Select Budget Committee Session I 10/29/25

Come to order it is 9.32 a.m.

I'm Dan Strauss, chair of the committee.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Council Member Hollingsworth is excused until she arrives.

Council Member Sacca.

Here.

Council Member Salomon.

Here.

Council Member Juarez.

Here.

Council Member Kettle.

Here.

Council President Nelson.

Council Member Rink?

Present.

Council Member DiVetta?

Present.

And Chair Strauss?

Present.

Seven present.

Thank you.

Good morning.

On today's agenda, we have the Office of Planning and Community Development, the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections, Department of Neighborhoods, Office of Housing, Office of Sustainability and Environment, Seattle Department of Transportation, and the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department.

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

Hearing no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Colleagues, I didn't hear strong feedback one way or the other about whether we stay late or add a day on Friday.

It is definitely easier for folks, the back end of our council operations to stay later rather than schedule a whole new day.

So that said, we are again in control of our own destiny.

we need to get through this entire agenda to complete today's work.

That means we can get out at three, it means we can get out at five, it means we can get out at eight, kind of our own ability to control our own destiny.

With that, if the clerk could read all of the record, all of the items into the record, that way we can move through them quickly.

Agenda items one through seven, Office of Planning and Community Development, Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections, Department of Neighborhoods, Office of Housing, Office of Sustainability and Environment, Seattle Department of Transportation, and Seattle Parks and Recreations offer briefing and discussion.

Thank you.

I'm going to turn it over to Director Noble and the Council Central staff team.

Take us through.

Thank you, Chair Strauss.

This is going to work just like yesterday, so we have one row per item.

Just to remind you, I do have the more detailed write-ups available, so if it's at all helpful to pull up one of those and see more of the detailed language or the precise transactional detail, I suspect not, but we do have it.

And with that, I'm just going to turn it over to the team.

Good morning, Lichwitz and Council Central Staff.

Jumping off with OPCD 1A.

which would increase OPCD's budget by $394,000 for long-range planning.

This includes funding a currently vacant position that the 2026 proposed budget proposes to defund, adding $150,000 for one-time funding for environmental review and $50,000 for outreach and engagement.

particularly related to the Council's resolution related to the comprehensive plan.

And there is an alternative version 1B that I'll talk about in just a minute.

Thank you.

Sorry, sponsored by Council Member Strauss with Council Member Solomon Amrick.

Thank you.

So as a sponsor of this amendment, I'll speak to it just briefly.

We discussed this during the issue ID from Council Central staff regarding how many staff OPCD needs to complete the work that they are tasked with as well as the additional work that council asked for through the comprehensive plan that we completed just before budget.

This funds that position.

Colleagues, questions, comments?

Seeing no additional questions or comments, if anyone would like to co-sponsor this OPCD 181, please raise your hand now.

Seeing no additional co-sponsors, we'll move on to OPCD 1B1.

OPCD 1B is sponsored by Councilmember Rivera with Councilmember Sacca and Salomon.

This version would just fund the position without the additional funding for environmental review and outreach and engagement.

Thank you.

Councilmember Rivera to sponsor the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Chair.

As you heard Lish say, colleagues, this CBA would reinstate appropriation to OPCD for that vacant long-range planning position that was supposed to be funded in the mayor's budget.

Colleagues, as we've gone through the comprehensive plan process over the last two years, you've heard me say and express frustration on behalf of my constituents that robust outreach from OPCD was sorely lacking.

We have zoning coming up in early 2026, as you all know, and we will need additional outreach.

OPCD has stated it was not intending to do additional outreach, but I believe that will be very needed given the original outreach was not sufficient.

There will be large and complex pieces of legislation that will be before us and it's critical that OPCD not only retain this funding for a vacant long range planning position to do that work, of outreach to our constituents to get their feedback on that zoning and other things that will be coming down the pike.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Colleagues, questions?

Discussion?

Seeing no further questions or discussion, is there anyone that would like to co-sponsor this amendment?

If so, raise your hand now, please.

Seeing no additional co-sponsors, we will move on to the next item, OPCD 2SA1.

OPCD 2 SA1 is a statement of legislative intent requesting OPCD report on community outreach best practices related to zoning changes sponsored by Councilmember Strauss with Councilmember Saka and Rink.

Thank you.

As sponsor of the amendment, I will speak to it briefly to say during the conversation when OPCD was here in chambers for the department presentations, the conversation of what type and how should the department be engaging in outreach for areas that are under zoning changes or proposed zoning changes.

There are many questions asked.

This is a statement of legislative intent requesting the information to better understand how we would fund or what the appropriate level of funding is for such a program.

One of the last bullet on the statement of legislative intent at this time is any other questions council members would like to ask.

So colleagues, if you do have questions that you would like to have answered regarding how much it would cost per area or what the right cadences, when the right timing is for sending mailers.

Please do add your questions to this list.

Colleagues, questions, discussion?

Seeing no additional questions or discussions, are there any members that would like to add their name as co-sponsors to OPCD 2SA1?

Seeing no additional co-sponsors, we'll move on to OPCD 3A1.

OPCD 3A1 would increase OPCD's budget by $100,000 for outreach and engagement, including $50,000 for one or more mailings, and would extend the term of an outreach and engagement position that's due to sunset at the end of 2026. Councilmember Strauss with Councilmembers Saka and Rink sponsored.

Thank you, sponsor the amendment.

This is in the same vein of the last few amendments, all of them this morning so far, just to say that there's more outreach and engagement needed by the department when we are having such large zoning changes proposed.

This would increase that outreach and engagement by $100,000.

Colleagues, questions, discussion?

Seeing no further questions or discussion, are there any council members that would like to add their name to OPCD 3A1?

Seeing no additional co-sponsors, we'll move on to OPCD 5A1.

OPCD 5A1 would provide a $200,000 of jumpstart fund in OPCD to expand the scope of reparations program.

The 2026 proposed budget includes funding to develop a process for the administration of an equity housing fund focusing on remedying historic injustices for descendants of black slaves.

The Office of Housing's allocation is intended to be shaped by these funds.

This proviso asks OPCD to expand their analysis to cover all historical aspects of discrimination touching on culture, community and commerce in addition to housing.

And this proviso is related to funding and a proviso in the Office of Civil Rights related to historic discrimination against descendants of black slaves and funding proposal for Department of Neighborhoods related to funding projects related to culture, community, and commerce that you'll hear about later this morning.

Sponsor is Councilmember Hollingsworth with Councilmember Saka and Juarez.

Thank you.

With Councilmember Hollingsworth with a pre-excusal until she arrives in probably about the next five or 10 minutes.

Colleagues, unless there's any objection, we'll come back to this item once Councilmember Hollingsworth has arrived.

Seeing no objection, we're going to move on to OPCD 7A1.

Right.

OPCD 7A would increase OPCD's funding by $6 million for a community clinic in Rainier Beach, such as the Tubman Health Center project.

Sponsored by Councilmember Salomon with Councilmembers Hollingsworth and Juarez.

Thank you.

Council Member Solomon, as the sponsor of this amendment, you are recognized.

Thank you, Chair.

Founded in May 2020, the Tubman Center for Health and Freedom is now serving 500 primary care patients at two clinics in District 2. Alongside building physical spaces, Tubman Health is developing the relational medicine model, a transformative model of care designed by and for the community.

Tubman has become a critical provider of reproductive and gender-affirming care at a time when those basic life-saving services are becoming harder to access.

In the past five years, the Tubman Center for Health and Freedom opened two clinics and was awarded $2.1 million from the Equitable Development Initiative.

and the CBA would support infrastructure improvements such as street, sidewalk and utility upgrades and neighborhood improvements at a clinic very close to the Rainier Beach light rail station area.

Tubman will break ground for this third clinic in 2026 and expected to serve 12,000 primary care patients annually.

This budget request before you will help leverage over $22 million already secured from private and philanthropical investments.

This project advances equity and access, addressing long-standing health disparities in South Seattle, and I'm confident that it will serve as a catalyst for economic development to support future growth in the Rainier Beach neighborhood.

For the health of our constituents in District 2 and beyond, I request your support today.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Solomon.

Colleagues, discussion, questions?

On OPCD 7A1.

Council Member Wallace.

Thank you, I apologize.

Council Member Juarez, good morning, you are recognized.

First of all, I want to thank Council Member Solomon and Hollingsworth for working with us and getting this important amendment forward.

Council Member Solomon, thank you so much for sharing all the really good information.

I have a few things that I want to add.

The Tubman Center, they're asked for $6 million for the community clinic at Rainier Beach, as Council Member Solomon shared.

They were founded in 2020, and I believe they have 20 staff, and again, they're focusing on the food, Roots and Remedies, Street Improvements and Utilities.

I want to give a huge shout-out to the Executive Director, Denise Jefferson Abbey.

She came here at Public Comment to speak, as well as their CFO, Aene Abbey, two incredibly wonderful, talented women that have been leading this organization.

And little do people know that the Tubman Health Center is also an Indigenous-led organization and belongs with our family.

of the Seattle Indian Health Board and those groups that are giving healthcare services, much needed healthcare services, prenatal, all of those things to communities, not only communities of color but vulnerable communities and their families.

One thing I love about this project and working with and speaking to the Executive Director and the CFO and Council Member Solomon is they are shovel ready.

They are ready to break ground in quarter three of 2026 and they are ready to move dirt and that's the kind of stuff I like to hear.

I think when we ask for and we put in amendments requesting money, what I always ask of folks is, tell me how much money you have raised, to put it in context.

The financial overview of this project, the total project cost is $42 million.

And Tubman Center and their staff, wonderful people for the love of the community, have raised, they're only asking for six, but they've raised $42.

They've raised $22.4 million to date and they're still fundraising.

Their active request that they've gotten money for totals up to $32 million.

I can never say this word, philanthropic, how do I say that?

Philanthropic.

Philanthropic, thank you.

Philanthropic proposals as of October 2025. Again, their funding sources are from private foundations, public contracts and grants, reimbursement from clinical services, consulting and technical assistance, and service and partner contracts.

I think it's important to note that the Tubman Health Center does not receive direct federal funding.

This organization was a long time coming to support not only the African American community and the Native American community, but those that are in need of these types of services.

It's a community clinic, it's the type of things that we talk about all the time, and the fact that they're ready to go and they are shovel ready, I'm hoping that my colleagues will support Council Member Salomon and myself and Council Member Hollingsworth in this important project.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Juarez.

Colleagues, further discussion, questions?

Councilmember Rivera.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you Councilmembers Solomon, Juarez, and Hollingsworth for bringing this forward.

These are the kinds of projects that I generally support.

Six million dollars is a large ask when we don't have a lot of money left to be able to allocate to projects, but would love to hear if there are other sources of funding versus an ad because I'm worried about all the ads that we are making to the budget.

They're not all going to be able to get in there, and this is an important one.

So I want to continue the conversation about are there things that we can pull from to help make this a reality.

So I'm going to wait until I get that information, but I do wanted to note that this is a really important project that I would love to see Council support if we're able to.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Rivera.

Colleagues, further discussion, questions on OPCD 7A1?

Councilmember Rivera, if you could lower your hand, I'm about to ask, unless you want to co-sponsor, I'm going to now ask for co-sponsors to OPCD 7A1.

If so, please raise your hand.

I am seeing co-sponsoring OPCD 7A1, Council Member Rink.

Council Member Rink.

Thank you.

We're gonna now move back to OPCD 5A1.

We had only gotten to the next agenda item as scheduled and predicted.

Council Member Hollingsworth is with us.

We've heard the, Lish has read the item into the record, the description.

If there's anything else you'd like to add or we can also summarize those points again.

No, I think those are good, Mr. Chair.

Can I just address the amendment?

Please.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

And thank you, Council Member Juarez and Council Member Saka for your co-sponsorship on this.

This is, yesterday my colleagues showed a ton of support to expand Office of Civil Rights Reparations Study.

OPCD is currently tasked in the mayor's budget to take on the Office of Civil Rights findings and then develop a scope of work and outreach plan.

The intent of this proviso carries the same focus and vision.

That is expanding OPCD's work and lens to include all impacts of historical harm with the nexus to housing such as culture, community, and commerce to not only house those impacted by historical discriminatory practices, but ensure that they can stay and thrive in their home as well.

So this is part two to the Office of Civil Rights funding, and now this is for OPCD to continue to expand their scope of work as it pertains to that work.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Hollingsworth.

Colleagues, is there further discussion on OPCD 5A1?

Councilmember Rivera.

Thank you, Chair.

Just to clarify, this is a budget neutral item.

Correct.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Colleagues, further discussion?

Questions?

OPCD 5A1, if you would like to co-sponsor, please raise your hand now.

And I have co-sponsoring OPCD 5A1, Councilmember Rivera and Solomon.

Councilmember Rivera and Solomon.

Thank you.

We'll now move on to OPCD 8A1.

OPCD 8A1 would increase OPCD by $3 million for a public market project such as the African Community and Housing Development International Public Market Project in Highland Park.

Councilmember Saka co-sponsored by Councilmember Solomon and Hollingsworth.

Thank you.

Councilmember Saka is sponsoring the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I'm really excited about this particular project, this investment in the community.

This is the most unique public market.

It would be a food hub, a public market, a small business incubator called the Seattle International Public Market.

centrally involving black and brown, low-income, immigrant and refugee, small business owners and micro-entrepreneurs.

In a very central location in Highland Park, an area that is in dire need, I think 9th and Henderson, if I'm recalling correctly, in that vicinity at least, an area that is in dire need of activation to ensure that specific neighborhood and community can thrive.

It's also in a known food desert, but this innovative concept sponsored by the African Community and Housing Development Organization would build All those things I mentioned, plus a economic vitality center and hub accessible to community and possibly a commercial kitchen space.

Again, really important, particularly when we're talking about the specific location of this project in a food desert.

Incredibly, they have already raised this organization, ACHD, African Community and Housing Development.

They have already raised all but $5 million of their $23.5 million project costs, including $5 million of their own donations with massive amounts of community support.

Colleagues, if you haven't had a chance to connect with with our partners in governance and partners in community at ACHD.

I highly recommend you do that, because they have projects and programs that serve every last one of our council districts, even though they're, I think, technically based in CTAC.

In any event, this funding would match the need for this important last mile investment to enable them to finish their campaign and open this international market in quarter two of 2027, which is the current timeline.

So I would love the opportunity if you join me in supporting this awesome investment.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Sokka.

Colleagues, further discussion, questions?

Further discussion?

Seeing no additional discussion or questions, colleagues, if you would like to co-sponsor OPCD 8A1, please raise your hand now.

I have co-sponsoring OPCD 8, Councilmember Rank.

Councilmember Rank.

Thank you.

Moving on to the next item, OPCD 9SA1.

OPCD 9SA1 is a statement of legislative intent that would request that the Office of Planning and Community Development work in conjunction with the Office of Sustainability and Environment and the Office of Economic Development to report on the design of a pilot project to explore new models for increasing access to healthy food retail in underserved areas as well as costs to implement the project.

This pilot project was not conjured up out of nowhere.

It was outlined in OPCD's response to a previous slide, and that document contains a bit of information about what it could include, including public-private partnerships and property acquisition.

It's sponsored by Councilmember Rink and co-sponsored by Councilmembers Saka and Juarez.

Thank you.

Councilmember Rink has sponsored the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Chair Strauss.

Early last month, in a very thorough response to the slide that was just mentioned and sponsored by Councilmember Saka, OPCD made the recommendation that a pilot program be developed to explore new models for increasing access to healthy food and retail in underserved areas.

We know that the executive has prioritized some of this kind of exploration in his recent executive orders around food insecurity that include additional departments such as OED and OSE.

and we all agree we need more food options for many communities across our city.

