District 7 Town Hall on Creating a Safer Seattle

Please go ahead and welcome Acting Care Chief Amy Smith.

Hello.

Thank you.

So this is my district.

I'm actually here because I was going to be here in the audience with you, and then they said, do you want to moderate?

And I was like, oh, yay.

I can do that because I'm used to answering a lot of questions, and tonight I get to ask the questions and apparently demonstrate whether or not I do have boundaries.

Will I take a mic away?

We don't know.

I have not done that before, so...

I'll just open with the care department, if you're not aware, is the third public safety department in Seattle.

This is a big deal, what we're doing.

We have a police department, we have a fire department, we have set up a third public safety department designed to respond to the 911 calls that don't require fire and don't require police.

And there are thousands and thousands of those types of calls.

And I know that you see mental health crisis, substance use crisis, our unhoused population, we have a lot of social work type of calls.

And so that's what we're designing to respond to.

My primary job is 911, to treat that like a public safety data set, try to understand what's going on and what's needed.

So I'm gonna respond to one question that did come in that's specifically for me from Kay Keeney.

What are the options for community empowerment when it comes to neighbors in distress?

If 911 is not the right call for someone dealing with mental health or drug-related issues in public, who do we call directly to make sure this person receives immediate, supportive, and effective help?

I love the question because I find all the time that community members do want to help.

They want to make the right call.

The best thing you can do right now is still call 911. We are staffed up.

We are more trained right now about resources.

We have diversion strategies where we can send someone to 988. But you can call and remind dispatch, you know, this might be good for the care team.

We are online right now between 11 a.m.

and 11 p.m.

But the team is expanding quickly.

We're going from 6 to 24. And I'm also working with Seattle Police to be able to dispatch their community service officers.

So we'll have more people to go out.

And the other thing I would say is we're acting with so much urgency to build out a system.

I don't have treatment centers right now for people using fentanyl.

We don't have enough low-barrier shelters.

We don't have day shelters.

So that's a major component.

And I talk fast for a reason.

We are working really, really hard on this.

I know that people are struggling.

A lot of the deaths are preventable and avoidable.

So thank you for the question.

Okay, and now...

Oh, yeah, I like that.

This is fun.

Really, yeah.

It's a little late night TV.

I like it.

So we're going to start with welcome.

I love these council members.

I'm very happy to be here with you tonight.

We're going to start with council president, Sarah Nelson.

Applause, please.

Yeah.

So this is your introduction question that we got.

What are ways that the city can attract and retain businesses downtown?

How can we support our business community?

It all starts with public safety.

Pure and simple.

I am the chair of economic development.

I was for the first two years.

I still am chair of economic development, but it quickly became obvious to me that public safety is the foundation of our recovery, economic from the pandemic, and also just the ability for businesses to start, grow, and thrive in Seattle.

So I will say that that is key.

How many minutes do I have?

Keep talking.

Okay.

So public safety is the foundation of helping small businesses.

I would also say that it does help to have someone who has been a small business owner to be in this position because I understand how the laws that the city passes actually impact people in real life.

And I will say that permitting...

comes up second in terms of the complaints that I get for stalling our economic activity overall and also preventing businesses from being able to start their business, to expand, etc.

So those are some of the things.

And then finally, I would say that Dealing with our drug crisis is key.

Now, I believe that addiction lies at the intersection of our public safety crisis and our homelessness crisis.

It fuels street crime and it also embeds people in chronic homelessness.

And the drug trade and the violent crime that we're seeing is also very often associated with our fentanyl crisis.

So those are some of the main reasons that I would say that we need to help small businesses.

And it all starts with staffing up the SPD's levels from the shockingly historic low levels that they are right now.

So that's the task at hand.

Thank you very much.

And I've got legislation co-sponsored by Council Member Kettle to address that.

You segued really well into the next question.

So Council Member Bob Kettle, round of applause, please, for my Council Member.

Thank you.

I will say, I met Bob, I mean, I was just maybe weeks or months into the job, and he reached out to understand what I was doing, to sit in 911, to understand the design.

The care team wasn't even online yet.

And I really admired that.

I had a high opinion of him right away because he took time to really understand and not make things up.

So thank you.

So the question for you, and I'll hand you my mic because I think it's louder.

The question is, will we have more officers walking the beat, in quotes?

How can we make their visibility in neighborhoods be increased to make living in downtown more safe?

Okay, I won't stand in front of the mic.

First, I want to say thank you, everyone, for coming.

I really appreciate it.

It is such an important, you know, thing to do as a newly elected person to have this opportunity to meet in person.

You know, these are the kind of things that we want to do.

And I'm looking to do this on quote unquote district days on Friday.

I will admit being a little challenged in doing that because all of a sudden we had a lot of labor committee meetings, either the SLC, the Select Labor Committee, or the broader LRPC, because we're working on that front, which is a bit of a segue to your question.

You know, bottom line is, and you may know, we have a strategic framework to that we put together, and it's to deal with the permissiveness that we see in our city, and this is what leads to our public safety challenges.

You know, and first there, our first pillar, the first thing is, you know, the loss of officers that we've had.

You know, we're down an incredible amount, and we constantly get updates on this, and we're working through these pieces.

And thank you, Assistant Chief Barden, for being here.

Really appreciate it.

Thank you so much for joining us tonight.

What are we doing?

We're pressing on all fronts.

You know, the first thing is, you know, leadership.

We as a council are providing leadership.

We are being supportive.

We are engaging.

I've been to four precincts so far.

Next week will be my fifth.

So that makes all five.

Next week will be the North Precinct.

I am going to the officers.

I am saying that I support the men and women of the Seattle Police Department.

I think we have the best force in the nation.

And a lot of that comes from the consent decree.

I acknowledge with the consent decree why it came about.

But I also acknowledge that with the consent decree, with the reforms over the last dozen years, all the work that we've done, we have the best force.

And our goal with the new council, working with the executive and SPD specifically, is to improve on that on all fronts.

You know, I tell the officers too that I have high expectations and standards.

And with that comes accountability.

Because that's a very important piece here.

And we can do that.

That's something I think should be embraced and something that should be proud of.

And ultimately, I say thank you for their service.

And tied to that is thank you for their families because one thing is certain, the officers in the Seattle Police Department and the Fire Department and the Care Department can't do it by themselves.

