Public Safety Committee 5/26/2026

And good morning.

The Public Safety Committee will come to order.

It's 938, May 26, 2026. I'm Robert Kettle, chair of the Public Safety Committee.

Will the committee clerk please call the roll.

Councilmember Juarez.

Councilmember Lin.

Here.

Councilmember Rivera.

Present.

Councilmember Sacco.

Here.

Chair Kettle.

Here.

Chair, there are four members present.

If there's no objection, the agenda will be adopted.

Hearing, seeing no objection, the agenda is adopted.

Sorry for the slight delay.

I was waiting for the mayor's office to be here, but they're not here.

For chair comment this morning, I'm going to start with a 17-page packet that I have received.

And this is from community, the Aurora community.

And the subject line is six shootings in 30 days, two on my block in the last 24 hours, a bullet is in the wall above my newborn.

This email string was sent to Mayor Wilson, to Chief Barnes, to the council, and others.

I responded back to Jake, who is the father of that newborn, and I wrote to him, thank you for sounding the alarm on what is happening in your neighborhood.

It's not right, it's not acceptable.

Since becoming the chair of the Public Safety Committee, we've been working hard to create a safe base in our city and identify and address the permissive environment that is developed in our city with our strategic framework plan for a safer Seattle.

But not enough, since there's more work to be done.

We've updated our plan to further a functional criminal justice system, addressing gun violence, and addressing the scene between public safety, public health, housing, and human services.

What is happening on Aurora is different, but really the same, to what we've been seeing in other areas in our city, such as Little Saigon.

On Little Saigon, I spoke to that in my chair comment on April 24th, which was added to by Councilmember Lin.

In the middle of that remarks, I noted that there's several reasons why we are still here we are regarding public safety and its challenges like Aurora.

I spoke to the following.

I said to the fact that we are a city of two minds.

We're paralyzed a lot of times, or we're working cross purposes.

We lack balance with a singular focus on our neighbors in crisis, which we should start with, but not with a focus, but focus needed too on the neighborhoods in crisis.

So yes, start with compassion, but then have the wisdom to look out for our neighborhoods and communities in crisis.

And by the way, it's not just geographic neighborhoods, it's communities too, like LGBTQ+.

We lack leadership that is sustained with an element of follow through and follow up.

We lack the implementation by the executive branch over time, not just in this administration, previous administration, and sometimes that of the judicial branch, the public safety bills put into law.

Do we have a scored contract?

South King County Regional Corrections Facility?

That would be helpful for a lot of things that we're dealing with.

And there's other bills that have not been followed through.

We lack a level of accountability to match the compassion in our efforts, and we lack integration with one hand, public safety, but with the other hand, public health, housing, and human services.

That scene between public safety, public health, housing, and human services is key, and it's showing up on Aurora.

It's showing up on Aurora with the sex trade.

and the inability of us to take action.

We will continue our efforts here in committee for communities like Aurora and others with our strategic framework plan.

We will work, for example, to achieve the goal of 1,258 sworn officers by SBD by the end of this year.

That is our goal and we have to reach it.

That's the first pillar of our strategic framework plan, SBD staffing.

It's incredibly important.

and we support a fully operational capacity for the real-time crime center that can leverage the Aurora CCTV program and can really be a false multiplier for it too.

And by the way, the real-time crime centers across the city, it helps in all.

It's not just related to those areas of CCTV.

And this is important for Aurora because the camera system is on Aurora.

But as we're seeing, some action has been, activity has been happening in the neighborhoods next to Aurora.

and we have to take action on that, and the Real-Time Crime Center can do that, and it is a false multiplier.

Both elements are very important.

We will work in partnership with the Wilson administration on a strategic framework plan to include a number of bills that are being introduced in June in areas such as public drug use and possession and alternative response to help meet the challenges on our street.

I will close by adding that our sixth pillar of our strategic framework plan is our city working in one voice, one Seattle if you will, with the county and the state.

This is important because the county has capacity on public safety on Aurora.

It is a major transit corridor with the King County Sheriff's Office and King County Metro Transit Security.

We need greater partnership with the county in this area to tackle the problem when there's shootings and a bullet in the wall just above the newborn's crib, I would imagine.

The state is important for many reasons as well to include mental health.

Regarding Olympia, I'll add, imagine if Rep. Davis' bill focused on men involved in the sex trade on Aurora in the recent season session had passed.

The bill didn't pass in Aurora.

It would have made a difference to what we're seeing on Aurora, but it didn't pass.

Arguably, the same we lack the leadership and so forth reasons apply to Olympia as well.

You can argue that they're of two minds too.

That bill should have passed, and it didn't.

And the reaction is, and the factor in terms of what we're seeing on Aurora is because of that.

could have made a difference.

So I call on the Wilson administration, who's not here right now, to work with the King County Sheriff's Office, work with Executive Sahali in terms of the Sheriff's Office, in terms of King County Metro Security.

And I should add King County Jail, too, because as I noted, we don't have the score agreement.

Where are we on this?

So that concludes the chair comment for today.

And again, 17 pages.

Council Member Juarez is not here today.

I would ask her to do a follow-up as I did in April with Council Member Lynn.

She was out for hours on Aurora with Chief Barnes, with the Council President, looking at the situation that we have on Aurora.

So that is chair comment for today.

Thank you.

We'll now move to the hybrid public comment period.

Public comments should relate to items on today's agenda for the preview of the committee.

Clerk, how many speakers do we have for today?

We have nine in person and eight, seven online.

It's nine and seven.

Okay, two minutes each, please.

The public comment period will be moderated in the following manner.

The public comment period is up to 60 minutes.

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

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

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

The public comment period is now open.

We'll begin with the first speaker on the list.

The first in-person speaker is Jeff Silverman, to be followed by Jake Wallach.

My name is Jeff Silverman.

I'm here to talk about both my city and my personal road to disaster preparedness.

The First Amendment protects my right to complain about the government.

Furthermore, speaking the truth is a defense against defamation.

However, both my wife and my mother tell me that if you can't say something nice about somebody, don't say anything at all.

Therefore, I'm not going to say anything about the majority party of the United States Congress, the federal judiciary branch, or the executive branch of the United States government and their treatment of FEMA.

You guys are intelligent, learned people.

You may draw whatever inference you wish from my silence.

I want to tell you what I've learned since I last spoke with you.

The city is not going to do what I want them to do, namely in city-wide activation of the emergency hubs and the EOC, and they're not going to do it for a good reason.

The city just doesn't have the resources to do everything it wants to do.

It also doesn't have enough resources to keep people from dying of malnutrition, hypothermia, or substance abuse.

It is your job as politicians and policymakers to allocate finite taxpayer dollars amongst competing legitimate resources.

It's far easier to be a gadfly, such as myself, than it is for you policymakers.

I do not envy you and what you have to do.

Since I last spoke with you, I got my ham radio license.

I passed the required FEMA examinations and have submitted my membership application to Seattle ACS.

The OEM is vetting my application even as I speak.

I predict they will find that I am sharp but dull.

I'm in contact with several ACS members and they are going to find something useful for me to do during the FIFA games.

I'm going to be part of the solution.

I'm also now qualified to be the radio operator for my emergency hub at Haller Lake.

If there is a disaster, the hubs are going to do their thing and they're going to be good at it.

The OEM is going to do its thing and it's going to be good at it.

There's a picture on page 12 of the presentation they're going to give you in a few minutes and I'm standing about six feet to the left of that picture.

Thank you, thank you.

Next up is Jake Wallach, to be followed by Kendall Gregory.

I should add, I didn't realize you're going to be here, but Jake is Jake.

Councilman Lynn, Kettle, Saka, thanks for the time.

Councilman Kettle, thanks for your service as well.

Appreciate you.

I believe in civics and unfortunately our city leadership is broken.

I've lived in the city in District 5 since 2012. I've done the work in my community.

I've volunteered.

I got to know my neighbors.

I did what I can do.

I engaged with city council when I saw problems and our state reps and SPD.

