All right, good evening and welcome to the public hearing.
The June 4th, 2024 Select Committee on the 2024 Transportation Levy will come to order.
It is 4.34 p.m.
I am Rob Saka, Chair of the Select Committee.
Will the clerk please call the roll?
Council Member Kettle.
Here.
Council Member Moore.
Council Member Morales.
Here.
Council Member Nelson.
Council Member Rivera.
Here.
Council Member Strauss.
Present.
Council Member Wu.
Present.
Vice Chair Hollingsworth.
Present.
Chair Saka.
Here.
Six present.
All right.
If there is no objection, the agenda will be adopted.
Adopted.
All right.
Welcome, everyone.
I want to thank our community for continuing to make their voices heard.
whether it's through the many hundreds and hundreds and even thousands, probably at this point, of emails or showing up to the various select committee meetings or regular transportation committee meetings, the public hearings that we're having, many, many opportunities to share your feedback.
It is greatly appreciated.
Your voice matters.
I also want to thank Mayor Harrell and his team, SDOT Director Greg Spotts, and everyone else who has worked tirelessly to get us to this point.
And obviously, my council colleagues, I appreciate your thoughtful feedback, continued engagement, and helpful ideas.
to make whatever we build and put before voters even better.
So this is a historic moment for Seattle.
If we land this right, if we get this right in this moment, this levy has the power to truly build a safer, more economically viable and better connected community for all.
We have an opportunity to deliver the everyday basics in an extraordinary way, the bold basics.
More than that, this levy is a vital public safety issue.
It's of no exaggeration to say that this levy has the ability to quite literally save lives.
Too many people are dying on our roads, and we're growing further away from our Vision Zero goals, unfortunately.
And along those lines, I want to offer a tribute to the eight fatalities in the past week plus, and to the people we lost and their grieving families.
We can and must do so much better.
I also want to make clear that we have one transportation system in this city and the region.
And there are so many interdependencies.
We're all connected in so many different profound ways.
One thing we learned, for example, with the protracted closure, two and a half year closure of the West Seattle Bridge is that that actually impacted the entirety of the city, not just West Seattle.
Decent quality, reliable roads affect everyone, regardless of whether you choose to walk, bike, roll, take transit, or drive.
And we also know that when freight and cargo are not moving efficiently and reliably, Our services and goods, perhaps even the prices of our daily necessities, are directly impacted.
It's a matter of local economic importance, statewide economic importance, and international importance.
This is a top port city, international city.
New sidewalks, safe routes to schools, and Vision Zero goals affect everyone.
Again, we have one system channeling the mayor's one Seattle approach and vision.
We have one system here that must work for our residents in the transportation context.
And it must be tightly coordinated, integrated, and directly accountable.
And I have shared my proposed chair's amendment earlier today, which includes three parts, the spending revisions, My other amendments to the executive underlying executive legislation and then their companion resolution.
I look forward to everyone's thoughtful, well, members of the public, thoughtful suggestions and input as we continue to refine this package and make it even better.
But ultimately, wherever we land in a few weeks when the smoke clears and we run up against the county imposed deadline in order to get something on the ballot, Wherever we land with this final transportation levy package, we know that voters are gonna have the ultimate say on this proposal.
And finally, I note that this committee held a prior hearing, public hearing, on the transportation levy renewal two weeks ago on May 21st, and tonight is the second hearing.
We're required by law to have one.
We have two, with many other opportunities to interact, engage, share your feedback and perspective.
Today we will have a short presentation.
by SDOT to go over the levy, and we will move on immediately after that to public comment.
So with that, thank you all.
And I also wanna acknowledge Council President Nelson and Council Member Rivera have joined, and I believe Council Member Moore is joining online.
So they are here president and accounted for.
That said, Will the clerk please read item one into the record?
Council Bill 120788. The Select Committee on 2024 Transportation Levy will conduct a public hearing on Council Bill 120788 relating to a proposed ballot measure to renew the transportation levy.
Go ahead.
Hello?
Yeah.
Council Member Moore has a question.
Go ahead, Council Member Moore.
We just read the item into the record.
Here.
Got it, thank you.
All right, and thank you, presenters.
Welcome, looks like you've joined us at the table here.
Welcome again.
Please do share your presentation, and once ready, introduce yourselves and begin your presentation.
Council Members, my name is Francesca Steffen.
I'm Senior Deputy Director at SDOT and I'm pleased to be here with you today.
We will keep this short.
There's a lot of valuable information about the transportation levy proposal and any amendments online, but we want to provide just a broad overview so folks have a sense of the contours of this and we can get on to hearing from everybody today.
So for the last 18 years, SDOT voters have supported transportation levies that make critical improvements to our network.
The Levy to Move Seattle, which is the levy that's expiring at the end of this year, funds approximately 30% of the work that SDOT does.
We are fortunate in the development of this levy that we are able to take advantage of and utilize not just dozens of community comments, but thousands, thousands and thousands of community comments that came through the Seattle Transportation Plan.
The timing is really great in that we just have wrapped up and the council has adopted the Seattle Transportation Plan and this levy begins that implementation process and the funding to see it to reality.
That work is considering things like asset needs, mobility, safety, equity, and sustainability, ways that we can help people get around with less emissions, more safety, and that we're making sure that people can get where they need to go regardless of race, color, income, and ability.
I will jump into giving a little bit of a sense of the proposal.
It is an eight year, the mayor's proposal is an eight year, $1.45 billion levy proposal.
It's a proposal that funds connectivity, reliability, and safety.
As you can see from the many colors on the circle, it funds many different kinds of things.
It is responsive to information we learned in looking at asset needs.
It also is responsive to priorities we heard from the community and stakeholders along an outreach process.
We tried to have a really broad contextual view, hearing from lots of people, people who wanted many different ways of this structure, wanted smaller levies, larger levies, different types of levies, and we really work to create a balanced proposal for consideration.
Currently, someone who owns a home in Seattle that is of median value, so $804,000, pays $23 a month for the Move Seattle levy.
This proposal would cost that homeowner $16 more per month than today.
So we also kept an eye on affordability.
We wanted to make sure that people could afford to pay this.
It would bring them benefit, but that also is something they could afford.
One key piece of this is that this will help us leverage local funds towards state and federal dollars that help us bring more things to bear on our region and keep our city moving.
I'll jump into a few highlights.
This proposal doubles the funding for Vision Zero, enabling us to spread more proactive countermeasures that we know work across the city.
Those are the things that you see now through our leading pedestrian intervals, our No Turn On Red, and many other moves that we can make citywide that keep people safe.
We're surging on new sidewalk construction, doubling the pace of our sidewalk spending so that we can help connect more people walking in our neighborhoods, in our commercial areas.
We've selected 15 maintenance paving projects with a careful selection process that considered daily traffic volumes, transit access, freight, multimodal connectivity, and many factors in selecting those corridors.
We also heard from the community that connections to link light rail a once in a generation investment in our community is really important to them and they wanna be able to get to it.
And so we've made a concerted effort to emphasize connections to new and existing link light rail stations, both the ones that are opening soon and the ones that we expect sort of near the tail end of the levy.
We've also looked at our bike lane network and looked to see areas where we could expand bike lane access to areas of our city which are underserved today, as well as looking at the ways we can close the gaps in our existing network and harden the existing lanes we have so they provide greater levels of safety for people that are using them.
The program also launches a preventative bridge maintenance program.