They really depend on their families to be there for them, their partners, their friends, their support structure, you know, that may have.

And I know that from personal experience.

You know, 20 years ago today, I was living in Baghdad, Iraq.

And that has impacts on your family.

So I appreciate all the work that they do.

So that piece is important.

But also is the, you know, the pay piece.

You know, we're working on these.

I asked the men and women department to give us one year.

And right now we have an interim partial agreement with SPOG.

We haven't finalized that.

So I'm not going to talk to it because I'm not allowed to.

But that's a big piece.

But we're also working the little pieces, too.

Not little, but, you know, today in our committee meeting, and that's one reason why we arrived kind of late, is we're working on how to improve the process.

The executive has done a lot of work, but there's some more work to be done.

So our ordinance that Council President Nelson and I are sponsor, co-sponsor of, is to really work the recruiting piece and also retention.

So it's important because we need more officers.

And we need more officers because we need them on the street And when we have them on the street, that is a deterrent effect.

There's a presence that comes with them.

Not unlike naval ships out in the ocean.

They have to be there.

They have to be present to make a difference.

And that's going to make a difference in terms of the challenges that we're seeing on our streets day in and day out.

So thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

Why don't you take that one and hand it to Tanya at the microphone.

Okay.

so council member tanya wu also round of applause please And I will say that she did the same thing, came to 911 early and sat, spent a lot of time learning.

I mean, you could almost dispatch as much time as you spent there, so thank you for that.

The question for you, what is your approach for addressing those living on the street who are living with mental health challenges?

So we've got mental health issues, folks around the street, what do you recommend?

Yes, I recommend a compassionate and multifaceted approach.

Thank you, Chief Amy Smith, for all the work you've done with the care team and for all of our caregivers, our case managers, case workers in the city who tirelessly go out every single day to try to help our communities and our neighborhoods.

And so I believe that not only does care have to be trauma-informed and long-term, but we also need services to allow people to be able to get resources to help themselves, as well as housing.

I also believe we need to build trust.

I volunteer for a group called Community Watch.

Before I was a council member, I still volunteer with this group, and we go out into our neighborhood weekly, and we get to know people in the community, the business owners, residents, or in-house residents, and we build relationships, because sometimes people, service workers or case managers come out into the community, but they don't develop these long-term, trustful relationships to figure out where this person's coming from, their background, and how we can help them and build that trust, especially to allow them to accept resources and accept coming inside or accept care.

And so I think it's really important that We all work together and also allow for all of our city departments, especially officers, to have the tools to be able to help people.

I went on a ride along in West and East Precinct and realized after the pandemic that a lot of people need help more than ever.

And a lot of people were not, not during the ride along, but earlier during the day, we met somebody whose legs were were injured and we were afraid this person was gonna go into sepsis.

They had a fever, they were in a lot of pain, but refused to get medical care.

And so there was an officer who was able to facilitate that, allowing that person to go to the hospital to receive life-saving care, and that person survived.

Yeah, thank you.

Applause, yes, yeah.

It is interesting, these examples.

I think people don't understand, I'll say, intervention a lot, or we need to interrupt the cycle.

And sometimes that is consent-based.

Sometimes it is just outreach and dialoguing, and other times we have to intervene or somebody will die.

And so that is the role.

I always say there's an enforcement side of this, and that is PD, and then there's a consent side, and that is us.

And we do need both.

The next question, this will be for all three of you.

We'll start with Councilmember Kettle.

top three priorities for District 7 and then overall the city?

Thank you for that question.

On the campaign trail was public safety, obviously number one, public health and homelessness.

I said it that way and I say it again.

By the way, I put public health in the middle because I don't want to conflate the homelessness directly with public safety.

It's about identifying those hard pieces, which are the behavioral health and addiction.

And so that is my first main priority, and I'm working through that.

As you may know, I chair the Public Safety Committee, and we're working again on this directly with the committee, but also in partnership with, as we saw today, with the Governance, Accountability, and Economic Development Committee.

But I also want to work with Council Member Moore, who chairs the Housing and Human Services Committee.

And this is important, particularly with youth and young adults.

This is an area that we need to work.

My second area, as a naval officer, retired naval officer, I really care about the relationship between the port and the city because I think it gets underserved, and we really need to work it because we will be a port city 100 years from now.

So we need to make smart decisions.

And that's really important for District 7. Interbay is a big play for this related to the maritime and fishing industries and overall.

And so I want to really work with that.

And, oh, by the way, my chief of staff, which I should give a shout-out, who's around here somewhere, Steve Smith, is a former Coastie Coast Guard, came here via the Coast Guard.

And so I'm taking advantage of that talent that I have on the staff.

And by the way, since I mentioned Steve, my policy director, Brent Lowe, is here as well over here on this wall.

And as you've already been introduced to my district director, Rebecca Duran.

So that's the team.

And Brent works the, you know, he's the clerk of the committee, so he's got the public safety.

I already mentioned Steve.

But constituent affairs, you need to, and this is a work in progress.

There's so much going on.

There's so many emails, so many calls.

And so we're getting better because I remember like the first days we weren't necessarily able to answer all those emails, which are an incredible amount.

But we're working constituent affairs.

And a lot of times this means transportation and parks, for example.

So we need to work these issues because they're very important.

As you know, we have the Seattle Transportation Plan, then we'll have the Move Levy, we have the Comprehensive Plan, we have all these different pieces.

And it's important to work with my district director on those issues because that's so important.

So those are the three main thrusts for now as a council member for me.

Thank you.

Council President Nelson, your same question.

Either for District 7 or the whole city, three priorities.

So I want to take a moment to recognize how much things have changed on City Council.

My colleagues have been coming to work in City Hall every single day to serve you, and it has made a tremendous difference in our ability to get our work done for you.

And I have to say that it is extremely, it's great having a public safety chair who cares about public safety.

And there's a reason I put the district seven representative in charge of public safety as well.

I now have a citywide counterpart in council member Tanya Wu, who was overwhelmingly supported from across the city when she was chosen to fill this vacancy.

And so we have got a lot to be thankful for optimistic about the problems that we are all dealing with that you are sick and tired of dealing with have taken a long time to come in you know they've been many years in the making they're not going to be solved in a hundred days we'll see if we can solve them in in six months but I do want to recognize that when I talk about what's most important to downtown or to District 7 and the city it's committed council members who are listening to their constituents and Picking up the phone and actually prioritizing your needs.