I testified for HB 1265 because that's what the council told me I could do as a citizen.

I care about our city and I've been pleading for help in my neighborhood for the past six months.

I've emailed all of you over and over and over and over and over again with the data, et cetera.

The city is allowing unchecked prostitution, human trafficking, and the related violence.

It's unchecked.

It's obvious.

Everyone here knows about it.

SPD's own data that was shared with me recently confirmed that over 60% of the shootings on my block are directly related to prostitution.

We know what the problem is.

It's not an abstract problem or an amalgamation of substance use, homelessness, that we see in other parts of the city.

This is different, as you mentioned in your email.

It's gang-led, organized, violent human trafficking, and the city is turning their eyes I live there.

I can't turn my eyes.

I can't wait for the strategic framework plan.

In the past two weeks, my house was hit by gunfire.

I have a six-week-old baby and it hit two feet above my baby's window.

A week later, my neighbor had a bullet go through their window into their bedroom.

I want to know what the city will do, even though it's politically inconvenient, to urgently shift our policy.

And I want to know who's going to actually step up to lead in our city.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for the comment and your email.

Kendall Gregory, to be followed by DJ Hoskins.

Is this the correct one?

Either one.

Yeah.

Hi, my name is Kendall.

I live in the North Aurora neighborhood, five blocks away from where all the shootings happen.

Yeah, I think we need to shift towards prevention.

The reason why these conflicts happen is because basically pimps are business owners, and business owners get into conflict with each other.

They don't have access to courts and lawyers like Walmart and Target and the other major corporations do.

So the way that they resolve their conflicts is with bullets.

Now, the way that we shift towards prevention is by decriminalizing sex work and establishing a red light district or, I don't know, legalizing it some way.

If they had legal businesses that they could lose if they were engaging in this type of hooligan nonsense in my neighborhood, then they would think twice about doing this.

But right now, they have nothing to lose, and the sex trade is very profitable.

So I think this issue is going to keep happening.

Approaches like police and barricades may resolve the problem temporarily.

Even the police, we have to keep in mind that these are drive-by shootings that happen less than a minute.

When the police arrive, everybody's already gone.

And the reality is that someone could have already gotten hurt.

So I'd like to hear what the progress is towards shifting towards prevention of this.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, DJ Hoskins.

Yeah, it's Hoskins.

I have a nerve issue with my right hand, and writing is not my forte.

Reading is not mine.

So like I say, I'm DJ Hoskins.

My wife and I moved into this neighborhood in 1987, and we've seen so many changes and so many of them for the better.

When we first moved in, it was an aging population with almost no children on the street.

Now the houses are filled with young families who are fixing up their houses.

There's kids playing in the street.

We love living in this neighborhood.

And Aurora is a block and a half away, but what was on Aurora always seemed to stay on Aurora.

You didn't have even as close to all of the issues.

Other than occasional minor crimes, you just never really saw anything spilling off into the streets.

Starting with especially around COVID, the prostitution and stuff got really bad.

But we didn't have the gunfire.

It's like in the last three or four years, it's just constantly being woken up in the middle of the night by gunfire.

And it's not just single shots.

I heard one the other night, and faster than you count, there was 20 gunshots.

And I mean, this doesn't stay on Aurora.

I'm not a gun person.

I don't have one, but a 9mm bullet can go a mile or more.

I did a little research.

It can kill someone at several hundred yards, and you have Just dozens of shots going willy-nilly all over the neighborhood.

It's just a matter of time.

I know one time I heard some close gun fires.

We have a big window in our bedroom.

I just tried to sink down into my bed hoping that a bullet wouldn't come through the window.

So something needs help.

I don't know what the answers are.

not the way it used to be.

I love this neighborhood.

I like the walkability.

I like the neighbors.

I like being close to transportation.

It's part of living in the fun of living in a city, but just things need to be done.

Thank you.

Next up, we've got Aaron Gardner to be followed by Steve Rubstella.

Hello.

I live in the neighborhood along North Aurora corridor as well.

My specific ask is for you to direct more FIFA funding to support police and anti-trafficking efforts along the North Aurora corridor.

Police have told us to expect more violence during the FIFA games.

So again, just in case I wasn't heard, I'm asking for more funding from FIFA efforts to fund police, to fund safety efforts along the North Aurora corridor.

I know that my neighbors have focused on a lot of the gun violence, and I fully echo all of that.

So I'll focus a little bit more on the underlying issue of sex trafficking.

I'm here on behalf of myself, but I do volunteer with a fantastic organization that helps survivors of child sex trafficking and prevention.

So I know a lot of grim statistics, and I'm happy to share the sources and the research with you.

It's all public.

But as you probably know, during large sporting events like World Cup games, the Super Bowl, sex trafficking spikes in the host city, and it's expected to do so here during the FIFA games.

In fact, there's been training in some of the surrounding cities for firefighters, police to know how to spot it.

The women that you see along Aurora are young.

Experts say that the average age of girls getting pulled into sex trafficking is only 14. These girls are middle schoolers when they're pulled in.

City statistics show that many are underage or barely just of age, and they're walking along Aurora, as you probably know, in stilettos, G-strings, and little Ls.

Detectives say that the issue of prostitution here isn't new.

I think a lot of people know that.

But they do say that what is new is that the girls keep getting younger and younger.

They're approached on social media.

Many have been at some point in their lives in the foster care system.

Many have been sexually abused before they were trafficked.

I know there have been a lot of changes in city law, like pulling back the loitering law, and that was done with very good intent.

But know that these are some of the most vulnerable people in our communities, and we're ignoring them.

So please, please help us.

Thank you.

Steve Ribsello.

Perfect record is still intact.

Anyone who has attempted to assault me has not faced anything from the city of Seattle.

Now, I realize that when I work, I work in the ID, Pioneer Square, Belltown.

And I'm hopelessly working class, a bit overeducated, and I still don't understand why you can't actually run a functioning police force.

We have not had one for longer than it took to raise the armies for World War II, as long as we fought World War II, and yet you cannot or will not actually have a functioning police force.

I think it's time to get away from the hands-off, wait till the guns come out and people die and the police come out.

Now, I'm not asking for people with Tommy guns on every corner.

That's not acceptable in Seattle.

But I am asking for a police presence that actually means something.

And restore the squads that actually do something.

After the initial incident, you have to investigate.

And if nobody goes to investigate rape, assault, car piles, prostitution, guess what?

They continue to grow.

And the people that do these sort of businesses or sort of activities are well aware.

They know even far more than I what they can get away with.

I find amazing that there are some people in jail and the work release seems to be full.

And I wonder whether it's not who you do it to, not what you do, and that's a dangerous thought for citizens.

Thank you.

Next up we have Mario Katona to be followed by Peter Orr.

Good morning, Council.

I'd just like to share, first and foremost, I empathize with the very legitimate and warranted concerns of the people in the North Aurora area, which has recently been in the news.

My personal experience is more in Mr. Lynn's district and the CID there.

by the light rail station, Joe's Bar and Grill.

I came to the aid of, I was just walking down the street right before Christmas on December 23rd, 2023, just under two and a half years ago, and I saw a man, I had my headphones in, I see a man getting beaten across the street, I mean beaten to a pulp.

What am I supposed to do?

I pull my earphones out.

I see the individual who was beating him hovering over him, and he screamed so loudly on the sidewalk next to Joe's Bar and Grill, I will fucking kill you.

You could hear it in Tokyo.

He screamed it at the top of his lungs.

Where is the police?

I know this was not under your tenure, Mr. Wynn.

Where is the police presence around the holidays in such a high-profile area?

I know 12th and Jackson has its own problems.

I ran across the street.

I rescued this individual at the last minute.

The criminal ran to his car, got a 38 Special, I chased him away.

I thought he ran away.

He got a .38 Special from his vehicle with Hornady hollow-point bullets in it.

Came back behind me in front of a Seattle police officer, pointed his gun at me from his hip, and said, now you're gonna get it, motherfucker.