OPCD has already done a ton of great work identifying some pathways to addressing this need.

This slide will ensure that the multi-departmental effort for the mayor's executive order teed up will be able to build on that work with the additional insights OPCD is uniquely positioned to develop.

Thank you, Council Member Rank.

Colleagues, further discussion?

Questions?

OPCD 9SA1.

If you would like to co-sponsor, please raise your hand now.

I have co-sponsoring OPCD 9, Council Member Hollingsworth.

Council Member Hollingsworth.

And Council Member Kettle.

and Council Member Cattle.

Thank you.

Colleagues, moving on to OPCD 10SA1.

Good morning, Council Members.

My name is Eric McConaughey.

I'm the Council Central Staff.

OPCD 10SA1 is a statement of legislative intent that would request the Office of Planning and Community Development update the neighborhood snapshots.

These are demographic profiles.

That update would happen in 2026 and expand the collection of snapshots to cover all neighborhoods in Seattle including demographic data by council district.

Each council district snapshot should include demographics data with comparisons to city-wide averages, statewide averages, and nationwide averages.

The sponsor is Councilmember Saka with co-sponsors Councilmember Salomon and Hollingsworth.

Thank you, Councilmember Saka.

Sponsor of the amendment, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

This is a slide to request that OPCD who would take over this project and effort from our Seattle Department of Neighborhoods in 2026 to update the demographic quote-unquote snapshots is what we use in the city to capture various demographics data.

Today we do it by neighborhood.

The last one was performed in 2023, so this request would and currently my understanding is that the department has these updates in their 2026 work plan at some point, but this slide would request that it would be done a little earlier so it can help inform council decisions and our constituents, help us all collectively better understand the changing profiles and demographics of neighborhoods, but especially council districts and specifically we're requesting that more neighborhoods be included and directly aligned to our council district mapping and included a kind of local data compare against city-wide averages, state-wide averages, et cetera.

And so my office, should this pass, my office would work collaboratively with OPCD to address any questions as the work proceeds.

Thank you, Councilmember Saka.

Colleagues, further discussion?

Yes.

Councilmember Juarez, you are recognized.

I'd like to co-sponsor with Councilmember Saka.

It's district-oriented.

We'll get there and just- Oh, I thought you were- Okay.

Colleagues, further discussion, questions?

Further discussion, questions?

Seeing no further discussion or questions, if you'd like to co-sponsor, please raise your hand now.

Here, I have my hand up.

I see Councilmember Juarez with her hand up.

You're taking this budget chair stuff a bit too seriously.

Colleagues, seeing co-sponsors to OPCD 10SA1, Councilmember Rink and Juarez.

Councilmembers Rink and Juarez.

Thank you.

Moving on to the next department.

We are moving into Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections, SDCI 1A1.

What happened?

All right.

Ketel Freeman, Council Central Staff, SDCI 001A1.

would increase appropriations to SDCI by $1 million in general fund on an ongoing basis to restore reductions to tenant services contracts to 2024 levels.

The types of service grants and contracts that SDCI funds includes eviction, legal defense, case management, know your rights, education for landlords and tenants about the city's regulations.

These appropriations are distinct from rental assistance for which the proposed 2026 budget would appropriate about $11.4 million.

This is sponsored by Councilmember Rink and co-sponsored by Councilmembers Saka and Salomon.

Thank you.

Councilmember Rink has sponsored the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Chair Strauss.

Colleagues, we know that Seattle is a majority renter city and renters deserve protections and supports to stay housed and stay healthy.

During the 2025 city budget cycles, tenant services were cut by around 40% or $1 million.

this amendment would restore the level of funding back.

Tenant services are different from rental assistance, which helps, which solely helps renters make cash payments.

Tenant services is a broader category that includes right to legal counsel during eviction proceedings, legal clinics for individualized support to prevent eviction in the first place, as well as guidance and counseling on how to deal with common issues facing renters, including conflict mediation, payment negotiation and debt defense.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Rink.

Colleagues, discussion?

Council Member Kettle.

Thank you, Chair Strauss.

My question for central staff is, This says, we're in this section of Seattle Department of Construction and Inspection.

And last year, as Council Member Rink and her noted, this is a human services function.

And last year we had shifts from SDCI to HSD where it properly belongs.

So why do we still have this under SDCI given what we did last year with respect to this topic in terms of right sizing, right placement of, you know, functions with the departments that's responsible for those functions.

Mr. Freeman?

Yeah, happy to answer that question.

And there's sort of a short answer and a long answer to that.

Council's actions last year took a lot of the rental assistance funding and put that in HSD.

So it took that function from SDCI, put it in HSD, That had really only been in SDCI on a temporary basis for about two years.

The Seattle Municipal Code puts tenant protection stuff in SDCI's jurisdiction.

The Council could choose to do something different, but that would mean changing the authority for SDCI and giving that authority to the Human Services Department.

Councilmember Kittle, further discussion?

Well, thank you for that answer.

The intent of the Council last year was to, like, placement of functions with the proper department.

So the fact that it's still within SDCI, you know, it's really a misplacement, and it really should be within the Human Services Department.

And we can continue this on year after year.

We started last year, so, colleagues, I'm just highlighting this.

Independent of the, of the, the budget amendment, I'm just talking, this is a good governance piece.

It's like having a HSD function within SDCI is really not good governance because their focus is on construction.

If it's the inspection of a rental housing or some other in terms of it's a fire code or all these with a fire department as well, that's one thing, ensuring that it's safe, an example.

these services pieces really should be within the Human Services Department.

So thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Council Member Kettle.

Any further discussion from central staff?

I can expand on this a little bit.

There is some history here that gets to prior council's decisions about what constituted good governance.

There was a time when a lot of these grants and contracts were actually administered by HSD.

There was an audit by the state auditor which concluded that HSD wasn't managing the contracts well.

At the time, the Council chose to move administration of those contracts over to SDCI because there was a function there at SDCI with a rental registration inspection program.

The primary focus of that program is really about habitability of rental housing, but that was sort of when that shift occurred.

The Council could choose to move things back.

That's a policy choice that the Council could make.

Thank you, Mr. Freeman.

Councilmember Kell, further discussion or questions?

Just to note that that's a poor decision by the state.

If somebody's not doing the job well, taking it from them and giving it to somebody else is not the right way of business.

You demand do it well.

And I just wanted to note that because that's just another example of rewarding bad behavior or bad performance.

And what we should have done is gotten HSD squared away at that point in time and had them do their job and do it well.

And unfortunately, that was punted over to SDCI, which is really a mismatch in terms of department functions.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Council Member Kettle.

Council Member Rivera, I saw a hand a minute ago.

Thank you, Chair.

I just wanna actually underscore what Council Member Kettle said, thank you, and also just information from the department about these services and how that's going is also a critical piece, which is, Council Member Kettle, part of what I'm hearing you say too, this should be shifting to the department who is most better versed on what tenants need.

So anyway, just wanted to underscore that piece as well.

And also if central staff has information about these services and how well these are going and any information at all offline, that would be great too.

Thank you, Councilmember Rivera.

Mr. Freeman, anything to add there?

Happy to provide that to you.

We have some contract deliverables today that SDC has provided us with.

We can upload that information to your office.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Juarez.

Just briefly, Kittle, what I heard you say, and I'm glad you brought up the habitability issue, because that's something that we had a discussion about with this.

I think one of the things that we should note, and if you want to add more, please do, is that CDI has more of an enforcement power than HSD, and that's where I saw the distinction.

Correct?

Yeah, and I think that was probably part of the initial decision-making.

I think it was in 2012 when that shift happened about that time frame.

The administration of the housing code, habitability, that is squarely in SDCI function, the grant-making that SDCI does now is actually done through the compliance program at SDCI.

So it is actually the body at SDCI that is responsible for administering the code but also enforcing the code.

So if there's a complaint about a housing violation, for example, the folks that respond to that are coming from the same place as the folks who administer contracts for tenant services.

Right.

And the tenant service contracts, because it's a contract, that was why the conventional wisdom was it should be at SDCI because they have enforcement.

whereas HSD, yes, but the habitability piece where we have bad actors or absent tenant or absent landlords, that was the issue and tenants obviously bad actors of landlords that aren't getting to tenant services and the people that can do that best, I thought and still do, was SDCI, not HSD, not to say that they don't talk to each other and know what's going on, but that was my understanding.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Council Member Juarez.

Colleagues, further discussion, questions?

Councilmember Rivera.

Thank you Chair and thank you Councilmember Juarez for the enforcement piece because that is true.

I think something that last year we saw was just right hand, left hand, right?

How are these departments working together?

Everyone has their own piece of the puzzle and I think last year what we were asking as a body was how are these departments working together to ensure that these investments we have they're working to the best potential they can given everyone has a different piece of it.

We don't have insight into that.

And so I think this is a little bit like Council Member Kettle when you're talking about the housing, the Seattle Housing Investment Plan it's a little along those lines is how do we better and more efficiently track things across departments so we get the bigger picture on what's going on, which is why also I was asking about the performance of these contracts.

But so all those things are true and just a better way of ensuring that we're tracking what every department's doing and how it's coming together to work is I think what we were trying to get to last year.

not to put words into your mouth, Council Member Kettle.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, colleagues.

Any further discussion on the topic?

Council Member Juarez.

No, I just, is it too soon to say I want to help?

Okay, I can't go for the gun on that.

And if you would like to co-sponsor SDCI 1A1, please raise your hand now.

I see Council Member Juarez.

I see Council Member Juarez.

Council Member Juarez.

Thank you.

We'll move on to SDCI 2A1.

All right, SDCI 2A1 would increase appropriations to SDCI by $192,000 of construction and inspections fund and add one FTE Strategic Advisor 1 on a term-limited basis to function as a permit expediter.

SDCI has one FTE Strategic Advisor 1 that acts as a permit expediter now.

That person facilitates things like small business tenant improvement applications by first-time applicants and special projects.

This is sponsored by Councilmember Strauss and co-sponsored by Councilmembers Solomon and Rink.

Thank you.

As sponsor of the amendment, I'll speak to this item, which is when we had the department as well as central staff presentations regarding the state of our permitting system, they described a permit expediter position which they have today.

We currently have one audit of our permitting system that has been completed.

Those recommendations are being implemented.

I will say that there's more work to be done more quickly with implementing those recommendations.

I've also engaged with the auditor for the second part of this audit.

The first was permit issuance.

The second audit is certificate of occupancy because it doesn't matter if the building's built if you can't open the door.

And so these two audits combined with their recommendations if implemented correctly should improve our permit system.

That said, until then we do have a need to expedite in certain circumstances the need for permit review whether it is citing a a safe lot or a homeless shelter, whether it's building affordable housing, whether it's getting ready for FIFA, which is coming in just a few months, these are the things that may at times need to have their permits expedited.

We can't do that without an individual, without slowing down the other work.

So that is the need for this position.

Colleagues, questions, discussion?

Seeing no further questions or discussion, if you are interested in co-sponsoring SDCI 2A1, please raise your hand now.

Seeing no further co-sponsors, was I just too slow?

Council Member Sokka and Hollingsworth, you're interested?

Sorry, I will slow down.

We have on SDCI 2A1, Council Member Sokka and Hollingsworth.

Council Member Sokka and Hollingsworth.

Thank you.

Moving on to SDCI 3SA1.

Alright, the next two are statements of legislative intent.

SDCI 3A1 would request that the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections and the Office of Planning and Community Development provide a report to the Council that identifies how current and future legislation for mandated changes to regulations will be prioritized, developed, and transmitted to the Council for action prior to statutory deadlines.

This is a response to the fact that the Council has several pieces of interim legislation that were enacted to address the fact that we were not able to meet, the city as a whole was not able to meet deadlines imposed through state and federal legislation, and this would presumably set the city on a path to meeting those deadlines in a timely fashion.

Thank you.

Councilmember Salmon, as sponsor of the amendment, you are recognized.

Thank you very much, Chair.

I'm not going to add too much more to what was said.

The intent here really is to make sure that STCI and OPCD provide a comprehensive report to the Council to tell us how both departments are prioritizing, develop, and transmitting legislation responding to state and federal mandates.

The intent is to ensure future mandated regulatory changes are delivered to the council on time and in compliance with statutory deadlines.

Bottom line is, the city's compliance record has been inconsistent with several missed statutory deadlines, and the expected outcomes of this slide are to improve transparency and accountability in how the executive manages mandated code updates, enhanced coordination between SDCI, OPCD and the council, and assures that the city meets its federal and state deadlines, avoiding penalties and maintaining credibility.

The key message here is, you know, this slide is not about assigning blame.

It's about establishing a clear and reliable system for managing legally required updates.

By strengthening coordination and oversight, the Council ensures Seattle remains compliant, transparent, and proactive in implementing state and federal land use mandates.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Salomon.

Colleagues, discussion?

Questions?

Seeing no further discussion or questions on SDCI 3SA1, please raise your hand now to co-sponsor.

I have Council Member Kettle co-sponsoring SDCI 3SA1.

Council Member Kettle.

Thank you.

Moving on to SDCI 4SA1.

Alright, SDCI 4 SA1 would request that SDCI report quarterly on the health of the construction inspections fund.

Among the pieces of budget legislation this year is a piece of legislation that would increase SDCI fees by about 18 percent.

This slide would request that the council receive quarterly reports on permit volumes, construction values, workload, and reserve fund balances within the construction inspection fund.

This would allow the Council to make more timely changes to the fee structure as it's warranted by changes in the real estate market and associated construction industry, which is inherently cyclical.

This is sponsored by Councilmember Salomon and co-sponsored by Councilmember Strauss and Rink.

Thank you.

Councilmember Salomon has sponsored the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Chair.

The quarterly reporting will allow the Council to track trends in permitting activity and revenue, monitor reserve levels to ensure financial stability, assess staffing and workload balance to maintain timely service delivery, and inform future fee policy decisions based on real-time data rather than year-end estimates.

Regular updates will also enhance transparency for permit applications, builders, and the public who are directly impacted by fee changes and process and timelines.

Key message here is that this slide ensures that the council and the public have the information needed to make responsible, transparent, and data-informed decisions about SDCI's fee structure, staffing, and financial health.

Regular reporting will help safeguard both service stability and fiscal sustainability as the city navigates changes in the construction economy.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Solomon.

Colleagues, question, discussion?

just to say that we had a very important discussion in committee regarding this fund when SDCI was presenting to the Select Budget Committee and having these quarterly reports will put us in a position where we can better manage how many staff, what the intake is for our permit revenue and how do we get those permits approved quickly.

So Council Member Salomon, thank you for putting this forward.

Colleagues, any further discussion?

If you'd like to co-sponsor SDCI 4, SA 1, please raise your hand now.

I have co-sponsoring SDCI 4, Council Member Saka and Kettle.

Council Member Saka and Kettle.

Thank you.

Moving on to the next department, we have Department of Neighborhoods.

The City of Seattle is a City of Neighborhoods.

With that, we have Department of Neighborhoods 2, SA 1.

Hi, good morning.

I am Eric McConaughey of the Council of Central Staff.

And as I go through these, there's a number of items for the Department of Neighborhoods.

If I say Don, just as the short version of that, I hope you'll forgive me.

So this first one is a statement of legislative intent that would request Don to study and report to Council on the budgetary and legislative actions necessary to establish a Black Advisory Council.

Don should consult with community organizations and leaders throughout the study.

The study should support recommendations on matters including purpose, membership, terms, appointment, compensation, and staffing.

The history of the establishment of the Indigenous Advisory Council in 2021 may be informative to the study.