So that's what I will say.

I'll get specific here.

Third and Pike.

What's going on there?

I do have to say that that is the, so I'm talking about downtown.

Third and Pike is a geographic microcosm of the things that I'm trying to solve citywide.

And it is the 50 yard line of downtown.

Now, that is the corridor that people go from our brand new, well, Pike and Pine, but from our brand new convention center to our soon-to-be brand new waterfront.

It is also the path to our retail core.

And we have got to be more creative.

It's not creativity.

It's probably pretty no-brainer stuff.

But we have got to prioritize fixing that particular area.

Emphasis patrols.

And also, I'll go back to it.

treatment for the drug crisis and addiction.

The way we have been handling our drug crisis isn't working.

Why?

Well, part of the problem is that fentanyl is brand new.

Our harm reduction strategies are allowing people to maintain their addictions.

Yes, they keep people out of crisis when methadone and suboxone, that's good.

We have got to aggressively encourage people into treatment.

I did pass a budget item last year that would simply allow people to go to inpatient or intensive outpatient treatment, and the city will just write a check to the facility.

They need at least a month of rehab and then sober housing.

So I believe that when we're talking about 3rd and Pine, we need to build policy around what is really needed and then sober housing afterwards.

And then finally, I will say the arts, okay?

We have got world-class arts venues downtown and they drive economic activity and they provide life on the street at nights and support our restaurants.

And I feel like people think that, oh, the arts, whatever, Fifth Avenue, et cetera, Benaroya, that's extra, that's frivolous, that's whatever.

No, those are destinations and we need to pay a lot more attention to recognizing their value and doing everything that we can to get people there and supporting those venues if that means B&O tax breaks or whatever else it takes to really focus on our arts community downtown.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, wait.

I did get out of my lane.

I think of arts as economic development, but we do have the chair of the Office of Arts and Culture, so I didn't mean to take that away.

See how they work together, isn't that nice?

Yes, go ahead, same question.

Yes, my three priorities, public safety, of course, and as well as housing and homelessness.

We have the comprehensive plan coming.

I know that's a question many of you have asked about, and we're gonna address that later, but also economic development, which includes what Council President Nelson has said, the arts, which is similar to a small business, and how do we help entrepreneurship, especially among our youth, is very important.

Thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

So that question was from John Bierstorff.

Are you here, John?

I'm just making, hi.

Did I say your name right?

Okay, nice to meet you.

Okay, next question.

This is from Greg Olson.

So this will be for Councilmember Kettle first.

I appreciate your recent March email update from the Public Safety Committee.

What do you think is the greatest barrier to SPD hiring, particularly when seeing that SPD was only able to hire 61 out of 487 applicants who passed the entrance exam in 2023?

It's that same combination.

You know, there's a lot of exit interviews over the time and, you know, everybody here has had a job.

I know some are retired, but you've always wanted the support of your boss and upper management.

Isn't that right?

You know, it's no different from the police officers.

So that's why that's number one.

And then we had the issue regarding pay and the fact that, you know, there's been a time lamp since the last, you know, contract that was put in place.

And then during that time, we fell down the table of the local jurisdictions that fall within the three counties.

And that's our competition.

And so that's a major piece that we have to address, and we're looking to do that without going into that topic too much because it's an ongoing with the labor side.

Those are the big pieces.

But then there's the other pieces too.

It's like the engagement on the issues, you know, and then having that idea that they can do their job.

And when I say do their job, that's constitutional policing too.

Again, the accountability piece is part of this.

We're working all these pieces together.

But the ability to do their job, and there's a lot of pieces that go to that, and we're working those, and we will be working those over the course of the first six months and the first year.

As I said to the officers, I said, give us one year.

Give us one year.

If you're looking to retire, transfer to another jurisdiction, give us one year.

You know why this is important?

Because ultimately, it's word of mouth.

The best way to recruit officers is to have other officers go to Kent.

We lost 15 officers to Kent.

Let's get 10 back.

How do we do that?

They're talking.

And we have to give them something to talk about.

Yeah, thank you.

I'll add to that in the recruiting strategy, the SPD hasn't been designing their own recruiting strategy.

You know, there are other folks that weigh in on that, and I was teasing them the other day.

I said, I think you're recruiting for the care team because it's so focused on, you know, again, being culturally responsive, which we want, being sensitive, which we want, but again, law enforcement is different.

I am in 911, and what these officers are required to do, it is different, and it is difficult.

So it'll, yeah.

Chief Barden?

Can confirm?

Yeah.

You don't want the mic?

Okay.

So the next question.

This is funny.

It's from me.

Apparently I submitted a question.

And the question to each of you was, what role can the community play in supporting public safety efforts?

So why don't we start with Sarah Nelson.

Go ahead.

You know, when people talk to me and they say, you're doing a great job, how can I help?

I often say, I'm here to serve you.

I don't really like that question.

I ran to serve you.

And I could speak to volunteerism, watching out for your neighbors, the block watch parties.

What was that other thing that you talked about?

Yes, snap captains and all those things.

You know what?

You have busy lives and you're dealing with your own issues, your family, your jobs, etc.

It's for us to improve public safety.

So I just will decline to say what the community can do and simply say we're trying to work for you.

However, one thing.

Always report a crime.

I know it's a hassle.

Even if you don't plan on submitting an insurance claim, we need the data so that we make sure that the reality is reflected in the numbers.

So always report and keep pressing us to do better.

That was a very cool answer.

Thank you.

Council Member Wu.

I know the community has been doing these things.

You have started block watch groups.

You have started Facebook groups, talking to one another, looking out for one another.

So thank you for all that work, and you are amazing.

And now it's like Council President Nelson said, it's up to us to help you.

And we would love to hear any ideas you have on how we can battle these large issues.

They've taken years to develop, and so it might take years to resolve.

And so things like trying to develop a fentanyl plan, trying to how do we house people who need extra services, all these things I think we can solve if we come together and talk about it.

You know, it's interesting.

I'm going to go a little different tact.

And first, I want to second the point about reporting.

It's so important.

The data sets are so important.

And, you know, in my work, I'm looking to create momentum.

You know, with the framework, you know, like the six to eight balls in the air that we've got going on right now that are going to play out over the next few months, it's about creating momentum because momentum builds momentum in terms of what we're trying to do with public safety.