And about five seconds later, he blew a hole right through my femoral artery in my left leg.

I looked down at my khaki pants in shock.

I couldn't feel a thing.

I felt like I was a thousand degrees.

I looked down at my left leg drenched in blood.

I'm like, I'm gonna die.

This is it.

And he's standing there with the gun in his hand like he's gonna shoot me again as I'm bleeding out.

Thank you.

And thank God a Seattle police officer was eating dinner at Fifth and Jackson and saw the suspect walking in the street angrily before he circled around up behind me and shot me.

He witnessed the shooting.

So we have an individual who's getting beaten on the street I intervene within a moment's notice, drop of a hat, that's it.

What happened happened.

Now I'm shot with a .38 Special with Hornady hollow point bullet through my leg.

The chance of surviving a gunshot from a .38 Special with a hollow point bullet.

Mr. Kitano, we have to move on.

Well, thank God.

Sirens.

As I looked down at my leg, sirens behind me went off.

They ran.

I spun around.

Waved my arms in the air.

I'm shot.

I'm shot.

The police came down.

It's all on video.

Your time has expired, unfortunately.

The police officer put a tourniquet on my leg, saved my life.

An officer engaged.

Thank you.

Thank you.

a 77-year-old veteran gets off the bus in broad daylight and gets jumped by two thugs.

Are you kidding me?

How many people walked past that gentleman?

How many minutes passed before anybody did anything?

Thank you.

And CCTV assisted in arresting the second assailant.

Thank you for that.

Peter.

As a reminder, it's two minutes of public comment, please.

has to do with public safety related to FIFA.

I'm here to implore the council to take urgent action in protecting the taxpayers immediately surrounding the area designated as Stay Out of Area of Prostitution, or SOAP Zone, in North Aurora along Aurora Avenue.

With an influx of visitors to the city in June and July, we're going to see an upswing in people who are unfamiliar with the environment, traveling this section of Aurora at any time of day or night to their places of lodging, recreation, entertainment, dining, and to get to the airport, and to avoid I-5.

During the dark hours is when our neighborhood experiences pimp gunfire.

And to do nothing about this not only continues to put your citizens' lives at risk, but also flirts with the real danger that unsuspecting visitors will be killed during their visit to Seattle for the World Cup.

SPD captain Davison has admitted that the vice on Aurora is likely to multiply in reaction to FIFA.

You can imagine the headlines.

I came here two years ago in support of the SOAP bill, which you passed in September of 2024 and which SPD trained for with the intent of enforcing it fully by January 1st of this year.

In that time, our novice city attorney, Erica Evans, has completely ignored this community-based solution intended to curb the pimp gunfire in my neighborhood.

The soap bill itself references an uptick in pimp-induced shooting in the area between June and July of 2024. This is not reduced.

In fact, we have had at least eight documented shootings affecting the 10-block radius of residential streets along Aurora in the last two and a half weeks.

Increased patrols are valuable, but without the provisions of the soap bill enforced, pimps easily return to terrorize us and our guests.

if Attorney Evans insists on disregarding this solution of ours, I would like to propose a tool that she would agree to use on Trigger Happy Pimps.

Chair Kell, you have been personally invited to a Greenwood Community Council safety meeting next month.

Please get in touch or check your email.

I cannot stress enough how urgently our neighborhood needs action taken to the greatest degree of your authority to eliminate the threat of violent pimps before a resident or visitor pays the ultimate price for our representative's lip service.

Our last in-person speaker is Lacey Tigerson.

Hi.

This is terrifying.

I'm Lacey.

I live next to Jake and Peter.

I just want to say thanks to them for all their advocacy because they've worked really hard for our neighborhood as well as our other neighbors.

I don't have any profound ideas or statements.

I just wanted to share that I have lived there for 14 years and have seen it drastically change, especially this last month has been pretty wild.

I know that you have a new mayor that you're contending with, as well as a big world event.

And that world event really scares me for our neighborhood.

It scares me for the visitors.

It scares me for the people who commute down 99. This is not just our neighborhood.

This is cross 99 shootouts.

My dad sees the news and worries about myself, our family, his grandkids.

It used to be a safe place.

I walk with my neighbor to get our kids from school.

On the way home, all their friends say hi, because we all are a neighborhood of kids living and going to school as a close-by place.

We have neighbors who are retired that sometimes babysit our children.

It is really everything you would want in a neighborhood, except for how Aurora is spilling into our neighborhood, which it used to not.

It used to just maintain on Aurora.

We did walks with Ed Murray a long time ago, and then it was looking at condoms and needles along Aurora.

But now those things are in front of my house.

They're where we ride our bikes to the park.

I mean, anywhere you can park a car, you can find a condom.

And when you have toddlers, they want to pick up everything, and it's pretty gross.

So I'm just here today to ask for your help.

I'm not an expert.

We need your expertise to solve it.

I know that you've been studying a lot of things and solutions.

We'd just like to see some of those solutions be put in place.

So thank you for your time today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's it for in-person speakers.

The first remote speaker is Maddie Porter.

Please press star six when you hear the prompt, you have been unmuted.

Hi there.

Can you guys hear me?

Yeah, go ahead.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Hi, I'm Maddie Porter.

I live actually right around the corner from Lacey.

I am one of the moms who walks to the bus stop and finds the condoms, you know, next to it.

Anyway, for 13 years, I have lived along the rural corridor.

I've raised my kids here.

This is our home.

And we cannot even just begin to describe the heartbreak of watching this neighborhood become so violent and so dangerous and so abandoned year after year.

This month, there's been a dozen shootings.

I mean, that's absolutely insane.

Everyone in this room understands that we should have a safe neighborhood to live in and shouldn't have to worry about these types of things.

Waking up in the middle of the night to hear gunshots out your window, grabbing your children out of bed, throwing yourself on the floor at them, and praying that those stay outside of your house, that's something I've had to do, and it's something my neighbors have had to do, and we are really, really tired of it.

I apologize, I'm sorry, but it's just been a really long month.

Anyway, years ago it was just women standing on corners.

We became used to it.

We looked the other way.

But now it has exploded into a sex trafficking tourism destination.

It is a spot that people know about from around the country.

They know that they can come two blocks away from where we are living and experience it.

And we are begging you guys to please do something about it.

Every new mayor, every police chief, every council member, every time there's somebody new, we all think this is the person.

This is the one who's going to care.

This is the person who will change it.

And yet, as Lacey just mentioned, she did that walk three mayors ago and it's still happening.

So please enforce soap.

Start there.

If you don't care about the children that's living in these neighborhoods, maybe you can care about these girls themselves.

As you just heard, some of them are as young as 14. It is unacceptable.

We are upset.

We are scared.

And we just want to live in this safe neighborhood that we know that it could be.

Thank you, Maddie.

Thank you so much.

Next up, we have Howard Gale.

Good morning.

Today's presentation from the Seattle Office of Emergency Management on safety preparations for the World Cup events, which start in just 16 days, forgets about the safety of those who are both the largest group and those who face the most likely life altering threats.

Immigrants, people mistaken for immigrants, the family of those people, and anyone who tries to protect those people.

We are talking about hundreds of thousands of people.

Just seven days ago, Homeland Security Secretary Mullen said ICE would, quote, be out there every day.

Four days ago, the Seattle Times published an article titled, Seattle Immigrant Soccer Fans Workers Face ICE Fears as World Cup Nears.

Just a few quotes from the article.

Working Washington has been, quote, talking to hospitality, restaurant and gig workers.

Some have told organizers they know of back of house staff who plan not to work during the games.

These are workers who are like, I am concerned about being able to pay rent.

I'm concerned about being able to put food on the table, but I'm extremely concerned about the risk that is going to be put on my shoulders during the World Cup here.

Even public watch parties and fan celebration zones could be seen as too risky to attend.

The Seattle Council has had over 18 months since Trump was elected to figure out how to more actively protect our immigrant neighbors and has had over eight months to take up the clear and legal proposals presented to you by the 36th District Democrats.