The sponsor of this is Councilmember Hollingsworth with co-sponsors Saka and Juarez.

Thank you.

Councilmember Hollingsworth is sponsor of the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Chair.

I'm coming in hot with Don.

I saw a bunch of amendments, so I apologize.

So first, thank you, Council Member Juarez and SACA for your co-sponsorship.

I'd also like to thank Council Member Juarez who paved the path in 2021, as our central staff alluded to, for the Indigenous Advisory Committee, and we're here to follow in her footsteps so we can develop a black advisory committee.

Council, this is a sly.

The vision is for this advisory Council is to give leaders a seat at the table so they can give their expertise and experiences to shape some of the policy decisions that we make on Council.

So thank you, Council Member Sokka and thank you, Council Member Juarez for your co-sponsorship.

Thank you, colleagues.

Discussion, questions?

Council Member Kettle.

Thank you, Chair Strauss.

I just want to thank Council Member Hollingsworth for bringing this forward.

As we saw yesterday with a great turnout, it's important for the black community to speak and be heard and to have that independent of others that may be speaking on behalf of.

And I think we've seen this again and again over the last couple of years.

And I think this is important to have that kind of independent voice speaking on the issues across the range of issues that face our city.

So I just wanted to thank Council Member Hollingsworth for bringing this forward.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Colleagues, further discussion, questions?

Seeing none, if you'd like to co-sponsor DON2SA1, please raise your hand now.

This is gonna be an everybody.

We have Council President Nelson, Council Member Kettle, Rink, Solomon, Strauss.

Council Members, Solomon, Strauss, Rink, Kettle.

And I'm sorry, I missed one.

We have Council Members, so if I'm just one, two, three.

I think the only one is not Council Member Rivera and- Nelson, Council Member Nelson, I'm sorry.

Yeah, when she returns, we will ask her if she wants to co-sponsor since that would be nice.

Moving on to the next item, we've got Department of Neighborhoods 381.

Council Members, this item would increase Don by $5,000 in the Neighborhood Matching Fund to support annual Halloween events for children, such as Pride Fest's Halloween.

The sponsor is Council Member Hollingsworth with co-sponsors Saka and Rink.

Thank you.

Council Member Hollingsworth is sponsoring the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, coming in hot, $5,000, y'all.

This is, sorry, I lost my place.

Okay, so this is a modest increase in an example of how small amount of funding and support can make a huge impact on an organization, particularly organizations that mean so much to the community.

I know Council Member Rink and I were talking about events on Capitol Hill, especially for kids that live in apartments.

and not having opportunity to be able to go out and enjoy the trick-or-treat vibe.

And so, Halloween has been years, and they've done this for years, and unfortunately this year they did not have the funding to continue to do it because they supplement this.

And so this is just a fund that would go towards the Halloween event that Pride Fest hosts on Capitol Hill.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Hollingsworth.

Colleagues, questions?

Discussion?

Seeing no further questions or discussion, if you'd like to co-sponsor DON381, please raise your hand now.

Council President Nelson, co-sponsoring.

Council Member Nelson.

Thank you.

We'll move on to DON4SA1.

Chair.

Yes, Council President.

My hand was up.

While we're marking, we have to say co-sponsorships in an open session, so could I please be marked down for co-sponsoring deal 002SA1?

Thank you.

But for the record, that is now noted.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Colleagues, if you have an item that is not in the procedure that we are right now, just a point of order.

I will say, what is your point?

And we'll move forward from there just to make sure that the clerk is recording everything correctly.

With that, I believe we are back to DON4SA1.

Is that correct?

That's correct.

Thank you.

Over to you, Mr. McConaughey.

This item is another statement of legislative intent.

This statement of legislative intent would request that the Department of Neighborhoods inventory the historical black and African American buildings and cultural places in the black and African American community and deliver that inventory to council by June 1st of 2026. It's Council's intent that Don rely on community knowledge and resources that preserve the history and cultural meaning of these buildings and places to enrich the inventory and that also rely on resources that Don has on hand and their staff, excuse me, such as the materials that are included in the nomination and designation of Seattle landmarks.

Importantly, the inventory should include for each building or place a description of its current physical condition and recommendations for renovation and restoration.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McConaughey.

Council Member Hollingsworth is sponsoring the amendment and you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

An important component of the study is understanding the physical condition and recommendations for renovation and restoration of historic black and African-American buildings and cultural spaces around the city.

Having all this information in one area is incredibly important so we can figure out and make sure that we're preserving some of those historic buildings from faith-based institutions, from community spaces.

There are different houses that James Washington Foundation, there's a bunch of different places in Seattle that are in need of historical preservation, but also infrastructure repairs.

And so this would be an inventory.

And just to note that Don can quickly assemble this database because they have their landmark preservation, they have a historic district committee, they have a Don database, and there's also groups like the Black Washington Heritage Society that can be able to provide a ton of information.

And thank you, Council Member Juarez and Council Member Saka for your co-sponsorship.

Thank you Councilmember Hollingsworth.

Colleagues, questions, discussion on.

D-O-N-4.

Council Member Juarez.

Thank you.

First, I just want to share that I am...

Thank you, Council Member Hollingsworth, for including me in these discussions when we started out discussing how this would look.

And the point I want to make is, from being around here for a bit, is that people use historical landmarks often to protect their neighborhoods and their history.

and we don't see a lot of communities that get the opportunity to share their history and have it marked.

And so all of Seattle's history should be captured.

And whether it's in brick and mortar, whether it's a church, a community center, a street, a neighborhood.

So I was very happy to co-sponsor this with Council Member Hollingsworth so we get in the practice of understanding the sensibilities of the city and other neighborhoods that should be protected.

So thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Juarez.

Colleagues, further discussion?

Questions?

If you would like to co-sponsor DON4SA1, please raise your hand now.

I have Council Members, we've got five, six, seven, eight.

We have everyone other than Council Member Rivera who is not present at the moment, and so we will come back to her to ask if she would like to co-sponsor.

when she returns.

So we have all eight at this time other than Councilmember Rivera.

All eight.

Thank you.

Thank you for letting me just take some notes.

We're going to move on to DON 5A1.

Council Budget Action would add $50,000 to support the Renters Commission in Dawn.

It would support the Renters Commission, including the creation of a strategic work plan to move priorities forward.

The sponsor is Council Member Juarez with co-sponsors Saka and Rink.

Thank you.

Council Member Juarez has sponsored the amendment.

You're recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I know that sounds like a word salad, but let me get it all out here.

The Seattle Renters Commission background, I think it's really important that we understand this.

The Renters Commission was created in 2017 through Council Bill 11892, which I pulled up and had to look at because I remember now.

It was sponsored by now Senior Deputy Burgess, Council Member Herbalt, Council Member O'Brien and myself.

So that was eight years ago and we know that the demographics in the city have changed dramatically as far as renters.

We have now more renters than and we know Seattle is too damn expensive.

We also know that we've passed many rental protection laws and a lot of that came from the Renters Commission advising and advocacy.

so we could understand what the renters needed.

So the renters' commission came out of the chair, at the time was Chair Burgess, his Affordable Housing, Neighborhoods, and Finance Committee, and the duties of the Seattle renters' commission named in the ordinance says basically, provide information, advice, and counsel to the mayor, city, council, and departments, including housing affordability, transportation access, land use, public health, safety, and economic development.

and to monitor the enforcement of effectiveness of legislation relating to renters and renter protections, which basically means the renter's commission advises the legislative branch and to some degree the executive branch about what the rental community needs.

I've been working and had some really good discussions with, met with the renter's commission and the department director Council member or I'm sorry chair a director It's Jennifer Jennifer Chow So the reason why I think this is incredibly well, there's a little bit more here that I want to add so Besides what we asked them to do seven or eight years ago and what they've been doing and they've been moving forward in providing strategies and in strengthening the enforcement and effectiveness of renter protections.

They are also to report and have on an annual basis to the Mayor and City Council, including sharing an annual work plan that has been informed by feedback from the community, and they do meet periodically.

So my position is this for them, is investing in the Sailor Renters Commission and expanding their capacity would support a common understanding of policy, alignment of priorities, empowerment of the Commission to be proactive in their approach, and also funds could be used to convene community events to inform priorities of the Commission.

I kind of stole a page out of Councilmember Saka's book here regarding SDOT.

Yes, we represent the city, but we honor the needs of our district.

And what I like about this legislation and my discussions with the director is that it is district-focused.

So hopefully when we have the hiring piece, or I'm sorry, when we have the information coming back to us about what the Renters Commission needs, we can address all the districts and all the renters across the city.

and looking at the original bill, and I have to share this, is that I think Department of Neighborhoods has been doing a good job, but the renter's commission needs guidance and help in the sense of working with DON to serve as a liaison, to work with neighborhood groups and other community organizations.

and that's no easy task and they also work with, DON as you know, also works with the Seattle Youth Commission.

So that's why I'm here asking if we can have $50,000 for the Renters Commission to actually assist them in doing their work.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Warriors.

Colleagues, discussion?

Questions?

Seeing no further discussion or questions, if you would like to co-sponsor DON 5A1, please raise your hand now.

We have co-sponsoring DON 5, Council President Nelson, Council Member Hollingsworth.

Council Members Hollingsworth and Nelson.

Thank you.

Moving on to DON 7A1.

DON 7A1 would add appropriations to the Department of Neighborhoods Neighborhood Matching Fund by $2.6 million to support the construction and renovation of buildings and structures serving diverse communities that provide inclusive neighborhood gathering places such as the Highland Park Improvement Club.

Such places host neighborhood meetings, arts and cultural events, emergency preparedness activities, food distribution sites, and mutual aid efforts.

The sponsor of this amendment is Councilmember Saka with co-sponsors Juarez and Nelson.

Thank you.

Councilmember Saka is the sponsor of the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and first and foremost, I wanna thank my co-sponsors, Council Members Juarez and Council President Nelson for joining me in supporting this initiative.

I really appreciate your leadership and partnership on this, and it's my absolute honor to propose it and talk a little bit about it here today.

So, colleagues for over a century, the beloved Highland Park Improvement Club, or HPIC, has served this historic, working-class, diverse, vibrant neighborhood covering a large area in Southwest Seattle and a 100% volunteer-run, community-owned gathering space.

this is what this space was and hoped to rebuild to be, that has brought people together since they were first founded and established in 1919 as the Dumar Outland Improvement Club and in 1924, later changed their name to the Highland Park Improvement Club.

And colleagues, no doubt you are all aware from an academic perspective, some of the history in our nation surrounding improvement clubs, particularly in the progressive movement.

They've been very instrumental in helping to champion and advance initiatives for women, for example, women's suffrage, working class people, et cetera.

My understanding is that the Highland Park Improvement Club was one of the last few remaining improvement clubs in the state.

But after weathering the pandemic and serving as a critical food distribution site, the club was preparing to reopen again in 2021 when a devastating fire destroyed its building.

This proposal for $2.6 million is a one-time funding to support construction and renovation of this vital community gathering space.

that would help complete this important community project.

And supporting HPIC's reconstruction is an investment in an underserved, working class community, but a very vibrant neighborhood.

They have suffered from historical underinvestment, and I view it as my responsibility to help and be intentional about reversing some of that.

So they have great work.

They have a great project and proud to be able to join my colleagues, Councilmembers Nelson and Juarez in helping to champion this to help amplify their voices and amplify their impact in Highland Park and beyond.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Saka.

Colleagues, questions?

Further discussion?

Colleagues, if you would like to co-sponsor DON 7A1, please raise your hand now.

Co-sponsoring Council Member Solomon to DON 7.

Council Member Solomon.

Thank you.

At this time, we will pause and return to DON 4SA1 to see if further co-sponsors are desired.

All right, hand up.

Council Member Rivera.

Thank you, Chair.

to D-O-N-4-S-A-1.

There we are.

Thank you very much.

We're going to move on to D-O-N-8-A-1.

Chair Strauss, if I may.

I believe there was another item that customer Rivera was not able to.

Sorry.

We'll continue moving on to D-O-N-8-A-1.

Excuse me, so this item would add, it's a council budget action, it would add $5 million jumpstart and a 2.0 FTE planning and development specialist position for community reinvestment programs to Don and decrease Office of Housing by $5 million jumpstart.

It would do this for a community reinvestment grants program and this program would be taken up, would commence after the Office of Civil Rights completes the reparations study and the Office of Planning and Community Development completes a proposal for the administration of coordinated funds to support investments in housing, culture, community and commerce focusing on remedying historical injustices experienced by descendants of black slaves, people of black lineage, members of the African diaspora, and descendants of chattel slavery.

This reduction in jumpstart of five million in Office of Housing would have an impact on Office of Housing's affordable housing production, as this funding would otherwise be used for that purpose.

The sponsor is Council Member Hollingsworth with co-sponsors SACA and Juarez.

Council Member Hollingsworth is sponsoring the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Chair.

Sorry, I went extra black on the description.

So thank you for that.

So the mayor's proposal was to allocate $80 million, $20 million a year for housing and historical harms for people in redlined areas.

This was between King County did a study.

It was between $5.8 billion to 13. that was extracted from those communities.

And let me start by, I apologize.

Let me thank Council Member Juarez and Council Member Sacca for their co-sponsorship on this.

A family having a physical building and a roof and a housing support is critical component.

However, keeping a family in that home and allowing them to thrive in that community is where the true repairing the harms happens.

And we saw yesterday how we're gonna continue to build on this.

The first step was to expand Office of Civil Rights, their study expansion on nexus to housing.

of the harms that were done in the community.

The second piece was OPCD, being able to have those funds and outreach as well.

So that's a budget neutral action.

But the vision is for black communities to have a source of funding to move forward with their programs, services and infrastructure, to have a nexus to housing for culture, community and commerce.

That funding would provide the opportunity through grants.

I think this is the first step to a sustainable approach.

And I want to also note that this is for Department of Neighborhoods we were thinking about which departments and Department of Neighborhoods has the community.

They have some of the existing capacity and staffing to execute this and do it very intentionally with community as this would obviously be a new program.

So thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Hollingsworth.

Colleagues, discussion.

Questions?

Seeing no additional questions or discussion, if you would like to co-sponsor DON 8A1, please raise your hand now.

I see Council Member Solomon and Council President Nelson co-sponsoring DON 8. I'm gonna pause.

All right, everyone's settled.

Got you.

I had two others.

Council President dropped her hand, great.

So DON 8A1, Council President Nelson, Council Members Solomon and Rivera.

Council Members Solomon, Rivera, and Nelson.

Yes.

Thank you, moving on to DON 9A1.

9A1 would increase proposed appropriations to Don by $487,000 and add 3.0 FTE planning and development specialist to for community engagement and outreach.

The sponsor is Council Member Juarez with co-sponsors Hollingsworth and Rink.

Thank you.

Council Member Juarez, you are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

And again, thank you to Council Member Hollingsworth and Rink for working with me and discussing how we move forward on these three FTEs within DON.

You're going to hear some of the saying and language that I said on my last blue sheet, which I, when we get to this type of amendments, I look at it through a lens of district representation.

So as you know, there are four, there are currently four community engagement coordinators that cover the entire city of Seattle.

This proposal would expand that number to seven, so there's a community engagement coordinator dedicated to each district.

And as I shared before, we did move to a district system 10 years ago, and so we know it works.

So this amendment, this budget amendment, would provide the capacity to meet the needs of Seattle's growing population and focus on individual districts, like I shared earlier, like what Councilmember Saka is doing with SDOT and sidewalks.

It's made a huge difference to be able to come forward and say, these are the things in the inventory that we've taken in our district, not to displace others, but these are the needs that we need.

These are the needs that need to be covered.