We learned that we could do more to invest at the right time in the right place to keep those very, very valuable assets going longer.
We also heard quite a bit from the community about lighting.
Hard to imagine at this time of summer, but deep in the dark of November and December, it's certainly an issue that people flag constantly because it does keep them from getting to the places they want to go if they don't feel like they can see or they don't feel safe.
So we have made an investment in pedestrian lighting as well as in what has been called in the STP, the people streets and public spaces.
Spaces in neighborhoods and in commercial districts to make those inviting for people and places that feel welcoming.
We've made an investment in EV chargers and tree canopy in partnership with many of our other departments.
And we've also made an investment in spot improvements for freight to keep goods and moving throughout the city.
So it's a lot of different pieces.
And again, as I said, there's really great valuable, there's detailed descriptions of all the different commitments and things in online that I encourage people to look at.
We've really worked to try and make this a balanced proposal.
We have taken it to a degree of specificity that's greater than what is in the Move Seattle Levy today.
We've identified program budgets.
sub-program budgets, program commitments, and even candidate projects.
And yet we don't want to tie the hands of anybody of our future leaders, and we also want to maintain flexibility to respond to community needs.
So there is a degree of flexibility as well so we can respond to things as they emerge.
I will say we are ready to build this levy.
SDOT has really, I think, demonstrated in the past few years our ability to up the pace of our project delivery process, and this levy is an increase from what we have today, but is something that is well within the ability of SDOT to deliver.
And last but not least, accountability.
This is really important.
It was important to our current levy oversight committee.
It's important to this council and it's important to us.
So it also proposes that we continue regular reporting of the progress on this levy, that we continue to have a levy oversight committee, a set of residents who dedicate their time to help oversee that the spending and the project progress is happening as promised.
and help guide any changes that need to be made along the way.
And we will continuously work to improve the information and how we share out.
So with that, hopefully that was a helpful high-level overview, and we really look forward to hearing from the public today.
Thank you.
Terrific.
Thank you so much, Francesca.
Bill, really appreciate You sharing the proposal here, the original proposal and this additional context on the executive proposed levy.
So as presiding officer, I am now opening the public hearing on council bill 120788. Public comments should relate solely to items on today's agenda and within the purview of this select committee.
Clerk, how many speakers are signed up today?
We have approximately 30 person.
All right.
Each speaker will have approximately one minute.
We will start with the in-person speakers first and I suppose alternate on every 10 person basis.
Clerk, will you please read the public comment instructions?
Yes, the speakers will be called on in the order signed up.
We will alternate between in-person and remote speakers in groups of 10. Speakers will hear a chime when they have 10 seconds left of their allotted time, and we ask that you begin to wrap up your public comment at the sound of the chime within 10 seconds.
And remote speakers, when it is your turn, you'll need to press 6 to unmute your phones.
So we are going to begin with the first in-person speaker.
First in-person speaker is Alex Zimmerman, who will be followed by Allison Steeken.
Go ahead, Alex.
Zee-hile, my dory dame.
Comi Nazi Fascist Republic.
My name Alex Zimmerman.
Yeah, I love Seattle idiot.
You know what this means?
They accept everything.
I live for 40 year and I try understand how stable good people.
So for 40 year or for 20 year or for one year, they accept everything.
One minute.
Yeah, exactly.
Absolutely right.
Their opinion is very important.
I think one minute for this idiot is too much, too, because nothing will be changed.
And I see this, you know, what is money, what is you spend, and try to understand how many fricking idiots in this city.
So for many years, nothing go better.
Nothing.
Nothing.
And I'm talking about some...
What is Seattle water right now spend $160 billion for nothing.
Classic example.
How many idiots in this city?
Thank you, our next speaker is Allison Steeken followed by Dan McKesson.
I'm with the ILWU Local 19 Seattle.
Thank you Council Member Zaka for acknowledging the importance of additional freight funding.
Fellow West Seattleite here, but everywhere in Seattle is affected when traffic issues around our docks and industrial areas, especially those with freight.
It gets so congested.
That's why I'm supporting the increase, the freight, excuse me, increasing the freight element to move Seattle levy to 25 million.
Our port community and beyond would greatly benefit from much needed attention to our industrial roads.
I have a six minute commute to work, our hiring hall, but some days I drive a little further to the crews and wheat terminals, never more than 10 miles.
This past year, in the span of three months, I suffered three flat tires on my commute.
Not good, nor safe.
Seattle's street design on major truck roads will need to accommodate freight and needs to safely interact with bike lanes, sidewalks, and other modes of transportation.
Fixes to our roads are necessary so that dock workers can get to our different jobs, expedite the semi-trucks, keep traffic flowing, move cargo, and help to ensure that Seattle has a better future.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Dan McKisson, and following Dan is Andy Gregory.
Thank you.
Chair Sackett council members, I'm Dan McKiss with the international longshore warehouse union, a Washington area district council speaking in favor of the levy and also seeking increased funding for the freight aspect of it.
You know, I've worked down in the Soto since 86 at the rail yards first and the doc since then.
And, uh, it's changed a lot.
And as we it's changed, we need to stay up on the safety.
And by doing that, you got to have freight be able to move through the industrial areas.
where they can make turns on corners and not jump curbs and keep it safety.
So as we move forward with through this process and spend this money, we need to be thoughtful about the ability to move freight through there.
You look at Edgar Martinez Way.
That's three lights to Boston once you leave the waterfront.
Straight dying 90. That's huge for our ag exporters.
Having that corridor and safe to run to the port is very important.
Thank you.
Thank you, our next speaker is Andy Gregory, and following Andy will be Vicki Clark.
Go ahead, Andy.
GOOD AFTERNOON.
THANK YOU CHAIR SACA AND THE REST OF THE COUNCIL FOR HAVING US HERE TODAY.
MY NAME IS ANDY GREGORY AND I'M SPEAKING ON BEHALF OF THE PORT OF SEATTLE AND THE NORTHWEST SEAPORT ALLIANCE.
THE WORKING WATER FUND IS THE ECONOMIC BACKBONE OF SEATTLE.
INDUSTRY DEPENDS ON THE FREIGHT NETWORK FOR THE EFFICIENT DELIVERY OF GOODS.
FULL FUNDING OF THE FREIGHT ELEMENT OF THIS PACKAGE IS ESSENTIAL TO ADDRESS THE OVERFLOWING NEED FOR SIMPLE PAVEMENT REPAIRS AND FISHES IN THE DUWAMISH, SOTO AND BINMIC.
Please increase the freight spot improvements program by $25 million, and we appreciate the $20 million that's in this amendment.
Funds are used to inventory urban loading docks, remove old rail lines, improve signage, repair sidewalks, repave or remake streets, and fund studies.
This program provides the only SDOT funding for the underfunded minor and last mile truck streets, which are otherwise overlooked.
So thank you for your commitment to funding SDOT through the most practicable means and leveraging partner opportunities.
We want to work together to improve safety, equity, and sustainability and freight mobility to support Seattle residents, workers, and the city's economy.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Vicki Clark and following Vicki will be Katie Rusciuto.
Go ahead, Vicki.
Good afternoon, Council.
My name is Vicki Clark.
I'm the Deputy Director of Cascade Bicycle Club.
Thank you, Chair Sarkar and Council for your thorough review of the levy package and your work to finalize it.
Today, I want to touch on three things.
First, we support the additional dollars for the Safe Routes to School program.