Yet in all this time you have failed to legislate even the basic protections put in place in other cities as, for example, Boston did months ago.

Today reflects the consistent pattern one we witnessed at last Public Safety Committee meeting two weeks ago when the Council platformed the victimizers and denied the victims of last year's police riot at Cal Anderson A Voice.

We only get to hear from those who wield and benefit from power.

We never get to hear from those who suffer the abuses and the life-changing impacts of that power.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Tad Neisser.

Reminder to press star six, Tad.

All right, we'll move on.

Oh, there he is.

Yeah, go ahead.

You can hear me?

Okay.

Thank you for having me and taking the time here.

My name is Tad.

I'm a resident of Greenwood adjacent to Aurora.

As we know, we've already heard North Aurora illegal prostitution and human trafficking is an incredibly lucrative, well-organized criminal enterprise that the City of Seattle has failed to disarm for years, day and night.

Changes in legislation and enforcement are needed to create a truly safe North Aurora community, but changes like reinstating the loitering law and enforcing soap, these changes will take longer than overnight.

And given the forecasted increase in prostitution demand tied to the World Cup, Our neighbors and community desperately need change overnight.

I live near 101st in Linden.

Two years ago, it was absolutely a living hell.

My partner and I were at the nexus of the turf wars.

Our newly purchased home, we worked our entire lives to obtain.

We were and still are financially trapped by our new mortgage in a gang war zone.

When the city showed up and closed 101st in Aurora, it immediately brought our streets relief and safety.

I no longer see women loitering at the end of 101st.

I no longer see shootings coming up 101st.

SDOT had plans to close more streets after they closed 101st and 107th, and we are asking that they are directed to act on those plans immediately.

Our neighborhood is asking for more barriers between Aurora and the adjacent neighborhoods to cut off the ease of John and Pint movement and disrupt the prostitution industry.

Running guns need to stay out of the neighborhoods where there are few cameras to catch them and far more children to catch bullets.

The evidence is there.

The cost and vehicular travel inconveniences of the barriers are far outweighed by the safety factor.

To our neighborhood, and to me it's crystal clear, the Pints stop fighting turf wars once the city renders the turf useless.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next up we have Donna Hale Walcott.

Donna, you can press star six and then get started.

Sounds like we'll move on to the next person and come back to Donna at the end.

Next is David Haynes.

David, go ahead.

It's obvious that we need a new police chief and all his brothers and sister in the executive command.

that are literally running interference and sympathizing with black, drug-pushing pimps, the real crimps of progress that digress into the societal mess.

It's like the pedophile Mayor Ed Murray, he appointed Kathleen O'Toole to shift the paradigm away from improving the war on the drug-pushing pimps.

And she's the one who decided the fate who got hired and nominated, which was Sean Barnes, who has a Jim Crow Law South agenda and a miseducation of hate.

He is totally untrustworthy when it comes to combating actual crime, but he'll get extra money to take a advisement class on how to act articulate and confident after a crime has taken place.

But when it comes to proactively combating the criminals that are conducting uncivil war on the community, he's literally on purpose mismanaging his crime fighting tools and always coming up with a political excuse why they don't have enough staffing for crime fighting, but they got full staff for the overtime events at World Cup and other law abiding events.

But yet OEM their unified command, they're going to put nine hours a day.

People are making six-figure salaries, abusing volunteers to do a lot of interaction, but yet they're going to do nine to 12 hours.

And yet there's no credible threat with Egypt and Iran coming into town.

So we're not even going to make a concerted effort to combat the crime that's polarizing the community.

I went to the Northwest Folklife.

I came out of the West Lake Toronto yesterday, right?

Thank you.

Next, we have Tina Varelli.

Hi, City Council.

My name is Tina.

I want to reiterate the thoughts of all my neighbors who have previously spoken before me.

I'm also a Greenwood neighborhood resident near the North Aurora Corridor.

I'm one of many neighbors who have dealt with a nearly nightly gunfire.

Myself and my partner, Tad, who just spoke, have experienced the horrors of the lucrative sex trafficking trade, pimps shooting at each other, condoms on the ground, the like.

We have seen an uptick in gunfire that has a nexus to prostitution and that was stated by the city of Seattle, the nexus to prostitution piece.

And we are expecting more sex trafficking due to FIFA on the Aurora corridor.

I'm calling on the city to enforce the SOAP law that we worked so hard to pass two years ago.

Our city, Erica Evans, has the power to enforce this SOAP law.

In addition, residents of the neighborhood have shut down 102nd, 97th, and 98th at Aurora to traffic, and this is an incredible improvement to what we've been experiencing, and I'm calling on city council to make these barriers permanent.

We have seen people destroying them and the inconveniences that it's caused, This was previously had a plan to close off those streets, and I'm calling on City Council to make those streets permanent, as well as enforce the SOAP law.

We need your help to protect taxpaying residents and visitors for the FIFA World Cup.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And we're going to go back to Donna Hale Walcott.

Donna, please press star six.

Donna, are you there?

Donna, you can get started.

Okay, I think we'll have to move on.

Thank you.

All right, thank you everyone.

Thank you for the comments.

I heard you.

Related to the points made, yes, SPD staffing, we do need that build-up.

And I appreciate somebody's point about detectives.

It's not just sworn officers on the street.

But building those numbers allows the detectives to...

We know the pieces.

We know the regional play in terms of women who are being pushed around.

These are all knowns.

The problem is, A, the staffing to work it, and then really the intent to work it.

So very important.

Implementation of laws.

As I mentioned, thank you for those who mentioned that.

Technology, the CCTV, and also the Real-Time Crime Center.

Connect Seattle, by the way, for the Aurora community.

Connect Seattle.

Look up that with the Real-Time Crime Center.

We do need a comprehensive plan.

Thank you for noting SDOT, because it's CEPTED, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design.

What's happening, what has happened with SDOT is an example of that.

But we need the partnership with the county and the state.

Again, the laws with the state.

and the feds, I-5.

We need everybody.

I-5 is a transit corridor for what comes in and ends up on Aurora.

But at the end of the day, and this is all really important with FIFA, but at the end of the day, at those points I made at the beginning, of two minds, we need leadership in the city to take action, and that's clear.

And I just want to add one final note, because yesterday was Memorial Day, and my vice chair was with me at an event at the Garden of Remembrance.

and I spoke about, you know, being in a war zone and families losing their loved ones.

And it is incredible to me as one who's been in Baghdad, you know, with artillery shells coming in certain directions, the mortars coming over the fence, the gunfire, VB IEDs, vehicle-borne IEDs and the like.

And it's one thing when it's there.

The families, the neighbors in Aurora, they have to deal with gunfire.

That's not right.

And that's what goes to my first sentence.

I said it's not right and it's not acceptable to Jake.

And again, I didn't realize you're going to be here today, Jake, but thank you for your email.

Okay.

With that, the six minute period for public comment is expired.

We'll now proceed to our items of business.

Members of the public are encouraged to either submit written public comment on the signup cards available on the podium, or email the council at council at seattle.gov.

We'll now move on to our first item of business.

Will the clerk please read Agenda Item 1 into the record?

FIFA World Cup Emergency Preparedness and Office of Emergency Management Updates.

Thank you.

We have Director Currie Meyer from OEM, Office of Emergency Management.

and the mayor's office too?

Okay.

Okay, Director Mayor, Ms. Holcomb's got your back.

All right.

Good morning.

Thank you, Chair Kettle and council members for being here.

I appreciate it, and I appreciate being invited.

My purpose here today is twofold.

One is to talk about, give you an update on the work that OEM and other city partners have been doing for the last two years to get ready for FIFA.

And then the second item is to talk to you about the improvements that the Office of Emergency Management has made post the Burke assessment and the budget increase.

So we'll start with FIFA planning and preparedness.

Really, this has been a two and a half year effort.

Initially, the first year, the FIFA committees, and there are a number of them, met every other month.

And then for this year, it's been every other week.