The community engagement coordinator fosters relationships and collaborations with community groups and small businesses.

wanting to engage and partner with city government.

So in short, they work shoulder to shoulder with community and the district representative.

Future hirings, which is very key, and I'm really glad that I had a chance to go through this with Director Chow, is future hiring would prioritize the identification of candidates from within the council district in which they would serve.

So basically you will want folks who live, work, or certainly understand not just the district, but the communities.

So it isn't specifically, but it would be nice to have people that actually live in the district, have the history, own a home, rent a home, raise their kids, go to the store so they can understand.

And I think we highlighted that yesterday when some of us spoke to the closing of grocery stores.

We could tell you off the top of our heads what businesses, grocery stores, and small businesses have closed since 2020, and that's important.

So these positions would build upon Department of Neighborhoods, the CID pilot model that coordinated outreach activities, ensuring that residents and businesses can access timely, accurate information and feel supported in navigating city services.

So we get back to navigating city services and one thing that I've witnessed over my ninth budget cycle is constituents, community groups, indigenous-led groups, nonprofits have a difficulty if they're in a district trying to access services if they just have to go through their council member.

We end up just either going back and referring them to the city department, having someone there from DO and whose job it is to know what's going on in D2, D4, D5, D6, D7, and being able to report back with Department of Neighborhoods what that means would be an incredible service and I think a critical service to add to the services that this city council and this government provides to our community.

So with that, I hope that I have the support of my colleagues.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Juarez.

Colleagues, further discussion?

Questions?

I'll note a question for tomorrow when we get to Human Services Department.

I know Council Member Rivera has a similar proposal to fund a strategic advisor for the North Seattle Safety Hub, similar but different.

And my question tomorrow will just be, what is the overlap in description of these positions in that?

I believe that they're different and that's why I'm asking right now for tomorrow so that we are all prepared, no surprises.

Thank you.

Colleagues, any further question or discussion?

If you'd like to co-sponsor DON9A1, please raise your hand now.

I have Council Member Solomon, Saka, Nelson on DON9.

Council Member Solomon, Saka, and Nelson.

Thank you.

We'll move on to DON10A1.

This council budget action would increase proposed appropriations to the Department of Neighborhoods by $100,000 to support the one Seattle Day of Service.

The proposed budget would transfer responsibilities for the one Seattle Day of Service from the Department of Finance and Administrative Services to Don with appropriations of $250,000.

This would increase that appropriation to a total of $350,000.

It's sponsored by Chair Strauss with Council Members Solomon and Rank as co-sponsors.

Thank you, colleagues.

As the sponsor of this amendment, I will speak to the item, which is if I told you the Seattle one day of service didn't exist four years ago, would you be surprised?

I think I asked that question because it has become ingrained in our community so quickly.

It has only been going on in the last three or four years.

You may or may not know I was working quietly to receive additional support from AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps, which is a program that I participated in and can essentially come in and one of their teams could expand the number of locations, expand the number of participation, and expand the amount of impact that the Seattle One Day of Service and completes and it's not just the work that's being done.

It is not just the community that is built between neighbors when engaging in service projects.

It is the feeling of buying in and picking up that trash and being part of the solution for our city.

So Seattle One Day of Service has multiple different outcomes that it achieves.

It has a modest budget.

I have been looking for ways of how can we increase and expand the impact of people being engaged with their community, people creating deeper community with each other, and getting work done for our city.

Those are the three outcomes we're trying to achieve.

This is another one of those increases that I would not have to make had the AmeriCorps program not been completely shut down this year.

That's why the AmeriCorps option is not available to us anymore.

All of their teams were sent home in April.

And so this is a modest request to expand the impact of our Seattle one day of service.

Colleagues, any further discussion or questions?

Council President Nelson.

I think of, and maybe this is wrong, I sort of think of this, of the day of service as Mayor Harrell's sort of invention, I don't know, and I'm wondering if there's been conversation with the executive on that and also, just because it could be part of the brand, or something I don't know but I love the day of service and I just wanted to know and I have no problem supporting providing it some funding so that it can get the word out or maybe buy sponges and stuff I'm not sure but my question is what does the difference make between one department and the other where the money lives?

are you saying that it increased?

Is it funded?

Are there any funds for it right now from Don?

Thank you, Council President.

Mr. McConaghy?

Yes, so the proposed budget makes the move from FAS over to Don.

So that's in the proposal from the mayor.

And this ad would add money More to it, yes.

So that move moves the responsibilities as well as adding money to fund those responsibilities from FAS over to Don, and this would add more to it.

So the question of the move would be we could pursue that some more, ask folks in CBO about why.

I think it has to do with the practicalities of managing this project, this activity, yeah.

Thank you.

Council President Nelson.

Oh, excuse me.

Thank you.

What is the base funding?

Please remind me.

Mr. McConaughey.

Yeah, it's $250,000.

This adds $100,000, so $350,000 total if this were to pass and there were no other changes, yeah.

Thank you.

Council President, further discussion?

No, thank you.

Thank you.

Colleagues, further discussion?

Questions?

Just to say that I have noticed in every one of the Seattle One Day of Services progressively as they've continued on, it becomes harder and harder to sign up for a volunteer spot, which means that the program is oversubscribed, which is a very good thing.

Colleagues, if you would like to co-sponsor DON 10A1, please raise your hand now.

Yes, sorry.

Gotcha.

Co-sponsoring DON 10A1, Council Member Hollingsworth and Council President Nelson.

by Councilmembers Hollingsworth and Nelson.

Thank you.

And moving on to the last item in Department of Neighborhoods, Department of Neighborhoods 1181.

This council budget action would propose appropriations of the Department of Neighborhoods matching a fund by $100,000 for the Small Sparks Program to support education and awareness matching grants.

Local Government 101 with the goal of engaging and informing constituents with the roles of local government branches, city departments, and how the government works in general.

The grants would support community councils, neighborhood, and other constituent groups in their efforts toward educating and informing residents.

The sponsor of the CBA is Councilmember Rivera, with co-sponsors Hollingsworth and Nelson.

Thank you.

Councilmember Rivera, as sponsor of this amendment, you are recognized.

Thank you, Chair.

Colleagues, when I meet with or talk with constituents who have concerns or problems, we all do, as part of the conversation, I often have to explain governments, how government, their local government works, what roles this council has and what authority council has, the executive and department.

So I think more can be done to provide education and awareness around those roles.

This amendment would increase the ability of community councils and neighborhood groups to learn how to better connect with city government.

And so this is really an extension of something Don already does, which is the Small Sparks program.

It's a grant program.

Constituent groups or rather neighborhood groups and community groups tap into this program to do events and this is another aspect to it to do this what I'm calling Local Government 101 so that constituents are better informed on all the roles that their government plays and who to go to and how it works.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Rivera.

Colleagues, questions, discussion?

Seeing no further questions or discussion, if you would like to co-sponsor DON 11A1, please raise your hand at this time.

I have council members Sokka and Hollingsworth co-sponsoring DON 11.

Council member Sokka and Hollingsworth.

Just doubling down, just doubling down.

And Mr. McConaghy, before you leave, you were correct.

We did not ask the question if Council Member Rivera would like to sponsor, co-sponsor DON 2SA1.

Council Member Rivera?

We're going to now move on to the next department.

We have Office of Housing.

We have Office of Housing 1A1.

All right, thank you.

I hope you're all conjuring up some energy.

I know we're like midway through here.

So let's start with OH001A1.

This council budget action would increase appropriations to the Office of Housing by 5 million PET one time and decrease appropriations to Finance General by five million PET also one time for the Seattle Housing Authority's Northgate Commons project.

So it would essentially bring money back to the Office of Housing to provide, so that OH can provide its sort of typical oversight to city-funded affordable housing projects.

It is sponsored by Council Member Juarez, Kettle, and Solomon.

Thank you.

Council Member Juarez is a sponsor of the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

So we've talked about this a bit.

I'm gonna be very straightforward and just kind of give you the basics and then if there's some other issues or questions, we can do that.

I wanna thank Council Member Solomon again.

Thank you, Council Member Solomon and Council Member Kettle.

As you heard, this moves five million back to Office of Housing for Seattle Housing Authorities, Northgate Commons.

As you know, it's been in the making for quite a while.

Northgate Commons will be a vibrant mixed income, mixed use community spanning 8.5 acres.

and it is your model of transit-oriented housing being near light rail.

It will be walkable, transit-oriented, within walking distance of a grocery store, a public library, a community center, North Seattle College, retail and employment opportunities, which makes us very excited.

We have an estimated 420 affordable homes will be built, more than twice the number of affordable homes previously available at that site before the City of Seattle bought it under Mayor Durkan.

The affordable homes will serve families at two income levels, which is very key here, 60 AMI and below and 80 AMI and below.

This $5 million is the first portion of eventually what will be a $20 million award, and I want to, and please correct me if I'm wrong, Jennifer, but I think one of my follow-up questions last time when Tracy was sitting here, when we had partnered with Seattle Housing Authority before, the Yesler Terrace project totaled around $30 million.

Oh, I know, I did know this.

Let me confirm with you.

I believe the total city contribution was about 30 million, but if you looked at the OH contribution, I think it was closer to 23 million.

Okay.

But my point was there at the time, and I wish I had that in front of me now, is I'm like, we've done these partnerships before and we've done well, and they've done well.

So I have a few other things to add.

and then Ben can look at me like he's actually paying attention.

Funding was transferred to the Finance General because if OH administered the funding, a direct allocation to SHA would not be allowed under the current housing funding policies.

This allows Office of Housing to provide the same oversight for Northgate Commons as it would for any other city-funded affordable housing project.

which means we basically being district oriented want to make sure that we're in the front row and we have district representation and community representation watching this being a part of it and we've gone to the community meetings about this what the footprint should look like or the blueprint and moving forward.

So additional legislative action will be needed I understand in 2026 to allow a direct allocation to the Seattle Housing Authority and with that colleagues I would welcome your support.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Council Member Juarez.

Colleagues, further discussion?

Questions?

Seeing no further discussions or questions, I will just say that this is a monumental game changer for the North End with the amount of land and proximity to the regional center, which is North Gate.

Beyond just the light rail, the proximity to Lake City and other North End neighborhoods, as well as with the light rail, you can extend up to Mount Lake Terrace and Linwood.

And the Ice Plex.

And the Ice Plex, of course.

With that, any other questions or discussion?

Council President, did you have a hand?

No, great.

If you would like to co-sponsor...

I was just going to raise my hand for co-sponsorship.

If you would like to co-sponsor OH2A1, please raise your hand now.

Thank you, co-sponsoring OH 1A1, sorry, co-sponsoring 1A1, we have councilmembers Hollingsworth, Rivera and Nelson.

Councilmembers Hollingsworth, Rivera and Nelson.

Thank you, now moving on to OH 2A1.

Council Budget Action OH002A would increase appropriations to the Office of Housing by $10 million payroll expense tax for rental assistance to tenants, including rent arrears and nonprofit affordable housing that has received capital funds previously from the Office of Housing.

Currently, PET is a placeholder as a sponsor works to identify sources of funding.

It is sponsored by Councilmembers Nelson, Saka and Solomon.

Thank you.

Councilmember Nelson, Council President Nelson, it is a sponsor of the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you.

So this is a request from Sharon Lee of Lehigh, and it is a manifestation of a real problem that our affordable housing providers are experiencing.

In fact, all of our housing providers across the town, but particularly with our affordable housing providers, is non-payment of rent is cutting into their ability to provide good operations at all of their sites and also plan for future projects.

There is an allocation to help with the rears, but right now in the budget, however, this request for more does reflect the magnitude of the problem.

And I am personally ambivalent about how this is funded.

I have said in the past that I've been talking about getting the money allocated or awarded to projects out the door faster that's in the Office of Housing's cash reserves.

I don't want to enter into the difficult conversation of well if we take money from those future planned we can't cut into a NOFA to pay for this but the bottom line is I've always taken the position fix it first and that applies to how we spend transportation dollars and also fix it first can apply to our affordable housing providers who are having a really hard time right now just making ends meet.

So we, on, let's see, it was a couple days ago, we received a letter saying, we now have 26 organizations supporting $10 million for tenant-based rent assistance for the OH portfolio.

And so here's, I will simply, instead of talking more, simply read the couple lines on this email that came in on Monday the 27th.

Greetings, Budget Chair Strauss and Councilmembers.

Please find attached an updated letter of support with more community-based organizations and affordable housing providers voicing support for this important budget request.

We thank Council President Nelson for sponsoring and Councilmembers Rob Saka and Mark Solomon for co-sponsoring and encourage the Council to join in supporting this request.

And some of the housing providers are Bellwether, let's see, Mercy Housing, these are new signatories.

And anyway, you can refer to the letter yourselves.

it's a lot less expensive to help people who are, you know, it's more humane and less costly to help people stay in their units than providing shelter transitional permanent supportive housing for them once they become homeless.

And so that's really what's motivating me.

Thank you, Council President.

Colleagues, discussion, Council Member Kettle, then Rivera.

Thank you, Chair Strauss, also thank you, Council President, along with Council Members Saka and Solomon on this.

A bit of a challenge here is obviously the funding source, PET.

Would this come from affordable housing within the PET?

Council member Jennifer, over to you.

Sorry, Jennifer LeBrick.

I don't think that's been specified yet.

So I think that is a pending question.

That just hasn't been specified.

So it could be new PET.

Of course, that would be a decision to reduce PET elsewhere, or it could be taking OH's existing allocation of PET, which is mostly for multifamily housing, and choosing to use it for rent assistance rather than putting it into the 2026 NOFA where it would be focused on affordable housing production.

And just context-wise, a reminder that OH did announce that they are putting out a $28 million RFQ for operating stabilization this fall using a combination of 2025 and 2026 PET, which again is coming out of money that would otherwise be spent on new production.

So just adding that for context as well.

Thank you.

Councilmember Kettle.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

I do believe from PET, affordable housing is the right place.

And this highlights, and Council President made, you know, we have to give flexibility.

That goes to a CBA that I have coming up with HSD, you know, because there's different types of federal backfills.

But this is not just something that's coming out of this year with the federal administration.

I mean, within the last year, we've been hearing alarm bells from affordable housing providers saying because individuals are not paying their rents, that they're at risk, severe risk, in terms of their financial status.

And so this kind of tsunami of events coming together really highlights the need to give the flexibility.

So I support this, and I will ask to have my name on it, but really though, PET, Affordable Housing Bucket, is really where it should be coming from.

And we should be doing it in a way that allows that flexibility to use as the need presents itself, because we don't necessarily know how the federal impacts are going to play out.

I mean, we were expecting different things earlier in this year as it relates to PET, for example, but as you can see from the stock market and different things, as I heard this morning in terms of where the economy is, we're actually in better position than we probably thought we were gonna be in April, for example.

So Council President, I do support this for the reasons talking.

I know this is kind of like a half-baked amendment idea, but in terms of, because the funding source is not concrete.

because the funding source is not concrete, just to make that clarification.

That's the terminology within the central staff.

Related to funding source, Council President.

Thank you, Chair Strauss.

I'm not gonna say anything more.

Thank you, Council Member Kettle.

Council Member Rivera, you are recognized and up next.

Thank you, Chair.

I had similar questions to Council Member Kettle and also to say that I've had conversations with housing providers and this is an ongoing issue, which is why, Jen, you and I had talked about I had initially wanted to put stabilization funding in for 26, and then in the course of that you found out from OH they were already doing that.

so this is another version of that.

I think in general, and I have a request here, a SLI request coming up, two more down from here, about stabilization operating funding and how that's going, how it's going to stabilize, and long term is this something that's needed.