As a mom of a kid starting to bike on the street, Safe Routes to School are important.
but schools are far from the only trip our youth take.
As such, second, we request that council add an additional 20 million to this levy specific to filling gaps in the Seattle Bike Network, especially South Seattle.
Third, please reinstate the cut to the neighborhood funding program.
From 2018 to 2022, I was a member of the Move Seattle Levy Oversight Committee.
During that time, we oversaw the second cycle of the neighborhood street fund, which this program would build from.
Beyond merely reaching out to community, the program reached in.
It worked with community groups, otherwise would not have been part of the conversation.
The neighborhood program operationalizes the equity values of the department and the city writ large.
Please reinstate the funds.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Katie Rusciuto, and following Katie will be Scott Borajukin.
Go ahead, Katie.
Hello, Chair Saka and council members.
My name is Katie Ricciuto and I'm a steering committee member for LID I-5 and LID I-5 North Seattle.
We along with efforts in the CID, Aurora Ave and South Park request additional funding for transportation for freeway mitigation in this levy.
In the U District, a community-led effort is raising awareness for a highway lid between Northeast 45th and 50th streets.
The recent increase in density in the U District and surrounding neighborhoods calls for additional open space and housing.
There are at least seven acres of developable land available on the east side of the highway that could be incorporated with a lid, along with housing and safe spaces for sidewalks and bicycles.
Funding for an initial feasibility study here would help us prepare for future city, county, and state funding opportunities.
The city should align with these community efforts.
This includes expanding the proposed 47th Street pedestrian bridge study scope to include additional community benefits like housing.
I support this levy, and I hope that we can create one that builds a more connected and sustainable Seattle.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Scott Borjuchin, and following Scott will be Sean Maryhoo.
Chair Saka, members of the council, my name is Scott Bonjoukian and I'm a resident of District 1. We need to go bigger and bolder with this levy.
Scientific polling shows people will support a larger levy.
I personally would vote for a $1.7 billion levy that has at least 50% of funding dedicated to people walking, rolling, biking, and taking transit in Seattle, and for a levy that invests more in undoing the harms caused by our transportation system.
I stand with Lit I-5, Reconnect South Park, New District Partnership, Aurora Avenue Reimagined, Friends of I-5 CID, and many other organizations in requesting urban free highway mitigation funding in this levy, some of which are ongoing projects for which SDOT has submitted a letter in evidence of this proposal.
The projects proposed by this group, and I have the letter here for the clerk, Get at the basics of urban quality of life and uplift public safety.
These projects can reduce air pollution, make it easier to walk and bike, increase tree canopy, space for parks, housing, and jobs.
Many of these projects have coped as well with reinforcing our bridges.
Let's do the right thing and create a levy that truly builds a more connected and sustainable Seattle.
Please include $40 million in the levy for urban.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Sean Marahoo and following Sean will be Aaron Musi.
Hey, I'm Sean Maryhugh.
I live in the Green Lake neighborhood of Seattle and I use sidewalks in public transit on a daily basis.
I would vote for a $1.7 billion levy that invested even more than the current proposal in sidewalk safety and accessibility.
As someone with a disability, there are areas of the city that I can't safely live due to the lack of accessible and sufficiently maintained sidewalks and so many other areas where I end up in the street just to get where I'm going.
If more is invested in sidewalk accessibility and safety, it will benefit all of us and not just pedestrians too.
So I hope the city can prioritize and fund accessibility so that we can show community members with disabilities deserve the same safety and are valued members of the community.
Accessibility and inclusion should be a core consideration of anything that we as a city do.
So thanks for your time.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Aaron Muser.
And following Aaron will be our last in-person for this group of Kirk Houvenkotter.
Go ahead, Aaron.
Hi, my name is Ginny Alleman.
I'm a resident of Seattle and I'm here tonight to express my support for increased funding for sidewalks and mobility in Seattle and for the transportation levy in general.
As a parent and guardian of a visually impaired young man, I know how challenging it can be to navigate the world.
Without sidewalks, getting around is incredibly dangerous, especially for those who are visually impaired.
It also limits them in their ability to lead independent lives.
Our family saw firsthand how gaps in pedestrian accessibility can limit my son in their daily lives.
When my son was attending summer sessions at Ryther on 95th and Northeast Seattle, he desperately wanted to be able to travel there on his own on the bus.
And while he could make it as far as 95th and Lake City Way, the gap between the bus stop and Ryther might as well have been an ocean abyss.
There was no way for him to navigate those couple hundred meters of gravel and blackberries.
without a sighted person.
You probably know that story a little bit.
It's gotten a lot of press coverage, but the amount of time and effort it took to make that happen was incredible.
We need .
Thank you, and our last in-person speaker for this group is Kirk Hovenkotter.
President Nelson, Chair Saka, members of the Select Committee, my name is Kirk Hovenkotter.
I'm the Executive Director of Transportation Choices Coalition.
I want to thank the Chair for engaging community groups and council colleagues.
We appreciate preserving money for bicycle safety, people's streets, and transit.
We commend the increased investment in safe routes to school and new sidewalks.
We also support the new emphasis on accountability and good governance, such as the focus on performance evaluation of levy programs.
Today, I want to lift up the importance of equity in this levy.
It's unfortunate that the council did not hear about SDOT's equity work this morning.
Please take the time to get briefed on this critical program.
And first, we want to express our concerns about the cut to the Neighborhood Initiative Safety Partnership Program.
This is a popular program that empowers communities to identify projects that are meaningful to them.
Cutting from this program is a hit to our community's equity goals.
Second, we share the goal of making transit safe and welcoming.
Thank you for the robust discussion this morning on this topic.
We want to see the transit funding invested strategically.
Any work to increase presence on transit must be coordinated with King County.
Thank you.
When I called number nine, Aaron, Aaron Musi, I believe someone named the name of Jenny got up and spoke.
Is Aaron here, number nine?
Okay, then we're gonna move on to our remotes and then we'll come back and keep in the same order.
Our first remote speaker is Robin Briggs and following Robin will be Iris Antman.
And remote speakers, just a reminder, when you hear the message, you have been unmuted.
Please press star six just once and you will have one minute to give your comments.
Go ahead, Robin Briggs.
Can you hear me?
Yes.
Hi, my name is Robin Briggs.
I live on Peckville Hill.
The transportation levy can address two very big problems that we face.
The first is traffic safety.
Six people died in the last week in traffic violence.
These deaths are not inevitable.
They are simply the inevitable consequence of our lack of commitment and funding in solving them.
The second point is that over 60% of our emissions in Seattle come from transportation.
And any meaningful attempt for us to meet the Paris Accord requires us to substantially reduce transportation emissions.
A lot of these emissions could be reduced simply by each of us making different choices about how to get around.
We could take transit, walk, or bike instead of driving.
And if enough of us were to do that, it would dramatically reduce our emissions.
And most people in Seattle are willing to change, but these other modes of transportation have to be fast, they have to be convenient, and most of all, they have to be safe.
I should not have to take my life into my hands when I cross the street or bike to the grocery store.
So we need a transportation levy that makes alternatives to driving safe, reliable, and convenient, and that is what we are looking for you to do.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Iris Antman, and following Iris will be Dan Gadget.
Thank you.
Good afternoon.
My name is Iris Antman.
I'm commenting on the transportation levy.
I'm concerned about the climate and the fact that Seattle is not on track to meet our greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.
As we know, transportation is the biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in Seattle.