Seattle OEM has coordinated the Safety and Security Committee, which is just one of the many committees that have been preparing for FIFA.

Most of that work was focused on the creation of an event operations plan.

We did that in conjunction with the Mayor's Office, Seattle Police, FHIR, Seattle Center, and then a host of regional and state and federal partners.

We also have provided input to regional and state planning, and we are a member, we the City of Seattle, of the FIFA State Executive Steering Committee.

We have in addition coordinated with all of the host cities across the United States and in Canada, and the goal was to align our efforts with FEMA expectations.

Okay, next slide.

A little more about the city's event operations plan and what it covers.

It provides roles and responsibilities for city departments during the games and should there be some kind of incident during that time.

It covers how the city will manage and coordinate FIFA-related events taking place within our jurisdiction and the strategies for those city departments and regional partners.

Our plan complements and ties into outside plans, both of the county and the state.

It also included a consular workshop that OEM did in conjunction with OIR, the State Department, and King County OEM.

That workshop provided updates to consulate member staff and consulate offices here in Seattle.

and across the West Coast.

The purpose was to explain how consulates would receive information on injured or deceased foreign nationals by coordinating directly with OIR, who will have a member in the Emergency Operations Center during the games.

The event operations plan also covers a public information plan, which has specialized messaging for FIFA.

We also have annex contingencies for heat stroke, smoke, excuse me, and earthquake hazards should any of those things happen during FIFA.

Okay, next slide.

We also are in final preparations for the unified command post.

Those preparations are happening this week and next.

It's important to note that the purpose of a unified command is when more than one agency or department has authority or jurisdiction to make command decisions in the event that there is an accident or some kind of incident during FIFA.

So those agencies in that command function will be the Seattle Police Department, Seattle Fire Department, OEM, SDOT, and AFIFA representatives.

That unified command post will be physically located in the Emergency Operations Center.

We will also have over 45 different departments from city, county, state, and federal government.

We will operate for nine to 12 hours on the six game days.

And that unified command post function is prepared to relocate should there be an emergency or disaster or somewhere else in the city that's not related to FIFA.

Just to give you an example of who will be present in the Unified Command, the FBI, FEMA, DHS, CISA, the Coast Guard, TSA, a member of the White House Task Force, a member from the Australian Embassy, All of the city and regional partners that are normally present during an activation will also be in attendance.

A number of county agencies, Metro, Sheriff, Mariners will have a representative, the Northwest Hospital Response Network, the Port of Seattle, Sound Transit, Amtrak, NOAA, and the National Weather Service, and a number of other agencies.

Okay, next slide.

Can you hold on for one second?

I meant to, as we transition to agenda item one, to note to the audience and everyone here on the dais that we had a group of students from Hamilton Middle School.

I just wanted to thank you for being here.

I recognize it was a bit of a spicy topic during public comment, but please follow up on emergency preparedness, particularly for FIFA.

Thank you for being here.

Sorry for the interruption.

No, that's OK.

I'm glad they're here.

That's great.

All right, next slide, please.

So that unified command post hours of operation will be on those six game days, and we will activate a number of hours before and after each of the games, just to make sure that people stay safe.

On June 15th, which is the first game, that's Belgium versus Egypt.

June 19th, which of course is Juneteenth, that is expected to be the most well attended game.

It's the United States versus Australia.

June 24th is Qatar versus Bosnia and Herzegovina.

June 26th, which is the beginning of the Pride weekend, Egypt is expected to play Iran.

at this point said they are still coming, but they've also made a number of demands to FIFA for their attendance, so that's still kind of in play, and we may not know that until the very last minute.

The July games on the 1st and the 6th are those who have won those other matches will attend them.

The times in yellow that you see there are the hours of operation for the Unified Command, and the games are in the middle of that time period.

Okay, next slide.

In addition, it's important to note that OEM will host with our city and regional partners two times a day conference calls and the use of a MS Teams channel to share information on non-game days.

We'll be working with our partners at the Fusion Center and SPD for any information they're hearing.

We can then, of course, activate the EOC should that become necessary.

So all of the days between June 15 and July 6, which are not game days, we will host those conference calls and use that channel.

Plans are in place to pivot the EOC at a moment's notice in case of a disaster elsewhere.

That's important because that is the function of the EOC and that would take precedence.

Also, as I mentioned, the EOC will activate for the Pride Parade on Sunday, June 28th, which is that same weekend of that one FIFA game.

All right, so before I pivot to the Burke assessment, I'll pause for a moment if you have any questions about FIFA preparations.

Vice Chair, I think this is a good point for questions.

Vice Chair, any questions?

Not right now, thank you.

All right, any questions from my colleagues?

Member Rivera.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you for being here.

Nice to see you again.

Good to see you, too.

Thank you.

I had the pleasure of working with you when I was in the two mayors ago, actually.

So you've been here now a little bit.

And I know all the great work that OEM does.

I really appreciate your staff.

I'd love to hear more particulars when emergency management and the EOC gets activated.

It's really an opportunity for all the departments to come together and you're watching in real time what is happening.

I want to hear more about response.

because you're not necessarily the one that's responding.

Your office, it's the department, it's fire, police, et cetera.

So I really want to hear more about preparations for the activation, the response piece, excuse me, of the activation and what we can expect.

Okay, so there will be, you're talking about who will be out in the field, who will be outside, not in the EOC during FIFA, is that what you're asking?

Correct, and if something should happen, how will that get, you know, what response will we see?

What is being planned for?

And what is being planned for on the prophylactic side of things?

on the ground as you're saying.

So we have, so FIFA is responsible for the, and Lumen Field is responsible for safety and security in the stadium.

Outside of that, there will be additional police officers and firefighters.

and corridors set up so that emergency vehicles can quickly get in and out.

We also have blocked off streets around the stadium.

So it's called the last mile.

So cars will not be allowed to go closer than a mile to the stadium.

The streets will be blocked off, I believe, starting very early in the morning, and there will be more police and fire staff outside, so people will have to walk.

Also, none of the parking structures are going to be used, so people will have to park outside of that zone and walk in, again, to keep vehicles from interacting with people or people being able to get something closer to the stadium or where people are outside.

We've also then have a number of training and exercises, not only with field responders, so the people that are, when I say that, I mean people that are actually outside, as opposed to in the Emergency Operations Center who are supporting those who are in the field.

So we've practiced a number of scenarios, what would we do if there was some kind of drone or some other kind of disaster, people trying to do bad things to hurt people.

We've also looked at the fan activity areas, Seattle Center and whatnot, knowing that those could also be in jeopardy.

So we have practiced what we would do.

The thing I think that's most important is that field responders always, not just during FIFA, but always have a direct line to the Emergency Operations Center staff from their departments in the EOC so that we will have that real-time information prior to anything happening and if something were to happen.

So then we can get additional resources or equipment or whatever else is needed, stand up a family reunification center if that's needed.

We had a full-scale family reunification exercise at Magnuson with a number of the players.

When I say players, departments that would stand up that effort and our non-governmental partners, Red Cross and so forth, that would help with that.

So we've practiced a number of those scenarios and then there are additional staff that will be outside and in the EOC so that we can get what's needed really, really quickly should something happen to support whatever's going on outside.

Thank you, Director.

And what about areas outside of the stadium district and the Seattle Center like Aurora, for instance, we hear everyone's very concerned and rightfully so.

So what can we expect in terms of being able to respond to incidents that might be happening on Aurora because now there's more activity because of people coming for food.

I know there will be additional staff from the public safety departments that will be on duty and will be out in all those places, not just the stadium.

All of the places where they think that fan activities will be occurring, I don't know exactly how many will be in the Aurora corridor.

That's an SPD question.

I do know that we also received a little bit of federal government funding for overtime for public safety specifically.

Not a lot.

Also focused on drones.

But I think all of the responders will be on higher alert if that's possible during this time, knowing all of those things that could occur related to FIFA.

You know, you've heard there's always increased human trafficking.

Also, we're concerned about a cyber event.