And you know, you've said it and we readily acknowledge that funding that we take away from production of housing is going to impact how much housing we're going to produce and also we're in a spot where these housing providers that already have received OH funding for housing they need help stabilizing and maintaining and keeping safe and ensuring that the housing that is being created is really working for the residents that are living there.

That's equally important in my mind because we do need to provide housing and that housing needs to be safe and it needs to be what residents need.

That's in my mind equally important.

So the stabilization funds, do they also support rental assistance, rent?

Thank you for that question.

Yes, thank you.

So for this $28 million that will be going out in late 2025, rental assistance is definitely an eligible use for the funding.

And OH did an award in 2024, $14 million.

And I forget, I want to say a third, maybe more of the funding did go for rental assistance.

So that is a need and it will continue to be an eligible use of the $28 million.

Great.

And then is it a third?

Do you know if that met the full rental assistance need for that?

I don't know and there really isn't data on that.

There's no data on that.

Okay.

Well, so all this to say this is something that I know the housing providers need and I want to be able to support as long as we're able to identify a funding source that is not contributing to the deficit in 2027 because that's real as well.

And so we want to help.

We're all struggling with how to help best.

I'm glad that the stabilization funds are moving forward because as I said earlier, it's something I would have put in.

And so I will support this with the caveat that we still need to determine where this is coming from, I hear.

But thank you and all right any other questions Councilmember Solomon I see you have your hand up.

Yes.

Thank you very much When I think about this fund, and thank you very much, Council President, for bringing this forward, I have a nightmare scenario.

And my nightmare scenario is that our affordable housing providers continue to sell off their assets just to balance the books, which means that affordable housing units are taken off the market, which means I have more unstably housed folks in D2.

And that's my nightmare scenario, that we lose affordable housing units because the model is not able to sustain them, which means more folks in Stably House, more folks on the street, more folks in the Chief State Greenbelt.

So that's the primary reason why I'm co-sponsoring this because I want to keep people in their homes, period.

So thank you very much.

Thank you, Council Member Salomon.

Council Member Waters.

Wonderful.

Any further discussion?

Questions on the item before us?

And we are calling the co-sponsorship on OH 2A1.

Is that correct?

Yes.

Great.

So if you'd like to co-sponsor 2A1, please raise your hand now.

Got my hand raised.

I have Council Member Juarez, Rivera Kettle on OH2.

All right, hold on.

Nobody touch anything?

Everyone is ready?

We are calling co-sponsorship on OH2A1.

Pencils down.

Council Member Juarez, Council Member Rivera, Council Member Kettle, Council Member Rink, Council Member Hollingsworth,

Councilmembers Hollingsworth, Juarez, Kettle, Rink and Rivera.

Wonderful.

Moving on to OH3SA1.

Council Budget Action OH-003A1 would request that the Office of Housing update the Seattle Housing Investment Plan submitted by OH in September of 2025 with the following information.

More specifics on the potential housing production of other external housing partners that do not receive OH funding, such as the Seattle Social Housing Developer, strategic recommendations on how much PET funding should be set aside annually for operating stabilization support between 2026 to 2030, and recommendations on acquisition of properties as compared to construction of new properties.

More details on the specific request.

Oh, sorry.

I shouldn't read that part.

It is sponsored by Council Members Kettle, Juarez, and Rivera.

Thank you, Council Member Kettle to sponsor the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Chair Strauss.

First, thank you to Council Members Juarez and Rivera for co-sponsoring this amendment, which is no good.

D goes unpunished, if you will.

OH did a great job with their Seattle Housing Investment Plan report to the point where we've asked for more.

We wanted to look to add to this and this has been helpful, I don't want to speak for central staff, but I think it's been helpful for both, all elements of the legislative department.

And the key thing here is OH in the initial report was focused on affordable housing that OH directly works.

But for us, we're looking good governance, we're looking to make smart decisions, particularly in this budget challenge world in which we live in.

As you noted from this morning, you know, $85 million worth of proposed amendments, 14 maybe, that we can do.

That's about 16 and a half percent, plus or minus.

and so we need better and more comprehensive information.

So if you look at affordable housing at the lower end, you can look at what KCRHA does with its performance, with its housing pieces.

And then on the other side, we have the new Seattle social housing developer, the social housing PDA.

and what they're doing.

And it's all part of the same pieces.

And then, of course, we have the Seattle Housing Authority.

So it's accounting for those pieces and how they interact with what we're doing directly through OH on affordable housing and see how they impact each other, see how the funding sources impact each other and how we can be smarter in terms of the allocations of these various revenue pieces that we have, which, as everybody here knows, there's about a half dozen between the levies, different types of taxes, and so forth.

And so then the next piece, as noted in the summary, the strategic recommendations, you know, going into the gaps, you know, breakdown one-time operating shortfalls versus structural gaps, all these kind of strategy pieces.

And then lastly, well maybe not lastly, is the idea of, and this is probably what we've all seen with our government funded housing is like, what is the state of the housing?

Should we be building new ones or should we be making sure that the ones we have are in good shape?

Because that goes into how successful they are.

That goes into the question of how many people are on our street because some, you know, part of the calculation could be the poor condition of the housing that they've been given.

and these are the things that we really need to understand as we make these tough decisions in this very difficult fiscal environment.

27 is going to be worse than 26. So this kind of information is fantastic.

And again, it reflects the great job O.H.

did with their first, you know, SHIP as we say, Saddle Housing Investment Plan, and we're just looking to help us do better in terms of decisions from the council perspective as it relates to housing.

So as I mentioned at the beginning, no good deed goes unpunished, as the saying goes, but I think OH is up for it.

So colleagues, I ask for your support for this amendment.

Thank you Councilmember Kettle.

I have to say that receiving this report from Office of Housing this year was phenomenal and again a desire for more information and since we are Port City we must be ship-shaped.

Colleagues any further discussion or questions on this item?

Seeing no further discussion or questions if you would like to co-sponsor OH3SA1 please raise your hand now.

Everyone's good.

Co-sponsoring OH3 is Councilmember Strauss, Saka, Hollingsworth, Rink.

Councilmember Strauss, Saka, Hollingsworth, and Rink.

Yes.

Thank you.

Moving on to OH4, SA1.

Council Budget Action for SA would request that the Office of Housing provide a report on the use of operating stabilization funding, including the 28 million operating stabilization request for qualifications to be released this fall.

the stabilization awards to be made as part of the 2025 notice of funding availability and the long-term plan for balancing the needs of the operating stabilization support with new production.

It is sponsored by council members, Rivera, Kettle and Nelson.

Thank you.

Council member Rivera is sponsoring the amendment.

You're recognized.

Thank you, Chair.

Colleagues, Jen has described this well thank you Jen and as I said earlier this is getting information particularly because we see this as a continuing need we need to have a long-term plan for it and this is getting information about what has been done to date how this money is being spent what things is it are there some things that are more difficult than others for the housing providers to be able to do.

Like you all, I've spoken with a lot of housing providers that have a lot of needs.

We wanna be supportive.

And so asking also OH's recommendations based on the information on moving forward, how we can continue to support the housing providers that we fund to create affordable and low income housing in the city so that it is stable and safe housing for our residents.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Council Member Rivera.

Colleagues, questions, comments, discussion?

Seeing no further discussion, if you would like to...

Council President.

So I really appreciate you bringing this forward, Council Member Rivera, because when I remember asking central staff at the table, where do we get the $28 million number?

And the answer was HDC.

And it's always good to fact check our expenses against the stated requested need.

And I completely, I have no reason to to think that the 28 million isn't going to be put to extremely good use, but it's always good for us to know exactly where the money is going and what are the problems that it's fixing when we're providing it to external agencies or nonprofits or whatever.

Because that will help guide our investments in the future.

We know where the need is greatest.

So thank you very much for asking for this specificity.

Thank you.

Council Member Rivera, is that a new hand?

It is, Chair.

Please.

And I do wanna call out, and Jen, I'm not sure really how this fits into this puzzle, but one thing is that I have heard from housing providers also, they have folks who have the ability to pay and are not paying their rent.

And it's having an impact on their housing, on the project itself, the building.

And so, Part of all this is my hope also that we get to how do we solve for that because there are folks that really do not have the ability to pay and then there are other folks that have the ability to pay and are not to the ability that they do have.

So I want to make it clear this is still low income and affordable housing but we don't want to create a scenario where folks who are able to pay aren't because then that also creates a really unsustainable situation for our housing providers and for their neighbors who really don't have the ability to pay.

So being able to figure all those pieces out I think is really important too and something I have heard from all the providers I've spoken with that there is this level of there are some folks, and that doesn't mean everyone who has the ability to pay is not paying, but some aren't.

and so we need to also make sure that we are tracking that piece of the puzzle and how do we solve for that because that goes into being able to stabilize this housing as well.

Thank you.

Thank you Councilman Rivera.

Colleagues, if you'd like to co-sponsor OH4SA1 please raise your hand now.

Pencils down.

Council members Saka and Hollingsworth co-sponsoring OH4SA1.

Council members Saka and Hollingsworth.

Thank you.

Moving on to OH5SA1.

Council Budget Action OH5SA would request that OH explore the use of the non-profit Housing Connector, report on rental unit vacancies, and identify barriers to renting units to very low-income households.

And I should clarify that all this activity would occur for OH-funded projects.

It is sponsored by Council Members Nelson, Juarez, and Salomon.

Thank you.

Nelson, you are sponsoring, recognized.

So we've, thanks, we've received at least two reports responding to two different slides over the past couple of years on vacancy rates from the Office of Housing.

In other words, let me restate that.

Office of Housing has responded to two different slides on vacancy issues, but there remains a disconnect between Our housing providers on the one hand and the department on the other on sharing or collecting data and expediting the process of then, and this is the real issue, filling those vacancies or making sure that the investment in affordable housing in this city is realizing its highest and best use.

Long story short, I'm always wondering what are the vacancies and why do they exist?

And then we're told that every year the providers provide that information and I'm always thinking, why can't we get that more often, et cetera, and it's a big circle.

So this is a problem that OH has been working on for a long time and it's had many different causes, including a lot of the issues are the lengthy repairs that occur that have to be done in units, so that makes the vacancy category fuzzy.

Anyway, long story short, there are situations where it's hard to get that information, but the real issue is we want to make sure that people are in housing.

And so Housing Connector is a groundbreaking nonprofit that we've all been briefed on.

They've been at this table.

We all know what they do.

There is already, I think, 1.5 million allocated in the budget housing that is brokered by Housing Connector.

Anyway, this is simply a slide that's asking as a technology platform, well, making the case that as a technology platform, they can seamlessly connect buildings with different building management software processes and requirements so that the city can have visibility into the data from our providers.

and about what's going on in their buildings and so that our residents most in need can quickly and easily find housing that they qualify for.

I remember there was one time that they were at the table or somebody was talking about, you know, when somebody has laid on a utility bill, that's a sign.

And that is information that the provider has that could really sort of get ahead of what ends up being someone who can't pay rent for a long time.

And there could be supports that the provider could connect that tenant with.

Anyway, this is about maximizing the benefit of our publicly funded housing by ensuring that we utilize these buildings to the fullest extent possible to help people who are housing insecure or on our streets.

And it won't work for everyone, especially those who have severe behavioral and mental health challenges.

and thus require more supportive housing, but it can help many people who are desperately in need of assistance.

So this slide simply calls for action to lead us to making real progress into addressing vacancy rates and getting all of the partners together to solve the problem.

Thank you.

Colleagues, further discussion?

Further discussion?

Seeing no further discussion, if you would like to co-sponsor OH5SA1, please raise your hand now.

We have council members Saka, Hollingsworth, Rivera, Kettle.

Council members Saka, Hollingsworth, Rivera, and Kettle.

Hollingsworth.

And that was for OH-5-SA1.

Moving on to OH-6-SA1.

All right, last OH one.

We don't wanna leave this one stranded.

Council Budget Action OH-6A would provide additional data in its annual investment report on the status of awarded projects and progress on meeting affordable housing production goals as described in the Seattle Housing Investment Report.

I'm sorry, the Seattle Housing Investment Plan that OH submitted in September of 2025. It is sponsored by Council Members Kettle, Nelson, and Rivera.

Thank you.

Council Member Kettle has sponsored the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Chair Strauss.

Colleagues, first, thank you, Council President and Council Member Rivera for your support on this.

We've had a lot of questions.

There's been a lot of talk regarding where we are.

I personally recognize that it takes time for housing projects to really work through and that we have to have that grace in terms of the amount of time.

I also understand if you're first in in terms of funding support, you have to be there through the long run.

And I recognize that point as well.

So I appreciate the work that Director Winkler-Chin has been doing in OH on this front.

But the I believe this CBA would be helpful in the sense of putting it out there so then everybody understands where we are and so there's not speculation, there's not wondering and this would in turn in the long term really help alleviate that situation where we have the questions because it's not there and I think this in the long term again will help OH and besides, if you start having this information publicly available, you can see how things are going, you can see if there's potential bottlenecks, you know, how it relates to other projects and I just think in the long run, with a kind of like a Six Sigma thought in the back of my head, you know, hey, how can we improve the process?

And I think having the information publicly available helps do that and it helps on the good governance side in terms of, you know, that transparency piece.

So that is from where it's been provided.

This amendment is in terms of assisting.

Again, I recognize the challenges.

in this space in terms of length of time, because this has come up more than once over the past year, but I think long-term that this amendment would help OH move forward on this.

I should say Sly, by the way, I think I said CBA earlier, Sly.

So thank you, Chair.

And by the way, thank you, take this opportunity to thank Ms. LeBrecq and the entire central staff team on working these issues, and I enjoyed working with her.

primarily in the public safety space, but now delving more into housing and human services.

So thank you to the central staff team.

Thank you, Councilmember Kettle.

Colleagues, discussion, questions?

Seeing no further discussion or questions, if you would like to co-sponsor OH-6-SA1, please raise your hand now.

I have Councilmember Saka co-sponsoring OH-6.

Councilmember Saka.

Thank you.

We are going to now move into the next department.

We have Office of Sustainability and Environment.

We have OSE 1A1.

Yes.

Good morning, council members.

This is Jasmine Marwaha on your council central staff.

First up, we have OSC 1A1.

This CBA would increase the Office of Sustainability Environment by $75,000 general fund on a one-time basis to support planning for a neighborhood center in Georgetown as part of Georgetown's climate resilience strategies.

This CBA is sponsored by Councilmember Saka and co-sponsored by Councilmembers Nelson and Rink.

Thank you.

Councilmember Saka, sponsor the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

And first and foremost, would love to thank Council Members Rank and Council President Nelson for your leadership and partnership in joining me in supporting this exciting investment for our vibrant Georgetown community.

Colleagues, every single neighborhood needs, to the full extent possible, at least a central neighborhood gathering place and space in the city.

Georgetown is one of the very few neighborhoods across our city who do not currently have one.

This center would serve as a vital hub for climate resilience, and specifically the branding that the community is floating around is Georgetown Climate Resilience Hub and Neighborhood Center.

It's a lot of words to describe such a cool, super cool investment tremendous impact for generations.

It would be a place, again, where residents could gather during severe weather events, climate crises, would operate in part as an emergency management hub.

Councilmember Kettle, you know, it's a space, it would be a space for the Duwamish Valley that Weathers suffers the impacts of industrial pollution, soil and water contamination, climate flooding and severe health disparities tied to these environmental burdens.

Georgetown is another hard working, working class community.

It's a fun, vibrant community that is wonderfully filled with unique businesses and artists and studios.

a study, my understanding is that a study was recently completed in 2023 by OSE that directs or that helps with the next steps towards establishing this center and this would be the next step to doing that.