I get around Seattle as much as possible using buses and light rail.
The levy needs to prioritize walking, biking, transit, and safety for these modes of travel.
We need to make it possible and preferable for people to decrease reliance on cars, especially internal combustion engine cars.
Thank you for rising up to responsibly address the challenges right in front of us.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Dan Gatchett and following Dan will be Ben Neiman.
Go ahead, Dan.
Dan, you may need to press star six.
There you go.
OK, thank you.
Thank you, Councilperson Saka and members of the Council.
My name is Dan Gatchett, past president of the Washington Trucking Association and former chair of the state of Washington Freight Mobility Board.
I'm here testifying in support of the transportation levy.
There has been an underinvestment in basic road maintenance and preservation for years.
We only need to look at the state of Washington ferry system and see what years neglect can do to a once robust ferry system, or look at the adverse impact the West Seattle Bridge had on our economy and our ability to move people and freight.
Please do not neglect Seattle's roads and bridges.
Funding for asset maintenance has not come close to keeping up with our aging infrastructure.
The SDOT's Asset Status Decondition Report did an excellent job of highlighting Thank you for your time and let's get this done.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Ben Nyman and following Ben is Michael Ruby.
Go ahead, Ben.
Hello, my name is Ben Nyman and I'm a South Seattle and District 2 resident.
I'm speaking today to implore the council to go bigger on funding biking and transit and the transportation levy.
The additional funds for sidewalks and safe routes to school are great and sorely needed.
However this levy is still lacking in funding and vision for fixing our most dangerous roads like Rainier and Aurora.
Meeting comes on the heels of two of the most deadly leaks on Seattle streets in recent memory.
Council cannot claim to be laser focused on public safety while ignoring the worsening traffic violence on our arterial.
Please go bigger.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Michael Ruby and following Michael will be Anne Knight.
Go ahead, Michael.
Members of the council.
I am Michael Ruby.
I live in Wallingford.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposed transportation levy.
I view with approval the orientation of this levy toward fixing things.
The focus on maintaining our bridges and roadways before we spend money on shiny new things is a welcome change.
In addition, we need to fix some of the mistakes of the past.
We need to repair the tears in the fabric of our neighborhoods that have been created by the construction of the freeways.
Wallingford and the University District lost the historic neighborhood they shared that was called Latona.
I support the proposals to include in the levy funds for planning the efforts to repair this damage through lids over I-5.
Feasibility studies and preliminary plans must be done to make these projects eligible for the federal funds that have been included in recent appropriations.
I support the request for an additional $40 million in this levy described earlier this afternoon by Katie Rusciuto and Scott Budronkian.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Ann Knight.
And following Ann will be Brittany Fisher.
Go ahead, Ann.
My name is Ann Knight.
I spoke this morning about the importance of providing adequate funding for street tree planting in here.
We can't wait another eight years.
We need to double the budget for street trees in the levee to make any headway against the losses from climate change and reduce reduction of heat islands.
I want to, what I learned this morning was that the proposed transportation funding task force in the levee makes no mention of street trees, a critical part of having our transportation system provide a healthy and livable city.
I want to urge the council to ensure street trees are part of the Transportation Funding Task Force discussion so we can figure out how to make the most effective use of the right of way throughout the city to help provide our needed canopy cover.
The city needs to partner with homeowners and other property owners to ensure the longevity and care of existing and new students.
policy on street tree ownership and responsibility to be explored and how the city will have ongoing funding to be a good partner.
The task force and oversight committee need representation from the Urban Forestry Commission.
Thank you, Anne.
Your time is expired.
Our next speaker will be Brittany Fisher and following Brittany will be Tyler Blackwell.
Go ahead, Brittany.
hello my name is brittany fisher a south seattle resident who primarily bikes walks and takes public transit to get around and i want to add my voice to many other seattle voters to support a larger levy with increased investment in sidewalks bike infrastructure public transit and safety i'm lucky to have a mostly safe and pleasant daily cycling experience that's very evident when bike infrastructure has been historically deprioritized at times i have bikes across seattle in a protected bike lane that abruptly fits you out on a dangerous road this is particularly evident in places like south seattle I've experienced sidewalks mysteriously ending on a walk.
I've had to reconsider bike travel plans because I can't figure out if a road on my route will be safe enough to travel.
I've scratched my head over why a five-mile bus ride should take 30 minutes longer than a bike ride to the same place.
I'm disheartened every time another life has taken because we've prioritized moving cars through a space over our own safety.
Additional investment in bike infrastructure, transit corridors, public streets, and pedestrian programs will benefit everyone.
and continue to make Seattle a city I'm proud to call my home.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Tyler Blackwell.
And following Tyler will be our last remote speaker for this group of Elizabeth Heath.
Go ahead, Tyler.
Good afternoon.
My name is Tyler Blackwell and I'm the transportation planner for the SOTO business improvement area.
While pleased with many aspects of the levy package, especially with safety as a focus, I'm here to make two additional recommendations.
One, increase the funding for freight and goods movement by an additional $25 million.
And two, invest in improvements to SOTO specific transit service.
The $25 million increase could be used for many programs such as developing a proper freight design and planning team, implementing industrial strengths, Vision Zero, and paving first and last mile freight connections.
Increased transit service within SOTO, we can reduce, with increased transit service within SOTO, we can reduce single occupancy vehicle rates, improve access to living wage and lower barrier jobs, and reduce costs for workers.
SOTO and its tens of thousands of workers are vital to our citywide health, and our city's transportation network needs to support them.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our last remote speaker for this group is Elizabeth Heath.
Go ahead, Elizabeth.
Elizabeth, are you there?
She did star six, she's unmuted.
Okay, we're gonna move into our next.
Nope, she just muted.
Go ahead, Elizabeth.
Okay, we will come back to Elizabeth.
We're now gonna move back into our in-person speakers.
Our first two speakers will be Carlo Alcantara followed by Erin Gannon.
Hello, my name is Carlo.
I'm here to represent the Aurora Reimagine Coalition.
As you're aware, in the last 10 days, we've had seven deaths of individuals as a result of vehicular violence.
These individuals were killed going about their daily lives, just attempting to move about the city.
As Councillor Saka stated in the opening remarks, we have one transit network and we need to treat it as such.
Therefore, we must close the gap that has been caused by decades of inequitable investments, prioritizing the street network for private vehicles while neglecting to safely build and connect our sidewalks, rolling and bike lanes, dedicated public transit infrastructure, and the overall safety of people in transit.
We have eight bridges dedicated to cars crossing across the Lake Washington Ship Canal, and we have two major highways in the form of State Route 99, Aurora Avenue, and Interstate 5 that cut through and disconnect cities and our neighborhoods.
Visit zero will not be achieved by 2030 at the rate we're going, and it is people moving through the city.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Aaron Gannon and following Aaron will be Nelson Gomez.
Good afternoon council members.
Thank you for hearing my comments.
My name is Aaron Gannon.
I live in West Seattle.
I'm here to support a larger levy with more funds for transit and connecting the bike network.
My family has a car light lifestyle, which I use my bike as a second car for our family.
I bike up the Fourth Avenue bike lane here, which is a great asset and improvement to the bike network.
I'd like to see more of that.
My daughter uses 128 bus to get to West Seattle High School and South Seattle College instead of using a car like some of her peers.
But my wife drives to her job, which in lieu of taking the bus, which would be two buses take 90 minutes, driving takes 20 minutes.