So we've had a number of activities and preparation for that as well.

Like tabletop exercises?

Yes, yes.

And then also, because I've had the privilege of being down in the EOC, I know you have, we have cameras across the city that the EOC, that feed into that you are able to observe in the EOC when things are, when there are activations that happen, you're able to see in real time.

So can you talk a little bit about that?

And I know we have S-stop cameras and police cameras that you're able to see.

What about the corridors that we're concerned about, like Aurora and the stadium district?

Because I understand we are installing cameras, but they're not going to be on.

So can you talk a little bit about all of that?

Sure, absolutely.

So the cameras that we rely on in the EOC are the cameras that SDOT uses, transportation all throughout the city, very helpful for any kind of event.

It's near all the stadiums, Seattle Center and whatnot, so we can see what's going on.

And clearly for public safety reasons only, that's what that's for.

The rest of the representatives in the EOC don't have access to the police cameras, but the police department does, and they are in the EOC.

So the only cameras that feed in are the SDoc cameras?

The what, I'm sorry?

The only cameras that feed into the EOC are the SDoc cameras?

Yes, that's correct, yes.

Thank you.

Thanks for clarifying.

Thank you, Chair.

Yeah, you bet.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Rivera.

I wanted to note, thank you for those questions.

We are, as a city, looking to have a dispersed FIFA World Cup 26 experience, and that does require a dispersed security approach, too.

I recognize there's a desired abortion site on the stadium itself or the immediate area, but given the fact that we are having this dispersed fan experience that we should be mindful from a security perspective, too, because when you bring people together, that brings opportunities.

Yes, absolutely.

That has been the benefit of coordinating with regional partners, that there are things that are outside the jurisdiction of Seattle, so we've been in close coordination and done those training exercises with King County Sheriff, WSDOT, State Patrol, all of those agencies have been working on the FIFA planning and preparedness with us, so none of it's been done in isolation.

You know, there's also a practice site at UW, also Seattle University, there's a base camp at Renton, so we've been looking at that whole kind of footprint of what's happening in addition to where the fan activities will occur.

Yeah, the infrastructure, very important point in terms of the footballing, if you will, itself.

A lot of talk about sex trafficking.

Can you speak to that at all in terms of, you know, efforts that are ongoing by different agencies, you know, following up on our public comment from this morning?

Anything in terms of planning?

And by the way, sex traffic is not just Aurora.

In these kinds of situations, every hotel throughout the region probably, but Aurora is the focus in terms of this.

But in terms of interagency coordination, has there been anything spoken to related to sex trafficking?

We have been discussing it at length.

I think one of the most important things is that we have been talking about it with the private sector partners who might not be as aware that that's going on.

So the hotels that are hosting the teams that are here in Seattle and talking with all of those players that are not government agencies and may not be aware that FIFA has a reputation for that sporting event attracting additional sex trafficking incidents.

We've also been working with the Port of Seattle, which of course includes the airport.

So it's really about awareness, what to look for, what are the signs, how would you know that that was happening, and how might public safety intervene if they see that happening.

You may not know this, I do believe I'm right in saying this, that, you know, I'm thinking about comparison to other cities.

You know, we have two cities in California, San Francisco, LA, two in Texas, Dallas, Houston, in the middle there, Kansas City, and then on the East Coast, you know, Miami, Atlanta, Philly, New York, and Boston.

And I do believe each of these cities have a real-time crime center or a version of it.

And that's really important in terms of the integration.

And I'm certain most have some type of camera system, too.

I just wanted to say that.

That's what I've been told.

And I just wanted to make the point that the idea of a credible threat notification, you don't always get that.

Ask the mayor of Atlanta during the 96 Olympics.

Was there a credible threat notification on that bombing?

There wasn't.

And so this idea that we're going to wait, because it takes time to spin up these cameras.

You know, we talked about shootings, you know, and their shooting so happened by the time the officers get there.

Reacting after the fact is not going to get us there.

And so as someone who's worked in this field, I do have to say I do not understand the position related to credible threat.

To be frank, it's not really a professional standard.

It's not.

So I won't ask a question.

I just made my statement instead.

All right, thank you.

Let's move on to the Burke follow-up to that.

Can you go on to that?

You know, there was an SLI to do an organizational assessment on the Office of Emergency Management.

Burke was the consulting firm that did that work.

They compared Seattle OEM with similar organizations.

So they looked at Portland, San Francisco, Denver, and Vancouver.

The report found that Seattle OEM had the smallest budget and the fewest number of personnel.

They also identified a number of areas of improvement in their report, additional funding both for alert and notification and our community safety ambassador program, which is a program in which we hire people who speak various languages.

We hire them to teach preparedness skills in language.

Also outreach and education needed additional funding and staff.

as did professional development, not only for OEM, but the other emergency managers in different departments across the city.

They also noted that we needed stronger mayor's office and department engagement, that emergency management really is a city-wide program and is not successful unless all of those departments are participating both in not only the development of plans, but then the training and exercises to socialize those plans.

The plans that I'm referring to, such as the Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan, are foundational for what we do.

They're actually used, trained, and exercised to all the time.

They're also required both by the state and federal authorities in emergency management.

The assessment also noted that it was important that OEM remain an independent organization with direct ties to the mayor's office, that that was best practice across the United States.

OK, next slide.

So the improvements post-assessment, we did get a budget increase with a lot of support from Councilmember Kettle.

We really appreciate that.

I think it's really important to note, though, that we're a very small department, so the budget increase for us was big.

However, we are still 0.4% of the city's public safety budget.

So what did we do with that money?

Well, we increased our community engagement team.

We are having a citywide planning ceremony seminar in the fall.

The benefit of that is that we're bringing experts from around the country who have dealt with different emerging threats as speakers, and then we'll have a tabletop exercise hosted by CNA, which is the Center for Naval Analysis.

We have done additional training and exercises for city departments, the professional development for all of the city's emergency managers, as I mentioned, the development of an internal OEM strategic plan.

We had a strong strategic plan for the program itself, but not internally for the department, and also additional funds for outreach and marketing for Alert Seattle, which as you know is the primary way we alert the public.

All right, next slide.

I did want to highlight some of the specific programs that we have been engaged in, but first I wanted to share with you about research related to community engagement.

Consistently, research has shown that hazard awareness, understanding the likelihood and consequences of potential risks and hazards, can significantly influence safe behavior and decisions that people make during a disaster.

In order to make sure this was happening, we needed additional personnel to increase our reach and new programs, which is what we have been engaged in.

So next slide, please.

So I wanted specifically to call out some of this community engagement work because I think it's impactful.

We are planning a youth summer camp for the summer.

The primary goal is to introduce building a go bag or a bag that you would take with you if a disaster occurs.

Youth in community center day camps throughout Seattle will get that training.

It'll be a mix of arts and crafts while teaching participants the importance of what they would need during a disaster.

we will partner with young adults to actually conduct the training.

We are also engaged right now in a tsunami preparedness and outreach program, partnering with local organizations, businesses, and departments, so people know we have all those businesses and wonderful things that are happening on the waterfront, so letting them know what they are vulnerable to and how they might prepare.

We have also increased our community messaging, so National Night Out, which is in the summertime.

We have a social media and a website campaign to share with people what are the resources that are available, how can they prepare.

National Preparedness Month is in September, and we are rebranding our Neighborhood Preparedness Program that used to be called SNAP, is now called Ready Together.

We'll be introducing it with community-based trainings offered throughout Preparedness Month at each of the community centers.

We're also partnering with King County OEM with their Neighborhood Preparedness Program.

and as I'm sure you're familiar, October is the great shakeout exercise which many of you have participated in every year.

Okay, next.

Next slide.

I wanted also to call out some of our community-based organization partners because I think these are also really important relationships and work that's being done with community.

We have a continuing relationship with the Seattle Housing Authority where we send trainers to different locations to teach about disaster preparedness.

I have also participated in that, doing some of that training.