But that momentum can be augmented by the community.

And, you know, again, as a Navy guy, I kind of like a lot of terms.

And one of them is like all hands on deck.

And this is an all hands on deck kind of moment.

And, you know, I'm a block watch captain.

I'm still a block watch captain.

I'm a founding member of the Queen Anne Block Watch Network.

That makes a difference.

I'm also a snap captain, too, in terms of emergency preparedness, the big earthquake and so forth.

We have to be mindful of that, too.

But in terms of the public safety piece, it makes a difference.

When you're a block watch captain and you're engaged with your neighbors, by the way, you're more apt to make that call because you know your neighbor and so forth.

So we need that community piece.

And on top of that, we as a broader community, the Queen Anne community here, I'm putting my Queen Anne hat on a little bit in terms of working together as a network.

Recently, we honored Paula Mueller here, who was setting...

Yes, applause for Paula Mueller, because she was a driving force on that network, plus with the Queen Anne Community Council.

And these little pieces make a difference.

And you may say, well, not really.

Well, I can say it does, because if you look at Queen Anne relative to other neighborhoods, we still have our challenges, but we're in better position.

And we're engaging with the city hall.

And I'd just like to add, by the way, on that point, we need community people who are engaged.

And I really like people who are engaged with City Hall.

A lot of times that's very frustrating.

You're banging your head against City Wall.

That's part of the motivation for me to run last year was the fact that trying to get City Hall to work for us And I bring this up because that's the reason why I nominated council member Tanya Wu for the position eight, because that's what she does in the CID.

She's on the ground as a community person, working the issues, banging her own head against city wall because, you know, you have departments saying one thing or saying the other.

And that experience is so important in the city council.

So I just want to put that little plug in too, that that's the reason why I nominated Tanya Wu and very proud to have voted for her with the rest of the council.

So, uh, That's my answer.

Thank you.

Council Member Kettle, this is for you also.

This next question is from Anna Lee Erickson.

What is the plan for reducing homelessness?

I know, right?

By the way, being engaged in the community gives you a lot of insight.

I should add, you know, in a broader sense that My naval career gives me a lot of insight in terms of my job right now.

But you know what gives me such great insight and really helps me do my job was the eight years I served on the Queen Anne Community Council Board with people like our parks, you know, Don Harper over there who chairs the parks committee.

Because our council was so organized and so well run, we had a parks committee, we had a transportation committee, we had all these committees.

It really allowed us to get smart on the issues.

And I remember In 2015, 16, Mayor Murray's team came to us, Don probably remembers, and they said, hey, we have a homelessness crisis, and here's our plan.

And I was listening to it, and I was like, oh boy, this is not going to work.

Hispanic control's wrong, it was not set up properly, and here we are, almost a decade later, and we're still working homelessness.

And you know why?

Because we had a false start with that initial effort by Mayor Murray's team.

We needed the engagement.

We needed to bring in all the perspectives, engage all stakeholders to get a better proper plan for the homelessness piece.

And so now in 2024, I say, hey, we need to incorporate all the lessons learned of the last better part of a decade.

And I bring up one example for that.

And I visited just recently with my policy director, Brent Lowe.

We went to the Salmon Bay Village.

The incorporated lessons learned.

There's 360 perimeter fencing.

There's a gate guard.

It provides security for those that are inside.

It has a counselor on site.

And by the way, this is for RVs.

And so they bring the RVs on site and they have a counselor who's worked with these individuals to break that emotional bond with that RV.

And then they destroy the RV as that person then graduates, if you will, to a tiny home.

And oh, by the way, there's rules.

You learn to become a citizen again.

You learn to become a community member again.

And then you're in this tiny home.

Another lesson learned of tiny homes, you can have a partner in a tiny home.

You can have a dog.

When I was visiting, there was a great dog, jumped out of an RV, came over to me and I was petting it.

I was like, this is a big issue because we work issues all the time, like on the meadow on Aurora.

And there's an individual there we're trying to help and working this and they're trying to get him into shelter, but they didn't know that he, had a dog.

They should have, but they didn't.

And that's a barrier to finding success.

Whereas this example that we're working on with the Salmon Bay project, the tiny home allows for that dog, allows for that partner.

And they have the other lessons learned that we need so much, like the counselor on site.

And this goes to the council president's point.

We need to meet people where they are, but we can't leave them there.

I believe, yes, housing, but housing first without the support, like that counselor, you're basically treading water.

So we have to have this comprehensive approach, and this is what's called lessons learned from the failures of the better part of the decade.

Thank you.

I confirm everything that he said.

I've been there.

And when you get on the front lines, you can see what's going wrong and what's working.

And consistently, that is the missing piece, that there's not a through line into independence.

You know, we get people indoors, and then we haven't invested enough in case management.

So thank you.

Again, I appreciate that you know that.

Okay, so the last question, and this is going to be for everyone, what are you hoping to achieve in the upcoming comprehensive plan update?

So now let's start with you, Council Member Wu.

Yes, so the public comment portion of the comprehensive plan is still open.

I believe you are getting your open house next week at McClure Middle School?

Yes.

On Tuesday at 6 p.m.

And so, oh, right here, yes.

So we welcome your comments.

It's still in the draft phase, so the mayor will take all the comments and put them together and release his final comprehensive plan.

So council actually won't actually see the final plan until midway through budget season.

I've been told that we're not allowed to look at legislation or pass anything during budget.

So I think the earliest council will be able to see it is December and possibly early next year.

And so I think public comment period's open for another couple of weeks.

We also have an online public comment period next Thursday between 6 and 7.30.

So please log into the comprehensive plan, one Seattle plan.

And It's a 20-year plan that will look at how transportation, expanding urban villages, and so we'll love to hear your comments.

I've been to all the open houses except for today's, which is the X time because I'm here, but everyone's been saying the same thing.

They think we need more density, we need more housing, and so I'm very interested to see what the mayor's final plan will look like.

And Council President Nelson.

Can I talk about, can I answer the question on homelessness?

Please.

I just want to add to that.

I sit on the King County Regional Homelessness Authority on the governing committees, and there are three people, me, the mayor, and Council Member Moore.

And what I would say to, what are you going to do about homelessness?

I say, we have to stop doing what we're doing.