And for clarity, the community is seeking both a shorter term or temporary center or site of some sort and a longer term or permanent site and facility, and when I was talking with some of the members who have requested this for decades, goes back decades, some were thinking that we just need a short-term temporary space and we'll be fine with that.

I appreciate the modesty there, but they do deserve the world in terms of a longer term permanent new facility.

But this would allow us as a city to take the next step into centering the voices of the Georgetown community, the Duwamish Valley, and the broader Duwamish Valley as well.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Socket.

Colleagues, discussion?

Questions?

Seeing no further discussion or questions, if you would like to co-sponsor OSE 1A1, please raise your hand now.

We have additional co-sponsors on OSE 1 as Council Member Solomon and Kettle.

Council Member Solomon and Kettle.

Thank you.

We're going to move on to OSE 2A1.

Yes.

OSC 2A1, the CBA would increase proposed appropriations to OSC by $200,000 on a one-time basis and impose a proviso on that additional $200,000 to provide support to farmers' markets and neighborhoods with food deserts, which may include but not be limited to Georgetown, Delridge, Beacon Hill, Highland Park, South Park, Sandpoint, and Rainier Beach.

This CBA is sponsored by Councilmember Saka and co-sponsored by Councilmembers Solomon and Hollingsworth.

Thank you.

Councilman Roussaka, sponsor the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

First and foremost, I would love to thank my co-sponsors in this, Council Members Solomon and Hollingsworth, two of the food champions on this council.

There are many food champions on this council, to be honest, but I got my first two and stopped.

But this is a proviso for, again, $200,000 to support farmer's markets and known food deserts across our city.

which includes Delridge, South Park, Georgetown, Highland Park, Beacon Hill, Sandpoint, Rainier Beach and elsewhere.

We know of course parts of the North End as well suffer from a similar fate.

So this is an acute crisis with particularly when taken in the context, the broader context of federal snap cuts as of this week.

We know that families, working people, seniors in need face extraordinary food insecurity challenges and lack of access to fresh, farm-to-table, healthy and organic food.

Also, nearly one million Washingtonians have lost their SNAP benefits, will likely lose their SNAP benefits next week, many of which are some of our most vulnerable, children, women.

As I noted from, as was noted in There was a cool article in today's West Seattle blog, a cool post, that in fiscal year 2025, the West Seattle Food Bank, as an example, distributed 2.25 million pounds of food to more than 8,500 households, reflecting the ongoing strain on family budgets that food, fulfilling our family's basic needs, imposes.

and so again, this would help address that in part, bolster funding for food access and security and prioritizing for farmers markets and prioritizing neighborhoods in food deserts.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Saka.

Colleagues, questions, discussion?

Seeing no further discussion or questions.

Council Member Juarez, no?

Nope, I think everyone just expressing their love of farmers markets.

With that, if you would like to co-sponsor OSE 2A1, please raise your hand now.

We have Council Member Rink adding her name to OSE 2.

Council Member Rink.

Thank you, we'll move on to OSE 3SA1.

This item is a statement of legislative intent that requests that the Office of Sustainability and Environment include evaluation of replacing parking in the city's right-of-way with trees in the development of OSC's Tree Canopy Equity and Resilience Plan, with such factors as estimates of capital and operating costs, trade-offs in terms of vehicle movement and parking capacity, strategies for reducing conflicts with utility infrastructure, and identification of locations in Seattle most suited or ready for replacing parking with trees.

The sponsor of this slide is Council Member Rink with co-sponsors Solomon and Hollingsworth.

Thank you.

Council Member Rink has sponsored the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Chair.

Colleagues, I think we can recall throughout the comprehensive plan discussions, we heard loud and clear that we need a greater focus on our tree canopy to meet our goals and promote environmental justice.

And according to the 2021 tree canopy assessment report, we can't achieve our tree planting goal without using city owned land like parks and right of way.

While this alone doesn't get us to the 100% of our goal, this of course represents a major step in the right direction.

And we need an all hands on deck approach with the climate crisis bearing down on us.

Right of way makes up 27% of the city's land area and contributes nearly one quarter of the city's tree canopy at about 23%.

But this gap demonstrates that right of way isn't pulling its weight compared to our neighborhoods and our parks, which are overperforming compared to right of way.

and in the recommendations section of this report, it says, and I quote, plant more trees in the right of way in parks.

Get creative about using public space to plant trees, especially in environmental justice priority neighborhoods and where private tree planting space is scarce, end quote.

So this slide is meant to move us toward achieving this very goal.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Rink.

Colleagues, questions, discussion?

Seeing no further questions or discussion on OSE 3 SA 1, if you would like to co-sponsor, please raise your hand now.

I have Council President Nelson adding her name to OSE 3.

Council Member Nelson.

Wonderful.

We're gonna move on to the next item.

We only have two departments remaining.

We have the Seattle Department of Transportation next.

Just doing a, where are we on the road?

We have accomplished 31 amendments.

We have 35 to go.

We have 53%.

remaining down the road.

So in two departments we've got a bulk of the work.

We are going to continue moving through here for the next hour until 1230 and then we will take an hour long break and come back unless I hear different or unless we are very close to being completed entirely.

With that, we have on this next sheet, Council Member Sokka and myself taking up the entire paper.

So we both apologize in advance for talking so much.

And with that SDOT 1A1.

Amanda Allen, Central Staff.

So SDOT's first item, SDOT001, is a proviso of $200,000 in SDOT's budget for urban design and pedestrian improvements in West Seattle's Admiral Junction to create a bit more of a utopia for walking and safety in this neighborhood.

Thank you.

Councilmember Saka has sponsored the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and would love to thank my co-sponsors of this proposed amendment, Council President Nelson and Chair Strauss as well.

and I just also want to take a moment to pause and reflect and acknowledge some of the acknowledgement of prior work and prior leadership of others as demonstrated by Council Members Juarez and Council Members Hollingsworth earlier today, acknowledging essentially that in part they are building upon the work of others.

So let me model that great, I think, behavior and culture.

Super cool behavior and culture because this actually is taking a page out of a book of another great amendment idea that was included in the final adopted budget last year from Chair Strauss on some certain improvements that we authorize along Ballard Avenue, I believe.

in the Ballard Brewery District.

And so the Admiral Junction is in need.

It's one of the three main commercial corridors in West Seattle.

It's in need of pedestrian safety and walkability investments that have long been sought by the community.

I've personally gone on walking tours to view the concerns along Admiral Way in California.

That's the intersection there, the two major roads, roadways that connect the neighborhood.

So this proviso would require certain urban design and improvement designs, language we borrowed from a playbook from last year, and the final designs would be determined by SDOT, I want to thank the many neighborhood and community voices that ultimately this proposal reflects, specifically Joni and Dan Jacobs of the Admiral Neighborhood Association.

and Stu Hennessy.

He's a West Seattle resident and small business owner in the Admiral District of the Elkai Bike and Board Shop.

Check it out if you haven't already and consider your next bike purchase there.

They have e-bikes too, custom-made.

But Stu actually hand-writ or created this really cool proposal and mock-up of what a more walkable Admiral District and more walkable Admiral Junction in particular could look like.

It was featured in some local media like the West Seattle blog, talked about extensively at the Admiral Neighborhood Association meetings.

And I know there are some, there's a split around whether that specific mock-up as proposed by Stu represents the consensus view of that particular community.

Having had some initial conversations with SDOT about what this could look like, because part of the proposal was an all-way walkway at the junction, and having had some initial conversations with SDOT, their preliminary assessment is that component would not make sense here.

Regardless, I would love to fund this to help bring a more walkable neighborhood, a more walkable Admiral District to life and to better reflect the broader vision and goals of ANA and STU and others.

So, thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Sokka.

Colleagues, any other discussion, questions?

Amanda.

I was remiss in noting that this is sponsored by Council Member Stocker with co-sponsorship from Council Member Strauss and Council President Nelson.

Thank you.

Colleagues, any further discussion on this item?

Seeing no further discussion, if you would like to co-sponsor S.1, please raise your hand now.

Council Member Rink adding her name to S.1.

Council Member Rink.

Thank you.

Moving on to S.2.

SDOT 2 is a proviso of $200,000 for SDOT pavement repair program for pothole repair implementation.

It's sponsored by Councilmember Saka and co-sponsored by Councilmembers Solomon and Hollingsworth.

Thank you.

Councilmember Saka has sponsored the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and wanna thank my colleagues, Council Members Hollingsworth and Solomon for their leadership in helping to sponsor this proposal today.

This is a proviso for $200,000 for pothole, vital pothole repairs to support the city's response to pothole complaints and ensure that road conditions are safe and reliable, at least from a response perspective and response capability once they already are here.

This is particularly important in advance of the expected increase in traffic ahead of next year's 2026 FIFA World Cup.

And I suppose it's also no secret I have been a strong advocate of transportation basics, such as pothole repair, but not limited to that.

Me and my office continue to hear concerns from constituents across the city about certain potholes.

It's safe to say I've helped coordinate repairs of potholes in almost every single council district at this point.

but our city's ability to fill potholes, I believe is a reflection of our ability to deliver on the everyday basics of transportation projects that our city expects.

And now more than ever, we need to do that, especially in these limited resource constrained environments as we look to do critically important backfilling work We need to be sure we continue to crush the basics.

And part of that is empowering our pothole ranger team.

Shout out to SDOT's pothole ranger team who do this work every day in any event.

Another super cool investment.

And yeah, thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Saka.

Colleagues, discussion question.

Councilmember Rink, is that old hand?

That is an old hand from Councilmember Rink.

Colleagues, further discussion?

questions, if you would like to co-sponsor the item, SDOT 2, please raise your hand now.

I'm seeing no additional co-sponsors.

Council Member Rivera adding her name to SDOT 2A1.

Just Council Member Rivera?

Just Council Member Rivera.

Council Member Rivera, thank you.

Thank you.

We're now up to SDOT 3A1.

SDOT 3 is a proviso of $250,000 in SDOT for the 10% conceptual design of Southwest Roxbury Street repavement improvements to address road and safety concerns.

This is sponsored by Councilmember Saka and co-sponsored by Councilmembers Strauss and Rink.

Thank you.

Councilmember Saka has sponsored the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Mr. Chair, along with council members Rink as well for joining me in sponsoring this important road improvement investment.

Obviously, as I mentioned earlier, alluded to earlier, pothole repair is just simply a response to bad pavement and road conditions.

but it's best to sort of get upstream, if you will, and focus on prevention and this road in particular, Roxbury is a need, a dire need, to be frank, of significant major rehabilitation work.

Bumpy road, potholes everywhere, pavement conditions are awful.

And this is work.

is very important and impactful.

I note that Southwest Roxbury is on the border of the city of Seattle and unincorporated King County in White Center.

And this neighborhood in particular hasn't always received the support it deserves.

as evidence in part by suffering from horrible pavement conditions.

Because it is on the border of King County, like literally the middle yellow barriers or marker paint in the middle of the road separates Seattle's responsibility on one side to the north from King County government's responsibility on the south.

So as a result, this is a project that we would need to do the actual repairs for and coordinate closely with King County government.

and especially when we're talking about actual construction.

And I've had some initial productive conversations with my counterpart at King County Government, or the King County Council rather, Council Member Musqueda, who hears a lot of concerns about this particular roadway from her office's perspective as well.

And so this would fund a certain portion of the design work, not the actual construction.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Sacco.

And to note on this one, as well as the one regarding 14th Avenue, at least the goal for me on 14th Avenue is to have enough design completed, that we can have an accurate cost estimate for the work to be done.

That's the most important outcome.

And excuse me, I choked on a snack right before I started talking.

And we would need to have 30% design rather than 10% design for both of those amendments.

So just noting that those changes would likely occur.

Colleagues, further discussion, comments?

If you'd like to co-sponsor SDOT 3, please raise your hand now.

Seeing no additional co-sponsors, we'll move on to SDOT four.

And if you'd like to explain SDOT four and five at the same time, I think we can two birds at the same time.

Okay.

SDOT four and five are both sponsored by council member Strauss, co-sponsored by council members Saka and Kettle.

Both of these CBAs would conjure a vision of improved freight mobility.

The one is focused on the Ballard Interbay.

The item four is focused on Ballard Interbay North End Manufacturing and Industrial Center.

Five is focused on the Greater Duwamish Manufacturing and Industrial Center.

both have the goal of improved freight access.

One is more focused on in five port of Seattle to major highways, and four is focused also on access to I-5 and State Route 99, making sure that neither of those industrial areas are left stranded, but yet better connected to those major highways.

Thank you, Amanda.

As sponsor of both amendments, I'll speak to them.

This is an element of the transportation levy that we all passed together within the freight.

within the freight funding, there were two buckets within the freight funding, one for the Duwamish Manufacturing Industrial Center down here in Soto, I'll refer to it in short terms as Soto, and the other in the BINMIC Ballard Inner Bay Manufacturing Industrial Center.

We'll just call that Leary Way.

For both of these, the transportation levy funding came a year after we increased protections for maritime manufacturing and logistics zoning, which is adjacent to or directly connected to our waterways and our port activities and other important industries.

along the issues in Soto that need to be resolved are connecting the port terminals to Interstate 90 and Interstate 5. It's the last mile and I need not remind us how contentious and at times difficult it is to find a pathway forward.

And so the money for SOTO would be to design what freight improvements are needed at this time between port terminals and the interstates.

Along Leary Way, we have the Ship Canal bordered by the Burke-Gilman Trail, additional industrial zoning, and then Leary Way.

Leary Way is a diagonal street with many triangles on it.

We'll see another amendment later on and hear about the Leary Triangle.

This funding in the Leary area would connect the shore-based properties to, again, the interstates, mainly just I-5 both at 145th and at the Ship Canal.

So it would increase in both places, it would help identify where pedestrians should and should not walk, where trucks and cargo should and should not go, who has priority for each of these places, and this work would be completed through a design charrette.

These would be two different design charrettes for two different places, but same concept for both.

Colleagues, thank you for hearing all of that out.

Any questions or comments on either of these?

Councilmember Kettle.

Thank you, Chair Strauss.

Colleagues, this is very important.

As you know, there's various programs within the SDOT within our levy and our transportation plan, including the freight program.

And this brings it front of mind because logistics is so important so that we have an effective economy as it relates to the import-export and for the future.

And this also goes to the idea of the 15-minute cities, too, because we have to be able to move the goods and services and so then we can have basically things happening on time and effectively and efficiently to help us out.

Anything that adds to the cost as we talk about food deserts, anything that adds to the cost of grocery stores in terms of their supplies and the like just adds to the challenges that we face and to ensure this in a more macro level, is really important.

So thank you, Chair Strauss.

And also thank you to my colleague, Council Member Saka.

Obviously the three of us have many touch points as it relates to this body of work here.

So thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Kettle.

Colleagues, further discussion?

Questions?

So I'm gonna ask if you would like to co-sponsor on these individually so as not to create additional confusion.

So if you would like to co-sponsor the Sodo Design Charette for Freight Planning, that is S.4, raise your hand now.

Sorry, you are correct, Council Member Kettle.

So I'm gonna thank you, we're gonna restart.

S.4 is for Leary and Ballard.

If you would like to co-sponsor S.

freight planning along Leary Way, please raise your hand now.

We have Council Member Rink adding her name to S.4.

Council Member Rink.

And now S.5, if you would like to co-sponsor the freight design work in Soto, please raise your hand now.

Council Member Rink.

Council Member Rink as well.

Thank you.

Moving on to SDOT 6A1.

SDOT 6 is sponsored by Council Member Strauss with co-sponsorship from Council Members Saka and Juarez.