Clear Path Management in the Central District is a black woman-owned organization who recently spearheaded a project supporting longstanding Central District community members of color with home improvement resources, and her program was a $2 million project.

She will now be working with us to bring preparedness training to religious communities in the Central District.

We also now have a relationship with the Cambodian American Community Council of Washington, which is a long-standing organization serving our Cambodian and Pacific Islander communities with education, resources, and advocacy.

They will now introduce preparedness trainings for their community members as well as support translation of our materials and tools to make sure that they are the most accurate.

The Rainier Beach Action Coalition is an active group with a passion for empowering youth to take action in their community.

We are equipping their youth members with Stop the Bleed kits and giving them training on how to use those kits.

They will also be having preparedness training for the youth.

We have an agreement with Pike Place Market and some of the small businesses there to do preparedness training.

And then last but not least, we're planning for a Seattle open house in the fall.

We will include a tour of the EOC, and we're hoping to reintroduce ourselves, if you will, to the community.

We're inviting the media, community partners, and community members.

So not only can they meet the team, but they can hear about what are the resources and training available to them through us or through other Seattle departments.

Okay, next slide.

Thank you.

I think it's also important to note that the budget increase supported our preparation and training for EOC activations.

We've had a number recently, the Seahawks Victory Parade, we activated the EOC.

There have been three No Kings events.

As I mentioned, we will activate for Pride during FIFA.

We also regularly activate for Pride every year.

We'll also be in the EOC for the unified command post activations.

That budget increase supported increased training and exercises for city departments and regional partners.

So that allowed us to streamline some of our processes.

All right, next slide.

So in closing, I just want to put in a reminder that it's a citywide emergency management program.

So it is really the responsibility of all the city departments, not just OEM.

Those operational departments, meaning those with people, expertise, or equipment to help people if something happens and the city's impacted, all contribute to our planning, our training development, and our exercises.

We conduct that training for all city departments.

We are the only department that has full situational awareness of all the department work that's happening either during planned events, like No Kings or FIFA, and incidents like extreme weather response.

That way we can support all of the departments at the same time, and they can best support each other.

We are also combining our outreach with other departments' outreach, like the Department of Neighborhoods, to increase that reach and reach as many people as possible.

So that's all I have for you today.

If you have any other questions, I'm happy to hear them.

Thank you for the presentation.

I will go to questions, and as I always do, I start with my vice chair.

who's, I think, I haven't really seen, but he's looking sporty.

So I think he's ready for FIFA and everything else.

So Vice Chair, over to you.

Thank you, Chair.

Yes, I am ready for Seattle to host Big World Events.

First off, I want to thank Director Mayer for being here today, your presentation, but most importantly, all the work that you and your team and the department has done over the last several years to help prepare us for this moment and help prepare our city to meet the moment.

I appreciate that.

Thank you.

I'll say that overall, I believe that Seattle is ready to host the World for FIFA World Cup in a little over two weeks.

I believe all of our 40 or so city departments and agencies, individually and collectively, are generally ready to host the world in a few short weeks.

I believe our regional partners are ready to host the world in a few short weeks.

We've taken up pieces of this in my own committee as it relates to transportation in Seattle Center.

That said, I don't think that our city is as ready as it could be to host the world for such a global event of this scale.

The good news is that the solution is simple, and there's a quick fix available.

This council has previously authorized and funded the expansion of critical security cameras in key areas throughout the city, including in my own council district, the stadium district, Soto, where the actual matches for FIFA World Cup will be played.

We know there's a distributed model and fans are gonna gather throughout the city and throughout the region, the actual games themselves.

The largest congregation of people are gonna take place right in the stadium district.

So this council has previously authorized that and funded that.

And I'm proud that we also baked in the best in the nation guardrails and robust privacy controls to prevent misuse and prevent data from falling into the hands of the federal government for immigration purposes.

So today, I'm calling on Mayor Wilson to turn on the Soto cameras ahead of World Cup.

Now, before I make my point, I want to explain why this issue is deeply personal to me.

Yes, Chair, I'm a little sporty today.

It's for good reason.

Because 13 years ago in 2013, I should add 13 years ago and three kids ago, roughly 20 pounds ago as well.

Maybe that's seven, eight pounds per kid.

In 2013, me and my wife ran the Boston Marathon.

We had just finished running the race.

excited, elated.

We're at the family meetup location, which is roughly two blocks or so from the finish line of Boylston.

We're proudly clutching our finishers medals.

Here's mine, here's my memento from that occasion.

We had just run the world's greatest marathon.

the mecca of marathons, the holy grail of marathons, and there's a lot of terrific marathons, including right here in the city of Seattle, by the way.

We had just run that.

Proud, tired, exhausted, pained.

and at the family meetup location next to hundreds of other families and kids waiting to cheer on their parents and welcome their parents who had just finished and all the excitement and joy that that entails.

And then the first of the bombs went off.

And...

I'll never forget, and then another device exploded shortly thereafter.

People around, myself included, didn't know what to do.

I'm a military veteran, stationed overseas, volunteered to fly missions occasionally in and out of Iraq during the troop surge of 2007. I knew what had happened at that moment.

bombs.

And I was terrified.

I didn't know whether to grab my wife and immediately leave the area or stay hunkered in place.

I knew that a common tactic, once the first set of devices happens and goes off, there is oftentimes secondary devices.

Goal, of course, to gather as many responders and more people to a location and then boom, a secondary device.

Scared to death, didn't know what to do.

Didn't know how to protect my wife in that moment.

We decided at that point just to stay put.

and I'll also never forget in the chaos and the confusion and the terror that unfolded in those moments after those bombs went off.

I'll never forget and I'll be forever grateful by the over 100, potentially hundreds, of first responders, firefighters, paramedics, and yes, police, putting their safety on the line, running towards the danger to help keep us safe.

All the confusion, all the fear, all the chaos, and the realization that such a joyful global event could unfortunately become a mass casualty incident in an instant.

And I'll also never forget how very critical security cameras, including CCTV, were in helping law enforcement quickly identify the perpetrators, quickly understand what happened, and help prevent further tragedies.

Yes, it did.

There were three fatalities that day, with hundreds more critically injured and forever maimed.

Thousands more psychologically maimed.

no visible scars, but psychologically maimed and traumatized.

Three victims.

Fatalities.

Martin Richard, an eight-year-old boy.

Crystal Campbell, a 29-year-old restaurant manager.

Lu Lingzi, a 23-year-old grad student from China studying at Boston University.

And hundreds more victims.

I was there.

That experience changed me forever.

Again, I know what chaos feels like.

I know what helps law enforcement rapidly respond and investigate afterwards.

Now, Seattle is preparing to welcome the world for FIFA World Cup, and I want to be very clear.

I believe Seattle is an incredible host city.

Again, overall, I think we're ready.

This is a proud moment for our city.

But preparedness means planning for the worst case scenario before, not after.

The stadium district cameras have already been authorized.

The infrastructure exists, and I believe that waiting for a purported credible threat before activating those tools is far too reactive.

For an event of this magnitude, we're failing to meet the moment.

The credible threat standard, well, the major premises of the credible threat intelligence is fundamentally flawed because as was alluded to earlier, it falsely assumes and incorrectly assumes that the purported threat will always pop up on our radar every single time with no fail rate whatsoever.

Someone who's a former intelligence officer who did this work, I wish that were true, it's just not.

We need to get it right 100% of the time.

but the people who seek to do our community harm only need to get it right once.

People who seek to do our community harm, whether it's a domestic terrorist act, foreign terrorism, or other criminal act, they're using the latest technology and tools.

And we're hamstrung over here in the sunken place.

afraid, apparently, to use technology from the World War II era, CCTV, which, by the way, doesn't even have some of the technology enhancements that are available, like facial recognition technology layered in and other enhancements to make it even more powerful.

It is basic images.

I heard earlier Boston was held up as a standard.

I love Boston.

My family and I proudly visited Boston earlier this year.

Along the waterfront of the river, cameras all over, all over downtown, cameras all over in key areas, cameras, cameras.