This is, you know, the amount of money that is thrown at a problem that doesn't get better requires that we stop doing it.

evaluate our investments, and then evaluate whether or not we want to continue or redirect those dollars.

The problem is that there is not a systematic evaluation of our programs.

That is a problem.

And so with our service providers, they receive an automatic contract adjustment every year, and we're not looking at the numbers.

We don't even have well enough defined outcomes.

So how many, what percent of people in tiny home villages should be graduating to independent living in an apartment, so that we have some throughput.

Those are the sorts of numbers and data and metrics that we need to be using to figure out what are we doing with homelessness.

So I do want to say that it's, again, on us to do our job as accountable electeds.

So comp plan, there's a reason I didn't put myself on the land use code, I mean the land use committee, and it's because this is going to be a long process of a lot of public engagement.

I have not tracked what is the, I don't understand the nature of what's underneath the criticisms on both sides of the comp plan, and so what I need is for you to be looking and making sure that you're weighing in on the options on the table so that the final environmental impact statement captures what your concerns are.

And then when those options are before me, personally, that's when I dig in.

I appreciate that answer and the candor.

Thank you.

On the comprehensive plan, it is very important.

So I second the call from my colleagues in terms of giving input.

And it's so important.

And on the campaign trail, I said I was a comp plan five guy.

And I stick to that.

But I will be looking for your input and say, hey, we're looking at the draft.

How can we improve it?

The various pieces of it.

And I get a lot of information.

And I'm digesting it.

And so I would like to hear more, particularly from D7, in terms of your issues and concerns or your hopes related to the comp plan and how we can move forward.

And I think there's definitely areas within the comp plan that we can do that in terms of the villages, urban villages, which are now called the regional centers.

And then they keep changing the names, by the way, which is very frustrating.

Each iteration, the names change, which makes it hard to compare and contrast between earlier versions and the one we're doing now.

But bottom line is to get that information, get the input.

So I definitely encourage the D7 view from all of you, and I really appreciate that when you do so.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We do change names and acronyms a lot, I have learned, in year one.

Roaming mic now?

Do I get to?

So now we have about 15 minutes where I can bring the microphone to you, and you can ask your question and direct it, if you'd like, or direct it to the whole group.

so what we're going to do for the mechanics of this is we're actually going to come stand here because here we can have a line you can face the council members and ask your question council president nelson what is your favorite place in district 7. city hall i love my job i i have a toothbrush i spend all my time there but uh i know that you want to hear something else so i'm going to give a very it's got to be pike police market

Why?

Because of the small businesses.

Why?

Because of the iconic nature.

And it is just ground zero for so much vibrancy and activity.

So I'm sorry that wasn't very creative, but that's what I'm going with.

Totally fine.

So as you can see, that's how this is going to work.

This is a microphone where you do need to eat the microphone to make sure that you are speaking.

So just be aware of that.

If you prefer me to come to you, though, have mobility concerns, I'm happy to.

Right?

It's not my first time.

Okay.

Questions?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Hi, I'm Suza Pell, and I live on Westlake Avenue North, which is a neighborhood that doesn't have a neighborhood council, doesn't have an organization, because it's a really...

Can I just eat the mic?

Eat the mic, sorry.

And so my question is two parts.

Councilman Kettle, you said that you have an...

a community council or several that you're putting together.

I don't want you to forget about Westlake.

It's not just a street that goes through it.

And the second piece is that the office of neighborhood was destroyed some years ago and it's really an important place that community folks can get engaged because not everybody is a policy wonk and is going to read their comprehensive plan.

So it's both about community involvement.

Thank you.

Can I thank you for that question?

Thank you so much, because it allows me to bring up a initiative that we have, and this is in terms of engaging with our constituents in D7.

And this is our new District 7 Neighborhood Council.

Again, informed by my experience on the Queen Anne Community Council, We're bringing the Magnolia Community Council, the Queen Anne Community Council, Uptown Alliance, the East Lake, South Lake Community Council.

We do need West Lake representation, so I'd like to volunteer you if that's possible.

But also Belltown Community Council, Belltown United.

We don't have a downtown community council.

We need one.

But then there's the other groups too that have been invited from the native community, working through the Indigenous Advisory Council.

That's very important.

Other groups that have interests.

I see my friend Mark in the back.

We had the Seattle Neighborhood Greenways, Queen Anne Neighborhood Greenways.

It's so important.

So we bring them all together.

We're going to come together quarterly, and it's a way for me to hear all the issues that are affecting your neighborhoods, but also a chance for us to then also say, hey, this is what's happening from City Hall.

But you know what the most important thing about our District 7 Neighborhood Council is?

Is that Queen Anne Community Council can learn from Belltown Community Council.

I see Xander just walked in.

Or maybe Eastlake can learn from Magnolia, because all these issues, you know, that we can learn from.

And so that's the important thing out of this District 7 Neighborhood Council.

So I would love to invite you to be the Westlake representative, because you're right, because we do have Eastlake Community Council.

Southlake Union is well represented from a community council, because we have Julie, who's right here behind you.

You can talk to Julie about that.

And I should also add, Southlake Union is also represented tonight through the chamber.

John, there you go.

Very important person.

So this is, uh, thank you for that question because the district seven neighborhood council, which is going to meet quarterly is a great way to have this engagement and for the neighborhoods to learn from each other.

Okay.

Great.

Awesome.

Is this okay?

Is this eating enough?

More, more eating?

Okay, wonderful.

We heard a lot about the importance of the block watch, which kept being brought up.

Beyond watching and observing, which seems to be a habit of Seattle at present, what is being done to shift towards a block help mentality?

And specifically in terms of resourcing that is being devoted towards empowering the education of community members?

to better engage with folks that are going through crisis in the real moment in the hopes of potentially even avoiding being able or having to engage with Seattle Care or SPD.

So I started a block watch group called Community Watch and we were born during the pandemic when everyone was inside and there was a lot of vandalism for our small businesses.

There was a lot of fear because of all of the anti-Asian hate.

And so we got together, we walked the neighborhood every single day for about two years and now we're down to a every other day model.

But we just went out and saw what the community need was.

And, you know, when our seniors were afraid to walk by themselves, we set up senior escorts.

And so I think it's knowing your community, getting out there, and learning what is needed.

But something I'm doing personally in my office is trying to use this model of, you know, neighborhood safety de-escalation teams.

