

Since our project is federally funded, it's required for us to certify right away.

And to certify right away, we need to update the franchise agreements to match the reconfigured rail yard of Wacom Yard.

So the two ordinances specifically, there's an area of the north portion that the tracks are removed, so they no longer are there.

So we updated the franchise agreement to reflect that.

And then our project required the reconfiguration of the rail yard at Whatcom Yard.

So the other ordinance is for that.

And then the next slide is just high-level view, simply showing the north part, which is 970, and the southern part, which is 969. So this is East Marginal Way down by the ports, Terminal 30 and Terminal 25.

If I could just jump in.

A lot of the presentation here is just going to the background of the underlying project.

This legislation doesn't really address the project.

It is really just correcting a technical name change for the right-of-way with the railroads, which is they have a lot of power in that, and we just have to make this.

It's largely ministerial.

There's no policy choice here.

So, yeah, just like Calvin said, there's no change in the underlying ordinances.

It's simply changing the name of BNSF from Burlington Northern Railroad Holdings Inc. to BNSF Railway Company, a Delaware corporation.

And this was something after council had voted on this and it went to BNSF to accept, even though it went through many, many rounds of review previously, their Legal said, hey, we need to change this.

And since it deals with real estate, it requires council action.

So we're just making this change and then finally being done with the railroads.

I'm not sure there's gonna be any questions, but happy to accept questions.

Thank you.

Appreciate the presentation.

I think it is fairly straightforward.

No inherent policy decisions baked into this proposal, but it is an important administrative, ministerial, very technical piece of paperwork that we need to keep moving along to enable the project, you know, this very fairly technical minor legal name entity change.

In any event, colleagues, welcome any questions, comments from you all.

All right, hearing and seeing none, I'll just note that I inquired about the prospect of potentially granting the department some discretion to make these kind of fairly minor technical name change, entity changes in the absence of in the absence of full council approval.

And, but because it is like a, it's a specific charter requirements that it'd be, if it's tied to real estate, that's why here we are.

But, cause again, there's no substantive technical or excuse me, substantive policy decisions to be had really is part of this, but here we are.

It is important that we do, we can help move it along.

So, all right.

I move that the committee pass, or I move that the committee recommend passage of Council Bill 121023. Is there a second?

Second.

All right.

It is moved and seconded to recommend passage of Council Bill 121023. Are there any final comments?

Hearing and seeing none, will the clerk please call the roll and recommendation to pass Council Bill 121023.

Council Member Kettle.

Aye.

Council Member Ink.

Yes.

Vice Chair Hollingsworth.

Aye.

Chair Saka.

Aye.

Chair, there are four votes in favor and zero opposed.

All right.

Thank you.

The motion carries and the committee recommendation that council pass Council Bill 121023 will be sent to the September 23rd, 2025 City Council meeting.

All right, we have reached the end of today's meeting agenda.

Our next meeting is scheduled for December 2nd at 9.30 a.m.

after budget.

Is there any final business to come before the committee before we adjourn?

Chair.

Yeah, go ahead, Council Member Ring.

Thank you, Chair.

I wanted to, and thank you for facilitating today's discussion.

I know we had a busy agenda and I know we're all eager to get out of here, but I wanted to take a moment to address one of the points raised in public comment related to the Route 8. And I know I've spoken in Transportation Committee a handful of times now, it feels like just on the issues facing the late eight.

And I'll say it again, you shouldn't be able to out walk any of our buses in the city.

And you definitely shouldn't be able to outdance any of them.

So I share in the concerns when it was outlined that in this transit study, SDOT did not look at or assumed that there would be no mode shift when it comes to when they studied the implementation of bus lanes on Denny Way.

And so I wanted to bring to this committee and hope we could have a continued discussion about the prospect of this, but as a committee, issuing some type of formal inquiry or just investigating how that decision was made and if there's an opportunity to continue that study.

I know this is a This is an incredibly important bus line and I hold concerns that our inability to address its reliability issues in a timely manner erodes trust in our broader transportation system.

And so, Chair, I ask for your consideration in just doing some type of formal inquiry on behalf of the committee.

Thank you, Council Member Rank.

I welcome any specific proposal that you might have to better bring that, your concept idea to life.

But I will note that me and my office are working closely with the mayor's office.

I know a number of other council members are working to address the issue.

I share the underlying concerns.

I don't know what the best specific treatment is.

I'm not a traffic engineer.

But I do think that there is more as a city that we can do to better facilitate the Route 8 and make it not as much of a snafu.

So thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

All right.

We have reached the end of today's meeting, and it is 11.06 AM.

Hearing no further business come before the committee, we are adjourned.

Thank you.