So if we wanna use Boston as a standard, which I love Boston, let us use the hole and not cherry pick.

This is not about fear.

It is about responsibility.

It is about readiness.

It is about giving law enforcement every single available tool to protect residents, workers, visitors, and families gathering in our great city.

Here's the good news.

I believe we still have time to make the right call before the world arrives.

So today, again, I respectfully urge the mayor to reconsider and activate the stadium district cameras before World Cup begins.

We must act quickly and we have an urgent opportunity to lead, prepare responsibly and show the world that Seattle takes public safety seriously.

Credible threat standard again is incredibly confusing and totally unworkable in practice.

We need to do better.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Vice-Chair.

As somebody went to school in Boston, Boston University, I live relatively close to the finish line and other locations.

And your points are spot on.

I would say authorized and appropriated, too.

And as I already said, that's the professional standard.

And by the way, all these other World Cup cities are all blue cities.

This is not some whatever.

And as my Vice Chair noted, the protections that we butt in are incredible.

Not mentioned by others, but incredible.

The protocols, the computer audits, everything and above.

So thank you, Vice Chair.

Colleagues, any other questions?

Council Member Rivera?

Well, I really want to thank the comments of my colleague, Council Member Saka, and sharing your personal experience because I don't really actually have the words.

When a tragedy like that happens, and you were impacted by it.

You know what you're talking about.

And that's why when I always talk about the tragedy in my kids' school, you know, it is profound and meaningful.

but I will say I just want a plus one on your camera's comments.

I do think that I want to level set something.

We heard folks come to chambers and many folks come to chambers to ask us for things and I just want to be really clear and you were very clear about the things that this council has done to put some preparedness in place.

The differences between council and the mayor, they're two separate bodies of government and what we're able to do and what the mayor is able to do.

Our responsibility is a fiscal one and a preparedness one.

So we both gave authorization to the use of cameras with privacy protections in place.

I and a former colleague and many of us put protections in place when we did that, expanded the use of the cameras.

and then also we put the money in place by which to utilize the cameras so that we had a tool that we could use to help in investigation of crimes which is really important and we've over time since we've all been here have seen use of cameras in order to identify folks that have committed crimes by which we're able to hold people accountable.

So that is our responsibility.

We are not responsible for turning on the cameras.

That is strictly a mayoral function.

And so I say that not to use it as an excuse, but to reality check what we're able to do, because we hear from all our constituents on what we would like them to do.

I mean, what they would like for us to do.

And then we need to be really clear with our constituents on what we're able to do and what we have done.

and then pieces that really are not up to us, they're up to the mayor's office to do.

So on this one, we've put all of that in place.

And by the way, also there are cameras on Aurora to help investigate crimes that are happening on Aurora.

We're all very concerned and distressed about what's happening on Aurora.

And I would love to hear both from the mayor's office and then SPD more details about how they're addressing Aurora.

I know that the North Precinct is doing a lot because I meet with the captain of the North Precinct, George Davison, monthly.

and I get updates, although that is not my district.

I get updates about the north end.

That is a huge precinct.

It services a huge population of folks across the city.

It's the hugest precinct in the city.

And so they need resources by which to address the crime that is happening on the north end.

And so I'd love to hear plans for how the mayor is addressing what's happening.

on the north end, particularly Aurora.

Again, not my district, but I care.

I care about all the districts across the city.

Those of us that are district specific don't only care about our districts.

You've heard me say many times we care about the entire district, I mean the city.

And I do care about what's happening, what's gonna happen for a FIFA.

I appreciate OEM and like I said earlier, I have personal experience with OEM, I've sat in the EOC during activations and I know the great work that the OEM staff does.

And it's not just up to the OEM staff, there are partners across the city and it is also the mayor's responsibility as the boss of all the departments to be prepared and then to inform us how that those preparations are going and what is actually going to be happening on the ground and addressing a lot of these concerns that are legitimate.

and then I want to also say that I'm from New York City, we have cameras everywhere, all on the subway system and all public areas where we know crime is happening and then we're able to, the city's able to, not we, I live here, but the city's able to address some of the crime and be able to investigate crimes and hold folks accountable because they have that tool.

and they have privacy concerns as well.

We all do.

I mean, the bottom line is we all do.

And that is very bothersome to me also, the fact that somehow, I just wanna make it clear, I've said it before, I'm gonna say it again.

We care about privacy concerns.

We want to have this tool be used responsibly.

And it is a tool that we need to use in investigating crime.

That is the bottom line.

and it has been used many times to investigate crimes and to hold folks accountable.

And we owe it to constituents and to the victims to be able to investigate crimes and hold people accountable so folks aren't continuing to commit crime.

So this is really important.

So I'm going to join my colleagues here in calling for the turning on of the cameras in the stadium district.

and just using the cameras across the city as a tool, we're gonna need that.

We are hosting a lot of people in the city, folks who are coming from all over the world.

And I know that the FIFA organization and that our city has partnered together to make sure that we are prepared.

And to my colleague's point, we don't know what we, you know, you have to be, You have to anticipate all the things that could go wrong and try to plan for that and then hope none of those things happen.

But you do need to be prepared.

And that includes all of the tools that are disposable and all of our staffing at our disposal to do so.

So anyway, all that to say, Chair, I want to thank Director Mayer for being here.

I want to thank all the preparedness that has happened.

across all the city departments and the mayor and the FIFA organization.

I want to learn more about the situation on Aurora.

I know that there are other colleagues here who are not here, rather, who I know care about what's happening on Aurora.

So I want to hear more about how that will be addressed that's separate from FIFA and then also related because we know already that sex trafficking increases during these events.

And so looking forward to hearing more specifically about that.

And I know director, you can't speak about that today, but I know the mayor's office is in the audience and so wanna hear how we are preparing for in particular sex trafficking and crimes related to sex trafficking, not just during FIFA, a year-round because we are, as you heard from our public commenters, unfortunately in the last few days we've seen some disturbing things.

And I know this has been happening since I got here almost three years ago.

So thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Councilmember Rivera.

I appreciate your comments on the various pieces to include the FIFA.

Just to close then, in tying it back to my comments at the beginning of the meeting, when it comes to FIFA World Cup security preparations, we cannot be of two minds.

This of two minds problems that we have in the city, you know, undermines us and we can't have it here related to FIFA World Cup.

So to finish on that point, thank you colleagues.

Related to the Burke assessment, thank you and the work that's been going on in OEM for preparedness training.

You know, Rainier Beach, Stop the Bleed.

You know, that's also for what happens local with gun violence.

I've done Stop the Bleed training at the Queen Anne Library through OEM.

Don't know how many years ago now, but also you're mentioning a SNAP.

I am was a snap captain in addition to being a block watch captain, still am a block watch captain.

And so it will be a test of the system, whatever this new program is, if somehow not through council member means but through community means it comes to me.

So that would be a test of the system.

But key with the Burke assessment is having a strong OEM.

And this is where the Mayor's Office is really important in the sense that OEM at times may have to direct other departments.

You know, there's a hierarchy at times in crisis.

And again, crisis management, as someone who's been in it countless times, you have to have the clarity and the protocols, the standard operating procedures, the checklists.

Nothing can be done on the fly in a crisis.

That's the recipe for disaster.

So having those pieces are really important.

So I appreciate the Burke assessment follow-up.

We'll continue to work it.

In partnership with the mayor's office, I do appreciate having the operations manager for public safety here, so thank you.

because it's important for all these different issues that we're dealing with today.

And I just want to close with one final thank you for, again, the public commenters, but for Jeff in particular, for his work, his volunteerism as it relates to emergency preparedness.

I've worked with them in community well as well.

And, you know, in the Queen Anne world, we have Mequa, you know, the ham operators, the Magnolia Interbay Queen Anne Group.

and the work that they do and then what you will be doing is vitally important in partnership with the official channels.

So thank you for your work.

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

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

Hearing, seeing none, and before time, mind you, hearing no further business to come before the committee, we are adjourned.