I'm trying to shop it out to the department to see if anybody would pick it up, but something that's very near and dear to my heart.

But how do we create neighborhoods that not only are watching, observing, and chatting on Facebook with one another, but how do we help facilitate, you know, if someone unhoused in the neighborhood, how do we help them get connected to resources?

Who are the lead representatives in your neighborhood?

Who are the reach representatives in your neighborhood?

How do you contact, if we deliver care as an area, Salvation Army, or where the closest shelter is, where the closest...

area where they can go and take a shower, like having that all in one place where you know you can help send somebody to if they need to get additional care.

I think it's in many different places online, but it'd be great to have a central area we can go.

It's OK.

Let me respond also.

So my vision is that you should be able to call 911, and from 911, I dispatch quickly.

Is this a secondary response?

Do I just need social workers?

I need someone to follow up?

Do I know that, oh, the MIT ambassadors are right there.

I can call them.

We deliver care.

I can call them.

I know all of these groups.

It should be simple.

And communities should have a point of contact.

People are so confused by who does what.

You know, the Department of Neighborhoods is being reimagined.

Jennifer Chow is a fantastic leader and she is in community all the time.

I see her in community all the time.

So I'm aware of who's out and then who's not.

And so I think urgently we just need to know our communities and you need to call, no, just call Amy, you know, or just call 911. It's a good question.

Thank you.

Can I add to that?

Because, you know, Chief Smith is 100% right.

But again, the engagement of the community, and they know the community best.

So Council Member Wu's point is very important too.

But I just wanted to add, because the entire system is learning, you know, in terms of de-escalation.

And I just wanted to, you know, give a shout out to SPD.

on this because we just had a briefing at our community, the Public Safety Committee, where we had OIG, the Officer Inspector General, Inspector General Lisa Judge, and she was going over the use of force report.

And there's been dramatic reductions in the use of force by Seattle PD, the officers.

And it's because of this training, it's part of the leadership piece, the engagement.

And I think this is kind of a culture that we have and it's having this effect because the use of force report shows that it's been lessened And if we have the community engaging and knowing and being aware to make that, you know, to get that maybe answer, or if we have to go official and you do have to call 911, then the care department and such can come in.

But I just wanted to give, because we just had this committee meeting with OIG and use of force report, and it really shows, again, the reforms and all these things that make our police force the best in the country.

And I do want to give a shout out to our commissioner on the Community Engagement Commission.

Is that the correct?

Community involvement.

So there is another resource to get involved.

Okay, hi, my name is Colette and I live in the Uptown neighborhood.

I'm a little nervous about asking this question.

It may not be the most popular question tonight, but I'm very, very curious about something.

This has been a crisis and emergency since 2015, 2005, 2015. Okay, most emergencies like floods and earthquakes and especially when people are dying on our streets and our streets become dangerous, Washington State has a National Guard.

Have we ever thought at what point, not with guns blazing, but as another way to aggressively help or be another part of hands on deck, bring in the National Guard, with the American Red Cross, with the care for the most dire parts of this community, like which is now it seems to be a corner of Uptown, Third and Pine, Ballard.

I'm just wondering, is this completely unrealistic of me or has that ever been discussed?

That's my question.

Thank you.

I don't think that's unpopular.

I think that is a good question.

Councilmember Kettle, do you want to answer?

it's interesting you brought it up and you know this goes to my sixth pillar you know we need to work sbd staffing in terms of dealing with the permissiveness uh the vacant buildings and lots we just put our committee just with the fire department giving the authorities to deal with the vacant buildings and lots which is so important you know belltown sees this on a regular basis even in uptown and other parts of the of the district um graffiti And I talk about also public health, pillar five, and the point that public safety and public health are two sides of the same coin, and you can't succeed in public safety if you don't succeed in public health.

So I keep saying that because it's still true.

But pillar six is we, first the council, then the council with the executive, and then we as a One Seattle, engaging the county and the state to step up.

You know, where is the King County Sheriff?

We need to work with them.

King County Metro Transit Security, we need to work with them.

And then also, you know, on the public health side, you know, KCRHA.

We had a two-year false start with KCRHA because we need that capacity on the public health side.

You know, the state, you talk about National Guard, but the state.

Mental health is a state function.

Imagine if we were number two in the country in mental health spending.

out of 50 states.

Until recently, we're like 46. We've had some plus ups.

I've talked to Representative Berry.

There's been increases over the last sessions.

So now we're like 32nd.

But imagine if we were number two, like University of Washington football team, which unfortunately did not win the championship, but they're number two.

Imagine if we were that way for like the last decade.

How much capacity would that mean, like mental health beds, and what that would translate on the public safety side?

So we need to engage with the state like that, for example, But yes, we should be open to have that discussion.

Now, I don't necessarily look to having National Guard on our streets, but we can have that.

But we need to be engaging in the county and the state first and foremost.

And I lead with the public health point because we need to lead with compassion and then follow that up with wisdom in terms of understanding what's the reality on the ground.

The short answer is yes.

Governor Gavin Newsom did call in the National Guard in San Francisco.

When you think about the politics of California, that is remarkable.

It wasn't, as you said, guns blazing, but the National Guard was able to help local authorities with data analysis and statistics, et cetera, and I think that Chief Barden could maybe give some more information, but there is a nationwide I can't remember the name, but it's a collection of the DEA, Homeland Security, National Guard, and local law enforcement that focus in certain municipalities to deal with very concentrated or intractable problems.

And so what you're thinking is actually a program, and I think that the city of Seattle applied to be part of it.

I'm not really sure, and I don't know what triggers all the actions, but cities are realizing that they need help.

Yeah.

And it is an emergency.

That's right.

Hello.

My name is Sanders.

I live in South Lake Union.

I have a question for Council Member Kettle.

When are you going to have direct constituent meetings?

Direct constituent meetings.

Yeah, constituent meetings.

And so the plan is to do them on Fridays.

I'm already engaging with my district director, Rebecca.

So that's already happening.

And with me personally, the idea was to do it on Fridays.

And so we scheduled out.

But as I mentioned earlier, my Friday schedule was taken over by the labor, you know, because of the coalition, the SPOG.

There's about five of them.

And so we're about to put this into play, looking to use the community center here, looking to use the central library.