She would also bike, but there's no reliable safe bike network to get her all the way to her classes that she would feel safe.
So in conclusion, you could get her car off the road and I wonder how many people like us are out there waiting for these connections to be made and improve more frequent transit.
Thank you for hearing me today.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Nelson Gomez and following Nelson will be Brittany Brost.
Good evening, Chair Saka, members of the council.
I'm here not only as a voter, as a resident of Lower Queen Anne, but I'm also here as a homeowner who would be paying for this levy.
And I do support increasing the funding for the levy to a level around $1.7 billion as someone who primarily walks and takes transit.
While I am heartened by the amendments to increase sidewalk funding and transit projects, I do think there is a lot more that can be done.
With Vision Zero coming up in 2030, we only have six years to fund all of the projects needed to reduce pedestrian deaths.
And as someone who does walk around in Queen Anne a lot, there are a lot of neighborhoods in Upper Queen Anne that still need a lot of sidewalks, and there's a lot more that we could do to boost funding there.
And also, lastly, as someone who uses the 8 bus a lot, Denny Way is still a large chokehold for the eight.
And there's a lot of reliability improvements that we could do by funding transit improvements there.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Brittany Brost, followed by Anna Zwartz.
Go ahead, Brittany.
Good evening, Council.
My name is Brittany Brost.
I live in District 7, and this limits me of what I can do in your city, because we are a car city.
It's not your fault.
The car cities are all over the United States.
But we can think, and we can change this with this transportation levy by going bigger.
We can complete sidewalks.
Instead of 400 years, we can do it in a timely manner.
72 hours for potholking, or we can focus on making this city more accessible to everyone that lives here.
Because right now we have no vision for Vision Zero because this city is a city for cars.
This city is focused about how we get people moving in cars.
I make all my decisions when I travel is, is this route going to be safe for me to be on?
I live downtown.
I live in a high injury network.
Am I going to be safe when I'm walking?
Am I going to be making the bus?
Is it a reliable bus?
Is it going to be full?
I have to make these decisions daily because I can't drive.
Unlike most people on this council who can get in their car and get from point A to point B in a timely manner.
I have to think before I go.
Thank you.
We're now on speaker 15, Anna Zwartz, followed by 16, Seamus Anglin.
Go ahead, Anna.
in place of Anna Zwartz.
She had to leave.
I apologize for the confusion.
I am Erin Musser.
I live in Rainier Valley.
I still am obsessed with sidewalk repairs.
I am heartened by a lot of the discussion I've heard today.
I really appreciate...
and also, excuse me, I'm so sorry, about all of you.
I know you're all thinking about the sidewalks because I know you all remember the thing I said this morning.
When I go over a speed bump on a sidewalk, my legs will, pop out like two by fours.
It looks funny and I can't get them back.
So let's truly try to get those fixed.
I really appreciate that.
But it takes something of independence for me, takes that independence away and I rely on other people to help me get back my feet back on my pads to get on the train.
That's not good.
I appreciate everything that you're doing.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Seamus Anglin.
Following Seamus will be Sapphire Guth.
Good afternoon, council members.
I'm an inside wireman and union member of IBW Local 46. I want to thank the Council for these forward-thinking additions, but especially for the additional $10 million towards vehicle charging stations.
Focusing on making charging stations available will help put myself and my union brothers, sisters, and siblings to work and back to work.
It will help address air pollution at the street level and climate change on a daily basis for every person that invests in an electric car.
with the new rule for zero emissions and low emission vehicle standards starting to take effect this year, making sure the city has adequate charging stations to support the people and the folks like me who have to commute into the city daily for work.
Thank you very much for your time.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Safar Guth, followed by Mary or Markie Davis.
Thank you.
Hello, my name is Sapir Guth, a longtime Local 46 member and EV driver.
I come before you in support of using some of Seattle transportation levy to hire local union members to install the vital EV charging infrastructure we so need to address air pollution and climate change.
My mother got me interested in EV and one of the reasons I own one now.
She is the one who installed the EV charger for my car.
As an EV owner, I often have many conversations with gas drivers who are interested in going electric, and one of their biggest concerns and main reason not to go electric has always been the lack of range and places to charge.
Including the infrastructure will help our city move towards a fresher tomorrow.
Thank you for your time.
One day longer, one day stronger.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Mary Davis, and following Mary will be Zachary Snyder.
It's Mark Davis.
I'm here on behalf of Local 46, IBEW.
We appreciate your support on the levy.
We've also supported and worked hard on the levy, and we support the amendment.
We specifically support the funds given to the EV charging infrastructure and the charging stations.
We'd also like to encourage that this work is done by union electricians making a family living wage.
And then after hearing the comments on the sidewalks and seeing the need, I'd also like to double down my support.
Thank you for all your work on this.
Thank you, Mark.
Our next speaker is Zachary Snyder.
And following Zachary will be our last in-person speaker for this group, Bill Rude.
Go ahead, Zachary.
Good evening.
So we live in a place of a lot of growing pains that we've all seen over the years.
I just want to remind the council here this evening that as we facilitate all these beautiful new green things in transportation that we can still have EV charging for our vehicles while we do that.
And it would, I believe, ease those pains as we do this great transition towards our 2035 date of zero internal combustion engine cars sold.
And if you listen to...
some of the things that IBW Local 77 has recommended to Seattle City Light.
I think it would greatly facilitate those things for our grid.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our last speaker for this group is number 20, and I believe it's Bill Rudd.
Bill Rudd.
Thank you, council.
How about that crazy weather?
almost too crazy, but worth braving it to be out here today.
My story is personal, anecdotal, to thank you, and it's in support of this levy.
So I used to be homeless.
They call it houses now, but we were homeless at the time.
But then something changed.
I got a union job as an electrician, and that changed everything.
That changed everything.
I own a house now.
I pay taxes.
And I'm happy to have my life be a completely different place.
And when I see 10 million here, 10 million there toward electrical infrastructure upgrades, I don't just see a solution for global warming.
I see changing.
Thank you.
You have 10 more seconds if you'd like to finish.
because being an electrician is a real chance job.
It's a real thing.
And there's a woman out there, there's a young man out there born on the quote unquote wrong side of the tracks, and they're gonna be the ones installing those EV chargers.
Thank you for your support.
Thank you.
We are now...
Moving into the next group of remote speakers, numbers 10 through 20. Our first remote speaker again will be Elizabeth Heath.
Elizabeth, it looks like you do need to press star six once.
And following Elizabeth will be Megan Cruz.
Go ahead, Elizabeth.
Okay, I'm sorry.
For some reason, we're not getting her audio tonight.
So we're going to move on to Megan Cruz, and following Megan will be Zoe Stevenson.
Go ahead, Megan.
Good evening.
I'm Megan Cruz, speaking in support of the amended levy proposal and specifically increasing the funding for freight.
Many of us don't realize that freight is the only transportation mode used by all Seattleites.
Each day, we rely on trucks and vans to supply our homes and businesses with essential goods.
Traditional retail outlets are shrinking, and we rely more and more on deliveries.
As Seattle increases the density in its neighborhoods, we must be sure our roads are in repair and designed to handle truck turns and maneuvers.
There should be space available for them to unload at their destinations and avoid unnecessary cruising because this impacts pedestrian safety, emissions, greenhouse gases, and how other transportation modes function.
This will take adequate funding and coordinated land use legislation.
The amended levy budget is the first step toward this goal.