This CBA provises $1 million in SDOT for Sixth Avenue Northwest Greenway safety and accessibility improvements.

Thank you.

As sponsor of the amendment, I'll speak to it.

When I took office, there was no Greenway on 6th Avenue.

There had only been half a decade of advocacy to complete it.

So 6th Avenue is the lowest grade elevation street between the Ship Canal and Karkik Park.

functionally and literally connecting District 6 and District 5. There are many other east-west Greenway connections as well as, just to give you a picture mentally, from 17th Avenue Greenway, which exists today.

If you were to travel north, you arrive by Swanson's Nursery, Dick's on Holman Road.

If you go up 6th Avenue, you arrive at the Arts QFC.

The grade differential there is hundreds of feet.

This is the lowest elevation connection between the Ship Canal and Karkeek Park and each year, except for last year, we have moved forward incrementally crossing one major arterial at a time, so as not to take up the entire Greenway's funding bucket and to ensure that the program continues forward.

You'll see another amendment in here regarding 70th and 8th, which is a connection to this project.

This funding here would extend the Greenway from where it ends now at Northwest 58th Street up to Northwest 70th Street, crossing one major arterial of 65th Avenue.

Colleagues, any questions or discussion?

Seeing no further questions or discussion, if you'd like to co-sponsor SDOT 6, please raise your hand now.

Seeing no further sponsors, we'll move on to SDOT 7.

S.7 also provides us a million dollars in S.DOT's budget for 8th Avenue Northwest safety improvements with a focus on benefiting pedestrians and cyclists.

This is a direct request from residents who live on 8th Avenue in the south at the intersections of 49th, 51st and 53rd.

We've had vehicles crashing into houses where people live because the speeds are so high and there's not clear crossing between the residential zone.

This is the the separating point between the industrial zone and the residential zone.

51st and 53rd are also the two streets that connect across 15th Avenue Northwest, which is the other main arterial.

So by including safe crossings at 49th, 51st and 53rd, we create better connectivity for the residential neighborhood.

at Northwest 70th Street, also on 8th Avenue.

If you would like to watch the videos of people nearly being hit, you would be sitting at your computer likely for days.

It's a dangerous intersection.

SDOT has made improvements already this year, but more improvements are needed at this time.

Questions, comments, discussion?

Seeing no questions, comments or discussion, if you'd like to co-sponsor S.7A1, please raise your hand now.

I see, take a pause.

Council Member Solomon and Council Member Rink co-sponsoring S.7.

Council Member Solomon and Rink.

Thank you, S.8.

SDOT 8 is sponsored by Councilmember Strauss with co-sponsorship from Councilmember Saka and Juarez.

This puts a proviso of $250,000 on SDOT's budget for the early design phase for multimodal improvements along 14th Avenue Northwest Corridor.

Thank you sponsor the amendment.

I will speak to it.

This was an amendment that I had for the transportation levy colleagues that was voted down.

And so I come to you today with a different proposal.

The section of 14th Avenue from Market Street to the Ship Canal has errant train tracks, potholes that could sink your entire wheel and a gravel and dirt median in the middle.

Each intersection is a six way intersection.

if this doesn't sound like a mess, please come on down and we can kick rocks in the street together.

What this money, what this request is today is simply a 30% design so that we can have cost estimates to do the bare minimum in the meantime before we have a permanent solution to the street because the proposal here is just to asphalt the street so that I was down there in the area a couple weeks ago and I watched a mother and father having difficulty pushing their baby stroller over the errant train tracks that come from nowhere and go to nowhere.

It is incredibly important that we pave the street but before we do that we just need to know how much it costs.

This would also be 30% design.

Colleagues, any discussion or questions?

Seeing no additional questions, if you'd like to co-sponsor S.8, please raise your hand now.

Seeing Council Member Rink adding her name to S.8.

Council Member Rink.

Moving on to S.9.

SDOT 9 is sponsored by Councilmember Strauss with co-sponsorship from Councilmembers Saka and Kettle.

This CBA increases SDOT's budget by a million dollars in transportation fund one time in support of creating safer public spaces by developing a plan for implementing removable safety barriers at farmers markets and also imposes a proviso on those funds restricting them for this purpose.

Thank you.

Colleagues, as sponsor of the amendment, I'll speak to it briefly in saying that we are going to have removable barriers at Pike Place Market in the Seattle Center.

This comes in the wake of many public places that have had vehicles used as weapons.

And so there has been a long desire for quite some time and made more urgent a year ago by farmers markets.

And so this would be for the year round, so the annual markets, The information that we've asked and received from SDOT provided a number that I think a dollar figure that was unreasonable because SDOT was looking at the movable barriers at Pike Place and it was the first time that they were doing it.

So we are looking at to see what other more cost effective solutions to create the same outcome are available to us.

And what we know is that when people gather together, in places that we have converted from street traffic to pedestrian space, we need to have greater protection.

That's what this amendment would do.

Colleagues, discussion, questions?

I see Council Member Kettle.

Thank you, Chair Strauss, and thank you for bringing this forward and the discussions and the collaboration that we've had on this topic.

And I also want to thank our colleagues, too, for, you know, this is rooted in creating space, first by pulling Pike Place out of the original Seattle transportation plan, and then putting it in in terms of how we're doing it right now in terms of the outreach, the stakeholdering.

and also, might I add, the First Avenue streetcar would also create space for this.

And out of this process, as Chair Strauss just noted, the removable safety barriers are coming in, in a way, as opposed to the standard bollards that we see so many times.

And I think this experiment, if you will, or this understanding that's being gained out of this outreach is really helpful for the farmers markets more broadly across our city.

I've had discussions within D7 farmers markets on this and it's definitely something that's needed.

And it's needed more broadly for the point that Chair Strauss noted as we saw with Bourbon Street and some other locations.

to basically ensure that the pedestrian safety, the traffic safety pieces are set in lieu of that potential threat.

So thank you, and I ask for your support for this, colleagues.

Thank you, Councilmember Kettle.

Colleagues, further discussion?

Seeing no further discussion, if you would like to co-sponsor SDOT 9, please raise your hand now.

Co-sponsoring SDOT 9, I have Council Members Hollingsworth and Rink.

Council Members Hollingsworth and Rink.

Moving on to SDOT 10, please.

SDOT 10 is sponsored by Council Member Saka with co-sponsorship from Council Members Kettle and Council President Nelson.

This CBA increases SDOT's budget by $75,000 transportation fund.

It's one-time funding for a SOTO transit study.

to assess the operational needs amid potential disruptions anticipated due to the FIFA World Cup and future construction of West Seattle and Ballard Link extensions and imposes a proviso on this new funding.

Council Member Sarkis, sponsor the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

And so, colleagues, this proposal would address a number of issues and request for clarity by members like small businesses in Soto and help keep freight humming along more broadly.

But Soto experiences, as we know, is one of the neighborhoods in our city that experiences heavy impacts with industry and freight, transit moving through the neighborhood 24-7, really.

The last major transit study was done in 2017, and an updated study is critical of critical importance to assess transit needs, especially with FIFA and the pending future construction by sound transit moving through Soto.

So this study would update a now almost 10 year old study and would make actionable recommendations to improve jobs, services, and business during the significant infrastructure disruption that is planned, especially when we consider pending World Cup as well.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Saka.

Colleagues, questions, comments, discussion?

Seeing no further questions, comments, discussion, if you would like to co-sponsor SDOT 10A1, please raise your hand now.

Council Member Rink adding her name to SDOT 10. Thank you.

Moving on to SDOT 11.

SDOT 11 is sponsored by Councilmember Strauss with co-sponsorship from Councilmembers Saka and Rink.

It puts a proviso on $500,000 in SDOT's budget to create new transit connection between downtown Ballard and Golden Gardens Park.

This service is proposed as a summer pilot to increase the public's access to this park.

Thank you.

As sponsor of the amendment, I'll speak to it just to say we have two beaches that in the summertime are some of the most popular and those are Alki and Golden Gardens Park.

The difference between Alki and Golden Gardens Park is Alki has access to many different residential neighborhoods.

embedded in the city.

And I think, you know, Council Member Saka has got the noise problems from cars revving through that park.

And the difference with Golden Gardens Park is that it's not near...

a neighborhood in the same way, where we still have noise revving, et cetera, et cetera.

But the problem is that there's no transportation.

The closest transportation is either two-mile walk on a flat grade or a half-mile walk up 300 feet in elevation on a dirt trail without lights.

and can feel dangerous and scary at times.

And so this is a pilot to add a connector from either downtown Ballard or at the end of the 44 line out to Golden Gardens Park I've been told in the past that the 44 cannot extend because it's a trolley bus when they were repaving Market Street that trolley bus ran for two miles without being connected to the wires so it's clear that the batteries do hold enough power as well as we heard feedback when we asked these original questions stating that more funding may be needed because bus stops would need to be created there's already a bus that used to run this route there are already bus stops out there Colleagues, any questions or discussion?

Seeing no further questions or discussion, if you would like to cosponsor S.11, please raise your hand now.

Seeing no further cosponsors, we'll move on to S.12.

S.12S is a slide sponsored by Councilmember Strauss with co-sponsorship from Councilmember Saka and Kettle.

This is a request to Department of Transportation, Department of Neighborhoods, and the City Clerk to collaborate to inventory and catalog historic street names for preservation in the City's public GIS maps.

Thank you, sponsor of the amendment.

I will speak to it.

And Amanda, my question to you, can you read me the names of the neighborhoods once again?

But let me state my statements first, which is that there were a number of different sections of our city that were annexed in 1907. Those were their own cities.

So Columbia City was the city of Columbia.

There was even a city of Southeast Seattle.

There was Bryant, Ravenna, I think I'll ask the expert in just a second.

All that to say is some of these cities had their own names for their streets.

I would like to categorize, put these into GIS, and then there's another conversation in just a moment about the Benson Street tiles, and this is all interconnected.

But Amanda, if you could remind me all of the neighborhoods that we identified that were annexed in 1907 that were cities.

Sure, it included West Seattle, Georgetown, Southeast Seattle, Columbia City, Town of Ravenna, and Ballard.

Thank you.

Colleagues, any questions or discussion?

Seeing no further questions or discussion, if you'd like to add your name to S.12, please raise your hand now.

Council Member Juarez, question?

raising their hand.

So we've got council member Juarez and Hollingsworth adding their names to SDOT 12 SA1.

Council members Juarez and Hollingsworth.

Thank you.

Moving on to the next SDOT item colleagues, just for where we are along the road, we have 23 remaining, which is about 50%, 51% to go.

So over to you on SDOT 14.

SDOT 14 is sponsored by Councilmember Hollingsworth with co-sponsorship from Councilmembers Saka and Kettle.

This is a proposal to increase SDOT's budget by $10,000 in general fund.

It's a one-time ad to support Hidden Beach at East Harrison Street End Park to invest in basic amenities and park activation.

Thank you.

Councilmember Hollingsworth has sponsored the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you Mr. Chair and thank you Councilmember Kettle and Councilmember Saka for your co-sponsorship.

Hidden Beach aka Harrison Street and Shoreline Street Inn is a protected public's place under our Shoreline Street Inns project.

Friend of Hidden Beach is a group of volunteers that do their own cleaning and maintenance and mitigation and I want to make sure that they could have council support for the tools and resources that they need.

Thousands of people visit this Street Inn and it continues to be a treasure in the neighborhood.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Hollingsworth.

Colleagues, further discussion?

Questions?

Councilmember Juarez.

Old hand.

Sorry, I am just trucking down this road.

How many more transportation puns can we make in 30 seconds?

Seeing no further discussion, if you would like to co-sponsor SDOT 14, please raise your hand now.

Council Member Rink adding her name to SDOT 14.

Council Member Rink.

Thank you.

Moving on to SDOT 21, making a jump there.

SDOT 21.

Hi, Council Members.

This is Eric McConaughey, Council Central Staff.

SDOT 21A is a council budget action that would increase appropriations to SDOT by $20,000 in the transportation fund to improve and or complete projects intended to improve public excuse me, pedestrian safety in Madison Park, such as crosswalk painting on 43rd Avenue East, where pedestrians cross between the playground and the beach.

The CPA would also amend an associated CAP project page.

The sponsor is Council Member Hollingsworth, with Council Members Saka and Rank as co-sponsors.

Thank you.

Council Member Hollingsworth is sponsoring the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you Chair Strauss and thank you Council Member Saka and Council Member Rink for your co-sponsorship on this.

This is Madison Park, wait, Oh, excuse me.

I sincerely wish I could try to fund every neighborhood and park group and try to steward different projects that they have, but this is especially the pedestrian safety when it comes to Vision Zero in Madison Park, as we, it has been labeled a neighborhood center, and there are a lot of improvements that have been going on in the neighborhood and wanna make sure that this crosswalk is prioritized in addition, just because there are a lot of elderly folks that live in the area and just wanna make sure that this gets prioritized and it's important that this gets done.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Colleagues, further discussion?

Seeing no further discussion, if you'd like to co-sponsor SDOT 21, please raise your hand now.

Seeing no further co-sponsors, we'll move on to the next item, SDOT 22.

This statement of legislative intent would request that SDOT report on the accomplishments, spending and planning intended to improve reliability of bus travel on the following major corridors and Metro bus routes, Dennyway and Route 8, Aurora Avenue and Rapid Ride E, and Rainier Avenue and Route 7 and future Rapid Ride R. The sponsor is Council Member Rink with co-sponsors Saka and Hollingsworth.

Thank you, Council Member Rink.

You are recognized as sponsor of the amendment.

Thank you, Chair.

I want to start by saying buses are the backbone of Seattle's transportation system.

They connect our neighborhoods, they get people to work in school, they got me to work today, and they reduce traffic congestion, cut emissions, and are the most affordable way for thousands of our neighbors to get around.

Buses aren't just transportation, they're climate action and community connection.

And when buses work well, our entire city works better.

This slide, which I'm sponsoring alongside Transportation Committee Chair Saka and Council Member Hollingsworth calls on SDOT to provide detailed plans for improvements on our three priority corridors, On Denny Way, we need to dramatically improve Route 8 reliability and timeliness as the 8 serves as a critical crosstown connection.

Then going to Aurora Avenue.

The E-Line is the busiest bus route in our entire state and we need to treat it like the critical infrastructure it is while also working to move towards Vision Zero.

And lastly on Rainier Avenue.

We need a plan to prepare for Rapid Ride R around Mount Baker Station, ensure Route 7 reliability, which is actually our second busiest bus line in the state, while also prioritizing safety for pedestrians and vulnerable users.

Southeast Seattle deserves world-class transit infrastructure, and we need to build on the progress we've already made.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Rink.

Colleagues, further discussion?

Questions?

Seeing no further discussion or questions, colleagues, if you'd like to co-sponsor SDOT 22, please raise your hand now.

I'm right here.

I've got Council Member Juarez and Council Member Salomon.

Council Member Juarez and Council Member Salomon.

Thank you.

Moving on to SDOT 23.

This statement of legislative intent would request that SDOT, with support from the State of Police Department, report to counsel on the performance and deployment of automatic traffic safety cameras.

The report should include the following information.

A clarification of annual and SDOT reporting responsibilities for the deployment of these cameras.

Citations, collisions, and infraction fees is provided in the Seattle Municipal Code.

reports on that first item for 24 and 25. The results of the review and evaluation of the 10 new locations as authorized by SMC 1150570A as called for in Ordinance 127213. And I won't list them here for time, but there are the 10 locations that are called out specifically in that ordinance.

The sponsor is Council Member Rink, co-sponsor Saka and Salomon.

Thank you.

Council Member Rink is sponsor of the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you.