Part of the challenge, too, is finding locations in District 7. We don't have the Ballard Government Center like Council Member Strauss has in D6.

And so we're looking to find those opportunities.

And so it's going to be soon on Fridays as we de-conflict the schedule.

And in some ways, this is the kickoff, because we're going to be moving into this as we move forward.

Somebody said my name and I was summoned to answer your question for a hard date.

We're actually doing our first in district office hours on Friday, June 7th.

If your issue is a little bit more pressing than that, because again, we are working around the labor committee.

I'm sure everybody is tired of labor committee by this point.

I do offer two hours of virtual office hours with me every week.

You can book 10 minutes with me.

I ask that you provide information to me ahead of time so that more time is spent on how we can work together to get this problem solved instead of you explaining to me what the problem is.

But I do hear you, and Council Member Kettle has been taking a variety of constituency meetings, but his actual date of in-district office hours is starting on June 7th.

Hi, John.

Hi.

John Maynard.

By the way, you mentioned graffiti.

If you notice the retaining wall at the Magnolia Bridge, That was me with a roller and a few other guys.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

I've done the lower retaining wall three times.

The big one once cleaned out the homeless encampment, and that gate up there is kind of all locked up.

Bob, you know my question.

I've asked it 15 times, and you mentioned, Tonya, you mentioned wanting to get a shower, and you mentioned the National Guard.

Wouldn't all of this be easier if we had, for the outdoorsmen, one sanctioned area with all services.

And Bob, you mentioned in the Navy you could set up in a camp for hundreds of people in three days.

And I'm just thinking that would solve so many problems.

You could have toilets and laundry and food and mental services.

It would be wonderful, better than having to use a sidewalk for a toilet, no?

So talking about meeting constituents, I have met John before, and he does know, I'm a former retired Navy guy who was stationed, you know, 20 years ago today.

I basically lived in a small home in Baghdad, and I had a second one in Kampa Saleh in Qatar, which was basically a connex box inside a big warehouse.

And so these kinds of options, the military has done, has stood up in terms of housing forces in Iraq and elsewhere around the world.

And in a way, what I was talking about earlier with Salmon Bay Village is like a small version of that.

And so it's like, how can we scale up?

And I'm looking, I'm engaging with my team in terms of the tiny home piece.

And I know this is a topic with a lot of people.

It's like, how can we do that better?

Because you know what?

Compare an encampment to a tiny home village.

Tiny home villages don't get all those 911 calls.

It's the encampments that do.

And so we need to press on this front.

So then the question is, to your point, do we have multiple smaller ones or the bigger one?

I think the bigger one may be problematic, but that's something that we need to engage in.

I will admit I've been very busy with my strategic framework, but that's definitely something that I am looking into, and particularly with some of these ideas, learning from the lessons learned from the Salmon Bay example.

Hi.

First of all, how many people here are renters?

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

Okay, so that's about 15% of the people here are renters.

The current statistics, which are old, is 67% of District 7 is now renters.

67%.

It's probably over 70, yet it's only 15%.

We have about...

The age-wise, it's about 12%, 65 and over.

My estimate, and I'm over 65, my estimate is we have about five times over representation.

My point being this, this is not a town hall.

This is not democracy in action.

This was impossible to find.

Your aide told me that this was on Facebook.

It was not on Facebook.

I looked even an hour before coming here.

So congratulations.

You got the crowd you wanted.

But this is not a town hall.

And I don't really even have time for my question.

Thanks.

Well, this is a town hall.

And I'd like to thank everybody for coming.

And it's a fair point.

And these are the kind of issues that we have.

For one thing, there's a lot of stereotypes about Queen Anne.

But if you look at the two zip codes for Queen Anne, He's absolutely right.

Huge amount of renters, percentage-wise.

Way more than people think.

And this also goes even broader within District 7. If you go into Uptown, for example, into Belltown, I know that.

Between the condos on one side, but you have the apartment buildings on the other.

And so that is the constituency that we need to understand.

And I will highlight that I was a renter until I was 47, and my last apartment was a triplex on 10th West.

And so I recognize the challenges that renters have.

It wasn't that long ago when I was 47, but these are the things to do.

But to your point, we're continuing this with the newsletters, the engagement with our district director in terms of one-on-one, and then standing up the in-person ones on Fridays, basically what we're looking to do.

The District 7 Neighborhood Council is another way to have this engagement.

That's why we have, by the way, Marcus White here, he's on the Community Involvement Commission.

Very important person, also with him here in Queen Anne.

He represents a lot what you're talking about.

And so engaging with them.

And so this is the things that we're doing and we're gonna be evolving and keep impressing forward.

Please state how you might be able to help with these four issues.

One is to restore the off-leash area within Smith Park to the one acre that was negotiated and agreed upon during the very extensive public process and parks after that saw fit to reduce it to one half acre.

Needs to go back to one acre.

Another issue would be to get the owner to either restore or demolish the old historic railroad building at West Ewing Street and Sixth Avenue West.

It's a vacant, burned out shell.

The third would be that we're now into 24 years of trying to get a dog off leash atop Queen Anne Hill, and we keep getting aced out in every possible public process.

What you can do to help us, we're desperate for it.

And fourth, to comment about how you think that the one-size-fits-all plan of the comprehensive plan is appropriate for every neighborhood.

We are already so congested that traffic at the six-way intersection backs up to Queen Anne Avenue, and we'd like you to sanction SDOT to consider the possibility of establishing one-way streets and giving us traffic mitigation, like First Avenue West could go one way southbound, first north, one way northbound.

So those are some of the issues that are really impressive in the neighborhood.

Thank you for that.

I'll take them in three parts.

First, the building.

We'll double check.

No doubt that that is on the fire's list.

Basically, the vacant building, I was telling you, it's one of my pillars, vacant buildings and lots.

SDCI, Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections, they have about 300 locations on their list in terms of being vacant and problematic.

Fire's gone through those, and they have about 100 that are definitely a threat to the community.

And out of that, there's like 40, in terms of repeated calls, repeated fires, about 40 that are really high concern, and there's 10 we need to press on right now.

So we're working that very issue.

Once we go through the committee, it's gonna be voted on, it's gonna become immediately in effect, And we're going to take press.

Trust me, I've had multiple meetings with Chief Skaggs on this, and he wants to press because, you know, we don't need to lose somebody in the neighborhood, you know, a community member, a young child that may go into this building, you know, and the like.