Thank you to the chair and the for acknowledging that.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Zoe Stevenson and following Zoe will be Lisa McCrummon.
Go ahead, Zoe.
My name is Zoe Stevenson and I live in Mount Baker Rainier Valley.
I am a voter and I would vote for a 1.7 or a 1.8 or a $1.9 billion levy that invests more in sidewalks and pedestrian safety.
I'm calling today on behalf of my neighborhood to ask for an amendment to the transportation levy to specifically fund sidewalks on my street, 37th Avenue South, because it's the primary connector for children, elderly folks, and pedestrians in general to the grocery store, public schools, parks, and transit, But tragically, 37th is also the go-to street for speeding drivers in our area.
Every day I watch out my window as children as young as five who are using the route they're supposed to use, the walking school bus route, must walk in the street with cars and trucks to get to John Muir Elementary and Franklin High School.
These South End kids at their Tier 1 schools deserve the same safety on their walk to school as their wealthier peers have in other parts of the city.
Please fund sidewalks on 37th Avenue South.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Lisa McCrummon and following Lisa will be Dustin Branham.
Hi.
Hi there.
I'm Lisa McCrummon.
I live in Greenwood and I'm on the steering committee for the Aurora Reimagined Coalition, ARC, working to create transformative change along Aurora Avenue Court Street.
primarily walk, bike, use transit, and I and everyone I know would vote for a larger $1.7 billion levy that dedicates at least 50% of funding to increasing walking, rolling, biking, and taking transit and invest more in safety and sidewalks.
Clearly, we've been in transportation safety crisis for a while.
My own personal story.
I was hit by a speeding car while biking near Green Lake last summer.
I was lucky.
I wasn't badly injured.
Others haven't been so lucky.
In November, ARC organized a memorial walk along Aurora.
We remember 230 folks who died on Seattle Street since Vision Zero's inception, including 56-year-old Connie Rodriguez, who was hit, pinned, and dragged under a van near Aurora and 85th.
This week's staggering deaths just reinforce what we've sadly come to expect.
Ultimately...
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Dustin Branham, and following Dustin is Charles Prestrud.
Go ahead, Dustin.
Hi, my name is Dustin Branham.
I live in Ballard, and I do not drive within the city.
I get around by foot, bike, and transit.
I'm a voter, and I would vote for a $1.7 billion levy that invests more in sidewalks, protected bike lanes, and better transit.
We need a larger levy that dedicates at least 50% of funding to increased walking, rolling, biking, and taking transit.
Seven people have died on Seattle streets in the last two weeks.
Safe bike routes are critical in making our streets safer and preventing these deaths and serious injuries.
Protected bike lanes make it safer for people already biking, and people are much more likely to choose to bike when a comprehensive and connected network of protected bike routes exists.
Streets with protected bike lanes are safer for all users, people on bikes, walking, rolling, and driving.
50% of Seattle population wants to bike more.
Two out of three car trips in Seattle are less than three miles, easily bikeable.
Prioritizing biking and other non-car modes of transport.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Charles Prestrud, and following Charles will be Sherry Call.
Go ahead, Charles.
Hi, I'm Charles Prestrud, a lifelong Seattle resident.
The proposed levy doesn't spend nearly enough on basic street maintenance and paving.
According to SDOT, more than a third of the city's streets are in poor or very poor condition.
Under this levy, which would only repay about 2% of the city's streets each year, deterioration would continue.
At the end of the eight years, the city's streets will be in even worse condition under this levy, and the cost of eventual reconstruction will be much, much higher.
That's not sustainable or safe or good planning.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Sherry Call.
And following Sherry will be Reed Hampton.
Go ahead, Sherry.
Good evening, council members.
My name is Sherry Call.
I'm representing the members of the Washington Trucking Association and the thousands of trucks operated by the industry in Washington state.
We appreciate the opportunity to provide comments today on the STP and appreciate the work of the council.
on transportation funding and planning for the future of movement, safety, and environmental sustainability in Seattle.
Thank you to Councilmember Saka for elevating the importance of economic vitality as a goal in the STP.
Good roads protect economic vitality, community safety, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Over 80% of communities in Washington rely on trucking to deliver their goods.
Whether over the road, port dredge, or local delivery drivers, the industry knows too well the result of failing roadway infrastructure.
We need to ensure we don't fall further behind on freight network funding and basic road maintenance.
Please ensure the freight network has full funding and flexibility to address the overflowing needs for simple pavement repairs.
I appreciate your time.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Reid Hampton.
Following Reid will be our last remote speaker in this group, Alice Lockhart.
Go ahead, Reid.
hi council members thank you for the opportunity to give public comment today my name is reed hampton and i am a resident of district 6 and i am calling in to urge a bigger bolder levy in which all of its components and deliverables are focused on safety in the last 10 days seven people have died on our roadways seven people this is the direct consequence of past decisions prioritizing the movement of private vehicles at all costs this council not only has the opportunity to undo these harms but it has a responsibility to deliver a levy which will allow us to meet our 2030 Vision Zero target.
A levy that will achieve this centers safety and multimodal improvements in all aspects, from expanding the rate of sidewalk construction, concrete goals for concrete protected bike lanes, and specific targets for improving traffic safety in all neighborhoods.
I urge this council to further expand this levy to the well-supported 1.5 million target for tackling the largest public safety crisis in our city, our transportation network.
Thank you for your time and please support a larger safety focus.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our last speaker for this group is Alice Lockhart.
Go ahead Alice.
Good afternoon council.
I'm Alice Lockhart with 350 Seattle again this time asking that you amend the transportation levy so that it supports the mayor's climate framework.
Ground transportation makes up 60% of Seattle's climate emissions, and the levy as written will fail to improve that.
The climate framework aims to more than double the proportion of trips that use transit by 2030, which would be great, but the levy cuts transit funding by 16% relative to Move Seattle.
What the heck?
Council, can you fix this?
Please amend.
We need a levy that dedicates at least 50% of the funding to increasing walking, rolling, biking, as so many speakers have correctly said, and we don't need one that fosters climate pollution by increasing car-focused funding by 33%.
Council, can you fix this also?
350 Seattle supports transportation advocates' levy demands, including a $1.7 billion levy with at least 50% of funding for multi-level modal.
We support levy funding spending for needed multi-level
Thank you, we'll now move back into in-person public commenters, and we are on number 21.
Clerk, if I may please quickly, I think I mentioned this earlier, but just for crystal clarity, we have...
We have 100% attendance in the room or in virtually in the case of Council Member Moore by all council members.
So Council President Nelson, Council Member Rivera, and Council Member Wu maybe.
Council Member Wu is already here.
But I want the record to reflect, we have 100% attendance.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Yes, we do.
Moving back to public comment, we are on in-person number 21, Keisha Jones, and following Keisha will be number 22, Emily Pillow.
Go ahead, Keisha.
Good day, city council members.
My name is Keisha Jones and I represent SDOT Transportation Equity Workgroup, TW.
We work closely and collaboratively with SDOT to integrate the transportation equity framework and community priorities into the 41 million neighborhood initiated safety partnership program that was a part of the mayor's original proposal.
I am here again today to emphasize our strong support of the original 41 million investment as it is crucial for community co-created safety projects in the city.
Diverting $15.5 million away from this program makes it more challenging to meet communities where they are.
Diverting the decision-making processes away from communities who have most been harmed is the opposite of empowerment.
This is not equity.