This slide requests that we get presentations in Transportation Committee about the revenue brought in by the Automated Traffic Safety Camera Program.

This slide provides clarification of SDOT and SPD's reporting responsibilities and additionally requests that the 10 locations mentioned in this slide receive evaluation and review.

We want to make sure that we have a good understanding of how much money is coming from this program and that the viewing public have an opportunity to see this data as well.

and I wanna thank Council Member Salomon for co-sponsoring this slide since many of the cameras are in his district, as well as the thank you to Council Member Saka as chair of the Transportation Committee.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Rink.

Colleagues, questions, comments, discussion?

Seeing no further questions, comments or discussion, if you would like to co-sponsor SDOT 23, please raise your hand now.

Seeing no further co-sponsors, we will move on to SDOT 20. Council Member Kettle's co-sponsoring SDOT 23.

Council Member Kettle.

Thank you.

We'll now move on to SDOT 25.

S.25 is a statement of legislative intent that would request that SDOT report on how the Department tracks the collective impact of transportation projects and how these projects impact vehicle miles traveled, road source air and noise pollution, estimates of health disparities correlated by transportation and other environmental justice and equity indicators.

The sponsor of this is Council Member Rink with co-sponsors Strauss and Nelson.

Thank you, Council Member Rink.

Sponsor, please.

You are recognized.

Thank you.

Colleagues, this slide, which I'm co-sponsoring alongside Council President Nelson and Councilmember Strauss, asks how SDOT and the Office of Sustainability and Environment are measuring the impact of transportation projects.

Are we meeting Seattle's goals for reducing vehicle miles traveled?

Are we reducing road source air, noise, and pollution?

are we addressing health disparities and advancing environmental justice?

We can't manage, but we don't measure.

So if we're serious about climate action and equity, we need to know how our transportation investments are actually moving the needle and to help us also understand what we should be doing differently.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Colleagues, discussion, questions?

Seeing no further discussion or questions on SDOT 25, if you'd like to co-sponsor, please raise your hand now.

Let's see, Council Member Saka, Council Member Hollingsworth, co-sponsoring SDOT 25.

Council Member Saka and Hollingsworth.

Thank you.

Move on to SDOT 26.

SDOT 26. and SDOT 26 as a council budget action that would increase appropriations in SDOT by $250,000 in the transportation fund to increase the capacity of designated e-scooter and e-bike parking corrals in high use areas of the city for use of City of Seattle permitted micro mobility vehicles.

The Council attends for this added appropriation to support city staff, consultants, and construction to enhance the work of locating, designing, and installing designated scooter and bike corrals in 2026. It also amends an associated CIP project.

Currently, SDOT's proposed budget for implementing these micro-mobility corrals for 2526 is $675,000.

With this $675,000, Estet would build a maximum of 200 corrals in 26. They communicated that the planning horizon and capacity constraints limit this number.

This appropriation in the CBA is intended to accelerate efforts to build an additional number of corrals with the aspirational goal of 600 corrals.

It is sponsored by Council Member Saka and the co-sponsors are Hollingsworth and Kettle.

Thank you.

Council Member Saka, sponsor the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I want to start off by thanking my co-sponsors, Council Members Kettle and Hollingsworth on this exciting new investment that really benefits all of us, not one council district.

As background here, colleagues, you'll notice in various parts of the city, downtown, elsewhere, there are many temporary markings, spray paints, if you will, that would designate, that purport to designate areas for scooter, parking, et cetera.

But that spray paint marking is obviously temporary only, and the longer-term, more durable solution is permanent paint and ideally a sign, so signage of some sort.

Many of the operators, the providers of these micromobility solutions like Lime would like this and would like our city to better accelerate existing efforts as was pointed out.

So that's the overarching goal to better accelerate our existing efforts ahead of the pivotal World Cup and they have a plan and working closely with the department on ideally where they'd like to see these placed, but the idea is that these would go across the city and just provide designated parking for these scooter type of equipment.

We see also sometimes these These scooters are tipped over and crudely parked in random places.

I don't think this, if fully implemented as specifically intended and designed here, I don't think that would fully address that underlying challenge, but it would certainly address it in part by providing a clearly delineated marked area and space for people to park their scooters.

And I love micromobility.

I love supporting last mile connections, and that's exactly what this does.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Saka.

Colleagues, discussion?

Seeing no further discussion, if you'd like to co-sponsor SDOT 26, please raise your hand now.

Councilmember Juarez.

I too love micromobility.

Council Member Juarez does as well.

Love Micromobility is co-sponsoring SDOT 26.

Council Member Juarez.

Thank you.

Moving on to SDOT 27.

S.27S is a statement of legislative intent that would request the Seattle Department of Transportation provide the council with options for a potential renewal of the Seattle Transit measure.

The council requests that the options for the Seattle Transit measure renewal include funding for new sidewalk construction to ensure pedestrian access to transit.

The current voter approved, excuse me, The current voter approved, SDM expires on April 1 of 27, and renewal of the sales tax collections would require approval by the voters in the November 26 election.

This is sponsored by Councilmember Saka with co-sponsors Salomon and Juarez.

Thank you.

Councilmember Saka has sponsored the amendment.

You are recognized.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

And colleagues, as you know, I strive to be one of many.

I think we all have led on this issue in terms of accessibility, walkability, new sidewalks, sidewalk repairs at various points.

In the last two years, I've had the opportunity and pleasure to serve alongside you all.

And we know that there is currently a 27% missing sidewalk gap across our city.

Districts one, two and five face the brunt of these challenges, and Districts five is the worst off, followed closely by my district and me and Council Member Solomon's district are sort of neck and neck, not the race to the top that we ideally all want to be in, but one of the problem areas is connecting to missing sidewalk networks, connecting people to transit corridors, and so it's not just transit corridors, there's neighborhoods across our entire city that are bus stops for school children and there's no safe routes to get to bus stops.

So the idea with this proposal under the current Seattle transit measure we typically and historically have used that funding for purchase of extra transit service only with some limited exceptions, but that under our state's statutory authority is not the only authorized purpose for that funding.

And so this slide would give an opportunity to help explore ways to support these last, these pivotal last mile connections, connecting people to transit, helping make transit more safe and accessible, importantly accessible, and it's certainly not intended to supplement or replace the transit investments that a potential renewal would support.

So this would be on top of that.

And it would allow us to help build new sidewalks to connect people to transit.

And again, improve pedestrian safety, walkability, accessibility for all.

And I think there's a lot of things we can do to boost adoption of transit.

Improving frequency, reliability, improving the safety and security experience for passengers and riders and operators, making that when someone navigates from their home or point of origin to the next nearest transit stop, making that safe, protected, easy to navigate, and accessible, importantly, too.

I think that can help drive adoption as well.

So this would be the next logical extension of our transit measure program, expanding to cover accessibility and walkability, these pivotal last mile connections.

and thank you to Council Members Juarez and Salomon for your partnership and being just staunch leaders and helping to elevate the issue of Missing Sidewalk Network across our city.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Saka.

Colleagues, further discussion or questions?

Seeing no further discussion or questions, if you'd like to co-sponsor SDOT 27, please raise your hand now.

Seeing no additional co-sponsors at this time, we will move on to SDOT 28.

Karina Bull, Council Central Staff.

This council budget action would increase appropriations to SDOT by $1.25 million one time for development of the Leary Triangle and impose a proviso to restrict use of the funds to this intended purpose.

If SDOT determines that implementing such improvements are more appropriate for a different department, such as Seattle Parks and Recreation, then SDOT could conjure a proposal to transfer jurisdiction to SBR for Council's consideration.

This item is sponsored by Councilmember Strauss and is co-sponsored by Councilmembers Saka and Hollingsworth.

Thank you.

As sponsor of the amendment, I'll address it briefly.

Colleagues, in 2021, I engaged in a community, we did a community engagement about what to do with this Leary Triangle.

It sits in the middle of the street, bordered by 9th Avenue, and this proposal would close Ninth Avenue.

We worked in 2021 with SDOT to understand if this was possible.

The answer was yes.

The community feedback from the survey included things like a food truck corral, art, a shy dog, dog park.

These are some of the ideas.

At that time, that was the first year that we had a downturn in the real estate excise tax, which is the best funding source for this type of project.

So we paused our work to say when the real estate excise tax rebounds and starts coming back, that's when we would take this project up.

Our REIT began improving last year.

Still, I wanted to wait a year before bringing this proposal forward.

We are now in the second year of our real estate excise tax being in an improved state.

This is one-time funds to increase the public space and activation along a diagonal street called Leary Way.

Colleagues, any questions or comments?

Seeing none, if you'd like to add your name as co-sponsors to S.28, please raise your hand now.

Seeing no additional co-sponsors, we'll move on to S.41.

SDOT 41A is a CBA that would increase SDOT by 275,000 and add one FTE to fund a chief transit security and safety officer.

It would rely on Seattle Transit measure funding and would reduce spending on transit service purchases to provide the offset.

This appropriation would require legislation to allow Seattle Transit measure funding to be used for this purpose.

The proposed legislation would also include adding the definition of the Chief Transit Security Officer into the Seattle Municipal Code and would add a requirement on future uses of Seattle Transit Measure, the Seattle Transportation Benefit District funding that is used for transit service purchases to provide money for this transit security position as well.

It is offered by Councilmember Saka and co-sponsored by Councilmember Kettle and Councilmember Salomon.

Thank you.

Councilmember Saka, you will be recognized in just a moment.

I see Director Noble.

I just wanted to clarify that Cal has prepared that legislation so it will be available to the Budget Committee should this budget action be pursued.

Thank you.

Councilmember Saka.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

So I wanna thank my colleagues, Council Members Kettle, Public Safety Committee Chair Kettle and Council Member Solomon as well for your partnership and co-sponsorship of this effort.

This CBA and the accompanying ordinance again, would establish a position of chief transit safety and security officer within the department.

What it does is creates a program, programmatic level.

This is not a person that would be staffed and supported to be tasked with riding on every single bus, the hundreds that travel through the city, or trains rather, at any given time, but it's a programmatic level.

set of investments with the goal of keeping our transit riders and operators safe.

Key features of this role would basically involve coordination, coordination across city departments internally here within the city of Seattle government, coordination between King County and the Sound Transit, A key component of this role and remit would be to implement recommendations from the recent King County Regional Transit Safety Task Force.

they proposed a very robust report and I think it's substantially in final form at this point but there are a number of recommendations on there and the basic notion behind that underlying work is that improving transit safety and security is a shared responsibility.

It's not one borne by any one particular transit operator, Sound Transit, King County Metro or another.

or Seattle, it is a shared responsibility.

And we all have a role.

And so this role would fund that program, that position to do those things, namely implement the recommendations locally, from a local perspective.

There's also some cool reporting requirements.

Well, maybe...

Some reporting requirements, last year we requested a slide that documented, that called for documentation of specific incidents, safety and security incidents while riding transit, and so this would make certain of those requirements permanent and this role responsible for that.

There's also an online dashboard component of that, so rather than the information live in a document that Some people might access or otherwise, the idea is that there would be a dashboard, a public-facing data dashboard showing this information as well, because transparency and access to information is important now more than ever.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Colleagues, questions, discussion?

Seeing no further questions or discussion at this time, if you would like to co-sponsor SDOT 41, please raise your hand now.

Seeing no further co-sponsors, we will move on to SDOT 42.

SDOT 42 SA is a slide that would request that SDOT provide legislative proposal to implement the shared streets legislation for Council's consideration.

It's offered by Council Member Strauss and co-sponsored by Council Member Rink and Council Member Saka.

Thank you.

Last year in the legislative agenda, I was excited and through the last legislative session, I was excited to champion this legislation, the shared streets legislation.

I asked SDOT at the conclusion of the last legislative session to begin working to implement the bill.

I was told a number of different ways, a number of different times, about a series of different complications, all that amounted to not exist.

I have since asked for the information needed to implement this bill and I will say Bluntly, it is disappointing to have to require this information through a statement of legislative intent to implement a state bill, because if we stay on the best schedule possible, we will receive this information at the beginning of the following legislative session.

There are other municipalities in our area that have already implemented this, and so I look forward to receiving this information in a timely manner.

Colleagues, any further discussion?

Seeing no further discussion, if you'd like to co-sponsor SDOT 42, please raise your hand now.

Seeing council members Kettle, Solomon, Hollingsworth co-sponsoring SDOT 42.

Council members Kettle, Hollingsworth, and I'm sorry, and Solomon.

Thank you.

If we would like to brief SDOT 901 from the budget committee.

Yes, just briefly, this is a technical item that updates SDOT's revenues for the changes that were contained in the October forecast, so that includes a slight change in the sales tax, also modifications, updates to the commercial parking tax revenue, and also red light cameras and speeding cameras as well.

Thank you, Mr. Noble.

Director Noble, we have received a better forecast and that is essentially this item.

Colleagues, any questions, comments, discussion on receiving a better forecast?

We just wish it was even better than it was.

With that, we're not gonna ask for co-sponsors because it is the budget committee.

I know Councilman Rivera has a point of order that she would like to bring up in just a second.

I will give us an operational view for the rest of today.

I had read the wrong percentage as I was rapidly going through.

We were at 34% of today's amendments at the beginning of the last page.

We have 18% remaining with 12 amendments in parks.

I am going to ask to amend the agenda to include Office of Economic Development and HSD for this afternoon session so that we can reduce tomorrow's time in committee.

By doing that, Councilmember Kettle, we would make tomorrow a public safety day, even though every day is a public safety day.

There we are.

I just want to check, folks, we're good.

We will not go any later than 4 p.m., no matter what.

We'll just stop where we are.

So at this time, I move to amend the agenda to conclude Office of Economic Development and Human Services Department on today's agenda.

Amelia, do I need to ask for seconds and votes?

If there's no objection, the agenda will be amended.

Hearing no objection, today's agenda is amended to include Office of Economic Development and Human Services Department.

I am gauging from us that we probably want a full 60 minutes, one hour lunch.

Is that correct?

Yes.

I am seeing a 100 unanimous vote for an hour lunch.

And so we will come back here at one We're gonna come back here at 1 45 and we'll be here until probably 4 p.m.

With that I know Councilman Rivera's got a point of order Thank you chair colleagues.

I just want to clarify something that had just came to my attention today, which is on that Amendment from yesterday related to the Sadako statue and I said yesterday, but I want to clarify today because the The CBA went in incorrectly.

As I said yesterday, this is not taking money away from ARTS' proposed or current existing budget.

This is additive.

It was always intended by me to be additive.

and I had identified the ad tax reserves as a possible, as the funding source.

So we are, and thank you Ben and his team for correcting that.

That was always the case.

So sometimes mistakes happen, but I want to clarify because I did receive an email from a concerned constituent, which is then when I went back to look at the CBA was not what I had approved.

So again, that was never the case and I want to confirm again for anyone that's watching, it was additive not taking away from the existing budget as I said yesterday when we introduced this.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Rivera.

Colleagues, anything else for the good of the agenda until we come back from lunch?

Council Member Sokka.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Point of order, I think I'm...

And if you want to use point of order, what is your point?

Point of order, I would like to add my name to sponsor two items, if I may.

And what are those points?

OPCD 007-A, which would be an increase by $6 million in the general fund for community clinic in Rainier Beach.

Next item.

would be DON-010-A, an increase in DON by $100,000 for the general fund for one Seattle day of service.

Thank you.

Central staff, did you get that?

Thank you.

Colleagues, any other good of the order?

I tried to give extra time for lunch, but we just keep eating into it.

Seeing no further business, we are on recess until 1.45 p.m., and we will be here until about 4 p.m.

Awesome.

Thank you.