And he is definitely, probably not the word, he is so concerned about losing a firefighter.

So we're pressing on that front.

And so we'll double check to make sure it's on the list, but no doubt it is.

On the parks, I've been engaging with Superintendent AP Diaz on a regular basis.

I take in the lessons learned of listening to Don Harper on parks for a long period of time.

And Smith Cove Cart is a frustration, you know, the pandemic, they put it on pause, but we're working this.

We just did the parks plan and went through it.

You know, we're locking in, like the big how, just right here, the lower level, locked it in, in terms of on the list, and it's going to be worked on.

You know, the planning starts on January 25, and they'll continue to press on.

We're going to press on the Smith Cove Park piece, you know, in terms of, you know, bringing that up.

And Back to Big How.

Tied to Big How, and I've been tying this with Diaz on a regular basis, is that with Little How, the East Queen Anne play field, also known as Little How.

It is so important to find a place to have an off-leash location.

And half of Little How is going to be pretty much that answer.

And that will free up so the dogs are not on Big How and damaging the fields that we have there.

And I've also been highlighting to Diaz and the rest of the parks department, individuals I engage with, is David Rogers Park.

How can we improve David Rogers Park?

Because that could be an area where the little kids can have some capacity and a place to go because Little Howe's going to be smaller than it was previously in terms of being a smaller kids park.

So these are the things that we're pressing on.

And there was a fourth piece.

Well, restoring the off-leash area would then...

Yes.

So I take that on board.

I take that on board.

I just want to get the project up and running, but I think that's the third.

That was the third point.

Yes.

Yeah.

That's the third point I want to address right now is we need to do our due diligence.

We need good governance, you know, and so we need to address tomorrow's problems today.

So on your point for, for the, for those who are from downtown and bell town, I am constantly, highlighting the fact that we need to do logistics.

We need to make sure that SDCI is doing it right, that these new buildings that are going up have loading docks, commercial and residential.

Because you know what?

If they short shift that, where does that logistics go?

Where does that happen?

It happens on the streets.

And I'm working with Council Member Strauss because he's really concerned about He calls it freight.

Like, Ballard's going to be really, you know, densified.

But what happens, you know, we try for these 15-minute cities, but if we don't plan this properly, the big trucks can't resupply the grocery stores.

It's not good to have a 15-minute city if the grocery store is empty because trucks can't come with the goods needed for the grocery store.

So this goes why it's so important to do the planning proper now with the STP, the Seattle Transportation Plan, the move levy.

We've got to do this right.

And then, you know, bring it in with the comprehensive plan.

And this is exactly why we need to really take the time and do those two pieces right, because otherwise, we're gonna create problems in the future like you're talking in terms of bottlenecks.

All right, last question.

I'm just gonna interrupt and say congratulations, you are our final question.

Okay, wonderful.

That was well-timed.

Just like we planned it.

pause for a dance break yeah I'm good okay I have to say I was very impressed with that level of detail you were able to engage with on those questions as a resident and property owner and voter who voted for you at that lives at 3rd and pine ma'am your phone is ringing again Maybe just turn off the ringer.

Okay, I'm just going to reiterate that.

I live at 3rd and Pine.

You have over 2,000 voters, residential voters, that live at that intersection or in one block.

I am fortunate that those in our neighborhood are probably some of the most active residential advocates in the city.

We have been closely following your newsletter, every single thing that's out there.

Question number one.

We would love to know how to get involved in these neighborhood councils because the first I heard about it was this past newsletter.

Number two, how is it that we are 100 days into your term?

We have emailed called everything to get any kind of response from your office to come visit our neighborhood?

Zero.

Zip.

How are we 100 days in and you haven't been to 3rd and Pine?

So I want answers to both of those questions.

Thank you.

First, I apologize on the email, if it was emails or calls, whatever, yes.

And we will be, I will be connecting.

You know why?

Because it's like a shortfall that we have with our District 7 neighborhood council.

We need a downtown community council that's focused on the residents.

I engage with DSA on a regular basis, but that's more of a business side of things.

We need to engage with the residents on the issues that are important to you.

And by the way, in Belltown as well.

So for example, the Belltown Hellcat that was causing so many problems throughout that entire area, we were engaging with the constituents and the issues that they had.

We took that information, we were working with the West Precinct on those issues, and then separately working with the city attorney's office.

And now that Hellcat driver, It's been ordered by the judge not to drive his car anymore.

So we've been engaged on the issues, and I've been down there on a regular basis with different residents from the Newmark and so forth.

But I've not been with you, but I will be down there with you in short order, and anybody else that here is with you.

And I would ask, if possible, it's like my invitation for Westlake to join the District 7 Neighborhood Council.

I would love to have downtown well represented, because right now we had Condo Connect as an organization that we're working with in terms of downtown and Belltown with the condos.

So I would love to invite you to officially join our District 7 neighborhood council, be part of creating a downtown community council, represent the residents' needs.

This kind of goes to the point that I was talking about earlier.

You know, we have to have that voice because then we learn, because I've been downtown, I've been walking the alleys where they highlight, okay, you know, the building, the new mark with Target.

Beautiful, you know, commercial and residential loading docks.

And then I walked around the corner and like, oh, no, this is a problem.

And then obviously I've been on 3rd and Pike, you know, all this Ross and everything else.

And I've been down there working, you know, those issues.

And so we will connect with you on that and I This is two for right now.

So Westlake and downtown, because it's so important to have your voices heard within the districts of neighborhood council.

And then in a more broader sense for the whole city, because bottom line, downtown is so important.

This is where the DSA will come in or the chamber will come in.

It's so important to work the downtown issues.

The third and Pike, you know, as the council president was talking about, because the economic driver of our city is downtown and we need to address job one.

And in the difference between between our downtown today versus 10, 20 years ago is the massive increase in number of residents.

And so your voice needs to be heard.

And trust me, both last year on the campaign trail and now, we go down there on a regular basis.

But again, I want to offer that invitation directly for you to join the District 7 Neighborhood Council.

So thank you.

You guys, I have to go now.

I'm going to District 5. So talk amongst yourselves.

Thank you.

I do commend everyone for being here.

I love candor.

I love dissent.

I love debate.

I appreciate that this council will answer the questions and that you will ask the questions.

So thank you.