We support the additional investments to sidewalk infrastructures and safety upgrades in the chair's proposed plan.
These commitments are aligned with our equity values and will lead to better health and life outcomes for all Seattleites.
but we also invest in projects that are driven by community for community.
The council needs to champion broader equity efforts to realize our collective vision of the city that works for everyone.
Thank you for your time and space.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Emily Bellow and following Emily will be Paul Lukes.
Hello, council members.
My name is Emily Billal and I live in District 3. I'm a program manager at the Seattle Public Library.
I'm an ambassador for Cascade Bike Club and I'm a bike ambassador for city employees.
I'm an avid cyclist.
I've biked nearly 8,000 miles around the PNW in the last four years.
And in those four years, I've heard countless times from friends, colleagues, and folks in the greater bicycling community about getting about hit by cars, buses, feeling unsafe, and ultimately not going on a bike again.
I personally used to live in Columbia City, but moved to capital of this hill this year because bike infrastructure was so poor.
Cycling just isn't just about exercise.
It's how I access all 27 of our library branches while working for the city.
It's how I get to and from the grocery store, to friends' houses, and to doctor's appointments.
I shouldn't have to risk my life getting to work, and it should feel just as comfortable as a vehicle.
Completed bike network would make my daily commute safer.
It would make us accessing branches for both patrons and people who work for the city easier.
Please add 15 million back to the safety for bike programs.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Paul Lukes, and following Paul will be Dylan Young.
Go ahead, Paul.
Is Paul still here, number 23?
Okay, we're gonna move on to number 24, Dylan Young.
MY NAME IS DYLAN YOUNG, AND I OWN AND LIVE IN A CONDO IN DANNY TRIANGLE.
I WILL VOTE FOR THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT, IF NOT MORE, CITY COUNCIL PUTS FORTH FOR THE LEVY.
AS SOMEONE WHO IS NEARLY STRUCK BY A CAR ACING AN ALLEY TODAY, I would gently remind drivers they are steering a weapon.
I drive as little as possible myself, and the sense that I could injure someone as a driver is a big reason why.
Secondarily, as I live close to the traffic congested on ramps by Denny Triangle, Denny Abb, I mean, I noticed the tension and road rage of people in their cars.
One rarely sees that behavior in pedestrian crowds.
I find people are always kind and smiling when walking.
Accelerating options for people to get out of their cars, I strongly believe, is a happy and healthy effort.
Thank you for listening.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Morgan Putnam, and following Morgan is Odin Amador, and those are numbers 25 and 26.
Hi there, Morgan Putnam.
Nice to meet all of you.
So I'm a resident of Seattle.
I've commuted by bike, by transit, by car, and by foot during my eight years here.
Professionally, I spent 15 years working in infrastructure, including the last four in transportation infrastructure.
I founded the Next Gen Highways Initiative.
That's been supported by the Federal Highway Administration and recent legislation in Minnesota and actually in Washington.
I deeply appreciate the effort of the mayor's office to balance the needs of all citizens.
It's not an easy task.
I also thank Seattle Greenways for their efforts to represent and engage citizens on transportation issues.
I would like to challenge SDOT and the city to offer more services with less money.
What is proposed is thoughtful and works to meet the needs of all constituents, but in many ways it is incremental, not transformative.
There are several ways that I see this, but time being what it is, I'll thank you for the opportunity to speak today.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Odin Amador and following Odin will be BJ Last.
Thank you, Council Chair Saka and members of the council for this opportunity to comment.
I'm a central district resident who does not own a car and gets around primarily by bike.
Seattle pedestrian deaths increased from 2019 to 2022 and to quote recent news, if preliminary estimates hold up, 2023 would go down as the deadliest year on Washington roadway since 1990. We're in a crazy moment where biking in Seattle is but Washington roads have been this deadly in 30 years.
As the cost of living and transportation costs rise, more people will walk, bike, bus, and use those rentable electric scooters we all love so much.
As you build a future Seattle that protects those of us who travel outside of the protection of a vehicle, please be bold and visionary.
I stand with Cascade Bicycle Club, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, and others to demand the following three things.
One, dedicate at least 15% of the levy funding for improvements for people walking, biking, rolling, and riding transit, and prioritize levy funding for historically divested communities.
And three, propose a larger levy total of at least 1.7 billion.
Thank you.
Thank you, our next speaker is BJ Last, and following BJ will be Ethan Campbell.
Hello, my name is BJ Last.
I'm a homeowner in Ballard, and I support and I'd absolutely vote for a $1.9 billion transportation levy that spends at least 50% on pedestrian, bicycle, and mass transit infrastructure.
As someone that's car-free, I get around the city almost entirely by walking, biking, and taking the bus.
Y'all talked a lot about Bike to Work Week recently and said you were going to do it.
How'd that go?
Did you guys stick to something like the really cool protected bike infrastructure, which is awesome and sort of life-changing?
Or did you try going across the city and get some of the terrible ones that are terrifying, where you're dropped out on arterial and taking your life in your hands just to try getting to work or getting to the store or getting to the doctor?
Similarly, like y'all were campaigning recently, walking around on those door-to-door.
How'd that go?
Did you notice a difference when sidewalks disappeared?
Did you start feeling a lot less safe when you had to start?
That's what we have every day.
We need bike lanes, we need sidewalks, and we need transit.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Ethan Campbell, and following Ethan will be Kate Rupin.
Hi, my name is Ethan Campbell and I live in D3.
I want to urge four amendments to strengthen this levy.
First, to get serious about saving lives, Vision Zero needs more funding.
The 5% of the levy, $70 million allocated to 10 of our most deadly corridors will simply be spread too thin to make the major safety upgrades that are needed.
Second, adding bike lanes to only six streets over the next eight years is not enough.
The levy is missing critical bike connections like 10th Ave and Capitol Hill and 12th Ave and CID.
please fund those third efficient freight movement has too often come at the expense of safety in seattle council members please ensure that safety is baked into every freight project funded by the added 20 million dollars lastly this levy would reduce funding for transit reliability projects compared to the current levy after inflation as i wrote in an op-ed in the stranger that won't help us reach our city's climate goals please reverse this cut thank you
Thank you, our next speaker is Kate Rubin, and following Kate will be our last in-person speaker for this group, Kylie Rolfe.
Go ahead, Kate.
Hi, I'm Kate Rubin.
I am the organizing director of Be Seattle, and I'm a renter living in District 2. I'm here today to urge you to increase the transportation levy to at least $1.7 billion, ideally more.
Seattle is growing and our neighbors are dying because of our reliance on cars and our lack of infrastructure.
We are experiencing overlapping housing, homelessness, climate crises, and this requires bold and creative action.
So investing in sidewalks, public transit, and bike lanes is investing our future and ensuring that Seattle will be accessible to everyone for generations to come.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Kylie Rolfe, and then we'll move into the remote group.
Kylie?
Kylie may not be here.
We'll check back in a bit.
We're now going to move to our remote speakers.
The first one on the list is Julia Buck.
Following Julia will be Molly McNeely.
And remember to please press star six to unmute yourself.
Go ahead, Julia.
Hello, my name is I'm a Seattle resident, a homeowner and a non driver.
I appreciate the improvements the council has made on the year's initial proposal, but I think to see at least a 50 50 split for non driving infrastructure for support people who don't drive.
I'd like to see language to ensure that safety for people is a central component of all freight projects and investments.
Freight routes are the streets with the most fatalities and accessibility issues, and there are now event venues like the Emerald City Trapeze Arts and several music venues on those streets.
I'm also concerned about Council Member Saka's proposed $15.5 million cut to the equity-focused neighborhood projects budget.
that funds the SDOT Transportation Equity Work Group program to highlight and prioritize community priorities and increase the equitable distribution of safety-focused spending.
Even though I live in District 6, I visit D2, but I always take transit because the bike routes have gaps and you need the people in the neighborhood.
Thank you.
Our next speaker, remote speaker, is Molly McNeely, and following Molly will be Catherine Wells.
Go ahead, Molly.
Hello, Chair Salka and council members.
My name is Molly, and I live in Council District 3. I'm seeking in favor of adding funding for the bike safety program in the South Seattle Bike Network.
I move through Seattle via bike and connecting bike to transit, and I find biking important for getting to work.
school appointments, and local businesses, as well as for physical well-being, mental health, and community.
Bike infrastructure in particular is essential for promoting trips not in a car and for safety.
Having paint on the road is not enough to protect cyclists who are very vulnerable.
I learned this recently through volunteering for an after-school bike program in White Center where we do group rides with about 10 kids every week.
Even with a large group of kids, cars do not take precaution or drive with patients in care, especially on large roads, and it just feels very dangerous.
Investing funds in bike infrastructure will promote cycling and safe trips between neighborhoods and our diverse urban environment.
Investing specifically in South Seattle will create a less segregated city.
I'm thankful for your time and the ability to make a public comment.
Thanks.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Catherine Wells, and following Catherine will be Jay Donaway.
Go ahead, Catherine.
You may need to press star six.
Great.
Good afternoon, Council.
My name is Catherine Wells and I live in District 1. From my perspective as a West Seattleite who prefers to get around by bike, the levy project list has me disappointed and confused.
The expiring Move Seattle levy built multiple protected by road, multiple greenways, plus smaller projects.
It's much more comfortable to bike around West Seattle than when I started riding in 2015, but gaps do remain.
This levy proposes redundant bike lanes one block away from an existing greenway, an oasis of bike lanes in the middle of a high-speed, high-traffic corridor, and a couple of unconnected one- or two-block bits of infrastructure.
None of these projects add to the network like the stuff from Move Seattle did.
A path along Highland Parkway Southwest is the only proposal I see that compares to the ones West Seattle got over the last nine years.
Please fund the bike budget adequately so we can build high-impact quality projects that improve safety and connect our cities.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our last speaker for this remote group is Jay Donaway.
Thank you.
This is Jay Donaway.
I'm president of Seattle Electric Vehicle Association, which has been working continuously to electrify transportation since 1980. Thank you for including electric vehicle charging infrastructure in the bill.
SEVA looks forward to partnering with City Light on charging installations.
I simply ask for wiser siting and far stronger enforcement because DC fast charging is critical for drivers in rental housing and visitors to downtown.
Yet 14 years into the modern EV era, the only DC fast charger in Soto remains under a bridge in a spot that could hardly be considered safe.
and has been perpetually out of order due to vandalism and extremely slow repair responses.
Seattle EV Association supports EV charging installations by the IBEW electricians, only after a thorough consultation with the most experienced electric vehicle drivers in the world.
Because when we have a choice, we don't shop, work, or visit where we can't charge.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We'll now move into our in-person speakers numbered 31 through 35. Our first speaker is Rita Holzman, and following Rita will be Lynn Domingo.
Hello again, my name is Rita Holzman.
As you may recall, I spoke last month and at this morning's meeting about the devastating toll Seattle traffic has taken on me and on my family since my husband died last December in a collision in our West Seattle neighborhood where my husband was bicycling.
This morning, I pointed out that six other collisions on Seattle streets in late May caused six more people to lose their lives.
Then I learned this morning that yet another person died yesterday afternoon as the result of a motorcycle accident in the Greenwood neighborhood.
Last year, there were also over 250 serious injury accidents on our streets.
If recent year over year statistics are any indication, that number will be even higher this year.
So I was concerned to see in this morning's meeting that although an amendment offered by the chair increases the overall levy amount, it actually decreases the amount of Vision Zero funding by $1.5 million.
compared to the mayor's transportation levy proposal.
Please give this aspect of the amendment thoughtful reconsideration.
There is ample evidence that Vision Zero projects already completed are effective at reducing fatalities and serious injuries.
I strongly encourage this.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next speaker in person will be Lynn Domingo, and following Lynn will be Gordon Paddleford, I believe.
Hello, my name is Lynn Domingo, and I'm with National Federation of the Blind, Disability Rights Washington, and also a member of LELO, a Legacy of Equality Leadership and Organizing group here in Seattle that had got jobs and constructions.
And this levy is a win-win for all communities.
This brings together the communities that I work with that depend on sidewalks and transportation.
I see the developments in Ballard where money can be used wisely.
Transportation is bad for me because bus service is not running.
But I'd like to also look at 213 South Main, which I do think that that will be a value of trying to reconstruct a better Seattle.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is number 33, Gordon Paddleford, possibly.
And following Gordon is Ginny Alleman.
Good evening, council members.
My name is Gordon Paddleford.
I'm the executive director of Seattle Neighborhood Greenways.
And I want to talk to you about the safety backlog.
You've heard a lot about the sidewalk backlog and the bridges backlog.
Well, here's the map of the safety backlog on our streets.
This is from SDOT's newly released Vision Zero action plan.
It's what they call the high injury network.
And it's essentially a network of streets where we're seeing increased crashes, fatalities, and serious injuries.
And the way I think about this network is it's a network of outdated and dangerously designed streets that we have an opportunity through this levy to fix.
We don't know all of the solutions for all the streets.
There's too much complexity out there, but we do know The department needs additional funding for Vision Zero and political support from you all to make the right decisions.
I also have placed the fatalities from this year on this map and they're all on the high injury network.
These are the streets that need to be fixed and we need to have the political support and funding to fix them.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next speaker is Ginny Alleman and following Ginny will be Katie Wilson.
And it is possible Ginny spoke in place of another when we began public comment.
Ginny, are you here?
Okay, I think Ginny spoke earlier today.
Our last in-person signed up speaker is Katie Wilson.
Hi, council members.
My name is Katie Wilson.
I'm here representing the Transit Riders Union.
Our city aims to more than double the share of trips taken by transit to about one in four by 2030. This is needed not just to meet our climate targets, but also to keep our whole transportation system workable as people continue to move to our region.
Right now, this levy proposal represents a decrease in transit investment compared to the expiring levy.
Polling shows that voters prefer a larger levy that makes more ambitious investments in multimodal infrastructure.
So TRU strongly urges you to add transit dollars to make traveling by public transit faster and more reliable.
As long as it takes three times longer to get somewhere by bus compared to driving, it's hard to convince people to ditch their cars.
I understand that some people feel the biggest concern with transit right now is safety, and I don't want to minimize the fact that some people feel unsafe riding transit today, but I want to provide another perspective.
I'm in the transit system all the time with my baby and we don't feel unsafe because of the people.
What makes me feel unsafe is the danger of getting hit by a car while I'm walking to the bus stop.
I guess my time's up.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
That's all of our signed up speakers.
All right.
Well, let's see.
I suppose we...
I think we have reached the end of today's meeting agenda.
Colleagues, is there any further business to come before the committee before we adjourned?
Hearing no further business to come before the committee, we are adjourned.
It is 5.56 p.m.